FIFA FIFA FIFA, Picks, Playoffs and more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome into the sideline shuffle. It's the boy KP.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
They done did it. The White House has done did it.
We're gonna include politics into our sports conversations. Today. We
got reactions to Week six.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Of course, we'll do our picks. It's big firing in
the college football landscape.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Major League Baseball playoffs are going on w n b A.
We have a champion for the third time in four years.
So let's get into it. Let's start this shuffle. The
question is where do we start this shuffle. I'm gonna
get some stuff out of the way. NHL regular season

(01:06):
had to begun. Hockey fans rejoice, the season has begun.
We've got hockey being played. We've got magical goals being scored.
I saw one sports center this morning. I shoots goes
off the glass and behind the goal, he bounced, his
back was off the goalie and they score. So we've

(01:27):
got magical goals taking place. We've got magical saves being
plays made. Hockey back. Now, if you've listened to the
show for a while, you know that as far as
me and hockey go, it's kind of like baseball. You
get me to the playoffs, and now I'm super interested
in hockey regular season. Beginning of the regular season, hockey fan, rejoice,

(01:50):
this is your time. You have been waiting for months
and hockey is back. I love the sport, but I
am very much a part time participant. As far as
watching hockey. I enjoy it. It's a night it's a
good sport, it's a physical sport, it's a fast sport.

(02:11):
When you're there in person, there's a lot of energy
in the in the rink. But it just happens to
fall during football season for me, and football just comes
first offense. Hockey fan. NBA starting right around the corner,
NBA starting up next week. The regular season starts there.

(02:32):
So it's going to be that magical time where all
four major sports in the United States are going at
the same time, the most games are scheduled. Baseball is going,
Football is going, Basketball is going, Hockey is going, and
soccer's going. And you know, but the four major sports
will all be in their regular in their seasons playing

(02:54):
some kind of game next week at the same time.
So that's pretty cool. WILL love that stretch for the
sports fans. What I don't love as much are all
of these threats and all of these accusations and all
of this projecting that's coming out of Washington. This is

(03:14):
not leadership. This is ridiculous. I'm embarrassed of who might
elected officials are because of the way they're acting, because
of the thing they're trying to do and the way
they're carrying them out. And the latest thing that impacts
the sports world are these threats to remove the World

(03:34):
Cup games from cities like Boston. And it's known that
the head of FIFA is a Trump guy. FIFA has
now come out and made a statement saying that the
US gets to decide on the safety of the World
Cup cities. So basically Trump making these threats. These cities
are unsafe, these cities are no good. I can go
ahead and pull them. He'll do what I want. He'll

(03:57):
make that switch in a couple of days. It's ridiculous.
Boston went through the process. Boston won the right to
have these games. Leave it alone. Check your ego at
the door and be a leader. Stop interjecting yourself into
everything in order to try and be something. The World

(04:22):
Cup does not need Donald Trump deciding which cities are
the safest. They went through the process, FIFA went through
the process. The governing bodies were involved, the pitches were made,
and really, it doesn't make you look strong, It doesn't
make you look powerful. It makes you look petty to

(04:43):
do things like this, retaliatory things. Stand up, be the
leaders you were elected to be, and get us back
on track to being a country. I guess I should

(05:04):
preface that with if that's truly what you want to
be and to have happened, So, FIFA, you back down.
Today Trump made his threats, You're gonna abide by them.
So good job for you, FIFA. We've got Let's go.
Let's go super positive with the next conversation. Let's go

(05:26):
to the w NBA. Let's go to the Las Vegas cases.
Let's go to the dynasty they are building. Let's go
to Asia Wilson and what she did winning another finals MVP,
another league MVP, another Defensive Player of the Year award.
Her name was Jordan. We'd be talking about her NonStop

(05:47):
in the news cycle, and somehow, even though they won
the championship less than a week ago, we're not talking
about this at all. It's not something you're seeing seeing interviews.
I don't remember seeing the parade. Maybe they haven't had
the parade yet and that's why. But this is three
out of four years these women have won the title.

(06:10):
Few different pieces here and there, right, Kelsey Plumb's not
there this year. And they went and they won a
four to oh series best of seven against Phoenix, who
remind you. They knocked out the number one seed Minnesota Lynx.
They knocked out the defending champion New York Liberty. They

(06:35):
took on a team that's won two of the last
three in Vegas. Damn it. They put it together at
the right time fourteen and fourteen, at one point in
the year, going to sixteen game win streak, and that
is why Asia Wilson won the MVP. Don't get twisted.

(06:58):
Yes she's a great player, but I do not think
she was going to win the MVP at fourteen and
fourteen with the way the Aces were playing. So they
go on a sixteen game win streak, They get themselves
to the two seed in the w NBA playoffs, They
go to the three games with Seattle, they go to
five games with Indiana, and then they sweep in the finals.

(07:25):
What the ACE has accomplished is to be commended again.
Put some respect on these women's names. They played a
great series. Phoenix fot hard. They tried to come back
every time they were down, they got close a few times.
They made every game interesting and Vegas, Vegas was just

(07:46):
on one. They were on one of those magical runs
that you just can'tnot deny for their third and four years,
and as long as Lady Wilson's on that team, they're
going to be the conversation. I do think they got
to start retooling a little bit, but they're going to
be in the conversation. And it was impressive to watch.

(08:09):
I'm glad I get to see it. I'm glad I've
seen this build out because it's been damn impressive. Ya'm
amoto the other night, damn impressive. First complete games in
the playoffs since twenty seventeen when Justin Berlander did it
Dodgered up in that series. Milwaukee was on a magical

(08:32):
run of their own right. They had a great stretch
during the regular season, got themselves to the one seat.
Now they find themselves down two to oh to the
Dodgers in the League Championship winner goes to the World Series.

(08:52):
Saw the Mariners beat up the Blue Jays in Toronto
for two games and then go home and get destroyed
by the Blue the other night Mariners Blue Jays is
a two to one series right now and honestly earlier
in the year, because they were number one in their division.
I had the Mariners making the playoffs. But if you

(09:14):
would have asked me then or even when the playoffs started,
could the Mariners beat the Blue Jays, I would have
said no. Blue Jays have more firepower. Blue Jays had
the better record all year. They're in the tougher comf
for the division. I would have expected Toronto to win.
I would have won it Toronto to win, just remembering

(09:36):
the days back in the early nineties when they went
in to row Dodgers. It's expected, Right, you've got the
highest payroll in all of baseball. You better be at
this point every season with the money they spend. So
the Brewers, you've got a chance. Right, they play tonight,

(09:56):
I believe if I'm not mistaken, both games or tonight.
So baseball one hundred and sixty two games, guess what matters? Playoffs,
That's what I watch. That's when it's important, that's when
it's more fun to me, and I played baseball growing up,

(10:17):
So don't get it wrong. It's not that I don't
like the game or I find it boring. It's just
such a long season staying engaged when there's other things
going on. With such a long season that you can
come in and leave for a while, and come back
and then leave for a while and pretty much stay
up on what's going on. In baseball, the playoffs are

(10:38):
where it's at. That's how it is for hockey and baseball.
For me, you get to the playoffs and okay, I'm
tuned in. I would have had the Blue Jays and
the Phillies in the World Series. I thought the Phillies
were gonna win the World Series, but that I pay
roll of the Dodgers. They got them. They might get

(11:04):
the Brewers too. They just might married the league. I'm
not sure Toronto could still win a series only down
to one. The way the Mariners are playing in the playoffs,
they could easily still win that series up to one. Right,
they could go out and beat up the Blue Jays

(11:26):
tonight have that three to one series lead, So we'll see.
That's the fun of the playoffs. I mean, you've got
multiple dances in every sport of football, right, You've got
these series, so We're at the best of seven. It's
gonna be a fun night. It's gonna be better. Both

(11:47):
half games should be better than the Steelers and Bengals tonight.
Oh what else we got out there? Oh, Penn State
paying fifty million dollars for James Franklin to go away.
Apparently it has gotten toxic in Penn State. He had
lost the team, they had lost the UCLA, they lost,
the Northwestern fell out of the top twenty five, like

(12:10):
we talked about last week, and this was this was
a team coming into it in the preseason that had
hopes of being in the College Football Playoff, that had
hopes of competing for a championship, and now six games in,
their coach has gone. The school's out fifty million dollars
and Franklin probably gets a coaching job next year somewhere right. Like,

(12:32):
he hasn't done a bad job at Penn State. He
hasn't done a great job either, but he did a
lot to turn that program around and make them respectable
and put them in big games, most of which they lost.
But he got them there and that wasn't something in
the years prior that was happening for them that they

(12:55):
had been used to as a school in the Big
Ten and participating in They had watched Michigan go on run,
They had watched Ohio State dominate the conference. They were
not the program that they were in the nineties and
in previous decades, so he gives some credit for that.

(13:16):
They lose their quarterback in that game too, actually against Northwestern.
So college football is all over the place right now.
I don't know we'll see too much change at the
top for the rest of the season. Honestly, other things
that happened last week. Let's talk NFL last week reactions

(13:37):
to football. San Francisco. You're in a tough spot. I
don't know if you buy right now. I don't know
if you sell right now. But Frek Warner going down
for the season, with the other injuries you've had on offense,
with your started quarterbacks still being out, with your starting
tight end still being out, injury to edge injuries, I
mean just all over the place for San Francisco right now.

(14:02):
That being said, not knowing if they should buy or sell.
The one thing they have on their side is their
head coach. He's a damn good coach and he's managed
to have this team in a position each week to
be competitive in each of these games that they've played.
They still have Christian McCaffrey. Right, we saw Jennings blow
up on the sideline that's been underplayed. Nothing, no big deal,

(14:24):
nothing to see here, right, But they're in a tough spot,
like coaching is only going to get you so far.
Once you run out of dogs, it's hard to play
in the NFL. Grit only gets you so far. Coaching
only gets you so far. Ask Detroit Teddy Bridgewater's taking

(14:45):
snaps in the playoffs after being a high school football
coach all year. Against Washington in the playoffs, we had
a guy playing in the secondary who had one snap
off the season. Sometimes you just run out of talent
enough players to play at the highest level against the
best teams, and coaching can only do so much at

(15:08):
that point. I don't know if they're gonna buy or so.
I guess maybe they'll start making their decision on how
this weekend's games go. But yeah, tough spot. I mean,
Warner goes down, that's usually your best defensive player left.
Both is already out. I think because of some of

(15:36):
the contracts they have, I'm probably leaning towards them selling
a little bit at the trade deadline just to create
more room going into next year. Maybe pick up a
couple more picks and just get some money off the
books if they can. What else We had the Brands
and Juju scuffle, of course on Sunday Night football, after

(15:59):
that game around the fifty yard line, right after you
walk past the person that all the cameras are on
and Patrick Mahomes, Branch pops in the face, pushes that
face mass right back into his nose, knocks him too
the ground, eventually rips the helmet off his head. Now
we don't know what words may or may not have
been exchanged prior to that. We've heard Branch's statement afterwards.

(16:24):
Child just acts sick of you know, things going on
on the field that aren't being called. Shouldn't have done
that childish act. Juju has been able to be a
nuisance and many players aside over the years. Branch ends
up with the one game suspension that we now has

(16:46):
been upheld. Doerdie Nelson made that decision and it should
have been right. That wasn't. Hey, I'm getting back at
you for that backside block that you threw after the
play on the other side. Of the field that wasn't called,
because if you want to get back at that, you
do it right then, or you do it on the

(17:07):
next play to decide. I'm gonna confine you after the
game on the field, and I don't care what anybody's
saying to me. You're trying to dap me up. I'm
gonna compunch you in the face, and it's on. That's premeditate,
that's going outside of the boundaries of football to do
something about you and not the team. And you've cost

(17:30):
your tea branch, cost lines. He's now not gonna play
Monday night against the Buccaneers in a secondary that's screw
beat up and that's part of the reason they lost
to Kansas City. And now he's out. So he's hurting
his team by his selfish, childish act in his own words.
Now does he have a point? Is Casey and the refs,

(17:54):
with all the talk that's out there, is their collusion?
I don't think so, not based on the definition of
that word. But to find out that the head ref
tells Dan Campbell, hey, we got word from New York
that this is the penalty, and then after the game
have the ref say no, no, we didn't talk New York.

(18:18):
We figured it out on our own. Somebody in that
situation is lying, and I don't think it's Dan Campbell.
What does he have to gain by saying, here's what
the referee told me, we got it wrong. Where's the
benefit of him lying in that situation? Refs cover in

(18:40):
his own ass. He's got a benefit. Now there's still
no excuses, right, there's no excuses being laid for the
Lions losing the game or for Branch going out and
doing what he did. It's unacceptable behavior. I think Branch
has a lot to pass I think Juju plays with

(19:01):
a lot of passion. I think at times with frustration
and passion meet you have unfortunate incidents like this. But
does he have a point? Is Casey getting away with stuff?
Are the fans who are clamoring about the seven calls
and the off sides and the pis and the drop

(19:25):
to catches that aren't being called and not going that way?
Do they have a point? Is this something based on
the Shield and its reputation and its need to have
the fans have faith in that. Is this something the
league needs to interduct on to look at. Do they

(19:48):
need to have a call from New York that says,
you better make sure this game is called right today,
because the idea that Kansas City had zero penalties the
other night is laughable. Laughable, So branches out. Juju's bloody
and gonna play this week. She Rice is back and honestly,

(20:09):
after the other night, Kansas City's on a trajectory right
now that probably should be the favorites to win the
Super Bowl again. Right Like, that's where they're going right now,
and it's interesting to watch it, almost the Patriots esque,
where just things continue to go that way. Yes, their

(20:31):
losses this year, they haven't won all the one score
games like they did last year, but they're starting to
get healthy, right They're starting to sling it around a
little bit. They're starting to get calls to go in
their favor. All of a sudden, they're gonna go from
two to three. We're gonna go back. There'll be seven
and three, eight and three. It's a real possibility for

(20:54):
that team. It's a real possibility right now that Baker Mayfield.
Those of you out there who said my football cards
should be stripped because I said Baker Mayfield was a
good quarterback, there is a real possibility as real as
the Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl this year,
that Baker Mayfield is the league MVP. Think about this guy.

(21:25):
Everybody wanted to write off, this guy that was bounced
around to several different teams, who had to watch somebody
like Kyler Murray get a large contract while he was
being cut and traded around. Nobody have faith in could

(21:46):
be the league EVP with the way he's playing right now,
with the sixty minutes of football that his team plays
with it not mattering what receivers Tampa Bay rolls out
there with their top three guys being injured. Mike Evans
did practice today from what I read, and he continues

(22:06):
to make plays, continues, the battle continues to lead. It
has been impressive to see Baker Mayfield with the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers continue to do their damn thing, no matter
what anybody outside that building says. He's making plays with
his legs, he's making plays with his arm, he's making

(22:28):
plays with his head. Those guys are following him on
the field. He is the captain, he is the leader,
and he might be when it's all said and done.
The mv P of the National Football League so I'll

(22:49):
take my football card back, thank you very much. I'll
pat myself on the back, thank you very much, and
then we can talk about this idea that b Jon
Robinson is the best player in the National Football League.
He's dynamic, right, He's a young Christian McCaffrey. That's who

(23:12):
I see him as. Catch the ball, run the ball,
elusive fast, had the big eighty one yard run right
the other night. Young Falcons team just out there trying
to do it right. These young bucks that are in
the NFL right now, they're not taking a back seat.

(23:32):
They're not waiting their turn. They're like, we're here. He's
got the agility, he's got the feat he's got the speed,
he's got hands. Best player in the league. It's debatable, right,
it's debatable he's the best running back in the league.
But best player. You can take the best defensive end,

(23:55):
the best wide receiver, the best quarterback, the best left tackle,
the best all put all the best players, and you're
gonna tell me Jon's above all of them. I mean,
I guess you could make the argument right now. You

(24:15):
put Bijon on a team that's not doing very well.
You put them on the Raiders, you put them on
the Titans, you put them in Cleveland. Does he have
the impact on those teams that all of a sudden
they're winning, that they're in Atlanta's positions in at five hundred,
I don't know. I don't think so. Right. NFL is

(24:39):
a very dependent game. It takes eleven guys doing the
same thing, going for the same common goal for it
to work. Everybody on the field has to be doing
their job in the moment the right way and win
those battles. And the Falcons have built up a nice
offensive line, they've got a good receiver, they've got Kyle

(25:03):
Pitts at tight end, they've got you know, Pinnix at quarterback,
and it's starting to click with these young guys playing together.
But best player in the league. That's tough. That's that's tough.
What else happened this week? We had a retirement. Darius
Smith done, just retires, He's ready to go do whatever

(25:26):
he's gonna do. Leaves Philadelphia. They lose another player off
that defense, and he had only been there a couple
of weeks. Right, he was coming in to help this team,
give them another pass rusher. Because they lost ten twelve
guys off that defense. Whatever it was, they had some
guys hurt, and he's out done retiring, can't go sign

(25:49):
with anybody else. Callahan fired from Tennessee. He's done, The
Titans are done. They're turning it over to McCoy. Let's
see if Mike McCoy can do. First coach down and
I mean, it wasn't working, right you just you just

(26:10):
invested in a rookie quarterback. It's not working. Bill Callahan
offensive line coach, leaves as well. So the whole offense
should be changing for Tennancy to better fit war skill
set what he can do right now, which I totally
agree with. Let's not have these guys, these rookies come

(26:32):
in and try and run the full offense. Let's build
an offense of things they're good at. Let's give the
defenses different looks and run the plays that they're still
set as a rookie quarterback in the NFL is going
to be successful with and then you build on that
and you develop them. So I will see what McCoy
is able to do. But Callahan's out, the Callahans are out,

(26:55):
Zadarius has retired, Bakers might be the MVP, and I
guess she could argue that Bijon might be the best
in the game. I don't know. Here's my picks for
this week. We got a game kicking off here in
a little bit with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. As I said earlier,
I would, you know, a football guy, but the baseball

(27:17):
games might be better tonight. Let's see who do we got.
I'll take the Rams to go into Jacksonville and win
this week. I think San Francisco upsets Atlanta. I think
coaching gets them that fifth win before then it gets
their fourth. I think Seattle will beat Houston. Seattle's just

(27:37):
played really good football right now. Offense, defense, and special
teams are just clicking. I think Chicago will beat the Saints,
and then you'll start seeing the Saints possibly offload some guys.
I think Detroit wins beats Tampa Bay. I mean, could
Tampa Bay easily win this one? Yes, they've been a
thorn in alliances side. It's a difficult team for the

(27:59):
Lions to play against. I think they've beat them two
out of the last three times they've met, so Tampa
could easily. But Detroit's my team. I don't pick against them,
but I will acknowledge that Tampa Bay on paper, has
a very good shot of winning this game, even coming
into Detroit to do it. I think Green Bay will

(28:19):
go into Arizona and win. I think Philadelphia beats Minnesota
and gets back on the right track this week. I
think Washington will beat Dallas because Dallas is just dysfunctional,
let's see. I'll take Cleveland to upset Miami this week
and get their second win. I think Pittsburgh does beat

(28:39):
Cincinnati tonight. I'll take New England to beat Tennessee. I
think the Jets. I'm gonna take the Jets to beat Carolina.
Somebody's gotta win this game. The Jets need to win.
I didn't have them going open six to this point,
so I'm gonna give the Jets another dance this week
to win. Otherwise, like Houston early in the season, I

(29:01):
might not pick them until they prove me wrong after that.
I think Denver beats the Giants this week. I think
they have just enough to get past that Giants defense
and just enough to cause Dax and Darts some issues,
especially for their speed at their rush position. I think
Kansas City is going to beat Vegas this week, and
Indianapolis will beat the Chargers because the Chargers are currently

(29:25):
That's right, everybody chargering. So that's the shuffle this week.
Thanks for listening. Support your local WNBA team as the
next season comes around. Go check out your favorite NHL club.
NBA's right around the corner. Baseball playoffs tonight. You got
college football coming up this week at the NFL. Until

(29:46):
next time, just chuffle on

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Putant Aptant