November 11, 2025 • 33 mins
Live from a brand-new studio!
In this episode of the Huddle Within podcast, we discuss the latest sporting news and updates, including the firing of Nico Harrison, the biggest surprise team in the NBA the Detroit Pistons as well as the disappointing teams like Pacers and Wizards who are off to real slow starts, NFL & EPL previews, and John Cena winning the Intercontinental championship.
🎧 Tune in, subscribe, and join the conversation.
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
X
Bluesky
Chapters00:00 Welcome to the New Studio
02:20 The Firing of Nico Harrison
07:52 Detroit Pistons amazing start
11:20 Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers struggles
19:18 NFL Standings and Team Performance
23:58 Premier League Results and Preview
26:21 John Cena wins Intercontinental title
30:39 F1 Rapid Recap and Closing Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What is going on, everybody? And welcome to another episode
of the Huddle Within podcast. Thank you once again for tuning
in to this week's episode. We're in the new studio, just
moved into the house on Friday, as you could tell by the
Instagram story that I put up the other day.
Apologies for the delay in getting this out to you guys on
(00:22):
our regular Wednesday morning. As mentioned there, obviously
moving to new house has been quite hectic and also aligned
with starting a new job as well which has required me to be at
the office every single day. Haven't had the chance to really
have the time to to sit down andrecord an episode for you guys
(00:43):
and we're finally here. It feels as though we need to
add some life onto these walls, and I'm sure we'll be able to to
do that in the near distant future.
But for now, this is gonna be the new studio.
As mentioned, I do plan to have like a couch right next to this
desk. And this desk may potentially
move to accommodate for the couch that I'm gonna have here
(01:06):
where hopefully when guests come, instead of having them
remotely, if they're living here, they're able to come in.
We're able to sit down on the couches, get a few microphones
going on and yeah, get to work and I loving my new table at the
moment. It's not as sturdy so you can't
really hear as many issues with the microphone as we used to
(01:26):
before with the sort of disrupt spamming of the mic when hitting
the table was quite flimsy. Bought myself obviously a new
table. I've got my lovely 2 screens in
front of me for working from home, but also for the podcast
as well, which is fantastic. And yeah, a nice clear wall to,
to hopefully build on, maybe getsome frames in or maybe get some
(01:47):
sort of, I guess shelves to put some fancy stuff.
But again, we'll, we'll be able to figure that out as we go
along, as mentioned. But yeah, it's been great sort
of setting this up, finally having my own space.
And I think this is where the podcast can potentially take off
with with a new space and a new sort of refreshment as well and
potentially new things as well. But what won't change is the
(02:11):
latest Sporting News. And that's what we're going to
be covering today on this episode.
And we cannot start with the latest Sporting News without the
biggest news coming out of the NBA right now, and that is Nico
Harrison being fired by the Dallas Mavericks.
And to say that this wasn't coming, it's quite silly because
(02:34):
I think people were waiting for this moment to happen, and it
came quite early. And I think it's got to do with,
obviously, the recent performances, definitely the
trade that in all press conferences, no one involved has
mentioned. And yeah, definitely their
record, too, and the fact that ADS been injured and Kyrie's not
(02:55):
coming back. So, yeah, the Dallas Mavericks
sneaker Harrison, I'm torn between it because I think that
I can see what he was trying to do.
And it sounds strange to say andhindsight's a lovely thing in in
that. But at the end of the day, man,
like you can't be trading Luca like that so abruptly and and
(03:15):
giving the Lakers that that sortof hold.
Because although Max Christie's a good player, there has been
injury concerns with Anthony Davis.
So for anyone to sit there and say that he's not someone that
could potentially get injured isquite ignorant.
So we've proven that he's obviously had time off now and
he's had time off last season. And then with Kyrie getting
(03:37):
injured along with even that Cody Martin, Caleb Martin trade,
I miss him getting confused twins.
The Caleb Martin trade for Quinton Grimes didn't help the
'cause either they they literally would build this team
to win championships on the premise and basis that players
were gonna get fit and with the players they had, they were not
going to get fit. So removing a generational star
(04:00):
in Luka Doncic is has to like, be a good sort of outcome in
returning. And so far, they're sitting in
like, the bottom three of the West.
So to me, that just doesn't seemfeasible, doesn't make sense.
And yes, they did get Cooper Flag out of it.
But at the end of the day, Cooper Flag is gonna take a lot
(04:20):
of time to grow. And without a proper point
guard, how's he really gonna develop?
They were playing him at point guard a lot of the times.
And it was it was quite a mess. And I think that when you see
fans not coming to the games, itwas the first time in I think 20
years that or over 20 years thata Dallas Mavericks organisation
didn't sell out a home game. And that started to happen.
(04:45):
You had fire Nico Chance flying left, right and centre.
And yeah, it was just, it was just doomed to be an end for for
Nico Harrison. And all the Dallas Mavericks
fans that I spoke to are quite annoyed with it because, yes,
you fired Nico Harrison. But now what happens?
(05:05):
It's like you've done the trade,you've done the damage.
Like, who's going to come in andlike, rectify this?
You've obviously proven now thatthe trade did not work.
By firing Nico Harrison, you areproving that Luka Doncic trading
and going to the Lakers and how he's dominating is a massive
(05:26):
mistake. And that's not a good look on
The Mavericks organisation. It's not a good look on the
franchise and and feeling as though things can turn around.
Like this team literally made the finals last year.
So to change their whole sort ofteam and personnel and then to
not back the GM and not sort of double down on this, whether it
(05:47):
was right or wrong, just more for the organisation and giving
the fans that sort of security that their their their franchise
is gonna be OK. W was the wrong play here.
So maybe they get a new GM and things change around there, but
I don't think it was fully on Nico Harrison.
At the end of the day, the ownerneeds to sign off on this.
(06:08):
So whether his basketball knowledge is not up to standard,
that needs to be fixed. And I'm hearing rumblings that
Jason Kidd had a sign up on this, on this decision as well.
So it sort of does fall on him too.
So yes, Nico Harrison probably takes the blame for it, his
justifications for the trade, saying the defence wins
championships and you have someone generation and Luca just
(06:30):
looks stupid. And yeah, the way that the
franchise was going, it was madeto happen.
But I still don't think it will fix the problems.
I think Dallas are going to be in massive trouble.
Their best bet is that Cooper Flag becomes the player that he
was hyped out to be and that he's someone that will be
generational. But can he be as generational as
Luca is right now? At the moment the signs are
(06:53):
saying no, because I think when Luca started in his rookie
season, he was going out the gates firing and he was killing
it. So yeah, I I've got, I've got no
words for it. I think it's not fully to blame
on Nikka Harrison. I don't think you should be
taking full accountability for what happened there.
But at the same time, in the end, you are the general manager
(07:13):
and your job is to improve the roster.
And the crazy part is he did make some pretty good trades to
get him into the finals, pickingup PJ Washington, picking up
Kyrie Evan and free agency, and also picking up Daniel Gaffin in
trade, which did help them get to where they needed to be.
But then now they've pretty muchteared it down.
So yeah, I'm feeling for Dallas.I'm feeling for the fans and I
(07:34):
think it's going to be a long time until we kind of get a
clear clarity on where they're going to go in what direction.
And I think it's leaning more towards a rebuild.
Maybe Kyrie and Anthony Davis come back this season, finish it
off, maybe get sidelined and then they regroup for for next
season. Who knows?
Yeah, we'll, we'll pretty much move on from that and continue
(07:56):
on the NBA train. We have probably the biggest
sort of, I wouldn't say surprisestory because they had a really
good run last year against the New York Knicks.
But it's the Detroit Pistons whoare currently 9:00 and 2:00 at
the moment and they are dominating the Eastern
Conference. And they just had a recent win
against the Washington Wizards, who I'm definitely going to be
(08:17):
talking about after this, where Kate Cunningham took the most
field Co attempts in yonks and they had him enduring running
the show with a bunch of G league players and they found a
way to win the game against the Wizards.
But off that because I'll leave that for wizard segment.
Kate Cunningham, as I mentioned in the NBA overs and unders for
the Eastern Conference, is an A dark horse MVP candidate in my
(08:42):
opinion. And the way he's playing right
now, he looks like a real MVP candidate and I'm kind of proud
to sort of pick on that. And you just look at his
numbers, he's just been incredible.
He's averaging 27 1/2 points, 5 rebounds, and 9.9 assists,
shooting at 47% from a fishing field goal percentage, and his
(09:04):
threes haven't been too good. He's obviously been taking a lot
of shots this season, but the fact that he's upped his points,
his rebounds, his assists from last season drastically and he's
still not hitting his normal efficiency numbers is quite
scary. Last year he was averaging 84%
from the line, 49% is in the 50 field goal and 33% point 3.
(09:28):
He's 5% off that and imagine if he hits to that 30 to 31% that
he can easily get from three. I think he's going to be close
to averaging 30 points this season.
And if he continues to keep Detroit where they are, and that
is top of the Eastern Conferencesitting at 9:00 and 2:00 at the
moment, they are poised, poised to make a deep run in the East
and potentially push to the Finals, like I said.
(09:51):
And New York Knicks is there. The East is quite weak at the
moment. Orlando hasn't been performing
too well. We expected them to go up and
Anna's got injuries galore. The Miami Heat are looking
strong early on. Philly are looking pretty decent
early on. But can these teams hold?
I don't know. The Detroit Pistons showed that
they can really be a competitiveteam.
And they do have the guy in CapeCunningham.
And another player that is the guy right now helping him out is
(10:15):
Jalen Duran. And if he continues going like
this, this guy is going to be a All Star.
And they're gonna have two All Stars from Detroit, which is
gonna be simply incredible. And I, I just love what Detroit
are doing. I love the the acquisitions of
Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert.
We did say that Tim Hardaway andMellie Beasley would be big
losses, but these two have come in seamlessly and pretty much
(10:37):
done what those role players have done and it hasn't looked
like a loss at all and it's justamazing.
They have young players that arefinding ways to win as well.
JB Bickerstaff is doing an amazing job there and you got to
give credit to the Pistons. We might be calling JB to get
coach of the year as well this season 2 the way he's been, he's
been organising and running thisteam and I really think that
(10:59):
they can make a deep run in the playoffs, especially with the
experience from last season and especially with Kate at the
helm, who honestly, he's lookinglike an MVP player.
He's he's got to be in the conversation and he's also
locked in right now if he keeps if he keeps the season like this
for a first team all NBA pick aswell.
So I love it. It's great to see stars in the
East come across and young starsand young point guards.
(11:21):
Kate Cunningham is certainly oneof them.
And yeah, really keen for him tocontinue to grow and do what
he's doing. But in contrast, the fucking
Wizards. The Wizards are one and 10.
How they lost in that Detroit Pistons game is beyond me.
Now CJ McCollum had a really good game, 42 points.
(11:42):
But when it came to OT, he cooked it.
He absolutely cooked it in the in the overtime and he started
to be picking up in his performances.
But I haven't been really happy with him and Middleton and and
what they've been doing for the team.
It feels as though that if we are one and 10, why are we just
not playing the young kids? And Speaking of the young kids,
Bob Carrington, man hasn't been good at all.
(12:05):
And it looks like this team is in desperate need of a
generational star, a point guardthat can lead the home.
Keyshawn George has taken a stepback, which probably would have
expected, but was hoping that hecould be the star that we were
hoping for. But the real star right now is
Alexa. He's knocking the three ball
down. He's getting points.
He's he's unbelievable in the pain.
(12:26):
He's the fastest to blocks. And the only people on top of
him was Cha Ongram and Victor Wenbignam.
And they were the two generational guys coming out of
the draught. So Alexa is is a silver lining
at the moment. And I think if you're gonna pair
him up with a generational pointguard that can score and play
make, I think we're looking at adecent team for next year.
(12:48):
But I'm not gonna get my hopes up from the draught.
I obviously look at Darren Peterson.
I think he's the perfect fit forus.
But at the end of the day, I've seen too many times where the
Wizards have been robbed from from getting a draught pick as
well. So we'll have to keep tabs on on
that. But the Wizards are not
performing really well. Bottom of the East and just just
a shit show there. Like just don't have any clear
(13:09):
winning identity. I know we're such a young team,
but there's just no identity to win.
They don't know how to win, theyfind ways to lose, they can't
win games. And it's just really frustrating
at the moment because again, we know that tanking doesn't
necessarily mean you're going toget a top five picks, so why
aren't we keep competing? I also had them for over 19.5
(13:30):
wins. The elite hit the 20 win mark
and it's looking really, really unlikely right now.
We haven't won in nine games. So of the the one in 10 streak,
we lost the first game of the season and then we won our
second game against Dallas and since then we haven't won a
single game. And you thought that beating
Dallas at their ground would have would have given or at
their court would have given us the chance to do that, but it
(13:51):
didn't happen. And now we wish.
We're yet to lose a game, but another shit show besides the
Nets, who I think are genuinely worse than us, if I'm honest,
are the Indiana Pacers, who man,oh man, like you lose Tyrese
Halliburton, you're one game offmaking the NBA Finals and
winning in it or winning the NBAFinals and winning a
(14:12):
championship and you're one in 10.
And now Tyrese Halliburton, yes,he's injured.
We all know that, but then losing injuries to to Nemhar and
and Aaron Naysmith for a few times for a few games it it just
kills you. And I really feel sorry for
Pascal Siakam. I feel sorry for this whole
organisation and the fans. And you were one game away from
(14:32):
winning a championship. Now you're probably, what is it
71 games away from the number one pick.
And that might be a good thing for you guys to to bolster your
squad and bring in someone to help out for the future and and
potentially go back to championships.
But it just feels like it's going to be a long time gone for
them that that that series and that injury to Tyrese
(14:53):
Halliburton really derailed the Indiana Pacers.
And I think that that's going tobe a big effect on them because
at the moment, it's really hard to sort of see how this team
could ever go back to to potentially another NBA Finals
with Tyrese Halliburton injured with the Achilles.
(15:14):
And even when he does come back is what I'm more talking about
is when he does come back, how is it going to get them back
there? It's it, there's a lot of
questions and there's a lack of answers, to be quite frank.
And I think the paces are in, inmassive trouble.
But if we look at the Western Conference, we have the Thunder
7 and one, we have the Spurs 8 and 21B.
Just unbelievable. No deal in Harper for a bit, but
(15:36):
Fox has come back and has fit inseamlessly.
The Spurs are going to be a threat and Victor Women.
Yama is also someone that could be an MVP candidate alongside
Kate Cunningham away from sort of the usual suspects of
Giannis, who the Bucks are killing it at the moment, 7:00
and 4:00, which is just giving Yanis a great MVP case as well.
Doncic as well from the Lakers and Luca and obviously Shay as
(15:57):
well, as I mentioned. So it's good to see new sort of
MVP candidates coming to the fold, especially the young
players. And it just shows that the
league is going to be in great hands with these superstars and
and that really, really does excite me.
So yeah, again, the Spurs are killing it.
But the biggest surprise for me is the Phoenix Suns.
They're currently 6:00 and 5:00 at the moment.
And I put them on the over and I'm quite happy to see where
(16:20):
they're going at the moment. And it might not last, it
probably won't last. But at the end of the day, it
feels like the the team is starting to become likeable
again. And their culture has been sort
of fixed up, especially considering the issues that were
there with with Bradley Beal andKevin Durant.
Those seem to be gone and, and they haven't looked worse since,
so that's been great. Grayson Allen went on a heater
(16:42):
10 threes the other day and yeah, he's bowling out and they
got culture in Dylan Brooks, whoI think he's just a great mocker
room guy. I I did a whole podcast on sort
of villains and, and what they what they mean to the sport.
And Dylan Brooks is like literally the perfect example of
that. And a lot of people were
starting to be Dylan Brooks fans.
And I'm I'm certainly one of them.
(17:02):
I really love Dylan Brooks and and what he's all about.
But another nice surprise is theUtah Jazz.
They're 4:00 and 7:00, but you really expected them to be one
in 10 knowing that there was sort of one of the worst teams
in the league. But they feel like, I feel like
they've got some nice pieces. Walker casters out for the
season, but there's some playersfilling in and doing a good job
and Ace Bailey has now entered the starting line up so we might
(17:24):
see an ascendance from him as our Collier has come back.
He's playing some decent minutesand my boy Kiante George, who
I've been very high on since hissummer league run with the Utah
Jazz, I think he is going to be an elite scorer.
The fact that he's getting to the line frequently, his
efficiencies are here and there.But I think when I see someone
(17:45):
that can get foul calls and get to the line, we look at Shay and
everyone clowns on him. But I think getting to the line
is a skill and if you have that ability to to draw fouls, get to
the free throw line and and pickup some easy buckets, then I
think you're in you're in a big in in a big opportunity and
you're in for a big scoring loadand also putting up those points
(18:05):
per game. And he's really helping their
star in Laura Markkanen, who is making a real trade case.
And Danny Ainge will be licking his lips knowing that his value
is going to be shooting up at the moment.
And don't you be surprised if hegets moved All Star break or
post All Star break and before the All Star break for the trade
deadline. And we all know we spoke about
(18:26):
them, that Detroit Pistons couldbe the perfect destination for
them. So look out for that.
But I guess in other storylines,the Clippers are struggling.
And we've spoke about The Mavericks.
They're three and eight. They're a shit show.
So are the Pelicans. No Zion at the moment, but John
Moran. And as we mentioned, no trade
updates on him. It looks as though that the
(18:47):
Grizzlies organisation organisation are going to be
sticking with their coach and backing him.
And and that's something that I really like.
He's introduced a offensive system that is that is really
good. It's just that we need players
like John Moran and even Jaron Jackson is probably not copying
as much as he should to buy in and lock in.
And if they don't, then I reckonthey need to be to be shipped
out for sure, because they're they're not, they're not
(19:10):
performing well with their stars.
They might as well cash in, get some trade assets, rebuild this
team and get this coach showing the young Bucks how to play some
really good offensive basketball, which which I like
to see in that. So, yeah, that pretty much wraps
up all the NBA stuff for this week.
There's a lot of news coming outwith the Nico Harrison stuff,
(19:30):
which you mentioned at the Star.The Troy Pistons is a nice
supplies story, with Cam Cade becoming an MVP candidate and
potentially pushing that narrative across, and then
you've also got the struggling Wizards and some other
struggling teams there. Just wanted to take a moment to
thank you guys for tuning into another episode of The Huddle
Within podcast. If you do enjoy episodes like
(19:52):
this or this episode specifically, be sure to leave a
comment and a five star review wherever you do get your
podcast. It'd be also great if you could
like and subscribe wherever you do get your podcast so we can
continue to show this out to people that see sports exactly
the way that you do. But without further ado, let's
get straight back into it. But.
We'll get on to the NFL at the moment and we have a lot of
(20:16):
movement when it comes to sort of standings and whatnot.
The Seattle Seahawks are on fire.
As I look at my little scorecard, just to sort of have
a gauge of everything, they're seven and two at the moment.
Alongside the Rams. Currently leading the division
are the Seahawks. The Niners are six and four.
So very competitive down there in the NFC West, and it looks
like the Seahawks are probably the best team coming out.
(20:39):
They've picked up Rashid Shahid,but they do have right now the
best wide receiver so far this season and that is Justice Smith
and Jigbar. He's having an unbelievable
season. And Sam Darnold as well, He's
killing it, too. So he's showing that he can do
it in the regular season. But the real question is, can he
translate this football into theplayoffs?
(21:02):
And that's something that we'll be definitely looking out for.
The Colts are continuing to go on a run 8 and two, picking up
Source Gardener in the trade as well, which which is which is
quite amazing as well. To pick him up to first round
picks is quite crazy for me. I think it's a bit of an overpay
but at the end of the day the Colts are competing and The Jets
are trying to tank and beat shitand accumulate draught picks
(21:25):
which I reckon will stuff up anyway.
So yeah, The Jets are a shit show as we all know.
Like I talk about my Saints, butthey gotta win.
They won again today so can't becomplaining about the New
Orleans Saints. They beat the Carolina Panthers,
what was it as I get the score up 7 to 17 and we had a bit of a
(21:45):
a decent performance from Chris Alavay, which is quite positive
to see. Obviously now that Rashid
Shahid's gone. We got more from Alavay there
who ran for 104 yards if one touchdown, which is quite solid.
Juan Johnson carrying the receiving load as well from
tight end and that leaves room for potentially Foster Monroe
(22:07):
and Devon Bailey to just to sortof pick up on the offensive side
with Alvin Kamara, who has been a bit of a disappointment this
season. But again, it's really hard to
sort of blame him for that as the Saints overall haven't
haven't been good and they won'tbe good for for this season.
But if we look at what's going on next week in the in the next
(22:27):
games coming up, we have a few interesting games to sort of
wrap around and not what not as I bring up the bloody fixture,
which never seems to work for me.
I would say the Bills and the Buccaneers, the Eagles and the
Lions are probably the key storylines there.
You have the New England Patriots who are off to an
unbelievable start too. And I think they've got to get
(22:48):
the the Colts on TV, man, because they're not getting any
TV games. They have a buy this week.
So they're going to be refreshedand rejuvenated.
But I love to see Colts be on ESPN and play on the TV games or
even on Amazon as well there. The Broncos also take on the
Chief. So a quite competitive game
there in the AFC. And the AFC is up for grabs
(23:10):
across those teams as well. You're talking, you're talking
about your Broncos, your new, your New England Patriots,
Indianapolis Colts. You still got the Buffalo Bills,
you still got the Kansas City Chiefs that are also in that
conversation too. So yeah, we're a Week 11 coming
up and we're very close to playoff football, which is
really exciting. And now with new sort of studio
(23:31):
and set up, I'm keen to have Super Bowl here and and watch
that as well. But I'm loving Jonathan Taylor
for the Colts in the the standout offensive play of the
year. For me, it's got to be him or or
Jackson Smith and Jigbar. And an early candidate for the
MVP is still begs the question, but there's a lot of potential
candidates there. I still think Josh Allen is in
(23:54):
the running, just given that he's so good.
And I think Jonathan Taylor is definitely one as well for the
Indianapolis Colts. And what a storyline for Daniel
Jones. Like he's he's having a killer
too. We'll wrap up with the Premier
League. Just to finish up on this
quickly. Just with the fixtures coming
up. We obviously had Liverpool
losing to Manchester City 3 nil,getting completely dominated in
(24:15):
the first half, had a better second half but by then City
were just too good. But we are previewing the North
London Derby between Arsenal andTottenham and that's going to be
a really exciting fixture. I do suspect Arsenal will win
the match. They came off A22 draw against
Sunderland with a 90th minute winner there.
Sunderland just continued to just exceed expectations and,
(24:35):
and just be unbelievable. Getting a draw against Arsenal
who have just been winning everyweek is impressive.
But can Arsenal bounce back beating Tottenham to just
continue to put pressure and, and, and try win this league
because it's, it's very competitive and you have City
around the corner really wantingto, to push for the title as
well. And I think they're they got a
serious case to potentially win the league once again,
(24:56):
especially considering that theyare very close to Arsenal.
I think they're like 4 points behind them.
So there's a lot at stake there.My team, Manchester United,
they're coming off a draw against Tottenham Hotspur.
We managed to salvage a draw in the 94th minute playing with 10
men because our fifth substitution was already done by
(25:19):
the time that Cisco came onto the pitch.
And yeah, obviously lapse of concentration, some pretty
jamming goals on Tottenham's end, especially the first one,
could have costed us vital points.
And salvaging a point, all things considered, was the right
thing. We've taken Everton at home,
that should be a victory for us.But with Manchester United you
(25:42):
can't guarantee any any victories whatsoever.
So we'll keep big tabs on that as well.
And yeah, the probably the otherhighlight game of the night
would have to be, I would say Brian and Bradford.
I think Newcastle, Man City. Sorry, Newcastle at home to Man
City. Newcastle's got a way for away
record, but their home record isquite solid.
(26:03):
But can Man City get a result there and a victory to really
put pressure on Arsenal for the title?
Because I think that if they do,Arsenal got to be really careful
for this firing Manchester City squad with Harlem the Lion and
players like Doku who haven't Dockers having an incredible
season. And I'm someone that really
didn't think he was a really good player, but he's been
(26:24):
killing it for them. And Cherokee shown class and
Fodens have flashes of brilliance too.
So yeah, Manchester City are bigplayers.
They're always going to be big players.
And if Newcastle can cause an upset, I still think it is an
upset, even though it's at Newcastle's home, then it'll be
good news for Arsenal. I think Arsenal will be feeling
a lot, much, a lot better about themselves as well moving
forward. And then basically that pretty
(26:46):
much wraps up I think Premier League, we can quickly talk
about wrestling. John Cena is now the
Intercontinental Championship champion, with Dominic Mysterio
basically calling him out on thelatest episode of Monday Night
Raw, which I've been following wrestling.
Obviously, as you know, and all the roars that have been
happening, this was by far the best Monday Night Raw they've
had in such a long time. They had so many things that
(27:08):
happened. John Cena winning the
Intercontinental title, they didit so then John Cena could
literally have all the titles won and be a Grand Slam
champion. For me, it's a bit of a reach
considering that I think this was hand given to him.
It wasn't something that he necessarily really earned.
I think it was just to sort of cement his legacy as the
greatest wrestler of all time. And yeah, I'm I've got mixed
(27:32):
feelings for it because I love John Cena to be a Grand Slam
champion. I just didn't like the way he
was sort of handed out, especially taking it from
Dominic Mysterio, who has been killing it as a heel and even
having having a great heel runners champion.
But who knows, he might be in the world heavyweight
championship conversations, taking on CM Punk as well.
And they set up War Games there.Cody Rhodes fighting with
(27:54):
Division, he came out and interfered and he's on
Smackdown. So I don't know why he's doing
this shit on Raw. But I guess if you have the face
of the company not doing anything, why wouldn't you put
him in your War Games pay per view and be part of the the main
event of War Games there. So that probably makes a little
bit of sense in that aspect. We have new tag team, women's
(28:18):
tag team champions Oscar and Kyrie staying, getting the
victory there. But we've set up War Games as
Charlotte and Alexa Bliss, Rio Ripley and Rio Ripley making her
return with from having a brokennose and also EO Sky.
So it looks like they're just trying to get all the stars in
there for a massive War Games match.
And who knows, I might. I wouldn't be surprised if Rio
(28:40):
Ripley and EO Sky compete for the world for the women's tag
team champions, especially considering that they are
feuding with Oscar and Kyrie staying at the moment.
So lots at stake there for war games.
And then we had Nikki Bella turning heel on Stephanie
Vaquer, which is something that we we we expected.
And I think it's going to make that storyline very compelling,
(29:01):
too. So yeah, a lot happened on this
episode of Monday Night Raw. And yeah, we're looking forward
to the mystery opponents next week for John Cena's 16 man Last
time is now tournament. The winner will will verse John
Cena and LA Knight is scheduled to reverse a mystery opponent.
Again, I don't trust Triple H ingiving us what the fans want and
(29:23):
that is Chris Jericho and that is Edge.
If they do do that, I'll be amazed.
If not, it will most likely be probably some TNA superstars
such as Nick Neme and I don't know his name now, but it's and
it was Antonio Cesaro. He's changed his name to what it
was and nicknamed us, of course,being Dolph Ziggler in WWE.
(29:45):
And you've got Matt Cardona as well there.
You've also got Joe Hendry. So like those are the more
likely names that I think will be part of the tournament.
But I think everyone's screamingout for Edge and Chris Jericho
to be part of the tournament, but Edge to be John Cena's final
opponent. So we'll continue to keep tabs
on that and hopefully provide anupdate next week and we can get
(30:07):
an outcome there. And then last but not least,
just some F1 stuff. Oscar Piastri doesn't look like
he's he's going to win the championship.
It looks like he's going to go to Lando Norris, which for me
it's quite disappointing. I feel like he's shot of
confidence at the moment. McLaren picked a clear direction
and who they want to support as a driver and as a biassed
(30:27):
Australian. That's really frustrating.
So we'll continue to follow F1 and come back with more with
more stuff there. But I'm just sort of at the
moment following the championship storyline rather
than just like the races itself and and sort of the positions
and who's far exceeding expectations and who had a
really good drive and who finished on solid points.
(30:48):
At the moment, I want to focus on that and obviously other
sports as well, because as much as I like to think that I know a
lot about sports, that's sports like F1 that I probably could
know more about. And even like the Premier
League, to be honest, I think mymind's been more focused on on
basketball and, and most recently NFL two, which has been
(31:09):
exciting. But again, with the house move,
it's been difficult to sort of get my mind back into sports.
So hopefully now that I've put this podcast episode out for you
guys, I can refresh my mind and when time feel frees up, I'll be
able to sort of continue to record and just put that focus
on what I'm passionate about andthat is talking about sports.
(31:30):
And having this platform has been amazing and a great way to
sort of do it. So yeah, thank you very much for
for listening. If you have, if you have
listened for the first time, if you do enjoy this episode,
please subscribe. Feel free to subscribe wherever
you do get your podcasts. Leading a five star reviews also
greatly appreciated. And yes, we're available on all
(31:50):
platforms and that also includesYouTube as well.
So this will be up on YouTube too.
If you would like to see a sort of clearer video because I know
Spotify's video is not as clear.Just just know that there's not
really much to see given that there is a blank wall.
Just my ugly face. But again, thank you very much
for tuning into another episode.This has been another Sporting
(32:12):
News update for you guys and I'll catch you guys next week.
Cheers. So that's a wrap for.
This weeks episode of the HuddleWithin podcast.
I appreciate you for tuning in and being part of this community
where we go beyond the game and into what really matters.
If this episode resonated with you, make sure to.
Subscribe Leave a review. And share it with someone who
sees sports just the way that wedo.
(32:33):
And hey, I'd love to hear from you.
Connect with me on my social. Medias which will be linked
below. Send in your.
Thoughts. And even be part of a future
episode. Until next time, keep that
passion alive, stay in the huddle, and remember it's always
deeper than the game. Cheers.
What is going on, everybody? And welcome to another episode
of the Huddle Within podcast. Thank you once again for tuning
in to this week's episode. We're in the new studio, just
moved into the house on Friday, as you could tell by the
Instagram story that I put up the other day.
Apologies for the delay in getting this out to you guys on
(00:22):
our regular Wednesday morning. As mentioned there, obviously
moving to new house has been quite hectic and also aligned
with starting a new job as well which has required me to be at
the office every single day. Haven't had the chance to really
have the time to to sit down andrecord an episode for you guys
(00:43):
and we're finally here. It feels as though we need to
add some life onto these walls, and I'm sure we'll be able to to
do that in the near distant future.
But for now, this is gonna be the new studio.
As mentioned, I do plan to have like a couch right next to this
desk. And this desk may potentially
move to accommodate for the couch that I'm gonna have here
(01:06):
where hopefully when guests come, instead of having them
remotely, if they're living here, they're able to come in.
We're able to sit down on the couches, get a few microphones
going on and yeah, get to work and I loving my new table at the
moment. It's not as sturdy so you can't
really hear as many issues with the microphone as we used to
(01:26):
before with the sort of disrupt spamming of the mic when hitting
the table was quite flimsy. Bought myself obviously a new
table. I've got my lovely 2 screens in
front of me for working from home, but also for the podcast
as well, which is fantastic. And yeah, a nice clear wall to,
to hopefully build on, maybe getsome frames in or maybe get some
(01:47):
sort of, I guess shelves to put some fancy stuff.
But again, we'll, we'll be able to figure that out as we go
along, as mentioned. But yeah, it's been great sort
of setting this up, finally having my own space.
And I think this is where the podcast can potentially take off
with with a new space and a new sort of refreshment as well and
potentially new things as well. But what won't change is the
(02:11):
latest Sporting News. And that's what we're going to
be covering today on this episode.
And we cannot start with the latest Sporting News without the
biggest news coming out of the NBA right now, and that is Nico
Harrison being fired by the Dallas Mavericks.
And to say that this wasn't coming, it's quite silly because
(02:34):
I think people were waiting for this moment to happen, and it
came quite early. And I think it's got to do with,
obviously, the recent performances, definitely the
trade that in all press conferences, no one involved has
mentioned. And yeah, definitely their
record, too, and the fact that ADS been injured and Kyrie's not
(02:55):
coming back. So, yeah, the Dallas Mavericks
sneaker Harrison, I'm torn between it because I think that
I can see what he was trying to do.
And it sounds strange to say andhindsight's a lovely thing in in
that. But at the end of the day, man,
like you can't be trading Luca like that so abruptly and and
(03:15):
giving the Lakers that that sortof hold.
Because although Max Christie's a good player, there has been
injury concerns with Anthony Davis.
So for anyone to sit there and say that he's not someone that
could potentially get injured isquite ignorant.
So we've proven that he's obviously had time off now and
he's had time off last season. And then with Kyrie getting
(03:37):
injured along with even that Cody Martin, Caleb Martin trade,
I miss him getting confused twins.
The Caleb Martin trade for Quinton Grimes didn't help the
'cause either they they literally would build this team
to win championships on the premise and basis that players
were gonna get fit and with the players they had, they were not
going to get fit. So removing a generational star
(04:00):
in Luka Doncic is has to like, be a good sort of outcome in
returning. And so far, they're sitting in
like, the bottom three of the West.
So to me, that just doesn't seemfeasible, doesn't make sense.
And yes, they did get Cooper Flag out of it.
But at the end of the day, Cooper Flag is gonna take a lot
(04:20):
of time to grow. And without a proper point
guard, how's he really gonna develop?
They were playing him at point guard a lot of the times.
And it was it was quite a mess. And I think that when you see
fans not coming to the games, itwas the first time in I think 20
years that or over 20 years thata Dallas Mavericks organisation
didn't sell out a home game. And that started to happen.
(04:45):
You had fire Nico Chance flying left, right and centre.
And yeah, it was just, it was just doomed to be an end for for
Nico Harrison. And all the Dallas Mavericks
fans that I spoke to are quite annoyed with it because, yes,
you fired Nico Harrison. But now what happens?
(05:05):
It's like you've done the trade,you've done the damage.
Like, who's going to come in andlike, rectify this?
You've obviously proven now thatthe trade did not work.
By firing Nico Harrison, you areproving that Luka Doncic trading
and going to the Lakers and how he's dominating is a massive
(05:26):
mistake. And that's not a good look on
The Mavericks organisation. It's not a good look on the
franchise and and feeling as though things can turn around.
Like this team literally made the finals last year.
So to change their whole sort ofteam and personnel and then to
not back the GM and not sort of double down on this, whether it
(05:47):
was right or wrong, just more for the organisation and giving
the fans that sort of security that their their their franchise
is gonna be OK. W was the wrong play here.
So maybe they get a new GM and things change around there, but
I don't think it was fully on Nico Harrison.
At the end of the day, the ownerneeds to sign off on this.
(06:08):
So whether his basketball knowledge is not up to standard,
that needs to be fixed. And I'm hearing rumblings that
Jason Kidd had a sign up on this, on this decision as well.
So it sort of does fall on him too.
So yes, Nico Harrison probably takes the blame for it, his
justifications for the trade, saying the defence wins
championships and you have someone generation and Luca just
(06:30):
looks stupid. And yeah, the way that the
franchise was going, it was madeto happen.
But I still don't think it will fix the problems.
I think Dallas are going to be in massive trouble.
Their best bet is that Cooper Flag becomes the player that he
was hyped out to be and that he's someone that will be
generational. But can he be as generational as
Luca is right now? At the moment the signs are
(06:53):
saying no, because I think when Luca started in his rookie
season, he was going out the gates firing and he was killing
it. So yeah, I I've got, I've got no
words for it. I think it's not fully to blame
on Nikka Harrison. I don't think you should be
taking full accountability for what happened there.
But at the same time, in the end, you are the general manager
(07:13):
and your job is to improve the roster.
And the crazy part is he did make some pretty good trades to
get him into the finals, pickingup PJ Washington, picking up
Kyrie Evan and free agency, and also picking up Daniel Gaffin in
trade, which did help them get to where they needed to be.
But then now they've pretty muchteared it down.
So yeah, I'm feeling for Dallas.I'm feeling for the fans and I
(07:34):
think it's going to be a long time until we kind of get a
clear clarity on where they're going to go in what direction.
And I think it's leaning more towards a rebuild.
Maybe Kyrie and Anthony Davis come back this season, finish it
off, maybe get sidelined and then they regroup for for next
season. Who knows?
Yeah, we'll, we'll pretty much move on from that and continue
(07:56):
on the NBA train. We have probably the biggest
sort of, I wouldn't say surprisestory because they had a really
good run last year against the New York Knicks.
But it's the Detroit Pistons whoare currently 9:00 and 2:00 at
the moment and they are dominating the Eastern
Conference. And they just had a recent win
against the Washington Wizards, who I'm definitely going to be
(08:17):
talking about after this, where Kate Cunningham took the most
field Co attempts in yonks and they had him enduring running
the show with a bunch of G league players and they found a
way to win the game against the Wizards.
But off that because I'll leave that for wizard segment.
Kate Cunningham, as I mentioned in the NBA overs and unders for
the Eastern Conference, is an A dark horse MVP candidate in my
(08:42):
opinion. And the way he's playing right
now, he looks like a real MVP candidate and I'm kind of proud
to sort of pick on that. And you just look at his
numbers, he's just been incredible.
He's averaging 27 1/2 points, 5 rebounds, and 9.9 assists,
shooting at 47% from a fishing field goal percentage, and his
(09:04):
threes haven't been too good. He's obviously been taking a lot
of shots this season, but the fact that he's upped his points,
his rebounds, his assists from last season drastically and he's
still not hitting his normal efficiency numbers is quite
scary. Last year he was averaging 84%
from the line, 49% is in the 50 field goal and 33% point 3.
(09:28):
He's 5% off that and imagine if he hits to that 30 to 31% that
he can easily get from three. I think he's going to be close
to averaging 30 points this season.
And if he continues to keep Detroit where they are, and that
is top of the Eastern Conferencesitting at 9:00 and 2:00 at the
moment, they are poised, poised to make a deep run in the East
and potentially push to the Finals, like I said.
(09:51):
And New York Knicks is there. The East is quite weak at the
moment. Orlando hasn't been performing
too well. We expected them to go up and
Anna's got injuries galore. The Miami Heat are looking
strong early on. Philly are looking pretty decent
early on. But can these teams hold?
I don't know. The Detroit Pistons showed that
they can really be a competitiveteam.
And they do have the guy in CapeCunningham.
And another player that is the guy right now helping him out is
(10:15):
Jalen Duran. And if he continues going like
this, this guy is going to be a All Star.
And they're gonna have two All Stars from Detroit, which is
gonna be simply incredible. And I, I just love what Detroit
are doing. I love the the acquisitions of
Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert.
We did say that Tim Hardaway andMellie Beasley would be big
losses, but these two have come in seamlessly and pretty much
(10:37):
done what those role players have done and it hasn't looked
like a loss at all and it's justamazing.
They have young players that arefinding ways to win as well.
JB Bickerstaff is doing an amazing job there and you got to
give credit to the Pistons. We might be calling JB to get
coach of the year as well this season 2 the way he's been, he's
been organising and running thisteam and I really think that
(10:59):
they can make a deep run in the playoffs, especially with the
experience from last season and especially with Kate at the
helm, who honestly, he's lookinglike an MVP player.
He's he's got to be in the conversation and he's also
locked in right now if he keeps if he keeps the season like this
for a first team all NBA pick aswell.
So I love it. It's great to see stars in the
East come across and young starsand young point guards.
(11:21):
Kate Cunningham is certainly oneof them.
And yeah, really keen for him tocontinue to grow and do what
he's doing. But in contrast, the fucking
Wizards. The Wizards are one and 10.
How they lost in that Detroit Pistons game is beyond me.
Now CJ McCollum had a really good game, 42 points.
(11:42):
But when it came to OT, he cooked it.
He absolutely cooked it in the in the overtime and he started
to be picking up in his performances.
But I haven't been really happy with him and Middleton and and
what they've been doing for the team.
It feels as though that if we are one and 10, why are we just
not playing the young kids? And Speaking of the young kids,
Bob Carrington, man hasn't been good at all.
(12:05):
And it looks like this team is in desperate need of a
generational star, a point guardthat can lead the home.
Keyshawn George has taken a stepback, which probably would have
expected, but was hoping that hecould be the star that we were
hoping for. But the real star right now is
Alexa. He's knocking the three ball
down. He's getting points.
He's he's unbelievable in the pain.
(12:26):
He's the fastest to blocks. And the only people on top of
him was Cha Ongram and Victor Wenbignam.
And they were the two generational guys coming out of
the draught. So Alexa is is a silver lining
at the moment. And I think if you're gonna pair
him up with a generational pointguard that can score and play
make, I think we're looking at adecent team for next year.
(12:48):
But I'm not gonna get my hopes up from the draught.
I obviously look at Darren Peterson.
I think he's the perfect fit forus.
But at the end of the day, I've seen too many times where the
Wizards have been robbed from from getting a draught pick as
well. So we'll have to keep tabs on on
that. But the Wizards are not
performing really well. Bottom of the East and just just
a shit show there. Like just don't have any clear
(13:09):
winning identity. I know we're such a young team,
but there's just no identity to win.
They don't know how to win, theyfind ways to lose, they can't
win games. And it's just really frustrating
at the moment because again, we know that tanking doesn't
necessarily mean you're going toget a top five picks, so why
aren't we keep competing? I also had them for over 19.5
(13:30):
wins. The elite hit the 20 win mark
and it's looking really, really unlikely right now.
We haven't won in nine games. So of the the one in 10 streak,
we lost the first game of the season and then we won our
second game against Dallas and since then we haven't won a
single game. And you thought that beating
Dallas at their ground would have would have given or at
their court would have given us the chance to do that, but it
(13:51):
didn't happen. And now we wish.
We're yet to lose a game, but another shit show besides the
Nets, who I think are genuinely worse than us, if I'm honest,
are the Indiana Pacers, who man,oh man, like you lose Tyrese
Halliburton, you're one game offmaking the NBA Finals and
winning in it or winning the NBAFinals and winning a
(14:12):
championship and you're one in 10.
And now Tyrese Halliburton, yes,he's injured.
We all know that, but then losing injuries to to Nemhar and
and Aaron Naysmith for a few times for a few games it it just
kills you. And I really feel sorry for
Pascal Siakam. I feel sorry for this whole
organisation and the fans. And you were one game away from
(14:32):
winning a championship. Now you're probably, what is it
71 games away from the number one pick.
And that might be a good thing for you guys to to bolster your
squad and bring in someone to help out for the future and and
potentially go back to championships.
But it just feels like it's going to be a long time gone for
them that that that series and that injury to Tyrese
(14:53):
Halliburton really derailed the Indiana Pacers.
And I think that that's going tobe a big effect on them because
at the moment, it's really hard to sort of see how this team
could ever go back to to potentially another NBA Finals
with Tyrese Halliburton injured with the Achilles.
(15:14):
And even when he does come back is what I'm more talking about
is when he does come back, how is it going to get them back
there? It's it, there's a lot of
questions and there's a lack of answers, to be quite frank.
And I think the paces are in, inmassive trouble.
But if we look at the Western Conference, we have the Thunder
7 and one, we have the Spurs 8 and 21B.
Just unbelievable. No deal in Harper for a bit, but
(15:36):
Fox has come back and has fit inseamlessly.
The Spurs are going to be a threat and Victor Women.
Yama is also someone that could be an MVP candidate alongside
Kate Cunningham away from sort of the usual suspects of
Giannis, who the Bucks are killing it at the moment, 7:00
and 4:00, which is just giving Yanis a great MVP case as well.
Doncic as well from the Lakers and Luca and obviously Shay as
(15:57):
well, as I mentioned. So it's good to see new sort of
MVP candidates coming to the fold, especially the young
players. And it just shows that the
league is going to be in great hands with these superstars and
and that really, really does excite me.
So yeah, again, the Spurs are killing it.
But the biggest surprise for me is the Phoenix Suns.
They're currently 6:00 and 5:00 at the moment.
And I put them on the over and I'm quite happy to see where
(16:20):
they're going at the moment. And it might not last, it
probably won't last. But at the end of the day, it
feels like the the team is starting to become likeable
again. And their culture has been sort
of fixed up, especially considering the issues that were
there with with Bradley Beal andKevin Durant.
Those seem to be gone and, and they haven't looked worse since,
so that's been great. Grayson Allen went on a heater
(16:42):
10 threes the other day and yeah, he's bowling out and they
got culture in Dylan Brooks, whoI think he's just a great mocker
room guy. I I did a whole podcast on sort
of villains and, and what they what they mean to the sport.
And Dylan Brooks is like literally the perfect example of
that. And a lot of people were
starting to be Dylan Brooks fans.
And I'm I'm certainly one of them.
(17:02):
I really love Dylan Brooks and and what he's all about.
But another nice surprise is theUtah Jazz.
They're 4:00 and 7:00, but you really expected them to be one
in 10 knowing that there was sort of one of the worst teams
in the league. But they feel like, I feel like
they've got some nice pieces. Walker casters out for the
season, but there's some playersfilling in and doing a good job
and Ace Bailey has now entered the starting line up so we might
(17:24):
see an ascendance from him as our Collier has come back.
He's playing some decent minutesand my boy Kiante George, who
I've been very high on since hissummer league run with the Utah
Jazz, I think he is going to be an elite scorer.
The fact that he's getting to the line frequently, his
efficiencies are here and there.But I think when I see someone
(17:45):
that can get foul calls and get to the line, we look at Shay and
everyone clowns on him. But I think getting to the line
is a skill and if you have that ability to to draw fouls, get to
the free throw line and and pickup some easy buckets, then I
think you're in you're in a big in in a big opportunity and
you're in for a big scoring loadand also putting up those points
(18:05):
per game. And he's really helping their
star in Laura Markkanen, who is making a real trade case.
And Danny Ainge will be licking his lips knowing that his value
is going to be shooting up at the moment.
And don't you be surprised if hegets moved All Star break or
post All Star break and before the All Star break for the trade
deadline. And we all know we spoke about
(18:26):
them, that Detroit Pistons couldbe the perfect destination for
them. So look out for that.
But I guess in other storylines,the Clippers are struggling.
And we've spoke about The Mavericks.
They're three and eight. They're a shit show.
So are the Pelicans. No Zion at the moment, but John
Moran. And as we mentioned, no trade
updates on him. It looks as though that the
(18:47):
Grizzlies organisation organisation are going to be
sticking with their coach and backing him.
And and that's something that I really like.
He's introduced a offensive system that is that is really
good. It's just that we need players
like John Moran and even Jaron Jackson is probably not copying
as much as he should to buy in and lock in.
And if they don't, then I reckonthey need to be to be shipped
out for sure, because they're they're not, they're not
(19:10):
performing well with their stars.
They might as well cash in, get some trade assets, rebuild this
team and get this coach showing the young Bucks how to play some
really good offensive basketball, which which I like
to see in that. So, yeah, that pretty much wraps
up all the NBA stuff for this week.
There's a lot of news coming outwith the Nico Harrison stuff,
(19:30):
which you mentioned at the Star.The Troy Pistons is a nice
supplies story, with Cam Cade becoming an MVP candidate and
potentially pushing that narrative across, and then
you've also got the struggling Wizards and some other
struggling teams there. Just wanted to take a moment to
thank you guys for tuning into another episode of The Huddle
Within podcast. If you do enjoy episodes like
(19:52):
this or this episode specifically, be sure to leave a
comment and a five star review wherever you do get your
podcast. It'd be also great if you could
like and subscribe wherever you do get your podcast so we can
continue to show this out to people that see sports exactly
the way that you do. But without further ado, let's
get straight back into it. But.
We'll get on to the NFL at the moment and we have a lot of
(20:16):
movement when it comes to sort of standings and whatnot.
The Seattle Seahawks are on fire.
As I look at my little scorecard, just to sort of have
a gauge of everything, they're seven and two at the moment.
Alongside the Rams. Currently leading the division
are the Seahawks. The Niners are six and four.
So very competitive down there in the NFC West, and it looks
like the Seahawks are probably the best team coming out.
(20:39):
They've picked up Rashid Shahid,but they do have right now the
best wide receiver so far this season and that is Justice Smith
and Jigbar. He's having an unbelievable
season. And Sam Darnold as well, He's
killing it, too. So he's showing that he can do
it in the regular season. But the real question is, can he
translate this football into theplayoffs?
(21:02):
And that's something that we'll be definitely looking out for.
The Colts are continuing to go on a run 8 and two, picking up
Source Gardener in the trade as well, which which is which is
quite amazing as well. To pick him up to first round
picks is quite crazy for me. I think it's a bit of an overpay
but at the end of the day the Colts are competing and The Jets
are trying to tank and beat shitand accumulate draught picks
(21:25):
which I reckon will stuff up anyway.
So yeah, The Jets are a shit show as we all know.
Like I talk about my Saints, butthey gotta win.
They won again today so can't becomplaining about the New
Orleans Saints. They beat the Carolina Panthers,
what was it as I get the score up 7 to 17 and we had a bit of a
(21:45):
a decent performance from Chris Alavay, which is quite positive
to see. Obviously now that Rashid
Shahid's gone. We got more from Alavay there
who ran for 104 yards if one touchdown, which is quite solid.
Juan Johnson carrying the receiving load as well from
tight end and that leaves room for potentially Foster Monroe
(22:07):
and Devon Bailey to just to sortof pick up on the offensive side
with Alvin Kamara, who has been a bit of a disappointment this
season. But again, it's really hard to
sort of blame him for that as the Saints overall haven't
haven't been good and they won'tbe good for for this season.
But if we look at what's going on next week in the in the next
(22:27):
games coming up, we have a few interesting games to sort of
wrap around and not what not as I bring up the bloody fixture,
which never seems to work for me.
I would say the Bills and the Buccaneers, the Eagles and the
Lions are probably the key storylines there.
You have the New England Patriots who are off to an
unbelievable start too. And I think they've got to get
(22:48):
the the Colts on TV, man, because they're not getting any
TV games. They have a buy this week.
So they're going to be refreshedand rejuvenated.
But I love to see Colts be on ESPN and play on the TV games or
even on Amazon as well there. The Broncos also take on the
Chief. So a quite competitive game
there in the AFC. And the AFC is up for grabs
(23:10):
across those teams as well. You're talking, you're talking
about your Broncos, your new, your New England Patriots,
Indianapolis Colts. You still got the Buffalo Bills,
you still got the Kansas City Chiefs that are also in that
conversation too. So yeah, we're a Week 11 coming
up and we're very close to playoff football, which is
really exciting. And now with new sort of studio
(23:31):
and set up, I'm keen to have Super Bowl here and and watch
that as well. But I'm loving Jonathan Taylor
for the Colts in the the standout offensive play of the
year. For me, it's got to be him or or
Jackson Smith and Jigbar. And an early candidate for the
MVP is still begs the question, but there's a lot of potential
candidates there. I still think Josh Allen is in
(23:54):
the running, just given that he's so good.
And I think Jonathan Taylor is definitely one as well for the
Indianapolis Colts. And what a storyline for Daniel
Jones. Like he's he's having a killer
too. We'll wrap up with the Premier
League. Just to finish up on this
quickly. Just with the fixtures coming
up. We obviously had Liverpool
losing to Manchester City 3 nil,getting completely dominated in
(24:15):
the first half, had a better second half but by then City
were just too good. But we are previewing the North
London Derby between Arsenal andTottenham and that's going to be
a really exciting fixture. I do suspect Arsenal will win
the match. They came off A22 draw against
Sunderland with a 90th minute winner there.
Sunderland just continued to just exceed expectations and,
(24:35):
and just be unbelievable. Getting a draw against Arsenal
who have just been winning everyweek is impressive.
But can Arsenal bounce back beating Tottenham to just
continue to put pressure and, and, and try win this league
because it's, it's very competitive and you have City
around the corner really wantingto, to push for the title as
well. And I think they're they got a
serious case to potentially win the league once again,
(24:56):
especially considering that theyare very close to Arsenal.
I think they're like 4 points behind them.
So there's a lot at stake there.My team, Manchester United,
they're coming off a draw against Tottenham Hotspur.
We managed to salvage a draw in the 94th minute playing with 10
men because our fifth substitution was already done by
(25:19):
the time that Cisco came onto the pitch.
And yeah, obviously lapse of concentration, some pretty
jamming goals on Tottenham's end, especially the first one,
could have costed us vital points.
And salvaging a point, all things considered, was the right
thing. We've taken Everton at home,
that should be a victory for us.But with Manchester United you
(25:42):
can't guarantee any any victories whatsoever.
So we'll keep big tabs on that as well.
And yeah, the probably the otherhighlight game of the night
would have to be, I would say Brian and Bradford.
I think Newcastle, Man City. Sorry, Newcastle at home to Man
City. Newcastle's got a way for away
record, but their home record isquite solid.
(26:03):
But can Man City get a result there and a victory to really
put pressure on Arsenal for the title?
Because I think that if they do,Arsenal got to be really careful
for this firing Manchester City squad with Harlem the Lion and
players like Doku who haven't Dockers having an incredible
season. And I'm someone that really
didn't think he was a really good player, but he's been
(26:24):
killing it for them. And Cherokee shown class and
Fodens have flashes of brilliance too.
So yeah, Manchester City are bigplayers.
They're always going to be big players.
And if Newcastle can cause an upset, I still think it is an
upset, even though it's at Newcastle's home, then it'll be
good news for Arsenal. I think Arsenal will be feeling
a lot, much, a lot better about themselves as well moving
forward. And then basically that pretty
(26:46):
much wraps up I think Premier League, we can quickly talk
about wrestling. John Cena is now the
Intercontinental Championship champion, with Dominic Mysterio
basically calling him out on thelatest episode of Monday Night
Raw, which I've been following wrestling.
Obviously, as you know, and all the roars that have been
happening, this was by far the best Monday Night Raw they've
had in such a long time. They had so many things that
(27:08):
happened. John Cena winning the
Intercontinental title, they didit so then John Cena could
literally have all the titles won and be a Grand Slam
champion. For me, it's a bit of a reach
considering that I think this was hand given to him.
It wasn't something that he necessarily really earned.
I think it was just to sort of cement his legacy as the
greatest wrestler of all time. And yeah, I'm I've got mixed
(27:32):
feelings for it because I love John Cena to be a Grand Slam
champion. I just didn't like the way he
was sort of handed out, especially taking it from
Dominic Mysterio, who has been killing it as a heel and even
having having a great heel runners champion.
But who knows, he might be in the world heavyweight
championship conversations, taking on CM Punk as well.
And they set up War Games there.Cody Rhodes fighting with
(27:54):
Division, he came out and interfered and he's on
Smackdown. So I don't know why he's doing
this shit on Raw. But I guess if you have the face
of the company not doing anything, why wouldn't you put
him in your War Games pay per view and be part of the the main
event of War Games there. So that probably makes a little
bit of sense in that aspect. We have new tag team, women's
(28:18):
tag team champions Oscar and Kyrie staying, getting the
victory there. But we've set up War Games as
Charlotte and Alexa Bliss, Rio Ripley and Rio Ripley making her
return with from having a brokennose and also EO Sky.
So it looks like they're just trying to get all the stars in
there for a massive War Games match.
And who knows, I might. I wouldn't be surprised if Rio
(28:40):
Ripley and EO Sky compete for the world for the women's tag
team champions, especially considering that they are
feuding with Oscar and Kyrie staying at the moment.
So lots at stake there for war games.
And then we had Nikki Bella turning heel on Stephanie
Vaquer, which is something that we we we expected.
And I think it's going to make that storyline very compelling,
(29:01):
too. So yeah, a lot happened on this
episode of Monday Night Raw. And yeah, we're looking forward
to the mystery opponents next week for John Cena's 16 man Last
time is now tournament. The winner will will verse John
Cena and LA Knight is scheduled to reverse a mystery opponent.
Again, I don't trust Triple H ingiving us what the fans want and
(29:23):
that is Chris Jericho and that is Edge.
If they do do that, I'll be amazed.
If not, it will most likely be probably some TNA superstars
such as Nick Neme and I don't know his name now, but it's and
it was Antonio Cesaro. He's changed his name to what it
was and nicknamed us, of course,being Dolph Ziggler in WWE.
(29:45):
And you've got Matt Cardona as well there.
You've also got Joe Hendry. So like those are the more
likely names that I think will be part of the tournament.
But I think everyone's screamingout for Edge and Chris Jericho
to be part of the tournament, but Edge to be John Cena's final
opponent. So we'll continue to keep tabs
on that and hopefully provide anupdate next week and we can get
(30:07):
an outcome there. And then last but not least,
just some F1 stuff. Oscar Piastri doesn't look like
he's he's going to win the championship.
It looks like he's going to go to Lando Norris, which for me
it's quite disappointing. I feel like he's shot of
confidence at the moment. McLaren picked a clear direction
and who they want to support as a driver and as a biassed
(30:27):
Australian. That's really frustrating.
So we'll continue to follow F1 and come back with more with
more stuff there. But I'm just sort of at the
moment following the championship storyline rather
than just like the races itself and and sort of the positions
and who's far exceeding expectations and who had a
really good drive and who finished on solid points.
(30:48):
At the moment, I want to focus on that and obviously other
sports as well, because as much as I like to think that I know a
lot about sports, that's sports like F1 that I probably could
know more about. And even like the Premier
League, to be honest, I think mymind's been more focused on on
basketball and, and most recently NFL two, which has been
(31:09):
exciting. But again, with the house move,
it's been difficult to sort of get my mind back into sports.
So hopefully now that I've put this podcast episode out for you
guys, I can refresh my mind and when time feel frees up, I'll be
able to sort of continue to record and just put that focus
on what I'm passionate about andthat is talking about sports.
(31:30):
And having this platform has been amazing and a great way to
sort of do it. So yeah, thank you very much for
for listening. If you have, if you have
listened for the first time, if you do enjoy this episode,
please subscribe. Feel free to subscribe wherever
you do get your podcasts. Leading a five star reviews also
greatly appreciated. And yes, we're available on all
(31:50):
platforms and that also includesYouTube as well.
So this will be up on YouTube too.
If you would like to see a sort of clearer video because I know
Spotify's video is not as clear.Just just know that there's not
really much to see given that there is a blank wall.
Just my ugly face. But again, thank you very much
for tuning into another episode.This has been another Sporting
(32:12):
News update for you guys and I'll catch you guys next week.
Cheers. So that's a wrap for.
This weeks episode of the HuddleWithin podcast.
I appreciate you for tuning in and being part of this community
where we go beyond the game and into what really matters.
If this episode resonated with you, make sure to.
Subscribe Leave a review. And share it with someone who
sees sports just the way that wedo.
(32:33):
And hey, I'd love to hear from you.
Connect with me on my social. Medias which will be linked
below. Send in your.
Thoughts. And even be part of a future
episode. Until next time, keep that
passion alive, stay in the huddle, and remember it's always
deeper than the game. Cheers.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.