April 15, 2021 • 38 mins
Chris and Rob are joined by former MLB veteran Rod Allen and the trio discuss what Jackie Robinson means to the sport of baseball, and discuss what Lakers fans can expect from Anthony Davis when he makes his return to the court in the coming days. Plus, The Athletic senior NFL writer Mike Sando swings by to share his thoughts on Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
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(00:26):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. It is the I Couple.
I am Chris, Here is Rob. We're coming to you
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. You can follow
us on social media. I'm at Chris Underscore Brusard on Twitter,
Chris Brusar sixty eight on Instagram. Rob is at Rob
(00:49):
Parker FS one on both Twitter and Instagram. At the
bottom of this hour, we'll be joined by senior NFL
writer for The Athletic Mike sand Though, so he'll bring
us up to speed on everything regarding the NFL Draft
and just the league as a whole. So you want
to keep it locked for that. But as we said
(01:10):
at the top of the show, and I'm sure everybody
knows at this point, it is Jackie Robinson Day in
Major League Baseball, and they're all wearing all the players
wearing the number forty two today and tomorrow. And so
we're bringing in former Major League Baseball player, just an
expert on the game. You hear him on here a
(01:32):
Lot with Filer Fair. It's our man Rod Alan, to
talk about Jackie Robinson and his legacy. Rod, thank you
for joining Rod. Hey, what's going on? Guys? How are
you doing today? You're good? Brother? How are you? I'm
fabulous something? How could you not be on a day
like today? Four years ago? I mean, Jackie integrated the
(01:55):
game allowed him, he played and just wonderful. I mean,
the conversations of a taking place since then. So looking
forward to having conversations with the guys today. Yeah, roll,
we should just kick it off and start by just
saying what does Jackie Robinson mean to you? And when
do you remember first hearing about Jackie Robinson and the
legend of him and his legacy. Let's start there. Well,
(02:19):
I mean I grew up in Santa Monica, California, and
I grew up a Dodgers fan. I mean, so obviously
Jackie played for the Dodgers. All be at the Brooklyn Dodgers.
So I mean back into school, I mean, you used
to do projects on Jackie and book reports, on Jackie
and and different things like that, and then for a
kid like myself to leave there at age seventeen and
embark on a professional career at seventeen, and then it
(02:41):
would expand forty three years. And you know, obviously every
single year we talk about Jackie Robinson and forty two
and being a broadcaster, and you guys know that too,
and just all that it means. But then when you
look a little deeper the person that he was, and
you know the father that he was and the husband
that he was, and you know, it's just so much.
(03:03):
I mean, I've been listening to a lot of different
people all day long today and in so many ways
that you can honor this man. But he was just special.
I mean, he was really special and and he's the
reason why he's got his day. You played, obviously in
Major League baseball three years your broadcast have been around
the game a long time at the pro level. You
know how tough and challenging it is when you put
(03:27):
on top of all the normal challenges that that pretor
there for a major league player just just playing at
that level. Can you imagine doing it when you've got
the racial animous and hatred that Jackie Robinson faced and
then you're carrying the black community on your back. Everybody's
(03:48):
pulling for you to represent them the right way, and
so on and so forth. Like can you imagine just
the burden that he had to carry and obviously did
it with so much class and great No, I mean,
I can't even imagine it. But I mean, he is
the reason why so many of us have been able
to stay in the game and being the game for
so many years. And but the one thing about Jackie,
(04:11):
and and he said this here, branch Rickey, it wasn't
about him breaking the color barrier. It wasn't about him
being the first. It really wasn't about him and him
not being able to fight back. It was about them winning.
They felt like he was gonna help them win a championship,
so first of them. Foremost, Jackie was a winner and
that's what he was about. And then because of his
(04:31):
education growing up on the West Coast and going to UCLA,
he was probably in tune with different you know, dynamics
of this culture that sometimes a lot of people aren't integrated,
you know, the way that you are on the West Coast.
But he was just special in that way and it was.
It wasn't about, you know, the color barrier. For him,
it was about winning. And it turned into the color
(04:52):
barrier as everything does. But he was a winner. The
other thing that I think when I think of Jackie
Robinson and think where we are, the idea that you know,
and this hasn't happened in any other sport where you know,
a player's number has been retired throughout the league and
(05:13):
it talks about the importance, it talks about this is
twenty somebody years before the Civil rights you know, like
like what nineteen forty seven was like for black people
and what it meant. And you're right about his ability
to play and try to win a championship for Brooklyn,
but it meant a lot. I remember reading stories rod
(05:35):
even in Detroit. Detroit had a racist owner. I can't
remember his name off the top of Briggs was I
think we used to be called Briggs Field of Briggs Stadium.
And when Jackie Robin, when black players would come to town,
Chris he would charge for the bleachers if black people
wanted to come in three and four times more, you know,
(05:56):
to try to keep them from coming to the ball games.
And black people would pay because they wanted to see
the black players come through Detroit and play. And it
just tells me that, you know how important the game was,
what Jackie back then, everybody was a Dodger fan, you know,
just about because that's am I, right, Rod, That's how
important it was. Right. But when you look back, I
(06:19):
mean you look at what the players are doing today.
I mean, and I don't think it's all the African
American players, because I went to a players Alliance event um,
you know, during the pandemic, and you know, they were
passing out gloves in the in the in the inner
city and just passing out a lot of love. Don
Trew Willis was there, Just Upton was there. I Mean,
there's so many guys, can't even make it them all,
but they were all there and I was there with them.
(06:41):
But all those players on this day, they're donating their
salaries to the players so they can continue to further
the game and start to put gloves in kids hands
and bats in kids hands. And not only that, I mean,
these guys are going around as ambassadors and talking the
game of baseball. I mean, you wanted thing, you got
Curtis Grandison's name on it, you know, it's gonna be special.
(07:03):
And he's pretty much the guy that's heading this whole operation.
And you know, there's a lot of other guys that
are doing a lot of special things, but Granderson's a
top notch individual. And I applaud the players alliance on
what they're doing as far as their salaries concerned. But
that's how special Jackie was to the game. I mean,
they're taking this day to donate their salaries to continue
to give back in further the game. Rod Um there,
(07:25):
I was reading an article in USA Today today and
it talked about how we all have seen the decline
of African American participation in baseball. They said, opening day
it was the rosters were seven point one percent African American,
which is obviously very low, and it's been on the
(07:45):
decline for a while. Why do you think that the
decline happened? Why why more Blacks aren't playing baseball like
they used to? Well, I mean when I came up,
I mean, I'm just gonna go there first. I mean,
I was draft in the nineteen seventy seven out of
Santa Monica High School in the sixth round by the
Chicago White Sox. And when I went to Florida. We
(08:09):
shared a complex with the Astros and the Expos and
guys like Tim Raines were down there that same year,
So you had a complex of three different teams because
you all played the same facility. And there was a
lot of African American kids that were there. And when
I got to the Big League finally in eighty two,
I think we had twenty six twenty seven percent African Americans.
(08:31):
But you know, Chris, that's the question that so many
of them asked, and that's the question of Major League
Baseball has continued to deal with. I mean, you could
talk about, you know, the kids not getting a chance
to play because the game has gotten so expensive, what
the parents are involved in the game. There's so many
different angles that you could take with it. But the
bottom line is, I think that what you're asking me,
the question, it's on the radar, and Major League Baseball
(08:54):
has hired people to you know, to hire other people
to try to help in communities, to bring awareness to
the game. And you know, it's a complicated question. I mean,
so you're asking me something that really don't have the
answer to, but I know it's on you know, the
forefront of what everything Major League Baseball is trying to
do as far as the equality and what's going on
in our society of these days. I also think this
(09:16):
my own theory is that part of it is, you know,
you reap what you saw. And about twenty years ago,
Baseball decided it was going to do baseball academies in
Latin America. It was just cheaper rod to not have
to pay people up front from this country with agents
and lawyers and all kinds of stuff. And you go
(09:36):
down there and get a kid, and baseball will pay
you once you get to the big level. Now, I
don't care what color you are, if you could play.
You saw what they gave Tattoos. He's not even eligible,
right and they gave him three hundred million dollars. So
they'll pay you if you can make it, but they
don't want to give you that big bonus up front.
And I think when they started doing that outsourcing jobs
(09:57):
I call it, and that's where you started to get
a bigger number of Latin players and Hispanic players. But
but I think there's a there's a definitely I agree
with you that Major League Baseball has done a lot
to push this forward. And that's really why I started
MLB bro dot com as well, because baseball is a
part of our part of our community always has been.
(10:22):
Look at the record books. Man, we're all over it.
And we only started in nineteen forty seven we could
play baseball. So it's about you know what I mean, Rod,
that's not the issue. It's about getting these kids back
into it. You know, where I grew up in California,
baseball used to be the first sport. It wasn't necessarily basketball,
it wasn't necessarily football. I mean baseball. Everybody played baseball,
(10:43):
played over the line, we played strike them out, we
played whiffleball, home played a lot of baseball back in
the day, man. And you just don't see that anymore.
You don't. You know, you don't go outside. You don't
see kids throwing balls around up against the garage in
different things like that. I don't care what color you are.
You just don't see it. You know, they don't do
it different. I mean, they got those iPads in their hands, man,
they got those phones in their hands. I mean times
(11:04):
have changed. I mean it's just a whole different generation. Man.
But you know, Rob, I think what you said about
the academies, you know, baseball has tried to catch up
as far as the academies are concerned, but they've been
doing that in Latin America for a number of years.
I think they started a younger age over there as well,
where it's most of the American born parents. I mean,
their kids are going to go to school. They're not
going to go to academies to learn baseball. I mean,
(11:25):
you have to make sure they're going to school too.
So I just think, like I said, that baseball is
going in the right direction and trying to, you know,
correct it as much as they can. Yeah. I think
part of it too is that these sports have become
year round and so younger ages are specializing. So like basketball,
now your coaches they want you to play it year
(11:46):
round or ball year round almost know, but you know,
ball and stuff like that. You're right to some degree,
so I think. But but didn't we just see what
Kyler Murray. I mean, there's outliers what I'm saying. But
Kyler Murray was the first player reverd Wilson to be
drafted first round baseball, in first round NFL. I mean,
(12:07):
that wasn't twenty years ago. That should tell kids too
that the AAU coaches and people are trying to convince
them that they have to play only one sport. Most
of the greatest athletes and any individual sport Rod played
multiple sports. They didn't play No, that's what I was
getting ready to say. Chris brings him a great point
where he says that most kids are being forced into
(12:29):
playing one sport because that coach is telling you a
few miss practices if you're playing football, if you want
to be on the basketball team, then you're not going
to be able to come out here and play, you know.
But the bottom line is exactly what Rob said. If
you can look at most of these baseball rosters in
the big leagues, and most of these guys were stars
on Friday Night and football in high school. They were
good basketball players, they obviously were good baseball players too.
(12:52):
And then you can look at some of these football
players and they were good baseball players and basketball players
in high school as well. So the guy, I mean,
you learn so many different motor skills from playing basketball
versus football, and versus you know, baseball and even soccer,
saying soccer teaches you a lot when you're young as
far as your foot in your coordination, rod. Let me
(13:12):
ask you this off of moving away from the Jackie
Robinson conversation. Rob and I were talking about this early
in the week. In the Atlantic League. They're gonna experiment
with moving the pictures mound back twelve inches away from
the play. So I don't know if you saw that,
but I did. Yeah. So they're trying to get more
(13:33):
balls and play groundball singles things like that for more action.
What do you think of that? Well, I mean, you've
already had two two no hitters thrown. I mean, must
grow up through a no hitter ron don Rodan, excuse me,
through a no hitter the other day. I mean, clearly,
pictures are throwing harder, I mean ninety nine hundred miles
an hour and nine miles an hour let me say,
(13:58):
let me finish. I mean, and then you have hitters
that are pretty much, you know, to hitting the ball
out of the ballpark. I mean it's because it's like,
I mean, you're you're not going to get a lot
of hits off of these guys that are throwing as
hard as they're throwing, and the hitters are not trying
to get base hit they're trying to just hit home
runs because pretty much that's what you got to do
to try to win the game. So with that being said,
I mean I kind of get where they're going. They're
(14:18):
trying to do some things that maybe put more balls
in play. But I don't think this is the the
the answer. I mean, you know, it's always been sixty
feet six inches and you know, hopefully it can stay
sixty feet six inches. But I just think they're just trying.
They they mean, bottom line is they feel like they're
hitting the pictures or just that much dominant that they
have to help the hitters. And you think you think
(14:42):
it's more of an approach because Robin I talk about
like the launch angles and guys are going for home runs.
You think it's more of the batter's approach or that
the pitchers have just moved too far ahead of the hitters.
It could be a combination of both. I mean, that's
a great question. I mean, I know most guys that
you know in the big leagues are throwing those fastballs
(15:02):
at you know, ninety eight miles an hour around the chest.
And I know most hitters nowadays they can handle that
pitch up there. And I do think that you know,
there's a lot of it. That's because of the launch
angle and the way the guys are being talked to hit.
But at the same time, I mean, guys are throwing
one hundred miles an hour. You might as well take
that one shot and try to hit it as far
as you kid. You know, they used to say sweet
(15:24):
hard case you hit it. That still applied. What are
you right about it? I mean, I know, I mean,
I know the baseball guy. But I mean, that's a
great question, that last question. I mean, do you think
if guys kind of change their approach and choked up
and just tried to hit base it, they'd be much better? Rod?
Have you struck out one hundred and seventy five times,
one hundred and fifty times, you would have been sent
(15:45):
back to the minor leagues and they don't You got
a release? You got a release? Am I right? You know?
Well that's right, right, So that that would speak to
the approach of you know, the hitting, the hitting the
game change. But I mean, that's why guy like that's
why I guy like DJ Leamy Hill is so special.
It's because he still plays that old school game, gets
(16:07):
on top of the baseball, hits balls hard through the
end field, he beats all these shifts, good contact, chokes
up a little bit grinder. And there's a few other
guys like that the big leagues that have that same
kind of approach. But that's their approach. But they approach
that they most guys get rewarded for. Is the list
of separated approach to hit home runs and strike out? Yeah? Wow,
(16:28):
well look, great conversation, man. We app really great on
all the different topics we threw at you, man, so
we appreciate it. Oh absolutely, guys, you go. You don't
hear my guys talk? All right? That's our man. Former
MLB player broadcaster Rod Allen. You can also hear him
here on the Eye Couple on foul or fair? All right?
(16:48):
Eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox, We're gonna throw
it out to you guys, what if anything can baseball
due to bring black athletes back to the sport And
how much blame do youth coach you deserve for making
kids focus on one sport year round. We will continue
the conversation with you. Next, it's the Eye Couple Fox
Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(17:09):
Odd Couple with Chris Brussar. Then Rob Parker weekdays at
seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, it's me Rob Parker. Check
out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for twenty
two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the biggest
(17:30):
name to newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in
analytics or the Eyecast, we've got all the basis cover.
New episodes drop every Thursday, So do yourself a favor
and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. All Right,
it's the Eye Couple, Chris and Rob coming to you
(17:51):
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios on a TV
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(18:57):
com Tchuriller fight Club dot com. Eight seven seven nine.
How can you get more black kids playing baseball? You
turn the way in? What are your thoughts? All right,
let's kick it off with a Rick in Fort Lauderdale.
You're on the eye couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Rick?
What's up? My brothers has been a long time man,
I know where I've been working hard with my ruber.
(19:19):
I looked for you guys when we hosted the Super
Bowl in South Beach. I couldn't find you guys. I mean,
I told you I was gonna hook you up for
Joe stone Crab. I mean, but he no. But you
know what, Chris was in Tom Brady's suitcase. But I
didn't get to go. Well, listen, guys, that's a loaded
question because you're coming from from a Cuban Cuban American
(19:40):
who grew up playing baseball. That's that's my first love,
right right. Guys have brought up different topics, which is
the rock correct? Listen what I used to pay for
a glove for cleats and an aluminum bat it, I
mean it'll cost me. It won't even matt one aluminum bat.
Uh this day and age, I mean, I've just gotten
(20:00):
so expensive. Number two, You look like a guy like
Connor Murray could have played both sports. But I think
because he would have to go through the miners all
that before he made the big money, he chose football
because now he gets that big bonus and eventually he'll
get the big contract, especially as a top tier quarterback.
But Chris, you brought up a great point. People forget
(20:21):
I mean we mentioned bow And and Dion. Remember back
in the seventies you had Dave Winfield who was drafted,
I mean off by four professional leagues, the ABA, NBA, NFL,
and MLB and became an MLB Uh played twenty years. Yeah.
But rob, let me ask you, wasn't there a program
(20:41):
that got started in the nineties called RBI that was
still going on and their players coming from that who
are being drafted and we're seeing some signs there are
people coming. The numbers will never be I don't think
back to where they were. Things have changed from that standpoint,
but yeah, baseball is put in and have tried to
(21:02):
correct it as far as academies and all kinds of programs.
So Rick, thanks for the call, appreciate hearing from you,
and stay well Jacks in Kansas City, you're in the
eye couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up, Jacks? Hey,
what's up? Fellas? What's going on? New? Well? Hey, what's up?
If I knew, no, no doubt you know I live
(21:23):
in KC where, of course we have the Negro League's
Baseball Museum, which did you guys? If you guys having
being you need to come. You also need to get
Bob Kendrick, who's the executive director on the show, because
this dude is a wealth of knowledge on Negro League baseball. Yeah, yeah,
we all thanks for that. Yeah, we will definitely do that.
(21:43):
And I'll say this, the Kansas City Royals have invested
heavily in an academy here in town instead of investing
all their money in the Dominican or somewhere they've investing heavily.
I just drove past it. There are black kids on
the field right now playing games, and that's what you
gotta do the field. No, yeah, no, that's a great
(22:07):
I No, that's that's great that the Royals are doing that,
right because Chris, that's what it was at first. It
just became a thing. Everybody had their and it's no
knock on Latin American players and what they you know,
they're talented players and they got to play the warm weather.
You know, you get to play every day. And uh,
that's what those academies were set up. One more, Can
(22:27):
we squeeze in? Christopher? Quick? Christopher? What's that quick? Yeah?
We can go go ahead, he said, no time. Oh
all right, we got we got Mike Sando. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussar and Rob Parker week days at seven pm Eastern
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
(22:49):
All right, it's The I Couple, Chris and Robb coming
to you live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. Our
next guest is a senior NFL writer for The Athletic
also the cost of the GM Podcast We love having
him on the show. Mike Sando, Mike, how are you.
What's happening? Good? Hey, good, good to be here, Thank you. Yeah,
(23:10):
what's going on? Yes? And let me throw this into
He is the originator of the quarterback Tigers, which has
become incredibly popular and we like discussing it on the
show as well. But Mike, let's go to the draft.
And I'm sure you've talked probably at nauseum about this,
but we want to hear it on our show. Trevor
Lawrence storys SI dot com recently, and you know, his
(23:34):
high school coach said he could take football or leave it,
or you know, he could walk away from it now
and be okay. His dad said he's not motivated by
winning super Bowls. Trevor himself said, you know, I just
think it's unhealthy to basically obsess over, you know, getting
better at this than that. I've heard talking heads talk
(23:56):
about it. I know you're talking to people around the NFL, scouts, coaches, gms, whatever.
What are people in the NFL saying? You know, I
don't think it's been a huge deal because it's been
a foregone conclusion so long. He's going number one A
lot of times with these storylines, you see the dusk
get kicked up when there's uncertainty over are we going
(24:17):
to try to push him up the board or down
the board. But I don't think that it's going to change.
I think Jacksonville is going to pick him. I don't
think anyone else is really thinking they're gonna have a
chance at him. So there's less of a chatter and
a reaction that is different those those types of comments
and quotes. Usually when you hear that about a player,
it's like anonymous source right to the guys all fall
(24:38):
or whatever. This is like they're just coming out and
saying it's so, ho, did it be a flag for you?
I would want to know the You have to know
the makeup of the person, right, And I think that's
really critical. So if yes, if you think that he
is not going to be serious about football, that would
be a huge deal. Reading it in an SI story,
(24:58):
I mean, I don't no. This is this to me
is very consistent with kind of what the NFLPA has
been encouraging from its players the last few years. I
think if you go back ten, fifteen, twenty years and more,
the mentality of the game was it's all about football.
The coaches do this. You run through a wall forum
(25:20):
and we give a stirring speech before the game, and
everybody plays hard and this is the most important thing
in our life. I think that's shifted. I think the
PA shifted it. We've had PA campaign was I'm more
than just a football player. They that's been encouraging the mindset.
So it feels like less of a big deal now
than it would have been. I think not that many
(25:40):
years ago. That's just my take on it. No, I
agree with that. I think some old school coaches ten
or twenty years ago might have had a fit that
the guy's not saying he's eating, drinking and sleeping football. Yeah,
help me with justin fields. And you know, I know
people talk that he's third on the board as far
as quarterbacks from Ohio State, but Ohio State hasn't developed
(26:04):
a lot of many good quarterbacks. Does that hurt him
at all? Are people over at it? It It can't tie
the other guys who didn't make it, you know, to him?
Is that fair? Yeah? I think it doesn't help him.
But I don't think it's I don't think it's really fair.
I don't think it's significant. I am really intrigued by
over by the order they're going to go. Like, to me,
it seems like just on what we've seen on the
(26:27):
field and you know who they played and all of that,
just talent wise, you would think he would be a
close second Trevor Lawrence. Just let's just not overthink it, right,
you know, just looking at the prospects, that's what I
would think. So I think he's gonna go really high.
The forty niner thing is fascinating. I mean, I don't
know what they're gonna do, but I have a hard
(26:47):
time believing with Justin Fields isn't gone in the first
four picks of the draft. I would think it will end.
It would take him if he was available. Just don't
overthink it, right, I mean, he's been a really good
college player. Yeah, are you telling you could talk itself
out of it? You know what I mean by overthinking?
And you're right, Yeah, that's what people do is they
build him up and then you go out of your
way to find all the flaws, you know, as you're
(27:10):
as you're going in and um, I don't know, you know,
it's a nerve wracking deal because I feel like at
that position. We have so many players you know that
you think are going to be good that aren't and
and you can just you can just drive yourself crazy
trying to get it right. Look, there's risks, you know,
he may not be that good, but from what we've
seen in college, you know, he looks pretty good to me.
(27:32):
And I wouldn't be pushing up someone else who hasn't
had the track record. Um, you know what I mean
if you if you the track record to me should
be the number one thing. Let's go to the current
NFL quarterbacks and obviously the Browns. You know, they added
to Dave and Clowney, which is a big name. We'll
see how much he's got left. But they've got a
(27:53):
really good team. And now people are talking like here's skuttle,
but like it's on Bay Mayfield. You know, if they
don't go pretty far, then it's on him because they
got talent all around him. What do you agree with that?
And like, are you sold that Baker is a franchise
quarterback or is the jury still out for you? Well,
(28:16):
I think that he's a starting quarterback in the NFL.
What I don't feel like is he's the reason why
they're winning, which is probably a little unfair for most quarterbacks.
I feel like there's four or five of those guys
historically in the league at a time, right, I mean
that really really do it. So I think they can
(28:37):
win with them. I think they're gonna fifth year option them.
So I think he's going to be their quarterback, you know,
the next couple of seasons. But it wouldn't surprise me
at all if they, you know, beyond that we're looking for,
you know, had someone else in mind or or at
least considering their options, because I just don't know. When
you talk about those quarterbacks in the really top of
the market contracts, don't you want some kind of differentiating
(29:02):
physical traits? Right? You look at Josh Alleny, look at
Lamar Jackson, you look at Patrick Mahomes. They have certain
things about him that are really rare to find. And
I think with Mayfield you don't see that as much.
You just see, you know, he's pretty good when things
are good around him. How about Matthew Stafford. I mean,
everybody you know, the Rams are going to the super Bowl.
(29:22):
They got their messiah from Detroit, who couldn't win a
playoff game in twelve years. I've watched Matthew Stafford from
day one of his career, and I've and granted that
the Lions didn't have the greatest of teams, but sometimes
a quarterback can can lift you and you know, and
make a team better. Where are you on Matthew Stafford
(29:43):
and his career and what he was able to do.
I call him stat Padford because a lot of his
stats come after the game, you know, the game has
been decided and the defense is kind of, you know,
slack off a little bit. Where are you staf Well
every one? I love that we have of the quarterbacks
changing teams in environments because we've always had these age
(30:04):
old debates, Right, what would this guy be if he
was in a different team, you know what I mean?
And this year we're gonna see the like, Hey, you
know what, Carson Wentz, you can't blame the Eagles. Now
you're going to do a good team. So let's see
how it is, right, Bett Stafford, Oh, you want to
blame Detroit, Well, guess what we're gonna put you with
Sean mcvayh Now, now it's gonna be great. Right, So
I think there's no question that Detroit organization has been
(30:24):
bad and that's hurt him. I think if he had
been on a really good organization, he would have won
the playoffs. But there's I agree with you that you
have twelve years of it. It's like we would have
we should have seen a little more. So what I
think it's gonna happen is like I think what's going
to happen is he's gonna go to the Rams. I
think he can do some things better than Golf can
do him. I'd rather have him than Golf. I would
say that, but I don't really think at the end
(30:46):
of the day, they're going to be like going a
lot deeper in the playoffs. Right, So last year, where
did they win ten games? Ten wins and they won
one playoff game? Right? Yea, Yeah, I'm not necessar certainly
taking the over on that, you know what I mean,
Even though I think even though I think Stafford's more talented,
I think he's a more experienced, like a savvier player,
(31:08):
like I think he's I'd rather have him than Golf.
I just don't necessarily think that it's going to make
him be in the super Bowl with their team. Mike. Look,
none of us obviously know what is going to happen
with Deshaun Watson. But just if you can keep it
to football, Like, do you how do you think this
(31:29):
impacts his immediate football situation? Like does this just rule
out any chance of him being traded from Houston? You know?
Could you see does this benefit the the Texans in
that regard? Like, how do you see it just from
a football standpoint? Yeah, I think it makes it hard
(31:50):
for them to get maximum value for him if they
were going to trade him, you know what I mean.
And it makes it hard if you're the acquiring team
with the question marks and things unresolved. Look, I don't
know enough of the facts. Right, it looks kind of bad,
But could it be worse? Could it be better? You know,
I think the time will tell. So the other thing
that happens this offseason is, you know, teams can't wait
(32:12):
for that, so we've seen moves made at quarterback positions.
There's fewer teams that have a need. So I think
what I want to see is after the draft, who
still doesn't have one? Right? What if the draft falls
in such a way that Denver doesn't really have one
or you know, then they get into the season and
you know, Drew Locke's bad for the first month and
now does he'll get worked out because there's been enough
(32:35):
more stuff known, right. I think it'd be hard for
a general manager to put their name on a player,
you know, to really bet it on a player when
you know you don't know, you can't there's no way
of like investigating right and knowing like sure everything you
need to know right right now. It's it's definitely a
(32:55):
complicated it, Markie, and it doesn't look good. But we'll
see you ever. No, yeah, all right, that's Mike Sandoz,
senior n F writer for The Athletic. Great stuff, Mike,
we appreciate it. Thank you very much. Well see you guys, yea,
thank you. Also check him out. He's the co host
of the GM podcast. All Right, the long wait is over.
(33:16):
We'll explain next I Couple Fox Sports Radio. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussar then Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
All Right, Alex has has tested me. Rob Oh, I
know this one. You know it. Give me a hit,
(33:38):
Give me a hit. He was a he had a
very popular TV show with Ron Howard in the sixties
and then this was his second big show. So that
would have been Andy Griffith. Yea, uh oh what was
he was a lawyer in Atlanta. No, that's Matt Lack.
(34:01):
Is that Matt Good? Yeah? You got it? Yeah? So okay, wow,
right please Andy Griffith was was a big star man.
But you know, were you into that show? It was
all right, you know what I mean? That one creative.
Some weird characters on that show, though, what Floyd the Barber, Goldberg, Goober.
It was weird. It was some strange stuff going on. Yeah,
(34:26):
it may do, you know, but but real quick, that's
a spinoff on Chris. Here's here's some TV little known
TV information. That show was considered to be a spinoff
off the old Danny Thomas show, Make Room, Make Make
Room for Daddy, Danny Thomas's show. Right, was that a hit?
Make Room for Daddy? Yeah, Danny Thomas had a big show.
(34:48):
But this is what happened. They go on vacation, They
drive through North Carolina. They stopped in a small town
with a sheriff who doesn't carry a gun, and it's
Andy Griffith and that's where they came up with the idea.
Oh that that was real, like real life. That happened. No, no, no,
no on the show. That was how they transff. Okay, okay, wow. Yeah,
(35:14):
I watched it occasionally, the show from that era, I
guess the oldest show. I was probably somewhat into Father's
No Best. Well, yeah, I love Lucy, Yeah, I like
Father to Those Best with budd and you know all
that crew. All right with the Eye Couple coming to
you live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. It's a
(35:34):
TV theme show Thursday. In case you didn't know TV
theme song Thursday. So look April seventeenth, that's two days
from now. It's a Saturday. Truller presents the most packed
fight card yet. Former MMA champion Ben askerin came out
of retirement to fight a famed YouTuber who's headlining a
(35:55):
great night of fights. And it's a night full of
performances from the hottest than music. You got Mount Westmore
with Legends, Ice Cube, Snoop Dog, Eve forty two Short.
It's on pay per view through your TV provider or
at Tuiller fight Club dot com. All right, check that out.
(36:17):
Tchuriller t R I l l E R. Rob. We
got a little news go ahead. Rob Rob G's giddy,
so I don't even know if he'll be able to
deliver this Laker news. He's shout out to what Steve
de Sager for dropping it about twenty minutes ago. But
we finally have some good it's been dancing ever since.
Some good news On the injury front of the NBA.
(36:37):
Anthony Davis has been cleared to resume play. He probably
won't play this weekend because they're still you know, on
court some ramp up, but there's a good chance he
will be on the court in the next three or
four games, likely limited about fifteen minutes a game while
starting off before he really turns it on for the
postseason and carries the Lakers to the championship like a
(37:00):
true Homer would. I it is good to see the
stars back in action, right And I'm gonna say this,
we know it and you know her to Rob you
if you'll be objective, Anthony Davis was not lighting the
world on fire. Anthony Davis was actually look, he was
playing well. I think he's definitely playing at the all
(37:21):
star level. But twenty two points, nine rebounds, I mean
he had career loads and just about everything wasn't getting
to the free throw line very much. Scorn was way down,
rebounded was slightly down, blocks were down. I mean, I
gotta see more. They're gonna need more from him to
(37:42):
win the West and certainly to beat Brooklyn or whoever
comes out of the East, which I think it will
be Brooklyn. So I think, Look, I don't these fifteen minutes.
I mean, look, I keep him healthy, of course, but shoot,
I want to see him get out there and ball,
because I don't know like Lebron. Okay, Lebron can turn
it on. I trust Lebron to turn it on when
(38:03):
he needs to. I'm not so sure about ad so
especially since, especially since you're right, we thought this was
the year he would be go after the MVP. You remember,
come out, the monkey was off his back, he won
a championship. All he had to do was go out
and ball and let Lebron kick back until the playoffs started.
(38:24):
And we didn't see that. No, not at all. And
so it'll be interesting, but you know we'll see It's
good news for sure. Two hours an hour left. Keep
it locked
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
to catch us live every weekday from seven pm to
ten pm Eastern four to seven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd Couple
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f s R.
(00:26):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. It is the I Couple.
I am Chris, Here is Rob. We're coming to you
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. You can follow
us on social media. I'm at Chris Underscore Brusard on Twitter,
Chris Brusar sixty eight on Instagram. Rob is at Rob
(00:49):
Parker FS one on both Twitter and Instagram. At the
bottom of this hour, we'll be joined by senior NFL
writer for The Athletic Mike sand Though, so he'll bring
us up to speed on everything regarding the NFL Draft
and just the league as a whole. So you want
to keep it locked for that. But as we said
(01:10):
at the top of the show, and I'm sure everybody
knows at this point, it is Jackie Robinson Day in
Major League Baseball, and they're all wearing all the players
wearing the number forty two today and tomorrow. And so
we're bringing in former Major League Baseball player, just an
expert on the game. You hear him on here a
(01:32):
Lot with Filer Fair. It's our man Rod Alan, to
talk about Jackie Robinson and his legacy. Rod, thank you
for joining Rod. Hey, what's going on? Guys? How are
you doing today? You're good? Brother? How are you? I'm
fabulous something? How could you not be on a day
like today? Four years ago? I mean, Jackie integrated the
(01:55):
game allowed him, he played and just wonderful. I mean,
the conversations of a taking place since then. So looking
forward to having conversations with the guys today. Yeah, roll,
we should just kick it off and start by just
saying what does Jackie Robinson mean to you? And when
do you remember first hearing about Jackie Robinson and the
legend of him and his legacy. Let's start there. Well,
(02:19):
I mean I grew up in Santa Monica, California, and
I grew up a Dodgers fan. I mean, so obviously
Jackie played for the Dodgers. All be at the Brooklyn Dodgers.
So I mean back into school, I mean, you used
to do projects on Jackie and book reports, on Jackie
and and different things like that, and then for a
kid like myself to leave there at age seventeen and
embark on a professional career at seventeen, and then it
(02:41):
would expand forty three years. And you know, obviously every
single year we talk about Jackie Robinson and forty two
and being a broadcaster, and you guys know that too,
and just all that it means. But then when you
look a little deeper the person that he was, and
you know the father that he was and the husband
that he was, and you know, it's just so much.
(03:03):
I mean, I've been listening to a lot of different
people all day long today and in so many ways
that you can honor this man. But he was just special.
I mean, he was really special and and he's the
reason why he's got his day. You played, obviously in
Major League baseball three years your broadcast have been around
the game a long time at the pro level. You
know how tough and challenging it is when you put
(03:27):
on top of all the normal challenges that that pretor
there for a major league player just just playing at
that level. Can you imagine doing it when you've got
the racial animous and hatred that Jackie Robinson faced and
then you're carrying the black community on your back. Everybody's
(03:48):
pulling for you to represent them the right way, and
so on and so forth. Like can you imagine just
the burden that he had to carry and obviously did
it with so much class and great No, I mean,
I can't even imagine it. But I mean, he is
the reason why so many of us have been able
to stay in the game and being the game for
so many years. And but the one thing about Jackie,
(04:11):
and and he said this here, branch Rickey, it wasn't
about him breaking the color barrier. It wasn't about him
being the first. It really wasn't about him and him
not being able to fight back. It was about them winning.
They felt like he was gonna help them win a championship,
so first of them. Foremost, Jackie was a winner and
that's what he was about. And then because of his
(04:31):
education growing up on the West Coast and going to UCLA,
he was probably in tune with different you know, dynamics
of this culture that sometimes a lot of people aren't integrated,
you know, the way that you are on the West Coast.
But he was just special in that way and it was.
It wasn't about, you know, the color barrier. For him,
it was about winning. And it turned into the color
(04:52):
barrier as everything does. But he was a winner. The
other thing that I think when I think of Jackie
Robinson and think where we are, the idea that you know,
and this hasn't happened in any other sport where you know,
a player's number has been retired throughout the league and
(05:13):
it talks about the importance, it talks about this is
twenty somebody years before the Civil rights you know, like
like what nineteen forty seven was like for black people
and what it meant. And you're right about his ability
to play and try to win a championship for Brooklyn,
but it meant a lot. I remember reading stories rod
(05:35):
even in Detroit. Detroit had a racist owner. I can't
remember his name off the top of Briggs was I
think we used to be called Briggs Field of Briggs Stadium.
And when Jackie Robin, when black players would come to town,
Chris he would charge for the bleachers if black people
wanted to come in three and four times more, you know,
(05:56):
to try to keep them from coming to the ball games.
And black people would pay because they wanted to see
the black players come through Detroit and play. And it
just tells me that, you know how important the game was,
what Jackie back then, everybody was a Dodger fan, you know,
just about because that's am I, right, Rod, That's how
important it was. Right. But when you look back, I
(06:19):
mean you look at what the players are doing today.
I mean, and I don't think it's all the African
American players, because I went to a players Alliance event um,
you know, during the pandemic, and you know, they were
passing out gloves in the in the in the inner
city and just passing out a lot of love. Don
Trew Willis was there, Just Upton was there. I Mean,
there's so many guys, can't even make it them all,
but they were all there and I was there with them.
(06:41):
But all those players on this day, they're donating their
salaries to the players so they can continue to further
the game and start to put gloves in kids hands
and bats in kids hands. And not only that, I mean,
these guys are going around as ambassadors and talking the
game of baseball. I mean, you wanted thing, you got
Curtis Grandison's name on it, you know, it's gonna be special.
(07:03):
And he's pretty much the guy that's heading this whole operation.
And you know, there's a lot of other guys that
are doing a lot of special things, but Granderson's a
top notch individual. And I applaud the players alliance on
what they're doing as far as their salaries concerned. But
that's how special Jackie was to the game. I mean,
they're taking this day to donate their salaries to continue
to give back in further the game. Rod Um there,
(07:25):
I was reading an article in USA Today today and
it talked about how we all have seen the decline
of African American participation in baseball. They said, opening day
it was the rosters were seven point one percent African American,
which is obviously very low, and it's been on the
(07:45):
decline for a while. Why do you think that the
decline happened? Why why more Blacks aren't playing baseball like
they used to? Well, I mean when I came up,
I mean, I'm just gonna go there first. I mean,
I was draft in the nineteen seventy seven out of
Santa Monica High School in the sixth round by the
Chicago White Sox. And when I went to Florida. We
(08:09):
shared a complex with the Astros and the Expos and
guys like Tim Raines were down there that same year,
So you had a complex of three different teams because
you all played the same facility. And there was a
lot of African American kids that were there. And when
I got to the Big League finally in eighty two,
I think we had twenty six twenty seven percent African Americans.
(08:31):
But you know, Chris, that's the question that so many
of them asked, and that's the question of Major League
Baseball has continued to deal with. I mean, you could
talk about, you know, the kids not getting a chance
to play because the game has gotten so expensive, what
the parents are involved in the game. There's so many
different angles that you could take with it. But the
bottom line is, I think that what you're asking me,
the question, it's on the radar, and Major League Baseball
(08:54):
has hired people to you know, to hire other people
to try to help in communities, to bring awareness to
the game. And you know, it's a complicated question. I mean,
so you're asking me something that really don't have the
answer to, but I know it's on you know, the
forefront of what everything Major League Baseball is trying to
do as far as the equality and what's going on
in our society of these days. I also think this
(09:16):
my own theory is that part of it is, you know,
you reap what you saw. And about twenty years ago,
Baseball decided it was going to do baseball academies in
Latin America. It was just cheaper rod to not have
to pay people up front from this country with agents
and lawyers and all kinds of stuff. And you go
(09:36):
down there and get a kid, and baseball will pay
you once you get to the big level. Now, I
don't care what color you are, if you could play.
You saw what they gave Tattoos. He's not even eligible,
right and they gave him three hundred million dollars. So
they'll pay you if you can make it, but they
don't want to give you that big bonus up front.
And I think when they started doing that outsourcing jobs
(09:57):
I call it, and that's where you started to get
a bigger number of Latin players and Hispanic players. But
but I think there's a there's a definitely I agree
with you that Major League Baseball has done a lot
to push this forward. And that's really why I started
MLB bro dot com as well, because baseball is a
part of our part of our community always has been.
(10:22):
Look at the record books. Man, we're all over it.
And we only started in nineteen forty seven we could
play baseball. So it's about you know what I mean, Rod,
that's not the issue. It's about getting these kids back
into it. You know, where I grew up in California,
baseball used to be the first sport. It wasn't necessarily basketball,
it wasn't necessarily football. I mean baseball. Everybody played baseball,
(10:43):
played over the line, we played strike them out, we
played whiffleball, home played a lot of baseball back in
the day, man. And you just don't see that anymore.
You don't. You know, you don't go outside. You don't
see kids throwing balls around up against the garage in
different things like that. I don't care what color you are.
You just don't see it. You know, they don't do
it different. I mean, they got those iPads in their hands, man,
they got those phones in their hands. I mean times
(11:04):
have changed. I mean it's just a whole different generation. Man.
But you know, Rob, I think what you said about
the academies, you know, baseball has tried to catch up
as far as the academies are concerned, but they've been
doing that in Latin America for a number of years.
I think they started a younger age over there as well,
where it's most of the American born parents. I mean,
their kids are going to go to school. They're not
going to go to academies to learn baseball. I mean,
(11:25):
you have to make sure they're going to school too.
So I just think, like I said, that baseball is
going in the right direction and trying to, you know,
correct it as much as they can. Yeah. I think
part of it too is that these sports have become
year round and so younger ages are specializing. So like basketball,
now your coaches they want you to play it year
(11:46):
round or ball year round almost know, but you know,
ball and stuff like that. You're right to some degree,
so I think. But but didn't we just see what
Kyler Murray. I mean, there's outliers what I'm saying. But
Kyler Murray was the first player reverd Wilson to be
drafted first round baseball, in first round NFL. I mean,
(12:07):
that wasn't twenty years ago. That should tell kids too
that the AAU coaches and people are trying to convince
them that they have to play only one sport. Most
of the greatest athletes and any individual sport Rod played
multiple sports. They didn't play No, that's what I was
getting ready to say. Chris brings him a great point
where he says that most kids are being forced into
(12:29):
playing one sport because that coach is telling you a
few miss practices if you're playing football, if you want
to be on the basketball team, then you're not going
to be able to come out here and play, you know.
But the bottom line is exactly what Rob said. If
you can look at most of these baseball rosters in
the big leagues, and most of these guys were stars
on Friday Night and football in high school. They were
good basketball players, they obviously were good baseball players too.
(12:52):
And then you can look at some of these football
players and they were good baseball players and basketball players
in high school as well. So the guy, I mean,
you learn so many different motor skills from playing basketball
versus football, and versus you know, baseball and even soccer,
saying soccer teaches you a lot when you're young as
far as your foot in your coordination, rod. Let me
(13:12):
ask you this off of moving away from the Jackie
Robinson conversation. Rob and I were talking about this early
in the week. In the Atlantic League. They're gonna experiment
with moving the pictures mound back twelve inches away from
the play. So I don't know if you saw that,
but I did. Yeah. So they're trying to get more
(13:33):
balls and play groundball singles things like that for more action.
What do you think of that? Well, I mean, you've
already had two two no hitters thrown. I mean, must
grow up through a no hitter ron don Rodan, excuse me,
through a no hitter the other day. I mean, clearly,
pictures are throwing harder, I mean ninety nine hundred miles
an hour and nine miles an hour let me say,
(13:58):
let me finish. I mean, and then you have hitters
that are pretty much, you know, to hitting the ball
out of the ballpark. I mean it's because it's like,
I mean, you're you're not going to get a lot
of hits off of these guys that are throwing as
hard as they're throwing, and the hitters are not trying
to get base hit they're trying to just hit home
runs because pretty much that's what you got to do
to try to win the game. So with that being said,
I mean I kind of get where they're going. They're
(14:18):
trying to do some things that maybe put more balls
in play. But I don't think this is the the
the answer. I mean, you know, it's always been sixty
feet six inches and you know, hopefully it can stay
sixty feet six inches. But I just think they're just trying.
They they mean, bottom line is they feel like they're
hitting the pictures or just that much dominant that they
have to help the hitters. And you think you think
(14:42):
it's more of an approach because Robin I talk about
like the launch angles and guys are going for home runs.
You think it's more of the batter's approach or that
the pitchers have just moved too far ahead of the hitters.
It could be a combination of both. I mean, that's
a great question. I mean, I know most guys that
you know in the big leagues are throwing those fastballs
(15:02):
at you know, ninety eight miles an hour around the chest.
And I know most hitters nowadays they can handle that
pitch up there. And I do think that you know,
there's a lot of it. That's because of the launch
angle and the way the guys are being talked to hit.
But at the same time, I mean, guys are throwing
one hundred miles an hour. You might as well take
that one shot and try to hit it as far
as you kid. You know, they used to say sweet
(15:24):
hard case you hit it. That still applied. What are
you right about it? I mean, I know, I mean,
I know the baseball guy. But I mean, that's a
great question, that last question. I mean, do you think
if guys kind of change their approach and choked up
and just tried to hit base it, they'd be much better? Rod?
Have you struck out one hundred and seventy five times,
one hundred and fifty times, you would have been sent
(15:45):
back to the minor leagues and they don't You got
a release? You got a release? Am I right? You know?
Well that's right, right, So that that would speak to
the approach of you know, the hitting, the hitting the
game change. But I mean, that's why guy like that's
why I guy like DJ Leamy Hill is so special.
It's because he still plays that old school game, gets
(16:07):
on top of the baseball, hits balls hard through the
end field, he beats all these shifts, good contact, chokes
up a little bit grinder. And there's a few other
guys like that the big leagues that have that same
kind of approach. But that's their approach. But they approach
that they most guys get rewarded for. Is the list
of separated approach to hit home runs and strike out? Yeah? Wow,
(16:28):
well look, great conversation, man. We app really great on
all the different topics we threw at you, man, so
we appreciate it. Oh absolutely, guys, you go. You don't
hear my guys talk? All right? That's our man. Former
MLB player broadcaster Rod Allen. You can also hear him
here on the Eye Couple on foul or fair? All right?
(16:48):
Eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox, We're gonna throw
it out to you guys, what if anything can baseball
due to bring black athletes back to the sport And
how much blame do youth coach you deserve for making
kids focus on one sport year round. We will continue
the conversation with you. Next, it's the Eye Couple Fox
Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(17:09):
Odd Couple with Chris Brussar. Then Rob Parker weekdays at
seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, it's me Rob Parker. Check
out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for twenty
two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the biggest
(17:30):
name to newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in
analytics or the Eyecast, we've got all the basis cover.
New episodes drop every Thursday, So do yourself a favor
and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. All Right,
it's the Eye Couple, Chris and Rob coming to you
(17:51):
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios on a TV
theme song Thursday. And get ready for the fight of
a lifetime, folks with Tiller Fight Club Ben Ashgren, former
Bellatour and one championship champion. He came out of retirement
to fight a YouTuber on the card that is stacked
(18:12):
with amazing fights. It's live from Atlanta this Saturday, two
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(18:35):
of the hip hop supergroup Mount Westmore featuring Snoop Dog,
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get in on his action. Trust the brother that Saturday,
April seventeenth, nine pm Eastern only on pay per view.
Order the fight now at the Triller Fight Club dot
(18:57):
com Tchuriller fight Club dot com. Eight seven seven nine.
How can you get more black kids playing baseball? You
turn the way in? What are your thoughts? All right,
let's kick it off with a Rick in Fort Lauderdale.
You're on the eye couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Rick?
What's up? My brothers has been a long time man,
I know where I've been working hard with my ruber.
(19:19):
I looked for you guys when we hosted the Super
Bowl in South Beach. I couldn't find you guys. I mean,
I told you I was gonna hook you up for
Joe stone Crab. I mean, but he no. But you
know what, Chris was in Tom Brady's suitcase. But I
didn't get to go. Well, listen, guys, that's a loaded
question because you're coming from from a Cuban Cuban American
(19:40):
who grew up playing baseball. That's that's my first love,
right right. Guys have brought up different topics, which is
the rock correct? Listen what I used to pay for
a glove for cleats and an aluminum bat it, I
mean it'll cost me. It won't even matt one aluminum bat.
Uh this day and age, I mean, I've just gotten
(20:00):
so expensive. Number two, You look like a guy like
Connor Murray could have played both sports. But I think
because he would have to go through the miners all
that before he made the big money, he chose football
because now he gets that big bonus and eventually he'll
get the big contract, especially as a top tier quarterback.
But Chris, you brought up a great point. People forget
(20:21):
I mean we mentioned bow And and Dion. Remember back
in the seventies you had Dave Winfield who was drafted,
I mean off by four professional leagues, the ABA, NBA, NFL,
and MLB and became an MLB Uh played twenty years. Yeah.
But rob, let me ask you, wasn't there a program
(20:41):
that got started in the nineties called RBI that was
still going on and their players coming from that who
are being drafted and we're seeing some signs there are
people coming. The numbers will never be I don't think
back to where they were. Things have changed from that standpoint,
but yeah, baseball is put in and have tried to
(21:02):
correct it as far as academies and all kinds of programs.
So Rick, thanks for the call, appreciate hearing from you,
and stay well Jacks in Kansas City, you're in the
eye couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up, Jacks? Hey,
what's up? Fellas? What's going on? New? Well? Hey, what's up?
If I knew, no, no doubt you know I live
(21:23):
in KC where, of course we have the Negro League's
Baseball Museum, which did you guys? If you guys having
being you need to come. You also need to get
Bob Kendrick, who's the executive director on the show, because
this dude is a wealth of knowledge on Negro League baseball. Yeah, yeah,
we all thanks for that. Yeah, we will definitely do that.
(21:43):
And I'll say this, the Kansas City Royals have invested
heavily in an academy here in town instead of investing
all their money in the Dominican or somewhere they've investing heavily.
I just drove past it. There are black kids on
the field right now playing games, and that's what you
gotta do the field. No, yeah, no, that's a great
(22:07):
I No, that's that's great that the Royals are doing that,
right because Chris, that's what it was at first. It
just became a thing. Everybody had their and it's no
knock on Latin American players and what they you know,
they're talented players and they got to play the warm weather.
You know, you get to play every day. And uh,
that's what those academies were set up. One more, Can
(22:27):
we squeeze in? Christopher? Quick? Christopher? What's that quick? Yeah?
We can go go ahead, he said, no time. Oh
all right, we got we got Mike Sando. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussar and Rob Parker week days at seven pm Eastern
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
(22:49):
All right, it's The I Couple, Chris and Robb coming
to you live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. Our
next guest is a senior NFL writer for The Athletic
also the cost of the GM Podcast We love having
him on the show. Mike Sando, Mike, how are you.
What's happening? Good? Hey, good, good to be here, Thank you. Yeah,
(23:10):
what's going on? Yes? And let me throw this into
He is the originator of the quarterback Tigers, which has
become incredibly popular and we like discussing it on the
show as well. But Mike, let's go to the draft.
And I'm sure you've talked probably at nauseum about this,
but we want to hear it on our show. Trevor
Lawrence storys SI dot com recently, and you know, his
(23:34):
high school coach said he could take football or leave it,
or you know, he could walk away from it now
and be okay. His dad said he's not motivated by
winning super Bowls. Trevor himself said, you know, I just
think it's unhealthy to basically obsess over, you know, getting
better at this than that. I've heard talking heads talk
(23:56):
about it. I know you're talking to people around the NFL, scouts, coaches, gms, whatever.
What are people in the NFL saying? You know, I
don't think it's been a huge deal because it's been
a foregone conclusion so long. He's going number one A
lot of times with these storylines, you see the dusk
get kicked up when there's uncertainty over are we going
(24:17):
to try to push him up the board or down
the board. But I don't think that it's going to change.
I think Jacksonville is going to pick him. I don't
think anyone else is really thinking they're gonna have a
chance at him. So there's less of a chatter and
a reaction that is different those those types of comments
and quotes. Usually when you hear that about a player,
it's like anonymous source right to the guys all fall
(24:38):
or whatever. This is like they're just coming out and
saying it's so, ho, did it be a flag for you?
I would want to know the You have to know
the makeup of the person, right, And I think that's
really critical. So if yes, if you think that he
is not going to be serious about football, that would
be a huge deal. Reading it in an SI story,
(24:58):
I mean, I don't no. This is this to me
is very consistent with kind of what the NFLPA has
been encouraging from its players the last few years. I
think if you go back ten, fifteen, twenty years and more,
the mentality of the game was it's all about football.
The coaches do this. You run through a wall forum
(25:20):
and we give a stirring speech before the game, and
everybody plays hard and this is the most important thing
in our life. I think that's shifted. I think the
PA shifted it. We've had PA campaign was I'm more
than just a football player. They that's been encouraging the mindset.
So it feels like less of a big deal now
than it would have been. I think not that many
(25:40):
years ago. That's just my take on it. No, I
agree with that. I think some old school coaches ten
or twenty years ago might have had a fit that
the guy's not saying he's eating, drinking and sleeping football. Yeah,
help me with justin fields. And you know, I know
people talk that he's third on the board as far
as quarterbacks from Ohio State, but Ohio State hasn't developed
(26:04):
a lot of many good quarterbacks. Does that hurt him
at all? Are people over at it? It It can't tie
the other guys who didn't make it, you know, to him?
Is that fair? Yeah? I think it doesn't help him.
But I don't think it's I don't think it's really fair.
I don't think it's significant. I am really intrigued by
over by the order they're going to go. Like, to me,
it seems like just on what we've seen on the
(26:27):
field and you know who they played and all of that,
just talent wise, you would think he would be a
close second Trevor Lawrence. Just let's just not overthink it, right,
you know, just looking at the prospects, that's what I
would think. So I think he's gonna go really high.
The forty niner thing is fascinating. I mean, I don't
know what they're gonna do, but I have a hard
(26:47):
time believing with Justin Fields isn't gone in the first
four picks of the draft. I would think it will end.
It would take him if he was available. Just don't
overthink it, right, I mean, he's been a really good
college player. Yeah, are you telling you could talk itself
out of it? You know what I mean by overthinking?
And you're right, Yeah, that's what people do is they
build him up and then you go out of your
way to find all the flaws, you know, as you're
(27:10):
as you're going in and um, I don't know, you know,
it's a nerve wracking deal because I feel like at
that position. We have so many players you know that
you think are going to be good that aren't and
and you can just you can just drive yourself crazy
trying to get it right. Look, there's risks, you know,
he may not be that good, but from what we've
seen in college, you know, he looks pretty good to me.
(27:32):
And I wouldn't be pushing up someone else who hasn't
had the track record. Um, you know what I mean
if you if you the track record to me should
be the number one thing. Let's go to the current
NFL quarterbacks and obviously the Browns. You know, they added
to Dave and Clowney, which is a big name. We'll
see how much he's got left. But they've got a
(27:53):
really good team. And now people are talking like here's skuttle,
but like it's on Bay Mayfield. You know, if they
don't go pretty far, then it's on him because they
got talent all around him. What do you agree with that?
And like, are you sold that Baker is a franchise
quarterback or is the jury still out for you? Well,
(28:16):
I think that he's a starting quarterback in the NFL.
What I don't feel like is he's the reason why
they're winning, which is probably a little unfair for most quarterbacks.
I feel like there's four or five of those guys
historically in the league at a time, right, I mean
that really really do it. So I think they can
(28:37):
win with them. I think they're gonna fifth year option them.
So I think he's going to be their quarterback, you know,
the next couple of seasons. But it wouldn't surprise me
at all if they, you know, beyond that we're looking for,
you know, had someone else in mind or or at
least considering their options, because I just don't know. When
you talk about those quarterbacks in the really top of
the market contracts, don't you want some kind of differentiating
(29:02):
physical traits? Right? You look at Josh Alleny, look at
Lamar Jackson, you look at Patrick Mahomes. They have certain
things about him that are really rare to find. And
I think with Mayfield you don't see that as much.
You just see, you know, he's pretty good when things
are good around him. How about Matthew Stafford. I mean,
everybody you know, the Rams are going to the super Bowl.
(29:22):
They got their messiah from Detroit, who couldn't win a
playoff game in twelve years. I've watched Matthew Stafford from
day one of his career, and I've and granted that
the Lions didn't have the greatest of teams, but sometimes
a quarterback can can lift you and you know, and
make a team better. Where are you on Matthew Stafford
(29:43):
and his career and what he was able to do.
I call him stat Padford because a lot of his
stats come after the game, you know, the game has
been decided and the defense is kind of, you know,
slack off a little bit. Where are you staf Well
every one? I love that we have of the quarterbacks
changing teams in environments because we've always had these age
(30:04):
old debates, Right, what would this guy be if he
was in a different team, you know what I mean?
And this year we're gonna see the like, Hey, you
know what, Carson Wentz, you can't blame the Eagles. Now
you're going to do a good team. So let's see
how it is, right, Bett Stafford, Oh, you want to
blame Detroit, Well, guess what we're gonna put you with
Sean mcvayh Now, now it's gonna be great. Right, So
I think there's no question that Detroit organization has been
(30:24):
bad and that's hurt him. I think if he had
been on a really good organization, he would have won
the playoffs. But there's I agree with you that you
have twelve years of it. It's like we would have
we should have seen a little more. So what I
think it's gonna happen is like I think what's going
to happen is he's gonna go to the Rams. I
think he can do some things better than Golf can
do him. I'd rather have him than Golf. I would
say that, but I don't really think at the end
(30:46):
of the day, they're going to be like going a
lot deeper in the playoffs. Right, So last year, where
did they win ten games? Ten wins and they won
one playoff game? Right? Yea, Yeah, I'm not necessar certainly
taking the over on that, you know what I mean,
Even though I think even though I think Stafford's more talented,
I think he's a more experienced, like a savvier player,
(31:08):
like I think he's I'd rather have him than Golf.
I just don't necessarily think that it's going to make
him be in the super Bowl with their team. Mike. Look,
none of us obviously know what is going to happen
with Deshaun Watson. But just if you can keep it
to football, Like, do you how do you think this
(31:29):
impacts his immediate football situation? Like does this just rule
out any chance of him being traded from Houston? You know?
Could you see does this benefit the the Texans in
that regard? Like, how do you see it just from
a football standpoint? Yeah, I think it makes it hard
(31:50):
for them to get maximum value for him if they
were going to trade him, you know what I mean.
And it makes it hard if you're the acquiring team
with the question marks and things unresolved. Look, I don't
know enough of the facts. Right, it looks kind of bad,
But could it be worse? Could it be better? You know,
I think the time will tell. So the other thing
that happens this offseason is, you know, teams can't wait
(32:12):
for that, so we've seen moves made at quarterback positions.
There's fewer teams that have a need. So I think
what I want to see is after the draft, who
still doesn't have one? Right? What if the draft falls
in such a way that Denver doesn't really have one
or you know, then they get into the season and
you know, Drew Locke's bad for the first month and
now does he'll get worked out because there's been enough
(32:35):
more stuff known, right. I think it'd be hard for
a general manager to put their name on a player,
you know, to really bet it on a player when
you know you don't know, you can't there's no way
of like investigating right and knowing like sure everything you
need to know right right now. It's it's definitely a
(32:55):
complicated it, Markie, and it doesn't look good. But we'll
see you ever. No, yeah, all right, that's Mike Sandoz,
senior n F writer for The Athletic. Great stuff, Mike,
we appreciate it. Thank you very much. Well see you guys, yea,
thank you. Also check him out. He's the co host
of the GM podcast. All Right, the long wait is over.
(33:16):
We'll explain next I Couple Fox Sports Radio. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussar then Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
All Right, Alex has has tested me. Rob Oh, I
know this one. You know it. Give me a hit,
(33:38):
Give me a hit. He was a he had a
very popular TV show with Ron Howard in the sixties
and then this was his second big show. So that
would have been Andy Griffith. Yea, uh oh what was
he was a lawyer in Atlanta. No, that's Matt Lack.
(34:01):
Is that Matt Good? Yeah? You got it? Yeah? So okay, wow,
right please Andy Griffith was was a big star man.
But you know, were you into that show? It was
all right, you know what I mean? That one creative.
Some weird characters on that show, though, what Floyd the Barber, Goldberg, Goober.
It was weird. It was some strange stuff going on. Yeah,
(34:26):
it may do, you know, but but real quick, that's
a spinoff on Chris. Here's here's some TV little known
TV information. That show was considered to be a spinoff
off the old Danny Thomas show, Make Room, Make Make
Room for Daddy, Danny Thomas's show. Right, was that a hit?
Make Room for Daddy? Yeah, Danny Thomas had a big show.
(34:48):
But this is what happened. They go on vacation, They
drive through North Carolina. They stopped in a small town
with a sheriff who doesn't carry a gun, and it's
Andy Griffith and that's where they came up with the idea.
Oh that that was real, like real life. That happened. No, no, no,
no on the show. That was how they transff. Okay, okay, wow. Yeah,
(35:14):
I watched it occasionally, the show from that era, I
guess the oldest show. I was probably somewhat into Father's
No Best. Well, yeah, I love Lucy, Yeah, I like
Father to Those Best with budd and you know all
that crew. All right with the Eye Couple coming to
you live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. It's a
(35:34):
TV theme show Thursday. In case you didn't know TV
theme song Thursday. So look April seventeenth, that's two days
from now. It's a Saturday. Truller presents the most packed
fight card yet. Former MMA champion Ben askerin came out
of retirement to fight a famed YouTuber who's headlining a
(35:55):
great night of fights. And it's a night full of
performances from the hottest than music. You got Mount Westmore
with Legends, Ice Cube, Snoop Dog, Eve forty two Short.
It's on pay per view through your TV provider or
at Tuiller fight Club dot com. All right, check that out.
(36:17):
Tchuriller t R I l l E R. Rob. We
got a little news go ahead. Rob Rob G's giddy,
so I don't even know if he'll be able to
deliver this Laker news. He's shout out to what Steve
de Sager for dropping it about twenty minutes ago. But
we finally have some good it's been dancing ever since.
Some good news On the injury front of the NBA.
(36:37):
Anthony Davis has been cleared to resume play. He probably
won't play this weekend because they're still you know, on
court some ramp up, but there's a good chance he
will be on the court in the next three or
four games, likely limited about fifteen minutes a game while
starting off before he really turns it on for the
postseason and carries the Lakers to the championship like a
(37:00):
true Homer would. I it is good to see the
stars back in action, right And I'm gonna say this,
we know it and you know her to Rob you
if you'll be objective, Anthony Davis was not lighting the
world on fire. Anthony Davis was actually look, he was
playing well. I think he's definitely playing at the all
(37:21):
star level. But twenty two points, nine rebounds, I mean
he had career loads and just about everything wasn't getting
to the free throw line very much. Scorn was way down,
rebounded was slightly down, blocks were down. I mean, I
gotta see more. They're gonna need more from him to
(37:42):
win the West and certainly to beat Brooklyn or whoever
comes out of the East, which I think it will
be Brooklyn. So I think, Look, I don't these fifteen minutes.
I mean, look, I keep him healthy, of course, but shoot,
I want to see him get out there and ball,
because I don't know like Lebron. Okay, Lebron can turn
it on. I trust Lebron to turn it on when
(38:03):
he needs to. I'm not so sure about ad so
especially since, especially since you're right, we thought this was
the year he would be go after the MVP. You remember,
come out, the monkey was off his back, he won
a championship. All he had to do was go out
and ball and let Lebron kick back until the playoffs started.
(38:24):
And we didn't see that. No, not at all. And
so it'll be interesting, but you know we'll see It's
good news for sure. Two hours an hour left. Keep
it locked
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