Urban Meyer Comeback? (Hour 2)

Alrighty, away we go. It is hour number two of our radio program. That's right, it is the Zach Gilb Show on CBS Sports Radio. I saw yesterday that there was a report that Michigan State is interested in Urban Meyer.

And my antenna went up right away and I'm like, I don't know how much I'm buying it. We know that Urban Meyer has always been marred with controversy. And you look at Mel Tucker and we saw the things that were allegedly going on with Mel Tucker at Michigan State. We all know that Urban Meyer can win football games. Everywhere he's gone outside of the NFL, he's won football games. And there's a difference in winning in college and winning in the NFL. And you saw him win at Utah.

You saw him win at Florida, right, in the swamp. And then we saw what he was able to do in Ohio State. I'm not saying that you can't hire Urban Meyer. And I'm sure Urban Meyer could still win a ton of games in the year of 2023. But with that being said, I do wonder how much of a long term fit Urban Meyer is now in college football. And if I'm Urban Meyer, I would learn from what happened with the NFL.

And I wonder if he could check his ego at the door, which you probably can't. But if I'm him, I would stay at the comfy, really enjoyable college job that you have now, which is breaking down games on big noon kickoff each and every Saturday, compared to the stressful demands that coaching does require. And whenever there is a situation that starts to go awry with Urban Meyer, there ends up being a health issue with Coach Meyer. So if I'm him, I'm not running to the NFL. I mean, I'm not running to college again, just because of what happened in the NFL.

I'm saying I'm now up there in age. I have solidified myself as one of the greatest college coaches of all time. I won two national championships at Florida.

I won a national championship at Ohio State. Sure, people are gonna look at Urban Meyer a little bit differently because of the horrible job that he did in handling the Zach Smith situation and all the controversies that did follow him at Florida. But if I'm him, I'm good with what I did on the football field, and I would not jump into another college coaching job.

Now, I don't know if he has that in him. You know schools will always come calling, because we kind of do this in sports, and we kind of do this in all jobs. We see what worked in the past, and even if it may not adapt to the times now of 2023, if you have a great resume, if you've been able to dominate at an elite level, even if you don't think you should hire that person, usually someone will come calling because people get comfortable with things that worked in the past instead of trying to be innovative, instead of trying to be new, instead of trying to be young as well. So there will be schools that will come calling for Urban Meyer. I don't know how publicly that is going to play out, but what I will say is, I didn't buy this Michigan State report yesterday that he was like in East Lansing, and he's gonna be interviewing for the job. And I checked in with a friend of mine who's done radio for a long time in Detroit in Stoney, and he was like kind of not Michael Stone, he wasn't buying the report as well. And then today, Bruce Feldman comes out, and Bruce Feldman, I believe still works for Fox, or did work for Fox, does he still work for Fox now? I think he does, I know he also works for The Athletic. And Bruce Feldman, who's a long time college football insider, he says about the reports linking Urban Meyer to Michigan State, I just checked with him, there is zero truth to it with him being a candidate for it. He has no interest in that and is happy with what he's doing now at Fox Sports.

So here's how I'll interpret that statement and that report by Bruce Feldman. Michigan State hasn't called him yet, because it's easy for Urban Meyer to say, I'm not interested in that job. I'm happy with what I'm doing right now at Fox Sports, because if you say I'm interested in the job, and maybe Michigan State for various reasons are interested in Urban Meyer, it is a little bit humiliating, and it looks like Urban Meyer is begging for a job.

And I think that perception does matter. So I just don't believe that Michigan State has kicked the tires yet on Urban Meyer. I don't know if they're ever going to kick the tires on Urban Meyer. But just because Bruce Feldman talks to Urban Meyer today, and Urban Meyer says, yeah, I have no interest, and I'm happy with what I'm doing now with Fox Sports. If let's just say in three weeks, Michigan State calls him and says, hey, Urban, we want to bring you in here.

We want you to be the next head football coach of our team at Michigan State. I have a tough time believing that Urban Meyer won't at least take the phone call, won't at least fly to East Lansing, and at least partake in the interview. Because even though Urban should be done with coaching, when people ask me the question, do you think we'll ever see Urban Meyer coach again, there's still a part of me that's screaming on the inside that goes, Zach, don't say he's done coaching. Zach, don't say that this is over because we know how college coaches are. We know how coaches are. There's a lot of coaches that they retire or they get fired from someplace and they basically become zombies because they live, they eat, they sleep, and they breathe this crazy culture and they get addicted to coaching sports because of the thrill that they get. And I have a tough time saying that Urban Meyer is definitely done, even though it takes two to tango and you need a team that's going to be interested in him.

And he's also going to be interested. But I don't think it's going to take much to convince Urban Meyer to coach again because down deep, knowing how passionate Urban Meyer is and knowing how just a competitive freak Urban Meyer is, what made him so great, it has to eat at him. It has to drive him crazy where it didn't work out in the NFL. And that's the last chapter of your illustrious coaching career, even though everyone should be good with it, right? You're Urban Meyer. We could separate college coaches from from coaching the pros, right? No one looks at Nick Saban differently because it didn't work out for the two years that he was with the Miami Dolphins because what he did before that at LSU and what he did in his best chapter after the Dolphins being the head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

But when we look at things and we break things down as a normal human being, as a talk show host, as a fan, the way that we view things and the way that we think of things logically, we can't relate. We can't compare to the guys that were in the heat of the battle, to the guys that were on the sidelines coaching. And we see a lot of times coaches come back when you go, yeah, you probably shouldn't have done that. And for Urban Meyer, he shouldn't have ever gone to the NFL, but he got that itch.

Shaad Khan offered him a very nice contract. And you knew right away that it wasn't going to work, whether it was the strength and conditioning coach that he hired and all the controversies that followed him, the way that he treated people. And this is why a big reason why a lot of college coaches don't translate into the pros is because it's my way or the highway. When you're a college coach, you are the king. You are the CEO. You run the university.

You are the rah rah guy. Whatever I say, that message is gospel and everyone either has to listen or you'll get booted out of the university. When you go to the NFL, we're talking about grown men that a lot of these grown men make more money than you and they have families too. And that college style rarely translates into the NFL. And I also do wonder, like we all know Urban Meyer could go anywhere in college and win games, but will it result into the level of him being an elite coach again because of the way that the sport has transformed, right? Players are now making money legally.

And I have no problem with that. I always say college football, right? Everyone used to get a piece of the pie legally besides the actual athletes that we all watch. But now with the transfer portal, if you have one of those drill sergeant coaches where if you watch the Swamp King documentary and they're practicing in the middle of night, and if you're a great player, you're getting steak.

And if you're not a good player, you're basically sitting at like the kid's table and hoping that they actually serve you a decent meal. If a college player walks in there now, he could get up and get on out very quickly and go somewhere and transfer free of charge because you get one free transfer. And I do wonder where Urban Meyer go anywhere and go in six, seven games, but Urban Meyer doesn't coach to just win six, seven games. If you're talking about nine, 10, 11 and competing for national championships, I do wonder if Urban Meyer style does now translate to the year of 2023 in college football. So Bruce Feldman denies this, Urban Meyer denies it about the interest for now of Michigan State and Urban Meyer. And Urban Meyer says he's not interested and he's happy at Fox.

So with that being said, in the aftermath here of the Mel Tucker firing, who else could be some legit candidates in East Lansing? And I would call a guy that just joined us in the last hour, Mark Stoops. I don't think Mark Stoops is leaving Kentucky. I don't think he's leaving Kentucky for Michigan State. Because Kentucky has gone out of their way to assure Mark Stoops that what he's doing right now in Kentucky is important. And Mark Stoops last year felt comfortable enough where he could challenge John Calipari. When John Calipari, who we all know Kentucky's basketball school just said that, and it caused this great overreaction. And Mark Stoops was annoyed to a point where Calipari had to publicly apologize. I don't think that was Calipari wanting to publicly apologize.

I think he was forced by the school to publicly apologize. So I would try to go make a phone call to Mark Stoops. If you are Michigan State, I don't think Deion Sanders is leaving for Michigan State. But you gotta call Coach Prime with the excitement that he brought to that program to try to get a seat at the table with Ohio State, with Michigan, and with Penn State in the Big Ten that's also adding a plethora of schools from the West Coast as well. If you can't get Stoops, if you can't get Coach Prime, which I don't think either are going to Michigan State, Lance Leipold is someone that has to get a phone call. Lance Leipold in Kansas has been a dumpster fire. He did a nice job with them last year. And he's doing a fine job, even though they did not show up in that second half against Texas. Lance Leipold is someone that is primed to get a bigger opportunity. I know Chris Kleiman at Kansas State has said that he's not leaving Kansas State for Michigan State, but you got to place a phone call to him.

You also got to place a phone call to the Washington coach in Kalin DeBoer. Now, if you can't get those big names, let's go through maybe a few names of guys that are either at smaller schools or are assistants. And when you look at the assistant route, you know, even though I just said that Ohio State wasn't a top five team, we know Ohio State has turned into wide receiver you. And Brian Hartline is young. He played in college. He played in the NFL. And he has just pumped out wide receiver after wide receiver at the Ohio State. It feels like it's inevitable that he is going to get a head coaching job.

And we've seen a lot of younger coaches now hired in college football because they get NIL, they get the transfer portal, and they could easily relate to the players. Brian Hartline, like, Stu, let me just ask you this, because I was amazed when I heard the answer. How old do you think Brian Hartline is? Ooh, wow. Just take a guess. I would say 30, 33. Wow, OK.

I thought you would guess a little bit. He's only 36 years old. Like, we talked about Brian Hartline for so many years here. Oh, he's going to get a job. He's going to get a job. He's going to get a job. If Brian Hartline gets a head coaching job, it's going to feel similarly to like when Marcus Freeman was hired, which is like a younger coach.

I think Freeman's like 38, 39, something like that. But a guy that has been an assistant for a while and you know he's ready for that opportunity. And yeah, Coach Freeman's got to make sure that you get 11 players on the field up against Ohio State. You had a crazy cathartic victory up against Duke last week. But you've got to find a way to get the job done when you get the opportunity.

And sometimes, like, you just hear someone's name so many years and you forget just how young they are. But Brian Hartline is someone that I think could be a really good coach and would be a good hire for Michigan State. I'll give you another one. This is another guy that we've heard his name thrown in for jobs for years. We thought he was going to get the Wisconsin job. Now he's on Brett Bielma's staff at Illinois, Jim Leonard. Like, Jim Leonard got his heart broken when Luke Fickel left Cincinnati to take the Wisconsin job. I think Jim Leonard would be a good hire for Michigan State.

And I'll give you three more and we'll wrap up this conversation. Remember Charles Huff last year at Marshall and what he was able to do, beat Notre Dame. That's a good young up-and-coming coach.

Jonathan Smith, maybe he gets a little bit tired and he goes, I have a really good football team. I have a really good situation at Oregon State. That's his school, too.

But they don't have a home for the foreseeable future when you look at the moving landscape of college football with all the teams leaving the Pac-12. And then the final one, who I think his name will be hot. And it wouldn't surprise me if he winds back up at A&M, even though A&M may try to go for a bigger name if they get rid of Jimbo Fisher, but he was at A&M before taking the Duke job. That's Mike Elko. Mike Elko this year and even going back to last year, we've seen him early on in his coaching career get noticed by a lot of people in his first head coaching job around the sport of college football. So I know I threw about like seven or eight names at you, but those are some names and I don't think it's going to be Urban Meyer. I don't think Michigan State's going to call.

I do believe that they call. Urban Meyer would listen because it would not surprise me to be coaches again. But if it's not Urban Meyer, those are some names that I like for the Michigan State job.

And if I was running the search, those are some names that I would target. All righty. Very busy hour number two of the program right here on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Omar Vasquel will join us to talk a little postseason baseball in about 20, 25 minutes from now. When we come on back, we'll teach you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We call that segment the News Brief. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports.

All righty. Let's start off with the new Heights podcast. That's the podcast with Travis and Jason Kelsey. And they discuss the NFL's coverage of Taylor Swift at games. I think it's fun when they show who all is at the game, but at the same time, I think they're overdoing it.

They're they're overdoing it a little bit for sure, especially my situation. I just think the NFL is not used to celebrities coming to the games like basketball has to figure it out. They show them once or twice and then and then they but they get back to the game.

NFL is like, oh, look at all these A-list celebrities in the game. Keep showing them, show them, show them, show them. Dude, listen, you show them once. Let them know that they're maybe after a touchdown. You get a little clip but you can't be overboard with it. People are there to watch the game, right?

Yeah. They're not there to get thrown on TV. Here's the the issue the NFL has.

I don't even want to say it's an issue, but they don't know how to handle not being the star. Like the NFL is always king. No one ever finds a way to usurp the NFL. But when Taylor Swift now goes to an NFL game, it almost usurps the NFL because Taylor Swift and I can't believe I'm saying this as like the biggest NFL fan. Taylor Swift usurps the NFL. Just look at the social media followings and look at all this craziness. And I know everyone's talking about all the other celebrities that she's with.

No one cares if they're shown on camera. Everyone wants to see Taylor Swift right now, but it does become too much. And I really do believe that the NFL and these TV companies too that have all this money that they pay to get the NFL deals, they know that the NFL is always going to be the highest rated program that they have on their air throughout the years.

Like what is every year comes out like 40 of the top 50 programs of the year or the highest rated programs of the year NFL programs. But now you're getting new audience members because there are Swifties like Stuart Kovacs who would watch the games anyway. But let's just say Stu's girlfriend who may or may not be a big NFL fan like Stu, is your girlfriend a big NFL fan or she just watches games because you like it? She's gotten more into it, but it's still probably more watching because I'm watching. If I was in there, she wouldn't be watching most likely. But she is a Swiftie, correct? Yes. And she probably had interest of watching the game on Sunday night because she knew Taylor Swift was going to be on that life. She was locked in pregame during the game.

All of it. So there's so many more eyeballs to the set. And when you bring more eyeballs to the set, you got to kind of play the hits and cater to the audience. By the way, you want to know who's becoming insufferable. And it's a shame too, because he's one of the greatest basketball players of all time. But LeBron James tries to be best friends with everybody. And it drives me crazy. I've never heard like LeBron James say something critical about everybody, about anybody. And there's no way that you could live life that way.

Now, you could say you liked someone and you like everyone, but we know that's not the truth. Did you see? I can't find the tweet right now because he tweets so much. But did you see LeBron James on Twitter practically begging to get on this new heights podcast?

Like LeBron, I know that you like the show with Travis and Jason Kelsey, but you don't need to be on every platform and you could let those guys get some of the spotlight and you don't need to jump on new heights. I found the tweet, by the way, it's because he didn't put a dot in front of the at mention. So it goes right into his replies. Crazy new heights he tags. Crazy.

I can't get an invite to join y'all. Fantastic show. Is it because you guys are truly the Kings of Northeast Ohio and I claim to be be honest, seriously, you guys are awesome. And he does awesome in all capital letters and a bunch of exclamation points. Now, Stu, I know that you are a big fan of the king in LeBron James, but you have to be like, all right, LeBron, settle down.

You don't need to go on Travis and Jason Kelsey's podcast to try to throw yourself into this story. Yeah, it's become insufferable at this point. I just kind of wanted to see him play basketball, hopefully two games or somewhere around there.

Probably not 82, but you know, as many games as he could play and that's enough. And the other bull crap is the other day. Oh yeah. Anthony Davis is now the face of the Lakers. Come on, LeBron. No shot. We all know that you're the face of the Lakers.

AD may be the most valuable player because you need him healthy to go win a championship, but he's not the face of the Lakers. Here is Von Miller on if he could play this weekend in London as you do the Buffalo Bills going across the pond. This is via the Von Kast. If I was a bad man, I would say, yeah, you can expect to see Von Miller in London. This is my first time playing in London. And you know, who knows how many chances I get to play in London. So I want this to happen.

I'm pushing for it to happen. So bills and Jaguars this weekend in London, I'm kind of surprised at how long Von Miller has been in the league that he hasn't played in London yet. But if he's saying that he's ready to go and he expects to play, sometimes organizations jump in and they go out, let's wait a week. Let's be careful here because of how important Von Miller is to that football team.

He's brought in to win a championship, but it seems like you're getting the green light so far if Von Miller is that confident sharing it on the podcast or at least trying to put the pressure on the organization to allow him to play. Here is Aaron Rodgers on the always entertaining Pat McAfee show discussing his rehab for this Achilles injury he suffered. You know, it's pretty obvious I'm well ahead of my of the normal protocols when it comes to rehab for this, this kind of thing.

But that's, you know, that's, that's, that was always what my mindset was. And you know, the type of surgery that he'd been doing now for a little bit. And then, you know, whatever protocols were out there, just not, not adhering to those being as smart as possible, not trying to stretch the Achilles, but stressing the Achilles in a way that allows me to start doing movement quicker and to just speed up whatever timeline kind of has been the standard standard for this type of injury.

Do we have to really complicate this? Do you always have to be just conceited if you're Aaron Rodgers and as if you're the greatest thing and if you think really hard and if you try to defile the odds, you'll find a way to get back onto the field as quick as possible. Aaron Rodgers isn't playing football this year for two reasons. Even if he's cleared, the Jets aren't going to be in the playoffs. He won't be able to be cleared at earliest until January.

So stop at this nonsense. Yes, it's crazy how quickly he's walking around on the sidelines and all that stuff. But Aaron Rodgers using this like greater power of his intellectual thoughts that's going to quickly heal him and he's not going to listen and fall in line with a normal timeline.

Like give me a break. We're not going to see him back on the football field this year. Here is Dan Campbell, a 97 won the ticket in Detroit on if they will play Jamison Williams this week. Now it's just building trust, building a rapport with golf and get him some things that we feel like he can really sink his teeth into. We cannot overload him. Yes, we'd love to get him up this week, but we don't want to overload him either. That wouldn't be fair to him.

And then let's just go. Did he call his quarterback golf there? Did we have that still one more time?

Let's see if we could get that real quickly. Isolated for with golf. Is that just because he's on a conference call and he's on? I've been on those those chats before.

The coach is always on a speaker phone. Or did you hear golf there? I kind of her golf like the sport golf for with golf. That's a misspeak there. Close. I'm not going to crush him for it, so we'll see what happens with Jamison Williams. Andrew Berry of the Cleveland Browns, the general manager on Deshaun Watson's shoulder. Remember, no Deshaun Watson last week and you saw Dorian Thompson Robinson. Is there any concern that the shoulder injury will affect Deshaun's ability to pass going forward? We don't view it as a as a long term injury or, you know, I think Kevin mentioned earlier week there's there's nothing structural.

You know, we are optimistic that, you know, it'll heal in the short term and he'll be ready to go. Here's the good news for the Browns. They're on a bye week this week, and then they come out of that by going up against the San Francisco 49ers. So that's not a good landing spot for Deshaun Watson to come back because of how great the defense is for the San Francisco 49ers. But when you get him paid all that money and when they traded up all those picks to get get you, I don't want to hear any excuses if you're going to be on the field. But I do believe that a lot of people were surprised and I think even some of his teammates were surprised that Deshaun Watson ended up missing that game against the Baltimore Ravens.

So maybe this injury is worse than what we were led on to believe. Let's go to Derrick Rose now with the Memphis Grizzlies on his role with Ja Morant and trying to move his career back in the right direction. I'm just told I'm not here to babysit you. I'm not here to follow you around. I'm not here to cheerlead.

I'm here to push you and let them know when in times like whenever he's being reckless to to calm down. So Ja Morant has been his own worst enemy. And bringing back in Derrick Rose makes sense because Derrick Rose has been around the league for a long time and has seen a lot of stuff. And he's now towards what the last two holes potentially of his career if you wanted to use a golf analogy.

And I'm not talking about the quarterback of the Detroit Lions like Dan Campbell was. But you look at Derrick Rose if I was Ja Morant and I'm suspended for 25 games. I don't know how much accountability Ja Morant takes and I don't know if he understands how stupid his actions were and how it could have been a whole lot worse for Ja Morant. And now you bring in someone like Derrick Rose. And even though you may have looked up to Derrick Rose and I don't know what the relationship is but you're cognizant of the type of player Derrick Rose was a former MVP of this league. It's like oh here comes this guy in and he's going to tell me how to do everything the right way.

And even though that advice may be needed and important there may be some resistance by Ja Morant. So I think this approach that Derrick Rose just took where he's like I'm not here to babysit you. I'm not here to show you everything is the right thing because it kind of lets that wall down a little bit and it may be easier for Derrick Rose to connect with Ja Morant. And finally, Phillies last year were 6-2 in the playoffs at Citizens Bank Ballpark. They are now 1-0 after taking care of the Marlins last night. We'll see if they can complete the wildcard sweep tonight.

But there was some interesting celebrations going on all throughout the game by the Fydans. And you saw Nick Castellanos is having a big redemption season in Philadelphia. Flip off his own dugout.

He explained why NBC Sports Philadelphia. When you were on second base tonight a lot of people around America thought you flipped the bird. But was it the ring finger? Of course it was the ring finger man. Why would I give the middle finger to my teammates? I love you. I know well I just want to clear it up for the internet and the ring finger you're looking for that ring?

That's why we're here man but October. I don't know I watched that video. Didn't you see the middle finger there Stu?

I did. That's what I thought at least. So is that like TV chatter?

I know John Clark from Philadelphia. Is that like cheesy TV where it's like oh let's get a ring finger quote in there. Maybe we just saw it late and it was going from the ring finger then to the to the middle fingers. Is that what it was? Yeah maybe.

I don't know. I think he flipped off his dugout. And you know the Phillies start to remind me of? Remember how the 2004 Red Sox called themselves like the idiots and they embrace that? You have a lot of like fun wacky personalities on this Phillies team and I say this as a Mets fan. Like this Phillies team is actually likable. When you look at guys like Nick Castellanos, Trey Turner, Bryce Harper.

The fact that he's even playing this year off the Tommy John and missed like no time pretty much. This is a likable team and it drives me bonkers because all these teams that win World Series in the NL East like when the Nationals won they were a likable team when the Braves won a few years ago. They were a likable team and now this Phillies team is a likable team where they play in Philadelphia. The fans are crazy. We all know that they're great passionate fans and there's not a lot of great home field advantages anymore in sports but home field advantage in Philadelphia really does reign supreme and we're seeing it with the Phillies off to this 1-0 start and they were 6-2 last year in the postseason. So I don't get maybe it was the ring finger let go we're going for that ring a little bit earlier do that if you ask me but in the video that I saw I'll take another look at it during the break I thought I saw the middle finger and I was like kind of loving that say no 2004 Red Sox embracing the the idiots mantra alrighty Zach Gil show CBS Sports Radio will talk to a great baseball player man that should be in the Hall of Fame but is not we'll talk with that and also the MLB postseason with Omar Viskel next but first up standing by with the latest CBS Sports Radio update here is a man some people are saying this in the YouTube chat by the way they think act and I are wearing the same shirt because they're both both wearing polos they're totally two different kind of collared shirts today but both somewhat blue somewhat blue but yours they don't see the oh they don't see the fade yes they don't see the fade but we're we're not even close in colors of not to be like Tara Banks on America's Next Top Model because I'm the farthest thing from that but I have like a fading blue but I like that people are taking note of what we're wearing yeah well because when you were earlier trying to change the TV channel they just saw the blue shirt walk right behind me and they're like who's that blue shirt why are we seeing two Gelbs in there because they thought it was like the same shirt as I but one helps give me some size yeah right we could we could form a basketball team we just got to get two more players then we'll have a good starting five or something like that or I could stand on your shoulders and yeah yeah that's true I do have back from my fraternity days I saw some photos that reemerged today where I was like picked up and they have like seven people are holding me doing a keg stand and then one of my friends was on my shoulders too so we could we could try that with the actor on the break you want to do a keg stand you know not not really oh okay that's the neck surgery no oh yeah that's true we want to make sure that the neck is is okay otherwise if I was younger yeah why not sure we don't want you looking like uh Christopher Moltisante with the uh the neck brace exactly or Mike the situation if they want a a newer reference anyway we'll get to Omar Vischel next update time first here's the act man Rich Ackerman all right we'll talk a little postseason baseball right now with Omar Vischel who's kind enough to join us right now on the Zach Gelb show but where else CBS Sports Radio Omar appreciate the time thanks for it how are you hi Zach how are you how you doing yeah we are coming into the celebration of uh baseball right now this week has been a little drama for a lot of teams and very exciting to be watching the games now on tv when you watch baseball now in 2023 I know it's a lot different it feels like it's home run or strike out I know that they've tried to change the game with the pitch clock this year and also with the bullpen limits and things like that how do you kind of process baseball now in the year of 2023 well it's a little different to what the baseball we used to see you know with the bunt and the steals and everything that went on in the old school baseball should I call it but it's very exciting you know you still see a lot of stars racing in the game and not everybody can hit home runs not every team can survive hitting home runs so obviously they have been adjusting their team to make uh runs to manufacture runs and everybody can do it on different ways but there is no doubt that you cannot have a baseball team uh building just home runs you also need those guys that get on base you need the steel you need the fast guys you need guys that know about the strike zone and obviously that make a huge difference when you get to the playoff I know you coached a little bit but I'm surprised that you never became a manager is that something that you're still interested in getting back into the coaching game yeah no doubt I did manage in a little league you know after my coaching career with the Detroit Tigers for four years I went to manage on the Chicago White Sox organization I managed there for two years single a and double a and they were asking a lot of different things for us to do according to the cyber metrics and all that stuff that's going on right now and we saw a little change in the game going back to those to the years that we play but you know you have to evolve I think every front office try different things to to improve their baseball games their players and everything and you know we just have to go along with whatever is being teaching these days yeah and I feel like as Omar Vasquez here with us especially with the passion that you played with the knowledge that you played with it's now as if if you were to become a big league manager right the front office executive walks up to you and go here's the lineup for the day this is what the computer basically told us I'm not against analytics but I don't think we should live and die with them Omar yeah I mean you have to learn how to get a balance from both sides you know it's hard to get a line up every day and change guys around the lineup when you know that you have guys in the top of the lineup that are going to do the job guys that are hot that I see are swinging the bat hot in that moment and then all the song and you're going to tell him hey you're hitting six today because the number show that you cannot hit this guy so you know there there are different things that brought the different way with the players that's what you have to be in constant communication with them let letting them know what is the situation why are you doing the things are you doing so they don't they don't get down on themselves and lose their focus I know you're probably tired of answering this question but when it comes to the Hall of Fame how have you kind of processed at the last few years as I'm sure you're still hopeful to one day get in but so far you haven't got that call yet yeah I mean it's fun to be in the process you know this is my sixth year now and I'm glad that people still compare my numbers to Luis Aparicio who is the only Venezuelan that is in the Hall of Fame and then maybe Osi Smith who is the shortstop that everybody follow you know when we were growing up you know I like the the interaction of different reporters talking about why why does he belong why he doesn't belong and the corporations that they come out I'm still learning things nowadays that that that things that I did on the field things that have to do with with the evaluation and how they they actually evaluate a player so it's kind of interesting to see all those numbers throwing back at you and you know it's kind of fun but yeah I I'm still on the ballot and I'm glad that I'm still have the opportunity to be there someday when you hear that you have 11 gold gloves that would suggest that you were a great elite player and that you should be in the Hall of Fame do you feel as if the voters just don't prioritize and care for a great defense well it's hard to say because you know the gold glove is a very proud thing for any infielder you talk to any infielder they would like to get a gold glove in their in their in their cabinets or in in their house you know the fact that I have 11 is is amazing because the coaches and managers vote for for gold glove and they obviously recognize who who are the guys that are are the best on the field and you know I felt pretty proud for that I took proud on getting gold gloves every year and you know you play with guys against Jeter's and Alex Rodriguez and Tejada and Garcia Parra and all these these power hitters and then you know on the field inside they they recognize me as one of the best so you know I felt pretty proud about those those awards do you ever sit back and go man if I just had 123 more hits I'd be at 3,000 and then you know every writer with all these wacky standards would be like up Omar Vasquez he would definitely be in the Hall of Fame yeah I mean when you look back and you know I I took over I took advantage or every opportunity they give me you know don't get me wrong I play you know for 24 seasons I was able to jump from one one position to another at the end of my career and you know I was a team player I took pride of what I did on the field keeping my body in shape because it's not easy to just play that many years and be bouncing around be like another coach for the younger generation of guys and I think that's why you get that opportunity to play in different teams Omar Vasquez here with us when you look back at some of your postseason memories I remember the hit ticks and the series up against the Yankees just what comes back to mind excitement you know you have to give it all on the field I know that in playoff and we're serious the numbers kind of get lost in there because people analyze one way or another one what team is gonna win but it's just a matter of how strong you are mentally in those situations I think the players that know how to handle the pressure and how to put away all the bad thoughts negative thoughts have an advantage and you know it's that's what I love to see so much playoff games because it doesn't matter what the people is saying out there you have a responsibility and and you have a level of of tough mining tough mind that you can just go through so you know the predictions are great but I know there is a lot of things that get out get out of hands when you look at the AL and you talk about that experience and that mindset I kind of feel even though they're not the top seed until someone takes out the Astros just with how much experience they have I kind of just expect them to be back in the World Series this year how about yourself in the AL yeah me too I feel the same way you know a team that experience were serious already they have been in that situation already they have a little bit of edge and advantage over the other teams they know how to handle things and you can see how the last three games in the season they needed to win in order for them to advance and they did it you know how they do it I don't know but that experience will take you there and I really believe that this team is gonna be pretty tough at the end and you know they're gonna be hard to beat and in the NL we know that it's World Series or bus for the Braves the Braves have been the most dominant team in baseball there's a lot of other good teams in the NL like the Dodgers we see the home field advantage that the Phillies have what's gonna go down between the Diamondbacks and the Brewers as well but I wonder how the Braves respond to pressure they got that World Series a few years ago but now everyone's going after them and it's gonna be fascinating if they lose the game or two how quickly they could bounce back yeah that's gonna be the question for them I think that they shouldn't lose any confidence at all because they have I think the best team in baseball right now they have it all they have the pitching they have the hitting they have speed they have just about everything and just the fact that they have two MVP candidates that you know if one go down the other one can can can come in and and supply the power or whatever they they do I think it's gonna be a very hard team to beat and so for me the World Series should be the Astros and the Atlanta Braves I know towards the you know towards the end of his career you were teammates in San Francisco with Barry Bonds we were talking about your Hall of Fame status it's a lot more complicated with Bonds personally I think he should be in the hall he's one of the greatest baseball players I've ever seen I know that you have all the steroids stuff and it's part of the conversation but I don't ignore greatness where do you lie on Barry Bonds do you think you should get the call to to Cooperstown one day well all these guys has been involved with steroids things you know there has been great players you know they obviously Roger Clemens and all the other people that are you know are not in the in the Hall of Fame it's very sad to see because they represent baseball for a long time and you know they they make me stay just like everybody else and I think they realize it but yeah you see guys like Barry Bonds swinging the bat and and and all everything that followed Barry was greatness how much he he did for the game those days and you know the home run chase and all that stuff I actually have the pleasure to be with him for four years and yeah no doubt that he has been I think the best player overall in the history of the game you know I didn't see all the other Roger Mary's and all the other great ones but I think taking a look at Barry Bonds playing every day it gives you that feeling what are your thoughts when you see Otani play now because I've never let me hear about Babe Ruth obviously growing up but I never saw him play but to see what he's doing on the mound and also at the plate I know he just had the injury but it's ridiculous yeah it's amazing I mean these type of players don't come out very often once every 100 years and we should be acknowledged a lot of things that these guys do because not only he can throw the baseball and have some great numbers in with the pitching he can also go long ball he can he can hit for average he's a complete player in every aspect of the world great so amazing to see a guy like this on the field well Omar I got about 30 seconds here real quickly I know you have a big passion for art now just tell me a little bit about that well I'm still hitting the art very hard you know I have I'm working on a baseball collection that is gonna go up pretty soon and trying to get the right people and the right places to go to I'm thinking about Miami because of the Venezuelan people that follow the Miami Marley who congratulate them any by the way because being on the playoff is not easy and they they did it and I think you know just it's gonna be a little different thing we gotta have some fun with that like I said it's gonna be focusing on baseballs and gloves and bats and stuff like that so it's take a look at my website take a look at the Instagram because we're gonna be posting a lot of things about these art show well we'll definitely do that Omar Vischel good luck thanks so much we appreciate the time thank you so much sir for the opportunity you got there he is the great Omar Vischel with us on CBS Sports Radio coming on back talking a little Chicago Bears.