Why Are We Thinking About Changing Things For the Sake of Thinking About Changing Things? - 08/20/25

Sean Brace talks about why so many discussions surrounding sports today are focused on changing things... and for what?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Once again, Phillies with another victory. Another one. Yes, they
swept the Seattle Mariners and it got ugly there in
the seventh inning, and the Phillies never looked back. They
come away a winner, eleven to two. Haysius Lozardo twelve
strikeouts and six innings. Yeah, if you're keeping score at home,

(00:40):
that's back to back starts by the Phillies with Christopher
Sanchez and Hayesus Lozardo with twelve plus strikeouts. Both ended
up with twelve. There. Pretty phenomenal stuff and definitely in
a time with the news with Zach Wheeler, it's like,
all right, you knew Christopher Sanchez had and the last

(01:00):
night of course, nothing surprising there, but Asussaro has not
looked like this at all all season long. Twelve strikeouts,
pretty darn impressive. Oh, by the way, I think we
need to look at anything from the Mariner's perspective. If
they're going up against the lefty from here on out,
just take the lefty, let's see what happens. Let the

(01:22):
chips fall where they may. I think you might come
out on top of a little bit. That is a
team that struggles against left handed pitching. That is for
sure at this point in time of the season. All right,
we got a couple odds and ends. I want to
hit here before we get out of here today. But
it seems like it's happening a lot, and it's not.
I'm not, like, you know, naive to this stuff because oh,

(01:46):
in all things do change, and you know, in the
world of professional sports, there's so much money to be made.
You have to evolve. But I do wonder if we're
getting carried away, right, I think the answer is yes, Right.
I think for no matter what sport or league we're

(02:07):
talking about, I think we can all make the case that, yeah,
I think money is the ultimate reason why. And I
think we could all sit there and say that that's
probably not the best reason to make drastic changes over
the long haul. Again, we don't know, constantly changing, constantly evolving.
I get it, But isn't there something to be said

(02:30):
about some tradition, some history, some record books that will
never be the same? You know. I'm bringing it up
because over the last week or so, we've seen a
lot of drastic changes being discussed in a number of sports,
whether it's at the collegiate level or the professional level,

(02:51):
and the latest one was today where PGA Tour Tiger
Woods tweets out. Now, Tiger hasn't been around, He's been
dealing with some injuries. You know, he's coming down to
the home stretch of his career all in all, but
getting Tiger involved at a PGA Tour is a no brainer.
And he has been serving as chairman of the Future

(03:15):
Competition Committee, and he goes on to say tweeted today
that this is about shaping the next era of the
PGA Tour for our fans, players and partners. Now, I
don't know what that means, and I'm sure that there
will be plenty of guesses that will be taking place,
as it often is in the world of golf, and

(03:35):
everybody's an expert when it comes to that world. I
listen to the swinging and Dggett, That's where I get
my stuff from. But I would imagine that there will
be a lot of changes and some higher money being made,
and you know, less is more. Whatever it may be, right,
some of the things that have been discussed over the
last two three years because of Live. Maybe he Live

(03:58):
can rejoin the players there. Whatever, I don't know, We'll
see what happens with Tiger Woods's vision, as is the
Future Competition Committee. And this just hit me. This isn't
something I've been working on, So I'm just talking out
Loudier and I'm curious to know if you haven't taken
this that fox PHL Gambler hit me up on social?
Is that fox PHL Gambler or shot underscore Brace. But

(04:20):
let's just take college for a second. You know they're
going to add teams to the what is now the
twelve team right, twelve teams make it. I assume it's
going to be like FCS where it's twenty four. I
want to say ten lock fourteen at large. I think

(04:43):
that that's where we're going to get to. Major League
Baseball Commissioner was on an interview the other day. Right
was it television? I think he was doing something in
the booth? Was it Little League World Series? I forget,
but Manfred said that they want to do something along
the lines of when they spanned. Then they're going to

(05:03):
change up the divisions due to geography, which puts the Mets,
the Yankees, the Socks, the Phillies. And if I'm forgetting
a team up north, I don't think I am a
Toronto I don't know that's going to change some things drastically.
NBA continues to evolve. You just look at it, like,

(05:29):
is the NFL doing anything that's that's drastically changing the game. Well, yeah,
they want to add an extra game, they want up
to seventeen, they want to do eighteen. I don't know.
It's just it feels like a lot of this is
being forced, and I think it's falling under the umbrella
of Oh, are you gonna care? It's more football you're

(05:49):
gonna watch. True, are you gonna care? It's gonna make
things a whole lot different all of a sudden. It's
gonna bring a little bit more juice to the regular
season rather than taking on the Washington Nationals and Miami
Marlands as you have been for the last few seasons. Yeah. Sure, okay,
I'm watching now though. That's the issue. You're not talking
to me with these changes. I haven't I haven't shut

(06:12):
off my television on a ESPN. I'm not one of
those guys that says I'm not watching that stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
No.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
I tune in to every sport every single day, and
if I can't watch it, I'm reading about it. So
this isn't about me. This is about somebody that maybe
they're trying to reach that hasn't given him an opportunity.
And oh, by the way, the almighty dollar college football

(06:37):
college sports period and the story continues to change, and
who knows what the finish line looks like. PGA tor
Tiger Woods. Has he got the vision? Is he the
right man for the job. It's a pretty darn good
one to get involved, sure, but I don't know if
he's got all of the answers in a major league

(06:59):
bay spall with the geography, the change as far as
the geography is concerned with divisions, Yeah, it's entertaining. It
adds a new wrinkle, but that changes a lot when
it comes to the history of the game. That is
a drastic maybe more so than anything that's been put

(07:20):
out there and all those sports that discussed. You know,
raising the college football playoff from twelve to twenty four
isn't you know? I get it. It's a lot of football,
a lot of extra games they're being played. The season
that they just played last year was the longest college
football season in the history of college football. We know why,
from week to zero all the way to your crowned champion,

(07:43):
and all that's going to do is add extra games
in the playoffs, no regular season. Yeah, very intriguing time
right now in the world of sports across the board.
I will say this much. There's no better bang for
your buck. Excuse me as I sneeze when it comes

(08:05):
to sports. You look at what the UFC just did,
and I was yelling about it last week. No reason
to bring it back up other than the fact that
that sold. That's sold for a billion dollars a year
one point one, if I'm not mistaken, seven point seven total.

(08:25):
I believe when ESPN had that contract it was something
on the lines of like two hundred and fifty million
dollars per and then they got it up to one
point one. What the business of sports is at an
all the time? I no doubt about it. But I
don't think you have to change everything to the point

(08:47):
that record books are no longer going to be measured
the same way. If these changes continue to happen in
all sports, I don't know when it comes back to
the dollar, I get it, but when is enough enough
or will it ever be enough? Very intriguing time right
now in the world of sports, but definitely interesting to

(09:07):
see what Tiger Woods says about to say about the
PGA Tour. There's no doubt about that Tiger is the
man for the job they handed the town. Hum. It's
been very interesting to watch over these last two to
three seasons with Live, so I'm curious to see what
he's going to make change as far as the PGA
Tour is concerned. Again, you can do whatever you want.
Scotty Scheffler is still gonna come out on top. Anyways.

(09:30):
Oh by the way, let's check that out real quick,
because I have yet to even look at the PGA
Tour stop this weekend. Of course, the big one coming
up over September their Ride or Cup. This one's taking
place in Atlanta, So we're calling this one the tour Championship.
Scotti Scheffler plus one fifty. That is hysterical. Scotty Scheffler

(09:58):
is plus one fifty to win a golf tournament and
I can't tell you not to take it. That's wild.
Rory's plus eight fifty, Tommy Fleet with fourteen to one,
oh Burg eighteen to one, Russell Henley twenty to one,
Justin Thomas twenty five to one. JJ Spawn. Do you

(10:18):
have anything to say, twenty five to one Scottie plus
one fifty. He's been cashing top ten's the last thirteen
times he is teed off at a tournament. You can
get a top ten at minus twelve hundred. Unbelievable. It's

(10:42):
where we're at right now when it comes to gambling
on the game of golf. Also in that same light,
last night, we saw the three biggest home run favorites
all went yard, Undraftkings, Sportsbook Leave to Go Yard show

(11:03):
Hey Otani at the Colorado Rockies, which he did, and
I think it was his first step at the line
drive home run over the right field wall in Colorado.
I think he was plus one sixty to go yard.
It was the lowest number that's ever been given out

(11:23):
via DraftKings on a home run prop since they started
taking wagers back when the legalization of sports gaming happened.
How crazy is that? And it all hit Otani went yard,
of course, Schwerber went yard, and Aaron Judge went yard.
Yesterday the Yankees hit a bunch of home runs down

(11:45):
there at their spring training facility in Tampa. Pretty fun
game to tune into as I was watching a little
bit of that game. But Oh no, what a week
it was for the Phillies. Three days here Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday, forty eight hit it's nine home runs twenty
nine runs. They smashed the Seattle Mariners in three games,

(12:07):
including today's eleven to two whooping on the Mariners. So
we end this series on a good note. They roll
on taking on the Nationals on Fridays, so they have
a day off tomorrow and we'll see what happens as
far as that is concerned this weekend. Once again, if
you missed it, we'll be live Baseball Brunch coming your
way on a Sunday live from eleven on your social

(12:31):
myself Chris sach and Greg Murphy. All right, quickly, I
want to hit on this if you would not mind. Yesterday,
Oh man, what a great day was Oceston, New Jersey
with the fine folks from a Villanova football steep known
of course everybody over at Playfly. Thank you very much
for rolling out the red carpetfore us. It was a
windy day and I have now ordered sandbags for our tent.

(12:55):
Thank you to the folks over at oce sit in
New Jersey for broking us up, though I should have
known better, should have known, like, yeah, you're going to
the beach, it could be windy. I was just there
and it wasn't exactly that wendy. But yesterday was a
extremely windy day with what is coming up the coast.
But bottom line was, we had a great day covering
all things Villanova football and what a cool time it

(13:15):
was with the folks from Villanova and Playfly. I can't
thank everybody enough. Again, We're gonna be doing more with them,
especially coming up against Penn State, and we're looking forward
to announcing that very very soon. But we are the
home of Villanova football and basketball right here on Fox
Sports Radio Philadelphia. And oh by the way, if you
are a Villanova alum, make sure you check out the

(13:37):
Villanova Sports Radio Network. It's available on the iHeartRadio app
as well as we are replaying all the great games
from last year getting you ready for this upcoming season
that opens up on September sixth against Colgate. Mark for
head coach Mark Faranti, what a stunt we like just
you know, we love to build up these local college coaches. Man.

(13:58):
You know, well it's Phil Martell, you know, of course, Jay,
You're right. Mark Ferranti is the man. All right, we're
building somebody up representing the college team in this area.
Head coach Mark Ferrante is a damn good dude and
runs a great program as well as all they do

(14:18):
is go out there whin double digits. Hopefully more of
the same. But he's always a great interview and very
generous with his time. Even comes and sees us before
the game kicks off, which is funny. We were talking
a little bit about that, but we had some fun yesterday.
You'll catch that interview from time to time. We'll run
that back. But getting you ready for all things Villanova
against Colgate coming up here on September the sixth, the

(14:38):
long way to go, but just right around the corner.
Speaking of we do have some college football action tomorrow.
You're going to get a lot of college football conversation
right here on the Gambler and on Friday as well.
Getting you ready for all things week zero. Yeah, it's
a football week, baby. We got live action on Saturday Saturday,
including farm again and with Kansas State and Iowa State

(15:02):
live from Ireland. Fifteen and a half is your total
in that one. No movement as far as the numbers concerned.
Kansas State is still three point favorites. Love k State
to get a win in that one, but the Cyclones
tough team got them last year, so we'll see how
that one plays out. Fast approaching though, As I said,
the other games that will be going off on Saturday,
we got Idaho State and UNLV. Interesting stop spot there

(15:25):
for Dan Mullen, who's getting his start in UNLV. Nowt
to twenty six and a half, that number continues to climb.
I don't know much about Idaho State. I do know
that UNLV wants to run this one up, so if
I'm wagering, I would probably lay the number with the
run in ReBs there. Fresno State and Kansas Kent's got
a brand new stadium. That's the big talking point. That's
all I got at this point in time. Twelve and

(15:46):
a half, not gonna give you a play year they
are favored. Then we go to Conference USA. We got
Western Kentucky Sam Houston ten point spread there, Western Kentucky favored,
and then we close up shop. Not exactly where I
would put this game. I would have bumped the beat
till about nine thirty and let's get really silly on
a Saturday night. But Hawaii in Stanford two and a
half points spread, Hawaii favored fifty and a half is

(16:08):
your number, and that one I like Hawaii in a
big way. Again. You gotta go to the Islands. Frank
Writ's the head coach over there in Stanford. He's good,
good coach. I'm sure you can motivate him. But I
think Hawaii's ready for the battle here. And oh, by
the way, they were catching two and a half. Now
they're two and a half point favorite, So a little
bit of a shift in the odds all things college

(16:29):
football the next two days right here on the Daily
Ticket and the Gambler. Tomorrow, I'm gonna have Julian Edlow
at three thirty. We get the party started there five
o'clock hour, you're gonna hear myself and Beef break it
down on Beef up front. All five games covered from
top to bottom. We're gonna give you a play and
all have a lot of fun. Can't wait to break
these games down and then keep it rocking right into

(16:52):
Labor Day weekend with that Thursday to Monday run. That
is just an incredible, credible run in college football. I
have thirty kickoff between Boise State and South Florida. Yeah,
we'll have some action on that one. Rutgers in Ohio
fourteen to half points spread at six pm, East Carolina,
n CY State.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
How about that banger right after shoot Thursday night football
Thursday night lights down at Carter Finley and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I think that game's being played. They might be in Charlotte,
Uh n C State ECU Is it played in Charlotte?
You know. I wish they would just show you where
the hell's being played. Uh. I think it is in
Carter fred. I think it's a Raleigh. They don't make

(17:41):
it easy trying to find this damn information as they should. Yep, Raleigh.
All right, there it is game information. Sorry, seven o'clock
ACC Network. We'll have a player now. We might take
the points with the Pirates. All right, coming up? If
you missed the Kyle Fisher join me. Uh. The first hour,
we talked a lot of NFL. We rated my fantasy
a team that we drafted in the Gambler League. I

(18:02):
know everybody loves to do that, but it was a
good conversation. Talked a lot about the topics that are
happening right now in the world of the NFL. As
that season is right around the corner. The Indianapolis Colts
decided to go with Daniel Jones, which we know everything
there is to know about Daniel Jones at the quarterback
position instead of Anthony Richardson. Wasn't a mistake. Kyle Fisher

(18:23):
gives us his take on the either side. Plus, we
talked some division battles in the NFC North, which Kyle
will be on the sideline for CBS Sports coming up
for Green Bay and the Detroit Lions. We focused on
that division because all four of those teams face off
against each other, including Monday Night Bears in the Vikings.
Come on, man, am I getting the juices going? Football

(18:44):
season is here? What are you waiting for? Get involved,
get invested, stick with us right here in the Gambler,
All right? Coming up on the other side, Do you
hear Kyle Fisher myself break it all down, six o'clock
swinging and dad, I'll be back tomorrow. Brand new episode
of Daily Ticket. Don't touch the do this