March 22, 2025 • 35 mins
March Madness is underway. We do a deep dive into the state of Baylor Basketball. How long will Scott Drew coach the Bears? And could the Women's team take on LSU this offseason?
What are the Dallas Cowboys doing this offseason? Great question.
Opening day is around the corner, we discuss the Texas Rangers chances of making another deep run in the playoffs.
And we share our favorite memories of the legendary boxer George Foreman.
What are the Dallas Cowboys doing this offseason? Great question.
Opening day is around the corner, we discuss the Texas Rangers chances of making another deep run in the playoffs.
And we share our favorite memories of the legendary boxer George Foreman.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of My Conversation with the Chriss.
I'm Scott Miller, joined as always Chris Shirley and Chris Byram.
And it's been a minute since we've sat down and
recorded one of these podcasts. Life is busy, it happens.
So we're going to kind of dive into some topics.
And it is March, and of course with March comes
(00:20):
March madness. And Byram, I think you put it best
that you're always mad and it's March, so why not, right,
why not celebrate it?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, you know, I'm an old curmudgeon, so I'm mad
regardless of March madness fits me perfect.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
So what I want to dive into, because you know
the challenge when you record a podcast in the middle
of the tournament. We've already had some games played. We're
recording this on a Saturday morning. Are Baylor Bears, both
men's and women's basketball teams. They have won, but they
have more games coming up tomorrow. So I want to
(00:56):
kind of just talk about the state of Baylor basketball.
And Chris, surely I'm gonna I'm gonna kick it to
you first on this topic. As you're sitting here We're
in postseason play now, and you know, the season has
been not what we had hoped, of course, with Baylor
just kind of being hot and cold. How do you
feel today at this point of the season, having completed
(01:21):
didn't even have a chance to win the Big twelve,
you know, championship. How do you feel about Scott Drew
and where Baylor basketball sits today.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I don't know. I'm a little bit I guess maybe
I'm a little bit concerned about, you know, just how
how how we've done since you know, winning at all.
I think I think there's a number of reasons why,
you know, maybe we haven't even come close to you
know that that again, we haven't made a deep ride
(01:54):
again since you know, twenty twenty one, and you know
it is one of the reasons for that is that
because we've we've lost some really good assistant coaches. You're
O tang, uh you know, I think, uh, you know,
at the top of that list, uh, the the you know,
(02:14):
the n I L and the transfer portal are era
is here. So it's not about uh as, it's not
as much about recruiting you know, high school seniors and uh,
you know, building them up over the course of you know,
three to four years in your program so that you
(02:38):
know you you you know each other. Well, there's great chemistry,
there's you know, there's there's just that that that type
bond and and community that's built over those three to
four years together. You know, I think I think it's
(02:58):
probably an a number of those things. I wonder how
Scott Drew is making the adjustment to the nil transfer
portal era. You know, let's you know, let's talk about
this year. We brought three guys in through the transfer
portal that we're all, you know, pretty uh at least
(03:21):
two of the three were I think, you know, really
good on paper, and you know, really only one of
those three and that being you know, Omeir has really
panned out. You know, Jeremy Roach did not pan out
at all. I don't think he you know, he is
(03:42):
what we we thought we were getting a player from Duke,
you know, and Celesting from U c. L A has
not been the three point sharpshooter that he that he
was supposed to be at all this season, So you know,
you know, is that is that just how it how
(04:04):
it is? Now like you're gonna swing in this on
some guys and you're gonna hit on some other guys
or you know, is this a sign that Drew maybe
he maybe he does have some some struggles in this
new nil transfer portal area. I don't, I don't really know.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Byron, you you've been kind of following this and you
there seems to be some movement towards that transfer portal. Again,
what what are you seeing as far as Baylor basketball?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
This is just based on what I'm hearing. But we're
only going to have five guys come back from this
current team, so he's got to hit the portal. Now.
We've got a couple of kids coming in you know
that we've signed already. But and what's amazing of those five,
the main one is being hit by a ton of
(04:56):
other teams and has been all year, which it happens.
We're in the wild, wild West, but we are going
to have to be hitting the transfer portal again. Now.
I think Drew has to look at a couple of things.
He came up with a team that supposedly had a
great starting five, and then we got hit by tons
(05:17):
of injuries and we weren't that deep. So how do
you spread out your nil money? Do you try to
go a little bit deeper than you were before. There's
going to be some really interesting decisions, and I think
next year is going to be very telling on how
well he is adjusted to the nil we have to
(05:38):
be better. I think the other thing here is, and
this is a very real issue. I have heard from
a lot of different people that Drew does not intend
to coach too much longer. He doesn't have to. He's
got enough money he can do whatever he wants to
at this point. But I'm really beginning to wonder if
(06:01):
he does not come up with a really ultra competitive
team next year, does that make him want to, you know,
finish out just a little bit sooner than he had before.
And I think these are things you've got to look at.
But I was I have been fascinated to see how
(06:21):
this team has just kind of fallen apart. You had
guys that definitely were looking at their at their own sale,
at their own sales. We had a couple of players
who just chose not to play a couple of games
because their agents advised them not to. This is gonna
have We're gonna have to look at how we make
up our team based on in il and it's we're
(06:43):
we're gonna be starting almost from scratch. There's a potential
we could bring in seven guys in the portal. Just
think about that for a second. That's a lot of guys.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
You know, in fairness to Scott Drew and the Baylor
basketball program and this whole issue of nil and we've
talked a lot about it, and so we've launched this
podcast because it's the error that we're in. You know,
college sports are changing, you know, rapidly, but Baylor's not
the only team that struggled with this, right I mean,
I mean, what's going on with Bill self? I mean,
(07:14):
this is the second time there's only been one program
that has been preseason ap number one and lost in
the first round. And it's happened twice, and it's happened
in recent history. You know, what's going on with the
state of that program? You look at the other Blue Dogs.
You know, I know, Baylor's playing Duke this weekend, but
(07:34):
there's just a lot of these programs that historically have
been good that you're not hearing as much from of late.
They're looking for coaches, they're scratching their head. So, you know,
is this a Baylor problem or just every program is
having to kind of rethink how to build a team.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
You know, Scott, I go back to my home work history,
and I've already said I'm a curmudgeon, so I hate change,
and there were times I had to learn new stuff
and I hated it. And I think coaches are realizing
that the way you coached even four years ago is
totally different now, and the way you build a team
(08:12):
is totally different now. And so we're seeing coaches who
are adjusting well, who are learning. We're seeing coaches who
are not adjusting real well. And this is going to
be a huge year for Self and true everybody was
telling Self last year that the team he was building
had no inside depth at all, that he was relying
(08:37):
on one or two good shooters and if one thing
went wrong, everything went head south. And it did. So
I think they are both going to be looking at
how do we build a team? And it's going to
be a big deal because you got to have the resources,
and they have the resources right now, and if they
start having donors bailing because they aren't building a team, well,
(08:59):
it really go south real fast.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Surely, the SEC has tried to claim that they are
the better Basketball Conference this year. Maybe that's debatable. But
how much in addition to what you said about the
nil and Scott Drew trying to figure that out, how
much is it the competition the Big Twelve is just
continuing to to just get you know better. I mean,
(09:22):
Texas Tech is a different team than they were. Houston's
now in the conference. You got other teams that have
come in. Is it the competition as well that's hurting Baylor?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I mean maybe, you know, I would certainly argue that
there were you know, in the last decade or so,
it hasn't just been Kansas and and Baylor at the
top of the Big Twelve, you know basketball. You know,
Texas has had some good teams. Tech Tech has had
(09:55):
some good teams. You know, Case State, you know, made
a pretty deep run, you know last year. So I mean,
I think there's there's there's been some there's been some
some good basketball programs in the Big Twelve in the
last decade or so. But man, I you know, you
(10:16):
talk about Houston, It's pretty amazing to me that Houston
has been as successful as they have been. I mean,
they were successful in the AAC before they ever came
to the Big twelve and you know, they were champions
there and they just they haven't they haven't missed a beat,
you know, coming over to the to the Big twelve.
(10:37):
And you know, we're talking about recruiting classes. I know
that I checked on this a couple of weeks ago,
and maybe there's been a little movement, but you know,
I think we've got I know, we've got one. I
think we have one signed for this this next year's
class that's you know whatever ESPN Top one hundred or whatever.
(10:59):
But you look at Houston and they've got multiple people
already signed coming in for this next year, like they
Calvin Sampson has has built a juggernaut there, And I'm like,
I look at something like that, and we're talking about
University of Houston. You know, that's always been known as
Houston High is thirteenth grade. I lived in Houston for
(11:20):
a couple of years and that's what they called it.
University of Houston was called thirteenth grade, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And so.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
But he's he has built something there.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But yeah, I mean Houston is historically a basketball town, though, right.
I mean, they've they've had good programs University of Houston
before and obviously they had, you know, phenomenal success on
the NBA level, though, so when I look at Houston,
I see that as kind of like it's a basketball town.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, I guess those couple of championships you can put
an asterisk there because Michael Jordan had retired for a
couple of years. But I mean, yeah, I mean University
of Houston obviously five Slama Jama era, right, but that
was obviously decades ago, right, you know, and so it's
not that it's without precedent, but you know, I mean,
(12:11):
I don't know, I don't know. I don't know what
to I don't know what to make of it.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Look, I think I've said this before. I'm thrilled that
we have kids who, you know, want to come in
and play for a year and they go into the
NBA and they continue to be successful there by and large.
We've seen that over the last you know, for four
(12:36):
to five years, even longer than that, but specifically the
last four to five years. And you know, Edgecombe is
going to be another one of those, you know, and
so that's great, but you know, on the flip side
of that, that's not great for you know, really building
(12:59):
a team culture. And team chemistry over the course of
you know, two, three, four years, because they're here for
one year and they're gone, you know, And so i'd rather,
I would rather And maybe this is this is just
me being a dinosaur or something. I don't know, but
I would much rather, you know, get the two and
(13:21):
three star recruits who come in and we and we're
able to build them over three to four years. Then
to get these you know ESPN Top fifty recruits that
come for one year and then they're gone.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, it's hard to it's hard to really as a fan.
You know, I can'tmera what comedian and Aymond Jerry Seinfeld
I said. We reached a point where really just cheering
on the color of jerseys, right because on the pro level,
athletes come and go, and it's that way in college.
Let's just for a moment, because when we talked about
the state of basketball in Waco, I know we don't
(13:58):
follow the women's basketball this closely, but you know, Byron,
you know, Nikki Collin had a pretty tall order, you know,
following Hall of Famer I mean, you know, for all
practical purposes, lover hater, you know, Kim Mulky definitely is
one of the greats. She's having success already win a
(14:19):
championship at LSU. So how do you feel the women's
game is doing. You know, they're now in the thick
of it. They were they were in the race for
the Big twelve championship. Had it not been for TCU,
you know, they would have would have won both regular
season and the tournament play. How do you feel about
that program getting to host the first you know, postseason
(14:42):
play at Foster Pavilion this year.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I think it's great. She has definitely kept you know,
the program strong. There are certain people who will not
be happy until she wins the national championship, and that's
going to be incredibly difficult with everything that's going on.
But this program is good once again. I think she
(15:05):
has learned how to hit the transfer portal and mix
it with recruits. But you know it, I'm just I'm learning.
It's hard to keep that success going year after year
after year, and so it's gonna be it's gonna be
interesting to see what she does in the next few years.
But the fact she came in after Malkey, after all
(15:29):
of the difficulty, you know, you know, Malkey had almost
a near cult following in Waco, and I think she
Colin has slowly won people over to her, which is
a good thing. She's just got to keep the success going.
And the Big twelve's got a tall order because the
SEC is really good. And you know they Baylor had
(15:55):
issues with Grand Canyon yesterday.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Grand Canyon came in, by the way, the law longest
win streak in women's play, thirty wins in a row,
So yes, you know they were not just.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Like it's being hired by Arizona State. Saw that this morning.
But you know, let's see how we do today. If
we can get to the sweet sixteen, that would be great.
Of course, if we get there, we're going to be
playing a more than likely playing a one seed, so
it's not going to get any easier. But I like
(16:29):
keeping the success up. It's it is mutt. As you know,
you asked about Houston having a history. Houston had a
history in basketball and spurts in the late sixties and
then in with five Slama Jama. But I definitely enjoy
being a Baylor fan more winning.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
You know, surely would there be part of you that
would be intrigued if the tournament and I honestly full
Transparence Haman looked at the bracket. But you know, so
I don't know when this would happen, but you know,
at some point, wouldn't it be fun for Baylor and
LSU to meet in postseason play?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah? Absolutely? And yeah, I meant to pull up the
women's bracket. Aren't they They're both in the same bracket
right then, en, isn't l s U's a three seed and.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
We're the we're the fourth. Only when we could meet
is if we both made it to the regional final,
which that would be wild.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Okay, so we're in the same region, the.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Final in a berth in the final four is on
the line between those two.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, okay, so it could happen. It could happen this year.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I just think that would be awesome. I think that's
a made for TV moment. I think even people that
are you know, casual followers of the women's game would
find that intriguing. Similar to when you know and LSU
took on Aitland Clark's team, you know, took on Iowa.
I found that fascinating. I think they actually had more
(18:04):
viewers that watched that game than any of the men's
games that year. So women's game has definitely been elevated
and having personalities like Kim Maulky has helped that.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Just let me throw in this aside here and I
will keep the short. But when we had the anniversary
of the twenty thirteen fourteen Baylor football teams at McLain
this year, right, Malke came to that unannounced because her
son in law was on both of those teams. And
(18:35):
I've been told that there are some real stories behind
that that will come out eventually. But people nearly fell
over when she showed up.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well, she accidentally ended up on the jumbo tron, didn't.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yes, And I have been told that there were words
over that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I just man, I hope that happened. I just made
for TV moment.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
All right.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Just want to touch briefly on the off season that
is going on right now in in the NFL and
the Dallas Cowboys and who wants to take this question first?
But how do we feel what what has been the
movement or the lack of movement taking place at the
(19:23):
star of this off season for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Excuse me, I was I was yawning at the question.
That's that's that's how I feel about our off season
right now, just yawning. Okay, so well, I mean, I
don't doubt what to say.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I mean, we've been sleep Next year we're gonna be
brutally bad because I am looking around all these teams
in the NFC East are getting better. We're I think
we've signed a total of nine agents. Tell many, how
tell me how many of them? Have you heard about? None?
(20:06):
We lose it. Admittedly, his skills were going down a bit,
but we.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Lose our best offensive linemen. What have we signed for
replacing nothing? Yeah, this team is going to be awful.
And Jerry's running around going, oh, We've got a great core.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
No we don't.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
He's like the worst. He's like the worst fantasy football
player ever, only he's playing with real with the real team.
And what about what was it? DeMarcus wears shot at
Dallas on his way out the door? Do you guys
see that?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah? I did? I did, And yeah that did. That
didn't didn't completely surprise me, because I you know, I
obviously he had he had made he made some comments
right after that Green Bay playoff loss two years ago
that you know, kind of raised raised some eyebrows, and uh,
(21:02):
I don't think that. You know, now that he's left
and he has kind of started talking a little bit,
it has become a parent that, you know, he and
Michael Parsons didn't get along, and so you know, who
knows who's really at fault there? But uh, yeah, I
(21:23):
mean it's it's pretty telling when you have a guy
like that, you know, leave and and say, man, I
wasn't gonna win a championship there. Of course, I don't think.
I don't know why he thinks he's gonna win one
in Seattle right now, But you know what I'm.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Saying, So, yeah, exactly, Well, it's Begs the question, Yeah,
Byron Begs. The question is was there some locker room
issues going on in in Dallas?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Oh, there's okay, there's been locker room issues in Dallas
since Jerry bought the team. Because he protects the stars.
He doesn't let his coach do anything. And and man,
let's talk about coaching staff too. We have an experimental
coaching staff. I mean, we have a we have a
head coach who's whose dad was a pretty decent head coach.
(22:10):
But when he's been a coordinator, he hasn't even called
plays that this season could be a total disaster. And
I'm just I'm just to the point where if Jerry
is sticking his nose into the locker room, then I
think it has just come to a complete understanding that
(22:32):
Jerry has no idea what a GM does and he's
going to try to do it his way, and he's
going to continue to fill and I think, unfortunately, because
he's getting up there, his legacy is going to be
one of he really kind of ruined what the Cowboys
were and I and I hate to say that, but
(22:55):
that's where we're headed right now.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Sureley, do you think it's speaking of the head coach?
Do you think we're going to have another repeat? You
know that the Cowboys could have at some point hired
Sean Payton to be the head coach. He ends up
in New Orleans. We know what happens, won some championships. Now,
you also had this offseason there was a chance, and
(23:21):
I don't know that you would have liked it at
the time, but you had Moore, who former offensive coordinator
of Dallas spent you know, a cup of coffee in
San Francisco, was the offensive coordinator in the National Champion,
you know, World champion whatever you would call him Philadelphia Eagles,
and now he's in you know, he could have been
(23:43):
in Dallas, but now he's in New Orleans. Do you
think that's going to be a repeat of what happened
with Sean Payton?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
No, I do not. I don't. I just don't see
Kellen Moore being successful as a head football coach. I
just don't. I think a coordinator, yeah, but not as
a head coach. I don't think that's going to go
well in New Orleans. I mean, I certainly could be wrong,
but I just I don't see that. I don't see it,
(24:07):
you know, being being the same I would, I tell
you you mentioned Sean Payton. I oh, I was surprised
that Jerry didn't go after Peyton when he was available,
even though McCarthy obviously was still in our contract.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I was.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I was really really surprised by that because he was
a name that always came up, you know, in Dallas
media of a you know, potential future coach just because
of you know, his friendship with Jerry, and I guess
Jerry's disrespect of him as a coach, so that that
(24:47):
surprised me that he didn't take that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
When it came along, there were sixteen teams in the NFC.
A stat came out that's pretty surprising and not surprised
by the way the stat didn't come out, but it
was done in a graphic form that really just kind
of highlights it's sixteen teams and this graph and I'll
send it to you guys, but let me just kind
(25:10):
of describe. It's the NFC Championship drought. It's a number
of seasons since each NFC team made an appearance in
the conference championship game. Obviously, you go to the top,
you have Philadelphia and Washington zero seasons, Detroit and San
Francisco one season, LA three, Green Bay four along with
(25:32):
Tampa Bay, New Orleans six seasons ago, Minnesota seven, Atlanta eight,
get to Arizona nine, same with Carolina. What a drought. Seattle,
it's been a decade, ten seasons since they made the
NFC Championship Game. All right, how about the Giants thirteen seasons? Well,
that's horrible. Chicago fourteen seasons since they made the NFC
(25:52):
Championship Game. And the dead last are Dallas Cowboys twenty
nine season. Gentlemen, when will this drought end?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Not anytime soon.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I've said it before, either when the Jones family sells
the team or you know, Jerry kicks kicks the bucket.
But I don't think that's even going to solve the
problem because from what I hear, you know, Steven is
is more conservative than Jerry has become. In fact, maybe
(26:27):
Jerry is as conservative as he is now and not
not the deally the deal making deals the deal maker. Sorry,
I couldn't think of that word. You know that he
was back in the day because of Steven.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, Steven's press conference where he said we we have it.
You know, there's been a quote air quote drought. I'm like,
why are you air quoting that? Like there's re seats.
It's been twenty nine seasons that you've been in the
championship game. Don't give me your air quotes. Alright, we
could talk about that, and we will talk about in exhaustion,
(27:02):
but we have to talk about the positive things. Byram
our favorite time of the year. One of our favorite
times of the year is upon us Major League Baseball
Opening Day is coming up. How are you feeling about
baseball and specifically how you feel in about our Texas Rangers.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You know, I spent the week celebrating that by watching
a replay of ken Burn's Baseball made me feel all
warm and fuzzy inside. It's a good job. But I
think the Rangers could be pretty good this year if
they're if they're pitching holds together. And that's the thing,
because you know, some teams go through a season where
every pitcher has to have Tommy John surgery.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
We've we've been there.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So let's hope that this year goes a little bit better.
But I do think that the Rangers could have a
really good year if if they're pitching holds together.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Surely the betting nods right now are one in twenty five.
That's the chance the Rangers will win the World Series
this year.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yeah, I think so much of it just depends on that,
On our health, the health of the pitching staff. Obviously,
Jacob deGrom Man, if we can get you know, twenty
twenty five starts out of him this year, I think
that will be a huge, you know success. Really, you
(28:30):
know need Evan Carter, I think, to stay healthy and
you know, continue to show the flashes of greatness that
he showed during the the World Series run. You know,
(28:52):
Josh Young he's some of some of his injuries have
just been you know, freak accidents. But you know, I
think we need we need a healthy Josh Young all
season long. So I think so much of it depends
upon our you know, our our health being able to
stay healthy. And I was listening to you know, somebody
(29:13):
earlier this week just talk about, you know, ranking the
top ten Major League Baseball teams as far as power
rankings coming out of spring training, and and you know,
they had the Rangers like at number ten, but they
also said that this is the team that just has
the the biggest question marks coming into the season. If
(29:36):
if they're healthy, then they shoot up to the you know,
toward the top. There's nobody's going to be better than
the Dodgers. I mean the Dodgers. I mean, my goodness,
that is that's insane. The amount of talent they've they've
been able to compile there there's no reason they shouldn't
repeat this year. But you know, I think if the
(29:58):
Rangers are healthy, then man, we're gonna be good. So
it's just going to depend on that.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Well, if you look at Bruce Bochie and you look
at his history as a manager, this is my I'm
just going to hold out hope here. You know, it
seems like he wins the championship every other year when
he's a manager. So we had our bad year last year,
let's win it again this year. We'll see, gentlemen, some
sad news. A piece of our childhood passed away. George
(30:29):
Foreman aged seventy six Byron. When you think about George Foreman,
what is what is your favorite memory? As you know,
just watching his career, you know what comes to mind
when you think George Foreman.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Guys, I'm old and this happened, but I think before
either of you were a twinkle in your parents' eye.
But I still remember watching Foreman fight Frasier and Howard
Cosell down Ghost Frasier, and you can go watch that
(31:06):
fight on YouTube. Doesn't take long, it does not take
long at all, and you will see George Foreman at
his best. I mean, the guy was just unbelievably powerful
and then just became a great guy, and he was
he was fun to listen to. But I will never
forget that fight. That that is probably the one boxing
(31:30):
match that I will forever remember, and.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It was a different error of boxing. I think boxing
was more mainstream because it was a Saturday night fights, right.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, it was, it was, and Howard Cosell made it
iconic because he loved boxing. And there are many people
who will say that Howard Kosel made Muhammad Ali as
famous as he was because it was like they were
a team together, and of course Foreman came along. Foreman
was just quieter, but nobody could. Ali has said that
(32:05):
in their famous fight, which there's all sorts of controversy
that still swirls around that between Foreman and Ali, that
there were at least three times that Ali was out
on the speed, that he had never been hit that hard.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
In his life.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Shirley, do you have a favorite George Forman memory? Are you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Are the error?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
You remember more pushing grills than.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Boxing, Yeah, but I mean I've never really been into boxing,
you know, just to just to be honest, so yeah,
I mean I mainly remember him as you know, the
George Foreman grill creator and pushing, pushing his girls. Yeah,
there was a there was a movie that came out
(32:50):
of his life, you know, a couple two or three
years ago, maybe maybe longer than that. Watched that and
it was just it was really interesting just to see how,
you know, faith especially just allowed him to to kind of,
you know, to use a boxing term, get up off
(33:13):
the mat. After you know, he enjoyed some early success
in boxing and then man just just about lost it all,
you know, and and and came came back and became
not only you know, successful at boxing again, but a
(33:33):
successful businessman and family man, and you know, and and
pastor to boots. You know, he wore a lot of
a lot of different hats. So that's kind of what
I remember about him.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
The movie, by the way, came out in twenty twenty three.
It's called Big George Foreman. I watched it on a flight.
Great movie, Highly recommended. If you haven't seen it, to
check it out. All right, it's one more thing time
and we'll see kind of what you guys have on deck? Byron,
what's your one more thing?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I think my one more thing is I've got nine
weeks of school left, and I'm I'm I've got some
good stuff coming up this summer, so I'm kind of
ready to get there and get it started and get
it done.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
This is a teacher coming off spring break, dreading Monday morning. Sureley,
you got a one more.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Thing, man, I've been here trying to cycle through tweets
on x because I saw one yesterday I should have
should have taken a picture of. And it was about
men's Baylor men's and women's basketball, like being the being
the only team in the country. I can't remember the
(34:46):
exact statistic, but it was about first round playoff wins. Anyway,
I wish I had taken screenshot. You can't go back
and find anything on x now. It's like once you
go past it, like you can't go back and find
it anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Elon's too busy, you know, trying to cut government spending
to improve that.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Yeah, right, all.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Right, well, I think for me, you know, one more thing.
You know, we haven't talked about Baylor baseball. They had
a phenomenal you know, pre conference play, but now we're
seeing maybe that was a little inflated. But I think
the state of baseball and we'll get into that at
some point. I think that's improving in Waco and that's
(35:30):
kind of fun to see as well.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
Well.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
We've covered a lot March madness, the lack of the
off season for the Dallas Cowboys, our excitement for Major
League Baseball, and the legendary George Foreman for Chris Shirley,
Chris Byram, I'm Scott Miller until next time. So long, everybody,
Welcome to another edition of My Conversation with the Chriss.
I'm Scott Miller, joined as always Chris Shirley and Chris Byram.
And it's been a minute since we've sat down and
recorded one of these podcasts. Life is busy, it happens.
So we're going to kind of dive into some topics.
And it is March, and of course with March comes
(00:20):
March madness. And Byram, I think you put it best
that you're always mad and it's March, so why not, right,
why not celebrate it?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, you know, I'm an old curmudgeon, so I'm mad
regardless of March madness fits me perfect.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
So what I want to dive into, because you know
the challenge when you record a podcast in the middle
of the tournament. We've already had some games played. We're
recording this on a Saturday morning. Are Baylor Bears, both
men's and women's basketball teams. They have won, but they
have more games coming up tomorrow. So I want to
(00:56):
kind of just talk about the state of Baylor basketball.
And Chris, surely I'm gonna I'm gonna kick it to
you first on this topic. As you're sitting here We're
in postseason play now, and you know, the season has
been not what we had hoped, of course, with Baylor
just kind of being hot and cold. How do you
feel today at this point of the season, having completed
(01:21):
didn't even have a chance to win the Big twelve,
you know, championship. How do you feel about Scott Drew
and where Baylor basketball sits today.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I don't know. I'm a little bit I guess maybe
I'm a little bit concerned about, you know, just how
how how we've done since you know, winning at all.
I think I think there's a number of reasons why,
you know, maybe we haven't even come close to you
know that that again, we haven't made a deep ride
(01:54):
again since you know, twenty twenty one, and you know
it is one of the reasons for that is that
because we've we've lost some really good assistant coaches. You're
O tang, uh you know, I think, uh, you know,
at the top of that list, uh, the the you know,
(02:14):
the n I L and the transfer portal are era
is here. So it's not about uh as, it's not
as much about recruiting you know, high school seniors and uh,
you know, building them up over the course of you know,
three to four years in your program so that you
(02:38):
know you you you know each other. Well, there's great chemistry,
there's you know, there's there's just that that that type
bond and and community that's built over those three to
four years together. You know, I think I think it's
(02:58):
probably an a number of those things. I wonder how
Scott Drew is making the adjustment to the nil transfer
portal era. You know, let's you know, let's talk about
this year. We brought three guys in through the transfer
portal that we're all, you know, pretty uh at least
(03:21):
two of the three were I think, you know, really
good on paper, and you know, really only one of
those three and that being you know, Omeir has really
panned out. You know, Jeremy Roach did not pan out
at all. I don't think he you know, he is
(03:42):
what we we thought we were getting a player from Duke,
you know, and Celesting from U c. L A has
not been the three point sharpshooter that he that he
was supposed to be at all this season, So you know,
you know, is that is that just how it how
(04:04):
it is? Now like you're gonna swing in this on
some guys and you're gonna hit on some other guys
or you know, is this a sign that Drew maybe
he maybe he does have some some struggles in this
new nil transfer portal area. I don't, I don't really know.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Byron, you you've been kind of following this and you
there seems to be some movement towards that transfer portal. Again,
what what are you seeing as far as Baylor basketball?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
This is just based on what I'm hearing. But we're
only going to have five guys come back from this
current team, so he's got to hit the portal. Now.
We've got a couple of kids coming in you know
that we've signed already. But and what's amazing of those five,
the main one is being hit by a ton of
(04:56):
other teams and has been all year, which it happens.
We're in the wild, wild West, but we are going
to have to be hitting the transfer portal again. Now.
I think Drew has to look at a couple of things.
He came up with a team that supposedly had a
great starting five, and then we got hit by tons
(05:17):
of injuries and we weren't that deep. So how do
you spread out your nil money? Do you try to
go a little bit deeper than you were before. There's
going to be some really interesting decisions, and I think
next year is going to be very telling on how
well he is adjusted to the nil we have to
(05:38):
be better. I think the other thing here is, and
this is a very real issue. I have heard from
a lot of different people that Drew does not intend
to coach too much longer. He doesn't have to. He's
got enough money he can do whatever he wants to
at this point. But I'm really beginning to wonder if
(06:01):
he does not come up with a really ultra competitive
team next year, does that make him want to, you know,
finish out just a little bit sooner than he had before.
And I think these are things you've got to look at.
But I was I have been fascinated to see how
(06:21):
this team has just kind of fallen apart. You had
guys that definitely were looking at their at their own sale,
at their own sales. We had a couple of players
who just chose not to play a couple of games
because their agents advised them not to. This is gonna
have We're gonna have to look at how we make
up our team based on in il and it's we're
(06:43):
we're gonna be starting almost from scratch. There's a potential
we could bring in seven guys in the portal. Just
think about that for a second. That's a lot of guys.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
You know, in fairness to Scott Drew and the Baylor
basketball program and this whole issue of nil and we've
talked a lot about it, and so we've launched this
podcast because it's the error that we're in. You know,
college sports are changing, you know, rapidly, but Baylor's not
the only team that struggled with this, right I mean,
I mean, what's going on with Bill self? I mean,
(07:14):
this is the second time there's only been one program
that has been preseason ap number one and lost in
the first round. And it's happened twice, and it's happened
in recent history. You know, what's going on with the
state of that program? You look at the other Blue Dogs.
You know, I know, Baylor's playing Duke this weekend, but
(07:34):
there's just a lot of these programs that historically have
been good that you're not hearing as much from of late.
They're looking for coaches, they're scratching their head. So, you know,
is this a Baylor problem or just every program is
having to kind of rethink how to build a team.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
You know, Scott, I go back to my home work history,
and I've already said I'm a curmudgeon, so I hate change,
and there were times I had to learn new stuff
and I hated it. And I think coaches are realizing
that the way you coached even four years ago is
totally different now, and the way you build a team
(08:12):
is totally different now. And so we're seeing coaches who
are adjusting well, who are learning. We're seeing coaches who
are not adjusting real well. And this is going to
be a huge year for Self and true everybody was
telling Self last year that the team he was building
had no inside depth at all, that he was relying
(08:37):
on one or two good shooters and if one thing
went wrong, everything went head south. And it did. So
I think they are both going to be looking at
how do we build a team? And it's going to
be a big deal because you got to have the resources,
and they have the resources right now, and if they
start having donors bailing because they aren't building a team, well,
(08:59):
it really go south real fast.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Surely, the SEC has tried to claim that they are
the better Basketball Conference this year. Maybe that's debatable. But
how much in addition to what you said about the
nil and Scott Drew trying to figure that out, how
much is it the competition the Big Twelve is just
continuing to to just get you know better. I mean,
(09:22):
Texas Tech is a different team than they were. Houston's
now in the conference. You got other teams that have
come in. Is it the competition as well that's hurting Baylor?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I mean maybe, you know, I would certainly argue that
there were you know, in the last decade or so,
it hasn't just been Kansas and and Baylor at the
top of the Big Twelve, you know basketball. You know,
Texas has had some good teams. Tech Tech has had
(09:55):
some good teams. You know, Case State, you know, made
a pretty deep run, you know last year. So I mean,
I think there's there's there's been some there's been some
some good basketball programs in the Big Twelve in the
last decade or so. But man, I you know, you
(10:16):
talk about Houston, It's pretty amazing to me that Houston
has been as successful as they have been. I mean,
they were successful in the AAC before they ever came
to the Big twelve and you know, they were champions
there and they just they haven't they haven't missed a beat,
you know, coming over to the to the Big twelve.
(10:37):
And you know, we're talking about recruiting classes. I know
that I checked on this a couple of weeks ago,
and maybe there's been a little movement, but you know,
I think we've got I know, we've got one. I
think we have one signed for this this next year's
class that's you know whatever ESPN Top one hundred or whatever.
(10:59):
But you look at Houston and they've got multiple people
already signed coming in for this next year, like they
Calvin Sampson has has built a juggernaut there, And I'm like,
I look at something like that, and we're talking about
University of Houston. You know, that's always been known as
Houston High is thirteenth grade. I lived in Houston for
(11:20):
a couple of years and that's what they called it.
University of Houston was called thirteenth grade, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And so.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
But he's he has built something there.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But yeah, I mean Houston is historically a basketball town, though, right.
I mean, they've they've had good programs University of Houston
before and obviously they had, you know, phenomenal success on
the NBA level, though, so when I look at Houston,
I see that as kind of like it's a basketball town.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, I guess those couple of championships you can put
an asterisk there because Michael Jordan had retired for a
couple of years. But I mean, yeah, I mean University
of Houston obviously five Slama Jama era, right, but that
was obviously decades ago, right, you know, and so it's
not that it's without precedent, but you know, I mean,
(12:11):
I don't know, I don't know. I don't know what
to I don't know what to make of it.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Look, I think I've said this before. I'm thrilled that
we have kids who, you know, want to come in
and play for a year and they go into the
NBA and they continue to be successful there by and large.
We've seen that over the last you know, for four
(12:36):
to five years, even longer than that, but specifically the
last four to five years. And you know, Edgecombe is
going to be another one of those, you know, and
so that's great, but you know, on the flip side
of that, that's not great for you know, really building
(12:59):
a team culture. And team chemistry over the course of
you know, two, three, four years, because they're here for
one year and they're gone, you know, And so i'd rather,
I would rather And maybe this is this is just
me being a dinosaur or something. I don't know, but
I would much rather, you know, get the two and
(13:21):
three star recruits who come in and we and we're
able to build them over three to four years. Then
to get these you know ESPN Top fifty recruits that
come for one year and then they're gone.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, it's hard to it's hard to really as a fan.
You know, I can'tmera what comedian and Aymond Jerry Seinfeld
I said. We reached a point where really just cheering
on the color of jerseys, right because on the pro level,
athletes come and go, and it's that way in college.
Let's just for a moment, because when we talked about
the state of basketball in Waco, I know we don't
(13:58):
follow the women's basketball this closely, but you know, Byron,
you know, Nikki Collin had a pretty tall order, you know,
following Hall of Famer I mean, you know, for all
practical purposes, lover hater, you know, Kim Mulky definitely is
one of the greats. She's having success already win a
(14:19):
championship at LSU. So how do you feel the women's
game is doing. You know, they're now in the thick
of it. They were they were in the race for
the Big twelve championship. Had it not been for TCU,
you know, they would have would have won both regular
season and the tournament play. How do you feel about
that program getting to host the first you know, postseason
(14:42):
play at Foster Pavilion this year.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I think it's great. She has definitely kept you know,
the program strong. There are certain people who will not
be happy until she wins the national championship, and that's
going to be incredibly difficult with everything that's going on.
But this program is good once again. I think she
(15:05):
has learned how to hit the transfer portal and mix
it with recruits. But you know it, I'm just I'm learning.
It's hard to keep that success going year after year
after year, and so it's gonna be it's gonna be
interesting to see what she does in the next few years.
But the fact she came in after Malkey, after all
(15:29):
of the difficulty, you know, you know, Malkey had almost
a near cult following in Waco, and I think she
Colin has slowly won people over to her, which is
a good thing. She's just got to keep the success going.
And the Big twelve's got a tall order because the
SEC is really good. And you know they Baylor had
(15:55):
issues with Grand Canyon yesterday.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Grand Canyon came in, by the way, the law longest
win streak in women's play, thirty wins in a row,
So yes, you know they were not just.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Like it's being hired by Arizona State. Saw that this morning.
But you know, let's see how we do today. If
we can get to the sweet sixteen, that would be great.
Of course, if we get there, we're going to be
playing a more than likely playing a one seed, so
it's not going to get any easier. But I like
(16:29):
keeping the success up. It's it is mutt. As you know,
you asked about Houston having a history. Houston had a
history in basketball and spurts in the late sixties and
then in with five Slama Jama. But I definitely enjoy
being a Baylor fan more winning.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
You know, surely would there be part of you that
would be intrigued if the tournament and I honestly full
Transparence Haman looked at the bracket. But you know, so
I don't know when this would happen, but you know,
at some point, wouldn't it be fun for Baylor and
LSU to meet in postseason play?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah? Absolutely? And yeah, I meant to pull up the
women's bracket. Aren't they They're both in the same bracket
right then, en, isn't l s U's a three seed and.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
We're the we're the fourth. Only when we could meet
is if we both made it to the regional final,
which that would be wild.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Okay, so we're in the same region, the.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Final in a berth in the final four is on
the line between those two.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, okay, so it could happen. It could happen this year.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I just think that would be awesome. I think that's
a made for TV moment. I think even people that
are you know, casual followers of the women's game would
find that intriguing. Similar to when you know and LSU
took on Aitland Clark's team, you know, took on Iowa.
I found that fascinating. I think they actually had more
(18:04):
viewers that watched that game than any of the men's
games that year. So women's game has definitely been elevated
and having personalities like Kim Maulky has helped that.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Just let me throw in this aside here and I
will keep the short. But when we had the anniversary
of the twenty thirteen fourteen Baylor football teams at McLain
this year, right, Malke came to that unannounced because her
son in law was on both of those teams. And
(18:35):
I've been told that there are some real stories behind
that that will come out eventually. But people nearly fell
over when she showed up.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well, she accidentally ended up on the jumbo tron, didn't.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yes, And I have been told that there were words
over that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I just man, I hope that happened. I just made
for TV moment.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
All right.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Just want to touch briefly on the off season that
is going on right now in in the NFL and
the Dallas Cowboys and who wants to take this question first?
But how do we feel what what has been the
movement or the lack of movement taking place at the
(19:23):
star of this off season for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Excuse me, I was I was yawning at the question.
That's that's that's how I feel about our off season
right now, just yawning. Okay, so well, I mean, I
don't doubt what to say.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I mean, we've been sleep Next year we're gonna be
brutally bad because I am looking around all these teams
in the NFC East are getting better. We're I think
we've signed a total of nine agents. Tell many, how
tell me how many of them? Have you heard about? None?
(20:06):
We lose it. Admittedly, his skills were going down a bit,
but we.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Lose our best offensive linemen. What have we signed for
replacing nothing? Yeah, this team is going to be awful.
And Jerry's running around going, oh, We've got a great core.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
No we don't.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
He's like the worst. He's like the worst fantasy football
player ever, only he's playing with real with the real team.
And what about what was it? DeMarcus wears shot at
Dallas on his way out the door? Do you guys
see that?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah? I did? I did, And yeah that did. That
didn't didn't completely surprise me, because I you know, I
obviously he had he had made he made some comments
right after that Green Bay playoff loss two years ago
that you know, kind of raised raised some eyebrows, and uh,
(21:02):
I don't think that. You know, now that he's left
and he has kind of started talking a little bit,
it has become a parent that, you know, he and
Michael Parsons didn't get along, and so you know, who
knows who's really at fault there? But uh, yeah, I
(21:23):
mean it's it's pretty telling when you have a guy
like that, you know, leave and and say, man, I
wasn't gonna win a championship there. Of course, I don't think.
I don't know why he thinks he's gonna win one
in Seattle right now, But you know what I'm.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Saying, So, yeah, exactly, Well, it's Begs the question, Yeah,
Byron Begs. The question is was there some locker room
issues going on in in Dallas?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Oh, there's okay, there's been locker room issues in Dallas
since Jerry bought the team. Because he protects the stars.
He doesn't let his coach do anything. And and man,
let's talk about coaching staff too. We have an experimental
coaching staff. I mean, we have a we have a
head coach who's whose dad was a pretty decent head coach.
(22:10):
But when he's been a coordinator, he hasn't even called
plays that this season could be a total disaster. And
I'm just I'm just to the point where if Jerry
is sticking his nose into the locker room, then I
think it has just come to a complete understanding that
(22:32):
Jerry has no idea what a GM does and he's
going to try to do it his way, and he's
going to continue to fill and I think, unfortunately, because
he's getting up there, his legacy is going to be
one of he really kind of ruined what the Cowboys
were and I and I hate to say that, but
(22:55):
that's where we're headed right now.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Sureley, do you think it's speaking of the head coach?
Do you think we're going to have another repeat? You
know that the Cowboys could have at some point hired
Sean Payton to be the head coach. He ends up
in New Orleans. We know what happens, won some championships. Now,
you also had this offseason there was a chance, and
(23:21):
I don't know that you would have liked it at
the time, but you had Moore, who former offensive coordinator
of Dallas spent you know, a cup of coffee in
San Francisco, was the offensive coordinator in the National Champion,
you know, World champion whatever you would call him Philadelphia Eagles,
and now he's in you know, he could have been
(23:43):
in Dallas, but now he's in New Orleans. Do you
think that's going to be a repeat of what happened
with Sean Payton?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
No, I do not. I don't. I just don't see
Kellen Moore being successful as a head football coach. I
just don't. I think a coordinator, yeah, but not as
a head coach. I don't think that's going to go
well in New Orleans. I mean, I certainly could be wrong,
but I just I don't see that. I don't see it,
(24:07):
you know, being being the same I would, I tell
you you mentioned Sean Payton. I oh, I was surprised
that Jerry didn't go after Peyton when he was available,
even though McCarthy obviously was still in our contract.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I was.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I was really really surprised by that because he was
a name that always came up, you know, in Dallas
media of a you know, potential future coach just because
of you know, his friendship with Jerry, and I guess
Jerry's disrespect of him as a coach, so that that
(24:47):
surprised me that he didn't take that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
When it came along, there were sixteen teams in the NFC.
A stat came out that's pretty surprising and not surprised
by the way the stat didn't come out, but it
was done in a graphic form that really just kind
of highlights it's sixteen teams and this graph and I'll
send it to you guys, but let me just kind
(25:10):
of describe. It's the NFC Championship drought. It's a number
of seasons since each NFC team made an appearance in
the conference championship game. Obviously, you go to the top,
you have Philadelphia and Washington zero seasons, Detroit and San
Francisco one season, LA three, Green Bay four along with
(25:32):
Tampa Bay, New Orleans six seasons ago, Minnesota seven, Atlanta eight,
get to Arizona nine, same with Carolina. What a drought. Seattle,
it's been a decade, ten seasons since they made the
NFC Championship Game. All right, how about the Giants thirteen seasons? Well,
that's horrible. Chicago fourteen seasons since they made the NFC
(25:52):
Championship Game. And the dead last are Dallas Cowboys twenty
nine season. Gentlemen, when will this drought end?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Not anytime soon.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I've said it before, either when the Jones family sells
the team or you know, Jerry kicks kicks the bucket.
But I don't think that's even going to solve the
problem because from what I hear, you know, Steven is
is more conservative than Jerry has become. In fact, maybe
(26:27):
Jerry is as conservative as he is now and not
not the deally the deal making deals the deal maker. Sorry,
I couldn't think of that word. You know that he
was back in the day because of Steven.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, Steven's press conference where he said we we have it.
You know, there's been a quote air quote drought. I'm like,
why are you air quoting that? Like there's re seats.
It's been twenty nine seasons that you've been in the
championship game. Don't give me your air quotes. Alright, we
could talk about that, and we will talk about in exhaustion,
(27:02):
but we have to talk about the positive things. Byram
our favorite time of the year. One of our favorite
times of the year is upon us Major League Baseball
Opening Day is coming up. How are you feeling about
baseball and specifically how you feel in about our Texas Rangers.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You know, I spent the week celebrating that by watching
a replay of ken Burn's Baseball made me feel all
warm and fuzzy inside. It's a good job. But I
think the Rangers could be pretty good this year if
they're if they're pitching holds together. And that's the thing,
because you know, some teams go through a season where
every pitcher has to have Tommy John surgery.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
We've we've been there.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So let's hope that this year goes a little bit better.
But I do think that the Rangers could have a
really good year if if they're pitching holds together.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Surely the betting nods right now are one in twenty five.
That's the chance the Rangers will win the World Series
this year.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yeah, I think so much of it just depends on that,
On our health, the health of the pitching staff. Obviously,
Jacob deGrom Man, if we can get you know, twenty
twenty five starts out of him this year, I think
that will be a huge, you know success. Really, you
(28:30):
know need Evan Carter, I think, to stay healthy and
you know, continue to show the flashes of greatness that
he showed during the the World Series run. You know,
(28:52):
Josh Young he's some of some of his injuries have
just been you know, freak accidents. But you know, I
think we need we need a healthy Josh Young all
season long. So I think so much of it depends
upon our you know, our our health being able to
stay healthy. And I was listening to you know, somebody
(29:13):
earlier this week just talk about, you know, ranking the
top ten Major League Baseball teams as far as power
rankings coming out of spring training, and and you know,
they had the Rangers like at number ten, but they
also said that this is the team that just has
the the biggest question marks coming into the season. If
(29:36):
if they're healthy, then they shoot up to the you know,
toward the top. There's nobody's going to be better than
the Dodgers. I mean the Dodgers. I mean, my goodness,
that is that's insane. The amount of talent they've they've
been able to compile there there's no reason they shouldn't
repeat this year. But you know, I think if the
(29:58):
Rangers are healthy, then man, we're gonna be good. So
it's just going to depend on that.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Well, if you look at Bruce Bochie and you look
at his history as a manager, this is my I'm
just going to hold out hope here. You know, it
seems like he wins the championship every other year when
he's a manager. So we had our bad year last year,
let's win it again this year. We'll see, gentlemen, some
sad news. A piece of our childhood passed away. George
(30:29):
Foreman aged seventy six Byron. When you think about George Foreman,
what is what is your favorite memory? As you know,
just watching his career, you know what comes to mind
when you think George Foreman.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Guys, I'm old and this happened, but I think before
either of you were a twinkle in your parents' eye.
But I still remember watching Foreman fight Frasier and Howard
Cosell down Ghost Frasier, and you can go watch that
(31:06):
fight on YouTube. Doesn't take long, it does not take
long at all, and you will see George Foreman at
his best. I mean, the guy was just unbelievably powerful
and then just became a great guy, and he was
he was fun to listen to. But I will never
forget that fight. That that is probably the one boxing
(31:30):
match that I will forever remember, and.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It was a different error of boxing. I think boxing
was more mainstream because it was a Saturday night fights, right.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, it was, it was, and Howard Cosell made it
iconic because he loved boxing. And there are many people
who will say that Howard Kosel made Muhammad Ali as
famous as he was because it was like they were
a team together, and of course Foreman came along. Foreman
was just quieter, but nobody could. Ali has said that
(32:05):
in their famous fight, which there's all sorts of controversy
that still swirls around that between Foreman and Ali, that
there were at least three times that Ali was out
on the speed, that he had never been hit that hard.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
In his life.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Shirley, do you have a favorite George Forman memory? Are you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Are the error?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
You remember more pushing grills than.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Boxing, Yeah, but I mean I've never really been into boxing,
you know, just to just to be honest, so yeah,
I mean I mainly remember him as you know, the
George Foreman grill creator and pushing, pushing his girls. Yeah,
there was a there was a movie that came out
(32:50):
of his life, you know, a couple two or three
years ago, maybe maybe longer than that. Watched that and
it was just it was really interesting just to see how,
you know, faith especially just allowed him to to kind of,
you know, to use a boxing term, get up off
(33:13):
the mat. After you know, he enjoyed some early success
in boxing and then man just just about lost it all,
you know, and and and came came back and became
not only you know, successful at boxing again, but a
(33:33):
successful businessman and family man, and you know, and and
pastor to boots. You know, he wore a lot of
a lot of different hats. So that's kind of what
I remember about him.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
The movie, by the way, came out in twenty twenty three.
It's called Big George Foreman. I watched it on a flight.
Great movie, Highly recommended. If you haven't seen it, to
check it out. All right, it's one more thing time
and we'll see kind of what you guys have on deck? Byron,
what's your one more thing?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I think my one more thing is I've got nine
weeks of school left, and I'm I'm I've got some
good stuff coming up this summer, so I'm kind of
ready to get there and get it started and get
it done.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
This is a teacher coming off spring break, dreading Monday morning. Sureley,
you got a one more.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Thing, man, I've been here trying to cycle through tweets
on x because I saw one yesterday I should have
should have taken a picture of. And it was about
men's Baylor men's and women's basketball, like being the being
the only team in the country. I can't remember the
(34:46):
exact statistic, but it was about first round playoff wins. Anyway,
I wish I had taken screenshot. You can't go back
and find anything on x now. It's like once you
go past it, like you can't go back and find
it anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Elon's too busy, you know, trying to cut government spending
to improve that.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Yeah, right, all.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Right, well, I think for me, you know, one more thing.
You know, we haven't talked about Baylor baseball. They had
a phenomenal you know, pre conference play, but now we're
seeing maybe that was a little inflated. But I think
the state of baseball and we'll get into that at
some point. I think that's improving in Waco and that's
(35:30):
kind of fun to see as well.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
Well.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
We've covered a lot March madness, the lack of the
off season for the Dallas Cowboys, our excitement for Major
League Baseball, and the legendary George Foreman for Chris Shirley,
Chris Byram, I'm Scott Miller until next time. So long, everybody,
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