Sal Capaccio's Biggest Takeaways From The Bills Resigning Damar Hamlin

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I'm Spencer and I work at United Healthcare.

Suspenser, why do you care?

I care because my daughter, Adeline, has special needs.

I am motivated by Adeline who inspires me every day.

I am driven to help families like mine navigate the healthcare system.

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It's Sal Kappaceo!

Heing up right behind the bills bench right now with their flags

and they're hey, hey, hey, hey hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, let's go Buffalo hechoon!

Never knew aWGR sports radio 550

Welcome back.

I reached out to Sal this morning to tell him about

a show I watched last night that I

would recommend, not just if you're a Yankee fan, maybe better if you're not.

not. Peacock, I said to sell Netflix, but I have corrected that since Peacock has Bronx

Zoo 90 and the story of how the Yankees under George Steinbrunner in 1990 just completely

fell apart. We've talked about before how the Yankees won more games in the decade of the

80s than any other team. They weren't known for like winning, they didn't win a world series,

but they were the winningest team of the 80s. 1990, different story. And it's a three,

it's maybe four or five hours in total sale. And you're going to love it. I mean, unless

you have sort of pains from having lived through that team as a fan, it's, I mean, it's,

it's funny. And you know, it wasn't funny at the time. I'm sure for those guys and

for Yankees fans, but I recommend on Peacock, Bronx Zoo 90.

I'll have to check it out. No, I mean, the late 80s, early 90s Yankees, like they were

kind of like, man, why can't this team be better? Kind of a couple, like kind of okay season.

They weren't that great. And the 95 obviously was, you know, Mariners and Edgar Martinez.

And that's when you knew that there were, there was something brewing there, right? For sure.

Did you hear the story that Barry Bond's told on Netflix about the Yankees when he was a free

agent the other day. I don't know that one. I didn't know about this. You refresh me here.

I don't think I quite have it. I never knew this. But Barry Bond said on the broadcast

that I'm on. And he said when he became a free agent from the pirates, he said, George

Seimerter called him and said, I'm going to make you the highest paid player baseball.

Seimer the Yankees, but you have to tell me by 2 p.m. today, basically, whatever you know,

he's like, he gave him like a couple hours. And he's like, oh, well, that's great. But I don't

know what I want to do. Like, give me a minute. He like hung up the phone and thought about it. He

said he got like upset that they were giving him a timeline. He's like, I'm not going to do it.

I'm going to go back. Am I going to San Francisco? Or otherwise, he would have been a Yankee.

The story I read about this said that that phone call lines up with a time where Steinbrenner was

suspended and should not have been allowed to be conducting Yankees business, but did it anyway,

by telling that story sort of, tell me whatever he's deceased. But the shocker, Steinbrenner didn't

really respect the rules of the suspension. I'm going to want to check this out too. We're going

to talk to an author, a long time New York Post columnist, Mike Vicaro, week after Easter coming

up. He's got a book out called The Bosses of the Bronx. This episode is brought to you by progressive.

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at the best price. I'm Brian, I work at United Health Care. So Brian, why do you care?

I care because I don't want to leave anybody behind. I oversee one of the biggest resource

center in United Health Care. I see people walk in in my office every day, just like my parents.

They have no idea about the health care. I feel like they are my uncles, aunties.

I treat this people life family. I'm Brian, and I'm committed to care.

IXL, that's the hell after I'm done with it. I'm going to get it to Mike before we have

Mike for Kauron. You might want to check that out. I'm like a couple chapters in and really

enjoying it so far. It's all about this time-brenner ownership, how he came to own the team,

and then I'm through. There's a lot of juicy stuff. It's so good. I didn't know so much of this

when he signed Winfield. Winfield gave him a hard time and the way the contract was worded

had $10 million more coming than Steinbrunner intended. Before the press conference when they

introduced Winfield, Steinbrunner was furious with him and never stopped trying to aggravate him

and dig up dirt on him. That's eventually how he gets suspended through a gambler. The gambler,

how he spear is on the show. He tells his side of that story and how he got involved with

Steinbrunner and all of this. It's great. That suspension means Gene Michael replaces

Steinbrunner as general manager of the team, an overseer of the team, and Michael drafts all

those guys that became a dynasty. Winfield was my favorite Yankee when I was younger.

I loved him and remember he hits the pigeon in Toronto, right? He throws the ball and hits

a pigeon. The famous line from George Steinbrunner was, he couldn't even hit the cutoff man. How

was he supposed to hit the pigeon? Steinbrunner just hated him publicly. It definitely comes across here.

Okay. The bills make a little bit of news today bringing back Demar Hamlin. I was glad to hear

about it. I think I always want to have Hamlin play for the bills, but I'm sure this wasn't

mostly for sentimental reasons. What do you think of this all and sort of the fit now under a new

defensive coordinator? He's a polarizing player and Mike, I think there are bills for you to do

think they do it for sentimental reasons. I agree with you. That's not why. You do it because you

think he's going to help your roster, but he's been polarizing. Part of it is because he was put

in a situation a couple of years ago where quite frankly, he should have been in because he wasn't

in a high level safety, but he had to play because it's kind of all they had. It was just a stark

difference and unfair to him, really, to be compared to Mike, Jordan Boyer. You have to

didn't have those two guys. You didn't have those guys. I'm quite frankly surprised too. I

did not think Demar Hamlin would come back. A big reason for me is my natural reflex on a lot

of these things over nine years has been, oh yeah, well, he knows the system. Well,

it's a new system now. There's like 13 free agents that they did not resign. When you guys

laid them out, we talked about it last week, all the defensive guys who have who are still free

agents who ever resign, if you're going to say order them on their likelihood to come back,

I wouldn't get to Demar very quickly for that very reason. Demar represents to me a high floor guy,

but low ceiling guy that you can do much better than, but I've always said also,

like every team has players like Demar Hamlin. If you're expected, he's not a pro-bola,

he's not an all pro, but the fact that they have this new defensive coordinator,

the fact that they had such an overhaul and defense, I just didn't expect it. But I'm

mostly here to tell you like he's fine. You might even make the team. We don't know.

This is where I'm waiting. I'm waiting for you to say the thing about the 90 players.

You might not make the team. And by the way, what's his number going to be? Probably minimum salary.

He might not even count on the top 51 salary cap books at this point, to be honest with you.

Yeah, like the biggest criticism I could make here is, well, we know the ceiling's low.

So if he's a depth guy, get a different depth guy, a younger, newer depth guy that you might

uncover, like, you know, oh, wow, look, this guy can really help us. He can really, you know,

be more than just a backup or a special team or whatever, but they can still do that. That's

the 90 player point, right? It's like, you know, I'm not, you know, ready to go to the mattresses

over it hardly. I mean, like, okay, like you said, we'll see if he makes it. Like I think he's

outranked by the two guys they signed a couple weeks ago already that started games in the league

last year, you know, Stone and C. J. Gardner Johnson. And maybe Hamlin right now is their fourth

safety. And we'll see what else, you know, they end up doing. And actually, I thought, you know,

so was the Marhamman replacement basically? Yeah. Like to me, he just screams like a player like

tomorrow, which is he's not going to make these wild plays and game changing plays. He's not a guy

you want in the field all the time, but he's insurance that if you need somebody to get through a game,

you've got to start him here and there. That's fine. He could play a lot of special teams for you.

No problem. I thought, okay, when they signed, you know, Smith, that was even more of a,

oh yeah, like, Demar's probably done like not sure where he winds up. So I'm surprised by this,

but look, I mean, if Demar Hamlin and his agent went to the bills and said, we don't want to play

anywhere else. We're going to come back at a minimum deal. And, you know, we love to be here.

The bills look at the roster and go, okay, what can it hurt? It doesn't mean he has to be here.

You know, on September 9, 10, 11, whenever the season starts. So yeah, I think it's a really,

but he's super polarizing. I mean, the reaction online from fans just like last year, super

predictable, which is, oh my god, why are they doing this? He stinks or, oh yeah, great story. They

just like to feel good PR. That's not why they're doing it. They're doing it because they need players

like this. Whether his name is Demar Hamlin or Geno Smith or Joe, whatever, these are players that

every team has on their roster. Right. Geno Stone. I don't know how much. Geno Stone.

I don't know how much PR juices left anyway with Hamlin. Like for anybody to sort of be outraged

over it, I think doesn't have an understanding of really what the cost benefit is. I mean,

there's a little bit. My hand is up because I think about this, you know, what happened with him

when the news breaks. What is safety anymore for them as a draft priority? And we might have

talked about this a little bit on Wednesday or recently, I know, but with every signing at a

position, I kind of want to just double back to, you know, not that Demar Hamlin means they wouldn't

draft a safety in the first round or anything like that. But is that possible? There are mock drafts

that would put a safety on the bills. Yeah. I mentioned Jordan Hancock before you start

answering, so that's another young, there's maybe a young guy that I'm even thinking of that,

you know, could come on and help you. We'll see. There's more of a developmental guy fifth round

pick from last year. All right. Sorry. What do you think? Safety as far as the draft goes. Now,

they've got five, five guys here. I wonder if they few Jordan Hancock more as a nickel

going into this year because, you know, you have D. Alfred, you sign, you let Terran Johnson go,

now you've signed another safety. So I wonder if they maybe that's where he falls and that's

why you bring back a guy like Demar. And yes, Geno Stone. And by the way, every time I do it,

I say Geno Smith, right? It's just such a reflex to say Geno Smith when I say Geno Stone. But

maybe that's the case. I do think safety is still something they could do early in the draft,

even first rounds of good safety class. I just think I'm fascinated by CJ Gerner Johnson,

like he's going to start, like he's got to be the starter right now. You're paying him starters

money. He's a really good player, but he's such a wild card. You don't know what you're going to get

with him. And the chances are that he's going to be on the team for one year because he'll come in

and you're going to have him play. And then you're going to move off on because that's just what

happens. That's the book on him. Every team does this. So you need a longer term solution. You have

cold dish up for two more years on his rookie contract. And then you just have a bunch of one-year

guys other than Jordan Hancock to Bulldogs Point, which is right. Unless you feel that he can develop

into something. And maybe that winds up and you don't have to revisit it. But it would be nice to

have a pair of younger safeties, you know, that you can really rely on because I just don't know

what Joe and CJ Gerner Johnson is going to bring. And he could wind up being, honestly, he could

wind up being on all pro or he could wind up being like not on the team and we check. Yeah, right.

Yeah, that's right. Good luck with Iowa tomorrow. All right. You're going in San and Joe's thing,

huh? I mean, it sounds like if you get Iowa, then you could chop it with a lot of people,

right? Oh, yeah. It's so chalky again, but you have to get Iowa.

I have everybody open tonight. I could take any team.

Oh, which is crazy. Great job. So I think I'm going to take Michigan tonight because it feels

like it's just the right like they're going to win. And I don't really trust any of the other teams.

I could take Duke. But man, I can see St. John's beaten Duke. I think I can see I'll be

beating Michigan, but I think Michigan's the play because Alabama's a little bit depleted.

Michigan's really, really strong. The problem is tomorrow, literally, I have to take Iowa.

There's the only team I have left this playing tomorrow. Well, you've played it all the way out

to the end. I hope like if you take Michigan, they can't win the tournament and they like the

favorite to win the tournament. That's okay. And that's better if you win because more people will

be on them. What would happen? Do you know what happens in this like when like certain amount of

people left like you don't have to have a winner, right? I mean, one person can't be standing all

the time, obviously. Well, if it's the semi's and there's one player left, then that's it.

If it goes all the way to the final and there are teams multiple guys like yourself who have the

winner, then they'll chop the whole amount. Chop it up. Yeah, for sure. But this is really interesting

and fun, but it gets very harrowing as well. The last two years have felt like years. I don't know

this for sure because I'm not playing in Joe Strausky's survivor this year, but it's so chalky

again that it probably does go all the way. I mean, I think the winner probably does go all the way.

So figure out how best to do that, I guess. Not to try to change your mind on tonight, but

listen, I mean, I thought of Iowa State tonight because I don't think I'll take them after this,

but I just don't feel like that's a like I mean, I don't know Tennessee could win. I guess my

philosophy, I guess at the end of the day is surviving advance, right? And to me, the best chance

to survive in advance tonight is Michigan tonight. That's probably right. Okay, good luck.

Thanks, guys. All right. So Kupaccio on the Western hotline his appearances are brought to you by

New York's only outlet liquor. When you need to stock up, it's the place to buy a case. What's your

outlet? I would definitely not use Michigan tonight. Yeah. I can't say what I definitely

or definitely would not do because I, but I just, yeah, I got it sales pool. I didn't want to say

it to him. I stopped following it. I got bounced, but it was, I said great job just because I mean,

to get to get, you know, what's it been like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Thursday is what

he's won so far, right? That's that's pretty. I got through two days and I was like, whoa, I get

to pick on Saturday, but it does sound like he's playing it pretty safe. Yeah, like he's used everybody

on one side except for Iowa. Yeah. Right. Yeah. When you got a win. Right. But I mean, I would be

out too because I'd be trying to get cute. Right. Right. In the first week, you didn't lose that way,

but I would have, I would have picked a nine or a ten or somebody like that. Yeah. The first round

and, you know, across your fingers, but he'll, we'll see if he gets stuck. Yeah. I was trying to

avoid teams that I thought were going to win it myself. Like that, you know, it was, you know,

I would still be doing the first two days of the tournament was easy to do. And, you know,

but I, I struck out on Gonzaga and that was the end of that. I think I would still be doing that

tonight. Yeah. You want to pick a team and I he mentioned Iowa State. Maybe that's picked the

favorite or even Alabama's pretty, I wouldn't do that. Pick the favorite tonight that you think

has the least chance to win the championship. Right. Mike's open the bulldog here. Paul Hamilton at

six Sabers pregame. This is WGR. This episode is brought to you by Progressive.

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I'm Spencer and I work at United Health Care.

Suspenser, why do you care? I care because my daughter Adeline has special needs.

I am motivated by Adeline who inspires me every day. I am driven to help families like mine

navigate the healthcare system. I'm so blessed to lead an amazing team at United Health Care

focusing on the member experience and making that better. I'm Spencer and I'm committed to care.

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