Transcript of Kansas City Dad Bods, Jason’s Nap Era and World Series Preview with CC Sabathia | Ep 106

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I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankopan. And in our podcast Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history. This season we're talking about the life of US President jfk. He steered the world through moments of terrifying geopolitical crisis. But was he quite the shining hero he seemed? A complex personal life and of course the source of countless conspiracy theor. There's so much to cover.

Right.

What are you most looking forward to talking about? I'm really looking forward to the Cuban missile crisis because it's just one of the most dramatic things that's ever happened in history. I don't know, there's something about Kennedy.

You know, as a growing up thinking.

Of him as an all American hero. The good looks. I want to scratch the surface and.

See what's really underneath.

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Wandry plus on Apple podcasts or the Wondry app. I'm just like in the moment listening to the song. All of a sudden I go on Twitter and I see this fucking picture like I'm not even sleeping. And I can prove it to you. You know I play jazz sometimes.

When you close your eyes, dude, Every jazz solo I ever player. Little sexy sex. Welcome back to New Heights. Ladies and gentlemen. A wonry show produced by Wave sports and entertainment.

Yeah baby.

And brought to you by Peloton. Find your push, find your power. Push Peloton. We're your host. I'm Travis Kelsey. This is my big brother Jason Kelsey out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Hence New Heights. And shout out to the old Bearcats back on the blending train a couple weeks in a row. Man, we are a rolling right now. It's fun watching the cats. But back to new Heights. Subscribe on YouTube One G Plus or wherever you get your podcast. Follow the show on all social media at New Heights show that is with one S. Jason, why don't you tell the people about this amazing episode?

Oh, we got an incredible episode lined up here. We're going to talk about the Chiefs staying undefeated in the super bowl rematch against San Fran Saquon's big return to the Meadowlands. We're also going to get into time out of the house. That's right. In particular my time out of the house. We're also going to be joined by legend CC Sabathia.

How about that baby?

Former Cleveland Guardian.

To be honest, I kind of. I kind of like the guards. I like the Guardians.

I'm going to be very honest. I don't think Guardians is a good team name. I get that. It's the guardians of the two statues. The two statues on the bridge. I would rather have been the Cleveland statues. I think that's cooler than Cleveland. I do not like the Cleveland Guardians one bit. Just being honest.

I don't know about the statues, dude.

The Cleveland Pillars, the Cleveland Stones. Like I don't like it. Could have been so many other things I said. Guardians is a stupid name. I don't like the Guardians. I don't know why.

Carnegie Bridge.

Yeah, exactly. The Carnegie's. I mean, I don't know, I just.

We're not gonna get in on this, man. I'm with it. Man.

I don't like that one. I don't like Commanders.

Maybe it should have went back to.

The Spiders now that I just don't like new names. Yeah, what are other expansion names like?

Dude, I mean I'm still waiting on the Utah Hockey Club to get a name, man. Just be the Yetis, man. Come on, please.

Yetis would have been great.

Come on. Like Yetis would have the Utah Yetis.

That's just Utah Hockey Club. So weak. That is such a preppy name for a goddamn team.

No, it's the same thing. As the football.

Well, you have to go to the game. You have to go to the game and like a suit and tie, you gotta have your blazer on and it's high on. Otherwise you don't get into the club.

No, man, it's just terrible. It's gotta be just a placeholder. Until they find their, like, real name, they can't be called the hockey club. They.

Who knows? They'll probably do. Yeti's is way better than. Yeti's is a great name. What's another expansion team recently? Ooh, what's the. The Kraken. That's not bad.

The Kraken was sweet. Yeah. Pretty cool.

It's not bad.

I like that one.

The most recent football team is the. The Texans. Is that the most recent expansion? Like, brand new football team? I mean, other teams have moved location. Yeah, I like the name Texans. We've been through this in the last year. Like Texans. It's pretty good one. It's not very creative, but I like the Oilers better. Yeah. Guardians.

All right, well, let's. Let's get a little.

Okay, anyways, let's get to some. Let's get this show started with a little bit of that new, new news.

That's right. New news is brought to you by Timberland and Vans.

Nobody like my butt.

You do love your Butters, man. And I got my Vans on, but they look like sneakers, man. Let's start this thing off a little kicking challenge. The first bit of new news. Jason, our. Our episode with Pat McAfee. Last week you have officially been called out by our friends at Timberland and Vans and called out. Let's watch this clip.

Called out for what? How you doing? This is Steve Van Dorn from Vans. We got famous Daniel here.

We made some special shoes up right here.

Checkerboard football cleats.

Oh, my gosh.

I kicked in.

Let's see if you can kick him in your tins to match a 100k donation.

Okay.

I like how he ended that video.

He said he was famous. Dan. Do you know who that Dan was? He didn't. I don't know who that guy was.

Yeah, he's a big tick tocker.

Oh, okay. All right.

No, I'm kidding. I mean, he made it.

There's no chance I'm going to make this.

You don't. You can't make a field goal, Jason.

No, not in Tim's.

Why do you think you can't make a field goal in Tim's?

Because they're heavy as boots and my hip flexors don't work because I ripped them off the bone when I had sports hernia. Pat McAfee just talked about how he tore his hip flexor playing soccer last week. Do you know what it's going to be like with my big goofy ass trying to kick a ball? This age. I'm not messing with you.

This age. You were just in the NFL and I'm. And now I am out for like five years.

Yeah. Let me tell you, it drops quick. I get underneath that squat bar and I'm like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Still trying to squat 3:15.

Why the fuck are you under a squat bar?

I don't know. Just because I like hurting my back. I think I just love the feeling.

Of my knees cracking while I try.

I'm a messed up individual for some reason. I like it.

I'm a little up.

Connor Barwin one time punted a ball after practice and his knee was never the same. It bothered him for the rest of his career. Like.

Yeah, you got to understand, you can't be all quad right there.

You can't be all vmo.

Yeah, you got to be. Yeah, you got to be hip flexor. You got to be. Everything's got to work together when you're kicking. Because if you get high, breaks that thing if you're doing it wrong.

Listen, if it's for charity, I'll tear my hip flexor for charity. I don't need it anymore.

That's what I'm talking about.

That's what I'm talking about. That's a Cleveland ball player right there.

All right. I don't really know how this is going to be facilitated, whether I have to make it what the deal is with Timberland and Vans, but the challenge is accepted. Yeah. Famous Dan. Was it Famous Dan.

Stan was.

I think it was Dan. Brandon's gonna type. It was Famous Dan.

It was Dan. You're right. You gotta get my.

Thank you, intern Brandon. Well, I'm gonna have to go straight on. I can't soccer style in. Tim's right.

It's gotta be. No, it's gotta be.

Boo. It's gotta be like toe, right?

Square toe. That thing. You can get it in there.

Should I put like a little, you know the old square toe cleats they used to make specifically for kicking?

What are you talking about? You talking about the steel toes that you wore during the season last year? This dude was out there in steel toed cleats. Crazy.

I do. I do have a modified cleat but it was not the flat front the way they used to literally make, like a flat front.

You gotta put that cleat, like a frame with like a little. With a little flashcard that says, like, what. How it was made and, like, how many.

I'm gonna make a whole video with Dom the cobbler in South Philly. He was the one who used to hook me up.

Dom, they put tar on it.

I didn't even know there were cobblers. That's funny, I thought that was like an old. That was a. Like a profession that went extinct when they invented machinery. I didn't know there were still cobblers, but there are.

Well, stay tuned to all the New Heights social channels and tune in next week to see what we have in store and how you can participate in this. This fun charity fundraiser that involves Jason trying to make a field goal in Timberlands.

All righty. Huge announcement. We've officially started the Heights hotline. That's right. And we want to hear from you. We're trying to figure out ways to hear from our fans and everybody out there that listens to this show on a weekly basis. We obviously appreciate you guys so much. So we've decided to create a hotline number. That's right. The number is 929-399-7260. Hopefully somebody will put that number on the screen.

Why isn't this like 1-800-New Heights or something?

Yeah, what does that spell? Brandon said those are hard to get. This is.

This is hilarious.

Again, that's 929-399-7260. You can call in and ask us questions and we will replay the actual audio so there's a chance you make it on the show, which I think is pretty cool. Without us just reading it, we actually hear your voice. The topic for the first high top line, one that will be put in the episode is going to be relationships. That's right. Ask us any questions you have about relationships. Yeah, leave us a voicemail and ask to solve any issue or whatever questions you might have.

The next caller. This is the latest man. We're trying to be our own Leon Phelps. This is pretty. This is pretty good.

So, yeah, the only thing left to do is. Is record the outgoing message. So should we do that right now?

Yeah, yeah, let's go. We gotta get it.

What's the answering machine message? Hello, you've reached the New Heights hotline. Yeah, please leave us a message and we'll get back to you as soon.

As possible with some advice for your relationships. We are the ladies men, there's also.

A strong chance we don't get back to you, because there's probably gonna be way too many people to get back to. But rest assured, we sure do appreciate you calling.

All right, now, if you want to.

Check out the Heights hotline and see if we choose your voicemail, make sure to sign up for Wonder Plus. You'll also get early access to episodes without interruptions. And we're still giving you three months free of Wondery Plus. This Wonder plus offer is only available for a limited time. Visit wondery.com New Heights offer to redeem.

If it's free, give me three. Let's keep this thing moving. We're still in the onery plus realm with our film club. All right, now, speaking of our bonus content, last week we released our first New Heights Film Club episode. How about that? And got. We got some fun replies from a few familiar faces. Hey, we got a shout out from Bridget herself, Blake Lively. Shout out to Blake. And Blake saw our Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants clip and posted this response on Instagram.

I knew it. I knew those pants didn't have anything to do with it. I called it from the moment I saw it. These pants ain't important at all.

It's just the title. That's it. That's all it is. It didn't have anything to do with it.

But Blake, thank you so much for proving me right and for offering that bit of knowledge that the author actually didn't want the pants in it, but instead wanted to have some type of magical thing because of Harry Potter and so good. Yeah, it's great.

Yeah, I love it. And what a great response. And we needed that. We needed that clarification.

We did. We did. Blake was also not the only cast member we heard from. We also got a couple mentions from the one and only Tibby. That's right. Amber Tamblyn. I approve of this poster. And both of you, a bunch of pants, bunch of females, bunch of hearts. Xo, Tibby, shout out to Amber.

Appreciate you. You catching the the one Dre plus. Or at least hearing about it and giving your approval. We appreciate that. Any thoughts on the next film club movie? Should it be a Thanksgiving slash holiday theme since it'll come out in November?

I think we did a chick flick. Now we got to balance it out and do just the most masculine movie of all time.

All right, let's see. Let's. Let's take it to the 92 percenters on some masculine movies. Maybe some Terminators. Maybe some what?

What are Some of the opposite ends of the house. What movies do you guys think we can do? I also want to hear what the Swifties think are, like, the masculine movies. Like, what do you think.

Man?

This would be good.

Rambo. Freaking Die hard. Really? Any 80s or 90s action movie has got to be just like Commando. This would be good. This will be good. Bloodsport. Bloodsport is the manliest movie that should win. I fucking love Bloodsport. God, I love that movie.

I'm down to watch it.

We'll see what you guys say on that front. And once again, we also want to mention that new news is brought to you by our friends at Timberland and Vans.

I'm about to go get some fresh butters right now. Let's. Let's talk a little out of the House. Moving on to out of the House. It's out of the House is brought to you by the powerful backing of American Express. Jason got out of the house this week.

I did. I did.

How about it? This weekend, I should say in Miami, and we got to talk about it. You took a nap at the Arrows tour.

I did not take a nap.

What is that all about, Travis?

You know, I didn't take a nap. I did not take a nap. How are you?

This show is absolutely electric. It's the greatest show that's ever been on stage, and you're over here falling asleep.

Not only was it the greatest show, but obviously I went to the two London shows. This Miami show was incredible. I think part of it's like. I don't know if it's back. The fact that we're back in the US Because I think the London crowd was incredible, but the rain and everything, dude, it was like, on another level. I text you halfway through it, like, dude, this rain. Tay is killing it. She. Dude, when Reputation came on and she came out in the new outfit and the rain was coming down and the. The place could have erupted. I mean, it did, like, it was. The amount of energy was insane. It was so exciting. But back to this photo. I'm gonna give a little, I guess, background to this. So Kylie is holding Elliot. Right. Ellie was just with me. We were dancing, and I was sitting down. So I'm on the same level with her.

Yeah.

And I'm trying not to. We're out in the middle of the open right here, and we brought a bunch of people to the show because a bunch of people have been asking us, hey, why don't you go into Taylor Swift shows? And mom went for the first time, and we're trying to figure out. We go out there, and I realize I'm in, like, the middle of the open. Like, it isn't like a box. It's like a clothes. Like, I'm so. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna sit down and not be. I don't want. Like. I don't know. I feel like I'm standing. I'm holding Ellie. I feel like I'm a. Like, kind of in a fishbowl. Like, everybody's staring at me. So I just sit down. I'm dancing with Ellie. Ellie goes over to Kylie, and then I'm just, like, sitting here, and I'm just, like, feeling it, and I'm like, oh. And I'm tapping my thigh, and I'm just, like, in the moment, listening to the song, and then all of a sudden, I go on Twitter and I see this picture, and I'm like, dude, what the. Like, I'm not even sleeping. And I can prove it to you.

There is evidence in this photo that I'm not sleeping.

You call him Bo Allen a liar.

Bo didn't say I was sleeping. Bo did not say I was sleeping. He just posted the picture.

Oh, I thought he said. I thought you said you were sleeping.

No.

You were just filling the groove, huh?

Jets. Jake, zoom in on my right hand in post. Make sure that Travis sees this. My head is hovering. You can't sleep with your hand hovering above your knee.

Yeah, it is possible. Nice.

I'm not. Major pain. How am I gonna. I can't sleep with my eyes open, much less with my hand hovering from any.

That's because I slap my leg.

I was going like this. I'm going like this, too.

To be. To be.

And, you know, I play jazz sometimes.

When you close your eyes, dude, I'm every jazz solo I ever saw. You play sexy sex.

Like, I'm seriously. I'm like, sit. So I'm kind of half joking, but this is, like, one of my favorite parts about the show because the mist of the rain had just, like, started to get into my face.

Uhhuh.

Elliot was with mom. So I'm like, okay. And I'm just sitting here, like. And I'm tapping my leg, and I'm just in the moment. I invite Bo Allen and his mom. It's. It's her birthday.

Nice, mama Allen sister.

Nice, Grace. And then all of a sudden, friendly fire. Like, I'm nervous about all these other people getting pictures with me and Ellie, and I'm trying to have a moment, and then all of a sudden, I see this betrayed by one of my best friends.

That's how it happens. That's not betrayal. That's just. That's just a good friend.

That's just called being.

It's called being a best friend. Well, I had all the FOMO in the world with the entire family and a lot of our friends being there. I had a bunch of friends that were also down by the stage that had been to a few shows overseas and they were saying the same thing that you're saying. The Miami Stadium was just on another level.

It was incredible. It was.

Man, I wish I was there. I wish I was there. Also. There was. There was a little bit of confusion among the. The Swifties. They apparently confused Kylie with Bo Allen. And. Yeah, that is not. Those aren't two people that I think.

Ever get those two mixed up.

I'm sure Bo is flattered.

I don't know who's more disrespect than Kylie or Bo. Bo, that everyone thought a former nose guard in the NFL is now a female or Kylie, that everybody thought you were a hairy nose guard with your arms exposed.

We would like to recreate this comment section with a little dramatic reading.

Travis will play the miscellaneous Brewer and Jason will play Shells Ray. Okay, let's go. Let's see what our voice acting skills look like. Sound like.

Oh, God. Miscellaneous Brewer. He's a brewer, so he's a drunk.

Kylie is so beautiful down to earth.

Look at those ripped field hockey arms.

I mean, she just.

The glue, the neck, the foundation. Kylie is giving us Midwestern mom's life.

There's a great midbuster mom voice. All right, Shell's. Ray responds. Where do you see her arms? Lol. Kylie is sitting in front of Donna. Someone else is holding Wyatt.

Isn't that her dancing around Jason in that cowboy hat?

It looks.

And look at those guns.

No, that's a man. That's Bo Allen. Kylie is sitting in front of Donna holding Elliot.

Sorry, I put my glasses on. And clearly that's not Kylie. Okay. But whoever that woman is. Good on those muscles.

Sorry, I'm blind. Whoever that woman is. Yeah. And finally, we also heard from the mystery woman in question herself, Bo Bbl Allen. And he said she wishes she had this ass.

Jesus.

Which I'm not gonna lie.

Who doesn't?

I do not. I'm very happy. She does not. As bootylicious as Bo Allen's behind is. I'm starting to throw up in my mouth thinking about Kylie having Bo Ellen's.

All right, well, let's keep it moving then. Overall, did the family have a good time at the show?

Everyone had a good time.

Who did? He doesn't have a good time.

And everyone. Not only did everybody have a good time, but everybody was. Has been texting over the last couple days since then. Like, dude, she's just incredible. And the show's incredible. Miami was another level of it. I'm excited for her to be back out on tour for this, like, final leg of the era's run here.

Yep.

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It was an incredible trip. So keep killing it, Tay.

Keep killing it.

Yeah. Shout out to everyone that went to the ERAS tour down in Miami special. Shout out to my friends that came along, obviously, maybe King Swifty. Now Bo Allen, who knows way too many Swifty references, his sister Grace, and of course the birthday woman herself, Susie Allen, as well as Donna Kelsey's first show, Elliot Kelsey's first show, Wyatt Kelsey's first show was a. It was an awesome time down there, man. It was great.

Yeah.

And shout out to Tay Tay for powering through a few rain shows there, dude. Yeah. And that does it for out of the House, brought to you by the powerful backing of American Express.

All right, let's get into some Week 7 recaps, starting with the Chiefs. Chiefs 28, 49ers, 18 in the super bowl rematch. Yeah. What are your thoughts, Trev?

I mean, it's. It's tough to call it a Super bowl rematch. I mean, it's. There were different guys out there. Yeah, different guys out there, obviously. Same organization, same head coach. A lot of the. A lot of the same big time players, but. Or big name players, familiar faces. But at the end of the day, we had a lot of guys step up on our team. At least that. That didn't play in the Super Bowl. And then on top of that, you know, it was just. It was a tough game, man. It was a. It was a. It was a get dirty type game. I mean, we ran the ball a lot. Kareem Hunt was. Was getting downhill and finding. Finding extra yards after contact. Same with my guy, Carson Steele Dundee hitting the hole like a maniac, man. And it was just. It started off a little slow for us, but I think we ended up, you know, catching some wind, feeling some confidence there and, and really just playing together, man. Just being accountable when the. When your number's called and we found ways to put up some touchdowns, man, and that was the biggest thing going into there.

Going into that game as an offense was, man, when we get in the red zone, man, enough of these field goals. Even though we love Harry, love Harrison Bunker, and he's. He's going to make some big field goals for us again this year. Let's put up some touchdowns, man. We. We work. We work our tail off to get in that red zone, and then all of a sudden, you know, we settle for three, and it's just, you know, let's reward ourselves by getting that ball in the end zone. And that's what we did, man.

And nobody is better getting it in the end zone after the bye week than Andy Reid. All right, now, at 22 and 4, he has the highest winning percentage after the buy in NFL history. Yeah. What does Andy do differently other than other coaches during the buy? I don't know. He probably. I'm not sure.

That's his secret sauce, man. He's got the formula, man. He. He has a. He has a unique way to. To find routines that challenge everybody in the building to be accountable, if that makes sense. Like, he has. He has a way to challenge the offensive line. He has a way to challenge the receivers, you know, knowing that. That a lot of guys are banged up. He has a way to challeng challenge Pat Mahomes and. And on top of that, he has a way to challenge the coaches to be able to put us in successful positions. And I think, you know, you give him that extra week of preparation and to think about it and to like, really, really put a game plan together, Coach Reed does it better than anybody, in my opinion. I just. And, and I think that record proves it.

Yeah, I think a lot of it, like you just said, is you give. Andy's a great coach, and when you give any great coach more time to prepare, they're gonna be that much more dangerous. And you guys came out right from the gate and it felt like the offense was humming. I know there's some interceptions and some turnovers, but yeah, tip pass, it was going. And then on top of that, I mean, we got to talk about spags. I know.

Oh, man. Come on now, baby.

Yeah, baby.

We trust.

Brock had a rough day out there trying to throw the ball. Now he was missing some horses. You know, they've had the injury bug just like you guys have and you hate to see. Are you going down? That was terrible. I hate watching it.

It sucks, man. And guys are.

It's.

It's really unfortunate, man. This year it just seems like injuries are, Are happening to a lot of teams and it's like big name guys on the. On on the team are getting hit with them. And yeah, you just hate to see it, man. Especially when it's. When it. When they're good dudes, man. Yeah, yeah. So that never makes it easy, but at the same time, man, that's football, brother. You got to find a way to. The next man up has got to. He's got to be ready. And, and that's just, you know, unfortunately, the game we played and the game.

We love, man, the De Deebo Samuel has pneumonia.

That sucks, man.

How rare is that?

I don't know that I've especially like right now.

I feel like.

Yeah, hopefully Debo gets good, gets healthy quick, man. We never like to hear that for sure.

Defense is dominant. They finished with three interceptions, one sack, five tackles for loss and six quarterback hits. Insane stat. The defense hasn't allowed a 300 yard passer since the super bowl against the Eagles. Shout out to Jalen Hertz. Rookie safety Jaden Hicks came up with one of the biggest plays of the game when he picked off Brock Purdy in the fourth quarter. It was Hicks's first career interception. How about that?

Jay Hicks, baby. Right on time, man. Especially big time. Big time on, on the goal line too, man. You see one of those things, man, that's one of those. You jump off the. Off the bench, like stole one, baby.

Yeah, baby. You already talked about Kareem Hunt, Nicole Harmon, but obviously both of those guys coming in and having big games. We talked about the Niners having injuries. Obviously you guys have been thrust with a bunch of them as well, and you guys are having guys step up. Kareem hunt ends with two touchdowns on 78 yards rushing. Reem McColl had a couple cool design plays as well as a. Was that reverse or on a round?

A few jet sweeps. Had a big punt return. McColl is just. He's always there, man. He's always ready. And for whatever reason, man, he's just got the 49ers number. Last time we were in, in San Fran or San Francisco, I should say, he had a big game. I think he had something like two or three touchdowns. Big, big time in the return game. On top of that, he had a lot of jet sweeps as well, man. I don't know if. If they, they realized he was. He's one of the jet sweep kings out here, man. This is what he does. You just get the ball in his hands, running fast and good things are going to happen.

Something that Andy does so well as well as the. The coach for the Buccaneers and Baker and what they're doing down in Tampa, they Get guy. They get the ball to really athletic guys in space. Like, they'll take the shots down the field when they need to. But they do such a good job of, hey, let's just get it to a really fast guy in a lot of open area, like. And it seems so simple.

But like, no, they. They're create. He's creative with doing that, you know what I mean? Because, I mean, all that stuff can. It can get shut down if you get. If you. If you're showing any tells or correct, the defense can scheme you up with that kind of stuff, but at the same time, man. Yeah, get the ball in McCol Hardman's hand. I mean, yeah, let him go ahead and rock. Hand that thing off to green. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

If you give a fast guy space to be fast, man, we have one end around.

It felt like Worthy was going to just absolutely take it to the house and for whatever reason, it just like 49ers players just popped out of the sky and just like surrounded him. I was like, man, I could have swore that he was going to take that to the house.

Had to bubble just like a little bit. And I feel like guys got out in front maybe a little bit too much.

Yeah, you'd already know. You never know on. On some of those jet sweeps and ends around, end arounds how. How that thing's timing up because you're so focused on the defense and trying to get your guy that you just never know where the guy with the ball is.

The other guy that continues to play well, even though everybody likes to highlight his touchdown to interception ratio is Pat Mahomes or Pat Truck Holmes, as he might be referred to now.

Pat Truck Moms I like to call Pat Vic.

Pat Vic.

Yeah, Using those legs, baby.

First, he had the longest run of his career. 33 yard scamper along the sideline at the end of the third quarter, which, if we're being honest, like, he kind of used his quarterbackness to his advantage.

Man, get out of here. You watch it again. That Kareem pushes the guy out of bounds.

All right, all right.

Watch it again. The guy Kareem is literally over there in the flat. All right? Gets away From Kareem, sees 53, pushes him. He loses balance.

Okay.

And then gets in the way of 90. I'm not trying to hear this, man.

Touche. I'm sorry. I didn't see the push.

I hear. I hear. I hear what everybody's saying. Some quarterbacks definitely take advantage of that. I think Pat has been pretty solid with if he's getting out of bounds, he's doing it because he can't do. He can't get any more yards with his legs. He's not going to try and trick a guy of going out of bounds and then do it. It's like the old fake slide. I don't. I don't. I just don't see Pat doing it.

Yeah, well, I think you're right. He definitely was pushed.

He never. He never looked like he was running out of bounds. He was running towards the sideline.

The other guy slowed down, but that was more because they thought that he was going to get forced out. I think you're right. I think it's a good. It's a good point out, Trav. I missed that.

I hear what everybody's saying, though. I get it. Sometimes quarterbacks are protected on that sideline, and it can get guys to play a little bit more cautious and not just absolutely try and take his head off. Like.

Like the good old days of football. Right now, after the game, Pat said he didn't realize that that was his longest run either, did I. I need to get my yards up because 33 is not that long.

Yeah.

If for a guy that scrambles as much as Pat, you would think that he would have a longer one. Right?

I mean, I've. I've seen him. I've seen him take off on some guys now. I don't really. I didn't realize that 33 was his longest either. I know there was the one in the playoffs in 2019 against the Titans. Right before half that. He. He actually cut back and got in the end zone on that one. Like, rumbled and bumbled and stumbled his way into the end zone, almost fumbled it, but he held on to it. I thought that one was longer, But I guess 33. I mean, that. Numbers don't lie. History don't. History don't lie, man.

We got Pat McAfee, our friend of the show, obviously, with the. Our latest guest, before this episode, had this tweet. Pat Mahomes rolling little forest gump chip. Yeah. Is that a fair. I don't think Pat really runs like four.

He doesn't have any knee drive. Are you kidding? That's all robotic force has got that real high knee drive. Pat runs like he doesn't have it. Yeah.

Loosey goosey.

He is. He is. I'll say. I'll say this. There's a. There's a meme or there's like a gif online right now of an ostrich running away. From a dog. And he's like just like weaving in and out. I'm just like that. I mean, that's Pat Mahomes, a little top heavy with the skinny legs. And he's out there just kind of like leaning and. And I mean, he's scampering though. He's out of there. The ostrich can roll now, dog.

This is so accurate.

He'd be out there sliding.

Deceptive ass Outris. That looks just like it. That's so good, dude. You remember because I thought of Kyler Murray was doing it yesterday too, and the hips were going all over the place. It kind of reminds me of. You remember that Dak Prescott warm up that he did the one year. And it's like hipster. He's like.

He's shooting the A's.

Yeah.

Where the hips don't move. Similar to like the rest of his body. Whenever I think of Pat running, I always think of the hips. Those are immediately where I go. Chiefs linebacker Drew Trank rule on Patrick Mahomes running style. Maybe people underestimate what's under that dad bod.

Shout out to Pat.

Pat, Vic.

Then on that same drive, 4th and 1, Pat runs it into the end zone and trucks Mustafa, who? I think, if we're being honest, I think he was laying the wood multiple.

Times in the game all game. He was, Yes.

I think he was going for the ball. It looked like he was trying to reach and get the ball out of Pat's right hand and just was not ready for the guys.

I don't think he was ready for. And I mean, yeah. Hey, he's got to be a ball player. I'll tell you what. He rookie in the league, guys got a lot of upside flies around. I mean, I wasn't ready for him a few times. He's definitely. He came downhill and got a few of our running backs. So the guy's definitely got a lot of. A lot of promise to be a great player for the Niners. Not. Not that he isn't already, but this was kind of his welcome to the NFL moment and he even said it was online. So he's a good sport about it. And that's how you know you're confident that you're a good player, man. You can. You can understand that. All right, listen, man, there's other good players out here. Sometimes you just get got.

Sometimes you get. Like we've talked about, everybody gets got. The Chiefs with that touchdown, went up 21 to 12 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Pat on the play Said he wasn't even trying to lower his shoulder. He's really trying to absorb the hit because he knew it was coming. That dad bod, man. I had enough weight on me where he. He just went down. A lot of NFL fans ran with this comparing the bod of Mustafa and Patrick Mahomes. Dude, this is such a bad picture of Pat that they'll never just let him live down. It's just always going to be my dog.

Hadn't seen son in like three months, man.

And then as you already alluded to, Malik Mustafa on online was a good sport about it. I ain't going to lie. I'm getting cooked.

Oh, yeah.

Also had this special formation unleashed. Wonder how much more we're going to see this this year with Carson Wentz out on the field.

How about that, Carson, baby?

So you guys go tackle over.

Yep.

So the center is actually. Wentz is behind the center and Joe Tuney is snapping him the ball.

Yeah.

Mahomes is behind Creed, but Creed doesn't have the ball. You're in the backfield. Hunt is. I don't even know what position that is. He's like.

It's like a wing.

A wing. But his hands on the ground. I don't even know. I mean, this is why it's so fun. Who the hell knows what's about to happen in this formation?

Well, Fred Warner knew. Unfortunately, he. He stuffed it. I mean, we got some yards, don't get me wrong, but we thought that was going to be a guaranteed touchdown because it was just. I mean, it was. It's tough to. Those one off plays when you practice them so long. This thing's been in the playbook for, I mean, a long, long time, man. And we, we had practiced, you know, getting that thing perfect, making the exchange smooth and getting the right guys out there. And sure enough is a fun way to get our guy, Carson Wentz in the game, baby.

I will say running at the tight end and tackle over normally, at least I feel like when we try to do it, you go tackle over in short yardage and like goal line situations because it's heavy man coverage. And when you have the tackle over more, the man coverage guys have to go and push towards that side of the formation so it leads to, like.

Running away from it.

Yeah, yeah. But what do I know?

Kareem almost, you know, strong armed his way through some tackles there, but we ended up finding a way to get that thing in the end zone.

Yeah.

And that's all that matters, baby.

Everyone's banged up from both super bowl teams, it's. The Niners are out. I mean, Debo, Iuk, McCaffrey.

Yeah, I don't even want to list.

All the guys because I think it's more than that. You guys are down, people. Is the super bowl hangover a real thing? I mean, you guys have won back to back Super Bowls and you guys are six zero right now, so I don't.

Yes and no. I mean, that's, it's. There's definitely something about, you know, the feeling you have after a Super Bowl. You know, you want to, you want to. First of all, you want to. You want to get that opportunity back. Like, it, like it burns your soul that you want to get that opportunity back. And then on top of that, man, you just have to have the fortune of being successful or, I mean, being. Have the fortune of being healthy and having your best players out there at the right times and the. In big moments. And you got to find a way to win ball games. And, you know, that's not easy, especially when you have success, because you can get caught up in, you know, kind of some of the stuff you've done last year. You know, the really good coaches find ways to keep it fresh, to keep it new, keep putting their players in successful positions. And we've been lucky that we've had two of the best coordinators to ever do it, in my opinion, and Coach Reed and, and Spags or. And obviously I'm, I'm saying this as the entire coaching staff is chiming in on these game plans, and it's a lot of.

It's a lot of hard work that you got to be able to go back and dig deep and fight through a lot of stuff that got you to that Super Bowl. And sometimes it's. You just got to be fortunate and it's at the same time, you just got to be ready for anything to happen, man.

LeBron stat of the game. Nicole Hardman is the first player since 2020, Naim Hines, to record 15 plus rushing yards, 15 plus receiving yards, and a 50 plus punt return yards in a single game. That is definitely a LeBron stat.

Yeah, I mean, it's a shout out to. Shout out to Cole for getting in on the stats, man. LeBron stats.

That is next week, the Chiefs are away versus the Raiders. The Raiders. The last time the Chiefs played the Raiders, as every Raiders fan in Tahoe let us know, the Chiefs lost on Christmas Day.

It was like definitely they were fired up to play a division rivalry that was. That had got the better of them over the course of the past couple years, but they were ready to play, and they came out and they smacked us, man. We weren't ready for it. And we got to definitely make sure that we don't get complacent this week. And we come ready to play because that team, that's a fiery team, and they play their tails off every single day.

Chiefs are 5 and 0 at Allegiance Stadium since it opened in 2020. Raiders just signed former Bearcat.

Yeah, it is. I got DEZ Ritter in there, man.

What? Who is the start? Is. Is Minshew. Minshew's been in and out.

I think Minshew's in. I think O'Connell just got banged up, so they had to bring somebody.

All right.

All right, now, 92 percenters, we're excited to be back for another week with our friends over at Metaquest. And we've been having fun exploring all the different experiences available on the Quest.

As fans of our film club know, we love watching movies. And one of the best features about Meta Quest is being able to put a huge movie theater screen right before your eyes in any room you're in. Brandon, can you look at the show? These fine patrons of new heights what the Meta Quest headset looks like. Look at how fancy it is.

I'm not gonna lie. That thing, it does look like it's from the future.

Yeah, they did do a good job designing.

But today we're going to talk a little more about one of my favorite games, Golf Plus. That's right.

And because Golf plus is the official VR golf game with the PGA Tour, they're going to get tons of the most famous courses available to play in really amazing detail.

How about that? Speaking of famous courses, we've got a video here of Jason playing the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. Let's break it down. Oh, nice. Jason, I've never. I don't think I've ever seen you hit the fairway before. Oh, wow. You hit it twice. A nice solid chip onto the front of the green. Are you kidding me? Oh, man. Who knew you could be so good with only half a body?

If you want to give any of these courses a try, head to meta.com to check out our Golf plus and see all the unreal experiences on Meta Quest.

Again, that's meta.comquest.

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You know it. Eagles 28, Giants 3 and Saquon's return to the Meadowlands. And boy, was it a return. I'm not even going to say it. I don't think it was. It was a revenge game. But I think Saquon definitely appreciated how hard everybody was blocking for him on this show because he had 187 total yards in the touchdown. We can watch these highlights all day. I mean, he was absolutely rolling and just dragging guys.

Yes, he was.

He had one. 176 of that. 187 on the. On the ground. The suck the. The second most against a former team in NFL history. The first was Cedric Benson with the Bengals when He played the Bears. 189 on the ground. So. God, there you go. Saquon was asked about the emotions surrounding this game in his post game interview. To be honest, I'm so happy this game is over. I don't think I should get besides the day any more questions about the Giants. But like I always said, I'm thankful for that organization. They're the team that drafted me. I still got nothing but love and respect for all the guys over there, but I'm happy to be an Eagle and that's about as classy as you can get as a player. And that's what you love to see.

Yeah, man.

He was also asked about seeing the fans burning his jersey. He replied, I don't think I ever experienced anything like that in my life. In that moment, I was ready for third and one. Let's just say that. Yeah, well, it might have been a little revenge game, especially if they're out there burning jerseys. Is this even fair to call it a revenge game for Saigon?

I don't know. Revenge game? I don't think it's a revenge game. I mean, it's just he's playing his former team. It's not like, I mean, there's obviously bad blood there in, in some ways. But Saquon, that was very adamant that he still has a love and respect for everybody in that organization. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. Like, obviously, you know, the Giants weren't willing to spend the amount necessary to keep them and that's the way the business works. And Saquon ended up signing with the Eagles. And, you know, I think it probably felt good to go out there and play really well against a team that, you know, you at one point probably envisioned playing your whole career for. And obviously with, you know, the fans. Listen, whenever fans are getting into the action, it energizes guys. And for sure, I think he was excited to get out there and play really well.

Should we encourage fans to boo owners and managers more?

I think fans should do whatever they want. Yeah, you know, I think if it feels right to boo owners and managers, boom. I don't really know the setting. I guess you could do that at games, but I don't know how that would come across. Yeah, yeah, we're booing the. But you know, I had a tweet that obviously I said I didn't really understand why, hey, Saquon is getting all this hate Hayquan. Nice one.

Love a good word play, man.

Listen, I get why the fans booed him. I get, you know, he's playing for a rival. I get all that. And that New York fans are upset that he playing for the Eagles. 100%. Get that the, the act like he's the bad guy in this situation or that it's his fault that this didn't work out. I think it's bogus. And I think, you know, at the end of the day, the business side of it didn't align with the Giants in the. In. In Saquon. And the Giants had an opportunity to make it align and they felt like they didn't want to. So I don't know how Saquon is a bad guy here for going out and getting what he's deserved.

I'm with you, man.

And to have a star player that is a hard worker, a great guy in the locker room, unbelievable player athletically, mentally. I just like, I don't know what else you want. I just don't know what else you want. Like what are you trying to keep.

Around you Love to see those guys.

I get it during a rebuilding year. Either way, I really, I listen, I was a part of the decision in Cleveland when people were booing, were burning LeBron's jerseys. That's a much different situation that happened here.

Never. Yeah, I still got my draft.

Kept his.

I didn't get a Heat jersey, but I got some of those Heat kicks. I got a few kicks that he wore down there.

And I just feel like, you know, I don't think this is the same situation.

Well, shout out to Saquon for having a big day. He helped out the Eagles and against his old team. And shout out to the Eagles defense, maybe the best performance of the year so far this season. Eight sacks. God damn. That's a rough day for a quarterback. They also let up zero offensive touchdowns for the second week. Defense caught a stride, baby. Held the Giants to 119 total yards. Big off season edition. DN Bryce Huff recorded 1.5 sacks over the last two games since switching to a four point stance. How about that? Yeah, the old four pointer, both hands in the ground, man.

He's, he's clearly stated he prefers rushing out of a four point stance and that's probably making a big difference. Let's be honest though. The reason there are more sacks and the reason Bryce played better is because they're getting teams into known passing situations. They're getting them into third and long, they're getting leads on offense and they're getting the opportunity to rush the passer. Like, I think the defense of what they've done the last two weeks has been impressive. It's also been against two, like really bad offenses. And like, listen, man, you got a kid, anybody. When you keep teams, this is what you're supposed to do. When you play bad offenses, you're supposed to do this. You're supposed to get eight seconds. So this is a great sign. But like in order for this to continue, four point stance, two point stance, who gives a shit? Get into third and long and you're going to get sacks.

Nice.

That's what it comes down to. All right. And I think that Bryce Huff is playing better. The whole D line is playing better. The Giants offensive line, I mean, they're out their best player, Thomas didn't start the game. So yeah, they were feasting and that's a good sign. But I think the big thing is we got to continue to do a great job on first and second down. And Vic Fangio has said this much, and we used to say it a couple years ago, you have to earn the right to rush the passer. Most of the sacks in this league are not coming on first and second down. You'll get one occasionally off a naked or like two minute situation or something like that. But the vast majority of sacks are coming in second and long, third and long, staying ahead of the chains as a defense and having the lead as an offense. And if they keep doing that, these numbers are going to keep being pretty good.

Yeah.

All right, now, well, let's talk about some numbers that do matter and that's your fourth down success on offense. We talked about Sirianni and his fourth down call is not working. But that is not the case this past weekend.

No, not at all. Especially the 4th and 3 to AJ Brown.

How about it, baby? Up top. Eagles went for it on fourth and three from the 41 in the second quarter. And Jalen connected with. You said it.

A.J.

Brown for 41 yards down the field. Absolutely epic, man.

I mean, they're not expecting it. If you're trying to do something unexpected, throw a go ball on for everybody.

You want to come up on the line. We still got that, we still got that dog out there. We like him one on one. I don't know if you know that. He's. He's one of the guys we like to go to in that type of situation.

Not a bad. Not a bad guy to go to in any situation.

There you go. He's out there with the pink shoes again. Gotta love the pink cleats. And then with eight minutes and 33 left on the. In the third quarter, the birds go for it on fourth and two on the five yard line. Jalen scrambles for four yards to get the first. And then of course, Jalen finishes it off with a little tush push. Two plays later, tush push it in just like that. The narrative, the flips. Now all of a sudden, we like going forward on fourth down, you know, I mean, shit's good. Shit's rocking, baby. I mean, I hope about it Birds fans, let's go.

I hope people remember this because I feel like a lot of the times they're selective. People remember when you go for it on 4th and you don't get it more than when you go for it on fourth down and you do get it for whatever reason that like is entrenched in your head when you don't get points versus, you know, two fourth down decisions that led to touchdowns, right? In a game that ultimately without both of those decisions is much closer than the final score ended up being. Hey, there were the right calls. I don't know. It's one of those things. You go for it and you get it. It's the right call. You go for it and don't get it. You're an idiot.

You should do that.

Dude, what are you thinking? How could you make that? Great job, coach.

LeBron. State of the game. Saquon Barkley has the most rushing yards in Eagles history. Hey, through his first six games of.

The season, that's a pretty good one.

That's pretty good. He's in. He's in good company. I mean, Shady, he was working cats for a long, long time in Philly. Shady was definitely shout out to Saquad. Next week, the Eagles head to Cincinnati to play the Bengals. Back in the Natty, baby. You gonna head back to Cincy, watch the Birds? Man, I would love to get a little Adriatico's pizza.

I don't think I have time. I think for some reason I'm gonna.

Be in Pittsburgh, get a little Skyline chili. That's not a fart.

I mean, I Was just back in Cincinnati this past week for homecoming. I didn't stay for the game, but I was there for the weekend.

Get a little Sigma Sigma and get a little drink out of your mug or what?

No, no mug.

Both teams are coming off beating the Giants and the Browns in back to back weeks. That kind of seems weird, that schedule. The schedules.

Yeah, that is weird.

Aligned like that.

Yeah. Cincinnati, man, there, it's. I guess they're playing better. It's weird. Their offense looked really good against better teams in the last two weeks. They've kind of struggled a little bit offensively compared to what they were doing against like Washington and some of these other teams. But hey, they got Joe Burrow, they got some horses out there at wide out. I think they're going to be pretty good.

Come on now. Have their hands full for sure, man.

Yeah. Before we get to our interview, we're going to get to some of the other games across the league from Week 7. Lions take down the undefeated Vikings in an awesome game. I mean, just.

I didn't get to watch all of it.

Yeah, yeah, it was. Did not disappoint. The Lions have now scored more touchdowns than Jared Goff has had incompletion. That's.

Jesus.

Golf is killing it. Ben Johnson's killing it. Jir Gibbs was playing out of his mind.

What?

Yeah, and they needed to because Montgomery was. I mean, he got hurt early and was playing a little bit limbered. It looked like.

Damn.

Gibbs showed up. The timing of the offense, the creativity is just so impressive to watch right now.

They're in rhythm, baby.

And the Vikings, I mean, this was the clash of the Titans right now in the nfc. Both of these teams have been probably the two best ones.

We were talking about it the other day.

Yeah.

Best division of football right now. If you look at the numbers and you look at the records, Right?

That's right. So did not disappoint. Vikings almost got it late with that fumble recovery for touchdown.

I thought they had it, man. I thought they had it. It. When I was watching the replay of how the game ended, it's just like, oh, that's. They're gonna leave that one. Like, man, we should have won it.

We. We should have had it. Vikings go up and then on. But to golf's credit lines, they did not blink. Not a second.

Not a second. Denver 33, New Orleans 10. I'm not gonna lie. I thought New Orleans. New Orleans is banged up. Obviously didn't have car back there. A little Sean Payton revenge game going back to his Old stomping grounds where he won a Super Bowl. September feels like a long time ago for the Saints fans for a team.

That started off started pretty much hotter than anybody, putting up 50 burgers and blowing teams out. But like you said, they've had the injury bug bad. They've had a bunch of guys especially up front. And as you know, once the O line has been decimated, especially that offense, they run the. It's so much predicate on like run and play action and the outside zones working in that Kubiak system. Man, it's tough. It's going to be tough. It's going to be very tough.

Jacksonville 32, New England England 16 Nice. We almost did the same time.

We almost in sync gave us a little coaching drama after the game. Pat's head coach drawd Mayo called his team soft in quotes. We're a soft football team across the board. We talk about what makes a tough football team and that's being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run and that's being able to cover kicks. We did none of these. I mean, very few times do I think the head coach calling a team soft is like the right message to be sending. Even if it's like I'm all about being honest and keeping people accountable. That defense is different. They've got. They've had some injuries, they've had guys leave. They obviously that defense, even last year with Bill, they were. We played in week one, they were really good. But they also had. Judah was still there. They had a bunch of guys healthy like now they've had some. The defense has changed a little bit. They've had guys in and out and I got a ton of respect for Drive Mayo. I mean ton of respect as a player, as a person. I've heard nothing but great stuff. I'm just talking about intern in general terms and he could be right.

I mean maybe they are soft. I don't fucking know. I haven't watched as much tape as Gerard Mayo has, that's for damn sure. I just know most of the time when I hear coaches saying stuff like that, it's meaningless garbage.

I hear you, brother. It's tough following a guy like Bill Belichick Shoes thousand percent.

Maybe I'm being too up in arms about it.

Yeah, maybe you're fucking spot on. Seattle 34, Atlanta 14. Seattle got some defensive players back. Geno smith leads the NFL in passing and ranked sixth incompletion percentage. Yeah, how about that? On pace for 4,821 yards at a 68% rate. All right now. Yeah. Buffalo 34, Tennessee 10. Yeah, I think everybody saw this one coming. Josh Allen 21 for 33 for 323 yards and two touchdowns. Josh looking like Josh. And Mari Cooper, who had 4 for 66, got his first touchdown as a bill.

Here we go.

Looks like the Bills are back on track. Cincinnati 21, Cleveland 14. Nick Chubb scored his first touchdown back.

Shout out to Chubbs.

Getting back out there, baby. Over 398 days after his leg injury and versus the Steelers, Chubb is back out there playing, running the rock for the Browns.

Green Bay 24, Houston 22. In a game that came down to the wire, but really, Green Bay without the turnovers kind of was dominated most of this game. First victory over a team with a winning record for the packers and Houston has proven to be tough. Similar to kc they continue to just, like, find ways to win. Like, all their games have pretty much been close, but CJ Stroud and company are just so good at the end of games. Packers might have the hottest vibes in the NFL right now. Let's look at this tweet. Piss hot. Well, their social media teams doing their job. How important is hot piss to success in the NFL? I don't even know how to answer this. Am I the only one that kind of hates social media teams for NFL teams? Like, they've turned into like, these meme things and like, that's all they do with play. I like they got the cameras all around and I listen. I. I'm on a podcast. I'm on every commercial that there is. I get it. I'm part of the issue as well. I hate the social media teams for teams now.

I just. I just cannot stand them. I don't know why. It's like, will you guys just get the out of my face on this worry about football? And then they're like talking to people. They're like talking to players. Like, we. What the. When did social media these.

This bullets and board material.

Yeah.

Don't be creating this bulletin board material.

Hot piss.

Yeah. Well, Matt Laflore on Packers players preparing for their first noon game of the year. He said they got to wake up with their piss hot. So that's where the. The social media team.

This one's good. They did it off of the coach.

They cap.

Good job, Green bay. Good job.

Indiana 16, Miami 10. Not related to the game, but Dolphins are saying we could see TUA next Sunday against the Cardinals. How about it, man?

We were talking about this on the Monday Night Countdown. Ryan Clark, like every single neurologist that they talked to did not say like that he should stop playing football. And they all don't know to what extent continuing to play football or continuing to get concussions is doing to like long term affect him. Whether anybody else wants to like talk about it, I guess I will right now. Like this has been the like big shadow in the distance of the NFL for the last decade, ever since that concussion movie came out. Like the reality is nobody knows. It is scary to watch a guy go out and have the amount of concussions and the type of concussions that TUA has had and think that like he's not doing something long term here. But the neurologists clearly don't know that he is.

And this is no signs telling him that.

Yeah, this is one of the things that I think the NFL really needs to do. Like I know we're doing the Guardian caps, they're doing a great job of instituting rules and procedures in place that limit helmet to helmet contact and protocols that allow for safer return to play. I really think that there should be more research done into the longevity and effects that concussions have and ways to mitigate the potential symptoms because like, I don't know, it just feels like something that the NFL can be pioneering, especially with the amount of money that it makes and the amount of resources and attention that it gets that it can be a part of potentially developing treatments, protocols, lifestyle factors that can mitigate the potential long term ramifications of some of these things that I think is in the background of a lot of NFL players minds.

Yeah, well, you just said a lot of big words and my brain is turning and I just want to tell 2 Man, we're all, we're all supporting you, brother. Go out there and just play healthy, man. Play this game you love, man, and wish you the best of luck, brother. Washington 40 Carolina 7.

The Red Rifle renaissance was short lived unfortunately in Carolina or has been short lived. Got out to a fiery start, but obviously Panthers are still not a very good football team, unfortunately. Washington 40 Carolina 7. The Panthers decline to even put Bryce Young in. When they're down 37, nothing. Should they even go back to Bryce Young? I don't know if I'm Bryce Young. I don't know. Do you want to go back in, in this situation?

Like rather. I mean, I guess you always want to play.

I mean they, they just have so many issues. Hey, it's Canales's first year and they're trying to get it fixed. Hopefully they can get it fixed in the future. I don't know. There's still a long season left. How? Dude, is it. It is. It must be so hard, like being that bad and knowing you still have Jason. Stop. 11 games. They're nine, 10 or 11. What are they at? What's the charact like? Bro, I'm just being honest. I've played meaningless football games and it's not fun. It is awful. Yeah, but usually there's like two, maybe three at the end of the season that you're like, really trying to hammer out. Week seven and you're one and six. That's a bad feeling, brother. I imagine. Let's get fired up, boys. You imagine the guy giving pre game speeches before the game when you're one.

And six, there's no speeches.

Let's go. Years in your head like, dude, will you shut the fuck up? We're one in six. Let's just go out there and that's tough, man. We all know what's about to happen.

Come on, man, you got the better. We can't have. We can't have that mentality. We can't have that mentality, man.

Why are we one in six? Because we're soft. All right. Pittsburgh 37, New York Jets 15. The controversial decision for the Steelers to start Russell Wilson over Justin Fields pays off. I mean, listen, I think Justin was playing really well. Russell got it done. I don't think it was weird. The jets have been so good defensively the last few years. Now they've got. Their D line has changed a lot, and it feels like that's affected them quite a bit. It felt like Pittsburgh just made plays. Like even on some of these deep balls that Russell threw, like there were some. Yeah, there were some really good plays made by the Whiteouts, so.

And the running backs. Running back, should we bring? Jets had 101 and it touched.

Where's Jets J? Dude, he was on tilt now. He was like on Twitter. I mean, he told us a few weeks ago, he's like, oh, they need to hire Mike Vrabel. Then on Twitter after the game, he's like, oh, they shouldn't go defense. They can't go defensive coach again. Like, he has no idea. The best part about this is every New York Jet fan has no idea why they still suck. And they're all just trying to justify why they're still terrible and they can't figure it out. Nobody can. You have one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game, a defense that was supposed to be One of the best in the NFL. You just trade for devonte Adams, breeze out. But all this money on the offensive line and they still can't fucking win. It's crazy.

It's football, baby. You just never know, man.

The fans don't. They're like. They're starting to go crazy.

Yeah, well, they're not out of it.

They're not. They're not Carolina Panthers yet.

It's still kind of early.

Still in it.

Still kind of early.

And the AFC east is not like.

The nfc, NFC west or NFC North.

Yeah, NFC North. Yeah. It ain't the conference that's. Or the division that's loaded this year. You got the Bills coming on strong now, but there'll be, There'll be some space in the bottom of the playoffs on the AFC side to sneak in there and you get Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs, anything can happen. Game also gave us the coach quote of the week. Brandon Marshall stopped by Mike Tomlin's post game press conference and asked him if it was one of the boldest decisions ever to start Russell Wilson. And Tomlin replied, that's why I'm well compensated.

Nice. Oh, yeah, Tom, we could just put.

Coach code of the weekend as Mike Tomlin quote, because every week he's going to give something gold. It's the best.

Dude. Did you hear his quote a few weeks ago? I forget who they were playing, but it was like a Monday night or a Thursday night game.

I heard it.

Yeah, he hit him with the. We gotta stop kicking our. Our own butt if we. If we stop kicking our own. But we can start focusing on theirs. It's such a banger.

It's so good.

He's. He delivers it too, man. It's a fucking genuine as hell. So good.

This is the best. Then we got the Monday night games. We got the Monday night games. The Chargers couldn't get it done against Arizona. Kyler Murray was scampering all over the place.

He is fast though, isn't he?

Bro, those legs. He. Dude, he looks and feels like he's a video game and like everything about him, like, it looks like you created a player. You made him as short as possible. His helmet's enormous and he just. Feet are moving so quick.

It's so good.

It's outrageous how his feet, like, I can't even describe.

He's got like short arms and he can still throw the ball a mile.

It's. He slings it when he's on.

It is fun to watch.

Baltimore 41, Tampa 31. In a game that was probably not as close as the score indicated. Tampa got out to a quick lead. Baker Mayfield, ball in. And then obviously Mike Evans goes down with the hamstring and Chris got a couple interceptions, unfortunately. And against a team like Baltimore, man, it's. It's hard, you know, any little bit of thing, it's hard, especially when you.

Don'T stop the run.

Dude. Gotta stop the run. I mean, stop the run. They did stop the run in the first half, though. They did a good job first half. They were doing good. And Lamar was actually throwing pretty damn well.

Well, Lamar. Lamar is 23 and one against NFC teams, which is a fucking mind blowing stat. His only loss is actually to Daniel Jones. And how about that? New York Football Giants. How about that? And that does it for our week seven roundup. How about it?

All righty.

All right, let's answer maybe one of your not dumb questions, because there's no such thing as dumb questions, just dumbass people. No dumb questions is brought to you by Meta Quest. That's right. Expand your world.

All righty. First, no dumb question. What breed of dog would make the best quarterback? That's actually got to be smart.

It's actually a dumbass question, I think. I think, yeah, obviously you got to be smart. You got to be able to get along with other dogs.

Oh, that's an interesting. I didn't even think about that. That's a good trait.

So you got to have a little bit of a friendliness to you, but.

You got to be.

Yeah, it depends on what kind of quarterback you want.

The one I thought about right away because I always think about intelligence when I think of quarterbacks is a border collie. And border collies, they herd sheep like they're like in control animals. You saying they need to get along with other dogs is a great point that is making me rethink that.

Would it be like a mixed breed?

Well, I mean, listen, I'm a big mutzer where it's at. There's just. You got to do it responsibly. But yeah, I think mixed breeds are. When I think of dogs that get along with dogs or like anything really, I think a golden retriever, right? They're just like the happiest dogs on the planet. Nine times out of ten, yeah. Labs. German shepherd is a powerful animal, efficient malamute. Is that the one that like, is like the Secret service dog? Don't know better. Yeah, I think it is. It's got like the strongest bite force.

Damn.

But do you need to be tall? Should it be a big Dog. Because it needs to be able to see over the pocket.

Yeah. There you go.

A little.

A little bit bigger.

Like Great Pyrenees.

I see.

That's the thing. I don't know a lot of breeds.

I would say poodle, but I think they're too fancy. They're. They're too, like, high maintenance. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

But the ones that I think are really good usually are kind of, like, down to earth and, like, with the team. Like, Pat's not high maintenance. Look, you seen his body? I saw there was a. There was a bit on Derek Henry that said he doesn't eat fried food anymore. And I'm like, man, that's why I could never be a running back. That's just, like, too much of a commitment. I can't give up fried food.

Yeah. I don't. I don't even think that, really.

Some people just love football.

Yeah. I don't think that means that makes you a better football player. I think that's just what he feels like he be. His diet needs to be.

I'm gonna say height is important.

Yeah.

I want a tall quarterback that can.

I'm going. I'm going Doberman.

Doberman.

Smart, athletic, tall.

It's got a good blend of athleticism.

I don't know if those things get along with everybody, but they're always out front. You know, I can't.

I can't disagree with anything you just said. Definitely not an Irish wolfhound. They are stupid as a box of rocks. I love my dogs.

Your dogs are very.

I mean, Nessie is. She's got some smartness to her. Oh, what was Balto? Balto was a husky from the Disney movie Balto.

Balto.

She's like the lead sled dog in the Sled Dog movie.

Sled dogs are huskies.

Yeah.

All right, Teamwork. Huskies are good.

Know how to work within a team. Then you got the one at the front that's like the. The captain.

Yeah.

I think I'm gonna go husky.

There you go.

Big enough. Not, like, overly big. Pretty, athletic, smart. Work with the team. Yeah. I think that's the one for. All right.

I'm. Guess I'm still going Doberman.

All right, cool.

And that does it for no Dumb questions brought to you by metaQuest. Expand your world. It's time to shout out our sponsor Peloton. As the two of us and the Watt brothers know very well, Peloton is a lot more challenging than most people realize. Jason, what was your first Peloton class like? Was it harder than you Expected.

It definitely was having the instructors there to really push you and tell you what to do makes it a lot easier. I'm always somebody that, like, if I go in there, like, I'm gonna run for 20 minutes, I'm probably gonna suck at it. But if somebody tells me, like, run this speed, then go there and then go at this incline, if there's not, like, a goal or, like, something happening, I just feel like I'm doing something stupid.

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We've talked about it before. We travel a lot. That's right, a lot. During the football season. Travis for away games with me for Monday night countdown. But we also love traveling to new places in the off season. And I have a lot more flexibility when it comes to how we travel. Trav, when you are going on vacation, do you like to book a bunch of different reservations and activities, or do you just figure it out as you go? I already know.

Big figured out as I go. I like to wing it big wing it kind of guy. Getting better at, you know, sticking to the plan, you know? Well, fortunately, 92 percenters with. With Amex platinum, it doesn't matter what.

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We'll get back to the amazing perks of AG1 a little bit. Because today our sponsor wants us to talk about gut health and pooping habits. My favorite. It's safe to say that you've come to the right guys to talk about these habits, Trav. As we Both know, taking AG1 is a great way to keep yourself regular. When I was in the league, you would. You would eat breakfast and then I would always poop routinely, pretty much at the same time of day. Isn't it weird that when you are like, you gotta go poop and then the closer you get to the toilet, somehow your body just knows and it like, gets progressively more intense?

Like on the car ride home, the.

Closer you get, like, you just know. This should not have gotten this much more severe. It's like my body knows.

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Try AG1 today and get their special offer of 10. That's 10 free travel packs and a bottle of vitamin D with your first purchase@drinkag1.com newheights that's a 67 value for free if you go to drinkage1.com newheights today. Check it out. All righty. Our guest from Vallejo, California. He played 19 seasons in major League Baseball for the Guardians, brewers and of course the Yankees. The 20th overall pick in the 1998 MLB Draft from the University of Hawaii. He is a six time All Star, 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner, ALCS MVP, two time MLB wins leader, and a member of the Cleveland Guardians hall of Fame, our hometown. That's right, baby. Also, don't forget this. A World Series champion. Please welcome CC Sabathia.

That was a hell of an intro. That was a hell of an intro. Appreciate it.

Heck yeah, brother.

This man is decorated dog, man.

Thanks for joining us, Cece. This is awesome. Can't tell you, man. We grew up watching you play and we saw your whole career. This is an honor to have you on with us. How's it going?

No, it's good. I mean, it makes me feel old when I hear people say they grew up watching me play.

But listen, you already know. It's silly, man. I'm playing with guys. I'm playing with guys that were born in 2004, man. How crazy. That's it. So I'm like, I'm sitting here like, man, I was in high school in 2004. This is crazy.

It's great. You go from being like the young guy in a locker room to like the young og and then you just. The og where like guys are like, yeah, I mean, you. You were one of my guys growing up and you got. I mean, it's good to be that guy. You know what I'm saying? But you gotta accept it. It's cool.

For sure.

Heck yeah.

I was there actually, when you were the young guy.

How about it, man?

The day you opened against the Baltimore Orioles, I was at that game. And I still remember because you were the talk of the town, coming out of nowhere, big left hander, and bro, it was awesome. Looking back, being there and watching that. I don't know, what's it feel like to start your major league debut, huh?

No, it was. It was crazy. You know what I was thinking? I mean, just being out there, I couldn't feel my legs the whole time. Like, I was like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you just so hype. Like you don't, you know, you don't know what's really going on. But the whole time I was thinking, I was like, damn, I should have went to sleep last night. I didn't go to sleep till like five in the morning. But it was like the second end, I was like, I'm exhausted right now. Like, I should have got some sleep, bro.

That adrenaline was pumping.

That's too funny.

That whole year, like 2001, I mean, that team was so great. I played with a bunch of hall of Famers. I had Robbie and Omar up the middle, and I just felt like I got a chance to learn how to be a professional. I didn't. I didn't really know anything. I was 20 years old, man, and I was fresh out of high school, a football, basketball player, really just an athlete, and kind of fell into that pitcher mode and it kind of took off. So, yeah, I was really learning on the job and to have those type of players around me, it was a blessing, man. It was really cool.

That's awesome.

The 90 guards were some of my favorite teams ever. And you were coming into kind of like the tail end, a lot of those guys careers. And it was like, man, and they're about to just hand this thing off to cc he's about to take us right back to the World Series. We already know and. Nah, man, it was. It was awesome. I remember Jason talking about that Baltimore game, man, is absolutely insane. I was gonna ask you, I. I had no idea you were at the University of Hawaii.

Same.

No, like that didn't go. No, I. I had a football scholarship to play there. When I was in high school, I played football, I played basketball, I played baseball, I played everything. And I could never get a school to commit to me. Like UCLA would say, okay, you can come here to play baseball, but we don't want you to play football. USC would be like, we want you to play football, but we don't want you to play baseball. I thought as soon as I got on the campus and somebody saw me, they was going to turn me into an offensive tackle.

Yeah.

But I wanted to make sure that I still could play baseball. So the guy in Hawaii was like, he will let you play badminton here. We don't give a. So I was like, that's where I'm going right there. I ended up signing to go to Hawaii and never took.

For sure. Well, that's a good reason not to go. There's a. There's a great. We had this later in the rundown, but because we're talking about it right now, we got your highlights, bro. You were a baller in football.

Receiver. Big.

Big as hell.

He's a dog.

Can you put this on here? There we go. Thank you. Brandon. Check him out.

Look at the same size right now that I was right there, right?

You are enormous. I don't think you're playing tackle, bro. You're playing tight end.

Nah, but you gotta think. You gotta think. As soon as I got on, I was 250 right there. As soon as I got into pro ball, I was 285 immediately.

Wow.

I would have made for a good tackle. That's too funny, man.

This is.

You are athletic as all get out, man. Golly.

What was your favorite sport, man?

Was football. It was your football. Yeah.

What'd you like so much about football?

Football was always my favorite sport. I always, like, grew up playing it out in the streets and I just always understood football. I could, you know, I could watch. Sit down and watch a whole game and I was just always intrigued by it. So I didn't get a chance to play it until I was in high school because of like the weight limits and all of that stuff. For sure, man.

You already know.

I grew up playing soccer. You know what I mean? Like, I grew up playing soccer as a kid and then I got to my freshman year and then just fell in love with the game of football.

So, man, they didn't.

It was always my favorite.

They didn't have the southpaw out there slinging it.

Nah. Well, I tried that, man, but it was. So my first two years I played quarterback, and then I showed up my junior year, bro. I was 6, 6, 2, 50. They were like, yeah, we're gonna need to put you at tight end.

You can help us out a lot more right here catching the ball. Yeah, I get it, man. I got a similar story.

Before we get into the Indian stuff. Obviously, everybody's talking about the World Series happening right now. Your former team, the Yankees, taking on the Dodgers. I guess. Let's step into that real quick. What do you think about the matchup?

No, I think this is. This is the biggest, best matchup that I feel like we could have had in baseball. The biggest stars are on stage. I mean, we got Shohei Otani, we got Aaron Judge. You got Juan Soto. You got Mookie Betts, you got Walker Bueller. You got Garrett Cole. I mean, the list just goes on and on. You got New York against Hollywood. I mean, and I think this is the World Series that everybody's kind of been begging for for the last 10 years, you know, and we finally got the matchup. So I'm super excited for, you know, what's to come. And to be honest, just watching these playoffs, every game has been exciting, man. Like, even just the Guardians and Yankee series, I mean, it went, you know, you went five games, but every game was, you know, right down there to the nail, guys hitting big homers. And what I've loved about this playoffs the most is like. Like, the stars have been delivering. It's been Juan Soto delivering. It's been Aaron Judge, it's been Ohtani going off. So, you know, we're seeing our biggest stars on the biggest stage, and they're.

They're showing up and they're showing out, and I'm excited for this, for this Friday, to see, you know, these two heavyweights go at it.

I am getting pumped up for it, too, man. I just. I love going to World Series games, man. I think I've made it to, like, six of the last seven, I think, since 2000. What was it, 15? When the. When the Royals won it? That was like, my first experience of, like, World Series baseball. And I was like, man, these games are lit.

Golly.

Like, it was lit in Kansas City. Like, when. When. When the Yankees. When you were. What was it, 09?

Yeah.

When you guys won it. Like, how crazy were those games in the. Because was it. Was it still the. Was it the new stadium or was that the old.

It was the first year in a new stadium, so it was almost like we had to Kind of win, you know, so it was that pressure of, you know, the boss bring. You know, he had signed me. Aj Tex signed for Nick. I mean, traded for Nick Swisher. So it was kind of the pressure of, you know, us wanting to win in that new stadium, but we had the whole. The core four. So, like, at this time, somebody asked me yesterday, like, how did you feel at this time going into the World Series? I was calm because we. I just. I had Derek, I had Mo, I had Andy, you had Jorge. I had all these guys that have been there before, that's for sure. I'm just kind of riding on their coattails. You know what I mean? Like, I had kind of figured out during that year. No, but. But I figured out during that year that if I just did my little part and not try to do too much, I feel like, you know, it helped me be able to be better in those bigger moments. I feel like In Cleveland in 07, we had the best team in the league.

We were young. I was the leader of that staff. And I feel like if I pitch better and if I'm able to, you know, put stuff, you know, if I'm able to make those moments a little smaller and, you know, be able to show up bigger in those moments, we win the World Series. So that's why I was just. You know what I mean? Like, trying to learn from those experiences. In 07 and 08 and in 09, I'm just like. I'm just riding behind these guys and doing my little thing and, you know, end up, you know, with a ring.

Man, I feel you on that one. And I ended up obviously sticking around in case he. But, like, learning from the moments that I had previous in the playoffs, man, it's like, you look at those moments, like, man, I could have. I had control of that if I could have just tweaked it here. If I could have showed up for my guys right here. Right here. Man, you just. You just know that you could. You could have definitely propelled the team, and, you know, that's the greatness that you. That you bring to the game. Big dog.

But that's me with the city of Cleveland, though, you know, in. In that. In that organization, because I feel like it's just been starving for a World Series. And 07. We were close 16. They were close 16. Yep. But that team in 07 was really, really good. And who knows? We may stay together. I may not end up a Yankee if we win the World Series in 07. You know what I'm saying, like, things end up, you know, you never know how stuff turned out. You know what I'm saying?

They didn't have the pocketbooks to keep.

You never know.

World Series checks a little different now.

That's fair.

That's fair. Let me ask you this, because Philadelphia, the Phillies have been close the last few years. You were just talking about the locker room and, like, the Core 4. What is it that enables a team that has, like, the talent to do it between getting it done and not getting it done? What do you really think that is in baseball specifically?

It's just momentum, to be honest. If you look at, like, the Phillies running into the Mets, it was just they played them at the wrong time. Hot back and hot bats. And then sometimes when you play those teams in your division, you look at the Phillies when they beat Atlanta a couple years ago, when Atlanta was the best team in the league. When you go and play teams in your division in the playoffs, like, the Mets don't care about going into Philly and that, you know what I'm saying? That's a big advantage for the Phillies, like going into Citizens bank and like, having to play, you know, in that park. The Mets do that all the time, so it doesn't bother them. They can go in there in October and show up and, you know, hit big home runs. So it just. It makes it hard when you play those teams in your division. And I think those three teams for the next five years are going to be battling out and for the division and to see who's getting to the nlcs, to be honest.

Yeah.

What do you. Who do you think is going to take the World Series? If you don't mind me asking, is that true?

I gotta go with it. I gotta go with the Yankees.

I had a feeling I gotta go.

I think it's gonna be a long Series, though. I mean, I have friends. I mean, I'm really close with Mookie Betts. I'm really close to Freddie Freeman. You know, I root for those guys, too. But, you know, being here, being a Yankee, being, you know, in New York, you know, I really. I just been watching this team all year, and it would. It would be big for us and me if they would win the World Series. So I'm excited and hopefully they can.

Get it done, you know.

Awesome. Awesome. Do you have a favorite stories from your time with the Yankees or the Guardians? Like. Like what? Favorite teammates, maybe? Oh, I mean, you play with some iconic people and especially with the Yankees, obviously, but anything you want to share?

Yeah. I've gotten a chance. I got lucky, man. I got a chance to play with some. Some hall of Famers, like I said in Cleveland. Yeah. Playing with Tone, Robbie and. And Omar up the middle.

Yeah.

I can give you a Crip. Robbie Alomar story. He's probably not. Probably. He's the smartest baseball player I ever played with my rookie year. I go 17 and five that rookie year, 2001, and I'm starting game three of the DS against Seattle, playing at home, and the first thing, I think I gave up a run or two, maybe even three runs in the first inning. And I'm a little nervous. I mean, I'm 21 years old, you know, it's my first playoff game, and crazy. I'm walking off the field, and Robbie comes running by me. He goes, hey, papi, what's wrong? And he goes, you're a little nervous. And I go, so, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm. I'm, you know, I'm a little nervous, but I'll be fine. And he was like. He came to me. I sat down on the bench, he came to me. He was like, don't shake Enar off the rest of the game. Like, whatever he puts down, just. Just throw the pitch and, you know, we'll live with it.

Lean on your guy.

He was at second. Enar was a rookie, too. He was at second base, giving Enar the pitches. He called the pitch, he called the game. I didn't give up a run for the rest of the game. He called the game from second base. However, he was giving Enar the signals. He was giving ignore signals, and I was. He was giving. Giving me the pitches, whatever to throw, and I went six things, gave up three runs. I didn't give up a run the rest of the game.

Have you ever heard of that? Have you ever heard of a second base doing. I've never heard of that.

Never? No.

That's amazing, bro.

You think him and Sandy just hit him and Sandy just talked so much that Roberto ended up finding a way to, like, kind of pick Sandy Alomar's brain, his brother's brain, or was he just.

I think that. And just him just the ability of just being able to. He just knew the game like he would always. And that's how I kind of. I learned pitching from sitting next to great hitters, whether it was him or Eddie Murray, you know, I was sitting on the bench, and these guys would know what was coming next. You know what I'm saying? Just by what. Whatever the count Was who the guy was on the mound, you know, who the guy was in the box. And that's how I kind of learned how to sequence my pitches and kind of learned how, you know, to re guy swings and different things. Like, I didn't watch a lot of video. I would just re guy swings and kind of pitch to my strengths. And I got that from sitting next to guys like Robbie and Eddie Murray and Juan Gonzalez and just really soaking in from hitters.

One of the things I think is the coolest thing in baseball is that that cat and mouse chess match is going on between the hitter and the pitcher and the catcher. Like what you're deciding to throw, how you're setting pitches up, like what, how much goes into it from like a game plan before the game, and like knowing what each batter's weakness is, how much of it is, you know, what your. Because everybody knows your fastball and slider were like the biggest things you got you had going on. But like what goes into the pitch selection, that process? I don't even know how to ask the question, but it's something that's cool as heck watching.

Yeah, no, it is. I mean, and it's a lot that it just depends on the guy, right? Like a guy like Garrett Cole does a lot of prepping, like he sits down and he does a lot of prepping. He's going through, you know, every lineup, every scenario, every hitter. And he's a guy that can tailor his game. He can throw every pitch for a strike, any in every quadrant, right? So he can pitch really to guys weaknesses, where a guy like me, what you just said, my fastball, my slider, my strengths, right? So I got to stick to my strength. So if it's a guy like Mike Trout that's good on sliders and the sliders my strength, well, we gonna see who's better today, you know what I'm saying? Like, I can't do what I can't do, you know what I'm saying? So like, I can only do what I can do. So my strengths are my strength. So once I figured that out about myself, it was less prep for me because now I can just go out and really just pitch in my strengths and really, you know, command the plate the way I know how to and not try to worry about what everybody else is doing.

So it didn't really do me any good to watch anybody else's film because I'm not going to pitch the way that guy pitched you anyway. I'm gonna go to what's What I can do, do what I have that day, and we're gonna figure it out. So it was always just a lot about me reading swings and figuring out what I had that day. My catchers did a lot of prep and I had a lot of. I relied on them a lot. I didn't shake off a lot. And whatever, whatever they put down, I would just throw a conviction and, you know, we're going with it.

Nice.

One of the reasons I think it fascinates me is because I feel like the pitcher catcher relationship is very similar to the center quarterback relationship for what you just said.

I was getting ready to say that.

There'S a lot of communication back and forth. You each have prepared in your own way to be ready for the game, and you kind of the best tandems figure it out together. But what do you. What do you think of the modern state of pitching? Man, I don't know what to make like with the.

Jason's talking about moving the mound back. He said it's too.

Easy to pitch these days.

It's not too easy to pitch. The hitting philosophy has changed.

Okay.

These guys, these guys don't try to put the ball in play as much as they did anymore. Now it's just all about launching and, you know, getting their A swing off. So there's not. And the lineups aren't constructed where, you know, you have to kind of pitch through the lineup. Everybody's trying to do one thing in a lineup, and that's just hit the ball over the left field wall or the right field wall. So that makes it a lot easier for me to pitch when all you're trying to do in every single count is just jack a ball over the wall and not try to put the ball in play or not trying to put. Put the barrel on it. And that's what made the Guardian so good.

They were just finding a way to get. Get on base. Yeah, yeah.

Last year, really great. They didn't hit for a lot of power, but they were on base and they can put the ball in play there and strike out a lot. This year they were doing that where they put the ball in play and not striking a lot, but then hitting for slugging. They were hitting doubles and homers and Naylor and, you know, Ramirez. So that's what made them so great this year. So I think the game is kind of coming back and reverting back to where, you know, it's more emphasis on putting the ball in play and not just, you know, exit VLO and launch angle and I think we've been changing the rules so much for hitters that it's kind of swinging where you have to change the philosophy. We can't keep changing the rules. We can't keep changing the rules when these guys want to hit.230.

You sound like me and Jason when they keep changing these. These rules.

Oh, my God. But you know what's crazy is that, like, it's. It's cool. And I mean, I'm sure frustrating for you guys, but as a fan of the NFL, it's cool that they're willing to try different rules and change different things about the game. Where in baseball, it took us forever to get rid of the shift. Well, we all knew that that was the right thing to do. Right. Or put the pitch clock in. So it just baseball, you know, we get so much grief when we change the rules. Where now I'm watching the fucking kickoff in the NFL, and I've never even. You know what I'm saying?

Right.

But as a fan, it's cool to see that, and the NBA does that. I feel like baseball, we need to, you know, stay up to speed with, you know, keeping our game relevant. And I think. I feel like this year we've been seeing the payoffs from that.

It's definitely feel like it's led to more exciting play. It feels like it's led to more offensive production. Some of the rules, they've changed.

The games are shorter. I mean, you know what I'm saying? You can watch a full game and not feel like it's taking up your whole day and we're not missing any action.

Right? Right. How do you think you would have handled the pitch counts? And like, the less, like, I feel like you. You were still pitching, like, full games at times in your career. Like, that never happens anymore. Has that happened once in the playoffs? So far, has there been a starting pitcher that's pitched all nine innings yet? They used to be like, I don't think so. Right.

That would be. Yeah, I don't think there's. That's a great question. I don't think there's been a guy that's thrown a complete game yet. And no, I wouldn't have done well with it. Not in my prime. I mean, you know what I'm saying? Oh, it's not happening. I watched one of these guys, one of these aces come out. It was the fifth inning. He had 89 pitches with no gripes. Like, if that was. If that was, you know, back in the day, I mean, there's no Chance that wouldn't even talk.

Right.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you don't even get off the bench until I got 120 pitches in the playoffs.

Yes.

So it's just, it's a, it's a different philosophy. But I feel like everybody's built these super bullpens where, you know, you look at leavers and.

Yeah, yeah.

You look at the two teams that are in the, in the World Series, like they're, they're going to be games where it's going to be reliever that's going to start the game in the World Series.

That's crazy.

You know what I'm saying? So just the way that the teams in the rosters are constructed, the bullpens are the best part of these guys, these organizations, teams back onto the World Series.

You think Shotani finds a way to throw an inning here or there?

May be crazy. If he closed out a game. Right. That would be nuts.

You want to talk about bringing baseball?

Yeah.

That's awesome, man.

I mean, I think, you know, the Dodgers is short, you know what I'm saying, on pitching, I mean, if he's healthy enough, why not bring him back, you know?

Right.

Yeah.

That's what you paid him to do. And, and he, he can do it at a high level and he's been throwing. So if he's healthy, I mean, I don't see why not. I'd be interested to see how they use him going forward anyway, you know, if he's going to be a starter, if he's going to be, you know, long relief out of the bullpen. I mean, I, I'll be interested to see and maybe we can get a preview right here.

Nice.

There we go.

Well, my guy, Anthony Rizzo was caught always calling the bullpen in the fourth inning. Frank calling the bullpen in the fourth inning. It got out that he was doing that all year this year. Did you guys ever have that on any of your teams? You have somebody that was always prank calling you guys in the bullpen or.

Now, you know who was the biggest pranker on all the teams that I played with was Brett Gardner. But I mean, he would do, I mean, like wild, crazy stuff. I mean, one time we had our video guy. He had. We had a. We. He took his, his starter for his key, like the. The unlock online. He took the battery out. So this guy took the truck. He had a. Bought a brand new truck. He took the battery out of the. The unlock.

Yeah.

So the guy takes the truck back to the GNC place and was like, oh, you know, something's wrong with the truck. They give him a new one, he takes it out again and then when they open it up, he had put a picture of like himself like this size in the battery thing in there.

So that's a good bit right there.

Yeah. Nah, Garthy was the best pranker. But when you sit in the bullpen, man, the whole time, like your stomach is just hurting, right? Like as a book because you don't know. As soon as the phone ring, you like, it's, this is me. Like, you know what I mean? Like, is it for me, Do I need to get ready?

Especially in a big moment in the playoffs.

And yeah, so I can only imagine every fourth inning, like he's calling down there and like somebody's like damn near about to on themselves getting ready and he's, he's just. I want to, I want to hear.

One of these things, man. They got to record one of these things. Is he calling like the pizza, like delivery guy, like, hey, yeah, can I put in an order for a pepperoni? A 12 inch pepperoni and you got.

The hot wings today.

I gotta hear one of these days Rizzo's funny as hell for that.

Nah, yeah, they definitely should record it.

Riz.

Rizzo is funny. And that's, like I said, I mean that's a, that's a good way to loosen it up and keep it light. But, but it's hard, man, during the baseball season to, you know, have different ways to, you know, it get monogamous, you know, 162 throughout the season.

How do you guys get ready for 162 games?

Jesus.

Like, I know pitchers.

I was about to say, it's.

Yeah, it's insane to me that there's that many games. Like as a football player, once a week, that feels like too much. But three games a week, four games every day.

I mean, it's every single day. But like, I feel like your, your schedule with football is like you're home all week, right? Like, but every day you're up from like 9 to 5. Like meetings from 9 to 5.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's just like, so every day is meeting. So it's, I mean, it's basically so. So for us, basically the same thing. Like we know we have to be up at the park by the busses at 2, 2:30.

Got it.

Our day really don't start until like 11.

Yeah, yeah.

So you get up, I mean, do whatever you need to do. Busses at 2, game at 7. I mean, it just becomes. Because it comes. It becomes a part of your life.

There you go.

For me, as like a pitcher watching position players, like, I would always ask G, I'm like, how do you guys do this every day? Or like Jorge catching 140 out of 120, you know what I'm saying? Like, throughout the summer and you got these different pitchers and guys coming in, so being a position player in the big leagues is vastly underrated. I feel like doing what Cal Ripken did is incredibly underrated and will never, ever be fucking touched again. Nobody will ever come close to doing that. They won't hurt you, so. No, they won't even. I mean, yeah, it's. I mean, in every sport though, right? Like, yes, every sport now they have low management where guys ain't playing. I mean, I just saw Embiid say he'll never play a back to back again. And it's career.

It's crazy.

Yes. I mean, it's just. At least.

That's crazy to me. I don't know. I don't know.

It sounds crazy to me too. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, it's just one of those things where, you know, you watching these guys get up and do this every single day. And that's why for me, I love to watch like, the guys now, like Manny. Manny Machado or Freddie Freeman or Mookie. These guys post. And I know how hard that is to do in this day and age. And you gotta tip your hat to these guys.

I mean, Freddie. Freddie with his ankle right now.

Freddie with his ankle right now is.

Still like around the first, but you.

Know how inspiring that is for like, other players to see a guy go through a whole summer. Yes. And then, you know what I'm saying, like, that that's a huge rallying thing for the. For the locker room. So no matter what you I want on my team.

Give me that guy.

Yeah. I'm not even trying to be funny, but, like 30% of Freddie Freeman is better than 100 of anybody else. Give me that guy, bro.

Hell yeah, we're going to get to this. To the start of your career with non the Guardians. But we were talking about rules and how they've changed some of the things. I got to ask you this question. What is one rule that you would change to make baseball better?

The biggest rule I would change to make baseball better. It would be every getaway day. So every game that you play on the road at getaway day would have to be a day game. So like. So like, you Guys. So like every game. So like as a Yankees, we play, come in to play the Phillies on a Thursday, I would want that to be a day game and not a 7 o'clock game so I can get out. Not a night game. If that's a day game, we can get into the next city or get home at a reasonable hour. But the Yankees, we always, because we're always the gate or the Dodgers or Boston or whoever else, then we always get a night game and then we're in at 4 or 5 in the morning with a game the next day. So it would be universal getaway day. Has to be a day game.

And that seems fair for sure. Definitely it seems fair.

Right. But that don't happen, man.

Have the players presented that as an option?

It only affects such a small portion of the league that, that, that. No, no, nobody has really presented it.

That makes sense. Yeah.

But I have been, you know, in league office, I've been saying, you know, that we need to correct this and get, you know, make it an even playing field travel wise for everybody.

Right.

Because I feel like that's such a big thing now with guys, you know, with their sleep and you know, getting their rest. And I feel like it puts some of these bigger market teams, the Phillies, the Dodgers, the Yankees, at a disadvantage. Yeah. When they're getting in at 5 in the morning to every city.

The TV networks want to keep them night games too, just because it's like prime time and stuff like that. But sometimes you got to look out for the players. For sure.

Yeah. Especially when you plan a hut when you're playing 162 throughout the summer. Give us one or two, you know what I'm saying?

We got plenty of TV games.

So. I saw you at the, actually last year's World Series. I saw you down there in Dallas and I realized that you're staying involved with the mlb. You're, you're in like an ambassador's program. Is there, is there, can you elaborate on it?

Yeah. So I started working with the league in 2021 as a special assistant to the commissioner. Helped them with players of pro relations. I have a lot of relationship within the league. You know, we go around and do meetings and, and let Rob get in front of the players and any questions that they have, they can kind of address him right in front of them and have these meetings. When I was playing, I didn't have that access. I feel like it's kind of helped with player relations or having guys feel comfortable coming to the league office with whatever problem that they have. I was able this last year to do some things at Rickwood. We had the game at Rickwood, Alabama, between the Giants and the Cardinals. I threw a big softball game down there, you know, just kind of honoring Willie Mays. So I've been able to stay, you know, in the league, in the league office, and stay within the game, and that's been a lot of fun. And for me, when I. When I got done playing, I retired, I was like, oh, I'm done with baseball. Like, I won't be around baseball.

I won't watch baseball. I'm a huge fucking baseball fan. I love baseball. We're a baseball family. So it just keeps me in the game, man.

I love it, man. Hell, yeah.

Yeah.

Cece, have you thought about getting into the broadcasting stuff? Well, I know you'll.

You'll.

You'll dabble a little bit here and there, but have you ever got approached by some of the networks or thought about doing it?

Yeah, you know what? My last year in 2019, I actually worked at ESPN when Get up first opened. When they first opened that Seaport studio.

Yes.

Yeah, it was good for me to be able to do that. And I was like, yeah, nah, this is not what I want to do, because that next year I would have signed up and I would have. Did you know what I mean? I would went full bore. And, like, I don't. Like, I feel like I can talk about sports in my own way and not be in a suit. I don't want to be dressed up, talking about. You know what I'm saying? Like, and I watch all sports, and for me, I want to talk about every sport. I watch a lot of NFL. I watch a lot of basketball. Obviously, I love baseball, but, I mean, I want to talk about everything. And I feel like, you know, when I was at espn, they just had me only talking about baseball, so.

Nice. Well, let's talk about some other sports.

I think we got got.

We play the Las Vegas Raiders this. This week, man.

I heard.

I think Charles Wilson might be a Raiders fan anymore.

Not for the rest of this season. I'm running with Saquon and the Eagles, bro. The Raiders just. They make it so hard to be a fan, bro. Like, from trading Devonte to not getting the quarterback in the off season, to just everything that goes on. I'm a die hard, you know, I'm a die hard Raider fan. Like, yeah, it runs through my blood. I have to go to one or two games a season where I'm in Vegas. I have to Go to a game in person and I did that last week. I went to my Steelers game and the Raiders Steelers game. But it's hard to. It's so hard. I have to root for a winner, man. And I feel like the Eagles are going to bring me some joy here on the East Coast. So I'm rolling with the Eagles now.

Hey, man, we gotta get to a game, then we gotta go. What's your favorite sport to watch then besides baseball? Is the NFL the next the thing you like watching the most?

Yeah, yeah, the NFL and then basketball, obviously. But I watch a lot of Premier League Soccer. I go over to watch a lot of soccer. I'm actually going over next month to watch Real Madrid, watching Bape over there. Like I said, when I was saying earlier, I couldn't play Pop Warner football growing up, so I had to play soccer. My dad was like, you're gonna play something in the winter. So he had me playing soccer and I kind of fell in love with him and, and like I said, I understood a lot of sports when I was young and, and I really just fell in love with it. So I still go over there and watch a lot of Premier.

I feel like we all three of us kind of have that similar, like appreciation for all sports and understanding all the games rule or. Yeah, every. Each game's rules and everything. Tell me this though, man, because you, you could play in high school. We were talking about it earlier, we saw the highlights. Do you sometimes you watch the, you watch these NFL games, you're like, man, I could have. Did I can do that? I could have done that?

Absolutely not. I gonna sit here and disrespect you guys like that.

I wouldn't take it as disrespect.

I wouldn't take it as disrespect. I mean, yeah, I was pretty good in high school. I don't know how I would have went in college. Like I said that first year when I got drafted by the, by the Indians. Guardians. Indians. Back then I was 255 pounds. I went home that off season. When I came back in February, I was like 285, 290. So I'm telling you, if I show up on a college campus, I'm an offensive tackle right away. So you know what I'm saying? Life might have been a little different. But no, I mean, I, I appreciate what you guys can do out there and no, I mean, it would have been interesting, but I don't, I don't know if I could have played as long as I played in baseball, in the NFL.

Man, 19 in football is insane. I mean, like my guy, Mercedes Lewis, though, he's doing a tight end right now, he's in his 19th year and man, hats off to Sadie's. He, he's unbelievable. Throughout his entire career, I remember watching him over there in Jacksonville and just in awe that I'm still, you know, he's still in the league, doing it at the highest level, man, which is crazy. AJ Brown, Philadelphia Eagle himself has said he can play in the mlb, stands on it every time he's been asked about it. Do you think he could touch anybody in the league?

You know what? I've seen AJ swing and I've watched. He was like a pretty good player. I saw him do some perfect game. He went through like the high level perfect game stuff. So, yeah, I think, think any guy like that, that played baseball for that long throughout high school has a chance to still play and swing about. You can see Donovan Mitchell. A guy like Donovan Mitchell, he can, you know, he still swings, he can still play. I feel like Kyler Murray. Yeah, he was, you know, he played baseball through college.

So I feel like Pat Mahomes out there playing baseball.

Pat was a really good baseball player.

Yeah.

And I feel like it shows up a lot in his, in his, in his football game. Just watching him, like he runs around out there, kind of like a shortstop. He's flipping the ball with both hands.

Isn't it crazy?

You know, from every angle, you know what I'm saying? And I feel like a lot of the good quarterbacks are like that where they're like. It's like the baseball effect where you can kind of throw from, you know, all the angles.

Yeah, it's a whole. Another skill set, really. He's just out there almost like a. And one basketball player, somebody that's at the park that really knows how to dribble the. Just different. Or have their own version of it.

Man.

We'll ask you this, how. What do you think the easier transition is? Baseball to football or football to baseball?

I think it would be baseball to football. I think it would be harder to transition from base from football to baseball. I mean, and this is even like, for me, when I, when I got drafted because I was a football player and I put, you know, I mean, I was just an athlete. I got drafted in the first round. Even when I got drafted, I was on the phone with Dan O'Dowd. I'm like, am I playing first base or am I pitching? Like, I had no idea. You Know what I mean? And in my mind, I was like, hey, I can go play baseball. I can take this million dollars. I can do this for two years, and I can go back to college. Chris Winky had just did that.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? So, like, there's. There's guys. There was examples of me. Like, there was examples of guys that had took the baseball money and then went back to college to play football. And I was like, all right, so if this shit don't work out, then I can just go back and play football. And that was always my fallback plan. I think it would be a lot easier if you were bas if you're doing both. If you pick baseball, you can always fall back to go play football.

We tried to have a fallback guy, Tim Tebow, do it not too long ago, man. Tebow is in the minors a little bit.

There have been some guys that have tried.

How difficult is it to get drafted and then immediately go into the minors?

It's extremely hard to. Especially from high school, right? Like, somebody like me, you know, I was a guy. Like, I went from my mom watching my uniform after the game to, like, now I'm a professional.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, this is every single day. Like, in high school, you're playing Tuesdays, maybe Fridays. And then when you turn pro, I was 17 years old still. I didn't turn 18 until, you know, three weeks after I got drafted. So I'm like, I didn't know how to wash clothes. Like, they just drop you off in the middle of North Carolina and you're a pro. You gotta figure out how to get to the ballpark. You know what I'm saying? You gotta figure out how to manage your money. You gotta figure out what you're gonna eat, how much fuel you're gonna have throughout the day, how to work out, how to do kind of everything. So you go from being, like, an amateur, and you're literally. You're a pro, and it's just you and a bunch of other high school cats and, you know, 15 other Dominican guys that's trying. You know what I'm saying? Like, y'all literally down there trying to figure it out. Like, it's like, it was a culture shock. It was a rough. I mean, the first three nights of my professional career, I cried home. I called home crying.

Wow.

I was like, do I have to. Like, if I come home, do I gotta get his money back? And my mom was like, you better stay your ass there. Yeah, you ain't Coming.

Good advice, Mom. Good advice.

It's pretty rough, like, so that's why. I mean, I have a. A junior in college right now. He goes to University of Houston. And I wanted him to get that college experience. I wanted him to be able to grow up, be a man before he entered that minor league because, you know, he didn't have to. He didn't have to make a decision. I had to make. I had to make that decision because me and my mom needed the money. Money. He didn't have to make that decision. He can grow up, you know, go out and play some college baseball, grow, mature, and then become a pro.

I hear you, man.

We got to get to Cleveland.

Yeah, well, you already know. We got to talk some Cleveland ball, baby.

Yeah.

What was your time like in Cleveland? Not. Not just as a player, but, like, in the city. Like, what do you. What do you remember and, like, really take away from your time in Cleveland?

No, I love Cleveland. I mean, I always tell people, like, you know, I was born and raised in Vallejo, California, right? Like, I was. I mean, if you open up my soul, there was a little. Probably a box in there with Mac Dre playing. You know what I'm saying? Like, born and raised in Vallejo, California, to my soul. But I grew up in Cleveland. Like, I got to Cleveland when I was 17 years old, and I stayed there until I was 28.

That's crazy.

Three out of four of my kids were born there. You know, me and my wife got married there. You know, I lived. I lived with a host family in Shaker Heights my first two seasons.

Okay.

I mean, I love the east side of Cleveland. We really, really enjoyed the east side. I mean, I was going to Randall Park Mall to get all my clothes.

Oh, yeah.

So I'm, you know, I mean, like, I'm. I'm really ingrained, and I'm going to Nets in Shaker Square. You know what I'm saying? Like, yep. So I used to jump to.

I used to run over to Shaker Square to go see you play, because they take the. Take the rapid right down the right down district. Oh, yeah.

You know, that was my home. And, you know, I stayed there in off season. I mean, I went to Cavs game. I was there when it was track the trailer and Ricky Davis. Come on, baby.

Ricky Davis and Darius Miles.

Exactly. I grew up in Cleveland, man. Like, so that city holds a special place in me and my wife's heart and even my kids. If you go talk to my oldest son right now, he's Ohio State fan and my daughter, they love being from Westlake or they say know Westlake, Ohio, but yeah, being from Cleveland, so nice. Yeah, I mean, it's very near and dear to our hearts and. And like I always say, I was. I grew up. Born and raised in Cali, but grew up in Cleveland.

That's awesome, man. You're talking about the Cavs, man. Did you ever catch LeBron, the wave of LeBron before he got drafted to Cleveland? Like, did you catch him at St. Vincent St. Mary?

I did. So we had this program and with the Indians, he said Indians with the guardians called.

We do it too. Still.

I know it was the winter development program, so they were bringing us all to Cleveland the month of January, so we would be up there the whole month. So our big league trainer, his name was Paul Spakuza, he was a. He would referee AAU in high school games. So one year in the, in the winter, he kept talking about this kid. He was like, oh, you got to come see this kid play. Blah, blah, blah. He's telling all of us, he's telling me, Dave Risky is all these different guys that are with the, with the guardians at the time. He's like, oh, you gotta come see this guy play. And we're all like, no chance. We're going to see an 8th grader go play like basketball.

Like, we had better shit to do.

That off season, we didn't go. We come back the next off season, he's like, all right, I got a better prop for you. Like, the kid's playing right across the street. Like, he's playing in the CAS arena. We can walk underneath, we can go, we can watch the game. He was a freshman. He had 40, 18 and 20. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. And then ever since then, like, every time I was going, every time I came back to Cleveland in the winter time, I was figuring out a way to go watch LeBron. I even watched him play high school.

Football because he was, he was a football player too, man.

I got a chance to go see him play high school football. I met Mav and you know, Rich and all those guys very, very young, very early. So I've been knowing those guys a long time, man.

I'll tell you what I try and like, tell people about, because I, I went and saw him at the Weinstein, I saw him at Cleveland State. He had. I mean, he was selling out arenas so much, you couldn't put him in a high school arena for like the big time games. You had to like a bigger arena. Yeah, man, it was unbelievable. I was sitting up in the nosebleeds, and you could still see how big he was on the court compared to everybody else. Ridiculous.

And you can see the stars that would come see him play like it would be. Everybody would show up in Cleveland, like, from Shaq to AI to whoever else. Like, it's coming to, you know, going to the games. And like, even back then, like you said Trav, like, you can see he was way bigger than everybody and way more skills field. But he would always make the right basketball play, right? Like, he can score 60 points in those games easy. He would always end up with 24, 8. And you know what I'm saying, like, he's making the right basketball play every. Every time I've. I've watched him play since he was in a freshman high school. He's done the. The right. He's done the right thing on the court every single time. His basketball IQ is off the charts.

Yeah, man, I. I still remember going to that game, though, man. It was unbelievable. He went off the backboard in a game. And at that point in my life, I was just like, man, man, I.

Want to be the next LeBron J.

Ended up. Ended up choosing basketball over hockey going into high school. And a lot of that was because I was like, man, this dude just makes basketball look so fun and just sports look so fun, man.

Was that a big thing for you guys, like, to, like, living in Cleveland, like, choosing, like, over hockey? Like, because hockey's a big sport out there, right? It's a big winner sport.

Yes. I mean, we. We grew up playing hockey since at least since I was five. I think Jason was a little bit older, but when he got into it, I immediately got. Got into it since, like the. The lowest level of. Of at least organized hockey. And on top of that, man, we just. We had so many. We grew up with the same guys, the same teammates throughout our. Our lives. So it's like we. We had a connection with, like, the team and everything. And that was. That was definitely the hardest thing for me going into high school was figuring out which winter sport I was going to play. Was it going to be a hockey or hockey or basketball? And I ended up hanging up the. The skates.

But yeah, it was weird, see, because we played everything, and we even played like two sports in the same season. I like, look back at them, like, how hell do we even do that? Like, how did Trav play basketball and hockey? I, like, wrestled and played hockey one year. I'm like, like, it was. It's weird thinking back that we were even able to do that. You know, our parents somehow made that work. I don't even know how they facilitated that.

I was just looking at a picture of my mud room right now.

My.

My. My guy's got football pads. He's got a baseball bat over there. He's got, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, just in the mu right now, like, it's like, it's crazy.

And I feel like it's. Baseball deals with this a lot, where kids, like, just play baseball year round.

Definitely in the south, for sure. Sure.

I'm such a big proponent of playing as many sports as you can while you're young, because it just develops you more. But it feels like. I know hitting is like, if you want to be a good hitter, you got to hit a lot, right?

But too much anything is a bad thing. Right? You know what I'm saying? Like, you don't have to hit that much to be like, we didn't hit that much. Like, I was. I played 16 baseball games when I was a kid, you know what I'm saying? Like, we played the little league schedule, and then when it was in August, we played football or whatever else. Soccer and then basketball or soccer, you know what I'm saying? Like, we're playing the sports, and I think. Yeah, I think a lot of these kids get burnt out in their sport, whatever it is, because they just specialize way too early. And I feel like you play these other sports, it makes you so much a better athlete, and it makes you better in your main sport.

Right?

Like, football made me so much better as a baseball player. Basketball made me so much better as a baseball player because of footwork and, like, being so big and being able to move around, you know what I'm saying? Like, these. I mean, I'm sure with hockey and you playing center or, you know what I'm saying? Like, Trav, you playing quarterback, you know what I'm saying? Like, these things make you into your ultimate 100%, make you into an ultimate athlete when you play just one thing. Yeah, you can get good at that one thing. But you're not as athletic as you ultimately could be if you played these other sports or even, like, your mentality playing your main sport changes when you play these other sports.

Absolutely.

Become more well rounded, man. I'm with you, man.

I promise.

I watch Trav out there shaking guys sometimes. I'm like, man, he's just out there playing basketball.

Especially off the line. If you watch him off the Line. Yeah.

Yes.

If I just had the ability to dribble while doing that. If I just had the ability, I'd be in the NBA.

He trying to tell y'all no, he's got.

He's got LeBron the same visit Marion. He's like, well, I'm hitting, but I.

Feel like the same thing, like, with Miles Garrett, too. Like, he's the same. He's kind of like a Hooper like that, where he just moves fluid and he's like, no doubt. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's pretty cool to see.

He had this one move last year. He hit over a center. I forget what team he was playing, but he's literally, like, acting like a basketball player doing a crossover before the snap and then hits him and kills him on a one on one. I was like, dude, thank God I'm not that center, because I don't know what the hell you would even do. What the heck is that freaky move right there?

But, yeah, we talked about a little bit about Roberto and Omar and maybe even ds. Who were the guys that, like, that mentored you, like, when you first got into the league, like, maybe even like back when you were playing in the minors, like, who was that one guy? Me and Jason always like to try and figure out the one person you could always lean on and, you know, show. Show some love to, because they helped you out a tremendous amount. Who was that? Who do you think that guy was for you?

You know what? It was, you know, real early in my career, it was Manny Ramirez because. Yeah, yeah, it was. And Manny was the first. Manny was the first rounder. I think in 93, I was a first rounder. I came. I came out 98. And we would all. Like in Winter Haven in spring training, we all kind of stayed at the same hotel. Like the young guys in the minor leagues, we all stay at the hotel. And, like, some of the younger big leaguers would stay at the hotel, and Manny would kind of stay at the hotel in his younger days. And when I first came around, he would take me out to eat and all this different stuff. And one time we're coming back from Eton, and this is like. I mean, we've been hanging out maybe like a year or two now. And this is like, you know, the third time this spring training that we're coming back from eating. And he goes. He looks at me, he goes, papi, why you never speak Spanish? And I would go, bro, I'm from fucking Vallejo. I'm from California, man. The whole Time. I think he was mentoring me because he thought I was Dominican.

That boy Manny.

It was Manny early. We have a great relationship.

That's awesome, man.

David justice was there early, but when I first got to the big leagues, it was Ellis Burks. Ellis Burks was the guy who. He bought me my first suit when I got. When I made the team. And he really. That first year, he really taught me how to be a pro. Took me under his wing, told me what not to. What to do and what not to do. Because I was so young, I was so green. I had no idea. I mean, I didn't even know how many innings you had to pitch to get a win at that point. You know what I'm saying? Like, I like. So I was really, really, really learning on the job, and Ellis did a good job with me.

Nice, man.

We asked this question, too. Not knowing who mentored you. Do you have one guy, one moment that was like, you're welcome to Major League Baseball moment.

The best story, I feel like where I felt like I was like one of the guys was. So after my first start, I think. I don't think I won that game. Maybe. Maybe. No, I didn't win the first start. So the second start, we pitch in Detroit, and I went five innings and gave up four runs. We fly to Baltimore and we get in early, we go out to dinner. I ended up getting the win that night in Detroit. We go to dinner. The guys take me out, and I had, like, a suit. Suit on.

Yeah.

And I just remember guys, like, stuffing, like, money in my pockets. Like, everybody was like. They took me out and they were, like, giving. Everybody handed me, like, money, like cash. I just remember, like, waking up the next day, I had all this money, all this cash. One of the best moments of my life. And I think, yeah, it was like one of those, like, welcome to the team, kid. You know, which is pretty cool. That kind of made me feel like I was a part of, you know.

That's dope. I like that better. Dude, in the NFL, we take the rookies out, and they gotta buy, like, this absurd dinner where they spend all their money. I like that better. Let's give the young guys some cash.

I like that.

That's the way it should be.

Yeah. And that's. I mean, when I first got called up, it was a lot of hazing. It was a lot of, like, you know, the young guys have to do this, do that. And, yeah, now it's a lot different. I mean, you know, for me, I wanted to be different. I want the young guys to come up and feel comfortable, you know, be a part of the team. You know, I didn't, I didn't want any of them to go through kind of the stuff I went through. So we, we kind of changed the culture a little bit, and now these young guys get to come up and feel comfortable. So it's good.

That's awesome, man. How many. 19 seasons.

19 seasons? Yeah. I was lucky.

You said you threw until you couldn't anymore. Have you, have you tried to throw a baseball? What does it feel like now if you tried to do that?

Man, if I try to throw hard, it ain't. It's not good. I play catch with my sons all the time. I have a 14, 14 year old that plays. And, you know, I'm. I'm playing catch and throwing BP with him, but yeah, my, my, my, my, my shoulder's done.

Damn.

Which is good. That's a good thing because I would still be trying to play, like, the Yankees in the World Series right now. Come out the bull.

It's a good thing.

I can't tell right now because I would be. I'd be itching to come out of somebody's bullpen right now, trying to get another ring.

I've been saying it for, for the past, like, three years. Everyone keeps asking me about retirement. I'm like, man, I'm a play till the wheels fall off. I just love competing, man. I like being out there on the field and showing up for the guys next to me. It's just. It's just what I love to do, do. So I can only imagine what it really felt like when, when that shoulder started to really mess up for you and you weren't. You weren't able to, like, have the success that you wanted to have. I'm sure that was a tough, tough time for you to, you know, come to realization with that.

It was, but it was like, like I, I knew I was going to be good at retirement. I got hurt in 2014, which is Jeter's last season, and I didn't really travel that year, and I had. It was like my first summer off. You know, we played a whole summer. So we don't, like, we never get Memorial Day or, you know, July. Like, we don't, we don't know what that's like. So that first year, that first summer, I was like, oh, shit, I'm gonna be, like, really good at retirement. So after that, like, every year, it kept creeping into where I was, like, every road trip, like, I'm Packing. And I'm like, man, I'm like, I'm, you know, like where before I'm happy to like pack and go with the guys and like, you know what I'm saying, hit the road. Now I'm, you know, upset I'm missing this, this game or this daughter's competition or this stuff. So it got to a point where it was like, you know, when I started, you know, getting upset about packing, it's like, it's time for you to be home.

Yes, for sure.

And now I'm in the locker room with guys that have more in common with my 14 year old son than they have in common with me, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's time to go. I mean, as much as I love to compete, as much as I love the game, I don't miss anything about it. I got my feel out of it, you know what I'm saying? Like I won a championship. I got, you know, I got to do it at the highest level with, you know what I consider one of the better with one of the best organizations. So I don't, I don't miss it at all. You know what I mean? Like, I'm good with it and I mean I just love watching baseball now.

I love it, man. And like you said earlier, you're still doing a lot with the, the league and being that voice for players and that connector. We got a segment on the show called we gotta ask, but you don't have to answer. So let's, let's wrap this, this crazy combo up with the segment and it's exactly what it sounds like. CC we're going to ask you some rapid fire questions and I mean you can literally tell us the off or you can answer them. We have some fun. Jason, go ahead and start with the first.

Yeah. Are pitchers the most superstitious professional athletes out there?

I think baseball players in general, I think baseball players have to be the most superstitious athletes on the planet for sure.

Yeah, 100%. I can agree to that.

Weird superstitions you've seen over the years. What's the weirdest one?

The weird. I mean, Jeter ate the same thing every single day. He would like peanut butter and honey sandwich. He would take a bite of it and then throw the rest of the out.

I just gotta get it bited.

I just gotta get my bite.

It was, you know, like he must have did that one time. Didn't have time, had a great game, you know what I'm saying? And then like, but and then for me, like it was always like. So before my starts, I had to be in the hot tub at like 4:23. Yeah, I had to be out of the hot tub at like 4:34 on the training table. 4:30 like time. So like I was the same way. You had to be walking out of the, out of the locker room at 4 at 6:36, like with my jacket and everything. Like so it was always like about the time for me.

Same.

I would always like that.

I would always go in and there's always a list on the, in the locker room for football that tells you what time each position has to be out. And I would go and find out when the centers and quarterbacks had to be out for snapping. And I would work back every 15 minutes. I would have like markers. Okay. At one hour before that I'm taking my pre workout drink and doing this. At 45 minutes, I'm taking my anti inflammatory. At 30 minutes, I'm getting paid.

Make sure that thing gets inside.

Yes, sir.

That's too for. Man, you guys are crazy, man. I can't do that, man. I'm so bad with time and I'm most inconsistent person in the world. So I, I was, I was like, man, let me not just set myself up for failure here on these super stick.

So you don't have anything.

I'm just gonna show up football, man.

No routine like that. You don't have no routine like that before the game with, with time.

I mean, other than making sure I take that anti inflammatory by going on that field, that's about the only one I got. Sometimes I even forget to take that until I'm like right about to go out there.

Have you ever been out there and realized you forgot to take it? Yeah. Yeah. Why do I feel so bad? Oh, yeah.

That's why all of a sudden you turn, you turn on the film on Monday morning. You see, hey, Travis was real slow on the first quarter.

No, I've never been to the bullpen without my, without my anti inflammatory or Tordol. Whatever. I gotta take for sure whichever one in it is.

Cece, what's the toughest ballpark you ever played in?

Toughest ballpark. I think Fenway is the toughest ballpark to play in.

Fenway?

I think so. I mean, just the atmosphere, the Green Monster. You have to change the way you pitch in that park. And like, you know, we talked about it earlier. I don't like to change anything. You know, I pitch to my strength, I do what I do. And there you have to actually change the way you pitch because of the wall. So I think Fenway was always the toughest place to pitch.

What a home field advantage, man. That's crazy.

Do you have one batter you faced in your career that just, like, you know, you. You're glad you never got to face him again? He just, for some reason, had your number, man.

I mean, I wish it was just one guy.

Right?

I wish it was just one guy, but Manny Ramirez, for sure. I mean, Manny. He would always get me in the biggest spots. And then Evan Longoria. Evan Longoria. I mean, it got to a point where I was just like. I mean, there was one. One game where Tony. Tony Pena, he was our catching coordinator, he was like, just throw them all sliders today. So it was like a game where I would just throw them all sliders, and he was like, just throw them all changeups today. And you know what I'm saying? Like, there's really nothing I could do to get him out. Like, he just saw the ball out of my hand so good that the one time I ran over to him, I was like, bro, I'm gonna start throwing to you underhand. Like, it's not.

I'm gonna completely change.

I'm just gonna turn right hand, and I'm just gonna start throwing this thing over here. Who's. Who's on your Mount Rushmore pitchers?

Wow. I've never been asked that question. I would have to go Ferguson, Jenkins, for sure. Oh, okay. I would have to go Bob Gibson.

Okay.

Randy Johnson, the unit.

Unit.

And I'm putting Pedro up there, man.

Pedro.

I mean, Pedro's nasty, bro.

Got those flexible fingers. Alien fingers.

Yeah. Pedro is nasty, man. Pedro was. Pedro is nasty. And he's like. He. He would come after you. You know what I'm saying? Like, he pitched any time. Yeah. And he would come after you. So those would be my guys. Pedro.

Do you. You seen Pedro with his fingers back then you just start stretching your hand every day.

You're just.

I need. I need that extra. Just tails.

It's funny that everybody knew that about it, right? Like, he.

Do you still believe in the motto mass equals gas?

Absolutely, Absolutely. I had to be over 310 to be able to throw the ball over 95.

Hey.

What?

Very much.

Hell, yeah. Like, my biggest. I pitched at was like, 338. I would pitch at, like. Yeah, my Milwaukee days. Yeah, the Milwaukee. Early. Early New York days. I was like, 3:30. I went. I went on a. I went on a trip to Italy one time. I came back And I was like, I didn't weigh myself. Pasta and wine, bro. I came back. I was 346. I'll never forget getting on the scale, like, 346.

Take a few. Take a few.

And it's in December. You know what I'm saying? Like, I got, like, six weeks before I need to be back to 290.

Oh, wow.

Everybody's like, what's Cece running polls for? It's like, man, I heard he went to Italy.

Man, don't go to Italy in the off season.

Man, this crazy.

I was doing that lemonade diet while I was doing, like, the cayenne pepper with the lemonade. Like, I was trying. I got down, though. I got. I got back.

Listen, man, where the Kansas City dad bods over here? We just make it. We make it shake.

We make it shake.

All right, and then what's your advice to. To kids getting into baseball now, man? If you had some. Just a little bit of advice you can give to some of our younger viewers, man.

Man, my advice would just be just to enjoy the game. Don't take it too serious. Play other sports. Sports. But. But have fun and enjoy the game and really be a fan of the game. Watch baseball, go to games if you can. Go out and play with your friends. I think the more that you're a fan of baseball, the more you fall in love with it and the better you become as a player. But I think you really need to be a fan of this game to understand it and to. To really know what it is to love it.

I'm with you on that, brother.

Oh, yeah. That's all we got. CC what you got Any questions for us before you hop up out of your.

I mean, you guys both. I mean, played, you know, in. In, you know, Super Bowls or at the highest level. Like, what would. What would your advice be? Is, like, as far as, like, getting there or, you know, working towards. Like, did you ever. Did you work. Because I never worked to play in the. Like, in the World Series or to be in the hall of Fame or, like, it was just always. Just trying to get better one day at a time. Was that with. With you guys, or was it like, no, I'm trying to win Super Bowls, or this is, like, my goal.

Well, I'll answer first, because I feel like, Travis, they've won, like, two in a row, so they might already be thinking about the super bowl, but for me, right now, no, you're always focused on winning the day, right? You're always focused on just getting Better in any way, shape or form and you're week by week. I think everybody starts the season with like you, you want to win the super bowl and that's like the end goal. But I don't think that that's like where you're at at at any moment until you're there, if that makes sense. Like it's always about, man, we got to be, you know, if we're playing in Cleveland this week, how do we beat Cleveland? Or what did I do last week? How do I not make those same mistakes again and get better this week? And to me, I felt like I was never, you know, that was always the main dream, but there were always shorter term goals that were kind of getting you on the right, keeping you on the right track. Right. Like doing your job, getting better every day and you know, staying in the moment.

I think help you achieve all those go those long term goals.

Yeah.

What about you, Trev?

I kind of go along the same lines as what you were saying, cc. Like one of my coaches in college used to say, feed the fire, feel, fuel that knowledge and that, that love for the game and really like understand it to the like the minute details. I have never been satisfied watching myself on film. I literally am my worst critic. And I feel like if guys take that mentality, not only in, in sports, but just in life of always trying to find ways to better themselves, you know, you, you'll slowly start to take steps up that staircase of, of success and, and find ways to, you know, I don't know, get better at whether it's catching the football, throwing the football, blocking, things like that. I always try and take the, the four, four or five months that we have in the off season to find one thing to really like, understand to a whole nother level. And this year it was how to recover better, how to recover faster throughout the week. What are some things that I can do? And it's just been a whole like, I don't want to say change of routine, but it's just been a whole fine tuning of the routine throughout the week so that even in, you know, week four to week 10 to week 16 to week 20, if I'm fortunate enough to play in the Super Bowl, I found a way to, to be at my top and, and like best like physical form for the guys around me and just be accountable, man.

But I'm, I would say just be, be your own worst critic in life, man. You can't tell me I played terrible, man. I, I'll be the one I hate.

Myself, I've already told myself.

Say, about playing here, like, how can you handle the pressure of playing in New York? No, I already put so much pressure on myself that like, you know what I mean? Like, if I give up a run, I'm like, I'm already, I've already. You know what I'm saying? So there's no more amount of pressure that you can put on me that the external pressure that was. That's going to break me, you know?

Absolutely.

I got another question about one more football, if y'all don't mind about. It's just like, I watch so much football and I see everybody talking about offensive lines and you know, this offensive line is bad, that offensive line bad. But the defensive lines have. Every team has a freak on their defensive line. Like, every single one, whether it's Max Crosby or Joey Bosa or J.J. watt. Like, why won't they take some of these guys that don't make it on the defensive line? Turning the offensive line so you can kind of match some of these bodies in these skill set that these guys have? Like, it's crazy.

Yeah, it's a good point, man.

It is crazy. I 1 those defensive guys are. It's a sexier position. That's what I would want to play. So all those guys, everybody wants to get sacks they don't want to have.

You don't have to think as hard. You can kind of go and play your game.

Every team has a freak, though. Every team has like one or 200, at least one.

And to kind of talk about this a little bit more, like, most of the best offensive linemen were those, like most of the best offensive linemen in the league, at least I don't want to. Like, not all of them, but a lot of those guys were former position players. Right. Like, I was a linebacker growing up. Lane Johnson played tight end in quarterback. Jason Peters, who played with the Eagles for a long time, was a tight end in college. So there are a lot more skill and athletic guys switching to the offensive line for exactly what you're saying. Like, you can't just be a big, like strong guy anymore and be a successful offensive line. And it's got to be able to really hard to compete.

You got to be able to move.

You got to be a crazy athlete now and all that other stuff. And those are rare people. It's rare human beings to find six. Six dudes that are athletic, big, strong, like they just tough.

Yeah, you know it.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

But I just, I just, I feel like so many Offensive linemen take so much. Or these offensive line, period, because they're like. But it's like, do you. Do you see what I'm like, yeah.

You see what I have to do over here?

What the is I'm having.

Come on out here and try and do it then. All right.

But every office is like, oh, offensive line's terrible. No, that. Look at the defensive line that they're blocking.

Well, the other thing. The other thing with O line is, like, if you do your job 9 out of 10 times, it's a failure. Like, if you. If. If you give up one second a game. I had a bad day pass. I could have had 39 snaps and I got my job done, but that one is going to haunt me in my head. So it's like, you know, like, it's.

Like being a relief pitcher, that's like being a closer, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One pitch.

So frustrating. It's like, man, these guys get paid, too. They're pretty dang good.

They're pretty damn good.

My fire is fueled back to what Travis saying, because the World Series is coming up. We're going to see a world champion announce in a couple weeks, and it's baseball season right now, man, I can't. Thank you so much. Much. Thank you enough, cc, for coming on. It was awesome talking to you, getting your story, and also just your frame on this series that's about to happen. You're the best, brother. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Appreciate it. I appreciate it. Big fans of y'all, so anytime you want me to come on, anytime I'm on, hell yeah.

You're the best, brother. We'll definitely have to get a. Get a few rounds of golf in over there on the east.

That's what I'm saying. You're in Jersey. This is an easy one to get in.

Exactly. Absolutely.

Hit up on Trout out. And that wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you to my man C.C. sabathia for joining us. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube to the New Heights channel and follow New Heights on Wonder Reapp or wherever you get your podcasts. Reminder, you can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wonder app or on Apple Podcasts. And you can also give a call to the Heights hotline. That's right. Leave us a voicemail asking for relationship advice at 929-399-7260. We'll respond to our favorites on the next Wondery plus episode.

We got all the. All the advice for you baby. All right, now the ladies men over at the High timeline once again. New Heights is a onery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Pel Peloton. Find your push. Find your power with Peloton. Follow the show on all social media at new heights. Show with 1s for fun clips throughout the week and thank you to our production and crew. We love you guys for deleting everything that would get us canceled. And thank you to the 92 percenters for always tuning in each and every week. Tell a friend baby, and we'll see you guys next week.

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