Green Light with Chris Long - Jeff Passan! World Baseball Classic, Ohtani vs Trout & MLB Pitch Clock. Softball Recap & Mailbag

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

(3:21) - Jeff Passan talks World Baseball Classic, Shohei Ohtani vs Mike Trout, MLB Rule Changes and Enticing Season-Long Bets (41:46) - Green Light Reviews their Softball Team Debut (52:49) - Mailbag: Hardest Hits You've Taken, Jimmy G Receives a Special Offer & Dream 1v1 Matchups in Sports Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b   Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42   Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GreenLightTube1   Green Light with Chris Long:   Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. It's a perfect day to talk baseball. It's Jeff Passon. We talk World Baseball Classic, Shohei Otani, Mike Trout, the big one-on-one matchup between the two teammates that went down to the World Baseball Classic the other night. Jeff breaks it all down. He also talks new rules in the MOB this upcoming season. Some storylines we should be made aware of. He even makes a couple preseason batting picks. And then Chris Kyle and Dr. Fax have a good bit of fun on the backside.

We have a mailbag that we go through. We also give a highly anticipated recap of our softball game the other night. And Chris has a lifestyle update you'd like to share with you all. Please enjoy the show and we will catch you on Tuesday. All right, y'all. We have a pack show for you. You've got Jeff Passing coming on in a moment or two to talk about the World Baseball Classic, which I'm really relieved.

You know, if we were going to lose that to anybody, I'm glad it was the sport of baseball because all I kept hearing was that the real winners are this, I don't know, is the sport of baseball or the sport of baseball? 100% in the fans of baseball. So we didn't lose to Japan. We lost to the sport of baseball. Yeah, exactly. So we're good.

and we'll be back in 2006 and we'll see Otani again. We'll get us stronger. You will up that pitching staff. Like Rob Manfred said. That's right. Okay, so Jeff Passon is going to start to show off

and then we will get into some mailbag with Kyle and Dr. Fax, including the hardest we've been hit in the NFL. Some advice for Jimmy G in securing his lifetime supply of sex from a brothel in Las Vegas as well as best fantasy matchups of all time. And I don't mean like Austin Eckler fantasy.

I mean like Jordan versus LeBron. Different eras. Different eras, that sort of thing. And Nate's got a couple questions in there as well. So stick around for that. I hope everybody's enjoying their Friday. What a time of year it is. Watch over the tree pollen.

It's fucking out there right now. Here's Jeff Passon. All right, cool. You guys see a lighter in your hand and a dip can on the tape? that's zen i actually quit dip recently there are american but just for you i brought these so ah let's get yeah i want to i want to i want to light one up here i'm hiding my i an ironic pack of cigarettes

chris brought out the real cigarettes oh hold on jeph i'm going to give you the official review here you can even tell by the way he lights it isn't you know addicted you're dead Oh, dead. But it's clean, though. These are like hipster cigarettes. They're Jeff's favorite cigarettes. Yeah, no additives in there.

Just tobacco, tobacco and water. Fuck this, dude. That's what they say. God damn, Jeff. I'm not drunk enough to do this. Yeah, you tried. You tried. Yeah, we're going to, it's like a, this is like a burning sage or something.

You know, I heard in the dugout, the Italian dugout in cigarettes. When you burn an American spirit all the way through, it's like burning sage. Somebody like a spirit shows up. Yeah. So we have Jeff Passon, and we have a lit American spirit in his honor. And we are going to talk about the World Baseball Classic. Jeff, were you shocked at, like, this year being the year that it feels like everybody realized that the World Baseball Classic exists? And I don't mean this to belittle the sport of baseball.

But this was huge. And, like, I wonder what you think the reason was. Why was it this year? I think it was Shohayatani, honestly. I think he, you know, there's just something about him and about how incredible of a player he is that I think it's taken time for people to recognize just how different he is and how special he is. It's like we've almost taken for granted the idea that there's a guy who plays quarterback and middle linebacker in the same game and it's not like a Pop Warner game. I mean, that's essentially what he is. And I understand he's a DH on the offensive side, but he could play outfield.

He did that in Japan and was very good there. And I think when you have a player of that caliber with Otani and you see the numbers coming out of Japan that half the households, you know, 65 million people are watching a quarterfinal game against Italy, all of a sudden you're like, like, is this a thing? and then Trey Turner hits the Grand Slam in the quarterfinals to beat Venezuela and the Americans get to the finals and Japan has the walkoff and the semis against Mexico. And it's like everything was building on top of another. And it's just nice to have some really competitive, meaningful sports after the Super Bowl. Yeah. Like there's that lull in the sports calendar after the Super Bowl where the NHL is kind of in the dog days

of its season and the NBA is winding down. And spring training, it's like exciting when it begins. But after that, it's just spring training with a bunch of guys wearing number 76, you know, battling against guys wearing number 83. Yeah. Like just a bunch of gibrones who were going to be down at a ball by the time April begins. Yeah. Well, I saw there was a zero zero tie in spring training yesterday with the Cardinals.

So I was like, I'm not going to rewatch that. Small ball, too small. But yeah, you're right. It's like it's a great opportunity. The timing is right. You know, like, and I wonder, I definitely basketball has less competition than U.S. baseball, right? U.S. baseball.

I mean, the, the talent gap is obviously smaller. Is there a country that didn't make noise this year that might, that might eventually make noise like where baseball is developing? It's an ancient sport for us. But is that game developing anywhere internationally? I mean, they're trying. And, you know, it was very interesting to see, like, Great Britain have a team. And it wasn't, you know, it wasn't made up of a bunch of British people. It was people with British ancestry.

And the same thing with Team Israel. It was a bunch of Jewish players. And the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic was interesting. I have no idea of Czech baseball is going to ever become a thing. But, like, there was an electrician who struck out Otani. Yeah. And I think, you know, why, why I.

love that is because I think it shows the democratization of baseball. This is a game where you don't need to be the best in the world to necessarily beat the best in the world. You could have upsets any given day. And the fact that the Dominican Republic brought this lineup that had Juan Soto and didn't have Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Fernando Tatis Jr., but could have. and Mani Machado, and you could go on and on about just the power, Julio Rodriguez, in this lineup. And they didn't even make it out of pool play. I think speaks to the nature of baseball.

The best teams in baseball history still lose one out of every three games. And so the idea that you have this sport where, you know, upsets are really ripe, I think gives you the possibility for a tournament that mimics March madness. as much as it does anything else. Yeah, I almost got struck out by an electrician the other night. Yeah. So I can definitely, me and Otani have a lot in common. Well, one thing we don't have in common, it didn't get struck out by an electrician.

But I kind of wonder what you think about the trout, Otani, final at bat. Overhyped, hyped correctly, or underhyped somehow? I think probably hyped correctly right now, but over time, it's going to become one of those things. of legend and lore that people are going to look back on and say, hey, remember when that happened? There were only 36,000 people in the stadium, but 100,000 people are going to claim to have been there that day

and to have seen it. And this is my 20th year covering Major League Baseball. And I had two conversations that night. One of them, Mike Trout, had just sort of finished up his scrum and was walking toward the bus, and I started walking with him. And I was like, you know, it was a, it was a rough moment for him. You know, his team had lost. And he had, as he said, he had lost round one to a very good friend of his and his teammate in Otani.

And I was like, dude, you know that's like one of those at bats that people are going to look back on and remember in baseball history. And even in the moment, I think he understood what it meant. But the second conversation was the cooler one because I've, you know, show Haryotani is media-wise extremely protected. Like he only talks every so often, after starts mostly, doesn't do a whole lot of one-on-one interviews. But I happened to be outside the Japanese clubhouse when he walked out. And he walked by a bunch of the Japanese reporters and was going toward the press conference room. And I start walking alongside him. And it was our first conversation in English.

and I said to him, I was like, that was really cool. And he looked at me. He's like, yeah, that really was. So he's got that in his arsenal. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. If I was Joe Hottani, I would act like I knew no English and just make people go through my translator. Yeah, of course.

That's what, no, that's what he does. And remember, that's what Ichiro did. Have you ever seen the Ichero interview with Bob Costas? Yes, like two rats fucking in a sock or something. In a wool sock. And of course, it's Kansas City where I live. during the summer and it's 100% true. True. True in St. Louis too.

Otani's English is not like perfectly fluent at the level that Ichero's was. Eachero's eloquent in English at this point. Otani's going to get there, but just having the back and forth with him and, you know, he's still young and I don't think

he quite can fathom his place in history because he's the person who's actually going out and doing it. And, you know, And whenever you do historic things, like, that's a hard thing to wrap your arms around in the moment. I was like, man, I've been doing this for two decades now. And that's the coolest at bat I've ever seen. And here's why I say eventually it's going to probably be underhyped and why it is certainly not overhyped.

That at bat could have ended with one pitch. Could have ended with a ground bold shortstop. Could have ended with a gap double. could have ended any number of ways early on. But no, it was a ball and then it was a strike, and then it was a

ball, and then it was a strike, and then it was a ball, and we end up three, two, after four consecutive fastballs, each of which were at 100 plus miles per hour. And then Otani has the balls to throw a slider after going four straight 100 plus mile per hour fastballs

against a hitter who he has seen do unbelievably brilliant things and who is regarded as the best breaking ball hitter in baseball. If Shohei Otani is not precise with that particular pitch, Mike Trout is going to hit it all the way to the ocean. And instead, he throws the perfect pitch, a sweeper that starts on the inside corner, ends up outside the strike zone, and Trout swings through it. And, you know, one of the coolest things that night for me was Pedro Martinez was on the field. after the game. And Pedro is, you know, as dominant and brilliant to pitcher as I've ever seen. His 1999 to 2001 statistics are unmatched in baseball history. And here's Pedro like marveling at what Otani did with that at Pat. When you get respect from Pedro Martinez for the way you pitched, you know you did something really, really good. Yeah, Ortiz and Arod were up there like school

children. They were giddy to interview Otani. Ortiz is the funniest guy to watch on TV. Yeah, it was really funny. And Ortiz was like telling jokes and grabbing Otani and like he had to wait for the translator and tell him what the joke was, but Otani was like, yeah, it looks funny.

Whatever the fuck you're saying. It was so, I mean, it was just like so cool to see those guys kind of fanboy over this young international star. I think everybody realized the grabbing. Man boy, dude. We're all fans. We're all fans. We're all fans of the physique.

We're fans of the face. We're fans of the swing, the way he throws the ball. He does everything. And not only that, he has the presence of mind to be out of the media a bit. And I'm not sure what part of that is culturally. But I wanted to go back to when you spoke to him in the tunnel when he got past the Japanese media. Do they have the wherewithal to understand we're not going to ask him anything? We're going to leave him alone?

Or do they still bother him knowing that he doesn't do these interviews? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. There were 2,000 credentialed Japanese media there. And, you know, even like the tiniest thing. So this is a funny story. We were talking the night before with the semi-final. Mnetska Murakami, who hit the walk-off double that night, had said in a press conference,

I was actually thinking of bunting, which is like a super Japanese thing to say because you know, in Japan, the word that's used is wa. And wah means harmony. And harmony is this idea that the team is more important than the individual, that the team means everything. And if you have to sacrifice something, including an out in a close game, you're going to be willing to go and do that. And Munecrimurakami hit 56 home runs last year. It's the most of Japanese players ever hit in NEPROM professional baseball. He's going to come here in a couple of years. He's going to make 200 plus million dollars. Like he's a dude and he was going to bunt.

And Alden Gonzalez, uh, with whom I work, you know, he was just asking Japanese reporters like, is this translation on the transcript actually right? It, like there's no way that he was trying to bunt. And one of the Japanese reporters comes up to Alden afterward and asks him. So, you know, when, when you were talking about bunting there, um, that, that was really interesting. what are your feelings on that? And I noticed this Japanese reporter is holding his recorder like down by his knee.

And he's kind of trying to hide it. And Alton didn't recognize it at the time. Like this guy was going to go and turn around and write a story about an American reporter who was essentially shitting on like the idea of bunting. That sort of attitude goes to Shoheyotani and it's exponentially larger. if Shohei Otani like has a hair out of place it's a story in Japan and and that's what he has to deal with in you know I think that's why you can understand he's so reticent to talk because every word that that man utters is treated with the seriousness of President Biden talking right now about international politics like that is how Otani is seen in Japan so he seems like to be structurally ready for it though he seems to be strictly ready for it though he seems He seems to have the it to handle it. But it's like it's way more than LeBron's magnifying glass here in the States.

Would I assume that to be correct? Because that's their national pastime in a way, it seems like. And they're fervent fans and they pack the stadiums. And he is like a god there. Yeah, he is like a guy. I mean, Roki Sasaki, who threw the semi-final game and had, you know, 19 of his 20 fastballs at one point, were 100 plus miles per hour, Roki Sasaki threw a pitch in high school

at 101.3 miles per hour. It broke Shoheotani's record for the fastest pitch for a Japanese high schooler. And immediately overnight, Roki Sasaki became nationally known and a sensation, and his nickname is the monster of the Rewa era. And it like, baseball in Japan, I wish baseball here were like it,

because it's the NFL over there and the passion may be even greater. And so for Otani to be, you know, LeBron's a great comparison because I think the most fascinating thing to me about LeBron James is not how great LeBron James is. It's the fact that LeBron James, 16 years old, the world was told this guy is going to be incredible. And over the last two plus decades, he has not only exceeded those expectations, but has done so with a level of class. and generosity that I don't think any, anyone could have fathomed. Barely.

Shohay Otani is the exact same way. He is still beloved by his teammates. He's still a good dude. And what I love about him, at the WBC this year, I saw more personality and humor and joy from him than we've seen in any of his five years before. And I don't know if you guys felt this because you guys, you know, you guys grew up with your father,

you know, a star. with him in the media, so you guys from the jump understood what it took. But one thing I've noticed in doing this as long as I have, I feel like when athletes hit 30 years old, suddenly they've got like life under their belts a little bit. And they begin to understand the world a little more and can speak to it with some more confidence. And I feel like a Shohayotani approach is 30 years old. And he understands like the responsibility, not just of being him, but just of like generally

being a human being in the world around him and his place in it. We're going to get to know him a lot better, what makes him tick, what drives him, who he really is. And as someone whose job it is to chronicle those sorts of things, I cannot wait for that to happen. Lars Neutbar, that dude has to be living like a king over there. Like, I just, at first I was like, wait, what's this guy doing? And then I read up on his descent and his name is like Dutch or something like Newt Bar. So I was just kind of confused at first and his mother was Japanese. So he wanted to play ever since he was a kid.

He wanted to play for his home country. And I thought that was really cool. Like, how was that received? And, you know, how big a star is Lars Neupar in Japan? He's a cult hero there now. And it's so cool to see. And I was standing right next to his mom when she was being interviewed on Japanese TV and just seeing the smile on her face and the joy that she had.

Like, that's the thing that I think I'm probably going to take away from the world. baseball classic. It's just a really joyous event. And you know, you can say that Edwin Diaz got injured in an exhibition game and the New York Mets are worse for it. And Jose Altuve got injured in an exhibition game and the Houston Astros are worse for it. And both of those things are true. Like that's an undeniable thing that, you know, the WBC in the end right now is just seeing. as an exhibition, whereas Major League Baseball is like the real thing. But I wrote this earlier this week. You can love the World Baseball Classic and love Major League Baseball.

You don't have to choose between the two. If you're a fan of baseball, then be a fan of the entire universe of baseball. And, you know, I don't know if it's my age or, or where I'm at in my life. But I love the game right now more than I ever have before. And perhaps that's the product of like the fact that I'm flying home today. And my son tomorrow is going to be, you know, he's a freshman in high school. And he's going to be playing in his first varsity game.

And I'm nervous and I'm excited. And it's just, you know, there's a lot of baseball in my life right now. And honestly, I feel like the sport is in a really, really good place. Those guys getting hurt, that's just wah for the sport of baseball. You know, that's just sacrificing for the sport of baseball. No, I'm not. Why are you got to do that? Because baseball won.

No, but the way to justify guys getting hurt is it grows the game internationally, grows the game domestically as well. Guys like me don't watch Major League Baseball night to night day to day. I've had friends before that do watch it. Massive White Sox fans, you know, they're watching every game. But the WBC comes up, and I may. watch a game one night. I may watch two games. That's more than I've watched Major League Baseball in the last three years. You know what I mean? Kyle, Kyle, are you doing that?

It's great for a guy like me. I'm a big Phillies fan. Oh, okay. I recognize all these faces on the Dominican team. Venezuela. I can recognize that guy. What team is he on? I got to Google his name. Now I want to go watch the Padres. You know, I've been watching. I've been watching Shohey. I'm going to continue to watch Aaron Judge and his chase for, you know, supremacy and in the home run realm. Yeah. But there's more to watch now. This is a nice entry point for people. And, you know, I wondered like, you know, it's like perfect rolling into the season. It feels like this is as much buzz as there's been for Major League Baseball as we alluded to in a while. In my opinion, as a casual fan. And so the question is, you know, piggybacking off the show Hey and Mike Trout at bat,

will they be together for a while? Because Otani is a free agent in a year. And so, you know, piggybacking off the show Hey, and Mike Trout at bat, you know, the Angels experiment hasn't gone great. I mean, it hasn't had the highest ceiling. Mike Trout's been to playoff once. I think they got swept by the Royals. And so the question is, you got these two generational players, are they rotting away in Anaheim? Would it be good for the game to break them up?

And will that happen? I think a lot of Shohei Otani's ultimate destination when he's in free agency this offseason depends on how the Angels do this year. Because, like, he got his taste. of meaningful games over the last three weeks. And let me tell you, like, it brought something out in him. It's hard to God I think had been long dormant.

Yeah. Yeah. And here's the thing. He was a bad motherfucker all of the three weeks. Like every, you know, he didn't fold under the pressure. It brought out the best in him. So think about that as an athlete. Like, this thing has,

has been dormant inside my body, this desire, because the people around me have not been good enough. And now I get a taste of it. And it's like, you know, I want more. Like I can't fathom baseball without that level of competition now. And so if the Angels win this year, they're going to have a shot.

But if they don't, a trip up the five to the Los Angeles Dodgers is a very, very realistic possibility. And Steve Cohen, you know, six-hour flight away with the New York Mets after going out and spending hundreds of millions of dollars this off-season and carrying the biggest payroll in history, like by a long shot into the 2023 season, he's going to want him. And oh, by the way, there's the New York Yankees who are the New York Yankees. They've had Japanese stars in the past. and the San Francisco Giants

after striking out on Carlos Correa this offseason and the Seattle Mariners with the biggest Japanese star of all each of Ros Suzuki. Like, every team's going to want Shohei Otani. As long as he stays healthy, the bidding's going to start at $500 million and it's just a question of how high it's going to go. Damn it!

Yeah. My car's going down. Like, no chance I can get it. But who do you think the... Who do you think... Yeah, I know. You should. have been something else.

You would have, we wouldn't be doing this bullshit. Yeah. Hey, Kyle. Hey, hey, guys, you know what's great?

Guaranteed contracts. Yeah, they are great. They're here. They're here. I think Lamar Jackson is going to join the Mets bullpen. Who's got, hey,

Jeff, who's got the better pitching staff, the Mets or the Yankees? The Yankees because of their bullpen. Got it. Are you talking, starting rotation though they're deeper i'm talking they're just their entire stable of the team picture of pitchers whatever the fuck you call that team picture man i mean you know jose cantona being out for

for three months hurts the mets it's like garrick cole and carlos redone versus max scherzer and justin verlander yeah i mean that's maybe like the slightest edge to the met's there but that's pretty much a wash but rotation depth um uh uh uh i think yeah Yankees maybe by a smidge. They're very similar teams actually. They're both teams that have flaws, and they're both teams that need to stay healthy, and they're both teams that have individuals. If they get hurt, then it's really potentially going to change the trajectory of their season. But I think we also have to acknowledge the reality of Major League Baseball now with 12 playoff teams. Yes.

Like all of this is just trying to get a ticket to October. That's it. And if you get a ticket to October, it doesn't matter how talented you are, doesn't matter how good you were over the previous 162 games. It's more or less a crapshoot at that point. And I think the perfect example of that was the Philadelphia Phillies last year. They were the worst team to get into the playoffs and they were within two wins of a championship. And there's, you know, there's frustration in that. But there's also beauty in that.

Yeah, whatever. Well, hey, so who do you think is going to be in the World Series? Give me like a little like this, this could, this is the odds on favorite matchup and give me maybe a dark horse or a value bet that I might want to place on the team. My pick this year is Atlanta over Toronto. It's a very like wide open year for major league baseball teams. Like I don't think anyone's going into the season. You point to that team and say, that's the best team in baseball right now. It's been the Dodgers in the past.

and I think the Padres in the Mets just because of the way that they've spent and the teams they've constructed have a lot of hype behind them. I just love Atlanta's offensive depth. They went and traded for Sean Murphy this offseason, and he is really, really good behind the plate. And you add him to Matt Olson and Austin Riley and Ronald de Kuhnia and Ozzy Albies and any number of others in that line. Michael Harris in Centerfield. I mean, you can go on and on and their rotation solid. Toronto, I've been waiting for them for a couple of years now, and I don't know, it just feels like this is their year.

But you could tell me that the Yankees are going to be in the World Series or that the Rays are going to be in the World Series. And I would say, okay, you could tell me that Minnesota is going to back into it or Cleveland, and I'd be like, fine. I mean, the American League West is ridiculous. You know, Houston wins last year. but Seattle is really, really good. And the Angels and Rangers both got.

What's going on in Chicago? I was draft out of high school to the White Sox, and obviously there's a lot of Cubs fans that follow this show as well. So can you give any hope to the Chicago ones? What we got going on in the Windy City? Yeah, no, not really. Okay, good.

Well, we can keep it rolling. That's good. So they're not a dark horse. That's good. There's plenty of dark horses that you could bet on. Jeff named a few of them. By the way, Macon's favorite team, Toronto Blue Jays. He's an avid Blue Jays fan.

Big Joe Carter fan. He posts their record. next to every, you know... 193, best year ever. Yeah, it was sick. You know what I'm really surprised we haven't talked about yet? Have you guys seen any spring training games so far? No, I was in Scottsdale last week and there's a lot of games being played in Scottsdale.

Okay, so you guys haven't seen the game with the pitch clock then, have you? No, so do you like this stuff? Like, what's your favorite rule and give me one that you're like kind of lukewarm on that's going to need some proven out? I think the pitch clock, and I'm not exaggerating here, is... going to be the biggest change to Major League Baseball since integration. Now, that's a completely different, like, you know, social issue that, frankly, I mean, it opened the doors for among the best baseball players in the world that we see now to be in the game.

This might be the biggest on-field change, like, since the mound got moved from 45 feet, 100-something years ago. The game when you guys see it is going to shock you. It's going to be like, what the hell is this? Because when the pitcher catches the ball, he has 15 seconds to deliver it. The batter needs to be inside the batterer box. Yes, to begin his motion, correct. The batter needs to be in the box and with his eyes on the pitcher with eight seconds left on the clock.

It's like speed dating for baseball. And 25 minutes have been cut off the average game time of a spring training game this year. And Kyle, you know, you say you haven't watched baseball in a while, and that's understandable. It's reputation is as a boring game. And frankly, for people who aren't hardcore fans, I can see that because it's not just the length of the game. It's the pace. it's just so slow and it didn't feel like there was any action. So what MLB wanted to do was to speed up the game and to add more action back by limiting the shifts,

which I don't care about the limit of the shifts, but you're going to have more base hits because of that. As a left-hander, I appreciate this. I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. I like a lot of the slots over there and they're unavailable in yesterday's game. Yeah. Yeah. It made the bases bigger, which shrunk the difference or shrunk,

the size between them, which, you know, those four and a half inches on bang, bang plays with stolen bases, which by the way, are going to go up significantly. Yeah, well, you're also limited to, yeah, you're limited to just two pick-off moves, too. A pick-offs. That's good. Yep. Way to go. I mean, how does, like, Ricky Henderson feel about this? Because, like, somebody's going to be, you know, it's like Michael Schrehend looking at

T.J. Watt, breaking it, making a run, breaking his record or something. Like, how does somebody who used to. to hold like a stolen base record or you know how do you compare eras now you can't it's hard to huh yeah but it like we have to understand in baseball eras eras are always involved nobody's gonna steal 130 bases this year like rickie's rickie's record is perfectly fine for now but i think stolen bases are going to go up at least 50% this year and and here's the thing melb wanted action stolen bases are action people like stolen bases that is like one-on-one between that catcher and a runner. It's the same shit we did when we were kids. Can I throw something

somewhere before you with your legs can get there? Pop time is 40 times. It's these sorts of little games within the game that are just the best. Yeah, that's awesome, man. I'm looking forward to seeing some of these changes. We're baseball guys. We are softball guys now. And so my final question to you, Jeff, would be we are 0 and 1 right now. We dropped a game 12, 11 the other night. Too many guys in the lineup, honestly. There were a lot of guys batting who maybe shouldn't have been batting. but you know first step back in the outfield when you hit in the air first step back

yeah no no no doctor fax is having trouble tracking the ball we talk about this what are the what are code breaks in softball to you i don't know if you've played softball as an adult but like what are some of the things that you're like hey that's against the law of softball it might not be against the rule but the man law of softball what are some of the code breaks that are that are faux pa in softball ground balls oh man dude softball

softball is for one thing and one thing only and that's hitting nukes yeah like if if you're not hitting the ball in the air and hitting it hard you guys are fucking six five two something I don't want to suggest where the two lands

but two something if you are not hitting home runs you are doing it wrong people have to make business decisions when the ball's on the ground sometimes the decisions are a lot easier when the ball's 300 feet in the air and they can just catch it. So if I put the ball on the ground, people have to either, you know, they got to go to church or they got to line up.

Yeah. And make a point. Kyle, here's my question for you. Are you a singles hitter or are you a home run? He hit some singles the other night. He broke the code in his first at bat. But you know, it's different. You haven't hit a softball.

No, yeah. I at least had last year to like warm up like, holy shit, this is a different game. I'm a golfer now. And it's a different ball game. Yeah. But I got to say it's fun. softball's a lot of fun. You can still hit it hard.

We got little skinny wooden bats. That was a weird thing. That's weird. They're all, I showed up. And it looked like, I was like, is it the T for my driver?

They're like, no, no, we use woodbats now. And not only that, here's a fucking faux pa for you, Chris, share the bats with the other team.

Yeah, you know, I don't love that. I don't love that. We share the bats. And I don't like the time limit. You know, I play the full six innings.

I don't give the fuck about an hour. So anyways, Jeff, uh, we'll hit you back during the season, but we really appreciate the time. The World Baseball Classic is awesome. I am all the way in on that thing,

and I can't wait. More Americans can't wait for this thing than knew it existed. You know, it's just like, but when do we get to see these guys again? I think Japan winning that thing is the best thing that could have happened to us. I agree.

Yeah. Show Hay's speech, too, was great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, it's coming back in 2006, and I think it's going to actually now be one of those events. that people really look forward to. And as someone who loves baseball,

someone who cares about the game, I couldn't be more excited for that. Well, we were excited to get you on, man, and check out Jeff's articles on ESPN. He is a writing fool, man. This dude is always working. Appreciate it. Yeah, good luck to your dude.

Thank you, guys. I appreciate that. And yeah, he's going to need it. He's my child, so there's only so much athletic ability in there. Hey, appreciate it, bro. That American spirit was objectively disgusting. So yeah, did you get a blue pack? Yeah, what kind of pack do I want to get?

Yellow. Oh, yellows. Yellow's all the way. Oh, the yellow was sold out. Okay, next time. Yeah, what are the blues? Fuck. No wonder it tastes like,

give me that lighter. Dark green menthol, full-bodied taste. No wonder it tasted like shit. All right, Jeff. Good to see you, man. Thanks for the time, bro. You go and enjoy that, boys. Okay, man.

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It's great. It definitely has improved my digestion, keeping me regular. Sorry if that's TMI, but I'm feeling good. I think it's helped my energy level. I think there's a ton of ways that AG1's helped me, and I probably have no idea. That's a great thing about this. It's going to surprise you.

Your life's going to get better in ways that you, don't even realize. Ready to take on my day. Ready to hit the record button on the podcast. Ready to go. Also, the cost of AG1 is less than $3 a day. Pretty good if you ask me. It's a really effective daily habit with the highest quality source ingredients. Win-win. If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then Athletic Greens is giving you a free one-year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athletic greens.com slash greenlight. That's athletic greens.com slash greenlight. Check it out. All right, guys. So we've got we got his good, good segue is what we call it in the business. We're going baseball to softball.

Here's what we got to talk about, guys, our softball careers. We played the other night. We lost 12 to 11. We were down 11-7. Rallied, tied it up. Big rally. Two-out rally. Two-out rally. John Phillips hit a dinger, former cowboy John. Former Bronco. Former Bronco as well. Last time, forget that. Man. I ruined the rally.

I know. No, what do you mean? No, that's not the point here. I know. I'm saying we show resilient. What do you mean? Chris hits a bomb into the outfield, gets on second base, tie and run.

I wasn't even. I'm the winning run at the plate, tie run on second. And what do I do? I swing as hard as I fucking can and pop the ball up. And in the midst, I tweaked my hip flex. No way. That's the perfect example.

You didn't report this injury. I didn't. All we have to do is work on track and fly balls. It's a difficult thing in softball. Number one rule. Okay, but listen, listen, first off, here's the first thing. Step back. Here's the first thing.

Step back. Here's the first thing. We didn't have any type of practice of any type of anything to do with softball. All we did was throw the ball, standing 15 yards away from each other. That's what Nate said in the outfield. I didn't get that. For about 20 minutes before the game.

Mind you. Yeah. I haven't put on a baseball or softball gloves since maybe eighth grade. Yeah, sure. So, for one, we didn't get the hit or catch anything, and we just went into a game.

You're not earning your number. What do you mean? How am I not earning? What would Dion say to you? Like me, I am. I am. I got a. fucking Deonce to you right now.

Yeah, what would Deontay? Yo, I get my... I think I had a C to C plus game. Like, I have a... Because you got a dynamite put out at home. A lot of room for improvement. You got a dynamite put out at home. If this was 2K, my player, you were on the verge of a D plus,

but you got to a C plus because of the catch of the plate. I had a horrible game, Nate. And I had no glove at catcher. I missed six balls. He was at catcher with no glove. People are trying to throw the ball to him at six errors, probably. Four runs. One inning.

They were just sending people. Yeah. Because they're like, Catcher doesn't have a glove. Just run. And if he did, he's left hand and he can't even throw it anywhere. And my glove is not broken in. So I had two early errors. Mine either.

Yeah. And so I take accountability for that. It's obviously the gloves fault. Let me ask you a serious question right now. Yeah. Do you think you deserve to be playing second base? Yes. You do?

Yeah. Word. Yeah. Well, like, because. Who else? Because by the theory of our manager, if you make an error playing in a position, you get switched out. Now, wait a minute, it wasn't just an error. It was a fly ball.

You took a step in. The first step when a fly ball is hit is always back to give yourself more room to correct. He's feeling attacked. We should move on. I'm trying to help. The first rule, when the ball is hit, you take a step back. Okay, but he had a great put out. he he hit the ball well and I had a single and I scored you did yeah dude you did all that

you did you did and I scored and here it's a B minus see see see see ran every ball out here was the first one to text the manager in the morning to say what you needed to work on here was the thing about strand of me at second I didn't even think about it because I was so damn relieved that I hit a double in front of my kids with the game on the line like I was nervous like I was nervous as a player my kids were at the game it's you know it's it's 11 to 10 where in the middle of the rally I popped out last one I went two

for three but I popped out and I was sitting there like I'm going to be the goat here not in a good way like I'm going to be the guy that my kids are gonna I'm the guy yeah I don't want to be that fucking guy so I wasn't even thinking about being stranded at second I was just relieved by the way

Reed's dad was pitching his dad did a great job is that Randy called him the medium unit can I talk about Randy for a second He took a rocket to the foot. Randy, before the game, was like, hey, guys, you know, I'm just happy to be here. Let me know how I can help you, everything. Randy, the man, I said, what's the last time you played? He said, I got to be honest, 50 years ago in Korea.

We played in an officers against, you know, non-officers game. No way. It was the only time where we could really let loose and maybe have a couple pops and not have to salute everybody. He was like, was it softball. It's a great memory for me. He struck out like three people. And he was fucking aces. Dude, yeah, we're big up.

He was so excited when I told him like we might need a pitcher. He was like, oh, I'll do it. I'll do it. Let's practice pitching. Randy was great. He was out there and some lead dungarees just wearing fastballs. Now, Matt, we got to get you some balco or just in the batting cage. You know, I'm an admittedly terrible high school basketball player.

Matt often ribs me about that. There was some footage last week that came up that I was encouraged by, but it looked to be embarrassing to a lot of people. I made a free throw. I got fouled by a 610 Lithuanian guy that played college basketball. Blue Ridge. Blue Ridge. I remember.

But now I get to bust Matt's balls about softball. Yeah, please do. So we got some, we got some work to do as a group. Me, you, Kyle. It's hard. It's hard. Look. We must say, the one person that obviously does in the work is CEO Scott.

Yeah. Scott was great in the field. Here's our gold glove guy. Here's a funny thing. Here's the funny thing that happened all in the first inning in the span of 30 seconds. When I'm running out to right field, I see Scott at shortstop. And one thing I know about baseball, typically shortstop is the best player in the field. So I chirps Scott and I go, why the hell are you playing shortstop?

Verbatim. You're not a shortstop. You're not a shortstop. And so he goes, I don't even know what he says if he says anything back to me. So I keep running. Tom is at third base, and Tom turns around, looks at me, and he goes, are you good there? And I go, why the hell would you say that? And he's like, I'm just checking.

First play the game, what happens? Fly ball to you? Fly ball to me. And I was not good. And then dudes were trying to dead pull the ball until Reed pulled you in front of your girl who came to the game. No, no. Not there. She wasn't there yet.

This is what happened. Even worse, even worse. My girl wasn't there for the start of the game. So it was actually perfect because she didn't get to see that play. But before running out for the second inning, Reed hit me with the whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no, no. That's not at all what happened. You came in after you put, you had two innings in right field.

You came in after the second inning, gassed. And you go. And you go, hey, Nate, I'm going to put Matt in a right field. And you're like, okay, thanks, man. Good deal. What was I supposed to say? I was supposed to say no. So next time you do that, I'm going to say no.

Yeah, give me some hate regardless. Own that right field spot. Don't blame it. Don't blame it. Don't blame it on me being gassed. Everyone was gassed, bro. Everyone was gassed. Don't blame it on that.

Don't blame it. Okay, okay. So we got work to do. We're going to pick this up next week. What a time to be alive, guys. You know, March is one of my favorite months to enjoy an ice cold, middle of light, whether I'm watching college hoops. with my buddies or I'm heading outside

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Next Step. In Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, and Virginia, call 1-800 gambler. And in Michigan, 1-800-270-1-17. Tennessee, y'all too, 1-800-9-9-9. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com slash greenlight and get on your way to being your best self. Getting to know yourself can be a lifelong process, especially because we're always growing and changing. And I've been going through this in retirement.

My life's totally different now than it was four or five years ago, and I've got to do some adapting. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on a journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. I see a therapist. I talk to somebody, and it's helped me a lot. as I've kind of gone through this time of change. And as I, you know, encounter new challenges and even great moments, it's good to share that with somebody and be able to open up. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give better help a try.

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Maybe some of you guys are going through the same thing at home where you're like, ah, time to make an adjustment. This is what I'm doing. Why are you quitting smoking again? I'm slowing down because I just, I'm having a hard time getting high. Yeah. You know, I'm just smoking and I'm not high. Yeah.

And I also feel like my kids are in an age where if I'm high, like, every day, I'm missing out on some stuff. Word. And also, you know, smoking marijuana does pose health risks, some health risk. That's what I'm worried about for me. You know, so, you know. Doctors told me to use a water bong. Really? Yeah.

No, for real, for real. I'm not joking. No, I believe you. They gave me a pamphlet. I believe you. And everything. They were like, if you're going to smoke every day, they were like, try to go back and forth from using a water pipe. This is my bigger conversation, actually.

A water pipe versus, like, papers or. Yeah. So it was actually my therapist was like, hey, maybe you could smoke less weed. And I was like, oh, all right. And he handed me a pamphlet as well. That's not what they're getting paid for. Tell him next time. That's not what you're getting.

He wasn't saying it like that. He was just being cool about it. He was like, it's not what he's getting paid for. Have you tried? Because he says that I smoke weed to put up a barrier between me and other people. True. That's a cool thought.

And like a buzzword if you read about marijuana is this disassociation. Right? And disassociation can be like acutely, as I understand it, Matt, and you're smarter than me. But like, acutely affected. like where you could feel like you're tripping and you're disassociated. Or over time, you know, you're just kind of like off in your own corner. Yeah, I feel like I do retreat to my corner. I do that with my gaming room.

It causes you to avoid confrontation or things that are like impending. Yes. To be able to ignore them. Just put shit off. You're like, fuck it. I don't want to deal with this. Prostate. Hashtag.

Relatable. You know? Mm-hmm. Anyway, so yeah. That's a good setting off point for this. I am smoking less weed. Go get your breath. But hold check, bro.

I'm happy for you. I'm 37, dude. I don't have to wait. A couple more years. I'm happy for you. And what you just said, you were like, you know, I've got some stuff that's coming up and you're like, I'm just going to put it off and just hang out for a bit.

And it's like, I think that's a relatable thing for a lot of guys is they don't want to get stuff checked. Like, they don't want to get themselves tested for their blood pressure and do, you know, all the list of things. There's anxiety attached to that. At least for me, but I would assume a lot of guys have it. Do you think, you know, like, marijuana is like a double-edged sword where it does relieve anxiety in a way, but it also induces like anxiety in a different way. Like it relieves my acute anxiety, but if I smoke too much over a period of time, I turn

into a little bit of a paranoid person. And I don't mean that in like, oh, there's a fucking giant bear in my closet. Like, it's like, what's that motherfucker up to? You know what I mean? So, you know, hey, live in like. clear-headed has a really nice ring to it, so does being high. And you can do both. So my whole goal is smoke to enjoy smoking and not for no reason.

That's the whole point is like what is the function of what you're doing. And for me, you know, when you find yourself smoking a joint to take the trash out or something, like, fuck dude, I could, you know, like I could take the trash out. If you're smoking to go to sleep, if you're smoking because you don't want to drink a bunch of dinner, if you're smoking because you're it's Saturday and you want to kick back and it's a beautiful day you want to go for a ride in the field go for a walk

that's great but when you start doing it for no reason some people are okay with that but I'm like you know and I'd like to cut down a little bit so here I am weekend smoker plus a couple bowls here before we started recording but that's only because I'm with you guys and this feels like the games tonight

feels right psyched about the games night who do we want to win the game tonight? Who do we want to win the game tonight. Houston. Does Houston play tonight? No. No, they don't play tonight. So there's Tennessee, Florida Atlantic. Who are you rooting for? Florida Atlantic. Okay, I'm rooting for Tennessee, but I want Florida Atlantic. I like Tennessee. Florida Atlantic has the, I'm the viral cheerleader right now, right? Yeah, yeah. Mikeed up. Yeah, they miced her up. And she's just like, she's talking like the best. Your coach said you're trash. She's the best shit ever. And it's just like they know that they knew that she obviously was doing it the entire year because they miced her up

and it's it's it was like it's priceless content and it's like you can tell she's a real fan I wonder if she has brothers or if she played sports because she seems like she's somewhat knowledgeable like the the banter and the shit talk is is pretty spot on so and there are a couple players from fAU who were like hey Tennessee plays dirty we've seen them play dirty before Well, I like playing dirty. I think it's going to be fun. She went undrafted on the All Vives team, which might have been an oversight. But someone in that game who did he go.

I definitely don't want Connecticut to win. Whoa. Connecticut and Arkansas? Can't have Connecticut win. No, we want Arkansas to win. I want a tattoo. You like Musselman. Can't have Connecticut win.

I don't like Musselman. I got Laredega. So if Yukon wins, I got to get a tattoo. Dude, if you con wins, I have virgin skin. If Yukon wins, you might be fucked because they're pretty good, dude. They got a center named after a gas station. I got Yukon winning in one of my brackets, one of my throwaway back brackets, and I was looking at some of their matchups.

They actually have a pretty... What? What? Yukon. Yeah. Like, they're there, if they get by, I think they're low-key going to blow Arkansas out. Okay, we'll see. Okay, what are the other two games?

We got Michigan State, Kansas State. That's the first one at 630. I got a Kansas State. I got a futures bet on Kansas State that if it hits with, be great, but I really like Michigan State. I can't help it. Even though they've beaten us multiple times in the tournament, I just feel like Izzo iso is the realist dude. Do you don't like it? I hate that opinion. Tell me why, because you're more educated than me. Iszo's a good basketball coach, but he crosses the line with players quite a quite a number of times. Like in a Bobby night.

Yeah, how did you do that? Like in a Bobby Knight way, like yelling right in their face, like being sort of like almost physical with him. A lot of his players would say that they love him and he was the greatest thing that ever happened. But I root against him. Then, like, if the players accept it's one of the same. That's for me. That's called Stockholm Syndrome. That's the fine line. Like, if you're not in the locker room. Look into that.

No, he said look into Stockholm syndrome. If you're not in the day to day, you might look at that and seem like it's crazy. But also, like you said, Isso was a good coach. And I feel like they're a team, Michigan State right now, that they're just

kind of like pulsing at the right time. Yeah. And I think Izzo with him and his history, look, this is the right time to pulse. For real. But his history, like with the tournament, I think he can maybe switch some things up on some of these teams. They're about to play against and try to make this run. So the Zags play UCLA. A little reach. I'm going to root for the Zags, man.

They have a 40-year-old power forward who got interviewed after the game. Do you see this guy with the mustache? You talking about Drew Timmy? Number one picking the old vibes draft? He's got to be 40 years old. Kyle, the guy is like 23. You should see his dad. His dad looks like what you're going to play.

We were at a bachelor trip watching him. We were all like, can we invite him if he loses? Oh, he'd be great. We were going to fly him. Can you pull up Drew Timmy's dad to see to show Kyle what he's going to look like in the future? That you were you at that you guys were thinking about flying. Inviting Drew Timmy. We should fly him.

Look at Drew Timmy's dad. Bring him. Look at Drew Timmy's dad. That's me. Yeah. Look how fucking big he is. He is, big. He's an enforcer.

He looks like the big show. So he's on the right? Who is that on the right? That's Drew Timmy's dad. Far right. That's not a Timmy? I don't know. Okay.

The guy on the left, I think Drew Timmy's dad's about to eat. The guy with the headband is got to be 35. I'll give him 35. He's a good 35. Timmy's great, Kyle. He's electric. Power forward?

I know Macon doesn't like him, but... Power forward? Good college player. Yeah. Or a three. He's actually plays more of the five, but he's a four or five. So anyways. I'll root for them.

Fuck, UCLA. Okay, okay. So we're rooting for the Zags. And do you guys feel like, you know, like Macon was like, I'm so tired of them. You know, it's just like Duke or something for me. They haven't won anything. It's not. I don't like that analogy. Yeah, I want to see Kevin Bacon's look alike when a, um, a Natty. I just remember Adam Morrison.

Yep, checking his bloodshund. I remember him too. Mustache. That was him, right? And I think the UC, second and third quarter. Look at that. I think the UCLA game. He's got a tarantula leg coming down his lip.

I think it's the exact day that those guys played each other way back in the day where Adam Morrison collapsed in tears after losing to the Bruins. Tough one. Yeah. So anyways, there is some history here. And I think it was three, four years ago, or two years ago, Jalen Suggs with that 90-footer. Yes.

To win it in overtime. He has a 90-footer? Yeah. Okay. Who did Nick Foles just sign? It was a 90-foot. Where does he dock that thing? All right.

We're talking about Ryan Rusillo's boat here. Kyle, yes, Nate, the NFL just came out with a list of the best revenge games of 2023. We love revenge games. And I love looking ahead of the schedule to see what these games look like.

And this is the list here. We've got the Green Bay Packers against the Detroit Lions. Now, I don't know why that's on this list. Because Aaron Rogers isn't going to be there. The Lions are going to beat them. and like who the fuck cares. Where's this game at?

I don't know. There's two of them. Oh. I don't know how it's on the list. Okay. Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions. Oh, yeah. David Montgomery.

Yeah, David Montgomery Bowl. You know, tell me, tell me. They love David Montgomery in Chicago. Tell me it's late March in the NFL without telling me it's late March in the NFL. We've got the David Montgomery Bowls circle. It's not necessarily the David Montgomery Bowl, but the whole NFC North is going to be out for grabs. when that power leaves Green Bay. When Air Rogers vacates his spot in Green Bay,

the entirety of the NFC North is up for grabs. There's going to be a lot of machismo and alpha power back here. Alpha mailery going on. He ain't signed yet officially? No, it hasn't been officially done. He's like Saddam Hussein and that like when he goes, we could have some Al-Qaeda's pop up. Well, everybody makes things happen so quick.

He's just going to wait until the final day. That's the only guy on set that got that. Oh, it's good. You know? But like, this is a power vacuum there. I don't think he's going. The big, I think, I don't think he's going. He's going to be in Green Bay.

Big matchup for me, the big revenge game is going to be Orlando Brown Jr. against the Chiefs in the inevitable Borough Mahomes Bowl. Oh, that's going to be fun. That will happen again. I just, I don't think that it's going to be Allen and Mahomes again. Oh, yeah. So Detroit, New Orleans just popped up on this list. That means Detroit has got a whole lot of revenge going on.

the first three games. Jamal Williams. Okay, next. Philly and Kansas City. That's going to be electric. I don't know why that one's in Kansas City. That's going to be a quick work. Okay, Kyle.

Let's see. Is the grass going to be? Fumbo! Okay. The ball is on the field. San Francisco, Philly, you've got obviously,

you know, they mention a couple players here, but they don't mention Javon Hargrave. Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins. Do people not understand the importance of a three tech and like a shableness?

Like, I don't know. Ramsey. By the way, that Austin Eckler, speaking of people not realizing the importance of a position.

Check out that. Man, we really got a lot of, like, a pub off that thing. Yeah, we should have more guys come on and complain

about their contracts. Indy and Carolina, obviously, because of Frank Reich. Okay, run it down a little bit more. New England, Las Vegas.

Sure, Jacoby Myers. Sure. Every week, a revenge week for Matt Jones because Belichick still calling for Bailey Zappy all the time. Yes. He's in revenge mode. Every mode. Dallas and San Francisco.

Okay. Great article, guys. Thank you NFL. That New England Raiders game, Belichick wants revenge because he's 0 and 2 against McDaniels. Yeah, as a head coach. Yeah, and he usually dusts his former

assistants. He almost has a Sabin-like record against. I thought it was really cool the other day in the podcast that came out Wednesday with Devin McCordy, which is great, by the way, if you didn't get a chance to listen, like, I don't like my own work. I really enjoyed that podcast. Devin McCordy

said the Gerard Mayo should be the odds on favor to replace Bill Belichick, which would be really cool to share a draft class with the guy that replaces the hoodie. I mean, Gerard has, and actually I just got a video today from Ninko and Girard. Gerard was walking on the treadmill, staying in shape. Looks great. Physically imposed

players coach. If you get to cut up the hoodie, do you think if he's out there? Probably. What would be your guys' as guard if you were a head coach? I'd wear just whatever the fucking equipment guy gave me, that's what I would wear.

I can't be a visor guy. Visors don't sit good on my head. No visor. Douggy P. I need a baseball cap or something low. Yeah. Slight bend. I think like a,

well, now you're calling your shots. Active, like an active travel. Like an active travel suit type. Like when you walk, it goes, you would be like Tom Landry?

Oh, you want a leisure suit or like... No, no, no. No, like a track suit. Yeah, like a little, little limit. Like active suit. I would dress like Dion. Whatever Dion's wearing, that's my lookbook. Which leads me to my next point.

Okay, what is it? Recruit smart and efficiently. You believe in Colorado. I'm just saying. Okay. They're coming to play. Yeah, they're coming to play. They're all earning their numbers.

I do want to get to the mailbag. First off, I got a question for you guys. Somebody messaged me and said that, Jason Kelsey on his pod was putting some of his friends in like, um, there's new heights, by the way. Uh,

and he was putting everybody in these houses from Harry Potter. Sure. Um, and he put me in the Gryffender house. Oh, that's a really good house. Yeah. Oh, that's nice.

Good? The heroes. Yeah, we're heroes. Yeah, you're the good guys. You're the best. Okay.

So you guys know about Harry Potter, huh? Sure. Okay. Well, uh, what house would you put Jason Kelsey in? Uh, Hufflepuff.

What is that? like a bunch of like grumpy no like kind of like goofy fun lovers like good people they're not they're not they're not the muscle for a huffel puff he's a muscle yeah he's the henchman for the huffinthewpuff i'm a muggle what's a muggle i don't do magic i want to be very clear okay good i don't do magic i'm like uh i'm like haggard kind of i have access to magic but i can't make magic okay what what house is mackin in uh slitherin mackin would be slithering what's a slithering It's making. The bad guys.

They talk to snakes. They're evil. Not quite the bad guys. They're blonde. They're difficult to deal with. This guy gets it. Okay. Who's Nathan?

Ravenclaw. You're doing a spell on me? Yep. Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw. So for you, Harry Potter fans, there you go.

We hit that demo. Ravenclaw. Okay, I got one question here. This is from Chris. Me. Kyle. Yes. A guy from the band,

Salvia. which I know existed, passed away. Condolences. Wow. I can't imagine that a guy from the band Salvia would ever die. But Kyle, I think you've tried Salvia, and I wanted to know how that experienced was. Well, here's the thing about Salvia.

It was way too easily accessible. I'm not sure if it still is. What is Salvia for a shop? So I'm going to get into that. So Salvia was something in the mid-2000s that you could purchase at a smoke shop next to, you know, you know the incense sticks and all that stuff you can get salvia it turns out that if you

it's a really really really really strong hallucinogenic drug and some of my buddies and I got a hold of it when we were in California during junior college and may or may not have a junior college drug that shit is late and we were hanging out we were sitting there and we had rules like I was like lock that door you know lock everything up and we're going to try this here and I was with a couple dudes that I trusted

and I'm still buddies with him. And I remember I did it and like 15 seconds after ingesting, you end up in another like here somewhere else. Like I can't even explain it. But I remember it got sketchy at the end. I felt like I was like rolled up in a wrestling mat like looking up. Like looking through people. And there was eventually a time was like,

get me the fuck out of here. So the story I heard was you took the salvia and then like you're, you were in a room. and the door was closed as a junior college door, so it was probably pretty flimsy. But this dude, supposedly there's like a five-second period of silence. He gets up and he said he's okay or something. And then he just runs through the door.

Like he runs through the door like a cartoon character. Door rips off the hinges, the hinges. And he ends up outside. No, no, I didn't make, there was no outside because we had everything. Like the front door was like. It was bolted. There was like shit in front of it. Yeah.

So we couldn't get out. Because that was our fear going into it. None of us had done it. And we were kids trying something. And we're like, make sure that we're not getting outside here. Well, I, for one, I'm not going to smoke Salvia. I would say don't do it. Have you done it?

Second year in college. Don't do it. Girl I'm dating at the time. Her family has a beach house at Ocean City, Maryland. Says we can go there for a weekend to use the house. And find out about Salvia. Get a bowl, rip Salvia, tripping out. Find out at the time that this girl is cheating on me.

No way. Why you're on Salvia? No. How? How? Hold on a minute, play. Five minute max, right? Like you're saying.

It's an all-time, bad time to break up with somebody. Listen. Like, what are the worst? Rip this salvia. And this girl's phone's sitting there, and she gets a text. It's like a revealing text while, like, I'm tripping out. And it was just, like, in a movie. Just like in a movie.

What was the text? Do you remember? Yeah, I don't want to say it. But you want to say it. You can't not say it now. Say it. Say it. What did it say, dude?

Say it. Say it. Say it. I miss being inside of you. Oh. And Ocean City. And you want to know what the excuse was? When I was like, what the hell does that mean?

It was like, oh, we played tennis together. That is. Okay, that's the trifector. Well, I think it's all worked out for the better. Golly, man. Crazy, right? So you're just. Salvia.

What do you see, Kyle? You see anything hallucinogenic? Oh, God, I couldn't even tell you. It was like, but you know when you go into the amusement park, you get on the ride and you get into the tunnel, they shut the lights off. It's like, whoa, I'm somewhere else. It's like I'm somewhere else. I felt like, but I'm in the same chair. I felt like when I did it, it was something that I wanted to, it make you like want to grab on like hole.

Yes. Like am I like, it's like putting on a VR headset. Am I good? And then I just remember too, it just like, it made my, not hyperventilate, but it made you want to like, yo, like I need. to take deep breaths. Yeah. Like, it made me feel like that.

Yeah. People used to smoke it when they'd run out a weed and I thought it was the worst weed substitute. You could possibly choose. Holy shit. We talk about. Yeah. No,

no, no. Yeah. I couldn't imagine. I got to go smoke meth. Yeah. Okay. All right.

So, let's start the mailbag from the fans. Great. Who, by the way, step the fucking game up. I read these mailbag questions where I got in here.

Yeah, step your game up. What the fuck? What happened to our listeners? You guys on vacation? Okay. You're like the silent majority. Stop smoking, Salvia.

They're all on Kyle's Twitch. Okay. Let me be Ronald Reagan and tell you to fucking come with some heat next time. I mean, we are just, okay, hardest you've been hit. This is from Lauren's ship, 44. I'll never forget this. At any level of football. Lauren said.

Sixth game of my freshman year at university. to Virginia. We're playing at Duke. And I am starting as a true freshman as L5 on kickoff. You're just running down the field. Big old helmet. You're in World War I. I'm just running down the field. Two hundred and ninety pound freshman like bad body, not really into my body yet. My parents just drove 13 hours to come see me play. I'm telling them I'm starting. I'm going to to get some playing time, all this stuff. And first play the game, running down at L5, lookout block. And for people who don't know what that is, it's a situation where they give you the

illusion that you're not going to get blocked. So it's like getting trapped. It's a deep tackle, but with more space. Yes. And then out of nowhere, there's a lookout. There's a lookout block coming. And when this dude hit me, he hit me. This is before they were really monitoring the helmet to helmet and all that.

He hit me helmet to helmet square in my earhole. And I legit remember seeing cartoon stars. Like, you know, when you see, like, seeing cartoon stars. A lot of that. The only thing that was going through my head at the time was, oh, my God, my mom is in the stand. And, like, I have to just get up. Like, I know I got hit. And I just have to get up.

And when I tried to get up, I was disoriented and beep our kicker. Robbie Gold's brother. Robbie Gold's brother, I started walking to the wrong sidelines. God damn, mate. And he got you? And he grabbed me and assisted me to the sideline. But even though I definitely had a concussion, I passed the stupid little sideline test, and I had my first career sack that game later on.

It's a lesson in a game that. I probably shouldn't have went back in, but that by far was the hardest hit. And it was one of those things that it immediately, like, hurt and rung. But, like, also it was, like, in between getting hit and hitting the ground, it was like I blacked out and then hitting the ground, like, just woke me up. And... His watch keeps going off.

Seriously, I don't know how to respond to that. And, yeah, I can't think of another hit that I've had where... Rashad Jennings in high school for me. I remember that. You were there. I was there on the sideline. I mean, we were in a state championship game. We were playing LCA and they had a really good team.

And Rashad Jennings was like 250 pounds. He was running back. And I was 250 pounds. And we were like the two best players. It was like this. I'll set the stage. King Kong and Godzilla. I'll set the stage.

You know the Star Wars games? You ever played the Star Wars video games? It's a bunch of just like the guys in the all-white shooting. at a bunch of the guys who work for the government. And then there's like one main bad guy and one main good guy. And they're just fucking jediying it out over here while the rest of that. That was the L.C. And nobody's killing the main characters.

He was running by the main characters, letting sword fight. It's really crazy those two schools had two NFL players. Like when I look at those teams, it was not a lot of NFL bodies. It's there. I mean, I can put a lot. Basically, I'm pursuing a play on the sideline, and he declares me. I didn't see him coming. There's a lookout block.

You know, like, I have never, like, I'm durable. Like, I don't go down. Yeah. When I went down, I could not breathe. Like, no exaggeration, like, could not breathe in, could not breathe out. And so I just remember thinking, like, get up. I saw you get a bad one, but it probably didn't hurt as much. Jeremy Zuda.

Miami game? Oh, what Miami game? I think you, like, spun. Oh, I got depleted by the guard. Yeah. But that didn't hurt. But you hopped. It didn't hurt.

That didn't hurt as much as when Jeremy Zuda hit me. I was running full speed down the field, chasing to play, and he peeled. back and he hit me in a way that would be he'd be in prison right now um i actually posted on my instagram a year or two ago but kyle what about you yeah as an old lineman like is there anything like me like guys run a game i'll tell you who the fuck hit me the hardest okay he's number 40 on the lions davis went to florida linebacker i believe his name's gerard or jared i don't give a fuck how you pronounce it yeah but this guy has no issue trying to just run through sternums he doesn't want to go for the football

literally the offensive line would be like 40s over here 40s over there like you have to know where this guy is um absolute menace of a just a spear through your chest so i'm climbing to the second level in zone and usually you're trying to influence a linebacker to go to one side or the other so you can have an easy block he's like i'm going to split you in half you know what i mean he reminded me of what like the 1996 linebackers would have played like speaking of that that Dante High Tower retired. He's another one. I just want to express my gratitude for playing with that cat.

He's just all-timer. I know there's a lot of guys that talk about like that on the New England team. Dev just retired. Matt Slater's still there. High Tower. High Tower, I've said this before, is the best leader I ever play with. I mean, like, including Tom Brady.

And Tom Brady is, you know, he's a cream of the crop. But Dante High Tower was a quarterback on the field legitimately with the Patriots. He gave me my first AC's brain. So that's enough. I'll add to the list. In joint practice. And you might not see another linebacker built like him in the NFL. Like that plays that long and plays that bigger role.

Like those linebackers are going away. This guy's like 260 pounds. The scheme fit actually kept him from finding other teams. But he was awesome, man. I'll give you another quick one. C.J. Spiller in college. He kicked me. And he hit me like just.

And Lacey hit me like that. He hit me just like in the right spot. Yeah. that like it made it knocked the wind out of me but it also just like it caught me like off guard that I just remember that one Clemson game all I could think about the entire game is how am I going to hit him get him back yeah and so you're like out of your and I and I did not get it and I did not get the guy you never get the guy back to unless you're willing to take the penalty no you're your offensive linemen so you have a better shot out no no no chase somebody yeah yeah yeah but like you know I'm not doing that like trying to like get him like within the game I'm just like like Like, you know, I know that he's going to run a stretch or something over here, and I'm going to get a chance of, like, nothing, like nothing. Okay.

What else we got? This is from Jimmy Trana, who's a great, great podcaster with Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated media podcast, one of my good friends, and he messaged me upon Jimmy G. getting a lifetime supply of sex from, you didn't hear about this? No. So one of these who are houses, well, I don't know if we're allowed to call them who are houses. Called a Bordella. Brothels.

A brothel has offered Jimmy G a lifetime supply of sex. We're at. Streamer house. Just called a streamer house. In Las Vegas, because he just signed with the Raiders. So, you know, my question to you guys. Can he cash in on that, like, for his homeboys and, like, for, like, parties and stuff? Is that, like, interchangeable, kind of like a gift card?

So here's my thing. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's like Toys R Us money. You know, you can give it to somebody on their birthday. But I, I, I, I, here's what I would do. And I have a history of this. What are you about to say? I would donate my salary. Ah, I love all your heads at.

Can Jimmy G. donate this? The insults? Whoever. And whoever needs sex, Jimmy G is just making... Yeah, he's... He's your favorite... He's just paying it forward.

He doesn't need a lifetime. That's like... You know how rich people get more free shit? You know how rich people get more free shit? Jimmy G, the last thing he needs is sex. We're good on that. Somebody knocks on the door like, you guys need any sex? Jimmy G's like, I'm a prepper.

You know, like, I have sex for 15 years. I've got a well. I have a stockade of sex. I don't think he needs to fuck at some place called the chicken ranch. It's called the chicken ranch? Remember the bunny ranch famous because of like they did H-Met specials on it when I was a kid. What? Do you think they have thighs and breasts there?

You want to go to the chicken ranch? Is that you? That's the chicken ranch. Don't point at me and smile at me. Yeah, this is you. Talk to Jimmy G. Thank God they don't know what that's... No, but what about the curb bowl?

What is it? Is it guaranteed money? Is it like guaranteed or is it something that's like, you know, if he gets ugly, which... Or if he's on the injury report, he can't come in? Is he allowed to bring his wife with him? I don't think he's married and I don't think Jimmy G's going to go that route. How do you know?

How do you know? Can we get that off the screen? I know he's not married. Okay, well, maybe that's something him and his girl, like, are into. Like, is he allowed to bring his girl with him? That's interesting. It's the hard. Is it just for him?

alone, like, just by himself. I don't know. You got to talk to the chicken ranch. Somebody needs to get them for comment. Okay, the best matchups of all time, you know, we had the show Hey O'Hanee and the Mike Trout, which we talked about today.

Who are some players or 1V-1s that you would want to see all time go against each other? This is from, I don't know who this is from. Do you know? I don't. Is it?

David Harton. Should I say the obvious? Yeah, sure. Jordan and LeBron. Yeah. Right? Yeah. That's what everyone will want to see, right?

Kyle? Whoever the best heavyweight of all time is against Tyson Fury. Yeah. Tyson Fury? Yeah. So you want to see, like, who would be the best heavyweight of all time? Muhammad Ali. Generally speaking.

Muhammad Ali would wax Tyson Fury. Mike Tyson versus Muhammad Ali. Mike Tyson on Tyson, Lennox Lewis on, you know. I would like to see Michael Phelps against a Mako shark I would like to see JJ Reddick against Dolph Shays Nice You know?

Yeah, JJ would get smoked Dolph Shays is a great shooter He was great He didn't have the three point line expanding his points per game Like JJ got benefited from He's got this fucking crutch That is modern basketball I want to see Arvitas Sabonis against Yokic

Or Vita Sabonis against his son Yao Ming versus Manute bowl. Okay. All right. Now we've lost the plot. Okay, one more. Like, I want to see, like, these old school guards, Joe DeLamalier against, like, Jordan

Davis. Okay, you're good? You good, Joe? Yeah. Here's, here's, have a taste of 2020. Pistol Pete in a shooting competition versus Curry. That'd be fun. That's a good one.

Yeah, it's a good one. That's right up Matt's alley. Just like little hotspots all over the court, have them shoot all day. Okay. I know you got a fun. Final question. Okay. Oh, yeah, you, I was going to say, all right, what's the best type of concert to attend with your significant other?

I can tell you the worst concert to attend. Okay, what's the worst? Let's do that first. A Chris Brown show. You know, because I just saw Chris Brown, you know, every show he's humping. A lot of meat men's lying around. You know, I don't blame if these gals want to get out. But for you, but for you being in the crowd, that's a show that's going to be filled.

with women. No, I know, but like bringing a hot chick to the front row of a Chris Brown concert, that's like up there with, or inside an NBA game or a comedy show. Or a comedy show, like a white guy going to a black comic show. It's like it's, you know, you don't want to do that. That's the, it's no, no fly zone for me. It's like a porn genre. Me and my girl are going to see Ari Lennox this weekend. Where is that? She's a singer. She's part of Dreamville. That's, um, Jay Coles. Got it. Jay Cold's like, yeah, his. Got it. He's great.

That's going to be a good show. It's going to be a real good show. I'm very, very excited for it. She's a real good singer. And, yeah, it's not too many things. Like, other than, like, Drake and a few rappers, I feel like me and my girl don't cross over too much, like, with music. Yeah.

So this was a concert at, like, getting tickets for her for it. I'm just like, oh, like. Better than bringing her to a softball game. Yes, especially a softball game where you get bitch. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Some fucking stone mason hits the ball 400 feet, and everybody's like, who's the pro athlete?

Exactly, dude. And that's the occupation you want to be. I was like, what do you do? He's like, I'm a stone mason. I was like, of course you are, you fucking twisted metal. What does that mean, Stone Mason? Stone mason, the guy just carries and mixes stone all day. He's fucking mixing concrete and, you know, I used to be a stone mason?

Yeah, with Adam Khrutov's dad. Art Krutoff. Yeah, I used to. The legend. They all used to sit there and smoke darts and make me carry the big stones that you put around the pool. Was that guy shot or J.P's home run further? They were the same.

They were about the same. Yeah, that's what I'm about the same. JP's not, J.P. J.P. is back that shit. It's Bath County. Kyle, last one. You've got to leave to go mulching. Yes.

Does mulch smell good? Maltch smells amazing. I think it's one of those things naturally. It just smells good. Like rain on pavement. Gasoline is another one that you might not think is supposed to smell good. Yeah. You know?

Sharpies. Oh, yeah. How about the fact that, when we were kids, maybe not when you were a kid Kyle, I think they might have got rid of it. There were these really good smelling markers. That's the last thing you want to do to a marker

is make it smell good. Right. You know, like, and giving them a bunch of kids. We did that. I was sniffing the fuck out of those marks. Oh, my God.

Yeah, oh my God. You test them. You bring out each one. And the other problem is they name them like purple slash grape. Because then they attach. Exactly. Yeah.

Now I'm hungry for my brain. I remember they had one. It was like burnt marshmallow. It was like a smores one. Yeah. And I just like, wait a minute. This shouldn't be right. Don't do it.

Little Timmy ate six markers today. Yeah, you come home from school. Looking like a fucking, a ray and a piece of pop art. Yeah. You can come home from school. Looking like a banksy. You want to talk about parent pet peeve. My mom, you remember mouthwash, the gum that you like, you chew and it would like just

leave like ink stains over your mouth. like red or blue, my mom would like freak. That was like her biggest thing. At least it wasn't marker. But that's what it would look like. She would be like, it looks like you bit like you bit into a pen. Oh, yeah, well. That's how I look when I'm trying to put these big soft grips back together.

All right, guys, gals, see y'all next week. Have a great weekend. Think about your mailbags. I hope you enjoyed March Madness. You were last night. Go Houston.