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Episode 8
50 Plays2 years ago
Happy New Year!! Two very special guests join Robbie to kick off 2023! Colton Bennett and Ray Ross join the show to discuss their favorite sports moments in 2022 and what they are looking forward to in 2023! Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Introduction and Damar Hamlin's Collapse
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Speaker
Welcome in to another edition of the Ross Sports Report. Happy New Year. 2023 is here. And this is the first edition of the Ross Sports Report in 2023. Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas since we last recorded an episode. Of course, first and foremost on our thoughts and in our prayers is
00:00:27
Speaker
The Bills player, Damara Hamlin, who tragically collapsed last night during the Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He continues to be in critical condition in a hospital at the University of Cincinnati. And a very scary, scary scene last night on live television during the Monday Night Football broadcast, a big game between the Bills and the Bengals, temporarily suspended and postponed until a further date.
00:00:57
Speaker
But most importantly, the most important thing is that Delmar Hamlin recovers and gets healthy. And prayers are with him and his family and the entire Bill's community as he recovers from this tragic situation that things are still ongoing to see his status and well-being. But we certainly
00:01:24
Speaker
give our thoughts and prayers out to him.
College Football Championship Preview
00:01:26
Speaker
College Bowl season pretty much concluded. There's one game left and that's Monday night. The Georgia Bulldogs will take on the TCU Horn Frogs in the college football championship out in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Of course, the Georgia Bulldogs defeated Ohio State in dramatic fashion at the strike of midnight on Saturday on New Year's Eve by winning over Ohio State
00:01:53
Speaker
and advancing to the championship game for the second straight year. Georgia looking to be the first team ever to win back-to-back national championships in the college football playoff era. And TCU won in what was kind of a surprise over University of Michigan in that first semi-final. So it'll be the dogs and the frogs playing for a national championship Monday nights in Los Angeles.
Guest Contributions and 2022 Sports Highlights
00:02:21
Speaker
Without further ado, we are going to bring on two guests with us this week who are big supporters, loyal supporters of the Ross Sports Report. And that is Colton Bennett, my stepson, and Ray Ross, my son from Macon, Georgia, joining us. But first, we're going to talk with Colton, who is live in the studio here on St. Simons Island. And first of all, Colton, happy new year. Happy new year. How are you? I'm good.
00:02:48
Speaker
Good. Well, um, I asked you and Ray to think about two things, um, before we came on to do this podcast. So the first thing was what you felt like your biggest sports story of 2022 was, what was the biggest sports story in your opinion in 2022? Well, um,
00:03:13
Speaker
Of course, you're a big Braves fan, big Georgia fan, big Frederica Academy night fan. So a whole lot of things happened in the sports world in 2022. What was a couple of your favorite things? Maybe not just one.
00:03:26
Speaker
Um, well, let's talk about the FA nights here. Um, I think Jordan triplet had a great season. He has a, he won all offensive player of the year. They were, they quoted him as a stallion unleashed. Um, he had a great season actually had about 30 TD tuds, something like that. And they barely lost to Deerfield Windsor in the semi final. Uh, the quarterfinals. Yeah. Quarterfinals.
00:03:56
Speaker
Okay. But at least Deerfield got defeated in the state championship against JMA John Miller Academy. That's right. We'll talk about your Georgia Bulldogs. Big Georgia Bulldog fan. Yep. Georgia Bulldogs have gone undefeated for the regular season for the second year on actually undefeated still. Um, such a man has had a great two years back with Georgia. This is last season as he'd been in college for seven years now. And, um, and, um,
00:04:27
Speaker
I mean, Georgia's had a great season there. I mean, they've only looked bad about two games. I was like one against Missouri and one about Ohio State, but they just barely won both of those games. Talk about the Braves, of course, didn't finish the season like we wanted to falling in the playoffs to to those Phillies, but still a great season. For the Braves.
00:04:51
Speaker
It was a great season for the Braves. I mean, Dan, you know, Dan's be left this, this off season. I think, I think I have confidence of von Grissom and I also have confidence in that Jordan Luplow person from the D backs we got, but Hey, at least, um, Matt Olson played pretty good for the Braves and, uh,
00:05:18
Speaker
Uh, gonna have to find a closer, but that's, uh, Iglesias is probably going to fill that role. Oh yeah. And, um, Matt also had a good first year. I think he's coming on to have a good career braves and, um, All right.
Reflections on the Braves' Season and Future Prospects
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Well, let's, let's turn it over to Ray coming to us live from Macon, Georgia. And, uh, Ray, I'm gonna ask you the same questions. What were some of your highlights in 2022?
00:05:48
Speaker
one of mine. So I get to start from the academy. I really love what Strowford made it to the state final and football, even though we fell short of St. Anne Pichelli, it was a far, it was a hard fought game and I was very proud that we made it that far. And I was very happy to witness that. Talk about some of the, your favorite players on Stratford's team. They're all just really good.
00:06:19
Speaker
some of my friends like gendric lover's great great season uh he's gotten a lot of offers uh billy knoblet first year quarterback has been really really good that's about it um yeah back to the national championship trying to run it back uh i feel like
00:06:46
Speaker
I feel like it'll be a close game, but I feel like we're just going to come through and win. And Stetson Bennett will leave Georgia a two-time national champion. And you're a big Braves fan too. Raymond, talk about the 2022 Braves and what you look forward to in 2023.
00:07:13
Speaker
So, the 2022 Braves, it was a great season. Came back from being down to the Nash games in the division. Great with the hard division, with the things coming up and the Mets being great all season. I feel like it was very special that we could have a chance to run it back even though we didn't. But I feel like for 2023, even though losing games would be losing Kinley,
00:07:43
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Um, I feel like we'll be killed with a glacier sink or something. And when Ozzy gets back, she'll be great as usual. And, um, Acuna's hopefully going to win MVP. All right. Go back to Colton here and, uh, and Ray, you have a chance to answer this question too, but, uh, guys over the Christmas holiday, you got to go to your first bowl game.
Experiencing the TaxSlayer Bowl
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And, uh, you went to the tax layer bowl in Jacksonville, of course, uh, Colton, your mom and, and Ray, your stepmom Kelly, a graduate of South Carolina and a big fan and talk about your first bowl game experience. It was pretty good. I mean, I had, I didn't have great, I had some high expectations. I didn't have high expectations, but actually.
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But the game exceeded my expectations. It was a very close game, but the Gamecocks just could not make it through barely as Notre Dame beat them about. 42 to 35, I think it was. Spencer Adler had a great season overall, so did the Gamecocks, and I think they're going to have another great season in 2023. All right, right. What did you think about your first bowl game?
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I thought it was very cool with South Carolina. A lot of the fans showed up. They were insane. They had the towels waving. And I feel like on the Notre Dame side, the fans were great and they showed up and Notre Dame played better. But I thought it was super cool.
00:09:23
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being there, seeing that happen, what I usually watch on TV. All right, and back to Colton. What is something you look forward to, sports, in 2023?
Hopes and Expectations for 2023
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I want to see how the dogs would come out with sets without sets in Bennett in 2023 I want to see where they would replace their quarterback with um, I want to see the replacement quarterback and I think I think the Braves are gonna have a outstanding season in 2023 and I think von Gresham is gonna pop off and become a superstar and
00:10:00
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And I think Akinya will come back and, like I said, win the MVP and some other awards like Gold Glove. And I think the Knights will become, I think the Knights will improve a lot better as some of the eighth graders that I know on the middle school football team are very good. They're gonna be coming freshmen, so I think they'll have a shot at the varsity team, along with Jordan Triplett in his senior season, I'm sure.
00:10:27
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I think he'll be able to make something out of it in his last season as a Knight. And I think that's all from me. Well, Colton, thanks so much for joining us on the Ross Sports Report. Happy New Year. Happy New Year, too. You're welcome. That was Colton Bennett, my stepson. And now, Ray, what are you looking forward to in 2023? Georgia, I'm really excited to see our new recruits crossing back in quarterback.
00:10:54
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And I'm just excited to see how we are going to improve from this wonderful season, these past two seasons have been. And with the Braves, again, what Colton said, I feel like we're going to do really well with Bongersome. I feel like our top three rookies from last year, Bongersome, others, and Spencer Strider are both going to improve a lot, I think.
00:11:21
Speaker
But Harris is going to be one of the better center fielders in the league. And Strider is going to be looking like the Grom. And Grissom is just going to be a better replacement for Dansby. And then, at Stratford, we got a couple of eighth graders coming up, and I think we'll be, I think we'll contend pretty good. All right, Ray, real quick, I'm going to ask you, and then I'm going to go back to Colton before he leaves the studio. Who do you think is going to win the Super Bowl, Ray? Who's your Super Bowl pick?
00:11:54
Speaker
It's really tough. I think the Bengals are really good. I think I'm going to go with the Bengals. All right, the Bengals. Colton will go to you. Who is your Super Bowl pick? This might sound a little biased, but I'm going to go either the
00:12:19
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Um, I could go either. I'm going to say the Vikings or the Eagles. Okay. So Colton's going NFC. Ray is going AFC. Ray. Thanks so much for joining us, buddy, for making Georgia on being on the Ross sports report.
NFL Playoff Implications and Health Concerns
00:12:34
Speaker
All right. That was Ray Ross and Colton Bennett joining us our second and third ever guests on the Ross sports report. Uh, of course, big, big week of, of college football coming up with Georgia and TCU on Monday night in the college football playoff, uh, the NFL and their final week of the regular season. Uh, of course we mentioned a moment ago, um, Demara Hamlin
00:12:59
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The tragedy that happened with him at the NFL, of course, gonna have to answer some questions about that game last night. How are they gonna play it? Are they gonna play it? Of course, that's not very important right now. The importance is Damara Hamlin's safety and health and how he's doing.
00:13:27
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But that was a very important game in the standings. And what will happen this coming weekend with the Buffalo Bills? Are they gonna be able to get
00:13:38
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what they need to do, get their minds right, get their feelings right to play a football game this coming week to finish the regular season as they are scheduled to be on the road. No, they're scheduled to be at home, excuse me, against the Patriots on Sunday at one o'clock. Will they be able to play that game?
00:14:02
Speaker
So a lot of questions surrounding the NFL right now with everything that happened last night. And again, our thoughts and prayers are with Damara Hanlon and his family and the entire Buffalo Bills organization as they sort through this tragic situation.
NFL Playoff Previews and Coaching Changes
00:14:18
Speaker
And there is no easy answer for anything. Another big game this weekend in the NFL schedule, the Jags.
00:14:27
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and Tennessee Titans for a division championship. The Jacksonville Jaguars playing for a division championship at 8.15 on Saturday night at home against the Tennessee Titan. The winners take all game because the loser more than likely not going to make the playoffs at 8.9. So those two teams are playing for a championship in a spot in the playoffs Kansas City and Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon.
00:14:55
Speaker
And then the other Sunday games, as we mentioned, uh, Baltimore and Cincinnati is Cincinnati. I mean, they play a role in this too. They play a part in it too. They were on the field last night, of course. Uh, when that tragedy happened, are they going to be able to.
00:15:10
Speaker
do what they need to do to get ready to play a football game on Sunday against the Ravens. The Bengals are very much in contention for the number one seed in the AFC. Tampa Bay, they wrapped up the NFC South last week. They are in Atlanta on Sunday at one o'clock. Minnesota at Chicago, Houston at Indianapolis, New York at Miami, Carolina at New Orleans.
00:15:30
Speaker
Cleveland at Pittsburgh, Los Angeles Chargers at Denver, the New York Giants at Philadelphia. Now the Eagles all of a sudden are kind of in a trouble situation now that Jalen Hurts has missed two games in a row. Will he be back? The Eagles still trying to wrap up.
00:15:47
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the number one seed and home field advantage in the NFC. The 49ers are right on their heels. They host Arizona Sunday afternoon. The Rams are at the Seahawks. Dallas at Washington in the Sunday night game. Next Sunday night is Detroit at Green Bay. If Green Bay wins, they get in the playoffs as well. One other notes in the NFL. The Carolina Panthers have spoken with Jim Harbaugh.
00:16:13
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about their opening for head coach. So it'd be interesting to see if Jim Harbaugh heads to the pro ranks and takes over the Carolina Panthers.
College Basketball and Closing Remarks
00:16:26
Speaker
College basketball heating up this week's number one team, the Purdue Boilermakers.
00:16:32
Speaker
Far and away the number one team in the country. Houston at number two, Kansas, Arizona, Yukon, Texas, Alabama, UCLA, Tennessee, Gonzaga, Virginia, Miami, Arkansas, Duke, and Wisconsin round out the top 15. Baylor, TCU, Xavier, Indiana, Auburn, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio State, Illinois, Kentucky, and Iowa State, LSU.
00:16:54
Speaker
and Kentucky playing tonight in a game on ESPN as we speak. Also Mississippi State and Tennessee were playing earlier as conference games get started early on here in 2023. So we're going to wrap up episode eight short and sweet but a great one nonetheless our second and third guest ever
00:17:17
Speaker
on the Ross Sports Report. I'd like to thank Ray Ross for joining us from Macon, Georgia and also Colton Bennett from here in the studio as this has been the Ross Sports Report. Thanks for listening.