6-6-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Visit Max.com. Good to have you with us. Good to put Monday in the rearview mirror. It's time to move on to a Tuesday. It is hard to believe this is the first full week in June, right? I said this last week, but it's so true. Time is flying, and yet it's dragging at the same time. Got some big stuff on the horizon that I really want to get to, and so for that reason it seems to be dragging. But, you know what? I look back, and it's been almost two months since I hiked the Grand Canyon.

Almost. In fact, two months ago, I was on the cusp of teaching my first ever class at Syracuse as an adjunct professor. And I remember in our first class, I told the group that I'm going to teach, and then tomorrow I'm flying to Arizona, and on the weekend I'm hiking the Grand Canyon. And there was an audible, in the classroom. And so one of my students is with us tonight. Jacob is his name. We're glad to have him. He's still a student at Syracuse, and he's nodding because he knows. Everybody thought, what?

But it's true. After teaching my first class, I got on a plane, I flew to Arizona, I spent some time with family, and then a friend and I hiked the Grand Canyon three days later. And it took me all this time to finish the blog post, so I just want to say thank you because so many of you have read my blog, and honestly, let's be real about it. There's dozens of pictures in there, so maybe you didn't read it, but you just looked at the pictures.

It's USA Today. There's many more pictures in just a few words, but I appreciate so many of you have written with your feedback after checking out the blog. It's on my Twitter, ALawRadio, it's also on Facebook, so when you have some time, I would love to share this bucket list item with you. I remember when I was about to check Stanley Cup Final Game off my bucket list, and not just any old Stanley Cup Final Game, but I went to one in Madison Square Garden, actually two in Madison Square Garden, and then one at the United Center in Chicago. That was, it was crazy. It was electric.

It was the type of atmosphere that you can feel inside your body. I'll never forget seeing the Blackhawks on their way to their most recent Stanley Cup. So I loved, loved going to Stanley Cup Final Games, the three that I've been to to this point, and many other playoff games.

It really is an atmosphere that you have to be part of to understand, and if you love it, it becomes part of your soul, to be sure. To that end, we are now a few games, but tops five games away from crowning a new Stanley Cup champion. It will be a brand new champion regardless of who wins, but boy, loud statement by the Vegas Golden Knights through two games. A run to the nearest side, boards by Mahora, joined on the left wing side as the Knights change players. Eichel to Marsuso, all alone, he scores!

Welcome back, Jack. Marsuso makes it 5-1. Mahora had it knocked loose, Carlson off to the races, Carlson behind the D, and he's centered, and they score!

A matio! Six goals for the Knights. Right side, Gallier gains the zone with a matio. Touch pass and a shot, score!

Brett Houghton, second of the game. It's a power play goal. 7-2 Golden Knights. 2-0, 8 to go, third period. Not only was it loud in terms of a statement, it was loud there in Las Vegas, where the Golden Knights are up 2-0.

Trying to win their first Stanley Cup and their second appearance in the final. Dan Duva on Golden Knights Radio. Vegas is where we find David Penota of the fourth period and Sirius XM NHL Radio.

David, you're there in Vegas. You saw these first two games before you traveled to Florida. What's your reaction to at least the Golden Knights winning the first two? A combination of a total amount of dominance from the Vegas Golden Knights.

And just deer in a headlight kind of reaction that we've been getting from the Florida Panthers so far in this one. In these first couple of games. On the first two periods of game one, feeling out process, it was tight, it was close, it was 2-2. And then just Vegas turned up the heat in that third period.

And really, they haven't stopped. They haven't taken their foot off the gas in the last four periods. As you said, record amount of goals in the first two games of a cup final by Vegas with 12. They've got nine different goal scorers in the first two games.

Which is another record in the Stanley Cup final going back to the 1943-44 season. So in the modern era, setting another record, this Vegas team, we're seeing what their depth is capable of. And as much as Florida is throwing the body around and out hitting them, it has not phased Vegas whatsoever. You mentioned Florida's reaction and deer in the headlights. I would not have expected that from a Panther squad that already stared down the Bruins in a game seven on the road.

And then of course swept in the East Finals. So why is that? Great question. I mean, I'm trying to figure this out. They're certainly trying to figure this out. When you've got such a break off in between games, and it was a big break for the Florida Panthers. From the conference final to going into this one into the final. It might have messed with their mojo a little bit.

Which is understandable. And sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get things going again. Maybe going home, there's two days off now in between games. Game three isn't until Thursday. They're going to go home, maybe regroup, feel a little bit more comfortable on home ice. And try to get back into this thing in game three. We know that they're capable of coming back against some of the best opponents in the National Hockey League. As you mentioned, against Boston in the first round.

So I don't think they're phased just yet. But the performance definitely has to step up. How would you describe what we've seen so far from Aidan Hill? Holy cow.

Unbelievable. I mean, even tonight, I'm looking over at some of my colleagues in the press box. After he's making, I can't remember who shot it, but he made a ridiculously tremendous club save.

And I'm like, really? Where'd this guy come from? He has been, and I say that obviously tongue in cheek, but making a name for himself, no question. And sometimes seizing an opportunity really does wonders. And that's what he's been able to do for his career and in this playoff run for Vegas. Coming in for Laurent Brossois against Edmonton, I was there for that, covering that series, or part of that series as well. He came in, calm, cool, collected guy. We talked to him on media day.

I'm like, enjoying all of this and talking to us and having to deal with this? And he's like, honestly, I'd rather just be on the ice. He's totally dialed in.

And when you've got a huge, strong presence in front of you with your six defensemen, it adds to your confidence level, no question. And Aidan Hill has been absolutely tremendous. And he's outperformed Sergei Bobrovsky without question in these first couple of games. David, I've spent a little time looking at him and trying to research his background. And what stood out to me is that he's never in any season that he's been in the NHL started more than 25 games. You say it tongue in cheek and maybe rhetorical, where did he come from?

But seriously, where did he come from? Look, you know, sometimes you're brought into a situation and into an environment and the thought process is, you know what, let's get him a few games in. He'll be a backup plan for either a backup or backup plan for the backup third string kind of guy.

When he was brought in here and acquired earlier on in the season, he told us as well, he's like, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what my role was going to be. Was I going to be a backup? Was I going to be able to start some games?

Was I the third string guy? You know, he just went into this season with Vegas and into these playoffs just with the mindset of I'm going to do my thing and I'm going to be here for my team. And if an opportunity pops up and I can grab the reins a little bit, I'm definitely going to do that. But that wasn't his mindset going in. He wasn't trying to go out there and take the starter's job or anything like that. Obviously, I mean, these guys are competitive, but his mindset was I'm going to play my game and whatever happens, happens. And a lot's been happening lately for him.

It definitely has, man. What an incredible first two games in the Stanley Cup Final. We're so excited to reconnect with David Pagnotta, who is with the fourth period editor in chief. And also you can hear him on Sirius XM NHL radio. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Want to ask you about the we'll call it a collision between Matthew Kuchuk and Jack Eichel late in the second period.

What was your perspective on that, David? Oh, it was a great hit. I mean, it's physical and Jack Eichel said it after the game, too. Clean hit.

It's a physical sport. You're going to get hit sometimes. At first I thought maybe he dished out the puck and maybe they were looking at this and going, maybe there was a charge coming, a charging penalty coming against Kuchuk. But the puck was right with Jack Eichel. It was a clean hit, a strong check. He tried to brace for it and kind of toe-picked a little bit and fell into him. And that's kind of what led to really the impact of the overall collision. But he seemed fine after the game.

Oh, good. Talking to reporters and saying he's good. It's just these kinds of things happen.

You just deal with it. I'm glad to hear that he's okay because that made me nervous at first considering his history. I'd love to ask you about Jonathan Marchessault, too, because it feels like he has had one heck of a playoffs. What have you seen from him that's impressive?

Oh, everything. His overall offensive performance has been absolutely tremendous. And the eye for the net, he's got 11 goals so far. He's tied now with Jack Eichel for the team lead in points, which I believe memory serves me correctly.

I think they're both now tied for the franchise record in points in a playoff run for Vegas, which in six years, pretty decent considering they've been to a cup final twice. But for Marchessault, he's out there capitalizing on some of the chances. And we've seen that in the first couple of games. Two goals tonight, gets an assist, and has been just an overall dominant performer offensively for this group. And you look at the depth of the Vegas Golden Knights. I mean, he's one of the offensive guys that kind of leads the charge for them. And he's making a hell of a case for Khan Smythe as playoff MVP.

And we'll see kind of how the rest of the series goes. But between him and Jack Eichel, it's now a bit of a two-headed race here to see who's going to take that prize if they can pull this off. Eichel obviously a very highly touted draft pick.

It didn't work out. Why has he found a home in Vegas? As soon as he got there, they embraced him. And it pretty much eliminated a lot of pressure on him. You know, because second overall right after Connor McDavid, the pressure of being in Buffalo, trying to get that team back on the climb and on the rise. Coming into Vegas, I mean, they welcomed him with open arms after making that trade. And he felt a bit at ease. And again, lack of pressure. I mean, obviously he wants to go out there and compete. But just the comfort zone for him was a lot better with or has been with this group than with what was going on in Buffalo.

And between that, contract negotiations and management and a few things that kind of clashed. He found his home here and he got comfortable right away. And he's obviously cementing some strong roots here in Vegas. David Pagnotta is with us from Las Vegas after the Golden Knights take a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final over Florida.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. The Golden Knights have, what, six guys remaining from the team that went to the 18 Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. How did they get to this point?

Right. Well, look, first of all, I mean, the original Misfits, those six guys, they're playing tremendously and just doing wonders for this group. But overall, look, they've got an owner in Bill Foley that wants to win. And he was willing to do whatever it took and spend whatever was needed to be spent in order to make sure that they insulate this group with the right pieces. They went out and made the huge trade for Mark Stone, who later becomes their captain. We talked about the acquisition of Jack Eichel.

They weren't afraid to spend the money. They went right after Alex Patrangelo as a free agent and got him away from St. Louis after the Blues won the Cup. They brought in other key pieces that have won before. Alec Martinez from the Los Angeles Kings. He comes in after acquiring him. They keep him around.

Two Stanley Cup rings under his belt. Jonathan Quick, they make that acquisition earlier on in the season. And Quick, by the way, has been fantastic in the room with, from a leadership perspective, especially in helping out Aidan Hill. So it's about bringing in the right pieces and the right guys that can complement each other. And they've done that with their original group. And they've brought in the right guys that, as I said, complement the rest of the team and the rest of the roster. They got a ton of stars.

And Eichel's now entering that superstar status. But this wasn't a matter of just let's go get the best we can and go from there. They brought the right pieces in place that work well together. And it's obviously shown because they're on it here.

Yes, they definitely are. David, you had a chance to catch up with the commissioner Gary Bettman on your pregame show for Sirius XM. What stands out about that conversation? One of the biggest things for me that stood out in that one was the term non-traditional hockey market.

He hates it. And you're looking at Vegas and what's going on here. You look at South Florida. And the arena in Sunrise for away games was packed.

They filled it. So you're looking at this market and that market and non-traditional doesn't work anymore. It's about embracing the market that you're in, taking the local community and applying it to your team and connecting with that fan base. And if you're able to do that, you build a strong culture right away. Seattle's got a lot more hockey history than Vegas, but even then, you needed to take that local culture and implement it and apply it right into your hockey club so you can have that connectivity with the fans.

That's what they have here in South Florida. It's a bit of a different sports beast. It's more of a what have you done for me lately type of environment in pretty much any sport. But they're embracing it.

And for me and hearing the commissioner talk about the plans that are put in place to focus on these markets and connect with the local fan base to eliminate that non-traditional term, that was a standout for me. Is he happy with how everything's going otherwise? Oh yeah, he better be.

Yeah, he seemed like it. But this is great. When you have these two markets, you can build up on the league and build up the fan base across the board for the National Hockey League in those types of markets. We've got the NHL Awards and the NHL Draft coming up in a couple of weeks in Nashville. We're not talking about Toronto and New York and Chicago and Detroit and things like that. We're talking about these other markets that have totally embraced this sport and you're building a strong culture across the board. And you're seeing in markets like Arizona and a bit of a different beast what's going on there. But in terms of that market and California and even Florida, you're getting now kids that are playing the sport and are now being drafted into National Hockey League from those types of markets.

I mean, that's fantastic. David, before I let you go, I have to ask you this because you're based in Toronto and last week on my show, we were talking about the fact that between the NHL and the NBA, there are three franchises that could win their first ever title. And obviously in the NHL, some franchise will win its first ever Stanley Cup.

And so I was asking my listeners, who's next? What franchise, what fan base desperately needs a title? And of course, I hear from a ton of Canadian hockey fans, any team in Canada, just any team in Canada, Toronto is an original six, Edmonton Oilers who've done so much work to put together this quality franchise.

And yet still, not yet. Is there a common denominator or do you think at some point with the work they're doing, we're going to see them break through? I got to think at some point soon, one of these teams, whether it's the Leafs, maybe the Oilers are best positioned to bring the Stanley Cup back north of the border.

We haven't seen, as you said, a championship in Canada in the NHL since 93 when the Montreal Canadians won. It's tough. It's tough to do it.

It's tough to find the right pieces in place. You can have the best player in the world in Edmonton, in Connor McDavid, and still not be there because you have to have the right pieces. Impressive as some of the individual accolades are, in order to win in the national hockey league, you have to do it as a collective group.

You have to have lines one through four rolling. You have to have your defense on point and you need to have strong goaltending. If you have all those pieces and whatever works for you, again, it doesn't have to be the best of the best, but it has to be the right group that works. That's how you win a championship in the NHL and teams like Edmonton and Toronto are probably the closest. Honestly, I think we're going to see a lot of movement out of Edmonton over this offseason with the draft coming up. They want to change that narrative, bring that championship to their city, and I think they're going to be active in trying to do that and finding those pieces this summer. Right now, the pieces seem to be in place for the Golden Knights, two wins away from a Stanley Cup. David Pagnotta of the fourth period and Sirius XM NHL radio is in Vegas, headed to South Florida soon.

You can find him on Twitter at the fourth period, spelling out the fourth. Always great to catch up with you. Thanks so much for making a couple minutes for us.

Absolutely. Thanks, David, for having me. We try to connect with David throughout the regular season and usually we get one shot with him because he's so good, he's so busy, he's got a podcast, he's got radio. He's on site with the Stanley Cup final, which is why we're thrilled to be able to snag a few minutes from Vegas. And he's got great insight on not just the two teams that are in the Stanley Cup final, but having had that conversation with Gary Bettman today, I bet it's preserved. Actually, I saw part of it on his Twitter if you wanted to check it out, but I bet it's preserved on a podcast too because Sirius XM does a lot of repurposing and a lot of on demand. That's actually how I hear Tom Brady's show with Jim Gray every week is on demand during the football season. All right, on Twitter, A Law Radio, our Facebook page too, After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

You know what I was thinking? Because at varying ages, whether it be a kid, teenager, in college, I discovered different sports and fell in love with different sports. So I was wondering how old you all were when you fell in love with sports, where you discovered sports for the first time. Jay, do you remember how old you were when you first discovered that you have a passion for sports? Young, definitely young, probably around, I always loved playing them, even for as long as I can remember.

Not playing, I would say watching. Yeah, because I played little league in third grade, that was my first sport, and then I played a ton of different sports. So I loved to be out there as ruffling tumble, kind of a tomboy when I was younger, but I didn't fall in love with watching them until I was 13. My dad took me to my first Ranger game, I was probably about seven years old, and we saw Gretzky and got tickets to see the Rangers, Sabres, and I'd say I was hooked on sports and live sports and just everything to do with it ever since then. Okay, so seven years old.

Jake is here in studio with us, do you remember how old you were when you fell in love or got the bug for the first time? I don't, but I know, I have a theory about it, which I think you need to have a team that's winning, like in order to follow. We do love winners. Like, my brother is a Seattle Seahawks fan.

He bandwagoned them when they were in the Super Bowl. Yes. I mean, like their jersey, so.

That's a good reason. Yeah. I have a, my very close family friend who is five years old, six actually, he was asking me a couple days ago about Aaron Judge.

That's a star right there. I think it's hard to become a sports fan when your team is losing. So I guess for me around, Yankee fan, probably around six, seven I would say, like when you can follow at the game. Gotcha.

Alright. So for me it was 13. For Jay and Jake, they were a little bit younger.

Jay and Jake, that's kind of fun. And that's what I want to know from you. How old were you, as far back as you can remember, when you first fell in love with watching sports? So playing sports is something different. When you first fell in love with a professional team or a college team that turns you into a rabid, irrational, illogical, over-the-top emotional fan. How old were you then? For me it was the Denver Broncos. That was my first irrational and illogical sports fan love.

But I think it happens for different people at different times. And so I'd love to hear if you want to tell us the age and the team. Who turned you into an irrational sports fan and what age, if you can remember? What team was it for you? The New York Yankees, 2009 in the World Series.

Okay. So that's cool if you can remember that specific. And Jay said it was a Rangers game as well.

What team and how old were you when you became hooked on watching sports, being hooked on being a fan of sports? So whether, are you putting a post up Jay? Yeah, Jay's going to put up a post on our show Twitter after our CBS and on our Facebook page. I think it becomes part of your soul and you're never the same after that. If it's really a part of your soul, you're never the same after that. Thanks for hanging out with us. And I've turned it into a career. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Here on After Hours, we like you as much as you like us. Hello, first time caller, long time listener. Great. Well, thanks for calling for the first time ever. Welcome to the show, Amy. Thank you.

Thanks for putting on such a great show. Giving me something to listen to on my way home from work. How are you doing tonight? I'm good. How are you? Good.

Just want to tell you do a fantastic job. I want to let you know there's a lot of police that listen to your show. I laugh when I hear how people chime in and hate on you a little bit. I'm like, I use your show as an encyclopedia because the next day I'll just go out and talk about what you talk about. People come out like I'm the man around here with my sports knowledge.

So I love it. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Do you all remember the conversation we had with Matthew Keyes? Was it last week or the week before? Sometime in the last couple of weeks.

It might have been right before Memorial Day weekend. But Matthew is with thedesk.net and he is the tech and media expert that we had on to talk about the migration to streaming in sports. If you missed that conversation, please Google it. It is on our social media, but I would highly recommend it because right now sports are making this mass migration to the money, the millions. And the millions and the millions of dollars that they can find with streaming rights. Whether it's Amazon, whether it's YouTube now, whether it's Apple TV, individual teams as well as leagues are making deals to tap into the streaming revenue. So Matthew did a great job breaking it down and even explaining to us how much it costs now to look ahead to the 2023 football season. If you want to have access to every game.

So that's an extreme. Maybe not everybody has Sunday ticket on YouTube, but he gave us great information and some of the unintended fallout as well. So I know he listens to the show and also follows our social and he just responded to our question. How old were you when you fell in love with watching sports? OK, so not playing sports, but actually watching sports and what team got you hooked? He wrote, I fell in love with sports at the age of 34. I'm 36 now and I've never played a sport in my life, but I just like watching sports on TV. See, that's the kind of interesting story.

Not everybody has the same path to being an avid sports fan. Oh, I did it. I did it. This is what happens when I get a word planted in my head.

I mean, I hadn't heard avid in forever, but it's a great word. And thank you, producer J, for dropping it in the first, say, five minutes of the show. And now it's out my mouth.

It comes. We all have different stories. Some of us fell in love and we were grandfathered in with our families. And we had no other choice but to be a fan of a particular team. Others of us came by it much later in life. And I would say still others. I hope this is the case.

I don't know. But I would like to believe, especially among women who listen to the show, that maybe, just maybe, they weren't sports fans when they started listening to the show. I've heard this from people, but they became sports fans because we present sports in a way that's fun and unique and entertaining. And it's not life or death, right? No one's ranting in your face. No one's screaming at you.

No one's telling you everything you have to know about everything. No, we just try to have fun on the show. So I hope we've allowed you an avenue where you can have fun, too. And maybe you found yourself falling in love with sports all over again. Leroy on Twitter. I was seven and I'll never forget watching Secretariat win the Triple Crown. Oh, I wish I had seen that. I wish I had seen that.

I was not alive for that. Didn't know what it meant, but seeing that race revved up my feelings of feeling high. OK, I'm just going to assume he means that figuratively. Like his endorphins were running. Oh, speaking of endorphins, just you wait.

Jay and endorphins, it's a new thing. OK, so find us on Twitter after our CBS. We did retweet it from our network account. Every now and then we'll retweet from the network account.

And also on our Facebook page, yes, thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs all around. Let's talk to Lee, who's in San Diego. Lee, welcome to After Hours.

Hi, Amy. How's it going? Great.

Thank you. We're going back to 1978. The San Diego Chargers are playing the Oakland Raiders in San Diego. And the Holy Roller happened. I just listened to this thing on the radio. The game was blacked out.

Oh, no. Yeah, so I listened to that play on the radio and Stabler threw the thing forward. They're running back through it onto the field and Dave Casper stumbled on it and fell on in the end zone and the KGB chicken.

Had a heart attack in the end zone. And that's when I became a serious San Diego fan. And I've had to deal with this team leaving San Diego.

And it really hurts. So it still bothers you, even as you see them try to embrace L.A. as their home? Yeah, it's heartbreaking for me. Oh, do you still follow the team or no? Yeah, I still follow them. I still root for them. Good.

I mean, I don't. It's not the team's fault. It's ownership. It was an ownership problem when they went up there and San Diego thing. They couldn't get a stadium built. And it's really sad and the Padres, that's a sad situation right now with what's going on there because one of the most talented teams in the league and they're just.

Sputtering under five hundred. There's a long way to go along. They had a late surge last season, too.

There is a long way to go. But that's that's when I became a fan of 1978. OK. And I don't know. Do you remember that play? No, no, I don't.

But I did just Google it. And the Holy Roller is actually part of the Hall of Fame. Did you know that is part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame? It changed the rules of football.

Yeah, pretty crazy. No longer throw a fumble forward. Yeah. It changed the rules and it kept the Chargers out of the playoffs that year.

Yeah. So I started reading on the page and it says when it comes to football lore, few moments in NFL history are so significant that they earn a specific nickname. One such bizarre play in a game between the Chargers and Raiders in 1978 was just that. And today is simply referred to as the Holy Roller.

Ten seconds left in a week two matchup in September of 1978. And you're right, Ken Stabler. And I know you remember it vividly.

I'm going to have to read about it because I've not ever heard about it before. But this is cool. Thanks, Amy. Thank you, Lee. Good to talk to you in San Diego. How old were you and what team caused you to fall in love with watching sports for the first time? Stabler's quote, I fumbled it on purpose.

Yes, I was trying to fumble. We need to find some video of that. So whether it's on Twitter after our CBS, whether it's our Facebook page, we have a lot of people who actually go and read other Facebook posts on a thread and comment. Twitter, Jay is sharing them from our show account.

And so we're really excited to be able to spend this time post-May getting off the beaten path. Last week it was a whale video. It was the next team that desperately needs to win a championship, that franchise or fan base that desperately needs. We went all crazy with the Waze app.

And what sports figures or entertainers would you most like to give you directions via Waze? And honestly, that was still happening. You missed it, producer Jay. Last night we were still getting people talking about the Waze app on social when I mentioned it. Plus, have you seen the other whale video? It makes me question everything.

Now I question everything. Because there's another whale video that was put out there. Now this goes back to 2020, but it's been retweeted by that same account that gave us the whale video with the two on the paddle board. This has become the go-to account for whale videos.

Apparently. So he regurgitates a video from 2020 that, because of the angle at which it was taken, makes it look as though two kayakers are swallowed up by a whale. Have you seen it? I've seen this.

Okay. Have you seen this? So he retweeted it. Now I think, this is my theory, he saw how much traffic he got from the new whale video. So he decided to regurgitate the old one from 2020.

And I think we were a part of that. We got him an extra, oh gosh, maybe 500,000 views from talking about it here on the show. Minimum.

Minimum. Thank you, Jay. We've got avid social media users.

See, there you go. And now I'm questioning everything because it's the same Twitter account. Who's to say that he's not sharing fake videos?

Or it's just about perspective. I don't know. I'm a little skeptical now. I still haven't heard anything fake about that first one.

No. And on this second one, I thought I saw like a post-swallow comment from the person who got swallowed. Post-swallow comment.

It was like, oh, it was weird in there. Okay, just as a side note, if they were swallowed, they did not comment. If they were not swallowed, they were free to comment. If they'd been swallowed, there'd be no commenting.

True, true. Post-engulfed, I guess I would say. No, they just got knocked off their kayak.

That's all. There are videos from other angles that show they just got knocked off their kayak. Oh, really? I only saw the one angle then.

Yeah. They didn't get engulfed. It looked to me like they were in there, like Pinocchio. No, the whale breached right next to them and knocked them off their kayak. So disrupted the kayak and upended it. Jay, are you in there watching it?

Yeah, of course. This is what happens. I dare not bring anything up that has a YouTube clip because the second I do or if I bring up, say, a particular item I'm shopping for, what does Jay do?

He stops listening to me and Googles it. And I can tell by his face what he's in there doing. I just had to refresh it. Just got to see.

Just got to see. They did not die. They were still commenting after. Jake's doing the same thing, just so you know.

Now the two of you are ganging up on me. I'm telling you, I think they were available for comment after. Because they weren't engulfed by a whale, yes. It looks to me like they were in there. Oh, they just swam out? Yeah. Well, he like, you know, didn't realize that they weren't a fish and was like, bleh, and like let them go. He just barfed them up? Right. Oh, so you're taking this out of Jonah and the whale for the Bible? Something like that. You barfed them up?

Okay. Although according to the book of Jonah and the Bible, he was in the belly of the whale for three days. He actually got down to the belly of the whale. Ew, gross. Absolutely disgusting. Coming up, there may be only one team in sports that is as hot as the Vegas Golden Knights.

It would have been the Nuggets. Not anymore. Nope. Comes from the baseball diamond. Fire.

Fire. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You take the wins any way you can get them. And sometimes when you put a few together, they can be contagious. The Texas Rangers have now won eight of their last 10. And you hear Nathaniel Lowe talk about how important it is to win tight games. And I love the wisdom in that because very often, think about the Florida Panthers and the Miami Heat. The fact that they have been so resilient and they've been so tough as an out in these playoffs is in large part because they were fighting and scrapping and clawing for every win through the end of the regular season.

Otherwise, they're not in this position at all. So the Texas Rangers, gosh, they've taken the circuitous route to rebuilding. They've really taken the scenic route. And I mean a three hour tour to try to put together a group that they think will have the chemistry, A, but also have a lineup that can compete with the rest of the AL West, which is, of course, where you have not just the Angels, Trout and Otani. Gosh, they're falling back again.

It stresses me out. Happens every year. The Seattle Mariners, who finally ended their playoff drought last season. The Astros, who are World Series champions. And the Rangers right now are three and a half games up in that division. They're nearly 20 games above 500 now. They've got one of the best home records in Major League Baseball. So the Rays have a better home record. But no other team in the big leagues right now, other than the Rays, has a better record at home than Texas. The ballpark at Arlington. What is it, three years old now?

Two, three years old? Didn't it host the World Series during 2020? It did. It did, right? Yeah.

So it's seen a whole lot of drama even before its time. So the Rangers approaching now 20 games above 500. They've won eight of their last 10, including four in a row.

And this is the number that keeps blowing me away. Far, far greater than any other team in their own division. Also better than any other team in Major League Baseball. And the only squad that's even close is the Rays. Again, the run differential for the Rangers, plus 153. For the Rays, it's plus 125. Nobody else is even in triple digits, not even the Dodgers. And the Dodgers and Braves are the best in the National League, but both those teams have taken a couple of steps back.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The call there from the ninth inning against the Cardinals on the Rangers radio network. With my apologies to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who've won six in a row. And to the Oklahoma women's softball team, who's now won 50, I think it's 51 in a row. And are going for their third consecutive title. Bruce Bochy, the pieces they brought in through free agency. Jacob DeGrom notwithstanding. The Rangers have finally put it together.

Is it sustainable? We will see. But yeah, these are big building block wins. Hard fought game. A good character.

A builder. You know, you got three, one lead. They tied in the eighth.

You had to keep battling, and they did. And found a way to win that ball game. It's what we needed tonight. We haven't had a game like this, I'm trying to think. Maybe on a home run, but a good walk off like this.

A big hit. Bochy, a big deal for the Rangers. A lot of times when a franchise has been scuffling or they don't have a winning tradition. And we know the Rangers went to a couple of World Series.

They don't have their championship yet. But a manager with the success and the credibility of a Bochy can show up on the scene. Walk in, start talking, and everybody pays attention because he's been there.

He's done that. There isn't anything he hasn't seen on a baseball diamond. And so, I mean, even thinking about the Mets and Buck Showalter and what he's meant to them, right, because of his experience in baseball. And so you can look at the insertion of a leader like that, a voice like that, and how it can really change not just the tenor of a clubhouse in this case or a locker room, but also when these guys speak, people listen. Players listen because they recognize this guy's got a track record and a resume.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The Rangers are likely, and I've got to hedge a little bit here because it doesn't always happen the way we think, but the Rangers are likely to be the next team to 40 wins. Right now the Rays are sitting at 43. The Rangers are at 39. But it's pretty impressive the fact that the Rangers have had some staying power to this point. As I say, the Angels barely have their noses above water. They're treading water. I had such high hopes. I really, really need to see Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the playoff stage, and it's fairly widely accepted that if the Angels don't make the playoffs, they have a slim to none chance of keeping Ohtani.

That's a bummer because I love it when the talent's kind of spread out a little bit. The Angels need to win. It's been long enough for them. And the Mariners too, a bit of a slow start.

Now they've fallen below.500. That division's obviously very competitive. So plenty of surprises through 60. We'll call it 60 games on average in Major League Baseball. Injuries, of course, that always affect teams throughout the year, but right now are affecting different teams. So we'll see.

Long way to go. Anything can and will happen over the course of 162 games. No team is yet out of the fight except for the A's.

Sorry, A's. You are absolutely out of the fight. And the Royals.

The Royals are definitely out of the fight. Anybody else? I don't know. I think everybody else is still pretty much alive. Cool.

Coming up, how old were you when you fell in love with watching sports? Check out your calls on After Hours CBS Sports Radio. That's S-E-E-W-H-Y. Your points are worth more than you think. This first class flight to Tokyo, you can book it in your credit card portal for 1.4 million points. Yowzers. With PointMe, you could redeem just 120,000 points for that same flight.

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