Good evening everybody, and welcome to another episode of Fire Up Up Now.
Hello, gentlemen, Hello lady. How are we tonight? We're good?
Thank you. I'm sorry. I will introduce my panel. We're going to
start with Ralph Williams, welcome back to the show. Thank you, Candy,
thank you, it's great to be here. And the next guest,
mister George Icorn guests he's kind of a well, but thank you again for
the introduction. I appreciate it. Looking forward to the night show. So
am I. And then there's none other than my other co host on my
on our Sunday Fire Up episodes, Mike. Other co hosts Smoking Jeremy b
Howdy, Candy, Ralph, George, good to be here. Well we
can't, Jeremy, we got the short end of the stick. I says,
we can't be in Las Vegas, so we might as well be on
this show. That's it. If Las Vegas keeps equaling what I hear,
it equals I don't want to be in lost wages anyway, that's true.
Let's put it to you this the way, George, you probably have more
money in your pocket sitting where you are than in Vegas. That's very true,
very true. And you know what they say, you lose your shirt.
Doner too, so you don't want to lose your shirt, not me.
We have a great episode planned tonight. We are gonna start talking about
what's happening in Vegas. It's gonna happen on Sunday. It's the super Bowl.
Oh, the super Bowl. The super Bowl. We have two teams
in it. Mister George, who are the two teams in the Super Bowl?
Which two teams are in? George, San Francisco forty and the Kansas
City Chiefs. There you go. We are going to break it down kind
of by position, who we think has the edge in the game. So
we are going to start mister Ralph. Who has the edge quarterback? I
think it's Patrick Mahomes. He's much more experienced. He's been to the Big
Game and he has you know, Andy Reid as his coach. I believe
that you know Patrick Mahomes. Okay, George, who has the advantage at
running back? Well, he's a finalist for tonight's award ceremony. His name
is Christian McCaffrey and he has been waiting for this opportunity. Number twenty three
in your program. I believe that he will have a really good game.
I give him the edge. Pacheco's been great, I know for the Chiefs,
He's had a good year also. But just like the quarterback position,
I mean, this is really close, but Christian is the leading rusher.
I think he's I think he's got the edge and that's gonna be a big
part of what we're going to see played out on Sunday night at the game
the running game. Okay, mister Jeremy, we're gonna go receivers. Who
has the edge? San Francisco had hands down because the Chiefs wide receivers can't
catch a Golden Mulan China. Mister Ralph, Yes, who has the edge
at offensive line? Well, Kansas City's managed to protect mahomes this year.
I mean, you know, their line seems to be pretty decent. You
know, I saw it. I think Kansas City has a better offensive line.
Okay, George, front seven, the front seven, yep. I
would give it to Kansas City. Okay. I mean you're talking about the
tight end position being included. So I think that Travis Kelsey is really one
of the best tight ends I've seen in my in my years covering this league.
George Kittle obviously a great great a great tight end also, but I
give the offensive line, give you your front seven. I'm gonna go with
Kansas City again, a lot of experience there, a lot of guys that
can do. What they have to do is to open up the open up
the lanes for running games and do enough blocking for for ma homes. So
I'm gonna give the edge to Kansas City on that. Okay, Jeremy,
the secondary, I'm gonna get the edge actually to the Chiefs. Ambry Thomas
has been like a sieve for passes to go through him. Cute quarterbacks are
rating like an eighty six QBR against them, and completing passes over sixty five
and sixty is the benchmark of a good quarterback, which means it must be
the benchmark of a bad cornerback. Okay, Ralph. Special teams, I
think special teams are pretty much evenly matched. You know, they don't set
the word on the world on fire. But I'm taking Kansas City in this
game, so I'll take their special teams. Okay, George coaching, Well,
I first of all got to correct myself. I did not hear you
s defense of seven. I apologize talking about offensive line, but let me
go back to talk about just briefly the defensive line. I'm going to give
the edge to the forty nine ers. I mean, you got Nick Bosa,
their leading the charge, and you've got a great group of guys,
I know Armstead and Hardgraves. So I just want to clarify myself and answer
the defensive line. I'm going to give that edge to the forty nine ers.
Well, the coaching staff, what do we talk about here? Andy
Reid? My god, he's like an institution now. He loves this.
He loves the super Bowl. What is he sixty five sixties? Six years
old? And I got to give it to him. I mean, he
he's got that wall mustache and everybody's making fun of that bus stage with that
that freezing conditions in Buffalo, and uh, you know he helped lead that
team. Nobody a lot of people didn't think they even had a chance to
get to the super Bowl because of that playoff road schedule. But I'm gonna
get the edge to to to him. Shanahan's a great coach though, too,
no question about it. I Mean it's great coaches, But I'm gonna
give the experience edge over to Andy Reid. Okay, so I am going
to ask the other two for your thing. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna
ask on coaches, total offense, total defense, and then who do we
think is gonna win the game? So, George, you already did coaches,
who do you think offensively is the better is the better team? Well,
that's again a very close one. You know, based on some of
the things I've seen from Brock Purty, He's not as sharp as Mahomes.
Obviously he's younger. You know, he's got some weapons though with McCaffrey,
and I think though that the receiving corp in Kansas City. We know that
they didn't perform at all very well against the Lions opening week of the season.
So all that being, set out to chase here and say offensively,
I'm going to say the Chiefs, Okay, what about defensively? Defensively,
I'm gonna go with San Francisco. I think they got better linebackers. They
had really good guys on the defensive line, as I said, with Nick
Bosea leading the charge. So I'm going to say defensively, San Francisco is
going to be given the edge there. Okay, So then we're gonna go
to the next person and at the end we're gonna come back around to see
predictions. Let's go to Ralph. Who do you think coaching wise has Oh,
no doubt, no doubt. It's Andy Reid. And today he just
hired Eric B. Enemy to be his offensive assistant. So with that Andy
Reid, it's it's simple. I mean, he just got smart than Shanahan
right now by bringing in Eric B. Enemy as an offensive assistant for this
game. So you know, there you go right there, there's your there's
there's the coach. I think it's Andy Reid offense. Offense, I think
it's Kansas City all. I think it's Kansas City. If they can keep
if they can get the run game going, and like Jeremy said before,
if they the wide receivers can catch the ball, and if Travis Kelsey can
keep his mind on the game and not on Taylor Swift. In defense,
defense, I agree with George. I think the defense of forty nine ers
very good defense with former Steeler Javon Hargrave there, and they have some good
linebackers, and I got to tell you they have a really good defense Steve
Wilkes is their defensive coordinator down there, and you know so, I think
San Francisco defensively Okay, smoking, Jeremy, b will's start with coaching.
It's the chief offense. Offense. I'm going the opposite way. The old
line is healthy for San Francisco. The weapons are better for brock Perty.
Brock Perty's percentage wise actually had a better percentage than Mahomes this season because the
wide receivers have done so terrible and at times when Taylor Swift is not an
attendant, so has Travis Kelcey defense. I'm giving San Francisco the edge in
that too, But coaching beats out talent. We've seen it time and time
again. Okay, So we're gonna go around the room. Who's addicting?
Who would have win? What's the score? We're gonna start with, George.
I'm gonna go with Kansas City to win this game. It's gonna be
thirty one for the Chiefs and twenty four for San Francisco. Ralph twenty four,
Kansas City twenty four, San Francisco twenty one. Jeremy, I think
both defenses are way too good to let the offenses do that well, Mahomes
is good, and Kelsey's great, Noah Gray is coming in, and Rachet
Rashid Rice has been better. But as long as Kadarius Stonehand Dabbroni is on
this team, I see it being a much lower scoring game. I think
it's gonna be like seventeen to fourteen, and I give the edge to the
Chiefs because of coaching. And I'm gonna go against the Green and say twenty
one seventeen San Francisco. Ooh, so we'll see which And what I'm gonna
say is the team has the fewest turnovers is going to win this game.
Yeah. I mistakes, Yes, I think it's a mistake. When you
get to the championship games like these, your mistakes are magnified because you don't
make as many typically, but when you do, they hurt you normally.
So I would say defenses are going to rise to the occasion. It'll be
interesting to see if the offenses can match the defenses. I think it's going
to be more of a defensive battle, and I think I'm going to give
the edge to San Francisco. But that's why we play the game, so
we can see and we can follow up next week. To see how our
predictions rang true. So now my next question to this panel is Chicago has
the number one pick in the draft. Some people think they should trade it
and stay with Justin Fields, and some people think they should keep it and
draft a new quarterback and move on from Justin Fields. I'd like everybody's opinion
on that. We're gonna start with smoking Jeremy Bee. Well, you know
the GM Ryan Poles has already came out and said they're going to build a
round fields. They're not drafting a quarterback. So if they are not gonna
go Marvin Harrison junior number one, because Joe Alt can be had with the
night pick, with what everybody's picking in between pick one, and then they
should trade out because I think they could get two or three more picks in
this draft and possibly a future first trading away that one pick, which would
be behoove them and make them in the same position that the Lions were in
last season, where they'll be on the cusp of being a playoff team and
possibly maybe even making the back end of the playoffs. If somebody fails out,
Shure, I'm going to have to hand it to Jeremy. I mean,
I think that is a good strategy for them, Like you had referred
to the Lions and Brad Holmes and they drafting of getting as many draft picks
in those first couple of rounds as you can. So I'm going to answer
that very similar to what Jeremy says. I mean, I would keep Fields,
I would grow him, do what you can to bring him any kind
of help maybe during the off season as far as a passing coordinator or quarterbacks
academy or whatever that just to try to develop him even a little bit more
during the off season. But I agree, I think you've got to stop
a few extra draft tracks. That there's a lot of needs that the Bears
have and I don't think going for a quarterback is a smart move in their
situation. Ralph, what do you think? Well, I agree with George
and Jeremy a little bit, But I want to thank the Chicago Bears by
the way, because they you know, we traded a bum in Chase Claypool,
and we were able to get a second round pick and bring in Joey
Porter junior, who might make Rookie of the Year tonight. So you know,
I want to thank them for that. But I think the Bears should
stay faced with with Fields, and like George said and Jeremy said, got
to build up draft picks here. You gotta get some talent in here,
younger talent. You got to get some speed. You know. You got
to build this team in a way to build this with draft picks. You
could fill in with some free agents, but you got to build it with
draft picks. And I'd get as many as I could with what I have.
I just hope they make some better decisions. That's all as far as
that goes. Okay, I think Chicago would be smart to stay with Fields.
I think you can develop him. I really think he's not that bad.
But I think you haven't given him the weapons, the talent around him.
You haven't given him consistent coaches to help develop them either, And I
think all of that plays a part. And so you can't say that he's
a bust until you give him all of those things. Agree. The next
segment, My towne the segment we introduced a couple of weeks ago where you
can talk about some some element, whether it be a sports team or something
that's happening in either the town you live in now or your hometown. So
let's start with Ralph Well. Steelers hired a couple of new coaches today,
you know, which they're starting to get with the program here. They're hiring
more coaches and you know past game coordinators. They're they're hiring a you know,
a second quarterbacks coach. They really you know, Art Rooney, the
second was just had a second interview and he said that they're committed to Kenny
Pickett. So we're going to see what they do here. They're bringing getting
them all the coaches he needs. It's just a matter of him understanding the
offense and him you know, and and his performance on the field. Question
is who they going to bring in here to back them up? I suggest
Marcus Mariota because he was he played with Arthur Smith in Tennessee and in Atlanta.
He's in Philly right now. I think his contracts up. I don't
think he has anything left left there, so if so, I'd bring him
in as a backup. Or Ryan Tannehill, who's familiar with Arthur Smith's offense.
All right, and we've got to bring a guy in here who can
win, all right, Marcus Mariota's won when he backs up, and uh,
Ryan Tannehill has won when he backs up, So you know, I
think, you know you got to do that because if Kenny Pickett has a
problem, I hope the Steelers have a plan B. That's and the baseball
season is coming up and the Pirates have done what they normally done and that's
nothing. So tell it like it really is. There, I tell her
like it is. I tell it the way I see it. There you
go, mister George, what's happening in your town? Well, my town
is the motor city, Detroit, Michigan. And for the those of you
that remember, we had a hut that did quite well called the Red Wings,
Jo Louis Arena was demolished and within two years they have built a beautiful
high rise with apartment prices and condos going for three thousand dollars at the top
range. It's on the Jo Louis Arena site, right in Detroit's waterfront.
Mayor Michael Duggan was there, of course, with the opening ceremony when they
cut the ribbon, and he himself was amazed, as many people are,
that they got it completed in a two year time frame. Everything worked out
together as far as the architects go, and the designers and the utility folks
and everybody everything that you need. But we're not done there because what they
want to do next is they want to build a hotel right alongside it.
Because one thing that our convention center in Detroit is missing now called the Huntington
Convention Center used to be Cobo Hall. As we know, Cobol was a
mayor of Detroit. They missed out by not building a hotel connecting to the
center, So they're going to think that they were going to do the hotel
where the arena was right next door to this glimmering, new shiny apartment that
they built. So things are looking up at Detroit. There's a whole lot
of building projects going on. We used to have a department store called J.
L. Hudson, one of the biggest in the country, and of
course that site has been the scene of Dan Gilbert, the owner of the
Calves, Dan Gilbert, or Detroitter. It's taken a long time. They're
still building the skyscraper on the site of the old department store in downtown Detroit.
That'll be a huge addition. So the city is looking better than a
lot of us. But even me, I never thought it could. It's
when to come back. And it's not just buildings, okay, it's the
people. There's more young people living downtown. They're creating a better entertainment and
business district. There's stores outlets that have moved in and taken over some of
the empty empty storefronts on Woodward Avenue or Main Street. So my kudos again
and trumpeting Detroit's comeback. And of course, says Jeremy knows, we're preparing
for that big day on April, multiple days, not just one of the
NFL drafts. So obviously it's going to be a fantastic time between now and
the end vapor with the draft coming too. So the town's shaping up pretty
good right now. Pants off to all the people that invested money and got
these big events to come to Detroit, smoking, Jeremy Bee, your town.
Brad Holmes came out at his end of season's Pressure and man was he
spicy. He called out a few of the beat writers that bashed the picks
that he made, especially back in twenty twenty one, and lo and behold
all those guys that they said were bums and we should have drafted this person
and should have drafted that person. The one they didn't question is the one
that looks like a bust, and it's due to injury. It's Levi On
Woozeriki. That's the one nobody griped about. And yet he's played the least
amount of any player out of everybody in that draft, including Jamiir Jefferson,
who's only played in three games. He's actually played more snaps. So that
being said, when Carlos Monterrez, who he called out directly by name,
said oh, we should have drafted a QB instead of panay Sewell, I
hope that guy eats the receipts that Brad Holmes throughout him the rest of his
career, because he's been so negative in his writings about the Lions over the
years and including in this regime's tenure. Oh my talent. We're going to
talk about Milwaukee. We're gonna talk about that small market. We're gonna talk
about the Bucks who just acquired Patrick Beverly, who hopefully helps with their defense,
because let's face it, ever since we let traded Drew Holliday away,
our defense went down to nothing, and that's the reason why we have a
new coach. I would also say for all those Milwaukee Brewer fans out there
and that we're upset with that. Corbyn Burns, remember your small market team,
so we had to get value for it. Let's remember sports is a
business. We all think of that we're fans and we're fans of a team,
but they they play the game because it's a business. They play to
make money. It's their job. It's the GM's job to make money for
the team. However they can whatever that means, if that means trying to
be the best team on the field right now or the best in the future,
to sustain that's what their job is to do. Whether you like it
or not, it's the reality, and it's we don't if you're a Milwaukee
fan, that's because you're a Milwaukee fan, you don't live in New York.
You don't have the big pockets of the New York or the medium markets
of the New York. Just appreciate what's on the field and the effort that
they're giving and let's hope that they have a good season, because, let's
face it, the Packers this year, everybody rolled them off and said since
Aaron Rodgers left our MVP, they wouldn't be any good. But look what
they did. They made the playoffs. So don't count Milwaukee out just because
we're a small market. And those people that are saying that the Doc rivers
Hire was bad, I get it. Until they prove you wrong. That's
what you got to look forward to. We hired what was what we considered
the best candidate out there at the time. Let's let the record see or
prove us right or wrong. But most importantly, this weekend is a super
Bowl. Just enjoy it. Enjoy all those high priced commercials that we used
to. It's funny because I was just listening on the radio that the other
day and they were talking about a commercials how we never used to see the
super Bowl commercials until the super Bowl, and now they've seen almost all of
them because they've previewed and showed how many of them, which I think is
ridiculous because they're spaying so much money for those things. Enjoy halftime, enjoy
the enjoy the festivity, Enjoy whatever you plan doing, but most importantly,
just enjoy the game. And let I hope it's a really good game.
And let's face it, remember it's a business. Patrick Mahomes made Brock Purdy's
salary the first sixteen minutes of the regular season, rock Perty's whole season paycheck.
Patrick Mahomes made in the first sixteen minutes. This is a business.
We like to watch this business, but it is a business at the end
of the day. Just remember that. Well, guys, I've enjoyed this.
We're gonna around the room. You can tell people how you can get
a hold of them. You then we're going to start out with mister George
Well. You can read me in the South Florida Tribune. Will you'll find
fine writers like Jeremy and Scott and George and at the end of my column
and in the South Florida Tribune on Deer Motor City Tribune, there's a little
link there if you're interested in my book taking a look at it. It's
Detroit Sports Broadcasters on the Air and it's a nice little book that captures the
history of some great voices. We've been blessed with Ernie Harwell. I think
of Van Patrick and Ray Lane. I think of George Blaha and mill Topwood
on the Pistons and Mark Champion, and then we got the Tigers with Ernie
Harwell and Paul Carey, Harry Heilman, Oh my god, Frank Beckman,
We've been blessed George Kell, great great Tiger announcers over the years. They're
all in that book, by the way, and Scott's in the book too
much Younger version of ad interviewing Muhammad Ali and Jimmy Connor is in one picture.
So you can find me too on numerous shows this one and then also
Love one hundred and eight Stitches and frequent guest on the Sports Exchange as well,
and Pundit's Pundin also look forward to seeing you. If you want to
communicate with the best way is Yahoo Giicorn at yahoo dot com. I'll respond
to any and all requests for information regarding sports. You got any questions or
anything's dropped me a line. Can also find me on LinkedIn under my name
and also on Twitter. Sand g Sports ninety nine is my handle on Twitter.
Okay, Ralph, how can people get a hold of you? Facebook?
YouTube? I have my own YouTube channel and you can also get a
hold of me on Ralph wam seven three seven at gmail dot com. Also
have a Twitter x account and also LinkedIn and Tumbler, and also I have
my own radio show on Tuesday night on Beaver County Radio four to six pm
with me, Ralph Williams and smoking Jim Fraser. What about tomorrow? You
have a show tomorrow, don't? Yes? I do. It's called The
External Bump Show with Scott Morgan Roth, JT. Tok who will not be
joining us tomorrow, and Leo Haggerty will be our guest tomorrow and it starts
at ten thirty am. It's on Block Talk Radio five six three nine nine
nine three seven four zero. I also have two other shows on there as
well. Wednesday night seven pm Pittsburgh Sports Talk with me Ralph Williams, Smoking
Jim Fraser. Monday morning eleven am. I do a show called Ralph's Opinion
on Block Talk Radio as well, Awesome Thank You and then Smoking Jeremy B.
How can people find you well, of course on the South Florida Tribune
dot com under the MotorCity Tribune heading underneath the writers such as Scott Morgan Roth
and or Gy Corn. Then you can also find me right here on the
South Florid at Tribune dot channel on YouTube. Anytime you see fire up on
you know what, my ugly face is going to be right here You can
also find me on my channel which is Kneecap Biting with the Smoking with Kneecap
Biting with the MotorCity Lions. I am smoking Jeremy b One on Instagram,
Smoking Jeremy b on Twitter, and you can also find me under Jeremy Balrick
on LinkedIn. Awesome, Awesome, awesome. Well I have to go out
there and talk and do a little bragging. Sorry, Jeremy, But Scott's
book isn't kind of on top of your face here. But Scott, my
husband, MotorCity Madmouth, wrote a book, Lessons from the Microphone, Tuning
into the Enduring Wisdom of Visionary Leaders. It talks about the changes in media
in sports media from his career over forty years. George, you've got a
copy of it as well, George, we're at the forward for it.
It's got a lot of interesting pictures, a lot of interesting stories. You
can grab it on Amazon or Kindle. If you like this show, this
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If you like to talk just baseball, we have one hundred and eight
stitches baseball talk if you like to talk about all of them. Because you
never know what He's Scott's MotorCity mad Mouth that's going to talk about either On
Sports Exchange, which is his flagship show on Wednesday nights, he talks about
anything from football to cornhole and I've heard them all. You can also find
Pundit's Pundit. They have interesting topics Tuesday nights. That precedes this show.
Scott has a one on one interview show, the MotorCity Mad Mo. You
never know who he's gonna interview next. Jeremy and I do a fire up
show normally on Sunday mornings. There's also a professor and pupil. You never
know, the feeling, the rare. No, there's something for everybody.
Let me just tell you, there's just something for everybody. You gotta come
listen, watch us, subscribe to us, and if you have ideas and
you want to get a hold of any of us self. Flortertribune at gmail
dot com. But we do have a website self, Florida Tribune dot com
where I have pictures that I've taken because got me into sports photography. He
writes the story and I take the pictures. The cop compliment his stories.
So if you've enjoyed this again, please subscribe and subscribe and watch all of
our contributors, smoking Jeremy, b Ralph and George on any of their shows
or any of the shows that they appear on ours channel, because that's what
this is all about, enjoying. We all enjoy talking about sports and that's
why we do this. So again, thank you guys for you know,
being on the show tonight. Thank you Jeremy b Ralph Williams and George Icorn.
Until we see you the next time, Enjoy the Super Bowl, have
a great week.