September 4, 2025 • 44 mins
Hut hut, here we go!
It’s officially NFL season, GISTer — and we’re going all in on The GIST of It. Before tonight’s kickoff, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz are breaking down the league’s top contenders, from the defending champs to a team we know, ahem, all too well. It really is the greatest time of year.
Show notes:
Episode #489: A new league of their own: Introducing the Women’s Pro Baseball League
The GIST’s NFL Pick’ems Challenge
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
It’s officially NFL season, GISTer — and we’re going all in on The GIST of It. Before tonight’s kickoff, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz are breaking down the league’s top contenders, from the defending champs to a team we know, ahem, all too well. It really is the greatest time of year.
Show notes:
Episode #489: A new league of their own: Introducing the Women’s Pro Baseball League
The GIST’s NFL Pick’ems Challenge
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What's up, gies, Sirs, we missed you so much. We
hope that everyone had an amazing long weekend. Welcome or
welcome back to another episode of The Gist of It.
Today is Thursday, September fourth, aka the greatest day of
my year. It is NFL Kickoff. Baby. We're your co hosts.
I'm Ellen Hisslap.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I am Steph Rodd's emotional support friend.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Emotional support friend. Also, Steph, I missed you. I feel
like I haven't talked to you in so long.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It does feel like it's been long, I will admit though.
It is always nice to have a long weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
It's always nice to have a long weekend, but it's
never nice to not see you twice a week. What
did you do for the long weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Uh? When camping?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
She's a camper camp girl.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Now, I'm sorry to all of the campers out there
for all of the slander I have thrown your way
for probably a decade decade decades plural. My bad. You
were actually right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Turns out it's good for you to touch some grass.
Touch grass.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Check.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Where did you go camping?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Just somewhere in Ontario, like at an Ontario provincial park,
so Ontario being a province in Canada.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I love this story arc for you. It was not
my Bengo.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Card I would say me either.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, she buys a super uo, she starts going camping.
What's next? We don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We don't know. What did you get up to this weekend?
Did you do anything outdoorsy or.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
My sister visited. As we were chatting about I think
that it should be illegal to have a long distance
relationship with your sister, one of your besties. And so
my sister and her partner came out to visit, which
was so nice. We literally had the best weekend. We golfed,
we ate fudge, we went hiking, we did some drinking.
(01:54):
So it was just really really nice weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah you're hiking. Your nature is really good?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, our nature is really good and nature
is neat. But so is football, like television, but football.
And I'm so excited. I'm really excited to get today's
podcast also because we have a wild thing that we
need to talk about. There's so much piping hot tea
(02:21):
coming out of the NBA right now that we also
need to get to as well. But we're gonna be
talking about the NFL today. It's our justter's number one
men's sport, so we know that our audience is really
into it, which I selfishly love. And so today we're
gonna get into kind of a regular season preview. But
there's way too many teams, there's way too many games,
(02:41):
and so we're going to narrow in the focus by
really really digging into who we think the top contenders
are and making our very very early super Bowl picks.
So we're gonna be talking about everyone from the Super
Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to the Kansas City Chiefs to
a bunch of teams in between before the Philadelphia Eagles
(03:02):
and the Dallas Cowboys kick off the season tonight at
eight twenty pm Eastern four Thursday Night Football.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You're gonna have to run this back at the end
of the season and see how on point you were
as the NFL girly with Shinado.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I feel like I've done pretty well.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yes, in the last year. Everyone remember what Ellen says,
because we will circle back to this.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Obviously, I would love to be wrong, though I would
I would love to be wrong. I feel like I've
always I feel I don't want to say always but
I feel like in the last few years I've properly
predicted maybe the top four, but I'm hoping for an
underdog to come out on top. This year feels like
the right year for us to be surprised.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Speaking of surprises, we absolutely need to call an audible
today before we get to the NFL. For folks who
aret familiar, this is one of our new segments, So
we're gonna just on the fly, we have to talk
about this news. Ellen, please please yes.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So I want to say Steph and I've been talking
about this, So this is a little bit of a
planned audible. And the reason why we've been talking about
it is, as Seph you like to say, there's layers
to this onion. There's layers, There's many layers, and we
need to get into it. So this is coming out
of the NBA Piping hot Tea and this is with
respect to the beloved Kawhi Leonard. And Kawhi Leonard now
(04:23):
plays for the LA Clippers, previously the Toronto Raptors, previously
the San Antonio Spurs. Arguably one of the greatest NBA
players of our time. I would say I think so, Steph,
would you say so?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah? I would say Torontonians would wholeheartedly agree. They love
him here and I'm so curious how this is going
to maybe not even affect that shine at all in Toronto,
but who knows.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And I think Texans in San Antonio too like he is.
Let's be clear, he's that guy, you know what I mean.
You bring him in any Yeah, he's just a fun guy.
You bring him in and you go, oh, we might
be able to win a championship. He's one of those
game changers. So that's who we're chatting about today. And
the reason why we are talking about him today is
that on Tuesday, the podcast Pablo Torre finds Out so PFTO,
(05:14):
which is what some people call but we're just going
to call him Pablo tari finds Out dropped a report
alleging that the LA Clippers circumvented the NBA salary cap
to pay Kawhi Leonard an additional twenty eight million dollars.
This deal was done if we can rewind back to
twenty twenty one, this is the year after the Toronto
(05:38):
Raptors won the NBA championship. They're lifting today again two
years after Oh sorry, yes, so this was done. Two
years after the Toronto Raptors won the Larry O'Brien. However,
many people speculate in this report that this was a
part of the LA Clippers finding a way to land
(06:02):
Kawhi Leonard from the Toronto Raptors, or land Kawhi Leonard
at the Clippers as opposed to the La Lakers. And
basically it was this deal where he is circumventing the
salary cap by receiving a twenty eight million dollar endorsement
deal with this company called Aspiration, which is like this
tree planting company, and that this was kind of Salary's
(06:25):
circumvention on top of his four year, one hundred and
seventy six point two million dollar extension kind of with
the Clippers. And so Pablo Torre was basically finding this out.
And for those of you who aren't familiar with him,
he's a former ESPN host and so he is a
well respected reporter, and he did some digging with these
(06:48):
Aspiration employees, found this out and was basically like, wait,
this isn't allowed.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
It was marketed or it was written essentially as a
quote unquote marketing deal, but Leonard didn't have to uphold anything.
There was nothing that he had to do in order
to quote unquote secure this endorsement deal. So that's also
I think part of it to why it does appear
as a circumventing the salary cut because it was gifted
(07:15):
to him quite literally, and endorsements usually are not very
much so a gift, you have to work for them.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, and so with that gift and with that twenty
eight million dollars two stuff, the timing is interesting. So
he signs this extension. People are alleging this was probably
in conversation earlier when he was leaving the Raptors, but
on the podcast, Torre also alleges that see Balmer, who
(07:42):
owns the Clippers and who's you've probably seen him. He's
this like tall, bald, white dude who's super rich, who's
very charismatic. I was gonna say affervescent, but I don't
know if that's the right word, actually, but I'm gonna
say I.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Think why and when I hear that, yeah, I think
that was the wrong word.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
He's a very charismatic guy, big guy whatever. He was
so frickin' jazz about Kawhi. He he gets everybody excited.
He made a fifty million dollar investment apparently in this
company around the same time that they signed quote unquote Kawhi,
and so I think that's the other red flag here,
is that it's like, okay, Steve invest a fun ton
(08:22):
of money in this company. Then Kawhi gets this big
endorsement deal and people are like, what where is this
coming from? And then the company a couple years later
goes under, which is normal in startup world, like companies
go under all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And the co founder of that company pleaded guilty last
month to two counts of wirefraud for deceiving lenders and
investors worth close to two hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Oh my god, that part at that part is new
to me, Steff. So that is that's absolute tea in
all of this. To Torre's credit, he's going out and
he's talking to the Clippers and things like that. And
the reason why we're saying alleged around all of this,
this is all Tories reporting. This is us reading the report,
listening to the podcast, doing all that sort of stuff
(09:09):
like this is all from him. The Clippers ended up
sending a statement to his podcast saying that any ascertation
of salary caps or convention and misconduct is provably or
probably I don't know how to say that word provably false,
And so they're saying this is absolutely not true, which okay,
(09:33):
but you.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But back in twenty nineteen, there were valid sources from
the league that said Kawhi or the people that represent Kauwhi,
was asking from the Lakers a private plane that would
be available at all times, a house, and a guaranteed
amount of off court endorsement money that he could be
expected if Leonard signed with the Lakers. And so he
(09:57):
was asking that from the Lakers and.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
In twenty nineteen after the Raptors championship, and that's why
so many people are like, even though this was in
twenty twenty one, was this already considered in twenty nineteen
when they were in negotiations.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And the owner of the Lakers was like, that's illegal,
We're not doing any of that. That made her uncomfortable.
And then there was Genie Buss. There was out like
notes in reporting that similar requests were made of the
Raptors at the time that obviously the Raptors could not fulfill.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yes, And this is all coming from I think it
was Kawai's uncle who for whatever reason in the basketball world,
doesn't have like.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
A title.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah yeah, exactly. It's just like he's a quaisso yes, yeah,
yeah exactly. Like I would say, maybe has a reputation
for some stuff that is maybe off pieced is potentially
what I would call it. So all of this is alleged,
and I think Steph where to tie this with a
bow because we've been talking for a while. If this
is true, this is not allowed. This is very illegal.
(11:00):
This is very not good and does not look good
for the Clippers. This is really bad for Kawhi Leonard
for whatever reason. And I might just be duped by
these people, but I really do not think that Kawhi
Leonard would agree to something like this. And maybe this
because I feel like I know him. Ye I don't
(11:20):
know him at all, but I am a Kawhi Leonard
sympathizer and I'm like, Kawhi I wouldn't do this. I
just feel like he wouldn't do this. And at the
same time, I'm like Steve Balmer, he has so much
energy for this team stuff. He is a billionaire, He's
made his money doing so many other things. This is
fun for him. He wants to win like, they are competitive,
(11:41):
they want to win. But I'm like, I don't think
that he would throw away everything that he's built with
his reputation and everything that the Clippers could be on
something like this when other teams are flat out saying no,
Like I just I'm having a hard time believing this
is real.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But he is so rich, like extremely rich, right, right,
And the violation for this is a fine. If it's
four point five million for the first offense, five point
five million for the second event. So however this is
going to play out, what's the first what's the second offense?
It's forfeiture of draft picks. So you're like, Okay, he
doesn't want to be competitive, but there are a lot
(12:21):
of financial penalties that I'm so you think he doesn't
care about. And as someone who was one of those
people that thought, wow, everyone sees playing in Toronto's punishment
and then leaves it their first thought, I don't. I
don't have the same sense of loyalty personally to Qui
and his character based on that.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Anyway, it's all tea and don't come for us. It's speculation.
Everything is speculation. But we thought that of his tea,
and we thought that you should know and if you
want to learn more again, please go listen to Pablo
Torre finds out. Please go have a look at his
report and make your own opinion.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Oh, just start googling. You'll find some good stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Okay, it is the most wonderful time of the year,
sung in a Christmas tune. NFL is officially back with
tonight's Thursday night football show down at eight twenty pm
Eastern between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. This
season is going to be good, and not just because
we have an NFL Pick Them Challenge that we are
(13:32):
hosting every single week that you can go play right
now at the Just sports dot com. Go get your
picks in. I really highly recommend you too. It's free
to play. It's so much fun. We made it ourselves.
You play against other gisters. It's the best. But also
because we're an official digital partner of the NFL, you.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Know, and legally blond when they do the snap Cup,
that's thank You's for the gist.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
That's for the GISTs. So we are so excited about it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And check your inbox later for a special edition newsletter
that it's going to break down everything that you need
to know before the season kicks off, because we don't
have time to go into everything in the podcast today,
so we're going to highlight some things for you. We're
going to dig into just some highlights, whereas the newsletter
will dig into much more information.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I do want to set the scene really quick. So
in the NFL, there are two conferences, the AFC and
the NFC. Each of those conferences are split up by
four divisions East, West, North, South. Those teams are the
NFL teams are divided equally amongst those divisions. There are
(14:39):
eighteen weeks throughout the NFL regular season, with teams playing
seventeen games, so that means that each team gets a
bye week and then from there the playoffs occur. So
the postseason doesn't start until the new year. So a
lot of people think that the regular season only at
last until December, but it actually trickles into the new year,
(14:59):
which I love because what else are we doing over
the holidays then watching TV?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
So that's what you can really sing. It's the exactly
and for.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
The first time or was this last year that was
the first time ever? I can't remember because I was away.
The NFL will be playing on Christmas. I think last
year was the first time.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
That feels like the second.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, I'm lying anyway, But today we just want to
talk about the top four teams as seth.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Point five maybe email yeah, five yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Favorite, Yeah, there you go, Okay, top four and then
a fan favorite. So these are early Super Bowl picks. Again.
If you want more week to week, go player game
the Just sports dot com. If you want more on
the season, we'll be sending you an email later this evening.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Should we kick it off with the defending champs?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I silent that we have to kick it off with
the defending champs, So the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFCS.
I think that the defending champs are more than ready
to run it back. I think that it would be
so cool if we saw Kansas City win it back
to back and then we see Philly run it back
from there. I think on the good side of things,
if we want to break it down with the good
(16:13):
and the bad for each of these teams, they boast
essentially the same dynamic group of offensive weapons that they
had last year. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, a Super Bowl MVP,
and a consummate haughty oh jesy like I see him
on social media and I kick my legs.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, flutter the legs, flutter, the legs flutter, the heart.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
He's just he's the best on and off the fields,
and he is so great to look at too. We
also have to think about running back and reigning Offensive
Player of the Year Saquon Barkley. He became the league's
all time single season rushing leader including the playoffs, amassing
over twenty five hundred yards last year. I will say
he's taken some heat in the offseason with who he
(16:56):
is surrounding himself by. And that is all I will
say right now, and everybody can go do google that.
And then the wide receivering duo of AJ Brown and
DeVante Smith is so good. Their offensive line is also intact,
like it's amazing. But I think, like the cons always
(17:17):
for the Philadelphia Eagles is their secondary. And when we
use the term secondary and football, we're essentially talking about
their defense. So when we're talking about defense, that's quarterbacks
nickelbacks not to be confused with look at this photograph.
And then the safeties. They are the folks that line
up against the wide receivers or the offensive line or
(17:40):
the tight ends, all that sort of stuff. They've lost
some of their team from last year to other teams,
and losing starters for your secondary is really hard. They
kind of like captain everything that's going on out there.
And the Eagles they allowed a decent amount of points
and so I am really curious to see how their
defense steps up. That's a big question mark for me
(18:01):
this year.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So good, there's the bad with the Philadelphia Eagles. The
next team that we have to talk about is the
Buffalo Bills. The Bills are of course, they always make
it just close enough. They have not been able to
ditch the postseason curse that seems to follow them year
to year. But just like we said last year, maybe
this is the year.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Maybe this is the year for the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Do you want to know that the Kansas City Chiefs
have ended the Bills season in four of the last
five seasons, twice in the AFC Championship and twice in
the individual round. So would love to not see that happen
again personally. So the good with the Buffalo Bills, of course,
is their quarterback is Josh Allen. He is the reigning
That's one thing.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Too, and Josh Allen and one thing I just want
to say, a by the Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen
was engaged to Hailey Steinfeld last year, but this year
he was married in the offseason, and so I just
think she might be the secret sauce that spurs the
Buffalo Bills along to win their first Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You think that ring is gonna just boom skyrock to Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I don't know. He's he seems like he's in such
a good place, So I just think that it could
be the game changer.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Mental is a huge part of any any sporting event.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Near support system, your cheerleader anyway, so much to talk about.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So Josh Allen is the reigning MVP, and he is
the reigning MVP for a reason. He just he's winning games.
He's good at winning games, and he is an absolute
superstar with They didn't have a superstar wide receiver last season,
and Josh Allen still broke multiple NFL records and led
the Bills to the AC Championship. So he can get
(19:37):
it done. He's very durable. He's the guy.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
I love how he used durable. I think that's a
perfect way to describe Josh Allen. Because even without a
star wide receiver, he found different people to connect with.
But I think Steph to that durable side of things.
He's a big guy and he's surprisingly quick at the
same time, and so not a lot of people think.
A lot of people think about Lamar Jackson, who will
get to in a minute as a really amazing rusher.
(20:02):
So a quarterback who can run with the ball, but
also like Josh Allen, can run the ball, and he's
scary and so as a result, defenses don't know what
he's gonna do, and so they have to play him differently,
which provides more space even for those guys, even if
they're not star wide receivers, to catch the ball, because
the secondary on the opponent is always like frig is
(20:24):
Josh gonna run? Or is Josh gonna throw it? So
I think that is really hard.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Let's talk about the bad with the Buffalo Bills, and
unfortunately that is the same old story here. It's the defense.
The team has made some defensive upgrades over the summer,
so that's good to see, but the big question is
whether or not that is going to be enough to
make the difference to really get them over that curse.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, they added Joey Bosa, who you might be familiar
with the name, to help, but what's really hard about him,
and what's been really hard with their secondary over the
last few year stuff, is that they just have had
a really hard time saying healthy and so because of that,
there's just players in and players out, and there's no
real consistency. And I think that teams have found a
(21:09):
way to poke holes. And I think that's also why
Josh Allen and the offensive side has to be so good,
is that they know that their defense isn't able to
win championships. And I think that's what Kansas City has
been able to poke a hole and is like that
extra field goal, that extra touchdown that they really shouldn't
be allowing if they want to actually make it past
Kansas City. This year's stuff. My hot take is that
(21:31):
the Bills load up somewhere on defense throughout the season.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, you're right, because in consistency with the seventeen game
season is not great.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, it's really not great. But let's so, you're a
Bills fan, so obviously you're talking about the Bills, but
also you famously went to Detroit for vacation. I did
be and you love Detroit, so I think Steph, you
should talk about the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Thank you so much, Ellen for giving me those two teams.
So this is a third of the four teams that
we're going to talk about, and let's start with the good.
Detroit's offense absolutely stacked. Anytime you have a running back
one two punch is talented as Jamior Gibbs and David Montgomery,
things are probably going to go well. Their nicknames are
Sonic and Knuckles. After yes, the video game and I
(22:17):
hope you know what I'm talking about when I say that,
And if not, absolutely you know Sonic though, right, Sonic
the Hedgehog.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Like off the top of my head, I don't. I
never played video.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Games any any video games.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
No, we didn't have video games.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Not even like an arcade game. No at the Turtle track, Oh.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Well, I played air hockey.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Okay, that was it. We had no too, TecTile.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah, we had no video games.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Okay, okay, but yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It's a cute nickname. It's a cute nation can get it.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And then for those who get it, you understand it's
very representative of their running style. So it is quite a
good nod and their quarterbacks of Detroit is who were
talking about Still Jared Goff is back under center with
all Pro wide receiver Almen Ross Saint Brown and tight
end Sam Laporta.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I'm just hearing to say I have something to say.
So have you you haven't? I know that you haven't
something on Netflix. Yes, So, as y' all know on
Netflix or as I've talked about before, Peyton Manning and
his production company did Receiver last year and Quarterback this year.
(23:30):
It was the second season Quarterback. Last year, Almen Ross
Saint Brown was featured for the Detroit Lions, and this
year Jared Goff is featured for the Detroit Lions. Also,
we should mention the Buffalo Bills are featured this year
in Hard Knocks, and I just I love this storytelling
because I feel like it allows you to get to
know those players more. But also as much as it's
featuring on the players, so Saint Brown as well as Golf,
(23:53):
you kind of get to know the team at large
a little bit more too. And so if you're looking
for a way to get into the Lions, I would
highly recommend watching the latest season of Quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And then you said Hard Knocks for the Bills. Yeah, okay, noted,
I will take that. I appreciate you, Ellen, even if
I have to write it down and then hope for
rainy day.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And you'll never actually read it. But let's talk Let
I mean listen, I mean watch it. Let's talk about
the cons.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Okay. So the offense and line that was so good
last season did lose two of their key members, four
time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow who's now retired, and
their veteran guard Kevin Zeitler, who left a free agency.
So will they be as effective on offense without them?
That is a really good question. But that's why Golf
(24:43):
is really important. When he had the time to throw
last year in twenty twenty four, Golf ranked second in
the league and quarterback rating, which is a metric that
weighs a bunch of things, and when he doesn't have
time to throw, that drops to twenty third.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
And so it will be really interesting to see how
how the replacements step up there. The offensive line. The
offensive line is important period, but especially for someone like
Golf who doesn't have the ability to run. I would say,
like a Josh Allen, Orkah Lamar Jackson, the pocket becomes
so important to him. He's a little bit I would
never compare him to Tom Brady because he's not even close
(25:18):
to as good as tom Brady in my opinion, but
he is a little bit like a Tom Brady and
that he needs a pocket to feel safe in in
order to throw dimes because then he can throw dimes.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I also need a pocket to feel safe in.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, it's it's really important. The kangaroos are onto something.
And then also two stuff like coaching is so important
and this coaching staff changes everything. And Detroit lost both
of their offensive and defensive coordinators, which is basically like
the number two and three to the head coach.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
If Yeah, there are so many coaches in football and
they're all important at.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
All, and especially those two are important.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah. Yeah, So there's the good, there's the bad with
the Detroit Lions. Do you want to take our four
before we get to the fan favorite?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I really do. Before we get into the fan favorite.
The Baltimore Ravens AFC. North Baltimore, very similar to the
Buffalo Bills, is always this close to finally making it through,
and I'm like, Lamar Jackson, please please. All I want
to see is either Baltimore or Buffalo actually making it
(26:23):
through the Super Bowl. They both can't go there, but
like we need one of them there. So Lamar Jackson
is so good. He's a two time league MVP. In
twenty twenty four, when Josh Allen won MVP, Lamar Jackson
set career best marks in passing touchdowns forty one as
well as passing yards. And that is a big deal.
And why we wanted to bring that up is because
(26:44):
Lamar Jackson is so dynamic and is such a good
runner that for him to actually set career best marks
in passing touchdowns with forty one and passing yards, that's huge.
That means that his game is growing, which means that
he's even more scary as an offensive weapon than ever before.
And part of stuff why he was running less and
(27:07):
potentially passing more is because he has arguably the best
supporting cast he's ever had. In this year and the
last year, running back Dear Henry. They call him King
Henry for a reason. He is one of the greatest
running backs I would say of our generation. He is
so big and so strong and yet so fast at
(27:30):
the same time, he defies gravity. I actually don't really
understand how it works with his body, how he's a
running back, and his defense, like the Baltimore Ravens defense
is also pretty good that I'm like, if this team
doesn't make it to the super Bowl, there's a curse,
their curse, Like, That's what I'd be thinking at this point.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So do you think he's more likely that Lamar Jackson
is more likely to be MVP this year? Are we
not even gonna We're sorry.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Ready, I'm not ready for that conversation.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Are you ready for the cons the bad?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Perhaps? Yeah, I think that this is a little bit
of a question mark for us. So they are bringing
on rookie kicker Tyler Loop. They did release Justin Tucker
the Ravens Dead, which is super refreshing after there was
some controversy with him and really so nice to see.
(28:24):
But Tucker was the most accurate kicker in NFL history.
Kickers are so important for a multitude of reasons, but
so often in the NFL these days, a field goal
can change who wins the game, and so the fact
that they are putting a rookie in to potentially clinch
games for them is a little scary.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
But you never know. You never know. You never know.
Give the kid a chance.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, We're gonna give the kid a chance. So those
are our top four. The Philadelphia Eagles, the Buffalo Bills,
the Detroit Lions, and the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I think, people, I know the point five that we
might mention the one team missing from the list of
contenders here that we still need to talk about, and
that is the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Casey and I think that they're on the top of
the list because obviously a little someone named Taylor Swift,
but I think outside of Taylor Swift, they have been
a dynasty, especially over the last five to six years.
We cannot count them out. Yes, they didn't win the
Super Bowl last year, but they were in it. They
won back to back before. They've had three straight Super
(29:30):
Bowl appearances, I think four of the last five or six.
It's actually wild. Patrick Mahomes is so good. I think
at the end of the day, he is lights out,
next level. He didn't have his best year last year
in the regular season, but somehow he always pulls out
this fricking postseason magic. That's incredible. Him and Andy Reid,
who's the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, are unquestionably
(29:56):
the best quarterback and head coach pairing in the league
that we are seeing now. If Mahomes reaches the AFC
Championship Game this year, it would be his eight straight appearance,
which would be matching Tom Brady in twenty eleven to
twenty eighteen. So that to me just paints the picture
of how good Patrick Mahomes is, but also how special
(30:19):
that relationship is between him and Andy Reid because it
is very reminiscent of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in
their New England Patriots era.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
So there's still got to be some bad here. They're
not making the top four list of contenders, so maybe
walk us through some of the cons here.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I was really underwhelmed by them last season. I thought
that all together they were below average. They had to
fight to get into and maybe fight is too strong
of a word. They didn't enter the postseason in a
swimming fashion or in an easy fashion. I guess that
(30:56):
you could say I found Travis Kelce to be really
met last year. I found Mahomes, as I already mentioned,
to be meh. Within the regular season last year, I
don't think that they brought in enough fresh support around them.
I felt like the Kansas City Chiefs were really slow
on both defense as well as offense, and so I
(31:19):
hope Steph that they've looked at that and they go, Okay,
we can't just rely on like random looks of mahomes
magic to get us through this entire regular season. There
has to be other people that step up around him.
Their running game is going to have to be so good,
and that's what I'd be looking for this season. If
they can actually make a run.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
You know what I'm looking for. We just do NFL
Pickups Challenge.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yes, link is in the show notes. Everybody go play it.
I have to ask you, Steff, who's your early Super
Bowl pick? You get that you have two teams, one
in the AFC, one in the NFC.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I'm gonna say Baltimore because if I say Bills, I'm
going to curse it.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah, and then see your NFC team Detroit. Okay, I
was kind of thinking the same. I think that this
is more of my hope. I would love to see
Detroit Ravens, but I kind of feel like we might
see Bill's Philly. Bill's Philly would be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, I'd be good with that.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Bill's Philly would be fantastic, But I think I Ravens
have to make it through. I don't know. Ravens have
to make it to the super Bowl this year. That's
all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Okay, we'll run that back later next year, do it. Sorry,
We've been having a really good time today. Stick with
us for our personal training sage. This is where we
would absolutely love to answer your hard hitting questions, and
we did get one via voicemail. Yes time round.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Yes, our producers are going to be bad at us
for talking too much. Oops. Sorry, We're so sorry. If
you'd like to be featured on a future episode, so
call u Selimas to voicemail. We love your voices. You're
all angels at one four three seven five six four
five five seven nine. That's also in the show notes.
You can just click on it. Give us a show
email us at pot at the justsports dot com or
dm us on Instagram. We love a dm at ellen
(33:16):
ethagist at Sephanie Rotts. But today's personal training Sash, we
are taking a question from Holly in Philadelphia. Holly, shout
out to your Eagles. Hopefully you enjoyed that, But Holly
had a really great question following our recent episode about
the women's professional baseball league, so we are going to
insert her question here.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Hi, it's Hii again. I guess my question to you
all is what how do you notice is the history
of baseball and softball in this country and how do
you see it kind of like hopefully being shifted and
changed with this new women's professional baseball league? And also
what do you think about the lack of opportunities for
women to play baseball? The question one is about that
(34:00):
is what do you think about this idea of like
this separation leading to this lack of equality within this space.
I'm not saying that the ones Fresia basically can't exist.
I'm actually so excited for that. I'm so, so, so
so excited. Could this be a space where if the
culture wasn't the way that it was, it could actually
(34:20):
be a really beautiful gender sport. So Okay, thank you
so much. Psypologize for talking so much, and hopefully I
can hear back from me up there.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Thank you Holly so much for how much care and
energy you put into that voicemail. Truly, we appreciate it
so much. So for folks who may have missed it.
If you haven't already, go listen to episode four eighty nine,
the one that we did on the Women's Pro Baseball League.
We will link that in the show notes. If you
kind of want to reverse reverse it, listen to that
and come back flip it and reverse thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yes. So there's a lot of questions in this holly,
which we which as I said, we really appreciate. I
think that there's some context that maybe stuff you can
go through, some trickle down effect, trickle down economics if
you will. But then also I have opinions that I
probably have no right having the opinions of that we
(35:13):
can go through after that.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, I think with it's similar with I'm of the
opinion that it's got to follow similar trajectories of other
women's sports. It has to have some form of trickle
down effect, like as we discussed in the previous episodes,
if there are more opportunities or if there is more
visibility and exposure for young girls to play a sport,
this time being baseball, there has to be some form
(35:36):
of growth. And of course there are no sanctioned baseball
programs at the high school level or collegiate level. And
perhaps depending on how this league goes, that could potentially change.
And I think when you're talking about the history, because
that was one of your questions too. The league that
we talked about in the episode that was the league
that happened when the men went off to war and
(35:57):
the women have to play baseball is such an interesting
kind of just tiny little example of how women have
been treated in sports. And I think how women are
treated in a certain sport is just a direct reflection
of their status in the country. So it would be
interesting to see how this is handled and treated. Because Yeah,
(36:19):
I think, especially when we're talking about new leagues for women,
it's only a positive thing. And if the league is
a success, then perhaps that might shift the overall landscape.
It will take time. It's going to take time, Like
if you think about professional women's hockey, how much time
that took to establish. Yeah, I don't know when it
(36:39):
comes to the all gender sport thing. Do you wanna
save that opinion? Ellen? Do you want to counter me first?
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah, I'd like to counter you first. Okay, I think
what's really tough here and what I don't think we
necessarily experience in other women's sports or men's sports to
a certain ext and I'd love for you stuff to
live fact check me as I'm talking about this is
that there isn't There is right now a specific women's
(37:09):
alternative to baseball, and that is softball. And softball has
been a sport that the country has rallied around and
put a lot of infrastructure around, and it is successful,
and we are seeing things like AUSL happen. We are
seeing incredible softball being played at the college level, and
we are seeing amazing softball being played at the Olympic
(37:32):
level when it is in certain Olympics. And so because
of that, and because softball being so ahead of the
curve in comparison to baseball on the women's side, I
do think that it might potentially style me the growth
of baseball, because I think women will look at softball
and say, oh, I potentially have more opportunities in softball
(37:54):
because it is ten, fifteen, twenty years ahead of where
baseball is at. They are completely different sports. As we
talked about it in the last episode, I don't think
that it's necessarily fair to compare them sport to sport wise,
but what I'm saying is is that like young girls
who are interested in playing baseball. I think still will
(38:14):
have the natural push from people to go and play
softball because of the collegiate opportunities. I don't see baseball,
unfortunately being a big enough opportunity for the NC DOUBLEA
or the Olympics or major high school programs to actually
(38:35):
bring in for women in earnest because of the economics
around it.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Do you think that it could have enough of an
effect though, to maybe normalize women playing on men's NC
Double A baseball teams or do see a future where
that would be possible.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
I think I think that future is very close. I
think that baseball is a sport where women can and
should and have been one hundred percent playing on those
men's teams, and I think that baseball is a sport
where they're more open to it. We've seen women play
and men's sports across so many different We've seen kickers
in the NCAA, Sarah Fuller for play football. We've seen,
(39:18):
as we were talking about, some folks playing for the
Savannah Bananas semi pro team. We've seen the likes of
Haley Wickenheiser play with pro men in hockey. Like I
do think that this could potentially open that up maybe more,
but I don't know if that would actually impact the
men as much, you know what I mean, Like, I
(39:39):
don't know if it would actually change. But I love
the idea. I love the idea of seeing baseball as
an all gender sport. I really do think that that
is an awesome idea, And I don't think that there's
really not a reason why it is like that when
we're seeing countless girls at the little league level, I
feel like the diamond is a equal opportunity space, and
(40:02):
I think that girls can catch just as good as boys,
and they can pitch just as fast as boys, and
they can hit just as hard as boys. So would
love to see more of that. I just I think
I think it's just really like when you look at
hockey stuff, or when you look at soccer, or when
you look at basketball, there's not a direct competitor almost
(40:23):
within your same sport category.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
You know what I mean. Yeah, that's a really good point.
So one could be treated like like the only comparable
would be tiered leagues in soccer, like a like a
farm team in basketball or something like that.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Or like a hockey with a ring at or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, but then it's, in my opinion, can't have both. Yeah,
so if I talk about it in that perspective, But
maybe the silver lining will be it might normalize women
appearing in baseball spaces Austin, whether that's MLB collegiate, who knows.
Maybe it'll just create more of an all gender opportunity.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Or like, hopefully this league freakin does take off and
we're having this conversation. I just don't think that it's
gonna happen like in the next five years. I think
that we could be having this conversation fifteen twenty years
down the line, being like, Okay, let's go.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
And that's why I mentioned women's hockey because it was
not an overnight success. It took decades of work. It
took decades of advocacy and trying and failing. So I
would not personally put that kind of expectation on a
new league like this, even being in twenty twenty five
versus when we tried to professionalize women's hockey being X
(41:42):
amount of years ago, like it, there's still gotta be
some catch up period.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah. Oh my gosh, guys, we're so sorry.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
We've been so tatty.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Holly, thank you so much for your question. Literally, they say,
keep it to a time and stuff, and I go, oh,
we miss each other. We have so much to talk about.
We're just gonna chat for so long, and turns out
we're producing ourselves, which is dangerous, dangerous. So anyway, thank
y'all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
We'll be back in your feed with a new podcast
on Tuesday today. You know you didn't hear from us
earlier this week, so your Labor Day podcast was just
rolled into this one and extra long so apaulogies in
the meantime. If you did enjoy this episode, please rate, review, subscribe,
and send us a personal training sessions to answer.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
This episode was edited by Savannah hild and produced by
Lisa Manicilo, Alexandra Puccio, and Lauren Tuscala. Again, I'm Ellen Hislop.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
And I'm Steph Rott. Call us, call in d MS,
email us. We would love to hear from you, and
we'll chat with you again on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
A
What's up, gies, Sirs, we missed you so much. We
hope that everyone had an amazing long weekend. Welcome or
welcome back to another episode of The Gist of It.
Today is Thursday, September fourth, aka the greatest day of
my year. It is NFL Kickoff. Baby. We're your co hosts.
I'm Ellen Hisslap.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I am Steph Rodd's emotional support friend.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Emotional support friend. Also, Steph, I missed you. I feel
like I haven't talked to you in so long.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It does feel like it's been long, I will admit though.
It is always nice to have a long weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
It's always nice to have a long weekend, but it's
never nice to not see you twice a week. What
did you do for the long weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Uh? When camping?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
She's a camper camp girl.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Now, I'm sorry to all of the campers out there
for all of the slander I have thrown your way
for probably a decade decade decades plural. My bad. You
were actually right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Turns out it's good for you to touch some grass.
Touch grass.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Check.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Where did you go camping?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Just somewhere in Ontario, like at an Ontario provincial park,
so Ontario being a province in Canada.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I love this story arc for you. It was not
my Bengo.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Card I would say me either.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, she buys a super uo, she starts going camping.
What's next? We don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We don't know. What did you get up to this weekend?
Did you do anything outdoorsy or.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
My sister visited. As we were chatting about I think
that it should be illegal to have a long distance
relationship with your sister, one of your besties. And so
my sister and her partner came out to visit, which
was so nice. We literally had the best weekend. We golfed,
we ate fudge, we went hiking, we did some drinking.
(01:54):
So it was just really really nice weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah you're hiking. Your nature is really good?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, our nature is really good and nature
is neat. But so is football, like television, but football.
And I'm so excited. I'm really excited to get today's
podcast also because we have a wild thing that we
need to talk about. There's so much piping hot tea
(02:21):
coming out of the NBA right now that we also
need to get to as well. But we're gonna be
talking about the NFL today. It's our justter's number one
men's sport, so we know that our audience is really
into it, which I selfishly love. And so today we're
gonna get into kind of a regular season preview. But
there's way too many teams, there's way too many games,
(02:41):
and so we're going to narrow in the focus by
really really digging into who we think the top contenders
are and making our very very early super Bowl picks.
So we're gonna be talking about everyone from the Super
Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to the Kansas City Chiefs to
a bunch of teams in between before the Philadelphia Eagles
(03:02):
and the Dallas Cowboys kick off the season tonight at
eight twenty pm Eastern four Thursday Night Football.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You're gonna have to run this back at the end
of the season and see how on point you were
as the NFL girly with Shinado.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I feel like I've done pretty well.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yes, in the last year. Everyone remember what Ellen says,
because we will circle back to this.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Obviously, I would love to be wrong, though I would
I would love to be wrong. I feel like I've
always I feel I don't want to say always but
I feel like in the last few years I've properly
predicted maybe the top four, but I'm hoping for an
underdog to come out on top. This year feels like
the right year for us to be surprised.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Speaking of surprises, we absolutely need to call an audible
today before we get to the NFL. For folks who
aret familiar, this is one of our new segments, So
we're gonna just on the fly, we have to talk
about this news. Ellen, please please yes.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So I want to say Steph and I've been talking
about this, So this is a little bit of a
planned audible. And the reason why we've been talking about
it is, as Seph you like to say, there's layers
to this onion. There's layers, There's many layers, and we
need to get into it. So this is coming out
of the NBA Piping hot Tea and this is with
respect to the beloved Kawhi Leonard. And Kawhi Leonard now
(04:23):
plays for the LA Clippers, previously the Toronto Raptors, previously
the San Antonio Spurs. Arguably one of the greatest NBA
players of our time. I would say I think so, Steph,
would you say so?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah? I would say Torontonians would wholeheartedly agree. They love
him here and I'm so curious how this is going
to maybe not even affect that shine at all in Toronto,
but who knows.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And I think Texans in San Antonio too like he is.
Let's be clear, he's that guy, you know what I mean.
You bring him in any Yeah, he's just a fun guy.
You bring him in and you go, oh, we might
be able to win a championship. He's one of those
game changers. So that's who we're chatting about today. And
the reason why we are talking about him today is
that on Tuesday, the podcast Pablo Torre finds Out so PFTO,
(05:14):
which is what some people call but we're just going
to call him Pablo tari finds Out dropped a report
alleging that the LA Clippers circumvented the NBA salary cap
to pay Kawhi Leonard an additional twenty eight million dollars.
This deal was done if we can rewind back to
twenty twenty one, this is the year after the Toronto
(05:38):
Raptors won the NBA championship. They're lifting today again two
years after Oh sorry, yes, so this was done. Two
years after the Toronto Raptors won the Larry O'Brien. However,
many people speculate in this report that this was a
part of the LA Clippers finding a way to land
(06:02):
Kawhi Leonard from the Toronto Raptors, or land Kawhi Leonard
at the Clippers as opposed to the La Lakers. And
basically it was this deal where he is circumventing the
salary cap by receiving a twenty eight million dollar endorsement
deal with this company called Aspiration, which is like this
tree planting company, and that this was kind of Salary's
(06:25):
circumvention on top of his four year, one hundred and
seventy six point two million dollar extension kind of with
the Clippers. And so Pablo Torre was basically finding this out.
And for those of you who aren't familiar with him,
he's a former ESPN host and so he is a
well respected reporter, and he did some digging with these
(06:48):
Aspiration employees, found this out and was basically like, wait,
this isn't allowed.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
It was marketed or it was written essentially as a
quote unquote marketing deal, but Leonard didn't have to uphold anything.
There was nothing that he had to do in order
to quote unquote secure this endorsement deal. So that's also
I think part of it to why it does appear
as a circumventing the salary cut because it was gifted
(07:15):
to him quite literally, and endorsements usually are not very
much so a gift, you have to work for them.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, and so with that gift and with that twenty
eight million dollars two stuff, the timing is interesting. So
he signs this extension. People are alleging this was probably
in conversation earlier when he was leaving the Raptors, but
on the podcast, Torre also alleges that see Balmer, who
(07:42):
owns the Clippers and who's you've probably seen him. He's
this like tall, bald, white dude who's super rich, who's
very charismatic. I was gonna say affervescent, but I don't
know if that's the right word, actually, but I'm gonna
say I.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Think why and when I hear that, yeah, I think
that was the wrong word.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
He's a very charismatic guy, big guy whatever. He was
so frickin' jazz about Kawhi. He he gets everybody excited.
He made a fifty million dollar investment apparently in this
company around the same time that they signed quote unquote Kawhi,
and so I think that's the other red flag here,
is that it's like, okay, Steve invest a fun ton
(08:22):
of money in this company. Then Kawhi gets this big
endorsement deal and people are like, what where is this
coming from? And then the company a couple years later
goes under, which is normal in startup world, like companies
go under all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And the co founder of that company pleaded guilty last
month to two counts of wirefraud for deceiving lenders and
investors worth close to two hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Oh my god, that part at that part is new
to me, Steff. So that is that's absolute tea in
all of this. To Torre's credit, he's going out and
he's talking to the Clippers and things like that. And
the reason why we're saying alleged around all of this,
this is all Tories reporting. This is us reading the report,
listening to the podcast, doing all that sort of stuff
(09:09):
like this is all from him. The Clippers ended up
sending a statement to his podcast saying that any ascertation
of salary caps or convention and misconduct is provably or
probably I don't know how to say that word provably false,
And so they're saying this is absolutely not true, which okay,
(09:33):
but you.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But back in twenty nineteen, there were valid sources from
the league that said Kawhi or the people that represent Kauwhi,
was asking from the Lakers a private plane that would
be available at all times, a house, and a guaranteed
amount of off court endorsement money that he could be
expected if Leonard signed with the Lakers. And so he
(09:57):
was asking that from the Lakers and.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
In twenty nineteen after the Raptors championship, and that's why
so many people are like, even though this was in
twenty twenty one, was this already considered in twenty nineteen
when they were in negotiations.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And the owner of the Lakers was like, that's illegal,
We're not doing any of that. That made her uncomfortable.
And then there was Genie Buss. There was out like
notes in reporting that similar requests were made of the
Raptors at the time that obviously the Raptors could not fulfill.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yes, And this is all coming from I think it
was Kawai's uncle who for whatever reason in the basketball world,
doesn't have like.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
A title.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah yeah, exactly. It's just like he's a quaisso yes, yeah,
yeah exactly. Like I would say, maybe has a reputation
for some stuff that is maybe off pieced is potentially
what I would call it. So all of this is alleged,
and I think Steph where to tie this with a
bow because we've been talking for a while. If this
is true, this is not allowed. This is very illegal.
(11:00):
This is very not good and does not look good
for the Clippers. This is really bad for Kawhi Leonard
for whatever reason. And I might just be duped by
these people, but I really do not think that Kawhi
Leonard would agree to something like this. And maybe this
because I feel like I know him. Ye I don't
(11:20):
know him at all, but I am a Kawhi Leonard
sympathizer and I'm like, Kawhi I wouldn't do this. I
just feel like he wouldn't do this. And at the
same time, I'm like Steve Balmer, he has so much
energy for this team stuff. He is a billionaire, He's
made his money doing so many other things. This is
fun for him. He wants to win like, they are competitive,
(11:41):
they want to win. But I'm like, I don't think
that he would throw away everything that he's built with
his reputation and everything that the Clippers could be on
something like this when other teams are flat out saying no,
Like I just I'm having a hard time believing this
is real.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But he is so rich, like extremely rich, right, right,
And the violation for this is a fine. If it's
four point five million for the first offense, five point
five million for the second event. So however this is
going to play out, what's the first what's the second offense?
It's forfeiture of draft picks. So you're like, Okay, he
doesn't want to be competitive, but there are a lot
(12:21):
of financial penalties that I'm so you think he doesn't
care about. And as someone who was one of those
people that thought, wow, everyone sees playing in Toronto's punishment
and then leaves it their first thought, I don't. I
don't have the same sense of loyalty personally to Qui
and his character based on that.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Anyway, it's all tea and don't come for us. It's speculation.
Everything is speculation. But we thought that of his tea,
and we thought that you should know and if you
want to learn more again, please go listen to Pablo
Torre finds out. Please go have a look at his
report and make your own opinion.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Oh, just start googling. You'll find some good stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Okay, it is the most wonderful time of the year,
sung in a Christmas tune. NFL is officially back with
tonight's Thursday night football show down at eight twenty pm
Eastern between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. This
season is going to be good, and not just because
we have an NFL Pick Them Challenge that we are
(13:32):
hosting every single week that you can go play right
now at the Just sports dot com. Go get your
picks in. I really highly recommend you too. It's free
to play. It's so much fun. We made it ourselves.
You play against other gisters. It's the best. But also
because we're an official digital partner of the NFL, you.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Know, and legally blond when they do the snap Cup,
that's thank You's for the gist.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
That's for the GISTs. So we are so excited about it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And check your inbox later for a special edition newsletter
that it's going to break down everything that you need
to know before the season kicks off, because we don't
have time to go into everything in the podcast today,
so we're going to highlight some things for you. We're
going to dig into just some highlights, whereas the newsletter
will dig into much more information.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I do want to set the scene really quick. So
in the NFL, there are two conferences, the AFC and
the NFC. Each of those conferences are split up by
four divisions East, West, North, South. Those teams are the
NFL teams are divided equally amongst those divisions. There are
(14:39):
eighteen weeks throughout the NFL regular season, with teams playing
seventeen games, so that means that each team gets a
bye week and then from there the playoffs occur. So
the postseason doesn't start until the new year. So a
lot of people think that the regular season only at
last until December, but it actually trickles into the new year,
(14:59):
which I love because what else are we doing over
the holidays then watching TV?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
So that's what you can really sing. It's the exactly
and for.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
The first time or was this last year that was
the first time ever? I can't remember because I was away.
The NFL will be playing on Christmas. I think last
year was the first time.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
That feels like the second.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, I'm lying anyway, But today we just want to
talk about the top four teams as seth.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Point five maybe email yeah, five yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Favorite, Yeah, there you go, Okay, top four and then
a fan favorite. So these are early Super Bowl picks. Again.
If you want more week to week, go player game
the Just sports dot com. If you want more on
the season, we'll be sending you an email later this evening.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Should we kick it off with the defending champs?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I silent that we have to kick it off with
the defending champs, So the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFCS.
I think that the defending champs are more than ready
to run it back. I think that it would be
so cool if we saw Kansas City win it back
to back and then we see Philly run it back
from there. I think on the good side of things,
if we want to break it down with the good
(16:13):
and the bad for each of these teams, they boast
essentially the same dynamic group of offensive weapons that they
had last year. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, a Super Bowl MVP,
and a consummate haughty oh jesy like I see him
on social media and I kick my legs.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, flutter the legs, flutter, the legs flutter, the heart.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
He's just he's the best on and off the fields,
and he is so great to look at too. We
also have to think about running back and reigning Offensive
Player of the Year Saquon Barkley. He became the league's
all time single season rushing leader including the playoffs, amassing
over twenty five hundred yards last year. I will say
he's taken some heat in the offseason with who he
(16:56):
is surrounding himself by. And that is all I will
say right now, and everybody can go do google that.
And then the wide receivering duo of AJ Brown and
DeVante Smith is so good. Their offensive line is also intact,
like it's amazing. But I think, like the cons always
(17:17):
for the Philadelphia Eagles is their secondary. And when we
use the term secondary and football, we're essentially talking about
their defense. So when we're talking about defense, that's quarterbacks
nickelbacks not to be confused with look at this photograph.
And then the safeties. They are the folks that line
up against the wide receivers or the offensive line or
(17:40):
the tight ends, all that sort of stuff. They've lost
some of their team from last year to other teams,
and losing starters for your secondary is really hard. They
kind of like captain everything that's going on out there.
And the Eagles they allowed a decent amount of points
and so I am really curious to see how their
defense steps up. That's a big question mark for me
(18:01):
this year.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So good, there's the bad with the Philadelphia Eagles. The
next team that we have to talk about is the
Buffalo Bills. The Bills are of course, they always make
it just close enough. They have not been able to
ditch the postseason curse that seems to follow them year
to year. But just like we said last year, maybe
this is the year.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Maybe this is the year for the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Do you want to know that the Kansas City Chiefs
have ended the Bills season in four of the last
five seasons, twice in the AFC Championship and twice in
the individual round. So would love to not see that happen
again personally. So the good with the Buffalo Bills, of course,
is their quarterback is Josh Allen. He is the reigning
That's one thing.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Too, and Josh Allen and one thing I just want
to say, a by the Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen
was engaged to Hailey Steinfeld last year, but this year
he was married in the offseason, and so I just
think she might be the secret sauce that spurs the
Buffalo Bills along to win their first Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You think that ring is gonna just boom skyrock to Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I don't know. He's he seems like he's in such
a good place, So I just think that it could
be the game changer.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Mental is a huge part of any any sporting event.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Near support system, your cheerleader anyway, so much to talk about.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So Josh Allen is the reigning MVP, and he is
the reigning MVP for a reason. He just he's winning games.
He's good at winning games, and he is an absolute
superstar with They didn't have a superstar wide receiver last season,
and Josh Allen still broke multiple NFL records and led
the Bills to the AC Championship. So he can get
(19:37):
it done. He's very durable. He's the guy.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
I love how he used durable. I think that's a
perfect way to describe Josh Allen. Because even without a
star wide receiver, he found different people to connect with.
But I think Steph to that durable side of things.
He's a big guy and he's surprisingly quick at the
same time, and so not a lot of people think.
A lot of people think about Lamar Jackson, who will
get to in a minute as a really amazing rusher.
(20:02):
So a quarterback who can run with the ball, but
also like Josh Allen, can run the ball, and he's
scary and so as a result, defenses don't know what
he's gonna do, and so they have to play him differently,
which provides more space even for those guys, even if
they're not star wide receivers, to catch the ball, because
the secondary on the opponent is always like frig is
(20:24):
Josh gonna run? Or is Josh gonna throw it? So
I think that is really hard.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Let's talk about the bad with the Buffalo Bills, and
unfortunately that is the same old story here. It's the defense.
The team has made some defensive upgrades over the summer,
so that's good to see, but the big question is
whether or not that is going to be enough to
make the difference to really get them over that curse.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, they added Joey Bosa, who you might be familiar
with the name, to help, but what's really hard about him,
and what's been really hard with their secondary over the
last few year stuff, is that they just have had
a really hard time saying healthy and so because of that,
there's just players in and players out, and there's no
real consistency. And I think that teams have found a
(21:09):
way to poke holes. And I think that's also why
Josh Allen and the offensive side has to be so good,
is that they know that their defense isn't able to
win championships. And I think that's what Kansas City has
been able to poke a hole and is like that
extra field goal, that extra touchdown that they really shouldn't
be allowing if they want to actually make it past
Kansas City. This year's stuff. My hot take is that
(21:31):
the Bills load up somewhere on defense throughout the season.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, you're right, because in consistency with the seventeen game
season is not great.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, it's really not great. But let's so, you're a
Bills fan, so obviously you're talking about the Bills, but
also you famously went to Detroit for vacation. I did
be and you love Detroit, so I think Steph, you
should talk about the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Thank you so much, Ellen for giving me those two teams.
So this is a third of the four teams that
we're going to talk about, and let's start with the good.
Detroit's offense absolutely stacked. Anytime you have a running back
one two punch is talented as Jamior Gibbs and David Montgomery,
things are probably going to go well. Their nicknames are
Sonic and Knuckles. After yes, the video game and I
(22:17):
hope you know what I'm talking about when I say that,
And if not, absolutely you know Sonic though, right, Sonic
the Hedgehog.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Like off the top of my head, I don't. I
never played video.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Games any any video games.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
No, we didn't have video games.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Not even like an arcade game. No at the Turtle track, Oh.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Well, I played air hockey.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Okay, that was it. We had no too, TecTile.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah, we had no video games.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Okay, okay, but yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It's a cute nickname. It's a cute nation can get it.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And then for those who get it, you understand it's
very representative of their running style. So it is quite a
good nod and their quarterbacks of Detroit is who were
talking about Still Jared Goff is back under center with
all Pro wide receiver Almen Ross Saint Brown and tight
end Sam Laporta.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I'm just hearing to say I have something to say.
So have you you haven't? I know that you haven't
something on Netflix. Yes, So, as y' all know on
Netflix or as I've talked about before, Peyton Manning and
his production company did Receiver last year and Quarterback this year.
(23:30):
It was the second season Quarterback. Last year, Almen Ross
Saint Brown was featured for the Detroit Lions, and this
year Jared Goff is featured for the Detroit Lions. Also,
we should mention the Buffalo Bills are featured this year
in Hard Knocks, and I just I love this storytelling
because I feel like it allows you to get to
know those players more. But also as much as it's
featuring on the players, so Saint Brown as well as Golf,
(23:53):
you kind of get to know the team at large
a little bit more too. And so if you're looking
for a way to get into the Lions, I would
highly recommend watching the latest season of Quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And then you said Hard Knocks for the Bills. Yeah, okay, noted,
I will take that. I appreciate you, Ellen, even if
I have to write it down and then hope for
rainy day.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And you'll never actually read it. But let's talk Let
I mean listen, I mean watch it. Let's talk about
the cons.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Okay. So the offense and line that was so good
last season did lose two of their key members, four
time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow who's now retired, and
their veteran guard Kevin Zeitler, who left a free agency.
So will they be as effective on offense without them?
That is a really good question. But that's why Golf
(24:43):
is really important. When he had the time to throw
last year in twenty twenty four, Golf ranked second in
the league and quarterback rating, which is a metric that
weighs a bunch of things, and when he doesn't have
time to throw, that drops to twenty third.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
And so it will be really interesting to see how
how the replacements step up there. The offensive line. The
offensive line is important period, but especially for someone like
Golf who doesn't have the ability to run. I would say,
like a Josh Allen, Orkah Lamar Jackson, the pocket becomes
so important to him. He's a little bit I would
never compare him to Tom Brady because he's not even close
(25:18):
to as good as tom Brady in my opinion, but
he is a little bit like a Tom Brady and
that he needs a pocket to feel safe in in
order to throw dimes because then he can throw dimes.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I also need a pocket to feel safe in.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, it's it's really important. The kangaroos are onto something.
And then also two stuff like coaching is so important
and this coaching staff changes everything. And Detroit lost both
of their offensive and defensive coordinators, which is basically like
the number two and three to the head coach.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
If Yeah, there are so many coaches in football and
they're all important at.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
All, and especially those two are important.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah. Yeah, So there's the good, there's the bad with
the Detroit Lions. Do you want to take our four
before we get to the fan favorite?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I really do. Before we get into the fan favorite.
The Baltimore Ravens AFC. North Baltimore, very similar to the
Buffalo Bills, is always this close to finally making it through,
and I'm like, Lamar Jackson, please please. All I want
to see is either Baltimore or Buffalo actually making it
(26:23):
through the Super Bowl. They both can't go there, but
like we need one of them there. So Lamar Jackson
is so good. He's a two time league MVP. In
twenty twenty four, when Josh Allen won MVP, Lamar Jackson
set career best marks in passing touchdowns forty one as
well as passing yards. And that is a big deal.
And why we wanted to bring that up is because
(26:44):
Lamar Jackson is so dynamic and is such a good
runner that for him to actually set career best marks
in passing touchdowns with forty one and passing yards, that's huge.
That means that his game is growing, which means that
he's even more scary as an offensive weapon than ever before.
And part of stuff why he was running less and
(27:07):
potentially passing more is because he has arguably the best
supporting cast he's ever had. In this year and the
last year, running back Dear Henry. They call him King
Henry for a reason. He is one of the greatest
running backs I would say of our generation. He is
so big and so strong and yet so fast at
(27:30):
the same time, he defies gravity. I actually don't really
understand how it works with his body, how he's a
running back, and his defense, like the Baltimore Ravens defense
is also pretty good that I'm like, if this team
doesn't make it to the super Bowl, there's a curse,
their curse, Like, That's what I'd be thinking at this point.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So do you think he's more likely that Lamar Jackson
is more likely to be MVP this year? Are we
not even gonna We're sorry.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Ready, I'm not ready for that conversation.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Are you ready for the cons the bad?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Perhaps? Yeah, I think that this is a little bit
of a question mark for us. So they are bringing
on rookie kicker Tyler Loop. They did release Justin Tucker
the Ravens Dead, which is super refreshing after there was
some controversy with him and really so nice to see.
(28:24):
But Tucker was the most accurate kicker in NFL history.
Kickers are so important for a multitude of reasons, but
so often in the NFL these days, a field goal
can change who wins the game, and so the fact
that they are putting a rookie in to potentially clinch
games for them is a little scary.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
But you never know. You never know. You never know.
Give the kid a chance.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, We're gonna give the kid a chance. So those
are our top four. The Philadelphia Eagles, the Buffalo Bills,
the Detroit Lions, and the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I think, people, I know the point five that we
might mention the one team missing from the list of
contenders here that we still need to talk about, and
that is the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Casey and I think that they're on the top of
the list because obviously a little someone named Taylor Swift,
but I think outside of Taylor Swift, they have been
a dynasty, especially over the last five to six years.
We cannot count them out. Yes, they didn't win the
Super Bowl last year, but they were in it. They
won back to back before. They've had three straight Super
(29:30):
Bowl appearances, I think four of the last five or six.
It's actually wild. Patrick Mahomes is so good. I think
at the end of the day, he is lights out,
next level. He didn't have his best year last year
in the regular season, but somehow he always pulls out
this fricking postseason magic. That's incredible. Him and Andy Reid,
who's the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, are unquestionably
(29:56):
the best quarterback and head coach pairing in the league
that we are seeing now. If Mahomes reaches the AFC
Championship Game this year, it would be his eight straight appearance,
which would be matching Tom Brady in twenty eleven to
twenty eighteen. So that to me just paints the picture
of how good Patrick Mahomes is, but also how special
(30:19):
that relationship is between him and Andy Reid because it
is very reminiscent of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in
their New England Patriots era.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
So there's still got to be some bad here. They're
not making the top four list of contenders, so maybe
walk us through some of the cons here.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I was really underwhelmed by them last season. I thought
that all together they were below average. They had to
fight to get into and maybe fight is too strong
of a word. They didn't enter the postseason in a
swimming fashion or in an easy fashion. I guess that
(30:56):
you could say I found Travis Kelce to be really
met last year. I found Mahomes, as I already mentioned,
to be meh. Within the regular season last year, I
don't think that they brought in enough fresh support around them.
I felt like the Kansas City Chiefs were really slow
on both defense as well as offense, and so I
(31:19):
hope Steph that they've looked at that and they go, Okay,
we can't just rely on like random looks of mahomes
magic to get us through this entire regular season. There
has to be other people that step up around him.
Their running game is going to have to be so good,
and that's what I'd be looking for this season. If
they can actually make a run.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
You know what I'm looking for. We just do NFL
Pickups Challenge.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yes, link is in the show notes. Everybody go play it.
I have to ask you, Steff, who's your early Super
Bowl pick? You get that you have two teams, one
in the AFC, one in the NFC.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I'm gonna say Baltimore because if I say Bills, I'm
going to curse it.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah, and then see your NFC team Detroit. Okay, I
was kind of thinking the same. I think that this
is more of my hope. I would love to see
Detroit Ravens, but I kind of feel like we might
see Bill's Philly. Bill's Philly would be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, I'd be good with that.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Bill's Philly would be fantastic, But I think I Ravens
have to make it through. I don't know. Ravens have
to make it to the super Bowl this year. That's
all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Okay, we'll run that back later next year, do it. Sorry,
We've been having a really good time today. Stick with
us for our personal training sage. This is where we
would absolutely love to answer your hard hitting questions, and
we did get one via voicemail. Yes time round.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Yes, our producers are going to be bad at us
for talking too much. Oops. Sorry, We're so sorry. If
you'd like to be featured on a future episode, so
call u Selimas to voicemail. We love your voices. You're
all angels at one four three seven five six four
five five seven nine. That's also in the show notes.
You can just click on it. Give us a show
email us at pot at the justsports dot com or
dm us on Instagram. We love a dm at ellen
(33:16):
ethagist at Sephanie Rotts. But today's personal training Sash, we
are taking a question from Holly in Philadelphia. Holly, shout
out to your Eagles. Hopefully you enjoyed that, But Holly
had a really great question following our recent episode about
the women's professional baseball league, so we are going to
insert her question here.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Hi, it's Hii again. I guess my question to you
all is what how do you notice is the history
of baseball and softball in this country and how do
you see it kind of like hopefully being shifted and
changed with this new women's professional baseball league? And also
what do you think about the lack of opportunities for
women to play baseball? The question one is about that
(34:00):
is what do you think about this idea of like
this separation leading to this lack of equality within this space.
I'm not saying that the ones Fresia basically can't exist.
I'm actually so excited for that. I'm so, so, so
so excited. Could this be a space where if the
culture wasn't the way that it was, it could actually
(34:20):
be a really beautiful gender sport. So Okay, thank you
so much. Psypologize for talking so much, and hopefully I
can hear back from me up there.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Thank you Holly so much for how much care and
energy you put into that voicemail. Truly, we appreciate it
so much. So for folks who may have missed it.
If you haven't already, go listen to episode four eighty nine,
the one that we did on the Women's Pro Baseball League.
We will link that in the show notes. If you
kind of want to reverse reverse it, listen to that
and come back flip it and reverse thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yes. So there's a lot of questions in this holly,
which we which as I said, we really appreciate. I
think that there's some context that maybe stuff you can
go through, some trickle down effect, trickle down economics if
you will. But then also I have opinions that I
probably have no right having the opinions of that we
(35:13):
can go through after that.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, I think with it's similar with I'm of the
opinion that it's got to follow similar trajectories of other
women's sports. It has to have some form of trickle
down effect, like as we discussed in the previous episodes,
if there are more opportunities or if there is more
visibility and exposure for young girls to play a sport,
this time being baseball, there has to be some form
(35:36):
of growth. And of course there are no sanctioned baseball
programs at the high school level or collegiate level. And
perhaps depending on how this league goes, that could potentially change.
And I think when you're talking about the history, because
that was one of your questions too. The league that
we talked about in the episode that was the league
that happened when the men went off to war and
(35:57):
the women have to play baseball is such an interesting
kind of just tiny little example of how women have
been treated in sports. And I think how women are
treated in a certain sport is just a direct reflection
of their status in the country. So it would be
interesting to see how this is handled and treated. Because Yeah,
(36:19):
I think, especially when we're talking about new leagues for women,
it's only a positive thing. And if the league is
a success, then perhaps that might shift the overall landscape.
It will take time. It's going to take time, Like
if you think about professional women's hockey, how much time
that took to establish. Yeah, I don't know when it
(36:39):
comes to the all gender sport thing. Do you wanna
save that opinion? Ellen? Do you want to counter me first?
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah, I'd like to counter you first. Okay, I think
what's really tough here and what I don't think we
necessarily experience in other women's sports or men's sports to
a certain ext and I'd love for you stuff to
live fact check me as I'm talking about this is
that there isn't There is right now a specific women's
(37:09):
alternative to baseball, and that is softball. And softball has
been a sport that the country has rallied around and
put a lot of infrastructure around, and it is successful,
and we are seeing things like AUSL happen. We are
seeing incredible softball being played at the college level, and
we are seeing amazing softball being played at the Olympic
(37:32):
level when it is in certain Olympics. And so because
of that, and because softball being so ahead of the
curve in comparison to baseball on the women's side, I
do think that it might potentially style me the growth
of baseball, because I think women will look at softball
and say, oh, I potentially have more opportunities in softball
(37:54):
because it is ten, fifteen, twenty years ahead of where
baseball is at. They are completely different sports. As we
talked about it in the last episode, I don't think
that it's necessarily fair to compare them sport to sport wise,
but what I'm saying is is that like young girls
who are interested in playing baseball. I think still will
(38:14):
have the natural push from people to go and play
softball because of the collegiate opportunities. I don't see baseball,
unfortunately being a big enough opportunity for the NC DOUBLEA
or the Olympics or major high school programs to actually
(38:35):
bring in for women in earnest because of the economics
around it.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Do you think that it could have enough of an
effect though, to maybe normalize women playing on men's NC
Double A baseball teams or do see a future where
that would be possible.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
I think I think that future is very close. I
think that baseball is a sport where women can and
should and have been one hundred percent playing on those
men's teams, and I think that baseball is a sport
where they're more open to it. We've seen women play
and men's sports across so many different We've seen kickers
in the NCAA, Sarah Fuller for play football. We've seen,
(39:18):
as we were talking about, some folks playing for the
Savannah Bananas semi pro team. We've seen the likes of
Haley Wickenheiser play with pro men in hockey. Like I
do think that this could potentially open that up maybe more,
but I don't know if that would actually impact the
men as much, you know what I mean, Like, I
(39:39):
don't know if it would actually change. But I love
the idea. I love the idea of seeing baseball as
an all gender sport. I really do think that that
is an awesome idea, And I don't think that there's
really not a reason why it is like that when
we're seeing countless girls at the little league level, I
feel like the diamond is a equal opportunity space, and
(40:02):
I think that girls can catch just as good as boys,
and they can pitch just as fast as boys, and
they can hit just as hard as boys. So would
love to see more of that. I just I think
I think it's just really like when you look at
hockey stuff, or when you look at soccer, or when
you look at basketball, there's not a direct competitor almost
(40:23):
within your same sport category.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
You know what I mean. Yeah, that's a really good point.
So one could be treated like like the only comparable
would be tiered leagues in soccer, like a like a
farm team in basketball or something like that.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Or like a hockey with a ring at or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, but then it's, in my opinion, can't have both. Yeah,
so if I talk about it in that perspective, But
maybe the silver lining will be it might normalize women
appearing in baseball spaces Austin, whether that's MLB collegiate, who knows.
Maybe it'll just create more of an all gender opportunity.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Or like, hopefully this league freakin does take off and
we're having this conversation. I just don't think that it's
gonna happen like in the next five years. I think
that we could be having this conversation fifteen twenty years
down the line, being like, Okay, let's go.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
And that's why I mentioned women's hockey because it was
not an overnight success. It took decades of work. It
took decades of advocacy and trying and failing. So I
would not personally put that kind of expectation on a
new league like this, even being in twenty twenty five
versus when we tried to professionalize women's hockey being X
(41:42):
amount of years ago, like it, there's still gotta be
some catch up period.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah. Oh my gosh, guys, we're so sorry.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
We've been so tatty.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Holly, thank you so much for your question. Literally, they say,
keep it to a time and stuff, and I go, oh,
we miss each other. We have so much to talk about.
We're just gonna chat for so long, and turns out
we're producing ourselves, which is dangerous, dangerous. So anyway, thank
y'all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
We'll be back in your feed with a new podcast
on Tuesday today. You know you didn't hear from us
earlier this week, so your Labor Day podcast was just
rolled into this one and extra long so apaulogies in
the meantime. If you did enjoy this episode, please rate, review, subscribe,
and send us a personal training sessions to answer.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
This episode was edited by Savannah hild and produced by
Lisa Manicilo, Alexandra Puccio, and Lauren Tuscala. Again, I'm Ellen Hislop.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
And I'm Steph Rott. Call us, call in d MS,
email us. We would love to hear from you, and
we'll chat with you again on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
A
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