Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man,
I'm forty. Go ahead, make my day every single week. I
put my freaking heart and soul into this. I don't go out there and
laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't wanna go
out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football. For everybody, I think
this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from
yesterday. Still the same person I was yesterday, and I got the same
thing for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You
play to win the day. You don't play to just play it. That's
a great thing about sports. You play to win, and I don't care
if you don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you
start telling me it doesn't matter, I can retire. Get out for the
matters. Thanks for being back with us on a Tuesday. This is Exes
and Bros. And we are with you Monday through Friday, six until nine.
I'm Matt Shepherd. Ben is our producer. Give mc call on the
Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three. Anything
that might be on your mind. In the world of sports, we welcome
it. Love the discussion. You could text the program sports radio to twenty
one thousand braves, trim the Tigers to one. Ozzie i'l be's with the
two out solo Obama the eighth off Shelby Miller was the difference, little salt
to the wound with Joe jan Menez coming in and picking up his first save,
working a clean ninth. Ugh. Not that you want Joe Jimenez back,
because you don't. But to see something like that at this time when
so many things are needed, it just ruins your night to a certain extent.
I mean, you know what, let me take that back. You
can't let it ruin your night. You have to understand what's expected, right,
the whole the whole line of you know what, they're playing good teams.
They're playing Houston, and they hung tough and they had a chance to
win the series. Oh okay, that's good. Love your moral victory.
Atlanta is a good team, man, and you know they're only a run
shy okay, why to spin that positive? Sometimes it's okay to say,
you know what, they're not good enough. Sometimes it's all right. To
be a little bit more emotional. It's okay to be upset because I was
having a discussion with a friend of mine the other day about this very topic
about how the Tigers do play hard, they hang in there. And I'm
guilty because I've said it in the past. You know, understanding how long
the season is, understanding there's going to be ups and downs at this point
of the season. When you're in this type of situation and you're as far
back as this team is from the division, eleven and a half back,
and you are this far under five hundred, four games under five hundred,
When you're one of two teams in the division to have a minus run differential,
Chicago being the other, it starts to turn to anger a little bit.
For me, it does. And not that I have anything against Atlanta,
not that I don't agree that Atlanta's a good team. They are.
They're really good. Okay, they're second in the NL East, and the
NL East is at least with Philadelphia, two of the better teams in baseball.
Really, but this is about, and we've talked about this before,
this is about expectations. Okay, our expectations are low, period. Your
expectations for everybody else, well maybe not the Pistons, but for Michigan and
Michigan State, for the Lions, for the Red Wings. For some reason,
we're able to use that high bar as the expectation. So when it
comes to this team, it's not existent. You are satisfied and willing to
accept effort, says in a high school team. It's not a little league
where it's okay to these guys get paid a lot of money. You pay
a lot of money, you sometimes playing your day around it, and this
is what you get, and you've got to recognize it's just not good enough.
Folks. They have played seventy two games this season so far, okay,
seventy two, not quite the halfway point getting there. Seventy two games,
twenty two of those games, or thirty and a half percent, they
have scored two runs or less. That's how bad the offense was, or
is ree Olsen's good enough? And maybe you, as a glass half full
person is looking at it and saying, you know what, I'll take that
guy, sure me too. Six innings, four hit ball, no runs
allowed, six strikeouts, didn't walk a batter, goes back home, Native
Georgian and was really impressive. Now, the one hundred pitches over six innings
is probably a little concerning. But you can't have everything, all right.
You ask for a quality start, you get a quality start. He's a
quality start guy who is helping your team stay in there. It's up to
your offense and others to make sure that you finished the job. Reese Olsen
too often has been hung out to dry. Let me give you a quick
statistic that might surprise you. Not everything's about stats, I get it,
but sometimes they do tell a story. The Detroit Tigers are fifth, don't
check that. I'm sorry. They're sixth in Major League Baseball and quality starts.
Reees Olsen gave them their forty second quality start last night. Let me
give you the teams that are ahead of them. Seattle they're number one in
baseball. They lead the West. Philadelphia they're number two in baseball. They
are the leaders in the NL East. Kansas City the Royals would be in
the playoffs if it started today. The Dodgers, who lead the NL West,
and Pittsburgh and Paul Skins was rock solid again last night. Their rookie
now four and oh, those are your teams above Detroit in quality starts.
You're going to preach, and so am I pitching in defense? Okay,
fair enough, Detroit's getting the pitching. Their defense isn't good, especially in
shortstop, and there's no hope on the horizon there either. But their pitching
is good enough. They stink offensively, so you can be as good as
the numbers I just gave you with the quality starts and how good Resolson was
yesterday. His run support is just a tick above two. It's like two
point three. It's two point three going into the game last night, and
he got one run, so that's gonna go down. And yet this team
can't do a damn thing about it. It's frustrating. You just shake your
head and you're like, I'm not sure they got a chance tonight. Pitching
gives them a chance, offense takes it away almost or the lack thereof Meyer
hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You can tech
sports radio to twenty one thousand to get involved in the conversation. We're just
getting going on a Tuesday. Glad you're with us on exes and bros Hew
and cheer for my good friend Matt Golden. He is the CEO and GM
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we can make a difference. Eighteen after the hour, Welcome back. Just
getting rolling on a Tuesday morning. Exes and Bros with you throughout the great
Michigan and Flint and Cadillac Grand Rapids, Grayland, Gaylord, Midland, Saginaw,
Bay City, Pataski, Charlavoy and Traverse City. Tiger's illusion last night,
As we mentioned to one, the frustration continues to boil over, at
least for me. It doesn't sound like it has for many Tigers fans out
there. And I don't suggest a solution, right. I'm not one of
those people who tells you, you know what, this team is going to
do what you wanted to do. Don't go to a game that's bull crap.
You want to go to a game, go enjoy it. It's still
an inexpensive way to take the family to an event and be together on a
beautiful summer night. Go do it. Absolutely. You can still be a
fan of a team. You can still go and support that team and still
be upset that the team hasn't done what you expect them to do. You
can hold them accountable. Absolutely. Who are we to sit there and tell
you what to do with your entertainment dollar? Who are we to sit there
and tell you who to vote for and who not to root for. You're
Tigers fans. Good for you, keep it up, Just understand and have
some realistic expectations of what you're going to get. That's all I'm suggesting.
There's a level of disappointment for me that continues to climb higher and higher each
time I watch his team play with feeble swings and bad decisions. And I'm
not one of those guys who says, Oh, it should be easy.
All you have to do is this. No, Holy this is so hard.
It is so very difficult. And there's nothing worse than a There's nothing
worse than a talk show host or a member of the media acting like what
this team does, or what a team does, I should say is pretty
easy or should be pretty easy, and that's not the way it works.
Man, It's really really hard. I understand that, and I think you
understand it as well. There's not many who get the opportunity to play Major
League baseball. You think that, you think that there are, You think
that it is one of those situations where you know, hey, I see
a lot of Major leaguers come and go. You know, you think that
there's an infinite number of opportunities out there, and it's really not the case.
Okay, it's we hear about the greats all the time, but if
you really do the research, for as long as baseball has been around,
there's only been not even twenty one thousand people who have played in Major League
baseball at least once. Think about that for a second. Not even twenty
one thousand. The number of people all time who have played Major League baseball
is less than the enrollment that Grand Valley State or Central Michigan or Western Michigan
or Eastern Michigan all time. So it's hard. I get it. That
is elite status for all the people who grow up you and I wanting to
play this great game for a living dream of being that hero wearing whatever uniform
was your favorite. For all of us, less than twenty one thousand in
the history of the sport have played at the major league level. So that's
not lost on me. It's not lost on just how challenging, how difficult,
and how rare you have to be to make it. So I respect,
and I mean this sincerely. I greatly respect those who have reached that
level. Now, you and I can talk all we want about the guys
who have played for the Tigers and have been awful. And you can't believe
that Dalwell Lugo has been a major league player. Okay, Kristen Stewart has
been a major league player. You may not believe it. You may not
like it. I don't necessarily like it either, But every franchise has those
players. The key is getting better players and for those better players to stay
with your team longer. Right now, as much as we may hear about
certain stories of a certain player, as much as it may be a feel
good moment to see one player succeed every once in a while, as often
as we may hear interviews with said players, Mom and Dad, I go
back to a pretty regular eye test study example, whatever word you want to
use on whether or not. I think this team is going in the right
direction. How many guys on this team do you believe the team they're playing
against? Once? Brian Snicker is a really good manager, all right,
he's the Atlanta bench boss. He's sitting there looking across the dugout, across
the diamond. How many Tigers does he say, wish I had that guy
on my team. That's what I want. I want to hear people who
are envious of your team or my team. Now, I'm not saying if
you're a Tigers fan, you'd much rather have Jared kellnickensenter than Riley Green.
Because Riley Green played center field last night, was on base three times.
I don't think it's easy to argue against Riley Green. I think he's been
your best player so far. Maybe you've got somebody else in mind. Maybe
there's an argument to be had there. I don't think right now you're taking
who played second last night? Gee or Schella? Did he play second last
night? No? Cole Keith played second last night. Chello was at third.
I don't think you're taking cold Keith over Ozzie Alby's right now, I
don't think you're taking Mark Canna over Marcello Zuna. I'll take Matt Olsen at
first base over Andy Banyez at first base. I'll take Austin Riley at third
over Go Orchella. Do I need to continue? I don't think I do.
I'll take Sean Murphy over Jake Rogers. And keep in mind Atlanta's not
the best team in baseball either. I'm measuring you against a team that sits
in second play and is you know, a modest eight games over five hundred.
Those are the things that I look at. I look at it.
I'm pretty much every single series, who is your everyday player at that position
compared to my team? And how many of those position battles am I winning?
Not many? Meyer hotline eighty six six eight three eight forty eight forty
three good, heavy on bored on this Tuesday. This is exism, Bros.
Across the great state of Michigan. Stay with us. We played for
the three of them that rushing field, but the game won the line.
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flag back with you on EXUS and Bros. We've been putting out poll questions.
Yesterday we asked you did Bryson Deshambo win the PG eight or the US
opened or did Rory McElroy lose it? Ben put it up and sent it
out on social media. Plenty of responses and Ben, what was the overall
percentage? Yeah, it was McElroy lost sixty percent and de Shambo won was
forty percent. I wonder I kind of had a sense, and we've got
another poll question up out there right now that we'll get to here in a
moment, I had this sense that was going to be the overwhelming voting because
I think people look at things negatively more today than they ever have. I
don't know the reason for that, and I can't say that I have scientific
or numerical proof. This is just something that I have guessed or I have
kind of come to the conclusion of that. People just look at it and
think a guy doesn't win that event because of what Rory McElroy did down the
stretch. And I wonder when you're watching that event and you get look,
it's pretty obvious that when you boget three out of last four holes, okay,
because he bogeed fifteen, sixteen and eighteen, how many legit? I
don't know. I mean, the guy was four hundred and ninety six for
four hundred and ninety six until he missed a three footer. I think it
was on sixteen anyway, or maybe it was the eighteenth. Anyway, there
was a time there was a stretch where he birdied nine, birdied ten,
birdied twelve, birdy thirteen to take the lead. Now, to me,
that's a guy who is elevating his game, not choking. And basically that's
the question. Is the question the way we phrased it, you could you
could read into is that, Hey, people feel like Rory McElroy choked.
And I just when a guy goes on that type of run, like he
comes charging out of the gate and he gets a birdie and on the front
nine he shoots thirty four and this is this. This course is really hard.
All the pictures of the greens right, it looks like you took a
bowl and turned it upside down. The crowd of a hat trying to get
it on that course. I remember before or on those greens, before the
tournament started, there was a video making the rounds on social media where a
guy dropped the ball on one side of the green and it rolled all the
way off the other side of the green. That's how steep those curling undulations
of the greens were. There was a time, I think on Sunday where
when Bryson Deshamba had birdied thirteen but then bogeyed fifteen. People were thinking he's
the one who is choking because while he was boguing fifteen, well, I
guess McElroy had bogued fifteen as well, and it was almost as if,
well, who really wants this? Does anybody want this? Of course they
do. The conditions are really challenging. Remember Deshambo had all kinds of issues
getting off the tee. I mean he was a erratic off the tee.
He was scrambling. It was the ultimate scrambling round and he shot a one
over The funny thing is McElroy beat him on Sunday, just on Sunday,
but not for the tournament. Obviously, McElroy had a better score by two
over Deshambo on Sunday. So I kind of had an idea that people were
going to suggest, And I don't think people are taking anything away from Deshambo,
but I had an idea that, yeah, that's that's the way they
were going to look at it. They were going to look at it from
a negative standpoint. So it's sixty forty people thought Maceilroy lost it more than
Deshamble won it. Personally, when you make that shot, especially on eighteen,
because the drive was terrible, the punch out from the hanging tree overhead
and the ball nestled up against a root. Like my buddies and I were
playing around, We're like, you know what, I don't want to I'm
not going to ruin my club by having the ball there. Just just move
it just a little bit to give yourself a little bit more of a free
whack at it. So you're not ruining a club. We're not pros here.
Deshamba's got to play where it was. Punches out to the sand.
The sand is nasty, and I don't mean that it's not raked or it's
not a nice soft sand. I mean it's just a nasty place to be.
Nobody had gotten up and down for par or better from there. And
Deshambo did on Sunday on the biggest stage and what many would consider the shot
of his life and one of the better shots in major championship history. What
the others are is debatable, but that's in the conversation. When you make
that shot on eighteen, something that nobody else has done all week long,
I think you win that tournament. I'm not in the habit of taking things
away from people who have accomplished something at such a high level like that.
Today's pole question is this, and we'll get to this coming up. Today's
pole question is of the Lions offseason moves, which are the biggest or what
is the biggest? I should say? Is it signing A'mon Ross, Saint
Brown, Penney Sewell and Jared Goff to extensions? Is it signing Dan Campbell
Brad Holmes to extensions? Is it Ben Johnson choosing to say? Or is
it drafting Terry on Arnold. Ben's got it out on our social media channel
and social media. Exes and bros love you to vote. Vote as often
as you like. We'll give the results sometime tomorrow because we want to keep
it up there for about twenty four hours. Speaking of golf, Rory McElroy,
and look, we chastised him yesterday for this, and I think for
good reason. We said, hey, listen, you look like a baby.
You look like a poudy, whiny baby. Because he left as soon
as Deshambo won the championship. Deshambo actually wondered where McElroy was when the tournament
was over. I'm sure somebody whispered in his ear. Well. He jumped
into the rental car and headed for the airport. While Deshambo was doing press
conference interviews reenactments on eighteen out of the Sandtrap with Golf Channel signing hats,
shaking hands, taking pictures, McElroy was in the air on the way home.
It showed a class list is a pretty good word. We get mad
at guys who don't shake hands in basketball. Do you remember this? There
are certain players Lebron Jay James has done it. He leaves the court without
shaking hands. Dwight Howard did it while he was in Orlando, left the
court without shaking hands. Isaiah Thomas and the Pistons, except for Joe Dumars,
did it against the Bulls, left the court without shaking hands. It
was an uproar, classless bush league. This is the reason we don't like
them. Blah blah blah blah blah. I didn't agree with it. I
don't like the Bulls, but I didn't agree with it. I don't think
that's how you handle yourself. I understand why they were upset. I know
they didn't like the things that Michael Jordan said and how the media lapped it
up. Because everything Jordan says, or everything Tiger Woods says, or everything
Lebron James says is gospel. God forbid you disagree with any of them.
But I didn't think it showed a classy way to end a hard fought series.
The media ridiculed Isaiah Thomas in the Pistons. Then do you hear the
same type of vitriol for Rory McElroy Because I haven't read it. I haven't
seen it, and I think they should. McElroy finally spoke about it or
wrote about it in an extended statement. This is what he said on social
media, Like I get the purpose of social media. I do I understand
how people truly use it as their platform. I'm not saying it's a bad
thing, but it gets a little old when you fall back to it constantly.
I still think people want to hear from you, because there is a
difference between reading what you're writing and hearing the inflection in your voice, looking
at the sincerity in your eyes. This is what he wrote on social media.
Tough as day I've had in my nearly seventeen years as a professional golfer.
Sunday was a tough day, probably the toughest I've had nearly seventeen years
as a pro golfer. Firstly, I'd like to congratulate Bryson. He's a
worthy champion and exactly what professional golf needs right now. I think we can
all agree on that. Period, Okay, means a little more to Deshambo
the world of golf and sports when you're saying it to that person rather than
writing it about that that person. But let's say I want to give him
the benefit of the doubts. Okay, Let's say I just want to all
right, he understood a mistake. Fine, what happens when all these big
corporations and big athletes, And let's face it, Rory McElroy's got plenty of
people on his team social media team, public relations team, marketing team to
believe that most of the stuff that is being done is not being done by
him, that somebody has crafted it themselves. Part of their job is I
am your whatever speech writer, I am your marketing manager. I am your
social media manager. So as much as I'd like to give Rory McElroy the
benefit of the doubt and say that's a nice sentiment that he wrote there,
I'm not sure I believe he wrote it in the first place. Either way,
he continued. As I reflect on my week, I'll rule a few
things over the course of the tournament, mostly the two mist plots on sixteen
and eighteen on the final day. But as I always try to do,
I'll look at the positives of the week that far outweigh the negatives. As
I said at the start of the tournament, I feel closer to winning my
next major championship than I ever have. The one word that I would use
to describe my career is resilient. I've shown my resilience over and over again
the last seventeen years, and I will again. I'm going to take a
few weeks away from the game to process everything, build myself back up for
my defense of the Genesis Scottish Open and the Open at Royal Troon. Okay,
originally he was supposed to be on the Travelers, but he's backed out
of that at TPC River Highlands and a purse that has four million dollars.
It's not about the money. He's got plenty more than he'll ever need.
It's great that he'll focus on the positives. I love how it goes from
hey, how good is Bryson? Too? As I reflect on my week,
you also notice maybe you don't think he needs it. But there's no
apology there. Sorry. I let my emotions get the best of me,
and I wasn't around to answer any questions. I'm sorry that I took this
so hard. As I said, it's the toughest in the seventeen years I've
been on tour. I just did not want to talk. I should have
been there to SHAKEE Bryson's hands and congratulate him on a hard fought week of
golf, but it was just too much for me. I don't know.
I'm just spitbawling here. I'm making this stuff as we go. I think
it's ridiculous. We're going to accept this. I'm sure somebody will ask him
at his next tournament, but I would hope somebody would unless they're afraid of
him too. But how do we just say, Okay, yeah, this
is good enough. We've got people out there in high positions in the world
of sports talking to us about camaraderie, talking to us about sportsmanship, and
talking to us about what's good for the game in which they play. And
then he turns around and does something like this. Now, if his emotions
got the best of him and he had to take off, couldn't take it
any more. So be it. Don't agree with it. People make mistakes.
How do you handle the mistake? What do you do to file up?
How do you react once you've made the mistake? These actions don't gloss
over his mistakes. To me, there's no regret whatsoever. He's congratulating a
guy who won a championship. No kidding, it was a tough day.
No kidding, it was a tough day for a lot of guys. Scotti
Scheffler had a really tough week, quite Honestly, he was terrible. One
of the worst outings that you've seen the number one player in the world perform.
Oldberg fell apart on Saturday. They still met with the media, They
still did something right, They still performed their obligation. Don't tell me that
Scotti Scheffler, after shooting seventy one, seventy four, seventy one and seventy
two and finishing plus eight tied for forty first wanted to meet with the media,
but he did. Phone number on the Meyer hotline is eight sixty six
eight three, eight forty eight forty three. You can text the program sports
Radio to twenty one thousand. This is x'es and Bros. Little football on
the opposite side, plus the NBA Championship. The season is over and a
familiar team reigned supreme back with more right after this Rock's Best plays That Sorry
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Second hour of the program. Glad you're with us here on exus and Bros.
Check us out on the various social media channels, and you can call
us on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three.
Now the text line is Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. You can
also vote on our pole question. The poll question of the day is a
good one. I think biggest Lions offseason move signing. I'm on Ross Saint
Brown, Penny Sool, Jared Golf to contract extensions, signing Dan Campbell,
Brad Holmes to contract extensions, Ben Johnson choosing to stay or drafting Terry on
Arnold. We'll get to that and the reason that is the poll question coming
up here. I also want to talk a little NBA, but I just
let me just wrap up the golf discussion. We just talked about the Roy
McElroy apology. It really wasn't an apology, it was the explanation on why
he left the US Open. You know by now that with the Olympics coming
up, golf is an event and Bryson Deshamba, who just won the US
Open is not going to be representing the United States of America because he plays
on the Live Tour. It's a four man team and the four players are
Scotty Scheffler, he's number one in the world, Xander Schoffley, who won
a gold medal last time and is number three in the world, Wyndham Clark
number five in the world, and Colin Morricowen number seven. I have no
problem with it. I really don't. The qualifications is the top fifteen in
the world golf rankings are eligible, all right. No more than four players
can be selected from a given nation outside the top fifteen. Players will be
eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from
each country that does not already have two more player two or more players among
the top fifteen. So I get Scheffler, I get softly. Wyndham Clark
was horrible at the US Open. His ranking. I suppose warrants that I,
like Colin Moricyle, always have Bryce and Deshambeau should be part of the
team USA. Now, I would also add that these guys when they went
to Live understood that they completely understood what they were getting into, and Deshambo
can come out and say all he wants about how it's disappointing and that he
can't be part of it. But he also needs to understand that people see
through this stuff. You wanted to go where the money was, all right,
It's not that I don't like him, but you wanted to go where
the money was. And I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing
that kind of cash for guys like John Ram and Brooks, Koepka and Bryson
Deshamba and you know Smith and Michelson and all these other guys, right,
I mean Cam Smith was hot as a PGA player. He goes to live.
Do you hear much about Cam Smith at all? You can't sit there
and be disappointed, slash upset. And when you knew that contract, I'm
sure people were there to tell you what the outside consequences might be. Like
you, no doubt, you still get your endorsements, You get certain perks
with it, financial perks with it, but there are other parts that you
wish you could have that are just not going to be available to you because
of your decision. And also speaking of golf, the Rocket Mortgage Classic which
is played at the Detroit Golf Club and it's coming up has added some pretty
big names. In the past, people have wondered a little bit, who's
coming to Detroit middle of the summer to play in this tournament outside a guy
like Ricky Fowler, who is sponsored by Rocket Mortgage. Well, you're getting
more big names jumping on board. And this is awesome when you can bring
in Cam Young who's twenty third in the world. Okay, ok Sha Batilla
who's thirty one in the world and a really good looking young player. And
then you have bigger names like Stuart Sink who won the British Open in two
thousand and nine, Zach Johnson who won the Masters that same year and the
British Open in twenty fifteen, Gary Woodland who won the twenty nineteen US Open.
Those are good gets that's going to help your tournament without a doubt.
All right, let's get to a little basketball. Last night, Celtics finish
off and this was I think pretty easy to predict. I said this yesterday.
I said this will be the last game of the year, and it
was, and it was very decisive, really wasn't close. One oh six
eighty eight the final. Boston outscored by ten in the first outscored by eleven.
In the second, game was basically over. Dallas won two quarters,
and immediately you think, well, it's okay they won half the game.
No, the two quarters they won, In the third they won by two
points, and in the fourth they won by a point. The game was
already over. So who cares? Right? How good? Borderline great?
Was Jason Tatum thirty one points, eight rebounds eleven is says? All right?
Back padding time. I said before this series, if you recall a
couple of weeks ago, we did a topic because there was a website that
rated the best players in the series, and they had Luka Doncic as the
number one player. They were probably right from an offensive standpoint, No probably
about it. Doncic on a losing team let everybody in points, the rebounds
and assists. I think he's the first guy to do that in all those
categories. I got to double check that, but I'm pretty sure that's the
case. I think he's the first guy to be able to do that.
It's a hell of an accomplishment. He had a hell of a series,
There's no doubt about it. But it wasn't enough, obviously, So I
said that he may be the best offensive player, the most gifted offensive player
in this series, and he led the NBA in scoring, So you're about
to assume something like that. I said, I think the best player is
Jalen Brown overall, the overall play of Jalen Brown, his ability to score
but primarily defend, and Jalen Brown was named MVP. Now, Jalen Brown
and the Celtics and Jason Tatum said the same thing after the game. They
were spurred on by what happened to them in twenty twenty two in the finals
against Golden State, who is third all time in career championships. That never
dawned on me until last night when I'm watching the game and I see Boston
with eighteen, Lakers was seventeen, Golden State with seven, Chicago was six,
sent Antonio with five, thinking wow, didn't right. The Golden State
number surprised me anyway. They said in twenty twenty two, you know it
was tough. Now you and I have had this discussion and I've kind of
downplayed it, and I'll continue to downplay it. When people feel like you
have to learn your lesson if you're going to win a championship, and I've
had this discussion with a lot of you, and you've brought up some really
good points. The desire, the strong push to win after you've been denied.
It's a common phrase we use in sports. You know they're going to
be hungry is oftentimes what we say. You could use this Boston team as
an example. You may use it that, yes, they were hungry,
this is why they won. I would remind you they lost last year in
the Eastern Conference Finals to Miami. If Miami's so hungry, how come they
didn't get there this year. So there's a lot of different ways we can
spin that. Bottom line is Boston was the best team all season, and
they were the best team in the playoffs. They lost only three games in
the playoffs. Really impressive. Phone number on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six
eight three eight forty eight forty three. The text line is sports Radio to
twenty one thousand, quick time out ten. After the hour, we continue
on the other side on Exus and Bros. After this huge cheer from my
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All right, welcome back, Thanks for staying with us here on Exers
and bros. Know you got a lot of different choices, but appreciate you
spending time with us Monday through Friday, six until nine, a lot of
different things. We talk about anything that's on your mind. We welcome the
conversation on the Meyer hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three
or via the text Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. We've talked already about
the Tigers losing two to one. You're gonna hear this on in the Den
if these fine stations carry that short form programming in the Den every single Monday
through Friday during baseball season. Dan Dickerson and I both give you a little
bit of insight into what's going on with the Tigers and today. As I
mentioned earlier in the show, I talk about Reese Olsen in the lack of
run support and the fact that the Tigers in seventy two games, twenty two
of those games thirty and a half percent they have scored two runs or fewer.
There's your issue, man, Not that you didn't know it already,
because you did. But it is a constant theme, a constant theme with
this team, and it should be. They're back at it again tonight in
Atlanta, Celtics beat the Mavericks in what would be your all time leader in
franchises championships eighteen for Boston, one more than the Lakers. Rocket Mortgage Classic
adds Cam Young and ax Sha Batilla and Stewart Saying and Zack Johnson and Gary
Woodland. That's all great stuff. And then you could see the NHL season
come to an end tonight in Florida, and that is where the Panthers try
and put away the Edmonton Oilers for a second time. Last time out didn't
go very well for them because Edmonton blew them away. So Game five is
tonight. Looking forward to that, really, am? I hope it does
not disappoint? All right? I want to get to this. I want
to get to the text here coming up as well. But I did notice
something pretty interesting in a New York Times article yesterday, and it has to
do with you already know my feelings on this. It has to do with
the City Connect uniforms. I cannot stand the Tiger's City Connect uniforms. It's
like I see them play in those, and I think to myself, can
somebody find the nearest softball stadium, nearest softball field, because that's what it
looks like to me. It's an absolute farce to hear the president, not
Scott Harris, but to hear, you know, Chris Ilich's right hand man,
try to convince you in me that it's a combination of retro and the
history of this franchise is comical. There's nothing historical about it. Nothing,
there's no English d it's it's an embarrassment for what it's worth, and oftentimes
these things are very flawed. They rank the City Connect uniforms the Athletic did
I've found this in the New York Times, but it was basically off the
Athletic. The worst City Connect uniforms, according to this survey, is the
Dodgers. The second worst is the Tigers. You feel that's about right.
First of all, I guess we have to ask ourselves have we seen them
all? I have not. I haven't seen all the City Connect uniforms.
But I do know you know where this is a hopefully we all know this
by now. This is a one big market employee. That's all it is.
You know it. You're not immune to it. You understand all of
it. There's no way you think that this is something that teams are doing
without some type of purpose. It's not to try and give you a different
look and all this other stuff. Now, this is about selling uniforms.
That's all it is. Here's what they write about with the Tigers, and
it's a cumulative average, is what it is. People vote on it.
Here's what they write an homage to the Motor City's ingenuity. These unis feature
several car inspired details. Yeah, there's the connection, right, that's a
big connection to a lot of the history that the Tigers have, including tire
treads, vintags, and road signs. It's amazing to me that people can
sit around a conference room table, order lunch, have a discussion and say
I've got an idea, let's have tire treads on the uniform. Really worked
well for the Pistons. All it does is open yourself up to all kinds
of comical satire where people are going, yeah, nice, job getting run
over again the debut May tenth, twenty twenty four. Here's what some of
people write. At least in other hype videos, they pretend to like the
new uniforms, but in this one, half the people are wearing regular Tiger's
gear and they rap about the old English Day, which only has a cameo
on the uniform sleeve patch. The tire tracks look like the people wearing this
have been run over, which may be an appropriate metaphor for the last decade
or so of Tigers baseball, but it's hardly inspiring. Another person wrote,
this predictable Motor City theme is begging for the Jaws of life. Its sheet
another dark jersey over dark pants combo with a cap that looks like a mid
level prize option at a carnival. That's well said. Here's one in case
the Motor City nickname didn't give the theme across. You got tire tracks down
the placket, a vintag on the cap and helmet, and a sleeve patch
designed like the m one road sign we get it cars. It could have
been worse. I guess shocked that the designers didn't just slap South Detroit across
the chest while they were at it. That's in reference to the Journey song
Don't Stop Believing. Lastly, somebody wrote this, I'm fine with the motor
City, but it goes overboard with the car references. Who wants a jersey
with tire marks? Thank you? Might as well have used a license plate
for names on the back, exactly exactly a lot of the things that my
sentiment gave when I first saw them back in early May. The best,
by the way, in case you were wondering, I gave you the two
worst people who feel like the best, the Colorado Rockies, which kills me
because it has absolutely no similar traits or colors, I should say to their
regular uniforms. And number two is the Miami Marlins that ranks one and two
in the City connect uniforms. Just wanted to bring that to you because it's
something that every time I see him playing it, I shake my head and
I think, no, no, thank you. Don't like it, don't
want it, don't want to see it anymore, wouldn't wear it. If
I see somebody in something like that, I am going to ask them,
please tell me, Please tell me, why what is it you like about
it? Meyer Hotline eight sixty six, eight three eight forty eight forty three.
You can text the program Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. We'll get
to some of those texts when we come back. Quick Time out on Exus
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Tullymore. Go to Tullymore Golf Dot com I do. I would love to
play some golf at Tullymoore Saint Ives today. Of course I can't because I've
got a messed up shoulder. Welcome back X's and bros Meyer hotline eight sixty
six eight three eight forty eight forty three. We've got some text we've got
to get to, so Ben fire away. Yeah, it says. I
feel for Rory. It's tough to see that happened right before your eyes.
A two and a half footer has to go in, though Bryson's up and
down was amazing. Also, Bryson deserves a ton of credit for scrambling that
last eighteen. That's why he's a two time champ. Ron from spring Lake.
Yeah, good point, Ron, I appreciate that very much. I
guess I might counter that Rory McElroy's won four so I mean, it's not
like he doesn't know what it takes. He's he's been on Ryder Cup champion
teams and been really good in those, by the way, and he's won
four major championships. Are you telling me? I don't think Ron is,
but are you telling me he doesn't know how to finish? He doesn't know
how to win them? Come on, of course he does, but it's
a good text. Yes, I'm with you. You gotta make those putts.
I'm not gonna disagree that. You know, you can't fall apart.
Might be a little bit of a strong phrase, but you can't finish around
that way. But I would remind you that eight on eighteen. Look,
these guys get paid a lot of money. This is their jobs. You
and I missed that. Ron. It's okay, I get it. Oh
you didn't play it quite outside far enough. Oh boy, you hit it
a little too strong. Whatever. These guys aren't playing for a nineteenth hole
beer. They're not playing for some made up trophy with their buddies on a
weekend outing or some type of special high school colors of a jacket. Right.
I speak from experience on that. Yeah, so you're right, you
have to You have to make those pots that would have got him to a
playoff. As it turns out, what would have happened after that, who
knows, But Ron, you're right. You gotta get it done. Like
I said before, though, Rory McElroy knows what it takes to get it
done because he's done it, and he's done it more often than Bryce and
Deshamba, he just didn't do it this time. Any other texts, Yeah,
we got one more about Cam Sutton. It says, how does this
happen? Lions defensive back Cam Sutton is arrested for domestic violence, which is
a felony, and the Lions immediately release him. Later, the charge is
reduced to a misdemeanor, and he quickly signs with his former team, the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, there's a certain element that Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell
have built with this Lions team. They want certain types of guys. I'm
not sure what you're referring to. How does this happen? Are you saying
you want him back? Or they jumped the gun? Are you saying that
he's going to be missed? I think they're going to be just fine without
him. All right, let me ask you this, How good was he
that it made you say? Or what did he do so well that made
you think there's no way you can get rid of him. Some would argue
he's a bit of a disappointment after they brought him in. I don't have
a problem with it none whatsoever. Now, especially because of who you signed
in the off season, Carlton Davis and who you drafted Terry on Arnold us
Reichstraw and the expectations there. So I'm I have no problem with it.
There is something to be said. Nobody's perfect, we all know that,
but there is something to be said for organizations having certain scruples. And if
you felt like that crossed a line, most of us would. Most of
us would not want to employ someone who is guilty of those types of charges.
Then I think it's fair to say that the Lions have a certain line
that they felt he crossed. Cool, you got principles, now you better
stay too. It's true, stay true to them. But I have no
problem with it. Let me get to this interesting article. I love this
read. It said, it was courtesy of ESPN plus every Major League Baseball
team's longest All Star positional drought? How long has it been since this team
sent this position to the All Star Game? So what do you immediately?
Do? You immediately go to your team? Right, of course, so
the Tigers. What position? This surprised me? Quite honestly, it really
surprised me. What position has been the longest drought for the Tigers as an
All Star? It's center field? The last All Star as a center fielder
for the Tigers was Curtis Granderson in two thousand and nine. Here's what they
write, The Tigers have had the least impressive list of All Stars in recent
seasons, Michael Lorenzen in twenty twenty three and a string of relievers before that,
and other than Miguel Cabrera's honorary selection in twenty twenty two. Great point,
they haven't had a position player make it since Justin Upton in twenty seventeen.
Man, it's a long time. It's a long time to a lot
of people don't believe you should have every team should be represented. I understand
both sides of that. I'm not trying to be you know, mister Waffler
here. I understand both sides of that argument. I think, if you
know, everybody wants to see their guy get into a game like that,
but the game isn't all that If it doesn't mean that much much, what's
the harm in having at least one player represented, or at least one organization
represented by at least one player. I don't think there's a problem with If
there's more at stake, then I completely understand why people would have an issue
with that, but there isn't, so I'm okay with every team being represented
now. Sometimes the unfortunate part of that is sometimes it means, oftentimes it
means certain players who deserve to go will not go. Ask them. Depending
on how long it's been since they've last gone to the All Star Game or
if they've ever gone to the All Star Game, some people will opt out
of it anyway. They have no problem with it, they want the days
off. Okay, fine, so this article continues. Center Field has been
a huge problem for a decade now, since Austin Jackson was traded during the
twenty fourteen season. Right, Remember he was taken off the field during the
game. After a five year run as the starting center fielder, the Tigers
are now on their tenth different starter in eleven seasons, with only Anthony Goos
in twenty fifteen starting more than one hundred games. There. Three players have
started at least ten games there in twenty twenty four So you've got Parker metals
obviously. You've got Riley Green, even though he hasn't started ten games just
yet. You've got Matt Vierling who can shift over right, all that stuff
Granderson was the team's regular center fielder from two thousand and six through two thousand
and nine, before he was traded to the Yankees and a three team deal
that brought Max Schurzer to Detroit. While Granderson's best season with the Tigers came
in two thousand and seven, when he hit three to zero two with twenty
three triples, his All Star appearance came in two thousand and nine, and
he remains the old only center field selection for Detroit since chet Lemon started in
nineteen eighty four. Granderson later added two more All Star trips with the Yankees.
Boy, that tells you something, doesn't it. Honestly, when you've
got a team that is recently been built on one guy going to the All
Star Game out of it's only because of a rule. It's not like they
necessarily deserve it. It's because you've got to have one team represented. I
think about that quite a bit right around this time. I think about,
Okay, people are sitting around a room and they're saying, we got to
have this guy deserves to go whoever that may be Aaron Judge, this guy
deserves to go again, whoever that may be Bobby Witt. But we've got
to make sure we get this team White Sox, this team the Tigers,
this team Tampa represented. So what do you do? Last year? It
was Michael Lorenzen two years ago Cabrera because he was an honorary one. You
know, they were make sure him and Poolhols were there. Greg Risoto was
the guy they took to make sure every team was represented. Greg Risoto and
Greg Risoto went back to back years. Twenty nineteen, it was Shane Greeny.
Eighteen, it was Joejimenez. Twenty seventeen, was Michael Fulmer and Justin
Upton. Twenty fifteen. My immediate thought was shortstop. When I read this
headline, I thought to myself, well, shortstop. Their shortstops have been
awful. There's an interesting article in the Detroit Free Press not too long ago
about just how bad Detroit's wins above replacement are at that position this year,
and how long it has been since they actually had a guy who you would
boast about in that type of statistic. Historically it's been horrible. Then you
look back and you go, wait a minute, Jose Iglesias actually made the
All Star team in twenty fifteen. Is a shortstop. Cabrera went there as
a first baseman. JD. Martinez went there as an outfielder, and David
Price went there as a pitcher. Maybe you feel like, okay, twenty
fifteen, that's really not that long ago, folks, it's nine years ago.
Go for craning out loud. You had a nice stretch there, didn't
you. You had a nice stretch where you were sending guys on a regular
basis where other teams, other organizations, other fan bases were looking at it
going, wow, we wish we had fill in the blank. Two thousand
and six, Kenny Rodgers, Ivon Rodriguez, Magli Ordoniez two thousand and seven,
Carlos Gian, Magliordoniez, Placido Polanco, Ivon Rodriguez, Justin Verlander.
That's representation right. Twenty eleven, Alexavila, Miguel Cabrera, Johnny Peralta,
Jose Valverde, Justin Verlander. Whether you think they're deserving or not, these
are the guys that were chosen to go. You're talking about five players in
twenty eleven, held twenty thirteen. You had Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Tory
Hunter, Johnny Peralta, Max Schurz or just In Verlander. Six guys are
wearing the old English d in the All Star festivities. Now you have been
labeled, well, we got to get somebody from Detroit, so let's pick
this guy out. You see how far you've fallen. It's borderline depressing.
Shane Green, Joe Jimenez, Joe Jimenez. People couldn't wait to get him
out of Detroit and he was an All Star in two thousand and eighteen.
Are you kidding me? Michael Lorenzen was a trade chip. Really, he's
the representative representative of the Tigers to be an All Star. Yep, that's
what you're looking at. That's what it's come to. If you don't believe
a lot of the things that I've said about drafting and developing and missing out
on certain guys, because we brought it up yesterday with Derek Hill in twenty
fourteen and they had a chance for Matt Chapman and some of the other things
that we've discussed in the past, because you're bound to miss on some draft
picks. Again, I'll reiterate, I don't think you can afford to do
that on a first round pick when you're a team like Detroit. Detroit and
Milwaukee, and teams like that, they can't afford to do this. Teams
that spend big money they can overcome stuff like that. Teams that bring in
a lot of coin because of their TV deals and because of their gates,
and because of their marketing and their merchandising and all that other stuff, they
can afford to swing and miss on a first round pick because they can make
it up. They have the money to lose. Teams like Detroit, Tampa,
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Milwaukee, they don't. So if
they spend If you spend eight million dollars on a first round pick and he
doesn't hit, you can't make that up. Yankees have no problem with that.
Well we swung and miss. That's s right, we'll make it up.
We'll get this free agent. Tigers can't do that. It's amazing how
far they have fallen in such a short period of time. If you don't
think it's a long time ago where they had that many and you feel like,
wow, see we can get back there. I look at it like,
you know what, if you're going to say it's not that long ago,
it's not that long ago, and look at the All Star selection since
how bad it is and how they've been basically forced into the game because you've
got to have at least one guy representing your team, and that's all you
deserve. And you can make the argument that you don't this year, well,
Trek schou will of course, of course he deserves to be there.
Meyer Hotline eighty six to six eight three eight forty eight forty three the texta
line Sports Radio to twenty one thousand final hour of Exes and Bros. Coming
up in a brief after a brief time out, and we will get to
the homework that one player had from the NBA Finals when he had played for
a specific team. And I wonder what that homework assignment would be for players
who are thinking about playing in Detroit. We'll get to that on the other
side as we begin the final hour of Exes and Bros. On a Tuesday
morning across the great state of Michigan. What's up, Michigan. I want
to give some love to Ben Glaze producing another great SHEP broadcast, Superflies producer
my show later today at three, the huge show on the Michigan Sports Network.
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rerules and details. Get some facts and come back and seebe. Get some
facts and come back and Seebee. Don't throw up salaries or other things.
Get some facts and come back and Seebee. You can't handle the truth.
I told our players you needy bit more like a doll. We don't need
a bunch of cats in here looking in the mirror. But I look good.
I got my extra bands on, I got my other shoes. Be
a doll. We don't need no meals, we don't need no cats.
We need more dolls. At the time, why not at the time we
weren't good. There's no sense asking me things about the game. I'm telling
you we laid an egg. So I'm not going to break it down for
you. He sucks. He sucked, but he laid an egg. That's
all I have to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not going to
break it down for you. And nothing went well for us. It's on
us. We have to figure it out and we went h yo Dad.
Final hour of the program. Glad you're with us here on exceus in Bros.
Join us via the Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight
forty three, or you can join us on the tech Line Sports Radio to
twenty one thousand. Here's our poll question for you today. Our pole question
asks for the Lions the biggest offseason move? Was it signing Aman Ross,
Saint Brown, Penna Sewell and Jared Goff to extensions? Was it signing Dan
Campbell and Brad Holmes to extensions? Was it making sure Ben Johnson chose to
stay or drafting Terry on Arnold. You can vote as often as you like.
Check it out on our social media page. Just go follow us on
x x'es and bros. It is it is. Originally when I put this
together, when Ben and I were talking, I said to myself, you
know, I think it might be Ben Johnson and the reason I say that
is because the players had another year left on their contracts, right, I
mean Goff had another year. Penney sewell, I think I'm on Ron Sayin
Brown did as well. I don't think Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes were going
any I don't think it was necessarily you didn't have to do it all right.
I like the draft pick of Terry and Arnold, but Ben Johnson,
Look, the lines really didn't from what I can tell, didn't do anything
to necessarily keep him. Okay, he chose to stay, which is great.
I think it's really important that he turned down head coaching opportunities to remain
in his current role as offensive coordinator and see this thing through. Because of
how successful he has been and how this offense has adapted. It's I think
it's really important that offenses or players I should say in those offenses or on
defenses in this case too, for the Lions are able to stay in a
system they're comfortable with and they know now it helps that works. You don't
want a system where you got players not succeeding. When they're failing, you
got to change the system. When they're successful. You'd like to keep that
system. You get a new offensive coordinator into this situation and he's going to
change the system because he wants to, but his own stamp on things.
He's not going to run Ben Johnson's offense. He's gonna run his own offense.
And Ben Johnson staying could have left a year ago, could have left
two years ago. I should say for Carolina chose to stay gets them to
or big reason why he gets them to an NFC title game. Now,
this year, you're hoping that he turns down opportunities, and there were plenty
out there that had him rumored to whether it be Seattle or Washington where he
could have gone, and you're hoping they finally kicked the door in. That'll
make his stock even higher because there will be opportunities next year. There's no
doubt about that happens every year. But for him to be part of this
and for him to be the guy at the helm with all these players believing
in him, seeing the results, understanding that this is a big reason for
their success and their financial stability. His offense has helped a lot of those
guys create personal wealth. I'm not alluding to them giving him money. I'm
just saying their skill set has been highlighted by his offensive vision. Something to
be said for that. You can vote as often as you like, will
give you the results right around this time tomorrow morning here on Xies and Bros.
They did have according to a number of different websites, but the Lions
did have one of the biggest off seasons in the National Football League because of
those things that we just brought up. Because they re signed Aman Rossain Brown
and Penney Sewel and Jared Goff, Because they did address certain needs like signing
edge rusher Marcus Stavenport defensive tackle Dj Reader. Because they did trade for a
veteran cornerback to come in and if not be their number one, compete to
be their number one, with terry On Arnold being the other. Because they
doubled down. I'm bringing in the secondary help of Arnold and Rakestraw. But
Ben Johnson turning down head coaching opportunities to stay as the OC tells you a
lot about a the organization. Be Dan Campbell and his staff and see the
skills of the players Ben Johnson has at his disposal. Let's hope it was
not for naught. Let's hope it was for a reason and that at the
end of the year. In twenty twenty four Slash twenty twenty five, Ben
Johnson's going, this is the reason I came back. Hey, listen,
Sometimes the best moves are the moves that aren't made. We can use it
as an example for last night. How many times do you think Brad Stevens,
who runs the Celtics now, how many times do you think people told
him you might want to consider breaking up your dynamic duo because you haven't won
a championship. You might want to consider going in a different direction and not
necessarily blowing your team up, but at least dividing it enough where you can
get other talent into the fold and have a different feel, slash look to
it. He didn't do that. He tweaked here, he tweaked there,
But in the end he left the two most important pieces to his team intact.
When others were saying, it doesn't work with Brown and Tatum, let's
move on and keep one of them, get all ransom for the other,
and try to pair the guy we keep with somebody else. Brad Stevens never
caved to that belief. He stuck to his principles. He kept his two
big stars intact, and it paid off for them. Now, if it
doesn't, you're probably talking about a different narrative here today. But that's not
the point. The point is that it did. I wonder how many people
in Dallas are saying the same thing right now. Because Kyrie Irving, as
much as I like him, the Dynai player, as much as you may
like him, you would have to admit the finals were a struggle for him.
He did not perform very well in the NBA Finals. Luka Doncic did
hard to argue with a man who leads the Finals in scoring and rebounding and
in assists. Now, as I've said before, his defense has a lot
to be desired. And that's the thing that I couldn't figure out. Why
does it take the Dallas Mavericks four games to figure out how important their defensive
intensity was to win at least a game in the series. I'm not gonna
I don't think that the Dallas was content on winning one game, or at
least we didn't get swept. That's a narrative screamed by people who just want
attention from the national media. I want to see a team that isn't accepting
at least we didn't get swept. They want a game. That's such a
naive point of view. It's such a low hanging fruit easy way to talk
about something. There's no thought to that whatsoever. It's just an easy thing
to say, and it makes you sound like you don't understand the sport.
We'll talk more about this with you on the other side. Join us if
you want on the Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty
three. This is x'es and Bros. On the Michigan Sports Network. In
the Dam step up to the play with the Eagle Casino in Sports, the
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Sheppard. The first game of the series against Atlanta exposed the same problems that
bother Theiers most of the season. Reees Olsen was again good enough to win
a game, but received one run of support six times in his fourteen starts.
Now Olsen has been granted one run or fewer. His support of two
runs and change is among the fewest in all of baseball. Of the seventy
two games the Tigers have played, they have scored two runs or fewer twenty
two times. That's over thirty percent of the games. The offense continues to
be an issue, and it rears its ugly head more when Olsen pitches than
any other starter. It's something that has to get rectified. Time is running
out Rock's best plays at Soaring Eagle Casino at Resort Sunday Tune twenty third,
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it's summer. What does summer mean to you? For me, it means
backyard cookouts, golfing with my sons and friends, and other things, of
course, but those two things primarily. You can one stop shop it.
You can get the best meat and the best produce at Meyer, and you
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that you may love so much, golf balls, golf glove at Meyer as
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convenient, it's inexpensive, and they're friendly people. You can't ask for a
whole lot more than that, Especially in today's day when customer service is not
necessarily at its peak, it remains the top priority of Meyer as Do you
check them out today? You see who's going to be on Hard Knocks this
year? Do you like that series? Do you watch it? I think
at times when I've watched it, it was it was almost as if it
was staged a little bit. I'm not saying that it's, you know,
Real Housewives of Filling the Blank City, because that stuff is made for Hollywood
stuff that's not real. I think Hard Knocks is real. I just think
at times you get people when the cameras rolling, they want to make sure
their stuff isn't on the edit room floor. When it first started, I
said, this is a great concept. I think people will love it.
I doubt they'll get tired of it, but you better make sure it evolves.
It can't be the same thing all the time with the various themes.
This year, the nd season Hard Knocks is going to feature the entire AFC
North, So you're going to see for the first time in the history of
this program that an entire division is dedicated. The show is going to follow
throughout the year. It's going to follow the Ravens, the Bengals, the
Browns, and the Steelers. You could make the argument that this division has
the league's best rivalries. You may disagree with it, but you can under
stand where I'm coming from. At least I hope that the rivalries are there.
Think about it for a minute. Give me the rivalries in the AFC
East. I'll wait now, you don't have them the AFC South. We
can move quickly past that. Love the Raiders and Chiefs. In the AFC
West, I'm not sure it goes much past that. NFC East used to
love Cowboys and Redskins. That would be the argument is the NFC East.
But that's because so many fan bases hate the Cowboys. There's really nothing in
the NFC South, nothing in the NFC West. In the NFC North,
the oldest is you know, involves Packers and Bears. Lions are in the
mix for consecutive games played against a specific team, Packers. Something to be
said for that. I don't know how many people outside Detroit, Green Bay,
Minnesota and Chicago understand those rivalries. I've always wondered how people view the
Lions and that division. I think a lot of people look at the Lions
and what do they immediately think? They think? Thanksgiving Day? What else
would be? What else is that organization? Until last year? What else
is the organization given fans outside of Detroit to identify with? Barry Sanders,
Sure, Calvin Johnson, Okay, maybe a guy like Matthew Stafford as of
late. Some really good players, no doubt. But in general, I
think it's, well, it's Thanksgiving Day. See Green Bay gives you out
the title town, and then you start reeling off their great quarterbacks, Bart
Starr and Brett Farv and Aaron Rodgers, the legendary people who have been there.
I think the AFC North, with those teams playing against one another,
and how Cleveland can't stand Pittsburgh, and how Pittsburgh can't stand Baltimore, and
how Cincinnati can't stand any of them, I think it's good stuff. I
think it's going to be very compelling to do that. Hard Knocks is going
to premiere Tuesday, December third, at nine o'clock. That's when all the
highlights from all four teams throughout the twenty twenty four season will air. So
you're going to see the fact that each team plays the other twice during the
regular season, following those teams, how they adjust, and all that other
stuff. First time in NFL history in which all four teams in a single
division had a winning record, and that was a year ago, thirteen and
four for Baltimore, eleven and six for Cleveland, ten and seven for Pittsburgh,
nine and eight for Cincinnati. Makes sense that that's the division they would
choose. The off season version, okay, which comes out July second,
is going to highlight the Giants. The training camp version is going to highlight
the Bears. That's how it's evolved. That's how the show has evolved.
It's gone from training camp to more. Now it's what are you doing in
the off season. There's your Giants training camp stays because it's been a huge
success. There's your Chicago and then what happens during the regular season. There's
your division. That's what you're going to get from Hard Knocks this year.
Pretty awesome stuff. Another example of the NFL telling its teams, please cooperate,
do what you're supposed to do. We need it now. They don't
need it from the standpoint of nobody's watching the NFL. They just need it
because they want to stay front and center top mind awareness. Nobody better nobody.
I'm not sure there's a company that does it better than that National Football
League. It helps that the thirst is never quenched for football fans and sports
fans in general. It helps that it was really the pioneer when it came
to sports gambling. Get out in front of it. Make sure you're controlling
that message more so than anybody else. It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. See.
I don't think teams like it. I don't think players like it.
I don't think coaches like it. I think they do it because they have
to. Because Roger Goodell has told all his owners, this is how we
make even even bigger money. Give them something they can't get every single day.
Now they can. So fans always want. We get players miked up,
that's great. We get interviews with coaches and players, that's great too.
We want to see the behind the scenes stuff. We want to know
what it's like to be in one of the running backs rooms. We want
to know what it's like to hear be on the receiving end of a head
coach or a position coaching ramp rant I should say. And that's what Hard
Knocks gives us. It'll always be popular. There's your lineup for twenty twenty
four. All right, when we come back, As I mentioned before,
I wanted to bring you this homework assignment and what it would be for a
basketball player in choosing the Pistons as a free agent. We'll get to that
when we return. On Exes and Bros. After this. Hey, Michigan,
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Thanks for sticking around on Exus and Bros. Love being on Monday through
Friday six until nine and talking with you across the great state of Michigan.
Myer Hotline eighty sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three the text line
Sports Radio to twenty one. Kyrie Irving did not have a great NBA Finals.
He was a huge reason why Dallas got to the NBA Finals in the
first place, but he did not perform very well against his old team.
Boston wins it last night, running away with the championship in five games,
their eighteenth all time title, and Jylen Brown was the MVP. Kyrie Irving
once played for the Celtics. He spoke during that time of how he was
going to stay there, resign with Boston, changed his mind and moved on.
He was asked about it prior to Game five. He said this,
you just expect to have a magnifying glass on you everywhere you go. I
don't think Boston appreciates being kind of second class to New York in terms of
media capital world, but this is a media capital of the world as well.
There's a lot of history here off the court, the communities integrated into
the Celtics team. That's probably the best way I can say it. The
community is what the Celtics makes the Celtics great. The Boston pandemonium, that's
what makes this space so loud and so special, and they take pride in
it. If any player makes this space so loud and so special, if
they get here drafted or thinking about coming here as a free agent or getting
traded, just do your homework and make sure you know what you're getting yourself
into. So we're well aware of what took place after that, right I
mean, or before all this. He was in Boston requested a trade from
the Cavaliers in twenty seventeen. That was soon after he helped the Cabs win
their first ever championship. He gets traded to Boston and he sitting to play
there for a while, wanted to have his He's someone who said he wanted
his jersey hanging from the rafters. Right. Well, it didn't work out
the way he thought there. But when he made that comment, my immediate
thought is, obviously it comes to Detroit. What do athletes have to do
their homework or what's involved in their homework as they get ready to play in
Detroit. What do you think that's all about, Whether it's a basketball player
or anybody, what do you think what would your advice be to an athlete
who's doing their homework on Detroit to play in this market, not like it's
the media capital of the world like in New York, or to a certain
extent, as Kyrie Irving puts it, Boston. What would you tell an
athlete who gets traded here, signed Carlton Davis, signs as a free agent
here, Marcus Davenport, or gets drafted here, Terry on Arnold. I'm
just using football as the example. Right now, sign as a free agent,
Orchelle or Kanna right Bay as before that, gets drafted here. When
you get drafted to a place, you know, keep in mind, you
and I we follow Detroit sports all a lot closer than any athlete does.
We probably follow sports closer than athletes. Most of them, some of them
are junkies like us. Many of them played fantasy sports like you do.
They're not so involved in every single sport in every single city. Hell a
lot of times they're not even involved in the cities in which they play.
Oh, never been to a Red Wings game. What, No, I
haven't see when their season gets ready to begin, at least the you know,
the training camp. We're at the end of our season and then I
go back home to Texas or Florida or California or wherever it may be.
Oh so, how often are they watching a Red Wings game? Not very?
How often are they going to a Lions game? Not very? They
got their day off, what are they doing exhaling? They're taking a break,
man, So they're probably not doing that Number one and number two even
if they had the chance to do it. Detroit's their favorite team. These
guys are I'm from here. Maybe they have a chance where they get to
know some of the players on the other teams in the market, which isn't
always the case, but maybe they get a chance to do that and they
take advantage of a game here or a game there. They're not keeping up
on it like you and I are. So when you have these athletes doing
their quote unquote homework, what is it about Detroit? What is it about
the state of Michigan that they are you would have them at least research.
What are you getting yourself into. I think what you're getting yourself into in
Detroit or the state of Michigan is a friendly place where they can leave you
alone and are not too hard on you. And Wardo Rodriguez told me this.
I think it was last year, maybe it was two years ago.
He and I were I was in the dugout before a broadcast and he was
coming off throwing. He wasn't pitching that day, but he was walking by
and he walks through the dugout and we say hello, and he stops and
he sits down on the dugout steps or on the on the dugout bench,
and we just start talking. And I said to him, Hey, just
out of curiosity, what is it that you like about where you live?
Because he lived in Birmingham. What is he like? He says, you
know what I like about this place? Why I really like Detroit? He
said, My family and I can go out and people recognize who I am,
but they leave me alone. They respect my space, which I thought
was a awesome b pretty damn interesting because you don't find that very often even
here and seeing refreshing. On the other hand, I also found it to
be well, you know, is is that a sign of respect? Is
that a sign of genuine understanding and concern for another individual. Or is it
a sign of I don't really know who you are or I don't really care
who you are. You can put it all, I suppose into one big
answer. Not sure. My dad one time ran into Lance Parish at the
post office in Farmington Hills and he came home. He was mailing something.
Obviously, he comes home and I remember him telling us, Hey, I
just guess who I just saw. Who? Did you see Lance Parish at
the post office? And I remember saying, oh, my gosh, did
you get his offtograph? Didn't have cell phones back then, so I didn't
say did you get a picture with him? But did you get an autograph?
No? He said, the man has a day off. I'm going
to let the man be. I'm going to let him have some personal time,
which I really admire my father doing that at the time. But it
also makes me understand what type of people we have in the state. For
the most part, and I've said this a lot since being here. The
thing I like about is, you know, you want to raise your family
in these places because people are genuine. I've always found that about not just
Michigan, but the Midwest in general, what would the homework assignment be for
you to give to a pending free agent if they were coming here. If
you're talking about a specific player in a trade, why here? What makes
it great? Maybe you get something for me? Meyer hotline is open eight
sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three. The text line is
sports Radio to twenty one thousand. The frustrating thing is and maybe this is
a good thing for players and coaches and stuff. Is the expectation. Now,
maybe I'm reading too much into it because of the time that we're experiencing,
the struggles of the Pistons, the struggles of the Wings, and the
struggles of the Tigers collectively. This goes back to what we were seeing in
the six o'clock hour and what we've said before when I started this show that
today we talked about the Tigers losing two to one. We talked about Rhys
Olsen not getting run support, among the worst in all of baseball going into
his start two point three runs per game in his fourteen in his thirteen starts.
He made his fourteenth start last night, the Tiger scored one run for
him. He didn't give up any He pitched six scoreless, Tigers lose to
to one because of the bullpen, one run not enough. These are the
things we talked about. Talked about the fact that Detroit's seventy two games in
twenty two times they've scored two runs or less. So maybe the expectation,
and it sure hasn't spurred any type of disdain, disgust, frustration, anger,
hardly any emotion with anybody on these airways, not that I can tell.
Haven't gotten a text about it. Sports Radio to twenty one thousand.
No one's called the Meyer hotline eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty
eight forty three. It's it's a shrug of the shoulder, is what it
is. Now. Maybe I haven't set it up well, maybe you don't
care. Maybe it's apathy, Maybe you didn't hear it. I don't know,
but I know we didn't get much of a response. And you would
think you would if this were Philadelphia, if this were New York, if
this were certain Boston, if this were certain places in America who love their
baseball say they love their baseball, guaranteed people would be calling in left and
right spouting off their frustration. Not here, So perhaps that's there in lies
right there. The issue that I'm talking about with players. You want to
do your homework, here's the homework assignment. It's almost an easy place to
play. It is. People aren't going to get totally upset with you.
People are not necessarily going to blo you mercifully, not that I think you
should. I'm just alarmed at the lack of frustration that people have for this
team right now. Pistons, I almost get it. You don't see anything
at the end of the tunnel. You see Cad Cunningham, you might see
maybe you got high hopes for Jalen Durn, maybe Jade and Ivy. Outside
of that, you're not There's nothing that is really tweaking that emotion for you
that makes you say, gosh, darn it, I can't believe this team
continues to be poor. You recognize it's almost like wasted breath. With the
Red Wings, I think there's some frustration, but the fan base is limited.
I mean, it's Red Wings fans and that's it. There's not many
hockey fans in general. I don't think I think you enjoy watching your kids
play. I don't think people are following the national team development program. I
don't think they're following Michigan or Michigan State. I don't think they're following teams
outside outside the Detroit Red Wings. I don't think people are watching the Stanley
Cup. I don't think you have it on your calendar right now where you're
like, man, I can't wait to watch Edmonton and Florida play tonight in
Florida in Game five. So I think it's Red Wings and that's about it.
Tigers, there just doesn't seem to be it. I'll get a call,
I'll get a text or two where people will be like, you know,
it's frustrating, why don't they do this? Why don't they? You
know, Freddie will talk about aj Hinch, he's got to be more responsible
for some of these losses. People will complain about taking a picture out too
early, the same old stuff. But deep down inside is there many are
there, Many calls are there, Many texts are there, many people who
are truly engaged in this team and go, you know what, I am
so fed up with the same issues night in and night out and nothing being
done about it. Not really, it's not there. So to call it
an easy market, you can easily win people over, you don't have to
prove day after day, year after year, how good you are. They're
almost satisfied. Give me something good once in a while, and I'll leave
you alone. There's the homework assignment for Detroit sports fans or Michigan based fields
sports fans. I think, I think that's the way it is. It's
interesting. I never truly recognized it until the last couple of years, and
I thought to myself, Man, you really would not be able to get
away with this in other sports crazed markets. I used to tell athletes all
the time, you're gonna really like it here. Why am I going to
like it here? People are great, They love their sports, and I
think they do. I think people do love their sports, but I don't
think they hold their teams and athletes to a very high standard. Maybe just
maybe you've been beat up so much as of late. Maybe it's I'm tired
of wasting my breath. That's a possibility. But when Kyrie Irving is talking
about doing your homework with the Boston market, and he's bringing up the fact
that Boston pandemonium and the community is integrated into the Celtics team, I don't
think there are many free agents who say that about their Detroit teams. It's
interesting the team that has the least amount of success, the Detroit Lions.
That would be the team that free agents talk about. Free agents do when
they come to the Lions. They do talk about how this team embraces it,
or how this community embraces it, even though it doesn't have that great
success. See people walk around with the old English D because it's a great
looking logo and because they're from here and it screams Detroit and the state of
Michigan. But do they really hold their baseball team to a super high standard.
I don't think they do. Maybe that changes. Maybe it's because the
team hasn't given them any reason to feel like more is expected. And that's
what I mean about just accepting it. It's been accepted that certain teams in
the market are not going to be competitive, and you're going to enjoy your
summer. You'll enjoy going down to the games once in a while, but
that'll be the extent of it. Maybe you separated yourself emotionally. If you
have, I give you more credit, because I can't do that. I
get too frustrated with it. Remember our poll question, vote as often as
you can on the social media sites. The biggest Lions offseason move signing Saint
Browns SEOL Golf to extensions, signing Dan Campbell, Brad Holmes to extensions,
Ben Johnson choosing to stay in drafting Terry on Arnold. Those are your choices.
We'll talk about it tomorrow morning when we come back here on Axes and
Bros. Throughout the great State of Michigan from six until nine. Don't forget
the huge show coming up later today on most of these great Michigan Sports Network
affiliates. He's from three until six. Thanks to Ben, our producer.
Thanks to you for your texts. We're back with you tomorrow morning, starting
at six on Exes and Bros. The Country's Best plays at Soaring Eagle Casino
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It's as simple as that, and I want to play it at Tullymore.
If you ever have been there and you've seen the layout and you've seen the
scenery associated with that gorgeous plot of land, it's majestic. It's an absolute
masterpiece. There's not a bad hole on the track. And when you look
at it and you say to yourself, I want to play there, be
careful because it's challenging, but more importantly, soak it all in because there's
not many places like it, not just in the States, not in the
area, but I would say in the entire United States. When you go
to Tullymore, you get a chance to play not one, but two championship
golf courses at an affordable rate. On top of that, if you want
to stay for the weekend, and I would recommend you do, the facilities
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some love to Ben Glaze producing another great SHEP broadcast, Superflies producer my show
later today at three, the Huge Show on the Michigan Sports Networks. Assass