Strange & Unusual: Mike meets TLR and a College Basketball brawl breaks out (5:13)
Ian Gardeck joins the show to talk about his come-up, pitching in pro ball, his path through the minors, injuries and answers one of our long-discussed debates (25:02)
NFL: The Super Bowl is over and the Chiefs claim victory. Our thoughts on the whole week, game breakdown and the after parties. (1:32:26)
NBA: Is the NBA All-Star game a lost cause? (44:18)
NASCAR: The Daytona 500 was this week, Mike’s thoughts on the race and the sport (1:54:01)
MLB: Why are there so many free agents and Wander Franco won’t play in the MLB again (1:58:24)
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Welcome back people it is episode 8 of season 4 the taxi Squad podcast it is currently Wednesday the 21 you’ll be hearing this Thursday the 22nd of February this is a very big episode for us we have our first interview of a former professional athlete shout out to
Ian gek Crystal Lake King 847 King now a Scottdale King no big we also have strange and unusual top ICS to get into today and they do not disappoint we will also break down MLB free agency and where are these guys going and also just some other sports to talk about it’s the
Taxi Squad podcast come on everybody Cate the tax Squad is here today so lose the bles keep back get relax for now back relax for now we talk about sports and stupid stuff they probably wrong in my de ro so welcome back it’s the taxi Squad
Yeah Vince how the hell are you I’m great dude I’m great I’m absolutely giddy about this interview just listened it through again this is a great interview everybody get excited happy February my dad’s birthday is tomorrow well two days so it’s exciting all around dude it’s exciting all around
Happy birthday to papa glav has the best name on the planet facts just saying also Mike in case anybody’s watch his dad’s name is Mike shout out to Papa clav great man happy birthday that’s awesome man you guys got anything fun planned anything new or say we’re doing
A we’re doing a little brunch situation on Saturday whole fam’s GNA be there it’ll be good nice yeah well enjoy who doesn’t love a good brunch right you know brunch is like the perfect excuse to cure a hangover because usually you’re drinking something so if you went
A little heavy on Saturday night you go to brunch on a Sunday yeah but bloody marries though oh oh I’m not you could just drink prco yeah for breakfast and it’s totally acceptable and just a just a an orange juice I don’t need a lot of
Orange juice yeah or or a very close second is a great seab Breeze cocktail and usually a seab breeze or an ocean breeze can be any combination of pineapple juice orange juice and hka or Jin whatever you do prefer I’m big when I’m on a cruise I go tequila orange
Juice cranberry juice and that’s enough to get your day started Grease the wheel proper enough to make you feel good okay and then usually if you keep going at those for a good two hours you are shitfaced by I was gonna say that’s a zesty ass time I feel like after that I
Be like I’m going hey hey you never know when they start the dance competition on the cruise line yeah this guy might just be shaking some oh you watch you watch Chicago Mike throw some ass you don’t see any other ass the same way Budd you
Could see Chicago Mike throw all of this lack of ass on on a cruise ship near you yeah washboard ass washboard ass washboard ass I don’t know if you want that don’t know if you want this washboard ass in your life one lady does and she’s quite
Lucky wife shout out to your wife shout out to my wife well that’s good man I’m happy to hear it I’ve been in a a whole uh other state today so I was in Dallas for two days and that’s sick now I’m back yeah I was doing corporate mic
Stuff Oh I thought you went roast Cowboys yeah no I was just like just going to local ranches and being like [ __ ] [ __ ] you know just like sweet boots [ __ ] damn well I’m just say it I’m with you hey I get it I get it I get no I did
Meet a lot of people from Texas though and and most proper people who are from Texas just think the world is Texas yeah and um it kind of is those Mass that’s that’s not true though I know um people in Dallas think like nothing exists outside of Dallas it’s kind of funny and
Then uh on top of that yeah they all like to hunt walked into one of suppliers uh offices today and just deer heads buck heads in the office oh yeah in the office sweet they they’re all about Texas buddy okay they’re all about Texas uh not a lot of Texas fans though which
I was kind of surprised they’re all B fans I like oh well it depends on where you’re at in Texas right were you on like the Eastern area of Texas they were in Dallas I mean it’s two hours from Austin yeah you think it’d be Longhorn country yeah it’s it’s a little weird
It’s a little little weird guy was walking around with a cowboy shirt on I I apologized yeah you should have so yeah you know overall good time did corporate mik stuff shook some hands kiss some babies good off the airplane home ready to jam with my guy so let’s
Talk about some strange and unusual topic shall we you got a little chummy with the guy that you and I are very familiar with didn’t you this weekend Mike yeah yeah yeah you didn’t know whether to be kind to him or break his hip uh it’s not the second one is not
That difficult these days the second one is is not that difficult but went out to dinner with my wife and our family friends John and Mary uh John and actually officiated our wedding he shout out to jc5 um we’re all out to dinner at this lovely place called ranada I which is in
The builtmore hotel if you’d ever like to spend $40 on a very small piece of octopus that’s where you do that okay uh you’re paying for a name because it’s a Frank ly Wright Hotel it’s been around since the 40s and it’s a waldorf Historia property
So it’s um fancy money money money baby so we walked in we go to dinner about halfway through our meal uh after appetizers and drinks I was like you know I gotta I gotta I gotta go to the to the potty yeah so I get up and I go
To the potty and I’m walking to the potty and some gentleman walks in from outside the [ __ ] are you calling it potty cuz that’s where you go the potty the restroom there you go little boy’s room I went to the party I went to the party it’s like you’re saying party in
Like a British accent or something going to the party uh like wait what are are you going to a party or you got a piss what are you yes either way so go going to the party and I’m walking and I see an older gentleman walking in with a
Backward snap snap back on backwards backwards like a bruh like okay how you doing how you doing yeah and he’s walking in and I’m looking at him he looked he looked like he was a little shatti like like he was like he had a couple drinks right yeah I was
Going to say explain what that means to the mass population yeah I mean he looked he looked like he had a couple drinks but he he looked coherent enough and he’s walking he’s moving a little slow for his age okay okay he’s walking by me and
Like I stopped at my tracks and I I I like boom it all clicked I was like that’s [ __ ] Tony larusa I know that walk yeah so yeah he walks slow and and and kind of triangular so I look at him I go you’re Tony larusa he goes nice to
Meet you young man I’m Tony I was like I said Tony we miss you man he was like well thanks man he’s like well thanks man I I really appreciate that he said you know I had to I had to step down because of health issues and he said
Otherwise I’d still be there uh I said well sir I’m I’m the probably the largest white sock fan you’ll ever meet said I love my team I just moved out to Arizona I said but you know I plan on getting to some spring training games he’s like well I’ll tell you this we
Might surprise some people this year I was like really how would you know that he goes well I’m advising for them right now I said of course you are and we talked a little bit there he is yeah t there he is the tlr doesn’t have many
Thth left but that’s okay so tlr and I start talking he’s like yeah you know I think we got a really good young core I think we’re going to surprise some people this year he goes you know our our pitching staff he said crochet looks
To be a real deal starting I said okay and then uh I said you know I I just don’t know about griffall he said I’m telling you griffall is a is a great coach what is he supposed to say though you know that’s what I’m saying
Like I said and I was thinking that to myself was he going to say yeah we’re really GNA [ __ ] suck this year we’re probably going to lose another 102 games yeah we are it yeah it’s headed that way yeah um so we started chatting just a little bit more about the team where
We’re headed I asked him specifically about Dylan CE and what he thinks is going to happen with that I said is CE getting traded I said I saw I showed up to training camp I said how does that look he goes oh CE looks like CE he he
Looks great he’s like the issue with CE is that he’s a Boris client there’s no way we’re resigning him so there is no doubt that he’ll be moved by the trade deadline whether they move him for a package that’s too good to be true let’s just hope he stays healthy enough um he
Also called out uh some good young closers that could be in the mix for us this year even though we don’t have a closer right now considering the floppy piece of [ __ ] AKA Liam Hendricks is no longer with the team which I’m very happy Boston Red Sox enjoy your time
There Liam I love you and you’re the best oh yeah he’ll he’ll uh he’ll have uh very very great success in Boston they’ll eat alive after he gives up a walk-off home run on a 96 mph fast ball straight down the middle with no movement and bases are loaded so just
Saying all right I I digress so we started talking a little bit about that I asked I said what are we doing for the short stop position this year I said I know Nikki Lopez looks to be the guy I said Coulson Montgomery I said by the
Way looks to be the real deal he said that kid if they don’t rush him he will be like a Corey Seager yeah I was like really he said I’m going to say that again if they don’t rush him I said do you think he’ll see the League this year
He said I don’t think he should he said I still think he needs one more year in order to develop and then next year he’s full full go so I take that as he’ll be up by the allstar break yeah I mean seagar was his player cop Seager was his
Player comp when he was coming up so well which is great I mean I I would love nothing more to hear that but I mean that was kind of the extent of the cono I told him going to be going to the spring training game Monday afternoon which I stoked about everybody’s going
To be at work but I don’t have a Tong going on so I’m G to go work from a ballpark that’s awesome could be worse right life is good so with that I told him I was gonna be at the game and he’s like oh all right well we’ll see you on
Monday I was like what does that mean and I asked him I was like well could I ask for you at the game Tony he was like no I come on I like damn it want to sit with tlr and watch a ball game gra and break it down but yeah no
And I didn’t have enough time to plug the Pod so I feel like an [ __ ] but what are you gonna do what what the [ __ ] are we gonna have I after listens if he ever listens to this part of the podcast he’d be like yeah I’m not going on there
Why because we’re like he said they were going to be good even though we’re going to lose 102 games again this year which we are listen and I told him I said there is nothing more that I’d love to see this team win I said I’m sorry I
Just don’t have a lot of faith right now yeah he said I could understand why you don’t he said but I really like like Chris gets and I believe his vision is just I said okay I wanted I really took everything out of me not to ask the
Question I want to ask is it true we don’t have an analytics Department yeah that would have been nice to know and he would have been like what are analytics what are analytics I know baseball from 1987 yeah small ball baby small ball small ball just Bunting and
Bunting um yeah no so all in all tlr is a really nice guy who’s very approachable and I finished the conversation I said well Mr laruso it was a pleasure to meet you sir he said young man my name is Tony my father was Mr larusa he’s like it was great meeting
You we’ll see you Monday I like cool I like okay a tlr and then Med he said uh Chris Jones or was is it Chris Young the GM Rangers yeah yeah the GM of the Texas Rangers was also at the builtmore hotel so a lot of these guys
Are out here for winter meetings right now and it’s kicking off so it’s an exciting time to live in Arizona because all of the baseball is beginning and it the weather is just so ideal for it too yeah I get that that’s exciting man that’s fun yeah shout out to tlr shout
Out to Chicago white sock we’ll see what happens did did you also hear on a strange n usual topic that um Jerry reinsdorf is going to the Illinois Senate in order to request a billion dollars of [ __ ] funding for a new ballpark considering the man’s a [ __ ]
Billionaire as it is why doesn’t he just rent why doesn’t he just R gouge everybody again that’s they’re saying they’re going to try and figure out how to tax the [ __ ] piss out of this so that they can build their Ballpark and of course he I’m not going to spend the
Dime of this money that I’ve been attaining from 1991 I’m going to threaten to move the team to Nashville and now I’ll show you and then they always just go okay whatever you want Jerry this is garbage it’s such garbage dude he’s is literally a poison in this
City I understand that he and his ownership he’s brought seven championships to us garbage regardless that was done despite him or in spite or whatever the terminology is that’s how that happened I’m so okay we’ll see we’ll see Jerry we’ll see how that works for you man yeah
Jerry in other news though eight players suspended from the Texas A&M Comer and in Incarnate Word that’s the other school who I know I don’t know who they are but this was a fun one uh 7672 overtime victory for Texas A&M Commerce over incarnate Ward I feel like I’m in a
Fever dream yeah um they’re in the the handshake line and then a brawl comes out uhoh Incarnate Word is a Catholic institution if I’m not mistaken uh look looking at it sounds about sounds quite cathic yeah eight players suspended though so for Incarnate Word there is
One guy for three games a couple for two Texas a& M Commerce three guys were suspended for three games one suspended for one game don’t know how they end up laying those out but uh they say that they respect the decisions made by the Southland Conference another conference
I’ve never heard of and they’re going to honor them they would like to thank the SLC office for handling this matter fair and efficiently um I like this I don’t care what anybody says I like a little brawl the the brawl which broke out during the handshake line lasted for
More than a minute and Spilled Out across the floor as players and coaches from both teams attempted to stop the in quote melee it’s unclear what sparked the fight so what sparked the fight Vince that what’s up you’re in the handshake line someone at the end of the
Line he was just like I ate your no not ate your ass excuse me I I ate that booty hole clean son no I ate that [ __ ] like like kobashi I meant to say I ate your ass for lunch I think would be the terminology there’s probably a guy that just absolutely
Diced somebody up someone got pissed couple hands are thrown and he know how that escalates honestly could have been malice at the palace if it weren’t for nobody being in the stands so pal man yeah what a time um but yeah no I like this we need some actual like and that’s
The thing people say that about NBA players all the time it’s like hey they’re all bark no bite this is just pure bite baby this is just pure they’re biting and if you watch they can hit at that price point they can hit watch oh yeah they’re in a circle and it’s just
Like boom boom you just see Hands flying it’s sick he can hit he coaches come in no wait wait wait he can hit he can hit it’s unclear what sparked the fight I think someone was talking [ __ ] or someone said something that was cross the line or did he say something about
His mama did he say up a mother I feel like there had to be a mother usually if a mama is involved hands get thrown which agreed and with you um but also my mama someone might have gotten mad uh they said there’s no place for this in college
Sports and I say wrong there’s more room for that more brawls please because I need more bite than bark and I’ve gotten too much bark not enough bite which we’ll talk to about at the end of this episode as well so barking and biting well the fact that some players in the
NBA are too good of friends and they don’t compete with each other anymore oh yeah no we not to bury the Le but we got to talk about the NBA all starting game because this is the most horrific piece of [ __ ] that ever piece of [ __ ] but you know what it’s good to
See guys getting energized in the game of basketball usually it’s a silly nanny [ __ ] ass boy game yeah and these guys aren’t aggressive anymore so it’s good to see some hands Throne beat the [ __ ] out of each other will you yeah go to the South go to the Southland Conference
And bring your brass knuckles baby cuz we’re fight go to Texas A&M Commerce or Incarnate Word let’s break down this Texas A&M Commerce thing for fact for okay I know exactly what it is I know exactly what it is I mean is it just like the team store and it’s the players
Who are work in the store considering it’s Commerce no no this is the Commerce branch of Texas A&M so this is probably like it’s the same idea as like U ofi Springfield you ever seen that before or like I I what I believe it to be and I
Could be wrong but I think this is probably Texas A&M but it’s a branch out that only does like money stuff maybe that’s my okay okay or Commerce they have their own basketball team so does Texas A&M play Texas A&M Commerce and just no because these guys are not in
The SEC that’s where A&M is yeah so okay so is it like okay so is it like d this is like mac is it is it like Notre Dame and then there’s St Mary’s right yeah yeah just about but St Marys is D1 though yeah well this is low LEL d right
This would be like like I don’t know Toledo maybe it’s this is like NIU facing like somebody where NIU would never play Alabama you know what I’m saying it’s that kind of deal yeah like these guys aren’t going to be in in the um round of 64 of March Madness but I
Wish they were because hands would be thrown I want that that’s what the NBA is missing guys’s got to get in some fist fights anytime guys’s get in fist fights now indefinitely suspended it’s like we need our R our test we need well we actually do cuz Isaiah Stewart this is another
One too did you hear about this Isaiah Stewart stuff no what happened to Isaiah Stewart Isaiah Stewart got suspended from the NBA for having a fun little time in the tunnels pregame Isaiah Stewart punched a guy smok in the pot oh no so Drew Eubanks I don’t know what happened between them
Isaiah Stewart punched Drew Eubanks in the pregame or in pregame in the tunnels of the facility and got arrested so Isaiah Stewart and I don’t know if you remember this we went over him one time too cuz he got another Brawl on the on the court and I’m like
Kind of like cool with it cuz you know the Pistons could use a little bit of Gusto on their team right now um but February 23rd so tomorrow when you’re listening to this is the court date for this man he was arrested and they said detectives are investigating the assault
That happened what I assume probably happened is they had some beef before or after it but both officers spoke to both players number of witnesses to the incident it was an argument before they arrived at the arena so whatever was going on they came into it Isaiah Stewart said enough of your [ __ ]
[ __ ] I’m gonna beat your ass now so he did that got arrested and at last the game still went on wow yeah so they were without their guy because he beat the [ __ ] out of some random bystand at no no Drew Eubanks is on the Suns oh okay
Never mind yeah so beat the [ __ ] out of the guy on the sun he punched him I don’t know how much he beat him up I feel like it got pulled off why is there court case they just got in a little fight because it wasn’t like in the
Field of play it’s it’s a whole thing like if you do it pregame then that’s like a different level because it wasn’t like you know there was no refs or anything like that watching it it was just like a random act of violence which is considered as
Assault so if you did it on the floor I don’t know how that all works but all I know is that Draymond Green isn’t going to court Kates court dates so you got to assume that if it happens before the game then it’s fine or did Bobby Portis
Go to court for punching Nicola metic in the face and practice Yeah remember that him and Nicola metic got in a big old fight remember how good Nicolaus was supposed to Beed to be and he was not good at all candy ass boy is what I call
And he just looked like he just looked like a like a like a like a monk y he had a very bushy beard and a very bushy haircut and he just could only shoot wide openen threes and he was supposed to be good at threes but he really
Wasn’t it was all he wasn’t really good at anything and they were like when we get Mirch when we get mirtich when we get Mir he’s the next con Tony C coach this this no he’s not no he’s not he’s like Tony CU coach’s like a strain
Cousin who just ended up on the team and no one knows how yeah something about the serbs man they’re really good at basketball unless your name’s Nicola metic all right speaking of nickolai msh and his beard maybe he would have been a little bit better true he chose to shave
His beard if he’s to shave any beard should use the wonderful people and brand of Henson shaving company agreed we will go into the Ian interview after this break this part of today’s episode is brought to you by none other than our friends at henssen shaving if you guys have been listening
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Pitcher 40 man roster two times three time spring training invite and a man that basically share a HomeTown with your boys Ian Gard welcome to the show welcome to show it’s an honor it’s nice to meet some fellow 847 you know local area codes be back with the boys
Right you know hell yeah happy to have you man happy to have you everything going well you’re out in Arizona by Mike over there out in Arizona by Mike I mean any day you get a cigar and uh you’re in short sleeve t-shirt and kicking back
It’s not a bad day you don’t miss the uh the beanie hats and the scarves and the triple layers no I had a beanie hat on the way to the gym this morning at 5: uh walked into lifetime about 5:15 and I did have the beanie hat on uh little embarrassed
It was still about 65 degrees and I’m beanie but hey the beanie doesn’t die it just looks a little bit more ridiculous when it’s War out different day different different type of life than we have out here this is for necessity yours is for style I’d say yeah now Ian
I guess the the real question what’s that we get cold we do get cold here Mike like defend me c here I was just about to ask you so with all that like are you like a winner Coke eye when it drops below like 55 I haven’t gotten
There yet my blood’s still like Chicago it’s still thick so like I can still walk outside in a t-shirt when it’s in the 50s but I don’t know I see the arizonans so to speak in their I got rid of all the winter coat stuff kind of mistakingly and haven’t
Brought myself back to do it I’m a big fan of the hoodie and like a shell coat so like give me I’m a big double up Hoodie bomber that way if you’re feeling a little hot you can rip the bom the bomber off you know
If it starts rain and you get a little shell there so big hoodie bomber guy love it love that love it love that awesome man well I mean hey Ian um thank you once again for being on the show uh we got a lot to get into with you um as
We described Ian’s background 8-year Pro in the MLB comes from our hometown you know and and kind of leaning into that you know we grew up in a pretty small area in the northwest suburbs of Chicago land so we don’t see a ton of people make it to that level so with
That being said I mean can you kind of like walk us through your journey from high school you know I I mean even before then from high school college to the minor leagues to making a 40 man like how does that really look so I think you got to start with the origin
Story right the origin story is somebody that show shows that it’s real right so if you go to Ken Reigns and Rashad Stewart back at the original Pro player that was my first interaction with guys that had actually done it and shown that it was attainable otherwise it was like
Being an astronaut I don’t know about you but I never met any astronauts so it didn’t seem like a didn’t seem feasible as a kid but I met firemen I met police officers and I met Ken and Rashad Stewart and they uh they showed that it
The dream was actually a reality so it started as a kid really evolved in high school uh shout out to uh my best friend who’s no longer with us Tony Pauls uh Tony Pauls was the one that kept me going uh believe it or not I was ready
To hang it up there were some frustrating years there things weren’t right uh if if you’re familiar with the area and you graduated in my uh my class you probably knew me as a DH or a hitter no [ __ ] I developed as a pitcher but hitting was really the Forte that
Started the Beast and that that came from the hand eye from hockey and being a multiport athlete you know I was kind of I had that hip shoulder separation movement and kind of hip rotation going on from ay with just that lower body power um I didn’t I didn’t realize how
Strong I was from ay until uh baseball stopped and now my legs are the size of Twigs what did what is it with hockey players assimilating to like any sport ever that’s never made like hockey players on the whole are some of the best athletes probably on the planet I
Mean let’s just break it down you’re on like a one inch blade flying around at 20 plus miles an hour right like and dudes are trying to take your heads off there’s a combination of fighting there’s a whole chess match with in the within the game there’s you get really
Smart analytic guys because it’s all geometry right like board passing and all that’s angles so pool and you know it’s it’s giant guys playing pool and it’s fun right like it’s it’s moving at a fast pace so you got to adapt so you get a little bit of that NASCAR like
Quick you know make an adjustment move but no it’s a blast the guys that stand in front of the net like let’s talk about that for a second like a dude’s gonna crank a slap shot from 100 miles an hour n and you’re gonna stand there
No face mask and try and defend that holy cow I’m good pass pass yeah you definitely got to have balls of steel for that there’s no doubt about it so what age were you when you started playing hockey and then what age were you when you started playing baseball
And did you do both assuming that was kind of the case yeah so hockey I stepped on the ice I want to say about four my parents did learn to skate with me four or five and I was a natural I for the longest time walked not nearly as good as I skated
Like I was a way better skater than a walker like we joked like we better put some ice down I I probably get to school better um but baseball was always we stayed in athletics the entire year right so it kept you out of trouble it kept you
Discipline you had to maintain your grades so that made a transition into college really pretty seamless because we were always juggling you know one thing after the next you know freshman year I remember going from the All-Star game at hockey and baseball triy outs and it was like all right baseball triy
Outs Into Summer Ball and Babe Ruth cabba I think you guys are familiar with cabba better believe it kind of another cool launching off point um I still remember playing against tker barard at cabba like I met Tucker czy at Caba so like those are the type of dudes that
Stayed around Rudy Flores you had played in the big leagues a little bit um the bubble and network like as you went got smaller and smaller it’s also my belief that um turds you know if you’re a turd in life so vast wandering wasteline but if you’re good to people
It is a small small little pool yeah and people are attracted you meet good people just like Mike um it’s it’s a fun environment you want to stay in that right absolutely absolutely man no that’s uh that’s that’s crazy that you got the chance to play with additional Pros in
That time and you know like so what was your last year in cabba probably what your last year in high school like 1718 yeah so I had 1718 I played for a team called Bergen Beach that actually the coach is kind of an absolute OG Steve bort was like he
Put together some of the most insane teams Bergen Beach was at cabba that year I think they they took second um at 15 and then I got invited years later to play with their um showcase team and it was like a u8 we rolled we rolled every team we run
Rolled all the way to the championship damn I’ve never been part of I’ve never been a part of a team that was so dominant everybody ended up playing in the minor leagues big leagues in some form it was just an incredible experience to be around athletes so talented and you knew where everybody
Was going just because of just what they did I mean it was insane guys hitting bombs that you know you can’t even imagine how far it hit with those old missile bats um all thrown in the upper 90s it was a cool experience he had
A-Rod and and a lot of bigname guys back in the day no wow he was he was a pretty cool coach to play for seems like it that’s impressive so when did that switch happen happened for you really from the time that okay you were hitting bombs you know you were
Using by the way if we’re going to talk about those old bats you bring up the old bats like what was your bat of choice were you an Easton guy were you a TPX guy were like what were you so I was an eastn stealth guy yes sir correct
Answer correct answer we needed the stiff because you can imagine the torque of somebody that could throw the ball almost 100 miles hour in high that he put on the bat swinging because it’s the same motion right just different angles so I love that stiff green Easton
Man I think you’re familiar with the target at Jacobs uh there are ball marks I’m pretty sure on that back wall there from me yeah badass against us but badass yeah switch the switch really took place when I took full ownership I actually thought I was gonna be done playing
Baseball and that was sophomore year so I played sophomore year get done I’m just spent right you know I do think there’s uh Sports fatigue that goes on at a young age right mentally physically emotionally you know these not that my parents had done it um but just it gets
Overwhelming right it’s a lot you just keep flipping over and kids are doing different things so I at that point was like you know what I’m G to get a job got a couple of jobs I wanted some money you know I drove my car I started
Working out I just was obsessed with the gym you know being a heavier guy I’m sure both of you guys can relate you know being the chubbier kids hell yeah you know it gets to that point where you’re like enough is enough like I’m gonna at least put on some muscle so I’m
Gonna move some of these little uh trap boys around for sure and that was the launching point I remember hooking on with just some old school like salt of the earth gym guys um sure and I I’m doing bench negatives I’m doing everything the opposite of
Baseball so I I’ve jumped in velocity I think the first time I threw was like 88 92 off the mound and as I stopped lifting my chest and my arms I progressively started throwing harder because I wasn’t carrying as much weight and uh wasn’t as tight in my chest so it
Was weird backing off of some of that stuff because it was the foundation but you just you adapt right it was you I’m figuring it out at 16 on how to train to be something that I thought was achievable but I thought I was gonna be
Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa I didn’t think I was gonna try and be Eric G yeah for sure that’s that’s crazy so you started pitching then after your sophomore year high school is really kind of when that started to develop yep junior junior the Junior fall was uh kind of the launching point
At a at a showcase honestly a pro player you know I was trying out for the first team and you know we we let it fly a lot of people at that point had only known me to be a DH and not many people go to
College just a DH so I had to try and figure something out for sure for sure so leaning into then your Junior in senior year what what were the type of offers you were looking at then from you know being a part of the CA programmed getting into more of a pitching role
Stepping into that and putting the bat down so to speak um what did that look like what did that process entail where you’re now starting to get looked at you’re starting to get offer Scouts how did that process look to you yeah it’s completely overwhelming right like it’s
Something that most kids you know talk about being super exciting and they tell their boys they’re super excited about it but it’s super stressful right you’re making decisions that are you know supposed to impact you know the rest of your life at 16 16 to 18 like it’s a wow
This is coming quick um there started to be a little bit of pro interest um agents started coming out of the Woodworks um we heard from schools but unfortunately I wasn’t as focused at school as I was at baseball I won’t I’m an idiot but I don’t feel that I applied myself because
I remember junior senior year looking at my science teacher Renee kishki and I was like I don’t need to this doesn’t matter I am I’m going to play professional baseball and she was like yeah like okay whatever like you’re going to need this like you
Need to learn like and you need to just do it do you need it now though do you need it now I don’t need it now I don’t I don’t but it was the getting it done aspect which you know going back and finishing my degree you
Know 10 years later after starting it like there’s something to be said about starting something finishing something so there is the utmost respect that she she hammered that home but it you know I came back after I got drafted and was like Hey I did it and she you know she’s
Like yeah you were determined you were focused you had a plan and you know I’m not surprised um right but it it’s it’s it’s nerve-wracking right and I didn’t get the offers because it was tough to get in schools I kept all my ivy league stuff just because I it was laughable
That I was going to even qualify um Notre Dame was a talk but academically not able to swing in so some of these like schools you start getting excited and then there’s the just sheer you know disappointment that you didn’t spend enough time on your academics you know looking back those
Classes are not that hard it’s just more about putting in the A and you know as a kid you just want to put your effort into having fun kicking it with the boys and and playing sports but yeah we lost some opportunities there um we ultimately settled on the University of
Dayton it was a full ride opportunity private Catholic University um Mid major um had some bigger offers but you know with three boys coming behind the line uh college was uh needing to be covered right like financially we I can’t even imagine how my parents survived having four kids let alone
Thinking about if we all had to pay for school luckily most of us um you know so that played a factor into it went to Dayton realized that the academic program didn’t quite fit you know I liked academics more than I liked baseball and you know again
Going back to it the ultimate goal was played professionally so we transferred out um after a great summer I remember the the best coach and I will tout him that I have run across is Corey mcara he’s the pitching coach with Wake Forest um they are nasty they are nasty um he
Has produced some some just absolute dudes and I had him at pretty much almost his origin story fresh out of college uh been through just kind of actually the story that I went through and invested in his guys even in just summer ball right you know summer Ball’s
A couple months there’s not a whole lot of recognition and I remember getting on the bus I was like yeah broke up with my high school a girlfriend today I left a full ride scholarship and we’re about to take a 12-hour bus ride to Maine on a school
Bus um come back and come back and play the next day I mean that was that was the necbl back in the days was you know you’re gonna flip 24 hours on a bus and play three and then you’re gonna play two games um wow you just I just
Remember him being so assured and being like dude you’re amazing like you’re gonna figure this out I’m gonna help you we’re gonna get you where you want to be and in four or five days I was hearing from coaches from North Carolina and you know coming from a Dayton program to now
North Carolina’s in the mix ultimately we settled on going back to Junior College uh so that I could be draft eligible uh and then be able to not sit out right you know I was a I was a control project uh it was a [ __ ] show to
Say the least um you know balls would fly everywhere so I like to equate this to I was throwing in the mid to Upper 90s before I had probably 30 Innings under my belt so you can imagine when you’re off like an inch a guy that
Throws 80 85 it misses by a couple inches it’s not bad the rate at which I’m moving it’s missing by feet and people are dying and things are umpires are getting maimed and catchers are freaking out it’s it’s uh it was it was I’ll be honest it it was a [ __ ] show
Starting out I felt bad and that you know kind of feeds into some of the fear that I had in Corey Fix was just I was given this bazooka of a weapon and no scope no sight no anything right just overly coachable you know had no
Identity um in it and so Corey really helped Hammer that out and I had an absolutely amazing summer um first introduced to host families which again if you’re not familiar with the baseball grind host families really make this dream possible from the college ranks and Summer Ball to you know staying in
San Jose host families are the backbone of baseball that doesn’t really get talked about these families open up their homes they usually have kids they may not they may not have had kids um and they support you right because financially you cannot support yourself um it’s a uh dream Pursuit and there’s
Some sacrifices along the way and a lot of them were Financial sure that’s crazy man so you you were kind of like the Wild Thing of of your class so to speak and and that summer ball you know that that summer you clearly got got it under wrap so after
That summer ball session I’m assuming after that stage of the game you started to get far more attention yeah so I had a good summer and then I like to uh say we enter into the Kenny Powers era hell yeah yeah that’s that’s really it’s I have lefl Blanca hats for my roommates
And everything we really entered into the Kenny Powers I equated uh East Texas to Mexico and I was I was trying to get my pitch back and it was it was fun um it was again another overwhelming experience looking back you know my first Bullpen there was I don’t know 20
Scouts there to watch a bullpen and guys are wearing fatigues and just non-practice uniforms and there’s 80 guys out there for junior college I know I’m gonna be on the team but what’s going on this is weird and oddly enough some of these kids are way better than
Even kids I played with in high school so I’m like wow why why do we have so many guys um it was a weird experience um seeing that but it was fun right like you adapt I had good roommates um but then the game started and I I I did have
A very good fall um I was still kind of in flow from the summer I think my first outing I punched out eight and N hitters and was in the upper 90s with you know an upper 80s 90 M hour slider and everybody was like who is this guy um I
Remember I had 80 phone calls after a night class I had to take like 27 hours of credits my first semester so that I could take a like a normal workload the second semester and graduate because I knew I wanted to have the option to go
To a four year and I didn’t want to take summer school I wanted to play on the Cape Cod sure so I had so many hours and I came out of a class and I was just like I don’t even know how to address this like I had schools
Agents um went through decision Paralysis on the uh agent aspect I had a rogue guy uh represent me my senior year that was a terrible experience just asking for things that were not there so I kind of had taboo and Shi away from Agents um and probably hurt myself by
Doing so but you know you you just go with the information that you have absolutely ended up coming out that fall I was the number one Junior College Prospect in the country after Bryce Harper um so you can imagine the pressure that was uh I was putting on
Myself because I knew what he was going to be and you know with the stuff that was coming out of my hand we tried to turn me into a starter probably wasn’t the best idea and really you know started adding in a third pitch and we completely lost
Identity um I also had my grandmother diagnosed with terminal brain cancer that year and spiral um you know the wheels on the bus do come off and they came off hard um but we did you know everything works out we went out to the
Cape Cod I got to play out in the cape just an absolute again incredible experience roommates with Andrew Heeney shout out to Andrew for still continuing to get it done he was nasty folks I mean 94 hammers left side just cool as a cucumber um but yeah that was my H
Roommate in the cape that’s awesome you know a good time out there and then we went to Alabama um which just the being around success is incredible gymnastics won national championships that year football won a national championship that year men’s golf I mean track and field it was it
Was incredible to be around the amount of success Scott Cochran screaming in the locker room um you know walking in with Nick Sabin every morning just because you know I got adms and I’m gonna hit the same routine every day and so does Nick um you know
I learned at a you know pretty young age that successful people keep routines didn’t matter rain snow shine um hung over you know doesn’t matter you show up you stay on your routine and and there’s power in that so you know it was an incredible experience it didn’t work out
Baseballwise uh we got off to a hot start and you know again being the wild thing I was the wheels came off and you you got to be ready to pitch in the SEC sometimes it’s not the most talented arms in the SEC you’ve got to be polished you know so there were
Teammates that Friday night guys that didn’t get drafted and I had 12 Innings pitched and I was drafted higher than every single one of them so there’s that difference in college baseball it’s more about being polished and ready to go and having pitch ability and mix and you
Know can you get away with stuff um it’s changed now they’re they’re pumping out crazy arms yeah I was goingon to say like LSU vanderbild I feel like we’re seeing two two to three guys a year at this point yeah yeah you’re in the in those power conferences your your Friday and
Saturday guys are dudes they’re absolute dudes your and your Sunday guys usually probably young um your midweek guys you know probably could be Friday night guys and on most other programs so it’s cool I mean when I pitched at LSU gsman opened up the game and his last pitch
Which was like his 90th pitch in the eighth inning was almost 100 miles an hour I mean I was just like God damn like you you just it’s you were around dudes Mike Roth was pitching at uh South Carolina you know I mean there was absolutely you played against studs um
And that’s what you want you want to be around the best guys you want to see where you match up because it’s it’s a man with the stick and a man with a rock like where do I stand and you know right yeah it’s a primal game so what playing
In the SEC then I mean first and foremost you you said you got a chance to walk with Sabin to to class or your routine most weeks any conversations that stick out in your mind I mean not many people can say they got the opportunity to do that in life no I I
Think they were just short I think it was the respect that he acknowledged that I was in routine right like the cool just getting the acknowledgement that you know you were in the same routine and the same flow was was enough for me um and that’s what I really hold
On to is just like when you’re around success and even Cochran you know making a comment after I came back and was like how did you pass classes like you were in here sometimes for like two football groups and it was just like that’s that’s who I was like you know I was
Going to do enough to get by academically um not fail anything but you know I did get some help you know some teachers were for loving you know but it was all about baseball you know that was the pursuit the dream the everything and and let’s go go
And it got shaky there with 12 Innings I did not know if it was gonna work I just I just solely did not know if it was gonna work so that you know after being an eighth rounder to the white socks in 2011 and then you know we were getting
Into day three and it was not even a consideration you know the conversations were not going well um but my area scalp went to bat for me and got me to a pre-draft workout with the Giants I flew out on my own dime for
It um put myself up in a hotel um shout out to my parents for being able to do that last minute not cheap from Alabama to San Francisco um h no yeah clean across the country but yeah I I met who was my Champion right the guy that
Believed in me the most in the organization and who made all the moves was Dick Tira um I threw for dick Tira rest in peace again another one of uh the goods gone gone too early um but dick believed in me he he you know we
Had a connection and I he even remember talking about it throughout the years as I went up he’s like I remember seeing you at you know at AT&T when we didn’t have you signed from Alabama things weren’t quite there um dick also helped you know scare the absolute Jesus out of
Me when things were going wrong in 2014 and I you know it was it was a mess I was hurt balls were going everywhere I was walking like three guys every time I you know stepped out onto the mound I had nine walks per nine it was a
Disaster right like just the worst year that you could draw up and he’s like all right we’re gonna drop down and I’m like I threw 100 miles an hour the other day and now we’re gonna drop down sidearm like how low like underhand sidearm he like I don’t know just start slinging it
And I was like oh boy this is where it ends like I’m not an idiot like you don’t see many of those guys in the league and this is not a project you start at this age like holy crap what goes through your head at that point where it’s like he’s like I
Want to switch what you’re doing you’re so accustomed to what you’re already doing are you like I’m gonna trust him for this or are you more so like all right let’s see how this goes I mean there’s so much behind that right there’s the fear that this is done
There’s the want to be coachable where it’s like hey if you give me some time I’m down to do this but if this is like I gotta have this figured out in a week and then we’re done like I don’t know about that so it was it was weird it was
Definitely like this is not this is not a good signal um I remember going into that off season and I I had told people back home I was like I I don’t know if I’m gonna make it out of spring I really just do not know what is in store for me
And oddly enough Corey calls me um from danburry and he’s like whatat are you doing and I was like what do you mean what am I doing I’m at home he’s like you know if you excited for the year I was like honestly I I don’t even know
How to throw a baseball and he was like what I like I don’t know how to throw a baseball anymore I was like I’ve hit my head I pushing the ball slinging the ball um I I don’t I don’t know what what I’m doing and so he just broke it down
Real simple and he’s like no more playing catch with people gave me a couple of drills he like put your headphones in he’s like when was the last time you had fun playing catch and it was like holy cow I you know from 16
To you know now uh call it 22 the last six years you’ve just been chasing something and not really enjoying it right like you say you’re enjoying it but you’re just so Focus that you don’t really enjoy throwing a baseball anymore so it was just like okay let’s have fun
Just throwing a baseball and I came home and I was like we’re either going to figure this out and it’s going to click or this is going to be a mess like was throwing balls at the top of the Nets like it’s all over the place I was like
Holy cow and then about a week in it started to click and I was like huh got something here and we kept going and kept we kept Drilling and then uh Matt yorin made a switch and it was unconventional right you know most pitchers keep their hands real close to
Their chest but I just kept getting tied up right because I was a bigger guy I didn’t look right I didn’t look pitcher you have to keep in mind that I was 200 40 pounds I was built like an edge rusher a middle linebacker in the NFL I
Wasn’t you know and I’m only six foot I’m I’m not built like a traditional pitcher so he drops my hands out and he goes all right just relax him right here he’s like I’m just gonna hold him and he goes pick up and go and Wham I didn’t I
Literally I could have hit a KN on a horse’s ass damn and I was like whoa and he’s like all right I’m gonna do it again and it was like whoa like we’re two in a row like some like and it was like I had the greatest Bullpen session
In my life and there was still that like I always played Jackal and Hyde right you know I was two guys if if I was in stride you’re not hitting me if I was out you know good luck duck cover like I wouldn’t hit against myself but then it
It clicked and I was like maybe this is that moment that everybody talks about where they’re like at some point everybody has it and you go aha well that was it from then now walks dropped I knew like now I’m able to think like I
Always knew how to play the game but I like I couldn’t execute right like sure you know being a drill sergeant your soldiers are running to the left you’re screaming to go to the right you just you’re helpless um so it was that way in baseball and that’s why it was such a
Frustrating game it was just like I want to play the actual game behind the game right like let’s get into setting up pitches let’s get into like strategy right because that’s what the game really built around is like I’m gonna do this because I’m doing that you know now
You’re playing chess I was playing Just Checkers trying to just get the ball over home plate and then once I got into the game at chess it was just so much more fun I could talk to the pitching coach more figure out who’s hot who’s
Cold um and really be in tune with the game so with that like what to give it some context what year is this now so you’re you’re out ofama you’re you’re now in the Giants program uh what what year is this looking like how old are
You at this time what is this 2015 2016 so 2015 is is the year that it clicked right um played with some just absolute dogs we had the again we were we were the San Francisco Giants so we won at every level like there was a belief and
It was it was different back then the analytics hadn’t really gotten into it even some of the healthc Care stuff didn’t really get into it and we were old school right there was you know no facial hair below your lip so I had crazy pedophile mustaches that look better than me
Having a well-kept beard there was times in your career where you had a beast of a beard too at least the pictures I’ve seen yeah yeah the beard had a personality and that’s kind of what you know when you go through 38 months of rehab that we’ll get to later on like
You have to put on a mask and you realize you’re wearing a costume and you kind of start to check out of you know attaching to all the results so but no it 20 2012 was short season ball that was a pretty good year long year did a
Lot of stuff had a lot of fun we had a good team uh 2013 was another Good Year everybody stayed together got off to a slow start but again just the highs and lows there was great games where I get on a roll and then you know the wheels
Start to come off and you’re walking guys and it’s like who is this so you know but AB ball is really a lot of you know short season and even low a it’s a lot of just high school kids that are finally going out and a lot of college
Kids so you know you get that weird mix you know and the college kids you know may there’s something wrong with them when you know the high school kids are just getting experien so they don’t really have approaches and you start getting into high a and guys start
Developing a little bit of an approach um in the Cal League it is a launching pad yeah um they are some small Fields And if you back in the day Lancaster and high desert played I think there was like 20 home runs hit in the game damn
Wow yeah it you you could get clipped right it’s Ambush Central guys are swinging to get out of high a that’s that was that was the motto was swing to get out of high a so guys are just G hacking trying to hit home runs to get
To double a because double A is your proving gr right like if you can play in double A it’s just about a break here a break there being consistent at the right time um um Triple A is more of a holding tank um Prospect area you know
Some vets especially with an older team we always carried a heavy vet uh team in sack just because we need a taxi in case somebody goes down we want to be ready we’re not getting caught Giants were very prepared we were very you know at depth um especially at the catcher
Position and and pitching right like the unit um we knew what we were built on and we were we were stacked there um so 2015 we had guys like Tyler Rogers was repeating High a who’s a bigly closer who was ready for the he was setting us
Up like he got demoted from double A which blew my mind and um yeah just wild stuff Ray black was in our Bullpen Ray black um probably the hardest throw I’ve ever seen besides Chapman um this dude just slang it and he had video game stuff um unfortunately
He battled the injury bug in the be honest I kind of talked [ __ ] on him a little bit just because I was like come on like how bad could it be and then I went through it yeah and I was like yeah get it no I get it and
You’re a tough dude and it’s a completely different stance right like um it’s that’s why I really try not to judge anymore I’ve been through so much and you go through so much perspective highs lows Goods bads like things are just circumstantial like a lot of times
In life you know and people are doing the best that they can and who who am I to judge um till I’ve walked in their shoes and experienced it and I went through it with Ray and it’s it’s hard you know we just couldn’t stay healthy
Uh we also had Chase Johnson who was a starter um who when I think it was Jake Peavey had came down he had to get an inning or two and then Chase went on the throw seven scoreless Innings and pey like this guy is Big League ready right now I mean that was
The kind of stuff that we just had laying around um it was just you know everybody was a dude um if you were with the Giants and you were a pitcher you were a dude didn’t matter if you’re at the lowest level or the highest level like the Giants were built on pitching
So you were there for a reason um which was cool um led into 2016 getting put on to the 40 man roster you know I grinded it out had a big year with the postseason 80 appearances um me and Jake Smith broke um Romo’s strikeout record no [ __ ]
San Jose which was pretty cool especially then to like go and meet Romo in Camp and him be aware of it um was even cooler and then him to be just like an absolute amazing human being um you know sometimes baseball players get a WRA from time to time this guy was one
Of the nicest guys that I have met um as a teammate because you can only imagine the posturing that goes on in a locker room sometimes with young guys coming up old guys you know knowing they’re down to their last year or two or a fringe
Guy who you might be competing with you know during the year um Romo was just a welcoming presence uh especially for a team that was very well connected right like and rightfully so coming off of you know the Third World Series in as many years you know it it
Was a very connected group and a little intimidating even being a roster guy right you know I’ve got a Hall of Fame manager as my first manager probably a of coach and dve Getty who again tremendous human being um you just were around success and when you look back
You I’m very blessed to have been around so many successful human beings from being at Alabama to then going to you know the Giants to win three World Series um and then after things went you know kind of South with the Giants you know I end up in Tampa and holy moly
What what an organization on The Cutting Edge and again just amazing human beings that just don’t have the budget right that San Francisco does and they understand their market so it’s been a it’s been a fun path you know a lot of successful people
Way and you get to meet people who do it just incredibly incredibly yeah absolutely if you were all like I feel like the two organizations those two that we highlighted obviously those are two of the Prime organizations you’d want to be in as a pitcher yes and no right like if you’re
Trying to develop like me it was a great landing spot but when you’re ready to go it can it can be a block a right because bottleneck I remember talking to my agent I had hired my agent Dave Pepe his uh his dad was Phil Pepe the New York
Sports journalist and Billy Martin Jr whose dad was Billy Martin the Yankees manager they met in the clubhouse so I hired them in 2015 you know my walks I think were at like 20 I was like hey I I promise you I’m not going to walk a guy in the
Second half of the season I ended up walking four two were cocoa crisp not that I’m salty or anything but Coco was just getting the most cupcake Strike Zone I’ve ever seen I was thrown into a tin can I was say he’s not hitting at
450 on you you know no but those were the guys so you want to talk about hitters that I hated facing yeah give me a b righty all day yeah give me any righty all day give me any power Lefty all day give me a slap Lefty and I’m
Terrified guys like so guys like Juan Pierre Coco Crisp you know Kenny the Kenny Lofton sub type is just what you just because those guys could follow you off to you’re blue in the face I’m imagining it’s a long at bat it’s a stressful at bat if they’re on base your
Whole [ __ ] outing is just pardon my language shot your whole outing is shot that is that is speaking of based on what we said now you’ve got a jack rabbit on the base pass yeah I don’t like holding runners I don’t like deal no no pitcher likes dealing with stress
Right now you got this guy popping around he still second he’s scoring on a single like it’s just a nightmare you’re gonna give up I gave up so many being a power Sinker guy with the Giants I give up so many infield singles and it’s just
It’s just the fact of life um sure but yeah it’s those when I saw those those were circled right like and there were some teams that I came up with like Seattle had a lineup where it was like before you got to Tyler and I love facing Tyler O’Neal like Tyler O’Neal
Was like I circled him and I was like give me that guy but they had two slap guys around them where I was like I want no part of this guy like I just wanna if he gets on I want to wave him to third like because regardless he’s gonna score
Just don’t want to look at him but those slap those slap guys are tough man they’re just tough at bats they’re Scrappy and they’re going to create Havoc for it it’s not it’s no fun you know give me a power righty I knew how to pitch those guys those guys didn’t
Scare me you know the sliders and I’d love breaking bats I actually had a right on right Johnson shot um in 2013 I pulled off of a two seam so bad hit him right in the Johnson as he swung strike three strike three rang the
Bell he got hit he got hit in the dick he’s go sit down just a dick shot just a dick shot he’s pissed I was laughing that was a highlight right when you go right on right that’s the kind of movement that I had and damn that was hilarious absolutely hilarious what
Speed are you going on that like 90 92 oh no no that he took he took that like probably 95 96 God oh no like so when when you’re at that level I’m assuming if you’re a a day in day out hitter you’re you’re
Wearing a cup and or or did you know of guys who chose not to you which is ballsy is [ __ ] I mean yeah I mean your outfielders your your outfielders don’t really like wearing cups you know I get it you know they’re probably not gonna see it catchers are a must they have
Like special tank pups unfortunately I played with two catchers that had exploded testicles yeah it’s it’s absolutely just the worst noise and the worst thing to see is just have a guy just explode his no right like I watch the guy take it back to back and that that that
Absolutely exploded it where you were just like he got hit and they’re like come out he’s a tough guy and then literally like you can’t make this up right again and you’re like he walked out and he could just feel it was just Shar it was just shards right just there nothing
Yeah yeah you’re like I hope kids weren’t in the mix like yeah right exactly that’s not gonna go much of anywhere so you know we talk about the game within the game and and and that is so much of a situation of the chess match
Of a pitcher to a hitter now did you have specific guys that call for you that you preferred over others um is there something that goes into that um that in your in your mind yeah when you get into the pitcher catcher relationship I don’t think that there’s
Anything kind of more special like it’s I would imagine and again I have never played quarterback um but I’m sure Tom Brady had a center that you know you you have to groom these guys right because it’s it’s all about how they make you feel he’s delivering the ball to Tom I’m I’m
Delivering the ball to him the catcher and he’s gotta make me feel comfortable either that he’s in flow with me on what we’re calling or that he can block that slider in the dirt um that he can receive the ball if it’s you know not exactly where it’s at and still steal me
A strike um and then just somebody that knows how to fire you up or calm you down right like there’s times where we all need a little pickme up and yeah that’s where that relationship really comes into play I liked throwing to just big body guys like think of your Joe
Mauers your Buster posies like bigger Target right yeah oh I loved it it just was reassuring if you gave me a small Target it kind of scared me a little bit it just like I couldn’t line things up like their bodies because you’re going on you go on site rails right like where
You’re starting pitches on where to you know get more tilt you know I started there I started there and you have these reference points usually on your catcher um where you start things so there’s so much of that going on that when you swap those guys out it’s a it’s
A change it’s a change really is so I see this a lot and I feel like the further we get into the future here here we see this more often um and it’s weird nuanced drills like drills that aren’t you know Bull Pen throwing sometimes
It’s like oh grab this like sack of sand and throw it at the wall 15 times did you have any of those where you’re like what the [ __ ] are we doing here like what is this so yeah I did steal one uh I played with a guy from Latin America
Guy was just a wild guy right just insane like just insane stories you wanted to talk about owning tigers and apparently it was a doctor about in Columbia or something and you’re like just just off-the-wall outlandish stuff but he carried this Cannonball and he would swing The
Cannonball and just slam it into the dirt and it would just a big metal ball like a shot put like big Cannonball like a cannonball you know like a 12 pound Cannonball just Chuck on the ground no [ __ ] so he would do that and then eventually I was like you know what I’m
Down so that got Incorporated now I’m thrown like just these heavy massive like balls just I’d swing it get it going I do that two or three times because it’s insane right like the the idea of being a relief pitcher the concept is just absolutely ridiculous right like guy calls like oh
Are you ready you’ve been sitting down probably for two and a half three hours and now you got to go at you know Max Speed but it was it was a smell of the smelling salts I was a big smelling salt guy and actually they panned me in the
Bullpen getting ready and it looked like I was hitting a bump you’re just like because I’m like I go oh wow you know and it just was like a a great jolt and then a couple I liked a couple of just big squat jumps even when I get out
To the mound there’s nothing to me like it was all about intimidation like I get out to the game Mound and I’m doing two three squat jumps you know KN to like and I’m 240 pounds just getting up like here we go like I’m get a r at you um
But yeah it was those those kind of three things like you you just get a routine even from getting to the field I always like being the first guy there and then after batting practice which is just daunting right like for to watch guys try and figure out launch elevation
And I get it it’s there craft but we don’t make them watch our bullpens yeah um it’s another that’s another topic for another day yes absolutely but no you get your routine in so after batting practice I loved hopping in the shower right away and getting clean and getting in my uniform
Because there’s that I just want to be prepared and ready and focused because this is what I’m here to do it’s not eat food it’s not it’s not be the first one to spread it’s I need to get myself prepared for this game I need to get a
Lineup card um I kept track of I couldn’t watch our hitters right the Giants were and I’m gonna offend some people here aside from Matt Duffy and maybe Mack Williamson coming up our hitters were just tough was not a hitting organization so I didn’t I didn’t enjoy watching our hitters plus
You know who can watch a every hour of every baseball game just just not possible so I would keep a lineup card of you know who our pitchers were facing what guys were swinging who was a left-handed bat you know where my outs were because I wanted to be able to come
Into that game and you know hey I got a slap hitter that’s you know number nine but the number one hole hitter is a righty and he swings first pitch and he’s 0 for two the nine hole hitter right you don’t ever want to walk the
Nine hole right but you know what he’s hot he’s hot you know well I’m not giving him a cookie and I’m all right walking know and then being able to speak to that after the game right like it’s it’s one thing to say Hey you know
I walked the N hole hitter yeah you’re G to get yelled at but if you say hey I walk the N hole hitter because I’m better against right-handed bats and he’s struggling and this guy’s hot and I just I wasn’t feeling it didn’t want to give it up you know and that’s being
Prepared for your job and understanding where your outs are and then helping other guys hey you know you got right right right left you know and that guy’s a righty you know he doesn’t want to see the Lefty either or you know the Lefty coming in hey you’ve got left right left
Left like okay you’ve got you know you got to get your first guy and then your second guy situationally you know you might want to be careful with because you got two more guys that you know are your matchup so to kind of like add into that
You know okay so we figured out overall you hated the slap hitter model lefties weren’t your favorite Power hitting righties you love faing who was like your favorite guy overall to go up against that you know like yeah this this guy’s sitting down so two guys I had a power Lefty and Dylan
Thomas he had some time up Seattle I love facing him we had an epic battle I actually was swearing at him in the box and then we were teammates uh my final year in Oakland just kind of how baseball works right like we know each other we don’t hold any ill will after
The fact but you remember stuff um Franklin beretto was my favorite I own Franklin Franklin was just a free Power swinging and he was good he was good don’t get me wrong like he and I liked it because he was good like he was dangerous but you had to be
On your stuff but he kind of fit my ml right like gladen kid wanted to chase sliders I wanted to IND do sliders you know and I’d sink it in on his hands uh Tyler O’Neal was another one that I liked facing too like dude I mean I remember he hit
505 bench like an hour and a half before the game like he just bam and I was like holy cow what is going on here and they’re like yeah his dad’s Mr Canada and I’m like okay holy [ __ ] that’s a wild he’s he’s standing up there and
He’s got you know almost kind of that Mo saloo you know stance with his arms out and he’s like yeah yeah and he’s like 12 feet away from the home plate right just baiting you to throw that ball outside yeah just baiting you and I was like no
I’m going to throw it six inches inside because you want that but you don’t want that so there there was that chess match with him that was always great like it’s fun you know when you you see hitters each year and then you get into these series like yeah there’s a certain
Guy to where you’re like man I can’t wait till he comes up I own his ass like and then there’s other guys where you’re like I I cannot do anything in my power to get this guy out Dante bashet Jr was one of them yeah not a good but he had so many
Broken Bo’s brother I had no problem with Bo I saw a bow and spring own bow but uh his brother just gave me fits man and it was just broken wets just he walked off he walked me off twice in a low a ball and Charleston back-to-back nights on broken bat singles just
Annoying has to be the worst yeah it’s the worse I don’t think there’s anything more frustrating for a pitcher than to like execute a pitch get a result and it just not it’s just just not there right like it’s just a bad break and that’s the game of baseball and there’s times
Where you’re like oh I grooved a cookie and he absolutely unloaded and missed it by that much and it was a pop out but yeah when when it’s visible on your end you’re kind of like so wish I could have that back all right we’re about to wrap up got two
More questions for you the first one best game you ever pitched is there one in your head where you’re like this is this is my creme daylor creme top of the line one that I’ve had yeah I mean I had a couple I had a couple outings in San Jose that were
Pretty just magical where you know I think I had an outing where I just sat 98 to 100 and I threw 12 pitches and it was three punchies and it was just cupcakes and rainbows I almost had a perfect call in danburry um we did a lot
Of visualization work with me and Corey and I said I’m visualizing a nine pitch Punchy golden somero just the perfect outing he’s like that’s you know good luck with that like because I had walk issues he’s like it’s a great goal I went 10 pitches and three punchies
Damn damn you probably walked back and like what’s up I did it yeah yeah and he’s like you were off and I was like yeah but that was still pretty sick right like yeah that’s stuff that yeah it doesn’t matter who those hitters were it was just more or less like you know
Call on a shot with your boys like hey this is what I’m gonna do right anytime you have those experiences where you’re like this is what I’m doing and your plan actually works there’s nothing there’s nothing more fun you know I remember I was really close
With royal and I remember like hey you know we’re in a close ball game I was like I’m getting double play I need you to get out of this I’m kind of struggling with my accuracy I’m gonna get you a double play like and he makes an incredible play in the whole bam
Double play and I’m carrying him off the field you know because I’m so pumped up yeah that’s awesome all right last question for you this is an argument that we’ve had on this podcast for quite a while I don’t think it’s possible Mike thinks he’s [ __ ] Barry Bonds or
Something [ __ ] here we go all right so H pitches like in your Prime in your Prime do you think given a 100 pitches either of us could put a ball in play no that’s what I’m saying there’s no shots well no to the point to the
Point in my in my Prime is it 100 straight because I’m fatiguing like no no like we’re just talking yeah because there’s a debate on that like hey if it’s a 100 in a row I don’t have the stamina to I’m not throwing 100 pitches so you’re kidding
Me I’m running out of gas no if you’re walking up we give you imagine imagine you’re a pitch machine and your arm isn’t there’s no fatigue like you’re you’re sliders are on no fatigue and you’re just throwing it I don’t think we can I don’t I really don’t goes back to like the
Debate that we would always debate in our locker room especially with my brother playing in the NFL was you know hey if I put pads on and I had 10 rushes could I get three yards no and I was like no you’re getting eaten up when you
Look at it there’s guys in the NFL that like have they get those rushes and they still don’t get those yards like yeah and plus like you may get you may get three yards and then they may get through the hole and you might not get
Back up again right yeah like if I got hit by my brother I’m not getting back up again like I I’m being honest Vince woolfork hits me I’m not getting back you know what I’m saying like yeah I just think the intimidation Factor too like it’s different when you see a
Hundred and you hear a hundred it’s a completely different ball game you know I worked out at fiser and we would have the football guys as we start ramping up go over by the bullpens and they’re like hell no these are professional athletes and they get hit
By grown grown men and they want no part of that because I mean that ball sails you you you are not going to feel good you’re something’s breaking you know your jaw your skull your ribs your wrist like things break I was gonna say you
Throw a sweet one in on the hands it’s like I’m like [ __ ] this I’m going home dude yeah right well to to the point so Vince always bust my balls about this question but the initial argument was exactly that do we think it’s easier to
Get five yards rushing in the NFL or hit 100 m hour fast ball neither make a shot in NBA game or make a shot in the I think the 100 m hour fast ball is easier from the sheere standpoint of like it’s timing like so if you honestly
You get a 100 you might be able to just if they’re just throwing heaters right if you know there’s just heaters you’re gonna be able to time something up the minute we start mixing stuff now you’ve gotta worry about what pitches are doing no but if we’re just talking you got 100
Heaters straight on yeah you’re you’re I would hope you know you’ve had baseball experience like you’re gonna time it up eventually like it’s just take it’s like riding a bike I really do believe that like I I think you know you work your way up I wouldn’t just do a cold turkey
But I think it could be done you know you’ve seen people step in and have some success if you got decent hand eye the football I don’t know like because those holes close so fast yeah that if you miss that hole I mean you’ve seen guys that run that are college running backs
That can’t hack it so I don’t know about being a random Joe just that speed difference in the NFL is insane give me five Trent Williams and I’m just drafting behind him all the way yeah right yeah yeah who’s your offensive line right right so I mean Ian you
Explained your brother plays in the NFL can you kind of go into a little bit about you know the team he’s on what he plays all that good stuff yeah my brother was an undrafted uh rookie free agent no draft databases um damn fifth year D2 grad
Transfer he’s not supposed to be there he is just completed year six in the NFL uh crazy to think started out as a special teams kind of middle linebacker Phil and they were plagued with a bunch of edge Rush injuries Chandler Jones and guys went down and they were like hey
You know what why not you know you seem to be getting it done on special teams let’s let’s see if this works and he just went ham he had like seven or eight socks and 80 snaps it’s still I think an NFL record for most like sacks and a
Short amount of span um ended up with an injury but he’s still with Arizona he had he led the team this year with six good for him next year if he gets the team captain not he’ll be a fifth year team captain with a golden seat
I mean it’s just it’s just wild to think about right you know an undrafted guy didn’t have the prototypical story he’s completely undiz for his position right to be an edge you think of guys 6’2 260 63 you know Chandler Jones um just physical monsters yeah big
Guys he’s he’s 61 like 230 23 he are the guys we root for honestly he’s are the guys we root for yes go ahead he’s your lunch P guy right like these are your meat and potato guys you know it’s it’s nice when you meet people that do it from your hometown
Right because it goes back to where the origins started it’s just that for kids this is attainable it’s if you make it a dream it’ll always St a dream right because dreams don’t come true goals do and I’m a big believer in that if you make goals you will achieve them if you
Make them dreams they’re too far out of reach and you know people don’t like to go through a ton of pain for something that’s Out Of Reach so you know it’s just if you can be a light for somebody that hey you know I want to be a
Sounding board for hey I know that Ian guy he did it um he’s from my area it might not be easy but it’s it’s a possibility your point brother I think you know it’s truly a uh an inspiration to hear people like you say that and I
And that’s the whole thing Vince and I have been trying to preach from day one you know we’re we’re nothing too crazy we’re just two guys from the same town trying to make our goals happen and become real life and and we’re getting there and we really appreciate you
Taking the time out today we know you’re very much so a part of the local uh Scottdale and Arizona communities and and what you do do you kind of want to take a moment and explain your role and and what you do and what you try and
Help people do yeah so I I’ve transitioned into residential real estate I I like to advise people on you know making one of the biggest decisions of life right you know the middle class uh develops their wealth from Real Estate so I understand the importance of making a smart financial decision I
Understand the importance of neighborhoods and schools um so I wanted to be able to help people and not have to deal with ticker tape not have to say oh I don’t know if I can get this promo ID approved uh residential real estate allows me to just run my own things and
Take care of my own people and provide White Glove service to everybody I’m at s’s Russ lion uh camack Tower location uh we do specialize in luxury real estate but we provide a luxury experience at all price points so whether you’re selling your $300,000 condo which if you know of any of those
In the area I would love to know about it because they’re G to go quick think you can find anything at that price point or all the way up to you know we’ve we’ve got 14 to2 million properties listed with the company so we have access to the auction house which
Is pretty cool so say you’ve got a card collection that you’re looking to get up on sou the be’s auction As you move that’s something that I can provide and help facilitate and get you into the auction house but it’s been an incredible transition it’s just baseball changes
And it leaves and it does leave a hole right you know I will acknowledge that baseball was such a passion man and it it will always have a place in my heart um and then you transition into real estate and I I like to say you know from
From closing out games to closing out deals you know let me take the pressure off your hands you know I’m used to dealing with those situations um I love cutting my teeth on stress and getting things done and doing stuff that most people can’t so I’m here to help help
People find homes and and investment properties whatever they’re looking for I’m just here to help support love it man well we thank you so much for taking the time out and joining us today uh this will not be the last time we do this we have so much more to
Talk about in the future um and and we really appreciate you being here brother thank you so much and you know I always say nothing happens by mistake so meeting on a random and we just also happen to be from the same place is truly special and we’ll look forward to
Doing this with you again Ian thank you thank you yeah I can’t thank you can’t thank you guys enough um true tremendous guys just it’s really a blessing to be around two uh Fun sports fans that that love the game love the story because everyone’s got one and they’re they’re
Telling guys stories right because everybody’s got a story to tell that’s unique that’s uh different that’s good and bad right and and the more people that you get to share their story you realize you know we’re no different put on our pants the same way we go through the same emotional struggle so
Appreciate you guys letting me tell part of my story and I look I look forward to talking to you guys again thank you sir absolutely absolutely brother thank you so much and uh yeah we’ll see you here soon thank you again to Ian for coming on the Pod I hope you enjoyed that
Interview more of those are coming your way that is a promise and a desire of ours so big moves big moves before we finish out today we got some other sports to touch on we got our guy or is he our guy Justin Fields maybe
He unfollowed the Bears he wants to be D I know I tragedy when it happen first question of this how do you figure that out how do you figure that out is someone just watching someone’s really bored every day they’re just like Justin Field Chicago Bears oh he doesn’t follow
Him anymore or does he tell somebody that so like it gets stirred up uh no I I mean his dog Uno also unfollowed the bears oh that’s even worse you know when your dog decides you know what [ __ ] this K I’m not following him anymore that’s how you know that’s true cute little
Fuzzy [ __ ] like unal I don’t like I don’t like Bears anymore like dogs um I mean he was he was a Georgia Bulldog and he became a Ohio city Buckeye so I don’t know that connects but yeah I mean a buckeye is a nut yeah and he’s not nuts for un
Delicious delicious dessert you would eat around the Thanksgiving time period either way um yeah Justin field says he’s sick of it we’re you know kind of paraphrasing here but he went on the same brown podcast yeah that’s the only thing aquam minus is good at yeah am ra I called on
This podcast you did three years ago that he was going to be an absolute [ __ ] dog and I was correct yeah you know what this is why if you’re hearing us Chicago Bears um you may want to give me give me some yeah so our entire team is just USC Trojans
So we might have another one half the time we might have another one Speaking of which that’s what this hubub is all about right all the speculation right now which you’ve heard this on this podcast yeah uh the past two months and you’re probably going to continue to hear about
It the next two months so buckle up people cuz we ain’t finished but he’s tired of this talk of are they trading him are they not are they keeping him are they going to trade the pick are they G keep the pick are they okay I don’t blame him it’s
Infuriating who’s to say though Caleb Williams is the 100% lack of a pick he’s not for the Chicago Bears well well Merl hodj said no he’s not that guy yeah I don’t know what Merill Hodge does anymore but Merl Hodge actually is he kind of knows what the [ __ ] he’s talking
About I’ll give him that much yeah but he was a big Tris and Zack Wilson guy so it’s always yeah that’s true so you have two that you called out jaavan Clowney not a very good call out jaavan Clowney has been quite good in his career so
Just and then you called out Manel which was the easiest call ever even though [ __ ] skip Alis was just like I think he’s gener and he’s always right yeah always babe um either way it was one of those situations where I was thinking about this on the airplane
Today like okay what if there’s a scenario in a world in a world in a world never mind okay so with that in this world where the Bears trade the pick to the second pick and then take Drake May what if what if that happens bad don’t
Want why because we’ve done this we took the beautiful white boy from North Carolina and it didn’t work and I don’t want how do you know but I’m just saying he’s not Mitch he is so much bigger than Mitch like his sub Arch type is more so
Of Josh Allen than it is of anyone and Josh Allen is great and buff similar climate very cold windy shitty weather yeah what if you traded that pick to Washington for a hall you take Drake May and you trade Justin Fields I mean and you get something for him he could be
Josh Allen or he could be Jake Locker Paxton Lynch yeah right exactly so like that’s I don’t know I would prefer to no it’s always a catch 22 yeah but what you going to do you know what I’m just saying it’s one of those situations where you got to pay attention because
It could happen but I truly believe Justin gets traded yep now if he wants to be traded I don’t think they’re really going to give him much say as where he can go but where do you think he goes let talk about this at Atlanta all right all right depends on what they
Want to give us but I could see a team like I could really see New England going maybe yeah but then again he wants to trade he wants to draft his guy though didn’t he say that in that whole interview he’s like we’re GNA draft a very good guy in a very important
Position I’ll let you read between the lines it’s like not hard to read jro Donald Trump is a GM we’re going to take the best guy around in the most important position in the most important position in the world it’s the best position they asked me why couldn’t I
Play the position I said I just couldn’t uh either way I think it’s going to be a sneaky team like the Steelers like the odds right now if you look at gambling is minus 250 that Russell Wilson goes to the Steelers what they trade now there’s also minus 125 odds that Justin Fields
Goes to the Steelers so we see so they’re giving up on Kenny and going Justin I mean it’s not a horrible idea honestly take Jus Fields Over Kenny Pi supposedly uh the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers um what’s his name Mike Tomlin his name is Mike Tomlin knew
It was a Mike it just really loves J yeah he’s a brand new coach I think fields in Pittsburgh would be great and you get you can get rid of them and you’ll never see him again and good riddens maybe that’s just the Bears to Steelers pipeline it’s just
Constantly like HRA pick go to Steelers dra pick go to Steelers Caleb Williams Steeler in 2028 I hope not I do believe that Caleb will be successful at the next level if you really break down all the tape and everything that he is he knows what it’s like to be a [ __ ]
Millionaire yeah so he’s not gonna worry about making it to the league and being oh it’s not like he’s gonna get into a bunch of money and get let it go to his head he’s he’s already got a bunch of money it’s already in his head already that’s the biggest concern
Though can you can we talk about that for like three seconds can you believe that this [ __ ] guy millionaire in college yeah still playing with guys who are you know trying to make the [ __ ] scout team yeah at USC and on student loans and scholarship and [ __ ] like that
And eating [ __ ] Ramen twice a week and he’s just chilling in his Penthouse yeah banging hoes banging [ __ ] okay yeah no I mean that’s the reality of situation but what’s really what’s really the difference between that and like you know a practice squad guy and [ __ ] Tom Brady you know or whatever
It may be like I get it but to the point now he gets to the next level now everybody’s a millionaire almost which is yeah which is I mean the guys that he’s going to be mostly working with yeah for sure and we’ll have our you
Know our mock draft we we always do a top 10 and the years’s past one year we did a full-blown mock draft and we were on this show for like four hours that was the sweatiest time I’ve ever had I’m like who is this guy they’re like he’s
Gonna drop the backup tight end on Iowa and you’re like who the [ __ ] is this and you’re like oh it’s dalon con K thank you like what are you doing all right so my pick is fugishi aashi that’s who truly that’s the worst part is trying to
Pronounce some of the guys you’re like I’ve never heard of him and for some reason I think that like the [ __ ] the bills are going to draft this random like outside line some of these [ __ ] cornfed Kenyon kids who [ __ ] get to the NFL I have these goofy [ __ ]
Tribal dude it’s more so the [ __ ] Samoan Hawaiian guys oh yeah like the pen apagalo and [ __ ] or like when Tua came in it’s like what are we doing right now like I don’t know what’s going on to his brother Mikey drafted maybe we put that in there just as a little brain
Or tongue twist we’ll speculate but everybody’s talking about the F the ninth pick is interesting to me yeah so I was thinking about this a little bit this week if they took another wide receiver not necessarily named Marvin Harrison Jr yeah are you about that life because I’m
A little bit about that [ __ ] life yeah what’s his [ __ ] name what’s radun yes I’d be cool radun Co with that Malik neighbors Malik neighbors yeah for LSU I I would want Rome I would say but again like there’s a lot there’s a lot of time between then
And now and I’m trying to see some of those intangibles or rather the tangibles you know speed and all that stuff but I mean romad dunai is the fastest guy that’s a wide receiver out of the three of them at the least so romad dun just reminds me a lot of
His route running and capability of Devonte Adams like that guy is a crisp route Runner great hands maybe a little bit faster than Devonte aan but just like wow I mean he looks like Chase young I don’t know if You’ ever seen his like draft picture he does kind of look
Like a dumb down Chase young um like a skinnier not as bulky Chase young yeah yeah skinnier not as bulky Chase young but dude the guy is a freak agree and if he drops to nine I don’t know if he’s going to be there but my whole thing is
Like is Malik neighbors just as good yeah cuz Malik neighbors reminds me a lot of Jaylen Wadd yeah which in case you didn’t know is pretty good at football pretty [ __ ] good I would not be against them going for an offensive lineman too though because what if you
Have a higher grade on offensive lineman in a second or third day like a second I mean they’re going to have to draft two to three offensive lineman this I will give credit to Ryan Pace polls yeah TD don’t give don’t give credit to that
Guy um I will give credit to poles he can draft offensive lineman particularly well yeah because you you are one you can find one is Ryan pace is in Atlanta correct Ryan pace is in Atlanta or was and I think he’s gone now because is he everything turned around yeah yeah I
Think he’s back with the Saints organization he’s back with his boy Mickey he yeah he’s Lum he’s nowhere right now according to this I was going to say if he’s with Atlanta then fields to Fields oh God when he would be in press conferences talking about I want
Us to be an elite football team we’re gonna play hard we’re gonna do this H Mitch trabis Uh Kevin White oh God Kevin White no I don’t okay let’s not harp on the bad times let’s look forward to the new bad times it’s going to be good for
Us we’re all gonna enjo talk about the good times the best of times all right let’s talk about the NBA allar game bro did you catch any of this yeah okay so first off no one watched it so that’s the first thing Adam Silver said hey
We’re going to put on a whole entire game and it’s going to be very exciting and all this stuff he said that before I mean it was lip service you watch the game and it is brutal like yeah cool things happen it’s kind of fun that the
Good guys are playing against each other but no one plays defense you’re watching like a horrible exhibition where people are trying to do like like backwards flip trick shots and all this BS the Three-Point Contest is still fun the Steph Curry versus Sabrina icue that
Was cool I enjoyed that that was fun the dunk contest was horrible and I have a take and I don’t know if we talked about it on here but I believe that LeBron James single-handedly ruin the dunk contest and here’s why LeBron James was the first Elite
Prospect guy that comes in you know slam Jama young talented all that stuff the first guy if you’re comparing him to like the Jordans and the Kobes Jordan comes in Jordan does the dunk contest Kobe comes in Kobe does the dunk contest kind of a right a passage LeBron skips
It and essentially sets a precedent like you don’t have to do this anymore this is beneath you let the other guys do it and it’s kind of true cuz since then it’s gone down down down Aaron Gordon Zack LaVine very cool but not that top prospect guys now we’re looking at
Jaylen Brown had probably the worst Tong contest like the [ __ ] he was doing he jumped over kaai sonat Kat’s like 53 you’re like every NBA player is able to do this [ __ ] and then I dude I don’t know all I’m saying is that mck mclung can’t participate in every Dunk Contest
Because he’s not even on an NBA team he’s on the G League get a guy that’s a premier player that comes in does something cool and that’s highlight worthy instead remember when we went to a g- league game Vince we did I do the Wendy City Bulls yeah like the local
Girl scout troop was there and me and Mike yeah we were there and there was like you know it’s like it’s halftime all right the local girl scout troop’s going to do a little dance we like we feel really weird now this is weird I
Need to go yeah let comeback you did get a free uh you got a you got a free fry for Mickey and you also got a free Big Mac yeah but it is cool to watch lower level guys I feel like they play a lot
More defense and you know it was a it was a good time for 10 bucks a ticket where the [ __ ] you going yeah there was more hunger to it which is which is cool you see guys that are trying their best to make it up there yeah they’re trying
They’re trying their absolute hardest to make it so I don’t know so this is a thing with every sport but the All-Star games the pro bowls everything’s been kind of ruined essentially the MLB All-Star game is kind of fun but you don’t no longer have to play for
Anything like right like this is the issue with All-Star games in general yeah you look at where where they went from the time we were kids yeah right in the early 2000s was probably like the dream era of all Allstar games but it was like the thing screaming at Clouds
Though like is it like we older yeah the kid don’t understand basketball you should have seen back in the day when I was a kid back in my day they used to jump over Kia yeah like yeah Blake Griffin jumped over a Kia when I was a
Young man hey jumped over AA he wore a cape damn it get out there and do it again dght Howard was a dog in him like it was so fun and I know I used to play NBA Live and in NBA Live 2001 you could do the dunk contest yeah and the guys
Were literally doing gymnastics yeah like you could throw the ball off the backboard do a full somersault jump 10 feet in the air and would douge and if you time it properly and tap enough buttons it goes in yeah that was a button mashing F you’re like holy [ __ ]
It work yeah but it was like not believable but fun but to the point the dunk contests back then were awesome I loved them you look forward to LeBron being in him you look forward to Kobe being in him MJ jump from the [ __ ] free throw line come on it’s cool now
It’s just like low-level dudes Max McClung it’s just like watch the white po jump which yeah he’s very jump W yeah like once you get to that point just go on Instagram and find the best dunker and then just have them come in like a guy that only dunks like that’s
Essentially what they’re doing is it something that it’s lost its mystique and we’re just doing like it’s essentially lip service for everybody or have we seen every dunk and there’s not really anything else that anybody can do well because we’ve seen a lot of dunks I that’s fine and I know you’re
Going to have new reiterations of things year after year after year that’s fine I do believe though that it it’s still fun and you’d pay far more attention if Vince Carter was in if guys like Vince Carter did it too yeah there you go there’s another one if Zack LaVine was
In the game if you know what’s the guy on the Timberwolves that everybody loves Anthony Edwards would be so good so Anthony Edwards Carl Anthony towns John johnar johnar he’s not being a gangster yeah hey he’s been a good gangster his real name’s Clarence listen that’s allow at the end of the
Day I don’t think Allstar games are ever going to be that good anymore I think honestly as much as we hated on it I feel like the NFL kind of pivoted correctly and they were like let’s just make it like a fun stupid event let’s
Just make it a fun silly day you know celeb allstar game blah blah blah cool yeah yeah and then they did the celebrity allstar game and half of the celebrities no one knew well like at least Kobe used to bring rip Kobe Kobe to the NBA All-Star Game used to bring
Competition and actually play defense these guys Kobe said it pass the All-Star game he goes anymore these guys would play harder at a UCLA pickup game well and this is so the earlier when we were talking about everybody being all chummy and friends like that’s a thing
Too is like back in the day and a lot of these guys said it and again I don’t want to be an angry man yelling at Clouds but a lot of them were like listen if they were on a different team we didn’t like them or like when the US
Went to the Olympics and Kobe like knocked down Po gasou and didn’t help him up he’s like we’re not teammates right now in the NBA it’s like oh like I I’ll be on your team next year so I’m going to get all nice and happy with you now and
Then we can move from there you know so you all right yeah I’m I’m here sorry wife it’s wife wife life baby sorry sorry wife life life um yeah no with all that being said I I don’t disagree I think it’s just get rid of it yeah
There’s I didn’t even know the game was going on and usually this is a legit ho Fest yeah like all the Instagram hoes are there but it was in Indiana right mhm which you know they did a lot of cool like Pacers tribute old stuff whatever are the hoes going out to the
Corn fields looking for that corn Daddy D yeah you want a farm you want a farm wow you want a cow TI oh my God that’s I feel like that’s some [ __ ] that I I feel like that’s some [ __ ] that I would say you can’t you’re rubbing off of me V corn
Daddy that corn daddy dick and then like are they just like going it’s like so you have courtside seats cool I love how we go to Rodeo [ __ ] Indiana true I mean Indiana used to be so hooer no pun intended that when Spike when Spike Williams showed up to
Indiana during the I think it was the 92 or 93 finals when the Pacers played the Knicks like they showed up in like the like Clan outfits and [ __ ] and they were like yeah yeah like back then it was it was still known that the Indiana but man
They were still that’s where the KKK was found and they were they were like it was aggressive go watch that 30 for30 by the way there stories which one the hoer country or whatever the hell was called it was no no it was uh it’s it’s the um
It’s Reggie verse Spike oh it’s where Reggie Miller hit like four threes in a row in 13 seconds wasn’t that in two 1999 no that was early 90s cuz they went to one I think again in no I think it was either no it was 91 or either 93 or
94 because Jordan wasn’t in the league and that was your chance oh well no the Rockets went for two years right the Rockets did go but the Knicks played the Rockets got it coming together 94 95 I think is the year right um so yeah man I think you just got to
Be more competitive at the end of the day and if it’s not going to happen it’s not going to happen it is what it is but more Isaiah Stewarts less you know Indiana in the 90s but there’s stories about Utah too like Stephen Jackson has said it plenty of times like
Utah’s you don’t want to go there he’s like I’ve heard a lot of things from them that I don’t need to I don’t need to hear again so you know what did happen over the weekend Vince but it got rained out and they pushed it to Monday night but oh
Daytona 500 [ __ ] Daytona 500 happened over the weekend and it was it was a beautiful day how did that go William Byron won it’s getting to a point where I don’t know these [ __ ] guys anymore it’s like oh susar moza won the race oh great um but I caught the highlights I can’t
Watch a full race anymore you know if I think if I go to a race that’s fine but I I love I love the first 20 laps and I love the last 20 laps of NASCAR race right I feel like that’s the fun and the
They tried to make it more fun with the Heats and the this and it’s fine but ultimately these cars are great and these guys are driving really great right now Alex Bowman and Willi William Byron I mean truly these guys are becoming like names in their sport Chase
Elliott to me is probably the best driver in the sport overall he’s got the lineage he’s got the background his his dad was Bill Elliott Bill Elliott’s AR arguably one of the greatest NASCAR drivers to ever do it Bill Elliott fun fact uh first man to ever go 200 miles
An hour in a NASCAR really fun fact I didn’t know that uh one thing I did learn from day owna 500 this what’s that year Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin own a team together yeah I could see that and Denny Hamlin doesn’t race for that team well I mean he races for Gibbs
Still he’s like I bought a team yeah there was an interview he’s like I bought a team and then I still race for Gibbs so in the best best way possible I come in first and then my team comes in second and third like that’s such a
Weird that’s like MJ owning the Wizards is still playing for the Bulls it’s kind of wild yeah I I don’t know how you get rid of that loophole but he’s setting himself up and you know unfortunately Bubba Wallace yeah is doing good because I bubble I I like Bubba Wallace I’ll
Come out and say it he’s a funny little guy don’t don’t be saying that don’t be saying that out in the open buddy not in Indiana yeah I think one thing that we can get into NASCAR is maybe a little more tolerance because that [ __ ] was
Wild when all that was going around I’m like this is [ __ ] that that yeah no so just like he’s just a crybaby that’s my whole thing a little bit little bit a touch of it do you know his his Dad or not his dad but his like Uncle is Rusty
Wallace don’t know who that is that’s where he got the Wallace last name from Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace used to drive the Miller Light car buddy NASCAR Wallace a [ __ ] Legend okay your dad knows who Rusty Wallace is I’m sure he does who Rusty Wallace you
Know that’s when they had good names in NASCAR like Rusty yeah and Ward and Dale and Dale yeah I mean truly some some of the greatest well Tony Stewart is Tony zipadelli Tony Stewart is I believe I have a theory on Tony Stewart the Nascar driver so Tony Stewart had a crew chief
A guy by the name of uh Tony uh no Greg zipadelli okay done they looked exactly alike okay the theory is okay that Tony Stewart was in witness protection as Tony Stewart and his brother was Greg zipadelli Greg wasn’t mobbed up so Greg chose a different last
Name to stay in the Italian Circle okay Tony decided to go the other way because he had to be accepted by all the [ __ ] rednecks right Stewart’s a lot more easy to explain in zipadelli yeah so with all that being said Tony zipadelli in theory Tony Stewart I’m telling you telling you they
Call each other brothers they say they’re good friends someone some might say someone’s eating pasta you doing Mr zipper tell me what you doing right now it’s all I’m saying and then on top of that okay okay killed the guy yeah that did happen purpose but he killed
The guy yeah that was a big whoopsy Daisy uh yeah so moral of the story don’t kill people everybody um speaking of a career that got killed completely wander Franco is back in the news bud wander Franco Jeff passon releases a a new story with new details about wander
Franco and it showed it showed um what’s the what’s the the app that people use that to text each other what’sapp thank you what’s he was sending WhatsApp to and for people that don’t remember wander Franco kicked out of the MLB right now he had a relationship with
Like a 14-year-old and the Dominican Republic Real gross Real gross stuff um WhatsApp messages came out way grosser than you thought way grosser than you thought extremely manipulating um I’m not going to read the whole thing it’s gross but check it out if you want to one could say grooming yeah oh con
Considerably he was saying stuff like you know you’re mine I’m going to raise you correctly like weird [ __ ] like that like gross and then at the end he said if my team realizes this it can cause a lot of problems for me it is a rule for
All teams that we cannot talk to Miners And yet I took the risk and I loved it he said that yeah he said and a WhatsApp to this girl gross gross get him out of here gross’s never going to play in the MLB ever again he’ll be playing in the uh
The Panama City Jail League yep um wow he went from first to he said he loved and now you can’t deny any of that he said he loved every minute of it right and he took the risk and he knew it and like all this [ __ ] and like he went to
The Rays and then she started dating somebody else and he started getting gross about it even though she’s a child and you’re a grown man you sick sick kid do you think is he’s sending these text messages he’s got like R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet plane in the backgound
Probably man 7 o’ in the morning it raise from the sunnow wakes me what they don’t make me [ __ ] he’s just like real talk real talk oh [ __ ] I wish you would burn my [ __ ] clothes listen I’m GNA raise you right funny as it is at the end of the day it
Is unbelievably gross and wait have you ever seen the video of R Kelly like like recruiting women from Ethiopia no in a concert that he did no oh no oh look it up and can we play it let’s play it okay this is gonna
Take can we play it maybe can we play it maybe just type in R Kelly Ethiopia and he’s like do you have your shots do you have your I have seen this do you want to come do you have your shot that’s wander Franco it literally is it literally is to
America play I don’t know if it’s gonna let me share it on here why I got to figure it because it’s gonna go full screen oh all right never mind I can edit it in after do have do you have a house that’s so bad do you wanna come
Back with Robert that is sick AR Kelly bad guy artist from art or art from artist there’s a coule couple bangers in there wander Franco never coming back to the MB again from first best Prospect to worst best Prospect but there’s other guys in the MLB that need to get paid Mike there
There’s other guys that are holding out for a considerable amount of time a lot of money lot of money let’s say the MLB pitchers and catchers report let’s say they’re reported right now right would you say the vast majority of free agents you would assume would be signed the
Best guys the a tier guys the best not the case right now we’re sitting in a situation where you have guys like Blake Snell Sayan winter Matt Chapman Cody Bellinger resurgent year for the Cubs Tim Anderson from our side of town he won the batting title a couple times you
Got Jordan Montgomery without a team right now Evan Loria will Meyers Michael Brantley you got guys you got real guys that don’t have teams right now and it’s honestly I feel like it’s kind of an issue so the situation that’s currently going on is supposedly guys want more money than
Teams are willing to offer them and they’re holding out until teams offer that there comes a time where supply and demand happens MLB contracts have been going through the roof and now there’s a situation where you have 10 15 guys that should be on MLB rosters that aren’t in
There at that point dude maybe they’re asking for too much money right I don’t know the market yields one one thing if they think that they’re at a certain level like Matt Chapman thinks he’s at a certain level same thing with Cody Bellinger to go get paid bags they
Don’t necessarily need to report to any team but if you don’t get signed them what you just chill you Anthony Rand donut that’s not his life just his job that was the worst quote I hate Anthony randone deserves a swift kick in the testicles it’s not what he said it’s the
Way he said it Anthony randone said that his family is is more important than baseball which is true but he Brian Kelly he’s like baseball’s not a priority to me it’s just like why did you say it like that and it’s obviously not he plays like [ __ ] now that he’s on
The Angels then here jag off give me um give me 2% of your salary please well yeah he’s on he’s on the early retirement track AKA signing with the Los Angeles Angels so good for him I suppose um but also he’s the worst and that’s not the way you want athletes to
Talk regardless you know say it like you I got say what you mean and he did stay with your chest um but regardless Manfred Rob Manfred the man the myth legend that every man who he suggested a free agency period like other leagues Implement so
You can sign from a to d or you can’t sign until the season starts I think that’s not a bad idea personally because I think it’s a now I agree with that these guys are always going to hold out as long as they can you know usually
This is a Boris move mhm and I would be interested to see if the Blake snails Matt Chapman Cody Bellinger Tim Anderson I know Tim Anderson isn’t represented by Boris but I believe and Cody Bellinger are either way he waits to the very last minute and
Says no this is our number we’re not moving off of it and then if there’s no traction there then you try and get close and then you pull a Chris Bryant and you go sign with the Rockies and nobody’s heard of this guy ever again right and he sucks so that’s okay so
That’s my thought that’s why I like the free agency period because there’s an end to it and then you can’t sign other dues until the season starts so you’re going to miss the entire spring Trad all that and that’s you know payback for not signing I suppose um now there’s no
Market value or there’s no salary cap obviously so you can pay people but keep if it keeps going up people keep getting paid there is an end to it at some point right it feels like right now it’s like hey you’re asking for too much money I
Know that’s what you want like Scott Wars has never been bitten in the ass by asking for too much and never happening like this could go a couple months man and if it does like I wouldn’t blame teams like usually I’m on the sides of players get paid players get paid
Players get paid we have got there’s I’m looking at a conducive list right now of at least 25 guys that deserve to be on MLB teams like you think everybody’s going to get their Macho huge deal with there’s 25 guys left still like [ __ ] that I’m surprised some of these guys
Haven’t been signed if you look at the list guys like Eddie Rosario like yeah that guy has been a dog yep in the MLB for a long time he probably wants consistent starter money and he’s probably not going to get that hey hey what about AJ Pollock no leave him off
Come on AJ Pollock was sold to us this is the SEC coming of [ __ ] Scott Poss I mean he was he was pretty good on the Dodgers so it you know I don’t know dude Julio Urus okay on the Dodgers he was pretty good he’s pretty good the year before we picked
Him up regardless you I don’t know dude you’re just looking at a whole list of dud though Blake snow just want to S Young Jordan Montgomery isn’t sign yet yeah dud Jordan Montgomery isn’t signed yet that’s insane to me you’re just considering he pitched his ass off in
The in the playoffs there’s too many guys on this list right now jako de Rizzy Jizzy also hasn’t signed too many guys on this list for everybody to get the contract that they want I don’t know how it’s going to get resolved at the end of the day but it is a situation
Where you’re like too many guys supply has taken over the demand at this point and something’s got to happen with it and I feel like maybe coming down on some contracts is a good idea because when there isn’t a salary cap stopping that which again I prefer because I
Think salary caps are stupid pay people what they’re worth but that also means that there is a worth and at some point that might not be your worth anymore bud I don’t know what to tell you Blake Snell that’s rough but he’s probably looking for a long-term deal and people
Don’t give long-term deals to arms so I don’t know how it get fixed man Blake Snell’s what 30 or 32 he might be younger to be honest I’m not entirely sure let me check well you in my opinion you’d want to go 31 yeah 31 okay so 31
No you’re not getting a six-year deal maybe try and go get a four-year deal where you get paid and you can go play for a contender New York is is the current Buzz well New York just tries to load up and then they fizzle out at the playoff time they got
Wano they got don’t forget that juano was so great on the Padres they couldn’t wait to get rid of him I mean the only team he hasn’t been good on is the Padres if we’re being you know he was amazing on the national he’s been on two [ __ ] teams
Yeah he was amazing on the% of that has been dog [ __ ] no more like 10% of his entire career whatever half the only thing I’m getting at is is like dude there needs to be something here that I don’t know these guys I just think you need to lower their expectations Blake
Snell go to Contender now I think Cody Bellinger winds up back in Chicago there’s no doubt about at this point I think Jed Hoyer just calling the bluff he’s like hey we’ll be patient whatever works yep and however that looks it looks I think all the owners are like
Hey let’s stop getting boat raced by these [ __ ] and just stay doing like we’re just not paying we’ll stick to our number here’s our number if you’re willing to sign we’d love to have you thank go play in Japan [ __ ] if they want to pay you that much like that’s yeah go
Go play for the for the Sakura right because at the end of the day I don’t know like there’s always the conversations like if the guy’s good enough then he’s got all the bark anding chips in his favor I hope Trevor bow gets a shot I kind of do too man after
All the [ __ ] that’s come out and stuff I’m kind of like just put him back in there like you know Marcel Ozuna is still playing baseball and he’s a huge piece of [ __ ] and it seems like Trevor bow didn’t do anything if everything is true that’s been said no he didn’t yeah
I I believe to prove it I believe it too but you know regardless he deserves to be in the MLB as well and I don’t think he’s looking for Blake Snell money so that’s that on that I I think that the MLB needs to uh needs to figure this
Problem out maybe out of for where’s Timmy going where’s Timmy going Angels early re early retirement I think Tampa might be a spot for him could be but they’re not going to pay more than the so would no but they’ll pay what the socks would I’m
Surprised he didn’t get like a deal with like the reds or like a team that’s desperate yeah just wants a face I could see it I you know that’s the thing too there’s a lot of good young Short Stops in the league right now and if he has a
Year like he had last year if he has issues like he had last year then some teams are probably like stay away from that so it depends on what people think but I still think he’s going to have a great year this year I think he’s going
To have a good bounce back and I wish he was a white sock but at the end of the day it’s just not going to happen happen yeah I don’t I I think he’s just become a locker room cancer yeah everything that moves having numerous children well
One with a different lady that’s she was a nice lady yeah uh but regard like yeah it’s that became a distraction amongst other things there was so many things about the White Sox locker room that he just was not himself last year and you know anybody who signs him I think he’s
Going to get a one-year deal prove it year and I think he’ll probably prove it and I think so and I’m rooting for him at the I’m rooting for him at the end of the day I hope he’s good we’ll see we’ll see Matt Chapman would be a great addition on the white
Sock but that’ll never happen we’re not signing anybody else this is our team now Mike Soka are are die who’s Mike Soka he’s the starting pitcher for the white socks this year bud you better start doing your research he came from the he came from the Braves
He had a decent year he had a really bad year it’s you know that’s what we’re looking at and then we got a C we got a couple guys that one of the dudes and I forgot his name went to Japan or went to Korea CU he couldn’t get signed to a
Team and then he played well there and then he came back and now he’s on the white sock so we’re g to be so good this year we’re GNA be so good this year find the value in the lowest places possible Brandon Crawford Money Ball but no money
I could see Brandon Crawford potentially becoming a white sock or Brandon Belt if you just take the current list of free agents and you put all stars above two and age above 35 will sign all of them and none of them will be do spin it off
Like look at what we did right and then you go previous team and you say Royals then you double down on that [ __ ] Mike mustakis it’s a shame that Eric Hosmer retired today because he would be a great n Lopez white sock immediately immediately Chris gats white sock remember
Him I can’t do this bring us salvie Perez can’t do this anymore bring us bring bring us bring us an outfielder oh did you hear that ELO Jimenez said he’s going to play 150 games this year yeah I have dreams too bud it is what it is on what
Legs exactly this [ __ ] farts and tears his back at he runs like a baby deer man I don’t know he does we’ll see how he can’t he’s afraid to stretch a single into a double how in the [ __ ] are you going to play 150 games okay over
Under I want him to but I don’t think he’s going to under ELO Jimenez plays 60 games over over yeah but not a lot over I’ll give him half a season directly in half huh 81 all right 81 all right fair enough fair enough let’s see let’s see
Where we take it let’s see where we take it the white sock buckle up I’m going to be in full effect I’ll report live let’s go I’m going to be reporting live on Monday good see if I can can catch up with tlr my boy Tony we’re friends now
That’s my guy we’re going to go drive drunk together and just say what happens oh no oh no I was explaining to my wife that I was like you know he got like two DUIs in like six months and she’s like what I was like yeah and he was living
Out here and she goes no way I said yeah here look and then the white sock HED him they’re like two Dewey deep you have we like that we like that we like that a lot what a mess just sell the team Jerry just sell the team
If you hearing this sell the team to somebody who [ __ ] cares please goddamn agree because you clearly don’t but we’re back into baseball people and we hope you enjoy it so so much it’s baseball season it’s that time to get excited it’s that time to get ready for
It right right right I mean we’re doing that we’re having former MLB piters on the show yeah guys thanks again I love you thanks thanks lightning thank you so much Ian we appreciate you that won’t be the last of that guy by the way he’s
Coming back no shot not not a chance uh but with all that we appreciate you stopping in today I feel like Mr Rogers thanks for stopping by and with all of that you know the drill we’re on every major platform that you get your podcast we’re on every platform that you listen
To content okay including the YouTubes so if you want to see these faces on the YouTubes you should go subscribe and maybe leave a comment tell us why we’re [ __ ] stupid comment download download please hammer that download button for us because that just lets us know you’re listening and we appreciate that and
Then as always you know share it to your siblings you got a brother you got a sister maybe you got a half sister maybe you got a half brother maybe they’re into the Sports Talk Too share it with them because I’m sure they’d get a
Chuckle out of it and not only that I’m sure they’d enjoy having time with the boys yeah so as always we will see you next week peace
