SPEAKER_01 0:35

Welcome to the Five Arms and the Lucky Finn podcast. I am your host, Brennan McCormick, with my two-side co-host, aka Lucky Finn, aka Jason Id. And of course, I got on the other side David Soloway. He is for the people. The people are for him. David, breaking news and Jason and Kenny. Breaking, breaking news coming out of the NFL world. Max Crosby's trade is denied. Did not go through because the physical did not bring back good results, apparently. David and Jason, what are your guys' thoughts on this?

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Oh, I mean, it's a big hit for the Ravens. Um, you know, you you're making this, you're agreeing to this trade, hoping, assuming that he's healthy, even though he's coming off of the injury last year that kept him out for a lot of the season. Uh, and then it just gets pulled out from under you, which I mean they get their first round picks back, so they can still use that to make a trade elsewhere, or or obviously use those picks. Um, and it it was, I think it was a great deal for the Raiders. So both sides, it seemed like a great trade for both sides, so it kind of sucks that it got uh got shot down.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Yeah, I I still I still expect um he'll be moved, but it does it does add an interesting tidbit that they've already gone out the Raiders and made a lot of signings. Uh they're expecting that money to be off their books, and now you have to deal with trying to figure out find a new home from for him again. And uh you can tell based on their signing of Linderbaum. I know you're probably gonna get into more signings, but their signing of Linderbaum is huge. It just shows that they're focused on that offensive line before they make their big QB pick at number one. So I'm assuming that they're gonna want to spend more money on offensive line, so that kind of puts a you know, kind of could delay some signings possibly uh until they get that deal done uh to get him moved elsewhere. So, but I'm happy as a Steelers fan to see him out of the division before it ever began. So not upset.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I just I don't what was the underlying reason? Do we think was there just something specifically that they did not like, or was it like something minor that they could like find their way out of it because they don't they didn't want it, the Raiders actually didn't want to trade him?

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Yeah, I don't I mean I don't think the Ravens were trying to get out of it. I think they they had every intention to get this guy thinking that he'd be a cornerstone of their defense, and the Ravens obviously are known for having a great defense, so you want a guy like this. Um, I think it's probably the knee injury that he had last year. He tried to play, he wanted to play through it at the end of the year, and the raiders didn't let him. So, was he really rehabbing it, you know, to its full extent? I'm not really sure. I would guess that's what it came from, though, is the knee injury that he had. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

That's really interesting. We'll have to see how it plays out and shakes out, but that is that is breaking news. Do you think the Raiders actually like keep him, David? Do you think that it's something that they're like, oh well, we'll we'll we'll keep you now. Like psych like, or is it just like already the budget burner?

SPEAKER_03 4:00

I don't think there's any chance they keep him. There that relationship was tarnished at the end of last year when he tried to come back and they said, You're sitting out, we don't care. We're you're sitting out. So I I I doubt it. The only thing is, and Jason brought it up, is it it adds a wrinkle here is if he can't uh pass the physical with the Ravens, yeah, it's possible they agree to another trade, he goes and gets the physical and doesn't pass it there either. Which I mean, that that's a lot of money on the books for the Raiders because I think the salaries, it's big salary. So that would yeah, that would be a hit for them trying to rebuild this offseason.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

It would be it would be a really big hit. You know, you know, David, another another big move for the the home team, the home state of the Indianapolis Colts, they too they decide to push the chips in on Alec Pierce and Daniel Jones and say goodbye to Mr. Pittman as he is off to the Pittsburgh Steelers. I know Jason is excited about that, but what what are your thoughts on this, listeners and viewers of the Colts making that initial move on Alec Pierce and Daniel Jones? David, what are your thought thoughts though?

SPEAKER_03 5:19

First, uh, I mean, Daniel Jones, they had to sign him, they had to use the transition tag. The other options out there weren't any better. I mean, they could have gotten someone like Gino or uh Kyler Murray, but they won't they're not gonna draft anybody, they don't have a first-round pick. So, you know, you keep it in-house, you keep you keep your quarterback there. There's already relationships built with the receivers. Um, but the Pierce one's definitely interesting. They they chose which one they wanted, and I think this past year uh Pierce proved that he's probably a better overall threat at the receiver position than Pittman is. Um, Pittman obviously had some great years there, uh, but it was time to move on. And I think Pierce gives them a different element uh than Pittman just because he's a deep ball guy, and it it stretches the defense a heck of a lot more than Pittman because Pittman's more of an over-the-middle type guy, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Right. Um I I agree with most of what you said on that, but the thing where I disagree with is Alex, you know, Alec Pierce got some big money. Got some big money. Do you think Alec Pierce is a top 15 wide receiver?

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Uh I don't know. He's still so young. I would say right, I would say right now, no. But he's what? He's four years in. Yes. Um, I believe. And let me verify and he had a great year last year. He he broke out. I think there's still a lot of untapped potential there. Um, I agree with you. And and I think Daniel Jones brought out a lot of that potential too, because even you can look at his stats, and I think he had over a thousand yards.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

I'm pretty sure he did too.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

But once Daniel Jones got hurt and they brought Phil Rivers in, he Rivers couldn't throw it over 15 yards. So the deep ball ended there.

unknown 7:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

So if you really extrapolate what Pierce could have done over a full season with a real quarterback that has an arm attached to his body, then I think you know it it would have been a lot better numbers, and they're already great numbers. Um, right. I don't think we'd look at this as like maybe he's overpaid as much as we do right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

I just I can't. I have been the Colts have put me in disarray for years as a fan, David. You know, we decide to go the veteran route, right? And you know, let's, you know, sign a guy that's on his way out in his last year, and I can go down a whole list. I mean, the viewers and listeners probably know who those QBs are, you know, Carson Wentz, Phillip Rivers. Um, even had a guy, you know, in uh well what what was his name? Mr. Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan. Yep. They had Nick Foles at one point, they had Joe Flacco. You know, we've we've we've we've tried this and it it doesn't work. And we decided to draft Anthony Richardson with the fourth pick. And that was a bust. And I and I called that. And Indianapolis fans got mad at me. I and I I'll never understand that. They're like, oh, he has the most potential, potential. And I'm tired of the word potential. I want results at this point as a fan. I want results. And I know, you know, obviously Jim Mersey passed away is very sad, but I was very happy to see his daughters on the sidelines, right? To take ownership of of the team. But I just I I here's my issue about paying Daniel Jones outfits. If this doesn't work out, how many how many more years are we gonna waste trying to find the guy? We had two guys. We had Peyton Manning for years. I I'm going out just give me a second. We had Peyton Manning for years, got us to two, got us to two Super Bowls, probably should have been more, in my opinion. Arguably one of the best of all time, and then we draft another uh possibly Hall of Famer if he stays healthy, and we actually give him an offensive line that doesn't have the most pressures per per NFL history, probably would have him for a few more years, and Andrew Luck could have been a Hall of Famer, should have been a Hall of Famer, and we just cannot recover from losing Andrew Luck, and it's been this spiral of quarterbacks and a mixture of plugging and playing, and it's not working. And I knew and I know they thought Anthony Richard Winson was the guy. I knew we had to draft a quarterback, but drafting a quarterback after one year of decent play in college and just pushing the chips on on a guy that was six. I mean, one year of starting, he went six and six at Florida, right? Exactly. The dude was not like fully based on potential. And I get I get the move, right? But after after one year, you could clearly see that this is not the guy. Yeah, he just wasn't tapping out, you know, doing doing weird things like that. I know he couldn't say healthy, but like after one decent season, and it sucks to Daniel Jones, and I get it, but that he went down and he got injured, and obviously you can't control that as a player, like stuff happens in football, and I understand that as a fan, but I do not know if those two are worth the price tag. And I'm not trying to be a negative fan, and I'm I I am trying to take facts here and and put them in the in the middle. So here's my counter-argument to that, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:55

If you don't pay those guys, who are you paying? Yeah, that's where I struggle, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:01

That's where I struggle, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:02

And I can the and the problem is the year that they had the first round pick, the the high, you know, Richardson was drafted fourth. Yeah, it was just a bad QB class, even if they had gotten the first pick, Bryce Young hasn't turned out that great. CJ Stroud had a great rookie year. We'll we see where that's gone. Yeah, uh, Will Will Levis was in that draft. He's you know, he's not a guy anymore. So that's what they wanted. I well, obviously they didn't, they didn't take him. I know both both options would have been bad though. But uh it's it was just bad timing that that was the draft that they they really did just have to take a quarterback then because they were doing the stop gap thing year after year with a veteran, and then it didn't work out, and now it's like Daniel Jones at least gave them some stability at the quarterback position, correct? And they traded away their first round pick for this year uh so that they could get sauce gardener. Yeah, so you're left with the decision of like, yeah, Daniel Jones well, he broke his leg and toward Achilles, so that's another thing, too, is like, yeah, how well does he recover from that? But the alternatives just aren't great either. So I agree with you. I think that uh their GM, Chris Ballard, has actually just completely messed up this whole process, and a lot of it is yes, they lost uh generational quarterback in Andrew Luck because he retired young. Yeah, but at some point you got to either just fully tank and and find a guy, or you got to go pay someone big money or or make a big trade. I mean, Deshaun Watson, bad example because it didn't pan out, but the Browns at least were like the Browns were like, we need a quarterback, we're gonna actually try to go get this guy. And they went and got him, and obviously it didn't work out. They paid him a lot of money, but the Colts never never did that either. So um, yeah, I mean, he's just kind of screwed up the whole process and trying to pick up the pieces now and put it all back together. And we'll see how they do this year. I I mean, I think they should be improved. And they've just been around 500 so often lately that right, you're just kind of stuck in limbo.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

I think Chris Pallard, though, if they don't if the Indianapolis Colts don't have a decent year this year, and I mean decent by making the playoffs and coming close to winning the division, I could see him on his way out. I I the the fan base, they're losing the fan base at this point on Ballard. Like everyone is unhappy with this man and the decisions that have been made. And it's it's gonna be interesting after after this next year what what they'll do in the results of this season. But I just I don't know if the price tag was worth those players. Like, I just I I struggle with what Indianapolis, the Colts have paid them, and now your dolphins are are kind of made some big big moves as well, David. That you know, they moved on from Tua, obviously, Tua's going to Atlanta. What are your thoughts on on that move? You I mean, you you weren't you were never high on Mr.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Tua, anyways, but yeah, no, I I was never high on Tua. I actually hated the pick at the time. Um, you know, Justin Herbert was there, they could have gotten him instead. Oh, and he hasn't won anything either, but he's at he's shown a hell of a lot better than Tua has, and Tua's got scrambled eggs for brains. So it it you obviously couldn't have brought him back. He was he was guaranteed so much money, and you gotta get rid of him. Is Malik Willis really the answer? Probably not. I mean, uh he's not a top-tier quarterback, but he's only making 23 million, which I was about to say. If you can build a roster around a quarterback that's only making that much, that way, you know, you got to take advantage of this three-year window and then see where it goes. You got to be able to, you know, use that money elsewhere. Um, they should have a high draft pick. I guess I haven't really paid attention enough. They should.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah, not sure where they're on the list, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

Yeah, um, but you know, but turn turn it around here in the next couple years, and then if Malik Willis is the guy, you sign him to another extension. If he's not in three years, you're gonna draft a new quarterback anyway.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

They're picking at 11.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Yeah, they can get a guy there.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah, they could definitely get a solid guy there.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Too bad they don't have the number one pick to draft the hometown boy.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah. Yeah. The the man, Fernando. Yeah. Probably on his way to Las Vegas right now. You know, I'm interested to see if his uh if his character uh lasts while he's there in uh Las Vegas. I'm curious to see how to do it. Oh, he can't be tainted, he can't be tainted.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

I don't know the city won't get to him. That was a good Christian man. There's the City of Sins ain't gonna get to that man. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

I don't know, he is a saint. He is a saint, but you just you never know, man. I mean, Vegas does some weird things.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

What do you think about the Falcons having two left-handed quarterbacks? When's the last time we saw that?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

I was thinking about that. I really don't know.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

It's rare you see one left-handed quarterback.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Having two is crazy. I'd love the Colts to go get Pennicks. I'm gonna say it. At least as a backup. At least as a backup.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

No comment. No comment? Yeah, lefties can't play quarterback in the NFL. We've we've done this before. I've we can't run this, we can't run this same conversation back. Lefties just don't work in the NFL.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Man, so if they're lefties, they're off your they're off your list already.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

There's there's two lefties that I think you could name off the top of your head where you're like, those guys were great quarterbacks. And the thing that made them so great is their ability to run. I was about to say that. Steve Young and Michael Vick. And there were there were other ones back in the day. I don't know all of them, but you're right. Yeah. Lefties can't make it in the NFL. I agree with you.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

It makes a lot of sense for the Falcons to pick up left-handed quarterbacks because all the decisions they make have been asinine. So I'm glad to see it.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Backwards decisions.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

What do you think of uh Trent McDuffie getting breaking money, history breaking money to go to the Rams? Is he worth all that?

SPEAKER_03 17:34

I mean, he's really good. He is really good. A first round pick and record breaking money is certainly, you know, that's a lot to get. Yeah. But if you have a lockdown corner, you know, the receivers in this league are so good. If you have a lockdown corner, you can go places.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

I feel like if you don't draft like a lockdown corner, you have to give up quite a bit to go get one. Like the Colts did to go get sauce. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

That's because they're a dime a dozen. Like they they're not, they're not just growing on trees. You gotta get the guy when you can. It's kind of like it's the point I made with the Colts. Like, sometimes you just gotta trade picks to get a quarterback. Well, it's the same thing. Like, there's only so many great quarterbacks in the league, there's only so many number one lockdown corners in the league. When you have a chance to go get one, you should.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yeah, I agree. I agree with you. Same thing on the flip side. Like, if there's a what do you think about wide receivers, though? Like an all-time, you know, top three wide receiver. Are they worth all that money?

SPEAKER_03 18:32

And then on the other hand, it depends on the guy because the problem, the problem with wide receivers, they are divas. AJ Brown is a great wide receiver, big body, great hands, great route runner, speedy, right? Bad attitude, bad attitude. You think he has a bad attitude? AJ Brown? Yeah. Oh, he's he's he's the he's just got the worst attitude of all time.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I don't know if I agree with that. I think he's just very inside his head. I don't think it's necessarily a bad attitude.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

All he does is bitch about uh Jalen Hurts to everybody. Jalen Hurts just won a Super Bowl two years ago. I get he's not like you're you're true, sling it around the field type quarterback. And if you're a receiver, I guess you want the ball, but hey, buddy, you're making 30 million dollars, and they have the best running back in the league. Like well, no, he wasn't that great this year. Well, offensive line needs that, but yeah, yeah, their their own line wasn't great this year, but yeah, yeah. I mean, receivers have always been head cases. Look at Antonio Brown, Tyreek Hills, Tyreek Hill's crazy off the field, yeah, but he's an awesome receiver.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Awesome receiver. He might get arrested, but he's an awesome receiver tonight. He's an awesome receiver.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Man, that's part of the credentials. If you ain't getting arrested or assaulting somebody, you ain't a good wide receiver.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

It's you're not too far off there. Yeah, good point, Kenny. That is a solid point. Speaking of wide receivers, David, Mike Evans. Sad. Out of Tampa and his new home in San Fran. How many more years do you think this guy has got left in the tank? He signed a three-year deal. How old is he? I don't know if it's three years, I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

That's probably not he's he's what been in the league for probably 15 years. He's 32. Oh, oh, 32. Not 15 years.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

So Mike Evans has played 12 seasons.

SPEAKER_03 20:47

Okay, okay. Oh, he came out young then.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

So here's let's play a game of trivia.

unknown 20:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

12 years. You know he's had a lot of years of a thousand yards. Yep. Uh-huh. What is his total yardage? Closest wins.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Oh, 12 years. He's had multiple thousand yards receiving seasons, probably. Probably more.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

I'm gonna go 17,163. That's very high.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

I'm not 25,000, 25,000.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

I'll go 13-8.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

I don't know. Brendan wins. It was third, it's actually 13,052.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

So all he does is get exactly two.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

So out of the out of the 11 years in a row that he had a thousand yards, because you know that was the longest streak. Right one, two, three, four, five of them, he did not even get eleven hundred. So five of them, Jay. And then uh two of them were a thousand and four in twenty twenty four and a thousand and six in twenty twenty.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

So he also had a thousand and one in twenty seventeen. So yeah, it's He was really on the edge of a thousand a lot. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

The dude's a dog. Like it's always when I mean when the Saints play him, I mean that's just like it's always a battle. So this he's got I he's definitely got three years left. Like it's or even more, depending on how he plays over there. He's just put it back, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:21

They just throw, throw him, throw him on some streaks, and he misses somebody.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

I mean, he's ridiculous, he's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

What do we think about the loss of one Jersey guys in sports? I feel like growing up, there was a lot of these guys who who were with a franchise and they stuck with that franchise, even if it meant maybe not going out and seeking the highest amount of money. Like I presume Mike Evans either went to the 49ers to hopefully win, yeah, uh, have a better chance of winning than with Tampa, or maybe it was more money than Tampa, or more years than Tampa was going to give him. What do we think about the loss of the one Jersey guys in sports?

SPEAKER_02 23:03

I would say a lot of times I think it feels like we see the same guy in the same uniform just because we've seen most of their prime years in the same uniform. But if you think about it, even like players like Jerry Rice didn't play in the same place his whole career. Um, Steve Smith is another one. I mean, you didn't see him in Baltimore until the very end. So I think actually it's it can almost mess with our brains. We've seen so many guys in their prime in the same place for so long that it's weird to see Michael Vick in a Steelers uniform and not in a Eagles or Falcons. He's a bad example because he played for two prime teams. But you guys get what I'm saying. I think I think there's a it can really twist our brains because the first thing I thought of was Jerry Rice, because you guys were talking about receivers, and he didn't play for the same same one for the whole time. So man, you have some big ones that you can think of that were the same.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's less common in the NFL probably than the NBA or MLB. Not anymore. Well, no, no, not anymore. Yeah, I'm talking about 90s, 2000s. That yeah, that's the exact point I'm making. Um, like the NBA, the only one that comes to mind right now is Steph.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

I think that's we just we just don't hear about I mean Cam Jordan for the Saints, that dude's been there. That's true. Cam Jordan, I mean, it's I feel like you just kind of forget him because you're so used to just seeing people, but Cam just keep moving and moving too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Um did did Tracy McGrady play his whole career in Houston?

SPEAKER_01 24:48

No, he played for the Raptors and the Magic. Yeah, he played for the Magic.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Oh, that's right. The Magic were before Houston.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

Yeah, I mean you had Dirk, you had Tim Duncan, you had Dirk, yeah. Um Yao Ming. Yao Ming. Yeah, you did.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

KG only played on two, but he was in Minnesota forever.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

Well, I guess it would have been one, but then he got traded. D Wade. Chicago was not one. Yeah, he played for Chicago and Cleveland. Uh, I and and those players were at when the one Jersey thing, I think, started to tail off. Same thing with I'm not thinking of it right now, but I'm sure there are a lot more players in the 90s when it wasn't as much of a player empowerment era where yeah, you chase the big money in free agency, or you're demanding trades because you're unhappy with your situation. A lot of times back then it was just you stay where you're at.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Dare I say this happened after Michael Jordan?

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Uh no, I think it was after that. Because I think like I think of Tim Duncan and Dirk. Like those guys were staples of our childhood.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Duncan Tony Parker is did he only play for the Spurs? He played for I think I think Duncan's on there.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

I thought Tony Parker went and played somewhere else. The Hornets, he went to the Hornets.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah, later I think that's when it like when Chris Paul left the Hornets. I remember everybody starting to move.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

Yeah, it was that, and then it was the LeBron decision. It was mellow got traded from uh Denver to New York. Like, yeah, it started happening a lot around then. That's when players were trying to team up with each other. Is that was the super team era?

SPEAKER_02 26:39

The the most recent NFL ones that have played their played their entire career in one franchise were actually Ben Rothelsberger for 18 seasons and Larry Larry Fitzgerald for 17.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

Another great one.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

Yeah, the other one is Don Mulbach long snapper for the Lions 20 2004 to 2020.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

That's what I'm saying. There's probably more of these we don't know.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

Well, but I think the the point is star players being one jersey guys, yeah. I think we've lost that. Uh I think of it a lot more in baseball than I do in yeah. Uh baseball historically, guys just stayed where they were. Derek Cheater, Marano Rivera, Adam Wainwright.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Well, now they sign one of these ridiculously long contracts, too, right? 10 to 12 years.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Oh god, yeah, they're extremely long.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

44 million or whatever, 200 million. I mean, it it's insane. I think the first person to do it was it was it Harper?

SPEAKER_03 27:43

No, uh Pooh signed a 10-year and that's right. Uh LA with the Angels. I think Miguel Cabrera signed a long extension at one point with the Tigers. Um, and then actually those contracts stopped being a thing for a while because teams realized yeah, oh, we're committing 10 years and 300 million to a guy that is gonna be 40 years old at the end of it.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

But then those contracts have come back around recently.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Yes, especially well, those Otani's Otani's was like 10. What 346 or something crazy?

SPEAKER_03 28:20

10 for 700 million with 680 million deferred. Wow, yeah, bad.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

And want sort of was 15 years, 765 million. Yep. 50 years.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Oh my land massively deferred. Yeah, that's what we're talking about, dude. Listeners and viewers, if you don't know, my wife is uh currently working and uh she loves to hear the side talk, so she likes to you know give her opinion every now and then. So peanut gallery. But yeah, peanut gallery talk. That's what we're talking about. Speaking of baseball, guys, uh world baseball classic is happening, and there's this stud of a 17-year-old that is pitching for I believe it is Brazil, correct? You got it, Joseph Contreras, yeah, baller, certified baller. Uh, I saw a reel, it was like a couple days back or a few days back that Aaron Juds personally went out and talked to this guy and said this guy was pumping some juice, and the stuff that he had, Aaron Judd said he he did not have at he did not have at 17 crazy that an all-star MLB, arguably one of the best MLB players right now, came up and said that to him. What would you guys do? Put yourself in his shoes of uh an all-star coming up to you and saying that type of stuff. How would y'all take that?

SPEAKER_03 29:57

That'd be pretty sweet. That'd be pretty sweet to hear from Aaron Judge. Like that dude just just hits bombs everywhere off of anybody, he doesn't care. No, but but this guy got Aaron Judge grounded to an inning-ending double play, throwing 98. I mean, he he did his father was uh uh MLB pitcher who won a World Series. So, you know, he grew up around the game. He I'm sure he's seen this before, but still pretty cool to be on this stage and and have that happen.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Do we know do we know where this guy is headed? Is he is he going to college? Is he just going to to the minors?

SPEAKER_03 30:36

No, he's he's committed to Vanderbilt. He could get drafted though and forego that commitment.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

I was about to say his current jack draft projection puts him anywhere between 30 and 50. So most likely he's gone if that happens.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Yeah, I would I would guess he'll go, he'll get over his slot value. They'll be drafted as a wild wild thing to me. It's just so many, so many rounds. I don't know. Yeah, this is kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

It's all a money game, it's all like figuring out how you want to allocate your money.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Yeah, I was gonna say it's also like auctioneer because yeah, exactly. You have so much slot money on each spot.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah, that that's that that's very interesting. Guys don't go, yeah, that's true. Yeah, I think NIL is definitely probably cause that to go more to college way of people taking that money.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

I don't even think it's just NIL, I think it's also people are starting to see a lot of the value of a lot of these younger guys that go to college for three years and come out and they're making it to the league a lot faster than they used to. Interesting, and especially in the majority.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

It's hard to take a risk on an 18-year-old when like pitch pitchers, you never know how they're gonna pan out when they're 18. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

And they probably need to, especially. I mean, Jason and I talk about watching you know, L Shu and stuff right now, the way the pitchers are throwing. I they definitely need to go in college because they I don't think that they're being taught right, and you can't just throw them out. But also the majors right now, they you know, a couple years ago they cut a bunch of programs, so you know, a good way to throw it is college ball now. And I bet you yeah, a lot of these colleges have better facilities and better turnout and fan-wise. So, and so it's very beneficial, I think.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Yeah, I like that. I like that too, Kenny. I like that, like that point. Speaking of uh programs that have been canceled, Purdue Fort Wayne, my alum, they don't have a baseball program anymore. It was axed.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Did they do that this year?

SPEAKER_01 32:49

I believe last year, they after the end of last year, they they axed it.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

So pretty soon that will be most schools in the country because these schools are not going to have the money to support it.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

Yeah, yeah. I've seen Iowa State or Iowa cut their gymnastics program. Um wow. There's a lot of school I uh didn't really look into it, but apparently Maryland or Louisville, they're we're barely making even right now. Um wow, I think I could be wrong. I think LSU was like they didn't make as much profit as they used to.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

So Kenny, is that do you more because of the the NIL going to football, or is it lower admissions to the schools? Are you talking about other sports, or yeah, because I mean everybody knows football basically makes all the money for everything else?

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Oh yeah, I mean, it's I mean it's being all that money's being pulled into. I mean, for some reason, I don't know how men our men's basketball team makes part of our profit, which blows my mind because that blows my mind too.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Something where um it's like football and men's basketball, and sometimes women's basketball are really the only profitable sports in college sports. Yeah, and it's really because of March Madness.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

I feel like that that's why Indiana pushed a lot of their almost all their chips into football. Like, I mean, signing groundbreaking deals with SIG and and the staff, and also I mean, we Indiana wasn't the one of the biggest spenders, but they spent a lot on their roster uh configuring that. So it's I believe Indiana made over 60 million dollars from football, David, 90 million in that range. Yeah, it was something absurd, but I mean, yeah, I it it's true, Jason. Like a lot of the funding that people get or the profit is from football, and then men's basketball usually they make probably anywhere to$8 to$12 million. I'm assuming, but it's not as big as football. So college football, pretty big, pretty big business.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Well, and the thing that's killing all these non-revenue sports is that the schools now have to pay out of pocket, so it's not just NIL, it's not just collectives now, it's the you know, they've the house settlement that happened last year. Now every school has 20.5 million dollars to spend however they want on their players, whatever programs you want. Well, now they're paying out of pocket. Before these schools weren't paying any money out of pocket, other than maybe under the table, you know, we know how that's right.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Yeah, we do, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

But now they have to pay out of pocket. That's 20 million dollars that every school I mean, they don't have to spend the whole thing, but if they're spending it, that's money out of pocket that they didn't have to use to spend.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Yeah, I'm I'm reading some of the programs we've lost. I I didn't uh Grand Canyon, they have a really good men, or did had a really good men's volleyball program, and they had to cut it. Yes, really, it's just yes, like it's and that was the fear that was my fear when they were doing the the whole conference realignment stuff, moving like yeah, all the California teams going across the country, like those California schools have sports that no one has, period. So, how do you justify even keeping those sports when you have to travel halfway across the country?

SPEAKER_02 36:26

So it's the new world. You want to know some math? Um, the from the Department of Education, annual profits and losses, and this is this is 10 years ago, so this isn't even as recent as now, but even 10 years ago, the only profitable ones were football and basket men's basketball. The top 10 losers were women's basketball, track, baseball, volleyball, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, and rowing.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

That doesn't shock me at all. I'm just being honest from a business perspective. Like those sports that are failing.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

That's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

I don't think it's good for the kids, man. That that's that's my thing.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Like my question all the time is how much money does women's basketball cost? Because I remember looking one year, LSU women's basketball cost a ton of money, and it probably will continue to do.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

I'm just being honest.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

And I'm wondering like what the what those expenses are. Is like I mean, it's recruiting, it's all recruiting. I was about to say that.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

You're flying all across the country to recruit during the summer. You're having to go to a AAU tournaments every weekend. Yep, got and you gotta send your your coaches, you know, you got your head coach and three assistants, you gotta send all of them to different places, so it's not like you're saving money carpooling, basically. Yeah, it's all on that, and women's basketball just doesn't bring in the uh same amount of fans, you know, butts and seats, and then that's less money you make concessions, and you know, it all adds up.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

It does. It does, it does, but it does. Do you think do you guys think that college sports needs to make a change fast? Or do you think they'll just keep going in this direction of everything needs to make money or else it's just gonna get canceled?

SPEAKER_00 38:26

I I really hope that I think you've already seen it. I mean, Trump, the presidency, they've already made issues on comments, and everyone has you know, we're blowing up at about it, and um and it it really needs to. I mean, we I don't want to go into politics here, but capitalism like this is like the capitalism that people just do not want to be a part of because it's it's nonsense, it's complete nonsense because you you know, like Saban went and you know talk about people's education. Everyone's like, you never cared about people's education. You don't want these, you want the you don't want people to get paid. That's not the issue. I don't understand why people are saying that's the issue. Yeah, we're trying to avoid the situations that like for say LSU did with I know that's a coaching staff, but I mean, some of these guys, it's just it's a ridiculous amount of money to but you're you're wasting it to me. You're wasting it because it's like the whole one and done thing. I'm not gonna care about your one and done. So they gotta nip it in the butt be because it's they're these guys are making way too it's not the athletes. I think like even the agents are making like a crap ton of money off of these kids. AR and you know, we're losing sponsorships to uh there's no way none of this money's just going to education. The education is just even more of a second seat.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Yeah, yeah. It's man, yeah. Usually your NFL agents take anywhere, I believe, anywhere from three to five percent. I think NIL agents now, college athletes, are taking anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of what I've been told from athletes. They either have it or don't.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

So and they're also screwing these athletes. I mean, some of them are just missing out on opportunities, period, because they get out of the portal. They go in the portal, no one's gonna take them.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

There's some there's some great agents that give them great brand deals that give them the exposure that they want that I believe NIL is there for. And you have the other side of the token of sadly them just wanting the kids' money, and it's it's really sad. Yeah, what can you do about it?

SPEAKER_00 40:51

That that that right there. That's I I that's the problem. I think us fans, we really do not have control over it, and it's no, and NCAA doesn't have control over it, they cannot control the sports. Absolutely not. They're trying, it's legislation, it's gonna be a legislation issue, and it has to be, and that that's a problem in itself because uh the these politicians are making money anyway, so ridiculous amount of money, first of all. The politicians and judges are letting the get these guys in the NBA come back and play college ball. Yeah, it's a must-up world. Hey, hey, it's just that hasn't happened yet.

SPEAKER_03 41:33

That hasn't happened yet. They're gonna stop because of the rules.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

I know, but he did play.

SPEAKER_03 41:45

Yeah, I mean, there's two ways out of this. It's one one's legislation, yeah, and you basically give the NCAA all their power back through uh bills. Which I'm scared of Congress. The other option is you let all of the athletes collectively bargain, form a union to collectively bargain. What that does is it gets rid of every non-power school because the power schools athletes are going to want a hell of a lot different things than yes, mid-major, low major schools athletes are going to want, or even are worth. And so that will just break college sports up entirely. So I agree. The the real only path back to getting it to where it was even just five years ago is through legislation.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Do you think it'll ever go back to I don't think it'll ever go back to athletes not being paid, but I do think we need to take a very much of a step back of an 18-year-old getting millions of dollars?

SPEAKER_03 42:47

Yeah, it's that's never gonna go away. That that was so ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

But it's just wild to me.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

But why uh it's wild. I'm gonna partially play devil's advocate here. I agree with partially. I I agree with the point I'm about to make. Why is an 18-year-old not allowed to get their fair market value for their talents?

SPEAKER_01 43:09

I can't argue that. I can't. I can come up with a dumbass reason to argue it, but no, I think the only argument is that the the the fair market values are uh they're just blown out of proportion right now.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

Like a freshman like Bryce Bryce Underwood, for example. Yeah, quarterback in Michigan, came into college, for went to Michigan because they paid him more than LSU was gonna pay him, and it was four years, 10 million or 12 million, something like that. And every year he gets 2.5 or 3 million, whatever that breaks down to. Yeah. You paying a high school kid that amount of money when he has shown nothing to you is insane to me. Now, on the flip side, if you get, you know, let's say Fernando Mendoza was going to go back into poor. This year, and he was going to go somewhere. That guy's worth 15 million to a college football team if that was you know if that was the scenario. Yeah, it's just that we've kind of blown out the numbers on the front end of things, and it's caused this domino effect to where now everybody is just making these inflated numbers.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

I was gonna say, how do you come up with a fair market value though? Who determines that?

SPEAKER_03 44:22

Well, I mean, the way the way NIL was supposed to work is the car dealership down the road wants to sign you to a deal to make uh you know a commercial for them. They're gonna pay you ten thousand dollars for an hour of your time to make this commercial. Great. That's a guy actually using his name, his image, and his likeness right to to make money off of himself. That's what it was supposed to be, and instead it turned into collectives taking advantage of the loophole and paying these guys millions of dollars because donors were finally allowed to just pool all their money together and funnel for the players, and that ruined everything. Find them finding that loophole ruined the way we looked at and the way college sports operated.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

Wait, you're telling me rich people find loopholes?

SPEAKER_00 45:12

They're good at it, always one crazy. Look, it's gonna they're gonna figure out another one because uh it's just like our our biggest guy is an insurance our insurance guy. He does wrecks, so of course just do something where oh, I hope everyone wrecks today so I can pay for a quarterback.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Well, you didn't have enough for uh Soresby uh uh because you know Texas Tech had to pay him more.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

Well, cars uh car wrecks are way different than uh black gold.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Oil money, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

This is true. Soresby, another guy, not worth that much. No, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

You gotta you gotta cap it. You have to cap it because you're really gonna run into the issue with you just like the Bryce Underwood thing. I thought that was like like shooting beyond like started everything stratosphere of the highest level. So now the next guy coming in at a freshman, he's like, Oh, he got 18. I want 25. Like, you're gonna keep on going up.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

And it's crazy to me too. Like, you know, you have a lot of these coaches now that you're like, Oh, you can't touch my players, don't DM my players. Like, I mean, I'm not gonna say names on who who's told me and who's not, but I mean, some of these players already know who they're going to next year. It's just it's in it's insane. And they're telling people in the locker room, like, how are you supposed to how are you supposed to play a season when you know Joe Blow over there going to Pittsburgh, and you and you over here playing for West Virginia? Like, it's just it don't it's just it's not there's gotta be an answer. And you know, for what NIL was made for, like these collectives just gotta get out. They got they have to get out.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

Well, the collectives aren't legal anymore, but now the players get paid directly, and that's yeah, that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

They get revenue sharing, and it's just I don't know. It'll be interesting where college sports heads, but I hope college basketball sticks to their guns, and none of these NBA G League Development League players try to come back because that's just not fair to other kids, it's just not, and I'm all for fairness at the end of the day. So it's it's not right. But we appreciate you guys tuning in, listening, appreciate you guys' support. Go to our Spotify, give us a five-star review, would mean the world to us, even review at all, you know, be something, maybe a four-star. But five stars would mean the world to us. Also go to our YouTube five hours on like a fan, like, comment, and subscribe. And you can find us on Apple Podcasts along with Spotify, like I just said. So show some love, and also go to our Instagram and X5LF Podcast to find our latest reels. So we appreciate y'all. We will see you in the next one. Peace.

SPEAKER_04 48:08

Go tigers live on the