Speaker 1: And we continue on Fred Rogan, Rodney Pete Sports one
Speaker 1: Hour Down twenty twenty five. Upon us, it's going to
Speaker 1: be a great year. And you know why, Rodney, Why
Speaker 1: is that? Because we got no choice. Every year's got
Speaker 1: to be a great year because we got no choice.
Speaker 1: Got no choice, Freddy, I like that.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Yeah? Do it? You got
Speaker 2: no choice.
Speaker 1: Can't go back, can't go back, can't put the toothpaste
Speaker 1: back in. Every year we start with optimism. Every year,
Speaker 1: we start with a sense of wonderment. Every year we
Speaker 1: start with a sense of excitement. We're human beings and
Speaker 1: that's what we do. It is the beginning of a
Speaker 1: new year. For some of us, we get older. For
Speaker 1: some of us, exciting new life changes occur. And really,
Speaker 1: as we go through the year, it comes down to
Speaker 1: how we deal with everything.
Speaker 2: Tossed at us.
Speaker 1: I mean, last year was a good year for you, Rodney,
Speaker 1: and in some ways it wasn't very good. It was
Speaker 1: absolutely but you know, we start anew We carry our
Speaker 1: memories with us, but we start with renewed optimism and hope.
Speaker 1: Are you a resolution guy, fred I'm not that guy
Speaker 1: because I lie, and if you lie, there's no reason
Speaker 1: to make a resolution.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's almost better than okay, do you know, to
Speaker 3: have goals or whatever you do, and then you know,
Speaker 3: December thirty first eight, did I accomplish what I want
Speaker 3: to accomplish in Yeah?
Speaker 2: Year? All right.
Speaker 3: I'd rather do the end of the year situation rather
Speaker 3: than say okay, because situations change, you can say I'm
Speaker 3: gonna do this, I'm gonna do that.
Speaker 2: Uh my New Year's resolution.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna eat right, I'm gonna do that, and then
Speaker 3: you get invited to a vacation where you're eating steak
Speaker 3: every day, right, you know what I mean, there's a
Speaker 3: chef cooking for you. You gotta do that. So you're gonna
Speaker 3: break them. I always feel like they just if there's anything.
Speaker 3: And I don't do change for the sake of change
Speaker 3: or make false promises or anything like that. But I
Speaker 3: do try to change one thing. I try to do
Speaker 3: one thing that didn't work for me. I try to
Speaker 3: change one thing, one habit, one thing that's all, and
Speaker 3: work on it. Not saying I'm gonna completely do it
Speaker 3: or whatever. But that's one thing I'm gonna focus focus
Speaker 3: on each year. Is I'm a focus on whether that's
Speaker 3: being organized, or getting up earlier, or being more prepared
Speaker 3: on certain things, or you know, connecting with people back.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's one thing and I write them down
Speaker 3: and I say that's this is the one thing I'm
Speaker 3: gonna do this year. But you get into there's my
Speaker 3: ten New Year's resolutions, You're always gonna fall short.
Speaker 1: All right, let me give you an example of something. Let
Speaker 1: me give you an example. You talk about resolutions. I
Speaker 1: think if you know me, you know that occasionally I
Speaker 1: enjoy a nice bottle of cabernet. You know I'm heart smart. Yes,
Speaker 1: red line is makes you heart smart?
Speaker 2: Right, that in.
Speaker 3: Itself read is half full view of the world. Not
Speaker 3: sure you're drinking cabernet, but you're drink heart smart, right right,
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. So I look at it like that.
Speaker 1: Now, granted, three bottles a night is probably a little excessive,
Speaker 1: but I look at it like this. The more you drink,
Speaker 1: the more heartsmart you are. Anyway, it doesn't matter. So
Speaker 1: I made a statement, and this was my statement, January
Speaker 1: will be dry January. I am not going to have
Speaker 1: a drink, Okay, all right, So this is January second, correct, Yes, Okay,
Speaker 1: So after New Year's Eve, I said, and that's it.
Speaker 1: You will not see me have a drink for the
Speaker 1: month of January.
Speaker 2: There there, Okay.
Speaker 1: Went to the King's game yesterday, day one, day one.
Speaker 1: What the hell of the King's game? It's fine, I
Speaker 1: just won't have a drink at the Kings game. Right
Speaker 1: that that's going to be my plan. Now, my stream adjust.
Speaker 1: But here if it's the Kings, and maybe it's okay.
Speaker 1: That's why I don't make resolutions, right because your situation changes.
Speaker 1: Things change. Life is EBB and flows. You know, you
Speaker 1: can't be so rigid. Oh, I'll never do this, never
Speaker 1: do that when you might be put in a situation
Speaker 1: where you know there's some I gotta a little compromise.
Speaker 1: I gotta do it now. Certain things you should never
Speaker 1: compromise with. But for the most part living your life,
Speaker 1: and if you're a good person, they're gonna be things
Speaker 1: where you fall short. You know, as long as you
Speaker 1: are working towards something positive and something new to better yourself,
Speaker 1: that's okay. But to suggest, oh, I'm.
Speaker 3: Gonna be so rigid and this is it, and if
Speaker 3: I don't have these ten resolutions, and I don't stay
Speaker 3: to them. And it's February and I already broke three
Speaker 3: of them. It's okay, give yourself a break, give meself
Speaker 3: a break.
Speaker 2: You don't.
Speaker 1: I said I was gonna do this year. I was
Speaker 1: gonna play more golf. I really want to learn golf,
Speaker 1: and I was gonna play more golf. And that was
Speaker 1: my plan. I said it, I'm gonna play more golf.
Speaker 1: When am I gonna play more golf? I still have
Speaker 1: two jobs? When am I gonna play more golf? I'm
Speaker 1: gonna play more golf. That's what I'm gonna do. I
Speaker 1: said that. Yeah, Then I thought, wait, how can I
Speaker 1: do that? I have two jobs. I've had two jobs
Speaker 1: for like fifty years. How am I gonna How am
Speaker 1: I gonna do that? But that was another one of
Speaker 1: my brilliant statements. Dry January, I had a drink January. First,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play more golf. I have two jobs. I
Speaker 1: can't do that. Another reason I don't make resolutions.
Speaker 3: No listen, I'm I'm with you, is that I want
Speaker 3: to play golf. You gotta okay, start okay, I gotta
Speaker 3: get up at five o'clock to go play golf. Right,
Speaker 3: And it's not even it's not even light yet. Nowadays
Speaker 3: you gotta wait until the spring because it gets lighter earlier.
Speaker 3: And then, am I really going to do that before
Speaker 3: my bay starts? Am I really going to get up
Speaker 3: five o'clock to go play golf? And then weekends? Now,
Speaker 3: am I really going to go just do it on
Speaker 3: the weekends?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: No, But my schedule doesn't permit me to play more golf.
Speaker 3: I'm the same way every year I say that, I
Speaker 3: say the golf is one of the things that's ironic
Speaker 3: that you said that. It's like, I got to play
Speaker 3: more golf. I see everybody, you know, folks out there
Speaker 3: playing golf. Are good, buddy, Eric. Every time we talk
Speaker 3: to Eric Dickerson, he's coming off the golf course. Yes, right,
Speaker 3: he's like going to play golf or coming off the
Speaker 3: golf course. James Worthy always coming from the golf course. Like, man,
Speaker 3: I got to come from the golf course. I got
Speaker 3: to get to the golf course. But what does that entail?
Speaker 3: I got so much going on, we got the show
Speaker 3: and then during the week and then you know, playing
Speaker 3: golf on the weekends is not really an option for me.
Speaker 3: But you know, it's just it's it's things. Yeah, you
Speaker 3: want to say it, and you try, but you can't
Speaker 3: limit yourself to the resolutions.
Speaker 1: Another thing you said, and then we'll wrap this up.
Speaker 1: But I do have to comment up. You know, you said, well,
Speaker 1: you want to get up at five o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 1: it's dark outside. But see, and people of a certain
Speaker 1: generation realize as you get older, five am is when
Speaker 1: you have lunch. I mean you're having dinner like at
Speaker 1: two in the afternoon. You're done by seven point thirty.
Speaker 3: And get up for breakfast. He's got a full ten
Speaker 3: hour sleep at five am. Right, You went to bed
Speaker 3: at eight?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: And then well, you know, at a certain age, you
Speaker 1: know you have lunch like at four in the morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1: Breakfast at four in the morning. You might have lunch
Speaker 1: like it. I don't know, ten ten, yeah, ten dinners
Speaker 1: at three and you're back in bed.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: When's there time for golf?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: Because that that body clock is real. That body clock
Speaker 3: will hit you. It'll hit you. It's certain points say ooh,
Speaker 3: I gotta cout a bed and you look up and go, damn,
Speaker 3: it's only eight o'clock.
Speaker 2: They would going to bed at eight? What am? I
Speaker 2: what am I doing? Oh god? Okay? So final? All right?
Speaker 1: Final NFL games the regular season. Most don't matter, some do.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Philadelphia is locked up, so there's no question they're good.
Speaker 2: They're in.
Speaker 3: There's a number two seed and the number two seed
Speaker 3: correct me if I'm wrong. But the number two seed,
Speaker 3: now it is the number one and number two seed
Speaker 3: gets has a bye, right or is it just the
Speaker 3: number one? No, the number two seed gets a bye.
Speaker 2: To right number one since the number one team, right,
Speaker 2: only the number one seed gets the buy.
Speaker 4: So just the one seed gets a bye that's correct.
Speaker 2: Right, right? So only only Detroit really well Minnesota troter Minnesota.
Speaker 2: They troter Minnesota will get the buye.
Speaker 3: So so the Eagles, and this factors into it. The
Speaker 3: Eagles will not have a buye.
Speaker 1: Corrects. We know for sure they will not.
Speaker 4: They were locking through the two seat and will go there.
Speaker 3: In essence, thereby is this week correct. And look, I'm
Speaker 3: all for I'm all for records, and I'm all for
Speaker 3: going for especially if you're close, and but at the
Speaker 3: same time, it can't be at the expense of what
Speaker 3: the ultimate goal is, which is win in a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: So let's just said this side. I'm sorry, Barkley could
Speaker 3: break Eric Dickerson single season rushing record.
Speaker 2: Yes, he's one hundred and one yard short.
Speaker 1: Right, and and there was you know, are you going
Speaker 1: to let him go for it?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: How long has Eric's record stood? Are you going to
Speaker 1: let him go for it? And Nick, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: talk to everybody. I'm gonna talk to the owner, the
Speaker 1: general manager, the players, and we're gonna make a decision
Speaker 1: that's best for the franchise. And the decision they made
Speaker 1: was he said out this week, we can't afford him
Speaker 1: to get hurt going for the record. But we also
Speaker 1: know that this record may never be broken. This could
Speaker 1: be just one of those years whereon Barkley had that
Speaker 1: kind of season. So then you have to weigh the options.
Speaker 1: What's more important. We put him out there in a
Speaker 1: game that doesn't really matter, he breaks the record and
Speaker 1: all is wonderful, or we put him in that game
Speaker 1: and he gets hurt. They aired on the side of Rodney.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna get him hurt. We're gonna sit him.
Speaker 1: Do you agree with that decision? This is a very difficult,
Speaker 1: difficult one because I don't think there's a right or
Speaker 1: wrong answer to this. I think that if there is
Speaker 1: a consensus with the team of and this includes players,
Speaker 1: not just owners and coaches, we're gonna go for it,
Speaker 1: then you go for it. If there's a consensus that no,
Speaker 1: let's rest and be careful and not play anybody and
Speaker 1: be safe, then that's the consensus. Because I think that
Speaker 1: if you do it because you're.
Speaker 3: Gonna worry about getting hurt, you can get hurt in
Speaker 3: the first play of the first playoff game.
Speaker 2: You can get hurt any time.
Speaker 3: There's no guarantee if your player you don't play, you're
Speaker 3: gonna get hurt. I don't think you can play that
Speaker 3: way and make a decision that way. And I never
Speaker 3: liked that as a reason, Oh we're not gonna play.
Speaker 3: If a guy has banged up, Yeah, he needs to
Speaker 3: rest that ankle because it's been rolled for year, you know,
Speaker 3: played on it for several weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But if people are healthy and you decide to play
Speaker 3: him and they happen to get hurt, I don't fault that.
Speaker 3: Oh they shouldn't have played that game because they got hurt.
Speaker 3: And then you got a factor in one thing with
Speaker 3: Sakon Barkley, he did get two thousand yards. Only what
Speaker 3: the ninth player ever to rush for more than two
Speaker 3: thousand yards, So he's already crossed that hurdle and put
Speaker 3: himselves in himself in the record books. But yes, this
Speaker 3: is a forty year record that Eric Dickerson held, which
Speaker 3: many believe because the way the game is played nowadays,
Speaker 3: that running backs are not going to even get close
Speaker 3: to that anymore. Well, Saquon did Derrick Henry is another guy,
Speaker 3: probably the only other guy that can get close to it,
Speaker 3: and he got two thousand yards himself at one point.
Speaker 3: But the thing that I go back to is when
Speaker 3: they interview Saquon, he said, I'm good either way, but
Speaker 3: if they want me to go for it, I'm ready
Speaker 3: to go for it. It was he didn't come out
Speaker 3: and say, nah, I'm gonna sit back. I don't only
Speaker 3: it's not it doesn't even matter to me. I don't
Speaker 3: want to do it. It's different for running backs and any
Speaker 3: other position than quarterback.
Speaker 2: Quarterbacks are judged, you know, on Super Bowl rings and
Speaker 2: wins and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: Running Backs are judged on their place in yards and history.
Speaker 3: And Eric Dickerson has certainly been at the top of
Speaker 3: that for forty years, and you know, for Saquon to
Speaker 3: say I want to go after and accomplish this, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't fault him for saying that. But now everybody has
Speaker 3: to be on board. I think the problem that occurred
Speaker 3: in Philly was Lane Johnson, the All Pro soon to
Speaker 3: be Hall of Fame right tackle, said oh, I.
Speaker 2: Like the rest, I like the rest this week.
Speaker 3: And so when you have your starting offensive lineman who's
Speaker 3: a superstar as well, say I don't know if we
Speaker 3: should play or I don't know if I want to
Speaker 3: play this game, then it makes it difficult for everybody
Speaker 3: else to say, let's go for it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you certainly can't send him into the war
Speaker 1: without his artillery.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you can't send him out there playing with
Speaker 3: backup offensive linemen because all the offensive lineman want to
Speaker 3: sit out and they say, okay, but Saqua's going to
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 2: No, it has to be everybody.
Speaker 3: It has to be, like I said, it has to
Speaker 3: be a consensus that everybody wants to do that. And
Speaker 3: then there's the argument that everybody's making nowadays that oh
Speaker 3: it's you know, it's seventeen games versus sixteen, that Eric
Speaker 3: Dickerson did it in you know, and Eric has always
Speaker 3: been adamant and I'll back him up because there was
Speaker 3: a little controversy with another show that talked about Eric
Speaker 3: Dickerson and him doing it in fifteen games as opposed
Speaker 3: to fourteen games when he broke O. J. Simpson's record,
Speaker 3: And Eric's always acknowledged that he did it in fifteen
Speaker 3: games and not fourteen. And so there's that debate that's
Speaker 3: going on right now. Well, even if Sakwan does it,
Speaker 3: he does it in one more game than Eric Dickerson did,
Speaker 3: which you can debate that forever. You know, in all sports,
Speaker 3: and like oh, times have changed, the game is the game.
Speaker 3: The record will be the record, whether it's seventeen games
Speaker 3: or sixteen games, fourteen games, as long as it's acknowledged.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's the same thing as a team
Speaker 3: winning a title, which I pushed back against when people
Speaker 3: talk about the Dodgers and an asterisk in the pandemic year,
Speaker 3: because everybody was on the same playing field. It wasn't
Speaker 3: like the Dodgers played less games than everybody else or
Speaker 3: had to do something different. The Dodgers had fans and
Speaker 3: nobody else in the league had fans, so they had
Speaker 3: an advantage. Everybody went through the same criteria. A strike year,
Speaker 3: everybody had to go through the same situation. But I
Speaker 3: wouldn't fall him any other way. Look, I was on
Speaker 3: a team. I just get a quick, quick story. I
Speaker 3: was on my rookie year. Barry Sanders had a phenomenal
Speaker 3: rookie year. And we're playing Atlanta, last game of the season,
Speaker 3: and we're on the East Coast, playing in Atlanta, and
Speaker 3: we get word that the Kansas City Chiefs had just
Speaker 3: completed their game and christian Na Koye had finished the
Speaker 3: game with one hundred and whatever yards and Barry was
Speaker 3: only like fifty seven or something like that yard short
Speaker 3: of Christiana Koye, something that was really attainable. And Barry
Speaker 3: went off in the first half. He almost had one
Speaker 3: hundred yards in the first half, and we ended up
Speaker 3: getting ahead of Atlanta pretty good. We're up by like
Speaker 3: twenty five twenty eight points in the third quarter, and
Speaker 3: word came down that the Chiefs game was over and
Speaker 3: Barry only needed fifty something yards to get it and
Speaker 3: the series before Barry came out of the game because
Speaker 3: we were already winning, and everybody on that bench, including
Speaker 3: the coaches and the people from the front office, came
Speaker 3: down said Barry only this month's yards away from winning
Speaker 3: the rushing title this year. From Christi Nakoyer, let's go
Speaker 3: back in the game for a few series so we
Speaker 3: can get you the record. And he refused to go
Speaker 3: back in the game. Why he refused to because, first
Speaker 3: of all, that's who he was. He was just an
Speaker 3: unselfish guy, still is a very unselfish guy. Didn't care
Speaker 3: about records. But at the same time, he looked up
Speaker 3: and there were guys that didn't play a whole lot
Speaker 3: throughout the whole season that were getting a lot of
Speaker 3: playing time, and backup running backs that didn't play were
Speaker 3: getting their time to play, and he did not want
Speaker 3: to go back in the game and take the moment
Speaker 3: away from those guys who were getting an opportunity. So
Speaker 3: he refused to go back in the game and say
Speaker 3: this is not appointment, even to the to the notion
Speaker 3: that had he won that rushing title, probably would have
Speaker 3: got another million dollar in bonus, and he still decided
Speaker 3: not to go back into the game. And Christian Nakoya
Speaker 3: ended up winning the rushing title that year, and Barry
Speaker 3: was second. I say that, patis it's not important to
Speaker 3: every guy, but you go down. Sometimes there's records in history. Look, Eric,
Speaker 3: Eric is known for twenty one oh five. Mister twenty
Speaker 3: one oh five, right, I mean, he's he's it's it's
Speaker 3: his legacy. And I think when you get a guy
Speaker 3: like Saquon who probably looked up to Eric growing up
Speaker 3: and watched him play, go like, if I could break
Speaker 3: that record, man, that would be that would be kind
Speaker 3: of cool.
Speaker 2: So I get it. I get it either.
Speaker 3: Way, and I would not fault him for wanting it
Speaker 3: or the team for wanting it. And I understand that
Speaker 3: there's a fear like, oh, everybody's not on board, and
Speaker 3: if somebody gets hurt, they're gonna blame that and hold
Speaker 3: that against us.
Speaker 1: All right, So we have two NFL teams in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: two NFL teams in the playoffs, So you think.
Speaker 2: Could win a game or two.
Speaker 1: Who's had the better year, but who's got the better chance,
Speaker 1: let's talk about it.
Speaker 3: That's right, Hey, twenty twenty five, y'all make it the
Speaker 3: best one yet.
Speaker 2: Right to Pete Fred Rogan, glad to be back with you.
Speaker 3: Hope you had a wonderful holiday, New Year, all of
Speaker 3: that good stuff. Let's get it in twenty five, y'all, everybody.
Speaker 1: How about this? Both the Rams and the Chargers in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Now, the one thing we can say about
Speaker 1: the Chargers, they will not defeat themselves. Brandon Staley is
Speaker 1: no longer the coach, so if you're facing like a
Speaker 1: fourth and twenty from your own five yard line, you
Speaker 1: won't go for We know that now. Jim Harball is
Speaker 1: not going to coach that way, No he's not. And really,
Speaker 1: both teams have had the Rams against all odds, and
Speaker 1: look the Chargers with a whole new staff and a
Speaker 1: new culture. Both teams have had pretty good years. So
Speaker 1: the way it looks like this, the Rams will finish
Speaker 1: with the three seed, will win or tie against Seattle
Speaker 1: or a loss by Tampa against the Saints. Keep in mind,
Speaker 1: this is going to be a big weekend for the Rams.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo is playing quarterback, so it's a good weekend.
Speaker 1: It'll be a weekend probably where a lot of women
Speaker 1: will be watching. Jimmy Garoppolo will be playing quarterback for
Speaker 1: the Rams. And the only request they had and I
Speaker 1: checked this on some online comments as that he plays
Speaker 1: without a helmet. They just want to stare at him
Speaker 1: the whole time.
Speaker 2: Oh that works.
Speaker 1: Yeah, please tell Jimmy g not to wear a helmet
Speaker 1: because we want to fall in love with that. Rams
Speaker 1: quarterback Matthew Stafford in active for the game.
Speaker 3: So that means so the Rams are and Kevin you're
Speaker 3: the you are numbers in Draft Guru and all that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Rams are the third seed no matter what.
Speaker 4: No, there's a chance that they could be the four
Speaker 4: seed as well. So if they could potentially, if they
Speaker 4: lose and Tampa wins, they'd be the four seed and
Speaker 4: they would host either the Vikings or Lions whoever loses
Speaker 4: that game. Yeah, okay, whoever doesn't win the NFC North,
Speaker 4: they'll host that.
Speaker 3: Tampa can jump them if they lose and Tampa wins, correct,
Speaker 3: I got you, got you. But they'll still be the
Speaker 3: division winner what they've already done. Yeah, they'll still have
Speaker 3: a home home playoff game. What do you guys think?
Speaker 2: Real quick?
Speaker 3: Detroit and Minnesota both fourteen and two. And you said
Speaker 3: this before, Fred, I think you've said it in like
Speaker 3: other sports. I think you said it in basketball. Seating wise,
Speaker 3: does it matter should you should should a division winner
Speaker 3: who is like the Rams, or we've had years where
Speaker 3: there's been a team with a losing record, but they
Speaker 3: are the division winner has the home field advantage over
Speaker 3: a team that goes fourteen and two like the like
Speaker 3: the Vikings or the of the Lions, and whoever wins
Speaker 3: this week coming up between those two because they play
Speaker 3: at the end of the season, will drop from the
Speaker 3: either number one seed to the number fifth seed and
Speaker 3: have to go on the road to play their first
Speaker 3: playoff game. You think that's good earth fair? Should stay
Speaker 3: that way or should be based on record once you
Speaker 3: get to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Well, you guys argue with me on this, and I
Speaker 1: always say it about the NBA, so you'll argue with
Speaker 1: me here too. I understand the divisions are important. It
Speaker 1: keeps the teams in it. I understand the owners like
Speaker 1: that because they have a chance to make more money
Speaker 1: if their team is in it, even if it is
Speaker 1: a weak division in certain years. Tell you what, how
Speaker 1: many teams in the NFL playoffs? Seven top seven records
Speaker 1: are in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, seven per conference.
Speaker 1: Top seven records are in. First one gets the buy
Speaker 1: last two are wild cards. Thanks for playing. I don't
Speaker 1: care if everybody comes from It doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1: NBA top eight teams, ten teams in, some are playing,
Speaker 1: some are in.
Speaker 2: You're in.
Speaker 1: I don't care what conference you come from, and it'll be
Speaker 1: quite out of it with you in the NBA. I
Speaker 1: don't even think you should have it in conferences, all right,
Speaker 1: Top sixteen teams are in. Let's go, doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: A movement, by the way for that to happen. There's
Speaker 4: a movement for that potentially to happen from in people
Speaker 4: inside the NBA circles that once the playoffs begin, it
Speaker 4: goes by a record, not by conference. You still have
Speaker 4: to find a way to divide up the schedule.
Speaker 3: So Austin could play Golden State in the first round.
Speaker 3: It doesn't have to be Eastern Conference playing rightfence.
Speaker 1: Correct right, or it could be you know, to East, yeah,
Speaker 1: or it could be two Western Conference teams played too week.
Speaker 1: Just that's how it works. Best teams are in. I
Speaker 1: think the NFL should do that, so should Major League Baseball.
Speaker 4: Best team to disagree with you on that, Fred, by
Speaker 4: the way, just because I mean, I go back to
Speaker 4: the one that stands out for a lot of people
Speaker 4: was that giant Beast mode run from Marshawn Lynch. When
Speaker 4: the Seahawks beat the Saints. The Saints, yeah, they were
Speaker 4: thirteen and three. The Saints were and has to go
Speaker 4: on the road in Seattle, one of the best home
Speaker 4: food advantages in all of sports. For a seven to
Speaker 4: nine Seattle team in Seattle ended up beating them. And
Speaker 4: this happens every now and then. We'll have a team that.
Speaker 2: Went beautiful though Kevin wasn't that beautiful.
Speaker 4: It was great to watch as a fan powered the
Speaker 4: Saints and I won thirteen games. To be pissed off
Speaker 4: that I go from the super Dome, which is a
Speaker 4: phenomenal home for the advantage for me to go all
Speaker 4: the way across the country to Seattle fourteam that won
Speaker 4: seven games. That's ridiculous. So I think you probably should
Speaker 4: award a team for winning their division. If you win
Speaker 4: your division, fine, you make it. But if you don't
Speaker 4: have a better record than the team that you're facing
Speaker 4: in the first round, that team should host the playoff games.
Speaker 3: The playoffs is reward enough. You should not be doubly
Speaker 3: rewarded by getting a home game.
Speaker 4: Yep, that's what I say.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 3: It makes sense because both it's coming back to this
Speaker 3: year again with Detroit Minnesota clearly the two best teams
Speaker 3: in the NFC that they're going head to head at
Speaker 3: the end of the season, and the team that loses
Speaker 3: is going to drop to the fifth seed and have
Speaker 3: to go on the road to play somebody.
Speaker 1: You can make the argument you played, so who better
Speaker 1: to comment on this? You canna make the argument. Look,
Speaker 1: you're in the playoffs. Sure you might get a softer
Speaker 1: draw at the beginning, but to be the best, you
Speaker 1: gotta beat the best. I mean, you could make that argument.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is it's insane when you have a team,
Speaker 1: let's say from the NFC South. Okay, they're not one
Speaker 1: of the best teams, they don't have one of the
Speaker 1: best records. You have wild cards with better record or
Speaker 1: at least equal to Why are you giving them a Why?
Speaker 1: Why do they get a home game? It does I
Speaker 1: don't care what conference you're anymore, It doesn't matter NBA,
Speaker 1: you know we're gonna play the top sixteen throughout the league. Sorry,
Speaker 1: nobody you know from Charlotte's Division got in too bad.
Speaker 1: Apologies to you guys. Sorry you didn't make it okay,
Speaker 1: Well that's too bad.
Speaker 2: Sorry.
Speaker 1: There's four teams from the West, six teams, eight teams, however,
Speaker 1: many teams from the Western Conference. There's fifteen teams from
Speaker 1: the Western Conference. They're all better than the East. Too bad,
Speaker 1: too bad. Best teams should be in the playoffs period.
Speaker 1: This we win our division, congratulations to us. Well that's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Congratulations to you. But if you're not as
Speaker 1: good as the other teams, then what does that mean.
Speaker 1: It's a consolation prize. Well we could get hot, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you weren't when it mattered, so you don't get
Speaker 1: in the What if the NFL went.
Speaker 3: To that went into East and West as opposed to
Speaker 3: the divisions, they just went East, East and West division
Speaker 3: and thirty two teams, sixteen teams and the East, sixteen
Speaker 3: teams in the West. Best records in the East, best
Speaker 3: records in the West, or best records overall, and didn't
Speaker 3: do the divisions. Would that be something that you'd be
Speaker 3: in favor of. Yeah, best records overall, and there's no
Speaker 3: there's no you know, Kansas City doesn't play the Chargers
Speaker 3: twice or it's just a it's a it's a schedule
Speaker 3: that doesn't require a division to play each other twice.
Speaker 3: You play multiple teams, so that takes that out of
Speaker 3: the equation as well.
Speaker 2: I'm in favor of that.
Speaker 1: I know people say yeah, but you know it's those matchups,
Speaker 1: those division matchups that mean so much. Yeah, Chargers Raiders
Speaker 1: means a lot to a lot of people. Chiefs Chargers,
Speaker 1: Chiefs Raiders. Absolutely. I get that. You know Rams forty
Speaker 1: nine or sure, I got that too. I got it. Giants,
Speaker 1: Eagles absolutely, Cowboys.
Speaker 3: Jam every year. Boys, but you just don't play them
Speaker 3: twice every year, right, right, right, And that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 3: You don't play them twice.
Speaker 1: And that's it. Let everybody play everybody. That's what baseball
Speaker 1: is doing. Let everybody play everybody. It's not nineteen fifty three.
Speaker 1: You know you're not wearing leather helmets anymore.
Speaker 3: Listen, listen. I used to be a proponent of that,
Speaker 3: and I agree with you. I think if you happen
Speaker 3: to end in football, if you happen to win your division, yes, okay,
Speaker 3: keep the divisions. You win your division, you get a
Speaker 3: home game. I mean, you you make the playoffs, but
Speaker 3: that does not that does not entitle you to get
Speaker 3: a home game and entitles you to make the playoffs,
Speaker 3: but not a home game, and their home games are
Speaker 3: determined by the best record on.
Speaker 1: Each side, mom in favor of that team has got
Speaker 1: the best record.
Speaker 3: There's no way in the world, Minnesota, if have them
Speaker 3: to lose a Detroit should have to go on the
Speaker 3: road to play a playoff game. Otherwise, what does the
Speaker 3: regular season matter when you win fourteen games in the
Speaker 3: regular season?
Speaker 1: Exactly? I agree with you. I agree with you so
Speaker 1: but you know it's it's the philosophy that at least
Speaker 1: I've had for a long time, and the best teams
Speaker 1: should be in their period. The argument is, yeah, but
Speaker 1: you're knocking out so many teams and it hurts their
Speaker 1: home business because they don't have a chance. And then
Speaker 1: get better, get better. It goes back to people upset
Speaker 1: with the Dodgers and and you know they spend too
Speaker 1: much money, and it's unfair. It's not unfair if you
Speaker 1: don't make the playoffs, get better. It's not unfair. It's
Speaker 1: not our job to make you better. It's not our
Speaker 1: job to give you what the other people have. If
Speaker 1: you can't figure it out, guess.
Speaker 2: What you are.
Speaker 1: You lose you're a loser. You didn't figure it out.
Speaker 1: That's professional sports. Yeah, but the fans will get upset.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't have any fans if you're a loser. You shouldn't.
Speaker 1: And that's not on the players, it's not. It's not
Speaker 1: on the players. It's the organization. The players compete every
Speaker 1: time they go on the field, on the court, on
Speaker 1: the diamond, they compete on the ice. But if you're
Speaker 1: putting out an inferior product and asking people to pay,
Speaker 1: and boyd if fans are upset, well why do you
Speaker 1: have fans who support that crap? Go back to the
Speaker 1: restaurant analogy. If you went in and every time you
Speaker 1: ordered a steak it was burnt, would you go back
Speaker 1: to the restaurant?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: I just love it for what the walls? What do
Speaker 1: you like the way the boot if looks the food
Speaker 1: will break your teeth when you bite it. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: go back, would you?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: So why would you sit here? And I'm with these
Speaker 1: guys live or die? Well their dad, why are you
Speaker 1: with them? Go live with somebody. And That's what I'm
Speaker 1: saying about the playoffs. Best teams, make it period, en done,
Speaker 1: make it simple. Well, this is the year We're gonna
Speaker 1: simplify everything.
Speaker 3: We're gonna simplify it so it doesn't matter if you're
Speaker 3: you know, Dodgers win the West and it's no divisions.
Speaker 3: It should be all just National League, American League. Who's
Speaker 3: got the best record in each league?
Speaker 1: Done?
Speaker 2: Who topped the bottom? Don?
Speaker 1: What's the problem. This is gonna be the year of simplification.
Speaker 1: That is what we're gonna brand this. We're gonna simplify everything,
Speaker 1: make it easy, make it quick, and then we can
Speaker 1: figure it out. You want to be in the playoffs?
Speaker 1: Who are the best teams? Put them in there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if the Dodge and Padres happened to have
Speaker 3: the two best records in the National League, they should
Speaker 3: end up in the NLCS as opposed to NLDS.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well quite frankly, if the Dodgers and Padres have
Speaker 1: the two best records in baseball, they should end up
Speaker 1: in the World Series. Oh okay, you want to cross it.
Speaker 1: I'm saying the best teams period.
Speaker 2: Across American League and National League.
Speaker 1: Right, I want to cross football. I want to cross basketball.
Speaker 1: Give me the best sixteen, give me the best seven,
Speaker 1: give me the best eight.
Speaker 2: Whatever.
Speaker 1: Who are the best teams in all conferences, in all divisions.
Speaker 2: Line them up.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's how I would do it. And then
Speaker 1: if it plays out that the Dodgers and Padres playing
Speaker 1: in the World Series, they were truly the two best teams,
Speaker 1: they should be there, which a lot of people believe
Speaker 1: that they were. This year they were on What did
Speaker 1: I tell you when they beat the Padres? What did
Speaker 1: I tell you? They just won the World Series?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And they did because they were the best team and
Speaker 1: the Padres were the second best team, which makes the
Speaker 1: Padres the first loser.
Speaker 2: You would have to do that to the Padre fans.
Speaker 1: Come on, if the door's open, Am I gonna walk in?
Speaker 2: Or no? Yeah, I go walk You You got kick
Speaker 2: that bad bits open, Fred, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: We gotta kick it open. Okay, what's gonna happen with
Speaker 1: Roki Sazaki? Let's talk about that next, all right? Fred
Speaker 1: Rogan Rodney Pete on a five seventy LA Sports. Uh,
Speaker 1: before we get out of here, just some thoughts on
Speaker 1: Roki Sazaki. We kind of touched on it earlier. He
Speaker 1: is the Japanese right hander. He is going to be
Speaker 1: posted on the fifteenth, then everybody gets a crack at it.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing he said. And there were meetings at
Speaker 1: his agent's office in Los Angeles, no players invited, by
Speaker 1: the way, so you have a Mooto or Otani weren't there,
Speaker 1: nor was you Darvish of the Padres. But after the meeting,
Speaker 1: the sense was he wanted to go to the one place,
Speaker 1: the only place where he could be better, where he
Speaker 1: could be the best, where they would make him the best.
Speaker 1: That was number one on his priority list. He wants
Speaker 1: to be the very best player, period the end. And
Speaker 1: that's what he indicated. You know, he's not as concerned
Speaker 1: about being with other Japanese players, and maybe market size
Speaker 1: is not as important to him. But what is important
Speaker 1: is he wants to be the best. And I thought
Speaker 1: about that when I read it, and I thought, well,
Speaker 1: then why are you meeting with anybody else? I mean,
Speaker 1: did anybody ever say the Boston Red Sox made me
Speaker 1: the best player I could ever be? I went to
Speaker 1: Boston problem they fixed me. Sometimes yes, maybe, but that's
Speaker 1: not a destination for that Rodney. Nobody comes out and
Speaker 1: says that, hey, if there's one team I can go
Speaker 1: to that'll make me the best. I don't see anybody
Speaker 1: going it's a Cincinnati Reds. I don't see anybody going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that one place for me is they don't even say
Speaker 1: about the Yankees. No, there's one place where people come
Speaker 1: to get better, and that place is right here. That's
Speaker 1: the only place where am I going to be my best?
Speaker 1: What are your best here?
Speaker 3: What do you think the notion and the reason behind
Speaker 3: no players? I don't want to talk to any of
Speaker 3: the players. You think it's he already has relationships with
Speaker 3: a number of players, and he's already got the individual
Speaker 3: conversation to one on one conversation. So in these meetings,
Speaker 3: I don't need I don't need the You don't need
Speaker 3: to bring Otani and Yamamoto and Suzaki or whoever else,
Speaker 3: any other Japanese player. You don't need to bring them
Speaker 3: into the meeting because I speak the ones that I know.
Speaker 3: I speak to him on the individual basis anyway. But
Speaker 3: why do you think he decided he didn't want the
Speaker 3: players in there.
Speaker 1: Because, as the story goes, he gave everybody a homework assignment.
Speaker 1: There were specific questions he wanted it answered. He presented
Speaker 1: those questions prior to the meetings, and then he wanted to.
Speaker 3: Because most guys say, I want to talk to the
Speaker 3: other players. I want you know, guys, even the Dodgers
Speaker 3: brought other guys in when they met with some and
Speaker 3: so someone sewed up, whether it be Kershaw showed up
Speaker 3: for somebody who was a Kershaw fan, or you know,
Speaker 3: anybody who's a star somebody looked up to when they're
Speaker 3: free agent. Hey, they're good friends with so and so.
Speaker 3: Let's bring him in there and when we meet with
Speaker 3: him or have him go pick him up in the airport.
Speaker 2: You think he didn't want to be influenced anymore, or
Speaker 2: he's that influential that he can't have another player in
Speaker 2: there that makes a decision for him.
Speaker 1: What I think he wanted is, here's what's important to me.
Speaker 1: Who can fulfill this part of it? Okay, if I
Speaker 1: now believe that you can fulfill what I'm asking you
Speaker 1: to do, now we'll go to the next step. I
Speaker 1: don't want to be influenced by anybody at this point.
Speaker 1: I just want to know can you accomplish these goals?
Speaker 1: And if you could accomplish these goals, I'm ready to
Speaker 1: go to the next step. Okay, that's what I think,
Speaker 1: and I think that's why he played out that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, do you think he made a mistake by taking
Speaker 3: this long? Because there are other there are teams out
Speaker 3: there making happen, making deals happen, and have been since
Speaker 3: early December, right, and that the fact that he's waiting
Speaker 3: now some teams are off the market. I mean even
Speaker 3: with the even with the Dodgers, who's still in it, right,
Speaker 3: Obviously they go out and sign Blake Snell. They got
Speaker 3: their eyes on other people. It's putting them in a box.
Speaker 3: They're putting them in a hole by waiting this long. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but here's the thing. I think they're back timing it
Speaker 3: so he can be posted on the fifteenth. Then I
Speaker 3: think it's ten days where we're gonna find out what's
Speaker 3: going to happen, so all the activity and fireworks will start.
Speaker 2: Then.
Speaker 1: I think they just back timed it so when they
Speaker 1: hit the magic date, you know they will have gone
Speaker 1: through the reports, say we'll discuss what each team told them.
Speaker 1: Maybe then these guys go and take another look, go
Speaker 1: to the stadium, meet the players, whatever they decide. I
Speaker 1: think they want to get done pretty quick, and I
Speaker 1: think they just back timed it so, I mean he's
Speaker 1: posted the fifteenth. I don't know, maybe the sixteenth it's done,
Speaker 1: maybe it goes a little longer, but by that time
Speaker 1: he'll have a very good idea of what he's.
Speaker 2: Going to do, a very good idea.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, all right, well we're back. Happy new Year everybody,
Speaker 1: Happy new year everyone, Ronnie, thank you, Happy new Year
Speaker 1: to you, Kevin, Happy new Year to you, and Rodney.
Speaker 1: We're back tomorrow, yes, sir,