After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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One-year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. Hola! Wednesday night, Thursday morning, depending upon your perspective. I hope you survived your hump day. We got through our hump show and then boom right into a brick wall. Man, it was a day for the network.

So a day that had a lot of moving parts personally as well as professionally. Jay and I managed to reconvene. We're here.

We're moving forward. Big news coming out of the NBA. You probably have heard by now, but if not, we're here to tell you. Damian Lillard did get traded by the Blazers, but not to Miami instead. A dark horse?

Would you call the Bucks a dark horse? It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Find us on Twitter, ALawRadio, our Facebook page, our YouTube channel named after the show. A lot of you are responding to Ask Amy Walks Down the Aisle Part 1. You're demanding Part 2, which is actually my favorite part of that video we recorded last week.

It will be available for you before this show is done. We promise, but we got business to attend to right now. And we need Chris Haynes from NBA TV and Yahoo Sports to give us a few more of the deets about how Dame ended up in Wisconsin. What I'm telling you, I'm about to throw in depth in this story that I'm writing for The Bleacher Report on how this really all came about. But I can tell you that the Milwaukee Bucks were brought in, let me see, probably about a little bit over a week ago.

And it happened really fast. And that's all I can say right now, but the Bucks jumped in really fast, a little bit over a week ago. And they got in the mix and they found out they really had a serious opportunity. And then for the Bucks' standpoint, it was the hard part, the difficult task of including Drew Holliday in a deal. And that was a tough situation right there. But they felt like, gave me a little body of what the Milwaukee Bucks organization is all about.

Family, competitive, trying to do things the right way. And then they out, you know, Giannis and Dame are real good friends. Okay, well, it only came together about a week ago, or at least the very beginnings, and it turned into a bombshell trade. But these two guys, they have got to be marked right now as one of the best one-two punches, one of the best combos in the NBA. Before we ever see them on the court together in Bucks uniforms. It didn't take long, though, before the Bucks uniform was superimposed on Dame next to a photo of Giannis, all that Photoshop ability.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We are excited to welcome our friend Steve Pfeiffer from Milwaukee, 1250 a.m. The fans who are affiliate there in Milwaukee, but also has got a couple of different podcasts. And I kind of feel like it's a great time to be a fan of Wisconsin sports. Steve, let's start with the big news, though. What's your reaction to Damian Lillard as a Buck?

Stunned, absolutely stunned. I do a podcast called Green and Growing, and we had just done a podcast last night and talking about, okay, how did the Bucks get Damian Lillard after the report by Mark Spears on ESPN, if the Bucks may be interested. And we were scooting around out there, and we were like, oh, come on, seriously, at 10 percent chance, maybe, probably less than that, that they actually get this deal done. We post a podcast this morning, no big deal. And all of a sudden, this afternoon, I'm listening to Jim Rome. My Android phone decided it needed to update.

My phone was updating, right? I'm at my desk in my office at the radio station, and I'm listening to Rome, and Rome, like, interrupts his story about the Dallas Cowboys and starts talking about this big road bomb and how it's going to eviscerate everybody in its path, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm like, all right, come on, cut to it. What's the tweet? And then he says, you know, that he was traded. I was like, that's probably Boston or the Raptors or somebody. He says, the Milwaukee Bucks. I yelled so loudly. The people on the sales floor could hear me way down the hallway from my office. I was going so crazy.

I was completely shocked. And then, you know, once you see the details of the trade, the Bucks stole them. The Bucks didn't give up anything, really.

I mean, Drew Holliday obviously couldn't stay. Grayson Allen, yeah, okay. I mean, he's a nice role player, but that's not end of the world stuff for this team to get Damian Lillard. And then picks six, seven years from now, so be it. If Giannis isn't here, it is what it is. It's going to be a long rebuild regardless. And if Giannis is here, those picks probably won't matter anyhow.

All right, well, let's break this down a little bit. I know you mentioned Drew Holliday there. To me, he was so good for Milwaukee. He was exactly what the Bucks and what Giannis needed when he joined them. What did he mean to the franchise?

I think he was a huge piece. Remember, they had Eric Bledsoe prior to that, and they were looking for a more stable force at that point. And coincidentally, when they made that Holliday deal, that's the last time Giannis was looking to sign an extension. And once they made that Drew Holliday trade, giving up all those picks, that convinced Giannis that they were serious, and he signed the extension. Giannis looking for an extension, and now they go one up from what they got with Drew Holliday. They go from a really good player to a great player.

Now, there's two sides to this. Offensively, you're much better with Lillard. Averaged 32 points last year in 58 games. He's an absolute stud. Closing games out, he's going to be their closer, more so than Middleton or Giannis.

No more debate of who should take the shot at the end of the game. It's Damian Lillard. But, defensively, not so great. And Drew Holliday is probably the best defensive point guard in the NBA, I would say, at this point. And during that podcast that we were talking about last night, about, okay, if Lillard goes to Boston or Miami, what does that mean? And we both agreed, Nathan Marziano and myself, that Drew Holliday is the perfect guy to defend Damian Lillard.

You couldn't build a better point guard to defend Lillard. So now, as a Bucs fan, you're sitting here going, okay, well, Holliday's not staying in Portland. They're going to move him. And now it's just to see what Eastern Converse team ends up with him. Probably have to see Drew Holliday and whatever team that is in the playoffs going up against the newest Bucs, Damian Lillard.

That's kind of what we think is going to happen. Maybe he ends up with a Clippers or somewhere in the West, but I would imagine he ends up in the East. There have been a lot of rumblings about Giannis.

He's looking for more long-term security, has even put it out there, very clandestinely, that it's okay if he doesn't stay in Milwaukee. What does this tell you about the team when it comes to Giannis? I think this Lillard trade screams loudly of, you're not going to use the excuse of that we weren't trying to win a championship and we weren't giving it our all because that was Giannis' biggest thing. As long as they're showing me that they're still trying to win championships, I'm good.

I'll stay. And getting Damian Lillard, I think, proves to everybody that, yes, this team is still trying to win championships and do the best they can by Giannis. Having said that, the reality of the situation is Damian Lillard has two years left on his deal, as does Middleton, as does Brook Lopez, as does Giannis.

So, this is a two-year window. At that point, you have a bunch of old people. At that point, Brook Lopez, Middleton, and Damian Lillard, with Giannis, looking for a five-year deal.

Now, what then? That's going to be a big turning point because what do you surround him with? Is he okay going forward with a bunch of guys in the mid to late 30s for another five years into their 40s? I doubt it.

Maybe. And then, how do you get young star players to come play with Giannis if those guys aren't part of the picture? That's going to be the big next conundrum. Hopefully, Giannis sends an extension before you get to that point. He's clearly still one of the best players in the NBA and still in that window. You would think he'd be a draw as opposed to the opposite, and now you add Damian Lillard.

Wow, what a 1-2 punch. That indicates, to me anyway, that the Bucs are serious about pursuing another title. Yeah, and you're talking about a lethal pick-and-roll combination, right, with Giannis and Damian Lillard, kind of like Murray and Jokic, I guess you could say, for watching Denver last year. It's going to be that similar offensive attack.

Let's point this out, too. When Lillard was successful in Portland and they were making the playoffs and doing their stuff, who was his head coach? Terry Stotts, who is the lead assistant on the Bucs bench right now.

Terry Stotts. Lillard gets to come to Milwaukee, where his old head coach is the offensive coordinator, I guess you could say, for Adrian Griffin, who's in his first year as head coach for the Milwaukee Bucs, and they get reunited. Stotts knows exactly how to run Lillard, knows exactly what to do with him in the offense.

And now he has all these extra toys to play with in Giannis and Chris Middleton and stuff like that, and he didn't necessarily have that in Portland. This offense is going to be stupid good. And defensively, they should be really good.

You keep Brook Lopez still one of the best defensive centers in the league. They just have to stay healthy. The Bucs stay healthy.

There's no reason that they shouldn't be in the NBA Finals. Steve Pfeiffer is with us from Milwaukee and 1250. The fan also has the green and growing podcast. Lots of stuff about the Bucs and the reaction to the Damian Lillard bombshell.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. I kind of feel like it's a pretty good time to be a Wisconsin sports fan, Milwaukee specifically, as the Brewers clinched their third division title in six years. How dangerous will they be come October? It's all going to depend on the offense.

At the end of the day, that's kind of what it's been all year long is how good can this offense be. And Matt Arnold, the general manager of the Brewers, who's kind of taken over for David Stern to deal as a consultant or whatever they deemed him after he stepped aside before the season ends at the end of September. Everybody expects him to take over the Mets job. But since Matt Arnold has been fully in charge, if you look at the moves he's made during the season, it all kind of worked.

Mark Hanna coming over. He's been a big asset. He's got a couple of big hits for the Brewers at this point. Carlos Santana feels rejuvenated.

I'm playing at a pretty good level. I'm playing first base pretty much every day for the Brewers too. And then Josh Donaldson hasn't done anything pretty much all year. He had a few home runs. He's come over and he's been a fountain of youth guy, I guess you could say as well, and a big bolt of energy for this clubhouse.

So everything he's kind of touched has worked so far. The question now is going to be is can this offense, I don't know, throw up four or five runs a game in the postseason? If they can, this Brewers team could make a significant run in the NL because they're starting pitching of Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burns and Freddy Peralta. Those three guys by themselves will match up with anybody in baseball.

Not concerned there. Devin Williams, one of the best closers in baseball, not concerned there. They have a young, talented kid that they brought up during the year called Abner Uribe throwing over 100 miles an hour. He's a problem to be reckoned with before you get to Devin Williams. So they've got the pitching.

The question is will they get enough offense to be able to win round to round in the playoffs? Well, if Christian Yelich can continue on the hot streak he's been on for the last week-ish, that's helpful. It's interesting to think about his journey and his path in his early 30s and was one of the, oh gosh, most talked about highest profile players in baseball say five, six years ago. Maybe it's time for him to get back on that October stage and make a big splash.

Yep. Coming off of being, having some backspats and some back issues for a couple of weeks prior to him coming back and he comes back and right off the bat hits a couple of homers his first game back from those back issues. So he needs to stay healthy. And when they gave Yelich a humongous deal years ago, they did not envision a lead off hitter, Christian Yelich. They envisioned a number three guy driving it, hitting 35, 40 homers and being that guy. He hasn't necessarily been that since, hasn't really been close to that, but now we're getting back to at least being, you know, one of the better lead off hitters, I would say, in the national league this year, Christian Yelich has been. And that sets up the rest of the lineup, but you need a couple other guys to come through. Willie Adonis hasn't had the best of years and he was a huge part of this Brewers team last year offensively at shortstop. You know, if he gets hot for three, four or five game stretch here in the playoffs, that could be a gigantic leap for this Brewers team too. Plus they got some young guys, Sal Freelich in the outfielder rookie, Bryce Terang, a rookie, a second baseman. Garrett Mitchell, you know, a young outfielder that they called up for a cup of coffee last year and is technically still a rookie this year, who's been hurting now for several weeks. It sounds like he's going to be back for the postseason, how much he'll be able to play. Not sure whether it's just a pinch runner or whatever, but he's been another critical part of this, especially defensively. So you've got a good mix here kind of going forward, but remember Craig council, the Brewers manager, his contract's up after this year and nobody knows what he's going to do.

He's not really talking about it. The owner of the Brewers, Marquette's and Osseo has talked about the fact that him and council have talked, but Craig still wants to wait till the end of the year. Speculation of council going to the Mets to be with David Stearns, possibly. Speculation of council taking a year off to watch his kids play college baseball at Michigan. So nobody really knows what Craig council is going to do.

They win a World Series. He can't possibly walk away after that, can he? No, no, he definitely can't. Just as a stab in the dark, Steve, who would be your NL MVP? That's Acuna.

That's done. I mean, 70 stolen bases, 40 home runs. I think that's the first time it's ever been done in the history of baseball. Now, I don't know about the whole highlight package during the game against the Cubs tonight. I think that was kind of a little over the top probably, but he's got to be the MVP and you're on the best team in baseball in the Atlanta Braves, in my opinion. I think they're the team to beat right now. That's interesting because Matt Olson on that same roster leads the majors in home runs and RBI. So I sometimes wonder if two guys on the same team kind of cannibalize each other when it comes to votes.

So that'll be interesting. Steve Pfeiffer is with us from Milwaukee, where you've got Brewers and you've got Bucks in the spotlight. Packers, oh my goodness. I think those roars at Lambeau Field have gone very quickly from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, this offense, and how about an 18 point fourth quarter and a huge comeback last weekend in their home opener. Wow.

It is quite interesting. They take care of the Bears. It really wasn't too difficult of a game. Then they come back against the Falcons. They dominate that game really for three quarters. And then in the fourth quarter, Dijon Robinson and Al Gier took over and kind of ran all over the Packers defense and Jordan Love in the Packers offense couldn't get out of their own way and went three and out three times. And they lose the game in the fourth quarter after owning that game for three quarters. Then you start off the Saints game, the next game, first game in Lambeau for Jordan Love as a starter. And you can't score seemingly for a majority of three quarters of that game. We're like, oh my goodness, what happened to this Packers offense? And the next thing you know, Jordan Love just says, okay, I've had about enough.

And here we go. A big sideline run, you know, get the first down plus an additional 10 yards. That gets everybody kind of going, making a couple of big throws and they win that game.

Now again, yes, the rookie fans kicker misses the field goal at the end. I realized, and that helped the Packers hold on after they drove down with a chance to win it there for new Orleans. But this Packers seem to be two in one with the youngest team in the national football league. Their wide receivers are all young. Christian Watson, their number one receiver has not played yet. Now they think he's going to play coming up Thursday night against the lions.

We'll see if that happens. He's been out the entire time with a hamstring injury. Aaron Jones has been out. They haven't had Bach, Chiari or Elton Jenkins, the two best lineman on the left side of the offensive line.

It doesn't appear they're going to have them Thursday night either in that game against the lions. Devondre Campbell is starting middle linebacker. He got hurt early in that game.

Don't think he's coming back. Jerry Alexander had a back injury going into that last game. He didn't play against the saints. Not sure if he'll play. I mean, they've got so many injuries like a lot of teams do, and I get it. And then Aaron Jones, he didn't play last week either. He's been out the hamstring.

They think he'll be back and able to go tonight on Thursday night. So to be in this position with everything that's happened, if they figure out a way to beat the lions, and then it's the Raiders after that, and the Raiders are very beatable. All of a sudden, this Packers seem to be four in one going into their bye week.

That is crazy to imagine. And then if you look at their schedule past the bye week, I think they have two legitimate playoff teams left on their schedule. And everybody else currently left on their schedule, I believe, is under.500. They're going to be significantly better than I think anybody saw coming into the season. But again, they've got to stay healthy. The one nice thing is being as young as they are on offense with all these young receivers, rookie tight ends, and so forth. They're just going to get better as the season goes on as they learn how to play together. And they're going to be a formidable team to deal with here in the upcoming years.

You have the Packers podcast, which might have my favorite title of all podcasts, Curd and Long. How excited are people, even as you kind of get a few games in? Are fans over the moon?

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, you wouldn't know this, but Bears fans have been awfully quiet for a long time, you know, dealing with Rogers and Brett. Bob won a lot of trash talking. Didn't really hear a lot from Bears fans. But this offseason, man, they took it to new heights. It was Justin Fields was going to be the MVP, and here come the Bears, and Jordan Love sucks, and the Packers are going to be horrible.

And it just came out of the woodwork on social media. I think, what is going on? Field through over 200 yards twice all of last year. What are we talking about here? And I know they got D.J.

Moore, but still. So there was a lot of that. And then I was on a podcast that I believe was coming out tomorrow, The Daily Ticket, with Jeff Reger from The Ticket in Detroit. We recorded that earlier today, and he was telling me that the host on that station, some of the hosts, were thinking that it was over for the Packers. Jordan Love wasn't going to be any good.

So I kind of feel like everybody around the division, to a certain degree, kind of put the rest in peace sign to the Packers and figured it's over, thank God. Now somebody else can take control of the division. And I'm here to tell you, they're not going anywhere, and Jordan Love does not suck, everybody. He does not suck. He is good. And he's only going to get better. I love the fact that the Packers have, meaning the locker room, the Packers have, to a man, been so confident in him and how much that must mean to him as he takes over in this position. But yeah, so far, so good with a little spicy fourth quarter comeback for those Packers and their home opener. Alright, Steve's got so much to talk about, kind of an embarrassment of riches right now in Wisconsin sports. And so find him on Twitter at Sparky Radio, Steve Pfeiffer, and he's got the Packers podcast curtain long.

He's got the green and growing for the Bucks. We're going to have to check in with you again as we unfold here over the course of the fall and the winter, but it's great to catch up with you. Thank you so much. Always a good time.

Have a good night. And that is the Thursday night game. As Steve referenced a couple times, the Lions, who are kind of the popular pick, the Cinderella of the ball in the NFL at the Packers, who may be better than what people expected. Not internally, though, because the Packers have been very supportive and very confident in Jordan Love, and I'm sure that's been a huge help to him. And you hear Steve list the number of injured Packers that they're waiting to return to, especially on offense and Aaron Jones and Christian Watson. So that NFC North, especially with the Vikings starting out 0-3, is up for grabs. We haven't even gotten to week four, really, in the NFL, but a little bit of a preview, a precursor there.

I did hear, maybe you've heard by now, that yes, in fact, Taylor Swift will be at MetLife Stadium to support her new friend Travis Kelce and the Chiefs. And Travis Kelce opening up on the New Heights podcast. It sparked me because Steve just used the phrase New Heights. I know he wasn't referring to the New Heights podcast, but it just made me realize we got to get to it. We're almost 90 minutes in.

We haven't even talked about Travis and Taylor yet. You gotta fight! It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast.

I heard she was in the house. Did you feel it? Did you feel the pressure, Patrick? I felt a little bit of pressure, and so I knew I had to get it to Travis. And, of course, it's on the route that Travis, he does his own thing and just makes up a route and I throw it to him.

So I think he wanted to get in the end zone just as much as all the Swifties wanted him to. You know what? I've met her before.

Adam, I set him up. I just leave you with it. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

Well, if you haven't seen it yet, it's easy to find. There is a photo from inside the after party on Sunday. Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, there's PDA, although is it really public if it's a private party? I don't think we can call it public displays of affection. Marco's face is hysterical.

You know we work in sports radio and it's entertainment, correct? How is that affection? She's touching his shoulder. No, no, she's got her arm around him. Oh, please. Okay, hey, I'll use an example of me and, oh, look, I look up and there she is.

She's on every TV channel. Anyway, if I'm in a bar slash at a private party with a guy and my arm is around him, it at least indicates that there's a pre-existing friendship, if nothing else. Meaning they didn't just meet on Sunday, right? So there's always the possibility that he invited her.

Well, I guess there's always the possibility with alcohol. There's publicity involved with all this too, though. Come on, don't be so jaded.

There really is. I'm not jaded. Look, I'll be fair. Hey, don't yell at me.

This is my radio show. I'm not a big touchy feely guy. I'm not that guy that's going to be hugging everybody on the streets. Not my way.

On the streets. Okay, not my thing. I've had more public displays of affection with strangers at a Yankee game than those two had in that picture. So you don't think that her arm around him is an indication of anything? It could be if it was some sort of like, you know, you saw the whole thing.

We're seeing one still picture. She could have been getting her arm around him to go get something. That was not affection. Hey, her arm is on him and she's holding a drink. Her elbow's barely touching him. I'm telling you, you want to get a better picture? Listen, that was not it.

That didn't. Oh, look, her elbow touches his shoulder. Oh, well, they must be dating. No, I'm just saying that there was at least enough of a pre-existing relationship. I mean, I don't know about you, but I would think out more wedding invitations need to go out for that. I mean, that's plenty right there. I don't know about you.

You're the bride to be in the room. Yeah, I wouldn't base a relationship on that. No. I think it's a bit much.

I think we're reaching for things now, whether you want it or not. It's hysterical is whatever. But I'm sorry. That's not that didn't. That wasn't a TMZ gotcha moment for me.

I need a little bit more than that. The fact that there was someone inside the party who took the photo and sold it to TMZ. That to me is always the gotcha part. Right. It's crazy to me that TMZ gets this stuff. Oh, yeah. From inside a private party. Rough for your friend to say, let me take this picture and sell it to TMZ. I get a cut. Rough. Oh, you think that it was orchestrated rough by whom?

I think the two of them and their teams have been all over this publicity all over. It's really funny because when Bob and I first started dating, he would get kind of upset when I would raise my voice and get fired up about something. Why are you yelling? I'm not yelling.

I'm just I'm fired up. But you're yelling at me. No, I'm not yelling at you. We actually had a couple of arguments over the fact that he said I was yelling at him. I'm like, I'm not yelling. I'm just talking.

This is what I do. Anyway, Marco understands me. Marco gets me. Bob is has come around anyway. It just cracks me up that TMZ was there for the photo.

But now you're saying that you believe it could have been orchestrated because she has a new album coming out. And he's got the podcast, which, by the way, is, in fact, number one in the country. His New Heights podcast.

Yeah, his jersey sales are through the roof. People want to hear what they have to say. You believe it's orchestrated. And I like funny how publicity works.

All right. Interesting that they put out there there to PR reps. Do you think they dreamed this up? All of a sudden something comes behind and like, oh, by the way, I'm also selling this. Oh, wow. That's how that worked.

That was all. And I guess I'll be like the debut of her era's tour in movie theaters. They're actually playing film footage in movie theaters of her era's tour.

Time out this year. We're going to watch movies of the tour. So not only are you paying, we probably aren't, but we're talking about the collective.

We I'm not doing anything with these. So you go to the concert and then they're going to make a movie like it. Like we're talking like a feature 90 minute to our movie. Go see this. And based on her concert. Yeah.

As in live, it was filmed live at the concert and then turned into movies. Wow. Mm hmm.

Really funny, too, because every night I get one random tweet or one random Facebook post. We don't care. I mean, that's just B.S. You you may not care, Matt and Marco, you may not care. But trust me, when I say the majority of the sports world and the news world, it's transcended sports.

It's not like you're seeing it. You're seeing it on People USA today, various news networks. Oh, people care.

Absolutely. People care. So I apologize to you, Matt. But the good news is there's plenty of other outlets, although good luck finding one that isn't talking about Taylor Swift. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. We think it's funny.

Travis Kelsey and his brother Jason do the New Heights podcast. We got to talk about it. Yeah, my personal life. That's not so personal. Yeah, well, I did this to myself, Jason.

I know this. Well, Trev, how does it feel that Taylor Swift has finally put you on the map? I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her.

You know, the friends of family. She looked amazing. Everybody was talking about her in great light. And on top of that, the day went perfect for Chiefs fans. Of course, we scripted all ladies and gentlemen. But to see the slow motion chest bumps, to see the high fives with mom, to see how, you know, Chiefs Kingdom was all excited that she was there. That was absolutely hysterical. It was definitely a game I'll remember. That's for damn sure.

And then we just slid off in the getaway car at the end. I mean, everybody's talking about everyone, literally everyone, even Bill Belichick. He hasn't talked much about outside of, you know, game weeks that we play. But he made sure to remind me that that's the best catch I've ever had in my life. Dude, that was a great line by Bill.

Hilarious. And then you got Coach Reed telling everybody he's Cupid. He's been manifesting this the whole time. He's the one that set us up. Yeah, so kind of funny that you've got two of the longest tenured coaches and two lifers that are both talking about this.

So Bill Belichick was on our Boston affiliate, WEEI. If you haven't heard it, they asked him about Taylor Swift. Because he's a big Taylor Swift fan. They asked him about Taylor and Travis. Travis Kelsey's had a lot of big catches in his career.

This would be the biggest. I mean, Belichick has a sense of humor when he wants to. And as I say, he's a Swiftie. He's already admitted that. He went to the concert in the rain at Gillette Stadium.

So that's one. And then, of course, Andy Reid, we heard it in the open, joked about the fact that he set Travis and Taylor up. So the Kelsey brothers go on to talk about Andy Reid, the GOAT.

53, EJ. I know that he had met the Swift family before, so I don't know. He could have been in the background the whole time.

Dude, Coach Reid playing matchmaker? Who knew Cupid was so big? Shout out to Taylor for coming through and seeing me rock the stage. Shout out to Taylor for coming through and seeing me rock the stage. I'm happy for him. He's such a big giant goofball. Loves his mama.

It's like, oh, it's so cool to see Taylor with mom giving her high fives. That's cute. It's cute. Sure. I just don't believe any of it. I don't.

OK. All right. We'll see. Again, if they get together, I don't care.

I'm not hating on the fact that they're dating or they're not. I don't care. I just don't believe it.

It's authentic. I don't believe it. And I also don't believe that that's really like a date. Like if you actually truly want to date and are trying to date, I realize how difficult it is in the public eye.

Yes. There is no way that in the beginning of your quote unquote relationship, you got Taylor Swift three inches from your mother hanging out of the Chiefs game. That is not how you introduce her to your parents.

If you truly want to really date. Well, there have been rumors that they'd hung out in the past. So this may not have been a first date, but he mentioned the getaway car. There are people who saw it who are now saying that Travis and Taylor got into his convertible and left.

So left Arrowhead Stadium. And then we mentioned he rented out an entire top floor of a restaurant called Prime in Kansas City. And they were making all the other patrons leave so that Taylor could have this whole private party to meet his family and friends. Mom even showed up there. I'm just saying. Oh, I'm convinced now.

He rolled out the red carpet to to impress her. Yeah, must be really. That must have been rough to rent out a restaurant.

That must have been really rough. As opposed to what? Do a late night flight to Paris? Honestly, that would be I mean, let's let's be fair. That would be the equivalent of one of us taking a date to McDonald's.

OK, that is not going to do it for me. No man's ever rented out a restaurant for me. Do you date people that are multimillionaires?

No, I wouldn't. Can I tell you something really funny that actually that actually sparked something in my brain? So Boomer, our friend Boomer Esiason, who works for our New York affiliate and does the morning show, which starts right after we get off the air here and after hours. He said to me yesterday morning because because I sent him a photo of the wedding invite just so I could show him what it looks like, because on the back of the wedding invite that we did on Shutterfly, there's a montage of photos of Bob and I. And so it kind of reflects our personality as a couple.

Anyway, kind of cute. So I had showed this. Well, I'll show it to you if you would like to see it. I showed it. All I got was a stamp. I saw the balloons on the stamp. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, actually, you know, work together.

Jay's seen it. OK, all right. So you sometimes just don't show up for a week at a time. So I don't ever know when you're going to be here.

I'm here, although I'm not here next week. See what I'm saying? Exactly. OK. Anyway, back to the point of hand, Boomer says to me, he's asking me all these questions. When's the wedding?

Who's moving? Blah, blah, blah. By the way, in order to get the answers to those questions, you have to go to our YouTube channel and check out Ask Amy Walks Down the Aisle. His last question, does he have money?

I just looked at him like I was flabbergasted. That's what Boomer asked me. Does he have money? And this is not a shot at Boomer.

I like Boomer. People with money usually ask if you got money. Yeah, that's usually how it works out. Does he have money? First of all, I would never marry someone for money. Second of all, I have my own bleeping money. I don't need some man's money. I have some. No, you have your own money, too. I do?

Well, throw it out there. Fine. If you if you would like to borrow some money, you absolutely can. Borrow? No. Would you like a gift? I feel like when I get married, you're supposed to give me a gift. Just kidding. Don't give me a gift. I don't know.

I didn't see the invitation. It's true. It's true. That's how you know. I know where I am on the ladder. Boomer gets the pictures and the texting.

I get here. Look, look, we got a stamp. I kind of get nervous about giving people invitations or showing people invitations because I don't want them to think. A lot of people think if you send an invitation that you're supposed to give something in return. We do not want gifts. So I'll show you the invitation. No gifts allowed. That's the thing. We don't want gifts. Done.

Gifts or gifts. Wow. So much fun. Maybe this is why I've been showing you anything. It's not fun at all to talk about this with you. You don't try to rain in my parade.

I'm not raining on anything except for Taylor and Travis. I'm just calling out the B.S. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. We'll see. We'll see whether or not it has legs on Twitter. A law radio.

Our Facebook page to you after hours with Amy Lawrence. The big news. Dame is soon to be a buck. The baseball playoff picture is coming together.

Travis and Taylor may or may not be real. College football on the horizon too. A lot to get to. In fact, top of the hour we'll do at least one half of QB news. That'll be fun. And let's update you on what's going on in the A.L. West. How about that?

How about dem apples? You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Two on. One out. And the pitch ripped into right field. A base hit. That's in the gap. Peterson will score easily.

Cutting it off on the track is Sheets. Perdomo giving the wave around third. He too will score. And Carroll gives Arizona the lead on a two-run double.

The right-hander ready. He fires and Pham rips a line drive into left field. That's a base hit.

Carroll's going to score easily. And it's now three-nothing Diamondbacks on Pham's 32nd RBI of the year. We know it's right in front of us. And we control our own destiny in this particular situation. And getting to the playoffs as a wildcard team. We're proud of where we're at. But we're taking nothing for granted. We are a very humble group. And these guys are hungry.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Holding on to hope in Arizona. Torey Lovello. They have taken care of their business in the last two weeks. So they've won eight of their last ten. And while they cannot ascend as far as the top wildcard in the National League. Right now they have a two-game lead over the Marlins and Cubs who are tied for that third NL wildcard. And time is running out. Four games left. Three or four games left depending on if it's a three or four game series over the weekend.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. That's Arizona. We talked about Miami and Chicago in the first hour. And it's a fluid situation. So we have through the weekend to see how this plays out.

But still so much that has to be decided. Including that AL West title. Three teams. All three teams at the top.

Texas, Houston, Seattle still alive. Runners on first and third. 1-0 count. Breaking ball. Hit well. Deep to left field. Moore going back. That ball is gone. Dubon a three-run shot.

How do you like that? Tenth home run of the season for Dubon. And a big four-to-one lead for the Astros.

The biggest hit of his career. The call with Steve Sparks on Astros Radio. That's kind of fun for Dubon. So the Astros, they've scuffled over the past two weeks. But they get the win.

However, the Rangers also pick up a win. And they've played exceedingly well. Remember when they were on their way out? They looked like they were sinking to the bottom, if you will.

Like a rock in water or a stone through water. And then they just took off like a shot again. Their offense, it ran dry. They couldn't come up with a big hit.

How many times did Bruce Bocci say that they just couldn't come up with the big hit with runners in scoring position? And they lost, what did they lose, like six, seven in a row? But they were really struggling. Houston had taken over the lead in the AL West.

Not to mention the Mariners had passed them too. And then, boom, they turned it all around. Weirdly, since the Scherzer injury is when they started to turn it around. True.

Weirdly. Like, remember how they started out so hot and they really were on top of the division for almost the entire first half. And that was despite the fact that Jacob DeGrom was injured and was out pretty quickly.

So they're doing this with offense in a lot of cases. But yeah, the Rangers win again. They're two and a half up on the Astros who are holding off the Mariners right now. And there's only four games that separate those three teams atop the AL West.

Scott Service, not giving up, knows there's a lot of real estate. They still have to go through these next four days. Our season's not over. We just need help right now. So we're going to go home tonight. We're going to wash it off. We're going to come back tomorrow and figure out a way to win a game.

But we are going to need some help. Which is unfortunate because you look back and we did here just a few days ago kind of control our destiny. But you've got to win ball games and we weren't able to get it done in this series. Yeah, so here's what Seattle ran into the last week. They dropped all three games in a series at Arlington. So against the Rangers they got swept.

That's brutal. That's actually one of the major stepping stones the Rangers use to get back on top of the division. So the Rangers sweep them at Arlington. Then they're back home in Seattle and they drop two of three against the Astros. So really painful AL West snippet. AL West swing. They did end up winning the three games that they played against the Oakland A's.

So that was big. But before that they got swept by the Dodgers. So it's been all or nothing for the Mariners the last two plus weeks.

So really stressful for them now as Scott Service says we don't control our own destiny. And yeah, if you look at either the AL West, which I just mentioned, they're four games out. But the wildcard is really what they're looking at now. The Mariners are a game and a half behind the Astros who are a half game behind the Blue Jays. So it's three teams for the last two wildcards because the non-winner, the runner up in the AL East, will have the other American League wildcard and will be the top seed. It definitely is fun to see these teams like ramp up the sense of urgency.

Because this is good preparation for what's to come in October. And we're talking about fresh blood here, not the Astros of course. The Mariners made it last year so they were able to end what was sports longest playoff drought. But the Blue Jays, it's cool to see them in the mix and the way they're capitalizing finally. Kind of piecemeal it together for the last couple of years. But also to see the Rangers who've been working and working and working to get to this point. They've spent a lot of money, they've brought in a lot of high profile players. And Bruce Bochy. And now it's finally coming together.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Facts are facts. Like how contributing to employees' financial security makes them want to work harder for their company. In fact, according to a 2023 study by principle, 87% of employers say that better employee financial security means employees are more engaged and productive at work. The fact of the matter is that employees want to feel financially secure in their future.

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