Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam give their division predictions in the AFC, discuss the Warriors future, and MORE!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio at Toronto.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
My man. I know that it means something to everybody
out there. It's the most popular thing that we do
in sports here in the United States of America. But
for you and I, it means a little something different.
Maybe it's not just what we do for fun, it's
also what we do for work. So maybe we'll do
this for the rest of the month of August. I

(00:29):
go straight to Scott Hansen's Twitter feed. If you don't
know who Scott Hansen is. That's the guy who says
seven hours right there on red Zone before Sunday starts
every week and he's been doing this like clockwork every Sunday,
and today Ephraim it says, see you in five Sundays,

(00:50):
My man, how are you war a month away?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm good.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
I thought you, you said Scott Hanson. I thought you
meant I thought you were talking about Chris Hansen.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, no, no, that's if Chris Hansen shows up on
your team. Would use in some trouble, Yeah, remember those?

Speaker 3 (01:07):
So remember so Marcus.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Once you have a seat right here at the bar
and uh, oh my god.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
I see you have some rope, some duct tape, some
electrical tape.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Uh these parts.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Chris answered with some of the best TV ever.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Just come from around the corner. You like what is happening?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
He'd be in your bushes, man, like you just and again.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
I'm Chris Hansen with Dayline NBC.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
I'm not feeling sorry for anybody who had Chris Hansen
in their backyard, but it was jarring man, even for
the bad people that he was catching to catch a predator,
and he did. Chris Hansen surely caught him. Scott Hanson,
both of them really good TV. Good.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yes, So we're looking for Scott, not Chris.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
I'm more of a Scott guy at this point in
my life. And if anybody's gonna show up at my house,
I definitely wanted to be Scott and not Chris. Yeah.
But a month from now, man, you and I are
just gonna be sitting here doing our Sunday night football
watch party. And I said this to you a couple
of minutes ago. And I don't mean to be cross

(02:19):
or whatever, but I'd love to hear from someone who
did it what August football is like for an NFL player,
because for a fan, and I'm not I'm not a
strip club guy like it just not it doesn't do
much for me. And August football one, well maybe I listen, Hey,
no judgment, but I'm just saying it's kind of to

(02:42):
me the same experience. Maybe that sounds weird to you,
but here's what I mean by that. It's it's a
big tease that's just in the end bad for your health.
That's kind of how I look at it. And again,
no judgment, but I just with the August football and
now we've got to do Oh, Carson Beck is going

(03:04):
to be amazing. And I understand it's necessary on some level.
Coaches got to evaluate. Everybody's got warm up, but every
torn acl rips you up even more. In the month
of August, and you know, Thursday night this week, there's
like six or seven games, and I just feel like

(03:24):
people rub their hands together and get excited about it,
and then you sit down and turn it on and
you remember why you're not excited about it.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
Look, I was. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the
Hall of Fame game. Okay, there's lots of points. There
was lots of points, which is always good. One thing
you don't want that game to be is boring.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Are one sided? Are you know?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
It?

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Just to get the first taste of football back. Sure,
I thought it was great. I thought, you know, everybody
knows who Carson Beck is because he was in college
for eight nine years.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
And played for all the college right and played got all.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
I think he's played in more national championship games than anyone,
so we kind of wanted to see. And he was
a really late round draft pick.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Right, No, he was a draft pick, but I can't
remember what round it was. I don't know if it was,
as you put it, really late. But let's see, where
was Carson Beck? Drafted sixty fifth overall pick. So that's it,
at the start of the third round.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Okay, that's not bad. Yeah, that's that.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
You expect something from him, and I think with that
pick you got what you expect. You're pleasantly surprised. I was,
at least sure. I thought he did a really good
job commanding the offense, leading them down. I thought that
was really well done, really well done.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Oh I thought you were building up for a butt.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
No, no, no, okay, no, look I'm happy football is
coming back.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Well who isn't I just you know what I mean?
August feels long it is. It's just like, yeah, yeah,
but he's got to go back to school and then
you wet your whistle and then it's okay. Right, I've
long asked this question. Maybe you can answer it better
than I. Whenever someone goes, hey, man, you gotta have

(05:31):
at least a couple of preseason games because you gotta
work out the kinks and evaluate the talent and all
of those things. And I get it, obviously, I get it.
How come college doesn't have to do that.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
They just play because.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
They just show up and it's like this one.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Count because no one's trying to make the team.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Well, boy, it feels like it are now.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Well no, no, it's there's a difference here, and it's
even worse now, Like I mean, guys are coming in
and they're gonna play. But for college, you get one
hundred players on a team, all your scholarship athletes, plus
all the walk ons and all of those things. You're there, right,
you're there. In the NFL, you go with ninety people

(06:17):
into training camp. You have to evaluate talent and it's
difficult to do it just in practice, so you have
to simulate games to see, oh, if a quarterback can
in noise or on the road, or you know, if
it's a two minute drive and you know they're not
just tagging the quarterback.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Can you handle that pressure?

Speaker 4 (06:39):
Can an offensive lineman who's drafted in the seventh round
hold up under pressure? All of those things can only
happen in the preseason. Now, you can just have joint practices,
but I've been in those. They're not like preseason games.
And so when you have to cut almost forty players,

(07:01):
well yeah, over forty players.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, then you.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
Need to know the people you're cutting and the people
getting cut. They need to have film for someone else
to see and be like, hey, it didn't work there,
but it worked here. So for me, preseason is important
now as I got older in my career, I hated
preseason unless so sure, but I wouldn't have gotten my
start as a seventh round draft pick my rookie year

(07:28):
without it. Essentially, I've told this story a million times,
but it came down to the fourth preseason game. With
the free agent acquisition that they brought in from Buffalo,
Corey Lucci and myself. It came down to the fourth
preseason game. Corey started, I played the second quarter, Corey
played the third I played the fourth and Archel said,

(07:49):
whoever plays the best will be our starter next weekend
in Carolina.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
That was it? And was that true? Was he true
to his word?

Speaker 4 (07:59):
They cut the next day? Yeap, Corey never played in
the NFL again. I didn't know that until much later.
But think about that, Corey had been in the league
for five years, great guy five years, came over as
a free agent, signed for a nice little chunk of
change back then, and had to compete with a seventh
round draft pick. I could just imagine how he felt,
and then to get cut the next day, right like

(08:22):
this is that's real. That's a lot. That's a lot.
That's a that's a lot. And I never really looked
at it from that point of view because it was
me that was benefited from benefit bidding benefiting from it.
You nailed it and so stuck the landing and so.
But that's the reality of what preseason is. Why it's needed,

(08:43):
because if that game doesn't exist, Corey is a starter
and I'm the backup.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well, and I give credit to your team and your
coaches because it sounds to me whenever you tell that story,
I always am thinking about how politics didn't get in
the way, and sometimes they do.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Most of the time they started later.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yes, they had put some money into a free agent.
You were a seventh rounder, you were right, like very
easy for them to move on frob them and they didn't,
and they were right. And so that's good. Doesn't always
go that way, No, it doesn't.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
And so I'm always a fan, especially for younger guys,
guys trying to prove themselves to make it in this league.
Preseason is really important. It's really important. Now the established guys,
you know, you could do the Rams de Seaun McVay
taxes all. None of my starters are playing. Okay, they're there,
they're locked in. But you don't just build a roster
from starters. The real meat of your roster comes from,

(09:45):
you know, the fifth round on. Those are the guys
you need to know can be there, can develop, can
play under pressure. And the preseason is a good litmus
test for that. Well, it's when you strike gold, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
If you you look around the league, and I know
there's a lot of attention on the NFC West right now.
The two Super Bowl favorites of the NFC West. The
Super Bowl champ was from the NFC West, and I'm
just thinking of some of the players that some of
those teams that have had some recent success. You know,
when you pluck Puka Nakua out of round five, right,

(10:26):
and I mean like he contributed week one rookie year,
he was fantastic.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
When you yeah, in the next nine weeks he was right.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Was like, I mean when you pulled that. So in
other words, when you're getting elite level stuff or even
just high level stuff and you're getting it for that
price for four or five years, to me, that's that's
what makes your team rock Purty. Similar story, you know,

(10:59):
multiple deep playoff runs as a one million dollar player,
an eight hundred thousand dollars player out of the seventh round.
So I hear what you're saying there, And you were
one of those dudes once upon a time.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
Oh yeah, I mean would all to that moment in
being able to step up in that moment and compete
at a level that quite frankly, I wasn't sure I
could compete, you know, and.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Preseason helped me. It really helped me do that.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
There is one specific team and one specific situation. I'd
love to bat around with you a little bit off
the top of the show before I set that up,
and I'll give away who I'm talking about just with
the question, but what are your thoughts on training camp
fights in the NFL? They happen a lot pretty quickly.

(11:58):
Coaches are always like, we don't do that around here.
But I've always gotten the vibe of like you're just
saying that for the cameras because they always happen. Nobody
ever really gets punished, and it's so fundamental to the sport,
the physicality of it. But it's like the coaches need
to act like you're not supposed to do that, even

(12:21):
though they know it's going to happen in almost every camp.
I mean, you tell me how frowned upon is it?

Speaker 3 (12:29):
Right?

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Coaches don't like it because players have been lost for
the season from them, and that's what you don't like. Now,
you like the aggression, the aggression, aggressiveness, you like the competing,
you like all of those things. But what you don't
like is you're starting safety to break his hand. He's
done for nine months or nine weeks. You don't like

(12:52):
your start running back getting his leg rolled up on.
Now he has to have off season surgery. Like you
you can't take that, and so coaches want to steer
away from fights in camp, but they love the competition
to a point.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
To the whistle whistle blows, you gotta let them go.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
And you got to remember, at no other time in
the year are their guys literally literally fighting for a
spot on the team. Literally, And that's why that happens.
It's hot outside. In most of these training camps, you've
been going against your own defense and one on ones,

(13:34):
whether it be offensive defensive linemen, which is normally where
the fight starts, just thinking, I gotta make contact with
you physically two times a day, all day for however
long training camp is everything is? It used to be
six weeks, four pads every day, twice a day. That's

(13:55):
what it used to be. So, yeah, it's hot and
I'm tired. You held on to my jersey two seconds
too long after the whistle, so I tomahawk chopped your
arm down.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
You don't like it, you slap me in the face.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Mask.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Here we go, it's on, Here we go, and it
can literally happen every practice.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
It can happen every practice, but not usually to every position. No,
this one was different, and we'll tell you exactly what
we're talking about coming up next. That is from Salam.
I'm Mark Whellard, So glad you're with us tonight on
fuck don't listening.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
To Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from the Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (14:39):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
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Speaker 2 (14:49):
That's right, you can now watch the Odd Couple live
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All you gotta do search Our Couple FSR on YouTube.
Again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
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Speaker 2 (15:08):
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(15:30):
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Kirk Cousins and Max Crosby a from I know we

(15:52):
got a show on this network called The odd Copy.
This is the oddest couple I have ever heard in
terms of a training camp fight. First of all, want
of them is a quarterback, so you don't touch the quarterback.
Second of all, Kirk Cousins, who sure excitable but also

(16:15):
kind of like this nerdy, studious dude that we've got
to know in Multiple Quarterbacks drama series on Netflix. Max
Crosby is your quintessential crazy, tied it up, awesome defensive lineman.
What's actually going on here? I have a theory, but

(16:39):
how did that grab you? Max Crosby and Kirk cousbands,
they get into it, neither one of them really are
apologetic afterward, and then the Raiders made him sit out
a day as punishment.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
Yeah, the one person you can't fight on a team
are the group you can't fight on the team.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Are the quarterbacks. It just doesn't happen.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
I mean, you can't fight you cracked, no matter what.
You can't even actually get near them.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Right, But did you see the comments? It was like,
you can't fight the quarterback? And then and I'm gonna
paraphrase here, but after practice they talked to Max and
Max is like, yeah, dude, you mess with me, you
get what you get. I'm like, what that's quarterback? You
get what you get? Yeah, something's going on here. Well,

(17:40):
I think.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
That goes to show you where the needle is pointing
towards who the team are. Certain individuals feel is the quarterback. Okay,
I've never been on a team with the starting quarterback
was talked to like that, Hello, that's not gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
No, So.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
You know that'll show you a little bit about Oh okay, Well,
this needle's pointing more Mendoza than Cousins. I mean, it's
saying a lot without actually going this is our guy,
you know, based on the time they've been in training

(18:27):
camp and OTA's and all those things. It's kind of
like a pre report card progress report. Yeah, but it's
I don't know. I don't know any I don't know
any coaching staff that will allow the defense because what
that does. Let me let me explain to you what happened.
And I explained to the listeners what that does. When

(18:49):
when things like this are allowed to escalate and go,
mistakes start to happen, and accidents start to happen right
the live period on a Thursday, coming towards the end
of camp gets too live and the defensive line now

(19:15):
is hovering around the quarterback, r is pushing the offensive
lineman back to run him into the quarterback. Are you
simulate swiping the arm? All of that is a big
hell no, because what you can ever do have the

(19:37):
quarterback hit his hand on someone's helmet, yep, touch his
arm or actually hit him and take him to the ground.
You can never do that in training camp ever. They
don't even want you over there. But if you allow
stuff like this to happen, then the offensive line started

(20:00):
feeling a certain type of way, because that's what we are.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
We're protector, your protectors.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
So someone in the room, probably the offensive line coach
if he's played, or the most senior veteran player, will
be like, almost cussed. I almost said a cuss word
because I went right into I went right into what
I would do and what I would say, And so

(20:30):
I'll paraphrase for the for the listeners.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
I was just practicing my bleep in case I always.

Speaker 4 (20:37):
Said you see this very much, I would have put
it up on the board, and I said, well, today
and every day from here on out, we're gonna make
him feel it. If a double team is coming, then
the double team is coming, and you don't let up
until a little bit after the whistle, which also has

(20:59):
the defensive line responding, right. And so now you got
an all our war because behavior was gone unchecked between
a quarterback and a defensive lineman. There's competition and hatred
up front on those lines because guys are, like I said,

(21:20):
they're fighting for their lives.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
And you don't get to you don't get to do that.
You don't get to come over, you don't get to
say nothing to my quarterback. You don't get that's what
we're here for. Talk to me, don't talk to him.
And that creates a volatile situation.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
They had cousins sit out a day as well.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, so they're trying to cool this thing down.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah. Like I Okay, there's two things, and we can
talk about it throughout the rest of the hour. But
A I like your statement that maybe this is within
the team and the entire structure, the feeling that we
ought to maybe speed up this Mendoza trend. That's number
one number two. I gotta wonder. I don't want to

(22:05):
sound like I know, I don't. I gotta wonder if
Crosby wants to be there.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Uh, probably not.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
I mean right, like, this has already been something that
that people have been dancing around for a number of years.
Then they actually did trade him, and then they didn't.
This is I mean, if you're a Laker fan, this
is Lamar owed him all over again, and he couldn't
he couldn't continue with the Lakers, like he couldn't handle it.
And I don't think those guys are like each other

(22:33):
at all. But still, I gotta wonder if this is
Max who's just being r Yeah, like, dude, what's the
worst that could happen? They're gonna get me out of here.
Good I'll tell you what it's like on our team.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
If you know, for whatever reason, we traded Steve de
Seger and that trade got rescinded.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Oh, we would never trade Steve.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
Good Lord, Steve de Seger.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, he gets the red jersey, not touch it.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yes, Well, at the same time, seniority does not equal
in no trade clause, so we'll leave it at that.
There is a Sunday night ballgame under There is a
Sunday night ballgame underway. Houston at San Diego scoreless at
the bottom of the fourth. The Houston Astros were a
half game ahead of the Rangers in the AL West.
To start the day. Texas lost at home ten to
five to Baltimore. Padres are not out of the playoff

(23:24):
chase game and a half behind the last NL wildcard
behind Philadelphia and Arizona.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
More on that in a minute.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Tampa Bay has won six in a row four won
the final at Seattle. Boston lost at home again to
the A's four to three. The Red Sox record since
late June was thirty two and five until this weekend.
Atlanta won in ten innings at the Yankees two to one,
Philadelphia in twelve innings down Toronto seven to six, and

(23:51):
the Milwaukee Brewers had the best record in the majors
seventy four and forty four, and they beat Minnesota four
to three in ten innings. The Cubs won ten two
at Kansas City. Cubs winner Matthew Boyd now eight and one.
The White Sox at home beat Cleveland five to three.
The Chicago White Sox are alone and first in the
AL Central by three and a half games. Now, the

(24:12):
Angels are the worst team in the Majors. Lost twelve
three at Miami. Arizona beat the slumping Dodgers four to two.
Lyons quarterback Teddy Bridgewater retired. He is thirty three years old.
Panthers quarterback Haines King is out with a hamstring injury,
so Carolina signed QB Kyle Trask and Saints guard Dylan
Raiden's is out for the year with a torn acl

(24:34):
Basketball Hall of Famer Don Nelson passed away at the
age of eighty six. He is the second winning his
coach in NBA history. He also won five titles as
a player with Boston in the WNBA. At Minnesota today,
the Links, with a record of twenty seven and seven,
beat Dallas one oh three ninety behind forty three points
from kayleb McBride from three point range. She was ten

(24:56):
of fourteen. McBride's, a five time All Star from Notre Dame.
In tennis, Cocoa Golf, won her fourth round match in Toronto,
a tune up tournament for the US Open. Michael Brennan
was the golf winner in Greensboro. Alex Palo the Indy
car winner, and a victory in NASCAR at Iowa for
Ty Gibbs, and as far as this baseball note struck me,

(25:17):
that Chris Sale, the ace of the Atlanta Braves staff,
was the loser in a close game at Yankee Stadium
yesterday and was still ticked off today that he got
called for a balk yesterday, a back that scored the
runner from third. Today again, he's not pitching today. Before
the game even starts, the umpires take the field, walk

(25:41):
past the visitors, dugout, Sale starts barking, and he gets tossed,
thrown out of a game he's not going to participate
in before today's game even begins. One of his teammates said,
I was just getting my helmet, getting ready for the
game to start, and I see this motion of throwing
him out, and I'm confused. And then I saw it
was Chris Sale, and I remembered yesterday and I put

(26:03):
two and two together. Chris Sale had been called for
two bocks in his career until yesterday. Atlanta wound up
losing five to four yesterday. It's the fourth time he's
been kicked out in his career, first since twenty nineteen.
His era is two point two zero this year in
twenty one starts, and the Atlanta Braves have been so

(26:23):
good the last two weeks while the Dodgers have been
so bad the last two weeks that yes, Milwaukee has
the best overall record. Number two in the NL is
the Atlanta Braves, not LA, which means if the playoffs
ended right now, the Dodgers would not get the first
week off. They would have to have, like last year,

(26:44):
a wildcard series and it would be against say the
Padres or the Phillies or Arizona, who they just lost
to again. Today, the Dodgers start a homestand on Monday,
first of three against Kansas City. Pitcher Terek schoobl will
start Monday's game in LA. Blake Snell is due to
come off the injured list and start Tuesday, but the

(27:04):
Dodgers record since July first is fourteen and eighteen and
visiting LA this coming weekend the Milwaukee Brewers for a
four game series, and the Saturday night game will be
the national Fox TV game.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Back to you, I think the Dodgers are doing a
great job. I told you guys this last week. This
is very very well timed. Everybody says everything's unfair. Dodgers
can't lose, and they're like, oh, yeah, watch this, Actually
the trade can't win. Yeah. The Los Angeles Dodgers are
doing everything they can right now to avoid a lockout.

(27:41):
This is their only this was their only play. I
don't know why I didn't think of this, But if
they just lose all of the games the rest of
the way, I think I think the owners are going
to have a very very hard time proving that it's
unfair for them.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Truth be told, the Dodgers have lost eight of nine,
and even before the trade deadline, they had a I
would say a reckless week, but they just they had
no starters to fill out an actual rotation already. It
was ridiculous. Now, what they're hoping is a repeat of
what occurred in the playoffs last year, when no, they
did not have home field advantage against Milwaukee, but the

(28:18):
four Dodgers starting pitchers, including Yamamoto, wound up being so
sensational that they just dominated all four games. The Brewers
couldn't go anywhere, and it wound up a four game sweep,
and it ended with one of the great performances we
have ever seen. Sho hey Otani not only the winning
pitcher with ten strikeouts in six innings, but he hit
three home runs in that clinching playoff game to send him.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
To the World Series.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Otani right now, not a pitcher.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Not right now.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
They're still talking like before October he can pitch again.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
We shall see. Baseball fans all around the country just
cannot believe the misfortune of the Dodgers, and now they
have fallen all the way down to twenty two games
over five hundred. Still but the point.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
But yeah, Braves and Brewers would earn the week off. Yes,
the best division winners get correct.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Correct, the Braves are a unreachable full game ahead of
the Dodgers right now. I just have a feeling this
is gonna work out, just my feeling. But but we'll see,
We'll see. They're doing great. They're really throwing everyone off
their set. I know this isn't being well received. I'm

(29:31):
just saying it's just not fit. It's not very stressful.
When you're going a huge losing streak and you're still
seven and a half games up on second place in
your division, it doesn't feel stressful to the rest of us. Sorry,
if you're stressed, I'm okay. All right, I'll make it. Yeah, okay,
thank you, Steve. Great stuff was always appreciated. We talk
to Steve again in a little bit less than an
hour if I'm one quite done with that Raiders thing. Hey,

(29:58):
what the hell is kirk Cousin even doing? There? Doesn't
this seem odd to you? And I like, you know,
you're drafting a QB number one overall, and when you're
doing that, there's only two reasons to me to bring
in a veteran, let alone, one that you're gonna give

(30:20):
twenty million dollars to. You're either doing that because you
really feel like the guy you're about to pick needs
a mentor, and or you actually feel like you can
compete right away, and so you want at least give
that a look for the first four or five six

(30:41):
weeks of the season before maybe you hand the keys
over to the young guy. I don't see either one
of these is making any sense whatsoever. Every week kirk
Cousins plays is another week that Mendoza does not, and
therefore holds his growth back. I don't get it. That
doesn't make any sense to me. You're not competing in

(31:02):
that division no matter what the hell happens. Okay.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
So one of the worst things you can do as
an organization is draft a quarterback the number one pick
and not have an infrastructure in place to help support him. Okay,

(31:26):
that's the worst thing you can do because what it
does is it heaps unrealistic expectations on his shoulders.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Did the Titans do that last year? Yes? Okay, yeah,
I mean that's that's a fair rebuttal.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
And we see where that ended that where that landed. Okay.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
So the problem is, you know, and what may turn
out to be a phenomenal talent, but you can't get
back the time where he could have actually learned how
to become a quarterback. The time in the classroom for
quarterbacks is so important, and most young quarterbacks don't know

(32:07):
how to study at the NFL level yet. So if
you can bring in a guy who's had success, who's
led a team, who's been to the playoffs, who's done
all those things for your young future of the franchise
to learn from, not just on the field, but in

(32:28):
the classroom how to be a pro. These kids are
college kids. Now, they're a little bit older. Now, right,
they're a little bit older, got little bit more money
in their pocket when they come in. But the fact
of the matter is the NFL game is about one
hundred times faster than college because you have to make
decisions in less than half a second. That's what makes

(32:50):
it faster, not necessarily the speed on the field, which
it is faster, but the time in between something changing
from one thing to the next is a split second,
and you have to be calibrated to be able to
pick up on it since it and understand what to do,
and that takes time.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
It is difficult.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
To do that when you're just trying to learn to
get everybody to have them learn your voice for the
snap count.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Right.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
You can't take an organization. There's been much maligned like
the Oakland excuse me, the Las Vegas Raiders and say, okay,
we got him, Fernando Mendoza, he's our guy. He's in,
he's gonna save us. Yeah, they got holes everywhere. Sure,
we don't even know if the offensive line is gonna
be there and intact to hold up so he.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Can learn its year.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
And this is what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
What you don't want to do is be a Houston
Texan's David Carr situation. Okay, that's a very very dangerous
place to be.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
How many weeks is okay? Though? For him to sit out?
Are you willing to sit him the whole year? Well?

Speaker 4 (34:07):
It depends it. Well, if there went hey, guess what.
Guess it seemed to work out for one Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
It's sure dead. I don't think Patrick mahonell won overall
pick in the draft.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
I don't think Patrick Mahomes suffered.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Not the number one overall pick.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
And I understand that first John draft pick ten pick
in the draft, right.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
But joined a team that was all. They were a contender.
They were a playoff team, right.

Speaker 4 (34:31):
What I'm saying is is Las Vegas a playoff team?

Speaker 3 (34:36):
No? Then we have time.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
We need time for them to even be a competitive team. Okay,
they're not going to be more competitive with Fernando Mendoza.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
They won't.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
They won't be more competitive with Fernando than with Kirk Cousins.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
They won't.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
They won't be. He gives them their best shot to
be competitive.

Speaker 4 (34:58):
So now if they start the first six weeks and
they're four and two, are there.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Three and three? That's it?

Speaker 4 (35:06):
Now we're like, okay, we're being We're competing. We're competing,
right like, we're we're we we have a stake in this,
we're competing. Now, let's find the right soft landing spot
for Fernando to come in and make his debut. I

(35:32):
think that's we get so caught up in he's the
first pick. He gotta go, he gotta go right now,
he's got he I mean we drafted him, well, well
he needs to go. Well, he may feel like he
needs to go, and he wants to go, and and
he's ready to make it happen. But the reality of
it is, are we starting off the season with, you know,

(36:01):
the Dolphins, him against the Dolphins, then the Chargers, Saints,
Kansas City Chiefs, Patriots, Buffalo Bills.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
The Rams. Is that what you want him to walk into?

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Well, I mean more to say on this because you
talked to me about soft landing spot when we were
talking about entering Jackson Dart into the games last year.
And something you just said is a scheduling quirk that
I think belongs in this conversation. You just mentioned it
as you listed off their first six or seven games.

(36:37):
So let's do that next. We're live in the Fox
Sports Radio studios along with the from Salama, Mark Willard
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 7 (36:45):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Hey, we live in the Fox Sports Radio studios with
me from Salama, Mark Willard. How long is too long?
You mentioned that the Raiders are home to Miami to
start it off, then they go to the Chargers that's
also a home game. Then they'll go to the Saints.

(37:22):
I remember last year, if memory serves, you accurately predicted
when Jackson Dart was going to be named the starter
because you said, look at where the soft spot is
in their schedule in the first month and a half. Well,
Week four, Chiefs, Week five, at Patriots Week six, Bills

(37:45):
Week seven, Rams, whoa, okay, let them know you shirts?
Your shirts? Not eight?

Speaker 3 (37:53):
It's not eight? Why it's not eight?

Speaker 2 (37:57):
You?

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I see you see the Jets.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
At New York Jets the act. Yeah, but at Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Too, Yep. But that's a different That's that's why.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Why why are the Browns worse than the Jets?

Speaker 4 (38:09):
Because New York is its own animal. Okay, those lights
are a little bit brighter up there. Okay, there's a
young quarterback who was home and famously saw ghosts, right
like there's there's, there's. New York is a no go
for the Jets are giants no matter how bad. Okay,

(38:32):
all right, it's just different. I played there a bunch
of times. The energy is just crazy. Now at the Browns,
at this time, the Browns will still be trying to
figure out who they gonna have at quarterbacks. Sure, and
you don't have Miles Garrett that you have to contend with,

(38:53):
because that would be a huge one. Maybe we punt,
Maybe we punt on that one. But for me, I
see week twelve. Now, this could be accelerated. If they're
one or two and eight nine, then it's like, okay,
we got we gotta bust the glass. This is not working.

(39:18):
But if they have any sembilance of success, the landing
spot for me will be week twelve at the Browns.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Okay, by the way, that is Thanksgiving week. They don't
play on I mean they don't play till Sunday, right,
but it's Thanksgiving week. I do like this quirk. They
also have a bye the following week, so get in
some action, well, study the action, get yourself two weeks
to go into the lab and check it all out.

(39:47):
I'm also struck just looking at this, going, damn dude,
the Raiders like this does not you finished where they finished?
You're supposed to get.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
An easier schedule to schedule? Good lord, they got tough sketus.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
I mean, part of it is they ended up against
the NFC West. Nothing you can do about that. Part
of that is their division is tough. Notting you can
do about that. But the Chiefs and the Bills and
some of these teams that that, I mean the Patriots obviously,
the Chiefs and their division, Patriots, Bills ended up all

(40:21):
on their schedule. Yep. It's it's going to not gonna
be not gonna be easy. Okay. Three things are right
around the corner. Our top observations off the beaten path
from the week that was Aphram and Mark more coming
off we go into the night on a Sunday, let's

(40:43):
get this next week started edition. Were well into August.
Football is coming in, so we were broadcasting live Fox
Sports Radio studios. A reminder with the iHeart app stream
us wherever you are catch all of us all the
Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four to seven new

(41:04):
and improve I Hard app. Search Fox Sports Radio in
the app streams live all day every day. Have be
sure to select Fox Sports Radio as a preset so
always pops up right there at the top of your screen.
Let's roll three things. This is how we do it
every single Sunday, our top three observations from the world

(41:24):
of sports that might be a little bit off of
the beaten path. I will go first so that mister
Ephram can go last. Okay, Ephraim. Number one for me
is rest in peace. Don Nelson passed away at the
age of eighty six. He was once upon a time
the winning a coach in the history of the NBA.

(41:46):
Now comes in at number two in terms of overall wins.
They named it after him for a little while. Nelly
Ball a complete and total different style of offense, an innovator,
and a guy who was the coach of the Golden
State Warriors at a time when I was really coming
up and falling in love with the sports. So, whether

(42:06):
that be the days of Chris Mallin and Tim Hardaway
right or on into the newer age group that is
known as that we Believe Warriors. The Baron Davis and
Steven Jackson and that whole crew, and then his mark
being left forever more on this organization in a way

(42:28):
that nobody else can. He's the guy who believed in
Steph Curry and was the guy who made that pick,
and therefore eventually they made the moves to open up
the space for Steph to become who he became. And
so with that he is. He's a unique guy and

(42:51):
the Warrior family up here and many around the NBA
will miss him. Rest in peace. Nelly.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Absolutely one of the great voices and leaders in the NBA.
And look the amount of respect.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Nelly.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
You just it's just exuded from everyone who came in
contact with him. A brilliant basketball mind. Our prayers go
out to his loved ones, his family.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Uh, he will be missed, Absolutely, He'll be missing don Nelson. Man.
He uh marched to a different beat. And I mean
that in a really, really good way. Mine.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
Let's talk about baseball, Okay, Uh, what's happening here?

Speaker 2 (43:37):
How do you mean?

Speaker 4 (43:39):
Well, I've been watching the Dodgers, who are still leading
their division by the mile, but they don't feel like
the same Dodgers, right, And I know it's a long season.

(44:00):
In their dips even last year, right, they had I
think at one point in time it dipped below five
hundred or something like that, and they had lost seven
in a row.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
And it just you know it, it happens.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
But the way these Dodgers are performing, are not performing,
it's blowing my mind. I believe they're They've given up
the second most double plays and MLB this year, which
is odd because of the level of batting an offense

(44:35):
that they have. And so watching our picture struggle, our
bullpen struggle, and our bullpens showed up today thankfully, but Roblowski, Robleski, Lebowski,
whatever the big Lebowski.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
Forgot to show up.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
And it's a combination of, you know, starting picture does
his job, bullpen doesn't, starting pitcher does his job, closer doesn't.
Starting pitcher doesn't do his job, and then the wheels
fall off, and you know, you get swept two series
in a row, like swept, Yeah, and then you come

(45:21):
in and you lose. So that's three series you lose.
You're one in nine or one in eight. I would like,
is there something deeper happening here? That's the question I
have for you. I don't think so Giants fan.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
No, I don't think so. I like, I mean, I
just spent about fifteen minutes ago being completely sarcastic for
three full minutes with regard to this quote unquote losing streak, Like, oh, terrifying.
We have fallen all the way down to twenty two

(46:02):
games over five hundred. We've fallen all the way far down. Yeah,
we've fallen all the way down to a game out
of getting a bye. We have too far by all
the way down to second in run differential in all
of the major first, like, I don't argue with you,
by the way, the Dodgers have fallen all the way

(46:22):
down to oh wait, still leading the bigs and runs.
So no, I do not think there's an issue. It
feels very temporary. First of all, your bullpen stress that
you're feeling be real. You always have, yeah, you always
Last year.

Speaker 3 (46:39):
It was a thing, right, they saved to us last year.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
What's my man? Who you were about to you when
you saw Blake trying, Oh lord, your muscles would spasm.
Oh my god, you had a thing. And even if
you go back, I long made the point that why
the Dodgers didn't have more playoffs success prior to a
couple of years ago. Was because that didn't pay as
much attention to the bullpen as they did the rotation

(47:08):
and all of the other parts of the diamond. I
guess you could argue that's still true to a degree.
They spent a lot of money on Diaz. He's been hurt.
Now he's back. He doesn't look right, So I don't
necessarily know that part of it. But as Steve said
last time we talked to him, this team is holding
auditions for starting pitchers right now and that's not going

(47:29):
to continue to be the case. So no, nobody want
not worried, not worried about your seventy and forty eight dollars.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
Look, man, there's a standard here. Okay, I get it,
there's a standard we've been building to the last couple
of years, and just watching them play, it's a lot
of uncertainty at the plate.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
I lied. By the way, they're not number one in
runs scored in the BIGS. There's a few teams that
have scored more. I found a couple that right there. Yeah,
I guess what though, good not Actually a few of
the teams that boast you want to know who leads
the bigs in runs scored. What would you guess? I
give you one one shot at it. What team has

(48:16):
scored the most runs in the Red Sox. The Boston
Red Sox are very good guess, but they are relatively
middle of the packet. Film one and twenty three. You
want to know who has scored six hundred and forty
three runs? This is a solid that's also a good guess.
But no, they're at five sixty eight six forty three.

(48:37):
This is a full fifty two runs more than the
Dodgers this year. But they don't even have a winning
record the Washington Nationals, who have also given up six
hundred and nineteen runs, which is the problem. So those
games are fun lots of runs if you enjoy offense
that Washington Nationals. But anyway, the Dodgers, No, not stressed

(49:02):
at all. And sure I'm not a fan, but like,
believe you me, this season has been as objective as
I can ever be in baseball because the Giants right
now are putting out a nine man lineup that Giants
fans haven't heard of. So whatever, dude, this season is

(49:24):
a complete loss. And I can look at it through
some pretty clear glasses and I think the Dodgers are
going to be just fine, just fine.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
Thanks for that vote of confidence.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
You're welcome. I'm gonna do this on the fly for
my number two guys, Alex Brandon. If you can find
it and you have it, great. If you don't, that's
fine too. But they're going to have Adam VINITII taking
a shot at Bill Belichick in his Hall of Fame
speech that came up this weekend. If you do, great,

(49:59):
I'd love to play it for everybody. If not, I'll
just recap it with the fact that Vinitary launched into
doing what you normally do in a Hall of Fame speech,
and let's compliment the people around you who had a
lot to do with your success. And he got to
Brady and he got to Belichick, and at one point
I think said, look, you know, Bill Belichick is the

(50:20):
greatest coach ever, and then launched into something about not
being there because he had Okay, let's hear it, let's
hear Outam Vinitari, and a piece of his Hall of
Fame speech.

Speaker 8 (50:33):
I would repeat those last few statements about coach Bill
Belichick as well.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Thank you for.

Speaker 8 (50:38):
Demanding excellence every single day, your preparation discipline and attention
to detail shaped far more than my football career. Unfortunately,
Bill couldn't make it here today. There's a lot going
on at UNC right now.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
He may be on a.

Speaker 8 (50:55):
Recruiting trip right now, looking for the next Lawrence Taylor.
I thought it was because in a camp had already started,
but in truth, it's because he's judging his girlfriend's cheerleading competition.

(51:16):
All joke, all jokes aside, all jokes aside.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
In my opinion, is it? I mean, I like the
one guy who was like, they're like, he's like whoa like?

Speaker 7 (51:32):
He like?

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Who does a singer?

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Man said and worked on that. He ran it by
a million people for weeks.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Dude, for a week for weeks. And when you say hilarious,
I don't know if you met the joke or Adam himself.
He's not a stand up comic because we can tell
by the delivery. His delivery was an absolutely that is
what was hilarious. That was a D plus delivery at best.
But I'm no prude. I just want to say this though,

(52:02):
that doesn't feel right in a Hall of Fame speech. Look,
you're going into the hall. You get to do whatever
you want with that time. Then again, we get to
say what we want about that said exactly, and that
felt that felt awkward, clunky, uncomfortable, poorly delivered, poorly timed,

(52:26):
and quite frankly, for me, a subject matter that if
I'm Bill and I know where your head is on
this too, Ephraim, I'm like, did the kicker just say that?
The kicker? So all these people around you who put
your offense because he went on to Brady and took

(52:48):
shots at him. Next, his singer for Brady was, well,
I was thrilled to play with the best quarterback in
the history of the Patriots, Drew bledsoe are you kidding me? Boy?
You're the kicker? He demanded your work? What did that mean,

(53:09):
Hacky Sack? Like, honestly, a little decorum, a little respect.
You want to take pot shots at your friends fire away,
you start shooting at their girlfriends in your Hall of
Fame speech, the kicker. No thanks from me, dude, No

(53:29):
thanks from me on that speech. No, it's look the
kicker from I get it, you'ured. Oh my god, it
would be.

Speaker 4 (53:42):
Measured on not his stand up or lack thereof his
sit down. Yeah, it's it's fine. I know it's fine,
this moment to start a new career.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Lord the workshop at.

Speaker 4 (54:02):
He started this, he wanted look, and he's this is
great for his his tape. He's putting his tape out there,
all right, all right, jokes. He's trying to get ahead
of the Belichick Netflix Roast special to get the roast.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
To have me on the road. Gotta have me on
the roast, Nikki Glazer. Right, we'll get Kevin Hard up
there and Vin Terry who doesn't want to see that.

Speaker 4 (54:33):
Anyway, Go ahead, that's funny. Let's uh, let's talk about
for my second one, it'll be really I want to
know your thoughts on what's going on with the w

(54:54):
n b A and and everything outside of actual basketball.
More importantly about you see people taking you know, shots

(55:14):
at them former NBA players saying, hey, we identify as
as women. We're going to enter into the w NBA draft. Yeah,
and it's cantor Royce. It was Royce?

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Uh or did I get the last name?

Speaker 3 (55:32):
Last name now please excuse me, an white?

Speaker 4 (55:40):
And but that leads me to now the bylaws Article
thirteen says, you know the w n b A is
open to women, right, but then you come back and
you say there won't be any discrimination, uh, for anybody
for any reason. And religious, sexual orientation, beliefs, political views,

(56:07):
all of that, and the recent outcry from some of
the coaches and players for trans athletes, one coach saying
that I would welcome to play against the trans athlete
and have them on my team. Now, where does that

(56:28):
leave in your opinion? Where does that leave women's sports?
Where does it leave women's sports in terms of equality fairness? Look,
and this is one of those those subjects where you're like, Okay, well,
I didn't mean to roll a landmine underneath your chair.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
There's a bunch of different questions that I heard there,
and so, like, you know, the first one was sort
of like, why are we Why is the WNBA here?

Speaker 3 (57:03):
Why are we here right now?

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Yeah? Poor, poor, poor leadership.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
Oh my goodness, we talk about everything.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Some of the worst leadership I've ever seen. And that's
and and Kathy Engelbert is her name. She's the commissioner
of the WNBA, and she is a complete and total
laughing stock. And I know that she, if she were
to hear this, would immediately say something like, oh, you
wouldn't say that. If I were a man, You damn right,
I would, You damn right, I would. So the issue

(57:34):
with her is that I think you're pointing out she
and the league have allowed the discourse around this league
to turn into everything but the game. But combine that
with she refuses to sort of like speak the truth

(57:55):
of the WNBA and then handle that like what is
your stance? What do you stand for? Once upon a time,
I'm thinking of you know, Donald Sterling with the Clippers,
and maybe that's an easier one to handle, but Adam

(58:17):
Silver a time or two has come out and been like,
this is where the league stands on this, and if
you don't agree with it, Fox News, fire away, and
we're going to handle you because we're big enough to
handle all of this. It was no different with Kaepernick, right,
everybody was like this, this is what we're going to do,

(58:39):
and if the news companies want to come out and
freak out, then do it. We're betting people are still
going to watch football. I think she's so fearful that
their newfound celebrity is going to go away. She just
keeps riding the fence and saying nothing. She says nothing,
and so there's no definition, there's no direct yet she

(59:02):
still wants to release statements about it, which also, as
you've pointed out, means all we're doing is talking about
Sophie Cunningham transgender athletes. Nobody wants to talk about how
the Valkyries just held off the sparks, you know, to
keep pace second place with Minnesota. Like nobody. There's just

(59:25):
none of it, nothing about it.

Speaker 4 (59:27):
And it's a shame. It's a shame. It's a shame
that it's become this thing. It's like reality television and
not the good kind.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
No, and so the Indiana Fever, those are the characters, and.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
It's it's I'm just scratching my head because I think
the women of the w NBA deserve their spotlight, deserve
their ability and opportunity to shine and to showcase how
dynamic and tremendous they are as athletes and players.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
But it's.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
It's always something, always something, and it's it gets to
be too much.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Yep. Yeah, they can't. They have not been able to
direct this ship in the correct direction. I'm not saying
it's not hard, but they just they can't do it.
They need a new.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
Commissioner, spronto, stat.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
I'll be very brief with my last one, and then
we could talk about that some more. Actually a little
bit later on the show, I will correct too, But
my last one is this, and maybe it has a
little something to do with Vinetario's speech as well. Uh,
leaving people's girlfriends out of the conversation, Can we stop
losing our minds about NFL players having their girlfriends on

(01:00:51):
the field at camp? And here's my thing, Like, Ephraim,
did you ever have a family member at practice? Of course? Okay,
anybody make a big deal out of it? No, No,
that's because I bet your family members at that time
were not TikTok stars that everybody wants to talk about.
So correct. Here comes Justin Herbert and he's over there

(01:01:13):
taking a break with Madison Beer, and everybody's got problem
with it. And I keep thinking to myself, the only
reason you got a problem with it is because you
are probably a dirty old man and you can't get
Madison beer out of your mind. If just if Justin Herbert, Yeah,
it was over there with his mom or his dad,

(01:01:34):
or his brother, or his sister or a less famous girlfriend.
No big deal. But Joe Burrows with Olivia Ponton and
Justin Herbert is with Madison Beer. And now family members
aren't allowed on the field. Stop telling on yourself. You
just want to talk about pretty girls. Leave the whole

(01:01:54):
thing alone.

Speaker 4 (01:01:55):
Family on the field is fine, and it's part of it,
thank you, part of the experience more so now than
even back before. And I think it's great. Camp could
be a campus camp used to be awful. Right now
it's more family centric, which I love. They used to
have family days where fans and it was like one

(01:02:17):
or two days during camp. Now it's you know, most
of these camps are open. You come, you celebrate with
the players or kids there. There's just a significant other
on the field. I think all that's fine, totally. I
think it's completely fine.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
I'm glad to hear you say that.

Speaker 4 (01:02:31):
Yeah, because look, we're humans, all right, We're athletes, but
we're humans and so human emotion, human contact. That's We
used to go to training camp away from wherever we
were exactly. We used to be in Furman, South Carolina
at Furman University, what like. We used to go to

(01:02:54):
northern Colorado. When I was with Denver, the manure capital
of the world, for six weeks, we were like starved
animals when we got back home. I love the interaction
with family and it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
Keeps you, It keeps.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
It keeps you calm, It keeps you steady, right, it
keeps you grounded in reality.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Take a break with your girl, Dude, big deals.

Speaker 4 (01:03:26):
Fine, it's fine. My third one is in youth sports.
It's I consider myself a youth sports coach, and you know,
sometimes sometimes I question that and I put together a team.
I know, the whole fiasco that we went through last

(01:03:47):
year with the you know, parks and rec and you
know how some people like to you know, tip the
scales in their favor, maybe doing some things that aren't
necessarily above board when it comes to youth sports and
you know, making it an equitable process.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
I say that's last year, this year, or earlier this year.

Speaker 4 (01:04:14):
But now I put together a group of kids who
came from the wreck and now we do a little
bit of travel ball and things like that, and it's
been a hell of an adjustment. These kids who have
thrived and played well at the wreck now playing different
travel level teams, some AAU teams, and it's been some
bumps and bruises.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
But today.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
We've been doing team building things everybody comes to the house,
they go swim and barbecue for everybody there. You know,
everybody's there and interacting off the court. Today we had
a game early and then we went and went to
Dave and Busters between our game and let the kids play.
And then we come back and I coached twelve you
and we're playing at thirteen fourteen.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
You team.

Speaker 4 (01:05:02):
Thirteen fourteen and they're big and all of that, but
these kids, this is the first time that they put
this together, and they played well. And my son, I
think he accessed another level in terms of leadership and ability.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
Okay, And I want to send a shout out to him.
And I've talked about it a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:05:24):
We've had a lot of conversations about maybe I'm just
not the voice he needs to hear.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
He's very emotional.

Speaker 4 (01:05:31):
When I say what I would say to anybody on
the team, he's very emotional. And I will say started
off a little rocky and I called him over when
the other team was at the free throw line and
I used some words Alex would have to use the dump.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Button for.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
You can try me, no no, no no, with love
though with love, and.

Speaker 4 (01:05:56):
Then I gave him a you can do this come on, man,
believe in yourself and slapped him on the butt and
he kind of hit my arm away. Oh whatever happened
good and is gracious. He turned into the person he
could be. And so I want to send a shout
out to the team, shout out to my son Elijah,

(01:06:19):
for we're progressing. We're headed in the right direction. And
at first I was like, am I wasting your am
I wasting your time? So I want to send a
shout out to those boys who are just trying to
become better players.

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
You have a way of bringing this out in them
every time. I know he's not gonna give you credit,
but you have a way of bringing this out every
single time. I'm glad you shared that. All Right, we
went beefy there, but all good. We're gonna catch up
live from the Fox Sports Radio studio. Steve de Seger
coming up in just a few that's he.

Speaker 5 (01:06:54):
From listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
We're live in the Fox Sports Radio studios. I don't
much believe in the idea of regret because it's in
the past. Then again, he from we've cut into his time.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Give it to him. Let's go, Stey, give that man
his time.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Thank you Basketball pay their Basketball Hall of Famer Don
Nelson passed away at the age of eighty six, a
head coach for over thirty years in the league, in
fact second winning his coach in NBA history one Coach
of the Year three times. He also won five titles
as a player with Boston. The Celtics retired as Jersey
back in the nineteen seventies. Lions quarterback Teddy Bridgewater retired

(01:07:44):
in the WNBA at Minnesota. Kayla McBride scored forty three
points in a win over Dallas one o three to ninety.
Alex Pelow was the IndyCar winner in Portland, Oregon, his
sixth victory this year. Ty Gibbs took the NASCAR race
at Iowa, and Tennis Cocoa Goff won our fourth round
man in Toronto, as did Naomi Osaka. Michael Brennan the
golf winner in Greensboro. Hesley Rivera took her second straight

(01:08:07):
US Women's gymnastics title. In the Sunday night ballgame in
San Diego, the Padres have taken the lead. Fernando Tatist
Junior with a three run homer San Diego four to
two over Houston.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
In the top of the fifth.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
Houston was a half game ahead of the Rangers in
the AL West. To start the day, Texas lost at
home ten to five to Baltimore. Tampa Bay won at
six straight game, four to one at Seattle. The Mariners
have lost four straight. The A's won four to three
at Boston. The lost to closer Eraldus Chapman. The Red
Sox had won nine in a row until a Saturday
loss to the Athletics. Atlanta in ten innings beat the

(01:08:41):
Yankees two to one in New York.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
The Yanks are.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Second in the AL East, now five and a half
games behind the Rays. Boston is seven back in the division.
Arizona a four to two winner over the Dodgers, who've
dropped eight of nine. Philadelphia got two home runs from
Kyle Schwarber in a twelve inning win against Toronto seven
to six. Ucky, with the best record in the Majors,
one again a ten inning victory over Minnesota four to three.

(01:09:05):
The Cubs won ten two at Kansas City, winning pitcher
Matthew boy to the Cubbies. Now eight and one, the
White Sox have a three and a half game lead
in the AL Central. White Sox beat Cleveland five to three,
wins for the Mets in Washington, wins for Detroit in ten,
and for Saint Louis. Miami beat the Angels twelve three.
The Angels have the worst record in the majors forty

(01:09:27):
five and seventy three.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
Back to you, all right, great stuff, Steve, appreciate that
we shouldn't do that again. No, we will not.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
And that's my fault.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
I was long. No, No, not your fault.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
No, I was long with it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:41):
Steve.

Speaker 3 (01:09:42):
Please stop glaring at me like that he's a dangerous,
dangerous man.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Split out. Yes he is, but he got it all
in there. And back to it. On our part, Mark
Willardy from Salam, glad you are with us live here
in these Fox Sports radio studios. Speaking of long winded though,
was there more on that WNBA front that you wanted

(01:10:12):
to get to because I was thinking about this earlier
today and I'm just it's like again, I think we
agree on the leadership. How we got here though, is
a very very difficult question to answer, only defeated by
how do you get out of here? Which is I

(01:10:33):
think what they need to figure out. Yeah, they got
to have a.

Speaker 4 (01:10:39):
Better exit strategy when it comes to putting, putting the
conversation in the views back on what it is in
his basketball. It's too much hatred. Why is it's when
you talk about the wn right, I remember when it

(01:11:03):
started the nineties and it was such a big thing.
Sacramento Monox had a team, had a bunch of friends
on that team. Actually used to try in the off season.
Albion Connie, who was the King's trainer and the Monox trainer.
We would come and we would work out, and then
we'd go and practice against the w NBA team, the

(01:11:24):
Sacramento Monox. That's why I know they can play basketball
for I don't question women basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:11:33):
I don't on any level.

Speaker 4 (01:11:35):
I mean, they were saying they were talking to us
like I was like, oh my lord, I'm like, okay,
they talked motrashed than guys, and it's harsher.

Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
It was harsher then.

Speaker 4 (01:11:52):
So you find yourself ramping up and competing and there
you know, they're dynamic athletes, just like all professional athletes,
the basketball players, and so you should keep the sanctity
of what that is the genesis of what these women
have fought for very hard. For the new CBA. The

(01:12:14):
money goes up right the way they're treated, the way
they're viewed has improved, yep. And why are we trying
to undermine that? That's the question. I'm like, what is
happening right now?

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Well?

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
I do think this is a shared story, though, you know,
you say, why are we trying to undermine that? I
think a big piece of the puzzle also to ask,
at least, is to what level they have undermined that?
And here's what I mean by that, Like, I do
think that you could make a case this is going
to sound really odd because it has taken years and years.

(01:12:52):
I think the w has been around for what thirty years? Like, yeah,
it's taken a long time to get to this point.
But I could make the case that it's too much attention,
too fast. And I don't mean that in terms of
thirty years. I mean that in terms of it went
from one thing to the next. It skipped like five

(01:13:12):
levels so fast, you know what I mean. It happened
so fast that I just think a lot of the
players and definitely a lot of the executives did not
have the media training necessary to not in some ways
get pulled into this and then kind of put their
dukes up in a way that made a lot of

(01:13:34):
fans feel like, wait a minute, you're glad I'm here right,
Like there's a little bit of an angry streak that
runs through the league, and I'm not like I get it,
I really do. I understand it. People are having narrative
set about them and it's like, this guy out of pocket.

(01:13:55):
This is not where I want my reputation to go.
Plus there's all of the hits through the years that
women have taken to try to get onto an even
playing field, just shifting right. And then but then you
arrive here. You arrive here, and the dynamic that's tough

(01:14:16):
is I think the league and many of the women
in it are exhausted from the fight and are a
little upset about it. But then the new fan arrives
and they're like, yeah, this is great. What are we
doing And they're like, oh, we're not speaking publicly and

(01:14:39):
we're like no, we're not, Like we're going to show
up late to media sessions and and then let's let's
have the conversation end up in serious political arenas immediately.
And I think some fans are like, oh, this doesn't
sound fun at all. Let's let's let's try yeah, let's sleeve.

(01:15:00):
This is not this party is not what we thought
it was. And I it just it's gotten out of control.
I don't. I don't think anybody meant for it to
be like this. How you undo it? I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:15:13):
I don't know why we just all of a sudden
want to take a political stance and start heaping these
political accusations and onto the w What are we doing?
I just think about the fight to get here, right,
and now we want to under why undermine it?

Speaker 3 (01:15:35):
Just what is happening?

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
Right? I just don't. I don't. I don't think they
were ready and some of the personalities that brought them
to the mountaintop are big and it's gonna land up.
It's just it is. It's just gonna it's gonna land
a certain way. I just you know. The one thing

(01:16:00):
I know for sure, though, is that commissioner is not helping. No,
my goodness, no, no.

Speaker 4 (01:16:11):
So like it's funny because this is only women's sports.
Oh yeah, we're not having we're not talking about this
and having this talk about the NFL or the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:16:29):
Well it's that's there's no opportunity there. This is opportunistic
by people with.

Speaker 4 (01:16:33):
It, and that's what I'm talking about. Yes, it's my opportunity.
That's the part that I'm getting people with an agenda
for sure. I mean there's absolutely this undeniable.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
Because if it's the other way, people would be like, Okay,
go sit down.

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
What do you say?

Speaker 3 (01:16:48):
What are you saying? Yeah, go sit down?

Speaker 2 (01:16:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:16:53):
I just hate taking away from all that these women
are accomplishing and the things that they're doing. The league
is more popular now than ever, well it was. I'm
not sure if that's waning.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Yeah, but not yet.

Speaker 4 (01:17:08):
But you know, the little girls all over the place,
Like you know, I coached youth basketball. I coach girls.
They're excited, they're excited about the prospects of them, continue
to play.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
They for as long as they can play.

Speaker 2 (01:17:27):
They get to have the same dreams that I love that.

Speaker 3 (01:17:30):
That's the part that's the youth coaching meep. I love that.

Speaker 4 (01:17:38):
Because a dream, a dream is the fuel to success.
Don't mess it up, tough ask.

Speaker 2 (01:17:55):
I don't know if you've met twenty twenty six before, boys,
but just gotta get mad, just guys.

Speaker 4 (01:18:04):
Look, people are there's some people who are going to
disagree with what we're saying. Well, we gotta that's fine,
and this is an opinion based business, right, But what
we're not is we're not disparaging to anyone no matter
what you believe, what you identify out or who you are.

Speaker 3 (01:18:21):
That's that's not what this is. And if you're taking
it that way, just go relisten again.

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
Yep, you know. So.

Speaker 4 (01:18:31):
Look, yeah, they figure this thing out, man, but the
league shouldn't be made a mockery of That's all I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
Amen. Amen, Yeah, we're company live from the Fox Sports
Radio Studios. Okay, you're a Laker fan, which means you
have insight that will help my NBA brethren in this
part of the world. I'll explain a question for you
for you to answer coming up next on Fox Sports.

Speaker 7 (01:18:53):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
Dot and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:19:08):
Okay, Fox Sports Radio Studios. So only got like a
minute and a half, but he from here's the premise.
Warrior fans are like, dude, we should just sign anyone.
Are you going to bring in anyone new? So some
of them are sort of like why not when the
name Russell Westbrook comes God, thank you. Would you like

(01:19:29):
to take a moment and explain to Warrior fans why not?

Speaker 4 (01:19:32):
Because he doesn't fit your system and he fits his system,
and he's been a great player, he's a Hall of Famer,
he's MVP. But Russell plays within his system, and if
it's not conducive to yours, it doesn't work. That's why
a player of his caliber has been if he signs

(01:19:53):
with them, what eight teams? When has that ever happened?
What has that ever happened?

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
It hasn't.

Speaker 3 (01:20:00):
That's crazy. There's a reason. It's a reason.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
Did you enjoy having him?

Speaker 4 (01:20:10):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:20:10):
Did you love him as a player? I love his energy?
But boy, oh boy, goodness, gracious, it was not a
good fit.

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
Just wanted to get that on tape so that if
I need it, I can get the Fox Sports radio
producers to send that to me so that I can
share it to the Warriors fans day they know all right?

Speaker 4 (01:20:30):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
Speaking of the Warriors, I think the craziest opinion I've
ever heard by an ex athlete was uttered up. All right.
Lots to do as we head into our third hour
of the night, We're broadcasting live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Good evening to you or wherever it is,

(01:20:51):
wherever you may be from all of us here at
FSR with me from Salam I'm Mark Willard. Still plenty
to get to five five weeks, a little bit less
actually away from actual NFL games that matter, but much
much more to discuss, including this. Look, it's almost too easy.

(01:21:13):
So maybe I don't even need to say it, but
Monte ellis former, very very solid, very good NBA guard
has been hired as the GM at Alcorn State. Did
you see in the process of all of this the
comments that he made with regard to basically the the

(01:21:37):
history of the Warriors. Did you see this?

Speaker 4 (01:21:41):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
I did not. I want you to. I want you
to buckle up. Maybe it's too easy. Still need to
get it off my chest, let it out. You're in
a safe place. One thing I don't love is when
former players diminish current players. I think that's a bad

(01:22:07):
look every time, every time. If you feel the way
you feel, then to a degree, swallow it. Being the
old dude telling everybody about how now sucks and back
then was great, including you is just a no for me.

(01:22:29):
So anyway, Monte Alison I have no issue with at
all and grew up a Warrior fan and fond memories
of Monte. For those who don't know, one of the
reasons he's still a big name in the Golden State
Warrior parts is because famously he spoke publicly about how

(01:22:50):
when Steph Curry was drafted and started to play, he
didn't think that the two guards fit together. And he
was right, but he didn't think they together, and at
the time it was very much seen as a I
don't think I really want Steph Curry here, and then
he was traded not too long after that. He was

(01:23:12):
traded in a controversial deal because he was sent to
the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut, and Bogut had dealt
with major injury and certainly wasn't as flashy and fun
as monte Ellis. I don't need to tell everybody what
happened with the Warriors next, but in the process of

(01:23:33):
being hired at Alcorn State, monte Ellis, who was once
the most improved player in the NBA back in six
and seven, sort of spoke publicly about his teams how
he never really felt like they were fully constructed the
way that he would have loved to see them be constructed,

(01:23:57):
but that he and some of his teammates kind of
set the stage for what ended up happening next with
the Warriors dynasty. But peep this quote as he's trying
to make that point. And again, the point is the
players I played with wasn't fully constructed correctly, so it
was hard for us to win. But boy, we set

(01:24:19):
the table for who came next. Quote. That's what I
dealt with. And people know that. Real people that know
basketball and all that, they know that, they know the
team that I was dealt with. If you switched me
and Steph out with the team that won the championships,

(01:24:45):
it'd be the same thing. So you gotta take the
good with the bad, and that's cool. It put me
in a position to make money for me and my family.
I ran with that end quote. Let's go back to
the sentence. If you switched me and Steph out with

(01:25:09):
the team that won championships, it'd be the same thing.
In all my years, ephrom of hearing former players either
criticize current players or just do that sort of comparison
thing of back in my day, I don't think I've

(01:25:31):
ever read a more diminishing quote than that to basically say,
not a damn thing would be different with the Warriors
if it had been me instead of Stephen Wardell Curry,
for my money, the greatest guard who's ever lived. That

(01:25:55):
is absolutely the craziest thing I've ever heard a former
player say about the now. Mm hmm. Okay, so I'll

(01:26:15):
play advocate fire away.

Speaker 4 (01:26:19):
Okay, the reality of what you're saying is correct. Steph
Curry is one of the greatest, you know guards to
ever play.

Speaker 2 (01:26:29):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:26:29):
Most people don't know who monte Ellis is, But that
doesn't mean monte Ellis wasn't.

Speaker 3 (01:26:34):
A good player.

Speaker 2 (01:26:35):
His good player, yeah, no, no, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (01:26:37):
He wasn't a transcending player, right. Steph Curry is, you know,
still to this day a transcending player. At his height,

(01:26:58):
his best year thinking averaged four to three's a game
through four attempts a game. Uh, and his highest shooting
percentage was that same year, the thirty six percent. Right,
that might be one of STEP's worse years. Okay, Now,

(01:27:25):
monte Ellis was a twenty point a game scorer and
Golden State he was uh, twenty points a game, nineteen
point six points a game. He was one hell of
a you know, four cists, two steals.

Speaker 6 (01:27:45):
He was.

Speaker 3 (01:27:47):
Electric, he was he was electric. And if you were
to tell me.

Speaker 4 (01:27:56):
You got Iguodala, you got Draymond Green, you got Clay Thompson,
you got uh who else?

Speaker 3 (01:28:08):
Well, it depends on which living which version, the first,
the early version, the early version, because.

Speaker 2 (01:28:13):
That, yeah, I'm looking at the roster right now, you
take Steph off of it. The names you're looking for, Yes, Clay, Draymond, Harrison, Barnes,
Sean Livingston, the front court, Boget, David Lee, Murray's spates,
little Leandro Barbosa off the bench, all right.

Speaker 3 (01:28:35):
Now, would they have been what the Golden State Warriors become?
Probably not.

Speaker 4 (01:28:40):
Do I think they could have competed and wonted a championship?
Mm hmm, Yeah, I don't I do.

Speaker 2 (01:28:50):
And the reason and also not what he said, I know,
I know he said it would have the whole thing
would have gone exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:28:57):
That's true. That's true.

Speaker 4 (01:28:59):
What I'm saying is at his skill level at that time,
he was a walking bucket, like a real problem.

Speaker 2 (01:29:07):
He was a good player, like.

Speaker 3 (01:29:08):
Seriously he was. And people don't know that they can
go back and look he was a problem.

Speaker 2 (01:29:13):
Yeah, he was a good player.

Speaker 3 (01:29:15):
And so a player like that who.

Speaker 4 (01:29:19):
Went from six points a game his rookie year to
sixteen his second year to twenty to twenty five to like,
that's a real that's real. That's a tangible thing. That's
like I'm getting buckets and there's nothing you can do
to stop me. He's a small guard, he's getting to

(01:29:39):
his spot and he's scoring. Now, you build a defensive
led team like the team that they had together, He's
not gonna score from the three point line like that,
but he's going to give you twenty twenty two points,
twenty five points a game.

Speaker 3 (01:29:55):
With that team, you can win. You can win a championship.

Speaker 2 (01:30:01):
I have been a good team.

Speaker 3 (01:30:03):
It would have been a good team.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
It's been a good team.

Speaker 4 (01:30:05):
Now Steph made the team a great team, right, he
made the team a great team. MVP unanimous, Like he
changed basketball. So to say, hey, if you would have
kept me instead of the guy who changed basketball, it
would have been the same results. No, I believe that's

(01:30:26):
cap But could they have gotten one of the four
championships with Monte Ellis as as a as a guard?
I can't sit here and say no, and that's no
Golden State hate or anything. Yeah, because I know I
watched Monte Ellis, but I know what he brought to

(01:30:48):
the table offensively.

Speaker 2 (01:30:49):
He was a good player. If you do want I mean,
we live in an age of analytics. Yeah, you want
to dive into the It's not just oh, like Steph
hit over. You know Steph hit that particular year he
hit three point six threes per game. As you pointed out,
it was like Monte took two games to even attempt

(01:31:10):
that many, let alone make it. But that's just threes.
I could do assists, we could do rebounds, we could
do efficiency, we can do free throws, we can do
whatever you want. We can do whatever you want. The
numbers will be blown completely out of the water. And

(01:31:32):
that doesn't even bring into play the system that got
put into place by Steve Kerr. That doesn't even put
into place the gravity against the defense that Steph Curry
would bring to a basketball floor. And then the last point,
which might be the most important one. Even if you

(01:31:53):
think that, and even if you're right, don't say that
like good? What do you on it?

Speaker 4 (01:32:01):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:32:02):
Who sounds good? Saying that? You know that iconic thing
that you like. All the kids y'all have posters all
over your wall and you're wearing his shoes and there's
documentaries about it. You know, that thing that change the game.
And that guy that all of you pretend to be
on the school yard. You know him? Yeah, just as
good as him. What the hell are you doing? By

(01:32:26):
the way, you're doing this tucked into a press conference
announcing that you're the GM at Alcorn State.

Speaker 3 (01:32:33):
Did anybody ask for this?

Speaker 2 (01:32:34):
I mean, hello, your social awareness button is broken? Like,
good lord, people get offended when they bring up Lebron
james name in the same sentence as Michael Jordan. This
is twenty times worse. At least that's Lebron James. I

(01:33:03):
couldn't believe this, dude. I can't like Steph Curry. Yeah,
me him, same thing. Who are you, LaVar Ball? What
are we doing? Hey man?

Speaker 3 (01:33:21):
The one thing about athletes is they always see themselves.

Speaker 2 (01:33:25):
A little bit different. I get it, and they have to.

Speaker 4 (01:33:29):
You have.

Speaker 3 (01:33:30):
You don't get to be who you are without it, right,
But like, is.

Speaker 2 (01:33:34):
It fair for me to say that when you're fifty
wearing a tie and being hired for a completely different job? Now,
maybe you could let that go.

Speaker 3 (01:33:47):
You should be able to right, like, I.

Speaker 2 (01:33:48):
Got no issue if you need that to get ready
for your game tonight. But I actually shouldn't make him
fifty years old. These now fifty years old. He's actually
only about forty years old. He's younger than Lebron.

Speaker 3 (01:34:07):
Lebron's still playing.

Speaker 2 (01:34:09):
Oh that's funny. Okay, thank you for humoring me on Matt,
appreciate it. We're broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. Hey, uh,
you want to just previews some NFL with me? Next?
Let's uh, let's let's bounce through the eight divisions. I
want to know what you think. All right, that's uh
coming up next along with the from Salama Mark.

Speaker 5 (01:34:32):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:34:41):
So we live in the Fox Sports Radio studios, Steve
de Sega handful of minutes away. If you missed any
of today's show, catch the podcast you just searched Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast right after the show.
Today's pod is ho You follow the pod, you rated

(01:35:02):
a five, You provide a review. Look, all you gotta
do is search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow the feed you'll find today's show posted right after
we get off the air. But we're not done yet.
One a bounce through the eight divisions and see where
we match and where we don't as well. Let's go. Uh,
let's start in the A f C to win the

(01:35:24):
A f C East. You will take while you're already laughing.
Uh you know, hm hmm. Okay, I'm gonna write these
down to is this this what we're doing. Like, I'll

(01:35:48):
give you a chance before the year starts to like
change if something happens, you know what I mean, you
pick somebody and if their quarterback goes down in a
preseason game. But like, I want to write these down
and then let's see how we did at the end
of the year. Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:36:04):
So a f C East, a f C East. Uh,
I'm going with my numb Come on, man, that kid,
o kid, you know them Jets all day. No Buffalo Bills, Buffalo.

Speaker 2 (01:36:19):
I will I will join you with Buffalo Bills. The
New England Patriots to me, are ripe for a little
bit of a.

Speaker 3 (01:36:29):
Step back, a little bit of humble pie.

Speaker 2 (01:36:31):
Yeah like that. Just man, that schedule last year was crazy. Yeah,
now they got they got a first place schedule.

Speaker 4 (01:36:39):
Now you got a first place, you're going to have
to fight it now exactly given the you know, coming
off the off the you know, off season stuff with
with Rabel. And we'll see how this team, you know,
puts it together. Put they're they're ripe for a super
Bowl hangover the a f C North, tough division, I know.

Speaker 3 (01:37:06):
Sure is just based on.

Speaker 4 (01:37:11):
Based on my belief and Lamar Jackson, I'll say Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (01:37:22):
I will go with you on the Baltimore Ravens. You know,
I was watching something earlier today about Lamar last year,
and obviously he was coming off of an MVP campaign
largely seen as the best player in the league, and
then he had a really bad year last year. Four
weeks into the season, his numbers were tracking very similar

(01:37:44):
to the year before, and then he got hurt. And
let's be real, you and I saw it. He was
never right, he was never right there. And I think
the Hall ball and him situation at run its course,
that's fair. That's fair, all right. So we're still matching
Bills Ravens. Let's go to the AFC South. Now, this

(01:38:04):
is one new.

Speaker 3 (01:38:08):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:38:08):
Look, I love to be a bit of a homer,
but I don't know what's going on with c. J.
Strout Man. That's a fair one. Their defense is so good,
or it was so good. He played as worse as
you possibly could play and they still won, which is crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:38:36):
So in a.

Speaker 4 (01:38:37):
Division with no true standout quarterbacks, I gotta go with
the best defense in the in the division, I gotta
go with the best defense in division with Houston.

Speaker 2 (01:38:54):
So what you just said there was you could be
a bit of a homer and then you work then
came home exactly myself into it. You know what, though, dude,
defense wins champions. I won't. I'm gonna go with you
on the Houston Texans and it's not. I mean, look,
the Titans are still not there yet. The Colts had
that thing going at the beginning of last year, right,

(01:39:18):
but I'm confused now about even what their identity is
and what to expect coming back this year. And the
Jaguars I think will be the same team, which is
they'll they'll jump up and bite you sometimes, but they're
never gonna be fully consistent. Like they're good at a
lot of different things. I don't think they're great at anything,
and that includes Trevor Lawrence. So yeah, give me the

(01:39:41):
best defensive line in the league. Give me the Texans.

Speaker 3 (01:39:46):
Okay, we're in lockstep.

Speaker 2 (01:39:48):
Let's go to the West where I have a feeling
I think.

Speaker 3 (01:39:54):
Let's hear it. Let's hear it. I got the Chargers.
Oh no way, I got the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (01:40:01):
Okay, go charge us. First of all, I just f y.
I was in that game.

Speaker 3 (01:40:08):
I played in that game from that that that sound
by after the Fires.

Speaker 2 (01:40:13):
Yeah, who was it against?

Speaker 3 (01:40:14):
It was against Houston. Oh okay, I was in that game.

Speaker 2 (01:40:17):
Did you win?

Speaker 3 (01:40:18):
No, we got.

Speaker 4 (01:40:18):
It was twenty nine to nothing at second quarter or
something like that was crazy goodness. It was literally Sean
Merriman and myself and one on one pass blocking the
entire game. And I love to hold this over his head,
not a sniff on the quarterback, just gonna throw that
out there. And it had a broken hand, But go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:40:41):
I don't know why I like the Chargers, but I
wrote it down already. I'm not just following you. My
gut tells me that something different is gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (01:40:54):
It has to.

Speaker 2 (01:40:55):
I mean, there has to so talented. They lost their
whole offensive line last year.

Speaker 3 (01:41:00):
Which and they steal.

Speaker 4 (01:41:02):
Which is look coming from an offensive lineman who knows
you don't have just a bunch of extra tackles on
the roster.

Speaker 3 (01:41:09):
It was amazing that they that even happened.

Speaker 2 (01:41:12):
And and the Broncos are good, but they're still wildly
like they were an interesting but weird team last year.
And look, I sure the Chiefs are gonna be back,
like they're gonna they're gonna do some good things. But
but I I think I think this is the year.
Oh we have such we have fishhawks in our mouths man,
the Chargers, I can't believe that we.

Speaker 3 (01:41:37):
Did it.

Speaker 2 (01:41:38):
We should do the NFC, but but not yet.

Speaker 4 (01:41:42):
No, I pick I picked Steve the sayod Wint take
your time, Steve, take your time.

Speaker 1 (01:41:51):
A fascinating box score of what you just mentioned, which
I found Texans at Chargers October two thousand and seven.
The Chargers that day, Philip Rivers only threw eleven passes,
the entire Charger offense only eleven first downs, and they
led thirty five to three at the half.

Speaker 3 (01:42:09):
YEP, I was in, I was there.

Speaker 2 (01:42:14):
I was there, question how does that happen?

Speaker 3 (01:42:17):
Pick six or something like that?

Speaker 1 (01:42:22):
One fumble recovery also for the end. Yeah, but there
it was a Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates a couple
of times in the first half.

Speaker 2 (01:42:29):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 3 (01:42:29):
It was an ugly one. This was the charge, the
fires and all of that, and I remember, I'm just like, man,
this was a.

Speaker 1 (01:42:37):
Setup that is still not as bad as the first
time the Texans ever played in San Diego five years before,
when it was David Carr and the expansion team with
no offensive line. Do you recall, and that was I
mean I lost count on the amount of sex and
that was. It was nine or ten literally in that
game with the Chargers pouncing on expand Houston at the time.

(01:43:01):
As for Major League Baseball in San Diego, the Padres
have at their fourth homer of the night. Yeah, Padres
seven to two over Houston. It's bottom of the eighth inning,
Fernando Tatist Junior with a three run homer. Padres for
the moment a game and a half out of the
last NL wildcard behind Philadelphia and Arizona. Arizona led the
Dodgers for nothing in the second inning, beat him four

(01:43:23):
to two. Dodgers have dropped eight of nine. Philadelphia got
a twelve inning win coming back against Toronto seven to
six Kyle Schwarber with two home runs.

Speaker 3 (01:43:32):
He has thirty five.

Speaker 1 (01:43:33):
Baltimore got two long balls from Pete Alonso and one
at Texas ten to five. Tampa Bay won at six
game in a row four to one at Seattle. The
A's one at Boston four to three. Atlanta beat the
Yankees in ten innings in New York two to one,
even though each team had just four hits in that game. Milwaukee,
with the best record in the majors seventy four and
forty four, hosted and beat Minnesota in ten innings four

(01:43:57):
to two.

Speaker 3 (01:43:57):
Wins for the.

Speaker 1 (01:43:58):
White Sox and Cubs. Victory for Saint Louis and Miami.
Detroit in ten innings won at San Francisco three to one,
the win to closer Kenley Jansen with three strikeouts in
the ninth. Lions quarterback Teddy Bridgewater retired at the age
of thirty three. SO Detroit is signing quarterback Joshua Dobbs.
Panthers QB Haines King is out this week at least

(01:44:19):
with a hamstring injury. Likely injured, they say. On that
game winning touchdown run the final play of the Thursday
exhibition opener. SO Carolina signs quarterback Kyle Trask, and starters
for that team will play some this Saturday. Saints guard
Dylan Raiden's is out for the year with a torn ACL.
Veteran Saints defensive end Cam Jordan misspractice with a hamstring injury.

(01:44:41):
Basketball Hall of Famer Don Nelson died at the age
of eighty six, second winning as coach in NBA history.
Andy won five titles as a player with Boston in
the WNBA. At Minnesota for the Links, Kaylea McBride forty
three points in a victory over Dallas one oh three
to ninety. Her team twenty seven and seven she from

(01:45:02):
three point range was a league record ten of fourteen. Today,
Washington won at seventh straight ripping Phoenix, New York, all
over Las Vegas. Golden State won tonight at La alex
Poalo the IndyCar winner in Portland. For NASCAR at Iowa,
Ty Gibbs took the race. Christopher Bell was second. The
Antennis Cocoa Golf won her fourth round match in Toronto,

(01:45:23):
so did Naomi Osaka and for a second straight US
Women's gymnastics title. Hesley Rivera that winner. She turned eighteen
this summer. From New Jersey and finally to golf. The
regular season is complete on the PGA Tour. The Windham
Championship concluded today, thirty fourth event of the season. Not

(01:45:44):
a lot of big names in this field. This weekend,
Cam Young, a top five golfer, was defending champion, tied
for sixty first place. Someone else from wake Forest, Michael Brennan,
was the winner. He'd only won once before on the
PGA Tour. He collects about a million and a half
a half dollars today, maybe more importantly, he goes up
to the top fifty in the FedEx Cup standings top

(01:46:07):
seventy advance, meaning this guy's going to the first playoff event,
which is this coming week in Memphis. Bo Hostler had
been the three shots back. As it turned out, he
was battling for the lead this weekend, but he needed
a win to qualify for the PGA postseason. This second
place finish has him at number seventy two in the standings,

(01:46:30):
again only the top seventy advance. Jackson Coyven is a
name that we'd mentioned, the former Auburn golfer. He entered
at number seventy leaves at number seventy the kid who
won two weeks ago in Minnesota, did just enough this weekend,
finishing in the top thirty at the Windom to make
the playoffs. Only about five events needed as a pro,

(01:46:53):
and he makes the playoffs. Apparently that's the fewest of
anyone in playoff history. Just missing the cutop a number
seventy one in the standing Steven Fiske, Kegan Bradley at
number seventy four. Jason Day misses the playoffs. He was
eighty second. Brooks Koepka was ninety fourth and misses the playoffs.
Michael Brennan, with the million and a half, is the winner,

(01:47:13):
but Bo Hostler gets nearly a million dollars for finishing
runner up in Greensboro. Brennan though, what a story, twenty
four year old, and so he wins the event. His
mom comes on to the green, hugs him in celebration
and says, oh my god, we're going to the Masters,

(01:47:35):
she says, and then he says, oh my, he didn't realize.
The win here secures a spot in the Masters next year,
as well as getting this year's lucrative postseason appears very,
very impressive. The playoffs start Thursday at the Saint Jude
in Memphis. Brennan shoots up to number forty seven specifically,

(01:47:58):
and Coyven, the guy who left Auburn in June and
only it had three pro starts and wins an event
a couple weeks ago, goes from college to the postseason
in the span of just a couple of months, age
twenty one. He's going to be in the PGA playoffs
this coming week, and it was nervous time for him.
There were two other golfers still on the course after

(01:48:19):
he'd finished, in range of finishing high enough to bump
him out of number seventy on the list, but they
failed to get the key hutts, and he had enough
to spare to advance a bogie they say even might
have been enough to knock him out. But he does
advance in just a handful of starts. That's an amazing story. Meanwhile,

(01:48:42):
the news this week that the PGA Tour CEO says
there's no merger with Live Golf. There are no conversations
about that. It was not that long ago people, when
there was an announcement that the PGA Tour was merging
with Live Golf.

Speaker 3 (01:48:57):
That is clearly not happening any more.

Speaker 1 (01:49:00):
There was a Live Golf event today, Live Golf New York,
which took place in New Jersey, and Joaquin Neeman was
the winner. John ramshot seventy six today. He tied for
forty first place. That's still enough to clinch the season
points title for the third straight time since he joined
that Tournieman with the wired to wire finish sixteen underpar

(01:49:21):
Bryson to Shambeau shot seventy one way out of the lead.
He cannot catch Ram with one tournament remaining for them.
So we got to mention in closing Joaquin Neeman because
we brought up his name before. One of the guys who,
if you want to call it, defected to Live Golf.
In the last three years, he's won nine times on

(01:49:43):
this tour, including today, and we've mentioned this often. That's
another four million dollars. Every Live Golf tournament winner gets
four million dollars, which means Joaquin Neeman has now earned
over eighty million dollars in prize money. Wow, since he's

(01:50:04):
gone to Live Gold with.

Speaker 3 (01:50:05):
The money in the bag.

Speaker 2 (01:50:06):
Back to you, Walking Niemen, I mean, like really good player,
but that's because I kind of follow golf. Walking Niemen
eighty million dollars walking Niemen. Yeah, that's a question mark.

Speaker 1 (01:50:29):
I mean, who how many other PGA Tour players are
there that are walking Neeman level players? And did not
go yeah, And I realized the controversy at the time.
You know, it's Saudi money. I don't want to be
dirtied with it. And that's not even a consideration or
a talk really anymore. And the Saudi money has dried up,

(01:50:50):
of course, and they announced quote other investors and they'll
continue the tour, they say, but wow.

Speaker 2 (01:50:57):
We'll see how long that goes. But yeah, they've got it.
Every time I think we've got that thing figured out,
it goes the other way. Like you said, PGA Tour,
Live Golf, they're gonna merge. Nope, just never happened and
nobody ever said why. And now we're gonna be like, yep,
we got a new investor. Live Golf's gonna stay, which
they did not name.

Speaker 1 (01:51:17):
How much is the investment? Just like, uh yeah, just
to apparently they're playing in Indiana a couple of weeks
and they're playing next year to have a live golf.

Speaker 2 (01:51:26):
Tour very exciting, mainly because it means that it's seven
thirty Pacific. We keep getting to talk to you about it.
That's my favorite part of it. All right, Steve, great stuff,
Thank you. All right, So to recap our AFC story,
both of us go Bill's Ravens Texans Chargers. I am

(01:51:48):
wildly confident we will not have the same four answers
in the NFC. But let's find out. We're in the
Fox Sports Radio studios and we'll do that next with
from Salama Mark Willard on Fox Sports.

Speaker 7 (01:52:02):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:52:18):
Yeah, we've reached that time. But that's okay because uh,
plank and Span, you're right around the corner. And also
we are not done yet hearing these Fox Sports Radio studios.
There's no way that what happened just happened. Bill's Ravens

(01:52:42):
Texans Chargers. All right, let's do the NFC and see
how we come up there. NFC East, you will take
who hmm, that's a tough.

Speaker 3 (01:52:56):
One this year, so wacky conference.

Speaker 2 (01:53:01):
Oh I feel better with a music bed that's really good. Yeah,
it's good. Yeah, Oh, I love that we're dusting all
these off.

Speaker 3 (01:53:11):
Who I think, man, this is I know. Can we
punt on this one and come back?

Speaker 2 (01:53:19):
Sure? Sure, let's do that. Actually like that as the
big face. Okay, NFC North, who do you like? I who?
This one's even harder.

Speaker 3 (01:53:36):
I'm going Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (01:53:38):
Wow, we have our first different answer.

Speaker 3 (01:53:43):
Okay, here we go. Now, now we got action.

Speaker 2 (01:53:45):
I am going to go with the Detroit Lions in
the NFC North. I am. And one of the reasons
I'm going to go with the Detroit Lions is not
based on prognostication. It's based on MATHA. The Detroit Lions
were still a pretty good team last year, beset by
injury on the defensive end, but because of the way

(01:54:08):
things played out in a division where everybody finished with
a winning record. Say that again, everybody finished with a
winning record. Yet it is the Detroit Lions that get
to play a fourth place schedule, and I think that

(01:54:30):
is going to end up really helping this team out
because I think they can handle it, and I've got
them finishing first.

Speaker 4 (01:54:41):
That's a good point. That's really good. I think Green Bay.
I love their defense. I think Jordan Love proved that
he can be the go to guy. And I just
you know, in this division of uncertainty, which it is,

(01:55:01):
and they're all good. They're all good.

Speaker 2 (01:55:03):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:55:04):
Not a believer in the Bears yet. I'd love to
see the next iteration of Caleb Williams before I'm you know,
all in on the Bears.

Speaker 3 (01:55:14):
So I got Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (01:55:15):
Okay, that's not a crazy answer at all. These Lions
out of the division this year get to play the Giants,
the Titans, the Falcons, the Dolphins, the Cardinals, the Panthers,
the Jets, the Saints. That's all on their schedule this year.
But the Packers is not a bad pick either. Okay,

(01:55:36):
NFC South, just because we have to do we have
to Tampa Bay, all right, Tampa Bay Bucks. I'll take
the New Orleans Saints and that's probably more time than
we needed to spend on that. Yeah, I mean, I
don't you know, they're whatever. Somebody's got to win it now.

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
We got a gun.

Speaker 2 (01:56:00):
Okay, the National Football Conference's West Division.

Speaker 4 (01:56:07):
Yes, from I'm going Rams. I'm going Rams because I
think they're the best team. I think they have the
MVP on their team, and I love Miles Garrett and
Aaron Donald part it up, pair it up together.

Speaker 2 (01:56:27):
Hey, real quick question on that, because Donald will decide
this week. I think we all know what he's gonna say. Yeah,
is there any question though that he'll just step in
like he used to? What do you think about that?

Speaker 4 (01:56:42):
I think he can go right now. I think he'll
give offensive Lineman fits right now today. He never stopped
working out like he was playing. Ever, he just doesn't
have the bumps and bruises on his body anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:56:58):
Still only thirty five years old.

Speaker 4 (01:57:00):
He can play man and now he doesn't imagine him
now no longer. You have the double team, Miles Garrett. Hey,
look here, you got a triple team Miles Garrett. So
that means Aaron Donald's going to be by himself on
some lonely soul.

Speaker 3 (01:57:17):
Good luck.

Speaker 2 (01:57:18):
This is going to shock you. You know how close
I am to this division? Here we go.

Speaker 3 (01:57:26):
Home cooking.

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
I am going to take home cooking in the NFC
West Home cook the Los Angeles Rams.

Speaker 3 (01:57:38):
Wow, Wow, How can you not?

Speaker 2 (01:57:44):
Do you have to? How can you not? This division
is so good. I do think there is the possibility
of a little bit of a bumpy ride this year
for Seattle as opposed to last year they had some defections.
I think they won the injury luck game last year.
We'll see what happens there again. Seahawks and forty nine

(01:58:04):
Ers are game opponents, and I very much could see
all three going to the playoffs again, that's a possibility.
But the Rams roster in this current force, I don't
even know.

Speaker 3 (01:58:17):
Yeah, last time they had a roster like this, they
won a Super Bowl at home.

Speaker 2 (01:58:21):
So I'll take the Los Angeles Rams. That fits all right.

Speaker 4 (01:58:26):
Back to the East, got you, I'm ready, Okay, I
got Dallas a little.

Speaker 2 (01:58:31):
Time thinking about it. I got Dallas. You're gonna take this.

Speaker 3 (01:58:35):
I'm gonna take the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 5 (01:58:38):
I know.

Speaker 4 (01:58:39):
But look, they're going to be able to score with anyone.
Their defense got better, right, their defense got better. They
got better last year. But with their draft and some
offseason acquisitions, I think they'll be a better, uh you know,
a better constructed full team.

Speaker 2 (01:58:59):
So some might say this is what makes us good partners.
Others might feel the opposite. They're wrong, by the way,
but I am going to take the Dallas Cowboys. I'm
with you, dude. I had it like I know you
were having it on on it five minutes ago. I

(01:59:21):
wrote it down. I'm like, look, I'm looking at this.
The New York Giants are not They're gonna be better,
but not ready yet. The Commanders cost they lost their
left tackle to Day too. Yep. And the Eagles, I
think that they've got to rework that offense. Obviously, Caleb
Downs might be one of my favorite players in the draft.

(01:59:42):
I think the Cowboys, I think they're gonna win that division. Man,
since the NFC South doesn't count, we only different in
one division. That's scary. Okay. I wrote it all down, dude,
I wrote it all down. So now we're going to
be accountable to these selections by the end of the year.

Speaker 3 (02:00:05):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (02:00:06):
Five Sundays Away, great show, great show, my man. Always
enjoy talking to you. Plank and Span your next for
e from on Mark good Night on Fox.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam give their division predictions in the AFC, discuss the Warriors future, and MORE!