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 fun everybody. I think that
at 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 game. 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 to retire, get out for the Natas. We'll
come out of Tuesday EXUS and Bros. Across the state of Michigan, Tigers
are going to host the Nationals to start a three game series of America Park
Tonight. It's going to be Mitchell Parker for Washington, who exactly Mitchell Parker
against Kent Tomayta then Jake Gervin throws against rhese Olsen, Mackenzie Gore throws against
Casey Mys that's your setup for the series against Washington. Reading yesterday, a
lot of a lot of comments, a lot of columns, a lot of
games stories or team stories. Huge belief. This team is still in the
thick of it for a wild card spot. It is something we have to
acknowledge at this time of the year. You begin to look at playoff races.
When you are sixty five games deep, you have to start looking,
Okay, which team could use this type of format or improve upon it and
move forward? Where are they in terms of a wild card spot? For
example, because Detroit's ten and a half back in the division. I'm not
saying give up on them in the Al Central, but immediately, if you're
going to look at standings, and I don't think it's too early to do
that at all. If you're going to look at standings, then what you
at least have to do is acknowledge there is a wild card standing worth noting
as well. Right, Okay, so the Tigers are in that situation and
they're only two and a half back, where are you looking? Are you
looking at the overall record, thirty two up, thirty three down. Are
you looking at the ten and a half they are back of Cleveland in the
division? Are you looking at two and a half back in the wild card
spot. There's not a right or wrong answer there. I'm just wondering where
your focus is. For me, I think it's fair to look at all.
Don't get me wrong. I continue to compare this team to the other
teams who I have starting to acknowledge how good they are. New York and
Kansas City played last night Kansas City. Kansas City the most home wins of
any team in baseball or in the American League anyway, with twenty four.
Because Pladelphi's got twenty seven home wins. New York has more roadkills than any
team in baseball. So I was kind of fascinated by that one. And
in case you missed it, the Yankees beat the Royals four to two in
what turned out to be a pretty damn good game. They jumped out to
a four to nothing lead and then Kansas City stage to come back. Bobby
Witt was in the middle of it. Again. I wonder how many people
are considering him as an MVP candidate. But anyway, those are the things
that I'm looking at. I watched Baltimore play, I watched New York play.
I watch Cleveland and Kansas City play, and I will admit I do
enjoy watching the Royals. I think it's more because of Bobby Wit. I
like Vinnie Pascantino, but there's something about Kansas City that makes me go okay,
they kind of moved my needle a little bit. Do I think Seattle's
the best team in the West. I mean, look to their credit,
they're five and a half up on Texas, who has sputtered Seattle with a
dramatic win yesterday against the White Sox, cal Raley with a home run,
a grand slam home run to end it. I watched Philadelphia at Landa.
I'm a little surprised at we all saw Milwaukee. I don't watch the teams
out west quite as much, the Dodgers, for example. I did see
San Francisco with a walk off win, Austin Slater with a game winning double
to finish things off. But that's kind of where I'm at. I'm not
looking at the standings as much as I'm looking at the style and how they
play and I'm just not seeing it. You and I had conversations during the
NBA season and then the season ended and we would watch the teams in the
playoffs. We did the same thing with the NHL, and you don't have
to compare the Red Wings to the Oilers or the Panthers. You don't have
to compare the Pistons to the Celtics or the Mavericks, but you can compare
them to some of the other playoff teams Indiana, for example, and we
all recognized just how far away those teams are. I have the same feeling
with Detroit when it comes to Major League Baseball. Am I hopeful they make
the playoffs. Absolutely, be great for the city. It'd be great for
the state. It'd be great for the organization, be great for the fan
base. Fan base deserves it. Man can't be selfish at a time like
this. Do what's best for the fans. I want what's best for Detroit
Tigers fans. But I'm not going to get caught up in a little bit
of false hope either. As of right now, and that's important to stress.
As of right now, on this June eleventh, they pale in comparison
to the teams that are vying for division titles. You can look at Boston
too, because Boston's ahead of them in the stands. I don't think Boston's
all that great now when you look at Boston. I mean, I don't
know if you saw what Alex Verdugo said. Yankees and Red Sox will soon
meet for the first time during the season, and you know what that means.
It means every national television outlet is going to carry the Red Sox and
the Yankees because of the greatest rivalry in the sport, which is a topic
for another day, because there's just not many that those rivalries any longer,
so maybe we should embrace it. But Verdugo was asked about the Red Sox
and he was pretty blatant with it. He said, you know, I
loved that organization, loved warning the Red Sox Jersey, loved playing for my
teammates. It was more of just wanting to be in a winning atmosphere when
we wanted twenty one. That was one of the most fun years of my
life. And it's because we had a winning team. Well right when he
was always much more enjoyable, right, of course, he said, we
went to the Alcs. When you're winning in Boston, those fans and everything,
it feels special out there. Twenty twenty one was my favorite year.
The other years were good, but it just felt like we were fighting a
little bit. We didn't have the pieces that we needed. Not to get
them at the trade deadline was a little bit tougher too. I think they
were trying to play the long game. This is the part of the quote
that had me thinking a little bit. I think they were trying to play
the long game or reamp the minor leagues to get some new prospects in.
It would have been nice to see a little bit more initiative when I was
there, just to try and force winning. I wonder how many players or
fans feel that way about the Tigers. Are they trying to play the long
game? Wouldn't it be nicer to see more initiative and try to force winning.
Take your phone calls on the Meyer hotline eight six six eight three eight
forty eight forty three. You can text the program sports Radio to twenty one
thousand. Just getting started on a Tuesday eleven on Exies and Bros. Huge
cheer from my good friend Matt Golden. He is the CEO and GM at
the beautiful Tullymore Golf Resort. Now they're in Canadian Lakes, Michigan, less
than an hour north of Grand Rapids and close to everybody listening across the state.
Tellimore is open for business. You can book a stay in playpackage.
You can book a tee time. Go to Tullymoregolf dot com. Also,
if you have a business where you want to mix some business with some golf,
great food and beverages, you can book that event today at Tullymore Golf
dot com. Simple to get to. Less than an hour north of gr
So if you're in the West Michigan area and you want to go up and
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of g Are in Canadian Lakes, Michigan. We played for the three of
them that Russian field with the game on the line. I'm Herman Moore Lions
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Must be twenty or older in Michigan to playing eighteen after the hour. Welcome
back on a Tuesday. Ben is our producer. You can call him on
the Meyer hotlineing six eight three eight forty eight to forty three. You can
also text in sports radio to twenty one thousand. I'm Matt Shepard. Welcome.
We are with you Monday through Friday from six until nine across the Great
State of Michigan. We are on in Flint on WTRX Sports Extra thirteen thirty
AM, Cadillac and Grand Rapids WMAX ninety six point one FM, The Game
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FM The Ticket. Join us anyway you want about anything you want. I
don't care what's on your mind. Just tell us about it and we'll talk
about it. It's not always driven by me. Some people call it open
lines. I just call it talking with friends about anything that's on your mind.
In the world sports, maybe it's the Stanley Cup Finals from last night.
Panthers beat the Oilers for one game two Evan Rodriguez with a pair of
goals. Florida has won five straight in the playoffs. They're up two games
to none. Did you watch any of that? By chance? I watched
CBC as much as I possibly can. I just think it's a better broadcast.
I really enjoy it. But I did, and I think there are
there are certain TV analysts and personalities who get overexposed. You can do too
much sometimes. Case in point I think is Steven A. Smith. Okay,
ESPN should probably just say, you know what, it's good to have
him doing these and this, but he doesn't have to be on every single
show. So when you got a show, and you got a podcast,
and then you've got this in live and then you've got NBA, people are
like, Okay, enough is enough. I'm tired of the angry personality.
Right. Charles Barkley at times borders on that. But people like him so
much. Even though there's times, especially during college basketball, where you listen
to him and you're like, you have no idea what you're talking about.
You don't even know these teams. He's one of the few, if not
only guy or as an analyst, you're out there going I'm not sure that's
right, but I'm going to listen to him. He jumped by the ESPN
broadcast yesterday during the Stanley Cup Finals. Did you see this at all,
Ben, I'm not sure if you did, but no, he was okay.
He was there for one of the intermissions and he popped on set and
he was talking to Mark Messier because it was Mark Messier, Steve Levy and
PK Suban and Barkley comes in and it it was really funny because Messier was
sitting courtside at a game in Canada in Toronto when Barkley was playing, and
Barkley had mentioned this, so he said, this is a true story.
He said, I said to the ref, I need to go talk to
the great Mark Messier. First of all, Barkley just knowing who Messia is
is pretty cool. Second of all, knowing Barkley understands how great Mark Messier
was is even more impressive. So Barkley says this to the referee, according
to his story, and why shouldn't we believe it. The ref said,
Chuck, you're going to get a delay a game penalty, and Barkley said,
I don't care. It's the first time that I'd been around him in
my entire life, and he was sitting in the front row. So I
said, I'll take the farm. So then he looks at Messier. He
says, hey, you owe me five thousand dollars because that's what it costs
for the technical foul, and Messi said, we'll settle it on the golf
course. It was a I thought it was a really lighthearted, really good
moment, and an enjoyable one too. That's what he can bring to whether
it be a spontaneous stop by or whether it's a you know, on camera
situation where he's breaking things down. He's just got that type of personality,
I want to share that with you in case you missed it. It was
a good story I thought from last night. So Florida a winner last night.
For one, they look really good, they look really strong. They
don't look over a match by any stretch. And the reason I say that
is because Edmonton is such a good skating team and yet Florida has been there
right there with them. So the scene now shifts to Edmonton and it's going
to be absolutely crazy there. Speaking of hockey, former Red Wings assistant GM
now the current GM of the Dallas Stars, Jim Nill was named NHL GM
of the Year. There's only one man who's won this award twice, Lou
Lamarillo, and he won it back to back years with the New Jersey Devils,
which is impressive to be able to put together a team and win those
types of people over Jim Gregory. General Manager of the Year award is what
it's called. So Don Maloney has won it, Mike Gillis, Doug Armstrong,
Ray Schiro Pittsburgh, Bob Murray. No Red Wings general manager has ever
won it. Steve Eisman did but back in twenty fifteen with Tampa, and
I just I misspoke, I said Lou Lamarilla with New Jersey. It was
with the Islanders when he went over there in twenty and twenty one. Impressive
stuff. So congrats to Jim Nil who did a wonderful job in Detroit and
has done an even better job in Dallas. Considered by many, obviously because
of this award, but even before the award, whether he won it or
not, among the best general managers in all of hockey. Dan Hurley spurns
the Lakers offer of a six year, seventy million dollar deal. He says,
no to LA and we'll stay at Yukon. He said he was humbled
by the experience, but proud of the championship culture he's built, or they've
built at Yukon. He's sixty eight and eleven the last two years. If
they win another championship this year, it would be three in a row and
they'd be the first team since who U see LA, when UCLA won seventh
straight under ji On Wooden from what was that nineteen sixty seven through nineteen seventy
three. Here's the surprising thing. So the Lakers now have to regroup.
I mean, is this embarrassing for the Lakers when a college coach says thanks,
but no thanks to a reported six years seventy million dollars. Is this
embarrassing? I don't know if it's embarrassing as much as it is humbling.
It's like, Wow, we're supposed to be one of the elites where people
look at our organization and say, I want to be part of that.
And you've been turned down now recently by three times by three different guys.
Tyron Lou turned you down. He's now with the Clippers, Monty Williams turned
you down because he went to Phoenix, and now obviously with Detroit, and
now Danny Hurley turns you down that we know of. So now what do
you do? You look back and you say, whoever we're going to get
now is obviously our second choice or maybe third. Who knows how much does
that? What type of look does that project to people? Does it make
you go maybe the Lakers aren't all that anymore? Is there a reflection on
Lebron, James, Rob Polinka, Jenny Buss? Who is it? We'll
get your thoughts on that as we move forward, But when we come back.
They talked a little bit about this yesterday afternoon of the huge show,
and I'm going to disagree with a few things, and that's a good thing.
But New York Times has a Major League Baseball player poll some overrated,
so underrated. We'll get to that and where Detroit lies, if at all,
in any of it. That's coming up next on Exis and Bros.
Throughout the great state of Michigan. We're teeing off our tenth year at the
Meyer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Get ready for the best who are yet
to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join
us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland
for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing
to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now, admire LPGA Classic dot
com. Lock's Best Plays at sorry O Casino and Resort. Sunday, tu
twenty third, Miley Crew and Friday August ninety Loved Live, don't miss Leonard
skinnerd and zz Top all part of the Soaring Eagles Summer Outdoor Concert Series.
Tickets for all shows on ZELM now at the Fox Office and Ethics dot com.
Check the entire lineup at Soaring Eagle Casino dot com. Who do you
think the best baseball player is? Who do you think is the most overrated?
If you could play anywhere, based on location, ballpark management, chances
of winning, all the things that matter most of you, where would you
go? Those are some of the things asked of Major League Baseball players by
the Athletic. It's called the MLB Player Poll. Who's considered the worst organization?
And where are some of the Tigers involved in all this? I don't
think it's too surprising when you look at this pole and I'm going to go
over it a little bit, because not everybody subscribes to the Athletic, and
that's fine. But when you look at this poll, you recognize certain things
that you believe are almost I don't want to say MLB propaganda, but the
typical MLB answers involving players and or organizations. It continues to be the same
year after year after year, and at some point those of us, and
I include myself, by the way, this is primarily at me, those
of us who believed in the past that this is all just because it's a
large market. This is all because television gives them this. This is all
because they spend more money. Yeah, and this is the reason they are
in the position they're in. This is why teams are getting the recognition.
Players want to play for them. I used to be the guy who said,
you know what, screw you. I don't care how big your stadium
is. I don't care how big your city is. I don't care.
It's where it's located. People would want to come here because dot dot dot
good people, great Sportstown, they love their summers. They'll support you even
though you're not a winner. All the right. Pollyannish answers to those questions
and flat out wrong. Players don't care about that, at least not based
on these surveys. So I had heard yesterday afternoon they were talking about how
Detroit is the second nicest city in the Midwest, probably to Chicago. It's
like, wait a minute, how many cities have you been to anyway?
And even if that's true, because there's a lot of nice cities in the
Midwest now, like Indianapolis is cool, doesn't have a major League baseball team,
but it's cool. Saint Louis is cool. You ever been to Saint
Louis. If you're a baseball player, have you been to Saint Louis and
recognized the rich history that they have and the passion they have for their baseball
team. Have you been there. It's not even close. We don't do
that. We have a baseball game and then we leave. There's no ode
to the greatness of Detroit baseball. There's nothing around the ballpark that makes you
go, man, they love their baseball. No, there isn't. I've
said this at nausea about Michigan, the state of Michigan, and about specifically
Detroit sports teams, and directly about the Tigers. We could have been or
could do something special to make it bigger than it is, and we don't.
And that's not on the fans, but it is on the owners,
it is on the city, It is on the the community leaders. I
am tired of being that guy, me being that guy who is constantly sticking
up for this area when I travel around the country, and then recognizing,
God, dang it, man, I'm wrong, sorry, just flat out
wrong. Look at what some of these other Even if you don't you don't
need a Hall of Fame, Okay, you don't need Cincinnati Hall of Fame.
You don't need Saint Louis Hall of Fame. You know, I've almost
given up on that because nobody else recognizes it. Either I'm really wrong,
or fans don't care as much. Owners sure as hell don't care as much,
or not many people hear what we're talking about. Maybe not enough people
are just are listening to this radio show or listen to what I say.
So I have to accept that as a possibility to But go to New York
where they have two teams, one primarily with the Yankees, and look at
how the Yankees celebrate the Yankees. Look at the pride they take. Honestly,
Okay, I don't like New York. I'm just asking you to be
objective. Can you do that? Go to Saint Louis and see how much
they embrace there are eleven championships and the greatness of their franchise because it's the
second most titles. Go ahead and go look at that. Look at that.
I'm not a big Cubs fan. Go to Chicago and check out how
they feel about the Cubs and what they do around their ballpark to celebrate Cubs
baseball. Be honest with yourself. Same in Cincinnati, and they haven't been
relevant for a long time. Go look at how they embrace their baseball team.
So stop with the Detroit's as nice at city as anyplace else. That
has nothing to do with it. Man, it has to do with your
passion and your love for baseball and what that city does to celebrate your passion
for baseball. And Detroit doesn't do anything outside of Opening Day. They do
nothing. Their owner doesn't do anything. This city doesn't do anything. Tell
me what it does. Don't get me pink out the park, don't give
me bark at the park four times a year. I don't care that you're
renovating the stadium to include suites and all this other stuff. I want to
know what you do to celebrate your Detroit Tiger's history. Despite walking around the
concourse and seeing big posters that looks like an old high school gymnasium, tell
me, I'm waiting this whole. Oh, Detroit is so rich with this
and that. Really, where's the celebration of their great alumni? Tell me
where it is? Oh, because they're going to celebrate the forty year anniversary
of their last championship in nineteen eighty four. They're going to bring some of
those guys trotting back. Ah, okay, that's it. That's the bar
for you. Way to celebrate a low one good job. What's ever easiest.
You've got people in there who aren't even from here, man, trying
to tell us what Detroit tradition is. Stop it enough. I don't need
an ex soccer guy from the Great Northwest to tell me what Detroit baseball is
all about. You don't need it either. Stop towing the company line.
Here it is. Who's the best player in baseball? Who do you think
of it? Who's number one? According to Major League Baseball polling show Aotani?
And it's not even close. Forty six percent of the players who voted
in this poll or were asked to participate in this poll, say show,
hey Otani. Now you've got thirty teams, and you've got twenty six players
on each team. That's seven hundred and eighty players. There's only one hundred
and two votes, so this is a seventh of the people participating. That's
that's pretty weak. But they rank it Otani, then Ronald Acunya, then
Mookie Betts, then Aaron Judge, and then Mike Trout. I get that
some of the others who receive some votes. Bryce Harper makes sense. Gunner
Henderson a little surprised by that, even though I like him a lot.
Jose Ramirez underrated player, Adley Rushman, Corey Seeger and Zach Wheeler. Wheeler
are the only pitcher in that conversation. Otani completely understand same with Lukunya.
You know MVPs bets a former MVP judge of former MVP trout a multiple MVP
get it all. Have no problem with any of that. Who's the most
overrated player in baseball? This is interesting? There is a Tiger mentioned in
this. Only fifty nine votes for this. Again, seven and eighty players
in Major League baseball, and it's really more than that because guys get hurt,
somebody comes up, you know, things like that. But to start
the year seven hundred and eighty, only fifty nine voted in this question.
Jazz Chisholm of Miami is number one. Anthony wrendon't is number two. I
would vote Anthony Wrendone number one, number three. Carlos Correa a little surprising,
Tim Anderson, Jack Flaherty the Tigers. Jack Flaherty isn't there. I
don't understand that. Why is that pet Alonzo, Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman,
Ellie d la Cruz disagree there, Manny Machado, Blake Snell. I
wonder how much has to do with Machado's overall attitude, but I said,
there's a tiger in there, and obviously it's Jack Flaherty. I don't know
exactly when this was taken. Might be a little different if it were taken
before this year, you know, going into the season. The name I'm
focused on is the active players who received at least one vote, and one
of them is Javier Bias. That shouldn't surprise you. Julio Rodriguez is in
that question. Is in there, Juan Soto, your Don Alvarez, which
is odd, very Spencer Streider again really odd. How was he overrated?
Anyway? Those are the names solely on vibes, which you know, the
emotional part of things. Who would you want on your team? Ninety five
of the seven hundred and eighty players I'm not saying all received a question.
I'm just telling you seven and eighty total are active in Major League Baseball during
the season. Ninety five votes. Who would you want on your team?
From a vibe standpoint, the guy who's giving you that good vibe, Mookie
Bets number one. Then Otani Akunya Harper, who plays with as much emotion
as anybody, Judge Schwarber, Trout, Lance Lynn, Marcus Simeon, good
teammate, Willie Adamos, Josel Tuve, and there's a few others. Okay,
I get it. There's a few other questions in here that really aren't
important. This this is the other thing I wanted to get to. Which
team would you sign with if contracts, state taxes, and rosters were not
a factor? So it doesn't matter whether you're ready to win, doesn't matter
the contract you're going to sign, and it doesn't matter about state taxes.
Take it all out. This is based solely on how good your organization is.
I'm going to name the teams, and it's going to be somewhat associated
with what I just got done talking about or ranting about. None that you're
going to have something says what organizations have bad reputations among players? That's pretty
easy. Losing organizations have bad reputations. But which team would you sign with
if contracts, state taxes, and rosters were not a factor? Number one?
What do you think it is, it's Atlanta. Boston is number two.
You talk about an area that embraces and is passionate about their baseball.
You don't have to like them. There's a huge difference between liking and respecting.
Okay, Number three. Another organization that is really big about taking care
of their alumni and doing their teams right. The LA Dodgers. Again,
don't have to like them, but players recognize it. Yankees in the conversation,
Cubs in the conversation, believe it or not not that they got a
ton of votes. The Reds in the conversation, is there any Let me
see how many teams two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve,
fourteen, sixteen, Eighteen teams were mentioned, eighteen got votes. The
Tigers were not one of them. Then you look down here and it says
also mentioned, Orioles, Guardians, Brewers, Pirates, Blue Jays, Nationals,
Cardinals. Twenty five teams of the thirty were mentioned. The Tigers were
not one of them. Twenty five of thirty. How much should that concern
you? Players can vote for any team. It didn't matter, doesn't matter,
the contract don't matter, the state tax doesn't matter, the roster,
none of that is a factor. Who do you want to play for?
They're writing down every team ranking teams twenty five were mentioned, Tigers were not.
When we come back, what organizations have bad reputations? Are they in
this conversation and is it justified? That's coming up next on Exes and Bros.
Across the Great State of Michigan. We're teeing off our tenth year at
the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for the best who are
yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun.
Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blackfield Country Club for fabulous food,
discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world
competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now, admire LPGA Classics
dot com, Lot's Best, Pleasant Soaring in Resort, Sunday Motley Crew and
Friday August ninety Loved Live, Don't miss Leonard skinnerd and zz Top all part
of the Soaring Eagles Summer up to our concert series. Tickets for all shows
on ZELM now at the Fox office and etics dot com. Check the entire
lineup at Soaring Eagle Casino dot com. I'm gonna play golf a little bit
later on today, not exactly where I'd like to be playing golf, because
where I'd like to be playing golf is Tullymore. Find me a place that
has the two championship golf courses that is as breathtaking and enjoyable as Tullymore.
You're not gonna be able to find it, folks. This place is so
spectacular, the people there are so good. You want an outing, you
want some type of wedding reception, They've got it for you. But if
you want an outing or you can go and you can stay and enjoy and
have the best time with the best golf at the best prices. Tullymore is
the place to go.