May 24, 2025 • 39 mins
Summer is officially here, and Chris Byrum breaks down the Indy 500 race and the recent Weinermobile Race. Yes, that really is a thing.
College Football is changing how they seed the playoffs. We give our thoughts. Plus, Baylor football is fighting to help Hawkins regain a year of eligibility after the NCAA reversed a decision in May. We talk about the QB1 play in Waco.
Will the Dallas Stars party like its 1999? We give our thoughts.
And in our One More Thing Segment, the cost of playing for a California team and the strength of Baylor’s running back room.
College Football is changing how they seed the playoffs. We give our thoughts. Plus, Baylor football is fighting to help Hawkins regain a year of eligibility after the NCAA reversed a decision in May. We talk about the QB1 play in Waco.
Will the Dallas Stars party like its 1999? We give our thoughts.
And in our One More Thing Segment, the cost of playing for a California team and the strength of Baylor’s running back room.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into another conversation with the Chris Is. I'm Scott Miller,
joined as always Chris Shirley and Chris Byram and gentlemen.
Got a list of things we're going to go to
as we are officially heading into the summer sports season,
and I'm going to start with you this morning, Chris Biram.
When we talk about summer sports. Of course we're going
(00:22):
to get into some playoff hockey, you know, some other
things that are taking place. But let's be honest, what
we're really thinking about is we're less than one hundred
days from college football.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hellijah, Yeah, you're getting close.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm beginning to look for when Dave Campbell's Texas Football
is going to come out, So you know, that's my
bathroom reading for the next three months, you know. And
it's just an exciting time because when you go out,
when kids go out for summer, the first thing that
comes to their mind is when as football practice start.
And we are getting really, really close.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I want to talk about something that specific because it
seems like in the last you know, five years, this
time of the year, things are changing for college sports
and the story the big headline this year and I
don't want to get your take on it. They are
changing how the playoffs are being seated. So last season,
(01:23):
for those who don't know, basically the conference champion, top
four conference champions, they got an automatic you know, by
so they were number one in the seating regardless of
what their record was. And now they're changing it where
it's going to be whoever the top four teams are,
we'll get that buy, not the conference champion. So that's
(01:44):
the change. How do you feel about it?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, I honestly don't have a strong opinion about it.
I mean I do think that, you know, I think
all of us should want the top four teams, the
best four teams to be ranked one through four, rather
than you know, maybe the the the default of well,
(02:13):
the top four are automatically going to be your your
top four power for conference you know champions, when you
know one or one or more of those may not
be one of the top four best teams you know,
in in the country. I find it interesting that, you know,
so the the the NFL, the Detroit Lions actually proposed
(02:38):
that this would be the same type of change that
would be made uh in the NFL for the playoffs
for playoff seeding moving forward, and uh, you know, last
minute pulled it because they didn't have enough votes among
the owners to be able to to get the same
kind of thing done because of you know what we
(03:01):
had happened in the NFC North last year, where you know,
you had you had three teams that could could have
been two or three of two of the three teams
could have been the top four you know in the
in the NFL as far as Seaedium is concerned, had
they done that last year, but it was the same
thing it was, you know, the top four the divisional
(03:23):
winners received you know those uh those top four spots
and first round bys and all that kind of stuff.
So I think if it helps the top four teams
the best, the best for you know, whoever that is
be there at the top, they've earned that throughout the year,
I can see that as a positive. On the flip
(03:45):
side of that, I could see how it could hurt
a conference like ours being in the Big twelve, which is,
you know, a powerful conference, but we're not. We're not
viewed across the country as as you know, one of
the of the strongest as far as you know, teams
that we have in our in our conference, So I wonder,
(04:07):
you know, does does that hurt conference like ours if
our conference champion is is not you know, guaranteed one
of those top four spots. So I don't know, it'd
be interesting to see how this plays out.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Well, I think that second part is the biggest concern
Byron because we know who is running college playoffs. ESPN
has a big influence and how these rankings take place.
ESPN is a business, and when you pull back the curtain,
businesses do things in order to benefit business, you know.
(04:43):
So you know, in Alabama being in the top four
having a home you know, home team versus if if
you know, Baylor were to win the Big Twelve and
be in the discussion of the playoffs, who are they
going to go with? I mean, we've seen in the
playoffs system before where the Blue Dogs always got favored
regardless of if they had a better product on the
(05:05):
field that particular year. Isn't the concern that this is
just another way to control the narrative and you know,
basically the Big Twelve may never have a home playoff game.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well you know that second round of the playoffs though,
that by the time you get to the teams that
have buy games. They're playing in bowl games, right, it's
that first round, So you may actually get more of
a play for a home game if you do that
with the Big Twelve. The thing that I've gone back
(05:41):
and forth on this whole lot is that, yes, I
think it's an advantage for the SEC and Big ten
because they're gonna have teams with the week off. But
then as I look back at this last year, those
teams that had the week off did not do real
well in the first round of the playoffs. And I'm
looking specifically at at Georgia and you know, they lost,
(06:06):
and the teams that made it to the National Championship
games are teams that played in the first round. So
I think sitting around for that week while other teams
are playing may actually hurt a little bit. I think
the other really interesting thing to look from this, and
this is why the SEC and Big ten are looking
for guaranteed spots too, because you know, the other proposal
(06:28):
is that SEC and Big ten get four teams each,
acc Big twelve gets two teams each, and then you've
got three or four open slots for who, Well I
take that back, then you've got the one group of five,
then you've got three or four open slots. The SEC
wants to have a play in weekend instead of a
(06:50):
conference championship weekend if they get four spots. They have
contemplated either having a conference championship game with one and two,
but then three through play to see who gets the
other two slots. The Big twelve is actually talking about
having the top four teams play on conference championship weekend
(07:11):
to see who gets the two spots. It's another way
to generate revenue. That could be really interesting to watch too.
But the other question it's going to become and this
is already such a gray area. It's ridiculous. When are
these kids no longer students at the school? There's happening
so many games. When when when do they stop taking class?
(07:35):
And when do we just admit it's minor league football?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I think, I mean, I think we're there just based
on nil and kids that are making more money to
sit on a bench at certain programs, and NFL players
are making We've seen that. Now brock Perty got his payday,
and I want to talk about that here in a second,
But you know, I remember that being the shining example
(07:58):
when you know perty was making less and what Manning
was making in Austin, you know, sitting sitting on the sideline.
So so you were kind of looking surely at how
the seating would have been different, because I think I
saw that same graphic that you were glancing at. I'm
just kind of curious, like if this was in place
last year, Let's not go through the whole run, but
(08:20):
you know, Arizona State, where would they have fallen in
the playoffs instead of hosting? Where would they have been
last year?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Had this system been in place? Your number one would
have been Oregon, Your number two would have been Georgia,
Your number three would have been Texas, Your number four
would have been Penn State. So I mean you still
had Oregon was number one last year, correct, So that
(08:49):
wouldn't have wouldn't have really affected you know that that
particular that particular one. I think it looks like the
Ohio Ohio state would have received the biggest bump had
this new system been in place, but they still wouldn't
have been in the top four.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I guess we're going to find out for sure soon
enough as we get closer to the fall. I want
to hone in specifically on some things going on in Waco,
and I want to start with a story, Birom, if
you can give us kind of the background for those
who are hearing about this for the first time. But
(09:26):
there is a student athlete who, as I understand, it
was all set to have another year of eligibility and
then something happened this month, the month of May, where
they took that away. So what's going on and talk
about Hawkins and why he can't play at this point
(09:47):
and what Baylor's doing to try to get the NCAA
to reverse that.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Well, that's a great question, and I'm going to try
to explain this as I understand it, and it's complicated.
So the NCUBA was sued because the quarterback at Vanderbilt
wanted his two years at a junior college not to
count so he could have opportunities to make more money
(10:14):
through an IL and he won. So Ashton Hawkins, who
spent a year at a JUCO, sued saying I want
that year back. Where this gets complicated is is Paviyus
spent his two years at the beginning at a JUCO
then went to Vanderbilt. My understanding is with Hawkins is
(10:36):
his JUCO time came in the midst of his time
at Baylor when the NCAA, and this is where it
really gets just sad. After the window closed for getting
into the NFL Draft, which was Hawkins' other option, the
(10:59):
NCAA said, oh, by the way, we made a mistake.
We didn't realize this was in the middle of his
time at Baylor, and so therefore we're going to rescind
that extra year of eligibility we gave him. Now, as
you can imagine, this causes all sorts of issues for
him because now it cuts him out for a whole
(11:20):
year and he cannot play, cannot have NFL scouts look
at him. And so this caught Baylor and Hawkins very
much by surprise. They went and they are both appealing it.
And I can tell you that odds are, excuse me,
odds are it's not going to go through. The NCAA
(11:40):
is going to stick to their guns, and I think
a lot of people are feeling frustrated, and rightfully so,
that they feel like if this were a big tenor
SEC school, they would give in. And there is some
talk of Hawkins filing a lawsuit over this, and Baylor
very very very quietly helping out on this, but it
(12:04):
is a very unfortunate situation because it takes away really
our best wide receiver for the year. And you look
at the timing of this and it just looks awful,
which the NC DOUBA is really good at making things
look bad. So that's the situation we're in. And as
(12:27):
there are a lot of people who are saying that
the appeal does not look good, that the NC DOUBA
is going to stick through their guns. And that's why
you have seen Baylor try to go out and get
a couple more receivers in the which, by the way,
we have three portal guys on campus today. These will
be the last three guys if they choose to go
(12:50):
to Baylor. But that's why we're looking at extra guys
because we just it's like the NC double just reached
in and said, Nope, we're not going to let you
do this.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I mean, there's so many things surely to unpack about that.
I mean, obviously you just think about from the perspective
of Hawkins, and you know, he he did not enter
the NFL Draft because the NC double A told him
he could play at Baylor one more season. I mean,
(13:20):
I would think there's a lawsuit in there. I'm not
a legal person, but it just seems like there's a
case can be made. Obviously his outcome as he wants
to be in the Green and gold uniform in the fall,
but it just seems like, I mean, Baylor's a lot
of influence in the n CUBA right now. I mean,
you know, doctor Livingstone is actually on a major committee,
(13:42):
and you know our athletic director is actually in charge
of the playoff committee this year. I mean, what are
your thoughts on it?
Speaker 3 (13:48):
It obviously hurts the player because you know, as Barron's
already mentioned, you know, had had he had he known
that he wasn't going to have another year of eligibility,
Obviously he's going to prepare for the draft, and whether
he gets drafted or not, he could still get picked
(14:08):
up as an undrafted free agent after the draft and
have an opportunity to you know, play for an NFL
football team. Well now, obviously, because of the the timing
of the ruling, he can't. He can't do that.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You know, the.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
UFL is already midway through their season, you know, so
he can't even he can't even do that. So I
mean the the n C double A because they you know,
they they made a decision about this initially, and so
he was preparing to you know, to play play out
his final year as a as a college football player.
(14:59):
And and now that that's been that's been taken away,
it's an absolute just disservice to you know, to him
has put him in a really difficult position, but also
you know, has put Baylor in a very difficult position
as well, because you know, he was our second most
productive receiver last year behind Josh Cameron, and uh, you know,
(15:24):
we're we're expecting to uh to you know, lean heavily
on him again this uh this coming season. So you
know that Baylor, Baylor gets put in a position where
they have to scramble and try to you know, get
another wide receiver too in the spring portal, which obviously
(15:45):
is not near as uh full of uh you know,
high impact players as the portal would have been right
after the regular season our playoffs were over. H So
you know that that puts us in a really difficult position.
Plus what about the n I L money that we
(16:07):
that we're paying him, you know, does does he just
do we do we give that to him? Does some
of that come back. Are we able to recoup any
of that. That's money that could have gone for for
someone else or or other you know, other players in
the transfer portal. So I mean, it's just it's bad
all the way around for him, it's bad all the
(16:28):
way around for Baylor. And boy, it certainly sounds like
to me that he's got legal standing to to file
a lawsuit, you know, because of the hardship that has
caused caused him and and uh caused.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Baylor as well.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Who's in charge of the n C double A these years.
I mean, it just seems like it's a wild West
on so many things that they're allowing to just happen,
and then odd things they come down on hard, and
it just seems like this is one of those odd
things I think in the world. You know, I understand
you got to have rules. I'm actually a proponent that
(17:05):
we need more structure, you know, in NIL and we've
talked about that. But you know, I'm all about crossing
the t's dotting the eyes. But I think there are
cases to be made where an organization, you know, can
make an exception to the rule based on their own mistake.
And I think in this case, the n C Double
(17:27):
A should own up to that and said, you know what,
we should not have approved him for eligibility. We're going
to grant this waiver because of our mistake. And I
don't think I don't think anyone would fault the n
C Double A if they came out that way and
made that decision. It's going to be interesting. And now
there's you mentioned byrom there's a quiet campaign. I don't
(17:47):
know if it's quiet, because there are some social media
posts starting to kind of show up free Hawkins, you know,
free him to play. So yeah, it'll be it'll be
interesting on how it kind of all right. My next
question is we talk about Baylor football, is let's talk
about our QB one because out of Waco and the
(18:09):
fan base there's this kind of not so quiet it's
starting to get a little louder drum beat on our
quarterback and just how he matured. We saw him mature
last season. As the season you know, continued to progress,
he got better and you know we've got maybe some
(18:29):
better protection on the line, better running. That's maturing. The
whole team is maturing on the offensive side of the ball.
So the question I ask is is our QB one?
And I'm going to ask it a different way because
you know the whole talk of Heisman. But is Sawyer
more a Bryce Petty, which is a great quarterback that
(18:50):
wins a conference championship two years in a row and
and phenomenal athlete, didn't last very long in the NFL
playing for the Jets. Or is he the RG three
that comes in puts Baylor back on the national map,
wins a Heisman trophy, doesn't win a conference championship and
(19:10):
then again short short career in the NFL. Maybe it's
not a fair question. But I'll start with with you,
Chris Shirley, and say, as you look at Sawyer, is
he more Bryce Petty to you? Or more RG three?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I mean RG three is such a you know, for
Baylor football is such a high, I mean high standard.
He is the standard at the quarterback position, you know.
I I think we'll find out. You know, I would
put him more in an RG three category than I
(19:50):
think Bryce Petty category. You know, he is a little
bit more mobile than Bryce Petty. But you know, as
I was sharing with you guys yesterday, as we just
talked about this, Ashton Hawkins situation. I mean, he's your
(20:11):
he's your you know, your one A or your one
B on the receiving corps, and so you know, just
looking looking at our wide receiver depth chart, it's only
going too deep right now with him out.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So that's.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
You know, my my Obviously, the Heisman trophy is somewhat
is certainly dependent upon the quarterback and his skills, but
you got to have guys that are getting open that
catch the ball as well, and so you know, that's
that's my concern for you know, the Bears moving forward,
(20:51):
and certainly for Sawyer Robertson's potential chances at being a
Heisman front runner.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Same question, to you buy ron, do you put him more?
Bryce Petty or RG three?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Bryce Petty. Robertson isn't going to kill you as much
with his feet as RG three could, even though RG
three really toned it down after he hurt his knee.
But the one thing about I'll give Robertson above Petty
is the fact that I think Petty had a cannon
(21:23):
for an arm. Sawyer doesn't have that strong of an arm,
but he really throws the ball smartly. Now, he did
make a couple of bad throws last year, but every
quarterback does. But I think he's closer to Bryce Petty,
And honestly, I think this team is closer to some
of those teams that just can move the ball, and
(21:44):
that's what I'm looking forward to. I hope we can
keep the ball a lot this year, but I think
Sawyer's the QB who can do that.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I guess another way to ask the question and just
just quick answer on this one. Would you rather have
the Bryce Petty error where Robinson goes out and wins
a Big twelve and gets a good bowl game or
playoff bid or the RG three where you have some
great wins, some great splashes, you don't win the conference championship,
(22:16):
but you win the Heisman. So the question is, Shirley
Heisman are championship? Which would you rather have Big twelve
championship or a Heisman?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
It's a team sports. I'd rather have the championship championship.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
There's no doubt.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Three for three I agree. All right, let's talk about
the Dallas Stars. Some interesting statistics. Just want to kind
of talk about for a second. Is we know the
Dallas Stars originated as the Minnesota North Stars. So when
I give you this history. This goes back to the
entire organization, not just their time in Texas, but the
(22:52):
Stars have made the playoffs a total of thirty seven
times in their history, winning the Stanley Cup only once
in nineteen ninety nine. They have appeared in the Stanley
Cup five times, with the most recent appearance losing to
Tampa Bay back in twenty twenty. They also are now
in their third straight Western Conference championship. Chris byrom are
(23:16):
we going to be partying? Partying like it's nineteen ninety nine?
Little Prince reference? There is the Stars going to win
a Stanley Cup this year?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Wow? I think they can. Edmonton needs to commit a
lot of penalties because Edmonton is much worse when they
are not skate because Edmonton is really fast and they're
not a good matchup for the Stars. So they if
they commit a lot of penalties, I think we have
a great chance. But yeah, hockey is such a weird
(23:48):
playoff sport. Can they Absolutely, they're the favorite to do it.
But will they? I don't know? I really don't know.
And I'm going with my rooting record. Ten teams I
tend to root for don't do well in the.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Playoffs, So there's a common theme there. Maybe you need
to be rooting on Edmonton.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I like Edmonton, but I'm not going to root for
them any team with the name Oilers that refers to,
you know, like the Houston Oilers.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I'm all four.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I mean, what are your thoughts? Surely is you watch
this team? I mean, they're they're a fun team to watch.
I mean I watched the entire comeback the other night,
you know, when they were down three to one and
end up winning six to three. Didn't have it in
it last night losing the three to nothing. Now they
got to travel to Canada. But do you think this
Stars team, as they've invested a lot of money, I think,
(24:42):
like you know, their newest additions, like four year, ninety
six million dollar contract, I mean, ownership is putting money
for this team to win. Do you think this is
the year that their coach finally wins? And by the way,
their coach, I mean I think I saw he's been
in seven of the last eight Western Conference championships and
fired three times or at least twice. So do you
(25:05):
think this is the year the Stars finally returned to
the Cup and win it?
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Well, I certainly think that this is the best Stars
team that we've seen over the last three years. But I,
you know, after after watching you know, this this playoff
run and watching you know, these first two first two
games against Edmonton, man, I you know, we've we have
(25:32):
we have been the beneficiaries of some very lucky bounces
and some you know, just phenomenal individual performances. You know,
if I had to, if I had to say, who's
who's who's playing better, Who's the hotter team, I'd say
it's Edmonton. Byron Murray mentioned this that they are there's
(25:56):
so much fat, Their skilled players are faster than ours,
and they are, in my opinion, uh, you know, more
skilled than than ours. Uh, They're they're they're skilled players.
Their best players are stepping up and and ours, ours
haven't really been stepping up.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
And so I don't have a good feeling about this series.
You know, I think we're going to be losing the
Edmonton for the second year in a row in the
Western Conference Final. And I'll say this, even even if
we were to beat Edmonton, I don't know who in
the world is going to beat the Florida Panthers because
they are absolutely on fire. They are a machine. Uh,
(26:37):
they're scoring five to six goals every night. I don't
I don't see who's gonna beat them. Regardless of who
the Western Conference representative.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Is going to be MM good point team from Florida
winning hockey, which is just to think about.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, yeah, when you think about the four teams in
the conference finals, we all know that the care lineas
Florida and Texas are just hot beds for winter sports.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Right absolutely, But Dallas Stars, I think they have a shot.
But this one does feel like this particular series feels
to me like we could be seeing a game seven.
It just has that feeling of a back and forth
on the momentum. We will see how the Stars do
(27:25):
when they travel. They play on Sunday up in the
up in Canada, so we'll see how they play on
the road. But and it just feels like a game
seven to me. All Right, it is Memorial Day weekend
as we record this podcast, and only one of us
has ever attended in Indianapolis five hundred in person. So
(27:47):
I'm going to take it to you. Yes, and not
only that, only one of us actually cares enough about
the sport that probably knows all the stats about every
single race. So, Byron, I'm not even going to less
surely you want to weigh in on this one. I'm
going to just turn it over to you and talk
about this race and why you like it and why
you're excited about it.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
One hundred and ninth running. The first one was in
nineteen eleven. It's been five hundred miles except for rain.
It is just it truly was the place where car
companies would go test out their cars, and that's why
it was so important, because they knew tire companies wanted
(28:30):
to go there to see how well their tires would work,
and you could buy those tires to put on your car.
Of course you can't do that anymore, but it is
just a super cool place. If you go there, it
looks like it was built in nineteen oh nine. I
mean it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood, which
is just wild when you think about it, with how
(28:51):
loud it is, and it is just a super cool
race with a ton of history. And I think what
excites me about it is for about the last twenty years,
it's it really For about the last thirty years, it's
really declined a lot. But this year for the first
time in twelve years they've actually sold out the grand stands,
and if you don't know anything about the place, it
(29:14):
only has about two hundred and fifty thousand seats, So
that's a big deal. And when you get into the
history of the race and how important it was, it's
just it's just a cool race to watch, and it
has done so much for automobiles that we have today. Yes,
(29:35):
it actually does affect what we drive today. And so
I love watching the race. Not so much that I'll
skip church to watch it, you know, I've been tempted
to in the past, but you know, I will record
it and I'll come home and I'll watch it because
in the fact, it hit me when I went. You
see how fast they're going, and it's a two and
(29:58):
a half mile track and are doing it in under
forty five seconds, which is a quarter mile for a
human being. But when you're there and you watch the
cars go into those turns, it is utterly amazing how
fast those guys are going. And it almost will freak
you out at how fast they are going, So to
(30:21):
me is just amazing. And yes, I know some people
think you're just watching people go around in circles. It's
an awful big circle to be going around. So that's
why I love the race. I mean, I actually love
the race. I grew up thinking AJ Foyt was the
greatest guy ever. Then I read about him and he's
still Okay, I don't even know what that is. Oh
(30:42):
my gosh, God, We've got to talk.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I know, Suirley, do you know who that is? I mean,
am I the only one who doesn't know anything about racing?
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I've heard the name, But that's that's as far as
I can go with that.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, Scott, I can already tell you I know what
our first topic is going to be for our first
to Baylor game. Lovely.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, get Byron talking about the Indy five hundred or
Civil War history and you're going to be in for
a treat.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
So I will just tell you this. This race to
me is almost as good as Super Bowl Sunday. That's
how much I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
See, I don't know. Surely he says the same thing
about the Gray Cup, right, I mean he just gets
into obscured sports, Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I do there. I do not deny that I am
a fan of Australian rules football too. My wife and
I will watch Australian rules football on Sunday morning before
we go to church, So yeah, I do like but otto,
but then five hundred was not obscure. It was the
(31:48):
sporting event next to the World Series for years.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
In America, and it kind of is. It kind of
always falls like it's one of those benchmarks that just
kind of indicates summer's here, right once you get to
Indy five hundred.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, but the qualification runs for Pole Day to see
who would sit on the pole back.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I'm sorry about this, Shirly. I didn't mean to get
him started.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
But go ahead on the plane after this, I promised.
But in the fifties and sixties on Pole Day, they
would bring in two hundred and fifty thousand people just
to watch qualifications. That's how big it was. It was massive,
and so it just blows my mind. But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Now I don't have anything to add to it. Surely
you get anything to add to that.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I have zero to add to the.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Discussion the other thing, and then I've got a one
more thing for you guys to talk about here this morning.
But Byron requested that we not only talked about the
Indy five hundred. We talked about the initial weenimobile race
that took place yesterday. So exciting. By the way, I
(32:59):
was yesterday years old when I realized that there was
multiple Wienie Bill Wieni mobiles enough to have a race.
I thought there was one. I'm so stupid, But go ahead,
tell me about the Wieni mobile race. It took place yesterday.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Okay. It was incredibly boring. It only lasted two laps.
It took forever. I had no idea they had six
Wiener mobiles too, and I think they told the Fox announcers,
this is boring, so do as much double on tunder
as you can. And let's forget that that.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I don't need any example.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Okay, but for a guy who teaches junior hires, I
did laugh. I'm going to admit that, yeah, it was.
It was just unique and once a kid. They had
their biggest crowd of the month for the Wiener mobile race.
And I'm just trying to do people not have enough
to do in Indianapolis that kind of.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Will It had its effect because we're talking about Oscar
Meyer Wieni mobiles this morning. All right, here's my one
more thing I want us to kind of talk about
today because this is something that every now and then
will come up in sports, and I find it fascinating
when you in a particularly professional sports, when you're dealing
(34:10):
in contract negotiations, how a contract is worth different depending
where you're at. So brock Purty finally got his contract,
his big fat contract that everyone's you know, I would
say that he earned it. You know, he's gotten to
the NFL, he's had some success in San Francisco. But
(34:30):
this is a breakdown of what brock Purty will have
to pay on his on his taxes here federal income taxes,
which you'd have to pay wherever, nineteen point five million.
But then you get into California state taxes seven point
five million, federal payroll taxes one point two million, then
another California tax of sixteen hundred dollars, total taxes twenty
(34:55):
eight point three million, making his net income twenty four
point six million. If he were to play in Texas
as an example, that same contract would have been worth
over seven point six million more dollars than what he's
getting paid there in California. So the question is, as
(35:18):
you kind of talk about that, when we talk about contracts,
do you think Jerry Jones, as an example, uses that
to his favor when he's talking to players about taxes
and what their contract's worth.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Absolutely, and I know the Rangers and the Stars do
as well too.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Yeah. You hear pretty frequently when there are trade discussions
or free agent discussions. You know, players in all the
sports just talking about going somewhere where there's not a
state income tax or where taxes are lower because they
know that they're going to be able to make more
money they plan a state like that.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Just makes you wonder, you know, if any kind of
advantage that gives teams in Texas, in Florida and other
states that don't have a state income tax. Interesting note,
and this is one of the things that I've heard about.
I don't know a lot about the details on it,
but I think these athletes have to pay taxes when
(36:22):
they perform, like much like in concerts, when you perform
and earn money in other states, don't they have to
pay those state taxes? Like so when the Cowboys go
and play, you know, at San Francisco. I've heard before,
and maybe you guys have heard this too and can
bring some clarity to it. But I think part of
(36:43):
the reason why you know, pro athletes need somebody on
their team that just deals with taxes is when you
travel to that state and you earn money in that state,
you have to pay. Because they're earning I mean, they're
you know, they're earning a lot of money per game.
So I think they actually do have to pay those taxes,
just not as much because they're not obviously playing every
(37:04):
game in that state.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yes they do. You are absolutely correct, Scott. If they
play a game in California, and we'll take professional football
for instance, one seventeenth of their pay is taxed by
the state of California. And it's interesting, state of California
was actually against increasing the number of games for the
NFL for that very reason. It would cut what they
(37:26):
would take. If the Dallas Cowboys play in Philadelphia, the
city of Philadelphia has an income tax, so the Cowboys
have to play pay the city of Philadelphia's income tax
for one seventeenth of their salary. Every guy who suits
up and plays for the Cowboys, they have to pay
that tax.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
There you go, and they'll be paying that tax for
the first game of the season. Cowboys have more Thursday
night games than ever in their history. I think that
for Thursday night games this coming falls. I hope you
guys don't like working on Friday. We'll be staying up
late watching games.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
So one rote on one last thing. So PFF has
graded our running back room at Baylor as the number
ten overall running back group in n C Double A
for this coming fall, and we had the third highest
(38:27):
returning running back in Byron Washington in the nation. So
things are, things are looking good for our running game
there in Waco this coming season.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
That really scares me. And I'll tell you why. I
have not been this excited going into a Baylor football
season since the year Art Briles had the number one
quarterback that was going to start for us and we
(39:03):
ended the season having no quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Well we got three. We got we got three good
running backs in that running backer room and including our
including our stud freshmen that came in this year.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
And then I hope we're not talking, I hope we're
not in December talking about how we have no running
backs left. I really don't.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I don't want to repeat them, but Scott, I guarantee
you I'll kill some of that excitement when we spend
an hour talking about a j Floyd on the way down.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
All right, So for those twelve listeners who listen to
us every week, say a prayer for me, for Chris Byram,
Chris Shirley, I'm Scott Miller until till next time. So long, everybody,
Welcome into another conversation with the Chris Is. I'm Scott Miller,
joined as always Chris Shirley and Chris Byram and gentlemen.
Got a list of things we're going to go to
as we are officially heading into the summer sports season,
and I'm going to start with you this morning, Chris Biram.
When we talk about summer sports. Of course we're going
(00:22):
to get into some playoff hockey, you know, some other
things that are taking place. But let's be honest, what
we're really thinking about is we're less than one hundred
days from college football.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hellijah, Yeah, you're getting close.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm beginning to look for when Dave Campbell's Texas Football
is going to come out, So you know, that's my
bathroom reading for the next three months, you know. And
it's just an exciting time because when you go out,
when kids go out for summer, the first thing that
comes to their mind is when as football practice start.
And we are getting really, really close.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I want to talk about something that specific because it
seems like in the last you know, five years, this
time of the year, things are changing for college sports
and the story the big headline this year and I
don't want to get your take on it. They are
changing how the playoffs are being seated. So last season,
(01:23):
for those who don't know, basically the conference champion, top
four conference champions, they got an automatic you know, by
so they were number one in the seating regardless of
what their record was. And now they're changing it where
it's going to be whoever the top four teams are,
we'll get that buy, not the conference champion. So that's
(01:44):
the change. How do you feel about it?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, I honestly don't have a strong opinion about it.
I mean I do think that, you know, I think
all of us should want the top four teams, the
best four teams to be ranked one through four, rather
than you know, maybe the the the default of well,
(02:13):
the top four are automatically going to be your your
top four power for conference you know champions, when you
know one or one or more of those may not
be one of the top four best teams you know,
in in the country. I find it interesting that, you know,
so the the the NFL, the Detroit Lions actually proposed
(02:38):
that this would be the same type of change that
would be made uh in the NFL for the playoffs
for playoff seeding moving forward, and uh, you know, last
minute pulled it because they didn't have enough votes among
the owners to be able to to get the same
kind of thing done because of you know what we
(03:01):
had happened in the NFC North last year, where you know,
you had you had three teams that could could have
been two or three of two of the three teams
could have been the top four you know in the
in the NFL as far as Seaedium is concerned, had
they done that last year, but it was the same
thing it was, you know, the top four the divisional
(03:23):
winners received you know those uh those top four spots
and first round bys and all that kind of stuff.
So I think if it helps the top four teams
the best, the best for you know, whoever that is
be there at the top, they've earned that throughout the year,
I can see that as a positive. On the flip
(03:45):
side of that, I could see how it could hurt
a conference like ours being in the Big twelve, which is,
you know, a powerful conference, but we're not. We're not
viewed across the country as as you know, one of
the of the strongest as far as you know, teams
that we have in our in our conference, So I wonder,
(04:07):
you know, does does that hurt conference like ours if
our conference champion is is not you know, guaranteed one
of those top four spots. So I don't know, it'd
be interesting to see how this plays out.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Well, I think that second part is the biggest concern
Byron because we know who is running college playoffs. ESPN
has a big influence and how these rankings take place.
ESPN is a business, and when you pull back the curtain,
businesses do things in order to benefit business, you know.
(04:43):
So you know, in Alabama being in the top four
having a home you know, home team versus if if
you know, Baylor were to win the Big Twelve and
be in the discussion of the playoffs, who are they
going to go with? I mean, we've seen in the
playoffs system before where the Blue Dogs always got favored
regardless of if they had a better product on the
(05:05):
field that particular year. Isn't the concern that this is
just another way to control the narrative and you know,
basically the Big Twelve may never have a home playoff game.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well you know that second round of the playoffs though,
that by the time you get to the teams that
have buy games. They're playing in bowl games, right, it's
that first round, So you may actually get more of
a play for a home game if you do that
with the Big Twelve. The thing that I've gone back
(05:41):
and forth on this whole lot is that, yes, I
think it's an advantage for the SEC and Big ten
because they're gonna have teams with the week off. But
then as I look back at this last year, those
teams that had the week off did not do real
well in the first round of the playoffs. And I'm
looking specifically at at Georgia and you know, they lost,
(06:06):
and the teams that made it to the National Championship
games are teams that played in the first round. So
I think sitting around for that week while other teams
are playing may actually hurt a little bit. I think
the other really interesting thing to look from this, and
this is why the SEC and Big ten are looking
for guaranteed spots too, because you know, the other proposal
(06:28):
is that SEC and Big ten get four teams each,
acc Big twelve gets two teams each, and then you've
got three or four open slots for who, Well I
take that back, then you've got the one group of five,
then you've got three or four open slots. The SEC
wants to have a play in weekend instead of a
(06:50):
conference championship weekend if they get four spots. They have
contemplated either having a conference championship game with one and two,
but then three through play to see who gets the
other two slots. The Big twelve is actually talking about
having the top four teams play on conference championship weekend
(07:11):
to see who gets the two spots. It's another way
to generate revenue. That could be really interesting to watch too.
But the other question it's going to become and this
is already such a gray area. It's ridiculous. When are
these kids no longer students at the school? There's happening
so many games. When when when do they stop taking class?
(07:35):
And when do we just admit it's minor league football?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I think, I mean, I think we're there just based
on nil and kids that are making more money to
sit on a bench at certain programs, and NFL players
are making We've seen that. Now brock Perty got his payday,
and I want to talk about that here in a second,
But you know, I remember that being the shining example
(07:58):
when you know perty was making less and what Manning
was making in Austin, you know, sitting sitting on the sideline.
So so you were kind of looking surely at how
the seating would have been different, because I think I
saw that same graphic that you were glancing at. I'm
just kind of curious, like if this was in place
last year, Let's not go through the whole run, but
(08:20):
you know, Arizona State, where would they have fallen in
the playoffs instead of hosting? Where would they have been
last year?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Had this system been in place? Your number one would
have been Oregon, Your number two would have been Georgia,
Your number three would have been Texas, Your number four
would have been Penn State. So I mean you still
had Oregon was number one last year, correct, So that
(08:49):
wouldn't have wouldn't have really affected you know that that
particular that particular one. I think it looks like the
Ohio Ohio state would have received the biggest bump had
this new system been in place, but they still wouldn't
have been in the top four.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I guess we're going to find out for sure soon
enough as we get closer to the fall. I want
to hone in specifically on some things going on in Waco,
and I want to start with a story, Birom, if
you can give us kind of the background for those
who are hearing about this for the first time. But
(09:26):
there is a student athlete who, as I understand, it
was all set to have another year of eligibility and
then something happened this month, the month of May, where
they took that away. So what's going on and talk
about Hawkins and why he can't play at this point
(09:47):
and what Baylor's doing to try to get the NCAA
to reverse that.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Well, that's a great question, and I'm going to try
to explain this as I understand it, and it's complicated.
So the NCUBA was sued because the quarterback at Vanderbilt
wanted his two years at a junior college not to
count so he could have opportunities to make more money
(10:14):
through an IL and he won. So Ashton Hawkins, who
spent a year at a JUCO, sued saying I want
that year back. Where this gets complicated is is Paviyus
spent his two years at the beginning at a JUCO
then went to Vanderbilt. My understanding is with Hawkins is
(10:36):
his JUCO time came in the midst of his time
at Baylor when the NCAA, and this is where it
really gets just sad. After the window closed for getting
into the NFL Draft, which was Hawkins' other option, the
(10:59):
NCAA said, oh, by the way, we made a mistake.
We didn't realize this was in the middle of his
time at Baylor, and so therefore we're going to rescind
that extra year of eligibility we gave him. Now, as
you can imagine, this causes all sorts of issues for
him because now it cuts him out for a whole
(11:20):
year and he cannot play, cannot have NFL scouts look
at him. And so this caught Baylor and Hawkins very
much by surprise. They went and they are both appealing it.
And I can tell you that odds are, excuse me,
odds are it's not going to go through. The NCAA
(11:40):
is going to stick to their guns, and I think
a lot of people are feeling frustrated, and rightfully so,
that they feel like if this were a big tenor
SEC school, they would give in. And there is some
talk of Hawkins filing a lawsuit over this, and Baylor
very very very quietly helping out on this, but it
(12:04):
is a very unfortunate situation because it takes away really
our best wide receiver for the year. And you look
at the timing of this and it just looks awful,
which the NC DOUBA is really good at making things
look bad. So that's the situation we're in. And as
(12:27):
there are a lot of people who are saying that
the appeal does not look good, that the NC DOUBA
is going to stick through their guns. And that's why
you have seen Baylor try to go out and get
a couple more receivers in the which, by the way,
we have three portal guys on campus today. These will
be the last three guys if they choose to go
(12:50):
to Baylor. But that's why we're looking at extra guys
because we just it's like the NC double just reached
in and said, Nope, we're not going to let you
do this.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I mean, there's so many things surely to unpack about that.
I mean, obviously you just think about from the perspective
of Hawkins, and you know, he he did not enter
the NFL Draft because the NC double A told him
he could play at Baylor one more season. I mean,
(13:20):
I would think there's a lawsuit in there. I'm not
a legal person, but it just seems like there's a
case can be made. Obviously his outcome as he wants
to be in the Green and gold uniform in the fall,
but it just seems like, I mean, Baylor's a lot
of influence in the n CUBA right now. I mean,
you know, doctor Livingstone is actually on a major committee,
(13:42):
and you know our athletic director is actually in charge
of the playoff committee this year. I mean, what are
your thoughts on it?
Speaker 3 (13:48):
It obviously hurts the player because you know, as Barron's
already mentioned, you know, had had he had he known
that he wasn't going to have another year of eligibility,
Obviously he's going to prepare for the draft, and whether
he gets drafted or not, he could still get picked
(14:08):
up as an undrafted free agent after the draft and
have an opportunity to you know, play for an NFL
football team. Well now, obviously, because of the the timing
of the ruling, he can't. He can't do that.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You know, the.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
UFL is already midway through their season, you know, so
he can't even he can't even do that. So I
mean the the n C double A because they you know,
they they made a decision about this initially, and so
he was preparing to you know, to play play out
his final year as a as a college football player.
(14:59):
And and now that that's been that's been taken away,
it's an absolute just disservice to you know, to him
has put him in a really difficult position, but also
you know, has put Baylor in a very difficult position
as well, because you know, he was our second most
productive receiver last year behind Josh Cameron, and uh, you know,
(15:24):
we're we're expecting to uh to you know, lean heavily
on him again this uh this coming season. So you
know that Baylor, Baylor gets put in a position where
they have to scramble and try to you know, get
another wide receiver too in the spring portal, which obviously
(15:45):
is not near as uh full of uh you know,
high impact players as the portal would have been right
after the regular season our playoffs were over. H So
you know that that puts us in a really difficult position.
Plus what about the n I L money that we
(16:07):
that we're paying him, you know, does does he just
do we do we give that to him? Does some
of that come back. Are we able to recoup any
of that. That's money that could have gone for for
someone else or or other you know, other players in
the transfer portal. So I mean, it's just it's bad
all the way around for him, it's bad all the
(16:28):
way around for Baylor. And boy, it certainly sounds like
to me that he's got legal standing to to file
a lawsuit, you know, because of the hardship that has
caused caused him and and uh caused.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Baylor as well.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Who's in charge of the n C double A these years.
I mean, it just seems like it's a wild West
on so many things that they're allowing to just happen,
and then odd things they come down on hard, and
it just seems like this is one of those odd
things I think in the world. You know, I understand
you got to have rules. I'm actually a proponent that
(17:05):
we need more structure, you know, in NIL and we've
talked about that. But you know, I'm all about crossing
the t's dotting the eyes. But I think there are
cases to be made where an organization, you know, can
make an exception to the rule based on their own mistake.
And I think in this case, the n C Double
(17:27):
A should own up to that and said, you know what,
we should not have approved him for eligibility. We're going
to grant this waiver because of our mistake. And I
don't think I don't think anyone would fault the n
C Double A if they came out that way and
made that decision. It's going to be interesting. And now
there's you mentioned byrom there's a quiet campaign. I don't
(17:47):
know if it's quiet, because there are some social media
posts starting to kind of show up free Hawkins, you know,
free him to play. So yeah, it'll be it'll be
interesting on how it kind of all right. My next
question is we talk about Baylor football, is let's talk
about our QB one because out of Waco and the
(18:09):
fan base there's this kind of not so quiet it's
starting to get a little louder drum beat on our
quarterback and just how he matured. We saw him mature
last season. As the season you know, continued to progress,
he got better and you know we've got maybe some
(18:29):
better protection on the line, better running. That's maturing. The
whole team is maturing on the offensive side of the ball.
So the question I ask is is our QB one?
And I'm going to ask it a different way because
you know the whole talk of Heisman. But is Sawyer
more a Bryce Petty, which is a great quarterback that
(18:50):
wins a conference championship two years in a row and
and phenomenal athlete, didn't last very long in the NFL
playing for the Jets. Or is he the RG three
that comes in puts Baylor back on the national map,
wins a Heisman trophy, doesn't win a conference championship and
(19:10):
then again short short career in the NFL. Maybe it's
not a fair question. But I'll start with with you,
Chris Shirley, and say, as you look at Sawyer, is
he more Bryce Petty to you? Or more RG three?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I mean RG three is such a you know, for
Baylor football is such a high, I mean high standard.
He is the standard at the quarterback position, you know.
I I think we'll find out. You know, I would
put him more in an RG three category than I
(19:50):
think Bryce Petty category. You know, he is a little
bit more mobile than Bryce Petty. But you know, as
I was sharing with you guys yesterday, as we just
talked about this, Ashton Hawkins situation. I mean, he's your
(20:11):
he's your you know, your one A or your one
B on the receiving corps, and so you know, just
looking looking at our wide receiver depth chart, it's only
going too deep right now with him out.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So that's.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
You know, my my Obviously, the Heisman trophy is somewhat
is certainly dependent upon the quarterback and his skills, but
you got to have guys that are getting open that
catch the ball as well, and so you know, that's
that's my concern for you know, the Bears moving forward,
(20:51):
and certainly for Sawyer Robertson's potential chances at being a
Heisman front runner.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Same question, to you buy ron, do you put him more?
Bryce Petty or RG three?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Bryce Petty. Robertson isn't going to kill you as much
with his feet as RG three could, even though RG
three really toned it down after he hurt his knee.
But the one thing about I'll give Robertson above Petty
is the fact that I think Petty had a cannon
(21:23):
for an arm. Sawyer doesn't have that strong of an arm,
but he really throws the ball smartly. Now, he did
make a couple of bad throws last year, but every
quarterback does. But I think he's closer to Bryce Petty,
And honestly, I think this team is closer to some
of those teams that just can move the ball, and
(21:44):
that's what I'm looking forward to. I hope we can
keep the ball a lot this year, but I think
Sawyer's the QB who can do that.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I guess another way to ask the question and just
just quick answer on this one. Would you rather have
the Bryce Petty error where Robinson goes out and wins
a Big twelve and gets a good bowl game or
playoff bid or the RG three where you have some
great wins, some great splashes, you don't win the conference championship,
(22:16):
but you win the Heisman. So the question is, Shirley
Heisman are championship? Which would you rather have Big twelve
championship or a Heisman?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
It's a team sports. I'd rather have the championship championship.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
There's no doubt.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Three for three I agree. All right, let's talk about
the Dallas Stars. Some interesting statistics. Just want to kind
of talk about for a second. Is we know the
Dallas Stars originated as the Minnesota North Stars. So when
I give you this history. This goes back to the
entire organization, not just their time in Texas, but the
(22:52):
Stars have made the playoffs a total of thirty seven
times in their history, winning the Stanley Cup only once
in nineteen ninety nine. They have appeared in the Stanley
Cup five times, with the most recent appearance losing to
Tampa Bay back in twenty twenty. They also are now
in their third straight Western Conference championship. Chris byrom are
(23:16):
we going to be partying? Partying like it's nineteen ninety nine?
Little Prince reference? There is the Stars going to win
a Stanley Cup this year?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Wow? I think they can. Edmonton needs to commit a
lot of penalties because Edmonton is much worse when they
are not skate because Edmonton is really fast and they're
not a good matchup for the Stars. So they if
they commit a lot of penalties, I think we have
a great chance. But yeah, hockey is such a weird
(23:48):
playoff sport. Can they Absolutely, they're the favorite to do it.
But will they? I don't know? I really don't know.
And I'm going with my rooting record. Ten teams I
tend to root for don't do well in the.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Playoffs, So there's a common theme there. Maybe you need
to be rooting on Edmonton.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I like Edmonton, but I'm not going to root for
them any team with the name Oilers that refers to,
you know, like the Houston Oilers.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I'm all four.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I mean, what are your thoughts? Surely is you watch
this team? I mean, they're they're a fun team to watch.
I mean I watched the entire comeback the other night,
you know, when they were down three to one and
end up winning six to three. Didn't have it in
it last night losing the three to nothing. Now they
got to travel to Canada. But do you think this
Stars team, as they've invested a lot of money, I think,
(24:42):
like you know, their newest additions, like four year, ninety
six million dollar contract, I mean, ownership is putting money
for this team to win. Do you think this is
the year that their coach finally wins? And by the way,
their coach, I mean I think I saw he's been
in seven of the last eight Western Conference championships and
fired three times or at least twice. So do you
(25:05):
think this is the year the Stars finally returned to
the Cup and win it?
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Well, I certainly think that this is the best Stars
team that we've seen over the last three years. But I,
you know, after after watching you know, this this playoff
run and watching you know, these first two first two
games against Edmonton, man, I you know, we've we have
(25:32):
we have been the beneficiaries of some very lucky bounces
and some you know, just phenomenal individual performances. You know,
if I had to, if I had to say, who's
who's who's playing better, Who's the hotter team, I'd say
it's Edmonton. Byron Murray mentioned this that they are there's
(25:56):
so much fat, Their skilled players are faster than ours,
and they are, in my opinion, uh, you know, more
skilled than than ours. Uh, They're they're they're skilled players.
Their best players are stepping up and and ours, ours
haven't really been stepping up.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
And so I don't have a good feeling about this series.
You know, I think we're going to be losing the
Edmonton for the second year in a row in the
Western Conference Final. And I'll say this, even even if
we were to beat Edmonton, I don't know who in
the world is going to beat the Florida Panthers because
they are absolutely on fire. They are a machine. Uh,
(26:37):
they're scoring five to six goals every night. I don't
I don't see who's gonna beat them. Regardless of who
the Western Conference representative.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Is going to be MM good point team from Florida
winning hockey, which is just to think about.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, yeah, when you think about the four teams in
the conference finals, we all know that the care lineas
Florida and Texas are just hot beds for winter sports.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Right absolutely, But Dallas Stars, I think they have a shot.
But this one does feel like this particular series feels
to me like we could be seeing a game seven.
It just has that feeling of a back and forth
on the momentum. We will see how the Stars do
(27:25):
when they travel. They play on Sunday up in the
up in Canada, so we'll see how they play on
the road. But and it just feels like a game
seven to me. All Right, it is Memorial Day weekend
as we record this podcast, and only one of us
has ever attended in Indianapolis five hundred in person. So
(27:47):
I'm going to take it to you. Yes, and not
only that, only one of us actually cares enough about
the sport that probably knows all the stats about every
single race. So, Byron, I'm not even going to less
surely you want to weigh in on this one. I'm
going to just turn it over to you and talk
about this race and why you like it and why
you're excited about it.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
One hundred and ninth running. The first one was in
nineteen eleven. It's been five hundred miles except for rain.
It is just it truly was the place where car
companies would go test out their cars, and that's why
it was so important, because they knew tire companies wanted
(28:30):
to go there to see how well their tires would work,
and you could buy those tires to put on your car.
Of course you can't do that anymore, but it is
just a super cool place. If you go there, it
looks like it was built in nineteen oh nine. I
mean it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood, which
is just wild when you think about it, with how
(28:51):
loud it is, and it is just a super cool
race with a ton of history. And I think what
excites me about it is for about the last twenty years,
it's it really For about the last thirty years, it's
really declined a lot. But this year for the first
time in twelve years they've actually sold out the grand stands,
and if you don't know anything about the place, it
(29:14):
only has about two hundred and fifty thousand seats, So
that's a big deal. And when you get into the
history of the race and how important it was, it's
just it's just a cool race to watch, and it
has done so much for automobiles that we have today. Yes,
(29:35):
it actually does affect what we drive today. And so
I love watching the race. Not so much that I'll
skip church to watch it, you know, I've been tempted
to in the past, but you know, I will record
it and I'll come home and I'll watch it because
in the fact, it hit me when I went. You
see how fast they're going, and it's a two and
(29:58):
a half mile track and are doing it in under
forty five seconds, which is a quarter mile for a
human being. But when you're there and you watch the
cars go into those turns, it is utterly amazing how
fast those guys are going. And it almost will freak
you out at how fast they are going, So to
(30:21):
me is just amazing. And yes, I know some people
think you're just watching people go around in circles. It's
an awful big circle to be going around. So that's
why I love the race. I mean, I actually love
the race. I grew up thinking AJ Foyt was the
greatest guy ever. Then I read about him and he's
still Okay, I don't even know what that is. Oh
(30:42):
my gosh, God, We've got to talk.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I know, Suirley, do you know who that is? I mean,
am I the only one who doesn't know anything about racing?
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I've heard the name, But that's that's as far as
I can go with that.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, Scott, I can already tell you I know what
our first topic is going to be for our first
to Baylor game. Lovely.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, get Byron talking about the Indy five hundred or
Civil War history and you're going to be in for
a treat.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
So I will just tell you this. This race to
me is almost as good as Super Bowl Sunday. That's
how much I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
See, I don't know. Surely he says the same thing
about the Gray Cup, right, I mean he just gets
into obscured sports, Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I do there. I do not deny that I am
a fan of Australian rules football too. My wife and
I will watch Australian rules football on Sunday morning before
we go to church, So yeah, I do like but otto,
but then five hundred was not obscure. It was the
(31:48):
sporting event next to the World Series for years.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
In America, and it kind of is. It kind of
always falls like it's one of those benchmarks that just
kind of indicates summer's here, right once you get to
Indy five hundred.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, but the qualification runs for Pole Day to see
who would sit on the pole back.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I'm sorry about this, Shirly. I didn't mean to get
him started.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
But go ahead on the plane after this, I promised.
But in the fifties and sixties on Pole Day, they
would bring in two hundred and fifty thousand people just
to watch qualifications. That's how big it was. It was massive,
and so it just blows my mind. But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Now I don't have anything to add to it. Surely
you get anything to add to that.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I have zero to add to the.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Discussion the other thing, and then I've got a one
more thing for you guys to talk about here this morning.
But Byron requested that we not only talked about the
Indy five hundred. We talked about the initial weenimobile race
that took place yesterday. So exciting. By the way, I
(32:59):
was yesterday years old when I realized that there was
multiple Wienie Bill Wieni mobiles enough to have a race.
I thought there was one. I'm so stupid, But go ahead,
tell me about the Wieni mobile race. It took place yesterday.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Okay. It was incredibly boring. It only lasted two laps.
It took forever. I had no idea they had six
Wiener mobiles too, and I think they told the Fox announcers,
this is boring, so do as much double on tunder
as you can. And let's forget that that.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I don't need any example.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Okay, but for a guy who teaches junior hires, I
did laugh. I'm going to admit that, yeah, it was.
It was just unique and once a kid. They had
their biggest crowd of the month for the Wiener mobile race.
And I'm just trying to do people not have enough
to do in Indianapolis that kind of.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Will It had its effect because we're talking about Oscar
Meyer Wieni mobiles this morning. All right, here's my one
more thing I want us to kind of talk about
today because this is something that every now and then
will come up in sports, and I find it fascinating
when you in a particularly professional sports, when you're dealing
(34:10):
in contract negotiations, how a contract is worth different depending
where you're at. So brock Purty finally got his contract,
his big fat contract that everyone's you know, I would
say that he earned it. You know, he's gotten to
the NFL, he's had some success in San Francisco. But
(34:30):
this is a breakdown of what brock Purty will have
to pay on his on his taxes here federal income taxes,
which you'd have to pay wherever, nineteen point five million.
But then you get into California state taxes seven point
five million, federal payroll taxes one point two million, then
another California tax of sixteen hundred dollars, total taxes twenty
(34:55):
eight point three million, making his net income twenty four
point six million. If he were to play in Texas
as an example, that same contract would have been worth
over seven point six million more dollars than what he's
getting paid there in California. So the question is, as
(35:18):
you kind of talk about that, when we talk about contracts,
do you think Jerry Jones, as an example, uses that
to his favor when he's talking to players about taxes
and what their contract's worth.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Absolutely, and I know the Rangers and the Stars do
as well too.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Yeah. You hear pretty frequently when there are trade discussions
or free agent discussions. You know, players in all the
sports just talking about going somewhere where there's not a
state income tax or where taxes are lower because they
know that they're going to be able to make more
money they plan a state like that.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Just makes you wonder, you know, if any kind of
advantage that gives teams in Texas, in Florida and other
states that don't have a state income tax. Interesting note,
and this is one of the things that I've heard about.
I don't know a lot about the details on it,
but I think these athletes have to pay taxes when
(36:22):
they perform, like much like in concerts, when you perform
and earn money in other states, don't they have to
pay those state taxes? Like so when the Cowboys go
and play, you know, at San Francisco. I've heard before,
and maybe you guys have heard this too and can
bring some clarity to it. But I think part of
(36:43):
the reason why you know, pro athletes need somebody on
their team that just deals with taxes is when you
travel to that state and you earn money in that state,
you have to pay. Because they're earning I mean, they're
you know, they're earning a lot of money per game.
So I think they actually do have to pay those taxes,
just not as much because they're not obviously playing every
(37:04):
game in that state.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yes they do. You are absolutely correct, Scott. If they
play a game in California, and we'll take professional football
for instance, one seventeenth of their pay is taxed by
the state of California. And it's interesting, state of California
was actually against increasing the number of games for the
NFL for that very reason. It would cut what they
(37:26):
would take. If the Dallas Cowboys play in Philadelphia, the
city of Philadelphia has an income tax, so the Cowboys
have to play pay the city of Philadelphia's income tax
for one seventeenth of their salary. Every guy who suits
up and plays for the Cowboys, they have to pay
that tax.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
There you go, and they'll be paying that tax for
the first game of the season. Cowboys have more Thursday
night games than ever in their history. I think that
for Thursday night games this coming falls. I hope you
guys don't like working on Friday. We'll be staying up
late watching games.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
So one rote on one last thing. So PFF has
graded our running back room at Baylor as the number
ten overall running back group in n C Double A
for this coming fall, and we had the third highest
(38:27):
returning running back in Byron Washington in the nation. So
things are, things are looking good for our running game
there in Waco this coming season.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
That really scares me. And I'll tell you why. I
have not been this excited going into a Baylor football
season since the year Art Briles had the number one
quarterback that was going to start for us and we
(39:03):
ended the season having no quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Well we got three. We got we got three good
running backs in that running backer room and including our
including our stud freshmen that came in this year.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
And then I hope we're not talking, I hope we're
not in December talking about how we have no running
backs left. I really don't.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I don't want to repeat them, but Scott, I guarantee
you I'll kill some of that excitement when we spend
an hour talking about a j Floyd on the way down.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
All right, So for those twelve listeners who listen to
us every week, say a prayer for me, for Chris Byram,
Chris Shirley, I'm Scott Miller until till next time. So long, everybody,
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