After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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For trusted protection, trust Pampers, the number one pediatrician recommended brand. Amazing. You've got to wait for the ending. The ending is the best part. Have you seen the ending yet, Jay?

All right, so it's a minute and 40, I don't know, 45 seconds ish. The ending is the kicker of this pig race that I saw at the fair on Saturday evening. And I love animals. I love animals of all kinds. I was actually actually concerned for them because it was so hot and humid on Saturday evening. They're well cared for. They come out of an air conditioned trailer. They're outside eating all kinds of treats.

And then Jay's not listening to me because he's watching the video. And then they turn around, they go back into their air conditioned trailer. No one's pushing them. No one's making them run. The babies ran like somebody was chasing them. But the older pot-bellied pigs, they, well, they, they turned in their own twist on a race. Anyway, it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen with animals or at a fair. It was so, so, so cute. And the sister and brother who were in charge of these pigs, I guess they own the pigs. They, they have all kinds of celebrity names for their pigs.

And you would see, you could see at the very end of the video, people are cheering like crazy for these pigs. Anyway, it was awesome. So check it out. Jay's trying to put it up on our show Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. Right now, it's only up on our Twix, either mine at ALaw Radio or our show, Jay.

Twix. And so if you want to share it, feel free. I'm telling you, if you need a laugh on this Monday, if you need some joy, if you need some mirth, you just need a distraction. Pot-bellied pig races. That's where it at. That's where it's at. And really funny, too, because the lady who was in charge of them, they were her pigs.

She kept building it up. Like you won't believe how fast and how powerful and how epic the final race. This was the last race of the three.

And then we find out that they, they don't go around the track quite the same way. Can you text me the video that you posted? Yes, I sure can. Or I can, I can send it to you in a direct message as well, because that seemed to work in the past. No?

Not working now because X is telling me that you need premium to download a video. Oh, for heaven's sakes. Why? I don't know. This is why I refuse to call it anything other than Twix, because it's, it's a candy and it's a big old joke. So you can find the video again on Twix and he'll try to get it up on Facebook as we go through. But I promised you it's worth a Monday morning, two minutes to just, even if you're waking up and you're barely cognizant, haven't had your coffee yet.

Pot-bellied pig races. That's what you need on a Monday morning. That's 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Something else that happened over the weekend, and Jay, I'm pretty sure that it's because we were having the conversation about the Lakers coaching situation. As we're talking about NBA free agency, we had gone over the fact that the Lakers, they haven't even introduced JJ Reddick as their head coach yet, so I suppose there's a chance it's not real, though I don't think so since he works for a competing media company or he did.

Anyway, we're talking about it on our Thursday night Friday morning show, remember? And I can't get over, I'm still incredulous over the fact that the Lakers went from Dan Hurley, who's coaching blood, an established winner, albeit in the college ranks. However, he's known for his innovative offense, he's bold, he's confident, and again, he comes from coaching royalty in the college ranks, not to mention right now his stock couldn't be higher. So the Lakers pitch him a compelling vision, that's the phrase he used, that made it a really tough decision for him to stay at UConn, but he does. He stays at UConn, our, I'm trying to think of how I want to phrase it. Our, I think our humor in the situation was found in the fact that people were talking about how he was using UConn as leverage or attempting to use, I'm sorry, using the Lakers as leverage, attempting to get UConn to give him a fatter contract to stay put in stores, and he comes back with, this is typical Dan Hurley, comes back with, I just won back to back championships, or we just won back to back championships, I don't need leverage.

So that kind of put Marco Belletti's theory on ice, that he was using the Lakers. Anyway, says it's a tough choice, decides to go back to UConn. Within days they pivot to J.J. Redick. It's fine if J.J. Redick is what you want. He played 15 years in the league, he knows LeBron James well, obviously is a guy who can communicate with younger players, he is younger himself, I think he's still in his 30s, right, 38, something along those lines.

Anyway, that's the whole point is that the two guys, the two candidates couldn't be more opposite ends of the spectrum. And so you've got Dan Hurley as your, I guess your first major pitch that gets all this attention and then you end up pivoting back to J.J. Redick, I didn't get it. So we were talking about it, and I was complimentary of Dan Hurley at UConn, and about three hours after we had that conversation, Dan Hurley followed me on Twitter.

I swear. People follow me, whatever, it is what it is. But I was wondering if he happened to be in his car, I don't know, recruiting, heading back from a vacation, or someone called his attention to the fact that I tweeted about the Lakers situation.

Either way, yeah, he followed me, so I don't know. I hope that he heard how complimentary we were of him and UConn, but it just, there's no co-winking, I don't believe in coincidence anyway, so either he heard it or someone drew his attention to it because it was right on the heels of that Lakers conversation. Well if UConn next year loses a game and you critique his coaching and then you get an unfollow, then we'll know. Alex Karabhan went back to UConn in large part, I'm sure, because of the idea that he could work with Dan Hurley again. By the way, the NBA draft comes up on Thursday, so therein is the big dilemma for the Lakers. They haven't even introduced their new head coach yet.

Maybe he had a crash course this weekend. This is a guy who's never coached a thing. Now he knows how the draft works, I suppose as a player, because he was drafted himself by the Orlando Magic. But JJ Redick and whatever coaching staff he can put together in the next few days, if he even has that authority, what are the chances that Rob Palenka and Jeannie Buss are putting together the coaching staff, or at least part of it? Think about what happened with the Milwaukee Bucks. They hire Adrian Griffin, he's a first-time NBA head coach, but they also within a few weeks, I don't remember exactly the timing, Jay, but within a few weeks or months they add Doc Rivers to the staff as a mentor. Adrian Griffin didn't pick that. He didn't sign Doc Rivers up to be one of his assistant coaches. No, actually that undermined him, and ultimately maybe the Bucks were actually getting ready to let him go and needed a fall guy. Well, I needed a fallback plan, not a fall guy.

That would be eBay, some would think. And so that whole situation didn't work out for the Bucks, and I don't know why it would work out for the Lakers to have the management picking his assistant coaches. If you're an NFL fan, think about it this way, when one general manager or an owner picks a coach and then they pick a general manager after that, very often there's a disconnect, right?

So if it's not your guy, I don't know why I'm yelling, if it's not your guy, a lot of times there's not necessarily a great working relationship, a symbiotic working relationship. So if, in fact, the Lakers brass is picking the coaching staff for J.J. Redick, that would, I think, create issues right off the top, because then who has the authority? Who do these assistant coaches take orders from? Is it the front office or is it J.J. Redick? But still gets you a fall guy. No, not that kind of fall guy.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. So there's got to be some concern unless, are you ready J? Unless the Lakers already plan to pick Bronny at number 55, in which case there's no scouting needed.

No big board required. I think their list is maybe 10 names, but all of them are Bronny James. I think that's the pick, I think that's what it is. Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, so there's a lot of intrigue as we head into the NBA silly season. My big question is about Klay Thompson. The fact that the Warriors are still trying to navigate what to do about Klay, what to do about Chris Paul. Right now, Chris Paul's on a non-guaranteed deal, but only through the end of this month. So they may have to cut him or they may have to try to trade him and I'm not sure how many other people or other teams are willing to pick up a $30 million option for Chris Paul. And then there's Klay Thompson, who is a free agent. And right now, according to multiple reports, there's very little chatter between the Warriors and Klay and also a very tepid, if any, market at all outside of Golden State. So I'm nervous.

I'm nervous about that. And then you've got some other big names that we mentioned. So NBA draft is this Wednesday and Thursday and then, yes, Wednesday night prime time will be on the air right after that. And then Thursday afternoon, which is a little odd, the second round will start at one o'clock Lakers time. So I guess if they're going to pick Bronny James, people are going to have to either watch during their lunch break or follow on their computers or their devices at work. Is this the first year that the second round has been on its own day in the midday?

Is that directly Bronny correlated? I don't know. I don't care enough to find out. I think they're just hoping for some extra ratings. They want to spread out that first round as a full prime time event.

And let's be fair, it can stretch on and on and on. How many people actually watch both rounds, complete coverage of both draft rounds? I don't.

All I've heard is about how historically poor this class is going to be as well. Really? Huh.

I wonder if that's why they split it up. Or maybe they're just going to see how it works. I might be in favor of watching pig races instead. I'm sorry, I'm not a big fan of the draft. I watched the first round of the NFL draft because we have to do a show about it. I'll watch the initial part of this NBA draft. I rarely watch other drafts. I watched Kaitlyn Clark and Cameron Brink and Angel Reese and Camila Cardoso. I think I watched the first 10 picks of the WNBA draft.

That was it. I did see the Kate Martin thing with the Vegas Aces. But yeah, I'm not a draft nerd. I tend to like drafts.

But the Dan Campbell stuff was fun. For the NFL draft this year at least. Well yeah, the NFL draft was amazing. The atmosphere in Detroit was off the charts and it was record setting crowds. I had a student there and he was covering it and it was his first big sporting event. So yes, the first round of the NFL draft is must-see TV because you never know what surprises are going to be there.

Detroit set a tone that was terrific. So I always watch that. But I don't watch a whole lot after that. It loses a lot of buzz quickly. Most drafts.

It does. And when it's not Roger Goodell, it's not exactly the same because he's so stiff and then the hugs and all that jazz. So yes, the NBA draft comes up this week. We'll find out what happens with Bronny.

Finally, what the Lakers do. But mostly about that story, it was Dan Hurley followed me on Twitter. 855-212-4227. If you would like to ask any questions about the Potbelly Pig race, I'm here. Kevin is listening in Boston and he says he's from Concord, New Hampshire. Live free or die, baby. Good morning.

How are you? Live free or die, just pay your taxes. I did that too. I had to pay my taxes in Gilmerton on Thursday. Oh yeah. And if not, they said it was going. Anyway, I love New Hampshire. And we had the, aside from the Celtics parade on Friday, which obviously was ginormous. One and a half million people were there. It was a beautiful day for it. It was. It's hot. It's Miami. Yeah, it was Miami weather.

It was beautiful and gorgeous. And I want you to tell the people how great loud New Hampshire is and how they should have more than just one big, big national race on national TV, as opposed to they cut it down to just one. They used to have, I think July, sorry, June and September, and then they cut it back because of, you know, NASCAR is bigger and not a part of the country. Well that, and they also used to have a weekend that was, that was donated just the AAA, if you will. So it wasn't a cup race, but it also was another weekend where they had the other racing circuits. Yeah, I actually worked at that track when I was in college. Not only that, but I met Dale Earnhardt Sr. there when I was working at that track.

It is a big part of why I'm a huge NASCAR fan. It's only 20 minutes from where I live, where I grew up. And I just remember when we were in, when I was younger before I worked there, and before they got the cup races, we would leave town. So everyone and their brother and their sister-in-law and their mailman would be driving north on 93 to get to Loudon. And then to go, what was it, east on 393, and we would be going the opposite direction. We'd be going south. We'd be getting out of town that weekend.

Because you always wanted to be going opposite. I do think it's unfortunate. At the same time, Kevin, they are adding races in unique venues with more of the road racing style. So the Chicago race, for instance. I know it took away a weekend from another track, but what an incredible event to be road racing through Chicago. So I do like the fact that they're varying the NASCAR circuit a little bit, a little more of the road racing, trying to get a little more of a different fan base roped in. NASCAR has been in such a tough cycle and such a tough position the last few years with all the big names that retired. Of course, the sponsorships are so expensive. They've changed cars. They're losing guys and they're losing teams.

Now you've got Tony Stewart getting out of ownership. There's just so many changes. And honestly, I hate stage racing. So I'll watch it, but I don't like it at all. I'm not a big fan of all the various ways they've tweaked the playoff format. I mean, who can even keep up with that if you're not a hardcore fan? How do you even know what they're doing from year to year? So I feel like they've kind of out-thunk it. I don't know if you ever play fantasy football or you play like a survivor pool. And the theme is always don't get cute, right? Don't overthink it. And in my opinion, NASCAR has gotten way too cute overthinking things and it's kind of blown up in their faces, coupled with the fact that you've also had some of the most popular drivers in history all retire bang, bang, bang, bang, bang at the same time.

And so there aren't a lot of major stars left on the circuit. Yeah, that is so true. So I am literally two miles. I'm on Shell Camp Lake. I'm sure you know that. It's a little tiny lake.

The rest of America does not appreciate New Hampshire as much as you do. So I'm grateful to talk to you. Thank you so much. And I'm glad you had a great vacation. And I hope the rest of the summer is awesome for you, Amy.

Thank you so much, Kevin. Good to talk to you. In Boston, but from Concord. Every time I talk to someone from the Granite State, it's a live free or die. That's what's on our license plates. I've kept my old license plates. They don't require that you turn them in in New Hampshire when you get different plates.

And so I've got my live free or die license plates from New Hampshire. They definitely have the state fairs in New Hampshire and all the different states in New England. Actually, somebody said to me last week on social that she considered everything north of Massachusetts to just be kind of Massachusetts north. Everything north of Boston to be Massachusetts north, which I think I was a little offended by. Because the states in New England are very unique. New Hampshire and Vermont couldn't be more opposite. Trust me, having grown up there, but also spending time in Vermont.

We have a bit of a rivalry. When I would go to the biggie, the New England state fair, I would refuse to walk through the Vermont house. I would go around.

All my friends would go through. No, no, no. I'm not patronizing Vermont. I only eat New Hampshire pure maple syrup. Anyway, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine couldn't be any more different. They're all very unique and not Massachusetts north. So yes, New England is my home. I love New England and I've got lots of stories from my time there, including state fairs.

But I've never seen pig races like these. So check it out. Jay, did you manage to get it on our Facebook page? I need you to send it to me.

Oh, that's right. Okay, so we're going to try it. But what did you think?

Don't give away the ending. I could watch that all day. And I might. It's one of those videos you can watch over and over again because it's so terrific. And it just, it gives you joy. You can't watch that video and not smile.

I don't think it's possible. The pot bellies are motoring around the track. But the funniest part is they do. I'll just give away a little bit of the beginning. I'm not going to give away the ending, but they blow this smoke and they do that. The call to, you know, the gate, like you get horse races. I can't do the bugle, so I won't even try. But they do that whole bugle to start the race and then they open up the gates.

And what would you normally get in any kind of a race, whether it's people, whether it's horses, even the baby pigs that were running earlier. Boom! Right out of the gate. Oh no, you have to wait for these pot bellies to come out of the gate. They go in there.

It's almost like they don't know what they're doing out there. It's so cute, you guys. You will laugh and it will give you joy.

So definitely check it out. The pot bellies are clearly my favorite. And I was thinking they were small. Oh no, not small. This is not a small pig.

Nope. Large. Very large pigs. Good morning to you. It's a Monday. The pigs will make you happy.

It's after hours with it. Look around. You can find cars like these on Auto Trader. New cars, used cars, electric cars, maybe even flying cars. Okay, no flying cars, but as soon as they get invented, they'll be on Auto Trader. Just you wait. Auto Trader. Tune in is the audio platform with something for everyone. News.

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Visit hondausa.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Here he is ready to make his eighth major league start and his first pitch on this Sunday. He swung on and drilled the other way toward right field, over toward the line and looking up Oliveras and this ball is off the pole and gone. One pitch in, the raised lead 1-0. Yandhi Diaz goes oppo. Tampa Bay with a 1-0 advantage on Yandhi Diaz's sixth home run of the year.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That's not how you want to start if you are Paul Skeens. The high-profile rookie ace for the Pittsburgh Pirates-County Coleman ace, they're getting close to.500. I know they've got two incredible rookies in their starting rotation that are worth the price of admission right now, but it was Paul's turn to start on Sunday and what are the two things that we love about Paul Skeens? If we take his 100 mile per hour fastball out of the equation, here's why we follow Paul. His mustache and Livy Dunn. Exactly.

Thank you fifth grader for spelling it out once again. So the Pirates were hosting the raise and I don't know, a few seconds into the game, they've already seen their ace pitcher give up a home run to Yandhi Diaz. Actually, he went three for four in this game.

Here's the deal though. After that, he was stingy. Jackson steps back in the box. Two balls, two strikes, two outs. Paul Skeens, the wind, the pitch. He struck him out with 102. He decides to wait to the end for his fastest pitch of the day. The incredible Paul Skeens marches off into the dugout to a standing ovation. The calls there on the Raise and Pirates radio network.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Yeah, actually, once he recovered, he was brilliant. That's the only run he gave up the solo shot to Diaz. He goes seven innings, longer than he has at any point in his rookie year. He gives up just six hits. One was the home run. Has eight strikeouts.

So 98 pitches, also the most that he's thrown. It's neat to see that he continues to get stronger. I know they're being careful with him, of course, because he's their guy.

He's got the mustache. He's got Livvy Dunn. He's number one prospect when it comes to the pitching.

He's putting butts in the seats. But mostly, you're trying to preserve his long-term health and make sure you don't rush him out there and ruin his career by being too eager and too anxious to see what he can do. As he gets stronger, they're building up his innings. Seven innings was a new career high for Paul. And he finished with a 102 mile per hour fastball.

That's kind of been the goal since the start of the year. But being able to get guys out quick, a couple one-pitch outs in there. So it was nice to be able to cover my innings. Honestly, I kind of surprised myself a little bit. I was feeling good deep into the outing. I usually feel good deep into the outing. But I wasn't really expecting that, especially since I hadn't seen anything that hard earlier in the game.

102 miles per hour. Except he had to recover after one pitch and one home run. That's always tough.

I think I'll take that. It's another welcome to the big league's rookie. That's kind of another one of those moments. You're facing the best of the best. But amazing what he did after that.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Hey, speaking of aces, he's not a rookie. He's very close to the end of his career. But Mad Max Scherzer, he is returning from injury finally.

Wait a minute. Doesn't he have a World Series ring from his time with the Rangers? Here's the pitch. Swing and a miss. He got him to chase a hot fastball. And got that one up there to 94.2 miles an hour. Scherzer, who says he's an adrenaline pitcher, seems to be showing that right now.

Yeah, he looks really good in his return to the major. So he goes five innings. Allows just a single hit. No runs. Has four strikeouts.

Also doesn't walk any one, which had kind of become an issue for him before he got hurt. This is a kick in the balls. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you for putting it that way.

I hope that it is that way for your team. Oh no, not that. I guess. I was thinking more kick in the pants. I came out because I had a tight hammy. No, I do not wish that upon Mad Max or that would make him mad.

Or any other male on our planet. So that didn't come out the way that I anticipated. Anyway, anyhoo, three-time Cy Young Award winner. And he was good.

He was strong. Retired 15 of the 16 that he faced in the five scoreless innings as he made his season debut. And it's been a long time, but the Rangers get the shutout. Maybe this is the spark they need. Ironically, as we're talking about these two pitchers, Paul Skeens and Mad Max Scherzer, again opposite ends of the spectrum, their teams have the exact same record.

They're both 37 and 40. So languishing below.500. Jay, I don't know if you heard this or not, and we'll get to some of the other fun stories too from Major League Baseball, but did you hear how few teams there are in the National League above.500? Was it four? It's a little gross.

I mean, this is wow. It's a little bit like the NFC. Was it last season or two seasons before where even teams that were under.500 were eligible for wildcards? Yeah, I believe it was two seasons ago. Yeah, there were very few teams that were powerhouses and dominant. I remember the Giants were like 4-9 going into a week or 12 when they still had a chance if they won out.

That's why the Vikings had no trouble winning the NFC North that season. Anyway, yeah, if you're looking at the standings right now in the National League, it's slim pickings. The Phillies and Braves, actually the Braves are crushing it, so beware. The Phillies and Braves are above.500. The Brewers and the Cardinals are above.500. And then you've got the Dodgers from the West. So the Padres are back at.500. They were briefly one game above the line, but now they're back at.500 again after losing on Sunday. Five teams in the entire National League that are above.500.

That's gross. Let's add more playoff teams though. It's all in the American League.

I'm not in favor of doing any of that. But just to get back to the World Series champion Rangers, they're not above.500. Maybe this can give them a kick in the pants. The Royals, brutal. They are above.500, but a brutal road trip for them.

They've got 20 wins more than they did at this point last year, but this is not the way they wanted to wrap up this road trip. So yeah, for Max Scherzer, he has not pitched anything at the Major League level. Going back to the World Series game that he left, that was late October, right? He just had a few innings and then his back got tight and we did not see him again after that. There was kind of a drama around Bruce Bochy and the conversation and then he was gone. So yeah, he's 39 years old.

He's a month away from turning 40. He did have surgery in December and that's when he had the herniated disc repaired and so he was dealing with the pain of that. I mean back surgeries are rough and there's no guarantee they're going to take.

I've heard the stats where roughly half of the people who get back surgery in the United States end up having to have a second surgery because it just doesn't work. It's so hard to fix nerve issues especially. So yeah, he's still dealing with some nerve issues. Like every now and then he'll have some pain or he'll have different soreness or numbness in his fingers.

So there is some lingering challenge with the nerve issue. But he was able to get out there and pitch and I hope that we see him compete and he's able to last through the rest of the season. I'm sure the Rangers do as well as he gets the W so that's pretty cool to see him back on the mound. Yeah, I mean if you're Bruce Bochy maybe you temper your expectations but this has got to be positive.

First start back, throw the ball like that. No walks, one hit, five innings. Just incredible job what he did tonight. It's good to see him out there.

The club was, I know, glad to see him out there and you just saw him compete at his finest. Being in sync with the game, with the flow of the game and just making pitches. Locating the ball and executing really with every recipe pitch and getting the ball into the areas that I want to get him into. There was a story, I'm going to see if I can find it really quick.

Someone sent it to me on social and I wanted to share it because I thought it was neat. It's a tradition, some of you may have heard about this before, when a big leaguer goes to make a minor league start as he's rehabbing to get back to the major leagues. He often will give gifts to the minor leaguers or he'll buy a meal for them. Most minor leaguers are traveling by bus. They're not making a lot of money. It's a really tough season for them.

They've had better perks, increased perks. Major League Baseball and some of the negotiations for the last labor agreement kind of changed the conditions or at least tried to improve the conditions and pay for minor leaguers. You've all heard the stories about what it's like to travel for minor league baseball. It's always welcome when they have a major leaguer there.

They get more butts in the seats a lot of times and he also generally doesn't leave without gifts. And so this was shared by our friend Donna on Twix. It came from Fox Sports but I hadn't heard about it. Wednesday night, Max Scherzer set up a locker room feast for the minor league team that he was with. It was bone-in ribeye, filet mignon and lobster. How about that? Really nice. He also bought the entire locker room or clubhouse AirPods and one guy said we walked in for the game and there's a clubby just handing out AirPods and says they're from Max Scherzer.

So he did that and according to Fox Sports we're talking about $7,000 for the meal alone, much less the AirPods. And so he left a very good impression. If I was a player I would never wish injury on anybody but Max, come back down anytime soon.

We'll keep you open here. That's kind of cool. Really good guy, Max Scherzer. And we've known he was kind of a good guy going back to his days with Detroit. Remember when he and Justin Verlander were in the same rotation for the Mets?

Kind of. Not really together at any point. A little bit like KD and Kyrie and James Harden in Brooklyn.

All my favorite teams, huh? We never saw them together either and we didn't actually see Justin Verlander and Mad Max Scherzer pitch very often back to back. But they used to be teammates in their younger days with the Tigers and he was always a lot of fun and a good guy behind the scenes spending a bunch of money. And why not?

I'm pretty sure he's got a couple of $300 million contracts or something along the lines and he's been sitting around for a while not doing a whole lot of pitching. So I'm glad that he's sharing the wealth with others who don't have those same blessings. It's nice to be generous. It is a nice move. It's a classy thing to do.

It is. So Mad Max, welcome back and we'll see about Jacob deGrom. Weird, right? For the World Series Rangers, they win their ring, their first one in franchise history without those two dudes, and now could be getting them back. So, also I'm glad I've gone through an entire week without hearing the phrase World Series hangover. No one ever needs to hear that. Let's see, coming up, what do we want to do next?

We do... My handy dandy notes. I just want you to go and check out the pig races. We've got Christian Polisic who is already making a statement even as we're a couple of years away from World Cup. But it's kind of fun to have him with Team USA.

It doesn't happen all the time. Also, we're talking about the American League where a lot of the heavies are right now in Major League Baseball. The Cleveland Guardians are quietly putting together a terrific season. And the New York Yankees, while they get Aaron Judge back, they lose Jean Carlos Stanton. Stop me if you've heard this before. And, yeah, they ended up being part of the Braves kind of buzzsaw.

Not in a positive way. The magic trick I saw this weekend at the fair, there was a guy, he was just from the audience, not part of the act, who had to stick his head into a stock. You know, the stocks where his head was like locked in wood above and below his neck. And then there was a table saw that went right behind his neck.

Don't ask me how it happened. He was scared to death. You should have seen his face. But the magician, the saw made all the noise. It sounded just like a real saw. You could see it, too, going behind him.

But for some reason, it did not tear his head off his body. Magic. It was magic.

Yes, it was great magic. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Nobody closes him down. He has an angle and says, why not? Look at this.

His car gets a slight touch on it, but that's in the top corner. This team, the last couple of days, talking to players and coaches, it was all about, we can't wait to get this tournament started. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. On Fox Sports, Fox Soccer, this is part of Copa America. Team USA taking an early lead courtesy of the captain, Christian Balistic, against Bolivia. And it was fun. It was fun to see him score. It was fun to see the way that they were able to work the ball, work the problem, if you will, work the issues. One of the challenges for Team USA a lot of times seems to be that their style of play, and this has survived over multiple coaches.

I hope that it will change and continue to change under Greg Berhalter now that he's back with Team USA. But a lot of times they can get stagnant or they can generate opportunities, but they don't have that one guy. Christian could be that one guy, but that one guy that's so dangerous that requires the attention and he can create on his own.

Again, Christian can do it, but we haven't often seen it. Now this was his 30th goal for Team USA, so he's reached a milestone. But a lot of times in World Cup, what happens, they get stagnant, they sit back, it's more about defense. Yes, they've got the fitness, but in terms of the attack and the aggressiveness, wanting to use this younger group of Americans to really change that tone and that tenor around Team USA and certainly around the World Cup. So yes, Christian Balistic, one goal, one assist, one goal, one assist, it is Monday morning. One touch, two touch, and then bang! What a goal! Exactly, that's what I was saying. 2-0 win over Bolivia, and this is the very beginning of Copa America. So yeah, good to see Balistic pushing and forcing and just the aggressive drive that he has with his international team.

How about use that for Team USA? We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature, whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes, nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it, but the outdoors is closer than we realize. With AllTrails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently with offline maps and on-trail navigation.

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Shopify.com slash odyssey podcast. We came out flying with a lot of intensity. Obviously the early goal helped us a lot. And I mean all around a pretty dominant performance. I think we could have put it away and had a couple more goals there, but definitely a really good start from the guys. If you haven't seen the photo that I shared on Twix, retweeted it from U.S. Men's Soccer, it's pretty sweet.

Just a picture that says a thousand words and it can capture emotions, so make sure you check it out. I am glad, I suppose, that there's no pressure in making the World Cup team or making the World Cup because it would suck if we weren't there. So we get in regardless because we're one of the host nations in 2026. However, I do think that there's something to be said for that sense of urgency and intensity when they play in these World Cup qualifiers.

They play in these matches because it does affect, like every other run up, it affects their qualifying. And I want them to be going all in. This is the World Cup. If there ever was a World Cup in which Team USA needed to make a statement that it has broken through and can hang with the powers on the world stage, this is it.

Because you've got the crowds behind you, it's going to be amazing. I can't wait. I'm determined to go to at least one game with Team USA. Not just any World Cup game, but one with Team USA. So looking forward to that. And yeah, they're getting ready now to try to figure out the team, figure out the final roster.

They're not anywhere close. I wonder if they'll be the same controversy over Team USA when it comes to the World Cup, soccer as there was for Kaitlyn Clark. Greg Berhalter is back, obviously. And so he kind of had his little sojourn and went and coached somewhere else or I don't know what.

He and the Reyna family have apparently made their peace and they're prepared to move forward because yeah, Gio Reyna is on the team or was on this team. And he was part of the equation on Sunday. We knew we had to start strong. We've learned from the past that starting flying games like this can really make it tricky for us. The way we started and honestly the whole 90 minutes was great. We stayed intense, focused and yeah, good performance overall for the team.

The biggest thing was there wasn't any doubt. To get to early goal really took a lot of pressure off. And then we knew they were going to be high pressing. We knew they were going to be aggressive and it was actually to play beyond their press and try to put long balls behind their back line.

Try to contest some balls higher in their end and then play for the second balls and try to attack from there. And when we did that I think we were able to create enough chances. And the message to the team is it's always important to win your first game. We talk about progressing our performance, improving our performance throughout the tournament.

So I think it was a good starting point. Can they be self-motivated though? Because again they're not being pushed in terms of qualifying for World Cup. This is part of it.

Bolivia is way down on the list. So this dampened their chances. But the idea is that they need to face some adversity and I think face some of these matches where it's not given.

But you can't recreate that. As humans we know when it's a winner take all game versus hey just a chance to close out or hey just a chance to practice and to get better. So if it's a really competitive camp slash process of competing.

That sounded wrong. If it's a really competitive camp slash process of qualifying for the team. So whatever the selection process is that better be the most intense and the most competitive and the most challenging that it's ever been for Team USA.

Again because they're back on native soil. This needs to be a tremendous performance come 2026. You've got a couple years to get ready. Let's make sure that the qualifying for the roster right. So the selection process they're going to go through camps and they're going to be evaluated. Let's make sure that selecting the roster for Team USA is more competitive and more difficult than it's ever been. Because you don't have to qualify as a team. So the qualifying for the actual roster they should be the best roster and the best of the best for Team USA.

You've got two years. Make sure that you put these guys through all the competitions the paces everything so that you weed out the ones that aren't right for the team you put together the best team we've ever had in red white and blue. Sound easy enough. OK.

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Go to tune in dot com or download the tune in app to start listening. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives well better.

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