The Mets are a Team of D*****y? (Hour 2)

Alrighty, hour number two of our radio program.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Hot Take Hickey is here. We're going to do some picks with him coming up momentarily, but before we do picks Ryan, let's go around the sports world right now. I know you were at the big Mets victory, Game 4, just like I was as well. I saw you were there with the entire Hickey crew, which I'm surprised that many family members got tickets in the same section with how many family members you have, but give me the take. Give me the take on the Mets as they're lonely waiting in the NLCS right now, waiting to see what's going to happen with the Padres and the Dodgers. Call me crazy. Call me a homer. They're one of the world series. I hate when you do this. I've already tweeted it before, so this is not in the moment here, Hickey Hex. They've already won now two playoff series since the tweet has been in the ether. I just hate when you do this, because of our past experiences with teams that we share the same rooting interest for, and then you do this, and then the teams that we both have rooted for have not won championships.

Correct, and they've come close, painfully close at times, being the New York Rangers now a few times, and have not gotten through. Here's the difference. There's two things. Number one, I do buy into the Magic.

I agree with Magic. Do not use the D word, Destiny. I hate when people say two rounds prior to actually winning it all, like they did with my Rangers. This is a team of Destiny, and you know what I also don't like? I met a listener at the game. He was in game four, came up to me, very nice guy, and he goes, I'm a Yankee fan. He goes, but I think you guys are winning it all. Those are the two things, my pet peeves, when people say a team of Destiny, when a team gets hot, when they still got work to do, and then also when other fans don't have confidence in their team, so then they already try to prop me up and make me think my team is winning it all.

I will then refrain from using the D word since it's banned on the show, and I'll phrase it this way. Everything that's happened this year, the OMG song, Grimace, but even on the field... Hawk Toa! No, she's out. Why?

She's out, no. Why are we banning the Hawk Toa? Seymour Wiener, I'm in for the veteran of the game, the first... Wait, you're in for Seymour Wiener for not the Hawk Toa?

I'm in for the hot dog eating dog Iggy Glizzy, or Glizzy Iggy, whatever it is. I'm in for everything except Hawk Toa. Why? You don't like a lot of Hawk Toa? She's trying too hard.

Who cares? She is trying way too... not for me. Sweetheart, set it up. Go find another team. Wait, now hold on, hold on. Every win she tweets, oh, let's go Mets, Hawk Toa is on the Mets.

No, no, no. The Mets were on this run well before she came in. They were a joke because of her, and they, like, she's had no impact on the season. She cannot get on the bandwagon.

You know what's going to happen, though? Now since you're anti-Hawk Toa, which is surprising that you're anti-Hawk Toa, is that this is going to be the curse. I've been anti. This is not waking up after game four and now I'm touching the money. You need to apologize to the Hawk Toa girl. We can't have any negative mojo going on here.

When was that, August, if I remember correctly, right? Who cares? She's been on board. I'm saying, my point is, I've been out on her since day one. This is not one of those I woke up this morning and now I'm touching the money or ruining the mojo here.

Can I ask you a question? You tell your girlfriend that you don't like Hawk Toa as well? I have not. I have not told her that. That's smart. You should probably not tell her that. Yeah, I'll leave that one out there.

Here's the thing, though, all kidding aside and all juvenile jokes that I keep on making. I was working out the other day and I have my Mets playlist, like all songs growing up associated with the Mets. And there's just a moment when you think about this team that even though for most of the year, right, in like April and May and June, I thought this team was cooked. And then there's that magic and they're starting it alive. And then you're like, OK, they're going to find the way to get in the postseason. I've never allowed myself to get to the spot yet that they're going to win it all. After being in that stadium for Game four and running around like I haven't run around a long time from a sports moment and I've had moments to run around. I do feel like now I am taking the bait in terms of where you're going that I can envision. Like I had a chill go up my spine when I was working out the other day because I let my brain go into that spot of thinking like game's over.

Boom. Celebrating Mets win the World Series. I've allowed my mind to go there. Doesn't mean they're going to win it. But I made a mistake as a sports fan in 2015, where when the Mets lost and I was in the building up against the Royals in Game five. When the Mets lost, I go unexpected run. Great run.

Fun season. They'll be back now that they're close again. And I haven't seen this team win in my lifetime. And baseball so funky, too. You look at the Phillies that I know they lost to the World Series, but the crazy run they went on two years ago, the Diamondbacks. I know they lost to the World Series, but we've seen teams like the Nationals who were dreadful for the first 60 games go on to win a World Series. Now that we're here with eight wins to go and all they need to do is just go eight and six. Eight and six. That's it.

Yeah. It's not a failure if they don't win it. But I will have a lot of sports pain if they don't find the way to win the World Series now. When I bought in, I thought they were going to make the playoffs, but I'm not going to tell you. If it's easy for you to buy in, you get like a little opening and all of a sudden, Hickey like burst in like he's the Kool-Aid man. And he's like, I'm all in with this team.

You are very correct. And up until two weeks ago, I was not saying World Series. I just get me the playoffs.

And then from there, I would have been happy with anything. But that game in Atlanta where the Mets had to win to make the playoffs one out of two, you're getting basically essentially no hit for seven innings. All of a sudden, the eighth inning, you explode for six runs in the House of Horrors, where for our 30 years of our lifetime, Atlanta has been where Mets dreams go to die. To have that eighth inning, you're up now 6-3 in a game where again, you win, you're in the postseason. To then allow four runs in the bottom of the eighth, and all of a sudden now, all those horrors come back at you. Here we go again to for a Francisco and Dort hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning. Take all the momentum back, send the Mets to the playoffs. Right there, I said, everything that's happened up to this point, Grimace, OMG, again, this incredible run since June 1st. This is all not happening for them to just lose to Milwaukee, to lose to the Phillies, Pete Alonso's home run in the ninth inning when you're down 2-0 with your C's on the line. This is not ending up with anything less than a World Series win. Sometimes, very, very rarely, do movies mirror real life.

This feels like a movie that is actually happening in reality. Okay, so there's Hickey's thoughts on the Mets. Just shocking, I know. We're on serious chance, I know. I think you need to apologize to Hawk, too.

Just don't run the risk of messing anything up. Don't try so hard! Why are you every game watching the Mets? Hold on. Nobody has, don't try so hard. Maybe you take some advice, then.

Aren't you the same guy with the paper shredder with the picks and everything? Isn't that trying hard? How is that trying hard? All I'm trying to do is trying to entertain. She's trying to be reckoned. She's trying to entertain, too. No, she's trying to garner praise for the Mets run that she has no business deserving of. Grimace, give him all the praise!

He deserves it! She threw out the first pitch for a good cause. And what happened? Yeah, great cause, yes. Was it to help rescue animals, I believe?

Congratulations to her. Hickey doesn't like dogs. That's what I just heard from this conversation. Anti-dog. Okay, let's get to a little college football. Let me start with your alma mater, Penn State.

Yes. USC, I think this is a tricky, tricky spot for Penn State. I think they're going to win, but there is a part of me, I don't like the way Penn State has been playing lately since the West Virginia game. USC, there's no reason to believe in USC. I think it's not a trap game because it's USC, but I think this is a spot where Penn State has a lot to prove because Penn State under James Franklin usually loses a game like this and they probably have no business in actually losing this game, if we're being honest.

I'm actually not that nervous about this game. I know it's easy to overlook because USC lost to Minnesota and now they go from number 11 to unranked and that loses what could have been a top 10 match if you lose sizzle there, I get it. But this is still, like you said, USC, there's been a lot of focus on going out west. Only a three and a half point spread too. Yes, but it's a CBS game. They have started off slow.

It's inexcusable. I've been waiting for a faster start offensively, defensively. What gives me hope, though, that even, I think we'll see another slow start, but I think they're going to win and pull away late. They're just so much better in the trenches. Offensive line, defense line, I think they're going to maul USC. USC and their two losses, they've allowed 483 rushing yards to Minnesota and Michigan. Penn State's one of the best rushing teams in the country, Nick Singleton back.

I think they'll beat them down in the trenches. You know what you've done, by the way, on social media that has confused me lately? What's that? When a team loses, like one game, I've seen you tweet in like two or three circumstances, oh, their season's over. Right. How is the season over now in this 12-team format where you could afford to lose a game?

Because then it's also projecting ahead. So, for example, a team that you haven't mentioned yet, but one that I know for sure said— Mizzou, right? Ole Miss. Mizzou, too. But those are perfect examples, Mizzou, Ole Miss. Because you look at their schedules, you look, okay, now that you lost a game you shouldn't have, who are you then going to beat to impress? In the case of Mizzou— So you're projecting into the future?

Yes. I'm not saying their schedule 11-1, I mean, they're now one loss, it's over, but Mizzou has to play Alabama. Even though Alabama just lost to Vandy, and now I guess anything is possible, Kevin Garnett, is Mizzou beating Alabama on the road?

No, they're not. So now you look at best, you're 10-2 after that ass-whooping by A&M, probably an ass-whooping by Alabama. What impressive win do you have on your resume?

Zero. And then again, that's assuming you're winning games that you're supposed to win, and that was a game that we thought A&M was going to or Mizzou was going to win. Ole Miss, same thing. You can't beat good teams whatsoever. So now you lose to Kentucky, tricky one here against LSU.

You have still George on your schedule as well going forward. You're like, they have tough games on the schedule, Ole Miss could be 9-3. You're like a hamster on the wheel right now. You're going a thousand miles. Oh, I'm sorry. You're like, this is the biggest weekend. This is the biggest weekend. You're going nuts.

Like, you got to calm down. My apologies. All right, you mentioned Ole Miss. Ole Miss, LSU. This is a seasons on the line game. The loser of this game, season's over. The winner, you still have a chance.

You control your own destiny. Correct. At least. You have more confidence than Ole Miss or LSU? I'm actually taking, despite what I just said, I think Ole Miss is going to win.

Classic hickey. I think they're going to win. I like their offense a lot against this porous LSU defense. This would be Lane Kiffin's probably his biggest win if you want to. Maybe the Peach Bowl against Penn State last year, if you want to count that.

No one cares they're irrelevant. Then this would be the biggest win of his Ole Miss career on the road, which is tough. This LSU defensive stinks.

Stinks. If Ole Miss can't win this game, you're in trouble. I'll take Ole Miss. Did Kiffin ever beat Bama? No, sir. No? No. He gave them, like, a run for their money one time.

Like, a back and forth. Got blown out another time. Yeah, blown out. Yeah. Hold it. Get your popcorn ready.

Then proceed to get down 20, nothing right away. Okay. Thanks, Lane.

Okay. Kansas State, Colorado. Colorado, I thought, had a very impressive win a little while ago against UCF. They did.

They did. Going down there, double digits. You get Chris Kleiman, who's one of the more underrated coaches in the country. Is this a Shadore Sanders, Travis Hunter, Coach Prime, huge victory?

I don't think so. I like Kansas State's physicality, and I like their rushing attack. And I think when you try to get physical and bully Colorado, you can win. If you try to outflank and outskill out-talent Colorado, especially their offense versus your defense, they're going to win.

They still have a ton of talent, obviously. I still don't trust this Colorado offensive line right now to protect Shadore against a good defensive line, and I just don't trust right now Colorado's defense, they've been better than I thought so far this year, to slow down Avery Johnson and this rushing attack. Give me K State on the road.

Okay. Here's the big one. Ryan Day, the last three years, hasn't been able to win a big game. Oregon, Dan Lanning has done a good job with that program, but doesn't have that signature victory yet because he lost twice last year to Washington. Ohio State, Oregon, Oregon, even though they're undefeated, they started the year off a little slow against Idaho and Boise State, they've played better now, this is a moment to restore national championship confidence, and then it's a moment for Ohio State where I don't think Ohio State has, it's weird to say in a 2-3 matchup there's nothing to win for Ohio State because obviously you want to win the game, but to me there's more pressure on Ohio State because if Ryan Day loses this game it's going to be like, oh you have all this talent and they're already showing signs that Ryan Day is a little bit fraudulent. So I think there's more pressure on Ohio State. I agree a million percent because also too now if you lose this game to Oregon, even though it's the number three team on the road, that's, I mean a great loss quote unquote, but you really have nothing to hang your hat on, but what it does like you said is now all of a sudden all those critics, Ryan Day came in the big game, he came in the big game, can't be trusted, they come out of the woodwork, and then all of a sudden again you have a tough game at Penn State here in a few weeks, it just, it, for this team being national title or bust, they had the most pressure of any team this year because of what they got coming back, the money they spent in the portal, have all that pressure, national title expectations to lose at Oregon, then have to go back on the road in a few weeks to play at Penn State, it, I mean this is as close to a must-win for just Ryan Day alone in Ohio State.

I'm with you, they have so much pressure on them. Alrighty, Botcher, cue up the music, cue up the sounder, let's get to some NFL picks with Hick. It's time for NFL picks on the Zach Gelb show. NFL picks with Hick. I like it.

Nah, I, no? A pick with Hick. Okay. But you're giving multiple picks, so. Picks with, yeah, wow. No Hawk 2-er for you, calm down.

Alrighty, what do you got? I'll let you go first, you're on my turf today, go ahead. Well, let's just go Homer here, Colts are getting two and a half points on the road at the Titans, Will Levis stinks, Mason Rudolph stinks, Anthony Richardson who could play stinks. Well, he's been hurt, he's been hurt.

You may want to go with Joe here. No, no, no, I'd rather, here's a hot take for you, I would rather lose this game with Anthony Richardson than win this game with Joe Flacco. No, no, okay, so long term I agree with you, like, when Anthony Richardson is fully healthy you play him. I know he's practiced this week, but is he fully healthy? Like do you want another week of just keeping him on the bench? I want him to play. Okay.

Get him out there, I think he will play. Colts on the road getting, I think they went out right, Titans stink, give me the Colts. Okay. So you have the Indianapolis Colts plus two and a half.

Yes, sir. For my first pick, Ryan Hot Take Kiki hates this man, despises this man. A lot of people here.

Is very jealous of this man because he's a winner. I am taking the Los Angeles Chargers with Jim Harbaugh to cover the three points up against the Broncos. You know, you're off the Broncos these days after the last two years having outrageous predictions saying they're going to be a Super Bowl team, then going to be a playoff team. Nothing from you this year with the Broncos and now they're sitting there at three and two, but I know you're a Sean Payton guy. I know you like Bo Nix.

I don't know how you think he's going to be as a pro quarterback, but you were impressed with what he did at Oregon. I am taking the Chargers laying three in this one. Perfect timing. Give me the Broncos plus three. They went out right. I like the Broncos a lot.

Their defense under Vance Joseph has been tremendous. Are you just fading me here or was that your actual pick? No, no, that was actually one of my picks and that's why when you said I hate him, he's a winner. Honestly, I didn't know where you're going because there's a lot of people I do not like.

That fits perfectly. I like right now how Bo Nix has progressed. I don't fear this Chargers defense.

I don't think they're going to pose a lot of, you know, at least make it tough for him to have success. Broncos forget about covering the three at home. I think they went out right.

All righty. My next pick. If this game was a little bit later in the year and the weather wasn't great, I would maybe think of avoiding this one. I'm taking the Atlanta Falcons laying the six points up against the Carolina Panthers. I think the Panthers could give them a good first half, but I think in the second half you will see the Atlanta Falcons pull away and I know it has been pretty the last two weeks with the Saints and the Bucks, but their wins, they gave the Chiefs a good game.

They came from behind up against the Eagles and they had a close game up against the Steelers. This Panthers defense with Derek Brown out for the year, Shaq Thomas, you know, out as well. I just think this is a spot where you finally get Atlanta pulling away with the victory with Shaq Thompson out and Derek Brown out as well. So give me the Atlanta Falcons laying six points.

I hope so. We're talking about a close game here. Not good for Atlanta.

Last one. There's a lot of rumblings about this team. Some controversy, some maybe internal feuding. Not good for the Cowboys. Give me the Lions on the road. They're getting three and a half or giving three and a half.

I should say it doesn't matter. I think they went handily here. You look at the Lions so far through five games, they, I think there's a real argument too. They're the most well-rounded, complete team so far through five games. I like how their defense is playing. I like how their offense is playing. Dallas right now, is Zeke getting the ball enough? Jerry Jones says, don't worry about it.

We're saving him. Zeke says he's frustrated. This offense is not very good. Dak's turned the ball over. I like Detroit big in big D here. They cover the three and a half and win by double digits. I think the Giants had scored some points up against the Bengals.

I do. The Bengals defense, unless they're going up against Mahomes, they stink. So no Malik neighbors, but still is Daniel Jones going to play another good game. I'm going to bet against the Giants.

I'm going to fade Daniel Jones. I think the Bengals, they start to get a little win streak here, back to back games. I think they take care of business. Oh, no, actually they just lost to the Ravens. So two out of their last three. Don't they play the Patriots next?

I think that's our three project. No, no, no. They play the Browns next, the Bengals, which is probably a win. But anyway, I think they'll, they'll, they'll replicate a game like they did up against the Panthers or they'll like win like 34 to 24. So give me the Bengals lay in four. So here are the picks this week, hot take Hickey with us, his picks Broncos plus three Colts plus two and a half Lions lay in three and a half.

I have the chargers lay in three, the Falcons lay in six and the Cincinnati Bengals lay in four. Now I put Stu out on a little mission today. You see Stu is not here. Oh, what is going on? He's my pizza delivery man today. I ordered three pizzas.

So we have, I even got you dinner tonight. Wow. I was going to use a phrase that I'll refrain from. What?

I'll save it after the air. Okay. Not appropriate? Not appropriate.

Probably not. Okay. Pretty disparaging towards Stu, but that's, that's his role nowadays. Pizza boy, huh? Yeah. I needed someone to go get the pizza. I got to speak on the air.

Botchers got it on the board and Stu was just standing there. Is there any occasion for the big pizza Friday? Yeah. I had Craig Cardin on earlier in the week and it was, uh, it was, there was a Met playoff game I think going on.

Okay. I forget when we had him exactly on, but it was one of them and I go, I miss you on a day like this. Cause I know Craig would have food that gave birth to food.

And he was like going after Tiki, going after Evan, going after Boomer and Gio. And then he goes, well, now that I think about it, he goes, you make enough money. You're like a big wig on the network. You should get your staff pizza. So I felt like I was guilted into now getting the staff pizza. So just going to get every, Santa's not here today, so he's going to be annoyed at me for getting pizza. So I kind of find that funny.

It's good show content. I like that. Maybe Santa could be off every Friday. We'll just have pizza Friday, every Friday. And he's pretty much like off every, every day now, and he's going to be like, it is the Zach Yelp show on the infinity sports network. We will take a time out when we come on back. Five things to watch this weekend in college football, you're listening to the Zach Gelb show.

Not right. This portion of the show is brought to you by sleeper. Just download the sleeper app today and use code score.

When signing up must be present in certain States visit sleeper.com for details sponsored by sleeper, a blitz product. So botcher, should we be worried? I sent Stu out. He left at four Oh three. It's now four 27. It's a five minute walk to the pizza place.

I ordered three pies so we could all have some food today and a little dinner here. And Stu is not back yet. It's four 27 PM Eastern time. I was told the pizza, the za would be ready by four 10 PM Eastern time. So should we be concerned at all that Stu's not back and maybe he's taken our pizza and run him with it since it's already paid for. Give it five minutes because sometimes they say it's a close, but it's not okay.

I'll give him five more minutes. Stu doesn't come off though. There's some people that are around here that I work with that would steal the pizza. See, there, there just are, there's just some people here that they would definitely steal the pizza. They would take advantage and just steal the pizza.

They'd run with it and they would just say that, Hey, something happened, you know, and just take the pizza for themselves. But Stu, I think is the most honest person, not only in this building, but in this company. I think if he gives Stu a task, he's going to come back with the task done, completed. I'm just, you know, Stu gets a little nervous sometimes, so he could have tripped or something like that. That's what I get. Could have dropped it. Oh, if he dropped the pizza, that's a sin to say that's, that's a fireball offense.

If you drop the beats, all righty. Five things to watch this weekend in college football. Let's start with the matchup. That is the biggest matchup of the weekend. Oregon going up against Ohio state in Eugene. It is the coaching matchup for me.

We talked a little bit about it with hot take Hickey. This is a game where Ryan day, you could have a big moment where sure it doesn't take away the pain that Ohio state fans have had the last three years where let me remind you guys, whether you want to admit it or not, Ohio state fans, you lost to Michigan three straight years, and you didn't win the big 10 championship for three straight years. And now you have a moment to show that Ryan day, that this is the appetizer for what is going to be a special season for Ohio state football. And this coach is more than capable of winning a big game. That's what's on the line on the other side for Oregon with Dan Lanning, he's done a really good job and I'm a big fan of Dan Lanning and he's received a lot of national praise for what he's done in the last two years with the ducks.

But with that being said, there's not a signature marquee moment right now with Oregon and Dan Lanning in your house, you have a chance to do that on Saturday. So I want to see which coach rises to the occasion. Stick with the coaching battle. We will go to Penn state and USC Lincoln Riley.

It's been a rollercoaster ride this year where how they started the season. A lot of people are like, hey, Lincoln Riley and I've been leading this charge is overrated. He's a good coach, not a great coach has been to all those college football playoff games and appearances and has all those Heisman trophy winners and finalists and has never won a college football playoff game. But then the first game of the season, bam, you beat LSU. After that, though, we've seen the wave of emotions with the inconsistency with one Lincoln Riley.

So now this is a moment where people have pretty much forgot about you, three and two, you're not in the top 25 where you're like off into the corner and the filet mignon that's coming into town. The main course that's coming into town are the Penn state Nittany lions where their coach James Franklin wins a lot of games, but he's allergic to winning the big game. So I think this is a matchup where I'd rather have Lincoln Riley's career clearly than James Franklin, but both of these coaches, at least Lincoln Riley has got to the big games and has got to the college football playoffs, which James Franklin has it.

But both of these coaches in the big spots, different big spot for James Franklin compared to Lincoln Riley, they both kind of fold. And that's why I think this game will be fascinating. All right, red river, little showdown happening, always a ton of points, Texas and Oklahoma. For me, Texas is expected to win this game and win it going away. But for Oklahoma, I want to see the quarterbacks here. They've made the change to Michael Hawkins Jr. Quinn, you were now for Texas is coming back.

How much rust is there to knock off after being out the last few weeks with injuries? Can Michael Hawkins have that big moment? Cause you remember a few years ago when you had a red river and Caleb Williams got replaced when Spencer Rattler was their quarterback, that was in game and then you had the great Caleb Williams performance. I want to see if Michael Hawkins can maybe have, you know, a little bit of a special moment.

So that to me, Ewers and Hawkins is something to watch for. Alabama, they're playing South Carolina, South Carolina is a gritty team. You got to have a bounce back performance if you're Alabama. Because what happened last week, that was bad, really bad up against Vanderbilt after having such a great win up against Georgia. And then finally Ole Miss and LSU.

Both of these teams, you're on life support, they both dropped the game. I think a lot of people are out on Brian Kelly at LSU. And for Ole Miss, you know, Lane Kiffin lost the game where it was surprising that his offense didn't show up and they lost it because of their offense and not their defense. Their defense actually did play well up against Kentucky and they missed the kick at the end.

But I do think Ole Miss is going to win, but whoever loses this game, you can kiss goodbye your playoff chances. Alrighty, Stu is back. I don't see the pizza. Did you get the pizza? Oh, it's in the newsroom.

It's in the newsroom. Just making sure. I was getting a little worried. At 4 27 p.m. Eastern time, I go, is Stu doing a hit and run on us? Is he taking the pizza and running home to his girlfriend? And then Botcher said, not Stu, give him five more minutes and he will be there. But here's the thing I'm very concerned about.

He left the pizza in the newsroom unguarded. I'm watching it. I have an eye on it. It's not in my sight.

If you start to see all those vultures take the pizza before I open up and get a slice, I would be very annoyed with how much New York City pizza costs if I don't even get a slice out of this. Alrighty. So I'm very happy that you made it back in one piece. I was a little bit worried. Mine forms to the left.

Well, now you actually could cut the entire line. You are like our senior Grand Poobah around here. We once had an incident. Yes.

There was an egg roll. No, there was a pizza incident where somebody had too many. Really? Yes. Oh, I remember this. Wait, you're talking a radio guy having too much pizza? Yeah.

What happened? Well, back in the day we used to do this and... March Madness? No, no, no, no. Every Friday we used to do this. Are you talking when Craig was here or before? Well, no, well before. And so at first we just used to each take a slice.

You know, sort of like happy hour. Okay, yeah. Take a slice. Don't be a pig. Yeah.

Don't be a chaza. Then the staff grew a little. So we expanded to two pies. Okay.

And as I said, let's just say somebody had way more than expected. Does this person still work here? No.

Can I take a guess? Sure. Behind the scenes person? No. Well, one was a little behind the scene, but, you know... Like a producer?

He wasn't as egregious. I'll just say that. Robbie Rosenhaus?

Oh, okay. Definitely not. Big guy? Little guy? Medium-sized guy. James Graceffa? No. Somebody you wouldn't expect would have that kind of appetite. Stu, do you know who it is?

I do, yes. Can you give me a hint? Well, that would give it away. You have a hint, Dak? On this person? I'd have to think of a hint.

He is multifaceted. How about that? Yes. Paul Rosenberg? No.

Anthony Piero? No. And the person still works here? No. Oh, they don't work here? No.

They do not work here. All right. Can I get an initial of the first name? Mm.

D. Damon Amendalara? No. Oh.

Getting hotter, though. I don't know if I should give it up. I don't know if I should. I think you should. I think it's fine. Okay, who is it?

You guys can go ahead. What are you guys so afraid of? The guy doesn't work here anymore. What's he gonna do? No, but, you know, it just might be portrayed.

You know, in a light that we really weren't going. The guy ate too much pizza. Just who is it? Who is it?

As I said, it was somebody you wouldn't expect that would have that type of appetite. What's the initial of the last name? Oh, is it David Shepherd? No. Oh. You can be guessing for hours.

Give me the initial of the last name. He used to host this time slot. That's a good one. In this time slot? Yes. This time slot, yeah.

Like three hosts ago, if you will. And the first initial was Dave? Yes. Oh, Doug Gottlieb? And you know what? Doug Gottlieb has made a lot of money in his career.

Wait. He must have been a hungry man that day. He had a lot. I like Doug. Very nice guy.

I met Doug this year at March Madness. Very nice guy. He's not digging into his pockets? It wasn't so much that he wasn't digging into his pockets. And paying for pizza for the staff? I just bought three pies.

Come on, Doug, you cheap bastard. It wasn't that he was not digging into his pockets. He was digging into a lot of pizza. Too much pizza.

You make an act pay for the pizza? It wasn't that, but it was like everybody was kind of astounded at how many slices he could pound. And it was during the show. I think, was it during the break? Yeah, he ran in during the breaks and took pizza. And just, but I don't remember. But I think he just, did he go all at once or was it one at a time?

I think it was two at once and then he'd come back for second slash thirds in the break, in the next break. Pig. Pig.

Doug Gottlieb. Pig. That's what I just learned.

My hint was going to be college basketball coach, but I think that would have given it away pretty quickly. That's why I said multifaceted. Well, no, because you guys made it seem, or maybe I just misheard it. I thought it was like kind of behind the scenes-ish. No, no, no, no. I didn't think he was sitting in the power chair.

No. But there was a moment where Mike Francesa once- Very power. Ordered Chinese food and there was an intern or someone behind that ate Mike's egg roll.

Yeah, yeah. And Mike was- That was classic. Was very unhappy that his egg roll was missing. That was classic.

I didn't know Doug Gottlieb. He could pound him. Lot of pizza. He had two little pies.

The guy took three slices. More than that. That's how you know, see, that's a thing that happens with famous people and celebrities. Sometimes they're inconsiderate of others. They don't read the room. They just eat two pizzas. They think it's all theirs.

And then everyone else will just have to, you know, not eat anything. I'm guessing he didn't, he skipped breakfast that day. Is Doug aware of this?

You know, he definitely knew he had a lot, you know, whether he knew that everybody's like, wow. Well, it's weird to, I don't view, even though we're like, I don't really get caught up in like the radio competition, all that. I know he's on in afternoons, but he only does a two hour show. I'm kind of now compelled to bring Doug on and have Doug do like, oh, it's a college basketball spot to pump up your school. And then just grill them on the pizza. Honestly, I don't know if Doug would remember that.

Yeah, probably not. If you're taking three, four slices, that's something that you do. Only because it's not like the day I had all that pizza. I think it just, it was like another, it was another moment to him.

So I think if you asked him about it, he may vaguely recall it, but at best it would be like, oh yeah, I probably had a couple slices that day. You know, it would just, you know. All right, well come on back with the news brief.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. Maybe I'll go take four slices of pizza. There you go. Keep going. Here he is, the act man, Rich Ackerman. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Time for your daily news brief.

We get you caught up on the rumors, reports, and reconnaissance from the day in sports. The pizza is here. I sound like my guy, Stu Finer. The pizza is here. Alrighty, Stu.

Not Stu Finer, that's Stupak who's in the studio. You had the bacon fig jam slice. Your thoughts? One of the, if not best pizza slices I've had individually. Just amazing.

If not a 10 out of 10, it's a 9.9 or something like that. Amazing. Botcher who was very skeptical of the bacon fig jam slice.

And I think is a very tough critic. Your thoughts? Very, very good. I didn't expect it to be that enjoyable to be honest.

You don't even taste the fig. Bang! Puts it in. Good job. All right.

Let's go to Brock Purdy on his success up against the Seattle defense last night. I think just going into the game, you know, if they run this, this is my answer. And simple as that. I just try to keep it simple and obviously check the ball down when I needed to and hit my number one or number two in my progression as efficiently as I could. And I just kept it simple.

Just keep it simple, stupid, right? As I used to say in school, Brock Purdy's a professional quarterback. And I think he needs to start getting more national praise.

And a performance like that will do so. You know how the dealio is with the 49ers until he wins the Super Bowl. People are always going to look at the 49ers and try to pick them apart. Let's go to Jayden Daniels. Big matchup this weekend. Lamar Jackson going up against Jayden Daniels. A lot of people compare Jayden Daniels and Lamar Jackson. Jayden Daniels says he doesn't want to be compared to any other QB. I would say for me it's kind of just, you know, go out there and try to be unique and try to be not really different from everybody and appreciate what they can do because you always learn stuff from other quarterbacks within the league. I'm not closed minded. You know, I always want to be able to grow. But at the end of the day I want to be known as Jayden Daniels and not the next such and such. Yeah, I understand that's an awkward spot for him.

But it's done in a complementary way. It's not like they're comparing you to some NFL bust or something. They're comparing you to a guy that's won two NFL MVPs.

Let's go to Joe Burrow. He said they're not a championship team right now. Well, Joe, what needs to change for the Bengals to get back into the circle of trust and be a championship contender?

Last Sunday, Joe, that this team right now isn't at a championship level. What do you think needs to improve the most for you guys to get to where you want to go? Everything. Everything.

Just everything. He's not wrong. The team stinks right now. Here is Chris Carter on the purple frustration podcast. He ranks his top five Vikings wide receivers ever.

Okay, let's listen up. All-time wide receivers in Vikings history. In order. Jake Reed, number five. I'm going to go with Anthony Carter, number four. I'm going to go with Randy Moss, number three. I'm going to go with a dude named Chris Carter, number two. And they got a dude playing for their team now that is the number one dude.

Wow. Now, I am like one of the biggest Justin Jeffersons fans ever. But how, okay, Chris puts himself in front of Randy. Randy, to me right now, still has to be one. Like, Justin Jefferson, what he's done has been ridiculous, but he's got to do more than what he's done. And that's a serious, serious take from Chris Carter.

All right, let's go to Nick Sirianni. He was asked if Robert Salah's firing has him thinking about his coaching future. No.

No. Obviously, I wish him nothing but the best. You know, I had a good working relationship with Coach Salah being able to practice against those guys. I got a lot of respect for him. You know, always wishing him and his family the best. I think he's a really good football coach.

But my mind is set on only how do we get better. I'm not going to lie. I was going to take a bite out of this bacon fig jam slice, and then I heard him say, no, no. I'm like, oh, this is going to be a short clip. You've got to think about it. You're not human if you're not thinking about it.

But I'm not going to say that you're going to sit there and admit it. Let's go to Coach Prime, Deion Sanders. He was asked if Travis Hunter is a better athlete than Prime. We've seen from Travis things that we've seldom seen in college football.

True. We saw from you in baseball and football things we seldom have seen from an athlete. Is Travis more talented as an athlete than you were?

It's not me against Travis. I had my turn, man. I'm not a doorknob anymore. You can't just turn me on and off like a light switch anymore. I don't do that.

Travis' everything is it. It's his turn now. I want him to have all the accolades, all the praise, all the love, all the attention, all the focus that he desires. I've had my turn. I'm that old boxing coach in the corner that says, left, right, left, right, hit it right here.

All right. Come on up to the corner. Let me tell you, that's who I am right now.

I've had my turn. It's not me against him. That is a masterclass by Coach Prime because you know he would say himself. But when he doesn't want to answer a question, he always uses like a comparison or an analogy that it's like, oh, I've never heard any. What did he say?

That's like a doorknob? What was the exact line, Botcher? No idea.

Play it again real quickly. See if you can pick it up from just his response, not the 10-minute question that was basically asked. Things we have seen from an athlete. Is Travis more talented as an athlete than you were? It's not me against Travis. I had my turn, man. I'm not a doorknob anymore. You can't just turn me on and off with like a light switch anymore. I don't do that.

Travis is everything. All right. We're good. I like that.

That got me chuckling. All righty. Here is Ryan Day on the importance of this game for Ohio State up against the Ducks of Oregon. This game means a lot to all of us. Everybody wants to be right. So you're going to have everybody's best, and we're going to be competitive, and we're going to grind and practice, and that's the way it should be.

Nothing about practice should be casual at all. So there's been a lot of purpose and good competitiveness, and guys pushing each other, which is what you want. He's a Temple man, so I should like him, but his voice just annoys me. Ryan Day, if I'm being transparent. Let's hear the Yankees call on the Yankees radio network by the legendary John Sterling as the Yankees are now off to the ALCS. And Weaver deals to Kuriel. A high fly to center. This is it.

Judges there. He makes the catch. Ball game over. American League Division series over. Yankees win. The Yankees win. So John Sterling is back, and the question was, going into yesterday, we already knew it was decided by then, would the Tigers get into the ALCS?

The Guardians say not so fast. We're going to force a game five where Tarek Skubal is going to be on the mound for the Tigers in Cleveland. Let's hear the David Fry go ahead two-run home run on the Guardians radio network. The two-two delivery. Swung on.

Hit a ton. Deep left. Green. Back.

Track. Wall. Gone.

David Fry. Off the bench. A two strike. Two out. Two run home run. And Cleveland's back on top for the third time tonight.

Four to three. You know, not talking about guys that I grew up listening to, because I don't want to give you just a bunch of New York broadcasters, but radio play-by-play guys that I love in baseball, Tom Hamilton, who you just heard, and then in football, Paul Allen, the Vikings broadcaster, is electric as well. It was a very good call there by Tom. Alrighty, that wraps up the news brief.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We got a whole lot cooking when we come on back. We got to talk to a man that will be in the Hall of Fame one day, Patrick Peterson. He's going to join us on the other side. And also, we will get to some on-site, off-site before we do say goodbye to you. We've got 60 minutes left to play. We'll get it started coming on back in five minutes right here on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network, where you can always give us a follow on Instagram and Twitter, at Zach Gelb C-A-C-H G-E-L-B and give me a call at 855-212-4227.