Latest / The Regulars / NFL QB Tier Madness: Why The Exec/Coach Quarterback Rankings Don’t Add Up

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NFL QB Tier Madness: Why The Exec/Coach Quarterback Rankings Don’t Add Up · The Regulars

• 0:00
  Boy, oh boy. What can we say?
• 0:03
  Quarterback rankings. MLB is on fire.
• 0:06
  Trade deadline was awesome. And ESPN inexplicably
• 0:11
  doing better than it ever has. My God, Tanya, what a day.
• 0:15
  It's a Friday. I'm Cody Decker. I'm Tanya Ray Fox.
• 0:18
  And we're going to— we're going to absolutely have the most efficient show of
• 0:22
  all time. I'm looking forward to this. Thanks for joining us. Let's do it.
• 0:26
  We're the regulars.
• 0:35
  Listen, why even waste any time? We're gonna have a fucking efficient show today.
• 0:38
  We're gonna be in a good mood. We're gonna fucking love this. Tell the people
• 0:41
  where they can find me after all this. Well, after all this, you're going on
• 0:44
  a station in Boston, are you not? Yes, I'm gonna go on and talk to
• 0:47
  my friend Kendra Middleton about, uh,
• 0:50
  NFL stuff. Let's go. You know, I think she's gonna maybe, um, pimp me out
• 0:54
  for some national NFL convo in Boston because They hear
• 0:58
  enough Patriots. I mean, I'm sure we'll hit on Patriots, but so if anyone cares
• 1:01
  to do that, you can absolutely stream me after this. But we have a
• 1:05
  fucking banger show to get to. Yes, we do. We have— I'm not, I'm not
• 1:07
  skipping over that. Nothing better. There's no combo. There's no version
• 1:11
  of us. There's no Cody Decker that's better with anybody than
• 1:16
  Tiny Ray Fox. And there's no Tiny Ray Fox that's better with anybody than Cody
• 1:18
  Decker. I agree with this. We belong together. We belong. We belong
• 1:22
  in our horrific misery together. We are, we are microphone-bound soulmates.
• 1:26
  It is just the way it is. And we are very proud of that situation.
• 1:28
  But here's here's the deal, we got lots to get to and only
• 1:32
  about an hour and 10 minutes to get to it because we've been doing hour
• 1:35
  and a half shows lately. So yeah, I know it sounds like we have a
• 1:37
  lot of time, but that's not a lot of time for us. Not for us.
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  No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We,
• 1:42
  we're like a bunch of old fucking yentas over here just fucking talking gossip and
• 1:46
  talking shop, which actually kind of in a way is this point of this show.
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  But Tanya, let's not waste any more time. Headline number 1, Tanya.
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  Well, we've got more NFL executive rankings. God, I fucking love this. I love that,
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  that they, that they live in this world where they can't help but live in
• 2:01
  Madden rankings. Why do we do this now? I don't know.
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  And quite honestly, they've been doing it. This is the Big Athletic one,
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  and they do this every year. The Athletic talks to
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  NFL executives across the NFL and they sort
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  of, based on these executives, they, they tier
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  it out. So they'll put a quarterback that they're talking to across all the
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  sort of starting caliber quarterbacks and they'll put them in tiers 1, 2,
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  3, or 4. Yes, they will. And so it's not that The
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  Athletic is tiering them, it's the execs actually doing it themselves. Yes.
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  But isn't this like the 4th time we've had a rankings list? Like we had
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  a rankings list a few weeks ago that we talked about. Now we're doing this
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  weird-ass tier list. I will say I
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  always get like annoyed by these, the way that execs are talking
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  about players, especially because executives have
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  a vested interest in talking a specific way about specific quarterbacks, which is something we
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  kind of like don't really discuss enough, like where it's like there's— they're not unbiased.
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  There is a reason that they say specific things. They are also like they're—
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  they are manipulating the quarterback conversation, which is— it behooves
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  them to do it. But still, there are legitimate
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  things to critique here. I have to be
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  honest. Yes, this is the one that's pissed me off the most. Interesting.
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  I'm, I'm all ears. Give me the reason why it's pissing you off. Is it
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  because it's particularly putting them in their said tier list? So it's like,
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  it's really showing it how like shitty they think certain dudes are
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  and other dudes are put in certain tiers that I can't stress
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  enough screams— as a former athlete who had to
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  deal with things of like arbitration cases, right, really screams someone's
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  got a money deal coming up very soon. It really does. Or it screams
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  like there's a— there could be manipulating the
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  money market. Yes, it could be manipulating the discourse
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  around who you might be deciding to start, why you might be deciding to start
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  them, whatever. Here's the thing right off the bat.
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  Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, and Joe Burrow commanded 191
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  of a possible 200 top-tier votes from the panel of 50 coaches
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  and executives. So coaches and executives,
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  we got 200. So we've got a coach and an
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  executive from each team, 200 votes. Yeah,
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  191 of them put all 4 of
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  those players as top-tier quarterbacks.
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  I could argue that Matthew Stafford
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  and Joe Burrow having that many top-tier votes is psychotic.
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  And I don't mean it that they shouldn't have any, but why is there consensus
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  on those 2 specifically? It seems like really— Patrick Mahomes,
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  first of all, whoever didn't give him a top-tier vote, get a, get a grip.
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  Yeah. Um, I understand the Josh Allen thing, like I, I do. I,
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  I feel like there are many, many quarterbacks that we watched for the— over the
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  course of time that would not have gotten top-tier votes after throwing All right,
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  committing 4 turnovers in the AFC Championship— or not even,
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  not even the AFC Championship Game. Who am
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  I to say that he made it further in the fucking playoffs than he did?
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  Um, seems a little egregious, no? Listen,
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  everyone is trying to really tell me that Josh Allen is the greatest thing in
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  the world. And listen, I've seen him play, he's amazing. I agree that Josh Allen's
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  great. He makes a lot of stupid mistakes in a lot of huge games.
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  Which I really think has somehow skirted his entire
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  narrative. And I've always been baffled on why that is.
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  Part of it, I think, makes me think it's because he's in that Buffalo market.
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  If he was like the— if he was the Chicago quarterback,
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  would we be still calling, like, treating him this exact same way? Because he'd be
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  the best quarterback they ever had. But he definitely would be that. But no,
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  I'm just trying to say, like, in a market where the media scrutiny is a
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  little different. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, look at how Jordan Love talked about— because
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  He's in the vein of elite quarterbacks, right? So yeah, there is part
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  of it. Lawrence is in Jacksonville, so he's not really held accountable. Right, right,
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  right. But here's the thing. I— people think I'm a Josh Allen hater.
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  What I hate is the— is the way he's talked about in a way
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  that other quarterbacks aren't who've achieved more or as much as him. I don't hate
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  Josh Allen. In fact, I have spent years defending Josh Allen to other people who
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  didn't like Josh Allen, being like, yo, you don't know how this motherfucker's good.
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  Years in my household defending Josh Allen in my own home
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  to your Pats family. To— no, to Chris. Oh shit. Yeah, Chris was a hater.
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  Really? Still is kind of a hater. Really? Yeah, yeah. I'm not a hater,
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  but I, I— my issue is probably similar to your issue. I don't
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  understand how he gets away with certain narratives and certain things. That's exactly what it
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  is. Other guys simply not even the benefit of the doubt— benefit
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  of the doubt is an understatement— they're not even mentioned in the same fucking breath.
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  And you and I have the same player in mind. You're famous for it.
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  Me, it just baffles me. Yeah, like I can almost understand the argument for Josh
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  Allen. I see the talent in Josh Allen. The argument for Josh— I, I think
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  Josh Allen outside of tier 1 doesn't make sense to me, even with the
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  4 turnovers. Like, shit happens. Yes, he has playoff issues.
• 7:00
  Lamar has playoff issues. Uh, Joe Burrow can't stay healthy. Everybody has their
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  thing, right? Uh, Matthew Stafford requires literally one
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  of the best rosters in the fucking NFL every year and one of the best
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  coaches in the NFL every year to have finally made Super Bowls. And I don't—
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  that sounds like I'm being a dick. I'm not. That's literally what happened, right?
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  So everybody needs their thing. Everybody has their fucking fatal flaws in
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  their, you know, whatever the narrative is, career narrative. Yeah,
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  I like Josh Allen. I just don't like that he is discussed in a way
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  we don't discuss other quarterbacks of his, of his talent. And I don't understand
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  more than anything why Joe Burrow is there if these other
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  players aren't. So obviously we know who's missing. Um, Lamar Jackson dropped
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  into tier 2 with a dozen others, including Drake Maye and
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  Caleb Williams, making this the largest second tier in the 13-year history
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  of the survey. So, Mocha, if you want to bring that up so people
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  can kind of see what we're talking about here.
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  Lamar Jackson down in a tier with—
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  I'm sorry, wait, what is this? Moved up? Oh, they're showing who moved down
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  a tier. Yeah, they're showing Lamar Jackson moved down from 1 to 2,
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  CJ Stroud from 2 to 3. Geno and Deshaun from 3 to
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  4. Deshaun Watson at a 3 last year. What the
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  fuck? He didn't even— okay. Anyways, unreal. And then we see that. We see
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  the up movers. Drake Maye, of course. Caleb Williams, of course. Sam Darnold
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  should have been tier 2 last year. Absolutely. Trevor Lawrence. Absolutely.
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  Daniel Jones. Those all make sense to me.
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  Lamar Jackson going from 1 to 2 because
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  he had a season where he was dealing with injuries.
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  We used to understand that like great QBs have
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  like injury-prone seasons, sort of like they understand it with Patrick Mahomes,
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  right? I'm trying to figure something out here.
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  Okay. If Lamar Jackson
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  was in tier 1 last year and Josh
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  Allen was in tier 1 last year and is in tier 1 this year.
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  Yeah. What? Separates them this
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  year? Is it, okay, one made the playoffs and one didn't?
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  Because where is that— where's the onus
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  on the quarterback there? Because you could also say that Lamar Jackson didn't commit
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  4 turnovers in a playoff game last year, right? So Mocha, why don't
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  you show us where the Lamar— the next graphic, it's, uh, Lamar Jackson's tier rankings
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  over the years. Now this surprised me because
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  the first time that he hit Tier 1 was
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  heading into the 2025 season. Holy shit,
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  really? He was an MV— a unanimous
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  MVP after that 2019 season.
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  He was a unanimous MVP after that 2019 season.
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  They put him in Tier 2 the next year. Okay, that's batshit. They put him
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  in Tier 2 the next year, and the next year after that, 2023, guess what
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  he did? He won the MVP. Tier 2.
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  2024, guess what he did? Almost won another MVP
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  and had arguably a better season than Josh Allen. He finally gets put
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  in Tier 1. He now has 2 MVPs, 3 MVP-caliber seasons,
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  and he has an injury issue season where they—
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  where he does everything in his power to get them into the playoffs and
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  the Ravens kicker can't make a fucking field goal and he gets dropped down to
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  Tier 2. Now, Mocha, would you do me a favor and show me what
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  Josh Allen's tier history is? Please, I can't wait to
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  see this. Hey, look at
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  that guy! Tier 1 all the way, baby! What the fuck?
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  What the fuck are we fucking talking— what the fuck are we talking about?
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  Do you know— do you know what that means? That means he was in Tier
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  1 for 3 years before he even won a fucking MVP.
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  And they still wouldn't do it for— like, I feel
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  like I am going to lose my fucking mind.
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  Yeah, that's— I actually think I'm starting to go insane.
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  That is absolutely batshit. I can't— I've never seen that before.
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  I have never seen that before, and that is mind-boggling to me. What the fuck?
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  Legitimately mind-boggling. I can't believe that's an actual thing. And by the way,
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  I wasn't even going to use Josh Allen as my argument. My argument and everything
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  with these tier lists and all these fucking ranking lists has always been the same
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  name. And it's not because I don't think Joe Burrow is a good quarterback.
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  I obviously think Joe Burrow is an amazing quarterback, maybe even tier 1, as they
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  all say, with this bullshit tier system, by the way. Fuck off with this whole
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  fucking thing. Sure. But that being said, how can anyone with
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  a straight face put Joe Burrow in a tier 1 situation and not
• 11:40
  Lamar Jackson? Oh, but he went to a Super Bowl. It was 2020 fucking 1.
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  He's been injured practically the entire time ever since. Lamar's won
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  2 MVPs in that time. And it should have been fucking 3.
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  I can't tell you. I can't. And this happened
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  in the rankings where they put Lamar 5th, right? So again, we go back to
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  that last ranking we talked about. Lamar Jackson, 5th best quarterback in the NFL.
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  Nuts. But he's tier 2. Okay, so we're supposed to assume
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  he's the best tier 2 quarterback in the NFL. Made it up to tier 1
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  after fucking 3 MVP seasons finally. And they're like,
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  ugh, he got a little hurt last year. Now Joe Burrow, was he How
• 12:19
  come he's not getting knocked down for his unhealthy seasons? How come he's not getting
• 12:22
  knocked down for not making the fucking Super Bowl, for, for not making the playoffs?
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  What the fuck was— did I miss the Joe Burrow playoff season last year?
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  No. Am I, am I fucking losing it? I'm so
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  glad that he made a Super Bowl. By the way, they lost. They did.
• 12:38
  Why do we act like that? Sure did. Since when are we giving up fucking
• 12:42
  like gold stars? They don't do that for Matt Ryan. How many
• 12:45
  times have you been like, guys, Matt Ryan, oh my God, we love Matt Ryan,
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  he made a Super Bowl. He did make it to the Super Bowl. Now Matt
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  Ryan, great season. We don't talk about him like he's the second coming of,
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  of Joe Montana because he didn't do that.
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  No, he did not. Like, I, I— why are you— I'm
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  telling you, this makes no fucking sense. The entire tier system makes no
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  sense. It makes me wonder why we even fucking do it, especially because of this.
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  This is why it really makes no sense to me. Literally 2 weeks ago,
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  you and I had a show where we were doing this same grouping, uh,
• 13:15
  of fucking executives and scouts and all this shit. Their rankings
• 13:19
  already— so we already have the rankings. Now they're just redoing the rankings in a
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  tier system, and they added coaches in, I guess. What the fuck even is
• 13:27
  this? Like, I, I don't understand why we're even doing these rankings at
• 13:31
  this point. Like, I understand why, like, media does the rankings. I get that.
• 13:34
  I get why ESPN will throw up a fucking poll of 3 fucking people on
• 13:38
  a panel, all of which never fucking threw a ball, caught a ball a day
• 13:41
  in their lives, but they're gonna fucking go ahead and make their ranking. I get
• 13:45
  that it's a TV show. Yeah, this isn't a fucking TV show.
• 13:48
  This is, this is like market manipulation and like weirdly
• 13:52
  giving us things that we— to talk about that we don't even need to
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  talk about. We could do this stupid shit ourselves. Which, by the way,
• 14:00
  the tier 2 of it all when it comes to Lamar Jackson is really interesting
• 14:04
  because There was a full-on collusion case that
• 14:08
  was essentially proven against Lamar Jackson. Yes, there was.
• 14:11
  And against Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray. They were— Lamar
• 14:15
  was colluded against when he was trying to get a new contract.
• 14:19
  A bunch of teams said, oh, 2 first-round picks and taking on a new contract.
• 14:23
  I don't think we can do that. Everyone's wrestling now. So this is— so
• 14:26
  then I look back at those tier 2 rankings after multiple MVP seasons and think,
• 14:30
  huh. That's interesting heading into contract years.
• 14:35
  Whatever. I guess they don't care if Josh Allen gets paid. I don't— I get—
• 14:38
  no, no, no, no, no, no. He can get his money. Yeah, no, no,
• 14:41
  no, no, he can get his money. It's just always the very same
• 14:45
  similar players that they have a problem getting the money. Um,
• 14:48
  by the way, this is— is this a Jalen Hurts contract year? Are we
• 14:52
  coming closer to a Jalen Hurts contract year? Oh, I don't know. The reason why
• 14:55
  I ask is just, you know, all of the stories that were coming out about
• 14:57
  Jalen Hurts this last offseason. So it just tells me contract's coming. Yeah, well,
• 15:00
  we're also going to be talking about some of that in the next segment.
• 15:04
  But where was he in the tiers? Oh, I know he was 14th in them,
• 15:07
  by the way. Just want to throw that out there. You know, Super Bowl MVP.
• 15:10
  So now we know why he wasn't in the top 10 list, because he was
• 15:12
  14th. Good to know. Before we move
• 15:16
  on from this, would you like to know who is ranked dead last? 35 out
• 15:20
  of 35 quarterbacks that they ranked. Let's hear it.
• 15:25
  Shador Sanders. I, I could have guessed that, but I, I figured
• 15:29
  maybe he was a little higher. But would you like to hear who he was
• 15:31
  ranked behind, just out of the— well, I'm just gonna go ahead and throw one
• 15:35
  name out there. Clearly Deshaun Watson would be one of them. Deshaun Watson
• 15:39
  was ranked 31. Of course he was. Then Michael Penix Jr., then Jacoby
• 15:43
  Brissett, and then JJ McCarthy, and then Shador Sanders.
• 15:47
  Shador Sanders, they wouldn't even put him above
• 15:50
  Deshaun Watson, who has not played,
• 15:54
  and when he has, has been so fucking mad,
• 15:58
  and JJ McCarthy, who we just spent a full segment
• 16:01
  shitting on in the last show. Yes, this motherfucker had
• 16:06
  a lame duck head coach. Like,
• 16:11
  anyways, I got nothing, dude. This is fucking batshit. So he apparently
• 16:15
  has to prove that he's capable of, um, of I don't know, being better than
• 16:19
  Deshaun Watson, let alone J.J. McCarthy. Not shocking.
• 16:23
  Things are not going to get better for us in terms of the outrage factor
• 16:27
  as we head into our headline number 2. Cody,
• 16:33
  I hate to do this because I do really like Bucky Brooks.
• 16:37
  I— Bucky has always been really good to me. Nice guy. But he and Eric
• 16:41
  Williams put together the list of The 15 NFL
• 16:45
  players under the most pressure in 2026. And this has been kind of hitting the
• 16:48
  rounds on the internet. So, you know, we got to— we got to weigh in.
• 16:51
  People are asking. Okay. And I don't just say that. They really are.
• 16:54
  Okay. I'm all for— I'm all ears. Okay. Number 10.
• 16:59
  I'm just going to do the top 10. We're not doing the full 15.
• 17:01
  Number 10, Tua Tagovailoa. I guess. I guess,
• 17:05
  like, I'm not in the position of
• 17:09
  feeling like Tua is going— I just Expectation feels like
• 17:14
  something that I have stopped putting on Tua. I don't completely— and I don't mean
• 17:18
  that in the way that he should be out of the league. I just have
• 17:20
  like expectation for what? No, like I— my expectation for Tua is
• 17:24
  similar to that of Marcus Mariota, right? Like,
• 17:27
  like stay healthy enough to, to be a backup like probably
• 17:31
  for the next like 7, 8 years. Yeah, maybe get a game or two here,
• 17:33
  there a year. And that's my— so like, like I— there's
• 17:37
  no part of me that's like Tua is going to revive the Falcons or whatever,
• 17:39
  not even a little. So, or wherever he is, is he— where is he?
• 17:42
  He's with the Falcons. Him and Penix Jr. So I guess they're quarterbacks with similar
• 17:46
  skill sets, both lefties. Right. So that's at least something. That seems like a stretch
• 17:49
  to me. I have not heard a lot of people be like, can't wait to
• 17:52
  see what Tua does this year. No, not once. I mean, I'm sure the expectations
• 17:55
  are high in Atlanta, but like, are they? Are they? No. I love
• 17:59
  Atlanta fans too, because they'll be like, yeah, they like Atlanta fans. They're aware.
• 18:02
  They're aware what they have. We had one— we had one good moment in the
• 18:06
  sun. It ended in disaster. What's funny is like, it's such a winnable fucking division.
• 18:09
  That's the problem. Yeah, well, it— don't— just don't rub it in. They're very
• 18:13
  nice fans down there. Um, number 9. Number 9
• 18:17
  is Miles Garrett. Um,
• 18:23
  what?
• 18:28
  You didn't tell me
• 18:32
  this was a parody. And I like— that's
• 18:36
  the bummer part. Again, I don't— this— he— Miles Garrett?
• 18:40
  Yeah, Myles Garrett, um, on a new team,
• 18:43
  I guess has to prove that he's still an elite edge rusher. On Myles Garrett?
• 18:47
  Yeah, the, the literally best defensive
• 18:50
  player like alive and maybe ever,
• 18:53
  who might be joined by the other best defensive player alive maybe
• 18:57
  ever. Yeah, who also has one of the best guys in the backfield
• 19:01
  in Trent McDuffie right now, like with that offense.
• 19:07
  Okay, they're making the argument that like he's,
• 19:10
  you know, he was kind of waiting for this blockbuster trade to play on a
• 19:13
  good team and like, can he prove that he's good on a good team?
• 19:16
  I think that that's so stupid. I like, I think it's
• 19:20
  short-sighted. I think it's a little bit gimmicky. Um, okay, this is
• 19:24
  like, like, was everybody like worried when like, you know,
• 19:27
  uh, Von Miller, you know, moves? Like,
• 19:31
  guys, we gotta stop doing this. This is, this is, that's a, this is to
• 19:34
  say it's a reach is quite the understatement. Yeah. Uh, number 8 is Justin
• 19:38
  Herbert. We can all agree that he should be fucking 1 or 2. Yeah,
• 19:41
  I can't believe— what is he doing at number 8? I can't believe he's this
• 19:44
  low. Well, he's the only white quarterback in the top
• 19:47
  10, I can tell you that, and he's the lowest on this list. By the
• 19:51
  way, and he's the only one who hasn't— sorry, I interrupted you, and I really
• 19:53
  feel really bad, but he's the only one who has not won a playoff game.
• 19:56
  Of all the, of all the players with these most pressure, he's the
• 20:00
  only— he is the only quarterback that
• 20:03
  hasn't won a playoff game. Just so we're clear, he's had 5 offensive coordinators in
• 20:06
  his time, I believe 3 head coaches in his time so far, um, and now
• 20:10
  he's on, uh, Mike McDaniel, who's apparently worked on his footwork.
• 20:14
  So this is supposed to be the guru year. Uh, he has maybe one of
• 20:17
  the splashiest head coaches in the NFL. The last outing in the playoffs was one
• 20:21
  of the most embarrassing playoff outings that maybe the Chargers ever had. And by the
• 20:25
  way, they got their asses blown out in their one Super Bowl that they were
• 20:27
  in in 1995. 94. And, um, yeah, what the fuck? How is he
• 20:32
  not number 1? Like, how is he on— is it because it's the Chargers?
• 20:35
  If that's your argument, then okay, I get it. Not a whole lot of Charger
• 20:38
  fans, yada yada yada. But you got to be fucking kidding me that he's this
• 20:41
  low on the list. No, you can't make— you can't make that argument because there's
• 20:45
  a fucking Jaguar on here. There's like— no, we're not doing that. Like, it's absolutely
• 20:48
  not that. The expectation is for the player to rise
• 20:51
  to the reputation that you have. He gets to be in all kinds of top
• 20:54
  5 lists on everything. So no, that's the expectation, is that you're
• 20:58
  one of the best. Crazy. Uh, yeah, well, don't— let's see, you know, don't spoiler
• 21:02
  alert. Uh, number 6 is Bryce Young, who I don't think has anything to fucking
• 21:06
  prove. He had one of the better performances, uh,
• 21:09
  of a first, uh, first-time playoff, uh,
• 21:13
  performance that I've seen in a while. He did— they ended up losing to the
• 21:16
  Rams in a game they had no business being competitive in.
• 21:19
  No one thought that they would be competitive in that playoff game. He led them
• 21:23
  almost to beating the Rams in the fucking first round of
• 21:27
  the playoffs. He was excellent. He has nothing to prove to me. He's heading into
• 21:30
  this year like, if he's, if he stagnates
• 21:34
  a little bit, if he takes a bit of a backslide or if he gets
• 21:36
  better, okay. I don't, I don't understand where these expectations are
• 21:40
  coming from. Now this one specifically I do agree with, which is Travis Hunter at
• 21:44
  number 5 in Jacksonville. 2-way player, drafted that way, wanted to play that
• 21:47
  way, didn't deliver last year. Drafted, what, 2 overall, 3,
• 21:51
  whatever it was. He has high expectations. He did. And he wasn't
• 21:55
  able to deliver in his rookie season. I get that you're on a team that
• 21:58
  was a contender last year and has gotten really good under new
• 22:02
  leadership at the head coach with Liam Cohen. So,
• 22:06
  okay, how do we feel about that? You feel that one's fine? I actually think
• 22:09
  this so far of all the names that's been on this list, this is— I
• 22:13
  would probably put him a little bit lower on the list, to be honest.
• 22:15
  I don't think 5 is kind of fair because he's a rookie. He's a young
• 22:17
  kid. Good point. Yeah. Like, why is he so high? Maybe 10 to 15.
• 22:19
  That's a great point. Why the fuck does Travis Hunter have more expectation
• 22:23
  than Justin Herbert? Like, and, and he seem like he's not going to play two-way
• 22:27
  this year, isn't he? I thought they were only going to put him on defense
• 22:28
  this year. And if that's the case, I'm just saying he has a— I— he
• 22:31
  does have a lot to prove in terms of like being drafted that high.
• 22:34
  Yeah, no, no, I agree. But like, it's just really high. That's high to put
• 22:38
  a rookie. Really high. But all right, maybe he's on the list, but that's high.
• 22:42
  Yeah, he got— he needs to be slotted down way lower. Again, um,
• 22:45
  CJ Stroud at number 4, okay. Again above Justin
• 22:50
  Herbert. Like, CJ Stroud won playoff games, guys. Like,
• 22:53
  what's the matter? He also had like an incredible season the year before.
• 22:57
  He had a like an absolutely horrifying— hit me— offensive
• 23:01
  line last year. There were reasons that things fell apart for them,
• 23:05
  um, against the Patriots. And like, I just don't see it as a situation
• 23:09
  where like, again, why is he so high on this
• 23:13
  list? Number 3. Puka Nacua. Now actually,
• 23:16
  here's the deal. This one I actually very much agree with. Yes, this is the
• 23:20
  first name you've said so far that I'm like, yeah, does belong on this.
• 23:23
  Well, Justin Herbert as well. Justin Herbert belongs higher on this list, but this is
• 23:26
  the only one at number 3. Yeah, I'm like, I'm with you on this.
• 23:30
  Yeah, lots to prove because of his off-field shenanigans. He's going
• 23:33
  to reset the market possibly at like $160 million when it comes up.
• 23:37
  But if I'm the Rams and how close they are to the cap I wouldn't
• 23:40
  even blame them if they decide to even go ahead and really prove it and
• 23:43
  franchise him next year, which they can do, especially because
• 23:47
  they are, you know, every team sort of has their thing that they're really good
• 23:50
  at drafting. And the Rams find fucking weapons.
• 23:53
  They just do. They find wide receivers, they find defensive talent.
• 23:57
  And as great as Puka has been, as much of a gem as
• 24:00
  he's been, I think he's the biggest liability,
• 24:04
  um, who hasn't committed, uh,
• 24:08
  like a— an assault on a woman
• 24:13
  that we know of. I mean, there's a guy on the
• 24:17
  Falcons right now who tried to kill his girlfriend. Yep. So I'm not going to
• 24:20
  say that Puka is as bad as that. No, no, I'm not going to say
• 24:23
  that. I'm not going to say Puka is as bad as Deshaun Watson. No.
• 24:26
  But in terms of just being a liability of, of getting
• 24:30
  yourself into trouble It's rough. Like,
• 24:34
  it's rough. He's not— he does not have his shit together. That's very clear.
• 24:37
  We've seen this from a lot of wide receivers, the Antonio Browns
• 24:41
  of the world, right? Where it's like either red flags are there. So he has
• 24:45
  a lot to prove, not on the field, but can you stay prioritizing
• 24:50
  football the way you need to? Let's just fucking bang
• 24:54
  out 2 and 1 at once. Like, insane. I— it's insane.
• 24:57
  Number 2 is Lamar Jackson. Number 1 is Jalen Hurts. Can you— can
• 25:01
  someone just push me off the Golden Gate Bridge and fucking
• 25:05
  call it? Because Lamar, I, I want to
• 25:09
  remind you, I'm going to remind everybody, I just talked
• 25:13
  to you about players who haven't won fucking playoff games, haven't won a single
• 25:16
  playoff game. We're talking about players who have no rings, no MVPs.
• 25:21
  We're talking about players who are rookies Drafted 2
• 25:25
  overall who couldn't play. We're talking about 1
• 25:28
  and 2. 1 has a Super Bowl MVP and
• 25:32
  2 Super Bowl appearances, and 2 has 2 MVPs, should be 3 MVPs,
• 25:35
  and one of the most talented. By the way, one of the best
• 25:39
  career passer ratings we've ever seen. Okay.
• 25:43
  That's who has the most pressure, the most
• 25:47
  pressure to prove themselves in 2026. Not Justin Herbert, not Joe
• 25:50
  Burrow to stay fucking healthy. Don't worry, they didn't bring him up at all.
• 25:53
  How is Josh Allen not on this list? Oh, Josh Allen's got nothing to prove.
• 25:56
  It wasn't his fault that he committed 4 turnovers. He just picked
• 26:00
  his head coach. Cody, nothing's his fault.
• 26:03
  Nothing is Josh Allen's fault. Patrick Mahomes is coming back this year.
• 26:07
  Like, he had his fucking open window. Why doesn't Patrick
• 26:11
  Mahomes have expectations, by the way? Where's the pressure for Patrick? Well, I mean,
• 26:14
  I guess they've— I guess they argued Miles Garrett into this conversation.
• 26:18
  They really did. Miles Garrett is on list. I— that made me laugh out
• 26:22
  loud, and I thought this was a joke. We don't have any— we don't have
• 26:25
  any pressure on Travis Kelce to not suck at age 38. No, we don't.
• 26:29
  I'm just fucking baffled. But this is— how about this? This is an objectively
• 26:33
  really bad list. It's really a bummer, and I don't know what was going
• 26:36
  on here because I don't have beef with Eric Williams, or— and I
• 26:40
  really like Bucky. I think that so much of NFL
• 26:45
  writing has become like we have to in some way, shape, or form— yeah,
• 26:48
  like I don't even want to call it clickbait because they— they're They're giving real
• 26:52
  answers to it. Like what they promised to deliver in the article is what's delivered.
• 26:55
  I just don't like the take. Right. So it's not clickbait, but it is,
• 26:59
  I think, pilled by the discourse around what's
• 27:03
  pressure to some degree. I'll give them this. Jalen Hurts
• 27:06
  and Lamar Jackson probably are under the most pressure in the NFL
• 27:11
  in 2026 because of racism.
• 27:14
  Is that what we're— if you want to write that article, write that article.
• 27:17
  I'll fucking write it. You want me to write it? I'm starting a Substack.
• 27:20
  Maybe I will. That's it. Like, so if you're saying they're
• 27:24
  under the most pressure because we live in a very racist society where Black quarterbacks
• 27:28
  are held to a standard that nobody could possibly meet, while Justin Herbert can just
• 27:32
  be kind of fucking, uh, you know, we can throw off, off his insufficiencies
• 27:38
  at any turn. Huh. Tanya, these 2 quarterbacks are guilty
• 27:42
  of one thing: quarterbacking while being Black. That's literally it. That's why—
• 27:46
  that's why they're on any of these fucking lists. That's why they're,
• 27:49
  they're always with the most pressure despite being the most overqualified.
• 27:53
  And I'm going to tell you something else right now. I'm going to tell you
• 27:55
  something else. It's not just QWB. It's not just quarterbacking while Black.
• 27:59
  It's quarterbacking while Black and not apologizing for
• 28:03
  their Blackness, not code-switching out of the way that they talk,
• 28:07
  not kowtowing to the media,
• 28:10
  uh, desire to see some weird prostration
• 28:14
  of gratitude, uh, being incredibly likable
• 28:18
  and charming naturally, being well-liked.
• 28:23
  They are not the types of quarterbacks that the media feels like
• 28:26
  they need to save from themselves. Lamar Jackson's never asked to be saved.
• 28:31
  He has never had a fucking agent who's going to feed information
• 28:34
  to the media and make them feel very special.
• 28:37
  Jalen Hurts is smarter than everybody in the fucking room. They know it,
• 28:41
  and he knows it. Yes. And he also isn't showy about it,
• 28:45
  isn't flashy. He just is what he— he is what it is. He has all
• 28:48
  women representing him, a lot of Black women. He's married to a beautiful Black
• 28:52
  woman, right? He has the life made. He doesn't need the approval of the media.
• 28:56
  He's going to do what he's going to do, and they fucking hate it.
• 28:58
  So it's not just QWB, it's the
• 29:02
  fact that they don't play the fucking media game of fake
• 29:06
  faux humility. And the funny part is they're both 2 of the most naturally
• 29:10
  humble players in the NFL. They just don't perform
• 29:14
  it the way that media likes to see it performed. Very much so.
• 29:18
  Very much so. I think that is actually— I have no notes. That is
• 29:21
  very eloquently spoken. And you're absolutely right. Neither of
• 29:25
  them are playing the fucking game where they're going out there and,
• 29:29
  you know, being smiley and saying thank you over and over. Again. What they are
• 29:33
  doing is being themselves, being professional, and being fantastic at what they fucking
• 29:37
  do. And it's driving people fucking crazy. And you know what? Fuck you if
• 29:41
  it does. Yeah, good. I'm glad it drives you crazy. And I'm not accusing Eric
• 29:44
  Williams and Bucky Brooks of that. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. But what I
• 29:47
  am saying is that narrative exists. That is the real actual pressure
• 29:52
  that's on them. And I would— if we're going to write the article, let's be
• 29:54
  honest about what the pressure actually is. The pressure is being Black and quarterback.
• 29:58
  That is really what it is. I don't know what else to say. Yeah,
• 30:01
  it just is. I think we can end it there. We will come back to
• 30:04
  that probably, what, about 7 or 6 times? No, no, we'll come back in about
• 30:08
  one more week when we get their next version of this stupid fucking quarterback.
• 30:11
  Or in week 1 when, you know, someone says something stupid on the— yeah,
• 30:15
  don't worry, it's gonna happen. Well, let's get over to headline number 3 because,
• 30:18
  uh, Tarik Skubal just really wants to go home. I found this really
• 30:22
  interesting. I didn't really— it didn't bother me though. Okay, no, it doesn't. I don't
• 30:24
  think it's— but yeah, I didn't think it would. It bothered other people, but it
• 30:27
  really didn't. It did a couple of people, but I don't really get it.
• 30:29
  What I want— the reason I want to bring this up, I'll tell you after
• 30:33
  I, I read the story. But so, uh, Tarik Skubal would welcome a return to
• 30:37
  the Tigers. Yeah, would love to play my whole career in Detroit, he said.
• 30:39
  I would love to play my whole career there. Um, he was on Pardon My
• 30:42
  Take. I would love to, and hopefully those negotiations can pick back up in November
• 30:46
  once the playoffs are done. We'll see where that goes. You and I both know
• 30:48
  there's going to be no— yeah, well, I mean, there's gonna be a lockout.
• 30:52
  So a lot of those guys are my best friends, Skubal said, describing the tearful
• 30:56
  goodbyes after he was dealt Um, when asked about the fans lamenting his departure,
• 30:59
  Skubal said he shared some of that sentiment. After the Tigers run to the postseason
• 31:03
  last year, they hope to once again, uh, be there in October with Skubal at
• 31:07
  the top of the rotation. Uh, he goes, it sucks for me too. This wasn't
• 31:09
  the way this season was supposed to go. I— hopefully they're involved with
• 31:13
  everything, um, in terms of his uncertainty. He said, I would love to return.
• 31:17
  I've got nothing but good things to say about the city of Detroit, the manager,
• 31:21
  the coaching staff, the trainers. They teammates. Very specific
• 31:25
  list of people. He said he had nothing. I didn't see anything about the front
• 31:29
  office or the ownership. No Scott Harris or whatever. No Scott Harris. No Lilich
• 31:33
  family. Definitely no Lilich family. Um, so there's
• 31:37
  the thing is I have had a lot of people tell me Scooble never— he
• 31:42
  didn't want to stay here. He was never going to sign here. He was never
• 31:44
  going to. And what I kept saying was, um, the fact of the matter is
• 31:48
  you absolutely do not need to continuously say
• 31:52
  publicly that you don't want to leave Detroit. Like, if you don't— yeah.
• 31:56
  And but, and the thing is, I don't think— I want you to speak to
• 31:59
  this a little bit. Yeah. Because people always assume that the players
• 32:04
  are like, who— wherever I can go that will make me the very
• 32:07
  most money down to the last dollar is the only place I'll go.
• 32:10
  I will go anywhere and fuck over the, the place I'm in,
• 32:14
  move my whole family move away from the friends and teammates that
• 32:18
  I have love and respect for, move away from the fucking staff in these
• 32:21
  parks that I've become close with, the, the, the comfort of my clubhouse,
• 32:27
  just for the extra $10 million over fucking
• 32:31
  5 years or whatever, right? Yeah. Is that like— I,
• 32:36
  I've talked to a lot of, a lot of players who don't feel that way,
• 32:39
  who are like, I would I mean, my experience,
• 32:43
  the Red Sox players has been like, no, I wanted to fucking stay. They would
• 32:47
  not pay me. Of course I didn't want to leave, but I'm also not going
• 32:50
  to stay to play for half my free market value.
• 32:53
  Yep. But I like— that sucked. Mookie Betts didn't want to leave. He did
• 32:57
  not want to leave. He flat out did not want to leave. Did not want
• 33:00
  to leave. Now he's happy in LA. Like, come on, guys,
• 33:03
  we've seen this time and time again. Why don't Dodgers believe? And how do you
• 33:06
  feel about that? Like, is this crazy for us to believe that Tarik Skubal actually
• 33:10
  liked Detroit and wanted to stay? He did like Detroit. This is such a tired-ass
• 33:13
  narrative. The people that are trying to bring up like, well, he's a Scott Boras
• 33:16
  guy, he's definitely— listen, everybody's gonna play the fucking market. But I will tell you
• 33:19
  this, every guy, usually if they had a good experience playing for their organization
• 33:23
  they came up with, they usually want to go to them first. When I was
• 33:26
  drafted by the Padres and I was horrifically mistreated by this organization
• 33:30
  for 7 fucking years, if they offered me a long-term deal, I would have stayed
• 33:33
  100%. I wanted to like live out— I wanted to be that guy that played
• 33:37
  like 15 years in one place. And I'm also smart enough to know, I know
• 33:40
  the grass is not always greener on the other side. It is. That is—
• 33:43
  that's a huge part of it. It is very much so. Scooble's brand's actually probably
• 33:48
  stronger staying in Detroit than like he's going to be one
• 33:52
  of what, 16? Exactly. Exactly. I completely agree. Now he can get
• 33:55
  payday over in L.A., no question, and do all that deal. But like at the
• 33:59
  end of the day, like I wanted to be that guy that can lead the
• 34:00
  team. Like I wanted to be the guy that led the team against the bigger
• 34:05
  team. Yeah, I wanted to be the guy that led the Padres against
• 34:08
  fucking Derek Jeter's Yankees. That's what I wanted. That's such a good point. Like,
• 34:12
  that's why I like— I wanted to be that guy because that would like immortalize
• 34:15
  me in a way that like David Freese is immortalized
• 34:19
  in baseball history. And is David Freese remembered as like the greatest player ever?
• 34:23
  No, he was like— he was a good player for those short amount of time,
• 34:26
  but he is immortalized in baseball history from that amazing
• 34:30
  World Series that he had. And like, I didn't want to be Juan
• 34:34
  Soto. I wanted to be fucking David Freese. Like, that was the kind of
• 34:38
  ballplayer, like, I want to be. Not that I go like, want to model myself
• 34:41
  after, but like that, that type of thing of being like special to one particular
• 34:45
  city. I mean, I think about all the— there's some of the
• 34:49
  most iconic bring their name up in a bar if they walked into a bar
• 34:52
  in Boston tomorrow are like Jonathan Papelbon,
• 34:56
  Doug Mirabelli. Doug Mirabelli can
• 35:00
  fucking do anything he wants. Exactly. Like, and all All he did was catch knuckleballs.
• 35:04
  Exactly. Like, I wanted to be— like, when I got to the Padres, I wanted
• 35:08
  to be in the big leagues and stay with them forever. They did not want
• 35:11
  me back after that year. I signed with the Royals and I was there.
• 35:13
  I really liked it there. I'm like, I could be here for a long time.
• 35:16
  Well, sadly, they traded me and I did not want to be with the team
• 35:19
  they traded me to. They released me. Then I signed with the Red Sox.
• 35:22
  I wanted to re-sign with the Red Sox. What they offered me was
• 35:26
  not good. They like— I want— I wanted to go back to the
• 35:30
  Red Sox. My guy. No, no, they offered me actually good money. I'll tell you
• 35:34
  exactly what they offered me. They offered me $24,000 a
• 35:38
  month, which was good money for a trip for a minor league deal. Yeah,
• 35:41
  absolutely. The problem was they were like, we can't guarantee you a spot in Triple-A.
• 35:45
  We might have to send you to the Eastern League in Double-A. I'm like,
• 35:47
  I don't— I'm going to be 29 years old. I mean, I'm sorry, 30 years
• 35:51
  old. You can't put me in Double-A. So where'd you end up after that?
• 35:54
  So then I signed with the Brewers and they
• 35:58
  paid way less money. No, way less money. My sign for less. Really bad agent.
• 36:01
  Really bad agent sent me there. Because Pat Murphy was the manager— was the bench
• 36:06
  coach up there. And Pat was like, oh, yeah, I'll take care of you.
• 36:08
  And they released me out of camp. And then I signed with the Mets,
• 36:10
  went to AAA in Vegas. Next year, I signed with the Diamondbacks. I was in
• 36:13
  Reno for 2 years. And that's how my career ended. And honestly,
• 36:16
  my last 2 years— my second to last year, I re-signed with the Diamondbacks because
• 36:20
  I liked the organization so much. And they thought I brought a lot of value
• 36:24
  to their younger players. And they were kind of slotting me into that Crash Davis
• 36:27
  role. And they were planning for me. They were kind of hoping that— if I
• 36:31
  signed back, like, we can keep you on to be a manager in our organization.
• 36:34
  And they knew I had interest in managing, and, um,
• 36:37
  I just didn't want to restart my professional baseball
• 36:41
  career over again. Yeah, I mean, you talk about the Diamondbacks, what a perfect example.
• 36:44
  They were— they have a couple of really homegrown players right now, right? Yeah,
• 36:46
  and they were a great organization, and they got some of them to sign already.
• 36:49
  Corbin Carroll signed back and he wants to spend his career there. Corbin Carroll,
• 36:53
  um, my guy Jerry, Geraldo Perdomo.
• 36:57
  Yep. Why did I say that with a fucking Boston accent?
• 37:01
  My guy, Perdomo. I fucking love Perdomo.
• 37:04
  Yeah. Jerry Perdomo. Ketel Marte. Like these
• 37:08
  guys. Ketel Marte. Like, I mean, riots in the
• 37:12
  street if he, if he were to ever be traded. And I got to tell
• 37:16
  you, these— and they want to be there. You cannot tell me, you cannot
• 37:20
  tell me that Ketel Marte would rather go win a title with the Dodgers.
• 37:23
  He wouldn't. Than with the Diamondbacks. It's not true. He's only been with this organization
• 37:26
  and he loves this organization. Just like Terrell Skubal. Yeah.
• 37:29
  So when, when players say this, like, I need you to understand that like 90%
• 37:34
  of the time they fucking mean it. And please stop telling
• 37:37
  me Scott Boras will not let his players hit the market, uh,
• 37:41
  not hit the market. Yes, he prefers it. Of course
• 37:45
  he'd be a bad agent if he didn't. But he absolutely has signed
• 37:49
  players to extensions. And if they express— he has said point blank, if they
• 37:53
  express a strong desire to absolutely stay and they
• 37:57
  don't want to budge, then I will make it work. He's like, but generally
• 38:01
  the reason they budge is because the team they want to stay with is
• 38:04
  not meeting them. Yes. So like, you know, you guys
• 38:08
  think Scott Boras is some evil genius. What he's doing is daring
• 38:12
  these teams to offer his fucking clients real money.
• 38:16
  And I, I need people to understand something. Like, this is why I really hate
• 38:19
  the Scott Boras narrative. I really do. I hate— I've hated it for a very
• 38:22
  long time. Because apparently everybody thinks players work
• 38:26
  for Scott Boras. Scott Boras works for those
• 38:29
  players. Those players are Scott's boss, not the
• 38:32
  other way around. And also they have other people working for them who are telling
• 38:35
  them like their advice. It's not— Scott Boras is not
• 38:38
  a puppeteer. No, they have other people in their ears. Sometimes it's parents,
• 38:42
  sometimes it's a financial advisor, sometimes wife,
• 38:46
  kids, parents, whatever. So like Let's relax on that.
• 38:50
  Yeah. So it's a weird narrative. And like, I just thought it was weird that
• 38:54
  he was talking about it his first week as a Dodger. I'm like, yeah,
• 38:56
  you know, you can wait a little before you start having that conversation. It's— I
• 39:00
  will say Skubal feels like a little bit of an
• 39:04
  airhead. And I don't mean that. I'm not saying dumbass
• 39:08
  because I don't— I don't call athletes dumbasses nearly as much as you do.
• 39:11
  I actually have met some really, like, smart dudes. But a lot
• 39:15
  of times I'm like, guys, media training has gone out the window, hasn't it?
• 39:19
  All right, well, fair enough. That's all. I just— I'm like, but was he— I
• 39:21
  got to hear something. Part of me was like, did you talk to— did you
• 39:23
  talk to, you know, homeboy from the—
• 39:28
  who's— who— Skeens? I feel like Skeens was like, yeah, say whatever you want.
• 39:31
  We're going to walk out. Fair point. He might have. Yeah.
• 39:35
  It's going to be— it's going to be an interesting couple of months. What can
• 39:37
  I say? Let's stay with baseball. Headline number 4, trade deadline.
• 39:41
  What trade deadline? Deadline it was. Uh, would you like to hear about how your
• 39:45
  Red Sox are one of the 3 winners? Yeah, tell me.
• 39:49
  Do you not think so? Absolutely. No, I do. I agree. I love the move.
• 39:53
  By the way, a bunch of people have tried to convince me that the Rushman
• 39:56
  trade wasn't as good as we were saying. Oh no, no, no, no. I,
• 39:58
  I like the Rushman trade. I think you got yourself a really good catcher that's
• 40:01
  going to be around for a long time. You gave up a lot for him,
• 40:04
  but like, make no mistake, Rushman's already shown what he can do. He's a 3-time
• 40:07
  All-Star. And haven't you and I just spent a lot of time saying like,
• 40:10
  if you think you— if you see the fucking This is— if this doesn't work
• 40:14
  out, I promise you, and this is the kind of fan I am, if this
• 40:17
  trade doesn't work out, you will not hear a peep from me. No, they tried.
• 40:20
  You did what I— what all we asked was prove to
• 40:24
  us that you actually care about us trying to win this season. Just prove you've
• 40:28
  got the craziest momentum that we've seen in a generation,
• 40:32
  by the way. Not just for the Red Sox. Like, this is nuts. They're like
• 40:35
  26-3. It's nuts. This is fucking nuts. Um, they were 14-something
• 40:39
  games back. They're a half game back from the Yankees. Like, this is not normal
• 40:42
  shit. So they— this could crash and burn, and I
• 40:47
  will not— I, I won't say a peep. No, I loved it. I absolutely
• 40:51
  loved it. I think, uh, them going in the way they did, as hard as
• 40:54
  they did, and yeah, they had to give up a little bit— a lot for
• 40:57
  him. But here's— at the end of the day, it was an in-division rival.
• 40:59
  You took their 3-time All-Star young catcher. Like, the Orioles weren't giving him up
• 41:03
  for like nothing. Yeah, I'm like blown away the Orioles did it. I was like,
• 41:06
  what the fuck? No, I'm not going to sit here and say Adley Rutschman's having
• 41:09
  the greatest year in the world. He was named an All-Star. But I mean,
• 41:12
  it wasn't like, yeah, he's, he's setting the world on fire. I think it was
• 41:14
  a great move. I thought all the other moves you guys made were fucking great.
• 41:17
  The Dodgers, I think, did exactly what they needed to do. I think getting their
• 41:20
  hands on Tarik Skubal was great. I'm very disappointed in the losers of this whole
• 41:24
  thing, which I think is the Milwaukee Brewers. Yeah, they went and got Dustin May,
• 41:27
  but you should have gotten Tarik Skubal if no for another reason, not let the
• 41:31
  Dodgers get him. Right. Um, the Cubs were winners in that trade deadline.
• 41:35
  The Cubs got better. And I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm fucking
• 41:39
  worried about the Cubs. Yeah, Cubs are— you should always be worried about—
• 41:43
  I see there's certain teams that when they're really good, um, and they're like
• 41:46
  on a heater heading into a postseason that you should be worried about. The Cubs
• 41:50
  are one of those teams. The Mets are one of those teams. Like when teams
• 41:53
  are historically kind of like fucked up. Yeah, but when they get that— but have
• 41:57
  strong, crazy fandoms and they have that They're— those are the
• 42:00
  ones I'm always like a little scared of. Yeah. Like, and Mets really pulled off
• 42:04
  some good shit. Mariners I'm never scared of. Somehow they ruin it, you know.
• 42:08
  Mariners, that's just always a perennial disappointment. But yeah, of the teams, I would say
• 42:12
  also— I'm also going to throw a little love to the San Diego Padres.
• 42:14
  A couple of little late moves right there, uh, getting their hands on Casey Mize.
• 42:17
  That's a team that I'm never scared of because they always blow it. True.
• 42:20
  But they also got Robbie Ray, who's a Cy Young Award winner. Big Robbie Ray
• 42:23
  guy because he— it's sort of a Tanya Ray, Robbie Ray situation. And I don't
• 42:27
  know, man. I— right now in the National League, the All-Star—
• 42:30
  the wildcard race is going to be very interesting because there's really 4 teams that
• 42:34
  are in it and they're all within like 1 game. They've got the Cubs at
• 42:36
  the top, you got the Phillies, you got the Diamondbacks, you got the Padres.
• 42:39
  Right. And that is going to be a fun fucking race all the way down.
• 42:42
  Going for the Diamondbacks. I have to. Those are my peeps. I know. It was
• 42:45
  my favorite organization I played for. Right. But I,
• 42:49
  you know, the fact that the division— so that division and the AL East,
• 42:53
  are kind of wild. Like, they're kind of— there's— it's all over the place.
• 42:56
  So let's talk about this real quick to round out the
• 43:00
  topic on this. This is ESPN,
• 43:03
  just sort of— again, we're back to tiers, although this is actually more of a
• 43:07
  fair tier. Bradford Doolittle over at ESPN just kind of put
• 43:10
  his like top-tier contenders and then the tier 2, which is like absolutely contenders,
• 43:14
  but maybe just not top tier. Let's hear it. So he has top tier
• 43:17
  as Brewers, Dodgers, Braves, Rays, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox.
• 43:21
  I have no notes in there at all.
• 43:25
  Tier 2 is Diamondbacks, Phillies, White Sox, Astros,
• 43:28
  Padres, Guardians, Rangers, Marlins,
• 43:32
  Tigers, Mariners. I'm not as big of a believer in the Rangers,
• 43:36
  to be honest with you. Or the Marlins, quite honestly. Marlins is
• 43:39
  what— Marlins shouldn't be in this list. And the Tigers are playing good baseball
• 43:43
  right now, but it's hard for me to take that seriously when you
• 43:47
  just traded away your top 2. You're not trying to win. You're not, you're not
• 43:50
  going to the Super Bowl. You're not going to the World Series. And again,
• 43:52
  I love the Mariners and I think that they can always like, you know,
• 43:54
  make it to the playoffs and then disappoint all of their fans. They're not hitting,
• 43:58
  dude. They're just, they're not even pitching well. Like, this team should
• 44:01
  be— this was my pick for the American League this year and they have just
• 44:05
  been a disappointment again. Now there's time to get it, get it right, but they're
• 44:09
  running out of it. Now, how do you feel about White
• 44:13
  Sox winning For the Pope. How likely do you think
• 44:18
  it is the White Sox win? I think the White Sox are going to go
• 44:20
  to the playoffs. But I got to say, I— their front office— Cubs,
• 44:24
  they're not as good. Well, not as good as the Cubs, but I will say
• 44:26
  what the White Sox have done in this last year, that front office— who?
• 44:30
  Oh my God, who's their GM? Their GM is Chris Getz, and their assistant GM
• 44:33
  is a good friend of mine named Gene Watson. Their manager is Will Venable,
• 44:36
  former teammate of mine in San Diego. I got to tell you, all right,
• 44:39
  this guy's all kinds of connected to the White Sox.
• 44:43
  What these guys have have fucking done in one fucking
• 44:47
  year will be studied by future generations.
• 44:50
  Now isn't that what— correct me if I'm wrong, but the
• 44:54
  Diamondbacks, when the year before they went to the World
• 44:57
  Series, were kind of like— it was like a dark year. It was like a
• 45:01
  year because like, um, if you remember Mike Hazen, the GM, his wife like had
• 45:05
  cancer, right? Step away. Everyone got like really hurt. Like people like Torre LaVolo
• 45:08
  had to step away, all of It was like a really weird— it wasn't that
• 45:12
  they were bad for— no, like, they were supposed to be good and weren't because
• 45:16
  of other things. Okay. And then, and then I remember I was going on MLB
• 45:19
  Network and I'll never forget it. I was talking up the Diamondbacks and I was
• 45:23
  talking with, I think, Lauren Gardner behind the thing. She was like, I'm about to
• 45:25
  do a thing on the Diamondbacks. What do you think? I said, playoff team.
• 45:28
  And she's like, what? I said, no, no, no. Not only playoff team, World Series
• 45:32
  contending team. And everyone there looked at me like I just spoke like a fucking
• 45:36
  language that has been deceased for a decade. Anybody ever hit you back up when
• 45:39
  you have the— when they make the World Series? I'm always He's fucking right.
• 45:43
  Why did they fucking listen? That's the only reason I podcast with you, because I
• 45:46
  don't like to be, uh, podcasting and talking to losers who are wrong, and I
• 45:50
  like to be with people, winners who are right. Yeah, well, no, I, I said
• 45:54
  it. It's on TV. I said it for a long time. Um, I will say,
• 45:57
  how do you feel between right now if you had to pick,
• 46:01
  um, the Yankees and the Red Sox? Uh, Red Sox. Uh,
• 46:04
  Yankees still aren't healthy until I see Junk, Arlo Stanton, and, uh,
• 46:08
  Until I get a date of when Stanton and fucking Judge are coming back,
• 46:12
  don't even start the conversation about the Yankees. I'm glad they called up the young
• 46:14
  kid. They got a pitching staff that should take them to the World Series.
• 46:17
  But at the end of the day, it's fucking nuts. It's nuts. But at the
• 46:20
  end of the day, if your whole fucking offense is hurt, the fuck are
• 46:24
  you going to do? Yeah, it's like your pitching— your pitching better hold up in
• 46:26
  miracle ways. Like, you need Gerrit Cole to go fucking
• 46:30
  8 strong and give up 1 or 2. And that's not even a guaranteed win
• 46:34
  right now. Like, that's a problem. How do you feel in which
• 46:39
  of the teams— I'm going to say which of the teams in the NL entirely
• 46:42
  scares you the most if you're a Dodgers fan. If you're a Dodgers
• 46:45
  fan, I'd be very scared of the Cubs. So it's Cubs. Cubs scare me the
• 46:48
  absolute most. If I'm a Dodger fan, I'd be scared of the Cubs. The Brewers
• 46:52
  too, obviously. But like, I just— I feel like last year when they
• 46:56
  finished with the best record in baseball and then got blown out, it's hard to
• 46:59
  take them seriously. Exactly. And as far as in
• 47:03
  division, which team do you think you're most scared of in terms of potentially leapfrogging
• 47:07
  the Dodgers to win the division in the National League West?
• 47:13
  Probably the Diamondbacks. I do think the Diamondbacks are better than the Padres.
• 47:16
  I like what the Padres did, but I do think they're going to be on
• 47:18
  the outside looking in when it comes to October. And I think it's going to
• 47:21
  be between those 2 teams. I think, I think the last wildcard spot's been between
• 47:24
  the Diamondbacks and the Padres. I think the Phillies will figure it out and keep
• 47:27
  going. Luis Arraez is adding a little bit of a spark over there. I am
• 47:30
  disappointed they didn't get another starting pitcher, but they're going with
• 47:34
  their two-headed monster and I understand. And I mean, let's be real,
• 47:39
  like when it comes to, when it comes to the NL West specifically,
• 47:44
  like sometimes it's best not to win the division.
• 47:48
  Sometimes if you're not— I mean, the Dodgers are going to win it, right?
• 47:50
  Yeah. And at the end of the day, there's 2 byes. And right now the
• 47:53
  Dodgers have the 3rd best record in the National League. They don't even have one
• 47:55
  of the byes. The Braves have leapfrogged them. I don't love byes in baseball.
• 47:58
  Me neither. I don't. And that's the thing, that's why as time's gone forward,
• 48:01
  teams have seemed to figure out how to do it right. And totally, like,
• 48:04
  I think that there's, there's an adjustment period or whatever, but like,
• 48:08
  for a team that's hot, like, I don't want the Red
• 48:12
  Sox getting a bye. I hear what you're saying, and I, I fully thought that
• 48:15
  as well. But then you know who actually said it to me that just put
• 48:18
  it in perspective? Was it fucking D-Fish? No, it was Dave Roberts. That Dave
• 48:23
  Roberts, traitor. I said it to him and he said, I hear what you're
• 48:26
  saying, Deck, but here's the thing. Dave Roberts doesn't play baseball anymore.
• 48:29
  I'm sure he does love the fucking rest. But he just paused and he just
• 48:33
  goes like, but here's the thing, you're telling us and telling someone in October you
• 48:36
  have to get 2 more wins. Like, you already have to get a certain
• 48:40
  amount of wins. Getting 2 more, also with the way the arms go down
• 48:45
  in October— this is why, this is where you do not want me in a
• 48:47
  conversation with Dave Roberts I'd be like, really, Dave? You can't.
• 48:51
  The Dodgers did not have a bye last year. You have a $9 billion payroll.
• 48:55
  The Dodgers did not have a bye last year. The Dodgers did not have a
• 48:58
  bye last year and they cakewalked through all of it. We have to get 2
• 49:00
  more wins with all these All-Stars. That's not fair.
• 49:04
  Shut up, Dave. Shit's hard, dude. Shit's hard, dude. I love— first of all,
• 49:08
  Dave Roberts is literally one of the most important people in my life.
• 49:12
  No one means more to you than fucking Dave Roberts. You don't have anything
• 49:16
  if it weren't for Dave Roberts. And I will still talk shit. And that's why
• 49:18
  I'm the boss. You know what I'm saying? Fucking boss.
• 49:21
  Fucking asshole. You got to stay on brand.
• 49:25
  Before we wrap up headlines, I'm going to— I'm
• 49:28
  going to tell you an interesting thing about this next story. So I
• 49:33
  like that this happened. Okay. Okay. Talk to me.
• 49:36
  Ex-NBA star Enes Kanter. I can't say this motherfucker's
• 49:40
  name. Ex-NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom claimed
• 49:44
  he's entering the 2027 WNBA draft in wake
• 49:48
  of Sophie Cunningham dropping Uh, he put out a statement where there was a video,
• 49:51
  and then he, he put the written statement out as well where he said,
• 49:53
  uh, that after careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines,
• 49:58
  I'm officially declaring myself a prospect. If simply declaring who
• 50:02
  you are is all that's required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to
• 50:07
  compete in the WNBA. He goes on and on and on and says, I'm simply
• 50:10
  asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone, the rules that represent
• 50:14
  the very values many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for. My team and
• 50:18
  I are prepared to ensure these guidelines are applied equally, consistently, and without exception,
• 50:22
  and I look forward to honoring its stated principles.
• 50:25
  See you at training camp. Now, Enes Kanter is no longer in the NBA
• 50:30
  because he was a trash player who got absolutely owned by the pick and roll,
• 50:33
  which would not really fare well for him in the WNBA, who notoriously
• 50:38
  runs the pick and roll quite often. Um, but more importantly Um,
• 50:42
  Ines Cantor is a cisgender white man, right?
• 50:46
  Uh, he likes to act like he's not white, he's Turkish. Okay,
• 50:49
  whatever. Um, apparently Turkey was so brutal to him
• 50:53
  that he had to do an identity-affirming name change
• 50:58
  when he got his citizenship in the United States in 2021. He wanted
• 51:02
  to really identify with who he really is, which is an American.
• 51:06
  Love that. Changed his last name to fit his
• 51:11
  identity. I love that for an escanter freedom. I also
• 51:15
  love this, Cody, for one very specific
• 51:19
  reason, and that is that it has proved— it's
• 51:24
  proven everything that people say constantly about, on the left specifically,
• 51:27
  about, uh, transphobic, you know, critics of
• 51:32
  the trans women and trans girls in women's sports. And that is that
• 51:38
  trans people are not the problem, right? Yeah, trans people are not who we
• 51:41
  have to be afraid of. It's cisgender white men, cisgender men in general,
• 51:46
  who want to play in the WNBA. That's not
• 51:50
  a— that's not a trans man. Nope.
• 51:53
  Every single time this comes up, I say our problem is not trans women,
• 51:56
  our problem is not trans men, our problem is cis men.
• 52:00
  Cis man is the first one to try to play in the WNBA.
• 52:05
  Oh, you know what? Thank you. Thank you for fucking
• 52:08
  proving our point. It's always the fucking cis men.
• 52:12
  You're who rapes little girls. You're who systemically rapes
• 52:17
  gymnasts for decades and ends up in prison. You're who's
• 52:21
  in the Epstein files. You are the fucking predators. And I'm not saying
• 52:25
  this to you because you're not— I think gender— The cis— yeah,
• 52:29
  not you either, Mocha, you're safe. But like, I think we're good,
• 52:33
  we're, we're generalizing. But like, yeah,
• 52:36
  thank you. I, I've— okay, of course, of course it's
• 52:40
  not a— of course it's not a trans woman that's a threat, it's a fucking
• 52:42
  cis man. It always is. Yeah, I, I don't know how else to say
• 52:45
  this. These people are fucking idiots.
• 52:48
  Like, they, they are just— they're just fucking idiots. They're all fucking idiots.
• 52:52
  And by the way, uh, people trying to like praise Sophie Cunningham
• 52:55
  this week by saying, well, her coming out and talking about how it's a shame
• 52:59
  that we're only— we don't talk about the actual basketball. You know what? We don't
• 53:02
  talk about the actual basketball because of your fucking actions. Literally you. That's— this is
• 53:06
  actually your fault. Not, not, not our fault. Like, you're the
• 53:10
  one fucking doing it. And then you try to hide behind,
• 53:13
  well, but I'm an athlete first. No, no, you fucking aren't. Now you are
• 53:18
  an advocate for bullshit first. That's what you are. And now
• 53:21
  you get— try to hide behind it. Now you're not fucking fooling anybody. You're fooling
• 53:25
  fucking idiots. You're fooling all the idiots. But I'm sorry,
• 53:28
  there are adults in the room and you're not fucking fooling us. You're an idiot.
• 53:32
  All of this is fucking stupid. It's all for fucking show. And you're
• 53:36
  just trying to set up your next career to take over for Riley Gaines because
• 53:38
  you're going to be out of the W in fucking a year and a half.
• 53:40
  And I might be generous with that estimation. And now you've got one
• 53:44
  of the most hated former NBA players alive
• 53:48
  on your side trying to play the WWE, by the way, would get
• 53:52
  absolutely owned by Chelsea Gray.
• 53:55
  Oh my God,
• 54:00
  you know what I mean? I don't want to see it because fuck him forever,
• 54:03
  but what I am saying is I don't think that
• 54:06
  would go the way he thinks it is gonna go. Why do you keep saying
• 54:10
  that word? I don't think you know. Yeah, I don't think it means what you
• 54:13
  think it means. Um, so I that love that cisgender
• 54:16
  men continue to ruin everything, the blight that we know
• 54:20
  that they are so often. And concerned, you know, the conservative side
• 54:24
  is just, uh, like, you're just— we're the best,
• 54:29
  we do it all, Mocha. You really find your ways.
• 54:35
  Oh yeah, but you are a core— you are fully cis.
• 54:38
  Um, Okay, well, there you go.
• 54:42
  See, I'm teaching this. I'm teaching the Gen Zs. I'm teaching the
• 54:46
  Gen Zs. We're all learning, baby. Hey, listen, maybe, maybe you are a little trans.
• 54:49
  What the fuck do I know, Mocha? I don't know what's up going on over
• 54:51
  there behind that screen. I can never see you. You're right behind the monitor.
• 54:54
  You could be doing all kinds of gender weird shit over there. I wore a
• 54:57
  skirt once. It's comfortable. Yeah, absolutely. I ain't scared. Um,
• 55:00
  so just wanted to put that on the record that, um, we might be able
• 55:04
  to get to see this idiot make a bigger fool out of himself.
• 55:08
  Thank God. Thank God. Well, let's get over to Media Corner because we have some
• 55:12
  interesting Media Corner aspects that make me—
• 55:16
  how do I put it— lose faith in humanity. Go ahead,
• 55:20
  Tanya. Okay. So Michael Wilbon sort of
• 55:23
  said the quiet part out loud. He did this week when he said PTI
• 55:28
  wouldn't have survived in Bristol. Now, you know,
• 55:31
  I have a lot of information about what's going on at ESPN and just sort
• 55:35
  of the, the workings. Um, the show would not have existed, he said.
• 55:38
  The meddling alone would have driven both of us out. We don't have
• 55:42
  to deal with somebody suggesting you got to talk more about the Cowboys,
• 55:45
  Wilbon added. That gets a middle finger from me and Tony,
• 55:49
  and we're not shy about it. Now, this is a conversation
• 55:54
  that kind of— it's sort of alluding to something you and I have talked about
• 55:57
  a lot, which is like the, the manipulation of
• 56:00
  topics and just like essentially turning everything into clickbait
• 56:05
  when— yep. And, and talking down to viewers, essentially telling
• 56:08
  viewers you think that they're stupid. Yes. That is something
• 56:12
  that— and he— and Michael Ovitz basically saying, yeah, no, everybody there is a fucking
• 56:16
  idiot who's going to tell us how to do this show. They weren't going to
• 56:18
  do it right. And the reason that this is more—
• 56:22
  it's like that insight is not super shocking to— certainly
• 56:25
  not to us, but like to people who haven't worked in TV, it's still probably
• 56:28
  not shocking. What I think is interesting is that PTI
• 56:32
  is still one of the highest rated shows at ESPN. And it's, by the way,
• 56:34
  in my opinion, I still think it's their best show. It is by far.
• 56:38
  It's like not even close, in fact. And the other highest rated show at ESPN
• 56:42
  quite frequently is, uh, SVP SportsCenter, which is also a very good
• 56:45
  show. And I looked at the Q1
• 56:49
  ratings from 2026. PTI was the
• 56:53
  2nd highest rated show for all of Q1. All of Q1.
• 56:56
  Nice. Behind SVP SportsCenter. Nice.
• 57:00
  Then it was like, uh, it was, you know, First Take and Get Up,
• 57:03
  and then McAfee slightly in that Get Up range. Okay,
• 57:07
  so those are your 5. So people think Pat McAfee is somehow, you know,
• 57:11
  the, the bread and butter of ESPN. He is not. It's still
• 57:15
  fucking SVP, Michael Wilbon, and Tony. Like,
• 57:18
  by the way, I don't watch a ton of SVP, but when I do see
• 57:20
  it, I do enjoy his SportsCenter It's just SportsCenter is usually at night. Yeah,
• 57:24
  no, you and I are watching it. I only see it during NFL season.
• 57:27
  Yeah, like I see it after a Monday Night Football game. Yeah, I'll see it
• 57:30
  always. I watch SVP after Monday Night Football game because he literally just comes on.
• 57:33
  That's why. But I don't watch it. But he's like a throwback of what ESPN
• 57:36
  used to be, and that's why I actually like it. I wouldn't say— I mean,
• 57:39
  I've seen other SportsCenters I really like too still. Like, whatever. I see like SportsCenter
• 57:43
  AM sometimes, and the people they have working on there are very good.
• 57:45
  Yeah. So Here's the thing. I looked
• 57:49
  up to make sure, you know, I'm trying to make sure PTI is still hanging
• 57:53
  in there. I saw the Q1 ratings and whatever.
• 57:55
  ESPN, for all
• 57:59
  the shit we talk. Yes. For all the times people on the internet tell us
• 58:02
  nobody fucking cares. No one even watches these idiots anymore. Why do you even
• 58:06
  talk about them? Don't give them air. We talk about them because they are
• 58:10
  still in the zeitgeist of sports media and controlling
• 58:13
  narratives whether you like it or not. Very much so. You are being controlled by
• 58:17
  these narratives whether you like it or not. Yes. ESPN in June had their best
• 58:20
  June ever for 4 shows: for Get Up, for First Take,
• 58:24
  for Pat McAfee, for NBA Today. Get Up averaged
• 58:29
  426,000 viewers, a year-over-year increase
• 58:34
  of 39%. First Take
• 58:37
  averaged 505,000 viewers, up 26% from
• 58:42
  2025. Pat McAfee averaged 383,000
• 58:46
  viewers, Up 26% year over year.
• 58:49
  NBA Today averaged 339,000 viewers,
• 58:52
  up 40% year over year. Now,
• 58:56
  back in the day, you know, in the heyday of ESPN, these numbers wouldn't have
• 58:59
  been like the craziest numbers you've ever seen. But we're talking
• 59:03
  about some of these numbers in Q1 were like 10-year highs.
• 59:08
  That also the only reason PTI is
• 59:11
  not on that list is because it's not their highest rated June ever because they're
• 59:15
  PTI and they've been around forever. Yeah, but PTI, You heard the numbers I said
• 59:19
  before. Yeah. Averaged 665,000 viewers
• 59:22
  with a 21% year-over-year increase from last year.
• 59:25
  Best June viewership since 2021. Really nice. So PTI,
• 59:30
  after all this time, we've got 2 side-by-side
• 59:35
  stories that are happening. Yeah. The one is that ESPN's ratings
• 59:39
  are doing very well. The other is that PTI
• 59:43
  is essentially their best daily show among all
• 59:47
  of these in 2026 by a pretty
• 59:50
  significant margin. Yeah. And it is the one not being run
• 59:55
  by ESPN executives, by ESPN producers.
• 1:00:00
  It's the one where they operate entirely outside the scope
• 1:00:05
  of the production in-your-ear bullshit
• 1:00:10
  that a lot of the other shows have to deal with. And it is raking
• 1:00:12
  in— I mean, 6— you, you've worked in TV, I've worked in TV.
• 1:00:15
  You've had a— you've worked on a show that was getting ratings where
• 1:00:19
  you were part of the talent base. $600— how would you have done for
• 1:00:23
  $665? I mean, my God, I would have given anything to know where— what channel
• 1:00:27
  FS1 was on, let alone— oh my God, I could have told you that,
• 1:00:30
  Cody. I do— I still don't know. I never knew. Well,
• 1:00:34
  you could stream it, you know. That's what I did though. That's how I did
• 1:00:37
  it. But like, but like, what channel is FS1?
• 1:00:42
  What cover— what cable network you use? I don't
• 1:00:46
  know. I don't know what it is now. It's either 9 or 175. I didn't
• 1:00:50
  even know that it had changed to Fox One until the World Cup started.
• 1:00:52
  I was like, what the fuck is Fox One? It's Fox One now? That's what
• 1:00:56
  it's been called. Yeah, it was called— it was called that the whole World Cup.
• 1:01:00
  No, um, I'm sorry, the streaming app. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, I didn't watch
• 1:01:04
  it on that. I watched everything on YouTube TV this go-round. You would? Yeah,
• 1:01:07
  I did. You would be a YouTube TV guy. It makes football easier to watch.
• 1:01:11
  Mm-hmm. What? Well, it is. It is. What's better?
• 1:01:15
  I'm not saying it's great. I'm not saying I'm happy about this.
• 1:01:18
  Just saying it's better to watch football. No, you're right. I mean, they have
• 1:01:22
  Sunday Ticket, so that's it. And I will admit, the, the quad
• 1:01:26
  box is quite handy to use sometimes. I love the quad box. Quad box is
• 1:01:30
  handy, man. Fuck yeah, dude. Oh my god, we're only 4 weeks away from from
• 1:01:32
  the Quad Box. I am so excited for the Quad Box Mocha. Get it back
• 1:01:36
  in my fucking life. Quad Box TV, baby. Um,
• 1:01:40
  so anyway, I want to just— I, I— the reason
• 1:01:43
  that this was so intriguing to me was just because like I, I constantly have
• 1:01:47
  to remind people that as much as we talk our shit about this talent
• 1:01:52
  and whatever, and the, the internet is a fucking echo chamber. It is
• 1:01:56
  a bubble and it is not always— it is often sometimes,
• 1:01:59
  but not always representative of the actual reality
• 1:02:03
  of the world we're experiencing. Yes. The world we're experiencing is
• 1:02:07
  not always reflected in these little conversations between the
• 1:02:12
  same 20,000 people on the internet. Exactly. ESPN is doing
• 1:02:16
  really well. Yes. Fox just made like—
• 1:02:20
  they're like on pace for $2 billion in fucking revenue this year. They're dominating
• 1:02:24
  live sports. Yeah, live sports, they're crushing. Between the World Cup and ESPN,
• 1:02:28
  they're up 29%. I'm sorry, the World Cup and NFL,
• 1:02:32
  they're up 29% over last year in terms of their like revenue and what
• 1:02:37
  they're— everybody's doing really well, guys. Everybody's doing really well. And that's because
• 1:02:41
  you're watching. You're watching. Like, so what I don't want
• 1:02:44
  to do now, do I think ESPN and Fox Sports 1's viewer
• 1:02:49
  bases have gotten more conservative? Yes, I do think they're losing certain
• 1:02:52
  viewers and gaining more. But I made a video today,
• 1:02:56
  uh, yesterday about how Colin Cowherd reacted to all the drama in the WNBA.
• 1:03:01
  And I was seeing a lot of my followers who have same values as me,
• 1:03:04
  follow me for a reason, saying, you know, I'm— I think Colin's finally starting
• 1:03:08
  to lose me. Like, I still tune in, but blah blah blah.
• 1:03:11
  No judgment, zero judgment. I worked on Colin's show for a long time.
• 1:03:15
  I like Colin as a person who I
• 1:03:18
  interacted with one-on-one. But if you're
• 1:03:22
  just tuning out now, that means you've been tuning in the whole time.
• 1:03:25
  People are watching these fucking shows. You know what upsets me about it?
• 1:03:28
  And this is actually what upsets me about it, uh, honestly. And this
• 1:03:32
  is not like— it's not the, the talent and the fucking stupid narratives.
• 1:03:35
  Fuck, hire whoever you want, say whatever your stupid shit is,
• 1:03:39
  and it's all stupid shit. Yeah, but that's actually not my biggest problem. My honest-to-God
• 1:03:43
  biggest problem is Fox and ESPN are doing better than they ever
• 1:03:47
  have in their entire existence. This industry has never been worse
• 1:03:51
  than it is right now. More people have been fired. There are less
• 1:03:55
  jobs available. They are not— I don't know about Fox Sports, you might be right.
• 1:03:57
  ESPN has been better. They have been good. They have had
• 1:04:01
  much bigger ratings in their life, in their lifespan. That is fair. No,
• 1:04:04
  I apologize. Had more power, but they're doing good in the span of the last
• 1:04:09
  like 5, 6 years that they're, they're on the uptick. And there is this consolidation
• 1:04:13
  that they have done of all major sports and other networks
• 1:04:18
  to the point where there are so few jobs now that this industry has
• 1:04:22
  never been in a worse place than it currently is. And they're making
• 1:04:25
  money hand over fist. They're laying people off, making money hand over fist. It's awful.
• 1:04:29
  It's truly awful. I will say another thing Michael Wilbon said
• 1:04:32
  that's outside the scope of this story. By the way, in case people didn't figure
• 1:04:35
  this out, we fucking love PTI. I actually really like PTI. I don't get to
• 1:04:39
  watch it very often, but Like, if, if PTI was on in
• 1:04:43
  any room I was in, I'd be happy. I love those guys. Those two are
• 1:04:46
  fucking fantastic. They're institutions. They're incredible. But something he did say
• 1:04:50
  is that Stephen A. Smith's not a journalist. He's not a real journalist.
• 1:04:54
  He hasn't been a journalist. He kind of called Stephen A. Smith out. Yeah,
• 1:04:57
  but my— which is totally normal, totally fine. Michael Wilbon doesn't give a fuck.
• 1:05:01
  He will say whatever he wants, and he's earned the cred. And no, there's a
• 1:05:04
  reason a lot of people don't even know who Michael Wilbon is that aren't like
• 1:05:07
  hardcore sports fans over the age of 30, because Or if you're under the age
• 1:05:10
  of 30, you don't know who he is because he's not a clickbait guy.
• 1:05:12
  Because he's not— because he's not an ex-punter. Yeah. Neither is Kornheiser anymore.
• 1:05:17
  So he— Stephen A. Smith responds and goes, a lot
• 1:05:21
  of people tell me— like, I get mad when people who aren't sports journalists tell
• 1:05:25
  me that I'm not— like, if you've never done the job, you can't tell me
• 1:05:27
  I'm not a sports journalist. Mike Wilbon can tell me I'm not a sports
• 1:05:32
  journalist. I was like, dude, Stephen A. is so unserious.
• 1:05:36
  He was like, You cannot tell me I'm not a sports journalist unless you are
• 1:05:40
  Michael Wilbon. And then I have to kind of listen to you like,
• 1:05:44
  okay, dude, I guess thanks. Thanks for letting Michael Wilbon be the messenger.
• 1:05:47
  We already knew. But it is very funny to be like, it's not true
• 1:05:51
  until another sports journalist that I respect
• 1:05:55
  says it, and then I'll give that guy credit for— and I'll admit that he's
• 1:05:59
  right. Like, okay, this industry is a clown show,
• 1:06:03
  dude. Stephen, please. Like, he's such a fucking— every once
• 1:06:06
  in a while I am grateful for Stephen A. Smith. Existence because like sometimes
• 1:06:11
  I'll read something and then like, like 10 hours later I'll think,
• 1:06:14
  I'll think about it and I'll be like, oh, that was like, I'll laugh out
• 1:06:18
  loud. It sort of has a delayed effect of stupidity. He tried to talk about
• 1:06:21
  baseball this week. He's a worthless sack of shit. I can't believe he does.
• 1:06:25
  He like know the names of all the baseball teams? He doesn't know a fucking
• 1:06:27
  thing. The only person that might know less baseball than Stephen A. Smith is Mad
• 1:06:31
  Dog Christopher Russo, who doesn't know a fucking thing. Really? I've had the misfortune
• 1:06:35
  of having to talk baseball with him once. He doesn't watch baseball. He clams up
• 1:06:39
  like a motherfucker. Fucker when he's around anybody that knows what they're talking about.
• 1:06:41
  It's the most— is that a baseball thing, or is that a, like, if,
• 1:06:44
  if, if he were to talk NFL with somebody who— he tried to talk to
• 1:06:47
  me about baseball one time, and, uh, I'll never forget it. He brought up a
• 1:06:50
  stat. I said this, this, and it was actually about the Diamondbacks. She's like,
• 1:06:52
  oh no, no, the Diamondbacks are no good. I'm like, Diamondbacks are going to the
• 1:06:55
  World Series. And I was trying to explain, like, you don't understand this, this,
• 1:06:57
  this, and this, this matchup. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm like,
• 1:07:00
  dude, you don't know the fuck you're talking about. Oh, it's like that guy,
• 1:07:03
  like, you don't know what you're talking about. Listen to the person that knows shit.
• 1:07:07
  Or fucking idiot. If you're not going to listen to the person who knows shit,
• 1:07:10
  this is my— this is my motto. If you're going to be the least
• 1:07:14
  experienced person in the room or you're going to not listen, you have to make
• 1:07:17
  the bullshit you come back with sound good. You have to be quick with it.
• 1:07:22
  If you're going to— if you're going to fucking argue with someone who knows more,
• 1:07:24
  be quick with it. Be funny. Make shit up if you have to
• 1:07:28
  be like, I don't think the Dodgers are going because like— but like, so he
• 1:07:31
  would never dream of making something up and going on the air.
• 1:07:36
  Clamming up and being like, but I don't— but dude, we're talking about
• 1:07:40
  a guy that pretended to be on the fucking phone when he walked in the
• 1:07:44
  studio and had to— had been like within distance of me. His fucking producers,
• 1:07:48
  the shame on their face. I have— listen, I,
• 1:07:52
  I've never been more embarrassed for a human being than in that moment.
• 1:07:55
  Yeah, when someone starts saying, um, you know what my favorite is? When someone starts
• 1:07:59
  saying, I mean, it's just an opinion. That's when you know you
• 1:08:03
  got him. No, no, that means you got him. Means you're a little bitch.
• 1:08:06
  That's what it is. It's just an opinion. If you're talking to a man in
• 1:08:10
  a sports conversation, whether it's you or a man like you or I talking to
• 1:08:13
  a man, if you were talking to another man and they say it's just
• 1:08:18
  an opinion, you know, we're just having— you got him.
• 1:08:22
  Boom. I've done that so many times. It's the greatest. I know. Of all time.
• 1:08:25
  You've done it to me like 3 times on this show. It's fucked. You've never
• 1:08:28
  said that. You have never— hey, it's just opinion.
• 1:08:31
  Imagine. Cody, that's when I'm gonna— I'm gonna institutionalize
• 1:08:35
  you. I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna be like, Terry, it's time to take him
• 1:08:38
  to the fucking hospital. Yeah, he's not— he's not okay. We're getting him checked in.
• 1:08:40
  He's broken. Something broke him. I don't know what it was. It wasn't me.
• 1:08:43
  He just said it's just an opinion and put his hands up, and Terry would
• 1:08:47
  be like, get him in the car, rush to the hospital, he has
• 1:08:51
  dementia. All right, well, we did it. We fucking banged this out in like an
• 1:08:55
  hour 10, bro. Yeah, you gotta fucking get on the air and like— no,
• 1:08:57
  but we did a good job. We did. Yeah, I know. I have 18 minutes
• 1:09:00
  until, uh, airtime. We nailed it. Fucking gives me time to pee, get my
• 1:09:04
  stuff together. Well, here's the problem. We didn't get to talk about the bloody sock
• 1:09:07
  because of this. That's the only reason. Because see, if I wasn't going on Boston
• 1:09:11
  sports radio, I'd be able to talk about— talk about it there, man. I bring—
• 1:09:14
  I'm like, Kendra, I've been dying. Hold on, hold on. Before we get to this
• 1:09:17
  talk, can we talk about the fucking bloody sock? Kendra's like— she's been in Boston
• 1:09:21
  sports forever, but she's also from Jacksonville and definitely over a decade younger than me.
• 1:09:25
  She's— I don't know if she was alive during the playoffs. She's like, what?
• 1:09:29
  Who's— why is Sox bloody? She definitely knows about it because she's very smart.
• 1:09:33
  But like, it would be very funny for me to be like, I have one
• 1:09:35
  thing I need to talk to you about. Well, what you all need to do
• 1:09:38
  is stop watching this when we're done. Of course, before you do that, like,
• 1:09:41
  share, and subscribe. And also follow Tanya because she's going to talk to Kendra Middleton
• 1:09:45
  momentarily. Yes, I'm going to be talking on 98.5 The Sports Hub. You can stream
• 1:09:49
  it if you're in Boston. You can listen to it on the radio. Let's go.
• 1:09:51
  Uh, or really anywhere in New England. And, uh, in the meantime, Cody, hey,
• 1:09:55
  you know, we'll be back Monday. You finished your drink? I'm about to finish mine.
• 1:09:58
  I finished it. And, uh, let's, let's just be— fuck Kurt Schilling.
• 1:10:01
  You know what? Fuck Kurt Schilling. That's a good way to end.
• 1:10:05
  Cheers for the
• 1:10:10
  Red Sox.