Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to another edition of the Game Sports podcast powered by 91 Network. I'm David McCaig, host of the game. I'm going to be joined by Justin Heikel in this episode. And we are going to get into a lot of items in the world of sports, including hockey, such as the NHL upcoming season new captains. And we're also going to dive into both the MLB and the NBA, including Vince Carter finally getting his jersey retired by the Raptors and the MLB wild card and playoff picture. And lastly in the episode, Justin and I are going to be kicking it off with our in the pocket segment and also getting into our week four. Pick'em. Let's go.
Booyah. And it's time for the game sports podcast. It is your host, David McCaig junior. I am joined by the one, the only with the best background of all time, the one and only, Justin Heikel. Justin, my friend, how's it going?
[00:00:55] Speaker B: What's going on, Dave? Good to be back. Good to be here talking sports again. I mean, we're a couple days away from Sportstober, but the itch is starting to go where football season's going on. Baseball playoffs are scratching into our minds here, especially Tigers fans. And hockey season, I mean, preseason's on as we speak, so it's good month coming up and canadian thanksgiving for the pie lovers out there.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: There is so much. And if people are asking about why Justin's background a lot, there's multiple reasons I want to playing. There's the x wing just above them to the corner to the back there. And they're also dependent on how you're looking. There's the joker. If everyone knows I'm a massive Joker fan, don't. Don't ask. Just doesn't matter. There's also can't see top, but, like.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: See it right there. But that's from episode one. Those droids that roll up in the ball. Yeah, that's what is there. That's the at St. Empire strikes back. Return of the Jedi.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Got a lot.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: Luke's helmet up there.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: Yeah, there it is.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Um, I don't know how far the screen goes, but there's a water bomber right above.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Um, I don't know if anyone's followed this through the history of us being on video, but occasionally I transform the Optimus prime up there. And so sometimes he's a transport and sometimes he's a robot.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: And also, if you're listening to this on audio, you're missing out. That's why we're showing you this we got a tour. Yeah. So if you want to actually see it, I'm guiding you to come check us out on video. As you would have heard the intro, we're on the 91 network YouTube channel. Just a little.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Honestly, I feel like one night I should just, like, take a couple pictures in here so everyone can see the whole bullshit. Bang.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: It is absolutely gorgeous. That background, that's the word I'm gonna use. That's. I don't know why that's the word of the day I'm gonna use. I don't think that's the word you want for it. I think I appreciate it. It's awesome. And my favorite, two favorite things is that X Wing and that Joker poster. But everything in that room is cool. Okay. Now, I like my background, too. Has definitely been improvements in my background. Used to like just plain.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: But you got the Death Star up there.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: I do. Right here. The Death Star. Massive gift on how much you can see it. Let's put him up a little bit there. There we go. I gotta be changed a little bit. Now.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: The shed. Thinking about what he did over there this season.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: Yeah, that's funny that you guys. That you pointed that out, actually turned him around on purpose. I decided to keep him up. But that's the beau Bichette. And there's also an office thing there. There's a lot going on in our backgrounds, but mine's going to be getting updated. I'm trying to keep up with justice there.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: That's the office from the office right there. You can't really see much of it, but it's. It's like a complete Lego office. If you look.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: Gotta love it. And like I said, if you. If you listen this on audio, you're missing out. That's why we're talking about something on video, which sometimes they push against. But today we decided we know what we're going to talk about. Backgrounds to open the show. So you can come out and check us out on the video side of the show. Okay. Now, there's. There's a. There's a lot that I want to get into the show. It's a short little time. So obviously, you heard what the agenda is. If you heard the opener. But I do have an announcement to share on our podcast here today. For those that are located in Sault Ste. Marie, you will likely understand this a little bit more. If you're outside of the Sioux, then we'll give you. Just give you a brief explanation. The game sports podcast will be joining the community platform called Spaces. We have been, have been offered to join the space. I have connected with the individual, the representative there, Lacy, the past little bit back and forth and discussions, and yesterday it was official that we were offered to be on spaces. That is a program through suit a day, a platform through sue today that is going to be a community hub for podcasts and for those locally in Saint Marie under specific categories. Now people will ask, oh, what is 91 network? That 91 network is a separate thing. It's a YouTube channel that is a platform that, that is all of us that work together through the game and through the Bitter Rivals podcast and so on that have our video content. Spaces can have a little bit of a different feel. And it's going to be an interactive platform for you to join if you're in Sault Ste. Marie or even if you're outside the Sault. From what I understand, you're able to log into it as well. So it's definitely going to be very big step for us here on the show. And we're very excited to be part of the spaces community because that's what it is. We want the podcasts here in this community and outside. There's. It's great that there are platforms that are offered like this. And we're very excited to be part of spaces that is a great family to be joining, especially sue today. That is definitely a very great name to into spaces and tie into within the game sports podcast. So that is the announcement. There will be more details as that comes to near. We don't know what date officially that will be just yet, but we are working on that. We expect within the next month or two likely that we'll be getting on there, but they're iron out their end and once everything's ironed out, the game will be on there for you to enjoy and we'll have all that link in detail for you. So step forward for the game. Very excited. There's been a lot of big steps forwards the past few years for us and we're very excited about this. So make sure you subscribe to spaces, one that comes available, spaces and capitals to search it even on Google right now, or go to Sudeh and you'll get some information that they have briefly on it right now leading up to the launch of the spaces community platform. Okay, so that is one announcement I want to make sure that I had. You know, obviously summer has passed, Justin. We are entering fall, and I'm a big summer guy. People know that. I love the heat. I don't mind getting some rays I don't mind being on the pontoon boat before I sold them. I sold my sea do. I would love to be on my sea do as well. But I love the summer, love being out of camp in the summer months. But a lot of things look forward to in the fall and winter. One. When it comes to the fall, the zoo is beautiful. The fall is a beautiful season. Yes, I said it is really nice. And when it comes to winter, you think of a couple things. That is men's league hockey and the winter sports and also sports in general. But hockey is just around the corner as well. But also as we lead into the fall getting into near winter. It doesn't happen in the winter, but obviously baseball playoffs as you allude to. So there's a lot of good things. But we're here on September 24 recording. Spoiler alert. If you didn't know after all the years of listening or if it's first time listening, yes, it's a pre recorded program. The stuff that we're going to get into in this roundtable is going to be about the NHL. We're going to get into a little bit with the MBA and we're also going to get into the MLB. Just because Connor is unable to join us tonight. Alex is unable to join us tonight and EJ's unable to join us tonight. Justin and I have done a little bit of a revamp this one segment today.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Not, not so much of a roundtable, more of a booth for two.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: Booth for two. Booth for two. And I'm having my water. Usually I have a other drink, but today I felt like some high quality h two o.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: In light of that, I got an orange pop today.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: See, we have, we have the appro. We have the appropriate beverages today. Justin, what I want to get into first, obviously, as we're talking about, I think it's fair to get into, obviously preseason have started in the National Hockey League as the hockey season nears. Puck drop is Friday, October 4, technically between the Devils and Sabres in Prague. And you know, they have a back to back game on the Friday and the Saturday. That is 01:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. respectively between the two times early starts. If you want to get start to your season, obviously the Devils are looking back, trying to look to have a bounce back season under new head coach as well. Someone who's very familiar to those who love the troll, Maple Leaf. Sheldon Keef is there in New Jersey and Buffalo. There is a team that is just trying to find that identity and get out of that gutter. They're trying to get into the playoffs. I thought they seemed at so much promise. Maybe this year they show that, but puck drop is the fourth and fifth Justin. Then after that we don't see puck drop until the 8th where there's three, three matchups. And then on the. October 9 is where you get to see some of the canadian teams get into action. That's Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, the Winnipeg and Edmonton. There's some games on that October 9 that are going to be going on. We're not going to get into a season preview, Justin, because we're going to plan that for kind of technically next week and for the show after that to kind of get into all that. But as the season nears, Justin, and preseason's here. Are you getting that itch? Are you, you ready for puck drop?
[00:09:02] Speaker B: I mean, I was probably in mid season for him after Brubes press conference after the preseason game the other night. But I mean, not to focus on one thing, it's just, it's really good to just see hockey going again. I mean, like you're, there's a big gap. It's not really a huge gap. It's not like an NFL gap in between the draft and when the season starts. But you still, like, you see these young guys get drafted that you're, you've watched play minor, you've watched in the juniors or wherever, you've watched them play college and you kind of want to see how that piece is going to fit on your favorite team and maybe not on your favorite team, maybe on another team. I mean, Macklin, Celebrini the other night looked pretty good.
It's just preseason, but it's also not just preseason, it's NHL hockey.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: So, and I was, I thought this was the first like a draft this year where that first overall was so shadowed by what the first overall the year prior was, obviously. And, and you, you wonder, right. It's like, okay, is he, he's not generational. What is he going to be? Macklin's going to be a very good hockey player.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: That's, I find lately that's almost the better for these guys to come in.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: If they come in and they don't have that pressure on them. Yeah. Also from a selfless collector's perspective, they're not going to juice the price of the boxes of cards when I want to buy some cards so I can get rookie cards. Who the fuck wants to pay $400 for a box upper decks to maybe get Connor bedard, not this guy. All right? Not this guy. Couple Matthew knives in my pocket, but bedard, good luck out there.
But no, it's. I don't know, it's a fun, fun time of year. You're gonna, I mean, you're getting the fantasy drafts going. Everyone's gonna be like, oh, you should have that moment where he's on this team now, he's on that team now, and you're starting to get those lines rolling in your head. Example, we have a John Tavares, Max Cappelletti's third line going on right now. If someone would have told you that two or three years ago, would you? Would.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: No. No.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Sounds pretty good on paper. We'll see how it plays out. But the age, it's just exciting.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: And, like, age is not the way that it kind of used to be. I don't mean that in a different way. It's like, if you think back to the early tens, the thousands, what do you thought of someone 35 36? You know, they had a different role on the team. Okay? And the guys that were able to handle that, still rough and tough and go and score goals, it was different hockey then, obviously, but 35 36 now, if you're a natural goal, score and find the zone and able to find those good areas on the ice, get into the open, open spot and shoot the puck of a good release. Typical that they'll still have success. That's why the Paciorettis, the, the Tavares is right. These, these guys, and I mentioned just Toronto guys, but you can, the list goes on from there. It's not just Toronto guys, but they're still successful in this league because they can score goals.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: We're kind of seeing the fruits of the, the early lockout changes, where the game got faster and there was less crashing and banging and, I mean, there's still, there's, there's enough to satisfy everyone but the players. These guys that are the 35 36 in the league haven't taken. They've taken, you know, hundreds less hits than the guys that came before them. So it allows them to have a little bit more time on the back end of their careers. I mean, certain players have injuries and stuff like that, and everyone's body is different, so you can only go so far, but you have like, these Tom Brady, like, mutant kind of people like that, just diet and train and diet and train and the gate, like, they can go to their 40. And it's not, it's not like, look at this guy, the oldest guy in the league. He's a living miracle. 38 years. No, we're not, like, we're not doing that anymore.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: No. And we talked about Crosby last, last week, and there'll be a clip shared before even this is uploaded from last week. We saved it for post up as preseason started on purpose, but the crosby is a different animal. We talked about this last week, but this is someone who is still fitting into the league very nicely. Malkin, you know, yager just retired. The guy's in his fifties, okay? Like the guy, the game is different. And if you stay in shape and able to keep up, it's a little. It is different guys throughout the league as they are built different. The game is built different than what we're accustomed to from our generation, that being mine and Justin's, because Justin and I are fairly close in age. You know, if you're somebody who is born in the thousands, you've seen hockey in a different light. We've been able to see it in a different light. Heck, us, people before us, when it comes to some of our older cousins or even our parents, they've seen a different level hockey. And the game has grown so tremendously. And that's what has allowed the game to have the veterans in there and be successful. You can call the game, what is it, softer now or not as tough as. Be sure I don't. I agree. It isn't like, used to get slashed in the, in the wrist and they didn't call anything but that. Look, the game has changed to be it, to allow that skill to flourish more.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: It isn't. It isn't. I mean, yeah, people aren't getting maimed out there anymore.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Scott Stevens and Paul Corias, you don't see that too often.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: But at the other hand, I mean, everyone's shit's moving a lot faster out there too. So when these guys just bump into each other, like, sometimes people get the brains like, yeah, I mean, you're not, you're not getting your head getting punched in was replaced with your head smashing into the boards at 90 miles an hour. Not 90, but you know what I mean? Like these, some of these, some of these guys are nuts. They just go into the boards head first. Let's figure it out. Dare other people to hit them. And there's still a couple dicks out there that are gonna hit them. So it is, that's. That's the game. That's what makes. That's why it's fun. That's why it's a game that, you know, it is.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: And it's this. What we're seeing right now on the ice is pre season. You say people don't try. You know, some of the veterans are there. They are. They are. And it's, it's, you know, I've talked about this on the podcast where I think football does it perfectly. Right. And we're gonna have in the pocket on here very shortly as we continue to our next topic shortly here before, in the pocket. But football has the breaks in between. And that's why when you get the season, you get so excited for it. But football is a different animal, different sport. Its hits are different. The game is different. They're getting hit every play. Everyone's getting pushed and hit every play. In hockey, you're not getting hit every play. If you get the puck, you're getting hit. But if you're a guy who's a grocery stick on the bench or you're just a defenseman, you know, you're blocking. The game is different. Each sport is different.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Baseball can't stand around. You gotta move.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Yeah, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta move. If you don't move, you're not gonna get farther. Literally that. I mean that in multiple ways. But what I want to say, just for news around the hockey league, obviously, there's some captain announcements that happened since we've talked Justin, Nick Felino and Raccoon. Now, people texted me about the Radco gudes nonsense. Okay. So knowing me as a Toronto fan, as you don't see any jerseys up right now, there's still the flat represent. Pay the man. Pay the man. Sorry I had to yell that. Anyways, back on point back Cootes named captain and Anaheim. Look, Anaheim's a different Nick Felino. Yes. Deserve it. I think he's been a. He's been a leader before. He's been a league a long time. They have a young team. Makes sense. Groomed bedard. I thought maybe they'd give bedard the c, but okay, I. That will come within the next couple years. Talk about Rako Gutis, what he did to joseph wall in the playoffs a couple years ago. If you're talking about Toronto fan, look, that happened. That's pure emotion. And last year, if you watched Toronto beat the absolute living life out of the Anaheim Ducks, it was near ten nothing. I don't remember the exact score. Eight, nine, or ten nothing, whatever it was. And Gudas got asked to fight multiple times, and he went to go try to fight Nylander, I believe, or somebody else. And then Reeves. Yeah, that changed real quick. So he got his. That the revenge game already happened. And Gudas walked out of that rink with his tail between his legs. Okay. Because he was. Despite the win. He didn't win the cup of Florida that year. Okay. And he wasn't with Florida last year. He watched Florida win this year, so. Or this past year. So. Anyone text me about the gut is captaincy. There's multiple of you. Yeah, I don't. I was surprised by the choice, but I don't care if I'm a leaf. I don't care. And maybe he is a leadership guy in that locker room. And I've heard from based on media and based on player interviews, that he is a good fit for the role. So obviously, the ducks saw something in them that maybe Leaf fans don't.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: I don't have an issue with it. I don't have an issue with his shenanigans. I mean, if you go back on previous podcasts, in the heat of the moment, I'm sure I had an issue with it. I will fully even call my cell phone on that. But I think it's a great move. He's a guy. He doesn't give a fuck. Like, you know what I mean? He's almost like. He's almost a modern day Sean Avery in the sense that he can be a pest.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: But minus the off, I said, yeah.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: There'S not the added other stuff going on there. But honestly, I think if you're looking for someone to police a locker room, you know, get these young guys, because it kind of does seem like maybe there was a bit of the inmates running the asylum in Anaheim last year.
[00:17:46] Speaker A: And let me ask. You wouldn't want him on your team.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: I take him a hundred percent.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: Okay, that's. That was my point with it. Right.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: I take Goodus over Reeves ten out of ten days of the week.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: Ten out of ten days as I ruined my hair, which doesn't matter.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: There's been, like, an inside joke with a select group of people. We've been sending Scott Steiner memes to each other. So people will get the math there. Some people will get that math.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: So the NHL is gonna begin, and like I said, we did spend about, you know, about 1215 talk at a time. But that's good that it was just chatting in general to just excite the season. There will be a full season preview. Show me up. We have some plans for that for you. And I think that's a good segue for me. I didn't talk about the beginning because the intro was a little bit longer. Now we will have another member joining the game sports podcast family and won't mention his name or say anything away till his name joins us. He is from, it's from the Greater Toronto area that someone will be joining. Arts are our official team. And know if you're going to say, is that Luke Gazdek or Kelly Rudy? No, those are just friends of mine. They're still working or they're working. I didn't take them from their current jobs. Okay. They're just, they just come on these, the show as guests, including Luke in particular. So nonetheless, we do have somebody else, so from the greater Toronto area who has been involved in the sporting world that's going to be joining our crew on the hockey side, on the already very stacked hockey side. But that's what's going to bring you, the viewer and or listener, a different experience on each show. And we're very excited to have him joining us, either if it's next week or the week after. So that segues out of hockey to our next topic, NBA. I only have one topic in terms of the NBA that I want to mention. Justin, I'm not going to throw you under the bus like Butch Davis did when he asked you about the Cleveland Cavaliers general manager many years ago. But there was something that I had, and you could check clips on TikTok, social media and I'm not saying I like to go out when I have the opportunity. They said there's one jersey that the Raptors should be retiring first and it better happen this year, and that is Vince Carter. And I don't know if they listened or listened to the other millions of people that talked about it on their shows because I wasn't the only one. But I very happy that the Toronto Raptors will be retiring Vince Carter's jersey. It's long overdue. I know the, the departure from Toronto wasn't ideal, but this is somebody who put the Toronto Raptors on the map when they came into the NBA and they grew and they brought him into the Raptor Raptors organization he developed and he was the face of that team. And he didn't spend his career there. He didn't. He didn't. You're right. He, he, he went on and had.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: A career, didn't he?
[00:20:21] Speaker A: Yeah, he played until, for a long time in his career and he had a very successful career. And he always called Toronto home unofficially. He loved coming back. And I love to see when he did come back in his last year the love that Toronto showed him. Because deep down we've always loved him. And if you didn't have that purple Raptors Jersey as a kid. Okay, the 15th. I know I did. It said Carter on the backboard or.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: The front of the garage there or.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: The basketball that used to buy from your line to me, if you're a Canada boy, because you did have that, because Vince Carter was all over the place. Heck, you, even if you're american or european, doesn't matter. You probably still had something. Vince Carter. Because Vince sanity was a face in the NBA, and only that he was the face of the Raptors franchise. And I'm very happy that he's getting his number retired now. After Vince Carter, we know who has to be next to go up there.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Is it Jonas Valentine's? Primo. Primo pasta and sauce. That's all I remember is that fucking commercial he'll remove.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: He looks like travis Kelsey a lot, too.
That's me for the.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Not even like, he's not even like a Kirkland or a great value. It's like a no name, if that's what you're doing there, like a yellow brand.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Kyle lowry.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: I'm gonna jump in on the retro thing just quickly.
[00:21:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: Memphis doing a Vancouver grizzly throwback jersey.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Hot damn. Yeah. Thank you for saying love that.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Definitely. Maybe consider purchasing one of those with no name on it because I don't.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: Really have a favorite, but valent Juniz for fun.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: I mean, I don't, I don't think Tyrese Halliburton's going to the grizz anytime soon. So I don't know what else to say now.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Kyle Lowry was the other guy that I want to see up in the raptors. I was somebody that they traded for a first round pick from the Rockets. When they brought him in, there was, everyone's very critical of why they brought him in. Why this guy? Was he going to change everything? Right? You had DeRozan, you got Lowry, you got the crew there. And obviously, DeRozan was the one that was sacrificed for Kawhi Leonard and the Lobarty Lombardi. The Lombardi trophy. As I sit here, it's the Larry Ob. Larry O'Brien, as I sit here and say, the Lombardi trophy. We're talking football shortly here.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: We're talking trophies.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: We're talking trophy. So when it comes to Larry O'Brien trophy, okay, that is what the trade was for. For quite. For quiet letters. DeRozan and obviously portal and a pick went the other way. But DeRozan for Kawhi in the Thanos thing, you had to sell, you had to sell the soul and you got the soul stone right. That's the way it went there. And the memories with Kawhi Leonard that season was just legendary. It was just legendary. It almost was the effect of what Josh Donaldson had on the Blue Jays when he won his MVP season. They made the playoffs this year, except they just didn't win. Right. Kawhi was a difference maker and you need that difference maker to win.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: I was going to say like the. The bat flip is almost like up there is probably one of the most popular moments as the shot. And if you look at like the history and like the moments of the teams, like the bat flip was the moment. That was it. That was it for that. That run there.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: That was. And it was shot.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: That was like. That cemented the deal that, you know, really, they were, they were probably winning.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: But it's about time. Toronto, though, I'm talking raptors for putting Vince Carter up in the rafters. Okay.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: And Kyle statues out in front of the ACC with him.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: I think when it comes time, there needs to be a statue like how there is for the Leafs with. With the row. The Raptors need to have something there. Vince Carter has to be on there. Chris Bosch needs to be on there. Kyle Lowry has to be on there. Heck, why not, Tamar?
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Maybe not, but you put Lowery for.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: Sure, a trophy in Lowry's hands with Kawhi beside him. That's the type of statue that we need to see. Is it gonna happen? No, but there needs to be a legends acknowledgement to the people that were part of that champion team and we're a part of it. Why was there for one year? But if it wasn't for Kawhi, that wouldn't have happened. Don't forget, my goodness legend and Nick nurse Messiah is going to be on that stat or that legends acknowledgement, whatever that may be, the statue or a wall, whatever they do. But Kyle, Vince Carter's oven. Vince Carter is going to be on there. But anyway, Vince Carter is going up to the. Into the rafters. Next has to be Kyle Lowry. Kyle Lowry is actually probably the most legendary raptor of all time. Arguably next to Vince Carter is a closer. I'll leave you to the listeners and viewers to debate who you think is the most legendary one. Sorry. I do think it's Vince because of how he put them on the map. But I understand your point with Kyle because he won, but it's not just.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Two different generations, to be honest.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: So great to see. And if you would have told me that would saw Raptors championship before at least or Jays championship. I would have told you you're crazy. But it happened and it's one of the best sports moments I've ever experienced. So thank you to Kawhi for having that and to Kyle and Alta crew there. That was there on the Raptors that season. But Vince Carter, his name is going up in the rafters. Finally, thank you Toronto for listening to the fans because I'm sure we had something to do with it because you didn't seem too quick on wanting to do that. And it seems finally it is happening. I am going to be watching that ceremony. How come? I'm trying to get tickets to go. Good luck. Not gonna happen. Media passes, here we come. No, just kidding. Next up, MLB. Before we get into football, just, I know we're getting into the extra time but I, for baseball, I'm not getting to too much time here, but I said I wanted to discuss it because and Connor's absence, baseball, the pit playoff picture is really starting to line up. You're starting to see, obviously no, the Yankees are going to make it. They've already for sure clicks clinched a wild card spot, but they're going to win their division. It looks like as the season hits to a close, you have the Cleveland Guardians who have clincher division. The Houston Astros really battled back this year. I thought they weren't going to make it. The Rangers even started battling back, but the Tigers, I was hoping Connor Henderson was going to be here. He's a Tigers fan.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: Talk about them this week.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Lots of talk this week about them. You cannot. The percentage of what they were for, the odds of making the playoffs were crappy. Okay. And they make a trade to get rid of Flaherty at the deadline. They make a move and things just kept progressing for those Tigers. And they are eight and two in their past ten. Since we are, since we're recording right now and the Tigers have a chance to make the playoffs, they, they're right now, if you open up the standings as I open up officially to you so I can give you accurate information, are holding the second wild card spot. Okay. So with them holding the second wild card, you got a wild card position that is filled out with Orioles. You have the Tigers and you the Tigers and you have the royals. Sorry, a lot to say at the end there. Minnesota just creeping up. Obviously the Blue Jays are nowhere to be found, if you really want to know. But also another team that's not nowhere to be found is Chicago White Sox. God, they're horrendous. But the Detroit Tigers are in the picture right now and it is great to see. That's very exciting if you're a Detroit fan. I would be amped. Surprise story though. The Atlanta Braves are on the outside looking in on the playoffs now on the wild card picture. They are 85 and 71 a game and a half back of the Diamondbacks for that last wild car spot. And it is not looking good for the Braves to get into the playoffs. That would be massive failure for a team that is stacked, that has spent a lot of money and it tells you that baseball is just a very unique sports overall. But I wanted to give my love to the Tigers here. I wish Connor was here to give him a bit more love and get into the dissection of everything. But also wanted to point out how bad the White Sox are. Is I do that every week. Pay the man to Vlad Guerrero and to also Atlanta Braves for looking on the outside. Because if did not predict them to be on the outside looking in and thumbs up to the brewers. Been to that ballpark. I've seen them. I love the fans there. They bought me beer. When I bet the guy on Alondo Kirk hitting a home run, I bet guys. So I would have been four beers for me to buy that. He didn't home run and they had buy me my wife, two beers each. So four beers and Kirk next pitch hits it out of the park and I and they paid up their beer and they actually own a brewery. And outside of Milwaukee it's called Lake Eleven Brewery. I didn't know that until after they bought me a beer. So you know what? Small worlds brewers where I was sitting behind people that bought me a beer that own a brewery company. Amazing. Good story from from me to you. In terms of baseball, we'll have baseball for sure next week, I hope and plan right now to have Conor on that show as we hit the playoff picture. Justin, there's the roundtable.
I take a quick breath because I really just wanted to take a breath. There's a lot that we had to get into and I thought that would take a little bit less time for us. But there was multiple topics to touch on this week. So it does eat up into our football time a little bit, but that's okay. So we are going to transition now to ingest the pocket. So the in the pocket segment in our 8th season, longest segment on the show and it's going to be our show. Our segment on the show. Forever in the pocket has definitely been been key thing to this, to the game sports podcast along with hockey at the beginning days as we did phone on a cup. If you're, if you're watching on a video, that's what you get to see right now. Again, you're missing a lot if you're only listening on audio. Not that I'm promoting just our video content, but today there's a lot of video getting shown here between just video shenanigans. Video shenanigans. But we're going to get into football. Justin, I don't want to dive, I don't want to talk too much about this previous week. I'd rather just dive into this upcoming week. But I want to give our feedback on this week, just maybe a hot point that you want to bring up from this past week, and I'll do the same.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: Well, we all got to eat a little bit of crow and the Carolina.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Panthers and I cannot, that is bullshit. That is, that is rigged.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: Hey, I said the red rifle. You gotta watch out. But I don't want to pile on EJ and the Browns at all. But I mean, the Giants won too. So we did a lot of shit talking last week about them sending that game to Germany, and it might be one of the team's first wins. And here we are. Both of them won last week. So I will acknowledge that we, we were wrong, very wrong, as were other people.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: I think other people would be wrong, too. And if they say that they weren't.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: Reaching other people, just picked them in their pools, we openly criticize them. So here we are.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Bad luck for Bryce Young, though, of Carolina pulls that off with that offense in a different quarterback.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: How do you think he truly freaking feels? You got to think he's, that confidence took even more of a hit. You got to think deep down the Carolina Panthers like, shit, I wish we would have got absolutely spanked. Like, I wish we would have gotten killed.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: I wish we wouldn't have traded the Chicago Bears their entire starting offense for Bryce Young. But anyways.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: Well, I'll guess what I'll bring up for this week. That's a great one to bring up, Justin. I would think what I, what I was surprised to me is the Jacksonville Jaguars being zero three. I didn't really anticipate that with Lawrence, and I'm a fan of Lawrence. And that's one where I figured that gotta, are they gonna get revived? What's gonna happen there? Does there need, if they lose a couple more games, is there gonna be start be more changes in Jacksonville because they've had a lot of rough times and they were looking optimistic for the future and things are nothing as good. And the other thing that I'll mention because I called this on my picks, Sam Darnold, baby. Okay. Minnesota Viking. Sam Darnold. Okay. That guy. The jets must feel like the worst. Okay. Like, I love football. It's like any other sport where like a player leaves and they go do better. Baker Mayfield was in Carolina before. He's also in. The Browns need to kick on EJ. But let's say that Sam Darnold, right, the list goes Justin Fields did Sam Donald.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Did Sam Donald not playing Carolina too?
[00:31:44] Speaker A: Yes. Yes, he did.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: So like, maybe like there's something to be said here that like, certain teams actually just ruin players.
[00:31:53] Speaker A: He threw 181 yards for four touchdowns. Not big yardage, but what does that tell you? Efficiency.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: He's game manager.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: And on the ground, Aaron Jones, 102 yards, no touchdowns, but 102 yards of rushing. Receiving, just Justin Jefferson, 81. Aaron Jones 46. You had Naylor had 31. You had Powell at 13. Tribution amongst the field. Right. There was also an interception. There's a couple interceptions on defense that really helped turn over to the offense. And 34 seven is a very convincing win over the Houston Texans that were two and oh, eight. Look, I'm Darnold. The thing is working right now. If you do have them, though, in your pools, sell high. I think you should sell high. I don't know if he's going to keep this up. I hope he does, though. I love the storyline that if he does. So, Jacksonville and Minnesota are the two points I want to bring up for this week. For me, they, it's wild, hot rumor.
[00:32:49] Speaker B: On the, the x verse in the last little bit. Bill Belichick linked to the Jags for next season. I don't know if there's any factual information to that, but it's trending currently. Speaker zero.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: You got to suspect that Bill Belichick is not done from football. And there's Tom Brady had his project where he left the Patriots and went to the Bucks and yeah, he brought Gronk. He brought some weapons with him, attracted some weapons. Either way, you want to look at it and he won. But it's Tom Brady. Okay. And the Jacksonville Jaguars are a team that were destined for change. Bill Belichick is the person to, to continue that trend on now. A trend and direction that has been off the road. Now it is. Oh and three. And in that division there is life. I'm not chirping the Texans and the Colts. I'm not chirping those teams, it's just that they're two and one, one and two and a couple and three teams. Okay? It's not like you can't turn this around.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: The division is still wide open.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: September hasn't ended yet.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: But if you're zero one five, maybe you pull the trigger on Belichick earlier.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: And maybe they're maybe pulling day fans. You just gotta wake him up in September ends.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: I might.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: That was bad.
[00:33:54] Speaker A: But I. I like that.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: Honestly, though, since, since we're here and I've been begging for forgiveness already today, now that Bill Belichick's on like McAfee regularly, I have to say that I don't hate him now that he's not associated with the New England Patriots. He is probably the smartest football person I've ever heard. Talk like every time he breaks something down, I get smarter at football.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: His knowledge is ridiculous.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: He sees shit is ridiculous.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: And don't get me wrong, Brady's Brady, but Belichick is great too. They were just two monsters. That's why they had so much success. The only person that was able to solve that monster was Eli Manning. Okay, so one of the Mannings did. No offense.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Hey, listen, we were, we had to play in the same division as them. So it was either the Patriots or the Colts making it to the Super bowl. It never, never could be both.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: No, exactly.
[00:34:41] Speaker B: And then we got fucked by an onside kick, which is illegal in the NFL now.
[00:34:45] Speaker A: So they should redo that whole game. Go back at everyone that everyone out of retirement, they got to redo that game now.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: No, that's it. That's a topic for a different show. But let's say yes before we go.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: Down a rabbit hole. But Bill Belichick, that Jaguars, check it. I know that isn't factual as you brought up, but I think that's a fit. Let us know.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: It's interesting. It's definitely interesting.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: So our pick comes. Justin, you can do the announcement. And I will say EJ will have his picks in. I don't mean to say that word. I try not to say that too much. But EJ, as I say it again, EJ will have his picks in and Justin will update the standards, all be updated. EJ has made his picks last couple weeks. But if you tuned into our picks the last couple of weeks. Yeah, sorry for last. For the week prior to last week, this week, it was okay for us, but not as strong as the first week for sure. So Justin came.
[00:35:34] Speaker B: So Dave still in first Kegger's gridiron picks holding it down. 31 wins, 17 losses. EJ in second. The Browns is the Browns, 26 points. So 26 wins, 22 losses. And then myself hikes picks in third with 25 points, 25 wins, 23 losses. So see if we can shake it up going into week four here.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: Standings. It's been distance between myself and yourself and EJ has been the same the last couple weeks. I did gain a pick on the both of you last week as I had eight and you and EJ had seven. But EJ did miss putting in his pick for the first game. But we've reminded him to put in his pick so it's not missed for this week. Justin, I will go first. I will take, I will take the honor to go first for the week four. Pick them. So starting from Thursday, obviously working the way down to the last game of the week, got the Cowboys over the Giants, saints over the Falcons, Rams over the Bears, Vikings over the Packers. Sam Darnold telling you and Justin, I feel like we should be watching this game this week for a lot of reasons. We might have to have a little bit of a discussion, but the Steelers are going to defeat the Annapolis Colts this week in Indianapolis. Going to be a good football game. Jets over the Broncos, Eagles over the Buccaneers. Tough decision for me. I felt that was a sneaky pick. One of those picks are very hard to Baker Mayfield. It's hard to believe the Eagles are this big of favorites in this game. Bengals over the Panthers. I was actually nervous about one too. The Texans over the Jags. Cardinals over the commanders. Niners over the Patriots in very, very easy fashion. The Raiders over the Browns. I haven't picked the Browns at all this year. Chiefs over the Chargers. Bills over the Ravens. Very tough pick. And my, one of my favorite games of the week, I'm very happy that's a Sunday night game. I think that's great. Titans over the Dolphins. Yes, going the other way. The Levi's fox. Okay, I'm going that direction. The Lions over the Seahawks. This is definitely the Monday nighter I'll be watching, but Lions are going to walk away in that game. Speaking of the tiebreakers that we select on, our pick comes through. Yahoo. 20 714. Lions over the Seahawks. 20 118. Titans over the Dolphins. Most points this week, Dallas. I think they're come out hungry this week. I know Justin's not a Dallas fan, but the least points this week. Speaking of Bill Belichick's old team, the New England Patriots, just, we got a.
[00:37:59] Speaker B: Big, big difference in picks here this week.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Love it. Here we go.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: This is what separates going off the rails early this week, trying to get back some wins. So with the NFC east being wide open and everyone already knows where this is going, I led with too much drama. Giants beating the Cowboys on a Thursday night because fuck Cowboys, and I want to watch Stephen a. Smith just laugh his balls off at them on Friday. Malik neighbors is the real deal. So that's what I have to offer on that front. And, like, the Giants are so bad, what do they have to lose? And they're make the cat. Make the Cowboys look worse and watch Jerry Jones head just pop. That's all you got to do. Fire. I got Atlanta over New Orleans pretty torn on that game, but I think Atlanta's just got screwed over the last little bit. And New Orleans kind of had a brain fart on the weekend there against Philly. Like, good game. Just a couple boneheaded plays throughout the game. That was, it was good football. Just a couple boneheaded plays. Rams over Chicago. Minnesota over Green Bay. Pittsburgh over the Colts. The Colts. Sorry. Burp there, everybody. Pittsburgh over the Colts. I know there's not, not the drama that everyone was looking for. I mean, usually when I do something like this, the Colts win, so maybe that's why I'm doing this.
[00:39:12] Speaker A: Hot wings bet. Hot wings bet.
[00:39:14] Speaker B: Yeah, we could do that. You want to do ten hot wings?
[00:39:17] Speaker A: Ten hot.
[00:39:17] Speaker B: Public shaming?
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Public shaming. Done.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: Whoever loses, we gets the video of them eating the wings and crying like a child.
[00:39:24] Speaker A: Yeah, we've done that on the show. So I've lost that before.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: I'm good with that. Let's do that one deal. Denver over the jets. Because I'm a believer in Bonix after last week.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: Oh, Oregon guy.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Philly over Tampa. This one's gonna rattle some chains to Carolina over Cincy. Andy Dalton. Revenge game over the Cincinnati Bengals.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: I love it. I do love it. That's, that's a gamble. These. That's a gamble.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: Joe Burrow and his Cody Rhodes costume hasn't been working out for him this season, so I think he's got to do something with the hair to get the groove back. And until he does, it's going to be a rough go. Houston over Jacksonville. This one, too. Washington, Arizona. I was a little messed up on, but after last night. Jaden Daniels. Let's. Let's do it. Washington. San Fran over New England. San Fran's pretty banged up, but New England looked pretty bad last week. So Vegas over Cleveland because they're going to be real mad about losing to the Panthers. Cleveland should be real mad about losing a to the Giants, but I think they're, the team themselves are more mad that they have the jaunt Watson as their quarterback. So they got internal issues to fix before they can win games. Casey over the Chargers, Buffalo over Baltimore. Because Buffalo is a team right now. I mean, even admittedly so. Patrick Mahomes said he's not playing his best game. I don't think Josh Allen's thrown an interception.
People can fact check me on that. I'm, I'm not 100%, but I don't think to this point he's thrown an interception this year. So. So looks good. And honestly, if he's not passing, he'll run through you should be a good matchup. But I think Buffalo wins Titans over the Dolphins will 501 fuck ups. Levis should. You know, it's a pretty roughed up Miami squad. Maybe he can pull it together here and get a win. Detroit over Seattle scores for the games I got. Detroit 28, Seattle 18, Tennessee 21, Miami six most points this week. Buffalo fewest points this week. The Dolphins love that.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: Very different picks. And to fact check you, Josh Allen has not thrown an interception yet this year.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: Really? Okay, so that's, you're right. That's pretty good.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: You're right. Wow. That is the picks. And this can alter standings going into next week depending on what EJ so I'm going for and it's actually don't mind some of those gamble picks, including the Carolina one. I think that is if Cincinnati loses to Carolina, there is going to be problems.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: Draftkings account will be very happy with me if that happens.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: And if the Cowboys lose this week too, there's another program that's going to be going bananas. Okay, did dare we start the train of Joe Burrow for Dak Prescott trades to dare we start that rumor on this show? No, we don't want to go there and I don't think it's gonna happen. I wanted to start a rumor. Maybe that's not the right rumor to start.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: I want to see the Cowboys bench deck after they just paid him and put trail in Lanson.
[00:42:15] Speaker A: Trey Lance comes out like Sam Darnold and Justin Fields and has a little bit of a show.
[00:42:19] Speaker B: I don't think so. He's playing for the Cowboys. Still gonna be a mess. But.
[00:42:22] Speaker A: So game of the week for me. Like I said, bills and ravens, very excited about that. I think that's a good lineup this week in the NFL. This season has been great up to this point.
[00:42:31] Speaker B: So honestly, I don't think we should sleep on that cold Steelers game, though.
Justin Fields kind of looks like the real deal there.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: Organization and system, that is what works.
[00:42:43] Speaker B: Structure. Structure.
[00:42:44] Speaker A: That's exactly that with any team I cheer for, except like the Raptors want.
[00:42:49] Speaker B: He's a very good, pretty good quarterback. And we saw it at times in Chicago. But Chicago, what the fuck goes on there?
[00:42:56] Speaker A: There's not, I said it that I don't think the Steelers schedule was too insane to the point of where they would not be out of games. Like against teams that are powerhouses, being the Chiefs, being the Bills.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: These just need them to manage the game. Their defense is pretty good. Like steel cards. The offense, as long as the offense doesn't fuck up, you guys can win most games, or at least go eight and eight, so you don't have a losing record.
[00:43:20] Speaker A: Mike Tomlin would love that. But I think the Steelers, based on the track that they're going, they could be realistically on the games that they play seven and two, nine games in. Realistically, given the way they're playing and who they play, that doesn't mean I think they're going to be. It's just based on progress.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: It's football. It's crazy. Anything can happen.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: Anything can change. Anything can change, change. Justin in the pocket, always a blast. Always fun doing this podcast. Always fun. Every episode is fun. Every episode has its own unique taste and ingredient to what makes that show, that respective segment. Whatever it is great. It doesn't matter if it's me, you, me, you, EJ, me, Alex, Dane, me, you and avery, whoever. We, whoever.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: We, anybody and everybody, anybody.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: And now we have a new member joining our team within the next week or two, which is great as we continue to expand our roster with our team. We have a couple casuals, haven't been on a few years, but we got a lot of people that contribute to all the shows that are the main courses. Yourself, Alex, Dane, EJ. And we hope this individual will be doing that as well. And before I want to save kind of the best news for last, Alex Flood, I wanted to give him a shout out. The big reason for Alex, for us giving him a shout out is, I don't know if people remember this, but for a lot of this, for all the, basically for 30 plus special edition shows, as yours truly was learning how to do the editing and use this, now we use Riverside. Spoiler alert. A lot of people do use it. Believe new heights uses it too. Spoiler just throwing that out there as before, I learned how to do editing and programs got more especially enhanced and I had the ability to learn. Alex was always there for this show, did all the editing out of all this time for this show, basically a silent producer for this show for multiple years and did editing for the 91 and the announcement there, the announcement show, all the special edition shows when it came to doing her first set of videos when Mike Tsoni wasn't doing it, who now has not transitioned to continue doing it with us. But Alex Flood did the core of all the special edition shows, which was well over 35 40 shows, which is hours of time for editing. So Alex has accepted a job in Toronto, which is opening up another suit a day type thing in Toronto though Toronto today. And Alex Flood is taking the position there in Toronto to be a part of reporting journalism there in Toronto. So obviously people in Toronto are going to know what suited a means. So when they speak of spaces where we'll be on, that should make sense to you. But congratulations to Alex Flood. He is still member of our fit, a good one. Yes, they are. And they're getting somebody who is still a member of the game sports podcast family. Technically, ultimately we thank Alex for his contribution to everything that he's done for the show. Obviously his focus is going to be there and obviously if I, if I reached out to him, I know he would help, but I will not. I plan to not have to do that because of everything. They know that he's a influenced me on and helped with the show, but he'll still be. If I can ever have him on the show as a guest or to talk, I will certainly do so, especially just to catch up and for him to talk hockey. And he's a Vancouver Canucks fan, so maybe there'll be some stuff for him to talk about. But again, from the family here at the game, I want to say thank you to Alex for everything that he's done with all the editing and I appreciate everything that he's done to guide me and to help guide this, the show and program into the right direction because he is a big part of our video transition and change. Justin, he was a big part of it and still is and still will always be. Thanks again to Alex and congratulations. I want to make sure I gave him a couple minutes shuttle because he deserved it for the amount of time that he put in to this show for us. Good luck on your next endeavors. Sort of you just moving from the sudeh here to Toronto today, but that's going to be a good, a good opportunity for you there. And as Justin said, toronto has gotten a good one. So, Justin, listen, thank you very much, my friends, for taking the time to come on, as always. Next week, as we plan for the next couple weeks, we're still gonna be doing one show a week. We don't know how the schedule is gonna look forward when we're gonna go back to two shows a week. We don't know when that transition is gonna happen. So we are gonna be sticking to one show a week, just so everyone is aware, and we hope you enjoyed tonight's show. But Justin, as always, thanks, my friend.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: Good to be here. Good to get everything out of my system, you know, rant early in the week while everything's still fresh. I'm kind of liking this format, so it's good. And it's going to be good to be talking hockey again soon.
[00:47:39] Speaker A: Yes, it is. And obviously, we do what we can to make our experience for you better as a viewer and listener, we know that commercials, people don't like commercials, and we're going to be looking at advertisements in a different direction so it doesn't interrupt our content with you and does and has uninterrupted content. Obviously, if we have guests in between, we have to do spaces, but. Spaces, but we have to do splits in between the show, but people start.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: Giving me hats for the hats.
[00:48:02] Speaker A: There you go. Pretty soon, we need to have the new merch for our show. We've been getting that message, too. Yes, I've been on it for a couple years. I'm delayed. I'm trying to figure out the right merch to get us and how we want to do it. It's gonna happen. It's. Give it time. It's, it's coming. Okay. There's been other projects we've worked on the show and in life. So again, thanks to Justin. Thank you to everyone taking the time to make us a part of your day, your night. Whenever you listen to us, we appreciate it. We, we appreciate the support. And don't hesitate to, like, follow and subscribe if it's on here, here being if you're listening on the video on 91 n or here if you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever you're listening, or if you were clicked here based on the TikTok upload or Instagram or Facebook. Look, a simple follow, a simple, like, a simple interaction. A subscribe doesn't, obviously, if you have an account, doesn't cost you anything. It doesn't. Doesn't do anything to you. Supports people like myself and Justin that love to do what we do, and we love to have the interaction. So make sure if you're taking the time to listen to us, that you are subscribing to our contents, because a lot of big things coming.
[00:49:07] Speaker B: Please, like, follow and subscribe so I can buy more lego sets.
[00:49:10] Speaker A: Yes. I need to have a background like Justin's. That's just great. Inspirational. But I want to say thank you to everyone again. And thank you to Justin. And until next week, I'm here to remind you, keep your stick on the ice, swinging bats, get your touchdowns, train your threes, and shoot your shots. Booyah.
