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Closing Up The World Of Philly Sports In 2023 (PST Episode 544) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here. I wanted to let you know that
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this podcast episode was recorded on Friday, December eighth, twenty twenty three.
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By the time you hear this, some things may have changed here or there,
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but we hope you enjoy the show. All right, everybody, you're
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listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports
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podcast show in the world, that's right over ten and a half years strong,
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and we got a great discussion coming your way this week on the show.
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If you heard some of the previous podcasts here at the PST podcast show
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platform, you know that I am actually on vacation at this moment, as
0:57
you may be hearing this, with my family lead down in the Bahamas.
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Very much a needed vacation after this twenty twenty three year But like I said,
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we've got a great discussion coming your way. And as I mentioned before,
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the music came in that we recorded this a few days ago, so
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some things may have changed here or there. So that being said, we're
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gonna be diving into the Philadelphia Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers on
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this particular conversation this week. Len and Eric are off but I wanted to
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really talk about where the state of Philadelphia sports is at right here towards the
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end of twenty twenty three, because like, there's a lot of optimism.
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I mean, yes, the Eagles are coming off a rough game against the
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San Francisco forty nine ers. Can they rebound against the Cowboys? Again?
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As you're hearing this, the Cowboys game, an Eagles game has already been
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played. But how how the Eagles are going to use whatever the result was
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of that game to forward their fortunes for this season into the future is something
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we're certainly going to be talking about on this show, and it's definitely gonna
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be a narrative in the coming weeks for this Philadelphia Eagles team. The Philadelphia
2:07
Phillies, on the other hand, it was an interesting conversation Lenn and I
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had on last week's show about the fact that, you know, they seem
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to be content right now with that big signing of Aaron Nola and what that
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has meant to the organization and the pitching staff moving forward. I don't necessarily
2:23
think there's gonna be a lot of big splash signings from this team over the
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course of these next couple months. I think those big free agent signings,
2:31
Phillies are gonna let that all play out with other teams and then see what
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that next tier of talent is going to look like if they are going to
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bring anyone in. As it pertains to the Philadelphia Flyers, my goodness,
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it's been a fun season. Again, as Lennon and I were talking about
2:46
last week on the show, it is it's just like so nice to see
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aggressiveness on the ice with this team, and night after night it's it's balls
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to the wall. That's what it is with this Flyers team. John Tortorella
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really getting a lot out of these young guys and trying to establish that core
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heading into it, not heading into but during this rebuilding phase of what the
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Flyers are gonna be in the future. And then as we talk about the
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Philadelphia seventy six ers, I mean, it's been a pretty fantastic season.
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Joel Embiid last week putting up fifty points, My goodness, what it would
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have dominating performance from him. It's been great to see Tyris Maxi developing as
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well. But as we're hoping before the trade deadline, we're hoping the Philadelphia
3:30
seventy six ers are able to get that next piece of the puzzle to help
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maybe get them through the playoffs, maybe to an Eastern Conference championship. Who
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knows. However, we're gonna be following it here at the PST Podcast Show
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for weeks and weeks and months and months to come, and we really do
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hope that you enjoy this particular discussion that we're gonna be having with our guest.
3:53
It is he's one of our favorites been a little while since he has
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been on. As you all know, we have a plethora of guests that
4:00
join us throughout the course of the year. I wish we could all have
4:03
him on a lot more often, but there's a lot of people that enjoy
4:08
coming on this podcast and we are so grateful for that and this particular gentleman.
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As we are closing twenty twenty three and we're gonna be doing some reflections
4:16
on the world of Philly sports with our guest this week. So without being
4:21
without further ado, I should say, let's get into that discussion now,
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let's do it. It is great to have back on the show. I
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absolutely love talking to him. He is the CEO and publicist over at Rise
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and react media. I've listened to him on the wind daily over at Sirius
4:41
XM. Taking a little break from that particular show, but he's got a
4:45
lot of other stuff going on as well. Mister Tony Catillo, how you
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doing, buddy, I'm doing great, Jeff Man, how are you?
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Thanks? Well, Yes, you are welcome, man. Like I said,
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I said it in our intro. We have so many wonderful guests that
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come on the show, so very grateful for everyone. I wish we could
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have everybody on like every week. I wish I could have you on every
5:03
week if we only had the time. Yeah, I think we would need
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cloned in order to do that, exactly exactly. But Tony, you are
5:10
doing some great stuff out in the online digital media world. And tell everybody
5:15
where they can find you. I know, the Heat Ratio podcast. You've
5:17
got your hands in a lot, So tell folks where they can find you
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on the interwebs out there, buddy, Yeah, man, I stay busy.
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So you know you can follow me at Tony Catillo r R M on
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x We'll talk about that a little bit, because I'm really not I'm kind
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of shying away from Twitter nowadays. I'm here, uh, yeah, so
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relaunched heat Ratio Sports. We got a new logo, new design, and
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a brand new partnership with the Delaware blue Coats. What I'm really happy about
5:43
so awesome. Uh yeah, I'm hosting with coach Joe Richmond at the blue
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Coats Beat all new podcasts, uh, doing some live in game action.
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We'll be down to Chase Field House Center with player spotlights and uh we got
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a couple of really fantastic gets lined up too. So yeah, you can
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just catch me all over, Jeff. I mean, I'll be back on
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serious in January. Cool on the weekend. So you know, I'm a
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family guy, so you know what happens is full transparency. I like Sundays
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to do shows because it doesn't you know, cut into family time. And
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you know when they said, look we're gonna cut the Sunday show for football
6:16
season. Do you want to do Saturday? I said that I'll pay it.
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So yeah, wait, football season's over and I'll go back in January.
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There you go, all right, man, At the end of the
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day, family is what is most important for show you that time back exactly,
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dude, exactly. You know that's why, that's why as everybody's listening
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to this. I am on a cruise with my family in the Bahamas.
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I love it, love it. There we go. So you're you're you're
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living a family life up right now. Deserve absolutely. Look, I want
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to get into you know, of course, the world of Philly sports with
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you, Tony, but to start us off, you know, I this
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is more going to be a show of reflections of twenty twenty three, not
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just in the world of Philly sports, but I want to start the conversation
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with regard to digital media and how the did media landscape has changed so much
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during the course of this year. I mean, for me, I have
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been and it's just more recently kind of getting away from Twitter and just not
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putting up as much content as I would like to or engaging with content on
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Twitter because of that platform, which has changed so much. And I mean
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I remember following you. That's where I met you on Twitter many years ago,
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and I asked you if you wanted to come on the PSD podcast show
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to talk about the world of Philly sports. I've established so many amazing relationships
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with folks over the years because of Twitter x as now it's called I hate
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calling it X because of because if who's running it and everything anyway, it
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stinks that I've been navigating away from that particular platform and that it's changed so
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much. I'm wondering have you been doing that at all? Not just with
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Twitter, but like, how have you seen this digital world and landscape changing
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in twenty twenty three and how has it affected you in a way. Yeah,
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means is it's absolutely crazy, to be honest with you, because it
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feels like as you gravitate away from it, more like now you have threads
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that comes up right now where people are everybody wants to gravitate to TikTok and
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and it's just there's just too much, right, And so so what I've
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what I've learned, and you know, speaking with most of my clients,
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you know, most of my clients, you know, they they've kind of
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gone away from you know, Twitter, and they've kind of gone away from
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Instagram, and you know, they're more focused on business profiles on Facebook and
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and LinkedIn. And I'll be honest with you about LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn.
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And I'm gonna say this is probably not going to be a popular point
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here, but please, man, I don't want to see your podcast on
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LinkedIn exactly, Like LinkedIn is not for that exactly. I'm with you,
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you know, if you if they want to make a LinkedIn sports wing,
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yes, that's fine, right, if you want to make sense. It's
8:52
for announcements, it's for you know, collaborating with other business minded professionals.
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You know, no disrespect to cats anybody, but right, that's not why
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I'm on LinkedIn, Yes, you know, exactly. But but last thing
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I will say is I'm a big YouTube guy. Yeah, and I like
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YouTube because there's no bias. You know, you listen, I don't have
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to engage. If I don't want to engage, you know, I could
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just get my opinion out there and I can get it to other places,
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right, so you know, and and a lot of my clients, it's
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allowed me to digitally pitch to producers instead of going through the old fashioned email
9:28
system or on social media. So it's YouTube has been in a good revelation
9:33
for me. I think what's interesting about this entire topic, Tony, is
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that our generation was the one that really picked up the social media mantle,
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and we are learning so much more about it as we move forward. We
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are changing our habits. I think and that's going to continue to happen,
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and how is that going to affect the online digital world and specifically with these
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various social media sites. It's a it's interesting to talk about, and I
9:58
wish we had more time dive in. It would be like a week long
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conversation, exactly, exactly seriously, because like our kids generation, they are
10:05
when we're getting old and decrepit and we're we're sitting in our favorite chair at
10:11
Thanksgiving or Christmas, they're gonna come to us and say, boy, your
10:13
generation really screwed us up in terms of social media, didn't it. I'm
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gonna say, I'm telling you absolutely then. I'm all about everybody having a
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voice, but there's some people that need to be muted. Absolutely absolutely absolutely.
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Man. All right, well, let's get into some Philly sports talk
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here, Tony. And you know, there were so many storylines to follow
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with the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Union this year.
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Some are really great storylines and some certainly were not. But you know,
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as we look back here on twenty twenty three, as we're closing things up
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here in December, in the world of Philly sports, I'm wondering what do
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you think was the most consequential storyline this year, whether you know it was
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with one of the four or five teams you know that we have here in
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the city that we consistently followed. Is there something that is right at the
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top for you in terms of most consequential storylines? Yeah, I honestly think
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it's got to be the Philadelphia Phillies and what happened in the World Series.
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I just you know, we have a lot of good things going for us
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in Philadelphia right now, and I'm very happy. Listen. I could not
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be happier to have a competitive team with such a tremendous culture. You know,
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I have no problems with that. It just, you know, it
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kind of felt like two thousand and nine twenty ten all over again. And
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I'm thinking, man, I really hope because at least we wanted to eight.
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And I'm like, I really hope it doesn't go down that road.
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And you know, there was a lot of things that happened in that playoffs
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that made me start to think, like, hmm, you know, maybe
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you know, this team, as much as we love them, you know,
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maybe they need to be built a little differently. So, you know,
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I think that was one of the most consequential things I took out of
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it because it was there for us for the taking. And as we see
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with the Philadelphia said twenty six ers, it's like you have that window that
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we've talked about so many years, and eventually that window gets small. It
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doesn't get bigger, it just keeps getting smaller. Right, So you know,
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we probably have a couple prime years left. And you know, who
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knows as we're talking right now, who knows where Shao Tadi winds up?
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Who knows like that that the Braves just can see we're not gonna keep killing
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the Braves, just olveryady. We're just not gonna it's it's not gonna happen,
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right right, you know. So eventually third time is gonna be it
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staller for them. So we you know, that was one of my biggest
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consequence of storylines. It's interesting to look at this Phillies team. We're gonna
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get into them in a little bit. But I do like your answer because
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it's not just about teams getting hot at certain points in time. I mean,
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yes, that's important certainly in the game of baseball and certainly the postseason.
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However, when you have the talent that this team has and the free
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agent talent that was brought in over these past few years. Guys just have
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to perform at a certain level, and if you're not, you know,
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you have questions, and I think some of those questions are valid. Now
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I think it's really ridiculu. Listen, help people. There is a certain
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contingency with regard to Bryce Harper out there people crapping on him. It's like,
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are you freaking kidding? We wouldn't even be in this cultural aspect of
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the Philadelphia Phillies and loving it if it wasn't for Bryce Harper been signed and
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coming in exactly. So, you know, yes, people have to get
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hot at certain players I should say have to get hot at certain times during
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the postseason. But you know, you got to perform. You know,
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you got to perform as well. Yeah, it's you have to stay consistent,
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right, And and that was you know, I felt like too many
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times, you know, there was too much sense of urgency from the Philly
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standpoint to where you know, they were constantly less focused on hitting that long
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ball all the time when you know, and listen, I love Rob Thompson,
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I love Tomper. I think it's a tremendous coach. I think it
13:48
was about time he got the opportunity. But there was some interesting bullpen decisions
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he made, starting decisions. You know, listen, and nobody's going to
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be perfect, right right. The only thing is I hope, I hope
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this year, you know that Toper just backs off a little bit from the
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analytics and coaches by the gut a little bit more as I think that may
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have helped them through a few of those games in the postseason. Absolutely,
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I've said on this podcast a number of times it's not all about home runs.
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Just making contact with the ball is also important in the game of baseball,
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and I think we certainly saw that in the postseason. What didn't happen
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and what needed to happen at times exactly. Yeah, So moving on here,
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Tony is you know, we look at the Philadelphia Eagles, we look
14:30
at their season, we look at how last season ended, such disappointment with
14:33
regard to the Super Bowl loss. I really wanted to gauge your opinion on
14:37
something that happened recently, and it was during that forty nine Ers game.
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The link was booing this team at the half, and I honestly thought I
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mentioned it on our postgame podcast show. I honestly thought it was really crappy
14:52
of the fan base there, considering the team at the time was ten and
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one, ten and one. Look at tough league. The NFL is a
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tough place to play football. I mean, we saw with regard to last
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night's game. I mean, in all honesty with the Steelers momentum, who
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in their right mind for the New England Patriots with the nonsense that they've been
15:15
dealing with throughout this season, especially at the quarterback position, We're gonna go
15:18
into Pittsburgh and beat up on the Pittsburgh Steelers again, who have had momentum
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recently. Anything can happen. It's a tough league week to week. Anything
15:26
can happen, as we know. But I guess a two part question for
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you here with regard to the Eagles and with regard to the fan base and
15:33
certain contingencies within the fan base, what are your what were your thoughts on
15:37
that booing at halftime? And do you think expectations are way too high for
15:43
the Eagles and this team is we're looking towards this, you know, potential
15:46
postseason here? What are your thoughts on all this it's you know, it's
15:52
funny. You know, I'm actually gonna disagree with you a little bit.
15:54
Here are you actually agreed? Uh? And and here's why I agree,
15:58
because this team is is so much better than they've actually played, even at
16:03
ten and two right now. Yeah, they're they're a better team. And
16:07
you know so, yes, I I you know, we buy into the
16:11
culture. But the Eagles buy into the culture as well, where they say
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listen, they want to hear it, like they know they know you've heard
16:18
the interviews that they're every game, right, every game, you know,
16:22
we got to get better. We still haven't played our a game and you
16:26
know, but we're twelve games in and eventually that a game has to come
16:29
out and if it doesn't, you know, we got spanked. Man,
16:33
we got spanked. It was and that should not happen. And you know,
16:40
I think the reason why the building was there is because you know,
16:44
we know that things have not been great, and you know, we're just
16:48
finally saying to ourselves, man, like, this is the game you had
16:52
to get up for. This is the game. I mean, listen in
16:53
Pittsburgh, you know, they were seven and four before this last stretch and
16:56
they were getting booed and they had a backup quarter. I mean, you
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know, here's a guy Mike Tomlin who's never had a losing season his entire
17:04
life, and they're still going, right. So the other part of that
17:08
question, well, well, I think the other part of the question is
17:11
maybe maybe we are we overlook how good we actually have it, right,
17:18
Like, that's one thing too maybe said, because that's where I was hoping
17:21
you would go with this, do you know what I mean? Like because
17:23
you look at like look at the Arizona Cardinals right now, right like do
17:27
you want to be? Do you want to be the Carolina Panthers? Like
17:30
we have a GM you know, in this town that is going to do
17:34
everything and anything to try to get us to that next step. So I
17:38
mean, eventually we have to say it's never always going to be perfect,
17:42
and you know, we may not always score forty points, but at the
17:45
end of the day, we have a team that we know every week.
17:49
I mean, we could go back to rich Kotite if you want. I
17:52
don't think we want to do that, right, Wayne font no Era,
17:56
right, you know, we don't need so let's be happy. Yes,
18:00
I'm passionate, Jeff I want more. I want it all the Super Bowl.
18:03
But I also, man, don't take this for granted either exactly.
18:07
I think it's a great point. Seriously, you make some great points.
18:10
My issue with the booing was, Okay, they were one of the top
18:14
teams in the NFL, one of the top teams in the NFL. They
18:17
have given us some really good performances. They've certainly given us some stinkers.
18:19
We can go back to the Jets game. My god, what a stinker
18:22
that was. I mean, they lost to the New York Jets, of
18:26
all teams, and yes, there were bumps in the road. Like I
18:30
was saying, it's a tough league. They did get embarrassed with the San
18:33
Francisco forty nine ers. But I think there should be some perspective, and
18:37
I think you were really hit on that too. You know, there needs
18:40
to be some perspective that it's not going to be perfect week in and week
18:42
out with this Philadelphia Eagles team. You know, we talked about it on
18:47
our recent podcast show, how certain areas of this team have regressed. But
18:51
the team knows and understands what they need to do, what they need to
18:55
do to fix the problems. I mean, you listen to Jason Kelcey.
18:57
I was listening to he and his brother's New Heights podcast where he said,
19:02
you know, we have to get better. We were embarrassed and he said,
19:04
we will be able to fix these things. And that's what I want
19:07
to see. I think it's possible. Yeah, I think it's possible.
19:11
I do. But another thing that I think is possible and maybe it's just
19:17
a hope. Tony. As we're moving along in our discussion here, wanted
19:19
to get into the seventy six ers and the fact that I think it's possible
19:23
that this team is going to show us some really cool stuff this year.
19:26
And again, maybe it is just a hope, because coming into this season,
19:30
I'm thinking to myself, all right, you know that James hard and
19:33
Crap is just lingering around. He is no longer here, thank god,
19:37
and I'm seeing a team that appears to be having fun on the court this
19:41
season. It's a different feel perhaps than what it was last year. And
19:47
I have this hope that, based on what's going on with the Eastern Conference,
19:51
that they may be able to push the envelope a little bit more this
19:53
year and once that postseason rolls around, hopefully they get to it and that
19:57
they can push the envelope here. So I'm wondering, what are your assessments
20:02
of the Sixers at this point the season here in December, and and what
20:06
grade would you actually give them in terms of what the expectations initially were coming
20:10
into this year. Yeah, that's a great question, because you know,
20:14
full transparency. I was so distraught, you know, by the playoff losses
20:22
that I decided that I had season tickets. I gave them up. Man.
20:26
I was like, oh, did you I invested a lot of my
20:27
time, man, A lot of my time. I enjoy going down there,
20:32
but I'm like, I just passionately, man, I like, I
20:36
lost so much, Yeah, you know, investment in that team and the
20:40
way they just gave up right the ways, and that's what bothered me.
20:44
I will say this, I got the guy gets a lot of heat,
20:45
man, but I got to give some props man that Daryl Morey. I
20:49
know, Daryl Mory got a lot of heat, but let's let's remember something.
20:52
Daryl Moorey got a lot of heat because Daryl Morey saw the same decline
20:56
we saw with James Harden and that Ryl Morey. You know, had a
21:02
big set to come up and say, I'm not maxing you out even you
21:06
know, we so and and he got actually held out and got decent compensation.
21:11
And the other thing, Jeff is he finally said that Doc Rivers experiment
21:17
is over. And you know, and he brought in Nick Nurse. Is
21:19
the reason why this team is exciting. Nick Nurse plays a different style of
21:23
basketball. You don't see Finally, you don't see Joel Embiid at the top
21:27
of the key just holding the ball for five minutes. Right, It's not
21:32
that kind of team, right, it's not James Harden slowed the team down.
21:37
This team needed to be quicker. But they also need to understand that
21:40
you can't have the center run transition all game where you're gonna kill him by
21:44
the middle of the season. Right. So, I think my grade right
21:48
now, I would say, is actually a B minus. I think that
21:51
they can go up to almost an A. I don't think I honestly,
21:55
I don't think they'll can pee for a title. And and but I think
21:59
though at least give us the excitement of a competitive team that's showing the youthfulness
22:04
of a Tyres MAXI you know, a barely just a not spawlow prime of
22:11
Joel Onbid and guys like Jaden Springer that you're gonna start to to see get
22:15
involved, right, you know, you see these guys, you know,
22:18
Paul Reid developing. I mean, these guys are gonna develop man And I
22:22
think it's a Fontonomy six ercent. It absolutely is. Sometimes I do wish
22:26
the NBA was a little bit different, Tony. I wish it was a
22:27
little different in terms of, Okay, if you just have that top talent,
22:32
you're gonna be going to the postseason, competing for the title, and
22:36
then you have other teams where it's like it's like what you just said.
22:38
You know, we hope it's a little fun. We hope it's enjoyable and
22:41
just it's fun to watch every now and then. I wish the NBA was
22:45
a little different in that regard. I don't ever think it's gonna go back
22:48
to how it was in the nineties or even the early two thousands. I
22:51
don't think it's gonna I don't think it's gonna end up being like that was
22:53
the peak man peak, like between like I would say, like ninety to
22:57
two thousand. Yeah, maybe even like two thousand and five, like,
23:03
I'll give it those fifteen years, I think. Yeah, we're like,
23:06
man, we could go on all day about that. Yep, absolutely,
23:08
Well, let's move over to the Philadelphia Flyers here, Tony, because this
23:11
is a team here again, you know again, you know, I talk
23:15
about the world of Philly sports and just how certain teams are defying expectations,
23:18
you know, whether it was the Sixers that we were just speaking about now,
23:22
the Flyers coming into this season, coming into this you know, you
23:25
know, in the midst of their rebuild here, we're thinking, all right,
23:27
we're gonna see some crap, We're gonna see some garbage on the ice.
23:30
But man, this team, as I said in the intro, balls
23:33
to the wall. Like every game, they can hold their heads high when
23:36
they're leaving whatever arena they're playing hockey in that night, because it is constant
23:41
aggressiveness and I love it coming from this team. And it has actually been
23:45
fun to watch the Philadelphia Flyers and the brand of hockey that they're now playing.
23:51
So I'm wondering, what are your assessments of them? What great would
23:53
you give them this year? Yeah? Man, it's almost like we could
23:56
actually carbon copy the conversation we had the Sixers. You know, they needed
24:02
energy, right, they needed and Tortorella is a hard nosed, fiery kind
24:07
of guy. And he brings in Shawl who did to be the penalty kills
24:11
specialist coach, and he brings in at an attacking mentality, and it just
24:15
changes the whole demeanor of this team. I mean, you know some of
24:18
the stats I was reading, like did great Jason Martitez tweets out the other
24:22
night. You know, the Flyers had given up three goals or less in
24:25
their last nine road games, the longest stretch in over eighteen years. Incredible.
24:30
I mean, yeah, think about that, right, you know.
24:33
And here's another thing, you know, the spreading the wealth. Number one
24:37
TK is showing he wasn't an aberration, right. He has forty five goals
24:41
the last eighty six games. And then you have eleven guys eleven guys in
24:47
double digit points, eight guys with four more goals. I mean, this
24:51
team, man, you know, last thing I'll read it is for Charlie
24:53
O'Connor or Philly Sports are great. Over one hundred and thirty four minutes at
24:57
four and five this season, Fers have allowed eight goals. They scored just
25:02
too fewer themselves, and the pk is racked up a whopping forty shots on
25:07
goal. It's nearly merely impressive, almost unprecedented. Man. I mean,
25:11
like what they're doing, Jeff, is they're bringing guys like me and you
25:15
back into the fold that we're bored. Yep, right, we were bored.
25:21
We were like this the same stag that dulphin chase flyers hockey. Man.
25:25
This is a new energy, man. So I'm gonna give that.
25:27
I'm gonna give them a full be man, because I actually think good,
25:30
great, they could actually win before the Sixers, man. I do that
25:33
they actually could. I absolutely think that's possible because I think this rebuild,
25:37
I think Danny Danny Briere coming together exactly, just getting getting the foundation set
25:45
here for the future. We're seeing it. We're seeing it for sure,
25:48
folks. And again, folks, we're talking to Tony Catillo from Rise and
25:52
React Media Heat Ratio podcast getting that rebooted as well. He is a great
25:57
to follow on social media. I know we were talking about Twitter before.
26:00
Where do you want people to like follow you down? At this point,
26:03
Tony, listen, man, Like I say you just go to just go
26:07
to Tony Cazillo at Tony Gatzel, Are I listen, I do tweet.
26:11
It's just like I don't sit on there. I'm just still in there for
26:14
you know, hours, man. I know back and forth with you sts
26:17
of bone heads that that that one. I'm like, I'm not waste of
26:19
my time exactly. All right, Well, let's move on here to the
26:22
Philadelphia Phillies here. Want to get your assessments of their off season thus far.
26:26
I know we were talking about postseason uh play with this particular team,
26:32
you know, at the top of our conversation, Tony, But I'm wondering
26:36
how you think twenty twenty four is gonna be looking for them? What grade
26:38
you would give the off season? Of course, Aaron Nola the big signing,
26:44
like I said as well in the intro, like, I think they're
26:48
just gonna let certain big free agents sign and then see where things fall from
26:52
there in terms of potentially acquiring other talent for this team. I don't know
26:56
what are your thoughts here in terms of their twenty twenty four upcoming season season
27:02
and how would you assess their offseason at this point? What greade would you
27:04
give them? Yeah. I mean, listen, you know, I think
27:08
the you know, if you ask me if I'm blown away by Aaron All
27:12
re signing, I'm really not. But at the end of the day,
27:17
if you told me the best pitcher I can upgrade with is Blake Snell,
27:21
then I'm like, okay, I just take Nola back. Right. So,
27:23
I think that the biggest thing for the Philadelphia Phillies is going to be
27:29
health. Man, just going to be health. And you know, I
27:32
think the Bryce Harper injury, you know, in a way, was such
27:37
a positive for this team because let's let's think about how the whole thing played
27:41
out. Right. Now, Bryce gets hurt, he has to date he
27:45
can't play right field. Nick Castianos, who was not a right fielder by
27:48
Tree, comes in and works his butt off to become a more than serviceable
27:55
outfielder and right field And now you have Reee Hoskins unfortunately, great guy,
28:00
Jeff Right I get a great guy, great culture. But if you asked
28:03
me if I was gonna give a Max Dela Reize Hoskins, I wasn't going
28:07
to right. So I mean so now I think, looking ahead, I
28:11
think they have a lot of a nice young nucleus with a Bryce and Star
28:15
and Alec Bohm. You know, they Ranger Suarez. They have some really
28:21
good young arms. We talked about it coming up from the farm system.
28:25
But I think the most important thing is, you know, I think they
28:27
need to find a full time center fielder. Yep. And you know,
28:32
listen, no distress direspect to Rojas, but if you can't put a bunt
28:36
down or at least make contact with a ball, at the end of the
28:38
day, we have too much power on a scene. We need a contact
28:41
in it, right, exactly so. And I think Brandon marsh who I
28:45
really like, is not your prototypical uh center fielder because he takes bad angles
28:51
to the ball, So allow him to play left. Schwarber with babies gets
28:55
to your DH. I mean, listen, the prospects are good, man,
28:57
They're good. We're always going to be competitive. And can I just
29:00
say one thing Japter before, Yes, Chris like Zach Wheeler almost aid Chris
29:04
Wheeler shot out the wheels right, but Zach Wheeler man like. And I'm
29:10
not saying this is a too of my own horn, but you know I
29:12
was the only one saying when they signed him, I was like, guys.
29:15
I'm telling you it's he is a pro at twenty eight. He's in
29:19
his prime. Man. Yes, I'm telling this kid can be electric.
29:22
And I'll tell you what, man, he's one of the best pictures in
29:26
baseball jeah. And we got him and we got him under lad too,
29:29
by the way, under page. Yes, absolutely, it's really great.
29:34
I love how you mentioned the farm system, Tony, because you know,
29:37
for years and years talking on this podcast with my co host, it was,
29:41
Oh my gosh, the farm system it's completely it's depleted. It is
29:45
it is a complete dumpster fire. We're not seeing that now. I think
29:48
we have seen the new development hires over the past couple seasons really doing a
29:55
great job with the farm system. There is talent coming up through Redding,
29:59
Double A. There is talent and Triple A as well, and it's gonna
30:02
be interesting to see where these these pieces fit in the future in terms of
30:07
their development. And I think I think this team is uh, you know,
30:11
I really think this team's around a minus right now in terms of a
30:14
grade. What would you give them, I'm one hundred percent in the same
30:18
man, if they can add, if they can add a really good center
30:21
fielder, and one good bench piece. I mean I think they're a plus.
30:25
Yeah, I really do. All right, very good last topic here,
30:27
buddy, before I let you headed out of here. I'm wondering if
30:32
there is an underrated professional athlete in Philadelphia that you are looking at in terms
30:37
of them like breaking out with their team in the future as we're looking to
30:40
twenty twenty four. You know who would that Who would that professional athlete be?
30:44
And why? I think this is easy, man, I think this
30:47
is one hundred percent for me. This is Alco. I want to say
30:51
this, and I know the cliche statem would be like Tyres max E,
30:56
you know what, but no, listen, man, you know what you've
30:59
seen him endure. You know, with this fan base, we start to
31:03
show about the Eagles billing, right, we know the incident with Alt Bohm.
31:07
You know, this kid has done nothing but show that he just wants
31:11
to get better. And a lot of this is attributed to the man Bryce
31:15
Harper, who's worked with Bryce and Stott who works with like they see this
31:18
blue collar mentality and Jeff I look at him and I'm just like, wow,
31:22
this dude, he's six foot you know what he's got The wingspan of
31:27
Giannis right and right and look it looks can kill. He could cover a
31:32
GQ magazine any day in the week. Right, So the ladies love him.
31:36
But he's got such a long swing. You remind I say this name
31:40
and people laugh for me. But like I remember Richie Sexton for so many
31:42
years, being so tall, being able to reach so many balls. Like
31:47
I'm just saying, the way he's developed his defense, this is every bit
31:51
of a gold glove third baseman into making a three hundred hitter that hits twenty
31:56
five home runs at over one hundred RBIs. He's one of the best positions
32:01
of baseball. Yeah, absolutely, I love I love the pick in terms
32:07
of Alec Bohm being one of the most underrated Philadelphia sports athletes. And again,
32:12
folks, Tony Katillo at Tony Katillo p r M on the Twitter on
32:17
the X if you'd like to give him a follow there, buddy, you're
32:21
doing great work. Absolutely love having you on. Come back join us down
32:24
the road. I'd love to talk more Philly sports with you. My friend
32:28
sounds go man. Next next time we'll have to talk some Blue coats.
32:30
Now that I'm coll let's do it. Let's do it. We usually don't
32:34
talk Blue Coats on here, but I would love to get into it.
32:37
I'd love to get into it. I we'll have to get into it Man
32:38
Blue Coats beat Man all new podcasts, Me and coach Joe. So yeah,
32:43
check that out and we'll talk that next time. Jeff always love talking
32:46
to Tony. He's such a plethora of knowledge and information, great thoughts as
32:51
well in terms of the Philly sports. So that's going to do it for
32:54
us this week, folks. Thanks so much. As we are closing out
32:59
and getting ready to twenty twenty three, we cannot wait for twenty twenty four
33:02
here at the PST podcast show. Make sure that you are subscribed on liver
33:07
podcast platform you're on. If anything happens to your feed, you can always
33:10
head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. We've got all of our
33:13
shows over there. We've got some PSD special pods as well, where we've
33:16
done some movie reviews in the past, and we've gotten into some music as
33:20
well. Take a listen to some of those. Those are fun. And
33:22
also I am on threads, mister Jeff Warren, give me a follow over
33:27
there. I would love to interact with you there, you know, like
33:30
I was talking with Tony about, you know, Twitter in not so much
33:35
fun anymore. Threads has been a decent experience thus far. Again, I'd
33:39
love to interact with you over there. We are on Instagram. You can
33:43
search out Philadelphia Sports Table and honestly not too too too active, but we
33:47
do put up some content every now and then over there. So all right,
33:52
folks, you all take care, and I'm gonna keep enjoying my time
33:55
in the Bahamas with my family, and we're gonna see you next week.
34:00
I should say, you'll be listening to my voice next week in terms of
34:05
this podcast platform and some new content that we're gonna be putting out. Very
34:08
much. Appreciate you, very very much. Appreciate you. So that's gonna
34:13
do it for us. Take care, We'll catch you next time.