PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs Job Fair

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

On this episode, Jesse and Derek are discussing the results of a survey on if avid sports fans are losing interest in MLB and what their dream jobs would be at Chase Field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Happy Friday and welcome to the PHNX DBEX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX, and I know it's not Friday. I know it's not Friday watching this live, but I'm doing this for the future listeners and beyond. We hope you guys are having a wonderful day and we thank you guys so much for joining us. Of course, I am joined by my vice mayor, my friend, my co-host, the one and only Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Now background looks good on you, my friend. Yeah, right? Look at what's going on in here. There's stuff going on. It's still a mess. Don't get me wrong. I'm still building IKEA furniture, but, you know, regardless, things are much better in my life right now.

And I'm very much enjoying the new studio coming to you from the jungle with my new Dback Serpiente's hat looking slick. We hope you guys all are out there looking nice in 2022 as well. This podcast is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app. go download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our code of PHNX and simply for betting $5 on any football team, college or professional to win their game. You will win $200 in free bets instantly should they be victorious. And Jesse, I'm excited. It's Friday.

It's our last show of the week. Whatever day you want to call it, it's our Friday. It might not be your Friday, but it's definitely our Friday. I'm excited. We're going to do a little job fair for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Apparently they're hiring, and I'm excited to talk about the position they're hiring for and maybe what else you and I might be qualified to do around Chase Field. But recently there was a poll that came out from Seton Hall University.

And unfortunately, Mr. Friedman, I feel like it might be confirming some things that we have talked about already on this show. The survey of 1,570 adults last month found that 44% of respondents who identify as avid sports fans would be less interested in big league baseball when the 2022 season begins. And I don't mean if they just mean that straight out based on this situation, I don't know if they mean necessarily if it is because of the lockout or just in general. But man, that the interest, that love of America's pastime doesn't seem to be as solid as MLB might think it is.

I as much as we love to call it America's pastime, I think it's, and I would still call it America's pastime personally, but I think there's a lot of Americans who don't really view it that way as much as we may call it that, right? Sure. Football probably has taken over as number one in our hearts in this country. Yeah, but I don't know if I consider football to be a pastime, right? Like there's something about baseball that qualifies, right, as that. like football is too exciting to be a pastime.

Like when I'm at a football game, I don't like getting up and leaving and going to the concourse because I feel like I'm going to miss a crucial substantial play. You don't really feel that in baseball. Like, and if you do, you're like, I'm going to hear the crack of the bat. I'm going to hear the roar of the crowd. I can kind of look over from the popcorn stand

and see the ball go out for a home run. There's, it's a different feeling at baseball games. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, you would know better than anyone, Derek,

because you're, you're of course, well known for, you know, during games just kind of walking around the stadium rather than stay one place. So you would, you would be able to speak to that. I have ADD at baseball games.

It gets worse when I'm actually at the game as a fan because when I'm there covering the game like I have been for my past employer, I had to write an article about the game. And that part required me to watch the game in great detail. That's what I'm doing there. Right. Otherwise you could literally watch the game from home and get the same kind of of coverage. So I had to try to pay attention to the details. But I also like to get different

angles. The press box tends to be a bit boring for me. I'm not allowed to like scream and cheer and curse in the press box. So they frown upon that. But I'm definitely not surprised by this. I think that baseball is the sport that constantly seems to be bickering internally about money and everything. Like don't get me wrong. Obviously other sports go through it too. Other sports have, you know, labor agreements and CBAs and all of this stuff that baseball also, you know, has to deal with. But it just seems like baseball's battles become more public and messier than other sports. I don't recall other sports constantly going through these ups and downs when it comes to, you know, their labor agreements. I don't pay attention to other sports that as closely as I do baseball,

though. So it's not my bread and butter. I just don't recall even as a fan going through that feeling that fans of baseball have now, which is I can't count on these, I can't count on these two sides to want to play this game. Right. Yeah, I mean, I think, I think Adam Silver is pretty well respected in the NBA. I really have not heard that many, that many ill words spoken about Adam Silver.

Is it still Roger Goodell in the NFL? Yeah, it's still Roger Goodell in the NFL. I was going to say, Silver is arguably one of the most forward-thinking commissioners that, I mean, again, you're going to always have to make tough, decisions as a commissioner and at times being an authority figure is never going to be a popular role to have. But I think the critical thing about Adam Silver is that he makes decisions that

seem to not only be good for their sport, but good for the basketball community and good for the look of basketball, look of NBA, right? There's still there's still some controversies and stuff. No sport is free of that. I just think that it is different when you talk about baseball, what they've gone through with these labor negotiations now, the fact that they had five years to try to rectify something, the fact that they could have come to the table a year ago, instead of facing this lockout. The fact that honestly,

the lockout didn't even need to happen, right? We didn't need to be locked out. They could have been negotiating the new CBA without a lockout. We didn't need fucking players faces removed from MLB.com. And we didn't need to go through all of these ridiculous, hoops that we are jumping through currently due to the fact that we can't have we can't talk about baseball i mean when i planted a tree with randy johnson they told me i couldn't ask him about the team like i was going to ask him about the team you know how many million things

about bards i would ask randy johnson oh yeah asked him about the team just bird knowledge alone that alone killing a bird with a baseball how it felt uh if he lost sleep at night things like that are number one at my list. He also is a photographer. So he might have an interest in birds just in bird photography. Yeah. I don't know. I would think that he probably would do everything he can to rectify his position.

Wouldn't that be amazing? That would be like the greatest plot twist. Randy Johnson is like a bird watcher. That's like a like a pastime for Randy Johnson. He volunteers at the zoo in the aviary. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, he feels he has. Exactly. Yeah, he has some bills to pay in that department. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, no, I think you're, I think you're spot on with just the fact that the optics of baseball are just very bad right now.

And I feel like for me, Derek, the reason that I think this is as bad as it is right now in the minds of fans, I mean, we've seen some ugly negotiations across all for major. uh, North American sports at some time or another. But I think what's, what's weird here is that it's really been two years in a row, um, in this. Exactly. Because we were here in 2020 when the season was delayed because of COVID and the two sides had to come together and try to figure something out.

And they fought like heck back then. And so it feels like we were just here a short time ago and we're just doing it all over again, as if this is some sort of an annual, thing that has to happen where, you know, the owners and players have to have their annual gripe before we go again. It's time to fight again. Every season, we need to have an argument about how much we're going to pay players and, you know, what does, who we're going to let play as a designated hitter and who we're not going to let do that and all that kind of stuff, right? I don't know. I think you're right, though. You hit the nail on the head. It truly is this, even though, because they

keep saying that they're like it's the first work stoppage in 26 years or yeah right yeah it's like really the first work stoppage in about 12 months right right because it was it was the same thing it felt like uh owners were being greedy players were trying to get compensated properly for this shortened season um and you know nobody wanted like how hard is that man i mean if if i'm if i'm playing half the number of games that i normally would play can't we figure out a way to base my salary on the number of games play. But it's not that easy, right?

These contracts make things complicated. And some players, if they're going to play a season, they want what they were promised, not just a part of what they were promised. Can we go down a rabbit trail real quick? Let's do it. Do you remember when one of the major proposals that was floating around major baseball at the time was for every team in the game to come to Phoenix, Arizona and stay in hotels around the state?

And we were going to use the spring training facilities for every single game. And it was it was like at like they were for real, Derek. Like there was a time when Jeff Passon literally said like this, this is what they have on the table. Like this is how it looks like it's going to go. And of course, that's not ultimately how it went. But I remember as a baseball fan at the time, you know, staying at home during quarantine. I was I was so torn because, you know, on one hand, it's sad because. you know, we're all in quarantine.

And at that point, they wouldn't have allowed fans in the stands anyway. But on the other hand, I mean, it's pretty cool to have that much baseball happening in your backyard. Like literally all of major league baseball just right there in the metro area. Not to mention, don't get it twisted, Jesse. I'm, I'm very selfish when it comes to that. And even though that even though you say we wouldn't have been able to go to the games, I would have been able to go to the game. Yeah. And I know, you kind of peek over the fence.

Certain areas you can go to at some of the ballparks where you could still see a thing or two. Well, that was still, there was still nothing wilder to me than the fact that I attended games during the pandemic where there were no fans allowed as a member of the media. And that some of those games still weren't as quiet as some of the games I experienced last season at Chase Field. Right. Because they were pumping in the fake crowd noise. And even though it was annoying, it made it so you couldn't at least hear the birds chirping. And there are a lot of birds of chase field. when you can hear them chirping, there's, it's loud and there's a lot.

And that means that there's, yeah, they hang out up on the roof. Yeah, there's like more birds than people in that field at times. But again, I think it's dangerous. I've said this before, but I, you know, this goes back to my relationship advice, Jesse about the arm or the keys thing, right? Indifference is dangerous, right? If you're in a relationship and your significant other becomes indifferent,

that's way more dangerous than being mad at you, right? Being mad means there's. still passion that they still care. Indifference is when people really stop losing or stop caring about that thing altogether, right? Indifference is where you're literally like, I can Maria Condi, the joy of getting rid of stuff, I can easily get rid of this thing of my life and it will bring me joy. It will bring me joy to not have it around anymore, right? And MLB, again, they're just, I think sometimes. some organizations think that they're too big to fail,

and it's not to say that I think MLB is going anywhere due to this circumstance, but it erodes with time that love that people have for this game. And eventually you find yourself at a position where people just don't care. You know, like that's sad. But I still care. Jesse still cares, and we will probably care for the rest of our lives. So don't think that anything that they can do with the labor negotiations

is going to affect either of our loves of basically. baseball. I think people like us were the reason why they're going through with this whole deal, because they know there's enough crazy diehards out there to, you know, keep the sport afloat. But, but you make a good point. I think there's going to be fewer and fewer of them and where these kinds of things happen. To be honest, it's kind of like what's going on lately. I don't want to call it cancel culture, but it's like what's going on when, you know, people are getting outed for being scumbags, like we were talking about in the show, that that really shouldn't be enough to keep them out of the Hall of Fame, right? But when people are outed as scumbags, it makes it that much harder to enjoy

things that they're involved with, right? If you find out there's a scumbag on your team, it makes it hard to, like, still love your team the same way. Or, you know, what's happening more often is like actors and, you know, things like that, television shows and movies you like, like, it's hard to still enjoy that thing when you might think of somebody in that, you know, that's involved with it being a terrible person, right? I don't know. Some of it, people can put that aside. I've been able to put it aside at times, depending on the levels of grievances and what people have done. But we just live in a time now where we kind of know too much. And it makes it hard to love, uh, you know, a show that you used to love, right? Like Seinfeld was my

favorite show. And then Michael Richards had to go make a public ass of himself as a racist during a, you know, comedy set, the stand-up set. And again, Kramer was like my favorite part of that show. Kramer and Newman, the whole dynamic. It makes it that much harder now to go back and watch episodes and still enjoy it and laugh like I did it one time because of, you just know.

Yeah. You know, you just know, right? And like baseball, I'm not saying did anything wrong, but people tend to feel that same way. Like, I just don't care about this thing anymore because they've ruined it. You know,

they've, they showed they didn't care. They didn't care about us as fans. They didn't care about this game. They don't care about. the sanctity of this game and and you know not interrupting it for their financial what seems like financial greed right but at the same time when you start hearing both sides make an argument you you kind of find yourself going much like i did with jeff passin and his comments about the hall of

fame you're like well you make a good point and then the owners might say something that you're like well i can understand your position on that and then that's how nothing ever gets done because yeah both sides make a good point, but both sides need to concede a little bit and find a way to meet in the middle to end this thing as soon as possible. You impact this season and this survey of 44% of respondents is going to go up maybe another 20%. You know, if your season is delayed, there's going to be more than 44% of people on a survey that are less interested in big league baseball when the 2002 season begins. This is all just due to this fighting. But if there's an actual delay, that number is going to go up.

Yeah, it is, the one thing I will say is, I mean, we haven't actually lost, we haven't lost any baseball games yet. And it's not like, like the on-field game isn't being ruined, right? I mean, the sport that we all love. I mean, they might add the designated hitter, which I think at least most of us, and as far as I can tell, want that anyway. So I think there's something to be said for, you know, I don't think it's, it's so, so bad in that sense.

I mean, the game is still very much being preserved. But yeah, I mean, the optics of this are bad. And I still think that, you know, in a month, if the lockout somehow has ended and the two sides have compromised and come to an agreement, I think there's a good chance that, you know, six months a year from now, we don't really care about this. Like, this isn't really a big deal in the rearview mirror. So baseball still has an opportunity to salvage, you know, their reputation. And as you're talking about their fan base, right,

as people seem to be going for the exit doors, given all of the things that have happened lately. But I don't think there's room here to salvage this. It's just a matter of the, you know, how well do these two sides handle it? And do they capitalize on that opportunity? Or do they allow this to fester way longer than it has to? Well, son. Well, son.

Well, we want to remind you guys to go download the Draft King's Sportsbook app and make sure that your numbers don't go down. Make sure your numbers are going up, up, up all this season. And obviously it's the end of the football year, both for college and the NFL. But that doesn't mean that the action has to stop on the Draft King's Sportsbook app. They have an unbelievable offer to get all fans in action for this exciting time on the football calendar. New customers can bet just $5 using our promo code of PHNX on any football team to win their game. And if they do, you win $200 in free bet.

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Make it a 13, 14 leg parlay instead of just a four leg. That way you win, like I said, get, let's recoup these funds from the holiday season. I know you guys spend a lot of money on gifts for people. You guys are good people. You did, you did good. but you didn't do what my family did for me. They bought me stuff from the dollar store. Terrible. We'll talk about that a later time.

You got AirPods, Derek. I know. I know. I am ungrateful, Jesse. I've told you that before. But remember, Draft King is safe, secure and reliable. Best of all, you can deposit, withdraw your cash whenever you want.

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New customers only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Jesse, I know we're still under contract with PHNX. Is there a better offer out there, Derek? I'm reminded of this. Well, I'm going to tell you, I'm a little upset. Like, it's kind of like when you get married.

And then your dream girl. hit you up and is like, hey, what do you doing? You want to go get drinks? Right? Because according to MLB trade rumors, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jesse, are hiring a bullpen catcher. They're hiring a bullpen catcher. Okay.

And I can't, I don't qualify. They're like, you're a member of the media. You've got to do one or the other. I can do both. I can get solid interviews from the bullpen. Yeah. Yeah. You can be like on the inside, right?

Man, I mean, imagine it. imagine, imagine the interviews that I could do from the bullpen with the pitchers right there. But bring back Andrew Chafin and I would kill for this job. But they are actually hiring a bullpen catcher. And it just kind of, it was, it was a little bit interesting of a listing, Jesse. I found that, I found it interesting that for experience, they really weren't looking for you to have any. I, yeah, I also noticed that you'd think, I mean, I mean, you're just a bullpen catcher, right?

Like you're not a catcher for the actual games. But Major League pitchers throw pretty hard last I checked, Derek. I don't know if any old person going out there trying to catch 95 mile an hour heat every day. But yeah, apparently you and I are as qualified as any. So I'm going to give you the qualifications right now. All right. Ability to catch multiple bullpens daily up to seven days a week. done. I don't have a life.

I mean, if that was my, if I was a bullpen catcher, that would be dedicated. I'd be dedicated to the craft, Jesse. Strong level of intellectual curiosity and openness. Are you kidding me? The stuff I'd talk about on this show publicly with all of you

screaming my name. Intellectual curiosity. Of course, I'm curious about everything. I find everything to be fascinating. Ability to bring a positive attitude and energy to the ballpark each day with a mindset committed to serving the needs of the team. Jesse, do you not remember how excited I got about tank season? Tank season, baby. Look at, I don't know. I've got a positive mindset to losing baseball games.

Oh, man. Hit me up. This will be the second time this week. I'm just imagining you yelling tank season like in the like near players. I don't know if that's the kind of positive energy you're looking for in this job. You need to tell me that one. amp them up. You mean to tell me what they wouldn't get excited about that? That could be a rallying call. I don't know. I don't know. He could be like, tank season. It could be like a cannon. That's why I was looking. Anyway. There you go. Yeah. I'll love that. I don't know. I think I already bring a positive mindset to this show. All right? We've been covering a sport that's locked out. And I have not lost my mind yet. So that's very important. I do know that this is the second time I've

applied for a job publicly on air while doing the show this week. And I know, I know that's a bad look. And I don't care. I don't care. Diamondbacks hit me up. You know, you have my number already. You have my email address. I, we message all the time.

So let's figure this out. You guys have a need and I have a dream. So let's make these two things meet in the middle. But Jesse, it made me curious to think, what would your dream job be at Chase Field? Not even necessarily on the team, but what, what, what's some dream? jobs of yours. I know first off, hands down bullpen cart driver.

Bullpen cart driver. I want again, you talk about dreams coming true. Holy shit, I want to drive the bullpen cart. I want to drive the bullpen cart more than most things. They're like, you want to catch a fly ball? Sure, that would be great, but I would much rather drive the bullpen cart.

Is it still around? Did they disable, like, did they dismantle it? Is it in the back? I don't know. Yeah, it must be hiding in it in you know the uh the corners of chase field somewhere i don't know exactly it's with all of other baxter's other toys that he keeps yeah right is stashed away somewhere uh yeah so so actually real talk here so i think i've mentioned this on the show before but my childhood dream was to do play by play you wanted to replace gregg shulte yeah i i mean i wouldn't say it like that you can't replace Greg Schulte.

But you literally tried to mimic his voice as a child and usurp him is what you tried to do. Don't tell me that you didn't try to replace him. Yeah. Yeah. But I got to meet him as part of the process and I made sure I communicated that, you know, there's no, no hard feelings along the way. But, um, just 12 year old Jesse telling him, I'm not coming for your job yet. Yeah, he literally, I remember when I talked to him, he, he, he told.

told me when his contract expired. He wanted me to know, you know, he was like, all right, well, they're stuck with me until, I think it was like 2017 or 2018 at the time. Now, obviously, they've extended him far into the future. But yeah, yeah, I mean, Greg is a, he's a legend for a reason. But, but, but yeah, that was my, that was my childhood dream. I did an internship out in Springfield, Illinois, where I called games for a collegiate summer team, summer collegiate baseball team. And, uh, and I quickly, decided, Derek, that play-by-play was just, it is, well, maybe it was the fact that the collegiate team that I was calling games for, I think our final record was six and 54, give or take.

Oh, my God. So that didn't, that didn't help. So part of me wonders if, if my life story would be far different if they'd actually been good and maybe I'd fallen in love with it instead. Sure. No, that makes sense. Yeah, but that did not happen. So that was the childhood dream for me.

And who knows, you know? I mean, maybe at some point in life, a door opens up to explore that again. But it is, I mean, it is a, I mean, you're at the ballpark every single day, you know, you're there before pretty much everyone. You leave after pretty much everyone. It is a gut-wrenching job on some days, you know, when you're down 11 to nothing in the first inning, as my team so often was, just like, oh, man, what are, how am I going to make? again. Yeah, and I was solo too. I didn't usually have anyone on with me and that made it,

that made it all the worst. If you'd been there, Derek, maybe I would have killed it. Yeah. Color commentating and you on the play by play, we would have killed it, Jesse. I believe it. I believe it. But yeah, that was the childhood dream for me. I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you another one. And I know you like, you know, you like when I referenced my bobbleheads. I just love, we have no idea how many you have over there. Oh, it's insane. I want, I want to be racing. and Gracie. And I don't, and when I say that, I don't want to be, I don't want to be the big unit. I don't want to be, I want to be Gracie.

You want to be racing, Gracie. And I want to run and I want to trip and phone on my face and never win a game. That would be a dream job for me personally. I don't know. If you have, he does win occasionally, right? Yeah, yeah, occasionally. Sometimes, sometimes they make him go winless all season long just because it's hilarious when he does. But yeah, I don't know.

Now, now it's, I don't know, everything's on the video board and I'm not a fan of it. I need the people back doing the things in front of me again. I need life to resume back. I'm going to San Francisco this weekend, Jesse, to go see a show that isn't even happening anymore. Why I didn't cancel my hotel and my plane? I have no idea, but I'm still going because I just don't know what to do with myself otherwise when this stuff happens.

I can't believe we're back to a point. I thought we were going to get racing, gracing back on the field soon. And who knows now, who knows what's going on. But I was wondering, too, not just dream jobs, but let's say you're, let's say you're given a job at Chasefield. Let's say you go down, you go to the DeVax Job Fair, they assess you as a person, and they issue you a job. Maybe this is like Futurama where they automatically pick your jobs in the future in the year 3000. What do you think would best suit you as a job at Chase Field? Well, I don't have that many skills, Derek.

I'm going to be honest. So unless there's a room where I can sit in and do math problems and use my math degree, maybe I could do that. Would I? Analytics? You don't think analytics department, you don't think. No, no. The analytics department wouldn't be your jam. No, that would be my jam.

That's the first thing that comes to mind for me. But it's, I mean, that is a very hard. They don't have, you know, 50, you know, baseball. analytics interns running around and Chase Field every day. So that's not exactly the easiest. I'm giving you the job. You're giving me the job. That's the difference here.

I'm overthrowing Mike Fitzgerald tomorrow. First of all, I don't like this. I don't like this non-confident adage. I don't know if I want to hire you anymore, but I'm trying to give you the analytic position is what I'm trying to do. Yeah. Now, that would, you're right. I mean, that would, that would definitely, that would definitely fit me best. Okay.

What about you, Derek? I think locker room attended. Okay. Um, yeah. I say that because I have a great respect for hats and jerseys and shoes. I think I would treat their stuff kindly and well and I would take care of their things. You like doing laundry? I love doing laundry, Jesse.

I love it as much as I love putting together fucking IKEA furniture, okay? And that's what I've been doing for the last two weeks. Laundry and IKEA furniture. No, I don't. It's weird, but at times it's when you. kind of assess yourself as a person like the reason why this entire move that I've been wrapped up and has bothered me so much is because I'm a bit OCD right and sometimes those kind of ways you tend to be can kind of if you lean into it you could make maybe a good career that also satisfies you

I've often thought about just jobs where I cleaned in general being something that I'd be like I don't know I find myself just cleaning around my house constantly anyway I think I I do enjoy cleaning I have to say it doesn't bother me to do it because I feel like I'm like look how clean this kitchen is. Although cleaning at a ballpark is not the most sound. That's gross. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. I'm trying to stick to like the lot. I mean, and yeah, the clubhouse is especially gross, right? But the other thing I like is the camaraderie, right? There's something about the locker room attendant guys that tend to be part of the family with the team. They know them. They talk to them. From the stories I've heard, they invite them out to drink with them and stuff like that.

So I think that part about it too would be like kind of a nice reward for the fact that you also have to pick up after these guys like you're their mom. You could also get to go drink with them and have some wild times and have some stories to tell your grandkids one day about, you know, your time as a D-BAC's locker room attendant. And I mean, you still get to be sprayed with champagne probably if the team makes the law. Yeah, that's right. That's right. But I'm sure that you'd be smart enough to wear some ski goggles, have some gear ready. Yeah. I'll tell you, the pro tip, don't get those, the face shields that people are using for COVID.

Those will not work in a champagne situation. The champagne goes everywhere. It sleeps in. I had tight goggles on, Jesse. It was still coming in the cracks where there weren't like flesh on, you know, material kind of situation. Like I had little gaps in my eye, like right in the corner of your eye that somehow like liquid was getting in on. And then what's worse is it was getting in my goggles. like when you go under the water with goggles that aren't airtight.

And there was like a little like fishbowl action happening with champagne that was building up inside of my goggles. Oh, that's not great. These are first world problems to have, Jesse. I'm complaining about the times that I celebrated with the Diamondbacks in their locker room over victories. So I guess, you know, whatever. None of us feel bad for you whatsoever. You shouldn't. You shouldn't.

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They are the king of soft style, and they are just absolutely beautiful shirts. As a matter of fact, my wife just came in here right now to ask me if that Booker shirt and Lowrider was still available because she wants to buy it for her doctor, who was a huge Devin Booker fan. So you can buy that shirt right now

for your Devin Booker fan in your life. And also, you can get it for free if you sign up to become an annual member. If you're not interested in that, you'll become a month-to-month member, and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. So a little apatif, a little chance for you to try it out, see if you like it, and then come back for more with the annual membership. Also, you can be part of our members-only Discord, which I want to apologize right now.

I apparently just turned Discord off completely, which I don't know how I did that, but I'm not very familiar with this website and this app. So I will be back because apparently people were talking to me at times and I was ignoring them, and I would like to just apologize now to everybody. But again, members get that access to members-only Discord where I will completely ignore you, apparently. And there's a membership perk right there. But also, you can get membership-only discounts over at the PHNX Locker, all sorts of surprises.

We're going to have a fun 2022. This launch of this website was fast. It was fun, but it was furious, and we had some, you know, we definitely had some growing pains, but we look forward to 2022 being a big year for us. So once we get through this lockout, and once I get Jesse down here in Phoenix, Arizona, we're going to have some meetups. We're going to be hanging out.

We're going to be doing post series shows. We're going to be doing pre-series shows. A lot of fun stuff planned for the future. Imagine talking about real baseball games there. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't because I feel like we've been talking about the lockout for six years,

is what it feels like. Before we let you go, I want to give you guys my draft. King's pick of the week. So you guys can make a little money this weekend. No, we got some Saturday games and weekend filled with football action. I know that I'm going, I just need to apologize now to our DNVR family that might be watching. I'm sorry, but I'm taking the Chiefs over the Broncos at a 10 and a half spread at minus 105.

They, I think, are going to stomp a mud hole in the Broncos in the final game. I hope for your sake that it's not like that, but I think they're going to cover the 10. and a half point spread. I'm also taking the over at 45 points because I think there's a good chance the chiefs might score 45 alone on their own. Wow. Wow, that's gutsy. You're taking the over on 45 points? Yeah, well, so taking the over, it's a combined 45, right? So I mean, it's not that high of a score. Oh, okay. Combined between the two teams. Yeah, the over and under is, yeah. I was like, wow, you are going for it. Uh-huh, just going for it. That's how I feel about the chief. No, taking the over on the total score being 45.

That was a minus 110. They did have a fresh from the field weekly special on the draft king sports book app. And I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this, but I'm hard passing on it. Even though I believe in the Chiefs, the fresh from the field weekly special was Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey combining for over 199 and a half receiving yards. And I, as much as I like those two guys, I just have a hard time feeling like in this final game of the season. They're going to run those guys that hard, especially when the chiefs don't really need, you know, it's not going to be a fiercely competitive game and the chiefs don't need to win that badly. So, but yeah, you know, we got what we got.

We thank you guys, again, so much for checking out the show. Reminders, I talked about the PHNX Locker, but go check out the PHNX Locker. But go check out the PHNX Locker.com right now. There's beautiful shirts over there. I talked about the Booker's shirt, but there's all sorts of shirts. Get the Go Ape shirt. It's based on this tattoo. I don't know what arm.

It's this tattoo. It's a little Phoenix Sun's action. It warms my heart anytime I see someone wearing it, even though I don't even cover the Suns. It's not even for my beat, but I see it. I know it's attachment to me, and it makes me feel special. So go get that shirt or any of our other beautiful shirts over at the P.HNX Locker. Dot com.

And we're always turning out new designs. I, as a former Sun Devil, cannot really talk about the back of the A shirt and how much, how great it is, what a great retro look it is, how much people like it. Yeah, you can say that, but I'm not, I'm not allowed to. You can say it. I didn't go to ASU, so I'm not really a big U of A guy, but, but I mean, it's a cool, it's a cool shirt. That's all I'll say. It's a cool shirt.

So go check out PHNX Locker.com and please don't miss any of the stuff we're doing over here. Draft Kings, our code again is PHNX to get that $200 in free bets for betting $5 or more on any NFL team to win their games. should they win their games. And again, go over to go PHNX.com and sign up to become a member. We appreciate you guys so much for checking out the show and sticking with us through this. Part of, you know, part of the season that's not easy to get through. And I'm going to agree with the real stink miner here. He says the MLB sucks.

And I don't think he's wrong right now because they need to get a deal done. And this is ridiculous. So let's get back in the office, fellas. Okay, 2022. to we're two weeks in. Let's get some work done now. All right. Let's let's, let's end the vacations and get a deal done. Jesse has predicted the January 28th date that we are 22 days away from now. Next time we speak, we're going to be even closer to it. And I want to really be putting the heat on Jesse as far as his prediction when this whole lockout was going to end.

Just watch and learn, Derek. Just sit back and watch it happen, all right? Just sit back and remember who Jesse is. is he is the omnipotent jesse and i am merely i'm merely a reflection in his crystal ball you think i can get my my beard to do that how how many years you think i have to grow it out your entire life you never shave again never shave again maybe before you die you could grow something close to that but you can follow jesse and his beard at jessie and friedman on twitter i'm at cap underscore kman with a k our show is at p h nx underscore debacks but of course all roads lead to at p h nx underscore sports and that is on

Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Sean, pause, by the way. Oh, my gosh. He says January 20, 20, 23. I don't, I don't like that, but he might be right. We'll see what happens. Obviously, you guys can download

us on your favorite audio podcasting app. You'll get this show Friday morning, just like you get every show at 10 a.m. Every weekday. You can download it on your favorite audio podcasting app. Subscribe to us there. Leave us a five-star review. Obviously, Jesse, with his all knowing, all seeing ways, deserves to be rated five stars.

Also go over to YouTube. If you're watching us right now on the live show, make sure to subscribe to us there. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss any of the content being put out by any of our amazing hosts on this network. And I know if you're listening right now, you have to be a diehard Arizona sports fan. So make sure you don't miss the coyotes, sun, Cardinals.

They're all doing much better. Well, not the coyotes, but the sons and the Cardinals, they're holding it down for us. So we appreciate them and we appreciate you on behalf of, of Jesse and myself, we thank you guys so much for showing up for this episode. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but man, it's so much more fun when we can just play baseball.