July 18, 2024 • 61 mins
Join me, Anthony "the Ant-Man" Felli, as I celebrate the power of sports and share a personal milestone—my daughter Malia’s impressive achievements in her golf journey. From her third-place finish as an individual at District Championship, and STPGA Junior Tour. Malia is a testament to hard work and dedication. I also tease some exciting future plans for Beat the Clock Sports Talk, promising enhanced production and expansion to new platforms like YouTube.
Next, we explore the compelling story of Bronny James, diving into the challenges he faces after his cardiac arrest cut his Collegiate career short. Despite being medically cleared to play, Bronny’s journey back to peak performance is just beginning. I touch on his summer league performance, searching for leadership qualities and ability to effect the intangibles of the game, comparing him to other athletes who grew up under the shadow of legendary parents. With a likely path to the G League, Bronny’s story is one of resilience and dedication that deserves our appreciation.
And for all the NFL enthusiasts, get ready for my way-too-early Power Rankings and divisional picks sure to spark debate. From the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs to surprising picks like the Houston Texans, I give you my "Way too Early Power Rankings" to start talking about the upcoming season. Plus, we celebrate the WNBA’s groundbreaking $2.2 billion media deal, a milestone that promises a bright future for women’s basketball. Tune in for an episode packed with sports stories, predictions, and the ever-evolving landscape of sports broadcasting.
Next, we explore the compelling story of Bronny James, diving into the challenges he faces after his cardiac arrest cut his Collegiate career short. Despite being medically cleared to play, Bronny’s journey back to peak performance is just beginning. I touch on his summer league performance, searching for leadership qualities and ability to effect the intangibles of the game, comparing him to other athletes who grew up under the shadow of legendary parents. With a likely path to the G League, Bronny’s story is one of resilience and dedication that deserves our appreciation.
And for all the NFL enthusiasts, get ready for my way-too-early Power Rankings and divisional picks sure to spark debate. From the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs to surprising picks like the Houston Texans, I give you my "Way too Early Power Rankings" to start talking about the upcoming season. Plus, we celebrate the WNBA’s groundbreaking $2.2 billion media deal, a milestone that promises a bright future for women’s basketball. Tune in for an episode packed with sports stories, predictions, and the ever-evolving landscape of sports broadcasting.
Find more from Beat the Clock by clicking the link below :
https://t.co/dp37RhqPU5
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to Beat the Clock.
Sports Talk.
And the Blue Jays have repeatedas World Series champions.
Joe, you'll never hit a biggerhome run in your life.
Six yards away from PontiacThird and three Montana Throwing
in the end zone, clark caughtit, dwight Clark.
(00:39):
Beat the clock sports talk.
Martez looking Gets it toBryant.
Bryant dribbling has to put itup with the buzzer Banks it in
Ha ha.
He banks in the three and theLakers win the game.
And now your host, anthony theAnt-Man Feli.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
What is up?
Everybody?
I am the Ant-Man.
You are listening to Beat theClock Sports Talk.
Wherever you are, however, youare listening.
Thank you for spending your daywith me.
Here we go.
We are back on the mic.
It's a polarizing time out there.
It's a polarizing world.
There's so much going on.
There's so many things going onthat can divide us, but sports
(01:22):
is a great unifier, isn't it?
So we're going to do this.
We're going to talk some sports.
I'm happy to be back on the micdoing this with you.
A little bit rusty, you can'ttell, but we're going to get
through it.
We're going to get through it.
It's going to be a great show.
I'm looking forward to coveringa lot of these topics.
(01:43):
A quick catch up what's beengoing on?
What's happening here in myworld, besides work, because I
do not podcast full-time, it'smore of a hobby.
It's a joy.
It's an opportunity for me toconnect to everybody out there
who has the time to listen.
But I have a normal job, just aregular Joe.
(02:08):
So, aside from that, malia, mydaughter just turned 16.
She's been on a golf journey.
It's been pretty amazing.
It's two years a little overtwo years now in experience,
some major improvements,learning what hard work is
(02:31):
supposed to be like, starting tounderstand that, no matter how
talented she is, hard workalways trumps talent.
And so, just like any otherteenager or any other young, so,
uh, and so, just like any otherteenager or any, um any other
young athlete, period, you setthese milestones and you have to
(02:51):
figure out, uh, just how, justhow much, are you willing to
push through the trials andtribulation you know to, to, to
get up and hit one more ball orshoot one more shot.
And so she's, she's beenlearning that.
A couple of milestones for herthis year Um, third place,
individual district, uh,championships, um, okay, so let
(03:15):
me break that down for you,cause I think that I think I
muddled those words.
Um, they've got mumble rap and Ijust mumble sports broadcast it
.
So let me break that out alittle bit, all right?
So, basically, her high schoolteam, two-time district champ,
back-to-back district champions.
They have Ella Donovan, who ismy daughter's 16-year-old
(03:40):
teammate.
She is back-to-back individualdistrict champ.
She's just a sophomore, goingto be a junior as well, and so
this is a young team, brightfuture.
But my daughter actually tookthe individual third place award
and it's significant.
(04:02):
It's a milestone for herbecause last year she wasn't
even close, like they didn'teven have a spot on the
scoreboard for her.
You know if you catch my drift,but through the hard work and
the dedication that she waswilling to put into it, she
found herself in a third placeindividual finish and the team
(04:23):
ends up going to regionals.
They had a great regionalshowing For the first time in
the STPGA Junior Tour.
My daughter found herself in athird place finish earlier this
year.
There's been some ups and downsthroughout this summer, but
that's part of it.
It's the growing pains of itall, but I'm just so proud of
her.
Uh, but you know, that's partof it.
(04:44):
It's, it's the growing pains ofit all, but, um, I just uh so
proud of her, uh, want tocongratulate her on air uh for
the hard work and the dedicationto this and uh and to her
highest individual finishes sofar.
Um, and then, uh, yeah, man,just thinking about her just
turning 16 years old andrealizing, you know time flies.
(05:07):
Here's a little antidote.
You know, when I was a lotyounger, and I'm sure a lot of
parents feel this way we areindestructible, we don't have a
care in the world and time isnot something that we measure
right, we just go right.
There's no real concept of time, and when I became a father, I
(05:32):
quickly realized that thislittle girl, who now I was
responsible for and completelyin love with, was a living
measurement of time.
And here we are, 16 years laterand, uh, I can't say that I
feel old, but it's.
(05:53):
I think I would feeldifferently if I didn't have
that measurement, um, you know,reminding me of of even how my
own personal growth has come andthe things that I've been able
to accomplish.
And so you know, I'm forevergrateful for that gift, because
(06:13):
it really is a gift and I thinkall parents, especially fathers,
understand that to some degree.
And you know, definitely proudto be a girl dad myself, so
anyway, so that's what's kind ofbeen going on.
Before we get into the topics,just want to remind everybody
(06:36):
you can find this podcastanywhere, on any platform that
you choose to listen to podcasts.
I am all over Spotify, itunes,amazon Music, so on and so forth
.
We are working on trying to getto YouTube.
I think I have some productionthings I need to work out.
I have a new studio I'm puttingtogether and once I can get all
(07:00):
that together.
I think YouTube is the nextstep in this.
I think consistency is probablythe next step and then, once I
get to that consistent place,sit down, put out this content
more frequently, like weintended, like I intended, like
how I began to do it early on inthis process, and we're trying
(07:25):
to get back to that Um, so Iwill leave all the links to all
the social medias in the uh inthe description down below the
episode.
Bear with me just a little rustyand uh, and I look forward to
hearing from all of y'all.
There's there's chat with me.
Leave your comments, give yourtakes, drop how you feel or what
(07:51):
you like about the show.
Tell me what you don't like.
I'll take it all.
There is a place for you to dothat.
Check out the websitewwwbeattheclockesportstalkcom.
You can also find that link inthe description below.
Okay, without further ado, herewe go.
(08:13):
The NBA draft probably filledwith as much drama for one team
in particular and was sopredictable for everybody else.
There wasn't a lot of thingshappening in the NBA draft this
year.
Some would say it's probablyone of the weakest drafts that
(08:36):
we've seen.
And the one team just happensto be my team, the Los Angeles
Lakers, and the one team justhappens to be my team, the Los
Angeles Lakers.
We all know that they got anabsolute gift at 17.
But I just want to take sometime to talk about their 55th
(08:58):
pick.
The 55th pick in the NBA draft,lebron James Jr, aka Bronny
James.
I think I've been listening toa lot of the hate out there
following his pick.
A lot of people saying hedidn't deserve it.
A lot of people saying that hegot it because of his father.
(09:21):
A lot of people saying thathe's not NBA ready and and and
you know what.
A lot of that may be true, butlet's face it he's the 55th pick
in the draft and he's and he'snot ready.
But here's my thought on this.
I think I share a lot ofpeople's sentiment and
(09:44):
excitement over we finally havea father-son teammate in the NBA
.
We have a father-son duo in theNBA.
Pick how you want to say it,pick how you want to say it
(10:08):
Before Bronny and LeBron.
Just a couple notables who couldforget?
King Griffey Jr and KingGriffey.
King Griffey Jr won thesweetest swings in baseball and
in some ways put his father onthe map because the swag and the
youth that he brought to a veryold game, but it was awesome to
(10:35):
see them out there together andI still enjoy watching the
highlights.
I got a list of a couple othershere.
Oh, gordie Howe yes, anotherfamous father, son or sons in
(11:07):
this case the age of Gordie Howe, interestingly enough, at the
age of 43, had an illustriouscareer.
His sons, mark and Marty,joined the Houston Arrows of the
World Hockey Association.
So anybody who doesn't knowthat?
They even made a movie aboutthis?
It was really cool.
But the NHL wasn't doing so well.
The NHL wasn't doing so welland another league came.
(11:30):
It was like a startup leaguecalled the World Hockey
Association and they were goingto be the rivals to the NHL.
What happens later on in thestory is that the NHL ends up
absorbing them, and this is whatI thought was going to happen
with the PGA and Liv golf Earlyon.
When Liv came out and wasmaking a lot of noise, I thought
(11:51):
eventually they would peter outand then the PGA would be
forced to absorb them and thenthey would have to reconcile all
the suspensions and things thatthey put on.
That has not come to pass,although they are trying to work
some kind of deal out.
You know, y'all may be familiarwith the pga and I think it's
the pif or pfi, um that it's.
(12:13):
It's a little off topic, butbut just to give you some
background, the the nhlsituation.
It was a lot very similar thatthe nhl ends up absorbing the
World Hockey Association.
But three years after Mark andMarty were drafted by the
(12:37):
Houston Arrows, they got GordieHowe, who's a great hockey
player Again.
If you're not familiar withhockey history, he is one of the
greats.
He is, I think, still holds therecord as the oldest NHL player
to start in an All-Star game.
But anyway, he comes out ofretirement and remember he was
(13:02):
43 years old and uh, and he madeit all the way through the
world hockey association umexperiment and ended up, uh, I
think, playing one season umback with the nhl after the
merger and then uh, and then heretired for good.
(13:23):
So that was the otherfather-sons duo, the National
Hockey League.
And then people are evenstarting to talk now about what
(13:44):
will we see in the PGA a TigerWoods and Charlie Woods, not
necessarily team situation, butwill Charlie Woods make it into
a PGA tournament while Tiger isplaying?
And it would have to be a majorat this point right, because
Tiger has said that he's onlygearing up to play majors right
now, and so Charlie's reallyclose to qualifying for a US
(14:08):
Open and within the next coupleof years we might see a Tiger
Woods and Charlie Woods US Open,maybe not pairing, but
definitely both Woods in thefield.
So, uh, just, uh, just justkind of want to throw that out
there.
Now we get LeBron James andBronny James and, uh, I got a
(14:30):
couple of thoughts on this.
All right, I am very excitedfor the for this to come to pass
.
I think it needs to happenearly in the season.
Um, you put Bronny on the floor, maybe in some garbage time
minutes, and you get that out ofthe way very early.
(14:53):
The first time father and sonplay are on the same court
dressed in uniform, as teammatestogether.
Okay, bronny has not had thesummer league.
That even I thought.
But can we cut this kid someslack?
I mean, he was he.
He basically lost his collegecareer.
Okay, he, he, before it evengot off the ground, uh, he
(15:17):
suffered a devastating cardiacarrest.
Um, so he, he missed most ofhis college career.
Uh, he did manage to come back,he, he averaged four points,
two assists and he only played25 games.
All right, and when I say thistragic cardiac arrest shortened
(15:40):
his career.
He was a freshman, he played 25games and it was just a year
ago.
He's just, he's just a yearremoved, pretty much.
I think it was July 23rd whenthe uh he had the cardiac
incident and so he's not I mean,he's been cleared to play
basketball.
But, um, how how muchbasketball can you play when
(16:04):
you're recovering from thisright Like?
You have to get in shape andyou have to trust that your body
can handle this.
So the doctors medicallycleared him.
He looks good.
Uh, I, I.
For those of you not watchingsummer league, um, forget about
the points.
We measure everything by pointsbecause it's the most tangible
thing that there is right, the,the stats.
You know we judge based onstats, but just watch Bronny
(16:28):
James the way that he moves as adefender, and I think this is
where he's going to make his hayin the NBA.
Will it be this year?
I'm going to be honest with you.
I got my notes right here andwhen I put this episode together
it was about four days ago.
There's been several things thatderailed being able to record
(16:50):
this.
That's another reason why, uhthis some?
This might seem a little moreclumsy than I I probably would
like or you would, uh, probablybe willing to tolerate under
normal circumstances.
Just stay with me, though.
Under normal circumstances,just stay with me, though.
I have written in the noteshere that I expected him to play
(17:11):
maybe 20 games and then threegames into Summer League.
I'm realizing that, yeah, that'sa bit of a stretch.
I'm not willing to say thathe's a horrible player.
He's a bust already.
Let's keep this in perspective.
He's the number 55 pick in theNBA draft.
(17:35):
Some will argue hey, anthony,there are so many more people
more worthy of an NBA pick thatdidn't get picked.
They went undrafted.
Okay, that may be true.
Is he a product of his dad?
Yes, he is, absolutely he is.
That's not his fault.
(17:56):
The kid's doing work.
He's out there in the summerleague.
He didn't ask to skip thesummer league.
He's willing to go to the GLeague, which, more and more, it
looks like that's where he'sgoing to end up.
Look, shaquille O'Neal's son Ithink it's Shaquille suffered a
(18:17):
cardiac arrest, nearly lost hislife, got drafted by the Lakers
and never made it out of the GLeague.
It happens, it happens.
The expectation cannot be thatthey're born from greatness so
they are going to walk in thefootsteps of their great fathers
(18:38):
.
It's not going to happen, orvery rarely.
I'm not going to say it's notgoing to, but oftentimes it's
the opposite.
Oftentimes we'll see lineage inprofessional sports where the
father is Not great but reallygood and a solid professional
(19:04):
athlete, and the son or daughterfor that matter comes in and
ends up exceeding theaccomplishments of their parent.
It's hard to do it the other way, and I think part of it is
(19:25):
because of the expectation us asfans, the media, we put so much
weight on the shoulders ofthese kids and we don't let them
be their own player.
We expect them to be a versionof their parent, of their great
parent.
(19:45):
Right?
Michael Jordan's kids didn'teven make it to the league.
You know, that's.
That's just some perspective.
Uh, we already had anotherWoods in golf.
Uh, cheyenne Woods.
Uh, tiger Woods' niece, Ibelieve.
And the expectation on her wasjust so unreasonable, especially
because she only shared a lastname with Tiger.
(20:08):
They weren't his genetics, Imean, they weren't direct
genetics, obviously, and so theexpectation for her to come out
and be the female version ofTiger Woods just wasn't
reasonable.
It would have been reasonablealthough we have been cheated by
tragedy to get to see Gigi goto the WNBA and make a career
(20:32):
for herself, but it would beunreasonable to think that she
could be anything like Kobe BeanBryant.
We'll never get to see it.
That in itself is the tragedy.
I think she would have been agreat player for that league,
though, so we have to temper ourexpectations.
(20:59):
He's the 55th pick in the NBAdraft.
He played 25 college games.
He's not a man yet right.
He's completely, uh, different,even in makeup, from his father
.
His father, coming out of highschool, was an absolute tank.
(21:20):
I mean, I believe that theylied about his weight I will
swear by that, though I have noactual evidence but that they
would lie about his weight andhe was actually bigger and
stronger than what they wereputting on paper.
I mean, he was an unstoppableforce even at 18 years old.
He was a grown man.
(21:42):
That is not Bronny James, but Ihave to admire the kid for being
willing to go through thedevelopment, to take these lumps
, to ignore the media, to keepplaying, because, again, I'm
watching.
Ignore the media to keepplaying, because, again, I'm
watching, and I'm not watchingfor the stats, because I'm not
expecting to see stats, but whatI am watching for is hustle the
(22:03):
intangibles right.
What kind of leadershipqualities is he displaying?
Is he a good teammate?
How is he defending on ball andhow is he defending off ball?
Does he take plays off when heturns the ball over?
Does he get back down the floor?
Does he sulk?
So I'm looking for things likethat and so far I have been.
(22:27):
I have been impressed with himand I think that the ceiling is
still very, very high for BronnyJames.
I also want to point out thatand I didn't know this until
earlier today when I was doingsome of the research for this
other notable 55 picks in theNBA draft Luis Scola and Patty
(22:47):
Mills.
So there you go, two guys whoare not going to light up the
stats, but would go out thereand play with nothing but
absolute heart for whateveramount of time they'd be on the
floor, give you everything theyhad and be productive members of
(23:10):
whatever team they played on.
Luis Gola was an absolutenuisance on defense and same
with Patty Mills and Patty Millsknocked down an occasional
three here and there, butdefensively, both players
stunning, and that's how theymade names for themselves in
this league.
So don't count Bronny James outyet, but here's what it is
(23:33):
doing.
And again, fan expectation andmedia coverage Over-the-top
media coverage.
Remember, at the beginning ofthis segment I mentioned a name
the absolute steel of the NBAdraft.
(23:54):
I feel ESPN.
When they did their first-roundgrades, the Lakers were the
only team with an A-plus grade,with the 17th pick that they got
in a pick swap with New Orleans.
Dalton Connect, out of Tennesseeis still available.
He's fallen.
(24:15):
He's supposed to be a lotterypick, projected to be a lottery
pick, and he's fallen to 17.
Absolute steel.
And listen, for some, watchingthe stats doesn't matter.
He watched what they're doingon the floor, how they're
carrying themselves for ForDalton Connect, he has been the
(24:38):
total package for this LosAngeles Lakers summer league
team, averaging 22 points, threeassists and four rebounds.
He's shooting 41% from behindthe arc Amazing.
This kid is going to get NBAminutes in the regular season.
This kid is going to be inlineups with LeBron James and
(24:59):
Anthony Davis.
He's going to be playingalongside, probably, d'angelo
Russell, especially at thebeginning of the year, and
Austin Reeves Austin Reeves sosomebody who probably has a chip
(25:21):
on their shoulder, beingprojected to go in the lottery
and dropping to 17,.
This kid has every reason toshow the other teams that passed
him up what they're missing,and I am here for it.
I'm here for it.
It's been awesome to watch.
So I think he gets real minutes.
(25:45):
I don't even think they two-wayhim.
I think he goes right to themain roster and then he fights
for a rotation spot.
So, listen, let's lower thetemperature.
We've heard that.
We've probably heard if you'vewatched news anywhere else and
and uh, this is an election yearand so you've probably heard
that a lot uh in in other areasof media.
(26:08):
But for this, uh, for, for thissituation with Bronnie James,
let's lower the temperature.
Let's let's realign ourexpectations for who Bronny
James is as a basketball playerand as an NBA talent, and uh,
(26:28):
and let's let the kid develop.
I honestly, right now, I seethis being, I see this being
about a two year development.
I really do and, and, and youknow who knows?
Uh, um, uh, I think I think youbring them on um early on in
the season.
You give them some garbage timeminutes.
You get the, the wholespectacle of, uh, the father-son
(26:50):
teammates playing on the on thesame floor in the same uniform
spectacle out of the way.
You do it sometime when you'reat home, I think is probably a
good place to do it.
I think it puts a lot of buttsin the seats and sells a lot of
tickets and creates a lot ofpositive media, and then you let
(27:15):
the kid go to the G League andstart developing the talent, try
to get the amateur levelexperience that he never got in
college because of the cardiacincident.
Let's cut it out, all right.
Let's cut that out, all right.
Moving on oh man, it's like Inever left.
(27:45):
It's like I never left.
All right, we're going to trythis.
I think it's going to be thisone.
Nope, that is not it.
No, beat the clock Sports TalkPower Rankings.
Here we go.
(28:05):
Way too early NFL PowerRankings.
I've been wanting to do this.
Like I said, this episode issupposed to be no, beat the
clock Sports Talk Power Rankingsby a hurricane.
Then life gets in the way andhere we are.
(28:27):
But I've been waiting for this.
I've been waiting for this andI hope you know all my fantasy
football boys.
They're out there listening tothis because they're probably
going to disagree with all of it.
So my way too early NFL powerrankings top 10.
At number 10, I think I made alate move here, but at number 10
(28:51):
, I'm going to put the BuffaloBills and I've been going back
and forth with this between 8and 10.
On my list I have them at 8.
I gave it some thought.
I'll be honest with you.
Losing Stephon Diggs, I thinkis huge.
Josh Allen is a wonderfultalent, just not enough.
I don't know that they'll havea running game.
(29:16):
I think they've regressed fromlast year and so I've got the
Bills at number 10.
At number 9, I've got my TampaBay Buccaneers and yes, that is
totally, totally biased and Iwill be the first to admit it,
but I like Baker Mayfield.
(29:37):
Year two, some of the pressureoff, we get a healthy receiving
core.
We brought back Winfield Jr andbeefed up the defense.
If we could just fix theoffensive line.
Let's see how the offensiveline has developed.
Losing Jensen is huge, butwe'll have to see if there's
(30:02):
been some growth in theoffseason and I think, with the
running attack being better andBaker Mayfield not being on the
hot seat or coming right off ofthe Tom Brady experience, I
think that I like theopportunities.
(30:22):
So I've got them at nine.
I got them at a very strongnine, and again I will admit my
bias.
Here Go Bucs, all right.
At number eight, taking theplace of the Bills, who I
previously had at number eight,is the Miami Dolphins.
The Miami Dolphins, I think,have been growing and showing
(30:44):
growth through the last fewseasons.
They've definitely beefed uptheir offensive attack.
They can keep Tua upright andhealthy.
I like their defense, I likeMcDaniels and the way that he
(31:06):
leads that team, and so I've gotthe Dolphins at number eight.
At number seven, here we are inH-Town.
I got the Houston Texans atnumber seven, really, really,
really impressed with CJ Stroudin his first year.
What'd they go do?
They went and got Stephon Diggsto help him out.
(31:30):
When it's all said and done,maybe the favorites come out of
the AFC, only rivaled by KansasCity.
So we'll see.
I'm putting everybody onHouston Texans alert right now,
before we even take a snap whileOTAs are still going on.
I'm putting everybody onHouston Texans alert right now.
(31:52):
They've got it, they have it.
Whatever, that it is right.
They've got a strong,consistent defense that will
muscle and push you around, andthey've got firepower
offensively.
So look out for the HoustonTexans, but right now in the way
too early power rankings.
I got them at number seven, atnumber six, baltimore Ravens.
(32:17):
I said last year heading intothe playoffs that if the Ravens
were going to get it done, ifthere was any time that the
Ravens could get the job doneand win a Super Bowl, it had to
be last year.
And if it wasn't going tohappen last year that they may
have to consider blowing theteam up and rebuild, it might be
(32:40):
it and they proved me wrong.
Did I feel that way even afterthe playoff loss?
Yes, but then they went out andthey got Derek Henry, and now
you've got this three-prongrushing attack.
(33:02):
I think Derrick Henry is goingto thrive in this offense.
I am waiting for Lamar Jacksonto get to the next level.
Well, ant-man, he's a two-timeMVP.
Yeah, I get it, but he can'tget lost in trying to make the
spectacular play.
Sometimes he's just got to makea good play.
(33:24):
And if he can mature to thatand we're going to see a lot of
that out of Caleb Williams too Imean, caleb Williams is going
to be almost a younger mirrorimage of what for the Bears as
what the Ravens dealt with withLamar Jackson.
And that's great in a lot ofways, because Lamar Jackson is a
(33:45):
two-time NFL MVP but gettinglost in the ether of making the
spectacular play when the goodplay is good enough, and even if
that good play is, just throwthe ball away and live to play
another down.
So if Lamar Jackson can matureto that, if he can stay upright
(34:06):
and healthy, I like the Ravensgetting to the playoffs.
Right now I have them at numbersix, so right in the middle of
the pack.
Number five Cincinnati Bengals,and I only got one word for that
Joe Burrow is back.
(34:28):
But goddamn, can we justprotect Joe Burrow?
I mean, there's crimes againsthumanity happening in Cincinnati
over the last four years andJoe Burrow has been the direct
(34:48):
victim of that, so let's get himsome protection out there.
I like the Bengals heading intothe year.
I really like Joe Burrow as aquarterback man.
I'm looking forward to seeingthe Bengals play football.
Number four the Detroit Lions.
Detroit Lions at number fourBecause they showed us last year
(35:13):
that the culture is differentthere.
It's just different and they'vetasted success and that is
probably one of the, if not thescariest team in the NFC the
Detroit Lions.
(35:33):
So I look for them to haveanother great year.
I think they win their division.
I really do.
Number three the Eagles.
And Saquon Barkley is a hugereason for that pick.
They get better in their rungame, they get better in their
(35:55):
pass game because of SaquonBarkley.
And anybody watching HardKnocks right now got to be
thinking the same thing.
I'm thinking what the hell areyou doing?
Who is it?
Joe Sean or Joe Shoner?
What is going on?
(36:16):
Gms lose jobs for approaching amarquee-free agent.
The way that Saquon Barkley washandled and the situation was
approached, the idea of himsitting with his team and
questioning, like, who is goingto give Saquon that kind of
(36:39):
money?
Let's let him go out, and theteam trying to tell him somebody
will and what if they do.
And then your owner, your owneris saying if he goes to the
Eagles, I'm going to lose sleep.
And then they let him test freeagency and he goes to the
Eagles.
I mean it's drama.
(37:02):
It's drama in the Northeast, inthe NFC East and man.
So just so, saquon Barkleymakes that team so much better
offensively.
And fly, eagles, fly.
(37:24):
I mean that's.
What else are you going to say?
Number two and here we go,rounding out these top ten the
number two team on myway-too-early NFL top ten power
rankings is the San Francisco49ers.
Listen, brandon Ayuk has beenin the news especially recently,
(37:49):
but he's been in the news sincelast year.
Things are not good between himand the organization, and
reports today, uh, which is the17th when I'm recording this is
that it doesn't matter if hewants to trade.
The Niners are not interestedin trading him, and so we're
(38:11):
going to see Brandon and you uh,either hold out or, uh, he's
going to play, and he'll play atleast until the trade deadline.
Because one of two things isgoing to happen they're going to
come to a deal and the 49ersare going to realize that they
(38:32):
can and should pay him, or he isgoing to like most Diva wide
receivers and I like BrandonAyuk.
So I'm not comparing him to anAntonio Brown by any means A
Terrell Owens, even though aTerrell was great and had a
great career Randy Moss, eventhough Randy Moss had a great
(38:52):
career.
But the Diva wide receiver inhim is going to come out and if
there's any time to really pushfor a move, it could be right
before the trade deadline andthere may be more teams willing
to make that deal because ofneeds.
So I got 49ers at number two.
(39:15):
Despite all that, I think ifthings get really rocky, I think
the 3-2 spot between them andthe Eagles will swap, probably a
couple times before theseason's out.
I don't see either one of themtaking the number one spot.
Though, because that number onespot, here we are.
(39:37):
Drum roll please.
You guessed it the TravisSwifts themselves.
The Kansas City Chiefs.
Listen, listen.
The Chiefs are the reigningchampions and the path to the
(40:01):
Super Bowl, especially for theAFC, has got to go through them.
I don't see any reason why itdoesn't.
This team has done everythingright when it comes to how to
manage a franchise, how tomanage salary cap, and how to
keep and look, and, and, even.
Even when they took their lumpsI mean they had to let the
(40:23):
cheetah walk right, and, and,and, and, basically just kind of
piece milled a wide receivercore together and let Mahomes do
his thing, travis Kelseyholding it down at tight end and
becoming the safety valve.
And they did it.
They showed the pattern, Notthe pattern.
(40:47):
What am I saying?
They showed the formula forthat kind of success On how do
you survive having to takesalary dumps, or let I mean Hall
of Fame caliber players, I meangenerational players, walk in
(41:10):
free agency and still be able tokeep the keep the train on the
track, so to speak.
Able to keep the train on thetrack, so to speak, and that's
their fortitude Every time Idoubted them.
Last year, they proved me wrong,and I know there's a lot of
people like me that was prayingon their downfall, and just when
(41:33):
it looked like it was going tohappen, they would snatch
victory out of the jaws ofdefeat, and I don't mean on a
game-by-game basis, I mean onseason success.
And they win the Super Bowl.
So Kansas City, to me, is notflawless, but deals with the
flaws better than anybody elsein the NFL.
(41:55):
And so the Travis Swifts, theKansas City Chiefs, however you
want to refer to them, they aremy number one team in this power
ranking and I'm looking forwardto shuffling these around as
the season goes on, because,look, the MLB is fun, but 182
(42:20):
games is way too many.
We're just at the all-starbreak, uh, I'm burnout on it.
Um, until the playoffs, untilthe world series, uh, and so
until that time, I'm, I, just, Iam just looking forward to
football starting.
So let's go, uh, all right.
So so that was power rankingsand and I and I just kind of
want to segue off of powerrankings and I just want to give
(42:41):
you divisional picks.
So in the in the AFC right now,I have, winning the North, the
Ravens winning the South, theTexans.
Winning the East, the Bills andwinning the South, the Texans.
Winning the East, the Bills andwinning the West, of course,
the Travis Swifts, the KansasCity Chiefs.
In the NFC, I have the Lionswinning the North, the Bucks
(43:06):
winning the South and a veryclose South, because I just
don't think that division isgoing to be much better than it
was last year.
The Eagles are definitelywinning the East and the 49ers
will win the West becauseSeattle hasn't done much,
arizona hasn't done much, butwatch out for Arizona because I
(43:26):
think they are on the righttrack.
And then I also just want togive my quick picks for teams
that made the playoffs last yearthat I don't think will make it
this year In the AFC.
I know I have the Dolphins atnumber eight in my power ranking
(43:51):
, but right now I think theymissed the playoffs.
I think it's close, but I thinkthey missed the playoffs.
I think it's close, but I thinkthey missed the playoffs.
And then I definitely think theSteelers missed the playoffs
and they're not even on my powerrankings, and that's one of the
reasons why I have them missingthe playoffs.
Who takes their place?
(44:11):
I don't know, it's going to beclose.
If anything, it's probablygoing to be an AFC East team,
but I can't be certain right now.
I haven't made a pick, Ihaven't really gave much thought
into who might.
I mean, if Aaron Rodgers stayshealthy, it very well could be
(44:33):
the Jets, but I don't know, Idon't know, I don't know.
And then the NFC teams thatmade the playoffs last year that
I don't think will make it thisyear.
I took out the Cowboys.
I think the Cowboys are indisarray.
I think they are a rudderlessship right now.
(44:54):
And uh, and so I thinkeverybody is waiting to see the
Cowboys um, regress to where wethink that they should have
regressed to over the lastcouple of years.
I think it finally catches upwith them and we see this uh,
big drop off.
They're going to be forced tomake moves that I don't think
they were originally willing tomake.
(45:15):
And uh, and so they missed theplayoffs.
And then, um, I have the Ramsmissing the playoffs.
So, uh, so that's my NFL takefor this episode.
Again, the way too early NFLtake.
And uh, and there it is.
That was beat the clock.
(45:36):
Power rankings, all right.
Moving on Speaking of preyingon downfall, I want to end with
this last segment becausesomething huge has happened in
(45:57):
the world of sports.
A deal has been made, not just adeal, but a very large deal.
Can anybody guess what it is?
What am I referring to?
I am not referring to the NBA'sdeal, although that deal is
(46:18):
huge.
My original plan was to talkabout that deal and then another
deal came and surpassed theimportance of what that deal is.
Because in that deal, the NBAdeal, there's a lot to criticize
and there's a large part of myfandom hoping that TNT finds it
(46:47):
in themselves to challenge or tomatch whatever part of that
deal they can match, to knockone of the streaming services
out of the race, to basicallytake the deal and keep some of
the broadcasting rights.
Because, first of all, whoreally is ready to lose inside
(47:10):
the NBA?
I'm not.
I'm not ready to lose that gemof a pregame and postgame group.
The criticism I'll touch on realquick on that is where we've
(47:32):
gone in professional sports andhow the broadcasting and
streaming and television rightshas turned into a huge cash grab
.
The CBAs have allowed this a lotas well, because now so much of
(47:56):
that percentage goes to players, so that's so.
I normally wouldn't knock abusiness or a person from
seizing opportunities to makethe most when the most is
available, but deals like thishurt consumers, spectators, fans
(48:19):
like you and me, and the reasonwhy is because, just like
Charles Barkley said, noteverybody can afford all the
streaming services.
Back in the day, when Netflixwas still selling or not selling
, but renting discs that youwould pick online and they would
mail you the disc and you'dmail them back, which is what
(48:42):
started this whole streamingphenomenon.
As they evolved, so too did thestreaming world, and then it
fractured into all thesedifferent streaming services and
we had this huge cord-cuttingevent or period era.
(49:06):
If you want to go there tosubscribe to these streaming
services for movie content,pre-recorded content, than it
(49:27):
was to keep your cable.
And then something happenedwith licensing.
Excuse me Something happenedwith licensing.
Excuse me, something happenedwith licensing.
Deals became more lucrative andthen live TV became available.
(49:49):
So now, where I was savingmoney for cutting the cord and
getting rid of DirecTV or AT&T,u-verse and any of the other
cable programming that you couldthink of, and trying to find
that content in one place on astreaming app Tell him rusty,
(50:17):
but find that.
You can tell I'm rusty, butfind that content on one
streaming app was all well andgood for cheaper, until
licensing created thisenvironment where studios and
(50:42):
corporations wanted to cash inon their own, so the licensing
deals weren't enough.
If we create this content ourown and we become the licensee
instead of the licensor, ormaybe vice versa, we can make
more money.
And so now you you had Netflix,then you had Hulu for for the
(51:04):
live TV, and now you haveParamount, and now you have
YouTube TV, you have Fubo, youhave Sling.
Uh, directv has its own app.
Now Disney has a streamingservice, espn plus.
Now you got ESPN+, hulu andDisney combined together.
You have HBO and you had Max,and now you have the merger,
(51:25):
where you have just Max, and nowyou have this deal between Max
and Paramount.
Now you're going to haveParamount and all this money
being made and being made.
And now Amazon is in the game.
Amazon Apple TV is streamingMLB games.
I will find more major leaguebaseball games streaming than I
(51:47):
can find on national broadcasttelevision.
Espn, tbs used to be thequarterstones of MLB baseball,
especially for Braves.
I was a Braves fan.
Baseball, especially for Braves.
I was a Braves fan, grew upbeing a Braves fan.
Why?
Because the majority of mychildhood I could see a Braves
(52:13):
game on TV almost every timethey were on the field because
of Turner broadcast systems.
Same thing with Chicago Cubsfans, wgn.
They were always on it.
But now, if you don't have AppleTV, if you don't have Amazon,
if you're not, if you don't havePeacock some type of way to
stream a ball game you're notfinding a lot of professional
sports on regular nationallybroadcast programming.
(52:36):
You're just not doing it.
You can't and it's frustratingfor fans.
Man, I said I wasn't going toget into this on this episode,
but I think it's important tojust say it, right To send this
glancing blow, to give mythought on it.
Because what?
Because what I'm getting to nowis an even larger deal.
(52:57):
An even larger deal.
Today it was reported that theWNBA's media rights.
They've reached a media dealfor $2.2 billion over the next
11 years.
That's huge.
(53:20):
The details over the next 11years, that's huge.
The details of the deal arethis $2.2 billion over the next
11 years in rights fees and innew deals.
That's an average of $200million a year and there's an
opening for them to make more iftheir value goes up between
(53:43):
next year, when the deal goesinto place, and the end of the
deal.
That's huge.
It says right now that theWNBA's national media rights
(54:04):
agreements are with companiessuch as ESPN, nbc and Amazon, as
well as their own WNBA packages.
The current media deal isvalued at roughly $50 million.
So think about that Right now.
The media deal for the WN atroughly $50 million.
So think about that Right now.
The media deal for the WNBA is$50 million.
They are set to increase in2025 to $200 million a year.
(54:31):
And this deal, this new deal,will also be with Disney I'm
sorry, the expiring deal withDisney, ion, cbs and Amazon and
other media partners.
So they will remain in the ESPNDisney family, they will stay
(54:54):
with Amazon and I believe NBC isthe new partner yes nbc is the
new partner and looks like cbsis out, so great news for wmba
and a lot of people are a lot ofpeople are placing this on on
one individual player, caitlinclark who is amazing, by the way
(55:16):
.
This is not a slight at KaitlynClark.
In a lot of ways, this seasonfor the WNBA with Kaitlyn Clark
and Angel Reese and even CamBrinks for a while before the
ACL injury felt very reminiscentof everything you see in the
(55:41):
1979 season of the NBA, all theway to the 1985 season, that
really prominent period of timewhere you had Magic and Larry
and Dr J and then eventuallyJordan in the 85-86 season.
(56:03):
So this has felt very much likethat and credit should go to
that rookie class that came inthis year.
The Caleb Clarks, the AngelReeses, the Cameron Brinks
Wonderful players and deserve alot of the credit.
(56:23):
But this has been growing foryears and people have tried to
deny this growth for so long.
It's amazing.
It is amazing at how manypeople have denied that this was
coming.
We saw it over the last coupleof years really, starting with
(56:48):
Sabrina Inescu being drafted inthe 2020 draft, 2021 draft.
She didn't get the mediacoverage in college the way she
deserved, and a lot of that wasbecause when the Oregon Ducks
were getting ready to make theirtitle run, covid happened and
the NCAA did not have a MarchMadness tournament.
But Sabrina Inescu was settingall kinds of records at Oregon
(57:13):
and that gets overlooked all thetime.
She didn't have a great rookieyear.
She hurt her ankle.
She spent two years pretty muchcoming back from an ankle
injury and last year dominatedfor the New York Liberty.
We have players like AJ Wilsonand Kelsey Plum, aaliyah Boston,
(57:37):
brianna Stewart.
You know we have super teamsnow in the WNBA.
We have the New York Libertyand we have the two-time champs,
las Vegas Aces.
The WNBA has been on this risefor the last five years and it's
(58:00):
because of the foundation builtby Diana Taurasi, right, sue
Bird?
Look, this is going to becontroversial, I know, for a lot
of people, but I give BrittanyGriner credit for being one of
the OGs who started this rise inthis product.
(58:25):
Of course, there's just been somany and there's a lot of
credit that we put around.
Let's not get caught up in therecency bias.
Let's celebrate the youth ofthe league and not forget to
(58:49):
give flowers to those players Imentioned that helped create the
foundation and start at thisrise.
The WNBA has achieved with thismedia deal what nobody thought
that they would achieve, andthey were some really, really
(59:14):
harsh critics across the boardin some of the biggest media
outlets that took every chancethey got to say something
negative about the WNBA, and I'mso glad to see that they've
(59:34):
overcome that and that they'vebeen injected with this new life
.
They have been injected withthis steroid, with this last
draft class, and it can only getbetter from here.
So congratulations to the WNBAand everybody involved.
I enjoy watching it.
I know the ladies from LockedIn Sports.
(59:57):
They enjoy covering it.
I'm looking forward to seeing alot more of it and covering
more of it myself.
And let's just celebrate.
Let's give praise where praiseis due.
Everybody within the WNBA rankshas worked for what they've
just gotten, and now they'vegotten it $2.2 billion.
(01:00:24):
Let's talk in big money.
$2.2 billion over the next 11years, $200 million a year
pretty much what it sums up tobe.
So, man, that's incredible.
Look, it's been a great, greattime getting back on this thing,
(01:00:47):
getting to spend time with allof you out there.
Hope you liked today's show.
Hope you were willing to staywith me and tolerate some of the
rust and went through thejourney of knocking that rust
off with me.
Look, if you like what you hear, go follow the show.
Hit the notification buttons.
(01:01:08):
I am the Ant-Man.
This is Beat the Clock so longyou.
Welcome to Beat the Clock.
Sports Talk.
And the Blue Jays have repeatedas World Series champions.
Joe, you'll never hit a biggerhome run in your life.
Six yards away from PontiacThird and three Montana Throwing
in the end zone, clark caughtit, dwight Clark.
(00:39):
Beat the clock sports talk.
Martez looking Gets it toBryant.
Bryant dribbling has to put itup with the buzzer Banks it in
Ha ha.
He banks in the three and theLakers win the game.
And now your host, anthony theAnt-Man Feli.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
What is up?
Everybody?
I am the Ant-Man.
You are listening to Beat theClock Sports Talk.
Wherever you are, however, youare listening.
Thank you for spending your daywith me.
Here we go.
We are back on the mic.
It's a polarizing time out there.
It's a polarizing world.
There's so much going on.
There's so many things going onthat can divide us, but sports
(01:22):
is a great unifier, isn't it?
So we're going to do this.
We're going to talk some sports.
I'm happy to be back on the micdoing this with you.
A little bit rusty, you can'ttell, but we're going to get
through it.
We're going to get through it.
It's going to be a great show.
I'm looking forward to coveringa lot of these topics.
(01:43):
A quick catch up what's beengoing on?
What's happening here in myworld, besides work, because I
do not podcast full-time, it'smore of a hobby.
It's a joy.
It's an opportunity for me toconnect to everybody out there
who has the time to listen.
But I have a normal job, just aregular Joe.
(02:08):
So, aside from that, malia, mydaughter just turned 16.
She's been on a golf journey.
It's been pretty amazing.
It's two years a little overtwo years now in experience,
some major improvements,learning what hard work is
(02:31):
supposed to be like, starting tounderstand that, no matter how
talented she is, hard workalways trumps talent.
And so, just like any otherteenager or any other young, so,
uh, and so, just like any otherteenager or any, um any other
young athlete, period, you setthese milestones and you have to
(02:51):
figure out, uh, just how, justhow much, are you willing to
push through the trials andtribulation you know to, to, to
get up and hit one more ball orshoot one more shot.
And so she's, she's beenlearning that.
A couple of milestones for herthis year Um, third place,
individual district, uh,championships, um, okay, so let
(03:15):
me break that down for you,cause I think that I think I
muddled those words.
Um, they've got mumble rap and Ijust mumble sports broadcast it
.
So let me break that out alittle bit, all right?
So, basically, her high schoolteam, two-time district champ,
back-to-back district champions.
They have Ella Donovan, who ismy daughter's 16-year-old
(03:40):
teammate.
She is back-to-back individualdistrict champ.
She's just a sophomore, goingto be a junior as well, and so
this is a young team, brightfuture.
But my daughter actually tookthe individual third place award
and it's significant.
(04:02):
It's a milestone for herbecause last year she wasn't
even close, like they didn'teven have a spot on the
scoreboard for her.
You know if you catch my drift,but through the hard work and
the dedication that she waswilling to put into it, she
found herself in a third placeindividual finish and the team
(04:23):
ends up going to regionals.
They had a great regionalshowing For the first time in
the STPGA Junior Tour.
My daughter found herself in athird place finish earlier this
year.
There's been some ups and downsthroughout this summer, but
that's part of it.
It's the growing pains of itall, but I'm just so proud of
her.
Uh, but you know, that's partof it.
(04:44):
It's, it's the growing pains ofit all, but, um, I just uh so
proud of her, uh, want tocongratulate her on air uh for
the hard work and the dedicationto this and uh and to her
highest individual finishes sofar.
Um, and then, uh, yeah, man,just thinking about her just
turning 16 years old andrealizing, you know time flies.
(05:07):
Here's a little antidote.
You know, when I was a lotyounger, and I'm sure a lot of
parents feel this way we areindestructible, we don't have a
care in the world and time isnot something that we measure
right, we just go right.
There's no real concept of time, and when I became a father, I
(05:32):
quickly realized that thislittle girl, who now I was
responsible for and completelyin love with, was a living
measurement of time.
And here we are, 16 years laterand, uh, I can't say that I
feel old, but it's.
(05:53):
I think I would feeldifferently if I didn't have
that measurement, um, you know,reminding me of of even how my
own personal growth has come andthe things that I've been able
to accomplish.
And so you know, I'm forevergrateful for that gift, because
(06:13):
it really is a gift and I thinkall parents, especially fathers,
understand that to some degree.
And you know, definitely proudto be a girl dad myself, so
anyway, so that's what's kind ofbeen going on.
Before we get into the topics,just want to remind everybody
(06:36):
you can find this podcastanywhere, on any platform that
you choose to listen to podcasts.
I am all over Spotify, itunes,amazon Music, so on and so forth
.
We are working on trying to getto YouTube.
I think I have some productionthings I need to work out.
I have a new studio I'm puttingtogether and once I can get all
(07:00):
that together.
I think YouTube is the nextstep in this.
I think consistency is probablythe next step and then, once I
get to that consistent place,sit down, put out this content
more frequently, like weintended, like I intended, like
how I began to do it early on inthis process, and we're trying
(07:25):
to get back to that Um, so Iwill leave all the links to all
the social medias in the uh inthe description down below the
episode.
Bear with me just a little rustyand uh, and I look forward to
hearing from all of y'all.
There's there's chat with me.
Leave your comments, give yourtakes, drop how you feel or what
(07:51):
you like about the show.
Tell me what you don't like.
I'll take it all.
There is a place for you to dothat.
Check out the websitewwwbeattheclockesportstalkcom.
You can also find that link inthe description below.
Okay, without further ado, herewe go.
(08:13):
The NBA draft probably filledwith as much drama for one team
in particular and was sopredictable for everybody else.
There wasn't a lot of thingshappening in the NBA draft this
year.
Some would say it's probablyone of the weakest drafts that
(08:36):
we've seen.
And the one team just happensto be my team, the Los Angeles
Lakers, and the one team justhappens to be my team, the Los
Angeles Lakers.
We all know that they got anabsolute gift at 17.
But I just want to take sometime to talk about their 55th
(08:58):
pick.
The 55th pick in the NBA draft,lebron James Jr, aka Bronny
James.
I think I've been listening toa lot of the hate out there
following his pick.
A lot of people saying hedidn't deserve it.
A lot of people saying that hegot it because of his father.
(09:21):
A lot of people saying thathe's not NBA ready and and and
you know what.
A lot of that may be true, butlet's face it he's the 55th pick
in the draft and he's and he'snot ready.
But here's my thought on this.
I think I share a lot ofpeople's sentiment and
(09:44):
excitement over we finally havea father-son teammate in the NBA
.
We have a father-son duo in theNBA.
Pick how you want to say it,pick how you want to say it
(10:08):
Before Bronny and LeBron.
Just a couple notables who couldforget?
King Griffey Jr and KingGriffey.
King Griffey Jr won thesweetest swings in baseball and
in some ways put his father onthe map because the swag and the
youth that he brought to a veryold game, but it was awesome to
(10:35):
see them out there together andI still enjoy watching the
highlights.
I got a list of a couple othershere.
Oh, gordie Howe yes, anotherfamous father, son or sons in
(11:07):
this case the age of Gordie Howe, interestingly enough, at the
age of 43, had an illustriouscareer.
His sons, mark and Marty,joined the Houston Arrows of the
World Hockey Association.
So anybody who doesn't knowthat?
They even made a movie aboutthis?
It was really cool.
But the NHL wasn't doing so well.
The NHL wasn't doing so welland another league came.
(11:30):
It was like a startup leaguecalled the World Hockey
Association and they were goingto be the rivals to the NHL.
What happens later on in thestory is that the NHL ends up
absorbing them, and this is whatI thought was going to happen
with the PGA and Liv golf Earlyon.
When Liv came out and wasmaking a lot of noise, I thought
(11:51):
eventually they would peter outand then the PGA would be
forced to absorb them and thenthey would have to reconcile all
the suspensions and things thatthey put on.
That has not come to pass,although they are trying to work
some kind of deal out.
You know, y'all may be familiarwith the pga and I think it's
the pif or pfi, um that it's.
(12:13):
It's a little off topic, butbut just to give you some
background, the the nhlsituation.
It was a lot very similar thatthe nhl ends up absorbing the
World Hockey Association.
But three years after Mark andMarty were drafted by the
(12:37):
Houston Arrows, they got GordieHowe, who's a great hockey
player Again.
If you're not familiar withhockey history, he is one of the
greats.
He is, I think, still holds therecord as the oldest NHL player
to start in an All-Star game.
But anyway, he comes out ofretirement and remember he was
(13:02):
43 years old and uh, and he madeit all the way through the
world hockey association umexperiment and ended up, uh, I
think, playing one season umback with the nhl after the
merger and then uh, and then heretired for good.
(13:23):
So that was the otherfather-sons duo, the National
Hockey League.
And then people are evenstarting to talk now about what
(13:44):
will we see in the PGA a TigerWoods and Charlie Woods, not
necessarily team situation, butwill Charlie Woods make it into
a PGA tournament while Tiger isplaying?
And it would have to be a majorat this point right, because
Tiger has said that he's onlygearing up to play majors right
now, and so Charlie's reallyclose to qualifying for a US
(14:08):
Open and within the next coupleof years we might see a Tiger
Woods and Charlie Woods US Open,maybe not pairing, but
definitely both Woods in thefield.
So, uh, just, uh, just justkind of want to throw that out
there.
Now we get LeBron James andBronny James and, uh, I got a
(14:30):
couple of thoughts on this.
All right, I am very excitedfor the for this to come to pass
.
I think it needs to happenearly in the season.
Um, you put Bronny on the floor, maybe in some garbage time
minutes, and you get that out ofthe way very early.
(14:53):
The first time father and sonplay are on the same court
dressed in uniform, as teammatestogether.
Okay, bronny has not had thesummer league.
That even I thought.
But can we cut this kid someslack?
I mean, he was he.
He basically lost his collegecareer.
Okay, he, he, before it evengot off the ground, uh, he
(15:17):
suffered a devastating cardiacarrest.
Um, so he, he missed most ofhis college career.
Uh, he did manage to come back,he, he averaged four points,
two assists and he only played25 games.
All right, and when I say thistragic cardiac arrest shortened
(15:40):
his career.
He was a freshman, he played 25games and it was just a year
ago.
He's just, he's just a yearremoved, pretty much.
I think it was July 23rd whenthe uh he had the cardiac
incident and so he's not I mean,he's been cleared to play
basketball.
But, um, how how muchbasketball can you play when
(16:04):
you're recovering from thisright Like?
You have to get in shape andyou have to trust that your body
can handle this.
So the doctors medicallycleared him.
He looks good.
Uh, I, I.
For those of you not watchingsummer league, um, forget about
the points.
We measure everything by pointsbecause it's the most tangible
thing that there is right, the,the stats.
You know we judge based onstats, but just watch Bronny
(16:28):
James the way that he moves as adefender, and I think this is
where he's going to make his hayin the NBA.
Will it be this year?
I'm going to be honest with you.
I got my notes right here andwhen I put this episode together
it was about four days ago.
There's been several things thatderailed being able to record
(16:50):
this.
That's another reason why, uhthis some?
This might seem a little moreclumsy than I I probably would
like or you would, uh, probablybe willing to tolerate under
normal circumstances.
Just stay with me, though.
Under normal circumstances,just stay with me, though.
I have written in the noteshere that I expected him to play
(17:11):
maybe 20 games and then threegames into Summer League.
I'm realizing that, yeah, that'sa bit of a stretch.
I'm not willing to say thathe's a horrible player.
He's a bust already.
Let's keep this in perspective.
He's the number 55 pick in theNBA draft.
(17:35):
Some will argue hey, anthony,there are so many more people
more worthy of an NBA pick thatdidn't get picked.
They went undrafted.
Okay, that may be true.
Is he a product of his dad?
Yes, he is, absolutely he is.
That's not his fault.
(17:56):
The kid's doing work.
He's out there in the summerleague.
He didn't ask to skip thesummer league.
He's willing to go to the GLeague, which, more and more, it
looks like that's where he'sgoing to end up.
Look, shaquille O'Neal's son Ithink it's Shaquille suffered a
(18:17):
cardiac arrest, nearly lost hislife, got drafted by the Lakers
and never made it out of the GLeague.
It happens, it happens.
The expectation cannot be thatthey're born from greatness so
they are going to walk in thefootsteps of their great fathers
(18:38):
.
It's not going to happen, orvery rarely.
I'm not going to say it's notgoing to, but oftentimes it's
the opposite.
Oftentimes we'll see lineage inprofessional sports where the
father is Not great but reallygood and a solid professional
(19:04):
athlete, and the son or daughterfor that matter comes in and
ends up exceeding theaccomplishments of their parent.
It's hard to do it the other way, and I think part of it is
(19:25):
because of the expectation us asfans, the media, we put so much
weight on the shoulders ofthese kids and we don't let them
be their own player.
We expect them to be a versionof their parent, of their great
parent.
(19:45):
Right?
Michael Jordan's kids didn'teven make it to the league.
You know, that's.
That's just some perspective.
Uh, we already had anotherWoods in golf.
Uh, cheyenne Woods.
Uh, tiger Woods' niece, Ibelieve.
And the expectation on her wasjust so unreasonable, especially
because she only shared a lastname with Tiger.
(20:08):
They weren't his genetics, Imean, they weren't direct
genetics, obviously, and so theexpectation for her to come out
and be the female version ofTiger Woods just wasn't
reasonable.
It would have been reasonablealthough we have been cheated by
tragedy to get to see Gigi goto the WNBA and make a career
(20:32):
for herself, but it would beunreasonable to think that she
could be anything like Kobe BeanBryant.
We'll never get to see it.
That in itself is the tragedy.
I think she would have been agreat player for that league,
though, so we have to temper ourexpectations.
(20:59):
He's the 55th pick in the NBAdraft.
He played 25 college games.
He's not a man yet right.
He's completely, uh, different,even in makeup, from his father
.
His father, coming out of highschool, was an absolute tank.
(21:20):
I mean, I believe that theylied about his weight I will
swear by that, though I have noactual evidence but that they
would lie about his weight andhe was actually bigger and
stronger than what they wereputting on paper.
I mean, he was an unstoppableforce even at 18 years old.
He was a grown man.
(21:42):
That is not Bronny James, but Ihave to admire the kid for being
willing to go through thedevelopment, to take these lumps
, to ignore the media, to keepplaying, because, again, I'm
watching.
Ignore the media to keepplaying, because, again, I'm
watching, and I'm not watchingfor the stats, because I'm not
expecting to see stats, but whatI am watching for is hustle the
(22:03):
intangibles right.
What kind of leadershipqualities is he displaying?
Is he a good teammate?
How is he defending on ball andhow is he defending off ball?
Does he take plays off when heturns the ball over?
Does he get back down the floor?
Does he sulk?
So I'm looking for things likethat and so far I have been.
(22:27):
I have been impressed with himand I think that the ceiling is
still very, very high for BronnyJames.
I also want to point out thatand I didn't know this until
earlier today when I was doingsome of the research for this
other notable 55 picks in theNBA draft Luis Scola and Patty
(22:47):
Mills.
So there you go, two guys whoare not going to light up the
stats, but would go out thereand play with nothing but
absolute heart for whateveramount of time they'd be on the
floor, give you everything theyhad and be productive members of
(23:10):
whatever team they played on.
Luis Gola was an absolutenuisance on defense and same
with Patty Mills and Patty Millsknocked down an occasional
three here and there, butdefensively, both players
stunning, and that's how theymade names for themselves in
this league.
So don't count Bronny James outyet, but here's what it is
(23:33):
doing.
And again, fan expectation andmedia coverage Over-the-top
media coverage.
Remember, at the beginning ofthis segment I mentioned a name
the absolute steel of the NBAdraft.
(23:54):
I feel ESPN.
When they did their first-roundgrades, the Lakers were the
only team with an A-plus grade,with the 17th pick that they got
in a pick swap with New Orleans.
Dalton Connect, out of Tennesseeis still available.
He's fallen.
(24:15):
He's supposed to be a lotterypick, projected to be a lottery
pick, and he's fallen to 17.
Absolute steel.
And listen, for some, watchingthe stats doesn't matter.
He watched what they're doingon the floor, how they're
carrying themselves for ForDalton Connect, he has been the
(24:38):
total package for this LosAngeles Lakers summer league
team, averaging 22 points, threeassists and four rebounds.
He's shooting 41% from behindthe arc Amazing.
This kid is going to get NBAminutes in the regular season.
This kid is going to be inlineups with LeBron James and
(24:59):
Anthony Davis.
He's going to be playingalongside, probably, d'angelo
Russell, especially at thebeginning of the year, and
Austin Reeves Austin Reeves sosomebody who probably has a chip
(25:21):
on their shoulder, beingprojected to go in the lottery
and dropping to 17,.
This kid has every reason toshow the other teams that passed
him up what they're missing,and I am here for it.
I'm here for it.
It's been awesome to watch.
So I think he gets real minutes.
(25:45):
I don't even think they two-wayhim.
I think he goes right to themain roster and then he fights
for a rotation spot.
So, listen, let's lower thetemperature.
We've heard that.
We've probably heard if you'vewatched news anywhere else and
and uh, this is an election yearand so you've probably heard
that a lot uh in in other areasof media.
(26:08):
But for this, uh, for, for thissituation with Bronnie James,
let's lower the temperature.
Let's let's realign ourexpectations for who Bronny
James is as a basketball playerand as an NBA talent, and uh,
(26:28):
and let's let the kid develop.
I honestly, right now, I seethis being, I see this being
about a two year development.
I really do and, and, and youknow who knows?
Uh, um, uh, I think I think youbring them on um early on in
the season.
You give them some garbage timeminutes.
You get the, the wholespectacle of, uh, the father-son
(26:50):
teammates playing on the on thesame floor in the same uniform
spectacle out of the way.
You do it sometime when you'reat home, I think is probably a
good place to do it.
I think it puts a lot of buttsin the seats and sells a lot of
tickets and creates a lot ofpositive media, and then you let
(27:15):
the kid go to the G League andstart developing the talent, try
to get the amateur levelexperience that he never got in
college because of the cardiacincident.
Let's cut it out, all right.
Let's cut that out, all right.
Moving on oh man, it's like Inever left.
(27:45):
It's like I never left.
All right, we're going to trythis.
I think it's going to be thisone.
Nope, that is not it.
No, beat the clock Sports TalkPower Rankings.
Here we go.
(28:05):
Way too early NFL PowerRankings.
I've been wanting to do this.
Like I said, this episode issupposed to be no, beat the
clock Sports Talk Power Rankingsby a hurricane.
Then life gets in the way andhere we are.
(28:27):
But I've been waiting for this.
I've been waiting for this andI hope you know all my fantasy
football boys.
They're out there listening tothis because they're probably
going to disagree with all of it.
So my way too early NFL powerrankings top 10.
At number 10, I think I made alate move here, but at number 10
(28:51):
, I'm going to put the BuffaloBills and I've been going back
and forth with this between 8and 10.
On my list I have them at 8.
I gave it some thought.
I'll be honest with you.
Losing Stephon Diggs, I thinkis huge.
Josh Allen is a wonderfultalent, just not enough.
I don't know that they'll havea running game.
(29:16):
I think they've regressed fromlast year and so I've got the
Bills at number 10.
At number 9, I've got my TampaBay Buccaneers and yes, that is
totally, totally biased and Iwill be the first to admit it,
but I like Baker Mayfield.
(29:37):
Year two, some of the pressureoff, we get a healthy receiving
core.
We brought back Winfield Jr andbeefed up the defense.
If we could just fix theoffensive line.
Let's see how the offensiveline has developed.
Losing Jensen is huge, butwe'll have to see if there's
(30:02):
been some growth in theoffseason and I think, with the
running attack being better andBaker Mayfield not being on the
hot seat or coming right off ofthe Tom Brady experience, I
think that I like theopportunities.
(30:22):
So I've got them at nine.
I got them at a very strongnine, and again I will admit my
bias.
Here Go Bucs, all right.
At number eight, taking theplace of the Bills, who I
previously had at number eight,is the Miami Dolphins.
The Miami Dolphins, I think,have been growing and showing
(30:44):
growth through the last fewseasons.
They've definitely beefed uptheir offensive attack.
They can keep Tua upright andhealthy.
I like their defense, I likeMcDaniels and the way that he
(31:06):
leads that team, and so I've gotthe Dolphins at number eight.
At number seven, here we are inH-Town.
I got the Houston Texans atnumber seven, really, really,
really impressed with CJ Stroudin his first year.
What'd they go do?
They went and got Stephon Diggsto help him out.
(31:30):
When it's all said and done,maybe the favorites come out of
the AFC, only rivaled by KansasCity.
So we'll see.
I'm putting everybody onHouston Texans alert right now,
before we even take a snap whileOTAs are still going on.
I'm putting everybody onHouston Texans alert right now.
(31:52):
They've got it, they have it.
Whatever, that it is right.
They've got a strong,consistent defense that will
muscle and push you around, andthey've got firepower
offensively.
So look out for the HoustonTexans, but right now in the way
too early power rankings.
I got them at number seven, atnumber six, baltimore Ravens.
(32:17):
I said last year heading intothe playoffs that if the Ravens
were going to get it done, ifthere was any time that the
Ravens could get the job doneand win a Super Bowl, it had to
be last year.
And if it wasn't going tohappen last year that they may
have to consider blowing theteam up and rebuild, it might be
(32:40):
it and they proved me wrong.
Did I feel that way even afterthe playoff loss?
Yes, but then they went out andthey got Derek Henry, and now
you've got this three-prongrushing attack.
(33:02):
I think Derrick Henry is goingto thrive in this offense.
I am waiting for Lamar Jacksonto get to the next level.
Well, ant-man, he's a two-timeMVP.
Yeah, I get it, but he can'tget lost in trying to make the
spectacular play.
Sometimes he's just got to makea good play.
(33:24):
And if he can mature to thatand we're going to see a lot of
that out of Caleb Williams too Imean, caleb Williams is going
to be almost a younger mirrorimage of what for the Bears as
what the Ravens dealt with withLamar Jackson.
And that's great in a lot ofways, because Lamar Jackson is a
(33:45):
two-time NFL MVP but gettinglost in the ether of making the
spectacular play when the goodplay is good enough, and even if
that good play is, just throwthe ball away and live to play
another down.
So if Lamar Jackson can matureto that, if he can stay upright
(34:06):
and healthy, I like the Ravensgetting to the playoffs.
Right now I have them at numbersix, so right in the middle of
the pack.
Number five Cincinnati Bengals,and I only got one word for that
Joe Burrow is back.
(34:28):
But goddamn, can we justprotect Joe Burrow?
I mean, there's crimes againsthumanity happening in Cincinnati
over the last four years andJoe Burrow has been the direct
(34:48):
victim of that, so let's get himsome protection out there.
I like the Bengals heading intothe year.
I really like Joe Burrow as aquarterback man.
I'm looking forward to seeingthe Bengals play football.
Number four the Detroit Lions.
Detroit Lions at number fourBecause they showed us last year
(35:13):
that the culture is differentthere.
It's just different and they'vetasted success and that is
probably one of the, if not thescariest team in the NFC the
Detroit Lions.
(35:33):
So I look for them to haveanother great year.
I think they win their division.
I really do.
Number three the Eagles.
And Saquon Barkley is a hugereason for that pick.
They get better in their rungame, they get better in their
(35:55):
pass game because of SaquonBarkley.
And anybody watching HardKnocks right now got to be
thinking the same thing.
I'm thinking what the hell areyou doing?
Who is it?
Joe Sean or Joe Shoner?
What is going on?
(36:16):
Gms lose jobs for approaching amarquee-free agent.
The way that Saquon Barkley washandled and the situation was
approached, the idea of himsitting with his team and
questioning, like, who is goingto give Saquon that kind of
(36:39):
money?
Let's let him go out, and theteam trying to tell him somebody
will and what if they do.
And then your owner, your owneris saying if he goes to the
Eagles, I'm going to lose sleep.
And then they let him test freeagency and he goes to the
Eagles.
I mean it's drama.
(37:02):
It's drama in the Northeast, inthe NFC East and man.
So just so, saquon Barkleymakes that team so much better
offensively.
And fly, eagles, fly.
(37:24):
I mean that's.
What else are you going to say?
Number two and here we go,rounding out these top ten the
number two team on myway-too-early NFL top ten power
rankings is the San Francisco49ers.
Listen, brandon Ayuk has beenin the news especially recently,
(37:49):
but he's been in the news sincelast year.
Things are not good between himand the organization, and
reports today, uh, which is the17th when I'm recording this is
that it doesn't matter if hewants to trade.
The Niners are not interestedin trading him, and so we're
(38:11):
going to see Brandon and you uh,either hold out or, uh, he's
going to play, and he'll play atleast until the trade deadline.
Because one of two things isgoing to happen they're going to
come to a deal and the 49ersare going to realize that they
(38:32):
can and should pay him, or he isgoing to like most Diva wide
receivers and I like BrandonAyuk.
So I'm not comparing him to anAntonio Brown by any means A
Terrell Owens, even though aTerrell was great and had a
great career Randy Moss, eventhough Randy Moss had a great
(38:52):
career.
But the Diva wide receiver inhim is going to come out and if
there's any time to really pushfor a move, it could be right
before the trade deadline andthere may be more teams willing
to make that deal because ofneeds.
So I got 49ers at number two.
(39:15):
Despite all that, I think ifthings get really rocky, I think
the 3-2 spot between them andthe Eagles will swap, probably a
couple times before theseason's out.
I don't see either one of themtaking the number one spot.
Though, because that number onespot, here we are.
(39:37):
Drum roll please.
You guessed it the TravisSwifts themselves.
The Kansas City Chiefs.
Listen, listen.
The Chiefs are the reigningchampions and the path to the
(40:01):
Super Bowl, especially for theAFC, has got to go through them.
I don't see any reason why itdoesn't.
This team has done everythingright when it comes to how to
manage a franchise, how tomanage salary cap, and how to
keep and look, and, and, even.
Even when they took their lumpsI mean they had to let the
(40:23):
cheetah walk right, and, and,and, and, basically just kind of
piece milled a wide receivercore together and let Mahomes do
his thing, travis Kelseyholding it down at tight end and
becoming the safety valve.
And they did it.
They showed the pattern, Notthe pattern.
(40:47):
What am I saying?
They showed the formula forthat kind of success On how do
you survive having to takesalary dumps, or let I mean Hall
of Fame caliber players, I meangenerational players, walk in
(41:10):
free agency and still be able tokeep the keep the train on the
track, so to speak.
Able to keep the train on thetrack, so to speak, and that's
their fortitude Every time Idoubted them.
Last year, they proved me wrong,and I know there's a lot of
people like me that was prayingon their downfall, and just when
(41:33):
it looked like it was going tohappen, they would snatch
victory out of the jaws ofdefeat, and I don't mean on a
game-by-game basis, I mean onseason success.
And they win the Super Bowl.
So Kansas City, to me, is notflawless, but deals with the
flaws better than anybody elsein the NFL.
(41:55):
And so the Travis Swifts, theKansas City Chiefs, however you
want to refer to them, they aremy number one team in this power
ranking and I'm looking forwardto shuffling these around as
the season goes on, because,look, the MLB is fun, but 182
(42:20):
games is way too many.
We're just at the all-starbreak, uh, I'm burnout on it.
Um, until the playoffs, untilthe world series, uh, and so
until that time, I'm, I, just, Iam just looking forward to
football starting.
So let's go, uh, all right.
So so that was power rankingsand and I and I just kind of
want to segue off of powerrankings and I just want to give
(42:41):
you divisional picks.
So in the in the AFC right now,I have, winning the North, the
Ravens winning the South, theTexans.
Winning the East, the Bills andwinning the South, the Texans.
Winning the East, the Bills andwinning the West, of course,
the Travis Swifts, the KansasCity Chiefs.
In the NFC, I have the Lionswinning the North, the Bucks
(43:06):
winning the South and a veryclose South, because I just
don't think that division isgoing to be much better than it
was last year.
The Eagles are definitelywinning the East and the 49ers
will win the West becauseSeattle hasn't done much,
arizona hasn't done much, butwatch out for Arizona because I
(43:26):
think they are on the righttrack.
And then I also just want togive my quick picks for teams
that made the playoffs last yearthat I don't think will make it
this year In the AFC.
I know I have the Dolphins atnumber eight in my power ranking
(43:51):
, but right now I think theymissed the playoffs.
I think it's close, but I thinkthey missed the playoffs.
I think it's close, but I thinkthey missed the playoffs.
And then I definitely think theSteelers missed the playoffs
and they're not even on my powerrankings, and that's one of the
reasons why I have them missingthe playoffs.
Who takes their place?
(44:11):
I don't know, it's going to beclose.
If anything, it's probablygoing to be an AFC East team,
but I can't be certain right now.
I haven't made a pick, Ihaven't really gave much thought
into who might.
I mean, if Aaron Rodgers stayshealthy, it very well could be
(44:33):
the Jets, but I don't know, Idon't know, I don't know.
And then the NFC teams thatmade the playoffs last year that
I don't think will make it thisyear.
I took out the Cowboys.
I think the Cowboys are indisarray.
I think they are a rudderlessship right now.
(44:54):
And uh, and so I thinkeverybody is waiting to see the
Cowboys um, regress to where wethink that they should have
regressed to over the lastcouple of years.
I think it finally catches upwith them and we see this uh,
big drop off.
They're going to be forced tomake moves that I don't think
they were originally willing tomake.
(45:15):
And uh, and so they missed theplayoffs.
And then, um, I have the Ramsmissing the playoffs.
So, uh, so that's my NFL takefor this episode.
Again, the way too early NFLtake.
And uh, and there it is.
That was beat the clock.
(45:36):
Power rankings, all right.
Moving on Speaking of preyingon downfall, I want to end with
this last segment becausesomething huge has happened in
(45:57):
the world of sports.
A deal has been made, not just adeal, but a very large deal.
Can anybody guess what it is?
What am I referring to?
I am not referring to the NBA'sdeal, although that deal is
(46:18):
huge.
My original plan was to talkabout that deal and then another
deal came and surpassed theimportance of what that deal is.
Because in that deal, the NBAdeal, there's a lot to criticize
and there's a large part of myfandom hoping that TNT finds it
(46:47):
in themselves to challenge or tomatch whatever part of that
deal they can match, to knockone of the streaming services
out of the race, to basicallytake the deal and keep some of
the broadcasting rights.
Because, first of all, whoreally is ready to lose inside
(47:10):
the NBA?
I'm not.
I'm not ready to lose that gemof a pregame and postgame group.
The criticism I'll touch on realquick on that is where we've
(47:32):
gone in professional sports andhow the broadcasting and
streaming and television rightshas turned into a huge cash grab
.
The CBAs have allowed this a lotas well, because now so much of
(47:56):
that percentage goes to players, so that's so.
I normally wouldn't knock abusiness or a person from
seizing opportunities to makethe most when the most is
available, but deals like thishurt consumers, spectators, fans
(48:19):
like you and me, and the reasonwhy is because, just like
Charles Barkley said, noteverybody can afford all the
streaming services.
Back in the day, when Netflixwas still selling or not selling
, but renting discs that youwould pick online and they would
mail you the disc and you'dmail them back, which is what
(48:42):
started this whole streamingphenomenon.
As they evolved, so too did thestreaming world, and then it
fractured into all thesedifferent streaming services and
we had this huge cord-cuttingevent or period era.
(49:06):
If you want to go there tosubscribe to these streaming
services for movie content,pre-recorded content, than it
(49:27):
was to keep your cable.
And then something happenedwith licensing.
Excuse me Something happenedwith licensing.
Excuse me, something happenedwith licensing.
Deals became more lucrative andthen live TV became available.
(49:49):
So now, where I was savingmoney for cutting the cord and
getting rid of DirecTV or AT&T,u-verse and any of the other
cable programming that you couldthink of, and trying to find
that content in one place on astreaming app Tell him rusty,
(50:17):
but find that.
You can tell I'm rusty, butfind that content on one
streaming app was all well andgood for cheaper, until
licensing created thisenvironment where studios and
(50:42):
corporations wanted to cash inon their own, so the licensing
deals weren't enough.
If we create this content ourown and we become the licensee
instead of the licensor, ormaybe vice versa, we can make
more money.
And so now you you had Netflix,then you had Hulu for for the
(51:04):
live TV, and now you haveParamount, and now you have
YouTube TV, you have Fubo, youhave Sling.
Uh, directv has its own app.
Now Disney has a streamingservice, espn plus.
Now you got ESPN+, hulu andDisney combined together.
You have HBO and you had Max,and now you have the merger,
(51:25):
where you have just Max, and nowyou have this deal between Max
and Paramount.
Now you're going to haveParamount and all this money
being made and being made.
And now Amazon is in the game.
Amazon Apple TV is streamingMLB games.
I will find more major leaguebaseball games streaming than I
(51:47):
can find on national broadcasttelevision.
Espn, tbs used to be thequarterstones of MLB baseball,
especially for Braves.
I was a Braves fan.
Baseball, especially for Braves.
I was a Braves fan, grew upbeing a Braves fan.
Why?
Because the majority of mychildhood I could see a Braves
(52:13):
game on TV almost every timethey were on the field because
of Turner broadcast systems.
Same thing with Chicago Cubsfans, wgn.
They were always on it.
But now, if you don't have AppleTV, if you don't have Amazon,
if you're not, if you don't havePeacock some type of way to
stream a ball game you're notfinding a lot of professional
sports on regular nationallybroadcast programming.
(52:36):
You're just not doing it.
You can't and it's frustratingfor fans.
Man, I said I wasn't going toget into this on this episode,
but I think it's important tojust say it, right To send this
glancing blow, to give mythought on it.
Because what?
Because what I'm getting to nowis an even larger deal.
(52:57):
An even larger deal.
Today it was reported that theWNBA's media rights.
They've reached a media dealfor $2.2 billion over the next
11 years.
That's huge.
(53:20):
The details over the next 11years, that's huge.
The details of the deal arethis $2.2 billion over the next
11 years in rights fees and innew deals.
That's an average of $200million a year and there's an
opening for them to make more iftheir value goes up between
(53:43):
next year, when the deal goesinto place, and the end of the
deal.
That's huge.
It says right now that theWNBA's national media rights
(54:04):
agreements are with companiessuch as ESPN, nbc and Amazon, as
well as their own WNBA packages.
The current media deal isvalued at roughly $50 million.
So think about that Right now.
The media deal for the WN atroughly $50 million.
So think about that Right now.
The media deal for the WNBA is$50 million.
They are set to increase in2025 to $200 million a year.
(54:31):
And this deal, this new deal,will also be with Disney I'm
sorry, the expiring deal withDisney, ion, cbs and Amazon and
other media partners.
So they will remain in the ESPNDisney family, they will stay
(54:54):
with Amazon and I believe NBC isthe new partner yes nbc is the
new partner and looks like cbsis out, so great news for wmba
and a lot of people are a lot ofpeople are placing this on on
one individual player, caitlinclark who is amazing, by the way
(55:16):
.
This is not a slight at KaitlynClark.
In a lot of ways, this seasonfor the WNBA with Kaitlyn Clark
and Angel Reese and even CamBrinks for a while before the
ACL injury felt very reminiscentof everything you see in the
(55:41):
1979 season of the NBA, all theway to the 1985 season, that
really prominent period of timewhere you had Magic and Larry
and Dr J and then eventuallyJordan in the 85-86 season.
(56:03):
So this has felt very much likethat and credit should go to
that rookie class that came inthis year.
The Caleb Clarks, the AngelReeses, the Cameron Brinks
Wonderful players and deserve alot of the credit.
(56:23):
But this has been growing foryears and people have tried to
deny this growth for so long.
It's amazing.
It is amazing at how manypeople have denied that this was
coming.
We saw it over the last coupleof years really, starting with
(56:48):
Sabrina Inescu being drafted inthe 2020 draft, 2021 draft.
She didn't get the mediacoverage in college the way she
deserved, and a lot of that wasbecause when the Oregon Ducks
were getting ready to make theirtitle run, covid happened and
the NCAA did not have a MarchMadness tournament.
But Sabrina Inescu was settingall kinds of records at Oregon
(57:13):
and that gets overlooked all thetime.
She didn't have a great rookieyear.
She hurt her ankle.
She spent two years pretty muchcoming back from an ankle
injury and last year dominatedfor the New York Liberty.
We have players like AJ Wilsonand Kelsey Plum, aaliyah Boston,
(57:37):
brianna Stewart.
You know we have super teamsnow in the WNBA.
We have the New York Libertyand we have the two-time champs,
las Vegas Aces.
The WNBA has been on this risefor the last five years and it's
(58:00):
because of the foundation builtby Diana Taurasi, right, sue
Bird?
Look, this is going to becontroversial, I know, for a lot
of people, but I give BrittanyGriner credit for being one of
the OGs who started this rise inthis product.
(58:25):
Of course, there's just been somany and there's a lot of
credit that we put around.
Let's not get caught up in therecency bias.
Let's celebrate the youth ofthe league and not forget to
(58:49):
give flowers to those players Imentioned that helped create the
foundation and start at thisrise.
The WNBA has achieved with thismedia deal what nobody thought
that they would achieve, andthey were some really, really
(59:14):
harsh critics across the boardin some of the biggest media
outlets that took every chancethey got to say something
negative about the WNBA, and I'mso glad to see that they've
(59:34):
overcome that and that they'vebeen injected with this new life
.
They have been injected withthis steroid, with this last
draft class, and it can only getbetter from here.
So congratulations to the WNBAand everybody involved.
I enjoy watching it.
I know the ladies from LockedIn Sports.
(59:57):
They enjoy covering it.
I'm looking forward to seeing alot more of it and covering
more of it myself.
And let's just celebrate.
Let's give praise where praiseis due.
Everybody within the WNBA rankshas worked for what they've
just gotten, and now they'vegotten it $2.2 billion.
(01:00:24):
Let's talk in big money.
$2.2 billion over the next 11years, $200 million a year
pretty much what it sums up tobe.
So, man, that's incredible.
Look, it's been a great, greattime getting back on this thing,
(01:00:47):
getting to spend time with allof you out there.
Hope you liked today's show.
Hope you were willing to staywith me and tolerate some of the
rust and went through thejourney of knocking that rust
off with me.
Look, if you like what you hear, go follow the show.
Hit the notification buttons.
(01:01:08):
I am the Ant-Man.
This is Beat the Clock so longyou.
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