Good late evening, everybody for a Thursday night fire up. I hope everybody's
fired up for this show. I have an awesome panel tonight. To the
side of me, mister Ralph Williams. Welcome back, Ralph, Oh,
thank you. It's great to be here as always amongst everyone here, and
it's great everyone out there watching us here tonight. So it's a rainy night
in Pittsburgh. I believe the Pirate game was postponed or not. They're in
Philadelphia. Maybe might have been canceled there too. It's raining like crazy year,
so you know. And underneath mister Ralph is none other than the author,
mister George I core Hye. Welcome aboard everyone for another great evening of
sports. And then my host mister Smoking Jeremy b Hey, Orlando Cabano Junior.
Yes, welcome in. And it's not stalking when we're going live because
you get the notification, so you're good. But yes, it's great to
be here. It's great to talk some sports. We're gonna get to talk
about sports around the world in then about our town exactly exactly. So I
have to ask you, guys, do you think because there's a report out
did someone talked to the goat Tom Brady, he might be back. Do
we think do we think that he will be back? We'll start with my
co host, smoking Jeremy b I actually said when he became a part owner
of the Oakland Raiders, he might be the first owner player in football.
And do they really want to run out Aidan O'Connell. Yes, he has
the golf type of numbers in play action passing, but he's still a second
year guy who probably could benefit from developing a bit longer because he wasn't a
top notch quarterback coming out. He was a good, good, not great
quarterback in college, played for a good not great team. We don't know
what he's gotten the and that would avoid a sophomore slump for them. Mister
George, I don't know what Thomas thinking. I really don't. He's got
a multi million dollar contract and job waiting for him with the network doing football.
He's already lost his beautiful, lovely wife, and I don't want to
get into any kind of details because it could have been more whatever between the
two of them, but that's gone and now he's being tempted by once again
coming back. So I I just don't want him to do it. I
don't personally speaking, but he makes up his own mind. Like Jeremy said,
he's part owner of that team, and if the Raiders need him,
I don't know anything's possible. I mean, the guy said before many times
he was retiring and he came back. So but I'm not for it.
But hey, what do I got to say about it? The fact that
I'm an observer of the situation, Ralph, I got two words. I
got two words for your ego and greed. His ego and his greed will
make him come back. That's That's as simple as that with Tom Brady,
all right, And and to have to try to get another Super Bowl with
a third team, we'll also bring and bring this into into fruition here,
And I think it's sad. I agree with George. She said, stay,
you know, take his football announcing job and run with it. But
he's not going to do that because he's Tom Brady, and it's greed,
it's ego, and I won another Super Bowl with a thirteam. Well,
it might not be a third team. What if he goes back to the
New England Patriots without Bill Belichick. It's possible it's possible. Let's face it.
I understand he's not as young as he used to be, but his
knowledge of the game is far out weighs most of these rookies coming in.
He's kept himself in really good shape from what I've been told and what I
read. You know, hey, if he was the best person for the
job, let him do it. As long as he still has that desire
and wants to play and wants to why should he have any less of a
chance making a team as anybody else. Now, I will say, you
have to give everybody their fair shit shot. So let him try out.
If he wants to try it, why stop him. He could be way
better than some of these other ones. I mean, let's face it,
New England kind of needs somebody. The Raiders could. Minnesota needs somebody.
I don't think you'd go to the Minnesota, but there are two teams that
need a good quarterback. But yeah, I don't know about that one.
There's a good wines of the chat. Oh people, here, let's see
Jimmy Raiders if he comes back. DeVante Adams stalking Tom right now, if
I were him with a laughy emoji, come back and prove it wasn't Bill
the whole time rocket scientists? Ola? Why not? Just my friend?
Ralph looks like he could be Will Vogel's father. And what do you think,
Jeremy? I already said it. I said when he became a part
owner of the Raiders that he did that to be the first owner player in
NFL history. I said that last year. As soon as I found out
he became part of it, everybody doubted me. But the fact he's talking
about coming back and he's on the panel to get him a contract that he'd
want, I think that makes the most sense out of all of them,
because, as I said, those late round picks usually have a sophomore slump.
Oh what what do I think about Ralph being as Will's father? I
think that's the funniest comment of the night. You know what I've been I've
been said other things, so you know, But yeah, t J watch
will be looking his chops if Brady comes back. As you guys play the
AfD West this season, right, I believe we do. I believe we
do. So I have a question for the panel, who do we think
is going to be the next Vikings quarterback? Are they drafting somebody and if
they do, we are they drafting up to get somebody? And I will
start with my co host again, I think they're gonna draft somebody, but
they're gonna let them sit. I think the starter is going to be Sam
Donald this season. In other words, Vikings fans embrace the Sun Ralph you
Well, I will think they right because they need some quarterback depth. I
mean, if Sam Donald's they're starting quarterback, they need to get somebody in
here. I mean, you know, uh, well with uh, you
know, with others moving on and things like that. And Minnesota's laid an
egg with with what they've had, uh and backups and stuff. So let's
see what happens, you know with Minnesota, I think they're going to take
a quarterback. George Well, I still believe that they're really interested in Michigan's
JJ McCarthy. And the problem is is that how much do they want to
give up to move up in the draft to make sure they can him?
And that's always the difficult situation for a team. I don't personally think that
JJ is going to be ready for the NFL. I think I I,
of course, you know, being a Michigan kind of slacky, you know,
a way was hoping he'd come back for one last senior year, but
that didn't happen, and I just don't feel he's ready for the NFL.
He's got to add some more beef. He's got to he's got to get
a little bulk here, I think in the weight room. But they seem
to be liking him a lot of Viking. So whether it's him or somebody
else, I don't know. But to move up to be safe that they
can get him, that's the big question. Okay, So I will be
making an announcement here there will be three of us on this panel that are
actually going to be covering the NFL Draft in Detroit. Mister Smoking Jeremy B,
George Corn and myself and Scott Morgan all will be at the draft covering
it for you guys. Well, I will be at the draft party here
in Pittsburgh at Stay j And it's and uh, it's sponsored by the Aaron
Donald Foundation, So you'll be seeing me putting up pixel with me and Aaron
Donald. So great, that's great. That's great. So my question to
Smoking Jeremy B, because I know you've kind of studied a lot of the
draft and a lot of things. What what team is going to surprise us
by taking going out of their norm and doing something different and maybe trading up
to get somebody that we weren't projecting them to do. I'm honestly thinking it's
gonna be Minnesota moving up to either five or six to get either JJ McCarthy
or Drake May which everyone follows there, because there will be four quarterbacks off
the board in the first six. Okay, you say Chargers, but I
would rather them trade up with the Giants. I would love Dan Lennard,
my co host, to be very happy to get the eleventh and the twenty
three because that means that his DM was blowing smoke when he said he wanted
JJ McCartney any anybody else? Ra Elf, do you have any predictions of
something surprise with the draft? Well, Candy, anything can happen. I
mean, there's a lot of teams out here. Uh And I was talking
about this on my radio show on Tuesday, where you have teams that you
think might be taking a quarterback end up taking some kind of defensive tackle.
I mean, or you got a team that you thought that was going to
take a defensive tackle might have taken a quarterback. Uh. That's the way
I look at the draft. I mean, it's always unpredictable. You never
know what anyone's gonna do, and it's never an exact simeians. So I
think there's gonna be a few surprises. There's a few teams out here probably
looking for something specific. I know the Steelers are looking for an offensive lineman,
a center. You know, they're looking for a defensive tackle, a
corner, and they need wide receiver help now, So I mean, you
know they're going to be active. I think I've already been told from some
colleagues of mine to cover the Steelers that there's a trade in the works.
When and how, I don't know. I don't have any further details on
that, but I can say last year they traded up to get Roderick Jones,
So who knows. I mean, with Omar Kahn, you never know
anymore. That's what they call him, the Kahn Man. So we're going
to see where this draft goes. I mean, anybody could pick anything.
Tampa Bay they want Powers Johnson. I'm here, and they want to trade
up to get him that they really want him, They need him. So,
I mean, you know, because Bake Mayfield. Don't have anybody snapping
the football, so I mean, you know so, and they just paid
a lot of money for Baker. They don't want him getting hurt, so
you know, we'll see what happens. They're all pro retired, right,
And then they had a rear ending injury at the end of the season with
the rookie that they cracks right, right, that's why they need a center,
And they made sense except for one thing. His medicals came back really
bad, and he's starting to drop in the rankings a little bit, so
he could actually be there and they may not have to trade up because somebody
might go to the next center on the board just to avoid that possible injury.
It's it's the injury, Jeremy. It's the type of medical that makes
you prone to an injury that could happen, is what I'm here. And
I don't know what exact details is. I haven't seen it, but I've
been paying close attention to a lot of stuff in the draft. I bought
my Draft Bible, and I sit and read prospect notes every night. And
you know, there's some really nice late round players that have a chance to
be starters in this NFL, especially if you pay attention to the guy that's
called math Bomb, which is Kent Lee Platt. He's the one that developed
the relative athletics tore and they score that against every single Combine attendant since nineteen
eighty seven. And there's a tackle out of Wyoming, and I don't want
to say his name, but he actually scored as the twenty sixth best offensive
tackle and he's slated to be either a seventh rounder or a Udfay you know,
yeah, especially if team the lineman Jeremy he's you know, he's gonna
be all hot pickup if teams out there the need lineman. And I honestly
hope that a team that wants a good backup tackle to take over for an
aging, possible retiring or not being resigned tackle would grab him, possibly in
the sixth round, with one of their two picks. But I won't vote
tell you, I don't want to go any further than that. George any
surprises you for see, No, I mean, uh, Joe alp Is
is a great, great athlete, Notre Dame offensive tackle. And the latest
charts I've seen about the first third of the first round, let's say twelve
thirteen somewhere in there. But this kid's got, uh, he's got a
lot going for himself, and he is he's graded out really really well.
He could be the first offensive tackle taken. Other than that, I mean,
I gotta agree with Jeremy, of course, I'm and you got Caleb
Williams and Jaden Daniels and Drake May and JJ McCarthy, I mean, and
of course Marvin Hudson Jr. I think it's going to be a very offensive
first first round, especially the higher the early picks, I mean in that
round. So it's going to be interesting to see and anything's possible. I
agree with you guys. I mean, you know, you know, Brad
Holmes of the Lions has done great the last few years. They're not going
to be drafted until way down in the first round, of course, being
a you know, second runner up to San Francisco at the NFC Championship.
So Detroit is kind of a little, you know, up in the air
as far as what they're going to go for. Do they go for the
best talent available, do they go for a certain position. But from a
standpoint of you know, the Midwest here, Oh and then Cooper dejene.
I'm keeping my eye on him the safety out of Otawa. He's very well
rated the UH and I mentioned Marvin Harrison Junior. There's some key people from
the Big Ten that I'm thinking about, of course, along with JJ McCarthy
and Joe Wald even though Notre Dame's not in the Big ten. But he's
going to go high too. Yeah. My radio Coast smoking Jim Fraser wants
Cooper Degen to be picked up by the Steelers there. Well, yeah,
he likes Scooper Degene. Yeah, yeah, Cooper design himself, Jeon dejeene
whatever. Look at his actual statistics as a corner slash safety last year because
he did play outside corner at CB one and then when the strong safety got
hurt, he switched to safety. He had three hundred and eighty eight covers
now, zero touchdowns, allowed, two interceptions of four pass breakups, and
QB's against had a thirty seven point eight passer rating. Wow, that's second
best overall stat of any corner slash safety coming out this draft. Do you
know who he's second to join tune this draft? Now? Who? Kool
Aid McKinstry. I like, I like kool Aid. Yeah, I like
kool Aid. The only thing that's gonna make him drop to lower than the
top three guys, and the top three guys right now is what I'm hearing
is Nate Wiggins, even though he got hurt at the combine when he ran
that elite elite fastest time in the NFL ever ran at the combine. That
four to one is uh, carry on Arnold. Actually kool Aid's teammate and
Quinnyon Mitchell are the top three. Okay, so I've actually been paying attention
to it. So there's a chance one of our teams could grab that guy.
The interior O line thing. There's a good center that's gonna be at
the top of the second round, and we all know the top of the
second round isn't much different from West Virginia. Yeah, the one from West
Virginia. I actually see that as a guy that the Steelers could go for
instead of Taper to say if they don't like the medicals. He's on our
he's on our radar, Thank you, Jerry, He's on our radar.
Yeah, he's gonna go. He's gonna go on the first round. I
think you're right, and I think JPJ may fall to somebody, and you
know what, you can say what you want. He's that shorter low center
of gravity center center that you want JPJ and he's after they're after twenty you
know who could use them. They're all pro low center of gravity center just
retired the Eagles. Oh yeah, that's true because without Jason Kelsey, I
don't think there's a push push that kid from Duke two, Jeremy he's he's
going up on the board. And that one from Yeah, yeah, he's
going who plays all three interior lineman positions. And the other one that's moving
up the draft boards is Cooper Bebe. He fell for some reason. He'd
have been the best guard if he came out his junior year, went back
to school, had a great year and actually pushed Byron Murphy in that game
versus Kansas State back into the end zone to let the running back run through.
Yeah, somebody there set up on neighbors. I like that neighbors kid,
I want Yeah, I like him. Okay, guys, we've been
talking a lot about the NFL, but there's some other sports being played right
now. I want to talk a little bit about Major League Baseball. Corbyn
Burns came out today, I believe it was today, and he said,
part of the reason why we are having so many Tommy John surgeries is because
of the pitch clock and the fact that they are rushing everything and they feel
that they're constantly going and going and going, that they really needed that little
bit of rest, even though it's a little bit of time, that little
bit of extra time. Your thoughts on the injuries this year, with all
of the Tommy John surgeries that have gone around, do you think the pitch
clock has anything to do with all the injuries? To pictures? And I'll
start with mister George Well, I don't profess to be an expert on this,
but I have to think that it probably did have a little bit to
do with that. You know, these guys are used to pitching at a
certain pace. I mean they were trained, they were nurture, they were
brought along by their training staff, and they're pitching coaches and their bullpen coaches,
and you know they're in a they're a rare breed, all right.
The pitchers have a certain pattern. And when I say pattern, I don't
just mean their repertoire. I mean they're pitching pattern as far as the length
and the time, like you were saying, and Candy, there's I think
there could be something to that, because you're asking me as a pitcher to
cut out three seconds or fifteen seconds or whatever it is and adjust to that.
That being said, there are more injuries. There are way more,
especially Tommy John surgeries than I had ever thought there would be, and it's
just gotten to the point of of concern. Obviously, can they well,
maybe they could point out other things going on. I don't know. I
mean, the pictures are obviously not in the game as long as they used
to be. We all know that the starter is especially we've gone so specialization
on pitching with starters, middle closer, set up everything. But the only
thing that has changed is this pitch count and the time that the pitcher has
to throw that ball. I think he's something to it. I don't know
how how does everybody else feel. I think there is something to it.
Ralph, what is your opinion? I think I agree with you one on
that, Candy and George. I think that the pitch clock is causing this
problem. And you know, as George mentioned the pictures and Jeremy mentioned,
does the pitchers have a certain rhythm as to how they do their thing.
And I agree with that that perspective. And you know something, this this
Commissioner of Baseball, this Rob Marrivitch, he's got so much egg on his
face that's unbelievable. And this is just another sample of the egg he has
on his face. Because I'm going to tell you what. There was no
need for this pitch clock thing at all, all right, And you know
you want to speed the game up or you want to stop cheating or whatever.
You know, you know, it's happened to Houston Astro the signals stealing
thing. You know, it led to them doing some electronic signals now and
all that other stuff. So it's it's a big mess that he created.
And now he's created another mess and pictures are going to get more surgeries.
And here we are smoking. Jeremy B. Well, there is a solution
without eliminating the pitch clock. Here. It is if the same picture is
in and they go past three innings. This is when we used to see
it. They would take an extra five to ten seconds per pitch after three
innings. Before the pitch clock. They used to pitch at the pace that
they That's why they set it at what they said. The pace through three
innings used to be exactly what they said it at pitchers were going fast.
And the reason why it's the third time through the lineup nine times out of
ten. If you've got a good hitting team, you're in the third time
through the lineup by the fourth inning. So you get to that point where
they're starting to take a little extra time because they're trying to throw the timing
off, because batting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing. So if you'd
went after three innings, if it's the same pitcher in and then increased it
by ten seconds for the fourth through six innings, and then after two times
through the lineup, you increase it again. If it's the same picture is
in, especially if they have a chance to do a no hitter or a
perfect game. But if you put the reliever in there, you go right
back to the original pitch plock because at the fresh arm, well you know
something to got everyone here. Another thing too, You got pictures now pitching
one hundred miles in there, and that can hurt their That hurts their arms
too, And if they have to speed that kind of a pitch up just
to get it, you know what I mean. You know that's another reason
why a lot he's Tommy John Surgery's too. But I think it's the pitch
clock, plus the fact that a lot of these pitchers now pitching over one
hundred mile and hour fastballs, including the Pirates number one pick Paul Skins.
And that's why they're careful with Skins, because you know that's they he pitches
them kind of fastballs or them kind of pitches, and you know they're only
having them pitch two innings at the time. The math is simple. MLB
batters hit two seventy five against fastballs thrown between ninety and ninety three miles per
hour last season against fastballs in ninety six miles an hour and up, batting
average drops to two thirty four. So, yes, you're right, they're
trying to throw harder and right. And what they're saying now is a pitcher
needs a mid nineties fastball to be drafted early. So you have young guys
with young arms that are trying to throw with such high velocity. One of
the other things I remember we did a show with a coach or a pitching
coach, and I remember him telling us that the problem is too, is
that kids these days, and part of it is the parent's influence, they're
only playing one sport, and they're specializing in that sport, so they play
that sport all the time, starting from a very young age. And the
problem with that is then they're constantly throwing and using those same motions and doing
the same things. Whereas if you are a more well rounded sports person,
you're gonna play baseball fort of the you're gonna play a different a different part
of the season, which uses different muscles, so you're not straining the same
muscles all of the time. And I think that's true because I think we've
gotten to the point where parents are pushing their kids to specialize in one sport,
whether it be baseball or basketball or football, and they're not playing all
the different sports like they used to. I agree, that's a very good
observation, Candy, And there are still some kids that are multiport sports stars,
but I think it has gone down. You're in Michigan especially, uh,
you know, people are being more selective, you know, and hockey
is a great example. Most of these kids that play hockey, they could
care lots about soccer or baseball, football, anything else. And I know
hockey is one of the more expensive sports to play, is of all the
equipment that you've got to have. But still, I mean when you're in
some of these cold weather states, Ralph, you guy, I mean Pittsburgh
and Philadelphia, they love their hockey. I mean a lot of people.
You know, your state is another one that. Yeah, I'm sure a
lot. Oh yeah, we love hockey up here. I mean it's it's
it's a you know, it starts outing. We have colleges now that are
doing hockey that are smaller colleges that have never done hockey. Look how much
Robert Morris has put into their hockey program. In fact, it was ready
to go down to drain because of lack of funding, and a whole bunch
of people got together and put money together and saved it. We got women's
hockey now here. So I mean, you know, stuff going on,
you know, So you're right, and you know, like you said,
kids are playing one sport. When I was in high school, I knew
a guy who play or a kid who played every sport. He played golf,
if he played baseball, he played basketball, he played football, he
played it all. And you know there are but that was then and this
is now. You know, it's a whole new mentality of a child.
It is. It is any other topics any of you before we get to
my town that anybody wants to bring up, we could talk. The Masters
just started today. They had a what a big delay. They had one
hundred and fifty minute weather delay and only fifty nine of the eighty nine players
were able to finish their realms before darkness halted play two and a half howards
delay. Yeah, but you know it was a thing of beauty. I
saw the video of Gary Player, Jack Nicholas, and Tom Watson as the
honorary starters, and to me, that's what the Masters is all about.
I mean, you know, Arnold Plummer, God rest of Solo is gone.
There have been other other you know, greats that have had that honor,
but now they're honoring and you know, Jack has slowed down a lot,
and Garrett Player looks the best. Tom Watson looked really good too,
but I know Jack has slowed down. He had his wife as his caddy.
It was so cool. If you haven't seen it, you gotta go
into YouTube and find that it's only about five ten minutes long. But it's
it's well worth it to see those three guys, those three great golfers do
the honorary stuff, you know, after they wait through the ring delay.
Orlando must not play league controlled golf because there actually is a timer on the
t stand. You only have so many seconds before you can hit the ball
once you place the te Yeah, you can do all and stuff that you
want beforehand, but once you place that tea, you do have a time
club. Oh my wow, Okay, any other topics. I mean,
obviously, March Madness is done. We have to give kudos to the women's
and all the viewership they had. South Carolina had such a run undefeated,
Don Staley giving credit to Caitlin Clark for helping elevate the game of women's basketball,
and then of course the Yukon men taking it. You know, the
better game was I in all honesty, the South Carolina versus Iowa. I
watched both games. Perdue put up a good fight for part of it,
but Yukon was just hands down the better team that that game. That game.
So that's funny, Orlando Esco Junior. You are being quite a little
funny man that I well, it's a cinerella story about to become the Master's
Champion. I think since we did get a late start, I think we're
gonna We're gonna do my town. So let's start with Ralph. Well,
you know, the Pirates are the Pirates and where they are. But you
know they lost to Night five to one to the Phillies and they're going to
They're nine and four, and we'll see where they go from here. I'm
predicting five hundred. The Penguins, on the other hand, are slowly creeping
up to get into a wild card here. Some teams have to lose,
and the Penguins have to win some of these games. They've already won a
few, so we'll see where they go from here. And the Steelers,
well, we don't know what omar CON's up to. As I mentioned earlier,
they call him the con Man, so we're gonna find out what he
does. And I will be at the pitt spring game on Saturday to see
what the Panthers look like in football this year. And we have a nice
freshman quarterback named Eli Hornstein that transferred from Alabama. I'm interested to see what
he looks like. And our so called starting quarterback who has decided to transition
to tight end Filterkovid is entering the NFL Draft, so we're going to find
out where he goes or what happens with him in the draft. So other
than that, I have nothing else, George. What's happening in your town?
Well, Mike town being Detroit, And right now we are on the
verge of seeing if the Red Wings are for real or not. So if
you had not heard the news, they did tie it up, went in
overtime, but Pittsburgh defeated them today. So you got Pittsburgh in the second
wild card spot at the Eastern Conference with eighty six points and then one point
behind the Detroit Red Wings, the Washington Capitals, and the Philadelphia Flyers with
eighty five points. Now, Philadelphia's played one more game than those teams that
I just mentioned. But the Red Wings only have to blame themselves if they
don't make the playoffs. As Jeremy knows, they were in the driver's seat.
They had a good thing going. Then they got all out of whack.
Their captain was injured and like everything falls apart, losing six seven games
or whatever it was. So their record in the last ten games, the
Red Wings only three four and three, so that's been kind of their downfall.
But they did pick up one point and that is valuaball. But Pittsburgh
is now one point ahead, like I said, of Detroit and Washington and
Philly. So it's an exciting down to the last weekend and last week of
hockey finish. Everybody here is pulling for Detroit because obviously, number one,
there's never been a a Stanley Cup playoff game in their new arena, and
number two, it's been seven long years since Hockey Town was able to make
the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's that's all I got for you, smoking,
Jeremy b what's happening in your town? Well, the Tigers look better than
most people anticipated, starting out with the five and one start. Then they
ran into that buzzsaw that was electric of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But yet at
the same time, the Pirates did pirates things towards the end of that series
by having a five to one lead and give it losing six to five.
So you know, that is something that Ralph Williams is used to seeing hot
start, a mid little fizzle a couple of weeks in, then go back
on another hot streak. Then fizzle for another streak. The Tigers do the
same thing, especially early in the season if they're able to keep up.
The problem is our mid our mid starters are not as good as the guys
that the two guys at the top and the one guy at the back end
of the rotation Miat Maeta, right, yeah, and then the other kid
I can't think of his name right now. But those guys look awful.
Uh at Flarerty they picked up remember, yeah, yeah, both of those
guys were pick ups this year and both of them look awful. Mys looks
electric. He added two miles per hour to almost every pitch except for his
curve ball, which he's trying to improve. He wants to get that go
around eighty six eighty seven when it's the most effective, because that's when you
get that uh what is it called that twelve six drop that they want.
So that's what he's working on right now. But he did pick up the
two miles of an hour on his fastball. He's hitting like ninety six to
ninety eight miles an hour religiously with it. His slider is electric, hitting
eighty eight to ninety miles an hour. It's his curveball and his change up
that he's working on because that change of pace and the speed that they hit
those a that's what makes a picture elite. That's why he's second and screwble
whole. Tarik looks fantastic. Yes, yes, but the bats have to
come around when those the three and four pitchers are on the mound or we're
going to be in a lot of trouble. Yeah, okay, so we're
gonna talk about my town. I'm going to talk about football. Believe it
or not. Can you believe that? But surprise, surprise, you're right.
But I'm going to first start out with down here in South Florida because,
like Ralph on Saturday is the spring game. We are headed down to
Coral Gables because Miami for the first time is actually going to have their spring
game in at home Coral Gables at Cobbs Stadium. They normally have played up
here at Fort Lauderdale where now is called Chase Stadium, where uh inner,
Miami plays the last couple of games times for spring game. There's all kinds
of questions on how this team is going to do because they have had all
kinds of transfers in and out. With the transfer portal and recruiting. The
biggest question we'll start out with is quarterback, because cam Ward transferred six foot
two, two twenty three pound quarterback They who had a career year at Washington
State last season through three three and seventy five yards and thirty three touchdowns,
now comes to Miami and he takes the place for Tyler Van Dyke, who
used the transfer portal to transfer out. So I'm excited and interested because one,
I've never been on Miami's campus. Two I've never seeing this stadium,
and I always like seeing new stadiums. But to see how the Hurricanes have
changed and how their offense changes under this new quarterback will be very interesting.
As a for other my town. This is gonna be a rant because I'm
really upset with the NFL. You decide you want to become an international giant.
Get that, So what are you gonna do Opening Opening weekend? You
are taking my Green Bay packers and you're gonna ship them out to Brazil,
and then you're not gonna let any of us watch unless we stream on Peacock
because I don't live anymore in Philadelphia or in Green Bay. So the local
TV will get their TV rights, but the rest of us now have to
and that upset that you want us to any growing your brand, which I
understand, but you're growing to a place that I've never been. I would
love to be able to watch that and not have to pay a stream a
separate streaming service. I mean, I've got Amazons already pay Amazon. I
don't how many different streaming do I have to have so that, Yes,
I know Orlando, there are some Detroit people that do not like my packers.
But if you're an NFL fan, you should be kind of upset too,
because if you've never been to Brazil and never seen their stadium and that
it shouldn't It should be on regular it should not be on a streaming service.
And that's where my beef with the NFL is. I understand you're trying
to grow your brand. I understand that, but I would not put a
game of that magnitude that's the first time you're playing in Brazil, and put
it on a streaming service. I believe Amazon may have something to say about
it, because they paid for every Thursday night game, and that's supposed to
be a Thursday night game. It's on Friday night game. This the first
time they're playing on Friday night. Yeah no, the Thursday game Jeremy Rumber
is going to be Kansas City against another opponent. Oh okay, well yeah,
this is a Friday see and I don't like it because I don't like
it to guys, because you know, for years, the NFL felt necessary,
rightfully so, to stay away from Friday nights. Okay, that's high
school for all night. Most of America and the colleges too have trampled on
that and they put games on ESPN, put games on Tuesday night, wednesdaynight,
and some not as often on Friday. But here we have the most
prestigious league saying shove it to all the high school fans and football fans.
Well, we got to show this game from Brazil. I just don't I
don't like it. I don't like it, and I don't like it because
of what you said. Candy too, the people that have to buy it.
Yeah, today, I'm sorry, eight o'clock start right a PM.
I think I don't officially said. Yeah, they've officially said if they make
it nine o'clock, I'll be more okay with it, because that's getting towards
the end of all the high school games. That's true, Jeremy, Yeah
o'clock where you're going to be interfering with the especially at homecoming time at a
lot of these high schools, that'll interfere with the ends of those games because
the homecoming halftime is usually an hour versus the fifteen to thirty minutes it normally
is. So yeah, I see a lot of issues with the Friday night
games in general, and I see issues with having Saturday night games in general.
And this year, Christmas is on a Wednesday. Yeah, so we're
gonna have football on Monday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night,
and Sunday. Yeah, I agree, George. Friday nights has always
been high school night, and the NFL needs to impose on that. Saturdays
was always college Why we have to stray away from those and take away because
yes, Jeremy, I agree, like the nine o'clock start, but if
you think about it, like the pat Green Bay is Central time zone,
so that's eight o'clock, so high school is definitely still playing their football games
during that timeframe. And I'm sorry, I'm just saying I was trying to
trying to smooth it over a little bit. Yeah, what NFL. You're
going to try to smooth it over a little bit, but you want to
know what you do. Don't watch it, that's literal on medio, don't
watch it on teav Well, well, you know the NFL. The NFL
has egg on their face about Amazon because they're not getting the viewership that they
used to get when it was on NBC. So you know, the viewership
there. And then also, uh, here in Pittsburgh, we're lucky though,
uh if the Steelers are on Amazon that we have a local two local
stations here that are willing to put it on their station for everyone to watch,
and including the Thursday night game with Amazon game or if they have a
Peacock game. You know, because there are people like you said, don't
have Peaclock. I have it with my cable system, so I get it
all free, you know. So yep. And then you've got other people
that find these outside the line streaming services that were fantastic, and you just
get every professional team. I get it, I get it. But for
the average fan, for these people aren't the huge sports fans, and especially
when you're going to a market that's never been that you've never played in before,
those games that's where the average fan wants to see with the fans over
there in that in Brazil, how they embrace the sport. You know,
what kind of fans do they have, what kind of are they buying,
Whose gear are they buying? Do they back you know, because you hear
them that they'll back certain teams and they have their favorite teams. It's just
it's cool when they go to those places and they show the different sites.
For those of us that have never been, it's just sad to me that
it has to be on a different paid service. Some of us pay for
cable, some of us pay for you know, Amazons, some of us
pay for whatever, direct TV streaming Amazon. Yeah. Really, with all
that being said, this has been an awesome addition of fire Up. We're
gonna go around the Horn and everybody can tell everybody how they can watch you
and get a hold of you. We're gonna start with mister George Aihorn.
Hi. You You could find me on the South Florida Tribune and the Motor
City Tribune along with great writers like Jeremy and Scott and Denzel or whoever that
is contributing. Oh yeah, and at the end of my column, there's
a little tagline or two that's will connect you to Amazon if you want to
get a copy of my book Detroit Sports Broadcasters on the Air. Scott's in
the book, Yeah, very young looking Scott with a lot of hair too.
And I also write for something called the Detroit Monitor. I'm looking forward
to the draft with many of you obviously being there in Detroit. We love
it and we're also looking forward to getting a hold of each other. So
if you want to reach me, go to giicornatyahoo dot com, Georgeiicorn on
LinkedIn, or you can get me on Twitter at sand G Sports ninety nine
and find me on any number of these great shows. Fire Up Pundit's punned
in to one hundred eight stitches sports Exchange. Just I love all these shows.
It's wonderful, wonderful network, Ralph. How can people get a hold
of you? Facebook? LinkedIn YouTube by a bone YouTube channel. I have
several podcasts on there as well. Just started a new one called Sports Capsule
where I come on talk for about two to three minutes and then go off.
I also have a radio show on Tuesday nights on Beaver Connie Radio four
to six pm Drive time with Smoking Jim Fraser, my co host, and
it's on Beaver Connie Radio, which you can reach on the on their website
or on the internet. Check out my YouTube channel, and I'm also on
Toombler as well. And now my shows are on Spotify and also on Apple
and Amazon as well. Okay, my co host, Smoking Jeremy b How
can people find you besides here on fire Up with Me? Well, you
can find me on Inside the Pigskin or Pundit, Pundit or Professor and the
Pupil anywhere Scott needs to be on the South Florida Tribune YouTube channel. I'll
show up because that's what I do. But you can also find me Monday
Fridays eleven am to twelve and also three nights a week at nine pm to
ten ish on my channel, Niekat Biting with the MotorCity Lions. My Wednesday
show is NFL based, so we do something more like this where we cover
all the teams as much as we can. I go for the three to
four biggest news releases of the week. Hey, I'm my writings with George
and Scott and Candy's great photos all on the South Florida Tribune Dot com under
the MotorCity Tribune heading. Maybe we'll have to have a new picture for my
headshot when we all need them. There we go, There we go.
You bet. If you like to listen to the audio version of this show,
you can find it on iHeartRadio, Google, Apple, Deezer, Castbox,
Spotify, Spreaker, wherever you get your podcast. If you want to
advertiser sponsor, you're gonna call my husband Scott nine five four three oh four
four nine four one. If you want to give us any show ideas,
you can email us self Floord Tribune at gmail dot com. But like Jeremy
said, go to our website www dot self Florida Tribune dot com. But
there's a red subscribe button by George. If you see that red subscribe button,
that means you did not subscribe to our channel. I don't know why
you haven't yet, and please share it with everybody you want to. Monday
nights we do Baseball one hundred eight such as Baseball Talk. Tuesday nights we
do Football Inside the Pigskin. Wednesday nights, Scott has a show called MotorCity
MedMon Show, which is an interview show. He does one on one interview
then they do. We do sports Exchange, which could be talking about NFL,
NHL, NBA, college basketball, women's hoops, cornhole. Yes,
I did say cornhole, because we talk about just about anything. Thursday Nights
is Pundit's pundit and then fire up. You just never know what we're going
to be talking about. But we always talk about my town because that's one
of my segments. But there is one other thing that we have got to
get up there. There's a book. It's called Lessons from the Microphone,
Tuning into the Enduring Wisdom of Visionary Leaders. Scott Morgan Roth wrote it.
George wrote the forward on it. There's a picture of Scott with a young
Muhammad Ali in there. You have to open it up, get the book,
open it up, look at it, read it, find it,
but enjoy the book. The book talks about Scott. He has a Scott's
a storyteller. He tells all kinds of stories about all the different things he's
done in the media and how media has changed over the forty plus years that
he's been in the business. So it's a really good, easy read.
Again. It's available Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, and Apple Books
soon hopefully on the books as well. Oh Orlando, thank you for the
love. Even if you don't support my team, Like I said, if
you listen to the pundit's pundit. I respect everybody's opinion, and everybody has
a right to their opinion. So whether you agree with me or disagree,
I respect you. So thank you so much, and I'm glad you're a
subscriber. Jeremy, you want to take us home and end us like you
always do. Try every day to be a better person than you were the
day before, because that's the only way to make the world a better place.
Much love to everybody in the chat. Have a great day. And
Orlando Estrobano Junior is a new subscriber to the South Florida Tribune. He's writing
on your channel, not mine. Awesome, much love, Thank you everybody,
have a great week two