After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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No minimum purchase required minimum monthly payment down payment tax and delivery may be required. See store for details. Right now no problem that I have is as big as Shohei Ohtani's problem. Oh, man.

And here we are one hour to go until game number two of the soul series, the Padres and the Dodgers. And you got to imagine that the Japanese media, the Korean media, who idolizes Shohei Ohtani. Yes, he's a global superstar, but he's their global superstar in Japan. I mean, the media is even credentialed here in the United States to cover him extensively. So think your common paparazzi, and I'm not saying all of them paparazzi, but there are plenty that follow Shohei Ohtani. The National Enquirer, TMZ, I mean, the Japanese version of that. Anything to do with Ohtani is humongous news, like the fact that he quietly got married recently. Well, that pales in comparison to this latest bombshell.

And we're still trying to figure it out. Now, you may have seen yesterday afternoon, even as you just wake up now. Good morning. It's Thursday. It's the start of March Madness. Except not only the actual baseball game, but March Madness has been slightly overshadowed by a scandal in the making. Well, even if we take it at face value, which is really hard to do, it's still a pretty suspicious and unbelievable, and I mean that literally unbelievable turn of events.

It's bad enough. The initial version of the story that we got from Ohtani's camp and is now former interpreter, former friend as well. But after 24 hours, when the story was turned upside down and actually changed to say the exact opposite.

Well, now, now it's become worse. And I'm not telling you I think it's a cover up. Well, it's a cover up of some sort that we know.

We just don't know who's covering for what or how or to what extent. But the cover up is always worse than the crime. Did your mom ever tell you that when you were a kid? You broke something, you stole something, then you tried to lie about it?

Or maybe that was just me? No, I just do that all the time. You double down on the lie, and then it just makes it 10 times worse. And then you can't remember what you lied about. And your parents already know that you lied. And so the more you lie, the deeper you get. And the longer you lie, the worse it goes for you. And it weighs on you.

Oh, yeah. I mean, it's not just kids, obviously, people who are cheating in relationships, you're trying to cover it up. The cover up, it always takes you down a darker hole than the crime. Oh, it just compounds it. It's so much worse. And it feels a lot like that's what's going on here, even though again, we don't know who's covering for who or how or to what extent. Man, what a mess.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I just want you to know I filled out one of my three brackets so far, and I don't like it. Why do I never like my bracket? But see, the thing is, I start with kind of a soft sell because I fill out the family bracket first, and then it doesn't matter if I like it because it's the family. No one is concerned about my reputation as a sports talk radio host.

Nobody cares. So you do different ones. Have you filled out like three brackets?

I do. I really do go on feel. I look at the stats for some of them. The two big stats I look at are strength of schedule and also what they've done lately. Now, I know none of these are guarantees, but if you have a team that's lost seven of its last 10, I generally tend to think, uh-oh.

Trending in the wrong direction. Right. And then I also check injuries a lot of times, too, if there's guys that are out for the tournament or gals that are out for the tournament. And I look at the net number as well only because it takes into account a lot of different factors, but to me, it's not as big as strength of schedule.

If you're battle tested, you've got wins in the top 25, you play in a tough conference, then I tend to reflect a little more positively about your chances. So I kind of go bracket by bracket, and it takes on a life of its own. So none of my brackets are the same. Now, I guess I could import this bracket if I run out of time because, oh, you know, the tournament starts in seven hours. I could end up importing the bracket to our after-hours bracket challenge just because I, yeah, I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday evening, that I had some errands to run, that it's dinnertime. Goodness, who has time to fill out brackets? I just, personally, I like to keep my ducks in a row.

Then Shohei Ohtadi accuses interpreters of stealing four and a half billion dollars. I'm sorry, go ahead, Jay. And I said, like, filling out the bracket-wise, like, multiple brackets, I have two right now, or are two, the women's bracket, and for men's, I have two. And then I have them in ours and then a different one. I think I'm just going to do the same one because then it's I'm watching the game, I know who I have.

I know I'm not like, oh, I have this upset in this one, I have this upset. It's like fang-fancy football or multiple leagues and you have different players. So then in our personal wager, you're going to go with the same one? I think so. Oh, all right. Well, I forgot what we wagered last year. Have I lost both years? I think I have. I think you have.

Whatever, jerk. Should we do the normal wager, the usual wager? I forgot what it is. If you win, the wager was I'd buy you a gigantic box of Apple Jacks. Oh, I forgot about Apple Jacks. And if I win, you buy me a bag of Sour Patch Watermelons. Oh, sweet.

That was the standard wager the last two years, I think. So I lost both and had to buy you Sour Patch both years? Yes. I do remember that. You got me a three-pound bag, I believe. I do not recall any Apple Jacks in my cupboard, so I would assume that I've, okay, let's do that. If you can find some Twinkie Creamer, all the better, but I think it's gone.

Oh, gosh. Anyway, so that's the wager. So you're just going to go with your standard one bracket? I'm undecided, but I think I'm just going to go with my one, yeah. Usually I like to just keep it the one bracket.

I made it the one time. That's my gut. That's what I'm going with. Gotcha. Okay. So we'll get to the Shohei Ohtani story.

Dave Roberts just spoke about an hour ago in advance of game number two. I mean, the more I talk, the more I can't, I just can't believe it. And it's really funny too, because I have friends who are far more cynical than me. I want to believe the best in people. I try believing the best in people first. And then very often I get exposed for being naive.

And I've got a lot of guy friends in this business who tell me I'm far too trusting and far too naive. I accept that. It's okay. The debate is raging. I just am flabbergasted, bamboozled. Were those the two words that came up last week? Flabbergasted and bamboozled that Shohei Ohtani would allow his best friend to take the fall. And not just take the fall, but be accused of theft.

I mean, the dude could go to jail for him if it's not true. Anyway, we'll get to it. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then also on our Facebook page. And then our phone number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. So today is the day where the main bracket tips off, which is awesome. I know a lot of you will somehow come down with a cold. Like for me, for instance, I went to see the allergist yesterday, and they gave you those allergy tests where they prick your arm. Okay, she put 15 different needles in one of my shoulder muscles. And those itched a little bit, but they weren't terrible. But then she had these long, they look like racks, and they have different vials in them.

And she presses them on your arm. So you have eight of them at a time that are pressed into your skin. And they're all these different potential allergens. Seafood, dairy, I was petrified that they were going to tell me I was allergic to dairy or seafood. But it's not just that, it's other foods as well, nut allergies, and then animals too, dogs, cats. So those didn't itch terribly, the different substances they put on my arm. Thankfully not allergic to any foods, and also not allergic to dogs or cats, which is good because I have both. But the different pinpricks they put under my skin, like the ragweed, the mold spores, ugh, those are the worst.

And you can't itch it, you can't touch it. Anyway, all of that to say that, yeah, it was like an allergy test, and so it was really uncomfortable. And for that reason, like I said, I feel like I was getting ready for the spring and all that jazz, getting ready for March Madness, blah blah blah, and then boom, bombshell.

Jay, it's just the worst. I texted you with a wow right when I saw it, didn't I? Yeah, well I had just seen it myself, but I was busy getting pinpricked and having to blow where my arms were itchy. Okay, anyway, whatever.

So... Wait, are you allergic to anything? Or you don't know yet? No, I'm not allergic to anything but ragweed and mold. The doctor told me I shouldn't be opening my doors and windows in the spring and the fall, which sucks because I love fresh air. Isn't that awful? Oh really, huh?

Yeah, it's terrible. You meant like physically opening it because it's... Well, meaning like letting fresh air into the house. I was like, I'll just have Bob open it. That's not what people care about right now. Anyway, it's March Madness and it's baseball season and they've both been dwarfed. But your brackets, if you haven't yet filled out your brackets, they have to be completed and submitted. So don't forget to save them with the After Hours Bracket Challenge.

We've got both men today by noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. And then coming up on Friday, you have to have your women's brackets done. So our first ever After Hours Women's Bracket Challenge, which is awesome. So we'll get to more of the tournament, maybe, as we head through this hour.

But just know that the first four is done. Grambling State becomes just the ninth historically black college university. They're called HBCUs, if you don't know. The ninth one ever with an NCAA tournament win, which is awesome. And even better, this school, Grambling State, went 0-28 11 years ago. So they've completely overhauled their program and just over a decade have gone from a season with no wins.

Can you imagine how tough that was for the kids? No wins to an NCAA tournament victory. And they were trailing, actually, by double figures. And this game went into overtime against Montana State and a sophomore guard who didn't even play in the first half. He was put in late, well, put in the second half to try to take advantage of his size against Montana State.

And it really worked. He ends up with 19 points. And so Daunte Jackson is the head coach of Grambling State basketball. And he made the perfect move and it worked out so that they get their first ever win. What does this mean for our program?

It's an understatement, to be totally honest. I couldn't even tell you, man, to play in an NCAA tournament, get a first round win, man, this is just amazing. And I just think that it's just major exposure for our program and just let these guys know when they could have went to all these other big schools and things of that nature that they chose right by coming to Grambling. And just really thankful, you know, just all our guys that's here and just the way they prepared and how they played today. So congratulations to Grambling State.

As for the Colorado Boise State matchup, which was the second of the doubleheader, it was a late 11-0 run for the Buffaloes. And here's the crazy part. I had to pinch myself, just not on the arms where I was getting the allergy test, pinch myself because I'm watching the Buffaloes, right, and I'm following Twitter at the same time. And Deion Sanders pops up and I'm thinking, wait a minute, you don't coach basketball.

What are you doing? And so you talk Buffalo sports these days and up pops Deion. But anyway, it's a late 11-0 run by Colorado. I'm a monument. Not a moment.

Nope, not a one moment, that's for sure. It was 11 straight points for the Buffaloes. They also held Boise State to under 35% shooting and yeah, miserable three-point shooting. And so for Tad Boyle and the Buffaloes, maybe they're a candidate for you as you fill out your bracket. Will you consider a first four team to advance to the second round? As I may have told you, the first four has produced winners in 11 of the last 12 years.

So which one will you pick? Wagner? They just came off their first ever NCAA tournament win.

Small school on Staten Island, the Seahawks. Will you go with Grambling State? Maybe you'll go with Colorado. One of them is likely to end up winning in the main bracket.

And so it's enticing, right, to pick one. Make sure you're watching out for Tristan DeSilva. He had 20 points in their game against Boise State. So we're done with the first four. We're on to the main bracket and many of you are going to pretend you have allergies and stay home or somehow be away from your computer for large periods of time because you have a stomach bug. It's something along those lines.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. John Calipari, to be perfectly honest, is one of the guys who always seems to find fault with the NCAA selection committee. So I thought it was really funny when he not only admitted it, but then tries to say, hey, let's not expand it. It's perfect the way that it is. So, again, the funny part is that he's constantly criticizing the committee for where Kentucky got seeded or that Kentucky didn't get treated well.

And now come to find out he doesn't want to change anything. I hope it stays where it is. You know, I know people get mad. They get mad at the committee.

You won't believe this. I've been mad at that committee a few times. But you may be mad because of your seed or where they shipped you to.

I've said go to the S-curve the whole way down, then just rank them 1 through 68 and go like that. Well, we can't because of this and leagues and all that. But it doesn't matter who the committee is. We're all going to be upset. You know who's going to be upset now, and I love it.

Football coaches. Because it don't matter that it was four and there are two that are mad. Now they're going to how many? So they're going to be 18 that are mad. And it's part of the NCAA tournament, not getting in, getting in, bad seed, good seed. I always say this. When you give a good team a bad seed, it's not them you're screwing.

It's everybody they play that shouldn't have to play that team that early. And so it's part of what it is. Let's keep it. It's too good a thing. It's the event.

It is the event. I agree with John Calipari. I know a lot of coaches think expansion would be better, but it's the same rat race that you get into with college football. They haven't even gone to 12 teams yet.

They're already looking at a money grab for 14. And then you've got schools and conferences that think they're entitled. The NCAA has the perfect event. It's the perfect sporting event. It's three weeks. You get breaks in between, right? So we've got four days of just wall-to-wall basketball. We go from 64 down to 16 in the next four days.

It's incredible. Then we get to take a breath. We get to reset. We get to look ahead to the sweet 16. And the stakes are ratcheted up.

If we're lucky, we've got a couple of Cinderella's, double-digit seeds still dancing, but we've also got blue bloods and top seeds in there. It's so compelling. And it's perfect.

It's not bloated. It's still difficult to get into the field of 68. You can't take it for granted. There's angst over it when teams don't get in or when seeds are divvied up. The fact that it doesn't please everyone, to me, actually makes it a better event.

You could never please everyone. And I love the point that John Calipari makes. Michigan State's Tom Izzo, in case you didn't catch this, also said, well, let's be honest, if they expand it or if they make any changes, it's generally about the bottom line.

It's generally about the finances. All right. On Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page. Oh, my gosh, Jay, our friend John Kincaid is weighing in this morning with my read on Shohei Ohtadi. I'll have to read it to you. Our phone number, 855-212-4227. Don't forget to fill out your brackets.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Your fever is high and the pressure to log in at work is too. You finally decide to take care of you.

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Visit Carvana.com to shop for thousands of vehicles under $20,000. I'm very excited about this series, our experience here in Korea. I think my players feel the same way, and we're excited about tonight, and we've got our hands full with Musgrove and the Padres, so ready to play tonight.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. And by tonight, Dave Roberts means 40 minutes from now, because Game 2 of the Seoul Series is about to commence. In fact, the coverage on ESPN is about to commence.

I think their pregame starts at the bottom of the hour, so 2.30 LA and San Diego time, 5.30 Eastern time. But hasn't the game become a second line, a second story? It really isn't the primary thing anymore. And I guess that's unfortunate, but it was going to come out eventually. So yes, I know that this is history for baseball, and everyone's so excited about this series in Seoul.

I certainly get all that. I just, I don't know. I don't think there's a really appropriate time or a better time for this to come out unless it's dead of winter. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Dave Roberts, of course, was pelted with questions about Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter getting fired by the team and what Ipe Mitsuhara told the Dodgers, because apparently he did speak to them after the last game. I can't comment on it, man. Yeah, on that, can't comment.

When was the decision made to have him address the team? Anything with that, the meeting, can't comment. Sorry. Were you surprised when you found out he was fired when that happened? Again, can't say anything. Not going to comment, guys. It's just the beginning.

Those questions are going to keep coming incessantly because there are so many unanswered questions and so many holes in the story. One more with Dave Roberts. Did he think about sitting Ohtani because of the distraction?

No, no. I think that he's ready to play and that was not considered. Says Ohtani is good to go and they're focused on baseball and they're excited to be there, but what else are they going to say? So if you missed it, we'll just quickly summarize. The story's very convoluted and it's not one that is black and white. I mean, that's the hard part is there's going to continue to be speculation because there's no, right now, no answers, no concrete answers.

We thought we had them. Well, ESPN thought that they'd gotten the story from Ohtani's longtime interpreter and friend. Just so you know, he's not only an employee of Ohtani. According to my friend in LA, Michael Duarte, who covers the Dodgers and Ohtani on a regular basis, they've been inseparable for 12 years. They do holidays together. They're always together outside of baseball. I know he just got married, so maybe that's changed a little bit, but Ipe is his best friend. It's his support system here in the United States.

And how does it affect him by pulling that away? Not just that, there's no way Ohtani can't be, A, emotional and maybe, B, guilty over all of this if it's not what it has been reported. So the news broke on Wednesday afternoon that Ohtani's interpreter had been fired by the Dodgers, and he was accused of massive theft, the interpreter.

His name is Ipe Mitsuhara. Accused of stealing four and a half million dollars, upwards of four and a half million dollars to cover his illegal gambling debt. But this incredible piece of reporting from Tisha Thompson of ESPN paints a different story, right? It's not that simple. All of this came out, or I guess the first thread, have you ever worn a sweater or something that has a snag in it and you pull it? Or you have a thread dangling from, I don't know, a pair of shorts or a shirt and you pull it? And dammit, what just happened? The whole thing starts unraveling?

Well, that's kind of what happened here. A federal investigation into the bookie as part of a larger look at a gambling ring uncovers wire transfers with Shohei Ohtani's name on them. Somehow, ESPN finds out about it. I don't know if they were monitoring this gambling ring because it's a different circle of it, but one that Yasiel Bui got caught up in and that there's been some other athletes or former athletes. And so maybe ESPN's monitoring it. Maybe this is her beat, Tisha Thompson, and she sees these names.

So she starts trying to dig. Where do these come from? Of course, they're asking for corroboration. They're asking for comments from Ohtani and from the Dodgers, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now, Major League Baseball says they didn't know about it until a couple of days ago.

Dodgers, same thing. But somehow Ohtani's camp, this is Ohtani's camp, agreed to let the interpreters sit down for a 90-minute interview on Tuesday, just this week, Tuesday. And as part of that, Tisha Thompson, who's doing the reporting, she's got this whole interview on tape and she's prepared to publish a story, one that indicates that Mitsuhara incurred millions of dollars in gambling debts. He didn't realize they were illegal. OK, so I'm just giving you his version, his first version of the story. He bet on pretty much everything but baseball going back to last fall.

Or going back to last year. At some point, he told Tisha Thompson that he realized he was in way over his head and asked Ohtani to bail him out. Ohtani was mad at him. He was upset, but he agreed to pay off the bookie. Again, this is the story that the interpreter gave ESPN on Tuesday in an extensive 90-minute interview. The interpreter goes on to say, Ohtani didn't bet and I never bet on baseball.

It's at every clubhouse, you never bet on baseball. And honestly, that's pretty easy to track. Bookies keep records, obviously, so that's pretty easy to track.

They'll figure it out if that's not true. But the interpreter claims this was on him. The reason the money came from Ohtani's account is because Ohtani would not give him the money to go pay the bookie.

And again, I know I'm naive, but that seems realistic and plausible to me. Why would you give a degenerate gambler who's lost $4 million any extra money? I wouldn't.

And I was trying to compare this to, now I don't have the money to bail anyone out, but if I did and my brother came to me, because Ohtani calls Ipe his brother, or a great friend of mine came to me, Hey, this bookie's on my ass. I know I messed up. I screwed up. You're not going to believe it. I'm so sorry.

I'll never do this again. Please help me. I have no other choice. I have no other way to, no other place to turn.

I have no other way to pay off this debt. I mean, I would. It might be wrong. I would readily admit that that's probably not the smartest thing to do, but I would if it was my brother and I was trying to bail him out of trouble. So I'm here, I'm reading the story and I'm believing it, right? It seems plausible to me. And it seems like something I would do.

Some of you pointed out millionaires don't bail out other people in their gambling debts. No, but this guy was his best friend. They were inseparable for 12 years. And in Japanese culture, a lot of it's about honor, right? It's about relationships. It's about family. And so I'm trying to think about it from, from that perspective.

The problem is just about the time that ESPN is going to go to publish this story. And again, Tisha Thompson, it's on their website. Go read it.

She does an amazing job. Otani's camp, who, who knew that the interpreter was doing the interview, in fact, set up the interview, Otani's camp backpedals and says, actually, none of that story that he told you is true. You're going to have to talk to the attorneys. So the attorneys then issue a statement saying that Otani had no idea. He didn't pay off anybody's debts. The money was stolen. And he's been a victim of massive theft.

To me, that seems, of all the possible scenarios, that seems about the least likely. There's no way that he didn't know four and a half million dollars just disappeared. And I just can't imagine that this goes back to last fall and none of his financial advisors saw it.

Nothing. Just four and a half million dollars gone. And the, they're, they're sizable wire transfers. They're not small amounts of money. They're $500,000 a pop. And not just that, but the, the wire transfers include the word loan. I mean, if he's stealing the money, does he really put loan on it? I don't know, but just stupid. Right.

And so I'm thinking there's no way. Otani had to have bailed him out. He knew about it. The money came from him. But what if he was gambling too? Or what if he was the one gambling and his interpreter is now the fall guy?

But then I think, how can you be so dumb as to pay off your debts from your own bank account? But I know he's in his twenties and sometimes people in their twenties do stupid crap. So lots of mistakes made.

There's so many different versions, so many different ideas of what's true, what's not, what's plausible, what's not. So I so badly want to believe that Shohei Otani would not hang his best friend out to dry and allow him to be accused of massive theft to save his own ass. I just don't want to believe he's that kind of a person.

Of course, we don't really know a lot about him. And maybe it's not his choice, but his attorneys are saying, this is how we save your butt. And so you're going to have to go along with it. But the implications are massive. I mean, so far, the authorities haven't spoken to either one of them. But the bets were illegal. Now, in Major League Baseball, you can place bets.

You just can't bet on baseball. And of course, they're supposed to be legal. You're not supposed to be dealing with an illegal bookie. The interpreter swears he thought they were legal, didn't know this was illegal activity because it's legal in so many states.

Assume that it was in California as well, which it's not. So I don't know. I mean, I'm naive. I'm not cynical.

Jay, what do you think? I don't buy that he thought it was legal. Because if he thought it was legal, why would you go to a bookie and not just use an online app that are all over? So that part you don't buy.

Is there anything else you don't buy? I don't know. Exactly. I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know. The way it seems to me at the moment is that these guys were in on it together. Shohei has a lot more to lose than the interpreter does right now. So he might be taking the fall. And that's just how I think I see it right now. But we have to learn so much more.

There's so much more yet to come out. But it's one thing to take the fall and say, these are my debts and he was bailing me out. Which, again, seems relatively plausible. Shohei paid them from his own account, didn't try to hide it. He could have set up an account offshore and channeled the money through there.

Whatever. But it's entirely another to accuse your best friend of stealing four and a half million dollars from you? Yeah, that just takes his name out of the equation. Which is right now, if you're Otani's camp, the name of the game.

Clear Shohei's name. So when you say this guy stole from me, it's all on him. He's the bad guy.

I did nothing wrong. That's what I think the angle they're trying to play. It might be the right angle. Maybe that is what happened.

I don't know. But that's what I think the angle right now is what they're going for. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. If it's true, then why would Otani's camp allow the interpreter to do the interview, right? So 24 hours ago, if it's true that he stole the money, there's no way Otani's camp is trotting him out there and saying, go tell your story. And they endorsed it, right? They endorsed his story. Excellent point. Yeah, I don't think that he stole the money.

That's ridiculous. They would have said that from the beginning and he would have been fired before he did the interview. But he did the interview first, then he got accused of stealing, right? And then he got fired.

So the story changed drastically. Said to a friend of mine, you know, like, I can't believe he would do this. Like, hang his friend out to dry.

And my friend's response was, what other choice does he have? Well, you could tell the truth and accept the consequences. Now, granted, they could be hefty. These are illegal bets. Your career would be in jeopardy. But I just don't think in the United States of America, as many people frown upon gambling as they used to. So I don't think his reputation is ruined.

But I guess he could get a lengthy suspension if baseball decided to play hardball with him. I think it's so much worse now than it ever would have been if he just said, sorry, me and my buddy were idiots. We made these bets.

They were illegal. I shouldn't have done it. I'm stupid. I messed up.

We would have been like, oh, OK, Shohei gambles. Who cares? Whatever. We all do it.

It's fun. It would have been over. Would have forgotten. Now, they're trying to sweep it under the rug. But now, by sweeping it under the rug, they've made a bigger cloud.

So I don't understand what's going on. Right. Agree with you. As much as there could have been repercussions, baseball likely would have had an issue with suspension.

Probably would have because they were illegal bets. Can't treat him differently. Shouldn't treat him differently. He comes back. Shohei gambles. He comes back. I mean, he's not even pitching this year anywhere, right?

He would have been accepted. He's still healing in order to be able to pitch next year. So maybe the time off is good for his physical body, right? Now that the Dodgers wouldn't be paying him, but I don't think money is an issue for him.

A Dodger fan of the organization could spin it that way. Sure. Right. So he comes back. All is forgotten. The problem is his attorneys, his camp are likely freaking out because they were illegal bets, which means the authorities could come after him. Oh, God.

Still, though, to let your best friend just be the. Well, I don't know the punishment for making an illegal bet in California. I don't I don't know that. I don't. I don't either. I guess a jail time. I wouldn't imagine.

I imagine just a fine, but I don't know the money. Who was the remind me? His first he was so gross. The guy who stuck the needles in Roger Clemens. But yes, what was his name?

Oh, my gosh. Remember how he was the total fall guy? Yeah, I haven't thought about him in a long time. And someone reminded me, too, that Michael Irvin speaks to like young football players and rookies when they're getting into the NFL and tells, don't we have that drop?

Get you a fall guy. Don't remember that. Don't we have the drop to get you a fall guy or was that before you started working here? Oh, my gosh. Michael Irvin, he was speaking. Yes, even though he was speaking to NFL rookies and he was saying, get you a fall guy.

In other words, protect your career, protect your reputation and get you a fall guy. You'll have to look it up. I'm telling you, it's out there.

We talked about it for days. Anyway, they've just taken the field. They're doing their final warm. I guess they've just taken the field.

They're doing their final warm ups. You find it? Brian McNamee. That's it. I knew it was a B word. It was a B first name.

That would have bothered me all day. Yeah. Remember how he just he took the total fall for the whole thing? Everything. Yeah. Clemens tried to claim that it was that he had nothing to do with it and it was all McNamee.

Don't ask me what was all McNamee, but that he made the whole thing up. Oh, my gosh. I can't.

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You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. And just in case y'all not gonna decide to do the right thing. If y'all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew. Y'all not gonna all do the right stuff now.

Alright, so I got to teach y'all how to get around all this stuff too. If you gonna have a crew, one of them fools got to know he going to jail. We'll get him out.

We'll get him out. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That was actually said to a bunch of NFL rookies. By the way, thank you for your correction and Jay and I figured it out. Jay reminded me it was Chris Carter, not Michael Irvin. But there was another voice in there. Did you hear the voice at the end?

They're laughing about it. Get you a fall guy. That guy's got to know he's going to jail.

Is that Ipe Mitsuhara? He's the fall guy that has to know he's going to jail? We'll get him out.

We'll get him out. Oh my gosh. And they're laughing about it. By the way, Hassan Kim just got introduced to the Korean faithful there at Go Chuck Skydome. Going through the introductions again. Dodgers Padres. Hey, nothing to see here. Just some baseball game in Seoul, South Korea.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Gosh, there's so many different ways that this story could play out. Very few of which we actually know now. We're just kind of speculating.

Not kind of. We are speculating. But it feels so different than it did 24 hours ago, doesn't it? Even as they introduce these San Diego Padres. These teams will be getting. Well, it doesn't affect the Padres. These teams will be getting on planes and getting back to the United States.

I say tomorrow. Kind of funny because they gain a day coming back. They lost a day going across the international dateline. And now they're gaining one coming back. And Dave Roberts is going to have to say the same thing over and over and over and over. And over and over and over again. Which is that we're so happy to play baseball.

And we can't wait to get back on the field. Everything's wonderful. And oh, I'm sorry. I have nothing to tell you. I can't comment on it, man. Yeah, on that. Can't comment. When was the decision made to have him address the team?

Anything with that. The meeting. Can't comment. Sorry.

Were you surprised when you found out he was fired when that happened? Again, can't say anything. Not going to comment, guys.

Oh, man. By the way, they're introducing the Dodgers now. Do you think the South Korean fans. I have a mind to turn up the volume in here. And see if Jay do it. Mookie Betts just got introduced.

Quick, turn up your volume to see what the reaction is to Shohei Ohtani. I don't think I can in here. Oh, you can't?

I thought you could pull it up on the board. He just got introduced. Oh, he had to dodge the fireworks.

Yeah, that was pretty close there, actually. Yeah, right next to his head. I don't know. He doesn't seem like he's smiling quite as much.

Trying to take him out with fireworks now. He doesn't seem as happy as he normally does. Looks like there's a weight on him. It does.

In the Japanese culture, honor and shame are, those are big deals. You've got to have a fall guy in the crew. Oh, no. I hope that Shohei Ohtani didn't take Chris Carter's advice. Oh, the cameras are just fixed on him.

Oh, my gosh. He's got to have a smile pasted on his face the whole time. But there's no way, Jay. Unless he is, let's consider the complete extreme alternative. He is a black, black-soled, black-hearted, evil man.

And doesn't give two Fs. Sorry. Sorry, children who are listening. Doesn't give a flying foo that his friend, his best friend, is accused of stealing four and a half million dollars for him. Let's say that that's actually true. I mean, it doesn't seem believable to me.

But let's say it's true. He couldn't care less if this guy goes to jail. If that's the case, I don't know how he maintains his popularity. But maybe I'm the only one who cares.

Am I just a dumb girl and I'm the only one who cares? No, he wouldn't. He would not be the face of baseball anymore.

He wouldn't be the face of baseball anymore. There's no way. That would be such a horrible thing to do.

I know, but maybe most people don't care. No, I don't think they'd be getting away with that. There'd be no coming back from that. If he let his friend go to jail and it came out that it was his gambling debt and that he had a fall guy, you can't come back from that.

Can you come back from that? And not the gambling or the other way around? You can come back from the gambling, but you can't come back from that? The gambling, I don't think, is an issue. I think the gambling is only an issue because it was an illegal state. It was illegal, yeah.

Oh, my gosh. I have no problem with show head gambling. I mean, even if it was an illegal state, the state of California does. He has the money. Right. It's not like he went into debt gambling. I mean, he's got the money. It's just the whole thing's icky now.

And seriously, the cameras, we thought they were fixated on him before. He's, oh, oh, my gosh. This whole thing is icky. Enjoy the game. Okay, back to March Madness, yay. It's after hours, CBS porch radio. Boom!

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