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Now The Phillies Decide To Start Winning (PST Episode 518) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:25
All right, everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
0:28
the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, over ten years
0:32
strong. I hope you are doing well. It is Wednesday, June fourteenth,
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twenty twenty three. Whenever you're listening to this, whether it's the morning,
0:41
afternoon, evening, weekend, in the car, on a run,
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whatever, we appreciate you listening. I'm Jeff Warren and I'm here at my
0:49
good buddy Eric Leonard Man. Hey you doing Eric. I know you're a
0:52
little tired, but other than that, how you doing. I'm good.
0:56
I'm coming to the end of my coaching run. And today was basketball and
1:00
baseball back to back, forty five minute drives in between the two. Just
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uh yeah, I'm this is this is this is not eat. I will
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say this. Congrats to the Anvil VFW Minors team there in the championship last
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Thursday but defeated thirteen and ozer. Congratulations to you and the boys. Thank
1:23
you, and uh yeah, right back at it, dude. It just
1:26
if you ever get get if you ever get into coaching, just no,
1:29
like like your your life and your needs go right down the toilet, like
1:34
that's it's fulfilling. Man. It was awesome winning that championship, watching the
1:38
kids like really enjoy. But then nights like tonight, you're just like,
1:41
holy shit, do I keep doing this? Just taking years off my life,
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Like I don't think I'm gonna get into coaching at all, like outside
1:49
of anything my daughters do, because I mean, look, i mean my
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daughter, my one daughter's in karate um and I'm certainly not gonna ain't knowing
1:57
that. Nope, not at all, and not your thing either. Yeah.
2:00
Yeah, just just doing front tucks and and backhand springs now and now,
2:07
everybody, look at Jeff. I'm lopping on the floor. I'm imagining
2:13
Vince Vaughn, you know, in old school on the right with a cigarette
2:17
his mouth, cigarette in my mouth, a bear in my hand. H
2:23
Yeah, I do some flips, somersaults in a corner. Yes, yes,
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well, congratulations seriously to you and the team. I get like you
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went undefeated. That doesn't happen that often, even even from a little league
2:37
perspective. No, and it is cool, Like there's nothing sadder than the
2:42
thirty five year old guy in the local bar going you know, remember back
2:45
in the day, we did that thing. But no, but that that's
2:47
it's it's pretty cool like that, Like you know, some of those kids
2:51
will remember that and like they may never win anything ever again. Yeah,
2:54
so it's it's at least to get one notch on their belt that they won
2:58
something. So yeah, that's cool. That's cool, very cool. All
3:00
Right, got a good show for everybody listening this week. We got a
3:05
new top three list that we're gonna be starting the show off with the top
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three worst NFL team slogans and catchphrases list we've never done before. Can't wait
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to hear what your your list is gonna be. Eric, I'll be honest,
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they're they're all terrible. I mean, we're gonna get into We're gonna
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get into our top three. Oh look, they're all awful. Listen.
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I didn't even notice the NFL thing. I have multiple sports represent Oh do
3:31
you okay? I just have NFL That's what I have. Is that okay?
3:37
Because of course, yes, of course. I mean, let's make
3:39
fun of I just thought sports. I was totally missed it. Didn't read
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the outline, folks, Now, I'm just kidding. I did I just
3:49
get the NFL piece. I don't know why. Yeah, sorry, well,
3:52
we do want to get into some NBA and six Ers talk as well.
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Denver Nuggets, as we know, they are the NBA champions, and
3:59
they certainly killed it here in the postseason, and uh, I mean it
4:02
seems like they're gonna be the favorite to repeat perhaps next year, just given
4:08
the various dynamics within the NBA and what has happened to some other teams even
4:13
already and where it's teams are gonna go, including the seventy six ers.
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So we're gonna certainly get into some NBA talk some Sixers talk as well about
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who's gonna back up Joe El Embiid this coming season. So we're gonna we're
4:25
gonna get into that for sure, and then we're also gonna get into before
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we get to what we're thrown down on the table. I put the I
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put this on our agenda, Eric, because I certainly want to lose listeners.
4:36
I want to lose as many asteners as possible. Really, the topic
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is you would want to lose listeners? That would you know, disagree?
4:46
Absolutely? Yeah, it's absolutely so. You know a lot of folks heard
4:51
about what happened this past week with Anthony Bass and just we wanted to get
4:57
into professional sports figure years that feel that they need to speak out against certain
5:04
communities, and specifically here in June when it comes to Pride Month, a
5:10
month of the year that certainly means a lot to me, it means a
5:13
lot to so many individuals and even in the sports world in general. And
5:17
why can't certain athletes just keep their mouth freaking shut. And we're gonna get
5:25
into this subject matter as it pertains to Pride Month here in June, and
5:30
what we're thrown down on the table this week. We've got Lauren a More
5:32
from Yard Barker dot com and Rotoballer dot com. She's gonna join us for
5:38
dive into what is happening with the Philadelphia Phillies. Because team is either freaking
5:42
hot or cold this season. There's absolutely no middle ground, no gray with
5:46
this team. So we're gonna get into a bunch of Phillies talk with Lauren
5:48
in just a bit. So, Eric, let's start off with our new
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top three list here the top three worst team slogans and catchphrases. I have
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nfl ones here according to you you got you got a few more, got
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a few more, sports here, so I'd love to hear some of yours
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here. So why don't you start us off? All right, Well,
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I have one NFL one. I'll do that one last because you might have
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it, so okay, just jump in if you do. Um, I
6:15
have an Major League Baseball one in an NBA one. I will start off
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with my Major League Baseball one because it's so bad and it's so simple,
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and then what happened afterwards to the franchise. It's kind of telling. Um.
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The two thousand and one Montreal Expos their their slogan for the year was
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it's your call, which is just if you like us, great, if
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not, that's up to you. We're giving you a choice. Yeah,
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because you know, most slogans are like, you know, they want to
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get the fan fair behind if they want to get everyone involved and pumped up.
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And I've never seen a slogan where the team just kind of puts their
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hands in the air goes, I don't know what's up to you, and
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uh, And then I mean they were they were done in Montreal, like
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how many years, like only a couple of years afterwards, right, yeah,
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yeah, two thousand and one, So that that is it's so simple.
7:16
I mean, civil simple can work. There's some really great simple ones,
7:20
but this one is just so like it's very a French Canadian, yes,
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like lase fair kind of but yeah, just uh take us or leave
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us. And they left them and then they you know, Montreal left the
7:33
entire cities. Yeah, they exposed left the city. So yeah, yeah,
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I look at the situation of what that was, what that's like,
7:40
like how they came to it and where folks gathered, you know, in
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town. It's like, okay, let's go down to the local library and
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we're gonna put a check right next to to Yes, we're for it.
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No, we're not. Just you know, everybody gathers, everybody's nice and
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polite to each other, and you know what, we're gonna go down to
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the local library and we're gonna make our choice. And you know, voting
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is not fun, Like, voting is not exciting. I like it,
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No, I I do too, but I don't, I don't, I
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don't. Uh there's no fanfare around it, you know, like you get
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a little sticker you put on your shirt and you take the picture for Facebook.
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Hey I voted, But like there's no there's no like, yeah,
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right voting. It's like, that's that's what this is. It's like you
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guys decide yeah, like you like it' not? I don't know. Yes,
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I love it. I love it. Look I I will say that
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my number three, uh is Yes, I went all NFL here, So
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my number three eric is is the Minnesota Vikings and and their skull, their
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skull chant. It's it's there, it's there, it's their war chant.
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It apparently comes from the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian word skull. Skull is
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a bowl that was often filled with beer and just shared amongst friends. It
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was basically a way of saying cheers. Why not you? Why not just
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say cheers? Where? Why not just say beer? You know, and
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and have fun at the game. Skull is absolutely horrendous. It has to
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be one of the worst worst catchphrases, one of the worst slogans for any
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freaking team, any chant out there. I mean, I still got two
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more here, but man, skull stinks here. Here's my history. Was
9:31
skull number one the only the only time, the first time I've ever heard
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it was just a few years ago where the Vikings kind of made that run
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and got trounced by the Eagles, ye, you know, in the NFC
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title game, and I did not know what it meant. Actually, you
9:45
just described it. Yeah, that's the first time I've ever heard the actual
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explanation. I've never taken the time out of my day to learn it.
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And I honest, honest to god. You know, maybe this goes back
9:54
to a couple of year or two there when I used I used to like,
9:58
I used to like some smokes tobacco back in the day, A good
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old skull for I legit thought it was met skull, like like they like
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sponsored the Vikings at some point and the fans liked it and started chanting skull.
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I thought that's what it was. I had no idea that it was
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a beer stein or something something like. They were giving out tennis at the
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at the game, you know, even the kids showing the showing the kids
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how to how to pack a tenny yep finger. Yeah all right, but
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what's your number two here? All right? This one is this one is
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definitely of its time, and I always liked that. I always like to
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equate, like how the team did with the slogan. Yeah, so the
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two thousand and six, two thousand and seven Sacramento Kings. It was post
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when the Kings made that run in O two and almost made the finals.
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This was like four years afterwards. They were kind of on their last you
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know, last legs, you know, just on fumes and it's very mid
10:58
to two thousands. Um. They their slogan was passion for Purple with not
11:07
the not the word four fr but four like the number number four, which
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is which is so like just mid two thousands hip hop like it's just so
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lame passion for purple. And that the team was barely five hundred. They
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were in fourth place in the Pacific Division. It's it's just it was a
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crappy team falling apart. They slapped a lame mid two thousand like hip hop
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slogan on top of it, and it didn't work, and it's just it
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to me. It actually it's the epitome of the mid two thousand NBA that
11:39
was just puttering out, Like you had like four good teams and the rest
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of the league was drek. You had superstars just just falling apart left and
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right. Alan Iverson being one of them. By then. Yeah, I
11:52
don't know that slogan with that team just just epitomized for me the like what
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the NBA. Where the NBA was at at that time. That's a really
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good point too. It sounds like somebody hired a really young marketing person as
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like right out of college, and the marketing person is like in the in
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the in the executive's office. They say to the individual, you gotta come
12:13
up with the slogan. You've got to come up with the theme for this
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year. You know, back then there was no Twitter, there was no
12:18
hashtags. What's the theme gonna be? The person goes back to their desks
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and they're like, habaa, what am I gonna do? What am I
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gonna do? I don't know what to do. I don't know anything.
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I just graduated from college, and that is what they came up with.
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Meanwhile, you have stupid executives saying, huh yeah, yeah, I guess
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it works. Purple, it's purple. Yeah, yeah, there we go.
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I've envisioning. They hired some marketing firm and they sent this young kid
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who spiked up hair, his viper shades on. He's drinking a Monster Energy
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drink and he's like, bless it, you gotta be extreme with this stuff.
12:50
Yeah, four no, we want the number four. You guys are
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purple awesome, and that's what they came up with. And it's just talk
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about falling flat like that whole era of NBA, oh yeah, lame and
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so was marketing was horrible. It was just the extreme in your face era
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and it's just it's stunk. I like that a lot, I really do,
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because you know, that's exactly what happened. Some young punk out of
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college created that and it stinks. Oh my god. All right, well
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for me next, you know what I'm going with. It's actually not even
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it's not a phrase, but it's more of a song. It's more of
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a song, and it's the Kansas City Chiefs and that stupid tomahawk chop and
13:31
chant that oh you know the shit that the Braves do too. It Florida
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State, Florida State, all of them. It is. First off,
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it's beyond ridiculous that it still continues to happen due to the racial overtones of
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course of what that is. But it's it's it's not original. It's not
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original. You've got other teams doing it as well throughout the other leagues too
13:58
and in other places. Is it's not original to you, and I think
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that. I think the Chiefs do have some sort of actual slogan or catchphrase.
14:07
However that song is. It is completely enraging, it stinks, it's
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racist, all of that. I fucking hate it. I really do.
14:16
Every time I hear it, I'm like, this is the most unoriginal thing
14:20
that any sports team can do, whether it is them, the Braves or
14:24
Florida State, whoever has some sort of quote Indian thing. I mean,
14:28
for God's sake, the Cleveland Indians change their name to the Guardians. Let's
14:31
get let's get with it here, you know. Yeah, they got to
14:35
work on that too. Though that's a terrible name. Guardians. I mean,
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I'd rather have them than the Indians, to be honest, I agree,
14:41
but like that again, they hired a marketing firm and that's when they
14:46
came up with, like, that's the best you could do. I don't
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know, not a good name. I will say this about the chant.
14:52
It does sound cool when an entire stadium is doing it, Like, I'm
14:58
not gonna lie like just I'm talking about it, like I'm not going back
15:01
to the history of it. I know. I'm sure I'm going to get
15:03
a listener too. Like commenting, but just the sound of it is kind
15:07
of neat. But it's you're right, it's twenty twenty three. What are
15:11
we doing exactly exactly what are you doing at this point? Oh god?
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All right, what's what's what's your number one? Here? Plus not to
15:20
mention Kansas City has like such an incredible like blues, jazz and kines background.
15:26
Like there's so many there's probably so much means that they could like it
15:30
derived from to come up with something cooler. City has a great history.
15:33
That city has a really great history. Man. Yeah, um, my
15:37
last one might be your last one. I'm not sure, Okay, if
15:41
it is, just chime in, um it's I I've always hated when sports
15:46
teams just decided, you know, they're they're lunch pail. You know,
15:52
they're they're bringing the lunch pails to work. Man, we're blue collar,
15:54
just like this city is. I don't think we have the same one here.
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Okay. The Patriots do your job, Yes, that was close.
16:03
That could be an honorable mention for me to do your job. Just just
16:08
shut up, like just the pious, just the pious and the pomposity of
16:14
this. I know they've won titles and it's like but but they act like
16:18
they act like the starting middle linebacker is mopping up the locker room at the
16:22
end of the night, Like would you stop? Like you're you're You're a
16:26
multimillion dollars, billion dollar team, just like every other team in the NFL.
16:30
Everyone's doing their job across the league. You're not special, like like,
16:34
I just I hate this. I hate this like blue collar cloak that
16:38
these teams try to put on. It's like, now you're just like everyone
16:41
else. Oh really, Okay, then then how about you put a six
16:45
foot, one hundred and eighty pound quarterback instead of Time Brady back there right,
16:48
see if he can do his job? Okay, Like, come on,
16:52
I hate that. I have a visual in my head of some guy
16:56
wearing some some crinkled up hat. He's half a chewed cigar in his mouth,
17:02
pointing his finger in my face, going do your job. Yeah.
17:10
I'm envisioned like an old, an old hogie maker in South Philly with his
17:14
cigar crunch he's just gnawing on it's in his teeth. Yeah, do your
17:18
job, yeah, dear job. Okay, I'm pretty's married to the biggest
17:22
like you was at the time married to the biggest SUPERMANO in the world,
17:26
like do your job, Tom, like I thought we were gonna possibly for
17:33
NFL teams have have the have the same number one my number one man.
17:40
It goes out to the Cincinnati Bengals, their fan base and the origins of
17:45
the phrase or the I should say, the question who day Who Day?
17:52
Yeah, do you know what I'm talking about here? Yeah, of course
17:55
the Bengal It's us it Okay. The origin of the store involves a Cincinnati
18:02
beer from I think it's called who Who to Pool? Who to Poll Brewing
18:07
Company? And I from what I understand, they had these beer vendors from
18:12
this company at the Old Riverfront Stadium and they would shout hoodie, h U
18:18
d y, there's this hoodie and they'd sell the beer to fans. And
18:25
in terms of reading about this, there was just a natural transition in the
18:29
English language from hoodie to hooday. Eric, It's the dumbest thing I've ever
18:37
heard in my entire life in terms of sports slogan or phrase. Woday.
18:45
Thank god it didn't happen like ninety five, because it would have been a
18:48
hooting and the blowfish tie in ah and they would still be playing that their
18:52
music at the stadium like um. But again, I'm we're talking about a
18:56
beer here too, just like with Skull and the vice chant and and their
19:02
catch phrase too. How can two teams take something as delightful as beer and
19:07
turn it into garbage and crap? Here here's my problem with it. The
19:14
Saints have who Dat's? Who Dat? Yeah? Yeah, and it's it's
19:19
been in place for a long time. I've been down there when the Saints
19:23
have a home game. I didn't go to the game, but like I
19:26
hung, I was hanging out in the city. And when they win,
19:29
man, it's every single human being is yelling whodat? Who at? Who
19:33
At? Who Dat? At every club, every bar, and it's it's
19:36
infectious. And I don't care if this Bengals thing was like a kind of
19:41
a natural progression, like a kind of kind of you know, naturally came
19:45
about. Yeah, but it's too close to who Dat it is. They
19:48
should have never allowed that because you come off as just you come off like
19:52
a wanker, like like your copycat, like that who Dat is so cool?
19:56
And then I love that organically kind of happened from a beer vendor,
20:00
but I would have stepped in be like no, no, no, no.
20:03
I like the story, but you can't. You can't trample on an
20:07
already great slogan for another NFL team. It's not even another sport, right,
20:11
It just they should have never allowed it. And that and who Dad
20:15
in New Orleans. I mean, that was something that I think it was
20:18
like nineteen eighty three that that started. I mean there's even though I think
20:23
who Dat kind of stinks in a way, there is there is a rich
20:27
tradition with those two words for the New Orleans Saints, and you got you
20:33
gotta give it to the fan base. I was. I was down there,
20:36
Oh my god, I was nine or two, thy ten somewhere in
20:40
there, and the Steelers were in town in New Orleans. And it was
20:44
me Lenn, my wife. Yeah, and they played on a Sunday night.
20:48
We were down there and the Steelers lost. They got their asses beat
20:52
by the Saints. And every time a Steelers fan like walked in the middle
20:56
of Bourbon Street, there were fifty Saints and pointing in his face going who
21:03
immediately like, I mean, it was, it was a thing. And
21:04
I again I watched, I'm like, wow, that is awesome. That's
21:07
a that's a real rallying cry and who age just it's it's like the it's
21:12
like the B minus C plus version of whod Yeah, the poor man's version.
21:17
Yeah, oh man. Let us know what you're thinking out there in
21:21
terms of team slogans, nicknames, all that happy horse shit. Let us
21:25
know. Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to read your
21:27
comments and email here on the show, and also subscribe on whatever podcast platform
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you're listening to us on. If you're new to listening here and follow us
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on Apple Podcasts, give us a rate and review anything happens to your podcast
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feed. Head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. We've got all
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of our shows over there, and make sure you follow Eric on Twitter at
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brick Polite. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore, Warren and the Show
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at Philadelphia PST. We are on Instagram as well. We're gonna take a
21:55
quick break, pay some bills. We will be back in just a bit.
21:59
All all right, Erica, we are back, and uh, I
22:03
mean, hey, do you want to talk about the Las Vegas Golden Knights
22:07
win in the NHL Championship Stanley Cup Championship. Huh kidding? Is that like,
22:14
what is that sport? I'm confused ice hockey? Did they win?
22:19
I have no idea. Yes, yes they yes, they did win.
22:25
Anyway, it was it was a bizarre, bizarre Stanley Cup Finals. Anyway,
22:27
go ahead, No offense to hockey. But Vegas versus Florida, god
22:33
like, and I hate to be that guy. Like whenever like Kansas City
22:38
played the Mets, you know, a couple of years ago in the World
22:41
Series, my dad was like, MLB hates that one, you know,
22:45
but I hate to be the wow. Vegas versus Florida. But this is
22:49
hockey, a strong history of you know, the original six and Florida and
22:57
Las Vegas. It just doesn't feel, you know, because Las Vegas has
23:02
only been a team for like five years at this point. Honestly, Florida
23:04
is more of my issue than yeah yeah, all right, well okay,
23:10
yeah, no NHL talk. But what we are going to get into is
23:12
some NBA and Sixers talk right now. As mentioned earlier and as many of
23:17
us know, of course, the Denver Nuggets are the NBA champions? Are
23:21
they the favorite to repeat next year? Given just like I was saying,
23:25
earlier, various dynamics within the NBA and what has happened with a lot of
23:30
other teams in this league. Eric, I think what's interesting about this is
23:34
you look at Yokick and uh, I always say his name wrong. Yokih
23:41
My god, it's amazing. It's amazing. He's like the most popular guy
23:45
in the NBA and I still screw his name up. He's the best player
23:48
in the league right now. Yes, And I knew you were gonna see
23:49
Yokick. Oh God, I stink Okay, Okay, think about this,
23:56
it's jokay. I see so yokitch yokitch. Yeah, yeah, I just
24:00
I fuck it up constantly. God, I'm so annoyed with myself. Frank
24:04
and I knew you were going to Let's started laughing before said well, look
24:10
in these finals, he averaged thirty point two points per game, fourteen rebounds,
24:15
seven point two assists, and he's basically going down as a legend here
24:18
in a lot of different ways. Denver went sixteen and four to its first
24:25
title. But what's interesting is looking at the NBA landscape, Eric, because
24:30
the core and when I say the core, it is him. I'm not
24:33
gonna even say his name at this point, for God's sake, it's him
24:37
and Jamal Murray. I mean when they are healthy that they're one of the
24:41
NBA's best. You know, you take a look back in two thousand and
24:44
twenty, back in the bubble, they made the Western Conference Finals appearance.
24:48
Then of course two twenty one, Murray towards ACL missed an entire year and
24:52
a half. The year he returned, they they've got a ring here.
24:56
So you take a look at the West Memphis. You know, they got
24:59
to deal with whatever pun Shan is coming John Morant's way. Who knows what
25:03
the Warriors are gonna look like with Bob Meyer's gone Phoenix. They've got a
25:07
new coach, They've got some tough roster decisions that they're gonna need to be
25:11
making during this offseason. Lebron James year older Lakers are gonna need to work
25:17
this offseason to maintain some sort of contending type of roster. Of course,
25:21
you have the seventy sixers with Nick Nurse coming in new coaching staff. What
25:25
is the Sixers offense gonna look like? And what's the team gonna look like
25:29
overall? Yokich is just twenty eight years old. Murray's twenty six. I
25:33
mean, there is a pretty big title window here available for the Denver Nuggets,
25:37
and I don't know, they seem to be the odds on favorite to
25:41
repeat here, you know. Yeah, I mean the NBA has really reached
25:48
the point of kind of where the NFL is right now with just like true
25:52
parody. Yeah, like how many. I mean, name the different teams
25:56
in the past five years and won titles, and it's all different teams,
26:00
you know, And I honestly think the three the three man superstar thing is
26:07
kind of done. I think you just the key is you have to have
26:11
the best player on the court at the time, and you have to be
26:14
healthy. And finally, the Nuggets were one hundred percent healthy and they and
26:19
they would have beat any team out of the East. If the Sisters would
26:22
have made it somehow, they would have got swept in my opinion. And
26:27
if Boston had made it, I think they lose in five. Two.
26:30
Denver was just incredible, and I think because of the parody two, the
26:34
next year's favorite is going to be the team that won the title, just
26:38
like the Bucks. You know, the Bucks won two years ago and they
26:41
had to be the overall favorite. They I mean they were the favorite to
26:45
win the title. Yeah, the next year, it just didn't happen.
26:49
And you know, contracts are so crazy right now, the escalate, Like
26:56
the new CBA was just signed, so all the rules are kind of changing.
27:00
It's harder to resign your own players. It's harder to get three superstars
27:03
in the same team. But I'll say this, like, it's all about
27:07
health. Like Andy and the team that just won, if they're a little
27:11
younger and they stay healthy, they're going to be the favorite the next year.
27:12
Endeavor has to be the favorite. I don't think it's even close.
27:15
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree. It's why I wanted to put it
27:18
on the agenda here, because like, even though there are certain teams that
27:23
have such high hopes because they do have a player or two that is completely
27:27
dominant. Again, like you were saying, Eric, it really just depends
27:33
on so much of it. I think the largest percentage of what actually happens
27:37
in the postseason deals with health for these players. And that's nothing that you
27:41
can actually predict. It's that you cannot predict it at all. And I
27:45
think that's what's making the NBA pretty interesting. And I mean I honestly thought
27:51
the Bucks were gonna win it this year. I really did. Oh my
27:53
god, when they got knocked out. When they got knocked out, I'm
27:56
thinking to myself, boy, what a rough way to go. But at
28:00
the end of the day, dealt with health, and I think that denominator
28:06
is just there's just no way to predict what is going to happen. However,
28:10
all things being equal, right now, Nuggets are looking good for next
28:12
year. Yeah, most most NBA fans probably would have predicted Bucks Nuggets or
28:21
or Bucks shoot Bucks Sons. Yeah, kind of you know, run it
28:27
back kind of kind of finals. But yeah, like Chris Middleton was hurt
28:32
most of the year and Jannie didn't have the most incredible season and they lost
28:37
in the first round. Like Miami is the like all the parody I'm talking
28:42
about, Miami doesn't count in any of this. They're one of the weirdest
28:47
teams in the age of parody because they have the best coach in the league
28:52
and they have just this team that just they picked guys off the scrap heap
28:56
and they put up twenty seven points in twelve bounds in a game seven.
29:02
That team, like, if they could get if they could get some kind
29:03
of superstar down there along with Jimmy Butler and some of the pieces they have
29:07
left. Like that's the one team is kind of the outlier to this all
29:11
this this whole parody thing. Um. But yeah, it's totally about health.
29:15
I mean, look at the Sixers new coach Nick Nurse. He won
29:19
with the Raptors in twenty nineteen, and that team won the title because they
29:23
stayed healthy and because the Warriors got hurt. Kevin Durant, gott played Thompson
29:29
went now and the Warriors or the Sorry, the Raptors won the twenty nineteen
29:33
title. If the Warriors don't get hurt, I don't think they have a
29:37
chance in that in that thing. So yeah, it is Is it good
29:41
for the league? Is it better to have dynasties and like superstar teams or
29:47
is parody good? I think parody good? I do. I do too,
29:51
you know, And I kind of like the NFL too, like that,
29:52
like where every year, you know, you're just like, well like
29:56
back in the day, I was like, well, it's going to be
29:57
the Patriots or one other team and that's it. And now now at the
30:00
NBA, it's kind of wide open and now with his new CBA too,
30:03
like the contracts can kind of be all over the place and you can't teams
30:07
don't get rewarded for keeping their own players, which is kind of bullshit,
30:11
but it's going to make the league overall kind of kind of a lot more
30:15
fun. So it's interesting talking about the parody aspect of this eric because of
30:21
where I think the seventy Sixers could potentially go, and of course, you
30:25
know it's not I have no idea what the team. We don't know.
30:30
Yeah, the team will look different next year. It's gonna look different.
30:32
It's absolutely gonna look different. Could that parody play into the Sixers favor?
30:37
Absolutely, But part of that is going to be not only what Joel Embiid
30:42
looks like when he is on the court for an entire regular season and then
30:47
hopefully a postseason, but what is going to happen with his minutes, the
30:51
load management, Like, what is actually going to happen with him as the
30:56
dominant force on the Philadelphia seventy Sixers. And it goes to a point I
31:00
wanted to bring up in terms of who is his backup going to be?
31:03
Because I think we should probably see more of that backup this coming season,
31:08
given what we saw this past year, given what we've seen throughout Joe ell
31:11
Embiad's courier thus far in Philadelphia, and look with Paul Reid becoming a free
31:17
agent. You know, I read an article this past week in one of
31:22
the SI dot com sites, All Sixers Fan, all seventy six ers fan
31:27
Nation, where they were actually talking about Philip Petrosev, who was twenty twenty
31:33
one draft pick. He was the fiftieth overall pick in that draft. And
31:41
I don't know, is it gonna be Paul Read Are they gonna bring him
31:44
back? Could it be Petrosev? I don't know. But the fact of
31:48
the matter is Joe ell Embiid is not going to be able to do it
31:52
himself. That has been proven, especially this season and in the postseason.
31:59
He cannot. Yes. During the regular season, he absolutely should have won,
32:02
He should have been the MVP. Absolutely, Yokich just floundering down the
32:08
stretch of the regular season, Joel Embiid won the freaking MVP, and honestly,
32:14
I believe he should have. I believe he should have been the winner
32:15
last year as well. But that being said, he was certainly not the
32:19
MVP in the postseason, and I think this particular subject matter of who his
32:23
backup is going to be and who's going to be backing u up is going
32:25
to be extremely important to how far the Sixers can get next season. I
32:31
think sometimes I think it's not sometimes I think, but since the end of
32:37
this season, Eric, it's kind of been that underlying storyline that really needs
32:42
to be talked about because whoever that backup is going to be, I think
32:45
they're gonna have to play a bigger role man, yeah, or whatever Darrell
32:51
does in the offseason, you know, or like when he's off the court,
32:53
maybe you just have kind of a rim runner, kind of big man
32:58
and let the guards kind of score. I'm not sure what they do.
33:00
I mean, I like the kid they drafted. I would not rely on
33:06
him whatsoever. You have a veteran team. You cannot trust a twenty two
33:08
year old skinny center to come in and give you valid minutes behind and like
33:14
behind and behind behind the MVP. Yeah, um, And but I mean
33:20
I hope you can rely on him a little bit because you look at the
33:22
They're not going to resign Paul Reid probably unless he takes a smaller deal because
33:25
I'm sure some team's gonna have some money to to give to give him.
33:30
He's not bad, Like I think he'll get money on the open market.
33:34
But then you start looking at the free agency uh value at backup Center,
33:37
it's just, oh my god, it's it's not Mike Mascala, Andre Drummond,
33:43
two former sixers, Like that's where that's kind of what you're looking at.
33:46
And it gets ugly really fast. Charles Bassie, Yeah, yeah,
33:51
I mean Dwight Powell does that turney on? Jeff go oh this mac Biomba,
34:00
it gets hideous. Um, I don't know. And this I think
34:05
I think Darryl's gonna make a splashy move. I think he knows like he
34:09
has a small window of opportunity here with with MBAD before Embiad's gonna be like,
34:15
um, I'm not feeling this here anymore. Uh Like Nick Nurse can
34:19
be a hard coach to work work like work with yah. Um he really
34:22
hardened his players. If if the team is five hundred and he's screaming in
34:27
and Bead's face and beats like I'm Joel Embiid for member, I don't even
34:30
be yelled at like this, like I could see south fast. I hate
34:35
to be that guy, but like I, I could see the Sixers going
34:37
that route pretty quickly. I'm also scared to death that Daryl Warren is gonna
34:42
be like, you know what, uh, Bradley Beal, and let's let's
34:49
let's make a splashy deal and throw Harris's contract in there, and all of
34:52
a sudden, we're paying Joel Embiid and Bradley Beale combined one hundred and twenty
34:57
dollars in two seasons, and you're your two guards. Maxie and Bale can't
35:00
guard anybody, right. It's even worse, even worse than when he had
35:04
hardened. So More has to know that, I mean, he has to
35:07
know that bunch of schlups like us know that. He has to know that.
35:12
I'm sure he does. But he's also the same kind of guy be
35:14
like, you know what, let's make a splashy trait and I'll worry about
35:16
it down the road. I'm not responding like I might get fired. What
35:20
do I care? Right, I will be responsible for it anyway. Nick
35:22
Nurse would be, and he'll get fired too because I hired him and I
35:27
don't know the Sixers in a bad spot. I hate where they're at.
35:30
They tagged, they tie themselves into James Harden, and you know it's crazy
35:36
to say, like I hope they signed James Harden so they actually keep an
35:38
asset, but I don't want him on the team, Like they kept the
35:42
wrong asset. But but what was the other asset involved Ben Simmons. You
35:45
know that's the wen I don't want to go to. We have to do
35:50
a two hour show about the process someday Meal and Lenn Oh my god,
35:53
yeah, I mean, Lena, I will be hammered by the end of
35:55
it. But but I mean that's that. I do think that should be
36:00
a show sometime this year. Like I think we're finally hit the end of
36:05
this thing, Like we probably should break it down season by season. I
36:07
needna be a fun show, like just the Bsters, Like in twenty thirteen,
36:12
twenty fourteen, some of the guys are like, aren't even weren't in
36:15
the NBA, Like a year later, it was so bad. You used
36:17
to go to those games. I know, outrageous, but but I got
36:22
but I would, you know, I go and see Kee can pay like
36:23
twenty five bucks for like fourth row up seats like it was actually kind of
36:28
nice. Yeah. Uh, let us know what you're thinking about this.
36:31
We'd love to hear from your Philadelphia sports table at gmail dot com. We'd
36:35
love to read your email here in the show and respond to it in terms
36:37
of the seventy six ers, what the NBA landscape looks like. Do you
36:40
agree that the parody is good for this league and for the fans as well
36:45
who watched. We'd love to hear from you. Eric. Let's now move
36:50
on to before I let you go there, there are always individuals in the
36:55
sports world, professional athletes that are always tweeting something or getting quote getting themselves
37:02
into trouble because they just cannot seem to understand and realize that there are socially
37:09
marginalized groups of individuals that live in our world. And yes, a sports
37:15
organization is going to recognize those folks every now and again. And whether it's
37:20
out of the goodness of their heart, the sports organization's heart, or whether
37:24
it's you know, just a ploy to get people to the park to make
37:29
money, which usually it is. Still this kind of stuff happens. And
37:34
here in June, as we all know, it is Pride month and there
37:37
are certain individuals like myself who are just really getting tired of professional sports.
37:43
Figures like Anthony Bass, who was a leaf pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays
37:47
again was yeah, exactly, Yeah, was just railing against the LGBTQ plus
37:55
community recently. And then then they go they delete eat their posts, having
38:00
to apologize saying that they're working hard on themselves. Eric, They're they're working
38:06
real hard on themselves, and they apologize so much for it, you know,
38:10
And well, I don't mean to to sound evil with any of this
38:15
stuff, or I don't I don't mean to sound a certain way. Just
38:17
shut up, then don't post shit online about this, Like I just wanted
38:23
to get into our thoughts about these type of athletes, you know, guys
38:28
like Ivan Provov who's no longer on the Flyers thank god. You know,
38:31
guys like Anthony Bass here, even even former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White,
38:37
who is perpetuating anti gay statements um at one time. It's just it
38:44
really, it really bothers me that there is this this It seems like there
38:50
is people wanting to clash with members of the LGBTQ plus community and folks who
38:54
support that community, because like I just cannot seem to Batham, I cannot
39:00
seem to fathom how there is a lack of understanding with certain individuals that people
39:07
are born a certain way. Just like if you're born black, you are
39:13
born Latina. You know, Eric, you were born with all of skin
39:17
and blue eyes. I was not. I do have blue eyes, but
39:23
very blessed. Right. So anyway, folks are born a certain way for
39:29
God's sake, and it's okay to recognize people for how they were born.
39:32
It's okay, folks, especially for us Whitey's out there, it's okay for
39:37
us to actually say, okay, we're gonna recognize a group of folks in
39:43
our society who may be a little different than us because we want to bring
39:47
them in. We want them to be a part of community. We want
39:52
them to be a part of our society and to feel comfortable as well.
40:00
Because guess what, throughout the time, throughout time and memore that people have
40:05
not been kind to other groups at times. It just never sees us to
40:10
amaze me, Eric that professional sports athletes again like Anthony Bass, you know,
40:15
guys like Ivan prov V. You make your statements, yes, you
40:21
have your certain beliefs, but the fact that people can't get out of their
40:23
way, can't understand see and understand society and how how things are kind of
40:31
changing for the better in a way, at least in my mind. And
40:35
I know I'm pontificating here, I know that I am, but I'm really
40:38
starting to get tired of this crap. And a lot of other folks in
40:43
the world are getting tired of it too, because there are people who actually
40:45
believe in what is right is right. We see wrong and we want to
40:51
fight for what is right. You know, I do. I do this
40:53
in my daily life with a lot of different things. And I don't know.
41:00
I just I got gay friends, buddy, you know, we both
41:01
do. We've got gay friends. I've got friends who are lesbians, transsexual
41:07
friends. And at the end of the day, they're not doing anything wrong.
41:10
They're going to work, they're paying their taxes. They want to be
41:14
a part of their community just like we do. And for them to be
41:20
ridiculed and for hate to be thrown at them, especially by professional athletes who
41:23
most of the time have it pretty good, it's really enraging. And I
41:29
just wanted to bring it up on this show, and if we lose listeners,
41:30
I couldn't give a crap. Seriously, Yeah, I don't care.
41:35
Fuck off losers if you don't like you know how you know our stances on
41:38
this stuff on this show. Social media is it's done some good things.
41:45
And I'll say one one weird positive out of it is like people show their
41:50
true colors eventually. Yeah, not all, but most. And you know,
41:54
it's good that the Anthony Basses of the world kind of kind of go,
42:00
hey, I'm an asshole, I'm a bigoted jerk off. And here,
42:04
here's here's my views. It's like, oh, cool, thank you,
42:07
we can we can crush you off the list. You're done. Yeah,
42:09
not canceled. Ooh you're canceled. No, you have an employer who
42:14
didn't like your what you did, and you lost your job, just like
42:16
me. If I did I wanted a racist Twitter thread, Lagron could look
42:21
at me and my Twitter and be like, um, no, you're fired.
42:24
I don't want that, um representative of this company and um but what
42:31
that's That's one of the positives I would say, is that people kind of
42:35
show the true colors. The other the one negative. There's multitude of negatives,
42:39
right, yeah, but um, one of the one of the weird
42:44
negatives that I've noticed in the past couple of years is just this this co
42:47
opting of victimhood that uh yes, and it's it's like, don't don't force
42:54
your views down my throat. And it's like, no one's doing that.
42:58
Nobody's doing that. I don't know any of my gay friends who none of
43:01
them are like even and even folks within their network. Nobody is forcing anything
43:07
on anybody. It's a grievance for the sake of grievance. And it's people.
43:13
For the most part, I've had it pretty damn good, straight white
43:15
males being probably the uh the most prominent. And and it's just so bizarre
43:22
that like people just have to find something to complain about, yea, and
43:27
feel like they need to be part of some kind of movement or it's just
43:32
it's just strange to me. And I've seen it. But we've seen it
43:36
with our own friends. Uh, we've seen it obviously with this this this
43:38
city. It who's currently unemployed by the way, this is this is what's
43:43
crazy. We're talking about Pride Month, but we're also talking about a thirty
43:46
five year old pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, no longer employed with a
43:52
lifetime Uh you know when when lost record of sixteen twenty eight, he's his
43:58
ear is over four And here we are, we're on a podcast talking about
44:00
him for like ten minutes. Yeah yeah, but but again, but also
44:07
we can kind of use him as a as an example of just like I
44:13
think we brought this up on man when I went on my rant last year
44:17
after that birthday party. Oh jeez, yeah yeah. And I think one
44:22
of my points was like when did people just stop being cool? Like when
44:25
people think they're they're dumb opinion matters. My dumb opinion doesn't matter, and
44:30
the other does this guy but like he's he has this, he has a
44:34
spotlight, and he decided to do that. I don't understand it. Ivan
44:38
Proveroff all time name, Okay, I remember where the Flyers drafted him.
44:43
I was like, oh, what a name. I know, what a
44:45
great name. He turns he winds up being a jerk off and just I
44:50
don't know. I kind of like the I kind of like social media at
44:53
times because of this, because people show the true colors and if that's one
44:58
of the upsides and it's like this kind of lose their gigs again and people
45:04
like him and be like, well I got canceled, Like no, you
45:07
cancel yourself, idiot. Yeah, this is your fault. Yeah, absolutely
45:10
absolutely. As somebody who's been in the public sphere for many, many years
45:16
and as an elected official, I have voted on policy that has helped same
45:21
sex couples in the past. It's a great feeling to know that we've come
45:25
a long way in terms of some of these issues from a societal standpoint,
45:30
Eric, but it's also very disheartening when you have idiots like Provov and Bass
45:37
who are perpetuating the nonsense, the narrative that is simply a grievance based message
45:46
just simply for the sake of it and where it actually will hurt others.
45:52
And that is what I don't even want to say it pisses me off,
45:55
because it does. But that is what is tragic about what happens here in
46:00
these type of situations like this. You take a few steps forward and then
46:06
assholes like this you go a few steps back and it and just as a
46:10
man, this is why I lose respect for you. You posted it for
46:15
me? No, no, no, yes, no, like as a
46:20
man like you posted it own it. Don't delete it? Yeah, like,
46:24
don't delete And Sam, I'm working on my soul. You're not clay
46:28
to state that. Just leave it up. There be a kid rock moron
46:30
who shoots cans of bud light like a dipshit like do it? Like,
46:36
just be that person, you know, like and at this point you lost
46:38
your job, you might as well be kid rock Light. At this point
46:42
it's just why why why be a pussy now? Like I guess that's like
46:47
my take, Like I I still understand. Yeah, all right, great
46:52
they're the best. Jeff. It's done so many wonders for this country.
46:54
Like it's about connectivity, you know, Celicon valleys connectivity. Yeah, not
47:00
no, not anymore. All right, folks, Eric, I'm gonna let
47:07
you go, buddy, I know you're tired. Thanks for jumping on here.
47:09
You got any final thoughts before we get to what we're going out on
47:13
the table with our phillies talk. Yeah, I had to share a story
47:16
with you real quick. Um I did tell I told my assistant coach.
47:21
Okay, so we might have Steve Jelts on the show. Oh yes,
47:24
okay, Oh you want to tease that. All right, go ahead,
47:28
I'm gonna tease that, but also tell a story. Um My, my
47:30
assistant coach from my basketball team, his next neighbor is Steve Jeltz. It
47:35
was the weirdest thing ever. We were talking about sports and he's like,
47:37
he goes, yeah, one of my my neighbor played for the Phillies.
47:39
And I'm like, okay, I need I'm I'm assume he's gonna throw a
47:43
name out I've never heard of. And he goes, Steve Jelts. I'm
47:45
like, I'm gonna said f you. I was like what. And not
47:50
only that, he got him on the phone on the spot and put me
47:52
on the phone with him, and I was talking to him and he was
47:54
like yea. He's like I was just hanging out with Tim Rains last week.
47:58
Oh my god, I hang out with Larry Holmes next week at this
48:01
golf tournament. And I got the Darren Dalton thing and I was like,
48:05
I got a podcast and I was like, my dad was at the game.
48:07
You did the two hit two her runs against the Pirates and and he
48:09
was like, oh, that's awesome. Well yeah, He's like, just
48:13
text me, I'll do the show. But so. But that's how we
48:16
found out. I had a podcast. His son is the point guard for
48:21
my team, and tonight a practice, I was just shooting around with the
48:25
kids, getting warmed up, and he knows his name. He comes up.
48:29
He comes up to me. He's like, hey, coach, I
48:30
listened to your podcast. And I was like, oh shit, I'm like
48:36
I said right away, I said, if I was swearing, No,
48:37
I'm sorry, I didn't I know. But he goes, no, I
48:43
listened to it, but you weren't. You didn't talk, you weren't on
48:45
this one. I'm like, okay. He goes, there was just some
48:49
guy talking the whole time, really loudly and laughing a lot. And I
48:54
go, oh, it was Jeff. He's he's the guy that runs the
48:58
whole shows. He created the show. It's like, why that guy has
49:02
got the worst laugh ever. Oh, but it's just his face is like,
49:07
yeah, it was just some guy talking. He was laughing the whole
49:08
time and stuff. He was laughing really loud. It's just awesome to get
49:15
a ten year old perspective on Yes. Oh I love it. I love
49:17
it. So yeah, that's that's it, folks. We we are we
49:21
are going to have former Philly on the show to talk about his career.
49:25
Hopefully, I mean hopefully this is gonna happen. We don't have it like
49:29
solidified yet, but from what you're saying, Eric, it's gonna happen.
49:31
I just had to text him, just tell him when, oh my god,
49:36
stuff coming up. He wants to promote, so okay, he would
49:37
definitely jump on with us. And I mean, if you don't think we're
49:40
talking about the Pirates game for like ten minutes of the interview, that you're
49:45
nuts, because it's it's like his biggest baseball moment. So yeah, absolutely,
49:49
all right, man, fantastic. I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully
49:53
the listeners are gonna be looking forward to that as well. Follow Eric on
49:57
Twitter at Brick Pollitt and Buddy I will let you and we are gonna be
50:00
back in just a bit. We're gonna take a break stick with us.
50:05
All right, we're back. Let's get into some Phillies talk right now.
50:07
This team man doing some freaking good things. Can't believe I'm saying that after
50:12
you know what happened like three weeks ago. Anyway, Let's get to what
50:15
we are throwing down on the table and now on the table. It is
50:22
great to have her back on the podcast to get into this Philadelphia Phillies team,
50:27
joining us from Yard Barker dot com. She's also a contributor over at
50:30
Rhodoballer dot com as well. Again, this Philadelphia Phillies team so hot and
50:36
cold. There's absolutely no middle ground with them. What we're seeing some good
50:38
things from them. To get into what we're seeing on the field with the
50:43
Phillies is Lauren Amore, how you doing, Lauren? I'm doing good.
50:47
How are you pretty good? I think I just messed up your name again
50:51
and I'm not gonna hit record again. Pull back the curtains. I messed
50:53
up her name before, just messed it up again, Lauren Amore. It's
50:58
a strong an this. Oh gosh, I tell you, I mess up
51:02
names like it's nobody's business on this podcast. It's okay. I'll accept both.
51:07
That's fine. But it's great to have you back on the show.
51:10
It really is because this Philly season, my gosh, so many ups and
51:15
downs, and like, as a fan, if you have heart problems,
51:17
you don't want to be watching this team because you know on any given day
51:22
and now that this team is currently winning here as we're recording this in mid
51:25
June, we're recording on June fifteenth. It's it's an amazing thing to see
51:30
what this team is doing now after a losing streak where we thought the season
51:35
was potentially dead, and as of us recording this, what they've They've won
51:39
what nine of their past eleven games, and even with the pitching issues that
51:45
they've had, Lauren, they're winning. They're winning games. It's what we
51:49
want to see. And I want to start off by asking, did the
51:52
series against an inferior team like the Tigers really kind of just kickstart things and
52:00
jump start things with regard to where they're at right now? In your opinion?
52:04
You know what was was the moment where things really just started clicking for
52:07
them recently? Do you think? I mean? I think, of course,
52:10
always playing an inferior team is going to help, But the Phillies are
52:14
also have always been so confusing, where they perform poorly against bad teams and
52:20
perform better against good teams. So it's hard to say if that series is
52:24
really what j I'm started it. I honestly feel like maybe the calendar flipping
52:30
to June had something to do with it, just that flip of the switch.
52:34
Huh. Yeah, I mean, and that's what happened last year.
52:37
Um. I know, obviously the Joe Girardi firing was like the jump start,
52:42
but I really feel like the calendar flipping to June, you know,
52:46
that's Schwarber's month, and I think Reese being in the dugout for that home
52:53
series after he's you know, he's been rehabbing, he's been away from the
52:58
team, I think having him really helped them to kind of it helped kind
53:04
of jump start them. Because you know, I'm a big Reese fan.
53:07
I think it's a great point. Yeah, I think it's a great point
53:08
because it's something we've talked about on this podcast a number of times that losing
53:14
him, you know, it wasn't the end all be all in terms of
53:16
the actual baseball that's being played on the field. Of course, they miss
53:21
some of that productivity for sure, but yeah, to the leadership of what
53:24
he is and what he means to this team, there is a lot to
53:28
be said for that, exactly. Yeah, And I think having him there
53:32
really it helps it helps them bring some sort of you know, perspective,
53:38
you know, even stabilities. Yeah, just his presence alone, I think
53:44
was able to kind of and of course, you know, as you mentioned,
53:46
like playing playing an inferior team helped. But um, but yeah,
53:52
I mean, I really feel like Reese being there was able to help them
53:57
get going, get back on track. And I know that they brought back
54:00
there, They brought back dancing on my own from last year, so it
54:07
seems like that might have something to do with it too. So well,
54:10
there's another a player on this team that I wanted to get into with you
54:15
and his productivity and one of the reasons why also that things have maybe turned
54:19
around for this team, and that is one Bryson Stott. My gosh,
54:22
he's been playing some tremendous baseball. He's a three hundred hitter at this point
54:28
and playing just so solid at second base. He leads the league in two
54:32
strike hits and overall too. Lauren, I just I love his story because
54:37
he could be as we've been dissecting what the farm system has been for many
54:42
many years, or we should say what the farm system hasn't been for many
54:45
years. I love the story. I love the developmental story of who and
54:51
what Bryson Stott has become as a Philadelphia, Philly drafted in twenty nineteen,
54:55
made his way through the farm system. This development story is something I think
55:00
the Phillies can really hang their hat on and not not necessarily you know,
55:04
hokey to be proud of it and stuff, but I think as fans,
55:08
it's good that we are seeing this. Okay, we have a developmental prospect
55:12
that's really doing some good things in the majors right now. How do you
55:15
see Bryson Stott's role potentially expanding or even changing more in the future on this
55:22
Phillies team because he's been such a critical part of it thus far the season.
55:27
Yeah, well, I think, you know, in his rookie year
55:30
last year, it seemed, you know, Jean Sagora really took him under
55:32
his wing. Yeah. Having them split up made me very sad, but
55:38
I think he you know, learned a lot from him. Obviously, he's
55:42
good friends with Harper and Bryce Harper is Bryce Harper, so um, you
55:47
know, having that sort of having that sort of you know, like mentorship,
55:54
it really helped him, you know, dig his heels in on the
55:58
team. And and as you said, you know, it's a good story
56:02
and I I'm under you know, I'm really under the impression that, like,
56:07
if you're gonna win, you at least have to have some homegrown town
56:12
on your team. Absolutely, and maybe that's just you know two thousand and
56:15
eight, you know that that blueprint that I like to follow, the two
56:20
thousand and eight have seen it so long, you know, Yeah, I
56:22
think that's absolutely right. Yeah. I mean you can't because you have you
56:27
have boomed two. You also drafted system. Um, and you know they're
56:32
back to back first round picks twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen. UM. And
56:37
then eventually when Andrew Painter gets up here, UM, I think it will
56:42
be a good mix of players to have. UM. And just having that,
56:47
knowing that they had that success with their prospects, it'll it's good moving
56:52
forward. UM, because as you said, like it's the form system has
57:00
not been good, right, so having those success stories, I mean,
57:05
Stots like exceeded my expectations this year. I mean I knew he was going
57:07
to have a good year. Um. He had a solid year last year.
57:10
UM, you know following June one, so UM. But he's yeah,
57:16
he's been such a good role player. He gets you know, he's
57:21
he's always on base, he's had multiple multi hit games. Um, so
57:27
yeah, I mean I think he's just going to develop more into a leader
57:31
for this team. Absolutely, absolutely, He's definitely a player. I'm sorry,
57:36
go ahead, No, it's okay. It's Sam. You know,
57:37
because Reese was also you know, fifth round pick by us and then eventually
57:44
developed into the leader he is today. I'm not saying, you know,
57:45
Stott will follow the same path, but you know, being there since the
57:50
beginning, definitely. I think it definitely helps a player. You know,
57:53
they've they've been around for it all. And you know, he went to
57:57
the postseason in his rookie year, so that says something too. You know,
58:01
he didn't have to wait to get that postseason experience. Yeah, yep,
58:07
he has that experience already. So now he has that, he has
58:09
that hunger to get back there. So absolutely, And I think what we're
58:14
talking about here in terms of Bryson Stott as a player that you can count
58:17
on, and I think he's really solidifying his in terms of like a niche
58:22
type of player in Major League Baseball. He's a player that you can count
58:27
on. And Bryson Stott and his teammate Nick Castianos, another player who it
58:31
seems like, Okay, this Phillies team can count on. They're the only
58:36
teammates in the majors right now currently hitting three hundred or better. It's it's
58:40
it's amazing that the Phillies have that on the roster right now. Castianos is
58:45
turning out to be a very reliable bat in this lineup, just like we
58:50
hoped for. I mean, he was a season late coming to the party
58:52
here, but he's good things now and it's one of the reasons the Phillies
58:57
have been winning games recently. He is the reason one of the reasons why.
59:01
So I'm wondering, kind of like with Bryson Stott, what does Nick
59:06
Castianos mean to this twenty twenty three squad in your opinion, Lauren, you
59:09
know, as we're here in mid June and what it looks like down the
59:14
road. Um, well, I was always under the belief that, you
59:21
know, Castianos was twenty twenty two is a fluke. I'm like, this
59:24
is not who he is as a player. I mean you were You're talking
59:28
about a player that was coming off of a thirty four home run, one
59:30
hundred RBI All Star season. Yeah, and you know, receive some MVP
59:36
votes. I'm like, this is not who he is, Like, I
59:38
refuse to believe that. You know, he puts on a Philly's uniform and
59:43
he just forgets how to hit right right. I know it's happened before,
59:45
but with him, I just I was like, this is not the case.
59:50
So I think Reese getting hurt, I think it also made him realize,
59:54
you know, just his own personal thing. I think he's just more
59:58
comfortable. He's mentioned that at multiple times that he just feels, you know,
1:00:01
more comfortable, you know, with where he's at and he's not so
1:00:07
much in his head. And I think Reese going down also kind of motivated
1:00:12
him. It made him realize, like, Okay, I really got to
1:00:14
step up because I mean you're talking about Reese who hit thirty home runs last
1:00:19
year. Thirty home runs is not nothing, right, right, So,
1:00:22
you know, just being able to contribute offensively the way he's supposed to,
1:00:28
I think that really kick started him, you know, to all right,
1:00:32
like I'm locked in um, and you know, he's well on his way
1:00:37
to going back to the All Star Game again. He's been he's been great
1:00:40
this year. He's been fantastic. Yeah, yeah, And I mean he
1:00:47
he's um. You know, I feel like he was hitting more for power
1:00:52
when in twenty twenty one. But you know, I'll I'll take the you
1:00:55
know, he's a doubles machine. He's he's always I mean, it's obviously
1:01:02
represented by his average, and I know average doesn't fully reflect sometimes, but
1:01:07
still, when you're a doubles machine, every team wants to have a doubles
1:01:09
machine. And we got yea and he still he has I think he has
1:01:13
about eight home runs, so I mean, he's still he's still contributing with
1:01:16
the long ball too. Absolutely good to see. He's been great. They
1:01:21
needed that for sure, Otherwise I don't think they would have had a chance.
1:01:24
Yeah, he didn't step up, and you need two three hundred hitters
1:01:29
to make up for Kyle Schober's average. Absolutely yeah, absolutely Again, Folks
1:01:32
were talking to Lauren Aymore from yard Barker dot com and also Rotoballer dot com
1:01:37
as well. If all we're on Twitter at phil lore Delphia, you can
1:01:43
give her a follow. She's a great follow and move it along here,
1:01:45
Lauren. I wanted to dive into another talent, piece of talent on this
1:01:52
team that was acquired during the off season. And that is one trade Turner
1:01:57
is It is good to see the trade Turners been waking up here in June.
1:02:01
His slash line as of us recording this three seventeen, three forty nine
1:02:07
and five thirty seven here in June, and we all wanted to see more
1:02:10
consistency from Trey Turner. I think we're starting to see that here. Glad
1:02:15
that he now feels quote locked in. He said that it's the first time
1:02:20
he's been feeling quote locked in basically since twenty twenty one in a recent report
1:02:24
that I had read, which I find absolutely astonishing. Anyway, you had
1:02:30
a good twenty twenty two I thought he did. Yeah, he did too.
1:02:35
It's like you weren't locked in last year. What the hell? But
1:02:37
his exit velocity, interestingly enough, has jumped eight miles per hour from eighty
1:02:43
eight miles per hour to ninety six miles per hour here in June. So
1:02:46
what are your thoughts about how Trey Turner has really turned things around here this
1:02:51
season as we're in mid June here. Yeah, So, I mean at
1:02:54
first I thought he had Castiano's disease. Yeah, it's like every free agent
1:03:00
they get, they come here and it just takes them all the long period
1:03:04
of time to get acclimated to Philadelphia. Yeah, yeah, it's very It's
1:03:07
really strange. I don't know why. I mean, schwarberd led the NL
1:03:10
and home runs last year and last year was his first year. Yeah,
1:03:14
I mean, it doesn't affect everybody, but um, I mean, same
1:03:21
same situation with Trey. I was like this again, this is not Trey
1:03:24
Turner. Again. Maybe he's just having those first year like jitters, but
1:03:29
I'm like, he's Trey Turner, like he should not be. He should
1:03:32
not be having this like um and just how he was too, you know,
1:03:38
saying he wasn't. It's the first time he's been locked in since twenty
1:03:42
twenty one. I mean, what was the World Baseball Classic then? I
1:03:45
mean I mean he hit five or six home runs? Yeah, exactly,
1:03:50
and you know, I was feeling really good then. I was like,
1:03:52
oh, this is our guy, like he's he's lighting it. And you
1:03:57
know, I don't know your opinion on the World Baseball Classic, but um,
1:04:00
I thought it was great. I mean I thought it was great.
1:04:01
We talked about it on this podcast and I even said, you know,
1:04:05
even if they moved the World Baseball Classic to the time when the All Star
1:04:10
Game is I think that might would actually be really good for Major League Baseball,
1:04:13
and Bazer actually suggested that, Okay, yeah, yeah, because then
1:04:18
by that point, you know, pitchers are more ramped up and stuff.
1:04:20
Ye, so they're not at risk of getting her. Um. I didn't
1:04:26
think it was a bad idea, but I thought that will ever happen.
1:04:29
Turner has been so valuable these past even a couple of weeks here within these
1:04:34
past series, and again, great to see that he's locked in and this
1:04:40
is the trade Turner that they're paying for right now. I know he had
1:04:45
a few rough games after this, but I think that home run he hit
1:04:48
it was in the end of May, when he um, he tied the
1:04:53
game in the ninth inning at home. I was like, this has to
1:04:57
be a like a turnaround point for yeah, because that, yeah, that
1:05:01
was that home run was really exciting. I mean like I was actually like
1:05:05
jumping up and down about the Phillies for the first time in a while.
1:05:09
So I'm like, this has to be the turn Like, this has to
1:05:12
be the turnaround. And you know, he had a few rough series after
1:05:15
that, but I mean, like it does seem like he has turned it
1:05:21
around since then. I think I think there's something to be said about not
1:05:26
just the pitchers getting acclimated to the pitch count or the pitch clock. I'm
1:05:30
sorry, yeah, but even batters as well. And yes, some some
1:05:34
of the talent that we see in Major League Baseball they've been able to handle
1:05:38
it well. Others, and I'll say, even like with Aaron Nola,
1:05:42
have not been able to handle it well. Certain players just based on who
1:05:45
they are, their play on the field, they're pitching on the mound,
1:05:48
they are able to handle it or not handle it as well. It's taking
1:05:54
some individuals a little bit longer to get acclimated to it. It's been interesting
1:05:58
to see it throughout the league. And you know, I think we're seeing
1:06:01
that too moving along here, Lauren, you know in the NL East Division
1:06:06
as well. My god, what a bizarre division this has been thus far.
1:06:11
I didn't think the Mets were going to slip as bad as they have,
1:06:15
and maybe maybe I should have, considering they didn't do too much from
1:06:17
a batting standpoint. Office, yes exactly. I just what are your thoughts
1:06:25
about you know, this Naly East here, and I know we're going to
1:06:27
get into some more nly East talk as it pertains to like the Marlins and
1:06:30
just how how how this division is going to be shaping up. Um,
1:06:33
but this mets implosion here within the division. Like what are your thoughts on
1:06:40
what we're seeing from them? And like are they are they going to be
1:06:43
a serious contender in this division? Well, I just think they've always overpaid
1:06:49
the wrong people. Yeah, and I mean I get he's justin Verlinder,
1:06:56
but offering justin Verlinder that much money when he's what thirty nine, which you
1:07:01
know for a picture is you know it's pretty, it's up there. Um,
1:07:05
you know, he's a future Hall of Famer. I get it,
1:07:09
but I mean him insures are have not been the one two punch that they
1:07:15
needed at all. So um, I'm mean I'm not entirely surprised by it,
1:07:19
um because they're they're aging pictures. Um. And I I'm really glad
1:07:26
that the Phillies did not spend their money that way. Um. And yeah,
1:07:31
I mean their lineup last year, I think they were lucking into some
1:07:39
offense. Uh. Their lineup never really scared me all that much. I
1:07:44
mean, especially without Pete Alonzo. Now he was there, he was their
1:07:48
biggest threat. Um. I mean, Lindor largely has always been disappointing since
1:07:55
they signed him. Um So, I mean unless you know Endoor and I
1:08:00
I was thinking about this last night. I really wanted the Phillies to sign
1:08:04
Starling Marche at the time. I'm so glad they did it. Um,
1:08:10
that was definitely I was definitely wrong in wanting that because I mean, again,
1:08:15
he's also a veteran. He's you know, I know he has the
1:08:17
stolen bass aspect, but yeah, he is. Also he hasn't been hasn't
1:08:24
been that great um so. I And again it's the Mets, like I
1:08:29
said, so I'm not entirely surprised. Yeah, yeah, I'm not entirely
1:08:34
surprised. And um, you know they they've had some injuries too, to
1:08:39
be fair like to their rotation. Um. But yeah, I mean,
1:08:45
especially without Alonzo, it's hard to see them turning it around. Yeah.
1:08:48
Um. And I mean they had a what was it, ten like ten
1:08:55
game lead over the Braves last year and they blew that. So I it's
1:09:00
they're just they're curse, they're curse franchise. Um all right, well,
1:09:04
I mean let's we just have to laugh at their expense exactly exactly. The
1:09:09
last topic though that I wanted to dive into with you really really deals within
1:09:14
this NL East and and this Miami Marlins team. I mean, like it
1:09:17
or not, the Marlins are surprising everybody this season. Their second in the
1:09:21
division as of US recording this and it's amazing how there are only a few
1:09:25
games out of first place here. I mean, how in all seriousness,
1:09:29
like, how serious should we be taking this Marlins team? And how do
1:09:32
you just kind of see this division taking shape from now until the Arts All
1:09:35
Star Game? Perhaps? Well, I think having you know, acquiring Louise
1:09:41
Rise in the offseason, that was huge for them. Obviously he's been even
1:09:45
better than they hoped for I think, um, you know, he has
1:09:49
the potential to bat four hundred. That's crazy. So yeah, um so
1:09:56
he I And of course he hit for the cycle against US earlier this season.
1:10:00
Um so he's the real deal. I mean, he's been carrying them.
1:10:03
Um and even though Sandy all Contra hasn't been that good this year coming
1:10:09
off of his cy young season, I mean, the Marlins just always have
1:10:13
good pitching. Yeah, uh, you know, they have Luzardo um Edward
1:10:18
Cabrera has been good. I've had him a few times on Fantasy and he's
1:10:21
always been good for me. So um oh yeah, uh, Yuri Perez.
1:10:29
You know they've had their Their pitching is just always good and if you
1:10:32
have if your pitching is good, you're usually going to be doing well.
1:10:36
Hence the Phillies because the pitching has finally turned it around, right, um
1:10:42
So, I I don't know how serious I'm gonna take it. Um.
1:10:47
And I know our our old pal Jean has not been doing well. I
1:10:50
know he just he just got his first home runner the season the other day.
1:10:55
Yeah, um so, I mean, but he's still he still provides
1:11:00
those clutch hits, so that's helped them along the way. Um. So,
1:11:04
the Phillies could get right back into this here, I mean, the
1:11:06
Phillies could get right back into this take that second spot. Serious. Yeah,
1:11:12
it's hard to say how serious to take the Marlins, but um it's
1:11:17
yeah yeah um And I mean the Phillies at least have found some success against
1:11:24
the Marlins last year. I know that the Marlins always get the Phillies trouble,
1:11:28
so hopefully when they meet again, it's the Phillies are able to come
1:11:32
out victorious against them, but let's hope and folks. Lauren anymore from Yard
1:11:40
Barker dot com, Rotoballer dot com as well follower on Twitter at phil lare
1:11:45
Delphia. Absolutely great follow Lauren. Thank you so much for taking the time
1:11:49
to join us here on the pod this week, and I'd love to talk
1:11:51
to you at some point down the road talk more Major League Baseball and Phillies.
1:11:57
Yeah, and hopefully we're We're up there in the wild card race,
1:12:00
so let's hope we are. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, Well, the
1:12:05
Phillies are definitely able to contend I think here in this NL East. Yes,
1:12:10
they currently are in third in the division. I just can't see the
1:12:14
Miami Marlins continuing to be consistent as they have been, and I know maybe
1:12:19
they will because they're Lauren and I were just talking about. They are surprising
1:12:23
all of us in terms of where they're at right now at this point in
1:12:26
mid June. Who knows, maybe they can sustain that success and consistency.
1:12:30
I don't think so, just given some of the talent on that team,
1:12:33
especially from a batting perspective, but it remains to be seen. Look,
1:12:38
the Philadelphia Phillies winning as of us recording this nine out of their past eleven
1:12:42
games. There's something to be said for this team right now is we are
1:12:45
looking towards the All Star break. What's going to happen in terms of the
1:12:47
trade deadline as well. We're gonna certainly be talking about that a lot more
1:12:51
here on the PST podcast show in the future. So thanks so much for
1:12:56
taking the time to listen to us long time listeners. Thank you for being
1:13:00
around, sticking around. Hope you're enjoying the content as always. If you're
1:13:02
new to the show, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on, give
1:13:08
us a follow on Apple Podcasts, Rate and review the show as well.
1:13:12
We greatly appreciate it. And Philadelphia Sportstable dot com that's where you can catch
1:13:15
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1:13:20
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