October 27, 2020 • 37 mins
On today's episode, Jason shares his thoughts on the Los Angeles Rams' demolition of the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. Not only did the Bears get exposed as a playoff frauds, but quarterback Nick Foles may have thrown head coach Matt Nagy under the bus as well. But, don't let the Rams victory fool you into thinking that they're some world-beater either; Los Angeles still hasn't beaten a good team yet and their schedule is only going to get tougher. Later, Jason explains why he thinks Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield could end up turning the corner in the second half of the season now that Odell Beckham Jr. is out for the rest of the season with an injury. Mayfield can now just hit the open man as he no longer has to force-feed his diva wide receiver to keep him happy. Plus, FOX Sports Radio host and FS1 analyst Rob Parker swings by to discuss what it was like watching Game 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series from the stadium in Arlington, why he was so impressed with the way the Los Angeles Dodgers bounced back to win Game 5 after their excruciating loss in Game 4, why Clayton Kershaw needs a ring to rid himself of the 'Postseason Choke Artist' reputation, why he isn't a fan of playoff expansion in Major League Baseball (or any sport), and much more!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, Ladies
and gentlemen, Straight Fire Tuesday October. You can hear the
pep in my voice. I'm feeling good. Another Monday Night, Winner, Winner, Winner,
Chicken Dinner, Bears get their teeth kicked in. You can
(00:26):
see it coming a mile away Rams easy Cover, and
oh boy, this Nick Foles situation is going to be
a story today at Naggie Folds the Bears. It's all
it's all gonna blow up, and we'll get to that shortly.
I do want to tease that we have a guest
stopping by later in the podcast to talk MLB. He
was at the World Series over the weekend in Texas.
(00:47):
He's gonna preview tonight's Game six, and I will say
it's gonna be a big night in Los Angeles. Um,
there's a lot of anticipation here. Dodgers have not won
the World Series since I don't know how the rest
of the country feels about that. Uh, they probably don't care,
because I know when the Red Sox were winning their
first World Series and one hundred years or whatever, I
(01:08):
didn't care. I was actually upset they were winning. I
felt a little better for the Cubs. But this is
a big one because I live in l a um,
so we'll touch on the World Series later. I do
want to remind you this week starts the hundred dollar giveaway.
We are giving away a Hunter Bones, a Benjamin over
venmo to the three best five star reviews on iTunes.
(01:31):
So hop on iTunes. Get witty, get cool, say something funny,
you know, say awesome and smart. I am all that
stuff that you know makes me look good. And um,
we'll pick the three best comments and send you a
hundred We will pick them by I guess Thursday and
reveal it Friday on the show. All right, let's get
(01:52):
started with the Chicago Bears. I mean, I just have
to start here. Um, they're five and two and they
have a negative point differential negative two. I don't know
if you guys realize how bad that is. Five wins,
two losses and you have a negative point differential. And
I went through the schedule and like you could see
(02:15):
that this team is fraudulent and I'm not crushing the Bears.
This is a fact, folks. Five and two, that's great.
The rest of the schedule has I think at least
three more wins so they could sneak into the playoffs.
I would put my money on the Lions. But when
you look at what happened against the Rams, they were
never in that game for a second. You could see it.
(02:36):
The Rams just move the ball up and down the field.
The bears only touchdown came on a defensive fluke fumble
return for for a touchdown. Nick Foles is it's not
that he's a bad quarterback, is that the offense is unimaginative.
There's no run game to speak of. The only weapon
is Allen Robinson and Jalen Ramsey totally locked him down,
(02:57):
as predicted on this podcast, and the Bears could do nothing.
I mean, they could not move to football. And what
was so damning was in the fourth quarter, there was
like five minutes left and the announcers were just, uh,
you know, trying to make it interesting during a blowout,
and they just stumble upon Yeah, Nick Foles. You know,
he told us when we were meeting with him that
(03:19):
some of these plays come in from Naggie and Folds
knows that he doesn't have the time to execute these
plays and he knows they're not gonna work. He revealed that,
I mean Nick Foles is an outstanding human being. You know,
if you read up his story, it's pretty great. He
was basically retired from football. Andy Reid called him, got
him back in, and Folds eventually ends up in Philadelphia
(03:42):
wins the Super Bowl. He's like a good guy, He's
an all around good story and he was probably a
little too honest. And I'm guarantee you this, this clip
of Nick Foles being honest is gonna reverberate around the
internet Tuesday today, and it's gonna get ugly. Um Naggi's
gonna have to answer some difficult questions. And then the
Bears are heading into a game against the Saints on Sunday,
(04:03):
and folks, I'm just telling you right now, this is
the first Saints outdoor game this season. Everybody just watched
the Bears on national television poop their pants and it
was ugly. This was like a one year old poopy
diaper blowout. And I don't know who's going to back
the Bears here. I don't want to hear. Oh they'll rebound,
Oh the defense Saints outdoors. Listen, man, I've lost enough
(04:26):
money the last couple of years fading the Saints outdoors,
whether it was breeze or Bridgewater, there's zero chance I'm
back in the Bears here. I'll just be straight up
honest with you. No shot of me coming in on them,
because I'll sell you right now. They can't run the
football and the Saints run defense is excellent. If you
watch that Panthers game Sunday, Panthers couldn't run the football
and Davis is a pretty good running back. The Panthers
(04:46):
has had success on the ground. Bears will not be
able to move it against the Saints run defense. So
then it's a question of ken Allen Robinson went on
the outside against Latimore, We'll see. I don't have a
lot of faith. Now. The Saints defense ain't great. It
definitely got shredded by Bridgewater. But Bridgewater had the familiarity
he was in the New Orleans system. He knew the players,
(05:07):
he knew the schemes. That was an advantage for Teddy
b We we gave that out. They covered seven fairly
easily within the number, second, third, fourth quarter. I don't
think Nick Foles is going to have that kind of
success against the Saints defense, and I'm expecting at some
point Michael Thomas will return right. Um. I don't know
if Emmanuel Sandras will be back off the COVID list,
(05:29):
but um, I think this is a Bear spot Sunday
to to really look ugly and be like, oh wait
a second, we got problems in Chicago. And then let
me just double check the schedule after the Saints. If
they don't win that game, then they have a huge
game against the Titans, which is gonna be difficult. Um, listen,
it does not get any easier for these guys. Oh
(05:52):
my goodness, Yeah, it's the Chicago Bears is gonna have
an uphill climb to the playoffs. Remember that they do
have to play the Lions again. They got super lucky,
and let's look at their wins. I know they have
five wins. Well, Jason, they're not that bad. The Lions
led twenty three six and the fourth quarter and then
their three starting cornerbacks left the game due to injury.
(06:12):
Trubisky gets hot, bing bang boom, um, Bears win the game.
Then the Bears have the Giants, say Kwon Barkley gets
hurt halfway through that and they squeaked by the Giants.
The Giants, I think Daniel Danny Dimes got stuck inside
the red zone at the end of the game, he
couldn't convert um. Then they play the Falcons. I think
(06:34):
Julio Jones missed that game, and the Falcons still led
with seven minutes left. Nick Foles comes in for an
ineffective Drabinsky and in the final seven minutes the Bears
storm back to get a lucky victory. Then they played
the Tampa Bay Bucks, who Tom Brady went into that
game with a hand tied behind his back. Okay, I
mean no, God will They were missing everybody and Tampa's
(06:55):
winning thirteen nothing late in the first half, cruising to victory,
Bears get a touchdown and then Tampa has a fluke
fumble inside their own thirty and the Bears score and
then it's, you know, a slug fest the rest of
the way. The Bears had one drive over sixty yards
against that Tampa defense. That's it. This This team can't
move the football and this is just not a good
(07:17):
Chicago Bears team. I am a big seller on Chicago.
Now a word about the Rams. Everybody thinks they're awesome,
and I like, there's a lot to like about McVeigh.
He is a very sharp guy, they're wins. Okay. The
Rams have beaten so far this season, the windless Cowboys,
they beat the downtrodden Eagles, they beat the Terrible Giants,
(07:41):
they whooped the terrible Redskins, and now they've beaten the
fraudulent Bears. They're going to Miami for their fourth trip
across the country on a short week. They're facing a
quarterback who has two NFL throws under his belt. To
a tongue, MALOA I like to I do like saying
that name. Miami cannot stop the run. They came into
(08:03):
this week thirty second in the league and rushing efficiency defense,
the Rams are first. So on paper, ah Rams are
gonna steamroll these guys, just be careful. Miami has gotten
healthy in the secondary and they have lockdown corners in
Howard and Byron Jones, who they stole from the Cowboys.
This is a Miami team that can probably put those
(08:25):
two guys on an island, cram the box and bum
rush Jared Goff. They're gonna have to blitz because God
will pick them apart. They you know, the linebackers aren't
great in coverage, and the defensive line is a joke.
I don't know, if I'm gonna be at the right number,
I think I would lean into the Dolphins. I like
this Rams team, but man, that schedule. Could they be
(08:49):
overlooking the Dolphins on this trip east? Because guess what
after that Seahawks big time rivals after that, Tampa Bay
and Brady after that for de Niners, after that Cardinals.
If anything, this Dolphins is a game that they could overlook.
I'm not saying it will, but early and I'm not
(09:10):
giving out a pick here, It's way too early in
the week, but I'm looking at the Dolphins. Uh coming
out of the boy So overall, that was a pretty
ugly Monday night football game. And uh yeah, I just
can't get behind this Bears team. I can't there. They're
a tough watch. I don't know, Rob G, did you
see anything from the Bears that you liked? Nick Foles
(09:33):
is just a guy to root for, but he's not
a guy to watch. Yeah, I mean, I've never really
been a big believer in Nick Foles, even when he
was winning Super Bowls with the Eagles. You know, he
got hot at the right time and we've seen a
lot of guys do that. My question though, for you
is and we didn't prep this, so this is really
out of nowhere for anyone listening. You know there was
no show prep going into this question. Now, you brought
(09:56):
up during our meeting earlier that the Bears are I've
into despite having a negative point differential. There are two
other teams who are both five and two that also
have negative point differentials. WHOA the bit? Well, the Bears
first and minus two, so they're not so close too
far away. The Bills which are minus four. WHOA, I
(10:19):
did not realize that. And the Cleveland Browns who are
a minus twenty one and they just lost Odell Beckham Jr.
For the season. Of those three, which one are you
most and least confident in moving forward? Well, I would
say the Buffalo Bill simply because the a f C.
East is garbage. Um, listen to the New England Patriots
(10:41):
are are a terrible football team right now. Um, the
season does not look good for the Patriots. I mean
I feel bad for Robert Kraft. I know he was
looking forward to a happy ending this season. Um, now
that Tom Brady has gone, and um we know his
legal issues down there in Florida. UM, I just don't
see how there's a path to victory for this Patriots team.
(11:02):
It's gonna be a kitchen sink Sunday for Belichick against
the Bills. Will probably be able to run the football.
But I looked this up, rob G, and this is
pretty staggering. Okay, Um, the Patriots got torn apart by
play action and Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday. I read the
stat The forty Niners ran fifty one of sixty three
(11:23):
plays with play action, the highest they've run ever under
Kyle Shanahan. Jimmy Garoppolo on play action thirteen and fourteen
hundred forty six yards. So they found a weakness play
action and exploited it, rob G. Do you want to
take a guess who has completed and attempted the most
play action passes in the NFL this season. Josh Allen Benga.
(11:49):
Josh Allen is number one in completions in play action,
eight t D passes, zero picks. This is shaping up
as Buffalo statement game. They didn't care about the Jets.
We gave that on the podcast. You We said they're
gonna overlook the Jets. They have the Patriots looming. That
is there. We have arrived. This is our freaking division. Audios,
(12:11):
Bill Belichick, this is the game they want to put
it on them. I don't know if they'll be fans
in the stadium, but I'm telling you right now, Buffalo
hasn't been anticipating this game. I don't know if two
decades is fair, but it's probably been two decades. I mean,
everybody's been waiting dig dong, the which is dead. If
there's ever a game that Buffalo runs up the score.
(12:34):
I don't know if they're capable of like at T blowout,
but I'm sure they're gonna want to beat that ass
and win this game big time. I would trust Buffalo
the most going forward, and I can't say that I'm
not surprised at Cleveland given the blowout losses to the
Rams and the sorry Ravens and the Steelers, um. But
I will say this, things look good for the Browns,
(12:56):
Rob G. People can doubt them, but they have your
Raiders this week. If they get by them, they play
the Texans. They should be favored in that game. They
play the Eagles at home, they go to Jacksonville for
the pathetic Jags, and then they have Titans Ravens, which
is tough, but then they have Giants and Jets after that.
So I think the Browns are looking at nine wins
in the playoffs. I will take the Bills in the playoffs,
(13:20):
the Browns in the playoffs, and the Bears will miss
the playoffs. I'm gonna go with my Lions. So that's
a good fine by you. That is why you're great. Hey,
you mentioned Odell Beckham. I hadn't planned on talking about him. Um,
we touched on it a little bit on Monday's show.
We didn't know that he was officially out. We kind
of anticipated it. Um. Is it weird of me to
(13:42):
say it's not that big of a loss. No, it's
not weird all to say, because if you do a
deep dive into the numbers, you'll see that Baker Mayfield,
for whatever reason, plays better without Odell Beckham Jr. Now
you could say it's probably because, and I think Colin
brought this up yesterday in his show, when you have
a young order back and a star receiver, most young
(14:03):
quarterbacks don't have the testicular fortitude to, you know, just
say no, I'm not gonna throw you the ball every time.
I'm not gonna target you, even when you're covered I'm
gonna look for the open guy. I'm just gonna take
what the defense gives me. A lot of wide receiver,
especially with young quarterbacks, will demand they get the ball
or they're kind of intimidate the quarterback into making them
(14:24):
feel like they have to get them the ball to
keep them happy. And just there, you'll appreciate this. That here.
In the last two seasons with Odell on the field,
Baker Mayfield's quarterback rating is seventy nine point six. So
that is either, depending how you want to read it,
extremely mediocre or slightly mediocre. So somewhere wherever you want
(14:47):
to do when o b j Is off the field,
one sixteen point six, so almost forty points better when
he's off the you and then uh, you know. And
then the last game he played, he played with the
Bengals again he started over five and got really hot.
But it wasn't just that one game against the Bengals
that that Baker has done well without oh b J.
(15:08):
Without O'Dell on the field against the Bengals in the
last six games, completion nine yards, twelve touchdown, zero picks.
When O'Dell is on the field with him, fifty percent
completions six d yards, five touchdowns, seven interceptions. Listen to man,
(15:29):
this bad look for Baker. I'll keep it real though,
you know we don't have um. Are they getting blown out?
Are they facing the Ravens? Did he miss games against
bad teams? Like obviously that stuff matters in the context,
but yeah, none of that stuf surprises me. I mean, listen,
the Arizona Cardinals made the smart move rob g They
(15:50):
went and got new Copkins. They got him from the Texans.
He's an awesome wide receiver and he's not a diva
like Odell Beckham or Antonio Brown or um Michael Thomas
who's apparently becoming a diva in New Orleans. Like, give
give me the good dude, who's an awesome receiver who's
not gonna cry about the football, And like, you know,
(16:11):
you look at NFL like this is it's almost somebody
had an analogy to me. I forget who said it,
but if you have a like a social media company
or a tech company, now it helps you to be
a Carnival Barker like an Elon Musk. You're always keeping
Tesla in the news. Mark Zuckerberg always in his own
(16:33):
Carnival Barker way keeping Facebook in the news. Um, it's
like Pinterest doesn't have one of these guys who's always
ruffling feathers and saying stuff. So Pinterest has kind of
fallen down. But um, if you are able to just
say stuff and stir up news and keep your name
in the headlines, it's like you have some value. And
(16:54):
I think the receivers see it that way too, if
they're always saying something, Hey, that's gonna help me get
that Nike contract. Hey, that's gonna help me get that commercial.
And you know, you look at some of the receivers
at the top of the league. Remember Stefon Diggs last
year was whining and bitching and crying about not getting
the ball from Kirk Cousins and tantruming on the sideline.
They ship his ass out of town. And like, I mean,
(17:16):
Stefan Dig's good receiver. Now he's like blowing up in Buffalo.
I got what I wanted. But guess what, rob things
are going well in Buffalo. How's it gonna go with
the three game losing street for Stefan Diggs, How's he
gonna handle that? And I don't know. You just you
gotta be careful with these wide receivers like Terry McLaurin
seems like an awesome kid out of Ohio State. I
don't hear anything I would be looking to pick him off.
(17:38):
I'm not. I'm sure Whyhington is that giving him up?
But I want the guy who's silent and he's going
to go about his business. Larry Fitzgerald Class Act forever.
You know, that's the kind of receiver I went. Davante
Adams doesn't cause any any ruckus. He's not raising hell.
I'm sorry, just missed me with Odell Beckham, I'm not
that interested. So that those are kind of the top
line stories in sports. To a for Tuesday October. Coming
(18:02):
up next, we have a great interview with Rob Parker,
who was at the World Series for Games three, four,
and five. He previews Game six. That's now. Jason likes
to think he knows everything when it comes to sports.
I know what sports stands want, but for everything he doesn't.
He knows a guy who does. Let's just say I
(18:25):
know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy.
All right, let's welcome into straight fire. A guy who
just got off a plane from the World Series landed
back in l A and was kind enough to jump
on the podcast. Our first guest who's been up for
a second time because he's special. Rob Parker in the building.
What's up, Rob? What's up? Jack? How are you? I'm awesome, dude.
(18:47):
A great weekend in sports, UM and the World Series
Game six tonight Tuesday night. Very excited. Rob. First of all,
I want I'm curious, how was the experience of being
in the ballpark for the World Series down there in Texas?
You know what? First of all, Global Life Field is
a show place. Beautiful. Uh, they had to do it.
(19:10):
They needed the dome. I'm surprised they couldn't put a
dome on the old ballpark, you know, which was its
less than twenty years old. I think it's only ten
years old. But they needed a dome because it's too
hot in Texas to sit out and you know what
I mean, A parents aren't gonna take young kids to
the ballpark and that heat outside, and older people can't
(19:32):
go either, you know what I mean, So you you
eliminate a lot of people. So they had to build
a new ballpark. It's beautiful and it was great to
be out, you know, at a game. And even though
it's only twenty five capacity. There was still passionate fans,
chance of let's go Dodgers. Obviously a lot of Dodger
fans because l A so close compared to Tampa. So
(19:57):
there were a lot of Dodger people in the house
and people were into it. And obviously Game four with
the crazy ending was incredible as well. You know, you
don't see a game end like that. Uh So, so
what was a great experience like I got to see
games three, four, and five out in uh in Allington.
Let me ask you this, how how did you feel
(20:19):
from from the COVID perspective of going to a game
in a park? You said, what capacity? It was like
two people? Okay, so twelve thousand people obviously spaced out.
Uh it looked like people were wearing masks. What was
it like in the press box for you? Did you
have to wear a mask in the press box? Did
they do temperature checks? Temperature checks to get in the building,
(20:40):
and then you did have to wear a mask. Everybody
had to wear a mask at all times unless you're
eating or drinking other than that. And you know what,
I'm gonna be honest, I thought, Okay, I'm going to
Texas their rogue. They don't believe in the BODO, you
know what I mean? Like that was my thought going
in right, most people we had our mask. I didn't
(21:02):
see people like trying to buck the system, you know
what I mean, or or or or act as if
anything wasn't going on. Uh you know. I went out
to eat. The restaurants are open at a minimum capacity,
so I ate with a couple of friends. Tables were
spaced out, everybody was acting accordingly, so it was cool.
It was I really felt comfortable, not like this is
(21:24):
kind of risky and I don't want to catch something
before we get to the games. One last question. I
haven't flown during the pandemic. We are considering flying for
the holidays or family flying to US. I'm just curious
what you thought the flighting experience was like. Uh, here,
same thing. I've flown a few times. Um during this
(21:46):
I went to New York, I went to Detroit, and uh,
this trip to Texas. So I'm gonna play like three
or four times during the pandemic. And it's spaced out normally,
not on top of each other. Most airlines and people
have their masks on. If you have your mask, on
and you're no one's reason and off and on top
of you knock on wood. You know, I've gone and
(22:10):
been back and everything has been cool, So I'm not
that afraid. I think it's more of if I was
around an environment where people weren't wearing mask and just
a free for all, and you're in a massive crowd.
The airport's just don't like that anymore, you know what
I mean, Because most people are like you, they just
haven't flown. Yeah, all right, so let's get to the
(22:31):
World Series. Dodgers lead three too, and I want to
start with a guy who's much maligned, Clayton Kershaw. I
read your column in dead Spin on Monday. Great stuff,
and it feels good for Kershall. The Monkey's kind of
office back. Obviously, listen, they gotta win the series, but
he's two and oh, I don't know if he's gonna
win the m v PEO, but he's certainly in the
(22:51):
discussion with a couple other guys. I'm just curious, Like, listen,
I know you're not supposed to pick a site as
a journalist, but you gotta admit it is a right
story that Clayton Kershaw came through twice in the World
Series for the Dodgers, no doubt, and especially Game five
because Jason, I know, Game one he pitched well, but
Game five, coming off that heartbreaking loss, if Kerrshaw goes
(23:15):
out and and and pitches a Doug right, the Dodgers behind,
and they're really in trouble and his legacy is really
in the balance. So you're right, he pitched really well
in Game five, got them to where they're in position.
They just gotta win one of the final two games,
and it's like it's not on him anymore. I mean,
(23:36):
you know what I mean, unless somehow he pitches Game
seven in relief and gives up the game winning home
run or something like that. I hope that's not the case.
He's the best picture about generation and when you look
at his numbers, he's a shoeing Hall of Famer. This
guy's e r ray is two point four four. He
has the lowest e r ray and the lowest whip
(23:58):
of any picture in picture thousands endings of more. You know,
in the Live ball era, nobody's pitch better. But his
postseason Jason has been so bad. His e r rays
two runs higher in the postseason, and that that's that,
you know, for a great picture like that, that's incredible
to be that bad. Let me ask you about the
(24:19):
the m v P discussion. So obviously Corey Seeger's in
the mix. I mean, he's on fire. Um. I think
Max Munsey is in the discussion with six RBI justin
Turner's hit. Well, um, let's see what happens with Walker
Bueller next time out. But I'm just curious your thoughts
on the m v P heading into game six. I
think it's wide open, and it just depends on what
(24:42):
the game, what Game six is. If it's just kind
of mundane and nobody's like Segre doesn't have to home
runs or do you know what I mean, or something
like that could crush Shaw get it two wins, you know,
like a sentimental choice, could you know, like a life
time achievement. That couldn't because he's been through a lot
(25:04):
um um. But it just depends on how the game's
play out. Obviously, if they lose Game six and then
there's a Game seven and somebody delivers a big hit
and they've been hitting the whole World Series, the chances
are it's gonna go to somebody like that because it'll
be so removed from you know, the final two games,
even though he pitched well in Game five. All right,
(25:26):
So you know, I know there was a lot of
talk during the NBA bubble about, wow, there maybe should
be an asterix because it wasn't real, and I strangely
haven't heard a lot about asterix. For the MLB season,
it was shortened to sixty regular season games and the
playoffs there was no home field advantage. I'm sure some
(25:49):
people are gonna say, listen, Dodgers haven't once and say
to eight this one does it really count? But I
haven't heard that chatter. What are your thoughts on the
asterix and and this post it. I don't believe in them.
I don't believe in it for the NBA, and I
don't believe in it for baseball, hockey or whatever. These
are uncharted warders, Jason. This is what we have in
(26:09):
front of us, right. Everybody's under the same circumstance. Everybody
did the same thing, so it counts. When we look back,
we'll realize, Okay, this was a sixty game season. The
Dodgers were forty three and seventeen. They had the best
record in baseball. So if they won the World Series.
This is not like a fluke like had Houston had
(26:30):
a record under five hundred, had they got in and
somehow won the World Series, you know, without Garrett Cole
or justin Verland, the people might say, oh, that was
just flukey or something. The Dodgers are the best team
on paper, and they're in the spot that they're supposed
to be. It's funny because in baseball, both teams were
the two best teams as far as record wise raised
(26:52):
in the American League in the Dodgers in the Nationals.
So where where do you think baseball goes from here? Rob?
I mean, do they really want to keep up the
one d and sixty two games? I mean the sprint
to sixty? Obviously they're not gonna do sixty games because
the money. But do you think eventually they shorten the
season a little bit? Because I don't. I was way
more into the baseball regular season and post season than
(27:15):
I have been in years. I get that, but I don't.
I don't see that happening only because Jason, the money
you just mentioned, the television money for local like like you,
people make a big thing about the National like you,
you look at the TV deals. Just for an example,
the Yankees, do you do you know what they get
(27:36):
for the TV rights? All right? They get four hundred
million dollars from yes every year four you know what
I'm yeah, So two million goes to pay roll, two
hundred million go on their pocket and that's before they
sold a ticket, a hot dog, a parking spot. Do
you know what money that is? I just can't see them.
The one thing I'm hoping against is the six teams
(28:00):
team playoff. That's what I don't want to see in baseball.
That is what you don't want to do is you
don't want to minimalize, uh, the regular season, and you
know you see that in the NBA where you just
kind of wait for the playoffs and with a hundred
and sixty two games, you don't want people to be like,
I'll check in come playoff time. I mean, there's a
(28:20):
lot of games that have to be that's gonna be played.
And we saw a couple of teams get in the
playoffs who are under five hundred. I don't think teams
that that don't play well enough during the regular season
should make the playoffs. Well, wait, do you believe that
in all sports? I mean in the NFL. Listen, we
love the regular season, but you know your your favorite
line is, you know sports has a short menu, wins
(28:41):
and losses. What matters in in the playoffs count. Nobody
really cares about the regular season. But it's too short. No,
but the difference is a hundred and sixty two games.
You can't make the meaningless. That is what I'm saying.
If if, if, if we know the Yankees, Dodgers, you know,
sixteen teams, and and we could easily pick sixteen teams,
(29:02):
and we know they're going to be in the World Series,
I could check in come September. Seriously, I don't know
that going in. I just think I don't want it
to be ridiculous. We're more than half the league makes
the playoffs. I think you have that problem in the NBA.
You've seen the TV numbers. I know there's a lot
of different reasons, but a lot of times people wait
(29:24):
and check in come playoff time because the playoffs are
so long. It's a second season. Well, the NFL just expanded,
they added a playoff team. They're up to and that
there was nothing wrong with the NFL playoffs. That's just
greed for more money. I just but who's but? But?
But Rob? That's the thing, Like, is it really great
because the fans love more games? Like think about it,
(29:45):
we were complaining there were no sports for like three months,
and now like the NFL, we love this. I don't
want it to end. I love the season. Oh we
get an extra playoff game? Yes? Great? You know, like
I'm just saying, I just it just depends everybody's saying.
And until some bad teams get in the team's under
five hundred. I just don't think there was anything wrong.
You don't have to just overdo it. If that's the
(30:07):
case to make it, let everybody go to the playoffs.
You can't let everybody, okay, right, I mean the league?
For right? What is the NBA sixteen out of thirty
l nfls fourteen out of thirty two? And what what's baseball? Uh?
Normally ten? Right? I mean that's a big difference, six
(30:32):
extra teams. All I'm saying is with ten, you gotta
fight for that. During the regular season. The games are
words more, that's all. But don't you think on some
level it was much cooler to have the Miami Marlins
in there this year? And who do we get we
got white Sox, a lot of new teams, new blood
as opposed to the same old Yankees. Astro's done. You know, No,
(30:55):
there was some different I'm not totally but but I
just don't want it to get where the regular season
is minimalized. That's all I think. That's Let let me
quickly get in a couple of NFL questions for you
before you got to go here. So, Um, Tom Brady
has eighteen touchdowns and four interceptions. The Patriots quarterbacks have
combined for three touchdowns and eleven picks. Um, Why is
(31:20):
New England so bad? Is this Bill Belichick's ego? Or
was Tom Brady so good that he carried him last
year to twelve wins? No, I don't think there was that.
It's a lot of different issues. They had six players
from COVID. How many starters who opted out? Let's just
be fair. Um, if you asked, if you asked to
look at the receiving corps, who's really there. Uh, that's
(31:42):
a that's an All Pro receiver. There's nobody there. Cam
was doing it with strings and tape early on, but
I think teams have figured it out now that there's
really nobody else from to to go to and and
they struggled. I mean, and he can't throw three picks.
He threw three picks when need all three picks. It's
gonna be hard. Hey, you put your defense in a
(32:04):
in a bad spot, right, and then offensively just stop
and drive. So we'll see, we'll see how this thing
pans out. And if they get more players. I'm surprised,
well you know that that they needed to look the
two guys who were available, right, Josh Gordon and an
Tonio Brown receivers have already played there and already kind
of gone and went, so there's no room for them
(32:25):
to kind of go back there. I mean last year
Brady was basically throwing the Edelman and those jokers. I
know he had Josh Gordon for a couple of games,
in Antonio Brown for a couple of games, but by
and large, like Belichick, remember he never replaced Gronkowski. He's like, oh,
grunk left, Okay, we don't need to replace him. And
he didn't go out and spend money on receivers. I
(32:46):
don't know, man. Listen, remember Belichick was ready to roll
with Stidham as his starter, and then he's like, okay,
we'll take on camp. Like Rob, we've seen these guys.
They don't look good seven weeks in. I gotta keep
it real. This is feeling like the whole discussion we
talked about for years. Who meant more Brady or Belichick.
I'm starting to lean toward Brady. Rob. No, I'm not.
(33:10):
I still think that when you look at it, and
you gotta wait and see, let the Brady thing play
out before you make that. But Brady went to a
way better situation and just that there were a lot
of pieces already in place. He's trying to stack the deck.
Brady is like he's doing a Lebron Like it's all
about like he he understands where he is and he
(33:32):
wants to make sure that he has every Lenard for
net Let's go grab him, Antonio Brown, let's go around.
But he could have grabbed those guys. No, I know,
but but this is a Brady thing. Brady is really
trying to uh convince people that it's all about him.
But look at the team that he's that wait a sacon, No,
let's not go Let's not go too hard on Brady.
That the team is pretty damn good. The Bucks haven't
(33:54):
made the playoffs in thirty years. That's talking about the player,
the person. Now you could you I agree with that,
though the players haven't. They haven't made the playoffs because
they were discipline and was going on with garbage, right,
there's other stuff going on, But um, I do believe
that the roster of potential. All they talk about his
(34:15):
weapons and he added a couple other guys who if they,
you know, fly right and just play football, can be
big time pieces. That's all. Yeah, I mean listen right now,
there's no better team in the NFC. You would agree
with that, right, m hmm. They're better than the Saints.
They're better than the Seahawks. Packers. They're not better than
the Packers. They just beat the package. Had a bad
(34:38):
day at the office, and you know that it was
tend nothing and then all of a sudden, Aaron Rodgers
had to two picks, which he never does, and all
of a sudden everything came undone. I'm not buying that.
The Packers came right back after that. People were trying
to say, oh, this is a trend. Aaron Rodley was
just they went straight to Houston twenty one nothing. They
(34:59):
picked up where they left off all I'm saying, isn't
they got they gotta They run the football and they
throw the football. Aaron Rodgers has uh what does he
have of uh, seventeen touchdowns two picks. They're playing well,
they're averaging other than that, other than that one done
in in in Tampa. And remember even when they lost that, Jason,
(35:21):
just to be fair, they had won eleven straight regular
season games. They would do for a bad day at
the office, and they had it. Wow, I gotta be honest,
I'm surprised. This is the Packers team who's beating nobody?
Who did and who? What's it called beating? Well? Tampa
just smoked green Bay for sure. They lost game that
(35:43):
that's the only game that they won. And even when
green Bay in the early early games, you didn't know
Minnesota was bad, they beat Minnesota in Minnesota. You at
that point you can't say that that was an easy win.
Minnesota at Minnesota to start the season is not a layup.
And what was the other game that they won? Um,
(36:04):
there was another one where the team later on turn
I mean to beat the Falcons. You know, I don't know.
I'm surprised you're all up on this Packers team. Who's
the best team in the a f C right now, Steelers, Ravens,
Chiefs Probably Steelers. Yeah, okay, I would agree with that.
I mean, She's are good and the Ravens are good,
(36:25):
and they're gonna be there. But but I think I
think where where the Steelers are right now? What they
were able to do even though they gave up up,
they didn't give up the lead, but they almost choked
down that game yesterday. But you're undefeated and they're putting
up points and they got a good defense. Yeah alright, So, uh,
Rob Parker, I'm glad you made it to the World
Series and glad you're back safely. Enjoy World Series Game six,
(36:50):
Go Dodgers. Can I say that? Or no? Is that
too home? Absolutely never give me to say it, But
all right, Rob, thanks a lot man. Enjoy your work
all right up.
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, Ladies
and gentlemen, Straight Fire Tuesday October. You can hear the
pep in my voice. I'm feeling good. Another Monday Night, Winner, Winner, Winner,
Chicken Dinner, Bears get their teeth kicked in. You can
(00:26):
see it coming a mile away Rams easy Cover, and
oh boy, this Nick Foles situation is going to be
a story today at Naggie Folds the Bears. It's all
it's all gonna blow up, and we'll get to that shortly.
I do want to tease that we have a guest
stopping by later in the podcast to talk MLB. He
was at the World Series over the weekend in Texas.
(00:47):
He's gonna preview tonight's Game six, and I will say
it's gonna be a big night in Los Angeles. Um,
there's a lot of anticipation here. Dodgers have not won
the World Series since I don't know how the rest
of the country feels about that. Uh, they probably don't care,
because I know when the Red Sox were winning their
first World Series and one hundred years or whatever, I
(01:08):
didn't care. I was actually upset they were winning. I
felt a little better for the Cubs. But this is
a big one because I live in l a um,
so we'll touch on the World Series later. I do
want to remind you this week starts the hundred dollar giveaway.
We are giving away a Hunter Bones, a Benjamin over
venmo to the three best five star reviews on iTunes.
(01:31):
So hop on iTunes. Get witty, get cool, say something funny,
you know, say awesome and smart. I am all that
stuff that you know makes me look good. And um,
we'll pick the three best comments and send you a
hundred We will pick them by I guess Thursday and
reveal it Friday on the show. All right, let's get
(01:52):
started with the Chicago Bears. I mean, I just have
to start here. Um, they're five and two and they
have a negative point differential negative two. I don't know
if you guys realize how bad that is. Five wins,
two losses and you have a negative point differential. And
I went through the schedule and like you could see
(02:15):
that this team is fraudulent and I'm not crushing the Bears.
This is a fact, folks. Five and two, that's great.
The rest of the schedule has I think at least
three more wins so they could sneak into the playoffs.
I would put my money on the Lions. But when
you look at what happened against the Rams, they were
never in that game for a second. You could see it.
(02:36):
The Rams just move the ball up and down the field.
The bears only touchdown came on a defensive fluke fumble
return for for a touchdown. Nick Foles is it's not
that he's a bad quarterback, is that the offense is unimaginative.
There's no run game to speak of. The only weapon
is Allen Robinson and Jalen Ramsey totally locked him down,
(02:57):
as predicted on this podcast, and the Bears could do nothing.
I mean, they could not move to football. And what
was so damning was in the fourth quarter, there was
like five minutes left and the announcers were just, uh,
you know, trying to make it interesting during a blowout,
and they just stumble upon Yeah, Nick Foles. You know,
he told us when we were meeting with him that
(03:19):
some of these plays come in from Naggie and Folds
knows that he doesn't have the time to execute these
plays and he knows they're not gonna work. He revealed that,
I mean Nick Foles is an outstanding human being. You know,
if you read up his story, it's pretty great. He
was basically retired from football. Andy Reid called him, got
him back in, and Folds eventually ends up in Philadelphia
(03:42):
wins the Super Bowl. He's like a good guy, He's
an all around good story and he was probably a
little too honest. And I'm guarantee you this, this clip
of Nick Foles being honest is gonna reverberate around the
internet Tuesday today, and it's gonna get ugly. Um Naggi's
gonna have to answer some difficult questions. And then the
Bears are heading into a game against the Saints on Sunday,
(04:03):
and folks, I'm just telling you right now, this is
the first Saints outdoor game this season. Everybody just watched
the Bears on national television poop their pants and it
was ugly. This was like a one year old poopy
diaper blowout. And I don't know who's going to back
the Bears here. I don't want to hear. Oh they'll rebound,
Oh the defense Saints outdoors. Listen, man, I've lost enough
(04:26):
money the last couple of years fading the Saints outdoors,
whether it was breeze or Bridgewater, there's zero chance I'm
back in the Bears here. I'll just be straight up
honest with you. No shot of me coming in on them,
because I'll sell you right now. They can't run the
football and the Saints run defense is excellent. If you
watch that Panthers game Sunday, Panthers couldn't run the football
and Davis is a pretty good running back. The Panthers
(04:46):
has had success on the ground. Bears will not be
able to move it against the Saints run defense. So
then it's a question of ken Allen Robinson went on
the outside against Latimore, We'll see. I don't have a
lot of faith. Now. The Saints defense ain't great. It
definitely got shredded by Bridgewater. But Bridgewater had the familiarity
he was in the New Orleans system. He knew the players,
(05:07):
he knew the schemes. That was an advantage for Teddy
b We we gave that out. They covered seven fairly
easily within the number, second, third, fourth quarter. I don't
think Nick Foles is going to have that kind of
success against the Saints defense, and I'm expecting at some
point Michael Thomas will return right. Um. I don't know
if Emmanuel Sandras will be back off the COVID list,
(05:29):
but um, I think this is a Bear spot Sunday
to to really look ugly and be like, oh wait
a second, we got problems in Chicago. And then let
me just double check the schedule after the Saints. If
they don't win that game, then they have a huge
game against the Titans, which is gonna be difficult. Um, listen,
it does not get any easier for these guys. Oh
(05:52):
my goodness, Yeah, it's the Chicago Bears is gonna have
an uphill climb to the playoffs. Remember that they do
have to play the Lions again. They got super lucky,
and let's look at their wins. I know they have
five wins. Well, Jason, they're not that bad. The Lions
led twenty three six and the fourth quarter and then
their three starting cornerbacks left the game due to injury.
(06:12):
Trubisky gets hot, bing bang boom, um, Bears win the game.
Then the Bears have the Giants, say Kwon Barkley gets
hurt halfway through that and they squeaked by the Giants.
The Giants, I think Daniel Danny Dimes got stuck inside
the red zone at the end of the game, he
couldn't convert um. Then they play the Falcons. I think
(06:34):
Julio Jones missed that game, and the Falcons still led
with seven minutes left. Nick Foles comes in for an
ineffective Drabinsky and in the final seven minutes the Bears
storm back to get a lucky victory. Then they played
the Tampa Bay Bucks, who Tom Brady went into that
game with a hand tied behind his back. Okay, I
mean no, God will They were missing everybody and Tampa's
(06:55):
winning thirteen nothing late in the first half, cruising to victory,
Bears get a touchdown and then Tampa has a fluke
fumble inside their own thirty and the Bears score and
then it's, you know, a slug fest the rest of
the way. The Bears had one drive over sixty yards
against that Tampa defense. That's it. This This team can't
move the football and this is just not a good
(07:17):
Chicago Bears team. I am a big seller on Chicago.
Now a word about the Rams. Everybody thinks they're awesome,
and I like, there's a lot to like about McVeigh.
He is a very sharp guy, they're wins. Okay. The
Rams have beaten so far this season, the windless Cowboys,
they beat the downtrodden Eagles, they beat the Terrible Giants,
(07:41):
they whooped the terrible Redskins, and now they've beaten the
fraudulent Bears. They're going to Miami for their fourth trip
across the country on a short week. They're facing a
quarterback who has two NFL throws under his belt. To
a tongue, MALOA I like to I do like saying
that name. Miami cannot stop the run. They came into
(08:03):
this week thirty second in the league and rushing efficiency defense,
the Rams are first. So on paper, ah Rams are
gonna steamroll these guys, just be careful. Miami has gotten
healthy in the secondary and they have lockdown corners in
Howard and Byron Jones, who they stole from the Cowboys.
This is a Miami team that can probably put those
(08:25):
two guys on an island, cram the box and bum
rush Jared Goff. They're gonna have to blitz because God
will pick them apart. They you know, the linebackers aren't
great in coverage, and the defensive line is a joke.
I don't know, if I'm gonna be at the right number,
I think I would lean into the Dolphins. I like
this Rams team, but man, that schedule. Could they be
(08:49):
overlooking the Dolphins on this trip east? Because guess what
after that Seahawks big time rivals after that, Tampa Bay
and Brady after that for de Niners, after that Cardinals.
If anything, this Dolphins is a game that they could overlook.
I'm not saying it will, but early and I'm not
(09:10):
giving out a pick here, It's way too early in
the week, but I'm looking at the Dolphins. Uh coming
out of the boy So overall, that was a pretty
ugly Monday night football game. And uh yeah, I just
can't get behind this Bears team. I can't there. They're
a tough watch. I don't know, Rob G, did you
see anything from the Bears that you liked? Nick Foles
(09:33):
is just a guy to root for, but he's not
a guy to watch. Yeah, I mean, I've never really
been a big believer in Nick Foles, even when he
was winning Super Bowls with the Eagles. You know, he
got hot at the right time and we've seen a
lot of guys do that. My question though, for you
is and we didn't prep this, so this is really
out of nowhere for anyone listening. You know there was
no show prep going into this question. Now, you brought
(09:56):
up during our meeting earlier that the Bears are I've
into despite having a negative point differential. There are two
other teams who are both five and two that also
have negative point differentials. WHOA the bit? Well, the Bears
first and minus two, so they're not so close too
far away. The Bills which are minus four. WHOA, I
(10:19):
did not realize that. And the Cleveland Browns who are
a minus twenty one and they just lost Odell Beckham Jr.
For the season. Of those three, which one are you
most and least confident in moving forward? Well, I would
say the Buffalo Bill simply because the a f C.
East is garbage. Um, listen to the New England Patriots
(10:41):
are are a terrible football team right now. Um, the
season does not look good for the Patriots. I mean
I feel bad for Robert Kraft. I know he was
looking forward to a happy ending this season. Um, now
that Tom Brady has gone, and um we know his
legal issues down there in Florida. UM, I just don't
see how there's a path to victory for this Patriots team.
(11:02):
It's gonna be a kitchen sink Sunday for Belichick against
the Bills. Will probably be able to run the football.
But I looked this up, rob G, and this is
pretty staggering. Okay, Um, the Patriots got torn apart by
play action and Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday. I read the
stat The forty Niners ran fifty one of sixty three
(11:23):
plays with play action, the highest they've run ever under
Kyle Shanahan. Jimmy Garoppolo on play action thirteen and fourteen
hundred forty six yards. So they found a weakness play
action and exploited it, rob G. Do you want to
take a guess who has completed and attempted the most
play action passes in the NFL this season. Josh Allen Benga.
(11:49):
Josh Allen is number one in completions in play action,
eight t D passes, zero picks. This is shaping up
as Buffalo statement game. They didn't care about the Jets.
We gave that on the podcast. You We said they're
gonna overlook the Jets. They have the Patriots looming. That
is there. We have arrived. This is our freaking division. Audios,
(12:11):
Bill Belichick, this is the game they want to put
it on them. I don't know if they'll be fans
in the stadium, but I'm telling you right now, Buffalo
hasn't been anticipating this game. I don't know if two
decades is fair, but it's probably been two decades. I mean,
everybody's been waiting dig dong, the which is dead. If
there's ever a game that Buffalo runs up the score.
(12:34):
I don't know if they're capable of like at T blowout,
but I'm sure they're gonna want to beat that ass
and win this game big time. I would trust Buffalo
the most going forward, and I can't say that I'm
not surprised at Cleveland given the blowout losses to the
Rams and the sorry Ravens and the Steelers, um. But
I will say this, things look good for the Browns,
(12:56):
Rob G. People can doubt them, but they have your
Raiders this week. If they get by them, they play
the Texans. They should be favored in that game. They
play the Eagles at home, they go to Jacksonville for
the pathetic Jags, and then they have Titans Ravens, which
is tough, but then they have Giants and Jets after that.
So I think the Browns are looking at nine wins
in the playoffs. I will take the Bills in the playoffs,
(13:20):
the Browns in the playoffs, and the Bears will miss
the playoffs. I'm gonna go with my Lions. So that's
a good fine by you. That is why you're great. Hey,
you mentioned Odell Beckham. I hadn't planned on talking about him. Um,
we touched on it a little bit on Monday's show.
We didn't know that he was officially out. We kind
of anticipated it. Um. Is it weird of me to
(13:42):
say it's not that big of a loss. No, it's
not weird all to say, because if you do a
deep dive into the numbers, you'll see that Baker Mayfield,
for whatever reason, plays better without Odell Beckham Jr. Now
you could say it's probably because, and I think Colin
brought this up yesterday in his show, when you have
a young order back and a star receiver, most young
(14:03):
quarterbacks don't have the testicular fortitude to, you know, just
say no, I'm not gonna throw you the ball every time.
I'm not gonna target you, even when you're covered I'm
gonna look for the open guy. I'm just gonna take
what the defense gives me. A lot of wide receiver,
especially with young quarterbacks, will demand they get the ball
or they're kind of intimidate the quarterback into making them
(14:24):
feel like they have to get them the ball to
keep them happy. And just there, you'll appreciate this. That here.
In the last two seasons with Odell on the field,
Baker Mayfield's quarterback rating is seventy nine point six. So
that is either, depending how you want to read it,
extremely mediocre or slightly mediocre. So somewhere wherever you want
(14:47):
to do when o b j Is off the field,
one sixteen point six, so almost forty points better when
he's off the you and then uh, you know. And
then the last game he played, he played with the
Bengals again he started over five and got really hot.
But it wasn't just that one game against the Bengals
that that Baker has done well without oh b J.
(15:08):
Without O'Dell on the field against the Bengals in the
last six games, completion nine yards, twelve touchdown, zero picks.
When O'Dell is on the field with him, fifty percent
completions six d yards, five touchdowns, seven interceptions. Listen to man,
(15:29):
this bad look for Baker. I'll keep it real though,
you know we don't have um. Are they getting blown out?
Are they facing the Ravens? Did he miss games against
bad teams? Like obviously that stuff matters in the context,
but yeah, none of that stuf surprises me. I mean, listen,
the Arizona Cardinals made the smart move rob g They
(15:50):
went and got new Copkins. They got him from the Texans.
He's an awesome wide receiver and he's not a diva
like Odell Beckham or Antonio Brown or um Michael Thomas
who's apparently becoming a diva in New Orleans. Like, give
give me the good dude, who's an awesome receiver who's
not gonna cry about the football, And like, you know,
(16:11):
you look at NFL like this is it's almost somebody
had an analogy to me. I forget who said it,
but if you have a like a social media company
or a tech company, now it helps you to be
a Carnival Barker like an Elon Musk. You're always keeping
Tesla in the news. Mark Zuckerberg always in his own
(16:33):
Carnival Barker way keeping Facebook in the news. Um, it's
like Pinterest doesn't have one of these guys who's always
ruffling feathers and saying stuff. So Pinterest has kind of
fallen down. But um, if you are able to just
say stuff and stir up news and keep your name
in the headlines, it's like you have some value. And
(16:54):
I think the receivers see it that way too, if
they're always saying something, Hey, that's gonna help me get
that Nike contract. Hey, that's gonna help me get that commercial.
And you know, you look at some of the receivers
at the top of the league. Remember Stefon Diggs last
year was whining and bitching and crying about not getting
the ball from Kirk Cousins and tantruming on the sideline.
They ship his ass out of town. And like, I mean,
(17:16):
Stefan Dig's good receiver. Now he's like blowing up in Buffalo.
I got what I wanted. But guess what, rob things
are going well in Buffalo. How's it gonna go with
the three game losing street for Stefan Diggs, How's he
gonna handle that? And I don't know. You just you
gotta be careful with these wide receivers like Terry McLaurin
seems like an awesome kid out of Ohio State. I
don't hear anything I would be looking to pick him off.
(17:38):
I'm not. I'm sure Whyhington is that giving him up?
But I want the guy who's silent and he's going
to go about his business. Larry Fitzgerald Class Act forever.
You know, that's the kind of receiver I went. Davante
Adams doesn't cause any any ruckus. He's not raising hell.
I'm sorry, just missed me with Odell Beckham, I'm not
that interested. So that those are kind of the top
line stories in sports. To a for Tuesday October. Coming
(18:02):
up next, we have a great interview with Rob Parker,
who was at the World Series for Games three, four,
and five. He previews Game six. That's now. Jason likes
to think he knows everything when it comes to sports.
I know what sports stands want, but for everything he doesn't.
He knows a guy who does. Let's just say I
(18:25):
know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy.
All right, let's welcome into straight fire. A guy who
just got off a plane from the World Series landed
back in l A and was kind enough to jump
on the podcast. Our first guest who's been up for
a second time because he's special. Rob Parker in the building.
What's up, Rob? What's up? Jack? How are you? I'm awesome, dude.
(18:47):
A great weekend in sports, UM and the World Series
Game six tonight Tuesday night. Very excited. Rob. First of all,
I want I'm curious, how was the experience of being
in the ballpark for the World Series down there in Texas?
You know what? First of all, Global Life Field is
a show place. Beautiful. Uh, they had to do it.
(19:10):
They needed the dome. I'm surprised they couldn't put a
dome on the old ballpark, you know, which was its
less than twenty years old. I think it's only ten
years old. But they needed a dome because it's too
hot in Texas to sit out and you know what
I mean, A parents aren't gonna take young kids to
the ballpark and that heat outside, and older people can't
(19:32):
go either, you know what I mean, So you you
eliminate a lot of people. So they had to build
a new ballpark. It's beautiful and it was great to
be out, you know, at a game. And even though
it's only twenty five capacity. There was still passionate fans,
chance of let's go Dodgers. Obviously a lot of Dodger
fans because l A so close compared to Tampa. So
(19:57):
there were a lot of Dodger people in the house
and people were into it. And obviously Game four with
the crazy ending was incredible as well. You know, you
don't see a game end like that. Uh So, so
what was a great experience like I got to see
games three, four, and five out in uh in Allington.
Let me ask you this, how how did you feel
(20:19):
from from the COVID perspective of going to a game
in a park? You said, what capacity? It was like
two people? Okay, so twelve thousand people obviously spaced out.
Uh it looked like people were wearing masks. What was
it like in the press box for you? Did you
have to wear a mask in the press box? Did
they do temperature checks? Temperature checks to get in the building,
(20:40):
and then you did have to wear a mask. Everybody
had to wear a mask at all times unless you're
eating or drinking other than that. And you know what,
I'm gonna be honest, I thought, Okay, I'm going to
Texas their rogue. They don't believe in the BODO, you
know what I mean? Like that was my thought going
in right, most people we had our mask. I didn't
(21:02):
see people like trying to buck the system, you know
what I mean, or or or or act as if
anything wasn't going on. Uh you know. I went out
to eat. The restaurants are open at a minimum capacity,
so I ate with a couple of friends. Tables were
spaced out, everybody was acting accordingly, so it was cool.
It was I really felt comfortable, not like this is
(21:24):
kind of risky and I don't want to catch something
before we get to the games. One last question. I
haven't flown during the pandemic. We are considering flying for
the holidays or family flying to US. I'm just curious
what you thought the flighting experience was like. Uh, here,
same thing. I've flown a few times. Um during this
(21:46):
I went to New York, I went to Detroit, and uh,
this trip to Texas. So I'm gonna play like three
or four times during the pandemic. And it's spaced out normally,
not on top of each other. Most airlines and people
have their masks on. If you have your mask, on
and you're no one's reason and off and on top
of you knock on wood. You know, I've gone and
(22:10):
been back and everything has been cool, So I'm not
that afraid. I think it's more of if I was
around an environment where people weren't wearing mask and just
a free for all, and you're in a massive crowd.
The airport's just don't like that anymore, you know what
I mean, Because most people are like you, they just
haven't flown. Yeah, all right, so let's get to the
(22:31):
World Series. Dodgers lead three too, and I want to
start with a guy who's much maligned, Clayton Kershaw. I
read your column in dead Spin on Monday. Great stuff,
and it feels good for Kershall. The Monkey's kind of
office back. Obviously, listen, they gotta win the series, but
he's two and oh, I don't know if he's gonna
win the m v PEO, but he's certainly in the
(22:51):
discussion with a couple other guys. I'm just curious, Like, listen,
I know you're not supposed to pick a site as
a journalist, but you gotta admit it is a right
story that Clayton Kershaw came through twice in the World
Series for the Dodgers, no doubt, and especially Game five
because Jason, I know, Game one he pitched well, but
Game five, coming off that heartbreaking loss, if Kerrshaw goes
(23:15):
out and and and pitches a Doug right, the Dodgers behind,
and they're really in trouble and his legacy is really
in the balance. So you're right, he pitched really well
in Game five, got them to where they're in position.
They just gotta win one of the final two games,
and it's like it's not on him anymore. I mean,
(23:36):
you know what I mean, unless somehow he pitches Game
seven in relief and gives up the game winning home
run or something like that. I hope that's not the case.
He's the best picture about generation and when you look
at his numbers, he's a shoeing Hall of Famer. This
guy's e r ray is two point four four. He
has the lowest e r ray and the lowest whip
(23:58):
of any picture in picture thousands endings of more. You know,
in the Live ball era, nobody's pitch better. But his
postseason Jason has been so bad. His e r rays
two runs higher in the postseason, and that that's that,
you know, for a great picture like that, that's incredible
to be that bad. Let me ask you about the
(24:19):
the m v P discussion. So obviously Corey Seeger's in
the mix. I mean, he's on fire. Um. I think
Max Munsey is in the discussion with six RBI justin
Turner's hit. Well, um, let's see what happens with Walker
Bueller next time out. But I'm just curious your thoughts
on the m v P heading into game six. I
think it's wide open, and it just depends on what
(24:42):
the game, what Game six is. If it's just kind
of mundane and nobody's like Segre doesn't have to home
runs or do you know what I mean, or something
like that could crush Shaw get it two wins, you know,
like a sentimental choice, could you know, like a life
time achievement. That couldn't because he's been through a lot
(25:04):
um um. But it just depends on how the game's
play out. Obviously, if they lose Game six and then
there's a Game seven and somebody delivers a big hit
and they've been hitting the whole World Series, the chances
are it's gonna go to somebody like that because it'll
be so removed from you know, the final two games,
even though he pitched well in Game five. All right,
(25:26):
So you know, I know there was a lot of
talk during the NBA bubble about, wow, there maybe should
be an asterix because it wasn't real, and I strangely
haven't heard a lot about asterix. For the MLB season,
it was shortened to sixty regular season games and the
playoffs there was no home field advantage. I'm sure some
(25:49):
people are gonna say, listen, Dodgers haven't once and say
to eight this one does it really count? But I
haven't heard that chatter. What are your thoughts on the
asterix and and this post it. I don't believe in them.
I don't believe in it for the NBA, and I
don't believe in it for baseball, hockey or whatever. These
are uncharted warders, Jason. This is what we have in
(26:09):
front of us, right. Everybody's under the same circumstance. Everybody
did the same thing, so it counts. When we look back,
we'll realize, Okay, this was a sixty game season. The
Dodgers were forty three and seventeen. They had the best
record in baseball. So if they won the World Series.
This is not like a fluke like had Houston had
(26:30):
a record under five hundred, had they got in and
somehow won the World Series, you know, without Garrett Cole
or justin Verland, the people might say, oh, that was
just flukey or something. The Dodgers are the best team
on paper, and they're in the spot that they're supposed
to be. It's funny because in baseball, both teams were
the two best teams as far as record wise raised
(26:52):
in the American League in the Dodgers in the Nationals.
So where where do you think baseball goes from here? Rob?
I mean, do they really want to keep up the
one d and sixty two games? I mean the sprint
to sixty? Obviously they're not gonna do sixty games because
the money. But do you think eventually they shorten the
season a little bit? Because I don't. I was way
more into the baseball regular season and post season than
(27:15):
I have been in years. I get that, but I don't.
I don't see that happening only because Jason, the money
you just mentioned, the television money for local like like you,
people make a big thing about the National like you,
you look at the TV deals. Just for an example,
the Yankees, do you do you know what they get
(27:36):
for the TV rights? All right? They get four hundred
million dollars from yes every year four you know what
I'm yeah, So two million goes to pay roll, two
hundred million go on their pocket and that's before they
sold a ticket, a hot dog, a parking spot. Do
you know what money that is? I just can't see them.
The one thing I'm hoping against is the six teams
(28:00):
team playoff. That's what I don't want to see in baseball.
That is what you don't want to do is you
don't want to minimalize, uh, the regular season, and you
know you see that in the NBA where you just
kind of wait for the playoffs and with a hundred
and sixty two games, you don't want people to be like,
I'll check in come playoff time. I mean, there's a
(28:20):
lot of games that have to be that's gonna be played.
And we saw a couple of teams get in the
playoffs who are under five hundred. I don't think teams
that that don't play well enough during the regular season
should make the playoffs. Well, wait, do you believe that
in all sports? I mean in the NFL. Listen, we
love the regular season, but you know your your favorite
line is, you know sports has a short menu, wins
(28:41):
and losses. What matters in in the playoffs count. Nobody
really cares about the regular season. But it's too short. No,
but the difference is a hundred and sixty two games.
You can't make the meaningless. That is what I'm saying.
If if, if, if we know the Yankees, Dodgers, you know,
sixteen teams, and and we could easily pick sixteen teams,
(29:02):
and we know they're going to be in the World Series,
I could check in come September. Seriously, I don't know
that going in. I just think I don't want it
to be ridiculous. We're more than half the league makes
the playoffs. I think you have that problem in the NBA.
You've seen the TV numbers. I know there's a lot
of different reasons, but a lot of times people wait
(29:24):
and check in come playoff time because the playoffs are
so long. It's a second season. Well, the NFL just expanded,
they added a playoff team. They're up to and that
there was nothing wrong with the NFL playoffs. That's just
greed for more money. I just but who's but? But?
But Rob? That's the thing, Like, is it really great
because the fans love more games? Like think about it,
(29:45):
we were complaining there were no sports for like three months,
and now like the NFL, we love this. I don't
want it to end. I love the season. Oh we
get an extra playoff game? Yes? Great? You know, like
I'm just saying, I just it just depends everybody's saying.
And until some bad teams get in the team's under
five hundred. I just don't think there was anything wrong.
You don't have to just overdo it. If that's the
(30:07):
case to make it, let everybody go to the playoffs.
You can't let everybody, okay, right, I mean the league?
For right? What is the NBA sixteen out of thirty
l nfls fourteen out of thirty two? And what what's baseball? Uh?
Normally ten? Right? I mean that's a big difference, six
(30:32):
extra teams. All I'm saying is with ten, you gotta
fight for that. During the regular season. The games are
words more, that's all. But don't you think on some
level it was much cooler to have the Miami Marlins
in there this year? And who do we get we
got white Sox, a lot of new teams, new blood
as opposed to the same old Yankees. Astro's done. You know, No,
(30:55):
there was some different I'm not totally but but I
just don't want it to get where the regular season
is minimalized. That's all I think. That's Let let me
quickly get in a couple of NFL questions for you
before you got to go here. So, Um, Tom Brady
has eighteen touchdowns and four interceptions. The Patriots quarterbacks have
combined for three touchdowns and eleven picks. Um, Why is
(31:20):
New England so bad? Is this Bill Belichick's ego? Or
was Tom Brady so good that he carried him last
year to twelve wins? No, I don't think there was that.
It's a lot of different issues. They had six players
from COVID. How many starters who opted out? Let's just
be fair. Um, if you asked, if you asked to
look at the receiving corps, who's really there. Uh, that's
(31:42):
a that's an All Pro receiver. There's nobody there. Cam
was doing it with strings and tape early on, but
I think teams have figured it out now that there's
really nobody else from to to go to and and
they struggled. I mean, and he can't throw three picks.
He threw three picks when need all three picks. It's
gonna be hard. Hey, you put your defense in a
(32:04):
in a bad spot, right, and then offensively just stop
and drive. So we'll see, we'll see how this thing
pans out. And if they get more players. I'm surprised,
well you know that that they needed to look the
two guys who were available, right, Josh Gordon and an
Tonio Brown receivers have already played there and already kind
of gone and went, so there's no room for them
(32:25):
to kind of go back there. I mean last year
Brady was basically throwing the Edelman and those jokers. I
know he had Josh Gordon for a couple of games,
in Antonio Brown for a couple of games, but by
and large, like Belichick, remember he never replaced Gronkowski. He's like, oh,
grunk left, Okay, we don't need to replace him. And
he didn't go out and spend money on receivers. I
(32:46):
don't know, man. Listen, remember Belichick was ready to roll
with Stidham as his starter, and then he's like, okay,
we'll take on camp. Like Rob, we've seen these guys.
They don't look good seven weeks in. I gotta keep
it real. This is feeling like the whole discussion we
talked about for years. Who meant more Brady or Belichick.
I'm starting to lean toward Brady. Rob. No, I'm not.
(33:10):
I still think that when you look at it, and
you gotta wait and see, let the Brady thing play
out before you make that. But Brady went to a
way better situation and just that there were a lot
of pieces already in place. He's trying to stack the deck.
Brady is like he's doing a Lebron Like it's all
about like he he understands where he is and he
(33:32):
wants to make sure that he has every Lenard for
net Let's go grab him, Antonio Brown, let's go around.
But he could have grabbed those guys. No, I know,
but but this is a Brady thing. Brady is really
trying to uh convince people that it's all about him.
But look at the team that he's that wait a sacon, No,
let's not go Let's not go too hard on Brady.
That the team is pretty damn good. The Bucks haven't
(33:54):
made the playoffs in thirty years. That's talking about the player,
the person. Now you could you I agree with that,
though the players haven't. They haven't made the playoffs because
they were discipline and was going on with garbage, right,
there's other stuff going on, But um, I do believe
that the roster of potential. All they talk about his
(34:15):
weapons and he added a couple other guys who if they,
you know, fly right and just play football, can be
big time pieces. That's all. Yeah, I mean listen right now,
there's no better team in the NFC. You would agree
with that, right, m hmm. They're better than the Saints.
They're better than the Seahawks. Packers. They're not better than
the Packers. They just beat the package. Had a bad
(34:38):
day at the office, and you know that it was
tend nothing and then all of a sudden, Aaron Rodgers
had to two picks, which he never does, and all
of a sudden everything came undone. I'm not buying that.
The Packers came right back after that. People were trying
to say, oh, this is a trend. Aaron Rodley was
just they went straight to Houston twenty one nothing. They
(34:59):
picked up where they left off all I'm saying, isn't
they got they gotta They run the football and they
throw the football. Aaron Rodgers has uh what does he
have of uh, seventeen touchdowns two picks. They're playing well,
they're averaging other than that, other than that one done
in in in Tampa. And remember even when they lost that, Jason,
(35:21):
just to be fair, they had won eleven straight regular
season games. They would do for a bad day at
the office, and they had it. Wow, I gotta be honest,
I'm surprised. This is the Packers team who's beating nobody?
Who did and who? What's it called beating? Well? Tampa
just smoked green Bay for sure. They lost game that
(35:43):
that's the only game that they won. And even when
green Bay in the early early games, you didn't know
Minnesota was bad, they beat Minnesota in Minnesota. You at
that point you can't say that that was an easy win.
Minnesota at Minnesota to start the season is not a layup.
And what was the other game that they won? Um,
(36:04):
there was another one where the team later on turn
I mean to beat the Falcons. You know, I don't know.
I'm surprised you're all up on this Packers team. Who's
the best team in the a f C right now, Steelers, Ravens,
Chiefs Probably Steelers. Yeah, okay, I would agree with that.
I mean, She's are good and the Ravens are good,
(36:25):
and they're gonna be there. But but I think I
think where where the Steelers are right now? What they
were able to do even though they gave up up,
they didn't give up the lead, but they almost choked
down that game yesterday. But you're undefeated and they're putting
up points and they got a good defense. Yeah alright, So, uh,
Rob Parker, I'm glad you made it to the World
Series and glad you're back safely. Enjoy World Series Game six,
(36:50):
Go Dodgers. Can I say that? Or no? Is that
too home? Absolutely never give me to say it, But
all right, Rob, thanks a lot man. Enjoy your work
all right up.
Host
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.