The Best of Stugotz and Company LIVE!

Stugotz & Company talk about the 49ers win over the Rams, Aaron Rodgers latest podcast appearance, some Yankees talk, and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to Stugatz & Company Live Podcast. Be
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Speaker 2 (00:18):
Now let's get this party started.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's Stu Gotts and Company. Sal Licata, you're hanging out
with the boys today, and I can't wait to get going.
After yesterday, we tried to get it going, give us
some opinion there. The connection wasn't working.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
We're back.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
No, Stu, we're back. You can hear me right, right?
We're good to go?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, I can hear you. You sound great. You are great.
You texted me yesterday after the show.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Bleeping embarrassment. I knew you were going to take it
home with you. I told you not to take.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
It home with you. I'm not mad at you. Taylor is.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
We'll play what happened after you left the show yesterday
for you in just a minute, but everything went to hell.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
So thank you. Well, we appreciate you having me back
because I wasn't so sure. And I do want to say, Stu,
I'd be remiss if I didn't bring this up to
start the show, not to be a downer here, but
it is the 25th anniversary of September 11th and the
senseless attacks. Also, I am broadcasting live from the SMY studios,
which is at Four World Trade Center. So, you know,
an hour before the show, I'm looking outside and I

(01:22):
could see where the towers were and just trying to
take it in. It's just it's hard to fathom what
went on that day, hard to comprehend the thought process
of the people that ran up that building or those
buildings and tried to save lives. And obviously we know
what happened. And then sports eventually brought us back to
some normalcy, you know, Piazza Home Run, all that stuff.

(01:42):
But I just want to make sure that people are
aware that we will never forget and honor and think
of those that lost their lives on that senseless day.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
It's a good job by you, Sal. I lost a
friend that day, John Salerno. It's a tough day, a
difficult day. Every year I'm thinking about it. This year
obviously resonates more for a lot of people. And there
are still people dealing, of course, and they'll be dealing
with it for the rest of their life, the aftermath
of 9-11. Whether it was first responders, whether it's, you know,

(02:12):
families of the victims, it is still something that is
haunting us until this day.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
25 years. Hard to believe. But we never forget. And also,
we know that sports played a part in healing, like
we said, with the country. And football in full-fledged here now.
You get two games under our belt week one. My
biggest issue, Stu, I love football. God bless football.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
All that stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
I love it. But football now. It's like the week one,
week two, even week three, it's like preseason. And yet
we get this overreaction. Like now the Rams stink. The
team that everybody had consensus, oh, nobody's beating the Rams.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Look at them.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
They're loaded, the super team. Now they're left for dead
at the hands of the Niners because they lost week
one in Australia. The overreaction is nuts.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, but I love the overreaction.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
In fact, I was thinking today that Aaron Donald should
demand a trade to the 49ers. I mean– How about that?
It's what we do, Sal. There's 17 of these things.
They're so precious. They mean so much to so many people.
It's why it's our most popular sport that I'm okay
after a single game in Melbourne, Australia.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Weird pronunciation. I am okay.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
That people feel like the Rams are overrated and maybe saying, hey,
you know what? I didn't know the Niners are going
to be that good. You know, I'm all right with that.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
OK, I love reacting to week one. And obviously the
games mean something. But, you know, the way that preseason
is basically non-existent now.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
You can see it.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
I mean, I thought McCaffrey was hurt last night.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Where is he?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
They're going with the backup running back. Where is he?
It's because it's essentially a preseason game. So the teams themselves,
we as broadcasters or whatever you want to call us,
sports talk guys, talking heads. We're trying to come up
with opinions and give reaction and all this stuff. And
we could say, well, it doesn't feel, because of the
way the preseason used to be compared to where it

(04:02):
is now, it doesn't feel like they've got to take
time to get going. We don't know what these teams are.
But for them themselves to be figuring it out early on,
that is telling. I do think that there is an
evaluation that takes place, even though it means something and
we all love it. The first three or four weeks
is kind of evaluating.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
That flight to Australia looked like it aged Matthew Stafford
a decade.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
I know you don't want the hot takes right now.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
If you told Sean McVay he could replace Matthew Stafford
today with Josh Allen, but he had to walk to Buffalo,
how fast do you guys think he would get there?

Speaker 1 (04:35):
You're talking about Josh Allen.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
What about Brock Purdy or Sam Darnold?

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Oh, he'd do that today.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
I mean, I'm telling you right now, I know you
hate the overreaction, but if Sean McVay, if he was
being honest, okay, in an honest moment— And they asked him, hey,
you could have Purdy the rest of the way or
Matthew Stafford the rest of the way.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
He would say Brock Purdy or he'd be lying.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
How about that?

Speaker 2 (04:58):
You guys are out on the Rams already and Stafford already?

Speaker 5 (05:01):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
I can't go there. I think the Niners are good,
but I can't say. I can't say I'm going to be.
Just same thing, Drake May. Like, Drake May gets ripped
to shreds. He played a bad game. Hey, guess what?
It happens. You'd rather have it happen in week one
than week 16 or 17. And now it's the same thing. Oh, Rams,
everybody loved them. Miles Garrett stinks. I was not aware
of the knee injury, by the way. He was an MIA,

(05:25):
and now he's using the knee injury as an excuse.
I hate that. Yes. I think both teams that lost
so far, whether it be the Patriots or the Rams,
still are going to be very, very good this year.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
But Sal, don't you want like this is the NFL
is built for sports fans.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
It's built for people like me and you.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
OK, you can't break down 162 baseball games because most
of those baseball games. are fairly meaningless in the grand
scheme of things. You can't do it in the NBA
with 82 NBA games. You just can't do it, and
you're certainly not going to do it in hockey. Don't
you want fans to be so passionate about something, and
this is the sport they're passionate about, because there are

(06:06):
17 games. They all mean so much. They are so precious. Again,
you're only playing 17. You need to win as many
as you can to get to the playoffs. And I
love that fans are irrational, but they're passionate about about
the NFL, meaning I have fired a Jets coach and
hired back that same Jet coach in a quarter. I

(06:30):
have gotten rid of my quarterback, and the next week
my quarterback is the greatest quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
I think that's what makes the league so magical. I
really do. I guess.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
So then don't– the irrational– and look, fans are irrational.
Certainly I know that. I am one. But I'm trying
to remain level-headed, especially– with the NFL being what it
is in the early weeks. Like, I don't know. I mean, really,
nobody knows. But you could pick teams and think, oh,
this team's going to the Super Bowl or I love
this team in the division. I really need to watch

(07:00):
three weeks before I can say, okay, this is it.
Where I used to be able to do it, I felt,
at least, in preseason because you get a little bit
better feel. There's a great unknown. It's names on paper
that we haven't seen, literally have not seen. Name of
the stars who played in the preseason. It doesn't happen.
They barely play.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Right, it doesn't. Yeah, no, I understand.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
That's my point. Look, obviously I love when fans react
to everything. I just, me personally, if I believe the
Rams are good or the Patriots are going to be good,
I don't think I'd be jumping off the bandwagon after
one game. And it's the first time that we've seen
them play all year long.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Mikey, how do you feel about Sal? Level-headed Sal, okay?
Not overreacting. Wanting to take three games before he formulates
any sort of NFL takes.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
How do you feel about it?

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Thank you, Sal.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
I've missed you. I've been with these two hot take artists.

Speaker 6 (07:49):
I've been trying to be the only level-headed person. They've
convinced me I'm crazy. And now you come in and
you spit all this logic.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
And you know what? It's refreshing. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Here's what I will say. Mikey, you guys are listening
to this on the radio. You can't see it on Zoom.
He's decked out in Jet stuff. Definitively, before I see
them play a game, the Jets are going to suck
this year. Like, that's going to happen.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
He doesn't need to wait three weeks.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
He knows.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yes. We all know that one.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
I told you that three years ago, they were going
to suck tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
By the way, your miles Garrett point is such a great,
great point because if he had three sacks, we'd be
hearing nothing today about him being injured. The idea that
he goes out there, goes to Melbourne, Australia. He's the
big off season signing. Everyone loves the Rams Rams of
the field. And he does nothing. I mean, zero gives
you absolutely nothing and comes out after the game and says, Hey,

(08:42):
I'm injured.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
Do me a favor. Say it before the game or
don't say it at all. How about that?

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Not once did I hear any, no, I could have
missed it, but the buildup to the season was Rams, Rams, Rams, Rams, Rams,
Donald Garrett, Donald Garrett. They're going to be the best
defense ever. Oh my God.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Look out.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Purdy's going to be scared for his life. He's going
to be murdered on the field on Wednesday, Tuesday, Is
it Melbourne? You say Melbourne. How do you say it?

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Well, I thought it was Melbourne when we started today,
but it's Mel-bin, and that is courtesy of Noah Eagle.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah, so the Australian pronunciation, Sal, is Mel-bin.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Mel-bin. Okay. Well, they thought Purdy was going to be
murdered in Mel-bin, and then all of a sudden after
the game, it's like, now my knee was a little
bit banged up. Not once did anybody report that ever
in the last several months.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Not once. Right. Yes, right.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
So you have to do it on the front end.
You have to say, hey, I'm not 100%. Otherwise, I
don't believe you. You cannot put up a dud like
Miles Garrett put up in his first game and then
come out after the game and say, hey, I'm injured.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
You're cranking up the excuse machine. Can't do it. Don't
do it. He did it. And he should be ashamed
of himself.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Sal, you mentioned people getting off the Rams and the
Patriots bandwagons right now. And I have this stat from
OptiStats that kind of highlights their underperforming. This is the
first time in NFL history that the top two finishers
in the MVP voting the previous season, each had a
team that scored 10 or fewer points in the season
opener with Drake May and Matthew Stafford. So It is
historical how bad these two played in a week one showing.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
All right, so what does that mean? Does it mean
that Drake May stinks now? Explain that stat. I'm not
a stats guy, Taylor. You should know that. Explain what
those stats mean. And that's exactly my point. I love
that you said that. Ooh, big fancy AI stat machine
saying that Drake May and Stafford awful after where they
were a year ago. OK, so now are we to

(10:33):
think that those guys aren't going to be good? I'll
go the opposite. Week two, sign me up. Drake May,
Matthew Stafford, they're going to have monster games.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well, the problem with Drake May was this was Drake
May's chance to kind of silence the narrative that that
he was a schedule merchant when you're going on the
road to Seattle and. Against that defense, it was the
same story for Drake May, where the same questions you
have about Drake May after the Super Bowl, you still
have after week one.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Can I ask you guys what this stat machine looks like?
I mean, it's like the George Michael sports machine. It
just churns out stats.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
That's a dated reference.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
I'm sorry if you were born anywhere within the last
20 years, you'd have no idea what I'm talking about.
But once upon a time, there was a guy who
was doing it before SportsCenter and George Michaels was giving
you all the highlights and doing it with a robot.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Right, way ahead of his time with the AI. I
remember that, that sports machine. Okay, but what do those
stats mean, ultimately? It's great to— oh, what are you insinuating
when you bring up those stats? Or somebody who puts
that out there, are we— okay, Drake May's no good? Like,
is that where we're at? I think it's fair to
say the jury's still out, but then it goes to
the overreaction last year where it's like, I mean, certainly

(11:47):
New England fans are talking about, oh, who needs Tom Brady?
You got Drake May. I mean— It's going to be May.
Everybody was going nuts.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Drake May.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
So there's got to be somewhere in between where maybe
he's not Tom Brady, but maybe also he doesn't suck
after one questionable game in which his receiver can't even
catch a ball. If he catches that ball, Dubs, the whole.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Game has changed.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, but what the stat means is what we're seeing,
at least through the first two games here, is something
fairly unprecedented.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
That's all the stat has got to say. This doesn't
normally happen. That's all.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Let me ask you, Stu. Don't you think that that
is a byproduct of where we're at with the preseason?
Back to my point about that before where— It's week one.
We love it to mean everything because there aren't that
many games, but there also is a little bit of
a learning curve and feeling it out. They literally have
not played full NFL games, real contact games. This is

(12:39):
the first one where they used to at least play
one in the preseason.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
If you're asking me, do I think if the Rams
are going to be good, even while losing the first
game of the season and what I think of the Niners,
I have the Rams now not making the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
The Niners are the favorites to make it to the
Super Bowl. How about that?

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Look at us doing sports radio, fellas. This is exciting.
We're not playing sounds. We are talking sports.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
You tried to teach me out of that way. And
I'm like, you know what? After we had talks, I'm like,
he's right. What are we doing here? Volpe stinks. Stafford stinks.
May stinks. And then next week, May is up MVP.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
Come on.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
I know, but I wanted you to drive the show today.
Because you got disconnected. You were very upset. You couldn't
get any takes off yesterday. Whatever takes you got off,
they sounded terrible. And so I wanted you to drive
the show so you could control the action today.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
You know?

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Okay. I have another take for you. The nonsense about
the Sean McVay. planning to go to Melbourne, I can't
even say it, Australia, planning to go to Australia just
two days ahead of time. I'm like, do you think
that that cost them the game? Or maybe just the
Rams were not as good as the 49ers on this
particular day. I don't think the sleeping habits or the

(13:53):
clock or the whatever, the travel, jet lag, so what
the Niners were there for two weeks, to me that
had nothing to do with it. Even with the 17-0
outscoring in the second half, I don't think that that
had anything to do with it.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
It's interesting because a lot of people are kind of
pointing that out.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
The Rams went to Europe last year, same strategy.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
They flew in.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
They hopped off the bird. They played the game. They
won the game, got back on the bird, and went home. Now,
Australia is a different animal, okay? You're going to Europe.
It's a six or seven. Well, I guess from L.A.
it's a bit further. But you're not going 22 hours
with a 38-year-old quarterback who can't just hop off a
plane after 22 hours, play a football game and get

(14:37):
back on a bird and go home. That was obvious
last night. So I don't know if the Rams did
it the right way, the wrong way. I just know
that people are going to point to it because San Francisco,
the team that got there a week to 10 days
in advance.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
They looked very, very sharp. They did. They looked very good.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
And so naturally, the next day, people are going to
point out, hey, the Rams didn't do it correctly and
the Rams didn't take this game seriously.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
And I think that's what people are upset about.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
By doing that, though, it feels like we're discrediting what
the 49ers did because I think that game could have
been played in any country, in any stadium, and you
were going to get the same result of the 49ers
just overwhelming L.A.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Well, hold on, Taylor. If that game's played in SoFi,
you think you're getting the same result?

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Almost any stadium.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Got you.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
I'm more so with Taylor on that, that I think
it is discrediting the Niners. Like, okay, so who do
we think is the worst team in the NFL or
going to be the worst team in the NFL? I'm
not just going to say the Jets. Who do we think? Miami?

Speaker 3 (15:37):
The Browns, Cardinals, Dolphins.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
If the Browns played the Rams or the Niners in Australia...
And the Browns got there two months before. And the
Rams showed up the day of the game. Like, the
Rams probably still would have beat them. I know that
anything could happen any given Sunday. But my point is
I don't think it's about– that's a weird– same thing
with the West Coast coming east. Like, come on. It's

(16:02):
a bunch of nonsense.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
No, I understand that.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
But how do you explain the Rams, who are so explosive,
who are so good, even without Aaron Donald playing that badly,
like that poorly?

Speaker 3 (16:12):
They had the entire offseason to get ready for this game.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
They sent Todd from accounting over to Australia to figure
out what's the right amount of time to spend in
Australia before you play a football game.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
And Todd was wrong. So how do you explain it, Sal?

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Because that team, I would guess, that's the worst game
that team is going to play this year.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
I would say that it's honestly rust. I really think
that it's just first game, rust, good team. Now, we'll
learn about them eventually. Could this be a harbinger the
rest of the year? I mean, are the Rams— I mean,
maybe things that happen in week one are going to
be signs the rest of the way. I don't believe
that that's going to be the case, especially with a
team that's as well-coached as the Rams are and as

(16:53):
loaded as they are now. Could Stafford fall off the
cliff and be an older guy? That absolutely, I think,
could be a legitimate reason to— to doubt them but
for them playing as poorly as they did with the
weapons that they have i just look at it as
a they played a really good team who was maybe
just more ready at this particular moment and maybe the
rams are going to take a little time to get going.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
By the way if you're a rams fan you hope
they didn't do it correctly you hope that matthew stafford
isn't just aging you hope that it was the plane
it was the 22 hours it was the fact they
didn't get there a week before because if stafford's gonna
look like that they don't have a shot what do
you got mikey.

Speaker 6 (17:29):
Is Todd from accounting fired today?

Speaker 2 (17:32):
He should be.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
He should be. No, McVay should be. I mean, stop
sending Todd from accounting. How about you go and figure
it out?

Speaker 6 (17:42):
Todd from accounting had one job to do, and that
was how long do we need to be in Australia
to beat the 49ers?

Speaker 2 (17:47):
And he failed.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
So you're saying Todd called McVay and said, hey, you
guys can hop on a bird, land, play football, get
back on the bird and go home. That was Todd's
report back to Les Snead and Sean.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
McVay, yes?

Speaker 2 (18:02):
That's exactly what happened. Then he's been fired, yes. They
should have used more AI. I mean, come on.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
By the way, is anyone else worried about AI? I mean,
you hear all these reports. I'm watching the news last night.
It's like I'm living in a movie, for crying out loud,
where AI is going to kill everyone inside of a decade.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
What are we doing?

Speaker 2 (18:22):
ChatGPT says we shouldn't be worried.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
I started reading some Twitter threads yesterday on that, and
I was like, I don't think this is going to
be good for my mental health. Let me stop this. So, yeah,
I'm scared. But realistically, are humans really dumb enough to
create something that would wipe us all off the face
of the earth?

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
I'm wearing a Jets hat.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yes. You guys are dumb enough. Especially if it's lining
their pockets.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Hey, I'm going to enjoy the next decade, and I
don't care what happens after that.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
But for the next 10 years, man, I am living large. Oh,
my God.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
The AI stuff. Yeah. Less AI, more reality. And more
real football in the preseason. Get us ready for week one.
Less overreacting as well.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
All right.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Did we do enough takes there still? Am I okay
so far?

Speaker 1 (19:14):
You're doing great. Never enough takes. I want to play
some sound from Taylor when we come back.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
877-99 on Fox.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
That is 877-99 on Fox. Sal is in for the
entire show. We are thrilled about it.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
We love him.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Fox Sports Radio is taking over YouTube and you can
be a part of it. Just go to YouTube and
search Fox Sports Radio. Hit that subscribe button and smash
that notification bell and catch all the videos from your
favorite shows.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
Two pros and a cup of joe.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
Hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
Salicata hanging out with Stu Godson Company here on Fox
Sports Radio. It was supposed to be the second day
this week, but yesterday we had massive technical issues. So
I couldn't do the show, and that left Taylor, I guess,
to do some reads. What went on there, Stu? What happened?

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Well, what happened was you couldn't get connected. We tried
it out for a segment. We decided to let you go.
You were upset about it, and then you forced me
and Taylor to work. And so everything fell apart from there, okay?
because I got to tell you, this feels like a
spa day today for me, man. I am sitting back.
I got, like, you know, my arms. They're wrapped around
the back of my head here. I'm just chilling out.

(20:46):
I'm wearing a towel because you're making this so easy
for us to do because we do three hours before
we even get here to 3 o'clock to do the
live show. And so yesterday... After you left, we weren't prepared,
as usual. And so everything fell apart. And this is
what happens when Sal Licata leaves the show. I throw
it to Taylor to do a live read.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
And this ensues.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
It's time to get your point. It's time to get your.
It can be tricky. You got to read that before
the show, Taylor.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Come on.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
So damn much yesterday.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yes, we're talking in too many places. We really are.
We're talking way too much. All three of us, by
the way. Taylor, I don't think it is wildest dreams
ever imagined he'd be talking this much on national radio.
And this is probably why. He shouldn't be talking this
much on national radio.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Play it again.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
It's time to get your point. It's time to get
your point. And all I had for him was, wreck it.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
And meanwhile, before today's show, I was like, all right, Taylor,
send me whatever you need. You need me to do
the reads or whatever?

Speaker 3 (21:56):
And they're like, no, no.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
I'm good Taylor's gonna do the commercial reads I did
not know that there was a little snafu yesterday but
I would have gladly taken over the reads and I
have learned the hard way because there's been reads placed
in front of me on live radio like okay you
gotta read this now and I'm reading it as we
go and I have no idea what some of these
words are so you gotta read these things many times
over before you go but Taylor wanted the duties today
let's see let's see.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
If we can get through clean yeah I could safely
tell you that through 20 years of doing this I
have never botched a live spot so I mean I.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
And Sal, right now, if you remember George Lombard from
the Yankees a couple of weeks ago when he had
the six errors in six consecutive games, that's been me
recently where I just have the yips when it comes
to talking.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
Talking? Not even reading?

Speaker 3 (22:42):
Can we play the one from earlier in the week?
He does.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
He has the yips, and he's hoping someone makes a
colossal mistake to get the bright shining lights off of him,
and no one's done it yet, Sal.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
Perhaps you'll be the one.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Oh, let's hope it's not me. I mean, look, I
embarrassed myself enough yesterday with the connection. I can't miss
a read here or not or misspeak. I mean, come on.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yes. And this is what Taylor is talking about. Mikey
was talking about. We're talking too much in too many places.
We had Steve Spurrier on the old ball coach. He
gave us a parlay that actually hit. I can't believe it.
Spurrier hit a parlay for us. A celebrity prognosticator. I
think it was a 14 parlay that the old ball

(23:25):
coach came through for us with. But here is Taylor
trying to say something fairly simple. The old ball coach.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
To get the old boat. The old boat.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
That was even better.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
He's got the yips. That one's my favorite. That one's
my favorite.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Sal, what happens there is in my head I mess
it up once, and then my mind tells me, okay,
it's not as bad as you think it was. And
then in my mind at that same time as I'm
saying it, I know it was bad. So then it's
affecting me by the second time I'm trying to say
it too.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Right, and by the time he shakes it off, which
is the next day, I play it back a thousand times.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
That'll help his confidence. No, you're thinking. You got to
stop thinking. Start doing.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
You can talk.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
I mean, you've been doing it since you've been born. Yeah,
one or two, whatever it may be. All right. Let's
get updated here. We'll come back, maybe talk about Tamera
and Rodgers. Speaking of talking, do you see Rodgers, man? Rodgers, Maldi.
Let's get you updated right now.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Chris Perfette. All right, guys, we start in the NFL.

Speaker 7 (24:30):
The big news of the day, Falcons quarterback Tua Tongavailoa
is ruled out for Sunday's season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cooper Rush set to make the start for Atlanta. Official
reports indicate Tua is dealing with a oblique injury, possibly
suffered in Thursday's practice where he appeared to grab at
his side or back in discomfort after a passing attempt

(24:50):
left the field. Cooper Rush took over for the rest
of the training season. uh, session.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
Excuse me. I've got this.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I've got this.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
No, no, no. But you're more Taylor wants to light
off of them.

Speaker 7 (25:08):
Bleeding onto me here. Cardinals head coach, Michael first says
first round running back. Jeremiah love is trending towards playing
on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Miles Garrett.

Speaker 5 (25:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (25:17):
You, we were talking about a little bit, didn't appear
to really do much and definitely show up in the
box score for the Rams. 27 to seven, uh, crash out. Uh,
to the 49ers in, let me get this right, Melbourne.
After the game, Garrett admitted that he apparently has a
lingering knee injury that hurt his performance. I am sure
that will be with him on the flight back the

(25:39):
entire way. Patriots are placing wide receiver A.J. Brown on
the IR due to a high ankle sprain. Brown left
the game Wednesday against the Seahawks. It did not return,
speaking of which, there was a game on Wednesday, NFL season.
The move to IR means the earliest he can return
is October 18th against, wait for it, the New York Jets. Yes.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
U.S.

Speaker 7 (26:00):
And Europe are tied 4-4 after the opening session of
the Solheim Cup in the Netherlands on Friday. Your doubles
women's finalist winners are Katerina Sinikova and Taylor Townsend at
the U.S.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
Open.

Speaker 7 (26:13):
Currently in the first set between Zetarev and Kachanov in
New York in men's singles semifinal action. Cubs have opened
up a 5-1 lead on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
And the U.S.

Speaker 7 (26:25):
And Europe are tied 4-4 in first day action matches.
at the Solheim Cup in the Netherlands. Back to Stugatz
and company, and I'm going to go scrub my mouth.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yes, it's contagious. We're sorry about that. You're excellent at
your job. We're not, and we're sorry.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
Now the poor player's rubbing off.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
No, Sal, I don't know about you, okay, but for me,
have you done updates before?

Speaker 2 (26:47):
I have not.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Okay, so I have done updates before, and just knowing
that there are difficult tennis names in the update will
throw me off before.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
I even get started, you know?

Speaker 7 (26:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
That's one thing I've never had. I might have done
a couple in my life, but that's what, yeah. The
tennis time, with all those, you could hear him like, uh-oh.
I've had that happen during reads, like I said, but
those tennis names could be tough.

Speaker 7 (27:10):
Yes, I think we had a I think we had
a producer around here who one night we were doing
a UFC update and he I watched him. I watched
him go back and forth practicing Khabib Nurga Madoff so
many times.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
And when it came time to do it live, he
nailed it.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
He nailed it.

Speaker 7 (27:28):
And what did he do? What did he do after
pulling off the triple axle cartwheel? He stubbed his toe
saying Conor McGregor.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
Well, you're so relieved you got past the big roadblock
that you tend to trip up on the smaller one,
you know?

Speaker 2 (27:42):
The rule of thumb, though, is you just got to
plow through. No matter what you may think you said
or how you– even if it's wrong, just say it confidently,
and nobody really knows the difference.

Speaker 7 (27:53):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
I want to ask you a question here before we
get to Aaron Rodgers and what he had to say
about Matt LeFleur. You and I have spoken about this.
The first Sunday of NFL games is coming up this weekend.
Have you done all the things? I taught you this, okay,
because you're a married man.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
You have a child.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Have you done all the necessary things, chores, all of it,
so you could free yourself up for the entire weekend
without your wife complaining about it?

Speaker 2 (28:19):
I tried. You're right. Look, I don't think. Sue, let
me ask you. Do you think I could ever do enough?
Like you never met my wife, but I'm going to
tell you, I can't do enough. So I've tried, you know,
taking our daughter for ice cream in the summer, taking
some time away during the summer a little bit. I
try to explain during, you know, like Sundays, I got
to be left alone.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
I'm working.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
I'm watching the games. It's just not, I don't think
it's going to happen.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
Do things that she could see. Okay.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
So on Sunday morning, what you need to do Saturday morning,
whenever you do it, Just go out, mow the lawn, okay,
while she's home, okay?

Speaker 3 (28:54):
Do some gardening. Look at me, honey.

Speaker 5 (28:56):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Whatever chores she needs done, you take care of that.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Anything before 1 o'clock, just get it all done so
she can leave you alone for the rest of the day.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
I'm telling you, just act like you're doing stuff around
the house. Bring a hammer, a tool belt, whatever you
got there.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Just act like you're fixing stuff around the house so
she knows that you still care about your relationship with her.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Well, that's the point. She thinks I don't care about
the relationship with her. And to be honest, 10 years in,
I mean, I care a lot less than I did
in the beginning.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
We all do, Sal.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Well, she feels the same way, I assure you. Yeah,
I'm sure she does.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
God bless her. I know. But that's the truth. But
I do have I do have tomorrow. We were supposed
to go to her friend's. house or whatever and watch
their kids play– like, come on, talk about torture. I
miss being single and watching college football from 12 p.m.
to 12 a.m., betting the Hawaii-USC game, whatever it may be.

(29:56):
But I now have to sacrifice Saturdays for the greater
good of Sunday, and we're going to go to her
friend's house and, like, watch them play softball, the kids.
So I'm doing that. That should clear me for Sunday, no? No.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yes, but that's front-end work, and that's a heady play
by you because you care less about college football Saturdays
than you do. In the Northeast, we just don't care
as much about college football. You care more about NFL Sundays.
So if you are to sacrifice a day, Saturday would
be that day.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
That's a heady play by you, yes.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
I mean, you really don't have to. I don't want
to sacrifice any day, but that's got to be the one, right?
You can't sacrifice football Sundays, so especially, like you said,
what I would do for work. But that being said,
I do hope to catch some of that Ohio State-Texas
game tomorrow night.

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Yes, you'll be home by then, right?

Speaker 1 (30:39):
I mean, it's not taking you into the night, right?

Speaker 3 (30:45):
Kids got to go to bed.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh, my goodness. Hey, I know you want to talk
about the Rogers and the Jordan Love and the Matt
LaFleur stuff, but did you see some of his stuff?
Speaking of married life, did you see some of the stuff?
He's been taking shots at his exes here. Did you
see that?

Speaker 3 (30:59):
No, what happened?

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Cheyenne Woodley, the actress, I think that's how you say
her name. So you just say it confidently and nobody
knows it. Cheyenne Woodley.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Uh, he was taking, like he was.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
I think he was on with his buddy, uh, Cam
Hayward's podcast and he was just letting loose all over
the place, including obviously ripping Matt LaFleur. But I was
looking at the other stuff like, wow, he's opened up
on some of these public relationships, Danica Patrick as well
as Woodley. So I thought that that was fascinating from
Aaron Rogers.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Uh, Aaron Rogers seems like someone you would not want
to date because he, he will do exactly that. He
will talk about everything, uh, and be honest about it, uh,
after he's done dating you. Um, I don't know why
Aaron Rodgers has felt the need to express himself in
such weird ways late in his career.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
It's weird.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
I don't mind him being honest. Aaron Rodgers was a
friend of the show. He was on with me and
Dan all the time. He's one of my favorite guests
of all time. And I still like Aaron Rodgers while
disagreeing with some of the things and some of the opinions.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
That he has.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
But I don't know, and I haven't been able to
ask him, I don't know why he has felt the
need to express himself this late in his career in
about weird topics and weird things.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
He's an odd human being. He really is.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
My version of hell would be getting this version of
Aaron Rodgers as my quarterback, where he's not the MVP-level
quarterback anymore, but he's still going on every podcast and
show known to man because he likes hearing himself talking,
and Aaron Rodgers has to always show people he's the
smartest person in the room.

Speaker 7 (32:23):
Come on, Aaron.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
No, the hell is what me and Mikey A endured, right?
It was three snaps. And then he didn't shut up
for the next two years.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
But how about the fact that Rodgers won? I personally
love Rodgers. I read his book. Actually, I listened to
his book. Can you say you read a book if
you really listen to it on Audible?

Speaker 3 (32:40):
No, you can't.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
You listen to a podcast.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yes, absolutely. No.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
It wasn't a podcast. It was a full book, the
audio book.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Listen, you cannot listen to an audio book, 877-99 on Fox.
Can you listen to an audio book and say to someone,
I read a book?

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Yes. I'm with you, Sal.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
No! It just sounds weird saying I listened to a book. Anyway,
I listened to the book that Ian O'Connor wrote about
Rogers a couple years ago.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
I loved it.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
I watched the Netflix special on him. He's fascinating to me.
And the reason why I feel like he's responding to
his exes is It's because they've been dragging him. I
think it's easy to punch Aaron Rodgers right now. The
public has basically been on Rodgers. They're saying, like, Woodley
was saying, oh, he ruined my life. It was abuse.
Whatever it was that she was saying about the relationship.

(33:29):
Patrick says what she says about him. And then he's
sitting there silent for the most part. Now, good for
him coming out and punching back.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
All right. You like that. You like to punch back.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
No, just giving, I guess, his side. Now, who the
hell knows what to believe? Now, the stuff that we
care about, the football stuff, Taylor's right about that, that
at this point, it's just he's a diminished player. That's
the saddest part of this whole thing. And the biggest
pub that he gets is what he's saying with his mouth,
not what his arm or his legs. Yes.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I happen to agree with him on his take on LeFleur.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
LeFleur came out and said, let's play the sound of
Aaron Rodgers and him objecting here to what it is
Matt LeFleur had to say about Jordan Love.

Speaker 8 (34:08):
He's probably still mad I changed too many of his plays.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
And what it is that he said.

Speaker 8 (34:16):
Big statement when you had a guy win back-to-back MVPs,
you know. Guess I wasn't doing too much at the LOS.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (34:25):
That's a clown man he says he says some things
from time to time that are funny that he's like
oh maybe i shouldn't have said that like he's backing
up his quarterback i mean like yeah i'm sure jay
loves real good line of scrimmage but.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Oh that was a tough quote see my apology uh
my apologies for talking uh in the middle of that
sound so that that is on me but uh What
LeFleur said is that Jordan Love essentially is better than
Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
At the line of scrimmage. And Rodgers clearly took issue
with that. I mean, Rodgers is one of the great
quarterbacks of all time. I'd rather Rodgers rip his ex-girlfriend
than rip his coach. That to me is in bad
taste right there. That comes across as petty. The play
speaks for itself. I don't need Rodgers to say that.
We can assess and say, why would LeFleur say that?
That's just silly. It seems petty taking a shot. at
Aaron Rodgers, and then Rodgers returns serve, U.S. Open, Rodgers

(35:14):
returns serve, and then he gets even lower with that.
So I'd rather him defend himself with the relationships up.
That he didn't need to defend himself. We all know
he's a better quarterback than Jordan Love.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
What happened to punching back? I mean.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
And certain opponents.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
I don't know. I mean, but it's the most ludicrous thing.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
There is not a single thing in life that Jordan
Love is better than Aaron Rodgers at.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
There's not a single thing. When it comes to quarterbacking,
is there anything Jordan.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Love, in your mind, having watched football for as long
as you've watched, Can you say to yourself that Jordan
Love is better than Aaron Rodgers at X?

Speaker 3 (35:51):
There's nothing, right?

Speaker 2 (35:53):
No. I mean, maybe some people could say he's better looking,
but no, he's not better at football than Aaron Rodgers.
To me, Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks I've
ever seen in my life, period. I've always said that
Peyton Manning was the best pure quarterback, reading a defense,
putting the throws on the money. Brady, the greatest competitor,
greatest winner the sport's ever seen. Before Mahomes, Rodgers to
me was the best combo. He's so good that we

(36:15):
knock him because he's only won one Super Bowl. He's
only won one. He should win three or four. So
I love Aaron Rodgers. Those comments to me were, I
don't know, I think a little too insecure from Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
All right, let's take a quick timeout here. 877-99 on Fox.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
That is 877-99 on Fox. We'll come back, hopefully take
some phone calls. Taylor has a word here. Try to
redeem yourself for Webull.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
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get powerful investing tools and real-time data all on one platform.
Get started by downloading the Webull app today or visiting Webull.com.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Webull Financial LLC, member SIPC FINRA. Investing involves risk. For
more information, visit Webull.com slash disclosures.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
Be sure to catch live editions of Stu Gatz and
Company live weekdays at 3 p.m.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
Eastern, 12 p.m.

Speaker 5 (37:05):
Pacific.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Sal Akata hanging out with the boys on Stu Gotson
Company here, having a lot of fun on this Friday.
We did a lot of football the first hour. We'll
continue to do football here. But I do want to
get to some baseball stuff here, Stu, if I may.
Big game. We mentioned the 25th anniversary of 9-11. Subway
series tonight in the Bronx. Mets and Yankees. Yankees battling
for the American League East crown. And Anthony Volpe is

(37:29):
back with the team. More on him in just a second.
I saw this the other day and it bothered me.
And you guys are giving me the platform to vent
on this. This is a quote, and I hope you're
not friends with him, but I'm going to say it anyway.
John Marossi on MLB Network. Maybe a nice guy. I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
You have me being friends with Marossi? Is that what
you do? I mean, you have me being friends with
John Marossi?

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Well, you know everybody. I just want to make sure. Okay,
even if I.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Were friends with John Marossi, I wouldn't be offended by
what it is you're about to say about him.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Good, because I'm about to torch him for a second.
So Judge took a day off yesterday. He's back in
the lineup tonight. It made me think of what he posted,
or MLB Network posted this the other day. I guess
Marossi was talking about Judge and him returning to the
Yankees lineup. Quote, they are a different team when he
is in the lineup.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
No bleep. No bleep.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
He's maybe the greatest player the sport has ever seen.
John Marossi, MLB Network. Quote, they are a different team
when it's in the lineup. Oh, you think?

Speaker 3 (38:24):
You think? Oh, my God. Good God.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Sal. I think the Patriots were better with Tom Brady. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Yeah. Hey, I don't know. Do you remember the Bulls
without Jordan? I'm just saying. I actually do. The two years.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
I mean, they went to the Eastern Conference semifinals. They
probably should have won, beaten the Knicks. In a game seven,
Pippen was robbed.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, and they were a different team when Jordan returned
to the lineup.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
They won three straight.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Dude, that was, like, I would never watch that, but
it came across on Instagram with that quote. Like, that's
the newsy quote from what Morosi said. They were a
different team with the judge back in the lineup. No bleep, Johnny.
Give me some info.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Uh you know cut morosi some slack that's the job
of of john morosi he has to remind you okay
you need to be reminded sometimes that yes the yankees
are better when their best player is in the lineup
i mean.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
Good job by morosi they look morosi does.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
He work for fox sports because if so i changed
my opinion i'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
I have no idea nor do i care i mean
if he does, too bad. We apologize. That was a
terrible report by you. Oh, I'm wrong.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
Great.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
No, great stuff, John.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
Great.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Really informative. So Volpe is also back in the lineup
after Jazz Chisholm gets hurt. And then Volpe, who's been
the punching bag here. So much so that I don't
know how well it's transferred nationally. I know you guys
talk a little bit Yankees, but Volpe has been, you know,
the joke. And now he comes up, and again, the
overreactions too. He has one good game last night, hits
a grand slam. Now he's taking curtain calls. What's with

(39:54):
the overreaction here?

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Why can't he take a curtain call?

Speaker 1 (39:59):
That had to feel good for a big-time prospect who
has under-delivered in a big spot to hit a home run.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
He wanted to celebrate it.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
It's the Yankee fans that now, the same Yankee fans
that were booing the you-know-what out of him for months,
couldn't wait to get him sent down. He comes back
up for a game, and now it's like, oh, our
hero has returned. Yes. Yes.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Well, that should be the objection.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
The fans who booed him and were part of the
reason that Volpe was sent down in the first place,
you can't boo him on the way down and then
he comes back up in a big spot, hits a
home run, and suddenly he's your favorite baseball player.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
But that's fandom. Uh, that's what fandom is all about.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
So my least favorite thing about being a Yankee fan
is other Yankee fans.

Speaker 5 (40:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Yeah. You hate yourself.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
I don't hate myself. I hate, I go to the,
I go to Yankee stadium. I go to Yankee stadium.
I sit down and I'm looking around at everybody and
I'm like, man, I kind of hate everybody here.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
I thought the same thing looking at you, Taylor. It's
why he's not as big a Yankee fan as he
used to be. He took a look in the mirror.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Well, Taylor, where are you at with the Volpe stuff?
First of all, I think the right move was to
send him down to get right. This is why you
do that. They took him forever. But are you one
of these fans who's been flip-flopping here, wanted him down,
and now all of a sudden last night stands it
up in your bedroom or whatever watching this game? No.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
So I want to go out there and support Anthony
Volpe because I do think it still could be a good,
a nice little redemption story. If the lifelong Yankee fan
turns it around, battles through adversity, gets sent down in
the minor leagues, probably thinks he's never going to make
it back to the major leagues. And then a couple
of months later, he finds a way back into the lineup.

(41:43):
When the Yankees are fully healthy, if Jazz Chisholm keeps
hitting the way Jazz Chisholm has the past month, Jazz
probably has that second base spot. McMahon at third base. Ideally,
you move Jazz to third. You sacrifice some defense. And
if Volpe, Sal, his swing looks a little different. If
I could just play devil's advocate.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Here for a second. Well, of course the swing looks different.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
His swing looks a little different. His swing looks really
good right now.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Taylor, put it on the poll. Does the swing look
different when the ball goes out of the park? I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
But I'm watching breakdown videos and they're like, this top
swing is Anthony Volpe from early in the season and
this bottom swing is the bottom. And to be fair,
I don't really know what I'm looking at, but I'm
looking at that video, like one of those circle the
differences magazines that you get at like the dentist's office.
And I'm like, oh yeah, I think I do see
something a little technical in his swing change.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
What?

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Why don't you pull up that stat machine and see
if the stats could back it up in Volpe's one
game back? How old is it? What would be the
measurables there with Volpe? You know what I thought looked different?
His confidence. If you do see on the swing, once
he hit that ball, and by the way, it was
a wall scraper at Yankee State. Let's not make it
like Volpe muscled up and hit one nine mile. It
was a wall scraper. But he knew it, and he
dropped the bat. It was good to see him confident.

(42:54):
So from that standpoint, sure, but like... It's one game,
the same guy you just vilified for years. Now he's
taking curtain calls. Everybody thinks Volpe is back in the
great double play tandem. And the Yankees are going to
go win a World Series now. It's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
What are you doing with fans today? NFL fans, Volpe fans,
Yankee fans. This is how fans act, man. When the
guy plays well, they cheer him. And when he plays poorly,
they boo him and send him down to the minors.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
I mean, that's what we do.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
The extremes. Like, I'm not saying, certainly not saying you
can't root for him. But the extremes to where, Stu, they, like,
Volpe was villain number one here.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Oh, I know.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yes. Get him out. And then he comes back for
one game. And now it's like, oh, maybe he's going
to be great. I just, I don't know. I'd like
to see it. Now, I was rooting for him. Good
for the kid to have success.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
Well, that's nice of you.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
I'm a nice guy. You're rooting for a guy in
your favorite baseball team.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
That's nice of you.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
He's a Mets fan. Oh, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
He's a Mets fan. My bad. That's a big mistake
by me right there. But it was nice of you
to root for Volpe, a kid who is a little
bit down on his luck.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
And of course, when he hits one out of the park,
he's going to look more confident. Once he hits one
out of the park, that's.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
Natural, of course.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
Dropping the bat the way you saw that bat flip, Taylor.
Not bat flip, but the way he put that bat in.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
He pimped it a little.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
Sal, my least favorite quality in Yankee fans is anytime
I'm at the stadium and another fan starts chirping them
because that team is winning and the Yankee fan... responds
back with 27 rings and i'm like oh my god
stop with the 27 rings more than a three-fourths of
these rings were won in the 20s and the 30s
when the tv was black and white have some self-respect

(44:32):
for yourself bragging about world series rings from roger peckinpah's.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
Day you and the peckinpah again it's the third time
you've mentioned them this week.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
I don't even know who that is. Should I know
who this is? Roger Peckinpah? He was like a second
baseman in the 1900s.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
Taylor has learned the art of just picking out. He
could have picked anyone on that roster to search for
the funny name.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
And that's the funny name right there.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
I've heard that argument my whole life. Oh, 27 rings,
this and that. Now, I do root for the Yankees
because of Boone. I love Aaron Boone. And I do think, actually,
when you look at this Yankee team, I mean, you
could throw the Dodgers into this conversation, obviously, although Otani's hurt. And,
you know, with the Dodgers, they're a different team with
Otani in the lineup. They're a completely different team. When
he's in the rotation, they're a totally different team. So

(45:21):
you know that that's the case.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
The problem is they were just fine when Otani was
not on the team. They won a World Series. But
I do look.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
At the Yankees and think that and it's not reaction
to them sweeping the Rockies or even closing the gap
with the Rays. It's only now three games. Could there
be a little bit of what happened with the Knicks
going on, where they have the regular season that's disappointing
for a variety of reasons, then they get to the playoffs. Like,
all the pieces are in place. I never thought the

(45:52):
Knicks would do it, but the pieces were in place.
They did it. The pieces are in place for this
Yankees team. A weak American League, Dodgers banged up, no
real clear team. Like, is Milwaukee really going to be
that big of a favor over the Yankees? I think
you can make an argument they could do similar to
what the Knicks did.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
We shouldn't be surprised.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
Any team that makes it to the baseball playoffs, pretty
much any team that makes it to the baseball playoffs,
if that team goes on a run to the World
Series and ends up winning the World Series, we shouldn't
be surprised.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
Baseball is just such a random sport.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
As you know, the Marlins, 97, they got there, won
the World Series.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
2003, got there again, worst team, won the World Series.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
So for me, any team that makes the Major League
Baseball playoffs wins. has a chance of winning the World Series.
We should not be surprised if any of those teams,
including Milwaukee, who chokes every single year in the postseason,
we still shouldn't be surprised if this is the year
they make it to the World Series.

Speaker 4 (46:47):
And the reason for confidence when it comes to the Yankees,
it's Cam Schlittler, Garrett Cole, Max Fried being your one, two,
three on the mound. And then it just feels like
with your lineup, the magic number, Sal, is probably like,
if you could score five runs in the postseason, this
feels like this Yankee team with this rotation and the
bullpen probably wins like 95% of games if they could

(47:07):
just hit that number.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Well, that's kind of my point is that the offseason,
it was Yankees didn't do enough. They didn't do anything.
They basically ran it back and hoped to get healthy. In-season,
didn't do enough. Lots of injuries, not good enough. Ray's better.
Red Sox coming. Red Sox were hot. Still losing stand. Okay,
the Yankees added the deadline. Didn't add enough. They didn't
add the bullpen that we would hope. And yet here

(47:31):
we are where because of Schlittler, who to your point, Taylor,
you were on this early on in the year saying
you'd rather have him than Paul Skeens. Right now it's
a blowout. I mean, that's not even close.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
He's so proud of that take. I have no idea
how that take stood up for him.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
I mean, I really don't. What a lucky take that was.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Nobody, nobody except for CeCe Sabathia agreed with that take
at the time.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
To be fair, CeCe Sabathia agreed with me around, like,
all-star break when it was very clear which way it
was trending.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
He was late to the party.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
CeCe didn't really put his toe in the water with me.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Plus, he's a homer anyway. You can't take what CeCe's saying.
He's a great guy, but he's going to obviously favor
the Yankees. But when you look at Schlittler, Cole— Freed
now coming back. I know it wasn't great last night,
but getting healthier here, that's the recipe for success in
the postseason. Tell me who's definitively better. Judge back in
that lineup, Luis Garcia Jr., the one thing that they

(48:23):
did add, the guy's been raking, so he replaces what
Stanton would have done had he come back. I'm not
saying they're going to do it. I think the pieces
are in place, though, for the Yankees.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
So do I.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
I would also say that Major League Baseball has it
exactly the way they want it right now in terms
of peak interest in the postseason. All the markets and
teams they want to be good, for the most part,
are really, really good. Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs. Dodgers, major markets,
big brands, big teams, big stars. And so the postseason

(48:54):
should be fun. But of course, Sal, why would anyone
be surprised if the Yankees make it to the World Series?

Speaker 3 (48:59):
If they make it to the playoffs, they can make
it to the World Series.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
OK, well, Taylor had one great take, another take. And
he was texting me this quite often. And I'm sure
he was saying it on all the podcasts and the
radio shows that you guys are doing. This was his
least favorite Yankee team of all time.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
I think he's taken that back since, yes.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
I've started to walk it back a little. You can't
walk that back.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
Come on. The team hasn't even changed.

Speaker 4 (49:21):
When I said it, I was getting ready to gauge
my eyes out watching Trent Grisham strike out all the time,
and now we've replaced some of those at-bats with George
Lombard and Spencer Jones, and we're getting some of the
young guys in here who are at least– Even if
they're going to strike out a lot and not play
to high contact rates, at least they're exciting.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Mikey, how do you feel about Sal being some sort
of fan policeman? Like he is the guy who determines
what fans can say, what they can do, when they
can take it back, when they can't take it back.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
I love Sal being in charge of all fans.

Speaker 6 (49:58):
I'd just be happy if he was in charge of
Taylor's fans.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
Keeping track of Taylor's takes. I am all over the place.

Speaker 6 (50:06):
You kind of are all just, you're a little volatile
either way with your fandom, Taylor.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
I like Sal reeling you in.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Taylor. Stay
exactly the way you are. He's ripping my guy booty
left and right.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Oh, this team stinks. I can't watch them. And now
he's like, yeah, they can win the World Series. And
that's obviously, we know that that's what fans do. But
to your point, Stu, I feel like in New York,
at least, Now, maybe I'm just brainwashed by the 90s
and the Yankees having a dynasty and like they would
dominate in the regular season. There was no doubt they
didn't win. They're not winning. They didn't win the division
last year. They're still not winning the division right now.

(50:42):
So that's a big part of like, well, how are
they going to win the World Series? They have to
go on the road. They have to face the Red Sox.
Then if they win that, have to go on the
road in Tampa, which is a tough spot. The path there,
I think, is what makes me think that that maybe
they're not going to be there, even though the probably
odds on favorites, maybe why it would be a difficult road.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
To be fair, when I said they were my least
favorite team, their backup catcher was an Uber driver, JC Escar.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
They have Ali Sanchez. He's basically an Uber driver, too.
He stinks, too, yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
But that should make them your favorite team. They have
a bunch of former Uber drivers on your roster, and
you're still going to make it to the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
Little underdog.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Listen.

Speaker 6 (51:20):
Having the former grocery store bagman as your quarterback is
fun when it's Kurt Warner.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
When it's JC Escara, it's not.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
And he's batting 150. Yeah, you don't want the Uber
driver when he's batting 150. Some redemption story. He's batting
below the Mendoza line.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
That's nasty. See, I can be the fan police. I mean,
now you're going to players, Taylor. Come on. That's not nice.
He's trying to make a living for himself. Sure, he's
a great guy.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
We'll take it. All due respect. All due respect.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
He's probably a great guy. But as I always say,
you start ribbing. And then nothing personal. Morosi, whoever, a scar.
Nothing personal. And then tee off on them.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Wait, so Morrissey works for Fox? He does? Yes, we've
confirmed that?

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
I take back everything I said. Joe Moe. Joe Moe,
love you. Give me some Moe. All right, we'll take
a quick timeout.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
I am told here Ricardo has written a song and
voiced a song about Arch Manning.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
We'll play it for you. Coming up next.