Jody Mac here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm in on the Friday night for JR Sport Brief, and we're jumping around to a couple of different sports. We definitely have to talk about the National Football League because football is back. That's right. All camps underway.
Some things already happening, even though no games have been played. The first game that will be played, my next guest will be at. I can guarantee you that. I know for a fact because he's been a Hall of Fame guy forever. He is in my guest Hall of Fame because he's been coming out with me for 37 years, 37 football season.
That's right. You need to follow him on Twitter at Bax Football Guru. You can find his writings on NFL Sports Zone and a couple other places. My good friend Russell Baxter joins me on the Infinity Sports Network. Hello, Russell.
How are ya? I'm good, but I'm a little confused. How could I have been on it with you for 37 years when I'm only 40 years old? Yeah, it's amazing. I had you on at a very young age.
Yes, you and I were both quite young when we got this whole guest radio thing going. First things first, I already looked at your Twitter account today. For those who didn't shame on them, at Bax Football Guru. How many days till the first game of the year and whose number does that signify? Oh, well, it's six days until the Hall of Fame game and it's forty-one days.
Until the open between the Cowboys and the Eagles.
Now, take your pick on 41s and so on, since we're. Chief Byers is a great number one, 41. Charlie Waters. Um, Mike Bass, who was the guy who picked up Gary Your Premier's goof. In Super Bowl VII and returned it for a touchdown for the only touchdown for the Redskins during Miami's perfect season.
So Uh it's not a it's not a 41's not necessarily a big Hall of Fame number, and neither, by the way, is Effect. And so now we get to 40. The next day, some guy, uh Gail Sayers maybe, might pop in. to the conversation and so on. But I love doing the countdowns and I've told people this.
My favorite thing is when some of the players who you reference actually retweet you and And give you a big thank you. Though that is that is very cool, and I don't think Boomer ever called Mike Bass largemouth. I think that was reserved for Kevin on the baseball side, but I may be wrong about that.
So shout out to Mike Bass and his Super Bowl moment. All right, Hall of Fame game, you're bound for Canton. Good group going in this year. I'm specifically excited to watch over the weekend because the two guys that I've made the biggest case for over the course of my sports talk career, which as we've just noted is 37 years. I've been Joe Cleco, Who had to wait a long time and didn't get in till the veterans ballot.
And Eric Allen, who I saw during his entire time here in Philadelphia, and I thought was an unquestioned shutdown corner. And for both of you guys, I think it took a little long for them to get in. But Kleko first, Eric Allen second. I know him from his Philadelphia days. You know him from his ESPN days.
Exactly. And of course, his stints with the Raiders and the Saints and a lot of interceptions, a lot of pick fixes, too. I remember. I want to say 1993 against the Jets. at the meadowlands.
I think he went ninety three yards and the Eagles I think we're down twenty one, nothing and they came back and won thirty five thirty one. That that one sticks out to me. Eric, who is Such a pleasure to work with. uh such a a a good person to deal with and so on. Uh small small world.
Um his son Um plays Played football at Cheshire Academy, which is three minutes from my house. Really? Yes. and play for a coach named David Dyckman, who now coaches and is affiliated with the UFL a UFL and So daper. And that over the last couple of years, Eric and I were able to reconnect.
I mean, he's he's not in the ESPN anymore either.
So Uh but just a great guy and part of those great Philly defenses of the late eighties and the early early nineties and that You know, that 1991 defense. You know, one occur first against total yards, first in rushing defense, first in passing defense. uh all those big stars and so on. Um And and it's ironic now that You know, the Eagles Still playing some punishing defense, just ask Patrick Mahomes. I still to this day say that 93-yard interception you referenced.
Probably the most yards covered by an interception because Eric went back and forth the field twice. It wasn't just a straight pass down the sideline interception. He made several moves to take it to the house. It was not a bad out pattern by somebody. No, at all.
No, he. He got his money's worth. His whole run reminded me of uh when Deshaun Jackson took his time to get in the end zone. Um Against against the giants. Uh oh my goodness, that's back like what 2010 now?
And that wild comeback. There's other there. How how many versions are of the Miracle Metal Meadowlands are? I mean, they have more sequels than Rocky. I think that was number two.
I think they've snuck in another one or two since Eric since our boy, another ESPN guy, Herman Edwards, picked up the ball and went the other way for the Giants and Eagles doing battle. All right. Not only Eric Allen going in this weekend, but Jared Allen as well, one of the most feared pass rushers in the National Football League for well over a decade, another guy who I thought could get in quicker. But the Hall of Fame voters just are really tough about putting guys in on the first ballot. Where does Jared Allen r rank for you your years covering the National Football League as just a pure pass rusher?
Well, I'm not. Just a competitor. I got a chance to meet Jaron. He came up like many, many of the athletes on off weeks or by weeks. During the football season, he came up and was with us one weekend at ESPN.
Just that competitive fire that. Um Relentlessness. You know, power, that power combination, you know, not just one move.
Okay, he could overwhelm you and he could trick you. Uh, he had a he if I remember right, had a field day getting after Aaron Rodgers. For a long time. He also had a field day. with the Packers in terms of picking up safety.
And you know, and I'm not talking about Darren Woodson's safety, I'm talking about two-point safety.
So, I mean, played for a few teams at the end of the year, but primarily with the Chiefs and the Vikings. Probably had his best days. with the Vikings and so on, but Just one of those. Guys that you didn't want to mess with on the field, that you just got that sense. that he was gonna somehow prevail one way or another.
All right, so you get out to Canton annually. Yes, the ceremonies are great, but you also sneak in the solo preseason game that week. Yes, the Lions and the Chargers get an extra one over everybody else.
Now down to three, so they play four. It is the first game back, although it's only a preseason game. How much fun is that game? Is there anything specifically for the many that you've gone to that you're looking for from one or both of the two teams on the first game of the year?
Well, I mean, you have the storyline of Benj I'm sorry, you have the storyline of the Lions in terms of replacing two coordinators.
Now, I don't know how fancy they're going to be. Um against the charters. You know, Jim Hor Harbaugh in his second year. Uh you know, I can tell you the last few years have been pretty vanilla when it comes to this game. and so on.
Not not a lot of excitement, not a lot in terms of starters. Um you know both these uh both these teams know who their quarterbacks obviously you're going to be Um but It'll be interesting to see. how the Lions handle things offensively. I'm not saying they're gonna throw out the whole playbook. But when you lose your offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, uh the head to head coaching job.
There's going to be a different style. Everybody, every coordinator, be it offense, defense, or specialty. puts their own stamp. On things now, listen, that's These are two playoff teams from a year ago. The Chargers went from last place to a wild card.
The Lions were tied for the best record in the league. They were number one seed in the NFC, and then Oops. Uh few Jaradkoff turnovers and their defense, which Last year you you thought it was going to be better, but once again the injury bug bit and by the end of the year they were very very porous and so on. That division, the NFC, it's funny. Both of these teams come from divisions.
That sent three teams to the playoffs last year.
Okay, now here's the ironic thing or not so good thing. Five of the sixteens We're one and out. Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota are all one and out. Denver and the Chargers were all wanted out. Justin Herbert.
threw three picks all year and then you threw four in the wild card game. against Houston. Um I'll be curious to see what they now If there's one guy, and I don't know how much time he's going to see. On Thursday night, Jodi. I'm excited about O'Marian Hampton.
Um The first round pick with the Chargers, the running back from North Carolina. Of course, they brought in Najee Harris. This team has not had a thousand-yard runner. in quite a few years. And I was debating the fact that the way Jim Harbaugh plays football Could we Could we have one of those?
two thousand yard rushers in the same season by the by one team. Thunder and Lightning in Los Angeles for the new Charger duo in the running back room. Yeah, might very well be. I yes, enjoyed the game on Thursday. Let's talk about the actual season.
Well, that's the start of the season. Practices throughout the entire league, including one yesterday. Just before I got on the air, I was filling in here yesterday for Bill Ryder, and it News breaks in the 9 o'clock hour. Justin Fields is. First limps off the field, then has to take a cart back to the Jets' locker room.
Don't know the extent of the injury. Day goes on. Dislocated toe. That's not good. But he's out there running around already.
What a how do you get a dislocator? You just wrap it up good, you got a fitted shoe ready to go? How is Justin Fields back on the uh field the day after I thought the season had already gone by the wayside? I don't know because and uh they stayed away from the the term turf toe. which of course we know it is a dislocated toe as well.
And that has ended a few careers. Jack Lambert, the Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker. You know, all those years of being, you know, mean and rough, he it he was Knocked out by Turko. It's on. I think Deion Sanders suffered turf toe layton is career as well.
Is it dislocated? You can't get your balance, you can't push off and so on.
So it's it's a day-to-day thing, obviously, th as they have reported, but You know, when I saw, when you hear the words. I was less about. Injury and hearing the words carted off the field that got me concerned right away. Carted off the field.
So Always scary. Glad to know that he's certainly going to be ready for the first game of the season, may even play in the preseason game.
So, yes, I can believe my Jets could sneak in as a wild card before we get the season underway. All right. Big question the last several weeks has been: before TJ Watts signed his contract extension, what are the three big edge guys going to do? DJ resets the market just above what Wilson, what Garrett's making in Cleveland. You know, the other two want to top him and go just slightly higher, which means $40 million plus for each.
Both gonna get that? Neither gonna get that? How do the two guys, Hendrickson and Micah, who are not practicing, how is it going to shake out for those two guys when they need their contracts renegotiated?
Well, the Bengals are in a really tricky spot here in Salon. They shelled out a lot of money for, you know, Jamar Chase, understandably so, and Dee Higgins. Um and Listen. 300 to vet. 17 and a half stacks back-to-back years.
Okay, led the league this year. He's another one of those competitor guys.
Okay? Then their defense hasn't been very good. Even with him on the field.
So if you imagine him not being there. Complicating matters is the fact that You know, the Bengals You know, maybe a little insurance for you. Let's take a pass rusher in the first round, Shamar Stewart.
Well, You know, I don't know if him and Trey are having lunch or dinner together and so on, but neither were on a ram.
So You have a team that's got explosive offense, all kinds of weapons. And the defense that I mean, you know what it reminds me of? The mid-1980s San Diego Chargers. You know, when they put up a ton of points and couldn't stop anyone. And that's kind of the bengals.
I mean, some of the gate. Yeah. The free-for-alls. You know, they scored A ton of points and couldn't stop any of these. The two games against Baltimore alone were like.
Amazing. If you like to bet the over. Uh but if you like the like the pet the pangos, you were in a lot of trouble. Bengals will have the highest overnumber all year. I can guarantee you that.
Is there a chance? That either one of these guys could traded. That the teams just say We believe that they're going to not play. They're going to sit out. We're not going to get anything in exchange for them.
And then we're just going to be in the same place next year because we're not going to want to pay the number that they wanted this year. Can either or be traded before the season gets underway? We could see a team like detroit Who got, you know, remember when Aiden Hutchinson went down last year, Jodi? They traded for Xavarius Smith, Za'darius Smith was pretty good for them. As a matter of fact, but they cut him loose.
So he's floating around out there. He could be kind of the wild card. for one of these teams if they decide to deal. I find it hard to believe the Cowboys will deal Michael Parsons. Jerry always seems pretty stubborn.
you know He he loves to overpay.
Okay. And Now he's got the the mu it the the number to look at and so on. I wouldn't be surprised if Hendrickson got traded. You know, remember, he began his career with the Saints, signed a big deal with the Bengals. You know, Mike has been a cowboy all during his short short career.
I would not be surprised. If a team went out and made a serious bid. portrait Hendrikset. And then hopefully they can get Shamar Stewart in the camp and maybe pick up somebody you know like a zadarius smith who's floating around out there and so on.
So if I had to pick one I think it would be Hendrickson and not Parsons. Russell Baxter from Fanside at NFL Spin Zone, long time NFL, columnist and historian here with us on the Infinity Sports Network. All right. Talked about the guys who were under contract. One guy just shook out who is now a free agent can sign with any team.
Christian Wilkins signed a big free agent deal with the Raiders just the past offseason before. And they've gotten out of what they owe him down the line, or at least they believe so as of right now, because he didn't hold up his rehab responsibilities coming back from injury. There is going to be a grievance filed for sure by the union. Two questions. Number one, how big a addition could a guy like Wilkins be for a team that's been looking and just never got that interior defensive lineman?
How big a guy could he be filling in for someone? And number two, Who's going to fight the grievance? Who's running the NFLPA these days, Russell? Oh my goodness, that's That's crazy. I Is it possible?
And and this hasn't happened now, you'll think is it possible to file a grievance against somebody who has a grievance already filed against them? I mean, what a mess. Every time you turn around, it's like. You know, it's almost like a movie and so on, but sadly, very sadly, some of the details that are coming out and so on, and you know, we've seen two resignations. Oh oh already.
Christian Wilkins could have help a lot of teams.
Now I know this team has already addressed the interior in free agency and it would cost a lot of money, but The first thing that jumps out in my mind is Carolina. Um uh Carolinas run defense last year. Uh now, of course, we we we go seventeen games now, I get that. But they gave up the third most rushing yard in a season in NFL history. They already, as you know, they gave up the most points.
in a single season. in NFL history. I'll break it down easier. They gave up one hundred and seventy nine point eight yards per game rushing. And then their last six games, Jody.
Yeah, yeah, you have over 200 yards on the ground. They held one team. To under a hundred yards rushing. You know who it was? It was the Raiders who were dead last in the league in rushing.
Right.
So that's almost like a mulligan. If it in the wrong way. But uh they brought in Tershawn Wharton, they brought in Bobby Brown the third. from the Rams, Wharton from the Chiefs. They signed a huge Defensive tackle, Cam Jackson.
from the UC4 I drafted him in in the fifth round. They added Trayvon Mooring, hard hitting safety, hoping him helps with the run defense. But, you know, anybody the caliber of Wilkins, would he go back to Miami? I don't know if that would necessarily be the case. But any team that struggle struggles against the runner is inconsistent.
against the run. Um, you know, obviously he's worth taking the guitar. I mean, he's still a young player and And now obviously the health situation has to check out. I mean you don't want you don't want somebody signing to someone who isn't ready to play from the get go, but His release kinda caught me off guard. I was you know, I understand why they did it, but still was Kind of surprising, but again.
You have a new regime there, you have Pete Carroll, you have a new general manager. uh you know maybe attit maybe the attitude of not doing what he's supposed to do turned him off a little. And the Gottam is released, but they'll be fighting over the guaranteed money down the road. All right, Russell. For your Super Bowl ticket last year when you were at Super Bowl fifty-nine, did you buy it from an NFL player and how much of a scalping price did you pay?
I was not at the Super Bowl because no player approached me about any tickets and stuff. I just saw that story. a couple of uh hours ago from Adam Schefter of like Wow. Wow.
So, I mean Okay. At the rookie symposium, did anybody You know, have a common sense thing. I mean, I'm not saying all these were rookies and so on, but. When I heard that, I was like, wow, you know, what are you doing? You know, it's You know, the NFL is pretty specific, letter, just like they were with the gambling thing.
a couple of years ago and so on. They and they hold to that.
So it'll be curious how how that all shakes out. And so on, but I can assure you nobody's going to do it again in San Francisco when we get the Super Bowl 60. Yeah, they'll they'll reel in their uh Prices that they charge. Face value, boys. Don't go above face value.
Get yourself in trouble. All right, last thing, Russell, and I've asked this to a couple different NFL guys I've gotten on in the last couple of weeks. We have now officially put the listing season behind us: power rankings, individual rankings, positional rankings. That is all now in the rearview mirror. We just evaluate the teams as this preseason goes on.
How, if any, does that play as bulletin board material? Can guys actually get some uh motivation if they're underrated, underranked, snubbed? Do you think that has any effect On guys heading into a season with all of the off-season talk and ranking and ratings that go on. I don't know if it's necessarily on an individual basis. I mean, if you're a Pro Bowl player.
And then all of a sudden someone has you out of the top ten or top twelve, depending on Who's doing the rankings? There are so many. I know ESPN just came out with theirs over the last week or so, and you're talking to scouts next and and and g the gmpu people around the lake Uh coaches. Um I think team wise though, I know that sounds silly, but I think team wise though, if you see you know, maybe your playoff team the last couple of years and now they have you out of the playoffs. in somebody's power rank.
Again. How many power rankings are there? There's there's such a ton.
So I all all I know is that there's usually a change in terms of playoff teams. It's seemingly every year somebody goes from last to first to make the playoffs. Look what we had last year. We had the Chargers and we had the Commanders. Commanders went all the way to the NFC title game.
See, the thing I'm gonna be watching this year is Can the Eagles Now this you're going to laugh at that. Can the Eagles repeat?
Now, I don't mean I don't mean a Super Bowl champion. I'm Thomas the NFC. Oh, okay, yeah, because it hasn't been done in a couple of decades. Nobody's won back-to-back. Hey, you're not allowed to use that word around Nick Siriani.
He doesn't want to talk about the NL East repeat. He doesn't want to talk about the overall Super Bowl repeat. Can't use that word. Sustained success is the way you need to describe the Eagles, according to their head coach. Don't you find it interesting that two franchises, the Patriots and the Chiefs, have won back-to-back Super Bowls.
since the last time someone won the NFC East. In back-to-back years. And by the way, it was 2001 to 2004. Andy Reed's Eagles won it four years in a row. No one has repeated since.
It's I mean it's crazy. You know, and we, you know. You know, when the Giants won the Super Bowl, they were a wild card. When the Giants won their second Super Bowl in 2011, They were a nine and seven division winner. Bet bed.
It's still the only Super Bowl winner. that gave up more points during the regular season than they scored. Washington won the NFC a couple of years ago with a losing record. But, you know, in the last couple of years it's been Dallas Philly, Dallas Philly. You know, and that's the thing.
Dallas isn't that far removed from being an NFC East champion. And we'll see if they can get it back together again. But first things first, they got to get the Parson thing done. Otherwise, good luck to the Cowboys and their fans. Russell, I appreciate it.
Whenever you come on, you know I ask often enough. I'm going to ask plenty again this year. Have a great time in Canton. I'll get you back up again soon enough, brother. Thanks.
I I would anticipate a call. Maybe the first week of September. That's probably a pretty good bet. Russell Baxter here with me on the Infinity Sports Network. Jody Mac, filling in for JR Sport Brief.
We're talking NFL, baseball trades, mixing it up with you on my phone lines. 888-710-4476. Get aboard with me, Jody Mac. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. This portion of the show is brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts.
Think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs, get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. All right, Jody Mackin for JR. Final half hour, get on my phones. I think I've got all of three calls so far this show. I take many more calls on the weekend.
So if you're a weekend guy and you're waiting to call me Saturday or Sunday, give me a helping hand. Call me tonight. They can call me Saturday or Sunday as well. We're not going to shortchange you. But get on my phones: 888-710-4476.
Final segment will be all calls to the top of the hour. All right, before we go. The two interviews that we just played, Rowan Kabner and Russell Baxter, I pre-taped both before the show started tonight.
So when Russell was on, we were talking about Jamar Stewart not having signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Well, he hadn't when I taped the interview, but he has since.
So my apologies for that. But because we were playing back these two interviews, I had some freedom during the show to be able to do something. And what I did was finished watching a movie that I had started before tonight's show had gotten underway. And I r Knew I wanted to watch it all day. I don't know what time it got posted, but I didn't think about it till.
two hours before JR's show was supposed to get underway, so I didn't have time to watch the entire thing 'cause I was still prepping to get tonight's show on the road and on the air.
So I got probably halfway through And then the two lengthy breaks that we had during the time that we played, the pre-taped anybody was able to finish it. The first one, I watched two movies in the last two days, streamed both of them. I will give you a tentative thumbs up for both, Yay or nay. Pass, fail, not any specific rating, just yes or no, worth watching. Both or yes.
But neither one of them is going to win any Academy Awards. I can guarantee you that. Yesterday, I watched. John Wick Four. I had already watched John Wick, John Wick II, John Wick III, and watched John Wick IV, and yes.
There is an untimely demise at the end of it. We will not have a John Wick five. But if you're looking for a plot. There's next to none. If you're looking for just stone cold action, you get a ton of it.
If you appreciate the way John Wick Headshots, everyone he's ever faced, you'll appreciate this even more. It just is almost three hours. 247 or something like that. And it's just death after death after death after death. Yeah.
If you watch one, two, and three, you'll enjoy four. If you like the first three, you'll like the fourth one. It's not like building up to some exciting moment other than him dying at the end. Even that was kind of disappointing. But.
John Wickfour, okay. Gets a thumbs up, gets a pass. Today I watched. Happy Gilmore too. We see a theme here of numbers.
They waited twenty nine years to make the next Happy Gilmore movie. A long time to bring the return of Happy Gilmore. And here's what I really liked about it. They did it in real time. They brought back Happy Gilmore 28 years later, and he just picks up where he left off.
And I'm not going to spoil it for you, but a lot of ties to Happy Gilmore 1. But the changes and the new casting with more up-to-date individuals for me was pretty damn good. I thought it was very entertaining. I enjoyed it greatly. I expected to enjoy it greatly because I liked Happy Gilmore as much as I did.
Happy Gilmore 2 will not let you down. If you liked one, I guarantee you will enjoy number two. All right, I give you my quickie movie review. Let's get a movie review for someone a little younger than me. Because maybe my perspective is off because I'm a veteran movie watcher.
My producer, Ryan B., significantly younger than me. How old are you again, Ryan? I'm 24 now. 24. Oh man, you're getting old.
My God. Did you see Happy Gilmore 1? I have. I have. That's one of my favorite Adam Sandler movies, if not.
Really? Yes. Glad to hear it. Are you planning on watching Happy Gilmore 2? I was going to watch it tonight when I got home.
Smart man. I did. It's well worth it. All right. John Wick.
Did you watch one, two, three, or four? I've seen one, two, and three. I haven't seen four.
So you kind of spoiled four for me? But at the same time he was supposed to die at the end of three, so I'm not surprised. Yeah. Um, well, there What did you think before it was going to be? A lot of one, two, and three.
There's not a whole lot changing other than where he has to go to get to wherever he's got to get to and kill whoever he's got to kill.
So I i if I did spoil it for you. Anything could have spoiled. Knowing John Wick 1, 2, and 3 would have spoiled John Wick 4 for you.
So I don't feel badly if in any way, shape, or form I spoiled it. But if you did watch the first three, you'll go ahead and enjoy four. There's a little streaming tip from your buddy Jody Mac here on the Infinity Sports Network. All right, we got one more segment to go, but before we get there, on the phones, 888-710-4476, we got to get you in Infinity Sports Flash. Oh, look who it is!
It's Marco Belletti! Most people would rather remove a nest of irate hornets than search for auto and home insurance. That's why The Zebra searches for you, comparing over 100 insurance companies to find savings no one else can. Compare today at thezebra.com. I think I'll wait inside.
You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. Jody Macken for JR. You get your boy back on Monday. I've got you for another. But 14-15 minutes.
If you would like to be part of it, get on my telephone lines. As I've told you, phone's a little bit slow. I get a whole bunch of calls when I jump here on the weekend. When I fill in for some of the other shows, not quite as many.
So if you want to do me a solid and jump in on the last hour or segment of the show, I will certainly put you up ASAP 888-710-4476. Ooh, Phillies have moved three runs ahead of the Yankees. 8-5. Bottom of the eighth Yankees at Yankee Stadium, so they're down three with two ABs left to go. Dodgers lead the Red Sox 5-2 up at Fenway tonight, and the one score that I probably was paying closer attention to than any other.
The Detroit Tigers lost again. Holy mackerel.
Now, I know nobody thought the Detroit Tigers were going to have the best record in baseball over the course of the year. But for a solid couple of weeks, they moved past the Dodgers, didn't let the Dodgers catch them again. They've had, for a lot of days this season, the best record in baseball. That has gone by the wayside because they were awful heading into the All-Star break. They've lost a bunch after the All-Star break.
Going into tonight's game, the Tigers had lost 10 of their last 11 games.
Now, they had such a big lead in the AL Central. they should be able to hang on and win that, but leaning into the trade deadline, with how good their season had gone? If I'm their general manager, I'm their manager, I'm their owner, I would think you don't want to mess with the good thing we've got going on here in Motown. Oh, they need to do somethin'. They need to get a change in their clubhouse.
So the Tigers, who look like they weren't necessarily going to be a buyer, oh, they're a legit contender, but they might have to get into the market and try and get themselves a significant piece to turn things around in Detroit. Got beat tonight by Toronto.
Now, Toronto has gone by them for the best record in the American League.
So losing to Toronto is. nothing to uh just write off. But the Tigers need to get it back in the right direction, A S A P Alan from Toronto is up on my telephone lines. Alan, you're on the Infinity Sports Network. Hi, Jody.
Hey, bud. very inj disappointed in Mario. Sir Maria's uh Victory, I mean Majority draw last week because I predicted that Pacquiao would be knocked out within five or six rounds. He hadn't fought since August. the 21st, 2021, almost four years.
And you're coated with rust. you're you're you're sluggish, your timing is off and It's one thing to be rusty at the age of forty six. Don't forget Mohammed Ali was rusty after a three and a half year layoff at age 29. Tyson was rusty after four four year, two months layoff after his prison sentence, but he was at the age of twenty nine. But Pacquio is rusty at the age of 46.
One guy you're leaving out. Hold on, you should hang him up because if you can't beat a 46-year-old that's coated with rust, you know, you don't you don't deserve to fight anymore. Timeout, guys coming out of retirement. How'd George Foreman look? I know, yeah.
Well, th he got one lucky punch, but he was trailing on all cards in nineteen ninety five against Moore. Uh yeah, but Well, that's how you win fights. You can win fights with one lucky punch. When you can hit as hard as George Foreman could, yes, you could win a fight that way.
So it doesn't mean that all guys who are retired for years have this rust that they can't possibly get over because George Foreman did.
Now, I did not see the fight at all. Did you see the fight? Oh, Alan hung up on me. He didn't like what I had to say about George Foreman because it flew in the face of the point he was trying to make. How dare Manny Pacquiao come back from a four year layoff and be competitive?
I didn't even know he was training to return to fighting. That's how far away from the. Game of professional boxing, I've gotten. Used to be a pretty damn big fan, paid for the pay-per-views. Used to, believe it or not, my daughter liked watching it.
which probably signifies the fact that I'm not a great father. That when my daughter would say, Let's we got a pay-per-view fight tonight, Dad, yeah, let's go for it Um, she just enjoyed it. I enjoyed it because I like the sport and I like keeping score. I would sit with a pen and a piece of paper and score every major fight that I watched so I could then thereafter Complain, agree, give my own in-depth analysis on how I think a particular fight should be scored.
So, yes, at one time I was a Damn big boxing fan. And I I never took up MMA. I know how popular it is. I know how many people really like it and the ki kind of ratings they get and the kind of revenues that they generate are off the off the chain. But that just never Uh Mm-hmm.
I've watched many an MMA fight, but I don't have to watch. I don't know on a given weekend when the big card's coming up exactly who's going to go. I don't follow it closely enough. I used to follow boxing very closely, but I've fallen out of touch with all combat sports. Boxing and MMA.
And I didn't even know Pacquiao was fighting until the day of the fight last weekend. And yeah, I wasn't about to lay out on pay-per-view. I haven't paid for a pay-per-view fight in years for a very specific reason. They're always on Saturday night and I'm on the air on Saturday night. And I want to watch it live.
I'm not going to watch it on tape thereafter.
So, yes, I don't watch as many fights as I used to, but I used to watch a ton. And Pacquiao was one of my favorite fighters over the last twenty years. He uh the the the lighter division is the better than the heavier division. Shoot, since Tyson, the heavyweight division hasn't been much of anything. Um but I didn't see that fight, but Uh Majority draw.
Ooh. Berrios won on one of the three cards. The other two were even.
So it was a close fight. Could have gone either way. could unpack you. I'm sure he wanted to come back and win and get a belt, but the fact that he could fight as as long as he did, as close as he did, I think says plenty about him. Will from Sacramento is up on the Infinity Sports Network.
Hey, Will? Hey, what's going on, brother? How are you? I'm doing all right. Um just uh headed to the bay to visit a friend.
Uh And I heard you say, you know, you need some callers. I was curious, you know, I've been following baseball as much as I usually do. But I mean, it's just how many other teams are doing what the Dodgers are doing with the deferment, you know, like with Otani and I mean, are they not going to win it? Do you know the odds right now for them to win? Are they expected to win it all?
Dodgers are still the favorite. Yeah, they would still be the favorite to win it all, but not as heavy as they were. Right.
But I mean, I still the record and I just I don't see I don't see anything happening. I mean, are other teams starting to do that, or is it just them? And how can they keep getting away with this? No one to the level of what they did with Otani, where the grand majority of it isn't going to be paid until after he's finished playing the game, which is huge and different. And they were in a very unique spot in that Otani.
Preferred to be paid later because when he's done playing baseball, he's going to probably move back to Japan. And then he's not going to have to pay that outrageous income tax that they have in the state of California.
So once he's done and he's not actually living in California, the money he's going to make is going to be worth that much more.
Now, you're waiting a long time for it. You could have it. You could be making interest on it. His people decided that's the way they wanted to go, and it very much benefits the Dodgers right now. But at some point, they're going to be paying sixty million and change a year and getting nothing out of Otani for it.
So while it looks really good and really beneficial right now, It doesn't necessarily always have to stay that way. Is there no other players or other teams that could could take advantage of something like that and beef their team up? I mean.
Well, there's like that's just a one in it like I I do think it's very unique because of Otani being from the country that he's from and willing to take that money so much with such a large percentage of it in deferred. Yeah, I don't think other players gonna be willing to do that. Yeah, this is a really one of a kind unique situation.
Okay, I didn't realize that.
Okay. Thank you, sir. That's insane. You got it well done. Do you think something should be done about it, though?
No. If it's within the rules, I don't think they should have to go back and change the rules because of it. There had never been a player who was willing to take as much deferred as Otani did. The only one that uh falls into a Quasi-similar. Really, it's not all that similar, but you know, each and every single year, there is one day a year that they declare Bobby Vinier Day when the Mets and Bobby Vinier parted ways many years ago.
They still owed him a bunch of money and he accepted a reworking of his contract that would pay him over a million dollars every year for twenty-five years. The Mets still owed him like I don't know, it was 12. I think he got double the amount to wait 25 years to be able to get it. But there is a day every single year that the Mets pay Bobby Benilla in excess of a million dollars, and he hadn't played for him in a couple of decades. I think he's still got six, maybe seven more years to go on his 25-year deal after he stopped playing baseball for the New York Mets.
So that was another unique deferred money deal that was cut. But no, I don't think it's going to have much of an effect on players going forward. All right. I'm going to watch the end of the night baseball games here tonight. I'll be back with you tomorrow to talk about it all throughout the show.
I've got a couple of good guests already lined up that I can tell you about for tomorrow's show. Gonna have Mike Yam from the NFL Network going to jump on me, the Yam man, buddy of mine. I've been doing radio with him back in shoot, the. Oughts.
So it'll be good to get Mike on and talk all things NFL. We're going to do a little Milwaukee spot tomorrow, or I should call it a Wisconsin spot. Bill Michaels from ninety six Seven the Zone in Milwaukee is going to come on and talk both Brewers and Packers with me. That'll do it for me. You get JR Sport Brief back here on Monday.
I'll talk to you over the weekend. Have a great rest of your Friday night, everybody.
