What Would Jordan Actually Average in Today’s NBA? Plus Our Annual MLB Preview w/ Jeff Passan!

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I did it. Would Jordan get 50 in today's game?

I say no, I lay out the case.

Jeff Passon, he is all over it.

We've run through kind of every division and a bunch of other stuff.

Is the MLB taking over the NBA?

We've got the Alliance after winning King of the Core and, of course,

Life Advice.

That's actually kind of Jeff Passon thing, but he's not in on it for this one.

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I was watching Hoops last night and the BAM 83 point game still gets referenced,

and without fail, somebody brings up Jordan every single time it's talked about,

and I get it, and I'm about to do it right now because I've been thinking about this.

There's a premise because BAM of all people scores 83, but really, we should be focusing

on that stretch where Luke went for 70 and B went for 70 and it was like,

hey, what the hell's going on right now? It's always the, what would Jordan do?

I thought it was what would Jesus do. I thought there was a ton of, I was like, maybe it's just,

there's way more Hoops fans out there than people want to give credit for it.

Would Jordan score 50 again? No, he wouldn't. I'm going to run through Y.

The good things about the pro-Jordan arguments are that there's way more space now

without question because of the shooting and ignore his three point shooting numbers because

he would have prioritized it. He would have been good at it. I'm not saying he'd be stiff,

but here's a guy that came out of the draft and Rod Thorne, I was reading his gathering report

on him when he drafted him this morning, and even Rod Thorne was sort of paraphrasing his mindset

on the whole thing. He's like, we knew he was going to be a good player. We never thought he was

going to be this, and we knew we were a little worried about, like, could he develop a shot?

He actually said, too, he's like, he had a good handle, not a great handle, but I think there's

some real math that we have to, so there's going to be a little math here, but I think there's some

numbers that can kind of put this whole thing to bed as great as Jordan is, right? So in MJ's

third year, he scored 37 a game on 28 shot attempts and 12 free throw attempts per game. That's 8687.

That's the 13th most shot attempts by player per game in NBA history. Wilk has six of the top

nine. Do you want to know the all-time record? I'll give you a second to think about it.

Okay, 39.49 shot attempts per game in 61-62 when he scored 50 a game. So only Iverson and MJ

cracked the top 15 that are considered, I would say, modern players, although going back 49

seasons doesn't feel all that modern. I don't feel modern. Some moments, you know, in the morning

sometimes, like, I don't feel super modern right now, but, you know, we've got a bunch of wills,

we've got a little pistol peat in there. There's a Rick Barrett, a couple other guys.

And then you have Iverson, the year after we won MVP, and then you have Jordan that 8687. So it's

just not a normal thing to be shooting 28 a game. It just doesn't happen very often. Iverson

in 0102, again, the season after his MVP scores 31 a game. Philly actually went 43 and 39. You

want to knock me for Iverson. He missed 20 games that season. They'd have a better regular season.

Well, they lost in the first round. And I just think, like, when you start getting a little

north of 24 shot attempts per game in today's game, I think it starts to become, like, diminishing

returns on that. Again, that's my opinion on the Haley's centric thing. We've talked about it

in the past. Kobe in his 0506 campaign scored 35 a game on 27 shot attempts. Harden, 18, 19,

36 a game, 25 attempts. Westbrook, 16 and 17, when he won the MVP,

because Durant left for Golden State, 32 a game on 24 shot attempts. Then you had a beads,

MVP, season 33 a game, 20 shot attempts per game. Less shot attempts for him.

Usually he's going to play less minutes than some of these other perimeter guys.

Let's just spend a couple minutes on Will, 1961, 62, and try to figure out what the hell is going on.

So again, he averages 50.4. His stat line for the season is 50, 26 and 2. Second in the MVP

that year, obviously, it's a Bill Russell. But this is where the era is in understanding these

errors and going to look in the stuff up matters. Because in 61, 62, the NBA had this outlier three

year stretch where the shot attempts, and this is the number I'm going to focus on. This is the

one you want to pay attention to. Shot attempts per team per game over NBA history. During Will's 50

points season, teams averaged over 107 shot attempts per game. The three air numbers that jump

out at you are from 59 to 62. It's 109. It's 108 and 107.7. Just to add further context to this.

Back then, teams averaged 73 rebounds per game. Today, they averaged 44 rebounds per game.

Dudes got the ball up and they got it up quick. And Will had the greenest of, there's not even,

I don't even know if you can call it green, how light his or how green his light was.

So now let's go back to MJ's 37 points for game season. That year, the NBA averaged 88.8

shot attempts per team per game. Like 20 less. Alright, because the will things just over there

doesn't matter. It's always absurd. But if you look at Jordan's run and where the shot attempts were

at least that season, let's compare that 88.8 number to these other numbers of more modern

output scoring. Kobe league average for shot attempts. Again, per team per game 89. Harden 89.

Westbrook's year 85 and beads MVP season 88. Now I dug into it a little bit further and said,

alright, well, didn't it slow down a little bit there in the 90s? Yeah, it did. There's a couple

seasons there where it dipped below 80 shots per game per team. But over the course of like Jordan's

prime years and I left out the wizard's years, it averages out to about 85 shot attempts per game

per team, which is really only like four off of where we're at right now. And, you know, look,

even though the game is visually different. And again, there's so much more space. You could say

that Jordan would live at the free throw line in a way that we've never seen before with the way

the game is called on the ball, but there were way more free throw attempts rewarded. Or I should

say awarded back then, then there are now the free throw numbers are way lower now league wide

than they were during Jordan's years. So now let's just take that and say, okay, well, if we're

talking about on average from Jordan's prime years to where we're at now, like only four or five

extra shots in today's game, say you give him all five shots, which isn't likely, but give him

all five, give him 60 percent, throw in a three there. And that's when he's scoring like between 30

and 32 again. So even if you do the 37 game season, we're really only talking about

at best and I'm being really generous here, six to seven points a game, add in the free throws,

that's off the 37 points per game season. So is it 45? And I'm being ridiculous,

I'm giving him 60 percent, I'm giving him a three, I'm giving him some extra free throws and I'm

giving him all of the extra shots. It's just not 50. 50 should be completely dismissed because I

don't think that person's ever really done the math. I hadn't really done it until this morning.

The other thing you have to ask yourself as a basketball player is what do you actually want to do?

Because when Lucas scored 70, which I thought was the most ethical of this, this high scoring

output stuff that we've seen in the last couple of years, because they actually still had to win

the game and I was watching and it was making passes and I was like, oh, he's not actually just taking

when he takes a lot of shots. But like if Lucas showed up to the gym every single night going,

I want to try to get 50. He would get it a lot, not every fucking night.

You don't think Steph, if Steph just decided, like, yeah, I want to see if I can get 50 tonight.

And that was the way he treated an entire season. He could probably get 50.

You know, I think we are dismissive of the Kobe season in 05, 06 and trying to figure out,

like, is that what an MJ season would look like? Kobe's pissed. The team isn't very good. He's

taken 27, 28 shots of game. He's hit three. He's taken six and a half threes of game. He's

getting to the free throw line. And even in that season, he only averaged 35 of games. So you're

going to take that Kobe that year, that determined to only score because he pissed off at the world.

And you're going to give Jordan another 15 points. I don't, I don't, I don't see that at all.

That's probably the best example that we have. And it's, it's likely ignored in the if MJ could

score 50 points again today. And not to offer up basic math as profound, but it's worth reminding

all of ourselves. That means every time in this hypothetical that MJ scored 40, he would have to

score 60 to balance it out. Jordan had 60 points four times ever in 70 plus years of NBA.

His we go back to 1949. A player has scored 60, 70 times ever. Again, this is the greatest guy

ever to do it. And we're talking about Jordan. And it's like, I think that there's a season he

wanted 50 and night. But it's just not going to happen. Maybe the better question is, would Jordan

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Opening day is just around the corner and we are thrilled. We just had them on. Let's have them on

again. It's Jeff Bass in ESPN, senior writer for baseball. He has a new podcast. He's launching

two. I'm excited to talk to him about that if he's allowed to tell us about his first episode.

It's good to see you, man. I'm ready for some baseball. I'm excited for it. The thing is we've had

baseball and normally this time of year, there is no meaningful baseball. It's just spring training,

playing out the string until opening day starts, but yeah, the WBC was pretty awesome. It was great

to see like after last time and the way that it ended with Mike Trout striking out against

Shohei and Tommy, can they go and one up that? I don't know if they won up to it, but I think

at very least it was as exciting and as good as the last time.

Yeah, once I gave it a chance, I knew I was like, I'm just not going to have a time. The

amount of time I need to watch every one of these games and then it was just great because you've

got people text you about it, they didn't expect a text you about baseball and weird way, I think

it works because how much fun it was in the drama of the final with Venezuela. It almost was

doing the regular season a huge benefit despite that I know how disrupting it can be

to spring training and trying to get your starters lined up for opening day and some of the

restrictions even Venezuela was dealing with with their closer, but it's probably going to be

something that you would think would carry into in the momentum in general that baseball has,

but let's just stay at least with the World Baseball Classic because I know that you were covering it

and probably to this point, it's doing the regular season start probably a huge benefit.

Enormous, I think because it's just like storylines that get to carry over into the regular season

now and it can be as small as something like what Italy did and Vinnie Pass Quentino who is in the

Kansas City Royals Clubhouse every day and Salvador Perez has been around there for a decade and

half right now and is the unquestioned captain of that team. So Vinnie Pass Quentino for the first

time in his career actually got to see what it was like to lead and you know like leadership can

be an extremely tough thing, especially of young 20-somethings who have minds of their own,

but watching them all gravitate toward him and take on this idea that we want to make baseball

in Italy a thing. You know, on that roster, team Italy, there were three Italian Italians and

like 24 Italian Americans and yet the way that they embraced it, everything from, you know,

celebrating home runs with espresso shots, to giving out bottles of wine to the players of the game,

to wearing suits and trying to look like fine Italian gentlemen. They were fully bought in

and they made it to the semi-finals and you know and Gazette del Sporte and Italy, all of a sudden

you have baseball on the front page, like that's the point of this tournament. It goes beyond what we

have here in the United States and in Japan where it's like very clearly a huge thing that Netflix

was willing to pay nine figures for or one time. Yeah, dude. Yeah, like it's, I mean it's a big,

big deal over there and even more so I think in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic where

national identities revolve around baseball and it's what I love and it's why I think we saw

the passion that we did and we saw Daniel Polensia shedding a tear before he threw the last pitch

that won Venezuela that game. Like these are second and third world countries where the infrastructure

is just not there to support a lot and yet baseball has been able to thrive amid that and become

something that is their proudest export and to see it given the stage that it had and to see both

of those teams play the way that they did and spread this joy that they have with baseball that

sometimes feels like it's missing from the American side. I think it just shows people and

illustrates that baseball can be fun and baseball can actually be cool and the confluence of that

in the pitch clock and all of these things that have happened over the last half decade or so.

I think it's put baseball in a position to really capitalize on that.

I want to stay on this because I know Ethan Strauss put together a pretty good piece and just

something that people are talking about and kind of the race for who's behind football here

between baseball and the NBA and as more of an NBA guy certainly anyone listening to this understands.

There are things that I don't like about the NBA. I think anybody that is honest with how I

talk about certain things but it doesn't mean it's enough for me to not care or watch or be

entertained. So sometimes it feels like when you pick a side it's like well I never want to be

critical of the thing that I'm defending all the time and that just I think is very disingenuous.

But one of the mistakes you can make with basketball is that it's so omnipresent in social media.

You know it's just endless so then it's like okay is this an actual like indicator of where it is

in our everyday consciousness is that where the value is or you just go straight up to ratings

where I think then some of the arguments against the NBA I think are completely whether it's

politically driven which I've talked about in the past where it's like hey look what Yankees Dodgers

did against what okay see in Indiana like I mean are you being fair when you're talking about

markets when we're comparing championships so it's like I don't actually want to pick a part

baseball because I love baseball too but sometimes I think the social media part of it because I

just don't see a lot of people going like hey I you know I don't think Kevin Brown you know he

wouldn't be able to pitch today we just don't have that kind of content with baseball and by the way

Kevin Brown could pitch an error any single error I was just trying to think of somebody in my

head that wasn't like one of the all-timers but I was trying to think of somebody who's been

retired Mark Portugal is always like this default old old school pitcher that'd be like Mark

Portugal couldn't even pitch in today's game and then conversely somebody might say like Mark

Portugal would strike out 300 in today's game I don't know that you have that generational

shitting on each other that basketball has more so than any other sport but then again it's that

mean it's more popular because more of that exists versus the other sports where it doesn't

exist at all like that's probably a terrible indicator so I would ask you like where do you think

this is in the race or I guess the belt for what is always going to be number two boy that's

such a tough thing to measure because you do have all of these different signals signal one is

going to be television ratings and television ratings are going to drive money coming into each

league and look the NBA did awesome in its TV deal like it's it you cannot look at the NBA's TV

deal and think it's anything other than a win for the league and for the player because baseball

is significantly far behind on that and it's it's why after 2028 when MLB's national TV rights

expire they could potentially be packaging that with the local television rights as well since you

know MLB is running half the RSNs essentially these days after the collapse of diamond sports or

whatever it's now called though you have TV ratings here you have social media elsewhere and yeah

there's not as much engagement with MLB content though I think more and more it's grown in that

respect and by the way all that's engagement stuff in the impression numbers and I like the

majority of it's complete bullshit anyway yeah I don't even know what the value is of it but go ahead

yeah that's it wait I mean it's it's the value of it is is not a whole lot it's just in the idea

of zeitgeist like like what is present in our sporting minds right now and that's where I think

baseball is winning now we need to acknowledge that the NBA is in the middle of a bad regular season

a regular season where there have been where the storylines and the conversations have been around

tanking have been around load management have been around injuries have been around all these things

that have negative connotations to them so I think fixing like the dialogue about fixing the NBA

versus holy shit majorly baseball's running this awesome tournament right now I don't think

the mid season tournament has done what the NBA had hoped that it would necessarily and baseball

coming off the world series that it did transitioning into the wvc as that momentum right now and it's

just you know I've been covering this word for 23 years now and I might just be a prisoner of the

moment I might just be looking at all the things that I see as positives and acting like that

there's some noise to the signal but I'll say this at McAfee went to the wvc final and has been

talking about it on his show which is almost an entirely football based show even a smith

have me on his radio show for a half hour the day after the wvc final and was talking about how he

hasn't enjoyed baseball like this since red jaxon hit three home runs which was 40 years ago

so what we have you know media personalities acknowledging where baseball is right now isn't

in and of itself an indicator that the game has turned to corner necessarily but what I think it does

is it makes baseball okay in the minds of fans where for years baseball had this connotation round

it that was just negative it's slow it's boring it doesn't have any stars well it's not slow anymore

it you know you can have baseball games that are faster than NBA games these days it's not boring and

I think a lot of that frankly is due to the fact that 20 years ago major league baseball and the

players association dreamt up this idea for the wvc and that in the two decades since what has

happened is that the the cultures of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela and Japan which are

different than American baseball culture have not just infiltrated the sport but have changed it

Bryce Harper a decade ago is not flipping the shit out of his back after he hits that home run

Bryce Harper this time shuts the thing into the air and by the time he comes around the bases

and salutes going around third base this point to the flag on his shoulder going into home play

all of his teammates are there the American dugout would not have emptied in years past and yet

because the Dominican dugout does because the Venezuelan dugout does because all these other teams show

that baseball doesn't need to be so self-serious I think the Americans especially the younger ones

have taken that lesson and said you know what we can have a little chill we can be cool too

and and that's how a game changes it's not by brute forcing it it's not by shoving it down

their throat and saying you must be that way it's by looking at the response to all these other

people in the way that they're doing it and saying you know we can have some of that as well

and that's where I think baseball is winning right now all the things we're talking about in

baseball are positive the game is faster the game is cooler we have stars like show Heyo Tani

and Aaron Judge and I could go down the list with a dozen more guys who people look at and you're

like yeah like I like that guy and it's it's a bit odd to me as somebody who covered baseball as

long as I have and and was trying to to spread the gospel to the world like they're they're

cool things here to see it finally happen and baseball has a moment right now Ryan and it cannot

miss and it has to capitalize on that in the race as you said to be number two to the NFL

yeah I think it has I think the fact that we're doing this after years of I mean if you want to talk

about like the league that is overtaken baseball is how can we fix it at the NBA now I do think some

of it gets really disingenuous when somebody screen grabs a much of box scores this late in the

season you know like look how shitty this product is you know like all right you know I get it

but like you want to do it on a Sunday during baseball season so if there's like three 12 to

one scores do we go this this sports broken now granted because the taking the tanking part of it

it's more pointed to look none of us like tanking none of us like it but the thing that I think

is unfair towards basketball it is the toughest transactional league in all of American sports

and when you have this many restrictions on what you can do and you go hey I can't really trade

anymore and having cap space is sort of pointless because the guys just signed and then they have

to demand trades and now we can't really trade the way that we used to with the first and second

aprons so the only way to turn this thing around is the draft and prioritizing the draft so

you can't really blame the teams are going ahead and doing it and look I just don't know

but but I am this is this is an important point I think to make that that's a failure

in looking forward and seeing what the effects are going to be the unintended consequences I get

can be problematic but you need the most forward thinking people in those positions that are

negotiating the collective bargaining agreement and that's why the basic agreement at baseball

expiring in on December 1st 2026 to me is going to be such a seminal moment for baseball because you

can chart the course positively or you can do things in pursuit of trying to keep things

even and trying to keep things competitive that wind up making it worse I guess I just don't want

to hear from football guy pitching about a Sacramento King score in late March when he wasn't

he didn't care anyway like he just he didn't care anyway so I don't I don't understand that part

of it but I think that the momentum even in baseball is not one of my primary things like everything

around it just feels like it's heading in the right direction and you know we can talk about

the malaise of the regular season but I think with the attention spans that we have now throughout

the younger generation certainly but even those of us at our age you know I'm guilty of it too

or it feels like unless there's something significant unless it's event-based you know you just

don't feel it's as much of a priority so certainly this this season these next few months are going to

be literal games that don't necessarily matter but it's building towards what again I think it's

still one of the best products in all the sports is the postseason and the postseason that we just

saw was like it was one of those things where I found myself going like I don't care about anything

else right now like I only want to see what's happening with these games even without the backdrop

of the previous six months drama night in the night out let's pivot to 25 26 well 25 26

basketball let's pivot to 26 see I let that I don't even think there's anything behind that slip

a Dodgers a Dodgers third world series means what for the sport

I think it continues to mean interest I also think it continues to mean anger

and and there's there's there's such there's such a delicate balance with the Dodgers right now

in the same way that there was with the Yankees in the late 90s you get to the point where when

your fans that you think you you almost crossed this precipice of as it got in 220 even is it unfair

do we have any hope what do we need to balance things out and feel like there's not this team that

can just go out there and outspend everyone and it's not that simple the Dodgers do outspend everyone

and what they've done is they've taken advantage of a collective bargaining agreement Ryan

that has a loophole and the loophole is very simple the penalties at the top end do not have anything

to do with the product that's on the field the penalties are simply cash and in baseball the

difference between teams is whether you have cash flow or whether you are not going to say break

even because if you are breaking even running a professional sports franchise right now you suck

and you need to do better but more than that it's the Dodgers have Guggenheim money and endless

billions of dollars that they can go and spend in cash and so going over that top Steve Cohen

tax of the competitive balance tax and getting penalized 110% on every dollar you spend for the Dodgers

they look at it like and so we're getting return on investment here both on the field as well as

in our business where we became the first franchise in baseball history to cross a billion dollars

in annual revenue which is a lot of freaking money and a lot of Shopee Otani Jersey sold and a

lot of tours at Dodger Stadium and a lot of sponsorships from Japanese companies the Dodgers

cracked the business code but you can even try and look at the San Diego Padres who are about to sell

for the most of any baseball franchise in history and compared to the NFL and even the NBA you know

the three billion plus dollars that the Padres are going to sell for isn't a lot but the Padres

went out and said we feel like if we put money on to the field with this team fans will come and

you can tell me all you want that San Diego only has one professional sports team right now acknowledged

but that doesn't mean that fans are going to come out that doesn't incentivize them to do so what

does is getting excited about what they're going to see at the ballpark and the Padres have done

a tremendous job of that even if the success hasn't been there quite the same as other teams

that business-wise like they are caching it so you have the Dodgers here and everybody hates them

just like everybody hated the Yankees in the late 90s and I don't think that's a bad thing but

there's just a balance there and I do wonder if it's pushing a little bit too far that the Dodgers

everyone feels like the Dodgers are going to win every year I know facts versus feelings like

that's a that's an obvious thing to to point out but a fact is the Dodgers is one two in a row at

this point and they go into this season as the overwhelming favorite it is one versus 29 right

now everybody is chasing the Dodgers and that's going to be the prevailing storyline I think in the

2026 season can anyone unseat the Los Angeles Dodgers that's value to me that's a valuable thing though

like when there's a central enemy that everybody's rooting against much like those Yankees teams

are just perfect analogy to it because I just remember thinking like well it doesn't matter

even if they lose in the playoffs that means they're going to be even more motivated to spend in

the offseason and sometimes I'd want them to win so they'd spend the last the next year

but then you start thinking about the playoffs and Dodgers are going to be in it and you're going

to have I wouldn't I don't like to look more casual but just guys that don't even have any

attachment to it maybe motivated to be just tuning into root against something that they don't

want to have happen so I think there's actually a value there if so many other people are arguing

that it's a broken sport because of their dominance in the way they're able to build but they're

also incredibly smart on top of everything else because we've seen teams try to do this in the past

and not even come close to the same execution if we stay with the Dodgers and then expand it out

right the the parody that this sport actually has had way more parody than it ever gets credit for

but right now it feels like that's a hard argument to make because of their dominance in the

last two world series if we had to come up with a list and I know you're a really positive guy

so I don't know that we want to do 15 teams here but how many teams do you think and win this thing?

I mean let's let's go division by division if we could let's start

American League East I think any of the top four teams in the American League East whether it's

the Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox or Orioles you can make an argument I know the Orioles are coming off

of 75 and 87 season and yet bringing in Pedalanzo and trading for Shane Boss going out and signing

Chris Bat like they have quite an infusion of talent there and I think Gunnar Henderson is going to

take a big step this year so I look at four teams there. AL Central reasonably two teams Detroit

in Kansas City and you know Detroit's signing from Brevelle Desz to bring in alongside Tarrick

School Bull was a great move Kansas City I'm just really bullish on I don't know if it's because

I live there but I think they're going to hit this year. AL West probably won it's probably Seattle

I really like Seattle I hope we can talk about them more but you know you could see Texas on the

periphery you could see Houston on the periphery the A's are going to bang this year like they have

a tremendous lineup full year of Nick Kurtz growing into his own I just don't know that they have

pitching and AL East Philadelphia absolutely the Braves if if things go right with the Braves

they have the chance to be really really good but we haven't seen it for two years from them and

then the Mets I don't know what the hell to think of the Mets. I could see the Mets finishing with

75 wins I could see them finishing with 95 wins it's the biggest Delta right there. Central

Cubs, Reds, Brewers, Aritz maybe I don't want to like get too far out over my skis here but the

Pirates pitching is just so good and it's not just Paul Schien's Bubba Chandler is a guy

Jared Jones going to be back from Tommy John surgery I think Brax and Ashcraft is super underrated

not haven't even gotten to Mitch Keller who's a steady as it gets and then out West

I mean clearly the Dodgers I don't know if I feel like any of the other teams like San Diego could

go on around but their weaknesses there San Francisco could be good they're just one of those

like solid but not spectacular teams and then our zone are the same so I think I've probably

named 18 to 20 teams and I suppose Ryan and doing so that suggests that baseball maybe does

have a little bit more parity than the league wants to suggest out there that all of these teams

if things break right have the opportunity to go and be something special this year.

All right so I've thought we'll run through the divisions on all this stuff um

clearly with the Yankees the investment in the pitching part of it like it's all about

garicol right so if he's available once he's supposed to come back is it may

for him oh dear he threw he threw an inning this week like oh he did oh yes he threw an inning and

he looks good I mean he's he's gonna be ready and you add him to a rotation that already has

Max Fried we saw what Camp Schlitler did during the regular season or during the postseason rather

last year Carlos Rudon is going to be out for a while but you know he'll be back July August

September and most important October and then beyond that they've just got a ton of depth

starters have you seen this spring Carlos La Grande the six seven kids yeah oh yeah oh yeah

I mean like what's the story with this guy 101 yeah I mean just sitting 101 to one

he sits at 101 yes it's 101 yeah that's all right you know what dude that's that is one

going back to like the social media element of where the MBA has dominated

I think where baseball has made improvements is that guys are doing wild shit all the time now

the average fastball on MLB is creeping up on 95 miles an hour which is insane to think about but

you've got a guy like La Grande who you know as he's coming up through the minor leagues if you're

the Yankees you're just like please search tracks please search tracks please search tracks because if

he does the stuff once it gets to that point like watching a video of Carlos La Grande just

forcing a guy with 101 slider that you know breaks a foot and a half off the plate and then 101

up in the zone and no one can catch up to it like that that's compelling that's kind of fun and

we're seeing that more and more and the Yankees have gotten excellent to pitching development it's

not just La Grande you know Elmer Rodriguez a pitch for Puerto Rico in the WBC they got him in

the Carlos Narvaya's trade last year Narvaya's goes out and plays well for Boston it's like well

what were the Yankees doing well they got a good arm out of it and the secondary arms whether

it's Will Warren or Clark Schmidt or Luis Heel whoever it may be the Yankees have an absolute

sturphant of pitching right now like they're in a great position with that whether it's with

standing injuries like they have we're going out and using it as trades that's why I'm as bullish

on the Yankees as I am because the offensive side like there are some questions there

yeah I mean Shitler what I can't say his name saved my life Shlitler Shlitler yeah Shitler would

be less popular although maybe more people know who he was Cam Shlitler was so good in that post

season game against Boston I was like there's no way this guy's not going to be good for like 10

years and granted we've had glimpses of things that were were lies in the moment of seeing it

but the fact that he's from mass and then on top of everything else like all the social media

stuff that was going through other guys yeah too yeah I kind of like it sounds great I don't know

that I've had a most favorite Yankee but he would he would be it right now because he was absolute

nails and was just unhittable and you're like how is this guy not going to have this stuff the

rest of his career especially to have it in that spot um Roman Anthony for the socks usually if

you're special as a position player it happens pretty quick and this game is littered with like

you know whether it's 19 to 22-year-old junior like this guy could potentially be an MVP what is the

ceiling for Anthony in comparison to the other best position players in the sport I think the

comp that people throw around most is Christian Yelich who remember one an MVP for the Milwaukee

Brewers and I think Roman Anthony even at 21 years old is going to be right in the mix or American

league MVP this year and what the Red Sox have needed to do they have they have an interesting

group of hitting coaches in a hitting development process there where they are leaning completely

into the idea that is backed by both science and logic that the more you pull the ball in the air

the more uh production you're going to have and the idea is very simple Ryan when you're swinging

a bat right the longer the bat is going through the zone the more momentum and speed it's generating

so when you're pulling the ball think about it like if you get jammed on a ball your bat stops

right there right if you're hitting the ball up the middle your bat stops right here right if

you're pulling it you have to find it out in front so your bat has traveled travel traveled traveled

and gained speed and when it meets the ball out in front you're going to have potentially the

highest exit velocity and and the greatest ability to hit it hard and is that weird because we've

fancied opposite field hitters as being like the the apex of hitting ability for so long yeah

but I think the Red Sox are leaning heavily into that and the one thing Roman Anthony didn't do

last year is elevate the ball so I'm going to be super curious to see if in service of trying to do

that it changes things for him where he starts popping balls up more if he can't find that happy

medium but we saw him go out pretty good in the wbc against you know some of the best pictures in

the world and and hitting the the game winning home round against the Dominican Republic like

this is a 21-year-old kid who was called in as an injury replacement and showed up and looked like

he belonged with the best players from this country which is saying something so I'm I'm a huge

Roman Anthony fan and I think the Red Sox what they have now is a lot of depth and and that puts

a lot on Alex Court like figuring out how do you get the bats for Anthony Sedan Rafael a Willier

Bray who must talk a yo shita how do you manage a pitching staff that you have seven eight nine

potentially starters and what is Craig Breslow the president baseball or chief baseball officer

I had fucking titles we got all wrong Greg Breslow what does he do with all this pitching does he

keep it around or does he eventually try and cash it in maybe at the trade deadline maybe even

earlier than that to go and fill a weakness what do you think losing a world series like that

does for the blue jays going into 26 I think I'm not going to say it motivates them I think what it

does is it shows this organization that for so long had been snake bitten that they can do what

they set out to do you know they they lose on the show hayotani bidding after the disaster of

otani's on a plane and everyone in Toronto is getting excited they lose out and want sodo and

I think signing Vladimir Guerrero for 14 years and 500 million dollars did something psychologically

to that team that said this is a guy who wants to be here and if he wants to be here then others

are going to want to be here and by the time the world series came around the vibe in the jays

clubhouse was immaculate that team legitimately loved each other Ernie Clement at one point was

like you know part of me doesn't want to win the world series because I know that I'm going to be

separated from my friends and I mean losing the world series kind of does that too but the point

was he didn't want that to end because it was such a good group and trying to replicate that it's

like when you're out with a group of friends and you just have a night matching that night again

is a difficult thing for anyone to do just because it is so special so how do you go about

matching that night again how much do you invest in making sure that even if it's not going to

be the same night even if it's not going to be the same season it's similar and the blue chase

has done a good job and I keep going back to this Ryan getting pitching death pitching death all

of these teams that we're talking about that have a chance to be really good have like six or seven

or eight or nine starters and you know Jose Barrios has a stress fracture in his elbow trace

average starting the year on the injured list because of a shoulder chain Bieber are going to be

out with arm fatigue and yet they're coming in with Kevin Gossman they sign Cody Ponds this off

season Dylan C's $210 million like Jay Jay's are going to be just fine and the ALE is just a

really really nasty division to have to work through if we go to the central and you know I

probably am not as excited about Kansas City as you are but I also understand I don't have

the depth chart necessarily down the way you would as well we know Cleveland's offense thinks

Chicago is you know they're not going to be as bad as they were last year but I wonder about

the Fromber signing for Detroit because you're looking at like a really nasty one too with scuba

but is there anything that tells you hey that signing means they're invested or this signing means

that it's a backup plan if scuba wants north of 400 million and they're a disaster this year

and they decide to trade him earlier because of value like how does am I letting myself get too

creative no no no I think it's both Ryan I think that they are investing in this season because

they understand that a this is an extremely winnable division and and if you can go into the

postseason with scuba and Fromber at the top of of your rotation you're going to be in a really

good position to win some playoffs there he's but the I'm at Detroit starting to graduate guys

Kevin McGonagall is the number two prospect in baseball right now he's just an exquisite hitter

as power to all fields has bat to ball and and he's like he's a dick in the best way too like he's

incredibly competitive and you know on the field he he wants to choke you out like that's just

how he's a philly kid like you know you're raised in certain places like you're raised in

Venezuela you're raised in the Dominican Republic you have certain approaches to baseball

you're raised in Philly he got certain approaches to sports and Kevin McGonagall the baseball

phrases he's got the ass and when you have the ass that means you are it's short for like a red

ass somebody who's just tough like Pete Rose was the ultimate red ass like he wants to run you

over on the field and so I mean I heard red ass for decades but he's got the ass is new to me and

I'm going to try to use it weekly now I think uh let me put it this way I don't know when it's

going to be but on the new podcast that I'm doing I'm doing an entire ass episode and I'm really

looking forward to like looking that looking into is it going to be the Jeff Asin podcast

sources tell Jeff Asin I like that that would be good yeah we're gonna we're gonna explore

the series and important topics on this podcast let me tell you I'm telling you I never stop

scouting you know you start looking around like that guys get some baseball ass to them you know

and you just know you just know what it is double beads absolutely college roommate he played

baseball at UVM it's like he just the rest of us it's like man he's just got this baseball ass to him

like you don't want to he might I don't want that guy to punch me look at his ass there's just a lot

of power in there you know that's the thing you know you know the hips like that's the thing a good

punch is not delivered from the arm of the fist there you go delivered from the hips and so yeah

I feel like baseball guys could be the fighters in that regard and McGonagall I imagine would

probably throw a pretty mean punch even though he's like five nine five ten but Detroit's been

looking for that foundational star on the position side for years Riley greens a really good

player Kerry Carpenter really good Spencer Torkelson great year last year and AJ Hinch is a manager

does an awesome job of working platoons and understanding his players which is why I think at the

end of the day the tigers do win that division but I am I am bullish on the royals because maybe

this is like world baseball classic recency bias but my kehl Garcia was the MVP of the finals he's

the lead off hitter obi wit junior you saw everything he did he's the third best player in baseball

behind shill hay otani narr and judge uh vany pas quintino captaining team Italy and doing the

job that he did couple of young left handed hitters and Carter jensen and jack haggley oh and who

have a ton of power Salvador Perez and they're moving the fences in a coffin stadium this year so

I think that offense is going to be a real problem this year and they have a lot of pitching depth

then have been very good at developing pitchers so to me it's two team race in that division which

is a shame Ryan because Cleveland I love what the guardians do every year they outplay their payroll

frankly they outplay their talent Stephen votes as good of a manager as you're going to find

but they finished 29th in batting average on base percentage and slugging percentage last year

and they didn't do ship this offseason to sign offensive players and I just think that's a

dereliction of beauty by ownership to a fan base that frankly deserves more I was there in the 90s

when the indians had Albert Bell and Kenny Lofton and Carlos Bayerga and Eddie Murray and Jim

Tomey and Mani Ramirez and I can go on and on about those teams that to me with best teams to

never win a world series and knowing that Cleveland can have teams like that in the way that they

were filling up Jacob's field at that point and knowing now that the fan base is disillusioned as

it is because there's no investment from ownership it's just a shame yeah that Cleveland line up

from the 90s making the rounds again Mani's batten seventh in that same just let's try to let's

try to do the best service that we can to the other remaining contenders because I know you have to

leave in seven minutes so let's let's do that see I don't have to leave in seven minutes actually

well I have to stick around are you blaming me yeah that's what it is you and just get it y'all

that you were going to put that on me motherfucker I was trying to do like I thought you were going to

get the vet move of like oh he must have another taping no no absolutely not I wasn't like to blame

you yeah let's know the third best world series champ odds and it's a complete disservice to

just say it's only because of how favor they are in the division obviously it's an awesome team

no I'm picking the mariners to go to the world series this year the rotation is deep and nasty

and especially if Bryce Miller who's thrown two and a half miles an hour harder this spring and

has his fastball back you know he's had a little bleak thing but if Miller's there with Kirby

and Wu and Gilbert and Castillo that that's me is the best rotation of baseball and in the lineup

Cal Raleigh doing what he did Julio Rodriguez and it goes deep now with Josh Naylor coming on board

love the mariners love love love the mariners let's talk it Lanna because there's a version of

this rotation that gets you excited and sale becoming kind of Chris sale again later on in his

career but it it is all over the place so like I can look at the depth chart and go hey this could

be really good in a couple months but you're making you're rounding up on a lot of players

absolutely and on the offensive side too like on the pitching side they're missing Spencer

Schwellenbach who I really like ownership removed they're missing Hurston Waldrip who was fantastic

at the end of last season and and we don't know what Spencer Shredder we're gonna get I will say

keep an eye on Didier Fuentes this spring so far eight innings no hits no walks 16 strikeouts

I don't know if he's going to start the season in the rotation but young big powerful arm

and the braves have big plans for him all right Philly if we were talking one two with Detroit

is Philly the best one two three four five I don't know I mean you just keep going with the rotation

a lot of it depends on how much Zach Wheeler bounces back you know when you're coming off the

rassic outlet you don't know how a guy is going to recover but Christopher Sanchez Wheeler

Hayesus Lazardo it doesn't get a whole lot better than that you know you look at maybe Seattle

maybe the Dodgers as well when they're healthy but Billy ran it back and and Philly's fans like

Yankees fans are mad I'm like you run it back in 96 win team there are worse outcomes to doing so

every time I read about it I'm like wait am I missing something like they're going to be bad

and then it's like oh no it's just disappointment and then yeah look at the roster and you go okay

I know it's a little bit older I know but I mean with Aaron Dolas projected as your fifth the fourth

or fifth starter here I mean me break now I feel like I've ruined the mood a little bit because I

told you to try to get to the rest of these teams because of our own schedule now I feel like

there's an amosody now I'd feel like there's no amosody at all I'm excited for the challenge and

you're filibustering so let's move for some come on let's get this out of the way by the way who

is the guest that I'm being bumped for you're not being bumped for anybody it's a

we've got an NCAA tournament going back I'm done you seem spicy when it comes to the pirates

you seem like you want to pick them to do something this year when you know everyone else would

probably say look Milwaukee and Chicago Cincinnati are all ahead of this team I do think

Chicago's the best team in the center and and what I love about the Cubs is that their baseline

is like up here like excuse me their floor is up here they're just good everywhere I do

I love the audience audio audience yeah yes they they have a high floor and wonder what their

ceiling is the brewers I just never know what they're going to be year over year Jacob Mizorowski

needs to be a guy they need Brandon Woodruff to stay healthy but they they just get how to win

that Murphy's really good manager Cincinnati if they can get into the playoffs again

and get Hunter Green back healthy they can be a real problem if you have Hunter Green

Andrew Abbott Chase Burns who I think is going to be a breakout star this year just premium stuff

I just I maybe it's that I'd want the pirates to be good maybe it's that I like Paul Skins and

want him to win and stay there long term that I think Bubba Chandler's phenomenal and you know even

in the mind at least they have Hunter Barco who's a nasty lefty who has like six good pitches

it's just going to be a matter of offense and defense with them which that's that's a lot to

app for but Conor Griffin like he's a guy right you're going to love Conor Griffin and I don't

know if he's going to break with the team but he is 19 years old and he looks like Cal Ripkin 64

225 the faster than Cal I mean I don't want to put now extra Rodriguez comp on him because that's

not fair but just in terms of like the raw tools he's one of the most talented players we have

seen him based on a long long time all right let's finish with the NLS we've already talked

touched on the Dodgers here it seems like you're more bullish on San Diego putting together anything

here then you would be not really well more so in Arizona San Francisco no I just think that

because there are more potential like star level talents there like I want to see a real Fernando

Tati's junior season like a pre steroid test for the end of Tati's junior season and see if he

has that and I'm still and I think Mani Machado's got things going Jackson Merrill to me is really

going to be the key to this club and he be his rookie yourself and we see the 30 home or guy

Kenny stay healthy though if Merrill is that good and if they get pitching pitching is going to be

such a question for them you know is Joe Musgrove going to actually be out there there's some concerns

at this point about just how much they can get out of Musgrove but if Padres can get pitching I

think they're going to have a real shot at what to me is going to be a pretty wide open race for

those extra playoffs spots in the NL World Series pick Dodgers Mariners Dodgers over the Mariners

yes I want to I want to choose someone else I really do when it comes to these picks though I feel

like I've got to be kind of chalky and and just go with what my gut tells me and my gut tells me

that there's not a team as good as the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2026 and I know that anger's a lot

of people and in baseball like major league baseball just the way that the sport has played I don't think

it's as easy for the Dodgers to get through they got taken seven games in the World Series by

a much less talented Blue Jay's team last year so it shows you can lose those series they got swept

by the Diamondbacks three years back but yeah I think at the end of the day I'm just begging on the

talent and the most talented team is the Los Angeles Dodgers you're a talented guy and I know

the new pod tell us about it real quick so we make sure everybody checks it out because when you

were telling me about it I was excited for you and sometimes I fake my excitement for other guests

but this is sincere I'm excited too we haven't announced the name yet or anything about it so I'm

gonna keep it I'm gonna keep it a little tight at this point but the whole point is this baseball is

going through an enormous renaissance right now and I want this to be a show that not only brings in

die hard fans but that helps educate casual fans and people who were new to the sport so when they

are at parties or when they're watching a baseball game with someone or when they're at a bar

they can say this is what I know about this and so every episode is gonna have a very specific

topic where we're gonna bring in the best experts to tell us about it and and to help us learn and

it's gonna it's gonna be fun like that's the good part about it we are not gonna take ourselves

too seriously this is not gonna be like the baseball show uh that has unwritten rules to it uh

there are no rules and that's what's gonna make it great that's the wrestler in you that's the

wrestling fan no rules uh Jeff passon I can't wait man thank you so much for the time we'll

check in again this season I'm just so glad that you kept someone else waiting Ryan thank you it

means a lot oh let them know picture this it's Monday morning you open your laptop out look

hits you with 87 unread emails your calendar looks like a game of Tetris played by a toddler your boss

wants to report your team wants a presentation you want a nap and a Microsoft co-pilot co-pilot

summarizes your emails boom you're caught it drafts your report in word it builds your slides and

PowerPoint it even pulls insights from your excel data suddenly you're the office hero people

think you're organized responsible maybe even promotable all because co-pilot did the stuff you

didn't want to so if you want to reclaim your time or at least pretend you have your life together

try Microsoft co-pilot co-pilot because sometimes the smartest move is letting AI do the work

the alliance marches on sorority Kyle tough one Santa Clara Kentucky that wasn't uh wasn't a blast

it cost us that one and I apologetic that was my leg felt pretty good about that pick that

they're gonna win outright and uh they got two and a half I mean they should probably want the game

that's yeah tough beat tough beat for the group um that's march it is but we are back at it but

well first we got to get to you did win king at the court last night um that was easy someone say

was yeah you guys ask for the pick and I was like there's only four games tonight so I better

hurry up and get Joker before car you never you never answered quicker than that I've never

answered quicker at my life that's what was the payout on that considering there's only four games

because I we should I probably should have promoted that a little bit more being like hey we needed

to you need to lock in look at the matchups although it wasn't her other night um you know when you

pick the favorites like it was 43 bucks I believe for you okay it's last night so change a weekend

for me my 20s could yeah um I had hollow I put up wing Wednesdays 50s at night yeah dude I'll

I'll you thought me nothing like going out with a 20 it haven't changed yeah give it extra

ranch cup sorry sorry sir you're trying to do no you're good I was just saying I was my

fault that's not Kyle no you're fine I I I had hollow he was leading until until you know kids

took it uh Paulo what I think had like almost 300 bucks so that would have been pretty awesome

I don't get style points for changing that I I wanted uh Donovan Mitchell but I was like let me change

it up but I don't get style points for that but I I it wasn't my head and then I saw that um

she said what is Donovan said to uh Paulo after the game Johnny's about to bust your ass

riding with this guy Rick so thought that was cool yeah thanks for not going to St. John's spider

and fuck is that and it's super embarrassing for me to have not gone there and care this much

he went to Louisville yeah shout out Rick the rick tater he's just back at his guy

yeah no but come on all right should we do our picks yeah I were back on the college football

or the college basketball wagon um Ron you go first Arizona minus the seven and a half

fading I think I could saw there's going to be a bit of a wake up call for them although look they've

got a really nice run off the SEC tournament everything but uh yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna go with the

the weighted uh I don't I just I just think it was on this nasty so there you go there

Kyle I tried to do the cool guy pick with Santa Clara now I'm like no I don't want to do that again

I still don't hate to pick I mean call time out do anything I think apparently they tried to call

a time out you you texted because I'm like you're watching live and just did the coach try to call

a time out I think he did but they just give it to him and then he hits like half a lot of this

tournament that was out with the players call it early and it's like oh damn yeah I get it you

guys are college kids but that's uh but I was in the cafe so just a bunch of guys huddled around

and it was like the start of the tournament I was getting shots up with the gym for the start

of the tournament well I'm gonna be on the couch for 12 hours and it's like if I don't get out

of the house and do something active and I have a they have these things for some TVs where you

can record stuff and then go back and watch anything you missed okay all right got it I'll give you my

pick now um I picked Houston I'm taking the money line I don't think their story ends here I

think it ends in a heartbreaker and like the elite eight or or final four I like the coach better

uh yeah so we'll just take we'll take the Houston money line

hmm I said this before I think that game's in Houston right so I do love this Illinois team

though which is not surprising to anyone but you're you're out you're out through the yeah

they're just fun to watch man they score don't play a ton of defense but they score they move

I get you to roll into the city and see small minute one of those weird like alumni bar pop-ups

no no one no one rides for St. Louis Missouri and champagne Illinois more than Michelle Smallman

so yeah listen give me a time in place I'll be there uh plus you know listen I there's a

soft spot for some of those Illinois teams I love you know the Darren Williams was a deep brown

yeah right love those teams who's the other guy I'm forgetting Luther has their head yeah

who is the big guy in that jim is the Augustin

deep now we're gonna look it up it was there they like one big guy oh it's awesome yeah I picked

me when it all that year heartbreak well the line looks it up I'm gonna take the under in Iowa

Nebraska big 10 basketball baby under one thirty two and a half I think that's gonna be it just a

grind it might even be in Nebraska home game again who knows those fans travel shout to them but

you know the Iowa fan travel to this is pro Iowa podcast as we've said before but I think that's

gonna be a low scoring uh tight game so give me the under one thirty two and a half and those three

put us at plus one forty six I'm sorry plus four sixty one oh Jesus Christ yeah I'm just

classic today sorry guys all right I didn't get a lot of sleep last night yeah the kids

yeah you know I think I've said this the tradition to the big kid bed she just doesn't like to stay

in there and then you end up in there so I slept in there for a few hours last night not great

for the bad she worked she worked better with bars on her bed is that weird

the group was great because it did it was basically like jail then hell now she's got free

range not ready to come downstairs it's not great so you know do you scroll do you must just

do him scroll right kind of but she's like really perceptive to you being on the phone so she'll

like if I roll over if I roll over what's going on over I just like feel her head on my back just

like looking over at the screen I'm like all right it's that's like two and we go stop doing this

I just love watching video games stuff I can't I feel like such a loser but I'm just gonna admit it

somebody because you all allow yourself video games but you'll watch other people I mean that is

that's it yeah I'm good games and I get it not everything is cool over here all right

um sorry to disappoint but yeah I can some of these medieval battles and I'm like so what

that fuck you get to just organize these entire things and like I guess you're like that looks

like fun when all you have to do is like sign up for a steam account well he did you did play

call up duty for a bit right a couple years ago I remember we talked about this I think Chris

Long was playing it or something too and I was playing it it was the it was for dance can you

know we're playing war zone yeah I was in I mean one of my favorite things ever was just okay

basketball is over you know like 45 minute video game chill out session I was doing that for a while

and then 45 that's pretty regimented that's good for you you said in the line because it was

also like two in the morning oh right I see you're saying basketball over like for the night

not like the seasons over okay okay because I was still amped from all the hoops I needed to you

know and then again I was on the east coast so I would usually be at work by nine so wasn't like I

was waking up at 530 or 6 you know although the sleep back then it's just I don't know I've slept I

would say better since I moved but yeah once I decided there was other stuff that I wanted to do

that's obviously kicking ass um I was like I can't justify all of these hours of the video game

console and then COVID I was like let's go and then I was that motorcycle guy against the zombies

and I was like I think I got this stuff down it's like I run towards them and then I get close and

I can run away and then I get to turn around and then it's like I got it do you see that video

ship game yeah yeah you've seen the video with what's it called I watched the full series where

these dudes are just on pirate ships and they like are screaming because there's just like boats come

out I don't know where I'm like this looks like the most fun thing yeah I tried it I didn't love it

I deleted it pretty quickly yeah I mean it's one of those like you don't get off the pirate ship

you know what I mean like there's no like you're your pirate life ends there like there's no like

exploring or swashbuckling it's just like shooting cannons at other ships so so as it's just like

you can get you yeah well they also like they have the streamers that are just like really

into it and they start yelling so like when they don't see a ship coming out or they'd start

screaming and it is kind of funny to watch but so you basically just like trying to avoid the black

pearl for a while and that's the game I gotta say I didn't I didn't play it too long I was just like

so this is it huh and I was like is there seriously nothing else and everyone's like yeah there's

nothing else if you really love steering ships and you know selling cargo at different ports then

this is for you all right maybe when I'm older I thought you were talking about seafarer

this is the simulator yeah some sort of simulator you go learn how to drive all these different

than eventually you're like doing cargo ships once you move off the oranges I was telling my brother

I'm like we please get this please he's like that looks so boring I was like all right but yeah

I'm not like I can't do it can't justify I've there's even a console downstairs but I've never

put it I've never put it in it's just for one of my brother visits it's nice that you're

scratching that itch through other people just that looks great yeah I can't that this medieval

thing I can't stop right now all right let's stop yeah this is anyway that's draft king shout out

the draft yeah shout out draft cakes check out all the all the odds on draft case sportsbook

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read the instructions you want details bye I drive a Ferrari 355 cabriolay what's up I have a

ridiculous house in the south fork I have every tour you can possibly imagine and best of all kids

I am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required live advice the email

address life advice rr at gmail.com also if you want to get into our 10 good minutes our NBA

mailbag is NBA mailbag rr at gmail.com we have life advice to do an email life advice probably

bang one of those out soon so what do you mean like right now if you back off right if you back sorry

my god this I'm telling you right now all right I'm in charge of the show now your boys I'm in

charge I'm gonna sit these out I'm gonna sit this out it's gonna a lot of arrow Smith NBA comp so

many in yeah I I feel like they're some guy said mellow somebody saying mellows their favorite

player makes all the sense of the world mellows an awesome fun player even with the deficiencies and

the fact that he came home to New York look there's some people being let's like Westbrook Westbrook

being a kid's favorite player is the easiest thing ever like Westbrook was fun it was it was like

ridiculous but a kid's favorite player though that's right I mean you're saying if a guy told you

arrow Smith is my favorite band that's like you know if a kid you're like what does a kid know he's

you know this could be his whole life right now he's he's a no shit okay but if later on like you

still like Westbrook was your first basketball lover mellow was your first basketball love okay

and then you still like them college into your 20s or whatever I mean you know now we're talking like

15 years from teenager to 30 me not impossible but I could understand how that guy's like yeah my

first favorite player was was this and and you know you still my favorite player of all time like

that to me makes a lot of sense arrow Smith still being somebody's favorite I feel like Westbrook is

like nickel back where come on that's that's can't do that to nickel back I'm kidding you can't

do that I didn't know you thought I was dissing there I think it's appropriate like I think it's

fun and nickel back to straight like I don't know that I advertise it but like yeah I have I had

fun watching Russell Westbrook play basketball for sure did you ever have a nickel back CD hell yeah

my mom had several that's a we used to the term mom like some yeah she had several

give me your mom's top five bands right now oh top five bands it's probably all 70 stuff definitely

all seven she was big competti um right but uh but yeah there was nickel back in the truck I don't

know what to tell you nothing wrong with that it's like can we listen to the other nickel back

save it and she's like I guess up you know I was like can we listen to the earlier one today but

you know there's a lot of driving in my youth and we were we were in the truck with nickel back

cigarettes and homemade iced tea I mean that's just this is what it reminds me of home

I think it's Jeff Hornacek for arrow Smith you're like what

and I like Jeff Hornacek hell of a player

I don't think he's like flashy enough you know but it has to be are you serious

because music it makes a little bit more sense to cycle in and out of stuff like

I had to kiss double platinum tape I thought it kicked ass

that I turned 11 yeah you know you know what you know videos would make in the rounds too

that I did not know about is when I when kiss just took the makeup off and tried to like

rebrand themselves oh yeah that was a big deal man what do you remember that hell when when

like the 90s oh I got to send you this video it's um but like Gene Simmons that's his name right

yeah he looks like a creep it is the scariest video I've ever seen in my life and these

dudes think they're like all right the makeup softball blah blah you got to put the makeup back on

what time frame was that now working with a super older where they just like weathered

now they've been around for a while I'm I guess it's like it's I'm trying to think I remember

because it was a big deal when it happened but I was already out I was out on them I pivoted

over to hip hop by them I'm gonna guess like 89 90 when they took it off okay is it mask off

too or is that not somebody else it's a rapper that's future I know I got to find this video

for you guys it is outrageous oh my god 83 found it yeah not even close

hmm maybe it just made it's wait maybe it was still like a generational thing people still

referenced in seven six seven years later where I was from like I still haven't gotten over it

but yeah it was a pretty never forget like hey nobody likes this anymore let's take our makeup off

like they're very calculated guys and that was the part of it that was like

just wasn't as cool as the other bands yeah I'm doing it I know it's making the

around I can't believe I got the years wrong that bad well you know damn they're taking a while

just it's worth it trust me I'll tweet this out today I'm sure fast forward it's only 30 seconds

all right we've got a time sensitive sweet vaccine let us know when you see the video

but it's not great no it's not great just stop they used to have like these these movies and stuff

then there was the cards yeah they were like yeah they were showing up they were like everywhere

yeah yeah all right don't use my name or employer below all right six foot 190 bench 275 four times

one rep is stupid and bad for you all right D3 Ithaca football player had a jersey didn't play a lot

still lays them up buddy still ran out of the tunnel fast as well just high school Daniel

tights I got that's ready now you're back you're warmed up ready to go uh no we had one of those

recently but that's me had it worked twice as hard for maybe three quarters of the skill was once

that's during a post college men's league in Northboro mass if I was a cop because of the tenacity

on my of my defense and then my shaved head it's probably more the haircut

are you a cop is that like the most disrespectful thing you could say is something out of

basketball basketball hard although maybe it's not I don't know yeah

be like no I'm a I'm from Stuttgart um skinhead different Germany perfect english he said say

Daniel tight uh right guys did you did you get hit in the face all the time and never do anything about it

hello buddy I work in the sports industry my wife works for an athletic department I think

we're gonna just be a little more vague than you were in this email um well I can't really

reading I think he's gonna get all right look all right man you have free will at a certain point

right I mean don't use my name or employer right but like you tell us that your wife works

well I can't do any of the email unless all right well we'll figure it out um wife works in the

athletic department at St John's for the last eight years we made it to the end of the mullen

christmullen run uh mike Anderson spur and we deserve all of what Rick has bestowed upon us we go to

eight ten games a year carnage second the garden we were in Providence last year for the cow

debacle she's almost thirty weeks pregnant um wait is this a picture of your pregnant wife that

you're sending us the first um I kind of can't figure this out because it looks like it's a dance

team member so I don't I don't know what's going on here um well no I think it's just a random

picture I don't know I'm just afraid I don't want to get it the last thing we need is this kind of energy

before game against Duke all right so she's thirty weeks pregnant she does not want to travel the DC

for the Duke sweet sixteen game the car is too long for her to be sitting in planes are a mess with

the TSA things so no guarantees will make it then I have her hanging in an airport for hours

potentially uh as happening it was multiple times this year already between the two of us we for sure

have connections to weasel some tickets on the arm we both love watching the games together and

if she's not going I can still figure it out with some friends co-workers hers or mine we're also

just big Johnny's there's no way I can leave her at home for this right he asks absolutely

signing my death warrant two and a half months before our first son is born right unless she you

should go unless she says you should go and mean it she won't I don't think she's wrong for not

really but I just want to go um just need to root from Queens right please have a work around I'm

not seeing oh no Johnny's right in RV pre family vacation it's a baby moon at the sweet sixteen

yeah oh okay first of all there's more pictures so these the the pictures just in the arena

they're in a misproving proving who he is that he's telling right right and there happens to be

either a dance team member or somebody dressed like one and then his wife is on the jumbo tron

gosh right Steve you've been around the block twice what is the what is the closeness to the

due date before you can like disappear for a day is it like is it three months out just shut it

all down like what is the closest thing where it's like obviously I'm not going to miss an emergency

here but it's just the vibes are off you shouldn't be taking this trip I'm trying to think if I if I

cut anything kind of close I mean the biggest hang up for me was like the golf stop towards the

end it's like hey you're going to be gone for 12 hours today and I'm just home with the kid and I'm

pregnant at the bummer 12 hours well you know because I'm going to be up and letting him go off

since we meet and then you know it ends up being a long day I'm not going to lie um she thinks

series wife this whole time thinks the golf is 36 holes what am I there's one guy right now whose

wife believes that golf is 36 holes she has no idea go ahead one of my friends uh wife thought

golf was free stick out you just buy the clubs you just go to the course right they're like public

courses and it's like no that's not really how that works so she got a little bit of a rude awakening

he got into golf and was like this isn't what I signed up for um wait you have a golf credit card

yeah far more property tax I'm trying I'm trying to think I don't I don't think I really cut any

cutting in any close I didn't certainly leave anywhere for like multiple days I this is a tough

one man it's the other thing about this too is it's something that you both enjoy so for you to

enjoy it more than her when she like has obviously a little bit of reason to not go and stay home

I feel like you kind of got to stay with her through this you know like enjoy it with her we'll

watch on the couch with her she's gonna be like imagine your wife just sitting at home watching

the same John's game by herself and you're at the game like that's a huge bummer I I don't know

that you could do that to your wife so I I know it sucks and I know it'd be fun and you said all right

I maybe she'll let you go and if she doesn't fully mean it I think you got to kind of just I think

you kind of just got to take one here and just say hey I have to be with my wife here all right but

I mean I said it early at what in a joking tone but New York DC it's not the craziest driving the

world what is that like seven hours maybe eight hours and what if you do get like just rent a

rent a whatever one of those things we had a family member who had to get to well there's like what

there's a version of like a car there's there's a version of a sprinter van that is outfitted with

like a straight-up bed there's a you know there's a bathroom that you try not to use if you have

other options because it's it's tight quarters in there but I had a family member that had to get

down the floor to couldn't fly the regular drive thing wasn't working and they did this sprinter

van thing um it's possible I mean you can also do like a smaller version of like a winnevego

or something it's it's a lot but you're you're asking is there any way you can pull this off

which is bringing her there and if the travel is the problem then there's there is another

mode of travel she could just lay down you power through this drive and you're there if you really

want it she said 30 weeks right right yeah that's terrible right not terrible and this is the

non-pregnant person this is the way you can guarantee that you get there so I don't see any other

way unless you just somebody loses if she's if she just thinks that this is enough to just put this

matter to bed and then you're like you come out with this hail marrying it's like all right what if

we rent an RV and she's like are you serious she might have thought this was enough to be like yeah

not a good idea but you know as far as we know that's not the case so yeah I mean you're not just

dealing with the pregnant part here you're dealing with she loves the Johnny's man and she's

going to want to watch this game with you so yeah unless you have the means like my guess is

some of these weird commuter private flight things if you monitor it you can get like a really good

deal but I don't think there's going to be any deals from New York City to DC before the tournament

you know anybody else is going to take all those up so I'm not suggesting like a private plane

but I'm just trying to figure out like in your head if you're doing the math it's like okay

I'm not spending on this I'm not spending on this I'm getting the tickets for free

is there a way where you go like to her hey we spend this much on this but I'm only talking

about like this thing being a couple grand for an extra couple seats on some of these flights that

are already going that way are ready like stuff like this does actually exist like I've looked at it

because I cannot afford to fly private I'm never going to be able to afford to fly to fly private

but you'll look at like some of these jump flights from LA to LAX and you go oh my god like why

don't I think about this because it's so much more convenient it's not that much more and then

you're just buying a seat it's not like you've shown up like me solo asshole with an 8c plane

landing and then going like yeah that was worth 50 grand which again I'm never going to do because

I can't afford that but I don't know I don't know if that's worth ringing it but I just can't

you're gonna as much as it's gonna be awesome you know maybe one thing if they were the one seat

and maybe Duke was the four or five because there's also a chance you go in there and go hate

St. John's when they can't score for five or six minutes which is going to happen in this game are

they down eight or they down 18 after that happens when it looks like they're never going to score

again like what if they're down 18 just thinking about driving that sprinter van all the way home

tomorrow it's like what the fuck are you talking about down talking about you're being home by

yourself oh yeah oh I think you have to watch in the same place I think you have to yes yeah

you can't leave her hang and so sprinter van might be the best idea out of all of these but you cannot

you cannot leave her um because she cares about the game like there's a part of it where it's like

if she likes the Johnny as much as I do she totally understands it and I have tickets all this kind

of stuff but I don't know man that's a tough one kind of a fun story of people trying to

me and then go it's two and a half months away dude you can do stuff but those probably weren't

yeah those probably are female women though that's not going to come on out play that right now yeah

okay um I thought we had

one I really wanted to do here um yeah here it is it's unique it's different

I'm Jeff passons neighbor awesome

we know Jeff loves life advice so maybe I can get a text from him or something

he did text me yesterday um just out just for those that didn't know by the way we taped

this earlier so like we didn't take pass in the same day we're taping all this stuff so

we've had this in the hopper for a bit but he does listen to the pod and he uh he's a big Israeli

couscous fan big Israeli couscous fan gave me a couple recipes um he also said barley is underrated

so it tastes like pharaoh passons like 12 and also 75

I do love myself some Jeff passon though all right uh so this works out perfectly right

because we had already taped with Jeff and I didn't realize that was today's episode

so really so really produces this stuff you guys I don't know I don't know if I just

regret it today but all right so he's Jeff passons neighbor he offers us an address we're not going

to read it um just because it's not proof is needed he wasn't I don't think he was

he's like can provide more detail but don't want to at the risk of sounding creepy we

we're just gonna take you right we hit the sweets by buddy great Jeff's gonna know who it is

too this is interesting well I don't know if he's gonna know so here we go 6-1-1-70 bench 180

yep get the two and a half s out fucking love it dude DRs every week

I got the one and a half s out during covid that was like sitting there you know they made those

and you want them for your garage so funny you ordered them you added them to the order

is it one of those select all deals when you're getting your you're set up

just like yeah fucking ordering all sorts of stuff back then I just just like

I was thinking about even opening up a small business you know secondhand stuff and then

I tried to get into the Craigslist game of selling used gym equipment and I was like I'm out

now we had one transaction and that transaction was fine but the the the haggling with everybody else

on everything I was like I you know what to be a faction can't do it yeah do you have veterans

discount like hey man I respect who you are but all right here we go 6-1 we said that already

one and a half excuse me one 50 half marathon which I think Wargon would say meh

what would Wargon say I don't know that's not bad not bad but not good player comp injured

Washington Wizards Ron Baker who shout out writing it because I recently discovered I am Jeff

Passon's neighbor and jogged by his house very frequently especially when I want some hill work I

saw him outside once and knew he lived vaguely in the area I don't live in a house directly beside

him but close enough you all answer celebrity interaction questions frequently but wondering

what protocol here would be am I allowed to tell him a big fan and ask his opinion and if the

braves will suck again this year or should I just wave and keep on going I know he likes to do

life advice so hoping to maybe hear his opinion as well big fan of you three or four thanks so much

reading this thinking about this episode and how much he's loving like baseball going like the

the the graph going up I think that would he would also look at it that way if you're like big

fan of your coverage of baseball I think it would I think he would absolutely welcome it

if it wasn't opening day I feel like we should call Jeff and just bring him on but I think he's

kind of busy right now he is busy the reason we take this early is because he's busy today but we

want to run it today so thanks to Jeff for being accommodating I feel like I mean I don't want to

speak for him but we're going to right now I feel like he's such a nice guy I think there's no way

he wouldn't be like happy to meet a neighbor and chop it up about baseball I don't be like insane

and start like texting him questions about your fantasy baseball league but I think

I don't think this is an issue about your neighbors it's not like you're just like coming in from

a different town hanging out around his neighborhood hoping to see him you live in the same area as him

I think next time you're jogging you see him you run at him full speed hug him and say I love you

and then when there's an awkward moment you just go for so let's say it's okay yeah so let's say it's

fine I think passing now because of the email you're good next time you jog by you just go hey I'm

the emailer this was a smart one yeah you guys are going to be barbecue in in fucking two months

hell yeah yeah this is a happy ending story totally I'm jealous actually yeah I'd imagine a picture

at some point maybe hold off on the brave stuff don't start right in on that little background

why the Ron Baker reference maybe ask him for that Israeli couscous recipe

monk beans you know mung beans are a monk beans there's two different versions I don't think

you know if you're I don't think you know if there are or not I said it wrong yeah uh

no they're not two different versions I only knew that because a creed in the office

they're like what is that Kyle it's like I sprout mung beans in my desk in my desk

I almost read the Latin thing and that was going to be even more wrong glad we didn't do that

I think this guy's good I think he's good to go I think you're gonna be but just wait wait until

the episode post again how would you know because you couldn't hear it until it's actually posted

and then maybe give him the first week of of baseball launching off he might not be there he's

probably gonna be on the road the entire time but you know maybe we wait until we get to April

I wouldn't say you're probably the email is going to probably listen to this for Jeff listens to it

so if you I don't know him before that without the knowledge yeah you're right but he it is

again busy time the year you know he's gonna support back in season this could be a break like I can't

do you're right the listener probably listen to this before all right abrupt ending let's go

thanks a ton Kevin Kyle Steve please subscribe tomorrow we have uh oh we're bringing on a dangerous

character on the show tomorrow Tom outro yeah shout out Westport tacos or what uh I think we

might let him go at it with with Sarudian palo oh I don't want to do that I don't want to do that

I've I'm out I can't do this anymore they're out on who I just I don't want to have this

conversation anymore the man it's such a the season such a bummer the palo conversation is

such a almost came to the court now where what are we even talking about last thing he was they've

also lost six straight um so I don't I think it's just next year man we're just he's gonna

punt this the next year we're palo get 20 in the 80s I was gonna do something like that but I was

saying to see if you can you get bench for some of the shots uh if you look what the fuck are you

doing imagine cotton fit Simmons like what the hell's this 17 foot turnaround thing early in the

shot clock all right that'll do it for the show today I already think to everybody subscribe and

Tom Habers throw tomorrow again shout out great call staples staples is always on your mind um

now i'm not talking about the paper supplier