11-2-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale, with everything you do for other people on one side, and everything you do for yourself on the other side. If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you. And therapy is a great place to start. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. Hey everyone, you've probably heard us talking about Magnificent Jerk. It's a story about discovering family secrets buried in a low-budget 90s thriller starring Rob Lowe and Ice-T. Magnificent Jerk takes you on a journey through Chinatown gangs, drug robberies, Hollywood reinvention, and a family confronting its unspoken past.

It's the true story about a fake story about a real life. Magnificent Jerk is an Apple-original podcast produced by Pineapple Street Studios. All episodes are available now.

Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts. Good morning to you. It's Thursday.

It's Thursday, November 2nd. Wow. I feel as though this Katy Perry song describes the rollercoaster of emotions for many sports fans. Especially if you are all in, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. It's a lifelong journey, odyssey, and in some cases, it can be one of those relationships with your sports team that can rip your heart out. There might be times when you want to quit your team, you want to have a divorce with your team, but you just can't do it. You can't quit the teams that have got your heart and your soul, that you poured so much of your passion and your emotion into, because there's always that possibility.

There's always that chance with every brand new season, hope springs eternal. And there are these incredible redemption stories. We see them every year in sports. We see teams, franchises, schools fall flat on their faces, fail and make us miserable, only to turn around and do something brilliant that captures our heart and reminds us of the infinite possibilities once again. And on those rare occasions, for most sports fans, there is in fact a summit to the top of the mountain.

There's glory, there's joy, in place of disappointment and failure and heartache, there's hardware. Texas Rangers fans know this journey well, I dare say many of them had stopped hoping because it just did not seem possible. 102 losses in 2021, despite the money they'd spent, the moves they've made, it wasn't working. Constant change equals constant losing in sports, and the Rangers, their fan base, they wore that like their favorite pair of slippers, or the favorite pair of slippers that now had holes in them they really wanted to get rid of, but just couldn't bear to part with. The Rangers team had seen a changing roster, players from free agency, from trades, a lot of money spent, two years ago, a lot of money spent on each of the losses, but it finally, finally started to fall into place in 2023.

They led the A.L. West most of the year, a division title was finally on the horizon in their sights, until they finished out the season with a six or seven game road trip, and they lose the majority of those games, including three of four in Seattle. And by doing that on the last day of the regular season, they actually don't win the A.L. West, that's the hated Astros again.

The Rangers, they regroup because they've still got playoff baseball in front of them, might as well try, never know what can happen, and man, what a ride in the last month for fans of the Rangers, who finally see why, why you can never give up on your team, why it's all worth it. All the losing, all the pain, all the disappointment, all the dejection, the temptation to lose hope, it's all worth it, it's all worth it when you get to hear those magical words. Two balls, two strikes, spores, kicks and fires, he struck him out looking, it's over, it's over, the Rangers have won the World Series, Ranger fans, you're not dreaming, the Rangers are the World Series champions, after 52 years in Texas, 63 years of the franchise, the wait is over. And the celebration has begun. Straight up 8 o'clock in the Mountain Standard Time Zone, 11 o'clock on the East Coast, 10 o'clock back home in Texas, Josh Spores wraps it up, and the Rangers are your World Series champions, can you believe it?

Wow. May the ghosts of 2011 be forever erased. Eric Nadel, Matt Hicks, the tandem on Rangers Radio, finally, for the first time in franchise history, they are champions. They are the last team standing after a World Series in which they made relatively quick work of the Arizona Diamondbacks, ending in five games, and I don't even know if they want to go home to hold their victory parade. They might as well do it on the road. It would probably be more successful, louder, a bigger party.

How did they turn into road warriors? I actually posed that question to Eric Nadel a couple hours ago when he joined us from Arizona. If you missed that conversation, it's fantastic. I could say that about a lot of interviews, but this one is special.

Trust me. We'll bring back a part of it in 15 minutes here on CBS Sports Radio. It's worth your time. And in fact, the entire interview is worth your time from our podcast. Eric has been the play-by-play voice of the Rangers Radio Network for 45 years. I asked him what he remembers about 2011. He said, if you asked me that question yesterday, I wouldn't have answered.

I would have told you I don't want to talk about it. But now it's all worth it because the Rangers are champions. The pitcher's duel in the desert in game number five, Nathan Evaldi was constantly under duress. The starter for the Rangers had runners on base in seemingly every inning he was out there.

He lasted six. He gave up no runs, but four hits, five walks. That led to chance after chance for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bases loaded, no score. Two outs. Here's the pitch. Breaking ball.

It's hit weekly to short. Segar coming in, and the throw to first is in time. And Evaldi works his magic once again. He gets out of trouble, and the Diamondbacks do not score. On Diamondbacks Radio, that's Greg Schulte, who, by the way, just called his last game as the longtime voice of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The Diamondbacks can look back on this game and know they had plenty of chances. 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. 11 runners left on base.

That's tough. But Zach Gowland was not only matching Nathan Evaldi in terms of a scoreless outing, but he was surpassing Evaldi in that his work was a lot easier. It was going a lot more smoothly. He had given up exactly zero hits into the sixth inning. Gowland into his motion. Here's the pitch. Swing and a ball hit on the left side.

Nobody there. It rolls out into left field. An opposite field single for Corey Segar to break up the no-hit bid by Zach Gowland.

Once again on Texas Rangers Radio. Well, that was not a hard-hit ball. It's not like the wheels came off for Zach Gowland. He didn't give up some loud, obnoxious home run.

Nah. Bit of a seeing-eye single that breaks up the no-hitter, except that's how it starts for the Rangers. Little crack. Little bit of an open door.

Some light shining through. And their hitting always seems to be contagious. The 0-1. Garver swings. Hits it up the middle. Base knocked into center.

Segar scores. Carver being held at third as Thomas fires it back into the infield. RBI single for Mitch Garver. And the Rangers score first here in the seventh and lead it 1-0. Three straight hits for the Texas Rangers. The Corey Segar knock to break up the no-hitter. And there's a double.

And then there's another single. Mitch Garver puts the Rangers in front. Diamondbacks, they had plenty of time.

They had plenty of real estate. And they had runners on base. But ultimately just could never get the big hit. Instead, a fielding error that cost them a couple runs in the top of the ninth.

And oh, where have we heard this before? The 0-1. Simeon lines one deep to left center field. That ball is way back.

And that ball is history. A two-run homer for Marcus Simeon. It's 5-0 Rangers in the ninth. A blistering line drive that never came down in left center field. Marcus with five RBIs yesterday. Won the day before. Coming alive for the Rangers at just the right time. Eric Nadel again on Rangers Radio.

I actually thought Marcus Simeon might end up as the World Series MVP for his work. The Rangers pounded the ball. They powered their way to a World Series title.

And you know how it ends. They do not give up a single run. 5-0 win in game number five. And they are perfect on the road in this postseason. No team has ever gone 11-0 on the road in a postseason. And remember, they ended up the regular season by dropping 3-4 to the Mariners in Seattle. I go back to Seattle. We lost a tough game there. The last game trying to win this division. And they could have got down. They went in Tampa.

Put that beside them. And just got after it. And it's incredible to do what they did.

And it's what we talked about. How tough a group this is. How resilient they are.

Again, they inspired me. Thank you guys. We didn't get the division. They made us that much more hungry to play good baseball moving forward.

And that's what we did. We got to Tampa and really stepped up. We stepped up every part of our game. Pitching. Defense. Timely hitting. Power hitting. Just great timing for all of them. Bruce Bocce first on Fox Sports as part of the championship presentation.

And then Marcus Simeon on Bally Sports Southwest. Yeah, we heard that word resilience over and over again. Essentially means you can bounce back. And they did. But how do you learn that? Well, a lot of times it's about the leadership. Bruce Bocce has seen it all in Major League Baseball.

All of it. Now four World Series rings. But remember, it wasn't that long ago. He was retired.

This is a guy who can speak to what it takes to win. Because the Rangers had all the pieces, but they didn't have the culture. They had all the pieces, the individual talent. They didn't navigate a bunch of injuries like every team does. But how did they put it together?

Well, they didn't do that until they got Bruce Bocce as the head, as the voice, as the stability, as the glue, if you will. They needed someone to show them how to win. To speak to them about winning culture and to help build it. And so congratulations to the future Hall of Famer. Four!

Four World Series rings. I knew this was a good ball club. So, you know, I'm very fortunate, blessed to come into this. It's such a great group of guys. But it starts at the top. And those guys were committed.

And look, we're in a good place now. Lots of transplants on this roster. Corey Seeger is in his second year of a, what is it, 10 year, $325 million deal, I believe. And he'd already won a World Series MVP with Los Angeles Dodgers. He now becomes the only player in baseball history ever to win the World Series MVP or the MVP of the Fall Classic in each of the leagues.

Three home runs, six RBI. Then you have Marcus Simeon, whose sign was the year before that, right, with the team. They bring in various pitchers from different places, even at this trade deadline. Nathan Avaldi joining the Rangers. Do you know he goes 5-0 in these playoffs?

Absolutely incredible stuff when you've only been with the team for a couple of months. But that was the type of character, the type of clubhouse they had where they would take anyone, all hands on deck, as long as you bought in and you helped them win. There were six teams before. Six teams that had never won it and now there's five.

So for us to check that one off the board, it's a big one for us. Obviously all the guys that are here, ownership, and see why I give all the credit to them to be able to piece it all together and make it all happen. I asked you earlier, who are the five remaining teams that have never won a World Series? Bruce responded on Twitter, ALawRadio, Mariners, Guardians slash Indians. A man they were so close.

Was it 2016? They had the 3-1 lead on the Chicago Cubs and actually had a home field advantage as well. The Cubs end up winning not just Game 6 in Cleveland, but also Game 7 in extra innings following a rain delay. I'm not sure I'll ever forget that.

I can remember exactly where I was when I was watching that game play out. Pirates, Padres, Angels. But Angels is not right because the Angels have won a World Series. And that's not right either.

Those are... I'm not sure. Is Cleveland right? Yeah, the Indians slash Guardians. They've never won? They haven't won a World Series.

So, let's see. Mariners, yes. That is right.

That's true. I'm going to say the Pirates definitely won in the 70s, for sure. Before us.

Let's Google it, shall we? Alright, coming up, a conversation, or part of my conversation with Eric Nadel, because it wasn't just about the Rangers winning the World Series. It's about this man who's been the voice, the soundtrack of the Rangers for 45 years. And he suffered through 2010 and 2011. And he was kind enough to join us from Phoenix after he'd finished up with the postgame show and everything else. Just really neat to be able to ask him about his emotions. And I'm looking it up right now.

And his reaction to what he saw and what he heard. Padres is correct. The Rays, we should have known that because they got so close. The Mariners, yes. The Brewers and the Rockies.

So, good call with the Pirates and the gut instinct. Padres, Brewers, Rockies, Rays, Mariners. Those are the five that have never won a World Series.

I got them right. Congratulations to the Rangers who take that off of their list. Wait, so that means the Indians have? When did the Indians win a World Series?

I put Brewers. I wasn't sure. I knew the Indians haven't won in a long, or the Guardians haven't won in a long time. Well, we know the Guardians haven't won. But I remember going back to maybe when they were like the Spiders, they might have had one. The Spiders? Yeah, the Cleveland Spiders. Wait, let's look it up. The Cleveland Spiders. So, I remember there being a big drought when they were in there.

But I thought that they had gotten one like way, way, you know, like 1908 or something. Hmm, let's see. Is that even fair? It counts.

Does it? The Yankees count all 27 of theirs, right? Okay, yes. Going back to 1948.

Oh, 48, okay. And 1920. So, obviously, long before Terry Francona. I'm going to miss Terry Francona next season. All right, so I apologize to our friends in Cleveland.

I was wrong. They've not won a World Series in my lifetime. But they've got World Series titles in 20 and in 48.

But how about this? They played the Brooklyn Dodgers in a best of nine series in 1920. Classic best of nine. I don't even know if that counts. That's not modern baseball.

But okay, fine, you won the World Series. It's after hours. I'm not sure I know everything.

I definitely do not know everything. Francona and I are in the same boat. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. I'm Kate Abdo, the host of Kicking It, a new weekly show from the CBS Sports Galasso Network, where Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Mo Ado, and I connect with the biggest personalities from global soccer and beyond to learn about their journeys and what makes them tick. This is the place for football fans to hear unfiltered conversations with the game's most familiar faces. So what are you waiting for?

Follow and listen to Kicking It on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Ew. Gotta get rid of this old Backstreet Boys t-shirt. Tell me why. Because it stinks, boys. Tell me why. I've washed it so many times, but the odor won't come out.

Tell me why. No, you tell me why I can't get rid of this odor. Have you tried Downy Rinse & Refresh? It doesn't just cover up odors. It helps remove them. Wow, it worked, guys. Yeah. Downy Rinse & Refresh removes more odor in one wash than the leading value detergent in three washes.

Find it wherever you buy laundry products. CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Ranger fans, you're not dreaming. The Rangers are the World Series champions. After 52 years in Texas, 63 years of the franchise. The wait is over. And the celebration has begun.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The final call of the 2023 World Series. And Eric Nadel has been behind the microphone for the Rangers for decades. We had the privilege of grabbing a few minutes with him from Arizona where he was doing work even on the postgame show.

Because he's synonymous with the Rangers. And he's the soundtrack for so many baseball fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It was awesome to catch up with him. I started out by asking him what it was like to hear his final call back, played back to him on our show. I got goosebumps, Amy.

I really did. I heard it once on our postgame show. I haven't heard it since.

Oh, man, I still can't believe it. This is my 45th year on this job. 45 years. And we've spanned, I think, three generations of Ranger fans over the course of this franchise's 52 years in Texas. And so to actually get to say the Rangers have won the World Series, to say it was a bucket list thing for me would be a gross understatement. From the beginning, this team has had some character, of course.

They've got some really impressive individual talents. Bruce Bochy added to the mix, though, and he's an old-timer like you are, actually came out of retirement to guide this team. How do you summarize or even begin to explain his impact on the Rangers? Well, he has a calm but really assertive presence.

I guess that's the best way I would put it. And, you know, as the Rangers were going through all that adversity in the second half with a bunch of guys getting hurt, particularly their All-Stars, and having this incredible rollercoaster of winning streaks and losing streaks, he kept everybody calm. He kept people from panicking. He stayed pretty constant in his lineup.

He didn't show any signs of panic to the team. And it just seemed he's got the magic touch. There's something about him that instinctively he just makes the right move. Starting with spring training when he took Josh Young, a raw rookie, and put him in the number five hole in the lineup. And just about everything he's done since then has worked out right. He's got a gift. He's obviously great at handling people.

And the game strategy is fantastic. We've had some really good managers in Texas, Buck Showalter included, one of the best game managers of all time. And, you know, Boch has everything. He's got the ability to handle the players better than anybody else.

And the game strategy, he misses nothing, and he's got the touch. And now will soon have a fourth World Series ring. You will have your first. What does that feel like to know you're going to have a World Series ring, Eric?

It's crazy. I honestly never thought it would happen, Amy, when Chris Young got the job as the general manager. And I knew Chris when he played for us in 2004. And he's one of the very few players who I stayed in close touch with because he lived in Dallas. He grew up in Dallas. And when he got the job, he told me, you've got to stick around for a few more years because we're going to win this thing.

And it's not going to take that long. You know, he knew he had the commitment from ownership to go ahead and go for it. And honestly, I love Chris. He's super intelligent.

He's super competitive. And I didn't believe him. I really didn't believe him. And I was thinking all along that, you know, there's no way when we lost over 100 games two years ago, there's no way that he's going to turn this team into a champion, you know, in any time soon.

I'm 72 years old. And for him to have done it as quickly as he did, you know, with the help of John Daniels, who really built the nucleus of the team and the majority of the players on the team were acquired during John Daniels regime. The fact that they have done this, it's just absolutely unbelievable. I mean, it really is still unbelievable.

It's four hours since the game ended. And I'm still in disbelief. Incredulous. But it's a good feeling.

It's certainly a good thing to be incredulous over something positive like this. Eric Nadal is with us from the desert where the Rangers have just wrapped up the World Series in five games. Their first ever in franchise history, and Eric's been with the team for 45 years as their play-by-play announcer.

It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Why do you still do it? What keeps you coming back to that microphone? Well, Amy, it's actually still fun. You know, I honestly can say that it started dragging for a while, for a few years, but the new rules this year with the pitch clock in particular have really revitalized the game. You know, I think the fans feel that way, and I feel that way too, and I think almost all the announcers feel that way also.

They're just left dead time. You know, when you look at an average game time going from about 3.05 to about 2.40, that's 25 minutes of time when nothing was happening that has been pulled out of the game. And all of a sudden now, this year, the game has a rhythm again. The game feels like the game felt when I started doing these games in 1979, and that's about what the average game time was.

It was just over two and a half hours. And as an announcer, you don't have all this dead time to fill. The game just moves along at a decent pace, and it made it so much more fun this year to work with the pitch clock than it's been the last couple of years. But basically, I get paid to watch baseball games and shoot off my mouth about it. It's fun.

I've got two great partners who I love working with every day. And I don't do a full schedule anymore, and as long as the Rangers work with me on the number of games I'm going to do, why would I not keep doing it? It's still fun. I want to ask you, if you don't mind, about 2011. For baseball fans, they certainly remember the Cardinals' iconic rally. It's considered one of the best World Series in baseball history. What do you remember about calling that series? Oh, Game 6 was the biggest nightmare that I've gone through. If you had asked me about this yesterday, I would have said I really don't want to talk about it. But today, now that the Rangers have won, it really did erase the demons for me.

Now I can talk about it. But I thought it brought Ranger fans together as a group having gone through that thing. And I know a lot of the Ranger fans in 2011 probably aren't with us anymore, and I feel really badly that they didn't get a chance to experience this.

But it was a horror show. The Rangers have never won. They've been around for 40 years in Texas. And 51 years, including their time in Washington, they've never won. And they were a strike away, not once but twice, and didn't get the job done. A fly ball to right field didn't get caught in the ninth inning.

And then in the tenth inning, after Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer, Lance Berkman hit this little lucky bloop hit that tied the game up. And it just ripped our heart out. As Ranger fans and announcers, we've been haunted by that since 2011. And now, just as the Red Sox fans could release the demons of Bill Buckner when they finally won the World Series after their long drought, I think Ranger fans can do that too. And I never wanted to hear the name of David Freese.

It just made me shudder. And now you can say David Freese as many times as you want, and it's not going to bother me. Because it's all worth it. All the losing, all the heartache, all the pain for this one moment in time.

You ask any player, they would tell you the same exact thing. And so I'm really happy for Eric. Of course, happy for the Rangers. It's a first in their franchise history. The fans have suffered so much. This is a feel-good story with so many layers to it. Yes, there is a Corey Seeger who already had a World Series rank. A Bruce Bochy who had three in his past. But the majority of these guys, they're coming together for this common goal, and it's euphoric now. All worth it to get to this point, which is what keeps us coming back as sports fans.

Because you never know, it could be our turn next. On Twitter, ALawRadio. Also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Good morning to you. It's a Thursday. It's November 2nd.

And we're about to start week nine in the NFL. Whoa. Let it sink in for a second. It'll wake you up. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it'll make you want to go back and hide under the covers.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. If it amazes you, then you don't know anything about basketball. You're illuminating your relative lack of knowledge of the game with a statement like that. Let's just start all this f***ing s*** again. Now I'm not here to argue the thing with you. I'm not going to f***ing debate things with you f***ing people from television. No, you want a f***ing answer from me? You get the answer. You don't like the f***ing answer? Then don't use the f***ing program, okay?

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I wonder how many people remember Bobby Knight as one of the best coaches in college basketball history. A lot of years have passed since he was with Indiana winning three national championships. In fact, one of his Hoosiers teams went undefeated.

It's never been replicated again in the sport. From Army to Indiana to Texas Tech, I think a lot of people may remember how he was fired by Indiana. I remember show after show after show in the wake of him getting ousted because he had grabbed the arm of a freshman student who addressed him as Hey Knight.

Bobby Knight didn't think that was respectful, thought it was disrespectful, and grabbed the student's arm. But he was already operating under a zero tolerance policy. And for that reason, the administration chose to fire him. He did not forget. He held a grudge. He took it to Texas Tech with him where he won some more basketball games and made more waves. The legendary coach passing away after a couple years of health problems, his family releasing a statement on Wednesday afternoon at 83 years old.

But considering the generation that has passed, there is a chance more people remember him for his controversy, his treatment of media, for sure. It made Bill Belichick look tame. For some of his outbursts, like throwing a chair, also reportedly choking a player in a practice going back to the late 90s. But Texas Tech was willing to bring him on board six months after he got fired by Indiana. And he led the team to five 20-win seasons.

That was the impact. It had never happened before with the Red Raiders. And so he could coach. But he was unapologetic in the way that he navigated the profession, the way that he dealt with players and administration, even the way that he handled his own personal business.

After he left Texas Tech, he became an analyst for a while. Certainly no one in history quite like Bobby Knight. Lots of tributes pouring in for the former coach. He was one of the top six wins leaders in college basketball history, Division I, Hall of Famer, no argument, no disputing how he was able to bring a team together. But I do wonder, today in 2023, how will people remember him?

How do today's college basketball fans remember Bobby Knight? It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. As we head into week nine in the NFL, still sifting through the rubble of a trade deadline and a firing in Las Vegas that will set the tone for various franchises for the second half. If you missed it earlier, I had a chance to catch up with Kimmy Chex of NFL Network and asked her about the commanders and their strategy moving forward.

Yeah, it's a question that remains to be answered. But according to Ron Rivera, this was about the team positioning itself for the future. So trading Montez sweat to the Bears.

He wouldn't talk about the Chase Young piece with those Niners on buy or some stipulation that the deal isn't completely done yet or official yet. But Montez sweat, Chase Young and the commanders making these moves to let these guys go. Montez was something that was a really tough decision but something that we felt was in the best interest of the football team. We really appreciate everything Montez did for us.

Heck of a football player who came in and did some nice things and really fit well. But again, football is a very difficult business and a lot of things change and things happen. And so we made the decision, really do appreciate everything that Montez did for us and want to wish him the best in Chicago as he finishes up his opportunities there.

Well, finishing up being the operative term, right? Because he may not stay in Chicago, doesn't have a contract to pass this season. But now that he's with the Bears, Montez not sweating it.

Oh, stop it! Yeah, I mean, it's thought about obviously a player always wants to have security playing the sport that we play in. But I mean, I'm sure everything will work itself out. Did he know he was going to be traded? Did he have an inkling that this was in the works? It was all type of rumors and stuff like that.

I think they come about every other year or so. But I mean, it happens, so it's the business. We expect him to come here and help our entire team get better. We see him as a long, fast, explosive, relentless defensive end that can help us both in the run and the pass game.

And really, I see him as a multiplier. He's going to allow everyone to play better, our entire defensive front, our corners, our safeties. And again, hopefully we talk about the ball all the time, creating turnovers and stops so we can be better. The Bears' Ryan Polz on the addition of Montez Sweat. Maybe question the Bears, too.

What are they doing? I have no idea if there will be changes at the end of the year, but they're also a team that seems to have zero identity and the opposite of forward motion. I know Justin Fields is hurt again. It's hard to evaluate a team when you're starting a Division II undrafted product at QB, but that's not their only issue.

It's not. I know they're coming off games in which they're competitive. Certainly beating the Raiders helped to end the Josh McDaniels era in Las Vegas.

But I don't know whether the Bears' front office and coach combination is long for this world, either. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio, on Twitter, ALOL Radio, as well as on our Facebook page, our podcast. It's a new revelation for some fans who found me on social media even yesterday. Didn't know that we had a podcast that was posted every weekday morning minutes after the boom is how I put it on social. If you didn't know that, you can always find it on Twitter or Facebook, and it's available first thing.

Actually, it's a quicker listen because there are fewer breaks, and the breaks are shorter. Make sure you bookmark it wherever you get your podcasts. So the Bears and the commanders do a deal. Even though Ron Rivera couldn't talk about the Chase Young piece, he gets added to a Niners defense that's already known for a pass rush and a fierce physical defensive line, except the Niners are on a three-game win streak. Definitely listen back to the conversation with Kimmy Chex because she was talking about the Niners and where they are right now and why three consecutive losses. Micah Parsons would love to tell you how he feels about the Niners losing three in a row. It's always a rise and a fall in the NFL, right?

At one point, you're always going to be on top of the mountain. Football has a funny way of keeping people humble, right? And I'm not saying this is an example for San Francisco. Everyone has to deal with these things in the NFL versus his injuries versus his adversity. I mean, I don't even think the Dallas Cowboys could survive three straight losses.

Not so much as it's Purdy because a lot of people are saying it's Purdy. And it's always easy to blame the quarterback because when they were winning, it was always Purdy's the greatest. I just think San Francisco had to turn it around. They're battling adversity. I definitely think the 49ers will bounce back. They're a great team. I don't think we should bury them for their three straight losses. I think the 49ers humbled us, and I just think life humbled them. Laugh now, cry later.

Laugh now, cry later. Micah Parsons, the edge with Micah Parsons is his podcast on the Bleacher Report. It's my new favorite podcast. Jay and I think he's angling for a broadcasting job. He wants it.

He's getting more and more comfortable with every single episode he releases. Oh, yeah. He's in his bag. Is that what the kids say? He is, yes.

Accurate. But I do love his podcast, I'll admit it. This weekend, now it's not a distraction, right? This weekend, Cowboys, Eagles, oh, bring it. Is Jay, this is just early reaction.

All right, so early returns. Is that the game of the week, or is it Buffalo at Cincinnati? Oh, stop it. That's tough.

I can't wait to see the votes come in for that one. That's a good problem to have. Or is it Miami, Kansas City, and Frankfurt? Woo, week nine.

Another good problem. Do not want to miss week number nine. Seattle and Baltimore is a battle of first place teams.

That's a good game, too. I know it's not going to win, but Seattle and Baltimore is first place teams. We don't have the Niners to kick around because they're on a bye. We're back to byes this week. San Francisco, Detroit, Jacksonville, and Denver.

Which one of these is not like the others? Oh, my gosh. Just looking at the schedule now, and we start tonight with Tennessee at Pittsburgh. Levis will get the nod over Ryan Tannehill, who's still out. I'm not sure they ever go back to Ryan Tannehill.

He has cinder blocks for feet. Not real exciting offense, and not healthy. I know a few years ago he was the most accurate quarterback in the NFL. But there's a ceiling for Ryan Tannehill on the offense. Just seeing the way that Will was able to chuck and duck and open things up, and Derrick Henry over 100 yards. There was some energy, some rejuvenation, certainly some movement, and liked it.

Liked the excitement. Go big or go home. If you're not going to win the AFC South, then you might as well throw your rookie out there and get it ready. But eight, with Jaron Hall starting this weekend for the Vikings, eight rookie quarterbacks will have started this season in the NFL. Eight of them. You guys, that's a 25% of the league that has started a rookie quarterback at least one game this year. Makes for a wild ride because rookies giveth and they taketh away.

Hold on to your butts. All right, so we'll talk to you tonight after week nine in the NFL again. Congratulations to the Texas Rangers.

It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Boom! No credit checks to apply. Get started at chime.com slash build. The Chime Credit Builder Visa credit card is issued by Stride Bank, N.A. member FDIC. No checking account and 200 qualifying direct deposit required to apply.