It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you so much to our super producer and host Ryan Hickey is holding it down for us in New York City on the boards. And thank you to you because if you were not here, there would be no show. Shout outs to everybody on the road, the highways, the byways, the neighborhoods.
Shout outs to our mail carriers, our delivery people, the people protecting people, helping people, securing people things and dropping stuff off. And you, if you're just chilling and relaxing, so am I. Just sitting around in this studio talking about sports.
That's the hell they pay me to do, so I'll do it. I'll be with you for the next three hours. The show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Three Pacific. And we got a busy day. We got a busy Wednesday. It's already been busy. In a few minutes, we're going to have a conversation with Mike Sando of The Athletic.
I'll explain why later on in the show. We're going to have a chat with Mark Kisler from the Denver Gazette. Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes start their season tomorrow against North Dakota State. Yeah, more football. Football on a Thursday. Big 12 football on a Thursday. It should be fun.
And we've already had a busy day. Russell Wilson officially named the starter for the Steelers. Who would have saw that one coming?
Answer is everybody. Justin Fields will have a select group of package plays that they will implement. So he feels special. So he feels that he's a part of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
We talked about Gerard Mayo specifically when it comes down to his own quarterback situation, because the New England Patriots expected to be a well, maybe the worst team in the NFL. Let me say that again. That actually felt good to say. Hold on. We breathe it in for a minute.
Breathe out. The New England Patriots expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL. I haven't been able to say that in like 20 plus years.
25 years feels so good. They don't know who their quarterback is going to be, or at least they don't want to share it publicly until tomorrow when they let us know that likely Jacoby Percette is going to be the starter to spare the body of Drake May to spare his body from a beating. We talked about the Dallas Cowboys.
C.D. Lamb addressing the media for the first time in months, letting everybody know that he's glad he got his contract done. Thirty four million dollars a year is not too shabby. And also the fact that he expects, like everybody else, Dak Prescott to get his own deal done. Well, sooner than later, as do I. I think it will come hours before their opening game. And of course, it's Wednesday as we continue on with the show. And an hour from now, I'm going to share with you all a new top six list. We're going to go ahead and take a look at some of the best college football programs in the nation for 2024. And I'm taking a look at teams that I think actually have a legitimate shot to move forward and win a national championship.
I do it every Wednesday. And so whether you're listening on the free Odyssey app on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate, Sirius XM 158 or smart speaker, we've got a jam packed show. And speaking of a jam packed show, we have our guest here joining us right now.
His name is Mike Sandel of the athletic. Hey, Mike, how are you, man? I'm doing well. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me. I thank you so much.
You always with the amazing work. We had a chance to discuss some of it yesterday where you spoke to and basically polled 50 coaches and executives about some of the best quarterbacks in the game. This is the 11th year doing it. And I guess the first question for you, Mike, earlier today, we learned that that Russell Wilson is officially the starter for the Steelers. He fell a bunch of spots this year after the disaster in Denver last year to 22.
What are your thoughts on Russell Wilson? Is he going to be the quarterback for this year? Do you think he can make it through and get a contract extension?
I would be very surprised if he played well enough to get an extension at this stage of his career. I think there's a chance he could start the whole year. But I think they're also going to look at playing Justin Fields in packages.
And then if there's openings to play him, I wouldn't be surprised if they want to take a look at him and have a developmental plan for Fields because Fields potentially has some upside in the future. Whereas I think we've seen the best of Russell Wilson and we're no longer really seeing the dynamic plays he used to make when he was super athletic and could run away from trouble and make a huge play downfield. It'd be very unlikely that Russell Wilson would suddenly be able to do that again as he gets older.
And so that's why I think there's always a high floor in Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin is going to win nine games every year almost no matter what. But I don't know how high the ceiling is with Russell Wilson. If you were to make the playoffs, would you feel like you're going to go win a playoff game or two with him? It seems like it could be difficult.
Mike Sandel is here with us from The Athletic on the JR Sport Reef show. Having said that, you believe as we get further and further along in the season at Fields, the scales might sit in his favor. Yeah, could. I would imagine there could be an opening along the way if Russell Wilson were banged up or had a few tough weeks, the offense wasn't humming, that they could at least consider it. I do think there's a chance we could get Fields to start a game.
And I would think if they like how Field is progressing a little bit in the background, wouldn't you want to look at him at some point? It could be difficult if your team's in the middle of the mix. But what are the odds the offense just hums every week with Wilson at this stage, right? There's going to be some hiccups.
Absolutely. The fans in Pittsburgh, they will certainly be calling for it that first bad game. Someone who doesn't have to worry about that, at least through this season, is Brock Purdy. When you take a look at the quarterback tiers on the list, Brock Purdy, he climbed 13 spots to number 12.
And assuming Trent Williams comes back, I think we all know he'll likely be back at some point sooner than later, probably may take a game or two. Do you think Brock Purdy is going to be the next big payday quarterback and maybe next year, maybe 60 per? Is that accurate if he has another great season? If he had another season like this last one, I mean, that's what they have to be thinking of, because we saw two a ton of a low.
I just get 53 million. Trevor Lawrence got 55. What have those guys done, right? I mean, they're below Brock Purdy already in this. So I think that would be fascinating because most of these teams, it feels like these teams are just paying the guys no matter what, no matter if they're great or good, just give them the money. The 49ers are interesting organization.
I think they're stronger than most organizations. Would they have the wherewithal to push back a little bit? They're doing that obviously now with Brandon Aiyuk and maybe Trent Williams. Would they hold the line a little more and try to say, wait a minute, you're not Mahomes.
I'm sorry. We're not playing you on that level. It could get interesting at that point, but he's definitely going to be in line for a payday if he produces anywhere near. He did this last year. Well, Mike, I think if there is a guy who might get a payday before him, it's Dak Prescott. Do you think this is going to go down to the wire of the start of the season? There's no way the Cowboys are going to let this bleed out through the season, right?
Or is there? Well, you wouldn't think so, but Dak Prescott's really in control. He's worked hard to be in a great position. He really has gotten a great situation where they can't franchise tag him and they can't trade him.
So he's in control much more than other players are in the situation. Why should he settle for anything? Because we've already seen, when Kirk comes to the market, he got a very high, he got a fully guaranteed three-year deal. So it depends really what Dak wants. If Dak wants to be there and doesn't want to have this as a distraction and would just like to take the best deal that he can get, he can do that. And he might leverage a good deal because Jerry Jones has shown he'll pay guys. He paid Romo, he's paid Dak before he's just paid C.D.
Lam. He'll probably pay ultimately. But if Dak wants to really push this thing out and maybe he's undecided about where he wants to play or maybe he wants to see what the coaching situation is going to be.
They haven't committed to Mike McCarthy, those types of things. He's in great shape to play this thing out. That's power players rarely get. And he's already made tons of money. It's not like he has to take something.
I think it's interesting. Mike Sandow is joining us, covers all things NFL for the athletic. I'm expecting that big splash, that big news, breaking news to come right before the season starts for Dak Prescott. I remember last year, Lamar Jackson, the day of the NFL draft, he got his deal done. When you take a look at the rankings, Lamar Jackson wasn't in that first tier, despite now being a multiple time MVP. The players took a look at Lamar and they said that he was the number one quarterback. They put him ahead in Mahomes. What are your thoughts on kind of how players evaluate Lamar versus coaches and execs? Yeah, well, Lamar's the fourth quarterback overall in this thing.
He's the top five guy and he's right on the brink of tier one. The only thing that there's a big difference between MVP and this. MVP, there's no criteria.
It's just whatever you think it is, the players are naming it for whatever they want, but they don't. There's no set criteria. I mean, last year, Patrick Mahomes is seventh in MVP, validating no one. When I went to talk to anyone about Mahomes, no one was like, guy like him, but he was only seventh in MVP voting.
God, causes me some pause, you know? No one's doing that. So the only thing for Lamar to do, which, look, almost half the voters, 23 of the 50, I talked to, put him in tier one anyway, but there are some question marks in the eyes of folks when he has to pass the ball. Not that he's not a good passer because he is. He had a good passing game last year, but their success is so much predicated on his running and their running that when that goes away, which inevitably does in playoff games, when you're trailing, those sorts of things, they haven't had the type of pass offense that some of the guys in tier one have.
So it's hurt them. They scored 10 points against Kansas City in the playoffs, that type of a thing. Even so, he's in the top five, he's fourth and almost half the voters put him in tier one anyway. So that's the difference really between an MVP and a tier system. You have to have criteria in the tiers. And that tier one criteria is carries his team each week, check.
Team wins because of them, check. Expertly handles peer pass situations. I mean, that might be the only real little hole there for him and some of those other guys that are in tier two. I do look at the top of tier two though, with Lamar, Herbert, Stafford, and Rogers. These guys are kind of at least one and a half.
Like if you put them in tier one, no one's going to bat an eye. Well, let me ask you this, Mike. You started the name of a few other QBs. Was there anything else that stood out to you when you got the ballots returned from this survey?
Anything else that caught your attention? Big time. Look at the third tier. So really, I feel like the top two tiers, if you have those guys, you feel like you can go to the Super Bowl.
And a lot of them have. Brock Burdie, he's gone to the Super Bowl. Goff's gone to the Super Bowl. Obviously, Rogers, Stafford, those types of guys. But the top of tier three, tier three is where we're talking about more of a win with quarterback, not win because of quarterback. And the top four guys there, Tua, Tonga Veloa, Trevor Lawrence, Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson, have all gotten major paydays, huge paydays, 50-some million a year or a fully guaranteed deal.
Kyler got a big deal when he did his. But the league here is saying, basically, we got questions. We don't have you in even the top two tiers of the league. So what does that mean? Right. It means it's a big year for these guys. Tua is probably the exception because he's coming off of a good year. But the league is saying he's not the huge difference maker. Some of those other guys are above.
I think that's interesting that those guys get paid anyway. Mike Sandel is joining us from The Athletic, specifically taking a look at Trevor Lawrence, who's at 16, right behind two at 15. I've heard about Trevor Lawrence since he was out here in Cartersville, Georgia. Obviously, the nation learned more about him at Clemson. He was expected to elevate himself into that next, at the top tier of a quarterback.
And here he is condamiddling. Do you think that's due to injury? Is this a breakout year for him maybe with the Jags?
It could be. I think he was trending positively going into last year. And you're right, they were eight and three. And then he had multiple injuries, I think, that affected his play. It affected how they called the offense. His athleticism really wasn't a factor later in the year, and it got harder for him.
That being said, I don't think in his time so far, which you have to put a big asterisk with Urban Myrear, I agree to put that off to the side. The players are not... The players can't draft themselves into Kyle Shanahan's offense or Sean McVay's offense. I think that Trevor Lawrence had gone to one of those teams. I bet you he'd be in tier two.
I really do. I don't think he's got that many holes in his game, but he hasn't risen above enough. Probably he hasn't shown the consistency. And so what I sense in talking to people in the league is somebody who came in with, yeah, you definitely think this guy could be a tier one guy. I feel like the expectations for his feeling have come down a little, and maybe people feel like, yeah, he can be a tier two guy.
But really, he even gets to the top of tier two. And we'll see. It's early in his career. He had one down here last year, and he was hurt. So he's got plenty of time. I don't know if the coaches and everybody else there has plenty of time, but he's gonna be there. They just signed him. And he's got the talent to be better than this.
And Mike Sandow is joining us here from The Athletic on the JR Sport Preshow, the Infinity Sports Network. From one number one overall pick to another. Trevor Lawrence had those big expectations, still has time. People are taking a look at Caleb Williams. I mean, even before he got drafted, people were like, hey, he has a little bit of my homes in him, and I start to cringe a little bit.
He looks good in his own way. What's your evaluation of what you've seen from Caleb so far up in Chicago? I do think it's promising.
And the guys that I, of course, I've talked to 50 people here, but there are certain guys that I really respect what they think. And one of them was my co-host on the Football GM podcast, Randy Miller. He works for the Saints now, but Randy's a great evaluator, great evaluator of quarterbacks, and he's very high on Caleb too. So I think he's going to be good.
The only little concern, he's a two-edged sword. He does hold the ball a long time, and he makes magic happen. He really can. He can run around and make just spectacular, accurate throws.
But there's a balance to that too. And that's a little bit where the Mahomes comp may come in. I think Patrick Mahomes does a beautiful job of that and knows sort of when to give up on it. He stays ahead of guys chasing him.
He probably wouldn't have the fastest 40 times, but it's just enough to not get caught, right? So he has instincts and feel for the game. He knows how to play. And I feel like Caleb Williams has some of that too. You just get a sense watching him. He's in control of what's out there.
He knows what's going on. And that's a huge part of it. That was one of the issues with Justin Fields, all the talent in the world. But even coming out of college, a concern was he just didn't seem to have a natural feel for the game. Some guys do. I think Caleb Williams seems to have that.
So it gives him a real leg up. This is going to be an interesting mix, especially as we have moved on to a new era of quarterbacks with Mahomes at the top. Is there a QB going into this season that you don't think is garnering enough attention, whether it's good or bad, or this could be a career altering year?
Anybody that you think about is in that space? I think one of the most interesting quarterbacks here is Anthony Richardson because there's big questions about whether he can stay healthy. There's no question about his dynamic player in terms of his athleticism and the ability to run and the ability to throw the ball. I think Shane Steichen is a good kind of scheming coach for him. We saw he did a really nice job with Jalen Hurts. They weren't the same until you and Steichen left. So there's a real boom possibility there with Anthony Richardson.
Definitely questions. I don't know if he can stay fully healthy for a year because he hasn't done it yet. And the consistency of the passing, all that.
But I do think that he's somebody who has the potential to move way up if things come together for him just based on his talent. Well, Mike, we know if you don't got a quarterback, then you don't got nothing. I do want to ask you about a recent change made by the Pro Football Hall of Fame by eliminating the five year gap down to one for coaches. Did they do that because, oh, the coach is a little bit older? What was the thought process in them changing that up? I don't think that, yeah, I don't think that there's as big of a, big of a, I mean, Joe Gibbs got in the Hall of Fame and came back and coach.
I didn't think anybody thought that was a weird thing. So maybe some of these guys are coaching older and I think they like it when these guys can get in and be living to probably enjoy it. But I don't know that that was the, I don't know that there was just a reason to have a five year waiting period on a coach. But you would certainly think it could tie him up with Belichick and Pete Carroll and some of these guys who are older and may even try to coach another year or two.
This could start the clock faster on them. So we could see if Belichick doesn't come back, he could get in in the class of 2026, which he would breeze right in, obviously. Mike, do you think he'll be back next year? He's certainly taken a lot of media jobs to keep him busy. Is he going to be back on the field next year?
I mean, I don't know. He's a media star now. He can't turn it on anything without finding Bill Belichick.
He's going to do a podcast now with Peter King and then he's going to do a Peyton Manning 30 for 30, I think, or no, he's doing a Peyton Manning weekly show, matchup show, all kinds of stuff for him. So I'm a little skeptical that he'll get back in. It only takes one team, but it seems like he would want a lot of power. And then the question I would have if I were hiring him is, hey, who's your staff?
Because I think that staff really wasn't as good by the end of his time coaching there. So he's got to have his agent or whoever try to find the right spot. And if a place like the Giants opened, I could see it.
I could see him, but it's got to be the right place. The Giants would be one of the most full circle things ever. Bill Belichick has a lot of jobs.
Let's see if he gets that one job again next year. Mike Sandow, you do a great job. Where can people follow you and your work with The Athletic? Definitely at The Athletic. You can download the app or you can find us at theathletic.com.
It'll reroute you to the New York Times, run by the New York Times. And then you can find me on, I guess it's X now at Sandow NFL. Hey, Mike, I appreciate the time and the expertise. You enjoy the holiday. Appreciate it. Thank you. Always enjoy our conversations.
No doubt about it. That Mike Sandow of The Athletic. You're listening to the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast here on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to talk about a quarterback who was in the news today, but not in the news.
I'll explain on the other side. It's the JR Sport Reshow, the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. And shout out to Method Man. No, that guy wasn't Method Man. Not the guy offered me. This is Method Man.
But anyway, anybody offering to buy me a beer, you better be prepared. Like the song in Lion King. Hickey, you know that song, right? Come on. You know that one.
The Circle of Life? No, be prepared from Lion King. Don't worry about a thing?
No, be prepared. Come on now. That one. Not bringing a bell for me. Oh, no. This one Scar. You know Scar.
The bad one. He pushed the Mufasa off the rock. And that was the song they played behind it?
No, afterwards. He's be prepared to be king. And he was trying, remember, he was trying to be the king.
That's why he killed the guy's dad. I remember the song, I Just Can't Wait To Be King. I don't think it's the same one you're referencing. This is the dark version from Scar. It's okay. You've seen Lion King, so that's all that matters. 20 years ago, if that.
As long as you've seen it, that's all that matters. Good stuff. Hey, speaking of good stuff, thank you so much to Mike Sando from The Athletic.
Hickey, he's the best, man. He's great. Great to talk to all the time.
He is. He's knowledgeable. You know, that was a lot of fun hearing not only his input, but obviously the input he got from everyone around the league as to the tiers. That article is always one I look forward to every year because it's always interesting to see how executives and so like look at quarterbacks, how they rank them and judge them. It's always a lot of fun. And Mike does a great job putting it all together.
Yeah, all the executives still think what a lot of people say. Lamar Jackson is great, but what about when it's time to throw the ball? He can be the MVP of the regular season. Let's see if he can ever become MVP of the Super Bowl.
I can't wait to see it. And doesn't that show you, too, by the way, it's not just us as fans who prioritize platform performance, but coaches and executives as well. Yeah, but I think there's a general consensus like you're always going to have outliers like people who would sell Lamar Jackson and some people just want to hear themselves think they just want to be the smartest in the room. Some people believe it. Oh, he's not a good quarterback.
It'll never be this. Well, look at the results. How can you say such a thing?
If the name of the game is winning, how can you say such a thing? Yeah, there's only one team that wins a Super Bowl every year, but how could you say such a thing? But I think general consensus is like he's in that group. Obviously, he's one of the best quarterbacks.
Is he going to get over the hump? You see, I can dumb it down for myself because I am not an NFL executive. I am not a general manager, but it don't take a rocket scientist to go. Yeah, that Josh Allen guy is pretty good.
Well, go win the big one. And then there's a whole bunch of other guys, as Mike certainly pointed out. We got dudes who are getting fifty five million dollars a year and maybe have a playoff victory or they have a losing record in the postseason. And you just go, yeah, they're just giving everybody money.
Do I have a guy I can count on and believe in? Yeah, because there's only going to be one Patrick Mahomes. There's only going to be one team that year after year, unless there's a catastrophe, you just go, oh, yeah, they're going to be in the playoffs and they're going to be a threat.
Everybody else is just like, can we maintain what we have because we have a window and then everybody else is just like, let's swing for the fences. The New York Jets. There's not a thought in their brain about the next five years or three years. It's all about this year with Aaron Rogers. The Chiefs looking, they're looking at the next five to ten going, how many more can we win?
The Ravens. Like, I would think if you're a Ravens fan or you're the Baltimore Ravens, I know what John Harbaugh says about developing one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and Lamar Jackson. He actually said that out loud to the media. Still surprised he said it realistically.
How long do you think you can roll this? I mean, would I be shocked if the Ravens fell off of a cliff over the next few years? No. Would I be shocked if they maintained the kind of a 10 ish win pace? I wouldn't either. Josh Allen this year, are they taking a step back?
Are they the same? Like, eventually somebody else not named Patrick Mahomes has to win a Super Bowl. It's just a matter of who it's going to be first. Are we going to wake up in a few years and oh, well, it's, it's Justin Herbert. I mean, is Mahomes going to win it again?
Let's think about this list here. Mahomes Super Bowl. No Super Bowl win for Burrow. No Super Bowl win for Allen. Lamar Jackson. Nope. Stafford got one and it took him a while. He's at the end of his career.
Herbert. Nope. Doesn't know what a Super Bowl is. Aaron Rodgers.
Yes. A long time ago. CJ Stroud.
Very early. Maybe the Texans can build forever. Dak Prescott.
Don't make me laugh. Goff. He's been.
He don't know. You have Hertz. Hertz has been. He lost. Brock Purdy went. L. Kirk Cousins.
No idea. Jordan Love. You hope so. Somebody else has to win. Not named Mahomes. Do I think Stafford is going to double up?
Eh, not necessarily. Hickey, if we don't get him a homes, one of these guys that's getting paid may jump into it. I don't know. Is it going to be Lamar? Is it Josh Allen? I don't think it'll be Herbert.
I don't think the team is equipped. I don't know if the Texans are, are seasoned enough, but he can't win it every year. My point is eventually we're going to have another guy be elevated or I mean, Nick falls won one year.
Who the hell would have thought anything from that? Right. And you had the goat town Brady go 10 years.
Forget about not winning one, not appearing in a Superbowl. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Good point.
Good point. Ain't no, ain't no birth right here. It's going to be interesting with all these QBs getting all the money.
You got the money, you got paid. Who's grabbing the next rank. Who's hoisting the Vince Lombardi next, not named Patrick Mahomes. There's going to be somebody, I don't know. Is, is borough the bangles ready for it? I'm not, I'm not sure. I don't know about that.
But speaking of the bangles, we'll, we'll get to that next break. I wanted to bring this to everybody's attention. Speaking of the Kansas city chiefs and news that people might appreciate or might not care about. Bailey Zappi is the newest member of the Kansas city chiefs.
Yup. He's a backup. It's on this man to the practice squad. I remember everybody in new England. A lot of people in new England were looking at him and gone, Oh, why are we putting Mac Jones back out there? Bailey Zappi, a fourth round pick in 2022 out of Western Kentucky, relieved Mac Jones and started to go on a little bit of a tear. Bill Belichick had the answer questions.
You might remember this. You going with Zappi, you be bringing back Jones and Bill Belichick was never going to answer anybody's questions. And then we saw more of a Bailey Zappi last year. At the end of the year, he sucked five interceptions against the jets and the bills. And then he got the boot yesterday. And now he's a member of the Kansas city chiefs.
Good for him. Got Patrick Mahomes, Bailey Zappi on a practice squad and Carson Wentz, who was my home's backup. Nobody, nobody wants to see Carson Wentz and Hickey. Here's the thing. There's going to come a point in time. Even if it's for a play, I feel like Patrick Mahomes has a propensity to sprain his ankle and knee and scare the living hell out of everybody for like a play or a series. We're going to see Carson Wentz at some point this year. Oh boy.
Chiefs fans get ready. Just for a series. You don't think you don't think so? No, I think you're right. There does feel like now it's an annual basis.
Like me, it's like midway through the year or so. Goes limping off the field, jogging real hard on that one leg. You go, oh my God, Mahomes is out forever. And then he tapes it up and he's back out there. You go, how the hell is this guy doing this?
And then he does. So we got to get prepared for Wentz. Have you heard or seen anything from this guy?
No, I almost forgot. He's on the Chiefs, to be honest with you. He had the quietest off season imaginable, which I guess for him with how many people I think would bag on him if he throws in a reception or has a bad pass or a bad read. I guess no news for him is good news. No news with Carson.
Yes, a good point. Because I feel like every bit of news that we've had recently over the past several seasons about Carson Wentz is back is done. Knee is done. Foot is done. Career is done. I wonder, do you think he sent Nick Foles a congratulations when he retired? Maybe more like a good riddance. What a hard knock life it is.
What a world, what a world, what a world, world, world. Congratulations, Bailey Zappi. Back up on the practice squad. Maybe somebody will give him a shot one day. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network, 855-212-4227.
On the other side of the break, I did mention to you the Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow, this man's largest target, Jamar Chase. Is he back? Is he not back? Is he going to practice? Is he not going to practice? I'll give you an update on the other side. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbreeze.
It's the J.R. Sportbreeze Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Another Wednesday. Wednesday, August 28th. Damn, we about to, oh, I'm going to cry. Oh my goodness. Oh, it's about to be, I don't even want to know.
I might as well ruin things for myself now. September 1st is going to be, Hickey, is it Sunday? Is it Sunday? That's when September 1st is? Sunday, September 1st.
Oh my goodness. Is September the worst month? I mean, outside of the start of football, just saying September is the symbolic of the end of summer. Yeah, that part sucks.
I would agree with that. Sporting calendar-wise, it is one of the best months. And now that at least we're not in school anymore, I feel like it does start to, you enjoy more than back in the elementary school, high school days. You're saying September sucks if you're a student. Back to school, I would say, in the English language, maybe the three worst words used together you could ever hear as a kid. Oh my God, back to school. Right, get cursed out then here, back to school. There's so much uncertainty every year of being a kid. And I guess this is a part of the learning experience.
You got to go back to school. You don't know every teacher. You don't know every classmate.
There's going to be things that are, I guess, normal. Some things that are foreign, depending on the level of schooling. You may be going to a different city or a state. You might be going to a new school down the block. Maybe you're going from middle school or high school or elementary. Yeah, hickey, I was going to say school sucks, but that's not a good thing to say.
No. Don't say that. College is fun.
There's something to look forward to, kids, if you're listening. College is fun. It can be, right?
Can be. Do it right. It's a lot of fun.
Do what right? The studying, right? All the studying. The library, right. If you get a good library, that makes a big difference. Libraries are fun. The smell of books. Nothing more exciting than old papers sitting on a shelf. Sounds like a new candle scent coming this fall. Old books?
Old books smell like you're back in the school library. Oh, man. You know what's crazy? I can think back. And this is, I guess, a little part of getting older. I can think back. There's a word for this. I can think back to like 1990, 1991 and going into the school library on like a summer day and there's like little circulation in the room and the smell of books. Like, Hickey, I'm reminded, man.
I'm reminded. What were you doing in a school library on a summer day? School in New York ends in June.
It gets hot, man. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying like middle of July. Yeah, I got nothing better to do. Let me just go to the school library because I miss it so much. Thank God for me. Never know summer school. Thank God. There were some times I thought, man, what did I do?
I screwed up. But never know summer school. Not for me. Nope. You ever have to do that? Uh, my first year of college, I had to for six weeks. Oh, you, you were partying your freshman ass off, weren't you? No, I didn't know anybody.
Like, yeah, like yes and no, but it was still, it's still kind of being there in the middle of Pennsylvania during the summertime was it's, you know, by the beach, that sucked. I'm saying, but how did you not, your freshman year, you had to take makeup classes. You just, it was too much work. They gave you his calculus eight. What happened?
I honestly don't even, I can't even tell you what happened, but it was like one of those, Hey, you want to come here? Uh, you got to go to summer school first. Damn. Oh, before freshman. Yes. Oh, sorry. Yes.
It was before. Oh my God. Yeah. You know, I think, I think I did that. I think I had to do that once.
I think. And I'll met all my lifelong friends from there. So I'm glad I did it.
But in the, in the moment in like the middle of July is everyone from high school is like having their, you know, victory tour and having grad parties and all such. Here I am in philosophy 101 in a hot classroom at like 9.00 AM. That was tough. That's easy stuff, man. No, that will easy.
That'll put you asleep. Philosophy, philosophy. You just BS your way through everything. It's not that complicated.
I can't BS for anything. Did, uh, did you have to remember stuff in philosophy? Oh, the teacher was big time into it. Oh yeah. A lot of reading. A lot of, I don't know nothing about that stuff.
It was terrible. The Socrates, is that, is that something about philosophy? Yeah. Yeah. I got to think about what some other guy thought about a thousand years ago.
Right. What the hell do I, what do I, what about what I think about today? Who gives a damn about what Socrates had to think about? What about what I'm thinking about today? Okay. What makes what he thought about much more influential or important than me? I like that.
I think you're right. Also the world we're living in and the world Socrates lived in hot take here, two different places. If Socrates saw some of the things that I see just by opening up my phone.
They're just the thought of a phone. You pass out running water. I'm sure you, you have fresh water coming where he doesn't go to the bathroom in an outhouse. And this is the guy that we have to listen to now and study. Oh, he was so smart.
He's smart. Hey, are you, have humans really developed that much over thousands of years? Maybe not.
I don't know. Clearly not. I guess we're still listening to this guy. Well, I mean, if you listen to some of the humans we got today, that's also very true. It might show that we need to come back here and still some wisdom. Yeah, we might. Sorry, Socrates, wherever he is. Ashes are probably stepping on his ashes today. Ashes or like there's any other option. Yeah. Come on. There's all this, what is all this dirt out here? Come on. We know what some of it's in this dirt. We got fossil fuels.
That's not an accident. It's dinosaur stuff. Come on, man.
If it dies, it goes into the dirt. This is like as big of a newsflash as Mike Tomlin telling us that, uh, what's the guy's name? Justin Fields is going to be the backup and Russell Wilson is the starter. Hey, you know, Hickey, we should, we should teach college. People can learn a few things about listening to us. I agree.
Yeah. Sign us up here. Let's go. We'll start a course for you. A's for everybody. Congratulations. A's for everybody. Hey, I need you to think O'Reilly auto parts for all of your car care needs.
You're guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly auto parts. We're pulling up on something very important and no, it's not a Bailey Zappi being the, uh, now practice squad quarterback for the chiefs at the top of the hour and about 10 minutes, I'm going to share with you a new top six list. I'm going to walk you through the top six college football teams for the year 2024.
Now, of course, this is a top six and these are going to be teams that will make the playoff, but I wanted to take a look at teams that I really think that, that I can close my eyes and imagine them costing up the national championship trophy. I could see it. This is what I envisioned when I close my eyes and I prognosticate and I become Socrates. This is what the hell I came up with. I came up with.
So we got that top six list coming at the top of the hour. I did want to share this with you briefly before we went to break and we'll, we'll have a guest on to talk about Colorado. Mark Kisler will join us in about, uh, 90 or so minutes, 80 minutes.
If you want to do math in your head, knock yourself out. Here's the deal. We've had this discussion on air and we'll, we'll wait to get to it. What the hell is Travis Hunter going to do by the time this guy gets to the NFL? Is he going to play offense? Is he going to play defense? Is he going to play primarily offense with a few packages on, on defense? Are you going to play primarily defense with a few packages on offense? Are they going to just say, we don't want you doing that. We're going to make you play defense and then you can be our returner.
We have no idea and we have to enjoy what we have in front of us, I guess over the next year before he gets drafted into the NFL. This is going to be a real interesting, this is going to be a real fun college football season, especially given all of the changes and the adjustments that we've had. But this is the one thing that I hate. I hate the beat downs. I hate the blowouts. I hate the matchups that are not competitive. The ones that I say, I ain't watching that. I'll pay attention to the highlights and not what we just saw over the weekend. That was at least worth watching to see. But we have some games.
We're just like, why am I watching damn near professional athletes beat up on guys who barely made their high school team? That's not, that's not fun for me at all. I want competition. I want to see the best of the best. And that's what I'm looking forward to. So when we come back on the other side of the break, I'm going to tell you about the best of the best. It's Wednesday. That means it's time for a new top six list. The top six college football teams for the year 2024. Don't go anywhere. You're locked into the JR sport brief show on the infinity sports network. Thank you. Socrates.
