You go both ways?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
This is the sideline shuffle, and I can't tell you
how good it is to be back. Since we rebanded,
we missed a lot of shows. A whole lot of
stuff has been going on. We got stuff in the
personal life, we got stuff at work, we got construction projects,

(00:37):
we got moving projects. We've just got life happening. But
it's good to be back. I missed talking sports. I
loved all feedback. I love to get back with y'all.
Oh man, it is nice to be back in Talking sports.
It has been a minute. This was not the plan.
The plan was to figure out how to get some

(00:57):
video content on the YouTube channel. The plan was to
put out a couple of shows a week, and I
have not been able to do that, so I've been
missing it. I am so glad to be back, so
glad to be putting out some content right. I got
a couple of shows I'm gonna drop this week. We
gotta We got a draft reaction show that's gonna drop
this week. I might do a little WrestleMania recap. We'll see.

(01:21):
I don't know that I'm really gonna make time for
that because it wasn't all that amazing. Honestly, the big
moments kind of hit, but not really the little moments.
Obviously there are little moments. So we'll see if the
a WrestleMania show comes around. But man, yeah, glad to
be back. Glad to sharing with y'all. Get at me
if you listen to the show, drop a like, drop

(01:43):
a share, subscribe, you know, appreciate all the love that comes.
Just get into talk sports. So here we are. It's
it's the end of April already, we are twenty five
percent through the year. A little more than twenty five percent.
We about thirty percent through the year. We got the
draft coming up this week and some good storylines coming

(02:06):
into the draft, right. We got some top players, we
got players talking about sliding, we got mock drafts, all
this kind of stuff that's going on. It's fun, it's exciting.
I love this time. I will watch every pick, I
will track every pick. Thank you to my wife and
family ahead of time for knowing I'm just not available
during that time and giving me the time to participate

(02:29):
in something that I truly enjoy and love. That being said, again,
glad to be back. This is the sideline Shuffle, your
boy KP. And today we're talking about you go both ways.
And what I mean by that is in sports, you
know basketball, there's a lot of guys that go both ways.

(02:51):
You got players that are good on the offense and
the defensive end. You think about Kawhi Leonard right modern day,
when he's healthy, if he's on the court, I mean
what he do fifteen to nineteen from the floor the
other night. We all know he's solid defense. We all
know he's got the biggest hands on earth. You think
of guys like that that play both ways, Jordan Kobe right,

(03:12):
players that really show up on the offense and defensive
end of the floor. Big man like Shaq, like Tim
Duncan right, like what we're expecting from Victor Wimbayama as
he progresses through his career, what Dwayne Wade brought to
the table. Right. In hockey, you have a lot of
guys in hockey, I feel like they kind of play
both ways. You look at mccarr right now for the Abs.

(03:33):
He's a defenseman, but he's a scoring defenseman. Right. You
think of guys like Gordy Howe, Bobby Orr right, go
both ways. Soccer players. You think of a lot of
soccer players. I know there's defenders, and they don't always
get down near the box to try and take shots,
but they do rotate through and they do score, and
they do do their thing. So I'm not really looking

(03:56):
at those players in this conversation. I'm really looking at football.
I'm touching on baseball a little bit with what I'm
gonna talk about today, and I'm talking about it today
because this week in the draft, there's a young man,
Travis Hunter. We all know him. If you pay attention
to sports, if you pay attention to just football, you
know the name Travis Hunter coming into this week, and

(04:17):
we all know the comment he put out there this
week about if I'm not gonna get to play both ways,
I'd rather not play. Look, I don't think Travis Hunter
is seriously gonna drop out of football, kill his endorsement
deals and not play. If a team says, hey, we
drafted you to play receiver and we're gonna give you
some defensive back reps, or we're gonna put you at

(04:39):
defensive back and then we're gonna create some offensive package,
you're gonna get ten fifteen snaps a game. I don't
think he's gonna quit five snaps a game. But I
do think that statement represented his love of the game,
his passion for the game, his confidence in himself, and
his ability in being able to take on that challenge

(05:02):
because it will be a damn challenge. He is stepping
up to the NFL. This isn't gonna be some of
these guys. He was working on a collegiate level. But
I think he showed what he did at see You
with the keeping the grades at a four point zero,
being in All American academically, all the awards he won
for being the best player, all the damn snaps he had,

(05:24):
all the meetings he went to. That that passion and
love is also entwined with his dedication to the game,
to the study, to the knowledge, to the understanding. And
I think he's built connections because of a coach like
Prime to be able to go, Okay, let me pick
your brain too. Let me pick your brain, coach. Let

(05:48):
me see what the NFL is like on that level.
Let me see what you do in the meeting rooms,
let me see how you prepare. And now we've got
an entire offseason left for whichever team takes that chance
to see what he can do. Put him in the
meeting room, put him on the practice field. Let's see
if his motor can go on this level. Put him

(06:09):
in the games come preseason. Give him that chance. Don't
limit this man before you give this man a chance.
Just because you're not him doesn't mean he can't do it.
We all know we can't do it. That's why we're going, Oh,
that's so hard. Nobody's ever done that. He can't do that. Right.
We can list all the type of players in the

(06:30):
past that have kind of played both ways. Dion cornerback
had some offensive packages. Charles Woodson defensive back had some
offensive packages. Champ Bailey, more so in college than ever
in the pros defensive back who had some offensive packages.
I think the last player who truly played both ways
on a regular scale on the NFL level might have

(06:51):
been Chuck Bedenrrick dick Buck has played a little both ways.
We know guys like Mike Rabral, Refrigerator, Perry Patrick, Ricard,
JJ Watt Right, there's guys who played both ways. There's
guys like Cordell Stewart who played quarterback and receiver and
slot and right that did multiple positions. But this is

(07:12):
truly wanting to play both ways. This is truly wanting
to be out there to help your team and impacting
whatever way you can on both sides of the ball,
and be out there the whole time. And we should
all be able to understand that we grew up playing
little league, where you played offense and defense, where you
might have been you know, a special teams guy. Me personally,
I played offense, defense, special teams, punt return, punt kickoff,

(07:36):
kickoff return. I was in on extra points. I loved
the game. Now, granted, my talent level, my ability was
not gonna get me to the pros on either side
of the ball. I could admit that. But my passion,
my love of the game offers me a view that
I think aligns with what Travis Hunter is speaking to.

(07:56):
And he's like, look, I'd rather not play than just
play one side of the ball. Don't limit me that way.
Give me the opportunity to prove I can't and if
I fail, fine, but let me go out and do
my damn thing. And I think that's what needs to
happen with Travis. Right. We look and celebrate these players

(08:16):
of the past. I mean, not everybody knows Jim Thorpe.
If you don't go look them up. Amazing athlete, turn
of the Sentry type. Guy played everything, football, baseball, track
and field, you name it. Let me line up and compete,
That's all Travis wants. Let me line up and compete.

(08:37):
Let me show you my confidence is not just bravado,
but I can back it with my work. Let me
go out and earn these contracts, this Adida's money, these
endorsement moneys. Let me show you I'm him. And if
it turns out I'm not okay, well great, then I'm
still gonna either dedicate to one receiver or cornerback, and

(09:00):
I'm gonna be damn good at one of those. You
look at Coach Prime, one of arguably the greatest corners
in the history of the game. You're probably not having
a debate on the best defensive back or cornerback without
Deion Sanders' name coming up. It's gonna be mentioned. Dion

(09:23):
played some receiver. He was a returner, right part return
kick returns. He got opportunities to impact the game any
other way because his coaches realized, look, this guy's a weapon.
We can't just use him here. We gotta get him
out there now. Was he playing both ways? The whole time, No,
didn't happen. And the most notable player in all of

(09:46):
sports right now, who does that is show Hao Timey. Right.
He was a pitcher. He was a damn good pitcher,
above average pitcher, one of the top pitchers in the
American League the last time he was pitching before the
tim he surgery. And we saw what he did last
year when he wasn't pitching right, fifty to fifty stolen bases,

(10:07):
home runs, RBI's average, triples, doubles. He did his damn
thing at the plate. Now he's back to pitching, he's
going round and to form his numbers match Babe Ruth.
We all celebrate Bray Ruth Ruth as far as baseball fans,
most of us forget that he was a pitcher, went

(10:29):
both ways. There is a precedent, just because it's not
popular now because of the way we invest in athletes
and we don't want to take risk, so we limit
all of these guys. Dion Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth, Charles
Woods and Champ Bailey, Chuck Bener, Dick buck Is, Mike Rabel,
JJ Watt, Refrigerator, Perry Patrick mccarr. They all grew up

(10:52):
wanting to chase the bar that was set by somebody prior.
Wanted to grow up doing the thing that they loved,
that they were good at. So why are we gonna
limit Travis Hunter from setting a bar. Let's say he
goes out and he can be one of the top
ten top five receivers, one of the top ten top
five corners in the league at the same time. You

(11:15):
know what that's gonna do. That's gonna increase the competitive
spirit in football players around the country. You're gonna have
more guys that are gonna be like, I wanna do that,
I can do that, I'm better than Travis. Let me
prove it. You're gonna have more all around football players,
guys that are studying both sides of the game, that
are not so focused in on a single position but

(11:37):
have a better understanding of multiple positions schemes. We see
it in sports after over and over right. My biggest
example is Ronda Rousey dominated women's mixed martial arts. She
set the bar and women said, Okay, she's the bar.
I want to we'll perass and they got good, and

(11:59):
they got better, and then they whip her ass. And
now she's sitting at home on a farm with her kids,
happy family, doing her damn thing. But she's no longer
in competitive sports. She set the bar and somebody jumped over.
These other guys have set a bar. They've shown you, yes,
you can't play this position at the NFL level and

(12:21):
have some offensive packages. All Travis wants is the opportunity
to jump over that bar. And I don't see why
there's not a team willing to see if that's possible.
Give him the chance, and if it's not working. He's
not cutting it in a meeting room. He's not staying
up with the playbook. He's not able to get out

(12:42):
there on the practice field or in preseason on the
game field and do what he needs to do to
where you're confident in that great go back to putting
him in just to a package. I think he's probably
more suited to be a corner and get offensive packages
than the other way around. I don't think you start
him at receiver and you're ever really going to give
him defensive back reps throughout the game. So no, with

(13:08):
the love with my experience, I agree with what Joe Madden,
the Angels manager, said, let him do something special. Joe
Hey Otani is a star because he was allowed to
come here and do something special. The teams did not
sit there and go, hey, you have to be a

(13:28):
pitcher or you have to be a hitter. They let
him do something special. Let's let Travis do something special.
Maybe Cleveland's that team. That's my dog until next time.
Let's just shuffle down the road.