This is unleashed Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me.
This is unleashed Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me.
This is unleashed Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me.
This is unleashed. Are you listening?
Can you hear me? What's going on everybody BT
unleashed back with the here on this Tuesday.
Hopefully everybody had a great Easter weekend.
We got a big show got we've really got really at least four
or five things college hoops championship game, the economics
of college basketball. Jay Billis was dropping bombs
over the weekend. He and Calipari.
We're getting after it in in a good way, but I want to get to
that as well. Dexter Lawrence trade request,
the Soto injury. A little something on Jazz
Chisholm as well. Hopefully everybody is ready to
jump into it, as am I Let's go. Today's show, as you know,
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So J Rod, what's going on here, brother?
How you feeling today? You good?
What's up, What's up? How's it going?
Feeling great. Excited for another week of
Unleash? You know, ready to bring him
some content? Speaking of content, Speaking of
content, I didn't mention this in the rundown there.
So obviously a lot of college hoops and and some of the
baseball items, you know, you know, Peter Schrager from ESPN
was with good morning, Good Morning Football NFL Network for
a long time. He, like basically everybody
else in the industry, puts out a mock draft and and most of like
Mel puts one out. I think every week he puts out
two. And there is I saw something
last night when I got back from the airport.
There's something now that that actually is beginning to suggest
The Jets might go in a different direction, which is something
that I've kind of hinted at a little bit.
We'll get to that as well. But let's at least start with
the first pitch here. J Rod Let let let's.
Start with the first. I'm curious.
Wow. So First off, yes, one to 10.
Just give me that off the bat one to 10.
One to 10 my scale, or one to 10 on the scale of, you know,
convent, you know, first pitches in general because you got Baba
Booey. You got $0.50.
Yeah, I mean, you've got some wild ones.
All right, let's start with in. General.
Let's go in general in. General, solid, solid, OK.
In general, I'd say it was probably about.
I'd say it's probably about an 8 in general.
Now, that's also including to some people who short hop it and
you know, simply can't throw a baseball.
My score. However, for me, I'm a tough
grader on myself. I was not happy with my first
pitch. I got to come clean.
I got to come correct. We'll get you the video.
We'll get you the video at some point this week.
I know that the Rangers social media teams put it together.
First of all, it was it really was an amazing experience.
So massive shout out to the Texas Rangers organization who
treated me and my family incredible.
They gave us a suite. So we watched and there was, I
mean, there was a bunch of us there.
We probably were about 20 deep in the suite.
So the suite was phenomenal. The food was great.
The stadium's absolutely magnificent.
Good game as well. Tight game.
I think it was 3/2. They lost by a run for the Reds.
It was a good baseball game. Good way to spend Easter Sunday.
But see here, here's what happened with the what had
happened was all right, a few things to play here.
Number one, so you saw the video that I posted on Friday night
before my son's game. I was throwing all the OK, you
saw that right saw that one and and the and the arm felt great.
The arms always in shape like it's the legs at this point that
really are are lagging woefully beyond of course, all the
comments. Oh, chicken legs.
Oh, you know, you got pencils. That's true.
I do How do you hold yourself up?
I don't know, it's actually a modern miracle with my chest and
like, like I'm not exactly the most proportionate person out
there, you know, kind of bigger shoulders and these little
little teeny tiny pencil legs which I own, which I definitely
have. So I felt great because I throw
the baseball 3 or 4 times a week.
I always throw PBP for my team and I play catch a lot with my
son and and now my daughter as well.
I was not worried about the arm feeling good.
I felt, I felt, I felt pretty confident going into this.
I felt good. But listen, Full disclosure,
what happened was I'm going to, I'm going to throw this on them
a little bit. They made it.
They made me anything to take the spotlight off my.
Yeah, there you go. I, I waited an inordinate amount
of time before I threw the first pitch.
Now, the way this goes, right? So they take me and and my wife
and my two children, everybody else had to stay in the suite,
right? And we go down and there's this
little out Cove, this little whatever right next to the
visiting dugout. And I was next to the they have
cheerleaders, right. So the the cheer came out, did
their thing before the game, the national anthem.
She was great as well. And I was talking to her and
country music singer, beautiful voice and she crushed it.
But she was even she's like you nervous.
I'm glad a little bit I'm right. I'm going to have some fun.
Why you nervous? Like I always find it
interesting to ask people who do certain things with great
frequency, whether or not they get nervous and listen, I've
even talked about this like before I do motivational
speaking or even before a show. Like there's that, that it's not
nervous. It's, it's an energy that you
feel pulsating through your body and the, and Stephen A talked
about this as well. It's the expectation to deliver
what people are expecting you to deliver.
So it's not like a fear of public speaking.
Obviously it's what I do for a living.
It's compartmentalizing all the things that you know, you want
to say and getting off to a good start and in terms of a first
pitch, not embarrassing yourself.
Let's face it, if I go out there and I'm speaking to a room of
150 executives at Verizon, which I did last month, big room, I
mean, a highly successful people.
I'm Titans of industry, monster company.
Even if I got off to a slug, you start, which thankfully I didn't
then. But you know, if I say it the
first minute or so, it's not really popping.
I'm not really flowing. I can you know that that I have
an hour and a half about to very quickly change that and then
finish up very high note. OK, when you're throwing out a
first pitch, you get one shot. I bounce it or you sell it or
whatever you now here, here's where here's where I start to
get nervous. Like I admittedly actually
nervous. They give me the baseball.
And because we had to get down there, like there's a big
logistical thing. Like you wouldn't think it.
You think you walk on the field first pitch.
No, it's a whole process because get the national anthem.
She was going before me. So everything was laid out.
It's all Cory Grant. It's all literally to the
second. So I've got some some woman just
very sweet. All the headsets.
All right, here's what's gonna happen.
This is like 20 minutes before I go.
Here's what's gonna happen ABCDE.
I'm the way I operate. I had I even do this with my
wife. I have listen, I know when it's
time to listen and I know when it's time not to listen.
And Full disclosure, when she was running down the logistics
of what was going to happen, I was not listening.
I even at the end, I even said, hey, do me a favor with about
two minutes before I go, just give me the bullet points again.
And I, and I promise that I'll, I'll, I, I hate a description.
Well, but with 20 minutes to go, my mind's all over the place.
Just come back. I got you, I got you right.
So she gives me the baseball and this is the first time I got
nervous. I feel the ball.
I'm like, holy cow, this thing is really slick.
Oh, Jay, if you take a baseball like, you know, like, you know,
you snap your thumbs. If you try to, like, snap a
baseball, it really, it shouldn't slip.
It shouldn't glide out. Yeah.
But when you see a pitcher get a new ball from the umpire, what
do they do? They take off their glove and
they and they go like this because it is I I guess I forgot
how slick it is. I mean, even with the kids, you
know, obviously playing with new balls to start games, but it's
not that slick. It was it was like it was like
glass, only not a jagged edge and my butter on my hands.
It was so slippery. So in my mind I'm like, oh God,
Oh boy, I could already. I'm like, you know, you throwing
A4 seamer. So you got the threads a little
bit of resistance here. Just just have fun.
But again, I'm there 20 minutes, 17 minutes, 14 minutes, 11
minutes and I'm looking around the state and now I start to
wonder what could go wrong. Now I'm processing everything.
Am I going to trip when I go out there now I'm like, all right,
so but I but I pretty much had that under control.
And then and then here's and and and I'm not I'm trust me, I'm
not calling them out. They were phenomenal.
As hospitable as you could be. I mean, red carpet for me and my
entire family. But as I'm going out, but I made
it a point do not step on the white line.
So I kind of jumped over that a little bit, right.
Like I even I even did that when I played as they announce me,
they go, ladies and gentlemen, you know, give it up for and
they and their start, they run down the resume.
You know, just so you know, I think they said I really wasn't
even listening because I was nervous.
Emmy Award, Emmy award-winning New York broadcaster, but now at
national presence with BT Unleashed on YouTube.
A big howdy for Brandon Turney. And as I'm walking my name.
So now I'm all messed up as I'll never forget.
As I'm walking out and I jump over the line is when I hear my
name. I'm like, oh man, they got my
name wrong. So instantaneously.
Handsome Bible. Forget about.
I'm not even thinking about the first pitch now.
I'm thinking about, I don't know if I can use the video because
they said my name wrong and I'm going to look like a clown, but
I'm going to have fun with it. It's all good.
I'm not even worried about that. So I'm already not focused on
the task at hand. I'm thinking about anything but
throwing, throwing a strike. Now I asked the woman I because
I have over the years, I have mocked people who don't throw
from the rubber. I have like if you could go out
there and throw a first pitch throw from 60 feet 6 inches.
So the only question that I asked at the beginning was can I
go to the top of the rubber? She's like, no, you can't stand
on the rubber. What you can do?
You can stand on the down slope. All right, because they don't
want to get. Now, obviously guys have to
pitch. It's the major leagues.
Not that I was wearing spikes, but I get it.
I respected. They already did the matic
curing. So it was ready for the first
pitch, for the real first pitch the game.
So she she said what you could do, you could go from the
downslope, but we've seen people slip and fall.
I'm like, Oh shit, there's no way I'm doing that.
I don't have cleats on. I've got brand new, you know,
Mikey Jordans, you know, and they're there's they're they're
literally brand new. So they're slippery.
I got no, I'm like, I'm not going from the slope.
So all right, I will take my friends clouding me going to the
basically the edge of the circle where the dirt meets the grass.
So instead of 60, 56 inches, it's probably more like 5455,
something like that. So I'm saying, oh, that'll be
easier. All right.
When I stood there and I've thrown out a first pitch before,
when I stood there and I walked and I looked around and I and I
made sure I gave the crowd a nice wave and I was trying to
take in the moment. And she even said she's like,
listen, a lot of people rush this.
Just get out there, do like don't take the moment in.
But I was so worried about the ball slipping out of my hand
that I could not really enjoy the moment.
Like I tried. I really tried.
So anyway, I'm like, it's go, it's go time, Jared, it's go
time. Let's.
Do. It I get my 4 seamer and I rare
back and I freaking fired it man.
Now there was no mile per hour. As soon as it left my hand, I'm
like that's that might that I don't know if he's going to
catch the ball now. Travis Jankowski.
Thank God it wasn't like an old coach.
He's now the first base coach for the Rangers, right?
Got it. And he played for the Mets for a
year back in 2022. What are these like scrappy, you
know 4th outfielders who can run, you know did not a great
player but but a good athlete. Thank God he just retired
because if I had an old coach back there that no bull, no
bull. I threw it so hard that thing
would have hit the screening on a fly.
He jumped out of his Crouch and he snagged it in the
right-handed part of the batter's box.
It was like 4 feet high. It was like not not close to a
strike two feet, 2 feet inside. It was really not a good throw
Me, I I because this is just how I'm wired.
I allowed that to bother me for the next hour, like I all I did
was think about how all like I can think I can throw a baseball
without even thinking. And then I get on a mound in
front of about 30,000 people on Easter Sunday, talking smack on
YouTube, talking snap smack on Twitter and Instagram.
I'm going to fire it. And what do I do?
It sells. And as soon as I threw the ball,
I actually felt it like I and I had the grip.
But what, what, what are the things like when you throw a
baseball and you teach the young kids this as well?
You almost want to hold it like an egg.
It's almost like a Golf Club. When you grip a Golf Club too
tight, that like the, the tendons and everything in your
arms get to and you just, you lose that elasticity and you
lose like speed, like swing speed or, or, or arm speed.
So I'm like, don't grip it too tight.
But then I'm like, but you have to because it's real slippery.
So anyway, I was kind of in between all the grip and I, I
just, I didn't throw a good one and I was very disappointed.
And I, I can't, I can't get it back.
That's the problem. I can't get it back.
And, and I remember my, as I'm walking out there, my dad, my
son goes, come on, dad, let's go wizard throw a strike like
something like that. And I'm like, I can't disappoint
him. I can't disappoint my daughter.
I don't know that I disappointed them, but I disappointed myself.
It was definitely not a strike. Now that what the reason I give
it an 8 is because the wind up and the the like the aesthetics
of the throw were on point because I did play and it had
some juice. But if Travis Jankowski does not
jump out of his Crouch, no, it's not going to short hop the
backstop. It's going to hit it on a line.
It's going to hit so that that's the long and short of it.
A short story made long by BT What else is new?
But the Rangers were great. It was a complete honor.
It really was a little more nerve racking that I thought
like when I threw out the pitch at the A's, you got to
understand it was AI was in a very different place because we
hadn't had children yet. And this was in 2011.
So I was done with college baseball for a long time, but I
wasn't coaching, so I wasn't really throwing the ball like I,
I can't remember maybe throwing a football in a parking lot like
tailgating at Stanford or something.
So my arm, I, I didn't have this expectation, but because my arm
is about the only part of my body that still feels very
lively and I know has some juice, I set the expected like
in my mind, I was going to throw a 70 mile per hour dot and, and
whomever was back there wasn't going to have to move, was going
to pound the zone and it was going to be perfect.
And it wasn't, but it was a good time and it and and that's what
happened. Man, there we go.
That's all that matters. Yeah, well, I, I guess that's
all that matters, but I was expecting more.
I go from an outsider perspective.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll get you the video.
We will. Definitely.
They got me a nice Rangers jersey with my name on it.
They really went above and beyond.
So it was an incredible experience.
Again, thank you to the Rangers family.
Really, really cool. Really, really above and beyond.
So I want to hear about your your little set that you played
over the weekend as well. We'll get to that at some point
today. I want to hear about it.
I want to hear how my how my Guy J Rod was banging the bass.
See if there's any groupies out there for J Rod as well.
We got to get the groupie. Yeah, maybe some like 70 year
old ones were out there. Hey, listen yo, they're people
too. Hey, true, true.
You know what? Oh, J Rod got to try everything
once. All right, so I want to hear
about that. I promise I'm going to give you
a chance to you that up now college basketball season's over
portal is open. It's amazing that that that's
the first Big 10 championship since 19 since 2000, which was
Michigan State, like the height of the Izzo run.
Tom Izzo still the man. But you know, that's when they
were just popping pros left and right and you know, they were at
a higher level than they are. And it's still a very good
program now. But that Michigan State, you
know, that that that iteration, the late 90s, early 2000s, my
God, they were so good. So Big 10.
Congrats to the Big 10, Congrats to Michigan.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Now, aesthetically, it wasn't
very pretty, you know, but but for U Conn to have a chance in
this game, they had to muck it up and they had to make it like
a Big East game and they were very successful doing that.
You guys got to understand when you look at the dominance now, I
did not think that Michigan was going to beat Arizona, nor did I
think that UConn was going to beat Illinois.
So I I gave you the predictions on with the on Friday.
I thought it was going to be Arizona and Illinois in the
Champions. You see, I can own my mistakes.
If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and I you know, O for two in terms of
picking the the championship game.
But the thing and I didn't overlook this with Michigan.
I just thought that Arizona was slightly better.
But Michigan absolutely last night aside, roll through this
tournament. You look at some of the the
points that they put up. They scored 101 against Howard.
They scored 95 against Saint Louis.
They scored 90 against a very good Alabama team, 95 against a
really good Tennessee team, 91 against Arizona over the weekend
and then 69 against UConn. It shows a great adaptability.
It shows great coaching. It shows great grit.
Obviously they play defense. They really made life tough for
UConn shooters, whether it's Caravan or or Braylon Mullins,
who was three for 17. But this is amazing.
They were plus 1/14 in the in the tournament, which is the
seventh highest in the history of the tournament.
They scored 541 total points, second most ever.
And the team that had more than them was the 1990 UNLV running
Rebels. Grandma Ma, Larry Johnson, Stacy
Alban, Anderson Hunt, Greg Anthony, you know, a, a team
that eventually lost to Duke after they obliterated Duke and
poor Poppy Hurley ran to the bathroom to to get diarrhea.
I don't know, I, I think that's what happened.
He had a real stomach issue. I think I would as well.
By the way, if I'm a, a young, skinny, 155 LB Bobby Hurley on
the layup line and I look over and I see those monsters getting
ready to full court, press me. I may have thrown up on the
court, but listen, it really was, you know, I, it depends.
It depends aesthetically what you're looking for.
I don't need, you know, 13 to 16 three pointers made or 85 to 90
points. I can find the beauty in a
grinded out kind of a game. And it was a grinded out kind of
a game. I remember one point maybe maybe
midway through the first half, so about 10 minutes or so right
around there, you know, Raph is like they got 6, Michigan has 16
points and then he ran through, you know, some of the numbers I
just ran through, you know, just to get everybody up to speed,
not assuming that everybody knows exactly what Michigan's
done this year in terms of being a high octane team.
So the Big 10 gets their championship.
Michigan gets their first since 1989.
It really is amazing. Now, Michigan, Michigan's been
very good the last couple of years here and Big 10, the Big
10's, one of those conferences where throughout the year now
talk about this century, you know, really since their last
championship. That's why I referenced that
back in 2000 with the Spartans. But all those ensuing years,
think about all the good Wisconsin teams and Purdue's
been good. Iowa's had some really good
teams. Michigan State's obviously very
good Illinois going back to the, you know, through OO4O5 in that
window with Billy Self and some of those terrific players.
So the cobbles. Season is over.
Congrats to Michigan. Now the portal is going to be
absolutely insane, which leads us to one more thing about about
the tournament, which kind of leads me into my my next topic
here. And and I know it's I know it's
a talking point and I wanted to make sure I talked about the
game a little bit first. If you want to pop in about the
game, some of the stuff within the game, I'm all for it, right?
But you know it the way I do this and the way most people do
that do this at this point, it's more about topics and kind of
pushing things forward. Like this is not 1990 where you
get on the air, you know, 13 minutes.
This guy picked up his third foul.
Although Bemery and and some others for UConn had some foul
issues. Even Michigan was plagued by
that, which you don't love to see.
And I I thought some of the fouls were a little ticky tack.
You want the best players to be out there.
That's a little gripe that I would have and that I did have
from the game. But you think about like March
Madness, right? Just the, the entity of March
Madness. And one of the great things is
that first of all, it's a Thursday, it's a Friday.
And you know, starting with Selection Sunday and of course
the first four, if you're into that, they're good for you.
I'm really not, but I'm not here to disparage it.
You start to see the Cinderella's develop, right?
This year's, I mean, I the Cinderella was probably Texas
and Texas I believe had about a 16 or $17 million NIL, you know,
Bass. So is that really a Cinderella,
which which just tells you how much things have changed.
Listen, I'm looking at it this way.
You're going to hear the word sustainability quite a bit and
we all know it's not sustainable.
And I don't want to be a Debbie Downer because we did have a
champion crown last night. Now I will, I'm I'm much more
intimately aware of some of St. John's economic factors, but
they're not that. The only difference between St.
John's and some of these other schools is that they've got
football revenue, which obviously they can, you know,
spread around, you know, if you're a Michigan or, you know,
what are those mad LSU you got 100,000, Penn State 110,000
people watching the game. So the ability to make money and
then, you know, kind of disperse throughout the rest of the
athletic department is is obviously there on a much higher
level. I mean, just look at the fact
that a team like Alabama or some of the other schools I
mentioned, they will pay early in the season, some middling mid
major Division One team, maybe from the Mac or another
conference like that to come to their stadium to lose by 40.
And sometimes those buy games actually do go awry.
But the team that comes in, that's the inferior team,
they're getting about two 2 1/2, sometimes $3,000,000 at that.
That's what a buy game is. And the teams that's really
important. I don't know why this team's
popping to take a team like Toledo, like a team like that,
right? Say they go and play Bama.
Here's a check for 2.5. They could take the 2 1/2 or 3
million dollars and then disperse it somewhat throughout
the rest of the athletic for the for the budget there swimming
and diving, golf, softball, some other stuff right non revenue
producing sports. So I think that we've got a
massive issue here. Jay Billis was phenomenal on
Saturday going back and forth with Calipari.
And Jay Billis has a legal background, not to mention he is
a whiz when it comes to basketball.
The guy's brilliant, right? And and I thought he made a lot
of sense. Nobody really wants to hear it.
But look, look at look at Saint John's for a second, right?
So Saint John's operating costs is around $40 million for their
entire athletic department right now.
What what does that include? All the coaches salaries, all
the charters. And I don't mean NCAA issued.
Like when you go to the tournament, the NCAA pays for
it. But like Saint John's flies out
to Creighton or Saint John's flies out to Butler or, you
know, one of those school DePaul in Chicago.
Saint John's is, is, is, is cutting that check, right.
So $40 million operating budget, you know, Pitino's making, you
know, 6-7 hours. He's got the new contract, but
closer to 10. All of his staff, the entire
support staff, all the other sports, all the charters, all
the hotels, all the other things that you got to pay.
Now, the total revenue for Saint John's is around.
Not that these aren't perfect numbers, but they're in the
neighborhood of $40 million. So let me get this straight, If
a school like Saint John's has an operating budget of just to
exist of $40 million and they generate $40 million, how
sustainable is that? Because it's still a business.
Yes, it looks good for the universe.
And you can make the case that while it looks good for the
university, certainly there is some downstream uptick like for
Saint. I would, I would imagine
actually, I know this, that St. John's enrollment has gone up
the last couple of years. It's viewed differently by
prospective students in high school because there's now a
buzz around the program. So that's another ability to
make money for the school, for the university, but that's
that's separate from the athletic department.
So I I just I don't know where we're going with this.
I don't pretend to have the answer.
Again, I don't want to just take a dump on the entire college
system, But it is broken. It is beyond broken.
And anything that we do now is just a Band-Aid.
It's going to come to roost. I don't know how much more money
you can spend on NIL Take Saint John's again.
Mike Ropoli. I got to meet Mike in in in San
Diego. No, I need have been San Diego
or in DCI met him in San Diego right I've seen him a couple
times never really had a a conversation with my just a
quick DAP as I'm going to the broadcast booth with that
whatever I saw him at breakfast in the team hotel in San Diego
and Eddie Cole. The AD was there and a few other
boosters and and they were at the table Anyway we started
talking right great guy, incredible energy ridiculous
what he's doing for the school. That's amazing.
So if Mike Ripoli and every but every school's got a micropoli,
the difference schools like say the University of Texas, they've
got maybe 10 to 20 micropolis because it's all oil money,
football budget, etcetera, like Seton Hall and some of these
other Big E schools without football budgets.
Well, yes, somebody steps forward, somebody cuts a check,
but at what point is the return not worth the investment?
And I'm not saying that that's the case for St.
John's at all because their profile and the amount of
students now who who applied to go to St.
John's to profile, all the other things that that you can benefit
residually from having a powerhouse of a program with
back-to-back Big East tournament and regular season
championships. That is quantifiable.
You can obviously, you know, literally detail how much money
you make off of that, but I'm not sure what the end game is.
I don't know how much more this could go on.
And I don't even, I'm not even talking about, I'm talking about
everybody, man. I mean, but the money is
absolutely insane. And this is not about me saying
they shouldn't get paid. I've always said that they
should get paid. And I've always thought that it
was too 1 sided and disingenuous.
That was that. Some of these people in the NCAA
who I don't really respect at all because I don't think they
know what they're doing. And they were dragging their
feet, forever reticent to pay these players because they knew
once the door opened, hit, the tsunami was going to hit them
and they were being greedy. It's not like they were trying
to protect the integrity of the NCAA.
They wanted to count and keep as much money as possible.
So some of these schools of Michigan and Arkansas, a Texas,
a St. John's at Duke and Indiana, well
north of $10 million in the NIL. And when you start to weigh in
and it's different, an operating budget at Texas or Michigan or
Bama is very different than an operating budget at St.
John's or Butler or DePaul or Seat Hall.
Understood. It's all relative.
But what's happening here, what's happening here is that
you're beginning to see now like the fundamental essence of what
the, of what a couple of weeks of March Madness used to
represent symbolically, whether it was a Butler or VCU or George
Mason back in the day or even teeny tiny Villanova back in 85.
You know what St. went when the biggie sent three biggie schools
to the Final Four. You know, I, I just, I don't, I
don't know how we get there again.
And if we are there to an extent, I don't know how we stay
there. I, I just don't because what's
listen, the bottom line is this guy's schools in mid majors,
they are now a minor league feeding ground, a sporting
ground for great talent. And it sucks.
Like you take a school like like Maris, where I went where we
barely have any NIL money. It's a great academic school.
They, they consistently yield, you know, all academic teams and
it's a great university and it's well run.
And I've got great friends up there and I'm very proud, very
proud to have attended Marist, right.
But Marist, let's say they get like, like back in the day, you
could get, you know, maybe a kid in New York City.
I'll just throw a school's name out there, St.
Ray's or all Hollows or one of those schools who's not the best
player on the team. Maybe that best player goes to
the Big East, but the second or third best player on that team
goes to a Marist or goes to a Sienna or goes to a Fairfield or
an Iota or one of those schools. And then he wins, you know, Mac,
Rookie of the year. And you're like, OK, you know,
hey, we we've got our our foundational piece.
Let's build around him with a couple of shooters, get a big
blah, blah, blah. And then let's have a chance to
not only make the NCAA tournament next year, but also
maybe make a run, like win a game or two, you know, like Iota
did years ago. So those days are over.
Because once that Mac or NEC Rookie of the year or a lesser
conference shows this incredible talent, he's gone.
Because you got a big school, say, hey, here's $1,000,000,
check, come play for us. So there are no answers right
now. One thing that I would like to
see is more of a commitment to the school.
I know for a fact that St. John's has done some multi year
NIL deals, which I think is a good thing.
And listen, let's get separation.
If you commit to go and play at Michigan State, let's say you
get $2,000,000 to go play for the Spartans and then out of
nowhere and and you've just signed right or well, you can't
sign yet with the portal. You signed out of high school.
Or more specifically to the issue that I'm talking about,
you are at a previous school. You go to Michigan State for big
money. And then Tom Izzo out of nowhere
in a month says, you know what, I'm done.
I don't, which wouldn't stun me at some point soon.
I'm done with the direction of the NCAA.
This is not the game that I love.
I just I don't feel it anymore. It's not what it's not why I got
into coaching. And I'm checking out like a lot
of like a lot of coaches have already done, OK, like Jay
Wright, it's a good example, who's a lot younger than Tom
Izzo. Well, if you sign, I don't care
if they give you a dollar or a gazillion dollars, if you sign
to go play for a for a coach, you you absolutely need to be
able to leave without penalty. That's not the problem.
All right? The problem is, I think that
there should be some sort of economic return, like a buyout
almost, where if you sign for two years with a school at a
million each, and then after one year you don't like it and you
leave, that's fine. You've got the latitude to do
that based on the rules, but then you have to pay back.
I'm just throwing numbers out a half, $1,000,000 to the school
that you lose or that you left, that you leave, I should say,
because then what's happening now?
The school that you committed to, now at least they've got
some more money to make a very quick pivot to adjust to you
leaving. Whereas right now they don't
really have that. So I don't pretend to have the
answer. I love college basketball.
It's a big part of my world. But it has changed the point
where it's barely recognizable and everybody with a brain cell
knows it's a big issue and they've got to find a way to
resolve this. The problem is you can have, you
could take Jay Bilvis, you could take a Pitino, a Calipari, a Tom
Izzo, you could take a couple of former legends of NC, the Grant
Hill Hurley, whoever else you luau Cinder could Kareem could
come in if he wants anybody, right?
And they could sit down and they can craft this amazing new
vision for the for the college game where kids get paid.
But it's healthier, all right? And there's more, there's more
plates for the smaller teams to eat from.
The problem is it's got to go to courts.
And once it go, and I don't pretend to understand all the
stuff that when it gets to that level, but once it gets to that
level, it's just never going to get pushed through.
What effect in an effective matter that's going to save
college basketball and the same with college football.
So I've, I have been able myself to because really, I mean, I'd,
I'd be disingenuous. I mean, let's face it, the
reason why St. John's is back and watch what
they do with the next couple of weeks.
If you think, if you think the last couple of years were were
strong, I think they're going even more aggressively like,
because all right, sweet 16's good.
They want to get to a final four.
They want to win a championship and they've got a guy with a
checkbook to help them get there.
And they definitely have the right coach to help them get
there. So St.
John's not about to stop. So this has made my world much
more enjoyable instead of going 17 and 15.
Sometimes That's that's a good thing based on some of the years
I've had with Saint John's and beating a bunch of mid major
teams in in the early season that do nothing for your net
ranking or the other analytics that actually get you in a spot
to have a good seating or make the NCAA tournament on Selection
Sunday with the committee like that world versus the world that
I'm currently watching and calling games with Mink.
I mean, I'll take this world any day of the week.
I mean, I just did a Sweet 16 game.
Saint John. Should it be Duke?
They're up by 10 in the second-half.
I'm thinking Elite 8. I couldn't even dream about the
Elite 8 a couple of years ago before Rick got here.
So my world has changed. Favorably, selfishly, but I'm
also a macro guy. I'm a big picture guy.
And the day that Pitino retires or the day that Mike Repoli
says, all right, I'm, I'm, I've done enough and I'm going to
take a step back. Well, if nobody else steps up
and St. John's, let's, let's not be
blind here. St.
John's will just kind of sit back to the middle of the pack
here because that's what's happened to a school like Seton
Hall and some other proud basket Butler, some other Creighton,
some other proud basketball traditions that don't have the
finance to back it up. So we got a lot of problems
here. And you can either choose to
address it or, you know, just throw your head in the sand and
ignore it. I'm kind of doing both.
I do it. I do enjoy it because it's
relevant games. I mean, St.
John's has turned, you know, New York City back into a a college
basketball town. But I also understand greater
good. It's it's not for the greater
good. I'm gonna get James 555K.
Move on from move from an NIL system to an incentive only
system. You'll get better competition
and better players. Well, again, sounds good.
All right. Is that going to fly in the
courts? Is that going to fly in the
courts? So if you're talking about well
hey, here's 500, here's $350,000 to sign with school X or
university Y. If you do this from an
individual perspective, it triggers up to 750 or 1,000,000
or 1/2 or 1/5. If we do this from a team
perspective, it triggers up accordingly.
Sounds good. Sounds good in a boardroom.
Sounds good in a tweet, you know, sounds good in an on air
conversation. But is it practical?
My answer is no because of the court system.
I don't know how that's going to fly legally.
So that's where we're at with college basketball.
But I did enjoy the game. And, you know, it's crazy to
like what? You know what?
And this is one of our burning questions, so I'm not going to
do it yet. But I mean, Danny Hurley is just
my goodness, he's a phenomenal coach.
He is just tremendous. I don't care, you know, the
antics that over shadow his greatness for some, not me.
I had no problem with it. I mean, Bobby Knight was the
same way Bobby Knight is is, you know, for the, I mean, vilified
by some but revered by most. OK, so let's not be selective in
how we remember people. There were a lot of tyrants back
in the day. I mean, actually Bayheim was he
wasn't, you know, as visibly A tyrant as I mean, very few
people are like Danny Hurley. But all the Rolly Louis, I mean,
these guys were on the refs, you know, they come on.
It was just different. Not every single exchange was
captured and Danny is excessive and Danny is over the top.
But my goodness, man, you give him.
I'll tell you what, if you gave him this, how much I believe in
him and Pitino's in the same category.
If you gave every, what are their 300 and something Division
One teams? If you gave every single
Division One coach the same exact roster and the same summer
period to improve and the same, you know, month and a half ramp
up before the start of the season when practice officially
starts. You get back to school in
September, late August, whatever it might be.
And then you play a, you know, thirtyish game, the tournaments
and then the big dance, and they all have the same amount of
talent. Nobody has an advantage.
Does anybody think that Danny Hurley is not going to be among
the final coaches standing? They just is.
I mean, he is just what he does, you know, and, and the way he
pushes players and Rick does this as well to push a player
that hard and that aggressively almost to the point where you
where if you have the wrong player, they're going to break.
And what I mean break is they're going to shut down then then
they're going to eventually transfer.
But those who don't will like a Zoobie goes from a young man who
was playing 5 minutes a game at Kansas as a freshman to a player
of the year in the conference and the DPOY as well.
Now the whole game is the whole draft game is all whacked out.
You know, it's all about upside and stuff.
So you'll see almost everybody drafted early.
He's going to be 19 years old. That's just the way it is.
And I'm fine with it. But Zubi Ejafor has put himself
in a position to eventually, like Champenny in Saint John's
to make, you know, borderline or eventual generational wealth
because he didn't wilt and he and he stuck through it.
And he was able to take that pushing and that prodding and
that controlling. And Danny Hurley is a magician
man. But to be able to do that, that
players got to know, yeah, you might get eviscerated on
national TV. You might get lit up in film
study in front of your boys. You might get lit up up in front
of practice, in front of everybody, but at the end of the
day, forget about as a player, as a person.
And that young man's family knows the same thing, that there
is a deep connection and a deep love that is non negotiable.
And as crazy as Hurley is, and he is freaking nuts, his players
know it because they stay, they develop and they win.
So he really, really, I mean he's 6-7 minutes away from
better basketball from having 3 championships, three of them
absolutely insane. Insane.
I mean, the guys, he was at Wagner for a couple of years.
It's crazy. My God, he's so good and he's so
much. Yeah, I've been I've been going
deep into like the Dan Hurley, I guess, like video archive, the
Dan Hurley experience. Yeah, like I've just been
watching so many of like did they do a 30 for 30 on him and
his brother? I don't know if I.
Saw that, I saw it. But I've seen obviously a lot of
the clips and just going deep like they're just, they're such
an inspirational, you know, group of guy or couple of guys,
you know. Just.
Truly all about the game. Lunatics, as you're saying.
Yep. Umm yeah Dude, what a great
coach. Good game, good game.
Not, I guess, a great game. Not a great.
Game go as like down to the true wire if you wanted to, you know,
it got to like that four point kind of thing at the end and you
go, yeah, maybe, but no, it didn't really look good.
No, you know what? Just back to Hurley for a SEC.
Then we'll get into the three burning questions.
We'll get to Dexter, Lawrence, Soto, Jazz, a little something
on the NFL draft as well, and we'll get those texts coming.
And yeah, I see on the hook and hold that that's got to be gone
if you get rid of it. It just stagnates things.
I'm with you. I don't disagree the the thing
about Hurley right and like to understand what drives him and
you're too young for this. I know.
I know you saw the 30 for 30, so you understand what he went
through. But when when your brother is
Bobby Hurley, who was arguably the greatest college point guard
of all time, all right, and certainly among the game's
greatest winners. And his dad was ferocious at
Saint Anthony's just to keep the school open, how hard he was on
his boys. I mean, Yeah, I mean, that
that's that's where Danny gets it from, obviously, right.
But Bobby is an intense coach that just fired at Arizona
State. Bobby's intense as well because
he grew up in an intense, demanding home.
That's obvious, right? But Danny is intense because of
the same reason, but also because of his very public
failures, right? And, you know, when he quit,
when he took a leave of absence from Seton Hall And, and really,
in hindsight, his biggest mistake may have been staying in
the state of New Jersey and going to play there.
Like if Danny Hurley would have gone to, I don't know, Virginia
or Michigan State or an Illinois or USC or an Arizona State, it's
a different level of scrutiny. And like, you could, he talks
about it and like the hurt, the hurt that he feels and on some
level the embarrassment. He shouldn't be embarrassed
because he was a Division One college basketball player and a
high school old American at Saint Anthony's.
But the embarrassment that he feels, how he internalizes his
college career, that is his driving motivation.
It just is. And it's really one of those
most powerful things that you can relate to that that you can
have. Now, excuse me, it's not even
close. I don't want to equate the two,
but I can relate to that to an extent.
I've talked about this how to this day it kills me still, but
that's maybe why throwing out the first pitch, if you think
about this, why I internalized it on such a deep level and you
got to throw it hard. You got to throw a strike.
In my mind, I just know that my college baseball career didn't
go the way I thought it wouldn't, the way I wanted it
to. And you know, as important as my
coach who recruited me needed it to go eventually was fired.
And trust me, it's not fun to say that I was probably a part
of the reason why. Because when you're hitting in
the middle of the order and you don't produce and your coach
event eventually gets fired and you get dropped in the order,
how could you unless your, your head's in space and you're like,
oh, I was terrific. Like, no, I'm a realist man.
Like I am I, I am a pragmatist. I'm also very emotional and I'm
also a dreamer. So it's an interesting
combination. But like, I, it's, it's maybe
one of the reasons why I take coaching now.
I'm not a tyrant with the kids. I'm not even a tyrant with my
own son, But I do take it seriously in certain things are
non negotiable, running off the field, you know, having a catch
with purpose, just doing certain things that are ingrained in me.
So I, I look at Danny and it's a very complex evaluation because
his greatness is undeniable. You just have to wonder if
eventually it's, it's going to destroy him.
I, I hope not. I, I don't know the answer to
that. It could, you know, Pitino was
never quite like that. But Rick has told me often he's
used the word humble, like he's like, listen, I've been humbled,
man. And I think it's been a little
bit of a softer, more congenial presentation from Rick.
You know, he's talked about, he's even said it publicly about
how he's been humbled. So Danny's 20 years younger than
Rick. And the one thing that you can't
buy, the one thing you can't study for, the one thing that
you really can't accelerate is life experience.
You just can't. You can't.
You got to go through certain peaks and valleys to eventually
get to where you're going to get to as a person or as a
professional coach, whatever your line of business might be.
So maybe Danny does find that perfect middle of the road.
I don't know, but we'll see. And with that, let's get to 3
burning questions. Got a lot to do here, Of course.
Yeah, man, Let's go. 3 burning questions here brought to you by
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All right, question number one. There you go.
That's why I wanted to lead into it here.
How long do you envision Danny Hurley coach at UConn?
Man, I don't know the answer. I'm going to give you some
thoughts. All right, so you think about
the coaches with three championships.
Bobby's got Bobby Knights has he has three.
Roy Williams has three. Jim Calhoun's got three as well.
Adolf Rupp has four. Coach K's got 5.
John Wooden's got 10. See here.
Here's the thing. His, you know, I don't think
Bobby, pardon me, I don't think that Danny is one of these
coaches. Now, some of these coaches are
are programmed to bounce around. All right.
I think that for a long time that was that was Rick Pitino
who loved the new challenge. You know.
Yeah. And I'm not talking about
starting at Hawaii and then going to be you and just working
your way up to Providence. But you know, from Providence to
the Knicks, from the Knicks to Kentucky, you know, the Celtics
and you know, all the other thing, Louisville, St.
John's reclamation, Rick, I think is different, inherently
different in that regard from from Danny.
Now even Bobby Hurley was that he was at Arizona State for a
long time and their dad never left Saint Anthony's and he had
many opportunities to go and coach, whether it was college,
you know, definitely college and he never left.
So I don't think that Danny Hurley is going to have some
nomadic collegiate resume. He was at Wagner for two years.
Well, firstly he was coaching in high school, right?
And then he went to Wagner for two and then he got a better
job, you know, more money, higher profile at Uri when they
were really down. Six years there, built it up.
Then he took a great job at UConn, and that is a great job.
It's been there eight years. He's got 2 championships, almost
got #3 I think that with three to five, within three to five
years, I think something is going to change for Danny.
He's either going to go to the NBA and scratch that itch.
All right. Remember, he was kind of close
to the Lakers job where they were deep in negotiations.
And, you know, I think his wife really weighed in and it's like,
is this something you really want?
I don't know. I don't I don't want to
misrepresent what she said, but I don't know that she was loving
that that new road. And, you know, listen, as a
husband, as a as a dad, you got to incorporate that.
But there was a deep flirtation with the NBA and the Lakers.
Maybe that happens. I also think that there might be
with him a little bit of a burnout period and and listen,
if he doesn't fix stuff, maybe there's a situation where he has
to leave and it's not of his own volition for a year or so and
kind of rehabilitate his image. So that is a long answer to a
very tough question. How long do I envision Dandy
coaching at UConn? I'm going to say within the next
three to five years, and I would say on the shorter side more
than the longer side, something changes.
A little respite, a little TV because he is very good on TV.
Like, you know, you get Danny away from a referee or, you
know, from a huddle or from barking at a player.
Yeah, he's cool, he's funny, he's loose, he's honest, He's
he's pretty. He's pretty good.
I don't know. But my answer is at some point
there's going to be a change and it's going to be fairly soon.
But I don't see Danny jumping around.
Oh, the Kentucky job is open. Let me do this because it's
better than UConn and they keep. UConn is phenomenal.
Why you jumping around for, what, an extra 2 or $3,000,000?
How much more money do you need? It's the highest paid coach in
the conference, as he should be. And he's got a legacy that if he
wins one more and then maybe one more after that, it's going to
exceed Jim Calhoun, who is the greatest winner in the history
of the Big East. So that is #1 all right #2
little baseball here. Yeah, this sucks.
Which Mets going to have to step up the most in Juan Soto's
absence? Now the camp injury, he's on the
10 day IL as you know, but it's going to be more than 10 days.
You look at the two to three weeks and if it is 2 weeks, I
don't think there'll be a minor league ramp up.
If it is 3 weeks or a little bit more, maybe there will be.
I don't think Juan Soto needs a lot to get ready to hit.
He's Juan Soto, so I'm not worried about that.
Listen, to answer the question, you could easily say, oh, Lindor
Bichette, those are easy answers, but they're supposed to
hit, so I don't incorporate them.
You know, you can always say somebody like a Simeon who's
showing signs or and those who didn't play much early, who's
Poppin or Beatty, sure that OK, it works out a little bit.
My answer though, is actually Francisco Alvarez.
So very quietly, Francisco Alvarez leads the team in home
runs, leads the team in total bases and his OPS is almost
1100. Now at the end of the year, he's
not going to have an 1100 OPS nor will he be, I don't think
even close to leading the team in home runs or total bases.
However, he is a guy that can change the complexion of this
batting order, and we've always thought that he just kind of
fell from his perch as the number one prospect in baseball.
I thought they called him up too early in 2022.
They put him in an unwinnable spot in that series down in
Atlanta. Talk about pressure.
Geez. Then he got hurt a lot.
Then he wasn't performing, then he was overweight.
He's worked on his defense. He's in better shape and he's
hitting. So to me, I think now without
Soto, you're going to need him to, you know, stay on a heater
for at least, you know, a couple of weeks here.
But then when Soda returns, I think if he can play well.
And I I'm, I'm kind of still a little bullish on it.
Not fully, not fully. I never fully wrote him off,
though. If this is a version that we've
never seen of Alvarez this year, and listen again, it's going to
be diminished #1 he's not going to do this for the whole year.
He's not that kind of hitter, I don't think.
But if he can have a good, if, he could have his best year, put
it that way. Now, when Soto does return, now
the lower third of the batting order is much more of an issue,
harder to navigate, and it's going to make pitchers really,
really regret having to face in sequence Lindor and then Soto
and then Bichette eventually went all three are hitting,
which eventually, at some point, they will.
All right, So my answer is Alvarez #3 it is Masters week.
Did you know that? J Rod?
Yep. Little golf down at Augusta.
I love the Masters. I watch it.
I mean, I pretty much watch every shot even and you know,
I'll be on a baseball field all weekend this weekend, which is
the only place I I really want to be or I should say no place
I'd rather be at this stage in my life watching my kids
baseball and softball, as you know.
But I will record Augusta. I will come back and I will
watch it. I will watch every shot.
I don't need a Tiger Woods. I don't need a Phil Mickelson.
Now, this is the one tournament where you really don't need
them. Some of you need them for
everything. I don't because I I love golf
and I love watching golf. Now I'm going to give you a dark
horse here. He's 10,000 to 1 to win the
Masters. Also, I'm going real dark horse.
That's Harris English. All right, if you follow the PGA
Tour and you follow golf here, number one, all right.
He played pretty well with Augusta last year.
He just finished outside the top ten.
He was number 12/20/25. He's been, he was a runner up in
at the PGA Championship and the Open Championship overseas.
So he's got some chops in terms of showing up and not being
overwhelmed by the big stage. And he's had a very interesting
start to his 2026 season. Now he hasn't made every cut.
He's made most. I think he's made seven.
But of the seven cuts that he's made, he hasn't.
He hasn't had a top 20 finish yet, but he has not finished out
of the top 30. So he's consistently been in
those seven, those seven cuts there, those 7 tournaments.
It's between 20 and 30. So when you're between 20 and
30, you know something's just a little off.
Maybe you're not driving the ball great.
Maybe you get some unlucky bounces.
Maybe you're not putting well. You know you're not rolling it
well. You're not, you're not, you know
you're not, you're not banging the irons the way you usually
do. I think that he is a good
putter. I know he's a good ball striker.
His eye seems to fit the layout of Augusta.
There you go. That is my 2026 dark horse
candidate Harris English. So if you want to put down 100
bucks, maybe this changes by the time they get off on Thursday.
Right now it's about 10,000 to one.
He's with a bunch of other people.
So if you bet 100 bucks and he wins it, you win 10,000.
There it is. All right, 3 burning questions
once a week here brought to you by my good friends at Sullivan.
But Payne find sullivanonline@trialo1.com.
That is trial O one.com. Remember the name Sullivan
Pennsylvan pain J Rod. By the way, how was the set and
let me hear about. This it was great.
Wait First off shout out Harris English.
I spoke to him a few weeks ago on this other pod.
I did not like me, not like me no.
I just said what's up to him? But very nice guy so.
Wait, what do you, what do you mean another pod?
So you're making all the money here, buddy?
What you got going on? Got some side hustle?
No, I mean, I do a show with these two dudes.
I don't know if you you might know one of them.
I do a show with these guys, Drew Butler and.
Jake from Jake from former quarterback, Yep.
From UGA. Yep, George.
He's the boy and so they talk to like a bunch of former former
UGA athletes and his English is a former UGA.
He's a bulldog, yeah. Athlete.
So there you go. Good dudes, so easy to root for,
right? Pretty good.
Yeah. Yeah, time.
Nice man. Very nice, but yeah, the set was
awesome. Tell me about it.
Let's. See, that was so it was super
fun. I mean, you know, I said last
week I was like, I don't get nervous before shows.
I get, you know, I get a little tense, but I don't get nervous.
Oh, I was nervous. You were.
Not sweat and bricks. But I got you.
You know, I hadn't played a show in probably a year or something
like that. OK, a year, maybe like 10 months
and so little nerves there, but super fun went great.
You know, fans showed up. We probably have like 50
something people there. So super great show.
All right, man, all right. Now when when you're playing, I
noticed the same with speaking. You start to show those those
little butterflies just that anticipation as soon as you
start strumming, that bass all gone or.
Oh yeah, By the way, for me, I guess playing bass it's easy.
You know, sometimes people can hear you, sometimes they can't.
So it's not too bad. You know, for my boy, maybe it's
different, you know what he's got to sing and stuff like that.
Maybe it takes a little more time to get the nerves off.
But no, for me, literally the second, the second the music
stops, I'm just my mind's elsewhere.
And if I recall correctly there, Jay, so there were three and
three acts. You were not the opener, you
were not the close. You were.
You were in between. Yeah, we were in between and it
was, it was interesting. I mean, the show, like the fans
were very, very divided show by show.
It would be like the first band would go, OK, there, people
would come and then they'd leave.
Then we went up, they left, yeah.
Then we went up, our people came, then they left.
Then the third band came. So I don't know.
It wasn't as I guess it wasn't as congealed of a show as maybe
you would think. Got it, Got it.
You guys have access to a little green room beforehand?
Dude, this place was it was funny.
It was like it wasn't even a green room.
It was like a green closet. It was like it was literally
just a hallway that led from the main room to the stage.
Yeah, yeah. So not no chairs or anything.
So no, no, no post concert partying back there Like no.
See, usually there's a little, you know, pregame, postgame,
like kind of fun in the green room.
But no, not this year. We, I remember we did that at
the BT and Sal live show with Aaron Boone.
We had, I was at the Vogel Theater in Redbank, sold it out.
It was awesome. And we had our own green room
and a couple of sponsors came by to the celebratory shot
beforehand. And I can only imagine.
Yeah. But I, I know it's different.
I mean, you know, you look at bands like Mötley Crüe.
Good God. What?
What were they doing behind?
Them what we're doing, no. No, what we're doing.
We might, you know, it's probably not do a little
something, but not not Mötley Crüe.
Little something. You're not Nikki Sixx.
God forbid you know who who actually said on his on his
answering machine that he was dead.
You know that story, right? No, you don't know that story.
Wait, did you see? Hold on.
Did you not see the? I haven't seen, no, I'm not a
huge Mötley Crüe guy. The 80s have kind of missed.
I go sixties, 70s. All right, you kind of missed me
there. Missed you the 80s.
Yeah, yeah. OK.
So let me take you. So the 60s, you talking
Woodstock, you talking, you know, Janis Joplin, you talking
The Who? I'm not a big Who fan, but
talking, okay, Jimi Hendrix, of course, groups like The Beatles,
The Beatles of yes, The Beatles 100%.
And then you get into the 70s, you got LED zip popping.
Now you've got, I mean, also Black Sabbath, Oh yes, with
Ozzy, but you've also got like The Commodores Earth, Wind and
Fire. Like you've got this confluence
of all these different types of genres in the 70s.
That's more the line. That's more the line that I
start going down is like Marvin Gaye.
The sort of sort of line is like really my wheelhouse.
But yeah, yeah, we. Got so talented, Michael
Jackson, of course I got you all right.
And now the 80s. I love the 80s, but I understand
why it's not for everybody. Like, you know, the, the head
banging, you know, the, the Motley Crues and Def Leppard who
I mean, I love, you know, I could talk 80s music all day.
I love that stuff. And then the 90s, you get into
the grunge, you you get Nirvana, obviously you start getting that
grunge impact, right? So and and so that that's what
pulled you into the 90s, right, J Rod?
Yeah, yeah, big time. Nirvana, Like Nirvana, Beastie
Boys was my introduction. And then as time went on, Tribe
Called Quest, OK, N.W.A was kind of like where I really suck.
My teeth in OK. And then of course you get, you
know, West Coast rap, you get you get Dre, you get Snoop and
then M and AM and M comes in late 90s.
You got Jay-Z. OK, I got it.
I got it. So the the thing of it, you have
to even if you don't like Mötley Crüe that much, just because you
love music, you got to chat. I think it was on apples.
The dirt, What was it called? The dirt right or something?
Like that? Yeah, it was about the.
Yes, I got to see it. You got to see it.
It's really, really good. And there was this one scene and
trust me, I'm not glorifying this is this is this is brutal.
But there was a scene where Nikki 6 was was so hooked on on
heroin that he record, I guess, I guess he did a batch.
I guess that's the terminology for heroin.
Did a batch of heroin, got a bad batch and recorded on pre cell
phones, recorded on his home or his apartment answering machine.
Something along the lines of, like, I actually, I think this
is kind of verbatim, like, Hey, you've reached Nikki 6.
I can't get to the phone right now because I'm dead.
He actually thought that he died.
Wow. Yeah.
Dude, really, really rough stuff.
But in terms of the music, like Mötley Crüe starting a song,
I'll take Mötley Crüe starting a song pretty much over just about
anybody. So good.
I'm happy you did well. I'm happy you had fun.
Your parents went to go and watch.
Yeah, no, my mom had some Passover business to tend to, so
my dad pulled up. It was.
It was very fun. Pops pulled up.
I love it. That's great man.
I gotta make a show at some point.
It's gonna be hard, dude. Come at some point, anytime you
can listen. I'll keep you posted.
Maybe we'll try to make it out. To Jersey expand those horizons.
Ego man. Let me get this one from
Charlie. F66, 75.
Now, if you look at Alvarez's numbers after the Mets sent them
down last July, he's done really well.
True. He did come back and hit.
I think that really helped him get back on track.
Something teams are afraid to do.
Some something teams are afraid to do sometimes.
Yeah. I mean, the Yankees wouldn't do
it with Volpe. Now, that was a big thing on our
show back in the day. Send Volpe down.
I didn't think that they should send Volpe down.
Who knows, maybe in hindsight it would have triggered something
and it would have helped elevate him.
One thing I do know, I know that this about Alvarez, but one
thing I know Caballero's doing nothing to prevent Volpe from
coming back and just. Taking the shortstop job.
So he has not been good at all that shortstop.
So I think that, yeah, there are certain players where it really
works for Roy Holiday back in the day with Toronto was sent to
the minors and they sent him to a ball which I believe is
Dunedin. I believe that's their A ball.
Certainly was. And I think it still is out
there in Florida and and it really worked for him.
It's worked for others. Jason Dominguez right now is
hitting the tar out of it, but still isn't playing a really
solid outfield. I don't know what the Yankees do
with him, but yeah, yeah, sometimes it could reset.
And even some of the other Mets think about this.
Like I feel like every time, I don't know if it's the ballpark,
I don't know if it's the league that they play in, but I feel
like every time a Met is sent down to Syracuse, AAA Syracuse,
right when I watch S&Y, all I see is up.
There's a home run for Mauricio. He's back by the way up.
There's a couple of home runs for Brett Beatty up good night
for Alvarez, couple of home runs and a double.
You know, I, I don't know what's in the air out there.
I, I don't think it's, that's not an altitude thing.
I don't know the dimensions of the ballpark, but I feel like
every Met prospect, the Antos, whomever get sent down, they
come up, they go down and they hit.
They could be hitting 112 in the bigs.
As soon as they go to AAA, they just RIP.
And it's not just like, yeah, it's not like every Major League
goes down and hits right away in the minors, but it does seem to
happen a lot with the Mets now and their prospects.
If this is a foreshadow of things to come with him,
fantastic. Yeah.
I mean, that that is that would be a real boost to their
offense, certainly without Soto. And then when Soto comes back
and Soto does what Soto does and the other guys around them,
Lendur and Bichette, start hitting with great consistency,
well, now you got 123. Massive issue.
Oh, you know, and there's other questions, too.
Polanco #1 with the with the Achilles tendonitis and you
know, are they going to have enough power without Pete?
These are stories that are going to follow the Mets team all
year. But you know, you get to that
bottom 3rd. It's unfair to expect a lot from
Benjor Young playing the outfield now, but if Alvarez
could be a staple, yeah, it's a big win for the Mets.
All right, let's get to this over the weekend.
Dexter Lawrence, right, trade request.
All right, now it is a it's a big thing because he's he's a
terrific player. Didn't have a good year, but is
a terrific interior defensive lineman, certainly one of the
best in football Numbers bear that out.
So let me just cut to the chase here.
Number one. Do I think they'll trade him?
No, I don't #1 no #2 would I? I'm bite.
I, I actually would probably say more yes than no, but it doesn't
matter what I think now we get to the third part.
It's what Jim, it's what it's what John Harbaugh thinks.
If John Harbaugh basically goes to ownership and says, hey,
listen, and then of course, GM, but it's, we know it's
Harbaugh's show. And then Shane yell, what is
Shane going to say? Whatever Harbaugh says, that's
what Shane's going to do. We all know that by now, no
matter what change Joe Shane tells us, it's it's Harbaugh's
show. So to me, there's a couple ways
to look at this. Number one, I do believe he's
underpaid based on what he signs.
Make it $20 million a year. He's going to be looking for mid
30s. OK, not the best timing to
actually go and put your flag in the ground when you had a shit
season, which he did. But understood there was also
the injury from 2024 in November and it was great in 2024 that I
do think lingered into 2025. Sacked numbers were down across
the board. Not a good year.
Didn't look engaged, didn't look to be in great shape.
And and Carl Banks, my buddy Carl, who is generally much more
positive than not, he basically said, I think the quote was
nobody respects you, nobody's throwing double S at you
anymore. Last year for Carl Banks to say
that you know, that you had a down season.
Now again, do I think they'll trade him?
I don't, at the end of the day, because of the timing and
because of what he means to the team.
What I do it. I might.
I'll tell you why in a minute. But it is.
It's still not nothing. It's not nothing because.
And I'm not worried about the offseason workouts, dude.
They're voluntary. Whatever.
Yeah. You want camaraderie?
Yeah, it sounds good. You want everybody in the weight
room? Come on, buddy.
You know, it's not high school, dude.
You get ready for your job, You get ready in the offseason.
I would have to think Dexter Lawrence will be a pro and he'll
get his work in no matter where he is, even if he's not the
facility lift in. I'm not worried about that, but
it is interesting. Like I to me, this would feel
more In Sync with if they, if like Brian Dabel was still the
coach and he's just kind of like, you know what, number one,
I'm underpaid and which he is and #2 I'm tired of losing.
Like I, I don't love. And I'm, and I'm, I'm really,
I'm, I'm straddling the line, not because I'm afraid to, but
because there's a lot of things at play here.
And I want to be fair to Dex, right?
Because both things could be true.
You can have a shit season, but you could still be a stud and
he's still young enough. But the part about him that
worries me, you would think that he would be galvanized with the
arrival of John Harbaugh. You would think a guy who won a
championship and a guy who every year wins 1213 games and has the
Ravens is one of the best teams in football.
You know, you would think that you would want to kind of maybe
be a little more quiet about that what?
Whatever. Although maybe this is the
leverage, that the only leverage he has him.
You got to do what you got to do.
And I don't begrudge players for doing that.
I'm not getting on them the reason why I might be inclined
to trade him. You got to look at.
You got to look at the trajectory of the New York
Giants. Jackson Dart is really young and
Jackson Dart is really good. All right, Malik Neighbors is a
superstar. And I saw the the amended report
over the weekend, slight amendment there where, you know,
rather than being ready for training camp, which by the way,
is something the Giants should never put out there.
I don't know why they did that. I'm not going to crush him for
doing that. But I thought it was a little
irresponsible and I thought it was very unnecessary.
Just say you you hope, which is now what they're saying.
Little adjustment, as I said, you know, you hope that Malik
Neighbors or the anticipation, whatever word you want to use is
the focus is on a week 1 return for Malik Neighbors.
That's it. If he doesn't have to be out
there July 26th, you know, running gassers, whatever it is,
or in shells on August 1st like that, that's inconsequential to
the Giants season. Now the Giants to me and I think
on on with with their 5th pick this year, I think they're going
to do one or two things. I think they're going to go
offensive line, which I am absolutely OK with or I think
they need to go somebody like Sonny Styles or Caleb Downs,
which I'm absolutely OK with. They're not going to receive
route 5. They're not.
Could they trade out? They could.
And then maybe that opens up a door for them to do something
else with the acquired and the additional draft equity here.
But just saying that they stick at 5 online and there's 22 two
prospects worthy of top 10 picks online or one of the two
gentlemen that young players that I just mentioned in styles
or downs. Now I I bring up Jackson Dart
because Jackson Dart is at I mean, he's at his own 13 yard
line, if that as he begins his quest to become a great NFL
quarterback. And I really think the Jackson
Dart has a chance to be a great NFL quarterback, not just a good
quarterback for the Giants, but I think if the Giants build this
thing out properly and he can stay healthy, which is a caveat
you always have to include, especially for a running
quarterback who has had concussion injuries, right?
You, you, everything that I see about Jackson Dart screams
franchise quarterback. And everything that I see about
Jackson Dart gives me confidence to think he's the kind of player
that rolls into Philly or Dallas or Chicago or Green Bay or
Detroit or San Francisco or Seattle, any other good team in,
you know, in two years or so, when he when he's more
experienced, he's got better players around them and wins the
road playoff game. I'm not even saying just, I'm
not even saying just MetLife. I think he's that kind of
player. I think guys will follow him.
I think he's got the perfect combination of talent and
charisma and belief like what he exudes.
That's the guy that you want to run out of a tunnel for Jackson
Dart. That's the guy.
Now, there's a lot of things that he can't control, who's
drafted, what the roster looks like around him.
I get all that. So the things he can control,
getting out of bounds and not absorbing the hit from the
linebacker who's trying to break you in two into two, you know,
slide when you have to. I respect the aggression.
I respect the wand. But it's you're playing the long
game here. Giants aren't winning anything
this year. And this all ties back to Dexter
Lawrence, at least for me, on some level, maybe not a primary
level. But if this was Year 6 for
Jackson Dart and the Giants were, you know, had already
played a couple of playoff games here and they were much further
along where they currently are. And the defense was better.
And the old line, which has gotten a little bit better over
the last, I mean, it couldn't be worse, my God.
But it has at least gotten better.
You know, that would be different at that point, I would
say. All right, man, you got to bite
#1 Lawrence deserves more money, even off a bad year.
But I think that the consequences of not doing right
by Dexter Lawrence and trading him for draft picks, you know,
who are not yet ready to contribute on that level,
theoretically, that would be a disservice to the direction of
the Giants. But because of Dart, because
Dart's just starting and because Neighbors, you know, hopefully
plays week one, I'm not sure if he does.
And even if he does, is he going to really be Malik Neighbors
week 1? I think that that's unrealistic.
I don't think that that's a fair ask.
I don't, I don't I don't think it's a responsible ask, at least
perceptually to think that he's going to be, you know, week 1
going for 9 for $1.31 for two touchdowns.
Now, if he does, maybe that just reinforces the fact that he's an
absolute freak. And he might be he might be that
kind of freaky healer because he is that kind of freaky athlete.
And I love the neighbors pick when they took him.
I'm on the record with that. You can't, you can't.
Injuries happen, right? But if somebody is going to give
me what the Raiders were going to get from Max Crosby or what
The Jets got for Q or what Dallas got for Parsons, then why
the hell am I not making that trade?
See, there is a part of me, while I know Dexter Lawrence is
Gotti's, I almost want to use the word great.
Like if it wasn't for last year, I would use the word great.
I would. He's a preeminent run stopper
and he gets to the quarterback, except last year, you know, he's
a bull. He commands a double team, which
makes everybody else around you better.
Except last year, the Giants defense, even with him, was
what, 31 against the run? Horrendous.
So there's a lot of things at play here.
I'm going to keep an open mind if I am now, I don't know what
Harbaugh's thinking. Here's what I would be thinking.
I'd call him and he may be has already reached out.
And this is where your experience as a Super Bowl
champion and a guy with cachet around the league, this is where
it would carry more weight. No disrespect to Brian Dabel,
who I do like. Like if Dabel made this call or
you know, some of these other Pat Shermer McAdoo, right?
You call him up, you talk to him.
Hey, listen, I get it. It's business.
Do what you got to do. You are a fan.
You are a foundational piece. We want you stay in shape.
I've already talked to ownership.
We want to keep you. The numbers will take care of
itself at some point, but we want you.
But then I've got to ask him and I've got to be satisfied with
his response. Do you want to be a New York
football giant? Do you want to be a part of
something that's going to be hard early and then possibly
amazing, which you've never experienced so far as a pro
late? And if I get a satisfactory
answer and you've got to be able to read people and sometimes
they can lie to your face and it seems authentic and they could
fool you. It happens in these draft
interviews all the time. You know, you talk to a you talk
to a young player and you think he's all about football and he
projects this amazing, you know, attitude and just all in and
team guy. And then he gets in the
building. He's lazy, sloppy, he's late,
he's weak, you know, inconsistent in the weight room.
Doesn't know. I'm not saying I want to say he
doesn't know the plays. I mean, you're going to know the
plays, but doesn't know the playbook on that next level.
You know what I mean? Like that anticipatory gene that
generally separates the great ones from the good ones, or the
good ones from the average ones, or the average ones from the
subpar busts. So whatever John Harbaugh wants
is what's going to happen, and that's what should happen.
But I do think that it's a little more complex than just
saying Dexter's a great player. Pay him or he was awful last
year. This is the beginning of the
end. Trade him.
Because if you trade him right now, you get to trade him for
$0.65 on the dollar. And here's the other thing, too.
Maybe this is not his responsibility to do this, but
his camp should have calculated this, all right, Like Dexter
Lawrence has to worry about Dexter Lawrence.
But Dexter Lawrence's people who handle his this stuff, his camp,
his agents, his reps, they should have factored this in.
He didn't just wake up yesterday and say I want out.
They won't. They obviously know he's unhappy
making $20 million a year. I think he's, what, the ninth
highest or tenth highest paid interior, the D lineman And
these numbers are going through the roof.
So he's behind the curve. He deserves more and he's going
to get it whether it's here or somewhere else.
But what they should have done if they wanted to really
maximize leverage and give every team a chance to jump in here
and give the Giants something to think about from a trade
perspective. This should have been done
before free agency because then the Giants could have pivoted.
Like right now, who are you going to sign if Dexter's gone?
You're not drafting an interior, but you're not drafting an
interior defensive lineman at 5 #1 There's nobody that's gonna,
you know, you got Bailey, you got some of these edge rushers,
you got Styles, you got Caleb Downs, you got a bunch of
receivers, you got Mendoza, you got a running back.
Jeremiah Love. You know, there's not an
abundance at all of of interior line.
Ruben Bayne looks like he's moving back in the top 10, even
though he's got short arms. Like, I don't know, I just, I
don't think it was played out well by his camp.
I don't begrudge him for doing it.
It's his right. You get X amount of years to
maximize your earning power. Go do what you got to do, secure
every penny. Because one thing that we know
about the NFL, when you can't play anymore or a team's
finances are all out of whack because they're irresponsible
and they're poorly run, they don't care about you and they
don't care about that. Your family.
It doesn't matter what they project publicly.
It's a bottom line, blunt business.
And they will make you restructure or they will cut
you. Whatever happens, go get yours,
especially in the NFL, go get it.
But I thought his timing was off.
But the bottom line is whatever John Horborn wants, that's what
John's going to get. Make no mistake about it.
Let me see here. I think this was strictly
business by Lawrence. I think they'll I think there'll
be no issue at all. Garrett did the same as an
example, one of many really true.
You know, I get that. I mean a little different.
I mean, you talk about if you talk about Garrett Wilson,
Garrett's younger, there's a lot more upside to Garrett will.
I mean, Garrett Wilson's been it's AI know he was hurt last
year, but Garrett Wilson's had a terrific start to his career
with some of the worst quarterback play this century.
You know, I mean, with nobody opposite him.
So I mean, and The Jets basically down by multiple
touchdowns every week. And you know that if you're
going to throw the ball, you're going to throw to him because up
until last year, then you have a viable tight end like they did a
Mason Taylor and he got hurt. So anyway, I don't know if it's
apples to apples there, but I, I mean, I, I get the business of
football. I don't know if it's quite the
same because one thing nobody ever said about Garrett Wilson
was does he love football? Has he reached his apex as a
player? They are.
I don't know if they're saying that.
I don't want to be unfair. I won't get nuts here.
I don't know people are saying or asking the question, does
Dexter Lawrence love football? But based on his massive drop in
production, based on the optics, you know, a little bit out of
shape. Well, Carl Banks said others who
know the game, what they've weighed in with, you know,
there's A at least some noise around him that maybe, you know,
if there's ever a time to part with him, this would be the
time. And I do think on some level
that they won't say this, nor should they.
But it's it's got a it's got to connect somehow with Jackson
Jackson Doors trajectory. Again, if this is an aging Tom
Brady or I know Mahomes got hurt, but Mahomes coming back
now or you know, even a Joe Burrow's been around a couple
years, guys like that. You do whatever you need,
whatever you need to do, and you bite the financial bullet and
you take it on the chin down the road and you go through that 345
win season, which is misery and treacherous for any
organization. But you do it because you've got
a little finite window to win with the quarterback that you
have. Jackson Dart, is he just he just
stepped into the baby part of the pool.
Now eventually, I think he's doing flips off the diving board
and he's he's one of the studs in the deep end of the pool, but
not yet. So it's a different calculus for
the Giants. At least that's how I say it.
You know, let me get D Rod 123. Why can't Lawrence honor his
contract? It's not the team's fault that
he signed it. That's on the agent, Yeah.
I mean, listen, D Rod, I, I hear you.
I, I hear you. But it's the way the NFLI mean
you. I could also ask you, and I've
asked this out loud, written, you know, many times, like, why
can't the NF LS finances be a little bit more fair to the
players #1 it's incredibly nebulous.
So none of the fans even understand.
Think about, we were talking about this last week, how many
teams? I remember looking at the list.
And I'm not talking about affected cap space, just sheer
cap space. And the the difference effective
is obviously the guys you draft and all the other free agent
move. So effective is different.
But I'm talking about just pure bottom line cap space.
You see it in seasons over. Oh, this teams got $139 million
in cap space. OK, they could spend like
drunken sailors or conversely, oh, man, this team like the
Browns or who else is in financial?
The Cardinals, I think, right? Couple of teams are in the
negative. Oh, my God, this team's minus
$12 million in the salary cap. Are they going to be able to
field the team next year? Yeah, it's called stupid NFL
money. So all you do is restructure or
cut and do all these other things and voila, here's the
magic wand. We go from -12 million to an
abundance, a surplus of $37 million or $42 million.
So the money thanks in the NFL, all right, It's confusing as
hell. It's a real disservice to the
fans and it's really it's a disservice to the players
because when you sign contracts, right, they are, they are they
become antiquated very fast. Now you're literally not wrong.
You did sign the contract. You did sign the contract.
Now I'll give you an example and it's totally different.
But take a contract I signed a few over the years with with 13
years with CBS Sports radio and WFAN.
So when I signed those contracts, right, and they were
always, you know, depending on the on on when I signed them,
variance in length. All right, but when I signed
them, it's not like I signed it and then all of a sudden the
radio business, it exploded and you know, it went in this
different direction where I'm like, wow, I'm woefully
underpaid here. I signed that XYZ and then eight
months later, you know, the midday guy in Detroit signed for
this much, you know, 17% more what?
I'm just throwing stuff out. It's not even really remotely
comparable. It it's, but you get the point.
I I do understand the core push back.
Yo, you signed the contract. You should have negotiated a
better one. But the contracts changed so
fast. Think about it.
At one point, Eli Manning was the highest paid quarterback in
the NFL was eating. I'm not going down the Eli
rabbit hole of Hall of Fame. Now I get into that.
Now we'll start trouble. But was Eli ever remotely the
best quarterback in the NFL? The answer is with all the
respect, and I love him. A resounding, not even close.
We we know that because we watch football, all right, It's timing
and the timing changes fast. And and also the other thing
too, is as the salary caps escalate in the manner in which
they are like the percentage uptick is just through the roof
here every year, you know, you getting an extra 30, forty, $50
million. So is that thing a boom, boom,
boom spreads out more. Well, now it reflects
differently. What you did sign, even though
you willingly put your name on the contract, nobody stuck a a
weapon, a bat to your head and said, if you don't sign it, you
know, I'm going to take you outside the bottom Bing and take
out your kneecaps like you. You don't you don't have to sign
it. You could have fought for more.
You elected not to, but you've got to be fair to the NFL
players, which I always am, because I think these contracts
are ridiculous. So it's a lot of everything with
Dexter Lawrence, You know, I just don't think that the
ability for this, this is really why while I would entertain
moving on from him, why I think he eventually does stay is that
I think the window shut unless he's amazing this year for the
Giants to get back what The Jets got back and the Cowboys got
back and what the Raiders were about to get back before that
was obviously rescinded with the with the Raiders with Max
Crosby. So there's some stuff on that.
All right, One other thing I saw about the draft here.
How many days away are we from the draft?
I think we're in the teens, 18. How many days?
17, Let me see. I think there was 20 days on
Friday. How many days, Jay, can you help
me out with that? 17 days to the NFL Draft.
We are 23rd. Yep, 16 days.
Even better, let's go. 16 days. Yeah.
And I think that they condensed the amount of time in between
each pick, you know, before we had to look that big Jingle.
That's the worst sitting there and just listen to guys Babble.
I know they're, they're good at their job, but all, all the
catch phrases, you know, I've, I've kind of had fun with this
over the years. Oh, this guy's got quick hips.
And look at how he swivels his hips and look at how he goes up
for the ball. The look at the, look at the
catch radius. It's just, it's paralyzing
mentally. So the quicker we get to the
picks, the better. Anyway, there's 16 days to the
draft now. Peter Schrager, who I think is
great, he was on good day or good morning football for a long
time. New York guy, don't know him.
I think I met him once or twice. Good dude, good at his job,
right? I like, I, I think he's very
well connected and he's very good at his job.
So he puts out two mocks, like Hyper's putting mocks out.
You know, I think he's got a mock out maybe for next year.
I mean, or like maybe a skeleton draft.
Maybe he's already identified the best quarterbacks, that's
for sure. So Kuiper's different than than
Schrager. Schrager's reporting on the
day-to-day business of the NFL doing what he does from a
content point of view, but he also does do a mock now and
then. I believe he does one either the
day before or the week before the week of the NFL draft.
Only two and his last his and I think it dropped yesterday.
I'm pretty sure I was traveling. So, you know, that's it.
I can't stand travel. Although TSA was amazing over
the weekend, like we got to to Newark on Saturday.
Now I, we have the clear as well.
It was quick, dude. It was a mate.
Like we right through the clear, you know, mate, look, I, we, we
were first people that clear like we walked right up to
clear. Do you have that stuff?
You have the TSA pre-check or the clear?
It's life changing. I I mean, I remember I got it
last time I flew. It's been a while since like
I've I've actually flown or like done any serious.
Travel, it's a massive it's a massive difference.
So we speed through the clear as you always do, and then, you
know, when you do the clear, they come and take you and they
you cut everybody like suck is, you know, you cut, you cut a
long line and then you go through the security didn't have
to take the shoes off Boom, boom, boom.
Very fast there maybe 10 minutes Max.
All all four of us with that, with that whole process and then
even getting to the gate. I mean, we got on immediately.
So it was, it was awesome. Now now coming back was a little
different. Daddy usually comes back solo
because I'm, yeah, I got to get back to work.
Whatever. Kids have spring breaks, so they
get a chance to spend some more time with your grandparents out
in Texas, which is great. I got now I originally had, I
don't book the flights. I let my wife book them.
She booked me A and she didn't know I and this you know what, I
got to take the L on this a little bit.
This is kind of my fault. This falls under the file of me
really just not listening sometimes, like I, I admit it.
She's like, she comes to me and she says, hey, you know, what
about flying out at this time? Because there's always got to
work around a game before we go out there for Easter as we do
every year. And then coming back.
She knows I'm going to come back early.
Kids will come back early or later and then obviously they've
got to make sure that they're back for the games the next week
either way. And she's great with that,
right? So evidently she asked me, you
know, at this time. And I think it was like a couple
100 bucks cheaper. I'm like, yeah, that's fine,
that's fine. So, but again, I wasn't really
listening. I'll get to the Peter Schrager
thing in a minute. And so I wake up on maybe even
Sunday night. I'm like, hey, babe, what time
is, what time is my flight tomorrow?
She's like 5:13 PM. I'm like 5:13 PM, I'm like, why
so late? And she said, well, you said
that was fine. I'm like 515.
So now that mean it's an hour difference.
So 5:15 if you're on time, 615715815835IN terms of actual
airtime, tack on the hour when you get back to New York, 935 by
the time I get my bag, by the time I get in the Uber or the
car service, like it's 1020. Who won the national
championship game? I don't know.
It's probably going to be a good chance.
I don't get to watch any of it. Not not not to mention I got to
get ready for the show. So I'll take the L on that.
I I will take the L, but how about that?
So, so so she did call. I'm like, can you do see if you
could change anything? Yeah, because she called and she
was able to change it. I had to pay a little bit of
money. Whatever, dude, I got nestled in
between, let's just say, and I'm she never gets me middle seats
because she knows I can't stand the middle seat.
But this, to change the flight, you got to do what you got to do
instead. I got on at 1:30 and I got home
at like 6 and it was perfect. I was, I don't want to be
disrespectful to anybody, just I would do it.
I was like this on both sides, bro.
I was the last row right near the bathroom, right?
And so which meant my seat didn't go all the way back and I
was like this. I felt like I was setting a pic
literally I was I was trying to free somebody coming off the
screen for a three-point shot like this.
I'm not going to leave it at. That dude was like Ernie
Johnson. He was in between Chuck and.
Chuck and Chuck, yeah, a little bit.
I was pinched in there. At least those guys having fun
on the show. I mean, I definitely was not
having fun with that nonsense. What do we got here?
James? Back to Jimmy here.
BT just want to say appreciate you.
Your show's a great escape. Looks like some dark shit's
about to pop off tonight. Just wanted to say thanks.
Yeah, we are definitely keeping an eye on that, obviously.
And James is talking about Iran and we'll see what happens
there. We'll see if, you know, if the
if there's an extension of, of, of terms from President Trump,
We'll see. But that's what this stuff is.
It's an escape, you know, I try not to take myself very
seriously. I try to take the show
seriously. I do because this is my
livelihood. This is my business.
This is my profession profession.
This is my new platform. This is my outlet.
But listen, I, I, I've talked many times about, you know, how
I view this. And this is to let it RIP and to
be authentic and to be me and to have fun and and to talk talk
sports and to really be as much of A deviation from a lot of the
real world issues that are much more important than, let's face
it, whether or not Dexter Lawrence is traded from the
giants. At the end of the day, I get it.
And I'm not obtuse to this. I I watch the news every night.
You know, hopefully you guys watch the, the the two hour
conversation with Stephen A, which did fantastic on on.
We had him last. I think we had him on Wednesday,
right? Was that Wednesday, Thursday,
Wednesday? It was awesome.
We got into some of that stuff there.
Not so much politics, but his political aspirations a little
bit. But it was just a real
wide-ranging conversation. And I really don't get into, not
because I can't I, I could. I just know that you guys don't
want to. It's not why you listen to me,
you know. And it's funny too.
I've been on Fox a few times. I went on with Brian Kilmeade.
I guess it was about a month and 1/2 or so ago.
He was doing this big piece on youth sports, all right.
And I don't know Brian, I don't know, I've never met him.
Maybe I met him, maybe I did meet him once, but I don't have
a relationship with him. They reached out and they were
doing a thing on, you know, how economics and how the pressures
and the shifting of youth sports is really ruining youth sports.
And you know, they knew, they know I do a lot of coaching.
They know I played and they know I do this for a living.
So anyway, they invited me on the show, right?
And I was on with a University of Florida professor who was
talking about the shifting economics and some other stuff.
And I brought a different perspective.
And when I posted that on this YouTube channel, don't you think
I got a lot of, dude, you going on Fox?
What are you doing? You know what?
Yeah. You got a lot of that.
Sure. And then I've been on with my
buddy Jimmy Faylor, who I have become friends with, who is
funny. He uses comedy to, to take jabs
at, at, at everybody in politics, right?
And he's on Fox. So obviously there's a political
leaning his way and a slant there, although I think he's
fair. And, and when I posted that
stuff, you get the same. So, oh, Jimmy Faley's on Fox
Radio, Fox News, What are you doing?
Hey, listen, you know, if I'm going to get a platform.
And by the way, when I was on with Jimmy was for the Super
Bowl and I basically nailed the final score and won everybody
money. I mean, I missed the final score
by two points and I nailed the spread #1 #2 the second time I
went on was about St. John's in the going to the Sweet
16 game. And you know, I, I do read a lot
of comments here and I do respond to a bunch 'cause I want
you guys to know I'm connected. I'm invested in this.
It's personal. It's not just me for my little
ivory tower making millions. That's sure shit's not
happening, not even close, not even close.
But it's, it's my way of, of letting you know that I'm deeply
invested and connected to you as a viewer.
I can personalize this, but it's like I did at the fan.
I responded to a lot of a lot of text and a lot of tweets and
stuff. This is different though.
I respond to a lot more here. But one thing that I saw a lot
when I would post those videos, oh, you're going to offend half
your audience. Oh, you're going to go on that
Fox leans this way. But do you not think that I know
which way Fox leans? Do you not think I know which
way the view leans or which way CNN or Cuomo in his previous
outlet or now? Like, do you think I don't know
this? I mean, I am very much in tune
with everything going on in the world.
The difference is when somebody you might despise, you might
abhor Fox, you might abhor CNN, depending upon which which way
you go. If I've got a platform to share
something about youth sports that I think is going to make,
even if it helps one kid or one family, you think that I'm not
going to take that opportunity that that platform to utilize
that. Why would I not do that?
You know, So, you know, I know when you talk about this stuff,
it's polarizing, which is why I stay away from it for the most
part on the air. But understand, you know, if
somebody asked me to come out and talk about something, I'm
not talking about economic policy or ICE or any any things
that I'm probably not really, even though I know a little bit
not really truly qualified to speak on, if I have that window
to do it, I'm going to do it. So if you guys have a problem
with that, you need to get over yourself.
Because if you actually watch and listen to what I say and
actually look at the content that's being talked about, then
I would think that you would have a different opinion #1 and
#2 Like I also said, hey, if CNN would have invited me to go on,
absolutely would have accepted 100%.
And if they invite me to come out and talk about youth sports
or so or the NCAA, you know how it's, I don't think as I started
the show after I talked about the championship game, I don't
think it's economically feasible to keep this, this sort of
model, business model. Then I'll go on CNN 100%.
So people just need to understand that, Jay.
But people don't. People sadly are so triggered,
which I understand to an extent, but are so triggered by a logo
for a network that you know they they almost can't grasp the
content that's being talked about because they don't even
care. Their mind is shut off to.
Them, yeah, no, I mean, 'cause they, that's The thing is like
they don't even like, you know, I watch the conversations you
have like, they're not even really political at all.
Like really, they don't feel like that at all.
They're, you know, so it's just like you said, like you see an
image and you just immediately go for your quick assumption
when like it's probably just not true in terms of like the actual
content. Correct 100%.
All right, let me pay off that Peter Schrager thing.
I'm going to get to that in a minute there.
Let me, I'll read that in a moment.
So anyway, Schrager put out his second or his first draft here
and for the first time, I mean, all you see is Reese from Ohio
State. It's I don't care what mock you
look at Reese too. It's Mendoza 1 Reese too, man,
those are 10. Here's a here's a mantra.
Oh, Mendoza 1 Reese too. Oh, we got another mantra.
Mendoza 1 Reese 2, Reese 2. Reese 2, Reese 2.
Now, I like Reese. I think he's an incredible
athlete with incredible upside. I'm not married to The Jets.
Taking him at #2 Now, I also don't think that there's going
to be a lot of movement or possible traction for a team to
jump up and trade with The Jets, which is something that I
espoused early last week that I would be open to.
Because while I like Reese and I'm intrigued by Reese, he's not
enough of a sure thing for me. Watching wind up being like
Lawrence Standard or Micah Parsons.
And of course, I'll be wrong with this.
But right now, my opinion is I really do like him, and if The
Jets take him to #2 I'll be fine with it.
But I'm just trying to incorporate another thought that
I think is logical. And Schrager had Bailey going at
#2 to The Jets. Now, Bailey, you don't need
Schrager to tell you this because everybody knows this.
If you watch college football, Bailey is the more polished
prospect right now. He's been an edge rusher for
years. He had 14 1/2 sacks.
He's been on the edge with his hand on the ground for years
facing double teams, getting his numbers now.
People also think that there's some ridiculously alarming drop
in athleticism. Like like Bailey ran a 4860 man
ran a 4-5 dude. Bailey from Texas Tech ran a
4-5. So the different now Reese was
quicker as word, you know, Styles and some others too.
But it's not this massive drop in athleticism.
It's it's slightly discernible. It is a real thing in terms of a
slight drop off. But it's not enough for me not
to take him. I don't love Bailey too either.
I you know, when I saw Schrager, I'm like, would that excite me?
I almost think I'd rather have Reese.
I don't, I don't, I don't. My gut now is that my gut now is
that Bailey's one-dimensional and he'll be good at that one
dimension, but I don't know that he'll be transcendent at that
one dimension. And if you're A1 dimensional
player and good at your job, is that enough to justify a second
overall pick? Like if you're if you're getting
taken, you know, 9th or 12th or 15th, that's fine.
You do greater one thing like you're a you're a corner and
you're OK in coverage, but you're a lights out tackler.
You can help out in the box a little bit.
All right, I mean, not ideal if I'm taking a corner at number,
you know, 23456 something like that.
Or, you know, you're a you're a linebacker, outside linebacker
and you're a sure handed short tacklers we've ever seen.
But you know, when you're dropping back in coverage,
trying to hang with a tight end who's got a 1/10 of a second or
two quicker than you because you didn't run to grade 40 either at
the combine or at your pro date, your school all right now, not
optimal. I, I like, I'd like Bailey.
I do and I like Reese. I really believe I love the
prospects of The Jets being open for business.
So this is not really an in depth commentary on Bailey, the
player or even Reese at this point.
It's about this to me, gives a little oxygen to The Jets
possibly being open to trading #2 because maybe another team
loves Bailey or maybe another team loves Reese.
I don't know. I know you need 2 to dance.
That goes without saying. Jets could be help.
Muji could be hell bent on making a trade.
If you don't have a willing trading partner, you're not
making a trade. It sounds good.
Trade up, trade back. You need somebody to satisfy
your demands, like you got with Sauce and like you got with Qi.
Don't know that that's going to happen here.
I just hope and I think, I think, I don't know, I think,
but I definitely hope that he is more than amenable to being open
for business at #2 as well. Because to me, there's not much
of a difference. Matter of fact, I would almost
rather have. I know Caleb Downs has slipped a
little bit in the boards for some reason, but I would now.
They don't need an offensive lineman and there's 2 old
lineman. Actually, I think Schrager had
the Giants taking an old lineman.
There's 2 who are going to go in the top 10, but you can't tell
me now. You can tell me in three years
when we've got some evidence, NFL tape to look at and say,
yeah, we were right, we were wrong, kind of right, Kind of
roll a little bit in between, kind of hit it kind of didn't.
Whatever went to the wrong team got hurt.
Now it doesn't. Love football.
Sloppy, lazy, but you know, didn't get strong enough, didn't
get a second move pushed around. Predictable.
There's a lot of analysis coming once they play in the NFL.
But like, right now, to me, if it's Bailey, if it's Reese, all
right, I mean, I'm not doing somersaults and flips with the
pic and I'm not going to pound the table and say they messed it
up. But really, I am still married
to the notion of The Jets trading out, at least trying to.
That's where I am with that. But I thought it was
interesting. Schrager's real good with that
stuff historically does well with this mocks and for him to
have somebody other than Reese and he doesn't do it just to
differentiate himself. Like he believes that because
he's he's an information person. So we'll see super game children
Bros 6643 what's happening? Thank you for that.
Appreciate it, buddy. On a lighter note, the jet strap
party is being moved from Jersey to the seaport in the city.
I didn't even know that. Do you think you'll show up
there and have some fun with us? Who are going to go?
Let me know. The boys and I are going to be
there. I, I do not think I'll be at The
Jets draft party #1 there's a really good chance of doing
stuff that night either at a draft party.
And again, not, not all the dyes are are, are not all the I's are
dotted, not all the T's across. It's business.
This thing trickles in. There's a few opportunities to
either do content here with a live watch or to be at a place
that I can't divulge to do a live watch party myself.
And at this point, you know, I'm, I'm looking at all
opportunities. Number one, it's obviously fun,
but doing business here. So, you know, I've, I've been to
a lot of drafts, I've been to a lot of draft parties, but I, I
think there's a real opportunity where we'll be able to monetize
that. So that would be a real good
thing. J Rod, have you been to?
Have you ever been to a draft party?
Never. Never.
No, I mean I listen to the NFL draft, to an NFL draft.
Party I know you went to the NBA Draft 1.
Yeah, I mean, just watching it at home with the TV really.
I don't think I've, I, I honestly don't even think I've
ever gotten together with anybody to watch a draft.
Really. Yeah, no, OK.
Yeah, it's funny, those things I I really don't know as I say
that like really like, like I do it all the time.
I usually like to watch the draft and seclusion myself.
I I, I'm with you, just a lot going on, man.
I remember funny thing, you won't even remember.
This was when I was with ESPN. It was like the coolest thing at
that point. ESPN, if you Google this at some
point you you guys will see this.
ESPN 2005. If I had to throw a year on it,
it came out with an ESPN phone. You don't even know about that,
do you? No.
What? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was like a flip phone, right? But it was cool.
I mean, the flip phones were, you know, you could text on it,
but it wasn't like that or Samsung, whatever.
Oh my God, you. See it?
This is so cool. Yes, there it is man.
What year was it? Was I right 2?
1006, yeah. 06 OK And never forget I was playing golf right
up at New York Country Club with my buddy Dan and and Rob and
Maddie. I'll play golf tomorrow, by the
way. Let's go.
That'll be a nice. Day now I try watch what I try
to do today like this is this is how I I try to squeeze it all in
today. Now I'll be in the basement.
I'll be hitting these little wiffle balls, you know, gripping
the club, getting in my own head, probably hit 16 feet off
the tee. Well, it's going to be a
disaster. But yeah, I'm playing my buddy
Rob. Oh, I have not seen in a while,
so I can't wait to see him. My buddy Frank, who I play with
quite a bit, that's why I am getting out tomorrow.
It's gonna be a little chilly, but it's gonna be sunny, so I'm
playing the ball. So anyway, so they, ESPN, never
forget. We each got like me, Kayla,
Greca, Stephen A, I'm sure Mike and Mike were up in Bristol.
They obviously, they probably got 10 each, you know, based on
how much they got back then, and rightfully so.
It was a really good show. We each got the phone.
I never came in the package, Have my name on it.
I'm like, all right, here we go. Starting to get some free shit
now. Yeah, it was big boys.
You got a ESPN phone? Yeah, they gave us one.
They gave each one. So cool.
And. It was like free service for a
year and I had my old phone and I used it a little bit.
I'd like to say it was like a burner phone or but no, I didn't
really need one. But I do remember playing golf
at New York Country and the coolest feature on the phone,
this was during the NFL draft. To my point, this is like the
only time I didn't watch the draft by myself.
I was playing golf and every time a pick was made, you know,
it would be on the green. You'd hear from the card.
No way. And it would it would it would
alert you. All right, the pick is in and
then you'd open up the phone and and it was actually really
awesome. You know, I obviously knew every
player. My boys were even then little
bit more into it than they are now.
That did not last well or that did not last long.
It was cool. It's good idea.
You know, do like a little like I'm just like they should do a
little like ode to it, like a little AD spot where they, I
don't know, poke fun at it. That is so funny, man.
Listen, you got to understand when you see stuff with the,
when you see stuff 1520 years later and it guys, it's it's, I
mean, I get it. I do it too.
Like, it's hard to do. It's hard to look at stuff and
say, wow, this thing is sick, right?
I'll give you a good example. So my buddy Tommy, who got
married and had a child when he was young, like 20s, early 20s,
kids are grown. Awesome guy.
Really my first best friend. Couple of homes down the street.
Great dude. Play in the street everyday.
Great families. Dad played golf with my dad.
I don't know how many times, but his dad passed away.
Love his mom, love his brother K rat.
Just a great family. And you know, like I remember.
Hold on one SEC. I remember.
Yep. Hang on.
No, that's not true. What?
No, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, OK, No. My buddy just texted me
something about the ESPN phone. There's no way.
All right.
So anyway, so since he had, you know, children early and his
first son was a boy, when I had a son, he sent me all of these
bats that his son used along the way.
And he played JUCO baseball. He was a very good player in New
Jersey. His son Timmy, and one of the
bats he sent me was what was a bat that we used and if you're
old enough, the black magic Easton.
Yeah. The Easton black magic too.
You're way too young. That was like, you know,
whatever, 500 bats. I'm not just going to get free
plugs everywhere here, but there's a couple of really good
ones out there now that every player has that plays club ball,
whatever, and they're ridiculously overpriced, but
they got a lot of juice. I'm talking about the Utrip
bats, USSSA, not the USA bats that you have to use in travel
and rec. So anyway, he sends me like sent
me a fungal bat that he used to coat that I used for my teams
early. Then it broke and a bunch of
bats, my son to train with and, you know, but they, they were so
out of, you know, like you couldn't use it.
They didn't conform to the regulations, is my point.
And the other day I was working out my son, I hear him hitting
off the tee or something. Yeah.
No, he was, Yeah. He was hitting on doing
something in the basement. And he went, he found the black
magic that was kind of tucked away because there's no need to
use it. And he's like, Dad, he's like,
was this yours? I'm like, no, it was my buddy
Tommy, who I grew up with, who sent to me a bunch of bats when
you were born. He's like, look at this thing.
I'm like, dude, you have no idea.
That was like the Air Jordans when we were playing when we
were young. So it's so like when that ESPN
phone dropped, it was like sick, man.
Even think about snow. Seriously, think about some of
the video games that that you love playing back in the day,
like even Mike Tysons punch out. Like it seems so awesome.
All the different characters, all the different styles, like
the, you know, the guy with the shorts falling down, the, the,
the Swami, whatever he was, you know, the Don Flamenco with the
Rose, like they were all different characteristics.
Now you see that game, even though it's great, it's got a
great place in American lore, an American gaming lore, and it's
renowned that it's, it's it's more or less it's like an icon.
But look at the graphics now you're like, man, you guys love
playing that. Yeah, we did, because we didn't
know anything else. So before iPhones, you know, the
ESPN phone wasn't that bad of. A deal.
So my question is, was this the only phone that offered like
this kind of ability to watch these video highlights and
stuff? Like I don't remember the answer
to I don't know. I took that my question.
I don't know. You know, the truth of the
matter is I don't even really remember them having video
capability, but I but it says it did, right?
Yeah, like, I don't, I believe it said it could play videos.
I don't know if it had like the camera, like the old, like the
Blackberries kind of started doing down the line.
True, it did have a camera. No, it did have it had a camera.
I remember taking pictures on the golf course.
Yeah, Yeah, I do. We can't find any of the I mean,
I'm sure you don't have the phone any.
Of the man I'm. Sure, those pics would be
awesome. Yeah, or incriminating.
Get a picture on the golf course, boys.
Yeah, Hey, I'd be happy with either Downs or Styles for the
Giants. Leaning towards Styles.
Listen, I've talked about this a lot.
We'll do more and more and more draft stuff as we get closer. 16
days away. I always was open to the idea of
giants going online at 5 now I I know horrible loves his
safeties. So Caleb Downs, you know,
certainly something I've been saying for a couple of months
now, really since he was hired and and and Harbaugh said it
with Mike Francesa. He was on Mike's podcast and he
was talking about Caleb down. So that's not exactly breaking
news Schrager had online. I think it makes sense.
There's certain ways you have to build.
If your future is is your quarterback, and we all think
most of us think that it is Jackson Dort, you better make
sure you've got a kick asshole line around them.
It's better. It's becoming a little
serviceable, but it's still not an ultimate strength.
You know, like Jackson Dort with The Jets online will be a lot
better than the Jackson Dort with the giants online.
Now The Jets, you know, I mean, obviously other things can go
wrong, like coaching, but you guys know what I mean.
So I think the Giants go in one of three directions there, and I
think it's going to be a blast. I think that outside of Mendoza,
you know, I don't know what the Hell's going to happen, but the
Ohio State's going to be well represented.
I think the wide receiver market is a little bit overstated.
Everyone's like, oh, it's an amazing wide receiver crop.
Just because there's four or five guys that, you know, that
played at big schools and that probably will go in the first
round ish, doesn't mean that they're absolutely no doubters.
Like, you know, one guy's a little small, one guy's had a
hamstring issue. Like there's a little bit of
baggage, almost baggage is the wrong word, but there's a little
bit of an impediment in the evaluation, I think of each
player to an extent where you're like, is he really worthy of
being number 9 or whatever it might be?
So these are all things we'll flush through.
We're getting there. You know, the Soto hamstring, we
did that in three, burning the the calf, we did that in three.
Burning questions to me really opens up a window for Jazz for
I'm jumping all over the place. I want to get the Jazz before I
get out of here real quick. For Francisco Alvarez to assert
himself. He's looked very good this year.
The Mets are going to need them. Lindor has been hurt.
Lindor's been quiet, but she has been quiet.
You have to think that's going to change.
It should. And then, you know, those guys
are going to have to hit for the Mets to maximize their offense
and become whatever version of their best version they're going
to become when Soto eventually returns.
But that bottom third, you have to talk about the Yankees bottom
third, which I don't like at all.
The Mets bottom third is better than the Yankees.
But a return to form based on what we thought Alvarez could be
and the early signs are there, be a great thing for Alvarez.
So I want to see how he keeps going.
And then listen, just the final thing on Jazz, you know, if I'm
and I know Boone doesn't operate this way, I would have benched
him. I would have benched him over
the weekend. That nonsense.
He pulled at second base, not knowing, not even not knowing
how many outs there were, just not knowing the speed or of the
runner or or showing any urgency.
How the hell do you let that you're going to see on one hand,
I think on one hand. And by the way, Jazz might be on
one of the fingers again. How many times this year do you
think we'll see a Major League second baseman loaf after a
ball, right? Have plenty of time to.
I don't mean where he died and has to get up.
And because that's not loafing fairly, root a little bit to
your right, little bit up the middle.
But he was already pinched up the middle.
It's not like you had to move that much where you make the
play and he just lackadaisically take your time.
And the guy's busted ass down the line.
And by the time you understand it's a close play and there's a
speck of urgency, he beats it out.
I would have benched him for that.
I would have benched him and and I think that that's one of the
real issues with Jazz Chisholm. I mean, last week he gets
thrown, he gets picked off first base because he's he's in space
with his, with his oven Mitt, you know, and this is the
reason. And now he's not even hitting.
Now he's going to hit. But that's why I didn't like him
talking about 5050 because what what are you doing trying to hit
fifty home runs? What are you, what are you
selling out from a mechanical point of view?
That's going to lead to additional breakdowns, that's
going to lead to more strikeouts and fewer quality at bats.
He looks awful this year. Now a lot of great and he's not
great, but a lot of really good. He is really good.
A lot of really good players look awful because pitcher still
have the advantage at this point of the year.
And it's April and it's a sport rooted in failure and it's an
incredibly small sample, but he's striking out a ton.
And once again, there's been multiple times where his head is
in space. And this is the Jazz experience
that I want no part of long term.
That's why I'm not giving him an extension.
That's why I've told you that at some point the Yankees will move
on from him. They're not going to give him
that big deal. I still think depending upon
what happens with some other player movement, they could
trade him, although now you're probably more inclined to, you
know, go to go through the process.
Maybe Aqo, I don't know if he matches or if he doesn't, you
get some draft comp. I don't know what they're going
to do here, but I just it just comes down to not trusting
somebody to be locked in when you have to be locked in.
I mean that's job number one. I mean, because if you're on a
Major League diamond, everybody's got the requisite
amount of speed and arm strength and hands and the ability to
hit, you know, higher level pitching because that you
wouldn't be in the major leagues if you couldn't.
All right, understood. If Jazz Chisholm, imagine if
Jazz Chisholm had the approach of, you know, I'm not even
saying like a great player, but just like the mindset, just the
data of like a Caballero right now, Caballero is not nearly as
good, but at least he's a grinder.
You know, like Jazz, he just floats mentally.
It's it's not always, it's just not always a given that he's
going to be ready to play baseball.
I'm sorry. And, you know, that is just
unacceptable. I know what happened to Lindor
as well when he got picked off with his oven Mitt.
These damn oven mitts. They're the size of a catcher's
Mitt at this point. My God.
You know, Ricky Henderson didn't bust up fingers, but everybody
else needs an oven Mitt, you know, and now all the kids have
them too. So I get it.
So another racket. Baseball bats are 500 bucks.
Everybody needs an oven Mitt. Oh my God.
But that is another example why I'm just never going to be ever
all in on Jazz Chisholm, because that could very easily happen in
September against Toronto in a higher leverage moment because
it and and, and if you say to me, well, not too early in the
year, he's going to be more locked in.
Well, yeah, why wasn't he locked in against the Dodgers in the
World Series when he's looking around, staring in space from
the Bulls trickling past him and runners are running around like
a, you know, like a merry go round one that was the World
Series. So that's an invalid.
That is not a good take on Jazz Chisholm, and I want to be clear
about this as well. I love his style and I love his
energy. I don't want this to ever get
twisted. My only knock about Jazz is that
he's just simply not emotionally reliable.
That's it. That's it.
You know, the way, the way he wears his hat, All right, That's
not the way that I would wear my hat.
But I actually like the fact that, you know, he's got that
swag because for too many years the Yankees had no swag.
It was incredibly corporate. It was incredibly mundane.
It was incredibly predictable. Like, you know, like I, I like
individuality. You know, I don't, who knows
what the hell I would look like if I was coming up and I was 22
years old and I'm in the majors right now.
I know I'd have the arm bands and the eye black and, you know,
the chains and, yeah, all the other stuff.
I don't know if I'd, if I'd be rocking and earring at this
point, but a lot of players do. Cool.
Looks good, man. You're a stylish cat.
You've got a world. The talent, like if you weren't
so talented, I don't think I'd hold them to any other level of,
you know, responsibility except just be reliable.
You know, if you hit 240 with 20 home runs and 20 something
steals or 30 steals, I'd say, all right, that's your, that's
your ceiling. That's the kind of player you
are. I believe there's more or I I
think I used to believe there's more because you do get to a
point in your career where you know, you got to probably stop
saying that, you know, and he just demonstrates.
I don't need to just say this over and over.
He demonstrates too often when the guys around him now, they
might be a little deficient in terms of foot speed or whatever
else. He's got a good arm as well.
Could play third, play the outfield with the Marlins, like
he's versatile, runs like the wind.
I mean, the guy's got easy, easy for a skinny, wiry, strong dude.
He's got ridiculous easy power when he connects from the left
side, but that doesn't justify not being ready to do your job.
So every Yankee fan that's tripping over themselves
defending Jazz, Always so talented, always so electric,
always going to hit thirty home runs, always the second best
second baseman in baseball. All those things are true, but
it still makes him an unreliable player.
That's it. It really does.
All right, Jay, anything else that I missed here?
I believe that we're good. Almost two hours.
Gotta go a little longer today. I think we hit it.
I mean certainly hit everything you wanna see.
I mean got some content content comments if you want to see
them. Yeah, let's get a couple of
comments. I think this is a new follower
of the show, by the way. Of course, like subscribe, what
happened to that like subscribe button that you were popping in
there once in a while, Jay? Ryan, here's the thing.
Did it? Did it keep making your screen
turn black? It did.
Now it's actually OK though now. But now when?
Maybe when we get rid, you know what it did.
But when there's a comment up there, so watch, keep it now.
Oh, here we go there. We go.
We we run from the expense on this show, all right, We've got
an unlimited budget. Yeah, on ET Unleashed as we grow
it out. I like that thing.
I do. I like that.
Can you give me that comment up there?
Again, I don't want to talk about Jazz.
Let's get a couple of comments and I'm going to bounce here.
All right. We had it on Jazz, that virtual
discourse, I believe. I believe a new follower of the
show. So if you follow it and you
haven't subbed and you haven't liked and you haven't hit the
comments, by all means, do that. Welcome to the show.
If you knew Mr. Virtual or misses or miss, if Jazz was more
mentally locked in, he could be one of the best players in the
game. It's a shame.
Very athletic. I agree.
I mean, so we're on the same page.
He absolutely he was on the cover of of the show for a
reason a couple of years back. He's got out of this world
electric talent. Like there's nothing he can't
do. He does things where you're
like, man, that's just not natural.
That's not normal. That is at his next level.
Quick twitch. But again, at what point, you
know, whether it's even the playlet and people got mad at me
for this. They're like, oh, you're
nitpicking on Jazz. Even the play last year when he
scored from first in the playoffs, right there was
actually a little bit of a hesitation and you know it.
You know, I'm not whatever. I'm not going to, you know,
profess to be some next level baseball guy.
But but I you know, I do consume the game, consume the game a
little bit differently than some.
And I'm like, it's not a good jump.
He didn't actually get top speed until he was halfway or
approaching second base. Now he beat the I believe he's
slid head first, slid head first and he beat it.
But that's not the point. It should not have been that
close. And when you rely on top level
speed to make up for a lethargic, lackadaisical start,
eventually that's going to catch up to you.
And I'm not saying that I think that Ben Rice is somebody who
does maximize his talent because he's not that fast and he's
learning to play first base, but he's a great young hitter.
Even I'm I was critical. This would have been on Thursday
or Friday, whatever day it was. There was a play, a little
Tapper. I think Will Warren was pitching
this game, a little Tapper up the third base side that Warren
got. And there was a play at first
base and Rice didn't stretch. Now, if you're a first baseman,
I also understand ball up the line, third base.
You want to keep your left foot. You want to give an inside and
you generally yell inside catchers, yell that first
baseman yell that inside or outside if it's in foul
territory with the catcher coming up with that throw.
So I get it. Your left foot is anchored on
the bag, but he did not receive the ball properly.
Now he was still out. If you look at that, he was out
by this much. But if he would have very
quickly and this is all process of learning.
It's not me getting on the young man figuring out first base
because it's not as easy as some people think.
But if he would have quickly shifted from his left foot to
his right foot and went out and received the ball and go and get
the ball with a real stretch. And it's on my Twitter account
if you guys want to check it out.
If you want to actually see what I'm talking about.
And if you saw the play, you should remember that just a
little finer point that that I like to bring to the table that
I don't think everybody agrees with because I saw some of the
comments and some of the comments are like, dude, he hit
a home run and he's hitting 400. This what you nitpick on and
where the Yankees are. They've lost one game so far.
This what you're pointing out? Yes, I am.
I'm thrilled with the start, although Sunday bothered me.
I'm thrilled with the start. I love the way Rice looks.
I think he's going to be an All Star.
I think he's going to be top ten.
The American League MVP voting, which I've already said, I said
before the season started, but it doesn't mean that I can't
point out something that could hurt you in October.
I don't understand how people and people the, the, the small
minded people who can't compute both.
I, I just those people frustrate me because they, they're so
black and white. No, this is a little bit of a
next, next level, next level. Take a little bit of a next
level pointing something out, something small, because I love
the game. And Oh yeah, by the way, it's
100% right. If you ever played first base
where you coached, you know, you got to, you got to maximize that
strike, go and get the ball. How do you if if you're safe by
this much And he was, he was out by this much, but if you're safe
by this much and your stretch is here, but you can really stretch
to here. You tell me how many inches are
you leaving on the table? Half a foot, maybe more, maybe
10, maybe 10 inches, 6-7, maybe 10 inches, right.
That thing is ridiculous at this point.
Maybe 10 inches. And then you know what, it's not
as Bang Bang as you've as as it was.
Anyway, it's more about Jazz, but I wanted to point that out
about Ben Rice and there's just something in his game that I
will never, ever trust and deep down I know the Yankees feel the
same way. We'll see how it plays out.
I promise you. This one you could take to the
bank and it's probably going to be within the next month.
There is something aside from the home runs that will come and
the great plays that will come and probably 40 to 50 steals
that will come. He will do something over the
next however many you know weeks will be like.
What are you doing? Confounding head scratcher.
So that's the jazz experience. Wildly talented.
Also equally confounding. All right, J Rod, good job with
the concert, with the set on over the weekend.
I'm happy you had fun again. Thank you to the Texas Rangers
throwing out the first pitch. I threw it with some zip, man.
I went out there, but the ball was slick.
But I got to own it. You know what?
Oh, I didn't tell you this either.
I was so in my head as I was documenting the first pitch
because I was waiting for 20 minutes basically.
I got people went out there when they gave me the ball, I told
you that it was very slippery that I told you.
What I didn't tell you is that I spent all the 20 minutes
spitting on the ball, which I know sounds gross, and even
trying to pick up some of the remnants of the on deck circle
to where the guy to. Try to dry it off a little.
Yeah, but then I then I was like, well, you don't want to
get too much dirt on it because you want to, you know, they
wrote something nice and I want to put it in my, you know, in my
office and I want to like some of the other things that I have
on display. So but I I was so in my head
because it was so slick, but I did not throw a strike.
The wind up was good. Had some good V low.
But man, if, if, if, if Travis Jatakowski doesn't save me that
thing, that thing, that thing's dead.
That thing is hitting the the screen on a fly.
All right, man, let's bounce. I'm back tomorrow with 10 J Rod
have have a great Tuesday. We'll get all the shorts up.
Have a an awesome time today. Masters week.
Congrats to Michigan more and more and more and more on the
NFL draft. We get closer now 16 days away
from the aforementioned draft. We'll get a guest in.
I was able to get in a guest this week.
I'm working on a few things, so I don't want to say who yet in
case it doesn't come to fruition, but it will be a big
one. If you missed the Stephen A chat
or the Michael Kay chat or the Le Greco chat or the Pitino
chat, go and check out the channel, jump into some other
content like it, subscribe it. Appreciate the BT Unleashed fan,
you guys know that. See you tomorrow at 10.
Peace.