September 7, 2017 • 31 mins
Jason Smith and Michael Harmon look at the recent string of sports radio personalities getting locked up and tell you if they were to get locked up how it would play out. The guys also look at the developing story of Michael Bennett being detained by the Las Vegas Police Department on the night of the Mayweather-McGregor fight and Jason tells you why he is so proud of Bennett. Also, the guys give you their AFC and NFC Championship Game predictions and they tell you why their is a spygate brewing in the MLB.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside the Jason Smith
Show at Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio dot Com,
end I Heart Radio. It's really good to see you today, Bunny,
good to see you myself. Mike Harmon, Justin Frostburg, Alex Tighter,
(00:23):
Tom Looney have all managed to not get arrested today.
We are here to do the show tonight. Looks like
we made it. If there's one thing I know now
what the cops have it out for sports talk radio,
no question. We can no longer do the normal things
that everybody else is allowed. We are now being singled
(00:43):
out the last couple of weeks. Now I find out, Oh,
I can't just get naked and show up in somebody's
hotel room and refuse to leave. They're not gonna let
me do that anymore. They're not gonna let me solicit
undercover prostitutes and say, oh no, what are you talking about. No,
I can't do that anymore. I can't all the Ponzi
scheme and try to build investors out of millions of dollars.
(01:04):
These are all rights now that they're being taken away from.
It's like tell you, man, the cops got it out
for us. I've a very concerned about what's gonna I mean,
I don't know what's gonna happen to the rest of
my life. I don't know, Smith. I think every day,
not just me and you, but sports talk radio hosts
throughout the country need to tweet out did not get
arrested or at work? The show will go on as scripted.
(01:26):
You're trying to tell me that this becomes the equivalent
of the factory work that that has always been portrayed
in television and film. Number of days without an accident,
number of days without rest. No, it's all. It's all
of them. Are are said and horrible stories. I I
you know, just saying my my wife asked me, what
(01:46):
are you guys working on today. I'm like, well, here's
one of the stories, and it's like shotting Freud. I'm like, no, no,
this is a big news. I am in our our
business right now. Because it's been a very interesting and
strange couple of weeks. So first you had the Ryan
Russello story, you know, he got naked and went into
somebody's condominium when he was on vacation. Then you had
(02:08):
Mitch Levy, who does Mornings in Seattle for the longest time,
busted in a prostitution staying and then today Craig Carton,
boom Resciasin's co host and w f An in New York.
You know Boomrin Carton is you know, it's a big show.
He's a guy that was three years ahead of me
at Syracuse. And I will just say this, if you
have a good memory, if you remember one story I
told him the show about somebody went to school with
(02:29):
its Syracuse and that corresponding story, That's what was about.
But anyway, Creig car guys iTunes, Stitchery, I'll tell you what.
Listen to whatever you want iTunes, Google playing sitch you
could download everything. Don't don't forget the guy who kicked
his dad's ass, o Ethanding. He's a guy that that
started all of I forgot about rush. You beat up
(02:53):
your dad? How do you get naked and going and
walk into somebody's room and hull that's more exable, but
that that one, at least you could say the demon alcohol. No,
I I know I want to hear more from Frostburg
beause he seems like, oh yeah, yeah, like that's happened
to me. You know, I don't know, well, I mean
he's watched old School. Maybe he's just thinking of will
(03:15):
you know, going streaking through the quad. I'm nervous for
Frostburg because he's going to be on the road with
the Chargers this year, and you know Saturday nights before
the game. You know, there's no there's no curfew for
the producer of the Chargers radio broadcast. They actually caged me,
Okayn till game day. It's probably not a bad idea philosophically,
that is strong. They they slipped those sleeping pills into
(03:37):
your food, like in like dogs and cats, and they
fly across the country. They fall asleep. But Craig Carton,
who's very famous half of the Due All Morning Show
with Boomeracias in for NFL quarterback in New York, is
arrested today federal authorities and he's charged with operating a
Ponzi scheme in trying to build investors in a ticket
scam out of millions of dollars millions of dollars. And
(04:02):
this is I mean, this has been this is like
the I'm waiting what's gonna happen to when I wake up?
And find out what happens tomorrow. I mean it's I mean, look,
I feel I need to be tell, tell everybody I
didn't get arrested today, and I'm coming in tonight. I
think about this. You just go and the the allegations
talking about a two point five million dollar debt to
(04:24):
a casino last year, and you talk about what can
spiral a lot of control. I mean, we've got p
s A S on the network for gambling, particularly as
football begins, and Brimley's got nothing to do with that.
Talk to you about gambling, No, he's about diabetes, big
money goes on black on the roulette wheel. Wow, don't
(04:47):
split aces. Trying to talk about a man's personal descent
into desperation when a dealer changes, you leave the table.
I'm Wilfred Brimley. Never go all in if you don't
have to. But here, you know, here's the queer. Is
The funny part about this is that with this story
going on, obviously there's so many things with all these
(05:09):
big times, big name sports, stark radios. I told my
wife this story today and she laughs and she goes,
I said, what's so funny? She goes, I can't imagine,
like you pulling a Ponzi scheme on anybody I like,
And she started laughing uncontrollably like I I couldn't and
of course I couldn't pull upon I can't believe that
anybody can pull a Ponzi scheme like that. She said
(05:29):
to me, you can't even put the toilet seat down
after you leave the bathroom. I'm like, okay, all right,
but she's laughing, like get a matter of life and death.
She's giggling like for twenty minutes, going, I can see
you operating a Ponzi scheme. I couldn't do it. Is
that gonna you gotta have a further discussion on that
one now with your wife. Well, no, I'm I'm glad
(05:49):
that she can't see me doing it, but the fact
that it was so there's no way you could do that,
like wait, but like like she's saying, I'm not sophisticated
or smart enough to pull off a pot although I
guess you could say Craig Carton's not sophisticated or or
allegedly demand the fact that the FBI is the the
body working here normally that we don't get to this
point unless they're really sure that the it's a done deal.
(06:13):
So the dollar amounts are staggering the artists and everything
that has to go into it. But talk about the
throes of addiction and desperation. I know it was making
the rounds earlier Doug Gottlieb talk as he knows Greig Carton.
You can find that up on the Fox Sports Radio
dot com page and check out the podcast there, and
(06:35):
it's just like that was what struck me. It's like, wow,
that you do this, like not that it's some evil mastermind.
And here's how I'm gonna get over is not how
I read it right, and read it as here's how
I'm going to build a bunch of people from day
to day. Because he has gay, he had these gambling
that's the three casinos money. So he pulls this Ponty
(06:56):
scheme by getting people to invest in a fraudulent ticket scan.
And what he does is get the investors, and he
pays off the old investors and pays off his and
eventually the authorities caught up to him and me, and
I don't know why they caught up to him now,
but the one part of the story I couldn't believe
today was, you know, he and his partner, not Boomers
Scias and oh, by the way, Boomer saw that. But
that's one of the other things, like Bootho immediately started saying,
(07:18):
I got involved. Boomer's gotta be taken for I'm not involved.
Was his partner in doing this? Said we may have
to move to Costa Rica, start over and change our names. Yeah,
that bad moved to Costa Rica. Hey, we can start over,
change our names would be awesome. Yeah, that's the part
of it that makes it that much more real in
terms of knowing that you've hit critical mass in terms
(07:42):
of the size of this, the scope and once the
investigation and you have good information that this is now
going down a very terrible path for you. I wait,
I waiting for the home, waiting for someone with a
hot take. Boomer had to be in on it. He
had to know. There's no way Boom size it. Doesn't
know he started the show today. He told that day.
(08:04):
But he's been told that that Carton was sick, which
you know, we talked about indiction whatever. Sure, but just
you're taking a day off and he's making light of
a guy calling in the day before the the NFL begins.
You know, I'll say this if you ever got busted
for doing something illegal, or if I did Let's say
I got busted for doing something illegal. Let's just say,
(08:25):
there's no way people wouldn't believe you're not in on
it because I call you my best friend every night. Yeah,
we have to stop that. They would know, they would
know they was Harmon's obviously in on it. You would
be you, As someone on Twitter said, I would have
been the mastermind if you would have gone down. Yeah, no,
because I could see you like doing really well, like
fencing stolen goods. I think you would be pretty good
at that because you make T shirts and stuff and
(08:47):
you're you know, or I'm creative or you know, bogus
calf implants like you would be selling that like that.
You want to get calf to look like my But
I sell the bogus ones that go bad. But then
I might have gone into a medical school in Costa Rica,
So do the transplants myself. We actually have sound of
Craig cart Frostburgh. We have we have sound of him
(09:08):
from today. You know, we have a statement state Hartman statement. Okay,
very good, you say, Cartman, Hey, how to get interest
get out of that stap legally and there's no scalping
prohibitive help Santa Claus. All right, let's let's hear his
statement following what happened piece off. Well, there you go.
(09:35):
There you have it. You're going that's where things sit,
and you're going to hell. Now, if you were in
on it, if you did something illegal, people would believe
that I wasn't in on it. They would say, well,
there's no way Jason knew. Why because I don't say
bad because well, no, I think I'm more trustworthy than
you are when it comes to it. I think I
think that's how people see us. I'm more trusting erroneus
(09:59):
on both counts. You know, you have a lot of
you have a lot of you know, mysterious elements that
I I don't think that you know, people like mysterious.
You know, I think people are nervous about people with
big calves. I don't think that That's not normal. Now
you're profiling that's not normal that people have calm. All
you have to do is show that Judges cows he's
(10:19):
getting off twitter at. How about a Fresca twitter At?
How about a Fresca dot? Or the NFL is gonna
be what the s onoand I'm really know about how
about a Fresca hashtag? It's really sprite that comes from Antelope.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
(10:41):
Show weeknights at eleven pm e stern eight pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Michael Bennett's story is a crazy thing to come out
of the NFL in which racial profiling has been throw
front and center once again now. Bennett, start defensive end
(11:03):
for the Seattle Seahawks, has been very active in the NFL.
In fact, outside of Colin Kaepernick, he's probably been the
most active as far as wanting to promote change. He
continues to kneel for the national anthem uh. He wants
things to change as far as how black men are
treated by police and many racial situations in the country
look and many people have taken up the tords to
(11:24):
Colin Kaepernick. Started off last season, Bennett's one of the
more high profile players. A situation occurred in Las Vegas
last week after the Mayweather McGregor fight. According to Michael Bennett,
He's accused police of racially profiling him, saying they pointed
(11:46):
guns at him and used excessive force during an incident
in Las Vegas. After the fight was over at a casino,
Bennett was there, A bunch of other people was there,
were there, and some people thought they heard a gunshot
and they started running and fleeing. Police officers responded to
the potential of a shooter with a gunshot. Turned out
(12:07):
there was no gun shot. There was no shooter, but
police were asked to respond because they thought there were
reports of an active shooter at this club and that
that that this casino, Michael Bennett was crouched near a
machine that I don't I don't know the area exactly
(12:31):
where he was, but he was crouched next to a
one arm Bennett next to a slot machine. When the
police officers were running through the casino trying to find
the shooter was everybody was running. A police officer saw
Michael Bennett. Michael Bennett got up and started running out
like other people did. Police subdued him, tackled him, cuffed him,
(12:53):
and according to Bennett, the officer said, he will I
will blanking shoot you in the head if you move.
Here's some audio. T MZ has the the audio in
the video of Michael Bennett being tackled and being cuffed
by the police officer. You're gonna hear it. You're gonna
hear his voice near the end. This is Bennett asking
questions of the police officer while he is being detained
(13:17):
and restrained. Friend doesn't get together, so you hear Bennett
(13:50):
there at the end. Can you answer my question, sir,
I'm not doing anything. I'm here with my friends. He
was then taken to a police squad card detained for
ten minutes, then when they realize he was not a suspect,
he was released. He talked about a little bit today
as today was a day where this story became front
and center, likely due to tmz uh coming forth with
the video. It's a traumatic experience for me, my family.
(14:14):
It sucks that the country that we live in, UH,
sometimes you get profile for the color of the skin,
and it's a tough situation for me. Do I think
every police officer is bad? No, I don't believe that.
Do I believe there's some people out there to judge
people in the color of the skin. I do believe that,
And I'm just focused on trying to push forward and
(14:34):
keep continuously champion the quest for justice for people. UM
keep pushing uh, equality for oppressed people, and um, that's
that's just what the that's what I'm about, what I
keep doing. And here's where we're at with this investigation.
The police don't know why the officer who tackled Bennett
(14:55):
arrested him, why he had his body camera off. So
that's a question, right, their body camera's gotta be on. Why.
I mean, this is another situation where we hear, yeah,
the body cameras off. We don't know why. No matter what,
you don't look good if the police officers has body
camera off. Initially, everybody's response is gonna be, well, because
he's doing something he shouldn't be and doesn't want a
record of it, you gotta have your body camera on.
(15:17):
I don't think that's too much to ask of the
police to say, hey, make sure your body cameras on.
You know, we've seen it a couple of times now
where when a black person winds up dying and police
cuss thee all the body camera wasn't on. Well, you
gotta gotta have your body camera on. That should be
something now, regardless as to how this situation plays out,
and there's you can ask legitimate question, why are we
just hearing about this now. Michael Bennett certainly has never
(15:39):
been shy with his opinions before. Why are we hearing
about this now over a week later? Why didn't we
hear about this the day after? But my overwhelming thing
that's stuck, that stuck out to me after watching this
is that here's Michael Bennett in a situation where he
believes he's being racially profiled. Obviously he was innocent. And again,
(16:00):
there was no gunshots, there was no anything. It was
police responding to report of this. They're still trying to
figure out their investigation. I am incredibly impressed with the
restraint and how wise and prescient black men can be
when they feel they're being racially profiled by police officers,
(16:22):
because we've seen it many times. And look, do the
vat of the police officers in the country do a
great job. Of course they do, you know, but obviously
police should be held to a higher standard. You know,
there's no there's no it's not just just a right
or wrong thing. The vast majority they're great, they protect us,
and but when we hear stories like this, are other
(16:44):
stories where a black man is is manipulated somehow or
shot killed, in police custody, you have to ask questions.
There's been many instances that we don't even know about,
where a black man's in police custody and he's he's
racially profiled or feels he's racially profiled. The restraint that
that black men have to not turning it into a
(17:06):
deadly situation is amazing to me, because, look, you heard
Michael Bennett's voice. He was scared out of his mind, obviously,
but he also knew this is not a sir. Can
you answer my questions? Can you tell me why what's
going on? To not go crazy when you would absolutely
have the right to do that if you're being racially profiled,
(17:27):
and not make the situation worse is something that I
can't understand because, like Michael Bennet's a big dude. He
could easily have just turned around, say what the blank
are you doing to put these cuffs on me? And
then suddenly who knows what happens? He gets tazed, he
gets shot. Who knows. But the fact that when when
racial profiling situations are out there and whether this this
or one is not we're still waiting for the investigation.
(17:50):
The fact that the vast majority of times that black
men can say, Okay, okay, we'll deal with this after
you're really treating me badly, but we're going to deal
with this the right way after, and that's we're gonna
bring this to a large audience so people can see
what happened, because if by every right, they would have
if it's if it's a racial profile and situation to
to get really angry, because you don't know how people
(18:10):
are going to react in stressful situations, and when you're
grabbed up by the cops, who knows how you're gonna react.
You don't know what's gonna happen. If I got grabbed
up by the cops for some reason, I don't know
what would happen, how I would react. I'd like to
think I'd be nice and calm, but maybe I say
something stupid because I talked for a living and I
think everything I'd say is genius and brilliant, and I
might have getting myself in trouble. But the fact that
the vast majority of times that when this happens to
(18:32):
black men, that they don't make the situation and inflame
it and they can keep their cool about them, that's
something special. That's something special that says, you know, what
the right thing to do is to go through this
and then let's just let's let's make sure that this
is a discussion that's had on a bigger, larger level
so we can judge right and wrong and people can
(18:53):
see what's going on, because that's what's gonna bring about
change and understanding between sides of different stories. That that's
what sticks out to me when I Michael benn because
this is I mean, obviously, Michael bennet'siger than any police
officer you're gonna find. And if he if he's just
feeling well, what the hell are you doing to me?
And he gets mad, that could have turned bad really quick. Well,
and I think the stories of the past year plus
(19:14):
are the things Michael Bennett is protesting and trying to
make people aware of. Is very heavy on his mind
as as this situation unfolds. You know, he protests his
innocence but leaves it there. You can hear the fear,
as you said, and recognizing there there's a greater, greater
(19:35):
situation that you know, in in a stressful environment, you
you want to be the one or you can only
control your reactions so as to not exacerbate the situation,
and in his press conference talking about his daughter, he
got emotional and had to to end it. One of
these stories as it broke from TMZ and right now
the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police talking about the hundreds of
(19:59):
videos that need to go through. Obviously you you cite
the body camera not being on by the particularly by
the particularly arresting officer, but that there maybe other vantage
points that point to two more information to get this through.
One of the reports from TMZ said that the police
(20:20):
responded and told everybody to get down and not move
to properly search and investigate, and that Bennett was among
those who didn't and kept moving. So as we go
through it, and you're just trying to get to the facts,
and that's what you hope comes out in this case,
that you get a better understanding and that if there
was improper work done by the police, that that is
(20:44):
taken care of. But it's a reminder again, and I
think from Michael Bennett to just stand up and the
Seahawks immediately is back. Roger Goodell issues a statement that
you know, it's just a reminder that it doesn't matter
your status, your bank account, your profile and where you're
(21:04):
at in terms of any corporate hierarchy, that it all
gets taken down in intense situations like this to just
the basic facts about trying to investigate and and what
may happen in terms of people's mentality and where a
stressful situation takes them. So for for Michael Bennett, he'll
(21:28):
continue to protest. That's what he said. This was this
is the core of what we've been talking about. So
we'll wait for the next part of the investigation. But
certainly an ugly experience and an ugly visual going out today.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show weeknights at eleven p m Eastern eight pm Pacific.
(21:49):
The craziest story of the day yesterday certainly involved the
Red Sox and the Yankees. The Red Sox being investigated
by Major League Baseball for stealing signs using an Apple
Watch as sistant trainer would get information on his Apple
Watch and be able to relay it to Red Sox
players who are in the field on the base path
so they can steal the Yankee signs. The last twenty
(22:10):
four hours of story is really sort of blown up.
It's not known if there's going to be any kind
of penalty for the Red Sox, yet it's an ongoing investigation.
Dustin Petroya said today, Look, this is part of the game.
Stealing signs just happens. I mean, this is this is
how the game is played, which I think everybody agrees
is his true right. But this is where we're at now,
and I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna make a bold
(22:31):
statement about this investigation in Major League Baseball because today
it breaks that the Yankees are being investigated because the
cameras that are used on the Yes network are zooming
in on Red Sox coaches so they can show what
(22:51):
signs they're throwing out there, so the Yankees can steal them.
You now have a network involved, Hey, zooming on come onzooing? Unfair?
I zooing unfair. I gotta see him. I canna say,
what's he's signaling? What's he saying? What's he's saying? Let's
he saying? Zoom in on him? I mean, now, now
you have a network being involved. Where the where where
you know, the Steinbrenners are in their office going camera
(23:13):
four truck left, camera four truck left, all right, zoom
in zo no, no, no, too far perfect right there?
What they it looks like it looks like a bunt.
All right, you're ready for the bunt. You're ready for
the bunt. Be funny if they were sitting there with
the joystick actually controlling said cameras. That the But this
is where we're at now, where the Yes Network is
(23:34):
involved in an investigation. Here's my bold statement. This is
going to become the spy Gate of Major League base
at this because think about spy Gate, how that unfolded.
We get Eric Mangini, head coach of the Jets, who
complains to the NFL the Patriots were shooting our defensive
(23:55):
signals when they're not allowed to. And then that statement
is like, well, what what are you talking about? And
then we find out, well, there's a lot to this.
The Patriots had been doing it for a long time.
The debate rages whether or not that's legal, and then
slowly you see other teams weigh in saying things like, well, yeah,
the Patriots tape taped our practice. The Rams think they
taped the walkthrough during right before the Super Bowl in
(24:18):
when there in two thousand when the Patriots won, and
then many other people throughout the NFL weighed in on
different ways the teams cheat, and it became that big
of a story. And then Commissioner Goodell find the Patriots
a million and a half dollars and dr draft picks
and oh, really, that's what you're gonna do. We won
three super Bowls, thanks a lot, We'll take that trade.
And that's how they had That's how spying and mushroomed
(24:41):
into that big story. But this is this is where
this story is at. It's the same kind of thing.
What kind of cheating is this? How big a deal
is this cheating? And now we're gonna start to slowly here.
You'll you know, other players are gonna wait, and they're
gonna say, oh, you know who told me about stealing
signs back in two thousand five, we used to do
it using a flip phone or whatever. It is. Gonna
start hearing crazy stories about how other teams would steal
(25:03):
signs or players in the past, we did this. You're
also gonna hear other teams say, well, the Yankees did
this to us, the Red Socks did that to us,
the Mets did that to us. And this is what's
gonna happen. It's gonna become a spygate story where now
suddenly a story that's a hey, you know, by the way,
this is crazy, and Apple Watch turns into a really
big deal, and NLB is gonna have to come down
with some kind of big ruling on stealing signs because
(25:25):
this is something the Major League Baseball doesn't want. And
the fact that the reaction of players and fans, you know, well,
look what we have we've always stolen sign is it's
a big deal. That's a bad optic. That stealing signs
and cheating is okay, we can't have that in sports
right now. That's a bad look. So now you're gonna
have to see some kind of punishment doled out whatever
(25:46):
the most serious of these crimes may wind up. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app. It's time
to make our picks. The official picks were on the
eve of the right of the season of the NFL.
We have opening night tomorrow night. We have the Chiefs
the Patriots. So we're gonna pick the a f C
(26:07):
and NFC championship games right now, not the Super Bowl.
That's too easy. A f C. NFC Championship games will
kick it off with the a f C and the
only rule is we can't pick the Patriots because it's
too easy a non Patriots a f C championship game.
My first team in the NFC title Game is a
(26:27):
team that is ascending, will likely win their division, a
division that is on the down swing. Their quarterback will
make a big leap this year. He is already one
of the best red zone quarterbacks in the NFL. Just
added a big weapon who's gonna be even bigger in
the red zone. The defense is very, very good. Their
secondary is young, but they have some playmakers there. They
(26:49):
got a big guy in the draft. In the a
f C Championship Game will be the Tennessee Titans. Mariota
makes the big leap. Decker is a huge addition. They're
loaded on offense, their defense is good. They got a
Dory Jackson. This is going to be a team that
is gonna surprise and make it to the a f
(27:09):
C title Game. Awaiting them there will be the Los
Angeles Chargers on the Atlanta Falcons trail of a team
that's always been talented. Finally, they put it all together.
Joey Bows is going to be the defensive player of
the Year in the NFL. He's just that good. Their
defense is phenomenal. There's enough weapons on offense. Melvin Gordon
(27:33):
is ascending. Philip Rivers is great. It's gonna wind up
being a great home field advantage at StubHub Center when
they start selling out every seat is good. They're right
on top of the field. It's only thirty thousand, but
it will feel like fifty and fifty five. They're gonna
get Mike Williams back eventually. He's gonna start practicing in
a couple of weeks, gonna add another big dimension in
(27:54):
that offense. It was tough between the Chargers and the
Raiders because I like the Raiders as well, but I
believe more in Bow and the Chargers defense than Khalil
Mack and the Raiders defense because outside of Khalil Mcturraiders
have a lot of questions. So I'm going Titans Chargers
the non Patriots AFC Championships like that boldness with the
Charges a lot of offensive weaponry at the disposal of
(28:17):
Philip Rivers looking a little deeper. I take the Patriots
off the board. Obviously, and well I ended up with
Kansas City coming out of that same division, looking for
a little bit of cannibalization. That you've got four teams
that are gonna make some noise and make things difficult
for one another, but for the Chiefs, looking at the
(28:37):
explosive playmakers, that good front seven on the defensive side,
and that Patrick Mahomes eventually is inserted at quarterback to
you know, work the downfield pass, something that Alex Smith,
as much as he's won, hasn't done. Perhaps a new complexion.
And you've heard the glowing reviews from the GM and
those associated with the Chiefs. Now on the other side,
(28:58):
I'm looking at the Pits Org Steelers. A bit of
a chalk pick and a popular pick for for the
popular people, as Loony would say, because you have those
playmakers of Brown and Bell to get things started. Knucklehead
effect still still there for lady on Bell, the fear
of some other transgression. He's already been suspended a couple
of times. Also, Bartavis Bryant coming back, Ben Roethlisberger a
(29:22):
far more effective quarterback, a couple of tight ends, and
a better offensive line, good front seven on the defensive end,
as well, so looking for Big Ben and Patrick Mahomes
to meet. So there's the a f C Championship Games
right there. Now to the NFC NFC champions of Game.
No restrictions on this one because they don't have the
Patriots there. But looking at the path of least resistance,
(29:45):
a team that is going to make hay in their
own division. They figured out their offense. They made a
big trade for Sheldon Richardson, who's gonna as long as
his head is on straight, he's gonna be huge on
that defensive front line. The Seahawks win the NFC West
and they hope the NFC Championship Game. I look for
teams that made a big jump from last year this year,
(30:06):
not many did. The Seahawks will take advantage of that
bad division and they will continue their excellent play over
the last few years. They will host the NFC title
Game and they will do so against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Carson Wentz will make a big jump this year. He
will be a star. They added weapons across the board.
(30:26):
He had none last year. Now he's got two good
tight ends. You got a couple of good receivers, and
on defense, you hadded a big player Darby was a
great acquisition this offseason. The Eagles made the improvements necessary
to take that leap. I know the NFC East is tough,
but I believe in the Eagles. I believe they are
that good of an ascending team. Eagles Seahawks NFC Championship.
(30:49):
I done deep. I took the Seahawks off the board, saying, hey,
they're the chalk of the NFC side of things. You
got that the Giants and the Packers. I think with
account of picks there go. What about the ball pick
in the Bears. I will stay in division though, so
removing the Packers, looking at the newly minted well multi
(31:11):
gazillionaire Matthew Stafford and the offensive weaponry that he brings.
The defensive struggle, but look for them to win shootouts.
And look at New Orleans looking coming out of the South,
where again you've got a battle for the division and
Drew Brees just this much better Michael Thomas Kobe fleaner.
You look at the three headed backfield and then you
(31:32):
add Austin Carr obligatory Northwestern. Uh, That's why I jammed
it in there, because they claimed him on waivers and
then he'll have it him back for them, but Willie
Steed will get back from this suspension. They'll put up
in there we go. There's our official a f C
and NFC Championship game picks. There you go, Mike Harmon
Saints and the Bears. In the NFC STS and the Lions.
(31:56):
I have the Eagles and the Seahawks.
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside the Jason Smith
Show at Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio dot Com,
end I Heart Radio. It's really good to see you today, Bunny,
good to see you myself. Mike Harmon, Justin Frostburg, Alex Tighter,
(00:23):
Tom Looney have all managed to not get arrested today.
We are here to do the show tonight. Looks like
we made it. If there's one thing I know now
what the cops have it out for sports talk radio,
no question. We can no longer do the normal things
that everybody else is allowed. We are now being singled
(00:43):
out the last couple of weeks. Now I find out, Oh,
I can't just get naked and show up in somebody's
hotel room and refuse to leave. They're not gonna let
me do that anymore. They're not gonna let me solicit
undercover prostitutes and say, oh no, what are you talking about. No,
I can't do that anymore. I can't all the Ponzi
scheme and try to build investors out of millions of dollars.
(01:04):
These are all rights now that they're being taken away from.
It's like tell you, man, the cops got it out
for us. I've a very concerned about what's gonna I mean,
I don't know what's gonna happen to the rest of
my life. I don't know, Smith. I think every day,
not just me and you, but sports talk radio hosts
throughout the country need to tweet out did not get
arrested or at work? The show will go on as scripted.
(01:26):
You're trying to tell me that this becomes the equivalent
of the factory work that that has always been portrayed
in television and film. Number of days without an accident,
number of days without rest. No, it's all. It's all
of them. Are are said and horrible stories. I I
you know, just saying my my wife asked me, what
(01:46):
are you guys working on today. I'm like, well, here's
one of the stories, and it's like shotting Freud. I'm like, no, no,
this is a big news. I am in our our
business right now. Because it's been a very interesting and
strange couple of weeks. So first you had the Ryan
Russello story, you know, he got naked and went into
somebody's condominium when he was on vacation. Then you had
(02:08):
Mitch Levy, who does Mornings in Seattle for the longest time,
busted in a prostitution staying and then today Craig Carton,
boom Resciasin's co host and w f An in New York.
You know Boomrin Carton is you know, it's a big show.
He's a guy that was three years ahead of me
at Syracuse. And I will just say this, if you
have a good memory, if you remember one story I
told him the show about somebody went to school with
(02:29):
its Syracuse and that corresponding story, That's what was about.
But anyway, Creig car guys iTunes, Stitchery, I'll tell you what.
Listen to whatever you want iTunes, Google playing sitch you
could download everything. Don't don't forget the guy who kicked
his dad's ass, o Ethanding. He's a guy that that
started all of I forgot about rush. You beat up
(02:53):
your dad? How do you get naked and going and
walk into somebody's room and hull that's more exable, but
that that one, at least you could say the demon alcohol. No,
I I know I want to hear more from Frostburg
beause he seems like, oh yeah, yeah, like that's happened
to me. You know, I don't know, well, I mean
he's watched old School. Maybe he's just thinking of will
(03:15):
you know, going streaking through the quad. I'm nervous for
Frostburg because he's going to be on the road with
the Chargers this year, and you know Saturday nights before
the game. You know, there's no there's no curfew for
the producer of the Chargers radio broadcast. They actually caged me,
Okayn till game day. It's probably not a bad idea philosophically,
that is strong. They they slipped those sleeping pills into
(03:37):
your food, like in like dogs and cats, and they
fly across the country. They fall asleep. But Craig Carton,
who's very famous half of the Due All Morning Show
with Boomeracias in for NFL quarterback in New York, is
arrested today federal authorities and he's charged with operating a
Ponzi scheme in trying to build investors in a ticket
scam out of millions of dollars millions of dollars. And
(04:02):
this is I mean, this has been this is like
the I'm waiting what's gonna happen to when I wake up?
And find out what happens tomorrow. I mean it's I mean, look,
I feel I need to be tell, tell everybody I
didn't get arrested today, and I'm coming in tonight. I
think about this. You just go and the the allegations
talking about a two point five million dollar debt to
(04:24):
a casino last year, and you talk about what can
spiral a lot of control. I mean, we've got p
s A S on the network for gambling, particularly as
football begins, and Brimley's got nothing to do with that.
Talk to you about gambling, No, he's about diabetes, big
money goes on black on the roulette wheel. Wow, don't
(04:47):
split aces. Trying to talk about a man's personal descent
into desperation when a dealer changes, you leave the table.
I'm Wilfred Brimley. Never go all in if you don't
have to. But here, you know, here's the queer. Is
The funny part about this is that with this story
going on, obviously there's so many things with all these
(05:09):
big times, big name sports, stark radios. I told my
wife this story today and she laughs and she goes,
I said, what's so funny? She goes, I can't imagine,
like you pulling a Ponzi scheme on anybody I like,
And she started laughing uncontrollably like I I couldn't and
of course I couldn't pull upon I can't believe that
anybody can pull a Ponzi scheme like that. She said
(05:29):
to me, you can't even put the toilet seat down
after you leave the bathroom. I'm like, okay, all right,
but she's laughing, like get a matter of life and death.
She's giggling like for twenty minutes, going, I can see
you operating a Ponzi scheme. I couldn't do it. Is
that gonna you gotta have a further discussion on that
one now with your wife. Well, no, I'm I'm glad
(05:49):
that she can't see me doing it, but the fact
that it was so there's no way you could do that,
like wait, but like like she's saying, I'm not sophisticated
or smart enough to pull off a pot although I
guess you could say Craig Carton's not sophisticated or or
allegedly demand the fact that the FBI is the the
body working here normally that we don't get to this
point unless they're really sure that the it's a done deal.
(06:13):
So the dollar amounts are staggering the artists and everything
that has to go into it. But talk about the
throes of addiction and desperation. I know it was making
the rounds earlier Doug Gottlieb talk as he knows Greig Carton.
You can find that up on the Fox Sports Radio
dot com page and check out the podcast there, and
(06:35):
it's just like that was what struck me. It's like, wow,
that you do this, like not that it's some evil mastermind.
And here's how I'm gonna get over is not how
I read it right, and read it as here's how
I'm going to build a bunch of people from day
to day. Because he has gay, he had these gambling
that's the three casinos money. So he pulls this Ponty
(06:56):
scheme by getting people to invest in a fraudulent ticket scan.
And what he does is get the investors, and he
pays off the old investors and pays off his and
eventually the authorities caught up to him and me, and
I don't know why they caught up to him now,
but the one part of the story I couldn't believe
today was, you know, he and his partner, not Boomers
Scias and oh, by the way, Boomer saw that. But
that's one of the other things, like Bootho immediately started saying,
(07:18):
I got involved. Boomer's gotta be taken for I'm not involved.
Was his partner in doing this? Said we may have
to move to Costa Rica, start over and change our names. Yeah,
that bad moved to Costa Rica. Hey, we can start over,
change our names would be awesome. Yeah, that's the part
of it that makes it that much more real in
terms of knowing that you've hit critical mass in terms
(07:42):
of the size of this, the scope and once the
investigation and you have good information that this is now
going down a very terrible path for you. I wait,
I waiting for the home, waiting for someone with a
hot take. Boomer had to be in on it. He
had to know. There's no way Boom size it. Doesn't
know he started the show today. He told that day.
(08:04):
But he's been told that that Carton was sick, which
you know, we talked about indiction whatever. Sure, but just
you're taking a day off and he's making light of
a guy calling in the day before the the NFL begins.
You know, I'll say this if you ever got busted
for doing something illegal, or if I did Let's say
I got busted for doing something illegal. Let's just say,
(08:25):
there's no way people wouldn't believe you're not in on
it because I call you my best friend every night. Yeah,
we have to stop that. They would know, they would
know they was Harmon's obviously in on it. You would
be you, As someone on Twitter said, I would have
been the mastermind if you would have gone down. Yeah, no,
because I could see you like doing really well, like
fencing stolen goods. I think you would be pretty good
at that because you make T shirts and stuff and
(08:47):
you're you know, or I'm creative or you know, bogus
calf implants like you would be selling that like that.
You want to get calf to look like my But
I sell the bogus ones that go bad. But then
I might have gone into a medical school in Costa Rica,
So do the transplants myself. We actually have sound of
Craig cart Frostburgh. We have we have sound of him
(09:08):
from today. You know, we have a statement state Hartman statement. Okay,
very good, you say, Cartman, Hey, how to get interest
get out of that stap legally and there's no scalping
prohibitive help Santa Claus. All right, let's let's hear his
statement following what happened piece off. Well, there you go.
(09:35):
There you have it. You're going that's where things sit,
and you're going to hell. Now, if you were in
on it, if you did something illegal, people would believe
that I wasn't in on it. They would say, well,
there's no way Jason knew. Why because I don't say
bad because well, no, I think I'm more trustworthy than
you are when it comes to it. I think I
think that's how people see us. I'm more trusting erroneus
(09:59):
on both counts. You know, you have a lot of
you have a lot of you know, mysterious elements that
I I don't think that you know, people like mysterious.
You know, I think people are nervous about people with
big calves. I don't think that That's not normal. Now
you're profiling that's not normal that people have calm. All
you have to do is show that Judges cows he's
(10:19):
getting off twitter at. How about a Fresca twitter At?
How about a Fresca dot? Or the NFL is gonna
be what the s onoand I'm really know about how
about a Fresca hashtag? It's really sprite that comes from Antelope.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
(10:41):
Show weeknights at eleven pm e stern eight pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Michael Bennett's story is a crazy thing to come out
of the NFL in which racial profiling has been throw
front and center once again now. Bennett, start defensive end
(11:03):
for the Seattle Seahawks, has been very active in the NFL.
In fact, outside of Colin Kaepernick, he's probably been the
most active as far as wanting to promote change. He
continues to kneel for the national anthem uh. He wants
things to change as far as how black men are
treated by police and many racial situations in the country
look and many people have taken up the tords to
(11:24):
Colin Kaepernick. Started off last season, Bennett's one of the
more high profile players. A situation occurred in Las Vegas
last week after the Mayweather McGregor fight. According to Michael Bennett,
He's accused police of racially profiling him, saying they pointed
(11:46):
guns at him and used excessive force during an incident
in Las Vegas. After the fight was over at a casino,
Bennett was there, A bunch of other people was there,
were there, and some people thought they heard a gunshot
and they started running and fleeing. Police officers responded to
the potential of a shooter with a gunshot. Turned out
(12:07):
there was no gun shot. There was no shooter, but
police were asked to respond because they thought there were
reports of an active shooter at this club and that
that that this casino, Michael Bennett was crouched near a
machine that I don't I don't know the area exactly
(12:31):
where he was, but he was crouched next to a
one arm Bennett next to a slot machine. When the
police officers were running through the casino trying to find
the shooter was everybody was running. A police officer saw
Michael Bennett. Michael Bennett got up and started running out
like other people did. Police subdued him, tackled him, cuffed him,
(12:53):
and according to Bennett, the officer said, he will I
will blanking shoot you in the head if you move.
Here's some audio. T MZ has the the audio in
the video of Michael Bennett being tackled and being cuffed
by the police officer. You're gonna hear it. You're gonna
hear his voice near the end. This is Bennett asking
questions of the police officer while he is being detained
(13:17):
and restrained. Friend doesn't get together, so you hear Bennett
(13:50):
there at the end. Can you answer my question, sir,
I'm not doing anything. I'm here with my friends. He
was then taken to a police squad card detained for
ten minutes, then when they realize he was not a suspect,
he was released. He talked about a little bit today
as today was a day where this story became front
and center, likely due to tmz uh coming forth with
the video. It's a traumatic experience for me, my family.
(14:14):
It sucks that the country that we live in, UH,
sometimes you get profile for the color of the skin,
and it's a tough situation for me. Do I think
every police officer is bad? No, I don't believe that.
Do I believe there's some people out there to judge
people in the color of the skin. I do believe that,
And I'm just focused on trying to push forward and
(14:34):
keep continuously champion the quest for justice for people. UM
keep pushing uh, equality for oppressed people, and um, that's
that's just what the that's what I'm about, what I
keep doing. And here's where we're at with this investigation.
The police don't know why the officer who tackled Bennett
(14:55):
arrested him, why he had his body camera off. So
that's a question, right, their body camera's gotta be on. Why.
I mean, this is another situation where we hear, yeah,
the body cameras off. We don't know why. No matter what,
you don't look good if the police officers has body
camera off. Initially, everybody's response is gonna be, well, because
he's doing something he shouldn't be and doesn't want a
record of it, you gotta have your body camera on.
(15:17):
I don't think that's too much to ask of the
police to say, hey, make sure your body cameras on.
You know, we've seen it a couple of times now
where when a black person winds up dying and police
cuss thee all the body camera wasn't on. Well, you
gotta gotta have your body camera on. That should be
something now, regardless as to how this situation plays out,
and there's you can ask legitimate question, why are we
just hearing about this now. Michael Bennett certainly has never
(15:39):
been shy with his opinions before. Why are we hearing
about this now over a week later? Why didn't we
hear about this the day after? But my overwhelming thing
that's stuck, that stuck out to me after watching this
is that here's Michael Bennett in a situation where he
believes he's being racially profiled. Obviously he was innocent. And again,
(16:00):
there was no gunshots, there was no anything. It was
police responding to report of this. They're still trying to
figure out their investigation. I am incredibly impressed with the
restraint and how wise and prescient black men can be
when they feel they're being racially profiled by police officers,
(16:22):
because we've seen it many times. And look, do the
vat of the police officers in the country do a
great job. Of course they do, you know, but obviously
police should be held to a higher standard. You know,
there's no there's no it's not just just a right
or wrong thing. The vast majority they're great, they protect us,
and but when we hear stories like this, are other
(16:44):
stories where a black man is is manipulated somehow or
shot killed, in police custody, you have to ask questions.
There's been many instances that we don't even know about,
where a black man's in police custody and he's he's
racially profiled or feels he's racially profiled. The restraint that
that black men have to not turning it into a
(17:06):
deadly situation is amazing to me, because, look, you heard
Michael Bennett's voice. He was scared out of his mind, obviously,
but he also knew this is not a sir. Can
you answer my questions? Can you tell me why what's
going on? To not go crazy when you would absolutely
have the right to do that if you're being racially profiled,
(17:27):
and not make the situation worse is something that I
can't understand because, like Michael Bennet's a big dude. He
could easily have just turned around, say what the blank
are you doing to put these cuffs on me? And
then suddenly who knows what happens? He gets tazed, he
gets shot. Who knows. But the fact that when when
racial profiling situations are out there and whether this this
or one is not we're still waiting for the investigation.
(17:50):
The fact that the vast majority of times that black
men can say, Okay, okay, we'll deal with this after
you're really treating me badly, but we're going to deal
with this the right way after, and that's we're gonna
bring this to a large audience so people can see
what happened, because if by every right, they would have
if it's if it's a racial profile and situation to
to get really angry, because you don't know how people
(18:10):
are going to react in stressful situations, and when you're
grabbed up by the cops, who knows how you're gonna react.
You don't know what's gonna happen. If I got grabbed
up by the cops for some reason, I don't know
what would happen, how I would react. I'd like to
think I'd be nice and calm, but maybe I say
something stupid because I talked for a living and I
think everything I'd say is genius and brilliant, and I
might have getting myself in trouble. But the fact that
the vast majority of times that when this happens to
(18:32):
black men, that they don't make the situation and inflame
it and they can keep their cool about them, that's
something special. That's something special that says, you know, what
the right thing to do is to go through this
and then let's just let's let's make sure that this
is a discussion that's had on a bigger, larger level
so we can judge right and wrong and people can
(18:53):
see what's going on, because that's what's gonna bring about
change and understanding between sides of different stories. That that's
what sticks out to me when I Michael benn because
this is I mean, obviously, Michael bennet'siger than any police
officer you're gonna find. And if he if he's just
feeling well, what the hell are you doing to me?
And he gets mad, that could have turned bad really quick. Well,
and I think the stories of the past year plus
(19:14):
are the things Michael Bennett is protesting and trying to
make people aware of. Is very heavy on his mind
as as this situation unfolds. You know, he protests his
innocence but leaves it there. You can hear the fear,
as you said, and recognizing there there's a greater, greater
(19:35):
situation that you know, in in a stressful environment, you
you want to be the one or you can only
control your reactions so as to not exacerbate the situation,
and in his press conference talking about his daughter, he
got emotional and had to to end it. One of
these stories as it broke from TMZ and right now
the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police talking about the hundreds of
(19:59):
videos that need to go through. Obviously you you cite
the body camera not being on by the particularly by
the particularly arresting officer, but that there maybe other vantage
points that point to two more information to get this through.
One of the reports from TMZ said that the police
(20:20):
responded and told everybody to get down and not move
to properly search and investigate, and that Bennett was among
those who didn't and kept moving. So as we go
through it, and you're just trying to get to the facts,
and that's what you hope comes out in this case,
that you get a better understanding and that if there
was improper work done by the police, that that is
(20:44):
taken care of. But it's a reminder again, and I
think from Michael Bennett to just stand up and the
Seahawks immediately is back. Roger Goodell issues a statement that
you know, it's just a reminder that it doesn't matter
your status, your bank account, your profile and where you're
(21:04):
at in terms of any corporate hierarchy, that it all
gets taken down in intense situations like this to just
the basic facts about trying to investigate and and what
may happen in terms of people's mentality and where a
stressful situation takes them. So for for Michael Bennett, he'll
(21:28):
continue to protest. That's what he said. This was this
is the core of what we've been talking about. So
we'll wait for the next part of the investigation. But
certainly an ugly experience and an ugly visual going out today.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show weeknights at eleven p m Eastern eight pm Pacific.
(21:49):
The craziest story of the day yesterday certainly involved the
Red Sox and the Yankees. The Red Sox being investigated
by Major League Baseball for stealing signs using an Apple
Watch as sistant trainer would get information on his Apple
Watch and be able to relay it to Red Sox
players who are in the field on the base path
so they can steal the Yankee signs. The last twenty
(22:10):
four hours of story is really sort of blown up.
It's not known if there's going to be any kind
of penalty for the Red Sox, yet it's an ongoing investigation.
Dustin Petroya said today, Look, this is part of the game.
Stealing signs just happens. I mean, this is this is
how the game is played, which I think everybody agrees
is his true right. But this is where we're at now,
and I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna make a bold
(22:31):
statement about this investigation in Major League Baseball because today
it breaks that the Yankees are being investigated because the
cameras that are used on the Yes network are zooming
in on Red Sox coaches so they can show what
(22:51):
signs they're throwing out there, so the Yankees can steal them.
You now have a network involved, Hey, zooming on come onzooing? Unfair?
I zooing unfair. I gotta see him. I canna say,
what's he's signaling? What's he saying? What's he's saying? Let's
he saying? Zoom in on him? I mean, now, now
you have a network being involved. Where the where where
you know, the Steinbrenners are in their office going camera
(23:13):
four truck left, camera four truck left, all right, zoom
in zo no, no, no, too far perfect right there?
What they it looks like it looks like a bunt.
All right, you're ready for the bunt. You're ready for
the bunt. Be funny if they were sitting there with
the joystick actually controlling said cameras. That the But this
is where we're at now, where the Yes Network is
(23:34):
involved in an investigation. Here's my bold statement. This is
going to become the spy Gate of Major League base
at this because think about spy Gate, how that unfolded.
We get Eric Mangini, head coach of the Jets, who
complains to the NFL the Patriots were shooting our defensive
(23:55):
signals when they're not allowed to. And then that statement
is like, well, what what are you talking about? And
then we find out, well, there's a lot to this.
The Patriots had been doing it for a long time.
The debate rages whether or not that's legal, and then
slowly you see other teams weigh in saying things like, well, yeah,
the Patriots tape taped our practice. The Rams think they
taped the walkthrough during right before the Super Bowl in
(24:18):
when there in two thousand when the Patriots won, and
then many other people throughout the NFL weighed in on
different ways the teams cheat, and it became that big
of a story. And then Commissioner Goodell find the Patriots
a million and a half dollars and dr draft picks
and oh, really, that's what you're gonna do. We won
three super Bowls, thanks a lot, We'll take that trade.
And that's how they had That's how spying and mushroomed
(24:41):
into that big story. But this is this is where
this story is at. It's the same kind of thing.
What kind of cheating is this? How big a deal
is this cheating? And now we're gonna start to slowly here.
You'll you know, other players are gonna wait, and they're
gonna say, oh, you know who told me about stealing
signs back in two thousand five, we used to do
it using a flip phone or whatever. It is. Gonna
start hearing crazy stories about how other teams would steal
(25:03):
signs or players in the past, we did this. You're
also gonna hear other teams say, well, the Yankees did
this to us, the Red Socks did that to us,
the Mets did that to us. And this is what's
gonna happen. It's gonna become a spygate story where now
suddenly a story that's a hey, you know, by the way,
this is crazy, and Apple Watch turns into a really
big deal, and NLB is gonna have to come down
with some kind of big ruling on stealing signs because
(25:25):
this is something the Major League Baseball doesn't want. And
the fact that the reaction of players and fans, you know, well,
look what we have we've always stolen sign is it's
a big deal. That's a bad optic. That stealing signs
and cheating is okay, we can't have that in sports
right now. That's a bad look. So now you're gonna
have to see some kind of punishment doled out whatever
(25:46):
the most serious of these crimes may wind up. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app. It's time
to make our picks. The official picks were on the
eve of the right of the season of the NFL.
We have opening night tomorrow night. We have the Chiefs
the Patriots. So we're gonna pick the a f C
(26:07):
and NFC championship games right now, not the Super Bowl.
That's too easy. A f C. NFC Championship games will
kick it off with the a f C and the
only rule is we can't pick the Patriots because it's
too easy a non Patriots a f C championship game.
My first team in the NFC title Game is a
(26:27):
team that is ascending, will likely win their division, a
division that is on the down swing. Their quarterback will
make a big leap this year. He is already one
of the best red zone quarterbacks in the NFL. Just
added a big weapon who's gonna be even bigger in
the red zone. The defense is very, very good. Their
secondary is young, but they have some playmakers there. They
(26:49):
got a big guy in the draft. In the a
f C Championship Game will be the Tennessee Titans. Mariota
makes the big leap. Decker is a huge addition. They're
loaded on offense, their defense is good. They got a
Dory Jackson. This is going to be a team that
is gonna surprise and make it to the a f
(27:09):
C title Game. Awaiting them there will be the Los
Angeles Chargers on the Atlanta Falcons trail of a team
that's always been talented. Finally, they put it all together.
Joey Bows is going to be the defensive player of
the Year in the NFL. He's just that good. Their
defense is phenomenal. There's enough weapons on offense. Melvin Gordon
(27:33):
is ascending. Philip Rivers is great. It's gonna wind up
being a great home field advantage at StubHub Center when
they start selling out every seat is good. They're right
on top of the field. It's only thirty thousand, but
it will feel like fifty and fifty five. They're gonna
get Mike Williams back eventually. He's gonna start practicing in
a couple of weeks, gonna add another big dimension in
(27:54):
that offense. It was tough between the Chargers and the
Raiders because I like the Raiders as well, but I
believe more in Bow and the Chargers defense than Khalil
Mack and the Raiders defense because outside of Khalil Mcturraiders
have a lot of questions. So I'm going Titans Chargers
the non Patriots AFC Championships like that boldness with the
Charges a lot of offensive weaponry at the disposal of
(28:17):
Philip Rivers looking a little deeper. I take the Patriots
off the board. Obviously, and well I ended up with
Kansas City coming out of that same division, looking for
a little bit of cannibalization. That you've got four teams
that are gonna make some noise and make things difficult
for one another, but for the Chiefs, looking at the
(28:37):
explosive playmakers, that good front seven on the defensive side,
and that Patrick Mahomes eventually is inserted at quarterback to
you know, work the downfield pass, something that Alex Smith,
as much as he's won, hasn't done. Perhaps a new complexion.
And you've heard the glowing reviews from the GM and
those associated with the Chiefs. Now on the other side,
(28:58):
I'm looking at the Pits Org Steelers. A bit of
a chalk pick and a popular pick for for the
popular people, as Loony would say, because you have those
playmakers of Brown and Bell to get things started. Knucklehead
effect still still there for lady on Bell, the fear
of some other transgression. He's already been suspended a couple
of times. Also, Bartavis Bryant coming back, Ben Roethlisberger a
(29:22):
far more effective quarterback, a couple of tight ends, and
a better offensive line, good front seven on the defensive end,
as well, so looking for Big Ben and Patrick Mahomes
to meet. So there's the a f C Championship Games
right there. Now to the NFC NFC champions of Game.
No restrictions on this one because they don't have the
Patriots there. But looking at the path of least resistance,
(29:45):
a team that is going to make hay in their
own division. They figured out their offense. They made a
big trade for Sheldon Richardson, who's gonna as long as
his head is on straight, he's gonna be huge on
that defensive front line. The Seahawks win the NFC West
and they hope the NFC Championship Game. I look for
teams that made a big jump from last year this year,
(30:06):
not many did. The Seahawks will take advantage of that
bad division and they will continue their excellent play over
the last few years. They will host the NFC title
Game and they will do so against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Carson Wentz will make a big jump this year. He
will be a star. They added weapons across the board.
(30:26):
He had none last year. Now he's got two good
tight ends. You got a couple of good receivers, and
on defense, you hadded a big player Darby was a
great acquisition this offseason. The Eagles made the improvements necessary
to take that leap. I know the NFC East is tough,
but I believe in the Eagles. I believe they are
that good of an ascending team. Eagles Seahawks NFC Championship.
(30:49):
I done deep. I took the Seahawks off the board, saying, hey,
they're the chalk of the NFC side of things. You
got that the Giants and the Packers. I think with
account of picks there go. What about the ball pick
in the Bears. I will stay in division though, so
removing the Packers, looking at the newly minted well multi
(31:11):
gazillionaire Matthew Stafford and the offensive weaponry that he brings.
The defensive struggle, but look for them to win shootouts.
And look at New Orleans looking coming out of the South,
where again you've got a battle for the division and
Drew Brees just this much better Michael Thomas Kobe fleaner.
You look at the three headed backfield and then you
(31:32):
add Austin Carr obligatory Northwestern. Uh, That's why I jammed
it in there, because they claimed him on waivers and
then he'll have it him back for them, but Willie
Steed will get back from this suspension. They'll put up
in there we go. There's our official a f C
and NFC Championship game picks. There you go, Mike Harmon
Saints and the Bears. In the NFC STS and the Lions.
(31:56):
I have the Eagles and the Seahawks.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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