Good evening everybody. I'll welcome to another edition of Fire Up. My name
is Scott Morgan off oder City, mad Mouth. Please be joined by the
man with the thumbs up, Ralph Williams. He's our regular contributor here on
Thursday Night's everything going, Ralph. I know we have a lot of things
that we work on, and we're gonna be working on the External Bump Show
tomorrow and I believe that will start at what time eleven eleven am tomorrow walk
Talk Radio right before seven to zero five, nine, six three one to
listen in. And we have a big following and it's getting more and more
every week. So that's a great show. You and I will Bump podcast,
right, You and I and Mark man SENI are the main people as
well. So with that said, George iiic Hornwall, we're back for a
round two tonight. Yes, Scott, good to see you again, Ralph,
Thank you, George, appreciate it and where thank you and we're glad
Scott, you're on your feet. Welcome back to the to the studio.
Oh yeah, welcome back, Scott, Thank you. George. All right,
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candyeam behind the scenes. I also want to make mention of the fact that
I have a new book coming out in the next few weeks, which is
a media book. It's called Lessons from the Microphone, Tuning into the Enduring
Wisdom of Visionary Leader. So with that said, let's go out there and
get to it, and we have a few topics to get everybody and over
view there. Welcome back, Samuel Kay, good to see you, my
friend. Hopefully one of these days we'll get you on one of these shows.
Hope you're doing well and I appreciate the kind words. All right,
well overview, Well we're gonna start with the first topic. Have a few
of the tonight Pittsburgh Steelers had a thirty to six loss at Houston, and
now they get the Baltimore Ravens this week. So, Ralph, why don't
you give me your overview of what you thought? I heard against the upstart
Houston Texans. As a team coach by Demico Ryans, c J. Stroud
has been a great pick for him. But and the Steelers unfortunately ran into
a very fine football team. Well, I think the Steelers, Scott and
George, I think they laid an egg. This was a trap game.
I told everybody when I had my Steelers special on my radio show that there
was going to be one game that they were going to lose that they should
have won, and this was one of them. Indy and I said the
Arizona Cardinals. Those were the three games. I said that they probably were
going to lose one or maybe two of them because Mike Tomlin has a bad
habit every year of losing the game that he should win. This was a
game they should have won. The defense actually didn't play too bad. But
when you spend too much time on the field and your offense can't move the
football like it's been going on now for a while, that that becomes a
problem. And I don't care how many veterans you have. I don't care
how good your football team is. If your defense is on the field too
much, it's going to get tired, and especially if they run the football
and grind it down, that's what's going to happen. And the Texas just
ran all over the Steelers. They had a better game plan. And you
know, you know, I don't usually say this too much, but Tamika
Ryans, I congratulate you for having a good game plan and beating the Steelers.
CJ. Stroud you talking about it. Yeah, CJ. Stroud's a
better quarterback that I thought. You know, we always win against rookie quarterbacks.
We always take them and take them down in sacks. Didn't do it
this week. You know, a couple of our former guys beat us,
like Kendrick Green until he got hurt. You know, it was a bum
up here. He didn't do anything with the Steelers, and you know he's
done there trying to reinvent himself and then he ends up getting hurt, and
I feel bad for the guy. So but anyway, Matt Canada has to
go. He's the offensive coordinator. Some of my sources within the Steelers tell
me that if we lose this game against the Ravens the bye week comes up,
he's he goes bye byes. That's uncommon for the Steelers, but I
heard that aren't really the second The owner is not real happy right now,
and the ultimatum is that if if we lose against the Ravens and we don't
score a lot of points or whatever, he's he wants them gone by the
bye week. So we're going to find out if that happens. Okay,
George, what's your take on this football game? Well, I've been through
that, Ralph so many times with the Detroit Lions. You talk about trap
games, you know, and the loss of Seattle at home by Detroit was
not expected by hardly anyone. And I know what you're going through, and
I know what the Pittsburgh fans are going through, But you just got a
rally. Tomin's a good coach. He's a good coach, and I know
that everybody might be up in arms right now, but a boy that puts
a lot of pressure though, doesn't it on the Baltimore game. Like you
said, Ralph More comes in three and one and your Steelers are two and
two. But every week's a different situation and the days of just having an
easy game are over, folks, It's over. I mean, look at
Chicago rolling tonight in Washington. I know they're both bad teams. Look at
what happened to Detroit losing to Seattle, and like you said, Pittsburgh losing
to the Texans. They're a team on the rise of Texans. I mean,
you know Stroud is playing some good ball. Trust me, We had
plenty of him playing against the University of Michigan Wolverines. Trust me, over
the years, I know what a good quarterback that kick is. And you
know, it's just one of these things. Though, you know, you
gotta bounce back. Now you're talking about coach being fired and all this stuff.
Well, on the field, they got to perform. This is it.
Don't even worry about last week, right now, get it out of
your mind. And it's fine. Pitsburgh's concern. You can't roll over dead
though. You got to play the game. It's not gonna be easy,
but you could beat Baltimore. The Steelers can beat Baltimore, well, they
always do. To have a good record short against Baltimore. That's number one
and number two, they always seem to beat Baltimore. And it's always a
dog fight. Well, I don't think we've came out we have come out
with a win, guys Scott and George, in any kind of a Baltimore
game where it was two or three point or one point difference or in overtime
and we won by maybe a point or three points. It's always been a
dog fight. These division games are dog fights because they're there. It's for
the dominance of the division. And right now, Cincinnati don't look too good,
Cleveland's about average, Baltimore is about the best right now, and the
Steelers failed against the Texans. But you know what, George, they're putting
in the rear view mirror. Mike Tomlins said, it's this press conference this
week. They're going back into the laboratory, as he always says, and
we're going to try to fix this. So you know, we'll see what
he does. The only thing I'll say about this whole thing, Number one
is I wonder how the people in Houston are feeling that Deshaun Wantson is not.
Their problem is with Cleveland, and you get down. If I were
those people in Houston, I'd be doing tartet wheels because I'll tell you that,
Yeah, you're exactly what you're thinking about. Oh you have all those
issues with Deshaun Wantson, you moved them to Cleveland. You know, I'm
not saying that Deshaun Watson won't have a halfway. He's a career in Cleveland,
and again he better. They're paying them a lot of money. But
the future is now with CJ. Stroud. Not like everything that they're doing
in Houston. I really do. And in terms of the Baltimore Pittsburgh situation,
we all know what the division will aames with divisional games, the rivalries
Georgia and I will live it in our division when you had everything is a
rivalry when it comes to Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, Detroit
Bay, Minnesota. Yeah, but I would say that Detroit, Chicago and
Green Bay Triangle takes a little bit more precedent because they've been around the league
a lot longer as they would And it would be remissed for me to not
be on the show and say obviously, we're said, and by the loss
of Dick Buckets, who passed away at the age of eighty. Well,
at last I heard the Chicago Bears were leading the Commanders twenty to three.
Not surprised that they came out fired up anyways, But reci peace, Dick
buck Is. You know you were great for the game and everything about it.
And all I can say is the NFL will never be the same without
your presence around. With that said, let's move on to the next topic.
Tampa Bay Ray started out thirteen to o and that's a memory after they
were swept to nothing by the Texas Rangers. All right, Ralph Williams,
but I want to find out for you is this, did you ever believe
in the Tampa Bay Rays at the beginning of the year, let alone the
fact that at the end of the year they made a very quick exit.
You start winning thirteen ye row and then you go out out of two game
in the postseason. Yeah, the Rays late in eight I mean they I
thought they were going to go to the World Series. They were one of
my picks, you know, in the American League. And and what the
reason I like the Rais is because they are doing what the Pirates are not
doing, and that is they're winning with a small market budget and you know,
they always have good, good players, and you know, and it
also takes some good coaching as well. Again, I like the Rays,
I respect them. It's sad to see that they went out like this.
It's like the Dodgers every year, guys, Dodgers always, you know,
they have the highest payroll, and then they they soil the bed too,
and you know, in the playoffs instead of going the World Series. So
I mean, you know, you know, sort of like the similar thing.
Well, you know, Philly's hot and Tampa Bay it just went Bobby's
and you know, there's some surprising teams in here. Let's face the reality.
Kevin Cash is a great manager, he really is, yes, and
then Tampa Way raised away their run as an organization to me or one of
the model franchises in Major League Baseball. Love Kevin cash is, but I
never believed in him at the beginning with that thirteen game winning streak and the
reason why I was over in Tampa covering the Red Wings and the Lightning because
I felt their schedule was a little bit soft at the beginning. Don't get
me wrong. That thirteen and oh record will always be in the record books
that they're tied, so nobody can ever take it away from them. But
isn't you know, even though you have a great record to start in the
end, it's what you do in the postseason. And unfortunately the Tampa Bay
Rays are going to be watching it on TV instead of a continuing ball.
Okay, George, and yeah, the small market thing is unbelievable how they've
worked under us there. Yeah, and also, don't forget our friend Rick
Curdie Scott on one hundred and eight stitches. He said the same thing you
did. He says, wait till they start playing opponents that are worthy of
that thirteen game winning streak. And sure enough, sure as heck, you
guys both call that one as the streak ended, and they and they,
they take nothing away from Tampa. They still had a great season, but
we realized that there are certain teams that do know how to trip them up.
Now, the bad thing is is the statistic. The statistic that stands
out to me. They've hit one sixty one in the last four playoff losses
to last year two this year, sticks are one sixty one. You're not
gonna win anything. I don't care if you got I don't know if you
got cy Young on the mound. Seriously, I mean with the one sixty
one average. I have no idea Kevin Cash is going to have to go
back to the drawing board on some of this, because I'm not quite sure
where that's coming from. I just think that it was, you know what,
what is it the team that gets hot. I'm not saying the Rangers
were super hot. They weren't super hot. They struggled at the end a
little bit too, but they knew how to finish the finish the game and
win the series. But that being said, I think Tampa still has a
bright future. You're right. They're a small market that knows how to win.
They know how to draft, they know how to scout, and all
the more power to them. And they're not going anywhere, folks. They'll
be back next year and they'll be hungry, hungry or two. Oh yeah.
Absolutely all right. So with that said, let's just talk about the
matchups that are left out here. Ralph, I'll lead off with you.
We're gonna let you break down. Just give me preditions for each of these
series. Okay, we'll talk about the Texas Rangers, obviously managed by Bruce
Bochin knows how to win the World Series against Baltimore prediction and why. Uh,
I think Texas to have more experience. Baltimore hasn't been in the playoffs
in a while. Uh, we'll see what they do, just like Tampa
bayge Whorich said, the Baltimore Orioles or a team that is up and coming.
They're a small market team that hasn't won in a long time, but
they're here in the playoffs. But Texas has but Bruce Bochia Scott said,
and they also have probably better talent to win. And I think they're gonna
win. That's that's you know Texas. Yeah, we'll let you break down
every one of them first and then Georgia and I will go after that.
Minnesota against Houston and Barren Ryan, Baltimore right now lost their closer, I
believe, so yeah, for for a while. So I just want to
mention that I'm not going to get specifics, but they lost their closer.
That doesn't help at the wrong time of the year. Minnesota against Houston,
Ralph I like Houston, Uh, you know, I think that you know,
they're they're they're a well managed team. Too small market, but they
always they've been to the World Series. It's been a while from Minnesota,
so we'll see what happens there. But I like Houston, and we got
Philadelphia, Atlanta. Philly's up and coming guys. Uh, you know,
I didn't expect this this year, but I like Atlanta. I think Atlanta
has a very good team. They're managed well and uh, they have a
good record, and I think they're they're gonna win. Philly could sneak up
on them, but it's gonna be a challenge, but I think, uh,
Atlanta. Okay, last you got Arizona. I can't say al A
Dodgers. Like I said before, when it comes to the playoffs, the
l A Dodger is always lant egg or soil the bit. I'm taking Arizona.
Okay, very good? All right, George. You know, you
know the Masshofs. You got Texas in Baltimore. Yeah, you know,
I think you're spot on about that one, Ralph. Because of the inexperience
of the Baltimore Orioles in the postseason, that's gonna be a big challenge and
I have to go with you on this one. I do have to say
that Texas they disposed of of of Tampa, and now I think they're gonna
dispose of the Orioles. Even though the Ools had a great season on a
great record. It's gonna be a hell of a series. But I'm saying
they're gonna it'll be Texas three games to two. Hey, George, Minnesota
against Houston. I don't see any way that Minnesota is gonna be able to
pull this off. Guys, you know, you got Justin Verlander back there
in the rotation. Down in Houston, you got a Dusty Baker, I
mean, you got veteran leadership Altuve. I would be shocked if Minnesota got
more than one win in this series. So I'm gonna have to go with
Houston, uh winning three games to one? No, no, yeah,
yeah, three to one. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's right, That's
okay. So Atlanta, Oh, this is a tough one. Boy.
The Philly fans, you see how rabid they are. Oh my god,
it was so exciting. And you know, I've got a sentimental heart here
from three of my boys there, Dave Dombrowski in the front office, Nick
Castianos in the outfield, and Gregory Soto on the mound in relief. And
that being said, you can't you can't take anything away from Atlanta. What
a wonderful year they've had, just fantastic. So as much as Philly is
on a roll, I'm still going to go with Atlanta. They're on a
bigger role. That'll be a three to one series. Okay, all right,
last but not lazy on Arizona Dos. Yeah, I'm not going to
bite that trap there, Ralph. I'm still going with the Dodgers. I'm
not going to fall into that. Now. They could get tripped up in
the nl CES, I'm not saying, but we'll say that for another day.
But they got to get by a good team obviously first in Arizona.
But I think the Dodgers, they want one hundred games, got a lot
of firepower on that team. Scott, I'm going to go them again with
three to three games to one. Right, I'm not going to give any
particular how many games are gonna win. Well, that's okay, but that's
okay that you did. I'm sure a lot of people can match what you
say versus what the outcome is. Texas Rangers Baltimore. I would have gone
with Baltimore. Losing your closer is not going to do any good and any
Bruce Bochi there to me is the signing factor of a loser closer and the
season you're in trouble. So yeah, I'll go with Texas, Minnesota,
Houston kind of go with Dusty Baker justin Verlo Oh. Absolutely, yeah,
plus and Minnesota has been a good story this year, but watch out for
the Tigers next year as they continue to develop this roster and de try to
give Minnesota a run for their money. But for all intent purposes, I'm
going with Houston, Philadelphia, Atlanta. You know what one thing I'm intrigued
I talked for the first time last night against my Miami Marlins is Bryce Harper
was playing first base. You know what I like Bryce Harper playing first base,
and I'll tell you why. You know, Let's face it, he
won't run into many more walls. And the Philadelphia Philly are trying to say
Bryce Harper from himself. I can tell you right now, Bryce Harper would
be able to fit in any era of ball. I love Bryce Harper.
I love his passion, his energy, everything about the guy. I really
really really do that said you know what I'm going to do. I am
going to go over there a little bit I'm going to give. I'm going
to look for the upstate with the Philadelphia Phillies over this one. I am.
I say that this is all entertainment, education and inform and that's what
we're all here to do. To me, at first base was a great
move by the Phillies. And you know what he likes the position from I've
heard there's more action at first base and in the outfield. And if anybody
can relate to that scenario, then he does. It's me because when I
played other positions other than ketcher, when I settled into a position, you
always like to be on the diamond when you're more active instead of losing mental
lapses. And so I can totally appreciate them putting Rice Harper at first because
again I dealt with it. So I'm going to go with the Phillies on
this. So we got me a little different and Arizona and the Dodgers.
I'll stay with the Dodgers. And you want to talk about another former Tiger,
what about j D. Martinez ohe bring it up. There's so many
X Tigers that are doing so well, yeah, we'll face the reality,
you know, at the time. To George, well, yeah, let's
not get into that conversation, Ralph, I really don't. I think we
could say that for another edition of Fire Up. But the main thing is
is that, Okay, J. D. Martiz has done well. A
lot of these guys, you face it, the last seven years have been
tough on the Tigers because they're in a rebuilding mode. We saw that Mcalli
Coper is retiring, so so I'm not gonna put a whole lot of stock
in that. It's good that they're having success. So Max Scherzer was but
unfortunately not available for the postseason because of an arm injury. So you know,
anytime players leave from a team which is not playing very well, well,
there's a reason why they're going to have success. So we'll go from
there. All right, Ralph, you know what, We're gonna give your
final comments about what you want to talk about the rest of the night.
Forgers, Well, I want to talk about the upcoming hockey season coming up.
We have the Penguins coming up. I'm doing a special on my radio
show in Beaver County Radio one special. We're gonna see Kyle Dubis, brought
in a bunch of people, got rid of a bunch of dead wood that
you know that was brought in here by Brian Burke and by Ron Hextell,
and now he cleaned it all out, managed to stay inside the salary cap
and brought in Carlson and a bunch of guys. We're gonna find out if
Mike Sullivan can coach this team. I'm concerned about the goaltending because we got
Jorry back. If he can stay healthy, he'll be fine. And we
have a backup for some strange reason, can't pronounce his name for the life
of me, but he's been around. He's a good backup, better than
Casey the Smith. Let's see what the Penguins do, just like the Steelers.
It was it's exciting leading up, but we'll see when the games start.
They go hockey season. Obviously preseason going on now, it was tart
of keeps. Yeah, Ron Heckstall, I've always admired him as a executive.
But we'll just see how everything plays out with Pittsburgh. I know the
Red Wings as of Penguins the last couple of day and obviously preseason and Detroit
the Penguins and Red Wings always sure a nice Rivalryland that said, oh yeah
from the Stanley Cup time, you know, yeah, no, I know,
I know, I was there. Unfortunately guys hoisted that cup at Joe
Louis Arena. That was sad time for me. Hey which which NHL hockey
team? Uh? Wonders which which Stanley Cup hockey team won their final game
to win the Stanley Cup? Away? Who who holds that record? The
Pittsburgh in Montreal Pittsburgh Penguins. They they won every Stanley Cup away ask they
always won the last. So Ralph, why would I expect anything other than
a Pittsburgh Penguins reference with a question like that, Because if you were looking
for a trick question here and I fell for me and I got a Pittsburgh
guys. I always liked it when you come on and like the give the
pittsfordh market you love to, so we don't mind doing that. But still
it doesn't matter. I appreciate being with you guys talking Florida sports, and
uh, we're trying to keep the topice pretty straightforward simple. You bring a
veteran presence to the whole thing about Old School, which provides a unique and
different dimension of what we're doing, and that's why we like having it following
fun. It's on Thursday night, it's worked out. I enjoy you on
the external bump. I do. What's that I enjoy? I enjoy you
on the external bump as well. Thank you. Yeah, I have a
lot of fun doing the show with you and Mark. I really do.
Everything that we're doing together is great and seeing Media has certainly been a good
partner of Self Word Distribune for sure, and I look forward to as time
goes on to promote my book and then that's a distant future. So that
said, I want to let everybody know one more time that Fire Up is
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South kneambling behind the scenes and be repeated to gain in case you're just joining
us. My new book, which is a media book, is Lessons from
the Microphone Tuning into the enduring wisdom of Visionary Leaders. So you know,
with that said, I'm looking forward to joining Ralph Williams tomorrow on the External
Mom podcast which will be on Booket Radio tomorrow with myself, Ralph and Mark
Mancini. So looking forward to that, Ralphy. Don't you let everybody know
they get a hold you really quickly? Yeah. Ralph william seven three seven
at gmail dot com, Facebook, Twitter, x platform and also on LinkedIn.
I have my own YouTube channel as well. Check out all my shows
on there. And I have a radio show I do on Tuesdays in Beaver
County Radio ninety nine point three FM. And twelve thirty AM every Tuesday five
to six pm Sports Corner with Ralph Williams smoking Jim Fraser. This Tuesday,
we're doing a Pittsburgh Penguin special. I have some beat writers coming on to
talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins and it's a special one hour edition. I got
all right, George, you know the drell Yeah. Yeah. I'm the
author of Detroit Sports Broadcasters on the Air, a book that's available for purchase.
There's a link to get the purchase item at the end of my column.
I write for the South Florida Tribute under the MotorCity Tribune banner, and
I also write for a local paper in town called the Detroit Monitor. There
is a couple of ways to get a hold of me, Giicorn at Yahoo
dot or LinkedIn under my name or Twitter x whatever. It's called sand G
Sports ninety nine, and you can find me on the Sports Exchange and one
hundred and eight Stitches and Inside the Pigskin and all these wonder Pundon's Pundon.
It's great being on all these great shows with people like yourself. So Scott
and Ralph, thank you, all right. So this concludes this edition on
Fire Up so on behalf of Ralph Williams and George Icorn. My name is
Scott Morgan Rout the motor City Man. Ralph, thank you for joining us
on this edition on Fire Off, but we will see you on our next
edition. Did evening everybody to have a wonderful weekend.