PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The pool is in play

Episode Date: January 13, 2022

On this episode, Jesse and Derek are discussing Jon Lester retiring, the worst contract in D-backs team history, and changing the dimensions of 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.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX DBAX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX. And I am joined by my vice mayor, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Another day, another dollar, Derek. Let's do it. Talking baseball, there's no more exciting sport in America right now than the sport we cover every day. That's the reality of it. So we're here to live the dream, Derek.

I know you're full of shit right now, but I really appreciate your enthusiasm. I'm trying. I appreciate it. This show is brought to you, of course, by the fine folks over at the Draft King's Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Now it's a wonderful time to do so. If you are a new customer, you're going to make some money.

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Get on Drafking Sportsbook app now. It's the perfect time to do so in honor of the start of the NFL playoffs. Drafking Sportsbook is an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Jesse, so much to talk about. So much. As we count down the minutes and the days to MLB and the owners meeting with the union for the first time since the lockout, which will happen today, actually. Today is Thursday when this podcast is being posted. And we are absolutely going to have some news by this evening.

live show, but for now, we're left to wait and we're left to hear about another free agent who is no longer on the market, not because he got picked up because obviously those things aren't happening right now. He's no longer on the market because he is retired from the sport of baseball. The great starting pitcher, John Lester, is hanging him up after quite an illustrious career that started back in 2006, 15 years, or 16 years now in the Biggs. So hats off to John Lester joins a couple of other guys who, I guess you can't really say these guys hung it up early.

I guess what you could say, he joins several others, including Buster Posey and Kyle Seeger, as guys that seemed like they still had something left to give the sport of baseball. Right? They were still competing at a high level. It wasn't like they were kind of fizzling out. but they're kind of going out on top. John Lester had a, I mean, just an incredible major league career all in all. He was a five-time all-star.

And you're right. I mean, he certainly is not the pitcher that he once was and hasn't been for several years, but he's still been a totally serviceable major league starter, right? This past season with the nationals and the Cardinals. He made 28 starts. he pitched a pretty full season. He had a 4.71 ERA. So certainly not what you're used to seeing from John Lester.

He had 91 strikeouts and 141 in the third innings, which is one of the lower strikeout rates you'll find in baseball. But he's John Lester, right? I mean, he is, I don't want to say quite to the level of Granky when it comes to this finesse brand of pitching where you're able to get outs, even when you, you know, you don't have big time stuff. But he's kind of along those lines.

I mean, his cutter has been a timeless, a timeless pitch throughout his entire career. So, yeah, nothing but good things to say about Lester and the career he had. And what stands out to me more than anything, Derek, is his postseason pitching. This guy was just a monster throughout his career in the playoffs. He won three rings altogether. And he was very good. the playoffs. I think he made 22 starts. And he had a 251 career ERA in the postseason, which is a pretty impressive figure for him.

So yeah, big big day for John Lester. And to me, out of the out of those three guys, Seeger and Lester and Posi, I think Lester is probably the one that I might have expected the most. I mean, you know, he's 37 at this point. He's been here for 16 years, as you said. And yeah, that's really. what it comes down to is he, uh, he definitely has, uh, a great career and he's been in baseball long enough that I'm not,

uh, I'm not worried necessarily about his, uh, him hanging it up. I just think, uh, you know, uh, this entire situation obviously, uh, has not helped, uh, with guys.

Yeah. Making, making a decision to, to stay in baseball. I'm sure if anything, this entire situation has made them, maybe maybe lose their love for the game a little bit maybe make that decision to walk away just a little bit easier so i i don't know i can't really put that on him but at the same time it makes me wonder about our very own madison bumgarner jessy you know he's getting up there an age he's getting up there as far as his career goes and uh as you alluded to prior to us

starting this podcast this might be this might be the end of the road for him once this contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks has come and gone. He has three years left, right? I mean, that's a pretty substantial amount of time. Three years from now, Madison, Bumgarner will be 35 years old, and he will have pitched 16 years in the majors, right? And I mean, John Lester, he's retiring after 16 years as well, the exact same number of seasons in the majors.

Bumgarner will be a little younger, like I said, 35, but he also started his career at the age of 19, which not that many guys do. And I think that's the reason that a lot of people look at Bumgarner as a guy who has kind of been maybe hit a bump in the road in his career a little sooner than some people would have expected, right? We've seen Max Scher and Zach Granky and some of these other guys pitch well into their 30s and still be excellent. But Bumgarner got into the league so early that.

he's already, you know, over 2,000 innings in his career. And at a certain point, you've just, you just been in the league for so long that, you know, you start, you start to run out of gas in the tank. And we're hopeful that Madison Bumgarner won't, won't stay that way. You know, hopefully this season is a bounce back for him. And he's able to do some things here in Arizona before his tenure is over. But, yeah, I mean, three more seasons, you have to think it'll at least be something that he'll have to consider.

And I wouldn't be surprised to see it because not only does Madison Bumgarner, I'm not going to say he has kind of peaked, you know, but I think the bigger thing with him is that he has other interests, right? I don't blame a guy like him. Well, he doesn't have any. Madison Bumgarner is a major league pitcher through and through. Mason Saunders, on the other hand, has any other interests. Yeah.

Well, I mean, Mason Saunders is a big time cowboy. And he doesn't have time for this crap. You know, he's got stuff to do. So, yeah, no, I wouldn't, I, again, wouldn't be surprised to see it at all. Wouldn't be surprised to see it at all. But it will be interesting to see if, you know, mostly, I think at this point, if the rest of his career can be a valuable one where he walks away on top in the same way that his former teammate Buster Posey was able to leave the game

still at a point where he was one of the better players at his. his position and he's still tipping his cap and walking away into the sunset on a high note, right, instead of. Buster Posey was another level. I mean, he basically had not the best season of his career last year, but like one of the few best seasons of his career. So yeah, in my mind, Buster Posey was basically at the top of his game. And that's kind of why it was, it was so surprising that he left, you know, so quickly in his

giant's career. Yeah, and yeah, again, it's also a team that did very, very well this season and got very close to winning a World Series. The one thing I wonder is, you know, do you walk away before an even numbered year has a chance to come and go? That does. That's a great point. I hadn't thought about that. That might be the most puzzling part of Buster Posey's decision is that it came before an even numbered season, right? Yeah, for sure.

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kings.com slash sportsbook for details. All right. Well, Jesse, I was looking at the MLB News and our friends over at Bleacher Report, put together a list of the worst contracts in each MLB team's history. And not to my surprise, they named starting pitcher Russell Ortiz, Russ Ortiz, probably shouldn't call him Russell. Probably doesn't like that. Russ Ortiz.

They named his four-year 33-year. million dollar contract as the Arizona Diamondbacks worst contract in team history. Obviously, we've discussed that. We had an entire episode dedicated to Russ Ortiz and his terrible, terrible time here. Yeah, he got his own episode of the podcast. He did. He did. How bad the contract. You think you think that's a good thing. But it's never a good thing to have your own episode of, of this podcast, basically named after you. It's usually not the best thing, unless you're Jack Bannister, because he's that's fair or brett strong we've had we've had glowing reviews in brent strong a number of times but in the words of j z jesse uh please allow me to reintroduce myself my name is yazmani and i still believe in my heart of hearts

that yasmani tomas contract which we have yet to cover and will definitely dedicate an entire episode too for that terrible terrible deal is still the worst contract in Arizona Diamondbacks history. You could argue very much for the Russell Ortiz deal. One thing that we covered in talking about Ortiz was that he was signed for four years, but he did not even finish half of that. He made it through a season and a half,

essentially before the Arizona Diamondbacks parted ways with him, thus paying him the rest of his contract. And that really is what I think solidified it as one of the worst contracts. If his performance was just bad throughout, at least you would have gotten your four years worth out of them. They did get all six years worth of Yizmani Tomas, but most of it was in the minor leagues.

Yosmani Tomas's 68.5 million dollar contract. He played in 309 total MLB games in four of those six years that he was signed to the Diamondbacks. Interesting, Jesse, when I started to do a little bit of research for this piece. I started to run into some old articles from when when he was Manny Tomas was signed. And you talk about freezing cold sports takes. Oh, no. What did I say, Derek? Oh, Jesse. Oh, you were the top offender. No, I'm joking. Most of the quotes were actually from Tony LaRouza and Dave Stewart at the time, even Chappelle.

They solidly believed in this guy. Some of the comparisons to some of the top hitters in the league were just absurd. I don't know really what was going on here with this contract in this entire situation. And I wonder if someday we'll get some sort of information on it. Now, again, you could argue that Yizmani Tomas still didn't, maybe wasn't as bad as the Russ Ortiz deal. but was it, I don't know, they didn't come that far after each other for the Yasmani Tomas deal to be, you know, over double the amount that the Russell Ortiz deal cost them. Russell Ortiz did start at least a reasonable number of games, whereas, you know,

Tomas played in, you know, two seasons worth and not even two full seasons, right? Yeah, 309 games. I just don't know. I don't know what the answer there is. It might just be a push between those two really bad contracts. I will say, though, that the reading, the quotes, reading some of the articles from, you know, six years ago or however long ago it was when he was first signed, I can't help but feel like people were being sold a bill of goods on that guy. You know, I totally understand the concept of being really impressed by his hitting. and what he was doing in a Cuban league that was highly regarded.

But I cannot help but wonder what people were really thinking about giving this man nearly $70 million. Guaranteed, guaranteed money. Just here and then go off and be the king of Reno, Nevada. You know, go run that town. Oh, gosh. Yeah, this is a, I don't know where I stand. between the two. I think you're right that it's pretty close between Russ and

and Yasmani. I will say that Yasmani, out of the two guys, he hit 31 home runs in 2016, which I am by no stretch of the imagination saying that he was good that year. I think any of us who thought that, including myself at the time, I don't know if I really liked Tomas that much, But I think I thought he was, you know, a passable major leaguer, someone who would probably stick around for a while. But what sticks out to me is that even in that season where Tomas, you know, batted 272, slugged over 500, hit 31 home runs, he was worth negative 0.9 wins above replacement in that season. It is best season. He hit 31 home runs. He slugged over 500.

He was still a below replacement level player. and the reason for that, of course, is that his defense was that atrocious, right? Especially, remember that whole third base experiment, Derek, where we were trying to convince ourselves that, you know, Tomas and Jake Lamb were in this heated battle for third base. And Tomas just couldn't field the position. And he frankly couldn't really field a corner outfield position very competently either. So, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know what the team was thinking at the time. there were a few people who were on board. I think there was, even at the time, along with those quotes they were talking about where people were supportive, mostly people within the Diamondbacks organization. But outside of the organization, I think I remember at the time there being some criticism,

some people being a little bit unsure if Tomas was really as good as the Diamondbacks thought he was. And I mean, the rest is history. I mean, it was, especially those last couple, couple years when I respect the Diamondbacks for not feeling like they had to play Tomas at the big league level because they were paying him so much. But I think the last year of his deal was 17 and a half million, I want to say. And that's just a lot of money to pay a guy who's not

even on your major league roster. So they're both both of those moves are pretty bad. Yeah. I, I don't know what to say about either of them other than I'm glad that they're both in the past. And I'm glad that neither one of those guys. Russ Ortiz, like, at least, like, he was an all star. And he had some, you know, I mean, he won 21 games in 03 with the Braves. You know, like there was some, some history there. Like, you kind of feel like with that move, the debacks kind of maybe got a little bit

unlucky or something, just that he wasn't as good when he came over to Arizona. But the Tomas deal was just like, yeah, the rest of the league didn't really seem to want this guy very much. and the diamondbacks really did and paid him probably way more than he would have gotten from another team. So it's a pretty, pretty serious malpractice. I like the way you phrase that. Well, tell you what, about this Yuzmani Tomas deal, we'll have a little bit more information on it, believe it or not.

Go phtonx.com. I'll be writing a little piece on this, and I might just be doing it just for the petty, purpose of bringing up some of these freezing cold takes that were once said about Yadmane Tomas. I would enjoy reading a piece that is literally just laughing at what so many people at the time said. It's kind of a cheap game to play, but it'd be kind of a fun game to play too. That's exactly what you're probably going to get from me. So make sure to sign up for go phnx.com. That way you don't miss it. Go over to go phnx.m right now. Sign up to become a member. You can sign up to become an annual member, and you'll get that, uh,

free t-shirt from the p hnx locker.com i am wearing one right now very proudly mostly because it's sold out over at p hnx locker dot com and no matter how much you wanted it you couldn't get it and so that's i love rubbing shirts like that that's not true how much how much would someone have to offer you for you to mail them your shirt oh not very much not very much just okay so it is available that's what you're saying if you want this coyote's cut out shirt in an extra large that's slightly used. You definitely can DM me an unreasonable offer, and I will accept it.

And I happily mail it out to you. I'll even send you an autographed 8 by 10. But you have to sign up to become a member in order to do that. It's a member's only offer, is what I'm saying. Sure, sure, yeah. So sign up to become a member. You get that annual membership. You get another free t-shirt.

You buy this T-shirt from me. You'll get the autographed 8 by 10 for free. Free shipping on the shirt, I'm sending you, but an unreasonable price on the cost of the shirt. if you're buying it from me. If you're buying it from PhNX Locker.com, it's going to be a much more reasonable price. $30. You can get sticker packs for $5. Do all of that over at PHNX locker. But most importantly, sign up to become a member at go phnx.com. If you don't want the annual membership, I don't know why you wouldn't. But if you just want to check us out, make sure we're cool,

you know, all that kind of stuff. Go over and get that month-to-month option and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. I think it's worth it. I think most of you will put that in a little candy machine and turn it for a giant bubble gunball. So you can do that for one month of go PHNX.com. Jesse, our friend Patrick Lyons is up to, he's up to trouble again in the discord, isn't he? He is. Yeah, Patrick Lyons asked one of the, we've been asked a lot of great questions over these last few months, but this one is, this one's pretty great.

Patrick says, have the D-backs ever changed the dimensions of Chase Field before? That was his first question. And then secondly, and this is really the big one, could the mayor and the man beast, aka Maxwell, Jesse Friedman, which is apparently what Patrick calls me now, discuss what it would be like if the pool and hot tub in right field were in the field of play, like the monuments in center field at the original Yankee Stadium, which, full disclosure, I had no idea what that was referring to until Derek told me about. it before we hopped on the air. So Derek, and I imagine some of our audience members may not,

may not know what this was about either. Can you explain to the people about the monuments in center field at the original Yankee Stadium? This blew my mind. I sure can, Jesse. Yes, at the old Yankee Stadium before they decided to change the dimensions and put them behind the wall, there used to be monuments on the field to just on the field, not in foul territory, just right on the field. At the time, they were, they were actually located, believe it or not, in center field is where they were originally located, kind of by a flagpole out there. Wait, there's a flagpole on the field. There was a flag. Yeah, there was kind of by a flagpole, yeah. But it was Babe Ruth, of course, it was the Yankee Great, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig,

and of course, everybody's favorite Yankee Great, Miller Huggins. And so. I don't know clue. Right. Few people do. And they were literally like, I don't know what you could describe them as. I'm sure you've seen them in pictures. Giant tombstones kind of with images, kind of protruding of the players on them, you know, on like a black. Yeah, their faces.

Yeah. Their faces with like, you know, stuff about them on it. And it was absolutely inexplicably in play. I just can't like that's just such a boneheaded idea. I just don't understand how that. Was that like that for a long time? Is that like a long period of time of the original Yankee Stadium? That's a good question.

I don't know. I don't believe so. I'm just trying to picture Yankees center fielder's. Like why would you even want those on the field? I mean, they're for the fans, right? The fans are going to be the ones wanting to. read the plaques. I don't think the Yankees center fielder is going to waltz over there and, you know, learn some Yankees history while he's fielding a fly ball. I mean, I kind of feel like

that's what it was meant for. It was meant for like young players that were excited about the game to kind of just take a tour of like what the Yankees were all about while they're out there playing an actual MLB baseball game. But right, I don't know. I don't know. I can't explain it. But to Jesse's point, or I'm sorry, excuse me, to Patrick's point, Chase Field originally Bank One Ballpark, of course. Who could forget that? Who could forget? That's why we named our mascot a bobcat is because the nickname of the stadium

that no one could foresee possibly changing due to stadium rights changing or names of companies changing, decided to actually name our mascot after the short nickname of the ballpark for a short amount of time. First retractable roof over a natural grass playing surface in the United States, by the way. I don't believe that there were any fundamental dimension changes. I do know there's been capacity changes. So it's always hovered around 48,000.

At one time between 2002 and 2007, it was up to 49,000. Um, and its lowest has been 48, 418 and now it's around 48 405, which is where it's currently at. Um, so not a lot of huge changes to the seating or anything like that. But, uh, I'm more interested in the second part of his question, not the first part. Hmm. Yeah. I'm more interested. Of his question is, is pretty.

That's, that's where the money is. I am more interested in discussing, uh, the pool and the hot tub. being in play at Chase Field. We could put a fence around it, right? Like one of those safety fences that people have in their backyard. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Did you ever play Mutant League football on video game systems when you were a kid?

Because on that game, they just have some of the fields. They just have holes in the field. And you have to worry about your little football players running into the holes. Same concept here. Pool, hot tub, both in play. meaning you can cross through them. You can dive into the pool to go after a ball that maybe either lands in the pool or trickles,

you know, on like a runner. You could just hang out in the hot tub. If you're ballsy enough, if you're confident enough in your ability and your skills to pop out of the hot tub and go track down a fly ball. Yeah, that's allowable. Didn't play.

Did you imagine the highlight reals, like a player's diving into the pool after a ball. That would be, that would be incredible. I would love to see visiting players show up wearing like diving caps, you know, like the swimming caps and maybe like a little nose plug. Goggles. Yes, goggles. Yes. Right. Like a right fielder shows up. Boom. Olympic, you know, swimming cap like they do in the Olympics for the speed swimming.

Goggles, little thing. Tow. You know, like you do when you go out to the pool, you know, he's ready. He comes out with a towel and he sets it like on a little hook. I don't know. Do they still have to wear like a full uniform? Like, is there like a swimsuit like alteration of the team's uniform that the center fielder is allowed to wear? Great question, Jesse. I'd say we could go with like a swimsuit. Okay. Because here's the thing. Sometimes they're going to have to dive after a ball in the pool or in the hot tub. Then they're going to have to get out and play, you know, baseball, right? Yeah. Yeah. They're going to need some sort of wet suit, something to keep them warm because it's going to get cold, right?

Roofs closed on a summer night, air conditioning on full blast. That's going to get cold really fast, right? Yeah. You know, he's going to be diving for that towel before he's diving for a fly ball coming his way. So we want to make sure that we're taking into consideration the right fielder's health. Not so much about the diving in the pool or breaking their ankles or something tripping in it. But again, see, this is where the hot tub is very valuable. after you make a play in the pool,

boom, you pop into the hot tub for a minute in between plays and then warm yourself up right out. That's, see, people think the hot tub is just like a luxury item. Like, oh, there's the Diamondbacks toting their wealth over us with their hot tub. No, if the pool is going to be in play, the hot tub is going to be a critical part of this entire situation. I've thought this through quite a bit, Jesse. Trust me, I've always wanted to see this.

I've wanted to see someone at least make such a leaping catch in right field that they went over the wall and landed in the pool. That actually, yeah, I mean, like theoretically, that should be possible, right? I mean, guys met actually that fairly frequently. There's probably a little bit of a, there's probably a little bit of space in between, like, the edge of the fence and where the pool starts, I imagine. Yeah, yeah, there's, there's like some seats there. There's some chairs there. Right, right. right um so those those swimsuit uniforms those swimsuit uniforms would would sell like crazy probably

oh my god if they made an alteration of the uniform that was the swimsuit i i think people would be all over that just a one piece like almost like a romper or a romp him yeah but made out of like like moisture wicking material you know uh yeah like again some sort of insulating you know wet suit type material. You have to zip it up from the back. That's part of it is that the zippers on the back. One of those deals. When the center fielder comes up to hit, they just look kind of ridiculous, unlike everyone else on the field. Sure. Well, it's because they're wearing flippers. I mean, they're running the bases with flippers. Oh my God. They're flippers with cleats, though. I'm not going to make them slip around. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They got three bottoms on the bottom. Yeah, they've still got spikes.

We are going to invent an entire new genre of shoes just for this pool, Jesse. It's going to be great. We're going to make money. It's going to be like a hybrid, you know, like one of those toe shoes, but with like fins on it. I don't know. I'll have to draw something up, but we'll figure. Yeah, we can pitch this to the pH and X locker designer people. Absolutely.

If your team's not going to do it, then, you know, we can still take care of business and give the people what they want. So, so yeah, we'll see. We'll see what we can cook up on that front. You know, now the baseball season's going to start and the pool is going to have a fence around it. And it's just, it's not going to be the same. You know, it's just. No.

Now we're destined to be just disappointed the moment we walk in the stadium on their home opener. It's just not going to feel right in there. We have this beautiful image in our minds and it's just, it's not going to come to fruition. I can feel it. Great job, Patrick. Way to make us feel bad about ourselves all over. Yeah, yeah. That's just what we needed.

We needed someone else to drag us down further. That's what we were looking for. This is Patrick with his hair all over again. This is what this is, right? Just making me realize how good I don't have it once again. But thank you so much, Patrick. And yeah, if you haven't ever played Mutant League football, go check that out right now because that's a priority.

That's incredible. I played a lot of backyard baseball, backyard football, backyard. All of those are great. Yeah, I don't remember any, I don't remember any swimming pools on, on the field of play in backyard baseball. But there were some very, there definitely should have been. There were some pretty unique stadium designs, though.

I remember some pretty bizarre things happening in backyard baseball. Yeah, it's a great game, but it absolutely needed a pool level. Have you ever played like pool baseball in any way where you like hit like maybe, I don't know, we've used like noodles. People do that pool. I play pool basketball. Like that's a thing. We used to do it like, you know, we'd set up kind of on the corner of a rectangular pool.

We made bases as best as we could. And then like after you hit like a, we do like a blow up beach ball with like pool noodles. And then after you hit, you had to jump in the pool and swim to each base. So that's how. Okay. It was fun. It was fun. I think we did it that you like had to throw and hit the person with the, with the ball to get them out.

But it's a fun variation. See, this is something we can also set. up in the pool out there we'll figure something out turn that little pool into a baseball diamond we'll get games of pool noodle uh football or baseball they they should they should really like the in between inning like little fun games that they play you know i think we're all a little tired of like the card matching game that they've been playing for so long we need some pool games i think that's what i think that's what they need especially the card game people just get booed that Jesse it's relentless

when they're when they're bad at it they're so bad and people don't people don't let them slide they just they just boo them I feel terrible well it's because there's so much yeah it's hard it's hard not to be judgmental of people when they when they're just like

like what they're like it just makes no sense like it was too it was two what do you know five and two yeah you know what it reminds me of is those, those, like, ads on social media about, like, new, like, iPhone games that you can play. Oh, yeah. And, like, the little video that they show you, the little video preview of the game is someone who is impossibly bad at the game.

Purposefully terrible. Just like, give it to me. Give it to me. Let me do it. I'll show you how to do it. Exactly. I will save the little king from the, I will make his fire work in this game. I probably, give it me, let me do it.

Right. Yep. That's what they want for much, Jesse. They want us to get frustrated and download it just to prove we can do it. And then they won, really, and we lost. That's what happens there. And then like you said, you pay your 99 cents for that. And that's the way. I'm supposed to go. I won't. I won't do it. You can play all the ad videos you want. But if it's 99 cents, I am out. Hard pass. Well, we thank you guys so much for checking out the show. Obviously, you can follow us on Twitter. and get more about how much we won't pay for apps on there. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports.

That is on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Don't forget to go to PHNX Locker.com. Of course, we have some amazing new shirts. Of course, they're beautiful. And of course, you can get them for $299. over there, get that sticker pack, too. Don't forget, like I said, someone that's putting in an order, hit me up. I need a sticker pack, too.

I forgot to get one. But there's that Birdgang shirt right in time for the NFL playoffs. Let's go, Cardinals, let's get this win. Let's bring home a Super Bowl. Let's do it. Let's do it. This is our year. Go get that merch so that way you're ready for Monday night's game and all the other games

that they're going to have to play during these playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl. but again, that is over at PHNX Locker.com. If you sign up for an annual membership at GoPHNX, you will get one of those shirts for absolutely free. Also, our code at Draft King Sportsbook is PHNX over there as well. Don't forget, it's a huge weekend. I'm not joking. It's not hyperbole.

These are the biggest offers they've ever made. And if you're a new customer, you need to get in on it. So go over to Draft King Sportsbook. Again, thank you guys so much for listening. listening to us right now on your favorite audio podcasting app. Please subscribe to us there if you haven't done so already and drop us a five-star review. Professor Friedman is absolutely a five-star man. I think he's grading papers right now as we speak while we're also doing this show.

It's fine. I'm totally, I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that. To be a teacher. We love it. Shout out, by the way,

speaking of Cardinals and teachers and grading papers in the press box, shout out to our friend Jess Root. Yeah. He is a big, a Spanish teacher, I think. He's a Spanish teacher, and he also covers the Arizona Cardinals. Does a great job of that. But he also, there was a great picture. I think Johnny Venerable took of him in the press box,

grading his papers, wait for that big game to start for the final game of the season. So shout out to our friends who are media, but also teachers you guys are doing some great work, and we appreciate you guys for doing it. Obviously, like I said, you follow us on Twitter, follow us on all this stuff. Go over to YouTube.

subscribe to us there, get notifications. That way you don't miss any of this content from our PHNX team because it's coming and our teams are getting good. This baseball season's happening. Hockey is hockey. Look, let's be honest about that. But the merch for the coyotes, again, they don't deserve the merch. The merch is killer.

The quality of Craig Morgan just as a human being plus PD plus Leah, they're really all great people and the merch. It more than compensates for the lack of. of, we'll just say competence on the... Yeah, it's success. We'll say competitiveness, whatever you want to say. Jesse's trying to be nice, but let's be honest. The team sucks, but they said they were going to suck before the season started.

So God bless them for, you know, sticking around. God bless all the Coyotes fans for supporting this team and showing them the love. It's tough. This home situation with them is kind of growing to be ridiculous. And I think the biggest thing here is it's starting to trend more and more like people want to see this team leave town. And I know our diehard fans and our coyotes community here in Arizona absolutely

doesn't want that. I don't want that. I absolutely love hockey. And I want to keep it here in the desert. So let's make sure to support this team through this tough time. And again, Diamondbacks too. When the season starts, we need to show up for these guys as well. But most importantly,

most importantly, we need you guys to show up for us. And you did that. So thank you so much for being here checking out this episode on behalf of Jesse and myself. we appreciate you so much. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you can bet on it.