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A Dive Into This Flyers Offseason (PST Episode 564) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Hey there, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know that
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we recorded this podcast episode on Wednesday, May one, twenty twenty four,
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so by the time you hear this episode, some things may have changed here
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or there, but we hope you enjoy the show. All Right, everybody,
0:53
you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly
0:57
Philly sports podcast show in the world eleven years. We have got a great
1:00
show for you this week here. Of course, we're gonna be getting into
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a lot of Sixers talk. Gotta get into some Phillies talk too, because
1:07
they're the first team in Major League Baseball to win twenty games, and just
1:11
a couple of weeks ago, people were calling for Rob Thompson to be fired
1:15
and shown the curb. From there, we're gonna get into some reflections on
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the NFL Draft and the Eagles draft as a whole. And also we're gonna
1:26
take a look at some of the highest paid athletes in Philadelphia at this point
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what they've given us in their franchises. And we got some great, great
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Flyers talk coming as well. So we're thrown down on the table. Rachel
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Donner from The Lockdown Flyers podcast, he's gonna join us to really begin dissecting
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this upcoming Flyers offseason where it's gonna go. I'm Jeff Warren. I am
1:47
here with my good buddy Eric Leonard. Eric, buddy, it is good
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to see you. I like how we've been doing the video here on our
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Skype connection. We actually see each other, and it's just it was nice
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to see this past weekend in person for our for our buddies draft weekend we
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get together every year. Yeah, it's noticeably getting older, all of us.
2:07
Uh, we do tend to go after it. You know, we
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work We all work hard and have families. When we get together like once
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or twice a year, yep. And and yeah, we we like to,
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like I said, go after it. And you know, by Saturday
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at eleven o'clock night, it was like, I'm pretty tired. Yeah.
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Yeah. We didn't even get to watch a slap shot. Yeah. There
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used to always be a movie that we'd all pass out during the middle of
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like that was, you know, harken back to the old days, and
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it would keep going. We're at the point now we don't even do the
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movie. It's just like we can't get through it. No, and then
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we also go to we also go to bars now where the kids are like
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almost my daughter's ageloat like the college you know, some of the college bars
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you just want to be start look around like wow, I am old as
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hell. Yeah, we went to Elizabethtown, where Len and his wife live,
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and we went to a couple of bars. I mean, I had
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some great food at the first bar we went to, I'm forgetting what the
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name of it is, and I'm forgetting the name of the other bar too.
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Great story, Jeff. Thanks. The first one was funk Brewing.
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Yes, the second one, who the hell knows, it's obviously if it's
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a local college hangout. And yeah, by Jeff has a way of charming
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schmooth. I'm not even sure what the hell would be called. But like
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Jeth starts to just talk to people and they'll just start walking up to groups
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of people and be like, hey, everybody, Hey, how's it red
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doing. No one, No one wants to talk to you, Jeff,
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I want to get ready. No one's here to hang out with you except
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for us. And that kind of started Saturday and then we left. Yes,
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exactly, you know, once the Britney spears baby one more time came
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on and I started grooving. That's why I looked at Dave your old college
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room, said let's wrap this up, wrap it up, get back to
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Len's house. I've seen this show many times. I know how this sends.
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By the way, just a just a quick as you get older kind
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of game to play if you're at a bar and they have a digital uh
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digital what'd called a jukebox? Yeah, the Touchtones game is so much fun.
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It's the uh, it's the app. You can actually you can program
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the juke box remotely to play whatever song you want next, and you just
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sit there so you don't have to walk over and like have anybody see you,
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and you just start to play the craziest fucking music you've ever heard in
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your life. Build with like either like like people having nice dinner or college
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kids. Yeah, and in case we did uh what me so horny?
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Horny? What else was the Two Live Crew? Uh? Do we do
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Slayer? I believe we did Slayer? Maybe? Yeah? Do we do
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sla I'm not sure? Yeah, but but that's that's always a go to.
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It's raining men is a good one. Do we do pop that pop
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that thing? Pop pop that thingy. Yeah, I just say it.
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I know we're explicit, but I can't say the name of the song now
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that is that is some middle aged guy fun right there. Yeah. The
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uncomfortableness of certain people that hear certain songs and they're like, oh my gosh,
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they're looking around the bar. Who played this? Why would somebody decide
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to play this here on a Saturday night? And you know, you know,
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you know, the song works if all of a sudden the banter within
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the bar kind of dies down because they were playing. You hear like like,
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hell, I remember up at Penn State when we're a lot younger,
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You and I would go into the Rathskeller and we put Lamagott on and just
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clear the bar out. It was fantastic. Yeah, death and thrash metal
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tend to clear a bar out. Yes, yes, all right, Oh
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man, i'd I'd love to hear some college stories of folks out there,
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if you've ever done anything like that, We'd love to hear some of the
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songs that you've all played. That'd be fun. Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail
5:55
dot com. So uh, let's talk Philly sports here. The Philadelphia seventy
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six or as of us recording this still alive. I cannot believe this team
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is still alive in this first round of the playoffs. You've got the superstar
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and Joel Embiid, who's hobbling around on one leg. He's got he's got
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bell's palsy, he's got one eye basically working at this point. Yet he's
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yet he had a triple freaking double in this last game. But before we
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get into that and where this team may be going, and maybe even getting
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into some whether it's subsequent round type of talk or just feelings about this team
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as we begin to logically look towards even next season. Eric I really wanted
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to talk about the fact that Knicks fans took over the Wells Fargo Center this
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past week, and it was something that we've really never witnessed something like that
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in the world of Philly sports. I mean, it doesn't happen a passionate
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town about their sports. Quite frankly, as at least three out of the
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say four out of the five Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center can certainly be
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overwhelmed when Flyers Nation does not come out, but very rarely does the Wells
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Fargo Center get overtaken by a fan base that is playing against the Philadelphia seventy
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six Ers, and like, I just wonder what it means for the organization
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moving forward, because there was a lot of criticism about how the front office
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handled the ticket sales, basically allowing that New York market and those New York
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folks that are only what hour and a half two hours away to get down
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into Philly and basically over I mean, I mean, it was embarrassing.
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It was absolutely embarrassing. I wanted to get your thoughts on it, buddy,
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because I don't I honestly don't know if I've ever heard anything like that
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during a Sixers game in my life. It wasn't even during the Sixers game.
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It was after the game game for that too. Yeah, when a
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fucking bad chant erupted yea, the within the arena in the hallways and that
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like that, my heart sank a little bit because listen, I grew up
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going to the VET for Phillies and Eagles games. I grew up going to
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the Spectrum for Sixers games. And that's before the quote shitheads were priced out
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of the market and saw, my god, the most brutal fights, the
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most grossest, disgusting shit, I've ever seen games not you know, I'm
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not proud of it, like you're not. You're not proud of Philadelphia fans
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for that stuff. But at times you're like, well, maybe that Cowboys
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fans shouldn't have mouthed off and threw a beer at somebody and he got all
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by five other dudes. That's on you, pal. I I've seen that
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before. I've also seen a kid get hit with a beer in the Cowboys
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jersey at the Eagles guys, I saw that too. Ye, I've seen
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Mett's Phillies fans go tumbling down the steps into seven hundred level, just punching
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each other. But those days are kind of over. The only the only
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team you really see that anymore is kind of is the Phillies because that that
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that whole secondary market. They haven't been priced out yet. You know.
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The Sixers definitely have a different post process. I was I was at a
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bunch of the like early process games, and if people were there, you
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still kind of had that kind of hard edge South Jersey, South Philly kind
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of people come into the games post process. When ticket sales went up,
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that kind of went away a little bit and it was hugely hugely noticeable during
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this series and a game four especially, so it was embarrassing. But I
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really disliked how emb responded to that after the game and saying, like,
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what the hell happened? Fans? What's wrong with you? Guys? Like
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you know why? Why? That's not their fault, Like you're part of
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the process, You're you're the guy makes all the money on the team,
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and like it's kind of the reason, like the franchise is worth ten times
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more than what it was purchased for it, right, and that that's kind
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of what happens, and like so shut your stupid mouth and be that that
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really that really ticked me off. Yeah, and I kind of thought he
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and he deserved the fuck and b chance in the hallway like that after the
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game, especially during his performance during the series, but kind of kind of
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shocking Jet, Like could you imagine a Mets Phillies playoff series and it's like
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fifty Mets fans, no, no way, right, no, and Eagles
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Cowboys playoff game. There's no freaking way it's fifty to fifty. Well,
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it's not happen exactly, And that's where I was kind of going with that
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initial question to you is like, you know, what does it mean for
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the organization when the organization allows it to happen? Because look, the Philadelphia
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Eagles organization would not allow for Cowboys fans to come in and take over Lincoln
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Financial Field, for the love of God, that would not happen at all.
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But the Sixers front of office eventually let it happen, you know,
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based on ticket sales resales, how that all goes a huge, huge difference
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in ownership. That's the problem. Yeah, Jeffrey Larry owns the Eagles,
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no one else does. Uh. I forget who owns the Phillies. He
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used to be this weird conglomerate of six to seven. John Middleton is the
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biggest, biggest owner, yeh, biggest stakeholder now the Sixers owner. He
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has steaks in a couple of other teams, the Devil's Correct and the Washington
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Redskins. Now, oh my gosh, I said, Red, Oh my
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gosh, cancel Washington Commander's commanders, commanders people, the commis Jeff don't forget
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for you, thank you. But but old Josh doesn't. Old Josh is
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a you know, we sold it to a he's a capitalist. I don't
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think he gives a rat's ass who's in that building as long as they make
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money. Yeah, And I say that one hundred percent. I've never been
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sold on him as an owner. It's always been the fan base and the
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GM and kind of the team building side of it. The ownership I've never
12:05
had faith in. I'm sure he would move the team in a second if
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he could. That's what you've always about him. If he's going to make
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a few more billion a year, he absolutely would. Like you said,
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he's a capitalist, He's a businessman at the end of the day. And
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I think for us fans one, we need to realize that that was part
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of that situation there, and I do think a certain amount of fans do
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understand that. I as we're moving forward in the series here and just within
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the postseason, I think it's doubtful the Sixers are going to make it out
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of the first round, let alone any subsequent round. That's just my initial
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gut feeling here at this point, and it's because the most important player on
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the team is basically playing on one leg. He's got Bell's palsy, He's
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got one I that's working and operational that he's able to utilize the guy's got
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some health problems here at this point in time, and amazingly enough, Tobias
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Harris stepping up in Tuesday Night's game here this past week was unbelieva because if
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Tobias Harris didn't, they would have been they would have been done. It
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would have been completely over. I just to talk about our feelings about this
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team as we begin to logically even look at next year, because again,
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even if they do make it out of this first round and beat the Knicks,
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Eric, I don't think they're getting past the second round again. I
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don't think that's gonna happen now with embiid so banged up the way that he
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is. Yeah, I mean, I in my forty years of loving basketball
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and watching the NBA, I have never seen an injury report Bell's palsy.
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Never. That's a new one, Bud. I'm not making fun of him
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bacause I'm like that guy just is not lucky with the injuries. Nope,
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first time I've ever seen that. I do think the the release of that
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information was a little suspect. I think this front office has always always always
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protected him big time, and I not that he was not It's not made
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up. I'm just saying, like it's just even woes, Like you know,
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this is supposed to be a secret, but I'm reporting it now,
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like right after the game. It's like, this is such a release of
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information from the Sixers, brass but whatever to my favorite team. I can't
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bitch too much. And then last night, like my god, it NB
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was horrible for most of the game, horrible, but had a triple double,
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and his defense and rebounding in the second in the overtime was just incredible
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when he fell for the ball for the loose ball called the time out.
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Yeah, awesome. And I'll get to Maxie then because this was like the
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signature Maxie game obviously, But some of the adjustments Nick Nurse made in game
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four, sorry game five, like recognizing that Jalen Brunton is their only scoring
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option with Julius Randall out of the game right or out for the whole risk
14:52
of the season, they have no number two, and they kind of took
14:54
Defonncenzo out of the game plan. You didn't see them at all, No,
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it could, but he's been horrible after the first two games. And
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Josh Hart is shaky as hell. If I was a Knicks fan, and
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he was on the foul line again to either win the game or tie the
15:09
game. I'd be crapping my pants, dude, because he he looks scared
15:13
of death taking those foul shots. I got to give it to him to
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Nick Nurse for putting Nick batoum on on Brunson using his length in his arms
15:22
for a shot, because listen, I love Jalen Brentson. I text all
15:26
you guys left night, all the buddies, like he's reached that I'm scared
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of him when he has the ball in his hand with a minute left,
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but he kind of does the same play. He kind of does the left
15:33
handed floater over and over and over. And I love the move to put
15:39
batom on him because he's just got so much length and and and Toby stepped
15:43
up. I obviously you can't rely on that. He could have two points
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and two rebounds tomorrow night. Ye be shocked, but MAXI just that that.
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My god, I've a staple game for him, a staple game for
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him. Game five of this for first Round will always be remembered as Tyrese
16:02
Maxie's first playoff game where he reached that next level. We're always gonna remember
16:07
this as the Tyrese Maxie game, and it's gonna go down in sixer's history.
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Is okay, this was the first time he did this, and he
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put the team on his back when they needed him. He stepped up and
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so him on the free throw line at the end of the fourth quarter in
16:25
overtime. Yeah, trust in him. On Like Josh Harley, I was
16:27
like, this dude is hitting his free throw. There's no fucking way he's
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gonna miss before the huge three, before the thirty five foot three pointer over.
16:36
Uh sorry Mitchell, Right, he is at the Knick Center. I'm
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drawing a blank. It's been a long day. Yeah, no, no,
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it's I was complaining to you about him a couple of days ago because
16:48
he was crying and whining. I know we're gonna get it. Just keep
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talking, keep talking. I had basketball practice tonight and a job interview way
17:00
whatever. So anyway, but that not only that shot, right, Yeah,
17:06
that shot was incredible. He made a three pointer and got fouled before
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that shot and on a four point play. Yeah, was it Hartenstein?
17:14
Now it wasn't. Hartenstein is the yeah, the guy that be try to
17:17
break his ankle like Mitchel Robinson Robinson, Yeah it is yeah, yeah,
17:22
yeah, Maxie. Here here's the sat thing we can get to the next
17:26
next point here about what the Sixers do next season, whether they win the
17:32
series, lose the series, or lose in the second round, because I
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don't think they have any shot and held be in the Celtics in the second
17:37
round if even the series. If they win the series, this is kind
17:41
of remembered as a Maxi series and going forward, like it'll be it'll be
17:47
a blip. If they don't win the series, it'll be like a classic
17:51
game, but it'll kind of go away. Yeah, it's like, wow,
17:53
that was incredible. But then they lost Game six at home by ten
17:57
points to the to the like, if they don't win the series, you
18:02
can kind of that that play or that that that shot kind of just goes
18:06
away. But god, I gotta say it. Some of the footage of
18:10
the sideline at MSG and the people like how pissed off they were, Oh
18:15
my god, John Stuart going around and Stiller's face, Yes, what's the
18:25
kid? What's the guy's name? Uh? Uh? The comedian who was
18:29
sitting next to Ben Steeler, Uh he was on SNL Oh yeah, more.
18:33
Uh but another name I'm forgetting. I know he slipped them off.
18:38
It's it's actually on camera, flip flipping Maxie off and uh yeah. But
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but in some of the footage, the footage back in the crowd, we
18:51
see all of MSG in the background when Maxie makes the shot, like you
18:55
watch this shot, it's pretty amazing. But when you put in the twenty
18:57
five thousand people, Yeah, and he did that shot over Mitchell Robinson,
19:03
Yes, that is fucking crazy. Tracy Morgan, Tracy Morgan, yes,
19:07
him off and Ben still standing right next to him, livid, angry.
19:12
Now that that's a huge shot if you can piss off like two bazillion years
19:17
like that. But I just I go back to her. I was gonna
19:19
say, I go back to your text last night, because you texted us
19:22
buddies and you're like, you know, you know this really could be it
19:26
for Embeid and you know I didn't respond to the text because I'm thinking to
19:29
myself and I'm making excuses here. I'm making excuses about his knee, about
19:33
Bell's palsy, his eye, and I know it's an excuse, and I'm
19:37
thinking to myself and falling. I'm gonna fall into the trap here, and
19:41
I fell into it last night too. I'm like, but wait a minute,
19:42
maybe he'll be healthy next year. My god, how many fucking years
19:48
do we have to say that or try to convince ourselves of that. I'm
19:52
not saying one way or the other right now. If I want the Sixers
19:56
to get rid of him, I'm not. I'm gonna have to come down
19:59
from this season and kind of just like, I'm gonna need a little time
20:02
to digest things before really coming out with any sort of what I believe to
20:06
be is a logical quote take on Joe ell Embiid and where his future is
20:11
going to be, whether it's in Philly or not. But I do want
20:17
to say I think we need to like temper and put the brakes on.
20:19
Okay, he's got to be out of here. It's got to happen,
20:22
because I just don't know what happens to the rest of this organization if that
20:26
were to happen. That's why I kind of need a little time to digest
20:30
the prospects of that actually happening, because we're coming up to that door.
20:33
We're coming up to it. Yeah, because he's thirty years old, and
20:37
you know, the playoff performance speaks for itself and from the stats last night
20:41
when I text all you guys like he looked dead in the water, it
20:45
was over. His fourth quarter in Game four was horrendous. It's one of
20:48
the worst performances I've ever seen. Yeah, by quote, top three player
20:51
in the league in the playoffs ever. And like I said, I've been
20:53
following this league for forty years and it looks so bad last night that I
20:59
was like, man, maybe this is like, this is the highest you're
21:00
going to be able to sell on him and get something back. And unfortunately,
21:04
the one team I thought would take on Embiid, he's pissed off that
21:11
fan base so much that he's the most hated Philadelphia athlete now in New York.
21:15
Yes, Knicks fans hate Embiid. I hate him. I think he's
21:21
a dirty, cheap shot asshole. Yeah. Like, I don't think he's
21:25
coming back from that. I don't think he's tradable to the Knicks, which
21:29
seems crazy because he's a hugely talented guy. So I started looking at other
21:33
teams, like where could he possibly go to fit his his image and his
21:37
salary. But then it was like, but then they MAXI hits a shot.
21:41
He was awesome in overtime mbeat I'm talking about, and I'm like,
21:44
well, bring it back next year. We'll see how yeah, exactly,
21:48
help me. Come on, But look at this season, this season,
21:52
and we say it every year, it was all going well until you know,
21:57
like every year, this year was having a better year than his MVP
22:03
season last year, a better season until he tore his meniscus and then got
22:08
Bell's palsy. Here too, It's like one thing after another, like something's
22:12
gonna happen next year with his esophagus. He's not gonna be able to breathe
22:15
properly, he's not gonna be able to swallow properly like some of us on
22:19
this podcast. He's gonna have problems. He's gonna have real problem, really
22:23
real people with real problems. Eric great line from the Teen Wolf. Yes,
22:29
and he's gonna come into game one baboo and heart yes, Like what
22:33
the hell when did that happen? Oh my god, I just it's so
22:41
stressful watching these games. It's so stressful to know what this fan base has
22:45
gone through during this entire process, and to know again that door it's it's
22:51
basically almost closed at this point. So I don't know, do you have
22:55
anything else you want to get into before we head to the next next topic?
22:57
Totally off topic, and we we could maybe do this on a list
23:00
sometime, but what is the most stressful playoff sport? God? What great
23:07
topic? Basketball is tough. I mean, it really is shot by shot
23:11
if it's it's close to the end. Baseball's pitch by pitch. That's a
23:15
tough one. Hockey is a mother effort too. I put football at the
23:18
bottom. I would say, just because it's a little slower, but I
23:22
don't know. I for me, it's baseball. I'd say, I think
23:25
basketball is real close. I don't know. I gotta say Baseball's up there
23:30
for me, Baseball is. We're gonna do a list. This is a
23:33
perfect list. Yeah, we'll do it. Yeah, Okay, Speaking of
23:37
baseball, folks, this Philadelphia Phillies team, they're not doing too bad.
23:41
They were the first team in Major League Baseball to win twenty games as of
23:47
now, as of us recording this here on May first, they've won twenty
23:49
one games, and again, first team in Major League Baseball do so.
23:53
Just a couple weeks ago, fans were calling on Rob Thompson to be fired.
23:57
Fans were just right in the season off after a month a month Eric,
24:03
of course, of course they were, because they're dumb, fucking fans.
24:06
Sometimes it drives me fucking crazy. This team is seeing success in a
24:10
number of areas and consistent success too, And there's one particular guy that I
24:17
personally would like to talk about. I don't know if you want to talk
24:18
about a certain area of success as well. Maybe I'll get your feedback on
24:22
this, but it's Alec Bohm. For a relatively young baseball player, he
24:29
is the quintessential baseball development guy. And within this system here, it's incredible.
24:37
I mean, entering this past week his splits were three sixty five,
24:41
four forty one and six point fifteen. It's the hottest hitter in the sport
24:47
right now. And the thing what he's doing is, which has been reported,
24:52
he's pulling the ball more than ever and he's doing so he's doing it
24:56
with more power. And the Phillies tried to teach him how to do this
24:59
when he was in the mind and it just never stuck, probably because Philly
25:02
since then they've had to revamp their player or their personnel development director in the
25:10
minors, and he likes Alec Bohm likes to use the entire field. He's
25:15
settled for singles on a pitcher's good pitch rather than take it for a more
25:18
hittable one. And in April here swung it, strikes, took balls,
25:22
his walk rate absolutely skyrocketed, and Alec Bohm is having a fantastic season.
25:29
Could he just be getting hot right now at this time or is he hot
25:30
right now at this time? Even Rob Thompson was like, you know what,
25:33
Yeah, that could be the case. Possibly, but we have seen
25:37
such an improvement in this baseball player, and he's one of the reasons why
25:41
this team is having this early success. And it's one of the areas I
25:47
think a lot of fans know and understand is happening. But I think we
25:51
really got to embrace it and embrace the fact that he is. He's come
25:55
through the system, and he's developed through this system, and he's a damn
25:59
good bass player. Yeah, I can't remember. At the beginning of the
26:03
year, we think we do like break breakout players most like I think we
26:10
picked you and I picked Boe for something like he might be the guy that
26:12
really takes a turn this year, it takes a big step. I think
26:15
it was breakout player. I think it was. Yeah, So we were
26:18
on this. Obviously we're fucking brilliant with our analysis. But very obviously he
26:26
did alter his uh, he altered his batting stands quite just a little bit.
26:30
His front his front foot is, his front foot is a little more
26:33
towards the plate, his back kind of he's not so square. And I
26:37
think that's allowed him and he must have worked on his upper body because they
26:41
did that for a reason, so he can like scatter the ball where the
26:42
hell he wants to. Which great great coaching move, great positional move,
26:49
and great job by the player of listening and altering that maybe making that little
26:53
alteration. So he's batting, it makes sense. He's batting three sixty two
26:56
and he's just looking awesome this year. Offensively, they're they're they're kind of
27:03
treading water a little bit, just like they did last year. You know,
27:06
at this point, I mean Harper's batt in two thirty three, Schwarber's
27:10
over the Mendoza aligned to there is your castianos is below it one eight six.
27:15
So it's they have not been not been killing it, so I gotta
27:19
give. I mean, the starting pitching, the rotation is just insane.
27:25
It's it's the best in baseball right now. They won two to one today
27:27
and it's it's it is the number one reason that they have. I think
27:32
they're the best record in baseball right twenty one wins, yeah, or twenty
27:37
two. They went to twenty one, twenty one wins, okay, and
27:40
they won late last night. I stayed up to watch that one seven to
27:41
five. It's just timely hitting, awesome, starting pitching. Bullpen's been fantastic.
27:48
That is the absolute recipe for a championship team. And scares the shitt
27:53
of me though, because it's only may. I know, I know you
27:57
mention the bullpen really quer Jeff Hoffman, boy, has he met the moment
28:00
as a top righty reliever in this league. He has maintained his elite strikeout
28:06
rate and and I think he is the real deal. He's the real deal.
28:11
The whole bullpen has been great, with the exception of God, who's
28:15
Sir Anthony Domngus. Yeah he's been sucking ass, but yeah, and he
28:19
might be on the way out like they who was the kid at the beginning
28:22
to year. They just they just sent out of town. Uh that when
28:26
he had a couple of bad outings. That's how quickly I forgot his name
28:29
exactly. Boy, we're forgetting a lot of names tonight. I forgot Tracy
28:32
Morgan, for Christ's sakes. Right now. I'm just it's hard to explain
28:37
to people when you have a long day deal with like nine eleven year olds,
28:42
like that's a that's a tough one. D it is, But there's
28:48
fart noises under their shirts and you're like, I'm trying to show you two
28:51
three zone? Are you serious right now? Like I can't check out this
28:55
one, but get in position that you're telling Yes, I don't know.
29:03
Is there anything from a success standpoint? I mean you said the pitching too.
29:07
I mean I think I think that is something that we need to continue
29:11
as fans to really just hold on to. It's the real deal. The
29:15
pitching is not going anywhere. Just mentioned Jeff Hoffman, He's not going anywhere.
29:18
Elite strikeout raid as we've been seeing. It's just like the sky's not
29:23
falling with this team. And there's been so much talk and even people are
29:26
like, well, look at the talent they're playing they're supposed to win these
29:30
games, and they're winning them. They're supposed to, Like, what do
29:33
you want them to lose? It's driving me crazy, this fucking Phillies fan
29:37
base. Seriously. No, And when you talked about Thompson being let go
29:42
of fans, No, not your Twitter shitheads you're talking about. He's talking
29:48
like people in mainstream. No, I was talking. I was there's Twitter
29:51
shitheads. The guy went to the World Series two years ago, almost the
29:56
world Seriously, he's yeah so, but I mean, my god, Rangers
30:02
sworez is just is just sick right now with point sixty three. He's just
30:07
mowing dudes down. And I just let how he does it with a Cliff
30:11
Lee edge of like blood just blood is cold. He doesn't carries it's a
30:15
stone cold killer. But he smiles a lot, which is kind of nice.
30:18
Like does he does? He really does? And just like my god,
30:23
Turnbull Wheeler Nola just, I mean Nolah has a three two e ra
30:27
A and he's like the worst. Yeah right now, I'll take it right.
30:33
Kirkering's back. He pitched tonight here to pitch today. He looked really
30:36
good. I saw some highlights. Marte is really I mean, I'm going
30:40
down the list here of like, my god, I mean, do Minguez
30:42
sucks. Taywan Walker just came back, so give him a little bit of
30:47
time. But everyone above him, my god, Strom is boom growth Hoffmen.
30:51
You talked about Alvarado Marte Sanchez has been fantastic, Like it's the all
30:56
team. When is the last time? But when's the last time? Like
31:00
starting pitching and the bullpen was like top notch exactly. It's been forever.
31:06
I can't tell you when the last time that happened. Yeah, it's fun.
31:07
It's fun watching the Phillies. And if you like what you're hearing here
31:11
at the PST podcast show, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on.
31:17
Follow us on Apple podcast, give us a rate and review as well.
31:21
Anything happens to your podcast feed. You can head on over to Philadelphia Sports
31:22
Table dot com. We've got all of our shows over there. As I
31:26
mentioned earlier at the top of the show, shoot us off in email.
31:30
We'd love to hear from you on anything in the world of Philly sports or
31:33
sports world in general. Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com, follow Eric
31:37
on Twitter, slash x at brick polot. You can follow me at Jeffrey
31:41
Underscore Warren in the show at Philadelphia PST. We're gonna take a quick break.
31:45
We will be back in just a bit. All right, We are
31:49
back, And as we mentioned some doing a little storytelling at the top of
31:53
the show, we got together for the NFL Draft a bunch of us buddies
31:57
and enjoy it. Actually sat down and we're watching the draft from time to
32:01
time because we've had those those years, Eric where we kind of like,
32:06
all right, we're just getting together the excuse to our wives and kids,
32:08
we're gonna watch the draft, and then we're like, all right, we're
32:13
not really watching the draft, but we actually like sat back, watched the
32:15
draft. We're excited about who the Eagles were gonna take, amazingly enough,
32:20
getting to getting a cornerback, a defensive back that just landed right in their
32:25
freaking laps. And overall, I mean the consensus draft board, everybody's saying,
32:31
yes, the Eagles basically won the draft. So many of the within
32:36
the consensus boards have said that. A lot of criticism too about how he
32:40
Roseman and how he just handles the draft too. Saw that on Twitter as
32:44
well. But overall, and I mentioned this on the I think it was
32:51
our table talk show this past week. It was with Oj Spivey from the
32:54
Philadelphia Tribune. It really amazed me that we saw our first defensive player taken
33:00
at the pick number fifteen. It took fifteen picks for a defensive player to
33:05
be picked. And the reason it surprises me is this past year was the
33:07
year of the defense. Scoring was down this year in the NFL, and
33:12
I thought, you know, we were going to start to see that pendulum
33:15
swing in a little bit more where defensive players were going to be picked up
33:19
a lot sooner than pick fifteen. Of course, the quarterbacks made a huge
33:23
run wide receivers as well. It's still offense. The league is still offense.
33:29
And that's really what we saw at the end of the day in this
33:31
draft. I mean, aside from the Philadelphia Eagles taking Quinnon Mitchell with their
33:36
first pick and Cooper de Jene with their second round pick. Just too they
33:43
needed two defensive backs. They certainly got them. So I don't know what
33:46
were your reflections on this draft or the Eagles draft in general. Well,
33:52
I'll start with a draft overall consensus. Honestly, I've heard such mixed reviews
34:00
of this draft. I listened to the podcast, and I try to listen
34:04
to the smart people and try to listen to the dumb people who just trying
34:06
to put on the show just to see like stupid their analysis is. And
34:10
it's a lot of mix takes, like offense is the way, this is
34:15
the way that the league is going, and I'm like, well, last
34:19
year the Super Bowl was twenty five to twenty two. The Chiefs won the
34:22
Super Bowl with a much better defense they had in the past. Like,
34:25
let's just face it, it was not the offense that won it. The
34:29
score was thirteen or ten to three at halftime, Yeah, the Super Bowl,
34:31
So like, let's put that in a perspective. I think I think
34:37
the offensive players are more exciting, obviously, and I thought the defensive players
34:45
dropping that far to fifteen while it helped out teams like the Seahawks, and
34:50
I think the Colts and the Eagles obviously awesome, but it makes the league
34:54
look kind of stupid, like they're following just following trends with the trends that
34:58
aren't really there. Like the again, last year was the year of the
35:00
defense, right, Yeah, like sure, the explosive offense works, but
35:05
like you know, if you're in Buffalo or Kansas City in January and it's
35:10
ten degrees, it's going to be ten to three the score. Like defense
35:15
tends to win the wins, the to win to win these things. And
35:19
I thought it was kind of a disgrace on some of the team's parts that
35:22
I still don't know what the hell the Bears were doing picking one to nine,
35:25
Like they took a receiver at nine, and I'm like, why don't
35:29
you trade down, just take the best defensive player, the best defensive tackle
35:31
there on the board. Makes sense to me, you already have wepens.
35:35
I just thought like some of the teams got a little too cute, and
35:38
definitely some of the quarterback picks. But as far as the Eagles go,
35:43
loved it. And I'm going to steal something I heard that my Michael Lombardi
35:46
say on his podcast because I it was a great take. I'd never even
35:50
thought of this. This was kind of the first year that the nil thing
35:53
kicked in for money for college players, and he pointed out that Howie did
36:00
an amazing job of trading back, trading back and getting picks in the third,
36:06
fourth and fifth round. Next year because picks in the third and fourth
36:08
round this year just not as valuable because a lot of players are going to
36:12
stay in college, Like this draft was not. It was a little top
36:16
heavy, and then it kind of died after the third round. And his
36:19
point was a lot of kids are staying in school and did not come out
36:22
because of the NIL money, and how he was smart enough to go this
36:25
thing dies after like the third and a half round. I'm going to get
36:29
picks next year when they come back down and they realize the NIL is not
36:31
that profitable to players unless you're Caleb Williams. I was like, Wow,
36:36
that is a smart that's pretty profound. Actually, yeah, pretty intelligent take.
36:40
And how he's smart enough to I realize how he probably knew that.
36:44
And as soon as he said, I'm like, that makes a lot more
36:46
sense that he made like what nine to ten trades, the most trades in
36:51
NFL draft history. How does it just do it? To do it?
36:53
I think he had a hit a process behind it, and I was like,
36:57
wow, that's a smart and just having her that and just the players
37:00
that fell into their lap that that defense was a disaster by the end of
37:05
the year and they pick guys that are absolutely going to fill in spots,
37:08
and especially with Vic Fangio's defense, right, yep, he needs hard hitting
37:13
safeties, he needs good corners, and he got it. Maybe a decent
37:15
edge rusher in the hells is a crazy first name with JX. Honestly,
37:24
I saw his name and I'm like, is this moral of combat? Like
37:27
that sins? But yeah, I thought the Eagles draft, not just the
37:30
players they picked and what they wound up with and not having to give up
37:34
much, just the way he navigated it in light of like the stuff that
37:37
Lombardi talked about was like pretty brilliant. I thought, h yeah, again
37:43
profound. I mean, Lombardi is talking very profound, and it really like
37:47
it's just kind of it's a good segue kind of into our next topic here,
37:52
because there was an article written on uh Philly Voice dot com and it
37:58
was written written by and Macy. I thought it was very interesting because we're
38:01
talking about all these moves that are made within the course of a season,
38:06
whether it's football, you know, whether it's basketball. We were talking about
38:09
Embiid earlier, you know, talking about other talent on the team, the
38:14
Phillies, you know, they're pitching, whether it's Zach Wheeler, Aaron Nola,
38:17
and this article specifically discussed the highest paid athletes in Philadelphia right now.
38:24
So based on contracts, this is where it goes. Based on their they're
38:30
a complete contract, Bryce Harper at three hundred and thirty million dollars, Trey
38:35
Turner at three hundred million dollars, Jalen Hurts two hundred and fifty five million
38:39
dollars, Joel Embiid over two hundred and thirteen million dollars, Aaron Nola one
38:45
hundred and seventy two million dollars, next to Zach Wheeler at one hundred and
38:50
twenty six million dollars, next jt real Muto at one hundred and fifteen zero
38:54
point five million dollars, AJ Brown at one hundred million dollars, and Nit
38:59
Castos also at one hundred million dollars. And the reason we bring this up
39:04
is these players that are making so much money want to, you know,
39:08
give our thoughts on what our expectations are for them because of how much they
39:15
are paid. Our thoughts on these highest paid athletes and what they've been able
39:20
to actually give the franchises that they essentially work for, and they're entertaining us
39:25
as well. Joel Embiid's actually the number one paid athlete this year in the
39:31
city of Philadelphia at fifty three point three million dollars being thirty years old.
39:37
Number two is Jalen Hurts, He's being paid fifty one million dollars this year.
39:42
He's twenty four years old. Zach Wheeler thirty one years old, and
39:45
he's being paid forty two million dollars this season. Next is aj Brown coming
39:50
in at number four at thirty two million dollars as a twenty six year old.
39:54
And I'll just go to number five, which is Trey Turner, who's
39:58
thirty years old, being paid t over twenty seven point two million dollars this
40:02
season. And I look at this list and all the guys that I've just
40:07
rattled off, Eric, and it's like, what have they really been giving
40:09
these teams and what have they been giving us? You know, and based
40:13
on their value, joe El Embiid just hasn't been able to get it done.
40:17
As we've we talked about earlier, Jalen Hurts got to a Super Bowl,
40:22
didn't win it. The prospects of him getting back to a Super Bowl,
40:25
I would say the percentage is pretty good. I think it's this bro
40:30
okay, all right, Eagles fan here, folks. Yeah, Zach Wheeler,
40:37
a tremendous pitcher, is gonna help the is gonna help the Phillies get
40:42
to the postseason for sure. Trey Turner playing very well this year. And
40:46
of course AJ Brown who I mentioned as well. You know, he and
40:51
Jalen Hurts, they've got that connection, They've got that chemistry. And I
40:55
think the majority of these players outside of EMBIID are going to help create a
41:00
more competitive atmosphere for the teams that they play for. Eric and I think
41:04
these guys are being paid top dollar, and I think we're actually going to
41:07
be able to see playoff success with them. I'm not necessarily going to say
41:10
championship success, but playoff success with them. I don't know what were your
41:15
thoughts on this article and just where these players are in terms of how much
41:19
they're getting paid for the teams they play for. Well, my dad has
41:22
im part of some wisdom on me throughout the years. Number one probably being
41:28
vegetables put hair in your chest. Yes, that was good, so not
41:31
that I care. At age ten, my dad always told me strong coffee
41:36
if there was coffee was strong. He's like, oh, that's going to
41:37
put a hair on your chest. I'm like, Dad, I'm ten,
41:39
I don't want hair in my chest. I'm thinking about anyway. But one
41:45
of the things he always told me was like, you know, you know
41:46
what you want to be in sports? The number one position. You want
41:49
to be a left handed reliever, middle reliever. He's like, you're paid
41:53
twenty years and make millions of dollars and that doesn't necessarily equate to this list.
41:59
But dude, how many baseball players are on this list. It's almost
42:01
all baseball players. They make a but a ton of money and their contracts
42:07
are guaranteed, and football players a unfortunately or not. You know. But
42:12
going through the list, now, uh, you know, Joel Embiid's salary
42:15
does not include his endorsements I think and beating Harper probably the two biggest endorsements
42:22
recipients here on this list, So that probably bumps them up. Hurts a
42:25
little bit, but not really as far as inbi goes. We're down on
42:30
him. He gets hurt every year the playoffs, but he put the Sixers
42:34
back on the map. There's just no way other way to put it.
42:37
Every kid in this area loves Joel Embiid. They don't understand the old guy,
42:43
Yelly. They like the big seven to two guy that dunkst and just
42:46
does create and shoots three pointers. So he's he deserves every penny, even
42:52
though we get sick of him and we complained about it, just like on
42:54
the show. But honestly, on this list, Bryce Harper's easy the most
43:00
important one. He gave. He gave the Phillies cachet in February twenty nineteen.
43:05
He's the reason to Trey Turner's here. He's the reason like Zach Wheeler
43:07
came Real Muto. He basically brought real Muto to the Phillies. Yeah,
43:13
and he's stalwart, you know, in the middle of the lineup for years.
43:16
Nick Castiano's certainly doesn't deserve one hundred million the way he's batting, not
43:21
right now. But it's I man, I should have stayed. I should
43:27
have like Uncle Lenn, stayed in a baseball range, like try to make
43:30
that kind of money. But it it the NFL, unfortunately, just the
43:35
way the contracts work, Like the top guys make a lot of money and
43:38
then it kind of just dies down, you know, Jalen Hurts makes two
43:43
hundred and fifty five million contract, but how much is he actually going to
43:45
get that money? A J. Brown for one hundred million, how much
43:49
I think he's guaranteed like eighty something ninety something that was maybe eighty two,
43:52
Yeah, something like that. Yeah, nice money, you can get it.
43:55
But I'm but like again, I'm not surprised that Harpur and and Be
44:01
are the top two. And whether we like it or not, you know,
44:06
if this, if things worked out a different way, if the Sixers
44:08
made the right draft picks, the Sixers probably win a title with embiid they
44:14
I blame himb but I also blamed the franchise for handling it mishandling poorly.
44:19
And I get Bryce Harper is the top of this list salary wise and influence
44:23
on the city and his franchise because he's he has he has pulled that team
44:29
into actual like they actually matter. They talk about remember the Phillies and Flyers
44:32
were on the same level on the show. It was like Eagles and Sixers,
44:37
and that it was kind of dead, like six years ago, it
44:39
was terrible, terrible six seven years ago, it was awful. We were
44:45
like, uh, I can't remember some of the players now, but like,
44:49
do you think who's the third baseman? The Hispanic kid that he was
44:52
supposed to come up and be like the next uh and it was like he'd
44:58
be the next Smitty and it was like they won sixty five games last year,
45:00
Like you no theirs? Well, really quick before I let you go,
45:06
buddy, you mentioned Uncle Len, And Uncle Len told us this past
45:08
week that his velo is down. He just he doesn't have it as much
45:15
anymore. He did. He say something like that out on his back deck.
45:19
He's like, yeah, my velocity's been down as I'm getting older.
45:22
Here by the way, it was Michael Franco. I'm talking about Michel Franco.
45:27
Yes, yeah, we're twenty seventeen. Are like, could he hit
45:30
thirty five next year? Like, oh, yeah, they win seventy games
45:32
exactly. I got my picture taken with him, and I was like,
45:35
oh, he's going all the way. Had that framed and autographed. Now
45:39
that Uncle Len's best take of the weekend was telling us his velo's down because
45:45
his plant his plant knee, Yes, when he pitches is hurting. He's
45:50
got arthritis in his knee. Now he does and he said all his power
45:53
comes from his plant foot, which if you've ever played baseball or coach baseball,
45:59
or have any semblance of yes of intelligence about baseball, but is not
46:06
that's not where the power comes. No sure to even say that he kicked
46:10
the ship out of him after he said that, that's what that's what halts
46:16
the for momentum. See hoping lends arthritis gets a little better there. I
46:27
hope that we all get better. We've all got our ailments now at this
46:29
point Jesus, blood clots, esophagus disease, exactly. I just had physical
46:36
therapy on my shoulder yesterday. It's killing me tonight for some reason. Your
46:40
bilow's down, Yes it is. It's down big time. All right,
46:45
buddy, I'm gonna let you go any final thoughts before before we get to
46:47
what we're thrown down on the table. Here, uh go sixers. I
46:52
mean, it's yeah. Now, it's like it's gravy now, like just
46:55
whatever happens, what's gonna happen. This sucks. And I'm I'm a fan,
47:00
and I didn't watch the first half of the game last night because I
47:02
mowed the lawn. And I'm like, I've been hurt by this team too
47:07
much. I'm gonna mow the grass. I'll come in and watch them lose
47:08
in the tough game in the fourth quarter and go to bed angry. And
47:13
instead they're gonna drag this out to Game seven where they're gonna lose by one
47:16
at the buzzy Yeah, and me and the balls one last time. So
47:20
yeah, you watch it, it'll be like just like Kawhi, you know,
47:22
but it's gonna be Brunson this time, last second of the game.
47:25
God, that's gonna be a heartbreaker, all right, buddy. The worst
47:29
would be like Defencenzo. Oh yeah, and then he's annoying as shit.
47:35
So all right, I'm gonna let you go. We are gonna take a
47:37
quick break. We'll be back in just a bit. All right, we're
47:42
back. Let's get into some Flyers talk. Haven't talked about this team too
47:45
too much, but it is gonna be their off season. Well it is
47:49
our off season right now at this point. We got a great guest coming
47:52
your way. It's what we're thrown down on the table and now on the
47:55
table joining us this week. It is great to have her back from the
48:01
Locked On Flyers podcast to get into what is going to be happening with this
48:07
Flyers team during the course of this off season as this team is rebuilding.
48:10
You can follow her on the Twitter slash X. I just hate saying X,
48:15
but I'm just gonna keep saying Twitter at our Miriam. She is a
48:19
great, great follow and and if you follow her, you're gonna become the
48:22
foremost expert on Broadway shows. I'll tell you that right now. She can
48:27
give you some great Tony predictions in the future as well. We've got Rachel
48:30
Donner. How are you. I'm good. Yeah. If you ever coming
48:34
to New York and want to know what show to see, I am ys
48:37
your friend, absolutely seriously, like you do such great work with your colleague
48:43
and co host over on the Locked On Flyers podcast, But boy, you
48:45
know your stuff when it comes to Broadway. I'll tell you that. Do
48:51
you have a podcast on Broadway stuf? I'm serious, you should like have
48:53
a podcast on your Broadway experiences and like what is happening within that world.
49:00
I think you would do a darn good job because, like I said,
49:01
I mean I follow you on social you know your stuff? I try,
49:07
I try, Yeah, Like honestly, right now, I'm like completely obsessed
49:10
with Stereophonic, which is a play with music in it. Yeah, on
49:15
Broadway right now, and it's like a thinly veiled look at the Fleetwood Mac
49:19
story and how they completely fell apart as a band with all the drama,
49:22
right, and it's extraordinary. So go see that. Go see it,
49:25
folks. All right, well, let's get into some hockey talk here,
49:30
and we're certainly going to get into some flyers talk, so I wanted to
49:31
bring you on the pod. But Rachel, I know that you have a
49:35
background in covering hockey out in Utah, and we got the we got the
49:39
word. You know, Utah's going to have a pro team in the future
49:45
here, So what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, it's absolutely wild.
49:50
And you know I did live there for thirteen years. I played hockey
49:54
there. That's where I learned how to play hockey, yep, And you
49:59
know, was a big part of my life there, and the hockey community
50:01
there is wonderful. Obviously, I do not like the circumstances of them getting
50:07
a team with Arizona getting relocated there. It's terrible for the Coyotes fans,
50:13
and my heart goes out to them. But I do think it's a really
50:17
good hockey market in Salt Lake City in Utah. It's all I think,
50:23
you know, Ryan Smith, who's the owner of the Jazz as well,
50:28
Like they are really putting everything into this. They rolled out the red carpet
50:31
for the team to do a visit, and they filled the Delta Center out
50:36
there just for like an intro team visit. And I'm just so excited for
50:39
that fan base. I think they're going to really welcome them with open arms.
50:44
It goes to show what sports means at the end of the day,
50:45
what sports means to certain cultures, certain cities, certain fan bases as well.
50:52
Like you said, I feel so bad for those folks in Arizona that
50:55
have been with the Coyotes for so very long. And it's just it stinks
51:02
how the and I don't get into a societal based thing talking about corporations and
51:07
corporate greed and all that stuff, but just how the mismanagement of sports franchises
51:14
can leave sports fans at such a disadvantage, and how it can leave sports
51:20
fans with nothing. You know, we've seen in Saint Louis for how many
51:23
years when they had the Saint Louis Rams moved out to Los Angeles and that
51:27
that fan base getting jerked around and just anyway, it just it really stinks
51:31
that maybe I'll have you on and we can have you in the future.
51:35
We can discuss that in more detail for sure, but let's let's get into
51:37
the Flyers here, Rachel, because I know your time is very valuable here
51:42
on this Wednesday May first, when we are recording this, and I've been
51:45
doing a lot of reflecting about this Flyers team from this past season had a
51:50
lot of various players that we learned about quite frankly, and I think when
51:54
we take a look back and reflect, I'm wondering what was one of the
51:59
biggest themes that stood out to you that's very relevant for how this team is
52:04
going to continue building in the foreseeable future. Was what was one of those
52:07
big themes for you? Well, I think you know, the big battle
52:12
this season is winning and the race to the playoffs that the team had versus
52:19
prospect development, and which was taking precedents at any given moment, and what
52:25
they did in order to try and develop prospects at the same time and did
52:30
that work? That I think was the big theme. Yeah, of the
52:34
season, and you know, I don't think anybody expected this team to be
52:39
in a playoff hunt up to Game eighty two, and that was remarkable to
52:44
see just the dedication of this team and what they put into it, and
52:49
the fight in the grit as well, I don't mean to interrupt, Yeah,
52:52
the fight and grit that they played with throughout the great majority of the
52:54
season, that's got to be noted. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But
53:00
you know, you looked at what they did at the trade deadline that was
53:01
in rebuild mode, right. They traded away Sean Walker, who was a
53:06
huge part of the blue line that was giving them such success, and you
53:09
know, between him being on and injuries, you know, the blue line
53:14
kind of fell apart a little bit in the late season. But you know,
53:19
I think that it was really interesting to watch those two forces battle each
53:24
other because John Twittererella just wanted to win, flat out, and he was
53:29
doing everything he could and setting lineups to win, I think, to the
53:32
detriment of some of the prospects out there, especially on the blue line.
53:37
And I think that you know, by forcing once again Scott Lawton to the
53:43
center position, which is not his ideal spot. Sometimes Noah Cats. Similarly,
53:50
you know, they they blocked opportunities for some of the younger prospects,
53:53
like at Tanner Lozinski, who's now probably gonna walk and we can talk about
53:58
that later. But I think that, you know, he could have been
54:00
a solid four C and they never gave him a shot. So I think
54:05
that there's a lot of that going on. But on the good side of
54:09
it, you look at Agor Zamula and the beginning of the season for him,
54:15
everybody knew he kind of made the team because of his contract situation,
54:21
and they would have had to put him through waivers to send him down to
54:22
the Phantoms. Yep. They didn't want to do that and risk him being
54:25
taken, so they kept him up with the big club and they let him
54:29
go through it. They let him get various levels of ice time, they
54:34
let him work on his skills. Lo and behold agger Zamulla solid defenseman.
54:38
By the end of the season, he learned a lot, he progressed,
54:42
and I feel like he's just the exhibit a of how you can do prospect
54:47
development at the NHL level and have at work, and they just seemed so
54:52
reticent to do that with anybody else. Right on the team and in the
54:54
organization and just because of those contract circumstances. But you see it worked,
55:00
So will they learn that lesson? I don't know. I love your themes
55:05
here, I really do, because you know, I mean, it kind
55:07
of leads then into this next topic, which is the situation with Carter Hart.
55:14
I mean, it totally sucks for so many reasons, so many reasons,
55:17
and his future is certainly unknown, and I feel like the Flyers goalie
55:21
situation might not be in the best shape in terms of US fans thinking about
55:27
it even from a year ago or even two years ago, thinking Okay,
55:30
maybe this positions is really short up for the future. No, not really
55:35
at this point. I mean, as we know, the Flyers signed goalie
55:38
I've been Fidotov to a two year, six point five million dollar contract,
55:44
and many within Flyers Nation have indicated that they think it's an overpay given what
55:46
we've seen from Fidotov so far. So, Rachel, what are your thoughts
55:52
on that signing and also what are your thoughts on how they should really handle
55:55
this goalie position here moving forward this offseason. Yeah, it's really tough,
56:00
and I think you kind of had to pay that in order to get him
56:05
to come over. Like that was just your minimum to get him to come
56:08
over, and you knew it was a risk, and they decided they wanted
56:12
to take that risk, and that was the cost of it. I don't
56:15
hate it, to be honest. I think that you know it's going to
56:17
take some time. I think the games they threw him in it was just
56:21
an unfair circumstance across the board, and there was no way around it because
56:27
there's no way fitdotov Is coming over for less money than that and for playing
56:31
in the AHL wasn't going to do it. So yeah, you had to
56:35
come bring him over be the backup goalie for the remainder of this season.
56:40
At that point, you kind of knew you could mostly count on Sammerson to
56:45
carry the brunt of the load anyway. So I think it was just the
56:49
circumstances of what you had to do this upcoming season, what he works on
56:52
this off season, what he looks like coming into camp, getting to know
56:57
the team, getting to know the defenseman in front of him. I just
57:00
don't think you can evaluate anything about his play in those few games that he
57:04
got the one little thing. It's not even that little that bothers me a
57:09
little bit. Yeah, is you look at what Sammerson is getting paid relative
57:14
to and it's very upsetting. It's very upsetting. Like poor Sam, Poor
57:20
Sam. I mean, like whatever happens, like they just need to give
57:25
him a huge bonus and hopefully he re signs at the end of his contract.
57:30
It is interesting because both their contracts expire at the same time in two
57:35
years. Sammerson will be an RFA, so the Flyers have a little bit
57:38
more control there, but just throw him all the money in the world just
57:44
to say thank you, say thank you for all of this. But you
57:50
know, I think that it'll be interesting because we have Alexei Kolosov who just
57:54
joined the Phantoms, and he's in a similar situation in terms of experience and
58:00
you know, games under his belt and getting to know the system and the
58:04
team and everything. So I'm kind of giving him a clean slate at the
58:07
beginning of next season for the phantom so he'll probably be the number three in
58:13
there. And then we got to figure out the cal Peter since you know,
58:17
I know that's that is like the cap problem yep, right here,
58:23
because it is a huge cat penalty even if you leave him at the AHL
58:28
level, and he's done a solid job at the HL level, like not
58:30
great, but pretty good. And you know they've been ridding him through the
58:35
HL playoffs so far. And uh, you know, but that is a
58:39
big cap hit for sure, y, Yes, very big capit. It's
58:44
gonna be interesting to see what happens with this goalie situation here. But you
58:46
know, as we're moving along with the conversation here and the off season talk
58:52
here, I get just some general questions for you here, you know,
58:54
before we let you head out, and as we're looking towards reagency, which
59:00
starts on July first, let's keep that date in our minds. Folks.
59:05
Are there a couple players you're hoping the Flyers might be able to logically pick
59:07
up in free agency this year? Is there anybody on your radar? No?
59:13
And I don't want this too, I think yes. I mean to
59:19
be realistic about it, I think that on the blue line side of things,
59:22
I'm counting Rasmus ristolane and as the free agent pickup because he's been hurt,
59:28
right, and so he's gonna quote be the quote unquote new defenceman from
59:30
next season. So that's already taken care of in my eyes, especially when
59:36
you have Ronnie Addard and Adam Jinning and Emil Andre waiting in the wings,
59:39
Like there's no reason in my eyes to pick up another defenseman. They'll probably
59:44
do it. But that's what I was thinking too. That's kind of where
59:45
I was going with this because I think that I think that Danny Brier is
59:51
likely going to want to shore up the blue line a little bit more.
59:53
What that looks like, I'm not sure. Nobody knows. We don't have
59:55
a crystal ball, but I get that feeling that he may make a move
1:00:00
to put another defenseman on this team from in free agency, right, So
1:00:05
that side of things, I do think they need a four C. They
1:00:07
absolutely do. And in my perfect world, and I talked about this on
1:00:12
Lockdown Flyers this week, I want them to throw some decent money at Tanner
1:00:17
Lozinski and give him a shot. I think he's so good, yeah,
1:00:22
and I just really think he could fill that spot. But I think he's
1:00:28
gonna walk just because he hasn't been giving the opportunity with the Flyers, and
1:00:32
I think he has other places he could probably get a real chance. So
1:00:37
I think That's really what the Flyers should be looking for in a free agent
1:00:42
signing, is a low cost for c that can fill in there and hopefully,
1:00:49
you know, they can develop more players in the meeting time. All
1:00:52
Right, Well, I need to ask you about the upcoming NHL Draft too.
1:00:55
You know, as we look at this draft class to words what these
1:01:00
picks could potentially be and mean for the Philadelphia Flyers, are there some players
1:01:05
and talent that you're keeping your eyes on that could be pretty good fits for
1:01:08
this Flyers rebuild? Do you have any thoughts? Yeah, I think you
1:01:13
know, it's twelve is such a tough pick, and I'm just assuming we're
1:01:16
going to end up at twelve, of course, because it would be a
1:01:21
major miracle to get the number two right and move up with a two point
1:01:24
five percent chance. But god, I would love for Consta Holnious to drop
1:01:30
to twelve. I don't think. I don't know that's going to happen,
1:01:34
I know, but I think that you know, we talked on the show
1:01:37
about Liam Greentree. I think he's he's a real solid forward that could work
1:01:44
into this rebuild really well. I think you know a center who's a little
1:01:50
bit lower in the rankings is Sasha Bavert. I think, you know right
1:01:54
now he's ranked kind of fifteen to twenty, maybe even a little lower than
1:01:59
that, so maybe reach there. But and then on the blue line side
1:02:04
of things, you know, I think that if Zeev Bayoum dropped that would
1:02:08
be enom Absolutely. I don't know if that's going to happen another I know
1:02:14
another Denver kid, man that would just I love the Denver kids. Yeah,
1:02:17
so I think it's going to be a tough pick for the Flyers,
1:02:23
and it's just how the rest of the board falls is going to be a
1:02:28
huge part of it. Absolutely. Man, that twelve pick, it just
1:02:30
thinks that twelve sly that twelve to like eighteen pick area. It's just it's
1:02:37
brutal, Rachel, It's brutal. Yeah. I am very curious what they're
1:02:40
going to do with the Florida pick later in the first round because I think,
1:02:45
you know, there's so many different options there and whether or not they
1:02:50
decide to take a big swing, which the Flyers have often dot with when
1:02:52
they've had a second first rounding pick. But you know, we've seen like
1:02:58
Morgan Frost was a second for fround pick Travis Connectney was a second first round
1:03:02
pick, so I think they've had some success there in the past, and
1:03:07
I think that is going to be like more what I want to keep an
1:03:10
eye on here, those placements go very good again, folks. Talking to
1:03:15
Rachel Donner from the lucked On Flyers podcast. I subscribe on Apple Podcasts.
1:03:22
Subscribe to them, check out their content. They do a great great job
1:03:25
at our Miriam on Twitter slash x, and reach out to her about some
1:03:30
Broadway stuff too, Like I'm saying, I'm not even kidding, folks.
1:03:34
Absolutely, I mean, I am not kidding, not only so incredibly in
1:03:38
tune to what's happening with regard to the Philadelphia Flyers and the NHL. But
1:03:43
man, you want some you want some Broadway stuff, reach out to her,
1:03:47
reach out to her for sure. All right, Let's end the conversation
1:03:52
on one gentleman who we've been hearing a lot about recently and keeping our eyes
1:03:55
on, and that Sean Kattorier. He recently changed his agent, and people
1:04:00
are like, Okay, yeah, who cares changed his agent? Some might
1:04:03
say, why do we care about this? But it does matter to a
1:04:09
guy who has become the face of an NHL franchise. He's the captain of
1:04:14
this Flyers team and he was benched at one point this season. As we
1:04:17
all know, huge huge storyline. I'm wondering, Rachel, what are your
1:04:21
thoughts on the situation and should we be reading anything into this as it pertains
1:04:28
to Coots and his standing with the team and the organization here at this offseason.
1:04:32
Well, I think his previous agent said something publicly about, you know,
1:04:38
the communication between Couterier and John Tortorella, and that was probably a no
1:04:43
no, and I'm guessing that's what led to the change. But Pat Brisson,
1:04:49
who is now his agent, is you know, with CIA is a
1:04:56
huge, huge power in the NHL, and I think that it just gives
1:05:01
Couturier a little bit more leverage here. There's some other guys on the team
1:05:08
that have him as an agent. He's also the agent for Sidney Crosby,
1:05:13
and so I just think that it just gives him a little bit more power
1:05:17
in the relationship here. Yeah, and it's important again for a guy who's
1:05:21
the captain of this team what his standing is going to be with this organization.
1:05:27
We'll certainly keep tabs on it here at the PSD podcast show, and
1:05:29
they'll be talking about it over at the lot on Flyers podcast Again. Subscribe
1:05:33
on whatever podcast platform you are on. Rachel, you are awesome as always.
1:05:39
Thank you so much for taking the time to jump on our little podcast
1:05:42
over here, and I'm hoping to talk to you at some point down the
1:05:45
road, my friend. Absolutely, the goalie situation for the Philadelphia Flyers is
1:05:51
very, very intriguing. I'll go back to that part of the conversation that
1:05:55
Rachel and I had with regard to Sam Erson and Ivan Fidotov. What is
1:06:00
going to happen not only with them as they continue to grow as goalies,
1:06:04
but what ideas and thought processes might the Philadelphia Flyers have and Danny Breeir have
1:06:11
with where this position is really going to be going in the future from a
1:06:14
more long term perspective. Going to be very interesting to follow. So that's
1:06:18
going to do it for us here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show this
1:06:21
week. Please share our podcast with your friends and family members who are Philly
1:06:26
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1:06:34
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1:06:39
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