Forbidden Door, Cut Downs, Week 0? and MLB thoughts.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome in. This is the sideline shuffles to boy kids.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, has ESPN's done it?

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Major League Baseball's hot, we've got cut downs. One of
the most amazing days of the third phase of free agency.
Brian Flora has got some good news and quite possibly
the best p l E Professional wrestling lineup in recent memory.

(00:47):
A little bit to talk about, a lot of it
to talk about today, we're gonna get to it all.
We've got baseball, we've got football, we've got legal battles,
we've got wrestling of all things.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
So we're gonna shuffle around a little bit. Hence the
title sidelines shuffle. We're gonna move from here today. We're
on the sidelines. We're not in these locker rooms.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
We are not on these teams. But this week week zero.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't know how you guys feel about Week zero
in college football. I always thought it was kind of tacky.
I always thought it was more of a modern, more
recent tagline that had been used, and I was never
really a big fan for it. It's week one. I
don't know what this week zero is because there's less
teams that play. Maybe we're going Week zero. Maybe it's

(01:37):
just a fun little thing to say it's the week
before the week let's quantify it in some odd way
that doesn't make sense because if you're playing games that
count and it's not some preseason week, it is week one,
but we call it week zero. But if we go
to ESPN dot com, we will now see that week

(01:59):
zero is represented over August twenty third through September first,
and they call it week one on the schedule.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
There's no week zero.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
On ESPN dot com. It's week one August twenty third,
starting tomorrow. Okay, if you're super excited for tomorrow's games,
more power to you. Iowa State and Kansas State, Idaho State, UNLV,
Fresno State, Kansas, Sam Houston and Western Kentucky, Stanford, and

(02:38):
Hawaii week zero games, ladies and gentlemen. Just call it
week one, like ESPN is doing. And again, I thought
this was more modern last ten or so years, that
this week zero thing. I don't remember it being called
a week zero when I was Again, I've been watching

(02:59):
college football for forty years. Turns out the first forty
the first week zero game was in nineteen eighty three,
forty years ago or what is that forty whatever years
ago forty two years ago.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
There we go. We can do a little bit of math.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
With the Kickoff Classic in which number one Nebraska defeated
number four Penn State forty four to six at Giant Stadium.
Where's number one verse number four In the teams that
I just listed off, the closest thing is number twenty

(03:48):
two Iowa State at number seventeen Kansas State.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's the big game of week zero.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Because the next set of games for are set to
be played on Thursday, August twenty eighth. That's into week one.
You're into the beginning of the next weekend. When you
include prep sports schedules, you're starting the weekend games on Thursdays.
College football starts their next weekend on Thursday, so you're

(04:18):
really into the traditional week one by the time the
twenty eighth gets here next week in the break where
NFL doesn't have any games going on because all of
their final preseason games are over the next couple of days. Again,
didn't like Week zero. Didn't realize it started more than

(04:39):
forty years ago. Again, thought it was a more recent thing.
Maybe it just wasn't spoken about that way. They didn't
call it weeks you grow, Maybe they used a different
term right, the kickoff Classic. And it wasn't a four
or five six game slight. It was a decent game
and maybe they actually we haven't done it every year.

(05:02):
But looking into it, I decided, hey, let's check and see. Right,
let's see when this started. I'm thinking it's been in
the last ten years. Come to find out, no, started
in the early eighties. Other news that came out other
than ESPN may be doing away with Week zero.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Is that the SEC.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
And I think this was I saw this this morning,
early this morning before I went to work, that the
SEC is going to be moving to a nine game
conference schedule beginning twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
You know how much I love this, how much.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
I would like it to be a twelve game conference
schedule or a thirteen game conference schedule. No more do
I want to see Eastern Carolina playing an SEC powerhouse.
I don't want to see Youngstown State playing Alabama.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
These are not the.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Matchups I want to see as a football fan. These
are not the matchups I want to see as an as.
These are not the matchups I want to see unless
I'm Youngstown State or Eastern Carolina thinking we're gonna have
our Cinderella story. The truth of the matter is these
games were always a soft spot of their schedule. People
always questioned it. I've questioned it on this show, in

(06:19):
my previous show many many times. So to hear they're
going to a minimum of a nine game conference schedule
with these powerhouse teams in the SEC, I'm all four.
It give me more of quality play against quality play.

(06:40):
If I want to watch Youngstown State, I'll watch Youngstown
State play somebody else. Not Alabama, not LSU, not Texas,
not Oklahoma, right, not Florida, not Georgia, not Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
I don't want to see those matches.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
I want to see the best at that level play
the best at that level. Yes, underdog stories are great,
but face it, these lower schools don't compete. They don't
have the nil funds, they don't have the boosters, they
don't have all of the things that are going on
that bring these top athletes to their schools. I'm hoping

(07:27):
the Big Ten, I'm hoping the Big twelve. I'm hoping
the new PAC twelve. All of these other power conferences
acc take on a similar scheduling. Scheduling right now, Major
League Baseball is finally getting good. Right, we're near the
end of this long ass season that Major League Baseball.

(07:48):
Has one hundred and sixty two games. The Rockies are
trying their damnedest not to have the worst record in
the history of baseball, as they currently sit thirty seven
in ninety one, blazing hot, winners of seven of their
last ten games, with an amazing run differential of negative

(08:13):
three hundred and thirty two.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Damn that hurts, Colorado.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Rockies on pace to have their third straight one hundred
lost season, on pace to potentially potentially challenge for the
worst record in the history of Major League Baseball. That's

(08:45):
doing something that's special, but that is a special kind
of season. And the White Sox, who set the mark
last year, mind you, they're sitting there at forty five
and eighty two, and thank you, Colorado, thank you so
so much. Meanwhile, the American League is hot. I mean,

(09:08):
you look at the wildcard race. Top three teams get in.
You got the Yankees, Red Sox and Mariners two games out,
Kansas City three games out, Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Texas five and a half, Angels six and a half.
They're probably not real players, but you never know. One
of these teams could go on a run.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Look at what the Brewers did recently, fourteen straight wins,
right that propelled them to the best record in all
of baseball, eighty wins.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
First team to eighty. The Tigers are the next closest.
It's seventy six.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Like the Brewers have been killing it since their fourteen
game win streak. Snap there, six and four. Unlike the Rockies,
their run differential is plus ninety nine no excuse me,
plus one sixty five. You look at the National League,

(10:09):
they're actually getting a little closer, at least in the West. Right,
San Diego's right there with the Dodgers just one game back.
The Brewers, with their big run have placed them seven
games health in front of the Cubs, the Mets.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Seven games behind the Phillies.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
But those two seven game Mets Cubs, those are the
top two National League wild card teams. Then you got
a team with eleven wins or eleven games back in
the West, Arizona, You got Arizona might be a little
far back. You got the Mets, you got the Cubs,

(10:48):
you got the Reds at sixty seven, the Padres, Arizona
might be a little far back to get in there
at sixty two wins.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
But the Reds are in the mix. Clubs are in
the mix, the Mets are in the mix. So it's
now the fun time of baseball.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Will the Rockies, well, yes, they'll lose their one hundredth
game this year, I'm pretty sure of it.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
But will they set the all time lost record?

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Who in the American League is going to get in
with the Yankees, Red Sox, Royals, Mariners. Maybe the Rangers
can get hot and get in there. Astros are playing good,
Tigers are playing good. Blue Jays were red hot like
the Brewers, but they've kind of cooled off a little bit.

(11:35):
We're now in that home stretch. We're looking at what
thirty to forty games left.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
It's getting interesting. Now it's fun.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
We got that first one hundred and twenty hundred and
thirty games out of the way. Now baseball can be fun.
Now it can be interesting. I laugh, But I grew
up playing base I do love the game of baseball.
It's just such a long season, and then it gets
so much more interesting. Right as the NFL gets started.

(12:09):
It's like the worst timing ever. You got preseason games
wrapping up this week, right, You've got our regular season
are the NFL regular season beginning right after Labor Day,
the Thursday after Labor Day, right as you know, the
hunt for October begins. In baseball, the most popular sport

(12:34):
in America, kicks off with its regular season. You've got
cutdowns this coming Tuesday, August twenty sixth. To me, the
beginning of the third phase of free agency. I love
this phase of free agency. There's teams to dedicate portions

(12:55):
of their personnel to doing nothing but trying to based
on depth and need and what they think of these
other teams who might be cut right now. For months,
they've been looking at this as signings and cuts and
all these things.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Are going on.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
They're watching the preseason games, They're looking at who's getting snaps,
They're looking at injuries, They're looking at their team and
going where might certain guys fit. You get the Saints
the other day trading for Male from Denver, which surprised me.
I know they have several receivers in that six three
six four range, but he seems to be a little

(13:33):
bit better than both of the rookies they brought in
at that range. And I know you just signed Courtland
Sutton and male is a little bit older. But that
trade did surprise me a little bit. But you guys
have teams that are gonna go out there and not
wait for cuts because they want a guy like Maley, right,
they want that big receiver.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
To come in.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Mickey Loomis was like, I'm not waiting for him to
hit the market. I'm gonna go get him now. He
has value to me in this team. But this third
phase of reagency, right, you have all these teams sitting
there going Okay, who's gonna be released? Is it gonna
be a pass rusher? Is gonna be a running back?
You got Brian Robinson getting traded to San Francisco today, Right,
these teams are making moves. They're excited, they're hungry, They're

(14:13):
gonna be pouncing on these players. We don't know what's
gonna happen with the Trey Hendrickson over the next couple
of weeks.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Does he this go into the season? Right?

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Is this a giant, expensive game of chicken between the
ball club and the player. We'll see. I know there's
a lot of suitors. I know there's teams making calls.
I know there's reports that what they're asking is high
including picks and young players.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
But if you're a team that's ready to.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Win now and you've got the cap space, man, you
better be taking a swing. You better be throwing your
hat in the ring and saying, this is the best
offer for the longevity of our team or for the
chance at the win this year and to bring on
the little pardy this year that we can make. On

(15:06):
the twenty sixth, you're gonna have guys that have deals
before the night's over. On the twenty seventh, you're gonna
have a lot more guys getting deals. We're gonna see
the practice squad get informed, and we're gonna see some
of these guys from other teams on other.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Teams practice squads. It's a great, great week.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
A lot of guys lose their job, but a lot
of guys get another opportunity. Brian Flores is getting another opportunity.
Brian Flores got great news this week as he secures
the win over the NFL and multiple teams in his
appeal of his case right. He now has the ability

(15:43):
to present his case against the Giants, the Broncos, the Texans,
and the NFL. It will proceed to court. The Appeals
Court found some relevancy, some truth to the case and said,
this is worth being heard. And that's huge when you're

(16:06):
a coach and you go after your employers, your former
employers and teams that you interviewed with, and the courts say,
you know what, Yeah, let's hear this out against these
this multi billion dollar company. That's huge. So we'll see
where that goes. That might be nothing, it might be

(16:29):
like I said, it might be huge if they're found liable,
if they're found guilty of doing these things. What does
that then mean as far as the hiring practices, the
business practices of the NFL, this company that has now
merged and gotten stake in different companies and the NFL
network and what they're doing with ESPN and right like,

(16:56):
it's going to be interesting what this comes to as
far as the business of the NFL operations.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
One more shuffle.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
I just got to talk a little bit of wrestling
on today's show. But Forbidden Door ae w New Japan,
August twenty fourth, in London. It's looking to be a great,
great lineup. If you don't watch professional wrestling, that's fine.
Share the rest of the show, let people know about it.

(17:26):
Put your comments down below. But You've got Adam Hangman
Page and MJF the World Championship. That's going to be
a good match, both good storytellers. You've got Okada and
Swerve Strickland for the AW Unified Championship. That's going to
be a really good match. You've got Tony Storm and

(17:47):
Athena for the Women's World Championship.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
That should be a solid match.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Kyle Fletcher and Ta Tahahashi is going to be a
good match. The Light Out Still Cage match, it's going
to be a good match. The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
might be the low match on the card. Adam Copeland
and Christian Cage as a tag team against Kip Saban

(18:14):
and kill Switch should be a good match. The AW
Tag Team Championship three way should be a good match.
The TBS Championship four way match should be a good match.
Like from top of the car to bottom of the card,
even including the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Aw's Forbidden Door

(18:36):
on the twenty fourth, This Sunday is looking to be,
on paper, one of the best wrestling pls in recent memory.
And I typically will watch most of WWE's PL's and
they'll have moments, right, they have these matches. They have
these moments and matches, but from top of the bottom

(18:58):
of the card, for a while, I have not been
able to say that the WWE has put on this
solid of what a ple is, what AW appears to
be doing. This is why the WWE is looking to
try and end the AEW from reports we've seen out
over the.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
They don't want that smoke, they don't want that competition.
They don't want to share the revenue space. And if
AEW is able to put on an event like this
in an international space like London, that makes them legitimate players,
that makes them real competition.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
They might not be.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Bringing in as much yet, but they're nipping at the
heels and that's good for the industry in my opinion.
What was great for the industry in the mid to
late nineties was WCW making a real run. Yes, it
was with a lot of WWE guys that left the
company disgruntled and wanted to, you know, kind of take

(19:59):
them down and get some revenge on Vince. But the
storytelling that went through those two companies at the time,
WCW and WWF, that saved the industry in my opinion,
without that storytelling, without those years, I don't think we're
still sitting here talking. I wouldn't still be sitting here

(20:21):
talking about AAW and Forbidden Door wouldn't be happening. This
would be small time things and little sections of the
country and little pockets of the world that's still carried
on the traditions. So if you're a wrestling fan and
you haven't checked out AEW, I would say give this
one a try. Check it out because it should be

(20:43):
a very, very solid show. I'm excited for it, looking
forward to it. That's the shuffle this week. Until next time.
I appreciate you listening. Does