Are Sixers Title Contenders? (Hour 1)

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Minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. I gotta start with the Philadelphia 123456ers, 109876ers. Paul George is off to Philadelphia.

And let me do something that I usually don't do. I have to praise Daryl Morey right out of the gate. I have for years have thought Daryl Morey is an overrated executive.

Not that he's bad, but I've never called him this great executive that everyone talks about as if he has eight or nine championships. And my one contention with Daryl Morey is that he accepted losing when he was in Houston. And what I mean by that, when they've gone up against the Warriors, when the Warriors are the Warriors, those are some contentious battles. And those were battles where sometimes the Houston Rockets snatched the feet from the jaws of victory. And Daryl Morey, after one of the years losing to the Golden State Warriors, put out a tweet, something along the lines of, hey, I know we lost, but we've beaten the Warriors more in route to losing series to the Warriors compared to any other team in the NBA, just because they won more games in the series than some other teams. And in that moment, I lost my mind. And I'm like, that's what the general manager of the Houston Rockets, the president of the Houston Rockets at the time, that was the road he elected to travel on and travel down to justify his team's losing.

And it drove me absolutely just bonkers. And since going to Philly, he made a move where, yes, he got rid of Ben Simmons, but he brought in James Harden, who he knew was not capable of winning a championship. And then that blew up in his face because it's a he said, he said type of situation where Daryl Morey did what's in the best interest of the Sixers franchise. We know James Harden never takes accountability when he comes up short.

And now the two that used to be BFFs don't even talk. And James Harden called Daryl Morey a liar. So this past year, the Sixers kind of punted the season this past year because there was nothing they were going to be able to do to put them in a legitimate shot to go win a championship. And Joe LMB got hurt right when the Sixers were like a top four seed. Then they lost in the first round to the Knicks.

But you got to see something that was extremely positive for the Sixers. You saw someone in Tyrese Maxey take that next step. And now he's on the trajectory of being a star in the NBA.

And when I think of Tyrese Maxey, I say he's a budding star. So you have Embiid, you have Maxey and with Joel Embiid as great as he is. And he's a top five player in the league. He's not better than the Nicole Jokic.

He's not better than Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he's an elite player and he's a top five player in the league. But you don't know how much of a window he has left open to go win a championship because I don't know how many more years Joel Embiid is going to be able to play at an elite level because of all the injuries and all the wear and tear on his body. So Daryl Morey, who was able to a year ago, not really do enough. And he wasn't in position to really do anything. And he had to take kind of a punch year on the season, even though the Sixers are still going to be a playoff team and hey, they could have got to the second round, but the Knicks were better than them and all that jazz.

But now he elected to pounce. And I didn't think Daryl Morey is going to be able to land Paul George. Cause it seemed like Paul George was interested. It seemed like the Sixers were interested, but then in the last week, it seemed as if Paul George wasn't going to land in Philly. Seemed like he was either going to go back to the Clippers. There were those rumors about him potentially going to the golden state warriors. And it seemed as if Paul George was going to stay on the West coast, but early or late last night or early this morning after it did seem like that was shifting to Paul George landing in Philly.

We got the announcement. We got the breaking news that Paul George is going to be a Philadelphia 76er. And I have to start off by commending Daryl Morey, who I'm usually tough on. And I'm usually critical on cause he's put the Sixers in a position to go capitalize on whatever window Joel Embiid has left that as an elite player and this, and I've lived in Philly. I was there when they drafted Markelle Foltz. And then he either forgot how to shoot or got injured or got injured and forgot how to shoot.

It's still unclear. I was there when Ben Simmons was an enormous bust. It's like, I've seen all the different iterations that the Sixers have put on the court with Joel Embiid. And when you look at this trio, Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey, this is as good of a position as the Sixers have been in ever since Embiid has been the face of the franchise.

Now, what is it going to turn out to be? I can't tell you this is going to lead to a championship. I can't even tell you this is going to lead to a conference finals appearance, something Joel Embiid has never played in. Forget the NBA finals. He's never played in a conference finals because still my biggest fear with this group is will Embiid and Paul George be able to stay healthy and they both need to stay healthy to win a championship. I'm not going to scream about load management with the Sixers. I'm not going to scream at Daryl Morey says Embiid and Paul George. Here's a new sponsorship.

It's bubble wrap. I'm going to wrap your bodies in bubble wrap just so you guys don't get hurt, but come playoff time. These two guys need to be healthy or as healthy as they could be. And they need to be on the court with also Tyrese Maxey. Cause if you put that trio on a court, the Sixers are going to be tough to beat.

And you've seen now a change for years. It seems like the last decade, the Eastern conference was very bland. Whatever team LeBron James was on, whether it was in Cleveland or it was in Miami, you knew in all likelihood that team was getting to the NBA finals out of the East.

And there was an intrigue factor and a suspense factor that was taken away. But as of late, as you've seen super teams go away and it's really been dynamic duos and then building a team around dynamic duos, the East and the West have been open. You know, Boston got through this past year, finally won a championship. The year before that, you got to see Denver get through, win a championship. We've seen the Bucks get through and win a championship. And all those teams have something in common is that they were close and they had to go through some tough times before they were able to elevate to the mountaintop and scream out like they were Johnny drama victory. And the Sixers have been close.

They have been tortured, right? Losing to the Hawks. You, you got to see Ben Simmons passing up that shot and bead with countless turnovers down the stretch in big games. When they fired off the confetti that one time and they thought they were going to win a game.

And then they did it. Like you, the, the, the Kawhi Leonard shot that I still don't know how it went in with how many times it bounced off the rim. There have been moments, even though the six have been able to get out of the second round that you remember with the Sixers and there's been a ton of heartbreak, but now on paper, and it's a big F if, and beat and George can stay healthy.

They got a chance. They got a chance to go contend and actually get to a conference finals and actually get to an NBA finals, but they got to pounce now and they got to be healthy. Now this can't be in LA where Kawhi Leonard was hurt. And then Paul George was healthy. Like you need them bead and Paul George to be healthy when it matters. Even if that means, you know, you have tickets to a big game Tuesday night in Philly and they have to rest them bead, or they have to rest Paul George in the regular season. Cause for some teams in the NBA, the regular season doesn't matter. And the Philadelphia 76ers are one of those teams where the regular season doesn't matter.

Cause I don't care what the Sixers do in the regular season. They'll be like the Ravens in the NFL. They'll be like the Buffalo Bills in the NFL, the Bucks before they won a championship in the NBA and the Celtics this year before they won a championship in the NBA.

They have already had some success. We've already seen them get so close, but yet so far. So even if you are great, outstanding, sensational in the regular season, people will always say, yeah, but it doesn't matter until you get the job done in the post season.

So give credit to Daryl Morey. He has put the Sixers in a position to contend, but this Eastern conference has not got easier. It's actually been as tough of it's ever been.

And it's as deep as it's ever been in quite some time. You've got the Celtics coming off a championship. We know Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum aren't going anywhere. Then you've got the Milwaukee Bucks who are going to be hungry. And last year, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, weren't able to stay healthy. The Knicks added McHale Bridges and the Knicks have a really deep team. You know, I don't love the Jimmy Butler situation in Miami cause he's going to stay, not going to get a new deal. And that always just makes me weary when someone's trying to prove something this year.

And it's very uncertain. If he wants to stay with the Miami Heat, but you've got a bunch of teams that don't forget about Orlando. They're a young up and coming team.

They were able to land a Cintavious Caldwell Pope. The Cavs are a solid squad. Like you got some teams in the Eastern conference that are really good, but I think the four best teams in no order are the Celtics, the Knicks, the Bucks, and the Sixers. Those to me are the four best teams in the Eastern conference. Now take the Celtics out of it cause they just won a championship. I'll ask you this. After the Celtics is the poll question today.

You can find it at Zach Galbin at INF Sportsnet. After the Celtics, who is the team to beat in the Eastern conference? Bucks, Knicks, Sixers, or other?

5.6% say other. I have 28% say Milwaukee. 28.8% say the Sixers and 37.6% say the New York Knicks.

My answer, even though I like the teams that have been built with New York and have been built in Philadelphia, and they probably have a deeper squad than Milwaukee, but my answer is still Milwaukee. Cause I think Giannis Antetokounmpo, after Nikola Jokic, is the best player in the sport. So he's the second best player in the sport. And Damian Lillard is a closer. He's a finisher. You know, in New York, Jalen Brunson looks like he could be a finisher.

He looks like he could be a top 10 player. In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid, as the series goes on, he's not the guy that's going to finish off the games. It's going to have to be either Maxie, who's capable of it, or it's going to now be Paul George. And Paul George, outside of that one year where Kawhi got hurt and he found his team into the conference finals, Paul George has not been a finisher in the postseason. That's been the one weakness in Paul George's game. You know, outside of the health, it's been when you get to the postseason, can he finish the job?

And he's only getting older. So in a league of dynamic duos, and Milwaukee still has to fill out the rest of their team, I just think Milwaukee still has the best dynamic duo when they are healthy. And that is Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. I keep on saying when they are healthy, it seems like that's a theme in the Easter conference. Like the Celtics, you know, Brown and Tatum are pretty much always healthy.

They're durable. But Milwaukee, injuries are a concern. The Knicks, we saw it derail them from going to the conference finals.

This year against the Pacers, you know, don't forget about Indiana, too. But the Knicks injuries are a concern. The Sixers injuries are synonymous with Philadelphia. I think when I lived there, every player had a Jones fracture on the team. It was crazy how many injuries they did occur.

So part of it is going to be a war of attrition. But it's also the building that these teams have done. And Milwaukee's done a good job building. Boston's done a good job building. Leon Rose with the Knicks has done a good job building.

And even though I've been extremely critical of him throughout the years, and I've always said he's overrated when needed to, Daryl Morey basically had the Sixers be the Undertaker gift and he's popped back up. And now the Sixers have some life because if it was Justin Beat, if it was just Maxie, you know, that's a good team. You know, you could get to the second round of the playoffs with that team. But now bringing in Paul George gives the Sixers tangible hope. And I do believe the Sixers are capable of going on a deep run this year, where in previous years, we've kind of compared the Sixers to the Cowboys a little bit.

All the talk, all the hype, all the offseason moves, good regular seasons. But then come playoff time, death, taxes, the Sixers and the Cowboys failing. By the way, the Sixers are in the Cowboys failing. By the way, talking about the drama Dallas Choking Cowboys. Malik Hooker of the Cowboys is getting into it with Micah Parsons via social media. And even if the Cowboys don't make the playoffs this year, even if the Cowboys, I even have to say get to an NFC title game, but no, they're not. Jerry Jones is already considering this season a success. And I'll explain why when we return as we delve into the drama Dallas Choking Cowboys. And this is Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll take a break.

We'll come on back after these short messages. Worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect impress them on the third date guacamole? Well, good thing Instacart shoppers are as picky as you are. They find ripe avocados like it's their guac on the line. They are milk expiration date detectives. They bag eggs like the 12 precious pieces of cargo they are. So let Instacart shoppers overthink your groceries so that you can overthink what you'll wear on that third date.

Download the Instacart app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last minimum $10 per order additional term supply. I'm already surprised. And trust me, I'm a huge critic of the drama Dallas Choking Cowboys. But I'm already surprised by how much content the Cowboys have already given us when there should be no content to actually give us.

This should be quiet time even for the drama Dallas Choking Cowboys. But this is an organization in the last two decades. They don't judge success based off wins. They judge success based up how much drama they could serve to all of us.

Think about it. Since their season came to a close and it was embarrassing. I love what the Green Bay Packers are building. Matt Lafleur showed his worth this year.

Jordan Love showed not only could hang, but he could excel in the NFL this year. Like that Packers team, they're up and coming. And we know that the Packers, it's just crazy how they were able to go from farve to Rogers. Both of them win championships. Both going to be going to Hall of Fame.

Farve already in. You know, Rogers will be whenever he's done with the Iowaska, whenever he's done with actually playing football and going to Egypt and doing all the darkness retreats and all that stuff. Whenever he wants to walk away from the game, Rogers is going to be a Hall of Famer. And I'm not saying Love is going to be transcendent. I'm not saying Love's going to win a Super Bowl. I'm not saying Love's going to be an MVP.

I'm not even saying Love's going to the Hall of Fame. But he gave you enough in his first true year as a starter to believe that the Packers have gotten it right again or may have gotten it right again. But the Packers walked into that playoff game into Jerry's World, a Cowboys team that has been close the last few years. And they had the two bad performances up against the 49ers where their offense let them down. You know, going up in that matchup for the Dallas Cowboys when you saw them beat Tampa Bay that one year. And then in the back end in the next round where they're going up against the 49ers and Dak, once Tony Pollard goes down, just failed to get the job done. Like there have been enough moments now where you look at the Cowboys and you just understand they don't got it come postseason time.

Like they have good teams, but they don't have great teams and they don't have elite teams. And there's a reason why they haven't been in a NFC title game since the 1995 season. So you look at the Cowboys since their season came to a close, they got blown out and they got their doors blown off up against the Green Bay Packers. This is a Dallas team that had Dak Prescott's brother fighting with the fan base where he tweeted out, Cowboys fans, why continue to DM me? Trust me, if I could get Dak to leave Dallas, I would. I too want him out of Dallas. The city and organization have been great to me and our family, but done with the drama and the so-called fans. But he loves this team and wants to bring it rings.

So there you have Tad Prescott attacking the Cowboys fans. Then you had Micah Parsons brother going after Cowboys fans as well. But if it's just a player's brother going after fans, it's not the right thing to do. Like if I'm an athlete and my brother's getting into it with the fan base, I would say we should be above that. I would tell my brothers to be quiet and stop and keep my name out of your mouth, even though it's probably done in a good place. And it's coming from a good place because you're defending your brother.

You're defending your loved one. But I think one of the craziest and it kind of got swept under the rug. Also in the aftermath of that playoff loss, CD Lamb's mother went on Facebook and said, Dak, isn't it? You know, it's one thing if you're going after the fans, you can't be related to a player and then going after his own teammates, especially when your son relies on the quarterback to get him the ball.

So that was probably the craziest one. And then also you had Jerry Jones who puts his foot in his mouth, but it's done intentionally where he's like, we're all in this off season. And the most memorable part from the Cowboys off season is Skip Bayless tweeting out all in, comma, pause, comma, pause, comma, pause my ass. When Skip Bayless tweeted that out, because what was the best move that the Cowboys made this off season?

Getting a reunion and bring him back home. Ezekiel Elliott. This team didn't get better. This team got worse. And I have no reason to believe that the Cowboys should be a playoff team this year. Like the last three years, I at least thought they'd be a playoff team.

You know, I looked at the Cowboys and I said, they're a good team. They'll get double digit wins and then they'll come up short come playoff time. But this team didn't get better.

And the NFC is slowly getting better. You know, Philadelphia thinks it a bounce back. They were 10 and one before they crapped the bed, but they have so much talent. You know, this was a tough game. You know, this off season, they went out, they added more talent. They got Saquon Barkley.

That's a team that's actually all in. You know, the Chicago Bears, they're getting better. The Lions showed that they could be a championship team from a year ago or look like a championship team. Green Bay is just getting started once again. Minnesota, you know, they shouldn't start Sam Darnold come week one. But if you start JJ McCarthy, you got some talent there. Like every team in the NFC North, the solid.

You look at the South. You know, I think the Falcons will win that division. They'll be a double digit win team.

The Bucks just made the playoffs a year ago. You know, even with Baker Mayfield and losing Tom Brady, the 49ers elite Rams still going to be really strong, even though they just lost Aaron Donald. We'll see if the Seahawks and the Cardinals can bounce back. But I look at Dallas and I'm saying, OK, you got Dak, you got Micah, you got C.D.

Sure, some big names, but this is a team. Even after the last three years, 12 wins, 12 wins, 12 wins, it seems like there's their time to go win or go get to an NFC title game has come and gone. Because what are they doing to get better? What moves are they making to get better? It's not like this is an off season where at least we can poke fun at them and say, oh, you know, they won the off season.

They'll eventually mess it up. They didn't win the off season at all. All they've won in the off season is making headlines that have nothing to do with helping the football team.

But through all of this, C.D. Lamb's mother going after Dak, Micah Parsons brother and Dak Prescott's brother going after the fan base, Jerry Jones saying this team is all in and then literally doing nothing. I kind of think this beef that happened in the last week between Micah Parsons and Malik Hooker teammates, let me remind you, not something that just left the organization and talking crap on Micah Parsons. They're still teammates. This got to take the cake.

It really does. So let me play you. This is Malik Hooker. We have two cuts here.

This is Malik Hooker on the All Facts No Breaks podcast with Keyshawn Johnson. He was asked because the Cowboys, remember, haven't paid Dak a new contract yet. That's not going to happen. And Dak, if he wants to hit free agency, can cause he has a no tag clause. They still haven't paid C.D. Lamb and they still haven't paid Micah Parsons. So here is Malik Hooker responding to the question by Keyshawn Johnson on who the Cowboys should actually pay first.

All of them should get their money, but who should go first? C.D., I put probably Dak second and I'll put Zach. Micah got to wait, man.

He's still a young dog, man. Well, I'm going to just go ahead and say this now. Micah, he shouldn't be yet. I wouldn't put Micah yet. I feel like we still got a lot to prove. Micah still has a lot to prove. He's done a great job his first couple of years in the league.

Don't get me wrong. He's a fantastic player, but I feel like Micah still has a surface that he don't even know that he can scratch as far as what he's doing. So I would say Micah, I would say Mike is last.

Santa, just play a game here for me. Pretend you knew nothing about Malik Hooker besides the fact that he plays for the Cowboys. Now, you could listen to that answer and you could maybe say, oh, this is Malik just trying to motivate Micah a little bit. And you would think, right, he's like the old days veteran, you know, a guy that's probably on like the 18th hole of his career. Right. When you hear that, wouldn't you think Malik Hooker's like, at least in his thirties, you know, has been around the league for a while, like 32, 33, and he's just trying to get the, the young pup in Micah Parsons just really fired up, correct?

Yeah, something like that. But also just generally don't talk about other people's money. I agree. But Micah Parsons is 25. He was born in 99. Malik Hooker was born in 96. He's only 28 years old and no offense to Malik Hooker.

Like if you were 33, 34 and you've accomplished a lot in this league and you were like a guy that could potentially be a hall of famer, you know, I think that would be viewed as someone just trying to motivate a youngster. But Malik Hooker has been a fine player in the NFL. He was a first round pick by Indianapolis, but he's never been a star in this league. And he's talking about the star, the Cowboys defense. So that is bonkers for Malik Hooker to say, oh, not, and no one's really talking about Zach Martin's money, but people are talking about Dak.

People are talking about CD. You throw Zach in there and you're like, yeah, Micah Parsons last, he's got a whole lot more to prove. So Malik Hooker didn't stop there. He then discuss Micah Parsons in season podcast.

Once again, this is on the all facts, no break show with Keyshawn Johnson. I don't have a problem with it. I feel like a lot of these guys though, they just get on there sometimes and they start falling into the part of, you know, just saying stuff, you know, for the clicks and having people to come view and stuff like that.

So, I mean, I don't have no problem with it. My thing would be though for Micah, my advice would be for Micah would be, you know, just make sure we're all right, you know, and being where your feet are. Cause if we're not working, you know, the run game is terrible, but you're doing a podcast every week and you know, the run game is terrible then, you know, what are you really caring about? Are you caring about the crowd that, you know, is watching your podcast?

Are you caring about the success of our team and the Superbowl that we're trying to reach? So basically told him, you're doing your podcast and if things aren't going well for us, it's a bad look when you do the podcast and we wonder where your commitment level is. That's what he basically said. So, you know, Micah Parsons never sits one out and in credit to him and in fairness to him, he should jump into this one because Malik Hooker is a teammate of yours and he's talking all this crap about him. So Micah Parsons goes online and he says, just wish you should have, you would have said this to me, but instead on some podcasts and you got my number family, Malik, you are my locker mate.

So you could have said this any day and you do realize I shoot the podcast on our off days. I, why ain't we talking about everyone preparation and focus? That's what Micah Parsons then responded back and he since deleted those comments. Jerry Jones is sitting there, right? He has that McDonald's like McGriddle sandwich or what?

I don't eat McDonald's, but that's a sandwich that he has or something from hard knocks and he puts like the 15 pounds of salt on that disgusting sandwich that he eats. He's sitting there and he's licking his chops before he eats that because this is what Jerry Jones loves. He probably called up Malik Hooker and said, you're getting a raise, big fella.

That's what he probably said to him because now you have Micah Parsons annoyed at Malik Hooker and it's one of those situations where it's like, oh, there's drama once again in Jerry's world. The Cowboys have so much drama. You have a quarterback that's not getting paid. You have a head coach who's basically the lame duck coach of the final year of his contract and now you've got members of the defense. It's not the first time this off season, but you've got members of the defense going at one another.

This team, they've been able to survive a lot throughout the years. This is where I think it implodes. I really do. I'm already out. It's July 1st. Training camp hasn't even started. We haven't even had a stupid preseason game yet.

There hasn't even been a regular season game yet. I'm already out in the Cowboys. I think there's too much drama, but that's the way the Cowboys like it. But I think there's too much drama even for the Cowboys this year to put out a good quality product and go on to actually right the wrongs from a few years ago and, and get some revenge from what everyone's been saying about this team. I don't think they'll be in a position. I don't think they're going to make the playoffs this year. I think the Cowboys will be on the outside looking income playoff time. Cause eventually when there's all this noise, there's all this dysfunction and there's all this drama.

It's got to catch up to you. And I think there's too much smoke here and there's going to be a big fire in the Cowboys season and it's going to be ugly. Dallas will not be one of my seven teams to make the playoffs out of the NFC.

Wow. I mean, there's, there's nothing else to say other than wow. With the talent on that team, if they were to miss the playoffs, considering the regular season success that they've had over the past half decade, if they were to miss the playoffs, I think that would be one of the biggest shockers in the NFL.

I can't really call it that big of a shocker. Like hear me out, especially in that division. Hear me out Eagles win the division.

Let's just say, yep. And no one repeats in that division in Dallas when it last year. So let's say Eagles win the division. Then the North I'll go the Detroit lines, the South they'll take Atlanta and the West I'll go to 49ers. Those are four teams in all division winners.

There's three spots left. Even at attic, after adding the extra wildcard spot, I trust the Rams more heading into this season. I trust the Green Bay Packers more heading into this season. Quite frankly, I think the bears are going to be 10 and seven and Chicago make the post season. Tampa Bay is more than capable of making the post season. Seattle could bounce back.

I just, there's always teams that make the playoffs one year and then miss the next. Distractions are a thing and there's too many distractions with this team. The coach doesn't know his future. The quarterback doesn't know his future. And now you have members of the defense fighting on podcasts about someone doing too many podcasts and questioning a commitment level. And it's not like he just questioned Joe Schmo.

This is the star of your defense that you're questioning. Big, big, big, big, big problems in Dallas. It is the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network.

We have big, big, big, big, big problems here at the infinity sports network. We asked some people to participate in a little athletic competition and it did not go well over the weekend in raw way, New Jersey, as we participated in the charity kickball tournament, we got all the tape and we'll spill all the tea when we come on back about the charity kickball game with the infinity sports network team that we did put together. I put together, I wasn't asked. Well, I did ask you on the air. No, I asked you on the air and you said, no, I'm not doing that. When did I, when did you ask? I didn't ask you via email, but I asked you on the air like a month ago.

I asked every single person at this network, at this station. I was begging people to participate. I couldn't have done it anyway, but I know you wouldn't have done it anyway. No, I couldn't have no, I couldn't have, but you would not have participated in the kickball. I might've, I haven't played kickball since day camp. Trust me, I played in five or six games. Five or six games? Yeah, it was a whole tournament.

Oh man. I was, I was in the outfield in center field and I was running all over and then I walked three miles back to my apartment. My legs, still, tournament was on Saturday, so I had Sunday to rest.

Still on fire today. There you go. It's good for you. Yeah. My, my legs are in better shape than EJ's legs. We'll get into that on the other side.

Is that why EJ wasn't in today? I got hurt, got hurt in a big way. We'll tell you more about it on the other side. All right. It's time to ask the pros. If you're the listener gets asked us a question on the Zach Gelb show brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Simply tweet your question at INF Sportsnighter at Zach Gelb using the hashtag ask the pros. Be listening later in the show when we might answer your question.

Think O'Reilly Auto Parts while your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. So the big charity kickball game, well, kickball tournament, it did happen over the weekend on Saturday in beautiful Rawe, New Jersey. Bill's offensive lineman, college buddy of mine, Dion Dawkins, was hosting the event and I didn't realize how organized this was going to be. I didn't understand the seriousness and the competitive nature of this tournament. There was like five games, three innings each that you needed to play before you got into the playoffs or before you got into the championship round.

So there's qualifying rounds. Well, the Infinity Sports Network team, we kind of had to throw in the towel after game two. Now I stayed along with my two other buddies from Temple, Mike and Corey, and we got put on another team and we actually, that team was 0-2 when we got there and we won their first game with them and I made a great catch in center field. My buddy Corey had the game-winning kick and we brought them some life. We brought them some hope and then we eventually made the playoffs. We made the championship rounds and we got the championship rounds and we lost, I think right before you could place.

So you'd be one of the top three teams. So we did a good job there, but I knew our team was mentally cooked when EJ, the producer of Maggie and Perloff, who I thought was going to be a star in this charity kickball tournament, just how he showed up. He had the joggers on, you know, they give you a bandana when you play. You know, he was looking like a million bucks, EJ, and he was stretching, warming up before the game and I go, oh, EJ is going to be a player.

And there was stealing in this kickball tournament. So you would just have to take off before the ball was released from the pitcher. So in the first inning, EJ is on second, he goes to steal third, and as he's landing at third, he collapses. So I'm like at first, because I was right in the dugout at that time, I'm thinking to myself, man, EJ is really going all out. You know, he just slid in a charity kickball game into third base. Turns out, though, is a non-contact leg injury. And at first we thought he tore his ACL.

Like, I'm not a doctor, I won't pretend to be a doctor. But EJ was saying, I heard something pop, I thought it was a torn ACL. So I walked over, we did, what is it, the fireman carry?

When you have someone, you know, basically two people go underneath your shoulder. So I helped fireman carry EJ to the dugout. The moment that happened, we lost Maggie in the game. You know, Maggie, who I thought was going to be a star, I thought she was going to be our best player. She was basically like the Jamarcus Russell of our kickball team.

You know, the high draft pick, going to be the star, and then just didn't have the commitment level. Because Maggie then, she went into mom mode. The moment EJ got hurt, she's like, I got to drive EJ to the hospital.

We got to get an ACE bandage on this. Like, and her kid was there. You know, Maggie's kid was there. She was caring more for EJ than her actual kid. But I will say this, Maggie's husband, Maggie's husband was like fricking Paylight.

He played college soccer. He was tremendous at the dish and he was even better in the field. So I give Maggie, Maggie's husband credit. But the moment that happened, Maggie went from being all in on the kickball to then EJ got hurt, I'm done.

But actually on that morning show, which I love and I'm a company guy, the most disappointing person actually was Perloff. Perloff thought he was like Juju Smith Schuster. He cared more about the TikTok, the social media posts.

You know, he walks in with the breakaway pants and he could barely even rip them off his body. He's like record this, record that. You know, he was like Micah Parsons. He was just caring about the podcast. Right. In this case, the social media posts. So I do want to say this, though, even though the kickball tournament didn't go our way, you know, I admire the effort of EJ.

I do. He actually had a torn patella tendon, which is just mind boggling that happened in a charity kickball game. Shows that everyone around here, even yours truly, is getting a little bit old how sore I am today after going on to play like four more games after the team just threw in the towel and they placed me on a different team. But EJ was kind of our Aaron Rodgers.

You know, no ayahuasca, no Egypt, no darkness retreats. But there was a lot of hype around EJ and this injury happened in the first game in the first inning. It's kind of like Rodgers debuting for the Jets against the Bills. And then four plays into the season, the Jets season came just right to a halt.

And the season was over. And also our boss, David Maranick, Samter, you think Dave's a good or bad kickball player, by the way, Mike? See, I could see either way. I can see him being an absolute clutch that can't get the ball past the pitcher. But I could also be see him being like a secret assassin who's just like, you know, pinging doubles and liners all over the field. So knowing that he has the laugh of Mr. Belding, I'm going with the first one, that he was an absolute clutch and couldn't get it past the shortstop. If I was mean, which I was not, and Dave takes center field right out of the gate, which is a tough position in this kickball tournament, I'm like, OK, Dave is going to show himself.

Dave's going to be awesome. He demanded to play center field. If this was a sandlot, I would have been yelled at him.

You're killing me, Smalls! There was one, I saved Dave in this tournament for the first game. A ball hit off his chest. I was playing right field. I came running over and then snagged the ball as it was about to hit the ground, which ended the inning. There was only one player in the entire tournament to not steal the base.

Like even E.J., when he tore the patella tendon, at least stole the base. He was safe? He was safe.

Good for him. It was a non-contact injury. It wasn't even close.

Like, it was completely safe. Dave was the only person, and it happened in the next inning after the E.J. injury, to get picked off and get caught stealing, which ended the inning, and then the team just collapsed after that.

And we got blown out in the first game. But Dave, fielding-wise, was like Luis Castillo. Remember the Met Yankee game where there was a pop-up and A-Rod slammed his bat? We all thought the game was over?

That was Dave. The first game didn't kill us, even though he had the stolen base and the dropped ball, which I saved. But in the second game, it was almost as if the ball was magnetically connected to Dave. It was crazy. The ball just kept on getting kicked to him, and just as it was about to get close, it just went just past him.

So that was kind of the kickball tournament. And then you want to hear Perloff, why I call him Juju Smith-Schuster, because he only cares about social media? Deion walks over to E.J. after we got E.J.

situated. He's like, we're going to take care of you, blah, blah, blah. Deion is the nicest guy. And he's just being such a good dude, talking to E.J. And in the middle of this heartfelt moment between E.J. and Deion Dawkins, where Deion Dawkins is basically blessing the leg of E.J. and holding the leg and making sure it's in place and he's all right, Perloff's like, oh, we need a team photo with you, Deion. They're in the midst of a really nice conversation, like a genuine, heartfelt moment.

And Perloff's like, hey, Deion, enough of talking about producer. We need a team photo. And then they all left. They all left. And then myself, my friend Cory, my friend Mike, we got placed on a different team.

We went through the entirety of the tournament. And then I'm like a moron because it was a mile from the Robby train station. It was a mile to walk there and a mile to walk back. Then I took the train into Penn Station after playing a full day of kickball. I think I had like 15000 steps on my phone. My phone wasn't always in my pocket. I get to Penn Station. I go, you know, I'm going to walk to my apartment, home from my apartment.

It's a beautiful day, a three and a half mile walk. My legs are on fire today, but at least I made it through the entirety of the kickball. You know, the only one that gets a pass is E.J. because he got hurt stealing third base. Everybody else, they bailed after two games. And I think they used E.J. as an excuse because I think they got spooked out, which I can understand to some extent where they're like, oh, E.J. got hurt. He's in somewhat good shape. So they never announced probably like, yeah, I'm going to bail on the kickball tournament. Chael Sonnen going to join us next. We'll recap UFC 303. This is the Zach Elm Show.