Latest / WGBB Sports Talk New York / Guest Derrick Chievous; FIFA Cup and Mets/Yankees

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Guest Derrick Chievous; FIFA Cup and Mets/Yankees · WGBB Sports Talk New York

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  The views expressed in the following program.
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  Do not necessarily represent those of the staff, management or owners of wgbb.
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  Live from the WGBB studios in Merrick, New York, this is Sports Talk New York.
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  Good evening everyone.
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  Welcome to WGB Sports Talk New York here from the studios in Merrick, Long Island, NY 95.9fm 12:40am My name is Chris Caputo.
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  I'm brought to you here on this Sunday night in July.
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  My co host Mike Godone is out in Seattle, had a cruise and the flight did not make it back in time.
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  But he's going to join us for the second half of our hour long show.
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  We appreciate you joining us here and tonight we're going to be talking some basketball and in the second half of the hour maybe we'll get into some sports here New York as well.
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  Well, we're going to get right into it again.
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  My name is Chris Caputo, but our first guest tonight is a New York City legend and he was a basketball player.
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  So for those of you out there who remember basketball back in the late 80s, early 90s, we are joined tonight by former NBA player and New York City legend Derek Chivas.
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  Derek, thanks for joining us tonight.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  Okay, so for those people that don't know you, for fans that don't remember you, talk a little bit about your basketball journey and how it began here in New York at Holy Cross High School.
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  Well, I started out playing for a coach named Joe Bostic for the Joe Bostic All Stars.
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  Anybody in Queens, New York that was any type of major player, they had to play for him throughout the metro, metro area.
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  And then started playing for Riverside.
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  Then after Riverside I started playing for Gauchos and not so much like the circuit they have now.
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  I played for the real AAU where you actually had to patch on your jersey and you had to go to Jacksonville, Florida when you actually made after you won your barrel and just been having the opportunity to watch
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  some of the greatest players in New York City playing and having an opportunity to play with them from Pearl to Mark Jackson to the legendary Boo Harvey and many others.
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  Fun journey.
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  And you know, I had the ability to coach down the road some high school girls basketball with your high school coach Jim Kerr.
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  Could you talk a little bit about that experience and why you chose Holy Cross High School?
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  It's a funny story.
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  There was a guy I played with at junior high school, 172 named Bob Lee.
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  They actually were coming to watch him play and I actually had a good game when they Were coming to watch him play.
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  And from that evolved where they wanted both of us.
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  Coach Kerr came and Coach Malone came the JV coach.
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  They came to watch a game of ours and like I said, they wanted both of us after watching the game.
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  And my guy, Bob Lee ended up not showing up to take the test that morning.
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  I went and took the test and the rest was history.
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  And Bob end up going to Martin Van Buren.
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  Okay, but did my first introduction to Holy Cross was to Bob Lee.
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  They actually wanted him.
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  So you were a big time player at Holy Cross and eventually some of the scouts start coming in for college kind of.
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  When did you know that you were ready to take your game to the next level at college.
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  And then eventually you did choose Missouri.
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  How did that come about?
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  Well, I knew I was ready because like I stated earlier, I got to be a sponge watching guys like Mark Jackson, Kenny Hutchinson, Walter Berry, Pearl.
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  And I played with all those guys in the Newsday Classic.
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  And I played in Empire State with these guys.
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  And just the practices alone was something that you can measure, have like a measuring stick of if you were ready to compete at that level.
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  And I actually had my heart set on going to Duke.
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  Like, they recruited me hard.
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  Coach K came to my school a lot, sat in some of my classes, and my mother wanted me to take all of my visits.
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  And when that happened, I can't think of the guy's name.
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  I want to say his name is Bill Strickland.
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  He took the last scholarship.
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  And then my recruiting started to open up a little bit.
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  Missouri actually was recruiting James Majors from Bishop Lachlan, who I actually took two visits with.
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  And they found out I was interested in journalism.
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  And as anybody knows on this planet, that Missouri's the best undergraduate journalism school in America.
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  And that kind of set the table for me.
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  And a decision that eventually turned out to be a great one for you.
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  2,580 points later and then your name is called for the NBA draft.
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  What was it like at Missouri, you know, under, you know, your coaches and kind of the atmosphere of playing in a Big Eight conference, there was nothing like it.
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  The Big Eight was considered at that time the top conference in America because of Wayne Tisdale.
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  So I used to call it, instead of calling it Big Eight, I call it Wayman Tisdaleville.
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  Oklahoma was like the premier team there my first two years.
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  And I actually live in Columbia.
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  I never left.
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  I always kept residency there.
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  Right.
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  And so the people welcomed me with open arms now and then.
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  And I met some important people that stayed in my life and continue to stay in my life.
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  I'd like to give a special shout out to my lady luck, Ms.
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  Sally Nichols, who basically kept me out of trouble, fed me, showed me things that I never would have seen if I probably would have went somewhere else, as far as the world.
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  Actually, a lot of trips I went on with her and just great people in Colombia and the people welcomed me with open arms then.
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  And now again, we're talking with Derek Chivas, who played at Holy Cross High School and then went on to the University of Missouri and then played in the NBA for the Rockets and the Cavaliers.
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  So you played under coach Norm Stewart.
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  I know you've been doing a lot lately to try to promote some of the stuff and having like a Norm Stewart Classic.
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  Can you talk a little bit about that?
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  Actually, the Norm Stewart Classic has been in existence for nine years.
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  I've been on the board and doing a lot of assistance with my guy, Mr.
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  Hayes, Bob Hayes, who's a wonderful guy, and he allows me to use my basketball knowledge to try to enhance the Norm Stewart Classic, which is probably one of the most unusual, but probably the best high school tournament in
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  America because you play 48 games simultaneously.
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  If I'm saying the words right, yes.
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  And we didn't really have the New York plug and Holy Cross, which is starting to be relevant, shout out to my guy, coach BT and.
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  And he has a special player and Malik Miller, probably one of the top players in.
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  In the city.
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  And I actually got plugged into him because I coach a game in Atlanta, which is the 1 top 50, probably 1 of the best games of the year.
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  It's in Atlanta, August 2nd.
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  Horace Naismith, who went to Jamaica Prep, who's from Queens, and he was like a big brother to me, kind of put me under his umbrella and to get the audience to kind of feel what that game is like.
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  It's like the.
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  What's the game that was out in the Wheelchair Classic.
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  It goes on all the actual game.
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  It's August 2nd.
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  But Horace was diagnosed a couple of years ago with type 2 diabetes, and he turned this into like a national event, man.
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  Zion Miller, Chet Holmgroom, all those guys played in that game.
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  And it's just a lovely game.
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  And that's how I got plugged into Malachi Miller.
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  And he told me what the holy cause.
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  And I said, I'm going to pull up on you, man.
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  I got a game that I do annually, and it'll be like, probably an opportunity for you to actually get a.
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  What is It a unofficial visit to the University of Missouri, because you actually played the game on the campus of Missouri at the Missou Arena.
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  Nice.
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  And it's some of the top teams, all the top 25.
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  And we actually got Holy Cross coming in.
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  We got some teams from California, we got some teams from Georgia, Florida.
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  So it's going to be a major event.
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  And I was blessed to have coach pull my ear because I didn't really come out that much.
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  And he seen me one day and he called me to the side, he said, I want you to do as much as you can to keep this game growing.
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  And that's what I've been attempting to do.
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  And we got Holy course coming in December 11th to the 12th to do their thing, and it's going to be a great event.
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  So what made the teams at Missouri so special?
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  You know, you played in three NCAA tournaments and, you know, had a Big Eight championship.
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  What made those teams so special when you were there?
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  It had to do with the.
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  The pieces that he brought in.
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  My point guard, Lynn Hardy.
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  Lynn.
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  Doc.
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  Nice, Hardy.
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  He's like a brother to me.
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  And it was like a brotherhood.
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  Like, all of us get together, and when this is all said and done, we still get together and do a lot of things.
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  And then you have to put Coach Stewart at the helm of everything because he was an amazing teacher, you know, and when you have someone, they tell you a coach is a great teacher that you'll have for life,
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  man.
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  He'll teach you life lessons.
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  And I've learned a lot of things that I used in my life and passed on to my family because of him.
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  Over 30 years there.
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  So you're out at Missouri, you're making all this stuff.
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  Eventually, we're talking with Derek Chivas.
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  You pick up a nickname, Band Aid.
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  Where did that come from?
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  And who gave it to you?
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  Oh, that's a tough one.
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  Who gave it to me?
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  But like I said, I played at Junior High School 172 with a guy named Bob Lee, and I sustained a cut, and I put a band aid on, and.
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  And from there, it was almost like I had magical powers.
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  And then I just kept it going.
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  But God bless my coach from Holy Course, Coach Kerr, who actually came out to visit me several times in Missouri.
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  He told my wife that I basically wanted to get female attention.
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  So that's what we're gonna go with.
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  Okay.
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  Another teammate of yours I spoke to recently, Terry Tarpy, told me it was great to catch up with you recently, and you guys kind of cross paths because Your sons wound up playing each other in college, correct?
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  Quentin and Terry?
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  Yes.
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  My oldest son Quentin, who's a professional right now playing over in Europe, he actually said, do you know such and such?
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  I said, yeah, that was my teammate.
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  I had to wait my turn under him.
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  And so we all get together when I come into New York.
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  I've been coming to New York the last six years straight and our championship team from Pistol Pete Chimera, Tom Berata, Paul Chatham, Lenard, Christian and Mr.
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  G and coach Malone, we all get together, man.
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  We haven't got together since I've been here this summer, but we got together last summer and we'll definitely get together this summer once I get back from Atlanta.
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  Coaching at All Star Game.
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  Nice.
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  So after your career is over, I guess people were probably telling you you had a good chance of being drafted in the first round.
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  What was it like the night that you heard Your name drafted 16th overall by the Rockets?
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  At first I was disappointed I didn't watch the draft.
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  I was fishing at the Lincoln Ozark with my surrogate mom and a couple of friends, and then my agent called me and told me that I had got picked.
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  I never watched the draft.
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  And from me playing in the Orlando Classic and playing in all the subdivision games that you play your senior year, which I did extremely well in, and I never visit Houston.
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  I visit all lottery picks.
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  And so I actually thought I was going to Phoenix because of coach Cotton Fitzsimmons and the relationship he had with Coach Stewart and Coach Kelly.
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  And he knew me personally and I worked out for them twice.
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  So that's where I thought I was going.
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  So I never watched the draft.
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  I was fishing.
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  And when it actually my agent called me and then management from Houston called me, I was kind of shocked and I was just ready to get to work.
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  So you're in, you're.
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  You're taken in.
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  And what was the moment where maybe like, you realized how different the league was?
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  Was there a welcome to the NBA moment either in the preseason or in the regular season?
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  You played 81 games, 19 minutes a game, scored nine points a game.
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  So you weren't held back.
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  You played right away.
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  But was there a moment where you were like, wow, this is different.
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  My come to moment was at the Pittsburgh, I want to call it the Savage center.
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  And I just remember Franco Harris sitting in the front row, and I go in the lane against the Philadelphia 76ers and Rick Mahorn and Charles Barkley clothesline me, and I get my tooth knocked out, but I don't know,
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  my tooth knocked out.
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  And so I'm still playing, and then they tell me, oh, man, your tooth is knocked down.
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  And I just remember taking me in the locker room, and I actually go back in the game, and then I was like, man, this is physical out here.
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  But the weird part about no one picked you up, no one said anything.
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  And then when the season started, you know, I've always been a Boston Celtic fan all my life.
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  And I got to guard Larry Bird, and so I used to do this defense called, you know, where you facial, move your hands around.
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  And I just remember Larry Bird, he does his move, but I don't go for it.
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  And then he just raises up and shoots on me and tells me, rookie, that si h I t ain't gonna work in our league.
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  And I was like, whoa.
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  Yeah, I actually have a pair of his sneakers in my.
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  In my garage.
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  And that's the fun stuff that you can talk about later on.
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  What's some of the things that fans don't know about?
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  And I know it's different now than it was back in the 80s, early 90s, but what's something that fans don't realize about the daily life of an NBA player?
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  Oh, wow.
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  This is the number one thing for me.
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  But I was extremely blessed to have a radio show at Edmund and Martini, which was syndicated.
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  Okay.
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  It's the.
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  You have.
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  You practice probably like an hour, two hours, and you got the whole day.
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  Like, you.
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  You have to know how to manage your time.
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  And when I got in the league at 20 and, you know, I knew how to manage my money, I didn't really spend my money like that, but just the free time.
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  Yeah.
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  Like knowing what to do and where to go and where not to go.
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  But like I said, I was fortunate to have a radio show, so I had other things to do, monitor my time.
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  But you only practice an hour.
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  Yeah.
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  You got to find something to do with your personal life as well.
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  Yeah, you're done.
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  That's why you see a lot of these guys now getting podcasts.
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  There's so much time, you know, we're.
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  Talking with Derek Chivas, who played for Houston, and then also the Cavaliers.
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  So can you talk a little bit about the time, you know, in the NBA and then, you know, figuring out, are you going to stick with this team?
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  Are you going to go somewhere else?
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  Can you talk about that transition of maybe not getting as much playing time and moving on to the Cavaliers?
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  I think I've been misappropriated on some things, why my career was so short, and it's documented.
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  You can go back and pull up the tapes.
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  When I was playing a lot, I was happy.
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  I was content, and my team was winning.
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  Like every team I played for, I went to the playoffs.
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  When they stopped playing me, they never told me why.
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  And so I had a radio show.
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  So I used to get on the radio show and have the switchboard just blowing up, bombing on my team, bombing on management, asking the fans, what do you think?
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  And they would give me a response.
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  And I used to tell my kids, I said, you gotta be professional, you know?
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  And I didn't have the wherewithal to know what professionalism was.
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  I thought if you played hard, you practiced, you did what you were supposed to do, you supposed to play, right?
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  Not knowing.
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  It's a business, you know?
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  And I didn't know that.
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  And I voiced my concerns on the radio show, and Mr.
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  Patterson and all of them, I guess they got tired of my antics and got me out of there.
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  I just remember playing against the net and playing well.
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  Had my family at the Meadowland, and Sleepy Floyd was walking through the hallway.
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  He said, my man, I'm gonna miss you.
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  I was like, what are you talking about?
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  I'm gonna get on the plane with you.
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  He said, you just been traded.
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  And this shows how young I was.
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  I was like, when do I leave?
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  Instead of saying, what, I got traded, I said, when do I leave?
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  And I was extremely blessed to go somewhere where they let me play right away.
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  And I have.
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  And God bless his soul, Lenny Wilkins put me right out in the fire right away, and I had a lot of success.
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  And then all of a sudden, it became business, which I didn't understand.
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  Yeah.
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  Because I would have a lot of DMPs, coaches decision.
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  And I was never hurt.
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  Yeah.
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  And so I would voice my opinion to Mr.
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  Wayne Embry, who was its general manager, and he would tell me to be patient.
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  And I just remember at the end of.
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  After your season's over, you gotta go and meet with the coaching staff.
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  And I remember Coach Wilkins telling me, you can play in our league.
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  And when he told me that, it resonated with me.
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  But once I got over to Europe, because I had children and I had mouths to feed, I never looked back.
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  Right.
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  So I wasn't invested in the NBA like most young people.
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  Right.
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  I was invested in doing a good job and taking care of my family, which I continue to do.
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  And I've been extremely blessed.
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  My main goal was to always see my mother smile.
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  And she smiles every day.
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  That's Great.
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  So you see then after your time with the Cavs, you spent some time in some of the other leagues around here.
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  Albany, Patroons, Quad City Thunder.
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  But then where did you go?
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  To Greece?
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  No, I actually went to Spain and I played with James Hoffman and the team folded.
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  I signed a two year deal, but the team folded.
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  Okay.
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  France didn't like it.
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  You get like a break.
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  And I never, I never came back.
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  And then I went to Israel and loved it.
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  And I think it was like the bomb crisis at the time.
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  I left everyone back, but a lot of people that knew me knew that I had great management.
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  I had a lot of my money deferred to 1995.
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  My goal was actually to play and show people that I've worked on my skill set, I have the skill set, I belong.
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  And so I never worried about money, I never worried about my finances because I had good management.
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  I worried about playing.
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  So I stayed in the gym on my craft.
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  And so when I actually got to Greece, and the funny thing about Greece is Walter Berry, who's like a brother to me, he basically was the king over there.
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  And he had been calling me when I was in the CBA telling me, yo, judge, I got a million dollars for you.
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  Come over here.
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  No, no, no, no.
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  My agent said if I just work.
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  On this, I'll get back in the league, right?
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  Continue to go through the cba, you know, trying to get back in the league.
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  And when I actually got over to Greece and I seen all the great players that was over there that I wondered what happened to them, it was incredible.
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  I never got the million dollar salary that Walt talked about.
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  I was making between 250.
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  The most I made over there was 375.
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  But I played good basketball and I won and I was successful and I had a lot of fun.
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  And the people in Greece buckled me with open ar.
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  And I don't know if your viewers know, but he's actually from New Jersey and was born in America.
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  Nick Gallup, he was like the Michael Jordan over there.
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  And he basically showed me the ropes because I used to go to a lot of bouzouki bars when over there and I ran into him over there.
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  So I actually got to play against Dominique, Orlando Blackman, Walter Berry, of course, Richard Relaford, Gary Plummer, like all the top players is over there.
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  And I was like, whoa.
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  And so I actually got to compete against them and play meaningful minutes and be part of something again.
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  We're talking with Derek Bandaid, Chivas, who played New York City legend, played at Missouri, also played the NBA, and as he just told you, spent some time overseas and enjoying that time.
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  Talk a little bit about, you know, what you've done since retiring from basketball and what you're up to today.
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  At first, when I retired, it was extremely difficult.
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  Like I tell anybody who has money, like I said, I had a lot of my money deferred.
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  So I was living like I was in the league, but I wasn't playing like I was in the league.
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  So I basically had to figure out what was my next move.
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  I went back to my university, and I got like 17 hours to finish my master's, but I got bored going to class.
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  And so what I did, I tried to parlay that into trying to do some radio stuff.
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  There's some radio stuff.
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  But I found out it wasn't what you know, it's who you know.
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  And it kind of.
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  I was behind the scenes and didn't like what I saw.
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  And I tell people sometimes in life, if you got shut up money, you don't have to put up with a lot of stuff.
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  And.
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  And I had shut up money, so I didn't put up with a lot of things that I knew wasn't right.
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  And then I met a gentleman when I had a camp in Columbia, and Dr.
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  Silver, he was working at a.
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  Well, he was the head of a group home.
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  And he was telling me, hey, man, I want you to just come and talk to the kids.
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  Went and talked to the kids.
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  They didn't have a clue who I was.
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  They had a basketball court on the facility.
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  I played against these kids.
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  And then Dr.
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  Silver later told him I was a pro, and then, you know, went out to lunch with him a couple of times, and it turned into a job working at a group home called Boys and Girls Town of Missouri.
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  I worked there for, like, 15 years until a kid got killed.
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  And it kind of touched my spirit to the point where I couldn't go through the doors every day.
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  And I shut it down for a while.
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  And then when I shut it down for a while, I met my wife.
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  It kind of inspired me to keep doing the things that I was doing later on in life, helping people.
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  And my mother used to always say, while you're on this earth, you got to pay rent.
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  And I basically paid my rent by giving my services to people.
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  And I worked at a place called.
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  Woodhaven, which work with disabled adults.
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  And I'm actually a member of, which I've been a member for 23 years of the Special Olympics.
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  And so I bartered my time till that time.
• 25:52
  And then when my brother got expired and I knew my mother was going to be alone, I had to figure out.
• 26:00
  And she didn't want to move to Missouri.
• 26:01
  I had to figure out another way that I can exist.
• 26:07
  I basically retired from working at Woodhaven after 15 plus years.
• 26:13
  But I still keep in touch with a lot of people that I gave service to in the community.
• 26:19
  But this next chapter of my life is spending a lot of time with my mother.
• 26:24
  Going back and forth to New York, man, having a.
• 26:28
  A great time.
• 26:28
  And by me coming back to New York, I've been afforded the opportunity to meet some of my heroes like Cheese Johnson from Wichita State, Charlie Beck from the Gauchos, and Kenny Hutchinson.
• 26:40
  So I've actually reincorporated myself back into the New York scene and I actually went to the Ruck and the King Towers.
• 26:49
  The basketball's not the same, but the environment was.
• 26:52
  So, yeah, just trying to reinvent myself and sharing myself with others.
• 26:58
  Well, we appreciate your time.
• 27:00
  Again, we're talking with Derek Chivas, who is a New York City legend.
• 27:04
  Some great advice and some great things about life that you just gave to us.
• 27:08
  I'm going to go through some fast fire with us.
• 27:09
  If you could just give me your answer, whether it be high school, college, or the NBA.
• 27:15
  Best player you ever faced.
• 27:21
  Wow, that's.
• 27:22
  That's a tough one.
• 27:30
  I would.
• 27:30
  I would have to say K State.
• 27:32
  I thought I was going to be a teammate of his is Mitch Richmond.
• 27:36
  Mitch Richmond.
• 27:36
  I actually, I actually had to guard him.
• 27:39
  Yeah, yeah.
• 27:41
  And he spent a lot of time in Columbia because he went to Mobley Junior College.
• 27:47
  And we thought we were going to play together.
• 27:49
  All right, next question.
• 27:51
  Favorite teammate.
• 27:56
  That's, that's.
• 27:57
  It's not even a question.
• 27:59
  Greg Buhave.
• 28:00
  Okay.
• 28:01
  Basically.
• 28:02
  Basically put me in the scene, but.
• 28:08
  And all my holy course, guys, I don't.
• 28:09
  I don't want to get that tainted, but if it wasn't for Harvey, I would have never got to go to Holy Cross.
• 28:15
  Excellent.
• 28:16
  Toughest arena to play in.
• 28:20
  Without question at Lawrence.
• 28:23
  University of Kansas.
• 28:24
  University of Kansas.
• 28:25
  Tough place to play.
• 28:26
  And even now.
• 28:28
  And lastly, one word to describe your career.
• 28:36
  An unbelievable experience, man.
• 28:39
  An experience.
• 28:39
  An experience.
• 28:40
  A moment.
• 28:41
  Yeah.
• 28:43
  I tell everybody.
• 28:44
  And I've just seen something on Fool's book I call Isaiah was talking about, you got to be a certain person or a certain breed.
• 28:56
  He actually said killer to be part of the 450 people that part of the fraternity in the NBA.
• 29:05
  And I.
• 29:05
  I second that.
• 29:08
  Well, Derek, I know you say you got a lot involved with the high school games in the AAU and trying to get teams out to play all, you know, all these teams playing like 48 games at the same
• 29:19
  time.
• 29:19
  Do you still enjoy watching the game even at the higher level?
• 29:22
  I know there's a lot going on in the college level with nils and transfer portals and the NBA.
• 29:28
  Do you still enjoy watching the game at the higher level?
• 29:31
  No, not at all.
• 29:33
  Not to taint what commissioner Adam Silver is doing, but I think the.
• 29:39
  The new NBA is like the WWE is all entertainment, man.
• 29:43
  And that's why you're having so many problems with the nonsense that's going on.
• 29:48
  Because it's not about the game anymore.
• 29:53
  You know, it's entertainment.
• 29:55
  Yeah.
• 29:55
  I played in.
• 29:56
  I consider myself playing in the real NBA.
• 29:59
  Yeah, well, you.
• 30:00
  It was love of the game.
• 30:02
  No matter what they paid you, no matter where you were at, you, you were going to play.
• 30:08
  Yeah.
• 30:08
  In the process, you were.
• 30:09
  You were getting entertained.
• 30:11
  But my main focus wasn't to entertain you.
• 30:14
  My main focus was to obliterate my opponent.
• 30:18
  Right.
• 30:18
  And compete.
• 30:20
  You're not coming over my house before the game.
• 30:23
  And after I do what I do to you.
• 30:25
  If you want to come over my house after the game, we can go to dinner, but it's just different, man.
• 30:30
  And I don't watch it.
• 30:32
  Okay.
• 30:33
  Well, again, we appreciate your time.
• 30:35
  I appreciate you giving us a couple of minutes.
• 30:37
  Some people in New York definitely love hearing your story.
• 30:40
  Again, we talked here tonight.
• 30:42
  Derek Chivas, who played at Holy Cross High School, went out to Missouri, played in the NBA, told us a lot of stories, but also talked about his love of life and trying to get people back into the game.
• 30:51
  So appreciate you spending a little bit of time with us tonight.
• 30:54
  Thanks a lot, Derek.
• 30:56
  I appreciate you.
• 30:56
  Thank you, Tom, man.
• 30:57
  All right, we're going to take a break.
• 31:00
  When we come back, we'll have our co host, Mike Godone.
• 31:27
  Foreign.
• 31:31
  You are listening to sports talk new york.
• 31:34
  Tune in every Sunday night at 8:00pm on long island's wgbp broadcasting on 95.9 fm and 12:40am or listen live online at wgbbradio.com stay connected to sports talk new york on wgbb by following us on facebook, twitter and instagram
• 31:52
  @wgbb.
• 31:54
  Sports talk talk.
• 31:57
  You're listening to sports talk new york on long island's wgb.
• 32:02
  And now back to the show.
• 32:09
  Welcome back to wgb, Long Island's Sports Talk New York.
• 32:13
  Again, I'm Chris Caputo.
• 32:15
  We Just had a nice interview with Derek Chivas who played here in New York City as well as college and the NBA.
• 32:21
  And we're going to turn it over a little bit and change gears.
• 32:24
  We'll be talking all kinds of sports, especially New York sports.
• 32:29
  And my co host is back with us and that's Mike Houdone.
• 32:32
  Mike, how's things out in Seattle?
• 32:36
  How you doing, man?
• 32:36
  Thanks for having me back via the phone.
• 32:39
  Everything is good.
• 32:41
  First, first of all, can you hear me okay?
• 32:43
  Absolutely.
• 32:45
  Great.
• 32:45
  So, yes, Seattle, you know, interesting.
• 32:49
  Got caught out here in the weather that happened in New York.
• 32:53
  Was supposed to get in this morning to New York about 6am and now I'm not getting back to Wednesday morning.
• 32:59
  With all that crazy weather.
• 33:01
  But Seattle, Seattle's a great spot and you know, I went to the game today, the Mariners game.
• 33:07
  And you know, I'll tell you a little bit about that before we finish up, you know, get back to the New York scene.
• 33:12
  But beautiful day out here and just glad I'm able to call in.
• 33:17
  Well, that's great.
• 33:18
  I didn't know it was going to be Wednesday as here we are on Sunday.
• 33:23
  Yeah, it's, it's crazy out here.
• 33:26
  We had some, some crazy weather here last night as we tried to hit a concert at Jones Beach.
• 33:31
  We know you got hit in that as well.
• 33:34
  We found some shelter, went back out there.
• 33:37
  But there are some more storms coming in on Tuesday.
• 33:41
  So hopefully we do get you back here on Wednesday.
• 33:44
  But talk for about a minute or two about your experience at Safeco.
• 33:49
  I believe they still call it Safeco.
• 33:50
  Am I wrong?
• 33:51
  Where's Seattle?
• 33:52
  They just now they renamed it T Mobile.
• 33:55
  T Mobile, right.
• 33:56
  Okay.
• 33:56
  Yeah.
• 33:56
  It's funny, I looked up Safeco and I asked some people like, what are you talking about?
• 34:00
  T Mobile.
• 34:01
  Very nice experience.
• 34:02
  You know, it was definitely a park I wanted to see.
• 34:05
  It's hard to compare things in different cities because with the amount of space that these places have, like in New York, to put something like this together right next to each other on the old Kingdome site here in
• 34:20
  Seattle you have T Mobile and then you have the football stadium as well.
• 34:24
  Easy to get to, just, you know, no problems, little traffic getting in and out, but nothing like you can imagine.
• 34:34
  Train station right there.
• 34:36
  Great game, great game experience.
• 34:39
  Prices are, you know, kind of on par.
• 34:41
  Okay with everything.
• 34:43
  Wonderful food options.
• 34:44
  But it just.
• 34:45
  The coolest thing for us was, well, number one, the Mariners won, which, which was nice.
• 34:49
  You know, people were excited.
• 34:51
  But literally as we were leaving, they were closing the roof and to watch them.
• 34:56
  Watch them close.
• 34:57
  I've never been to a retractable roof stadium before, but to have them close, it was pretty cool to watch that.
• 35:04
  That whole thing happens.
• 35:05
  So really nice experience.
• 35:08
  The basketball arena and hockey where the Kraken and the Seattle Storm play And hopefully another NBA team is about 15 minutes from there.
• 35:18
  Beautiful city.
• 35:20
  Highly recommend people come out here for a quick visit and, you know, if you want to see some sports.
• 35:27
  Super easy to get to great people.
• 35:29
  You know, I was here because I went on an Alaskan cruise, which was even more fantastic.
• 35:33
  But great sports town.
• 35:35
  People love their sports.
• 35:36
  Very knowledgeable.
• 35:37
  And when you have the super bowl champions here, that doesn't, you know, that don't hurt you either.
• 35:41
  Yeah, that's a good spot to be.
• 35:43
  Seven MLB teams have retractable domes.
• 35:47
  Houston, Texas, Arizona, Seattle, Milwaukee, Toronto, and Miami.
• 35:52
  I was actually in Milwaukee for Home Run Derby.
• 35:56
  Saw that.
• 35:57
  Saw that roof move.
• 35:59
  And in the middle.
• 36:00
  In the middle of a game.
• 36:01
  I was at Toronto watching a Met Blue Jay game and it started raining.
• 36:05
  But I guess the rule is they're not supposed to do it in the middle of an inning.
• 36:09
  They're supposed to wait till the end of the inning.
• 36:10
  But to me, if it's pouring, you got to close that thing right away.
• 36:13
  So I guess it's kind of knowing when it's coming and doing it, but I guess, what, do they do it at the end of the game, no matter what?
• 36:20
  It seems that way.
• 36:21
  They have a home game here tomorrow, and the weather forecast is people telling me that this is unprecedented.
• 36:28
  You know, Seattle is known for its rain, and it's been absolutely gorgeous.
• 36:32
  So I'm assuming, you know, they close it up for.
• 36:37
  For whatever.
• 36:37
  I don't know, maybe, you know, too much sun.
• 36:39
  But it was.
• 36:40
  They were doing it very, very slowly.
• 36:43
  But they say it takes 10 minutes in a pinch, so.
• 36:47
  But, I mean, it was.
• 36:49
  It was really.
• 36:49
  It was a cool experience to see both ends of it, but very.
• 36:53
  You know, everybody here makes fun of the fact that the Mariners are the only team that has never made the World Series.
• 37:00
  And, you know, but they love the team and they supported 50 years of baseball here.
• 37:05
  So just a great spot and hoping to get back here, you know, for a football game or, you know, some type of hockey, I heard is fantastic.
• 37:15
  We'd love to see the Islanders here.
• 37:16
  So great sports town, great experience, but itching to get back to New York, where I'm told there was some big sports event in New York today.
• 37:24
  Is that true?
• 37:25
  Well, in The New York, New Jersey area.
• 37:28
  I haven't given out the number yet, but 516-623-1240.
• 37:33
  In case you want to call in Sports Talk New York here.
• 37:36
  516-623-1240.
• 37:39
  Yeah, there was a game, I tried making sure I stayed away from New Jersey because that would have been an absolute dead stop car ride.
• 37:50
  But yes, I think everything probably went as everybody wanted.
• 37:54
  The game went into extra time and you know, in that overtime period, eventually Spain proved that they were the number one team.
• 38:02
  Mike, they only give up one goal in the whole tournament.
• 38:04
  So I would have to say that they were definitely worthy of being the champion.
• 38:10
  You know, I, again, I'm no soccer expert.
• 38:12
  I, I definitely lean to you on that because you played at a very high level.
• 38:18
  And I coached a little bit here and there, but just watching, I was able to watch about the first 15 to 20 minutes of the game and you could see Spain was just relaxed, ready to go.
• 38:30
  Not super offensive, but they were in control of the game.
• 38:33
  And I don't think they ever really had a moment where they were worried at all.
• 38:37
  And that's against an Argentina team that, you know, has one of, if not the greatest player in the history of the sport.
• 38:43
  Yeah.
• 38:43
  And they were able to come back in a lot of games.
• 38:45
  But, Mike, this Argentina team had zero shots on net.
• 38:49
  And eventually, unbelievable, one of their players got a second yellow card, which changed the complexion of the game.
• 38:55
  At that point, Argentina is trying to hold on for pks and that didn't happen.
• 39:00
  So overall, World cup, you know, I know you were on the cruise and you weren't around maybe for the last semifinals and finals and stuff like that, but what did you think of the World cup here in North
• 39:12
  America?
• 39:14
  Well, you know, interesting, on the cruise, they, they put all the games on the big screen on the deck, and people on the cruise couldn't get enough of it.
• 39:23
  Here in Seattle, they host some games and they were literally just taking the signage down here.
• 39:29
  So I was talking to some folks.
• 39:30
  About, you know, the experience here in Seattle and they, they loved it.
• 39:36
  You know, a win for everybody.
• 39:38
  The only thing that I found really bizarre is that as they were kind of going and showing the game today, you see, you know, MetLife Stadium, which they had to call it, I guess New York, New Jersey Stadium,
• 39:51
  but with security or travel, not a car to be seen anywhere near the stadium, no car parking.
• 39:59
  And I, I would love to talk to people who went to games and how difficult it was to have to endure that especially in the final.
• 40:08
  I'm sure the security was super tight, which it should be.
• 40:11
  You know, the President of the United.
• 40:12
  States at the game as well.
• 40:14
  But I, you know, I think even casual soccer fans are.
• 40:19
  People who rarely watch, were engaged.
• 40:23
  They were excited.
• 40:25
  It's an amazing, amazing tournament.
• 40:28
  I mean, is it safe to say it's the most popular sporting event in the world?
• 40:33
  I would say yes.
• 40:33
  It's probably there.
• 40:34
  Yep.
• 40:35
  I would say for, you know, hosting and given an atmosphere, logistics, all that stuff, this tournament probably would get close to an aa.
• 40:47
  Minus the problem, the problem that I have for the people here who want to go and for those also coming from other countries to see their team play, I would have to give it close to an F for
• 40:59
  affordability.
• 41:00
  Like, it's just, it's, it's insane what they're charging people to do things.
• 41:05
  And then the second market makes it even worse.
• 41:08
  I mean, if I would have known this a long time ago, Mike, I would have put my name in every lottery to try and get any, any ticket to whatever stadium it is.
• 41:17
  Didn't even have to be New York, New Jersey, because the retail for people trying to buy this on the secondary market was huge.
• 41:23
  I mean, you had seats in the, in the upper deck for today's match going for $8,000.
• 41:28
  Now that, that seat couldn't have cost more than a thousand to buy.
• 41:32
  You know, at that much of an upsell, you know, if you were able to get something down lower, you could probably get 30, $40,000 for, for two tickets.
• 41:42
  Unbelievable.
• 41:43
  Yeah, I, you know, I like the fact also that the game, the final game was in an outside stadium, but I watched, I watched a bunch of games in different sites.
• 41:52
  I thought the games in Dallas were unbelievable.
• 41:55
  Yeah, just, you know, for sight lines, you know, just.
• 42:00
  It played well on tv, was easy to see.
• 42:04
  Beautiful day, you know, in New York with, with the sunshine and not much.
• 42:09
  There wasn't really any, any residual smoke there today.
• 42:11
  Am I correct on that?
• 42:13
  No, it was, it's been pretty good.
• 42:15
  Look, it looked spectacular.
• 42:16
  So, yeah, I just, I thought that.
• 42:18
  Dallas was really the best venue of them all.
• 42:20
  But, yeah, I mean, aim for the tournament and it's really sad for the affordability.
• 42:25
  They're going to go, I believe the next World cup, they're splitting it again to three different sites.
• 42:31
  I'm not, I don't know about that.
• 42:32
  Trying to give Morocco and Argentina, those, those places a chance.
• 42:36
  Only country to host the, the World cup three times.
• 42:42
  You know, Mexico gets, gets that as they shared it with the United States and Canada.
• 42:48
  All three teams did make it to the knockout round, but were eliminated in a round of 32.
• 42:53
  They are talking about going from 48 to 64, which is something that every single sporting event seems to be doing.
• 43:00
  And that's increasing.
• 43:02
  You know, let's go from 48 to 64.
• 43:04
  Let's go from 68 up to 76.
• 43:07
  It just seems like there's more participation, trophies being handed out and you know, let's let this team in, let's let more team inside.
• 43:16
  I think they need to get to a point where you just have the best teams there.
• 43:19
  There's really just, you know, when it comes down to it, Mike, there was no way that some of these smaller Ivory coast teams were going to win.
• 43:27
  No, definitely not.
• 43:28
  You know, even them going around or two is a great story.
• 43:31
  But the Cinderella's, you know, especially in college basketball, that's not going to happen anymore because they're going to have to win two or three games even.
• 43:40
  We'll get into that in a different time.
• 43:42
  But even to really get into the true field of play, it's all about the money unfortunately.
• 43:47
  And you know, it's great exposure for countries and such, but it's just watered it down so much and you know, you see right here the world's best going at it.
• 43:57
  And you know, Argentina was lucky to make it past England and Spain played tremendously against France.
• 44:03
  So the best team won for sure.
• 44:07
  And I wanted to switch gears, just get back to a little bit of baseball.
• 44:12
  As I know we got about 15 minutes left here.
• 44:15
  I've been dying to ask you about a couple of guys on the Mets.
• 44:19
  We won't do buy and sell because we'd be here all day.
• 44:22
  But who you think at the trade deadline approaches, I believe you mentioned to me all fair two weeks, am I correct?
• 44:30
  April 3rd.
• 44:31
  So we would be on the air in two weeks, the night before the deadline.
• 44:36
  So yes, we're getting down there two more weeks for teams to decide if they want to hold on or gain extra players or start getting rid of people.
• 44:47
  Okay, so I wrote down, I have 2, 4, 6, I have 7 Mets on this list and we can go through them quickly.
• 44:55
  And I want to get, you know, even just a quick background on why you think they will or will not be with the team come two weeks from now.
• 45:05
  I think a couple of them are, you know, a little bit of pie in the sky and pretty obvious that they'll probably stay but or go.
• 45:12
  But I want to get your thoughts on it.
• 45:14
  So first one, is Freddie Peralta gone or Sticks?
• 45:18
  I'm not sure yet.
• 45:19
  But I would say if push comes to shove, I would say somebody wants a guy that can pitch in a playoff, so I'll say gone.
• 45:26
  Okay.
• 45:27
  Only thing with him, I'm thinking is he hasn't.
• 45:30
  He hasn't pitched all that well, so he might want to.
• 45:33
  The Mets might be able to extend him on the cheap, but I think it's a bad look trading him, you know, in the middle of his only year here.
• 45:42
  But I agree with you.
• 45:43
  I think he's gone as well.
• 45:44
  I think he goes back back to the brewers and the Mets get Jett Williams back.
• 45:49
  Could you imagine that?
• 45:50
  Would.
• 45:51
  How funny would that be, right?
• 45:52
  Amazing.
• 45:53
  All right.
• 45:55
  This guy's name has been.
• 45:56
  Been in there.
• 45:57
  I think it's, you know, it's quieted down a little bit, but.
• 46:00
  Francisco Lindor?
• 46:02
  I don't think so.
• 46:03
  I think.
• 46:04
  I think the Mets are trying.
• 46:06
  He's not untouchable.
• 46:07
  The Mets are trying to find a way, but he's not going to the Yankees.
• 46:10
  And I don't know what teams are really looking to.
• 46:13
  To finish up.
• 46:14
  I know he got a decent amount of his money.
• 46:16
  I think he's got about five years, let's say 170 left.
• 46:18
  I'm making that number up.
• 46:19
  But let's say somewhere in that ballpark, the Mets are not picking up the money from that contract.
• 46:25
  So I don't see him going anywhere.
• 46:28
  Agree.
• 46:29
  Brooks really gone.
• 46:32
  Okay.
• 46:33
  To me, a big.
• 46:35
  A big trade piece.
• 46:37
  Would you agree that they can.
• 46:38
  They can get some solid stuff back for him?
• 46:40
  Here's my thing, Mike.
• 46:41
  And I want, you know, the Mets hierarchy to hear this because I'm sure they're listening in.
• 46:45
  I don't need three top 25 prospects in your organization.
• 46:51
  Get me one one top 10 guy.
• 46:54
  I don't need the 14, 19, and 27th guy in your organization.
• 46:59
  Get me one good guy back that I know has a pretty good shot of making a major league roster in the next two years.
• 47:07
  Agree.
• 47:08
  And I think you can get that for Brooks.
• 47:10
  Really.
• 47:10
  And I don't know if he's on your list, but also AJ Minter, you.
• 47:15
  Know, I didn't have him on my list, but I.
• 47:18
  I agree with that as well.
• 47:19
  And those teams are like the Dodgers, Astros, Orioles.
• 47:22
  Definitely looking for a lefty.
• 47:25
  Yes, definitely.
• 47:27
  I know he's hurt now, but Mark.
• 47:28
  Vientos where he's hurt and, you know, where is he going?
• 47:33
  I mean, yeah, there's absolutely zero market for Mark Vientos and Brett Beatty.
• 47:40
  So that was another one that was on my list.
• 47:42
  What, what positions are, do these guys play?
• 47:46
  If you were gonna, if you were literally gonna sit down and say, all right, Brett Beatty, Mark Vanthos, these are major league fill in the blank players.
• 47:54
  Dhs, I mean, what are they?
• 47:56
  So that's the whole thing is like guys that are versatile.
• 47:59
  The guys like the Jeff McNeil's, they play the outfield, they play second, they play first, they play third.
• 48:05
  Do you know why guys move around so much?
• 48:08
  Because they can't do it at one spot.
• 48:10
  They're not a good enough hitter.
• 48:12
  So they're trying to squeeze them in every once in a while to sub out another guy.
• 48:16
  They're not players at any position.
• 48:18
  And that's the biggest problem is you don't want to have guys that are platooning and guys that are just utility guys.
• 48:24
  They don't have a spot for him.
• 48:26
  And what in his repertoire do people want?
• 48:29
  He can't catch the ball at first base, he can't field the ball at third base, he can't hit the ball when he's at the plate, except for every once in a while he makes contact, you know, with a
• 48:39
  curveball or a fastball right down the middle.
• 48:41
  So I can't see any, anybody going after either one of those players, Vientos or Beatty.
• 48:47
  Yeah, I agree.
• 48:49
  Luke Weaver, interesting situation.
• 48:52
  The Mets have another year on the books with him.
• 48:59
  I keep them.
• 48:59
  If it's me, I keep.
• 49:01
  Yeah, I mean there's a team that wants them very close and I would say that the injury bullpen of the New York Yankees, they would love to have him back.
• 49:13
  Yeah.
• 49:14
  And I think if you could go out there and get yourselves.
• 49:17
  You're not going to get it, but if you can get yourselves like a George Lombard, like a high, high, you know, minor league guy, I think you got to go after it.
• 49:26
  Now.
• 49:26
  Could you package somebody like Lynn Door in there or somebody like, I don't know if he's on your list, you know, Alvarez or Luis Terence.
• 49:36
  To get somebody like a Spencer, Spencer Jones and a George Lombard for Weaver and Alvarez, you probably could.
• 49:46
  Yeah, I think you make a lot.
• 49:49
  Of sense now, Dr.
• 49:51
  And Mike, I don't know.
• 49:53
  I don't know if the Mets and Yankees are doing business.
• 49:55
  I'm just saying if they are, a catcher, shortstop, reliever combo is what the Yankees are looking for.
• 50:05
  Yep.
• 50:06
  Last guy I got, a Devin Williams.
• 50:08
  Anybody want him?
• 50:13
  I guess there's a market for him, but I don't Think he's going anywhere?
• 50:18
  I think he's staying with the Mets.
• 50:20
  The other guy, the other guy I think that could come up is Clay Holmes.
• 50:25
  He's supposed to be back in a month.
• 50:26
  Yeah.
• 50:27
  So somebody's gonna, gonna look at him and say, hey, you know, he hasn't pitched in a while, so his arm is pretty fresh.
• 50:33
  And he has done it in both the bullpen and as a starter.
• 50:37
  And if you could get that down the stretch, a fresh arm, you know, he just got drilled with a line drive.
• 50:42
  Otherwise he, you know, his arm is good.
• 50:43
  Yeah.
• 50:44
  So I would say that guys that the Mets might trade would be one of the two catchers.
• 50:49
  I would say more Terence Holmes, Weaver, and then the lefties out of the bullpen as well.
• 50:56
  But,.
• 50:58
  You know, I don't know.
• 50:59
  I don't know if, you know, those guys would definitely go.
• 51:03
  The Mets are not making a run in the next 14 days to be buyers.
• 51:07
  So I think at some point in the next week or so, they're going to have to make a decision as to which guys are, you know, definitely guys that we would.
• 51:16
  If we could get somebody back for them.
• 51:17
  We're going to do it.
• 51:21
  Last thing on the Mets.
• 51:22
  Why is Kodai Sanga still on the team?
• 51:27
  I would say the reason he's still there is because he has a contract.
• 51:30
  And that's pretty much it.
• 51:32
  You could sit there and say, oh, we're trying to work with his mechanics and if he does this right, you know, they really don't have the ability to put him in the minor leagues.
• 51:42
  He has to agree to go down there and work on his stuff.
• 51:45
  So I think only because he has a contract, it's really not that much left.
• 51:48
  I think, you know, his contract was not in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 51:52
  So, you know, it's somewhere in that $40 million range.
• 51:55
  To start, he's really down to only a couple million dollars left.
• 51:58
  And I think at some point someone's going to have to pull the trigger.
• 52:01
  And I think this is where the bottom line comes.
• 52:03
  I know we're talking about the Mets for the last few seconds, but something has to happen with the New York Mets.
• 52:09
  And it might have to be that the owner, Steve Cohen, bites the bullet with David Stearns and does one of two things.
• 52:16
  Either one relieves him of his position or number two puts somebody else in a higher up position.
• 52:21
  The Mets do not have a general manager.
• 52:22
  They have a player, president of baseball operations.
• 52:26
  I think there needs to be another big time guy to let David Stearns Know, hey, if you're not doing your job, we have another guy underneath you that's going to take over.
• 52:34
  Yeah, something, some type of reshuffling or like you said, adding someone there.
• 52:40
  It has to be done because you cannot continue to do business as usual and go into the rest of this season.
• 52:46
  Next season, forget about it.
• 52:48
  I mean they already, the schedule's already released for next year and the jokes were out there.
• 52:53
  Everybody was just having a great time with, hey, let's move on.
• 52:56
  But we're not even, I mean we're mid July, there's a lot of baseball left.
• 53:01
  But yeah, this team is not making a run.
• 53:04
  They show some signs here and there.
• 53:06
  Play competitively.
• 53:07
  You know, young pitching is going to come through and there's some excitement there.
• 53:11
  You still have Juan Cotto, one of the top three guys in baseball.
• 53:15
  But it's such a shame to think of is it promised where it was.
• 53:19
  But if we're, you definitely hit it on the head before.
• 53:23
  If we're going to trade some of these guys, we don't need the 18th, the 24th, the 34th prospect.
• 53:28
  We need one or two.
• 53:29
  Let's get excited about something here.
• 53:31
  Yeah.
• 53:32
  And we'll see where the Mets decide to go.
• 53:34
  But Mike, the other thing is you come out the schedule for next year, if there's a season next year, it's going to be major, major shortage.
• 53:41
  There's a good chance that they're not even going to play baseball at all next year.
• 53:44
  So I think, you know, when you're talking about who they're going to keep, who they're going to sign, the Mets might get rid of guys knowing that there's going to be no baseball next year or they might keep
• 53:52
  guys saying, hey, that contract will now go an extra year.
• 53:55
  So if you have a guy in a two year contract and there is no baseball next year, that contract will carry over to the following year.
• 54:02
  Yeah, that's a great point because I think the smart money is unfortunately that there will be no baseball next year and that'll just be a killer.
• 54:10
  It's a killer for the sport.
• 54:12
  And it's always baseball comes back and these major sports come back from strikes.
• 54:17
  But it gets harder and harder as the years go on.
• 54:20
  New York Yankees, Mike, they're having to try to adapt from this painful Aaron Judge injury.
• 54:27
  Where do they go from here?
• 54:28
  I know, as I said, I think they need a catcher.
• 54:31
  I think they, you know, they need some bullpen help.
• 54:33
  Where do they go from here and can they wait that much longer?
• 54:36
  Is he ever going to play this year?
• 54:39
  I think we came out recently in the last day or so that he needs to be reevaluated again.
• 54:45
  I think he's.
• 54:46
  I don't know what's going on.
• 54:47
  It's very odd.
• 54:49
  I don't think they can wait much longer, especially now with the news that he's being reevaluated and that he's not really on track.
• 54:56
  What do they do?
• 54:59
  Boy, I wish I knew.
• 55:01
  It's, you know, what, you name their needs, really.
• 55:04
  It's funny how it matches up with the Mets, but I can't see them doing that much business together, if at all.
• 55:10
  So where do they go?
• 55:11
  I don't know.
• 55:12
  I really don't because I think they can at this point start giving up on some of those guys they used to think were untouchable.
• 55:19
  The Martian, Jason Dominguez, Spencer Jones.
• 55:22
  They have some, you know, some prospects.
• 55:24
  They say they refuse to trade George Lombard or Carlos Lagrange.
• 55:28
  Like they have to possibly give it up because, Mike, they are, I believe, the 8th worst run producing lineup in the major leagues.
• 55:38
  And they just are really, you know, with this fractured right rib for Judge, they're really putting themselves in a hole.
• 55:43
  And, you know, it's not getting better.
• 55:46
  It's.
• 55:46
  It's just getting worse.
• 55:47
  And I'm going to throw one more thing out there.
• 55:50
  The Boston Red Sox just won 13 games in a row.
• 55:53
  They're on one of those, you know, major runs that nobody's going to stop them.
• 55:57
  Almost like the Phillies did.
• 55:59
  Right.
• 55:59
  And yeah, if the Yankees sit back, do nothing, before we know it, Boston will take them over and then it's a lost season.
• 56:06
  And that's even us Met fans, nobody wants that.
• 56:11
  Yeah.
• 56:11
  And it just becomes very difficult because as you get to the trade deadline, you had teams that maybe three weeks ago were sellers that are now going to become buyers.
• 56:20
  I mean, the Red Sox are only four games behind the Yankees, Yankees two games behind the Rays.
• 56:25
  And one of the teams that's made a great turnaround is the Chicago White Sox at 42 and 56.
• 56:30
  But there really aren't that many teams in the American league that are below.500.
• 56:34
  So what I'm trying to say, Mike, is there's a lot of teams that want to hold on in the American League because they think they have a shot at the wild card.
• 56:43
  Absolutely.
• 56:44
  And that's what baseball wants.
• 56:46
  Baseball wanted this.
• 56:47
  They wanted all these teams to have a shot to keep people interested.
• 56:50
  And, you know, so far so good.
• 56:53
  But come next year, if they don't have labor settlements, it's all going to be a moot point.
• 56:57
  Yeah.
• 56:58
  Which is why The Dodgers, at 63 and 36, you know, 100 games into the year, have no fall off from two World Series in a row, and they are at a plus 156 run differential.
• 57:10
  So the Dodgers are still number one.
• 57:13
  Just.
• 57:13
  Gary, last point.
• 57:14
  I know we're up against it.
• 57:16
  Can we keep the New York Knicks out of the wwe, please?
• 57:19
  Oh, my gosh.
• 57:20
  It's entertainment now.
• 57:22
  And that's what Derek Chivas said earlier.
• 57:23
  I want to thank him for coming on the show.
• 57:25
  He really said that the NBA has become entertainment.
• 57:28
  So, Mike, thanks for checking in from Seattle.
• 57:31
  Absolutely.
• 57:31
  Looking forward to seeing you in the studio.
• 57:33
  Okay.
• 57:33
  We'll be back in a couple of weeks.
• 57:35
  Brian Graves, thank you on the other side of the glass.
• 57:37
  We'll talk to you soon.
• 57:38
  This is Chris Caputo.
• 57:39
  I'm out.
• 57:40
  The views expressed in the previous program did not necessarily represent those of the.
• 57:44
  Staff, management, or owners of wgb.