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Episode 22: Top 10 Sports Moments that Shaped our Fandom
13 Plays14 days ago
The boys are back with a not-so-regularly-scheduled pod. Don't mind the mess, we are bringing you the tried and true Coastal Launch quality (minus a slight technical difficulty) with our top 10 moments that shaped our fandom. Not necessarily the 10 biggest sports moments in our lifetime, but the 10 that helped shape how we view and root for sports. Find out why we root for the underdog, how Justin became a Lightning fan, and how Cody copes with being one of the few who left the A&M LSU 7OT game early.
Also, US Soccer brought a nation together and then ripped their hearts out in oh so familiar fashion, Justin Verlander is set to retire at season's end, and Shohei Ohtani joined the 300 home run club. All that and more on this episode of The Coastal Launch Sports Talk.
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Transcript
Introduction and Top 10 Sports Moments Discussion
00:00:01
Cody Atkinson
Hello and welcome to the Coastal Launch Sports Talk. I'm Cody coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas.
00:00:09
Justin Daulton
And I'm Justin coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
00:00:12
Cody Atkinson
And today you may notice that we are coming to you a couple days late. Due to some scheduling conflicts on my end, we had to push the episode from our typical Monday time slot to today, which is Wednesday. But we are still coming to you with an action-packed episode where we will be breaking down our top 10 sports moments that shaped our current sports fandom. This is more of a personal list, so this isn't necessarily the biggest sports moments in our lifetime, but those that shaped how we root for sports today.
U.S. Soccer Performance Analysis
00:00:45
Cody Atkinson
So with our trajectory set, it's time to sit back, walk in and get started with the rundown.
00:00:51
Cody Atkinson
This is the Coastal Launch and we are ready for liftoff here on episode 22. And the rundown topics start this week, Justin, is is a really easy.
00:01:03
Cody Atkinson
Easy pick. U.S. soccer since the last time we recorded has played two games with two vastly different results. ah Last Wednesday after we recorded, U.S. beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, I think is what it is, two to zero.
00:01:18
Cody Atkinson
And then they fell, as I put it, aggressively, four to one to Belgium Monday night. Let's take it. but We'll take it a little bit one game at a time. The I don't know if you have a lot to say about the Bosnia game.
00:01:33
Cody Atkinson
So I'll give you a chance to say anything about the game specifically. But the biggest thing that come out of that was the red card on Balogun. and And obviously a story that story continued past just the game. So I'm going to let you take that where you want. Get your thoughts on that before we hit Belgium.
00:01:48
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I think for me, obviously the red card being a whole different topic that we can address here in a second. I think we came out and played the game that we needed to play against Bosnia. Like, I was impressed with the speed that we played. We played tactfully, like we were passing the ball. This is going to sound very opposite when we get to Belgium, but like we played.
00:02:07
Justin Daulton
actually good fundamental soccer and it like it felt like European soccer. Like we were playing faster, you're playing loose, like we were having fun. Obviously, you know, we were gonna talk about flow or full, however we want to, whatever nickname you want to give them.
00:02:22
Justin Daulton
Like we're going to talk about his performances, obviously throughout not just this game where he scored a goal. Um, But the entire tournament, you know, where he has the potential like for a lot of people to be the player of the tournament if it wasn't for the fact that he's eliminated three rounds too early.
00:02:36
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:02:36
Justin Daulton
So I think we played the game that we needed to play.
00:02:40
Justin Daulton
The red card was god-awful. and you know, we can talk about that here in a second after you get your thoughts off for the game. But, mean, I'm glad it didn't overshadow at least the performance that we had with the Bosnia game.
00:02:54
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, you you really saw everything that you wanted to see out of the Bosnia game. the The red card was ridiculous in no way, shape, or form. Do I think that should have been a red card? ah But it was great to see them really like bear down and play really good soccer, 10 on for the better half of or the better part of the second half.
Controversial Red Card and FIFA Critique
00:03:18
Cody Atkinson
and And then just to see the free kick, make it 2-0, give yourself some breathing room, was great. It was incredibly done. You felt really, really good coming out of that game. And and that's not to say like,
00:03:30
Cody Atkinson
even in past world cups bosnia is a team that if we ran into them it's a team i expect us to beat i know they're european soccer and and we have our history against european soccer but you know the last time we beat a club in in in europe before this world cup was also bosnia and i think 2021 like that's a that's the level of european soccer that we can compete with so i expected us to compete with them and you know, most, I think everybody expected the U S to come out on top of that. So I felt good about but
00:04:01
Cody Atkinson
but there wasn't the same level of pressure that we saw in the Belgium game, which which we'll get into. And I think that's going to be one of the big differentiators there. There wasn't the same level pressure because this is a team you knew you could compete with. This is a team you knew you could beat. This was not a requirement to take the step to the next level.
00:04:21
Cody Atkinson
And so um they obviously weren't able to to carry that in. but but But slightly before we get to that, I'll let you get your thoughts on the red card out. Like said, I don't have a ton of thoughts on the Bosnia games. The game I expected us to win, we played the way I hope we would.
00:04:36
Cody Atkinson
We won. Obviously, the red card was a huge eyesore. And then something none of us expected was presidential interference that got the red card suspended all of four days later. The drama out out the Wazoo. What were your thoughts on on just that in general?
00:04:57
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I think obviously we're not pundits, right? But i think everyone unanimously agreed that this was a god-awful red card.
00:05:01
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:05:05
Justin Daulton
like Yellow card, sure. Like you stepped on the guy and you're making an aggressive tackle, but there's pushing and shopping from both ends. Like in football, we call that you you don't build a flag because it's offensive and defensive pass interference. Like this is kind of how it goes.
00:05:18
Justin Daulton
Um, obviously there was so many conflict conflicting reports coming out afterwards of yes, FIFA can overturn. No FIFA can't overturn. There's conflicting bylaws.
00:05:29
Justin Daulton
You know, there's a, there's a committee. There's not a committee. complain There's so many conflicting reports coming out afterwards of like the U S needs to appeal. U S needs to appeal. I still don't even understand what the bylaws mean. Cause there's two different bylaws that contradict each other.
00:05:44
Justin Daulton
um Whether or not Trump was the reason why this happened or not, i'm not gonna speak on that um but i mean i'm glad i got overturned because it is the right thing to do unless we come out of this and there is some sort of investigation with fifa where fifa says hey no we shouldn't have overturned this and then we're rewriting all the bylaws for fifa soccer going forward like and we're figuring out what you can and cannot do obviously belgium was upset i sent you screenshots of what belgium was saying afterwards you know after the decision was being made um
00:06:14
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:06:18
Justin Daulton
So it's kind of you know what is you know, what is the future of this all look like? And, you know, Belgium have every right to be upset because it it definitely, when you read everything, it definitely reads as, hey, there should not be an appeal process. There should not be this potential of an overturn happening.
00:06:33
Justin Daulton
So I will be very interested to see what it looks like.
Future of U.S. Soccer Team
00:06:37
Justin Daulton
you know coming months after it wraps up, obviously we have four years before we're in Spain and Portugal for the Centennial World Cup um in four years.
00:06:49
Justin Daulton
So it'll be very interesting to see what happens over the over the course of the next four years when it comes to appeals and what's not and something that kind of a side tangent of Egypt coming out today and saying that they're talking to FIFA about the refereeing from yesterday's game against Argentina where they feel like there was a lot of calls that actually dictated the direction of the end of the game that shouldn't have so you know there's a lot of conversation I think around refereeing and red cards and appeals process and all that stuff so I think FIFA is going to have a lot of explaining to do over the next four years
00:07:12
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:07:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. I mean, I think that's my biggest takeaway from it. Um, we are in agreement that the red card itself was a bad call. So I think despite how convoluted and shady the process was, I think you got to the right result of Balogun not being suspended for game.
00:07:40
Cody Atkinson
Obviously, he still missed most of the second half against Bosnia, which ended up not being an issue, but definitely could have been. so you don't get the full correct result by him still missing half a game.
00:07:52
Cody Atkinson
but But it's great to clean up that he's not missing the full next game. My main issue with the whole thing is that FIFA is the most corrupt organization in all of sports currently.
00:08:05
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:08:05
Cody Atkinson
and history and and i don't like giving them extra loopholes with which to accomplish what they want to accomplish it's the the uh loophole that they used to accomplish this is known as the Cristiano Ronaldo rule because they used it at the beginning of the World Cup to suspend a red card or some sort of infraction from Ronaldo that would have had him miss the two the first two games of the World Cup. So he he served a one one game of a three-game suspension and should have missed the first two games the World Cup. He's allowed to play because it's better for them financially if he does.
00:08:42
Cody Atkinson
then Balogun's allowed to play because it's better for them financially if it does. And then you see games like Argentina where the the the calls are less than clear and generally favoring the team that if they move on, you're going to get the best matchup, the most views, et cetera. I just, to me, it all stinks, right? Like just...
00:09:09
Cody Atkinson
You don't have to to think hard to believe that FIFA is corrupt, and I don't like seeing it play out, even though we were the beneficiaries of it. and I think you got to the right answer. I am concerned with the amount of loopholes FIFA is giving itself and and the lack of transparency that it has that just kind of generally benefits its self-interest.
00:09:31
Cody Atkinson
I mean, the immediate comparison was why did Balogun get a red card when Messi did the same thing two days ago or whatever and and didn't even get up didn't even get a foul.
00:09:36
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm. Yep.
00:09:40
Cody Atkinson
Like, he didn't get anything. So I think that's my main my main concern with it is is, you know, we were the beneficiaries. It was used properly, but it might not be next time. And and I have no reason to believe that they wouldn't use it improperly.
00:09:57
Cody Atkinson
So I am... generally concerned with the process, although the results were fair, in my opinion. And and that that leads us to the Belgium game. ah four to one to Belgium. it It felt four to one as well.
00:10:15
Cody Atkinson
um What are your thoughts on this?
00:10:16
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:10:19
Cody Atkinson
I expected much better. I didn't know if we could win or lose, but I didn't think it was going to be this.
00:10:25
Justin Daulton
I think the moment the ruling happened, Belgium was going to be playing with fire and they were going to be inspired and and they were going to do everything they could to to win that game.
00:10:29
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:10:36
Justin Daulton
And unfortunately, i'm a fan of the goalie that was in net for Belgium because he used to play for Chelsea. um So like he he's a baller and like no Eden Hazard, obviously he he doesn't play for the national team anymore, but him and Courtois, multiple World Cups.
00:10:56
Justin Daulton
So I knew going in that we were going to have a very difficult time against this Belgium team. I think the reason why so many of us bought into the hype on this Belgium game is because their round of their, their first knockout game, the round of 32, they looked beatable.
00:11:10
Justin Daulton
And I think that's a reason why we all kind of start to buy in a little bit that, you know, by what is it transport train? What's it called? The theory of if one team beat,
00:11:20
Cody Atkinson
The transitive property.
00:11:22
Justin Daulton
There you go. Thank you. um That, you know, Paraguay almost beats France. That means we're better than France, which means we have a chance to beat Belgium and make the World Cup final. i
00:11:32
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:11:32
Justin Daulton
Yes, what it would it have been fun to beat Belgium, go on and beat Spain, go on and beat France, go to the World Cup final? For sure. It would have been it had been ah an amazing run. But we're not on the level of these of Belgium, Germany, you know Brazil, Spain, Argentina, England, Mexico. like We're just not on those levels. like We're just not. We're not there yet.
00:11:52
Justin Daulton
I will say, as bad as the Belgium game was, and we did not look at the same team that played the six games prior. like We looked like a completely different team throughout this throughout the Belgium game.
00:12:03
Justin Daulton
the And we've talked about the last two weeks, the way that we played throughout this entire World Cup, SANS, the Belgium game, gives me hope for what we are building here in America for future international tournaments.
00:12:16
Justin Daulton
whether it's you know Whether it's the World Cup, whether it's CONCACAF or whatever it is, Gold Cup, whatever tournaments we're going to play in in the future, it gives me hope for what we are able to do down the line.
00:12:29
Justin Daulton
Now, it doesn't excuse the poor performance of the belgian game because it is it was an an atrocious game couldn't complete passes getting uh getting tackled off of the ball consistently goalkeeping play i texted you as i was leaving work like having two goals happen that shouldn't have happened because a goaltender coming way out of the box shouldn't come out of the box and be terrible defense not clearing the ball out of the box like if you take away those two goals yes the game is still two one
00:12:59
Justin Daulton
but at least it's two one and there's a chance in the second half like
00:13:02
Cody Atkinson
yeah
U.S. World Cup Performance Review
00:13:04
Justin Daulton
Like, it at least gives you that hope that there's a chance and that that you can make the run for it. will say that 90 seconds where the game was tied after we scored before they scored the second goal was an incredible 90 seconds of of sports.
00:13:16
Cody Atkinson
jesus
00:13:17
Justin Daulton
Like, don't I could have scripted it any better, honestly, for how good that those 90 seconds felt. um But yeah, I mean... it's betterweet i think there's two sides of this coin that we have to look forward of what is the next four years. I think we have a roster that is good, not great, but good.
00:13:35
Justin Daulton
But there's a lot of people talking about depth. That's the, the, the under 18 team that's been playing has a lot of, a lot of players that are going to be competitive on this roster. You know, we can talk about Pulisic kind of kind catching some flack, you know, in the media the last couple of days.
00:13:51
Justin Daulton
But I mean, they this roster is built for international play. we just got to put the right, the right new blood in there to allow this team to grow and into what it should be. And, you know, I don't think we're as far off as you made it seem when we were texting earlier the week of, don't think we're that far off.
00:14:08
Justin Daulton
I still think we're, I don't think we're going win the world cup in four years. I'm not, I'm not saying that, but I can see a semifinal, you know, appearance in four years because like we have that potential.
00:14:20
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, I don't think I'm going to go go that far with it Because the the question that I feel like I have to ask myself is, did we actually show more in this World Cup?
00:14:32
Cody Atkinson
Or did we just play a World Cup with an expanded field? Right? Like, you
Baseball Highlights and Player Achievements
00:14:39
Cody Atkinson
know what I mean? Like, we played, played
00:14:39
Justin Daulton
I don't know. We beat a Paraguay team 4-1 that made it to the round of 16 with us. I know the rest of the group stage wasn't that wasn't the greatest, right?
00:14:49
Cody Atkinson
but
00:14:51
Justin Daulton
we We sat for Turkey, right? We beat a pretty good All-Australia team, but they're ranked in the top 50, but that's about it in terms of FIFA ranking. So, I mean, there's still... yeah I understand the litmus test of the European powers of it all,
00:15:07
Justin Daulton
And I'm not saying that we're beating, you know, we're going to go out and and beat the European powers next summer round. But I'm saying that with where we are heading, there has to be some hope for what we're able to do.
00:15:18
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, there's there's hope for sure. The question for me is, do like like there's hope because there was always hope. like The Paraguay win was huge.
00:15:31
Cody Atkinson
I think the Australia win was solid. the The Turkey game is your backups, but was still and a disappointment, all things considered. The Bosnia game, I think, was standard.
00:15:45
Cody Atkinson
And then the Belgium game was a disappointment. And so du the way that i so I see it is like, I'm not going to say that we don't have, but that we didn't have the talent to compete.
00:15:59
Cody Atkinson
and beat Belgium this year. But there's there appears that there's light there could be a mental hurdle that wasn't overcome there, where Belgium's more prepared because they've played in tougher games, they have higher expectations, they believe in themselves, and they have a unified identity in the way that they play soccer.
00:16:17
Cody Atkinson
And it, and, and that, that developed or, or it also just could be as simple as the U S goalie got outplayed by the Belgium goalie. Like I was texting you during the game.
00:16:27
Cody Atkinson
There were moments where you're like, this is, this is good. Like the U S is sustaining an attack.
00:16:32
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
00:16:33
Cody Atkinson
um We, we struggled to just rip it and take shots. I think there were times we went for the extra pass to try to get the perfect shot. And I think that's a little bit of the mental side for me where I'm like to just rip it and go for it. Like,
00:16:46
Cody Atkinson
Let's get shots on that, make the goalie make saves. and And let's not try to get too fancy amidst a very a tenacious Belgium defense. So I see where you're coming from, right? Like there's definitely aspects of of we stepped forward. Like we don't, we haven't always had a Balogun on the team and and and that dude's legit.
00:17:05
Cody Atkinson
by every sense of the word, but we, we also missed, and maybe this is a little bit of just like, it's a bummer. Pulisic was kind of hurt the game, but like there wasn't a secondary, just kind of nails guy.
00:17:13
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:17:20
Cody Atkinson
There wasn't a secondary dog that was just putting in in work as well. You had, you had Freeman at times, I think it was his name. You had Tillman at times, but the those were like off of set plays or, or some rebounds.
00:17:34
Cody Atkinson
Like they're the, It really felt like you were reliant on Balogun. I'm not going to say that we can't take the step forward.
00:17:47
Cody Atkinson
in the next World Cup, but the Belgium game does leave me less confident that we could. like If we took a step forward next World Cup, I wouldn't be surprised, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we took a step back or if we stayed still because because we learned that there's a you know like said there's a mental hurdle that they can't get over.
00:17:59
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:18:05
Cody Atkinson
i just i It was an electric tournament run. it's ah i wish it If it had ended more competitively, this is a different conversation, but it ah for the goalie to come out, play it off his chest and just kick the ground and give up call three, like any, like in that moment, like any, any goodwill you acquired was just gone of like, how, how is this what you just did here?
00:18:32
Cody Atkinson
Cause when the game was one-to-one, it was electric. When the game was two-to-one, was feeling good. I was like, do we, we can make this something.
00:18:39
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:18:41
Justin Daulton
we We were texting each other at 2-1 at the end of the half. like but I can pull it up. like We were literally like, hey, there's a chance. like We were playing really well at the of the first half. And then you come out and you get that dagger. you know They go to 3-1. And i I remember texting. I was like that that felt like the dagger. like And that was still very early on in the second half where i was like, I don't think we have it in us to come back from two goals and still get up for another one.
00:19:02
Cody Atkinson
who Yeah. Yeah. I, yeah. I think that like sums it up, right. For, it was In my mind, it was not a competitive game at the very beginning. When it was 1-0, the U.S. looked flat.
00:19:18
Cody Atkinson
The U.S. got their goal. They felt good. You let up the second one, but that's just kind of, hey, act like you've been there before.
00:19:24
Justin Daulton
emotional high.
00:19:24
Cody Atkinson
Like, yeah, you got caught off guard.
00:19:25
Justin Daulton
yeah
00:19:27
Cody Atkinson
And then from that point until the goalie just blunder, you you played what I felt like was a good competitive game against Belgium.
00:19:37
Cody Atkinson
and then after the blunder, it spiraled. I hope we can take a step forward. I'm not as dialed in as you are. Like if if the if you're telling me the under 18 team is out there playing well and winning, like maybe, maybe though that's the generation that's going to, you know, help us compete at the same level as these European teams.
00:19:56
Cody Atkinson
um That would be sick. But I also just would not be surprised if we were just stuck on these teams because we look up to them like they're bigger than us because we've just never been able to compete with them. And and you need some dogs to come in and and not be afraid by it. And that's just not who we had on the team this year. we We had some guys who I felt like were jersey watching and knew who they were playing and and they let it affect the way they play.
00:20:21
Cody Atkinson
And that's really disappointing, but it doesn't have to be that way. Going forward, I still think it was um a massively successful tournament, but it it certainly ended in a dud.
00:20:33
Justin Daulton
Yeah. I'm interested to see what the next four years of Balogon playing international soccer with the U.S. Because I know he flipped back and forth towards this World Cup, like deciding on which country he was going play for because he had split nationality.
00:20:48
Justin Daulton
So, you know, he finally made the decision to play for the U.S. you know at that cutoff point. So I'm interested to see what the next four years of him playing cold Gold Cup, CONCACAF, obviously World Cup qualifiers and in about three years. So I'm interested to see what it what they can do. we we definitely have our coach.
00:21:05
Justin Daulton
I'm not going even attempt to try to butcher in his name, um but we have a coach that these guys like playing for. We have a star player in battle gun. All we got to do is get everyone else to play that supporting cast role.
00:21:17
Justin Daulton
And I think we can, I think we can take that step forward. And maybe that is just American pride in me. Maybe that is just international high
MLB All-Star Week Excitement
00:21:24
Justin Daulton
of how good this run was. And obviously what we've done this year from a, from a country spin standpoint and in sports is,
00:21:30
Justin Daulton
But you've got to wonder what the next four years looks like for this American soccer team going forward.
00:21:37
Cody Atkinson
One second, Justin. I got to do an experiment here. um I'm pretty sure your audio is coming in fine and my AirPods are just like losing their mind today. So I'm going to try to cut these AirPods real quick and I'm going to see if we can keep our connection here and keep going. But we might have to start over because i like this is the second time you've made a whole soliloquy and I've heard none of it because it was just... I can see...
00:22:03
Cody Atkinson
the wavelengths at the bottom and you're coming in fine, but I can't hear you.
00:22:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I see the sound waves. Yeah.
00:22:08
Cody Atkinson
Like it's the the app is picking you up. I just can't hear you.
00:22:12
Cody Atkinson
So let me disconnect and see what happens.
00:22:12
Justin Daulton
So I wish we could pause.
00:22:20
Cody Atkinson
All right, hold on here. All right, can you hear me? All right, yeah, I can hear you.
00:22:25
Justin Daulton
Yeah, can you hear me?
00:22:27
Cody Atkinson
I'm gonna try to do it off of computer, the straight computer audio um which might be sloppier, but do these, I don't know what's up with the AirPods right now. you I'm just, I'm losing every other word and I know it's me, not you. Cause I can see the way blanks. So
00:22:43
Justin Daulton
Yeah. God, a note for 21 minute Mark to go in and cut and re-stitch together.
00:22:49
Cody Atkinson
yeah. um So did you want to pick up what what were you saying there?
00:22:55
Justin Daulton
I was saying, like for those for those of you listening, we had a little technical difficulty, but for to catch Kota up, I was basically saying like I'm interested to see what the next three to four years looks like for this team with Balogon on it, of playing Gold Cup soccer, playing Coca-Cola soccer, you know playing the friendlies, doing World Cup qualifiers, building the team around him. i was saying that we have a coach, i don't know how to pronounce his name, but we have a coach that these guys like playing for.
00:23:21
Justin Daulton
So i'm I'm interested to see what the synergy looks like because Algonquin wasn't on this team. He had to make a decision and he made the decision towards the end because the other country didn't want it. we you know we have this opportunity to build a team now and I think that has to play a factor into it as well over the next you know three to four years but as we get ready for Spain and and Portugal.
00:23:44
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, definitely. it It would have been a much a much cooler ending to get a chance to play Spain. um Even if you lose that one, just to get over the Belgium pump, get a chance to to see yourself compared to Spain and and go from there. It could have been a ton of momentum, but they they fall short of that.
00:24:01
Cody Atkinson
But that doesn't mean that there can't be hope for the future. So we'll definitely be locked in four years from now when we get the 100th anniversary celebration where three nations are are hosting the world cup and, and we'll see, and and there will be plenty of, of opportunities between now and then to to kind of get a vibe for the team and see if, see if they they can, they can overcome that hurdle.
00:24:25
Cody Atkinson
I think that the takeaway from Belgium is they seemed a little bit further away than, than we all thought they might be, but it also might've just been a bad game. And, and we'll have definitely some opportunities in the meantime to, to see that, but we we we can kick it from there.
00:24:38
Cody Atkinson
I think that's, you know, we'll, we'll keep,
00:24:40
Justin Daulton
I think we should, before we move on to the topic, I think we as a pod should agree, a on the wagon pick, because I think you and I agree on the wagon pick. And then who we actually, as like as a pod, we need to agree on who we think will win the World Cup.
00:24:47
Cody Atkinson
Oh, true.
00:24:52
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, the wagon pick we've already agreed on Norway.
00:24:52
Justin Daulton
So do you want to, you want it to take, yeah, the wagon pick is Norway. Like, I don't think, i don't I don't understand how anyone can't pick Norway at this point to be, like, just a vice pick all the way through.
00:24:57
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:25:02
Justin Daulton
Like, early Holland is a beast. And then the Rowe. thing i'm here for it Like I want to be in a sports bar doing the row. Like I'm here for it.
00:25:10
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's the easy wagon pick too, right? Because they just they they have the best player in the world, the current you know young best player in the world. Obviously, Messi's still playing and Mbappe is
Sports Moments Shaping Fandom
00:25:23
Cody Atkinson
also in that conversation.
00:25:23
Justin Daulton
Mbappe. Yeah.
00:25:25
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, but Haaland's up there with Mbappe and in his prime, I'm like Messi and Ronaldo. And he's playing for a country that just doesn't. win the world cup and to to, to watch them, them make the run that they're making. it's, you can't not wagon this team and, and to see how much fun their fans are having in the process. If, if you're on, if you think any other teams, a wagon, you're just, you're wrong. Unfortunately, like that's, that's just the way it is.
00:25:51
Cody Atkinson
Actual winner.
00:25:55
Cody Atkinson
Everyone's had their flaws. Like,
00:25:58
Justin Daulton
Yeah, everyone's looked beatable. Obviously, yesterday with Egypt and Argentina, like, coming down to referee interference at this point.
00:26:05
Cody Atkinson
Well, in Argentina, cape Cape Verde wasn't any better for Argentina either.
00:26:08
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
00:26:10
Cody Atkinson
So for me, it's like i can't pick Argentina. It's either France or Spain, and I'm i'm probably leaning France, but I really like the way Spain's playing too.
00:26:17
Justin Daulton
Yeah. No, I'm with you. I think Francis, the pick, Mbappe is just such a talented player, man. like He deservedly expected to be in the conversation with Ronaldo, Messi, you know, as some of the greatest players ever played this game. like i think that's where he's going to be at the end of his career. So it's I think I'm good with saying that Francis is the winner for the Coleslaw Sports Talk.
00:26:42
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. And and and if we, if we get the perfect coastal launch sports talk bracket, we'll get a France and Norway final and it'll be.
00:26:50
Justin Daulton
That would be so good. I'm calling in for work.
00:26:51
Cody Atkinson
They're on opposite sides of the bracket.
00:26:52
Justin Daulton
I'm calling in at work and drinking all day for this game.
00:26:54
Cody Atkinson
she's wonderful Yeah. Cause what do we got? We will have, I don't know the bracket super well. I know Norway and France are on the opposite sides. You have Spain, Belgium.
00:27:07
Justin Daulton
Is it... a
00:27:08
Cody Atkinson
Argentina versus, I think, Switzerland.
00:27:12
Justin Daulton
Yeah, fill for me for a second for me.
00:27:12
Cody Atkinson
was Norway-England.
00:27:15
Justin Daulton
Let's see.
00:27:17
Cody Atkinson
Norway-England, I think.
00:27:18
Justin Daulton
It's France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, Norway, and England, Argentina, Switzerland. So France would get winner of Spain, Belgium, and then Norway would get Argentina or Switzerland.
00:27:23
Cody Atkinson
you know Let's go.
00:27:31
Cody Atkinson
Dude, give me... Dude, France, Spain would be electric, but Norway, Argentina, and then... Norway beating Brazil, then England, then Argentina, then France would be just the most fun any World Cup could possibly have.
00:27:46
Justin Daulton
Yeah, and you always have a play yourself on the main stage at that point as early on.
00:27:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:27:50
Justin Daulton
you're You're now going to submit yourself in that that conversation of one of the best players playing this this game right now.
00:27:55
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Which i think I think for most Premier League fans, he's already like in that conversation.
00:27:59
Cody Atkinson
At least I played... I played Premier League fantasy once because I had a coworker that was really in this. He was from England and he was really into soccer. So we like all played with him. um I had Holland on my team and that's all I know is he was electric.
00:28:00
Justin Daulton
Yes.
00:28:09
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:28:13
Cody Atkinson
And that was like three years that was like two or three years ago. So I assume he's been electric ever since.
00:28:18
Justin Daulton
Yeah, he's he's on Man City now. So obviously not with Juventus or wherever he was before Man City, but he's with Man City now.
00:28:24
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:28:26
Justin Daulton
He's a phenomenal player with for Man City, and I hate to say that because I'm a Chelsea fan.
00:28:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:28:31
Justin Daulton
so
00:28:31
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. So I would say he's already in the conversation, at least from a Premier League standpoint. But he the world that maybe is held in the Premier League now knows that he's with those guys.
00:28:38
Justin Daulton
The world is taking notice.
00:28:43
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for sure.
00:28:45
Cody Atkinson
All right, let's kick it over to baseball. We spent definitely more time on that. than we planned on, but the World Cup's been electric this year. And we just got a couple of quick baseball stories to get get out for you. So Justin Verlander announces his retirement coming at the end of this season.
00:29:02
Cody Atkinson
Career stats, he has 81.8 He's 266 wins, 159 losses. he's two sixty six two hundred six six wins a hundred and fifty nine losses A 3-3-3 ERA over the course of like 20-something years is insane.
00:29:18
Cody Atkinson
And he's 3,554 strikeouts. Absolutely insane. He spent 14 years with Detroit, seven with Houston, half a season in New York with the Mets and one season in San Francisco. So you brought up a question that I will ask you. So going to ask you questions.
00:29:33
Cody Atkinson
One, is Justin Verlander a first ballot Hall of Famer or...
00:29:33
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:29:39
Cody Atkinson
is How do you think, I think, I mean, I assume we're on the same page as a Hall of Famer. Are you thinking first ballot? Are you thinking unanimous? Like, how are you, how do you, how do you look at this? Question one. Question two, what hat do you put on him in the Hall of Fame?
00:29:54
Justin Daulton
I'll answer the second question first. he He goes in as a Tiger, um not just from longevity, but for when when I think about Baseball Hall of Fame, and when you start talking about guys who wore multiple hats throughout their their their career, it's who do you picture them playing for? it And for me, Justin Verlander in a Tigers jersey is more synonymous than it is for Justin Verlander in an Astros jersey.
00:30:18
Justin Daulton
So that's no knock on his time in Houston. He obviously won two rings in Houston. um a asterisk next to it whatever you want to say but he won two rings in Houston but he's more synonymous for what he's done in Detroit uh as a player so I think he wears a Tiger's hat going into the hall um I don't think it's unanimous unfortunately but i do think he's first ballot
00:30:39
Cody Atkinson
Okay. That's fair because i don't we haven't we don't see a lot of unanimous. um I think there's like, I forget, this might be wrong, but there's somebody on the level, like I think maybe Ichiro or like Jeter or one some something like that.
00:30:53
Cody Atkinson
like wasn't I think Ichiro might not have been unanimous if I'm not mistaken.
00:30:53
Justin Daulton
Yeah. I don't think so, yeah. because i think because Because if he would have played his entire career in the U.S.
00:30:57
Cody Atkinson
Which just been the second. Yeah.
00:31:00
Justin Daulton
or other than Japan, then yeah, there would probably be a different conversation.
00:31:03
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:31:04
Justin Daulton
But because he had that split career, it's similar to the conversation we're going have next. like Because your split career, not a unanimous first pick.
00:31:12
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. So I can see where you're coming from. I do also think he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. I think he should be unanimous. I don't think he will be because baseball writers are too uppity.
00:31:24
Cody Atkinson
um Arguably the greatest pitcher of our lifetime.
00:31:29
Justin Daulton
Yeah, yeah.
00:31:30
Cody Atkinson
Definitely. He's at least in the conversation, if not the the correct answer. And I do agree with you. I think he goes in the Hall of Fame as a Tiger. He did win both of his championships in Houston. And I think that marks his legacy.
00:31:43
Cody Atkinson
in houston but he was a hall of fame caliber pitcher before he ever got to houston and for that reason
00:31:50
Justin Daulton
and think they like I think there's a conversation that he has two Hall of Fame careers within one career.
00:31:55
Cody Atkinson
yeah he's one of those guys
00:31:57
Justin Daulton
Like, he has a Hall of Fame career with an ne with the Astros because he won, what, two Cy Youngs in Houston? And two rings, right? I think it was two Cy Youngs, wasn't it? It's at least one in Houston.
00:32:09
Cody Atkinson
It's at least one because he he had a run where he was he got second place every year because he was like one of the guys where they had voter fatigue.
00:32:14
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:16
Cody Atkinson
So like he he lost to Garrett Cole one year, and then the next year he lost to like ah a Snell or a Glassnow type. And then the next year he should have had more than he did.
00:32:25
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:32:28
Cody Atkinson
I don't remember how many he got in Houston, but it was at least one.
00:32:32
Justin Daulton
and And I know he has a few from his time in Detroit. So, like, you're talking about a guy who has the accolades from two different careers all in one career. Because, obviously, you have the championships, the Cy Young in Houston. You have the Cy Youngs in Detroit. You have the the amount of wins in Detroit.
00:32:46
Justin Daulton
Playing on stacked teams, honestly. A lot of people forget it out how good that, like, 2006 to Tiger's team was.
00:32:56
Justin Daulton
range like tiger sea was
00:32:57
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:32:58
Justin Daulton
and that was a good team like there was a there was a world series appearance in their long playoff runs in there like they just couldn't get over the hump like they ran into some buzz saws in the playoffs but you're talking about someone in justin berlainter who very much has two hall of fame careers within one but it just if he would have gone to houston sooner then yes 100 you'd probably go in the halls as an astro but he 100 will go in as a as a tiger but what a career uh what a picture i mean The only name that I can think of in our generation that is it in the conversation is Kershaw.
00:33:28
Justin Daulton
Like, from the guys that we watched from from basically when we were kids to now as as adults, like, Kershaw is the only other name that I can really put out there that is on the same level as Verlander. And I would still put Kershaw as a first ballot Hall of Famer as well when he when he has his chance in, what, five years?
00:33:43
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:33:45
Justin Daulton
Yep.
00:33:46
Cody Atkinson
Verlander had had also had significantly more playoff success than Kershaw, just individually, right?
00:33:51
Justin Daulton
Yep.
00:33:51
Cody Atkinson
Like Kershaw was known as like, yeah, he's the greatest regular season pitcher of all time.
00:33:55
Justin Daulton
He choked in the playoffs. Yeah.
00:33:56
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Um, and so Verlander has, although Verlander struggled when he got to the world series itself, it's one of those very surprising statistics, but the rounds leading up to the world series, he was still nails.
00:34:07
Cody Atkinson
Like he was still a dude that you wanted out there. yeah, I, I think he, he goes in as a tiger. I think in a, in a, in a world where he was healthy all seven years in Houston and he gets another title maybe, or if, if, you know, he stayed in Houston instead of going to, yeah.
00:34:24
Justin Daulton
Yeah, if you if you flip the national and you put the national series in your favor, like, i don't think you flip the Braves series, but I think if you flip the national series in there and you have three rings in Houston, you know, two plus Cy Youngs, I think then then there's a conversation around going in as an Astro. Yeah.
00:34:40
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. But but it it hurts the Astros in the sense that, in in my opinion, Justin Verlander was destined for the Hall of Fame before he ever stepped foot in Houston. And it's hard to undo that because he is synonymous with Detroit.
00:34:53
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:34:55
Cody Atkinson
I told you when we watch For the Love of the Game, I feel like that's supposed to be Justin Verlander. that's like I feel like Kevin Costner playing Justin Verlander because Justin Verlander is the penultimate Tigers pitcher.
00:35:01
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:35:07
Cody Atkinson
And nomad no success he had in Houston was able to to to chip away at that. So he is a Tiger. He is a first ballot Hall of Famer. I hope he's unanimous, but do we seem to be in agreement here that he won't be.
00:35:21
Cody Atkinson
Um, speaking of future hall of famers, uh, the other big story out of baseball is Shohei Otani slugging his 300th home run of his career.
00:35:22
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:35:32
Cody Atkinson
He did this on Tuesday. It was a leadoff Homer against the Rockies in a game. They ultimately lost four to three. i have some, some kind of some fun stats for you here, and then I'll let you take this away. Cause this was kind of the topic you wanted to talk about.
00:35:47
Cody Atkinson
um He is the 170th member of the 300 home run club. He's the first Japanese born player to reach the 300 home run club. And I like to remind you when we do these topics that he he pitches as well.
00:36:01
Cody Atkinson
so He has the most home runs for a pitcher with 510 more strikeouts. And he has the most strikeouts, total for a player in the home club.
00:36:15
Justin Daulton
geez
00:36:16
Cody Atkinson
i Yeah, what what did what did you want to say about this one? What what was what were you thinking when you saw this?
00:36:22
Justin Daulton
yeah my first question for you is is if he would have came to america sooner and not played japan ball Would he have a potential of breaking Barry Bonds' record?
00:36:35
Cody Atkinson
Oh, that's a good question. How many years do you think he played? how many Do we know how many years he played Japan ball?
00:36:41
Justin Daulton
ah stand by.
00:36:41
Cody Atkinson
japanese Okay, because that's going to play in this because he's been...
00:36:42
Justin Daulton
i'll pull it up for you.
00:36:47
Cody Atkinson
In so I need here's here's here's my two questions for you, since we know my computer can't handle searches while we record. How many years do you play in Japan and how many years has he played in the US so far?
00:37:02
Cody Atkinson
I'll look up the second one on my phone.
00:37:05
Justin Daulton
Let me see if I can get it Career, that's MLB.
00:37:06
Cody Atkinson
and cause i and I need a place aspect, you know what I mean?
00:37:09
Justin Daulton
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. National Pro Bowl was from 2013 to 2017, so had another five seasons onto what he would have inevitably would play here, yeah.
00:37:20
Cody Atkinson
five seasons.
00:37:24
Justin Daulton
Yep.
00:37:24
Cody Atkinson
And he's currently played one, two, three. So he's played nine years. This is his ninth year and the MLB.
00:37:34
Cody Atkinson
What's 300 divided by nine? averaging around home runs a year. and that
00:37:43
Justin Daulton
Which I think is low because you're talking about someone who he had the 50-50 season couple years ago. Yeah.
00:37:48
Cody Atkinson
Well, you're also talking about that's divided by nine, and he still has like half a season to go. So he's probably averaging closer to like 40-ish home runs a year. so you Dude, he might, because if you're talking five five more seasons of that, that's like 200 runs.
00:38:05
Cody Atkinson
If he's, if you're just thinking, if he plays at the same pace for those five years and you can, you can knock the pace off a little bit because like he, he would have been younger. he would have been developing. like Maybe those are maybe a couple of those are in the minors.
00:38:15
Justin Daulton
Right.
00:38:18
Cody Atkinson
And then a couple of those are at the pro level and and maybe he's taking some time to adjust. But then you would also assume in the first couple of years where he was adjusting, like those would have been more flow state years.
00:38:31
Cody Atkinson
It depends on how how much he has left in him. I absolutely think he could get to 500. Probably should get 500. And Yeah. mean... How old is he? Young guy.
00:38:39
Cody Atkinson
and he
00:38:39
Justin Daulton
Does he get to 600?
00:38:40
Justin Daulton
Where I know 600 is like the new milestone to reach. i So many people make it to 500. But do you think he gets to 600?
00:38:50
Cody Atkinson
i mean
00:38:53
Cody Atkinson
old is he
00:38:53
Justin Daulton
He's 32. He's the same age as me. So he's 32. So you've got to figure out he has if he DHs for the best, that's 300 more home runs in what probably four seasons, five seasons.
00:38:58
Cody Atkinson
young
00:39:01
Cody Atkinson
I don't think he gets to 600.
00:39:08
Cody Atkinson
I mean, with because if if you think, like, if he if he has incredible longevity and he plays to 40, that's eight more seasons.
00:39:10
Justin Daulton
if he DHS towards the back end of his career.
00:39:19
Justin Daulton
Another eight seasons.
00:39:20
Cody Atkinson
That's eight more seasons. And it took him it took him eight and a half to get to
00:39:23
Justin Daulton
To get 300 home runs.
00:39:27
Cody Atkinson
so if he plays eight more but there's a tail off at 37, 38, 39, 40. I think he gets to, I don't know if he gets to 600.
00:39:35
Justin Daulton
He would have to...
00:39:37
Cody Atkinson
He
00:39:37
Justin Daulton
To get to 600, you'd have to hit 37.5 home runs for eight seasons.
00:39:45
Cody Atkinson
he could, it'll be close. i'll so I'll tell you, I'll say that. It'll be close because he has a few years here where he's gonna significantly exceed 37.5.
00:39:49
Justin Daulton
Okay.
00:39:55
Cody Atkinson
And so like, let's say last year,
00:39:55
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:40:01
Cody Atkinson
Let's see.
00:40:02
Justin Daulton
Because he got hurt last year, right? So he did he doesn't pitch last year.
00:40:05
Cody Atkinson
yeah.
00:40:05
Justin Daulton
He doesn't hit as much as he did. like he a lot of load management in terms of of of how he played last year. so
00:40:11
Cody Atkinson
So his last two full seasons, then he hit 54 and 55. The year before that, he 44, missed about 20 games that year. If he can put up... mean, actually, last year he hit 55, so...
00:40:29
Cody Atkinson
He still crushed it last year, 54 the year before. He's got 20 so far this season. If he can stack a few 50 home run seasons, then he can he can slow down and still get there.
00:40:42
Cody Atkinson
But he's got really put some – and and the the better he pitches and the more he pitches, do do you see home runs taper off faster because he's exerting himself in two ways?
00:40:50
Justin Daulton
Right.
00:40:53
Cody Atkinson
I think 500 is a given. um it's he's got the chance to get to 600. I'm not going to say he does it, but if he gets in that range, you're definitely looking at, you know, five more years in his youth.
00:41:08
Cody Atkinson
That could have been the difference between him going down as the most home runs all time versus, you know, just the 500 or 600 club as if that's not good enough on its own.
00:41:18
Cody Atkinson
You know, like if he gets to where we think he can get to, you're going to look at it and say, if he played his full career in the majors, he would have been, he would have beat Bonds.
00:41:20
Justin Daulton
Yeah,
00:41:27
Justin Daulton
for sure. Yeah, that's all I wanted to talk about because when I saw that stat coming through, I was like, in my head, Shohei Otani is still in his 20s and not 32 years old. That's because of like I forget about the the pro ball in Japan that he played.
00:41:40
Justin Daulton
So like when I saw that 300 come through, i was like, Oh, snap, like, are we, do we need to have a conversation about what are we talking about in the future in terms of Shohei Otani? But mean, the fact that he already has 765 strikeouts and we're talking about, you know, potentially 8500 home runs, like, where does he end up as one of the best players of all time?
00:41:59
Justin Daulton
Like, and that's the conversation.
00:42:00
Cody Atkinson
thinking well I think it's almost a given at this point that he's going to he he will go down as the best player of all time.
00:42:07
Justin Daulton
Yeah, and that's that's a fair conversation and a remark to make.
00:42:11
Cody Atkinson
Because you're looking at it, you want to talk about, like you did with Verlander, two Hall of Fame careers. This guy's going to have two Hall of Fame careers, one at the plate and one plate. on the mound and that's just not something that's not something we've ever seen before since baseball became like a legitimate like full-time professional sport like like shout out to babe ruth like it's it's not the same right like he he will i believe i think presuming health and any amount of longevity i think he will go down as the
00:42:22
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:45
Cody Atkinson
Greatest player of all time, because I think you're going to look at a guy where if you took his his hitting stats alone and you took his pitching stats alone, you would be having the Hall of Fame conversation about both, and we've just never seen that before.
00:42:58
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely. absolutely
00:43:00
Cody Atkinson
All right, with that, let's let's kick it over to our teams. We won't spend a ton of time here, but um ah can you can give us a little update on the Rays. give you an update on the Astros, and there will be some overlap because they did play each other since we last recorded.
00:43:15
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Since we last spoke, Rays 5-3 dropping the series to Houston, as you'll talk about on your end as well, was a bummer, but it's not indicative, not inductive, indicative of how this team has been has rebounded since the cold streak of of June.
00:43:32
Justin Daulton
So i think ultimately kind of what we're seeing with Tampa is that the arms are getting more consistent. McClanahan's ERA is coming down. Rasmussen is getting back into a flow state. So, you know, I don't i don't think...
00:43:44
Justin Daulton
Obviously, I don't think june June was a blip on the radar. I don't think losing the Houston series was indicative of it too. like Houston's hot right now, and you're going get to talk about that here in a second. like The Astros are playing with with some momentum, so it was it was always going to be a tight series.
00:43:59
Justin Daulton
I think when we played the series again in September, in the series that I plan on going to, i think it's a different story because i think one team is going to be playing for a division title where one is playing for maybe a wildcard spot maybe can completely the out of the playoff race depending on the next month goes so i think the september series against when it's in the trough is going to be a different conversation um but i will let you take a victory lap here in a second the The New York Yankees summer slump came early. ah they the ah or they're We're playing them right now. The Rays and the Yankees are playing right now.
00:44:33
Justin Daulton
And actually, we just beat them 3-0. So we've taken the series now. McClanahan beats Garrett Cole tonight on the mound.
00:44:38
Cody Atkinson
Well, it's a four-game series. You've still got tomorrow, I think.
00:44:41
Justin Daulton
How was it for?
00:44:42
Cody Atkinson
I think so.
00:44:43
Justin Daulton
Okay, I thought it was a three-game series. But yeah.
00:44:44
Cody Atkinson
you If I'm centered on anything, it's the Yankees' slump, and I know we all play four games with them.
00:44:45
Justin Daulton
um
00:44:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:44:50
Justin Daulton
Yeah. So, I mean the summer slump of the Yankees is happening. We are now, what I put, now five games ahead going or in the division.
00:44:58
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:45:00
Justin Daulton
So, like, we now have the chance, we spoke about it the last couple weeks, that the that the Rays have a chance to extend this division lead, go into the all-star break, get a lot of guys some rest, get a lot of guys healthy, start looking at what we can do on the trade deadline and really put the Rays in a position to be in a power position in the American league, um, going into October. So, you know, it's really good to see, um, my staff and I think it's going to be ah yours and my staff probably for the rest of the season.
00:45:28
Justin Daulton
Uh, junior Kevin narrow has gained ground. Um, he had a historic, uh, pace over the last two weeks. Um, of being the youngest player or the first player since 1900 to hit six home runs in six straight games.
00:45:43
Justin Daulton
So, and there i think there was a multiple home run game in there and that starts as well. I took one game off against the outros and then hit a home run the next game. So the junior is a beast right now.
00:45:53
Justin Daulton
If it wasn't for a guy by the name of Jordan Alvarez and Kyle Schwarber, I think there'd be a very different conversation around a silver slugger and best bat in baseball. But gaining ground, Caminero sitting at 26, Alvarez at 29, Shortwood at 31. This is going to be real fun race down the stretch, man. And I can't wait to watch it out kind unfold over the next couple months.
00:46:16
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it's the race is going to be a blast because Jordan's done it consistently over the course of this year, but Caminero's getting hot, and if he stays hot for any extended period of time, like he he could not only catch Jordan but put some distance because he's he's hitting home runs at an insane rate. You said like you said six games in a row with a home run. He took one game off, started hitting home runs again. I think over the course of 11 games, he had 11 home runs because of the multi-home run game.
00:46:46
Cody Atkinson
which was a record. It's just insane. and And like, if he stays hot, like he could pass Jordan in a week because he could hit seven more in a week. And even if Jordan has a good week, that's enough to pass him.
00:46:56
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:46:59
Cody Atkinson
It's incredible. and and And I'm with you that I don't think the series win against Tampa from the Astros perspective is indicative of the quality of the two teams.
00:47:11
Cody Atkinson
The Astros, like You want to talk about Jordan. Jordan won the Astros that series. The Rays absolutely obliterated the Astros on Friday, and they were set to do that again on Saturday, on the 4th of July, when they they got seven runs off of Hunter Brown.
00:47:29
Cody Atkinson
But Jordan Alvarez, and in a game that ended ten to eight had two home runs and six RBIs. And that's just what...
00:47:37
Justin Daulton
Yeah, the not to mention the second one was a Grand Slam.
00:47:40
Cody Atkinson
The second one was a walk was a walk-off. That was...
00:47:43
Justin Daulton
I thought it was a walk-off Grand Slam, was it not?
00:47:45
Cody Atkinson
I think it was a walk-off two run, I believe. I believe it It was Altuve walks.
00:47:48
Justin Daulton
Was walk-off?
00:47:52
Cody Atkinson
and reliable in
00:47:52
Justin Daulton
Okay.
00:47:53
Justin Daulton
Okay, thought he hit a Grand Slam in there over the series, but maybe I was wrong.
00:47:56
Cody Atkinson
He did hit a grand slam at one point. I think it might have been that game. I don't remember. He hit a grand slam very recently.
00:48:03
Cody Atkinson
ae he He went crazy that game. He won you that game largely single-handedly. and and And then you you were able to take Sunday to to take the series. But in no way, like you if you play Saturday's game nine times or ten times, I think the Astros win once. And that's just because Jordan put the team on his back and and won the game by himself. I don't think it's indicative of the quality. And if you look at it like...
00:48:03
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:48:31
Cody Atkinson
From a run differential aggregate perspective, I think the Rays won the one run differential of the series despite losing two to one. I think the Rays are just a better team and and and they got yored on and and that's going to happen to you sometimes. But if if they play that series again, which they, you know, so they will at the top later this season, night I'm not going to sit here and say it goes the same way. That is an incredible Rays team. You're seeing it against the Yankees right now. You saw it.
00:48:55
Cody Atkinson
They were the hottest team in baseball coming into the Houston series. So it it it just didn't didn't go their way.
00:49:01
Justin Daulton
Yeah, if you if you play the yeah if you play that as a seven-game series, like the that game the series probably down at game five because you you drop the two, and then you you already get considered one at six at that point because math is math there.
00:49:15
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:49:16
Justin Daulton
But I still think in a seven-game series, the race will take it before you even get to game seven.
00:49:21
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i would I would tend to agree. So since the last time we recorded, the Astros are 4-4. They're in the process of losing to the Nationals. That's about to be 4-5, though. They dropped the series to the Twins, 1-2. Take the Rays series 2-1. Drop the series to the Nationals, 1-2. It's looking like I said that I needed to see the Astros beat the Rays in order to believe that this resurgence was real. I saw them beat the Rays, and i still don't think it's real, dude. I still think this is a mediocre baseball team. They, cause I keep taking a step back, right? Like you get, you get caught up in the hype of these, these momentum swings and you get excited and you take a step back and you're like, it's July 8th.
00:50:03
Cody Atkinson
The Astros are set to lose to the Nationals on July 8th. They will still be three games below 500. Despite all the ground they've made up, there's still three games below 500 and and they're they're losing bad to the Nationals right now. They're going to have a worse than negative 50 run differential on the year by the time this game's over, I can i can try to quickly pull up there their run differential on MLB. It was earlier this week.
00:50:32
Cody Atkinson
I know it was negative 44 and they're currently losing by six. I don't think they made up significant ground since the last time I looked at it. But you you're you're looking at a team Let's see. Oh, this is negative 42 right now.
00:50:47
Cody Atkinson
They're losing by six. So potentially right around negative 50 run differential. Like this still isn't a good team. When they lose, they lose big. When they win, they win close. And that's just not really a recipe for success. But yeah,
00:51:00
Cody Atkinson
I will still root for this team, but I am terrified right now. This is my my stance as an Astros fan is I am terrified because I think they are about to go all in on trying to fix a mediocre team because they have a GM who needs to save his job and a manager that needs to save his job.
00:51:15
Cody Atkinson
The reports came out this week that they wanted to be in on the Scooball, the Tarek Scooball trade rubers. They want it in. They want Scooball.
00:51:26
Cody Atkinson
They don't have the farm system for it. And if you get in, this team still is bad. Like, it's better, but it's still not... a world series championship baseball team with, with Tarek Skubal. You're, you're just, you're going to look just like the Tigers do.
00:51:41
Cody Atkinson
I'm terrified. I sent you a couple articles through the week, rumors of guys that they're, that they're getting interest on that they might move. And I'm sending them to you being like, dude, go get this guy. Cause if the Astros are dumb enough to let him go, the Ray's got to go get him.
00:51:54
Cody Atkinson
Like, i I am terrified. I think this could be the most, I think if we look back in three, four or five years when the Astros are rebuilding, I think you're going to look back and this has the potential to be the most detrimental situation.
00:52:07
Cody Atkinson
trade deadline because they are about to go all in on fixing a mediocre team to try to save their jobs. And there's a part of me that wishes they were losing more so that they would they wouldn't have the opportunity to do that. But they're they're winning enough to be dangerous to themselves.
00:52:23
Cody Atkinson
and And I hope cooler heads prevail and if they make moves that they're reasonable, but they might mortgage the future for a team that as we sit here on July 8th is three games below 500 and has a run differential at least heading into the ninth inning. They have run differential of minus 48.
00:52:43
Justin Daulton
not good. Not good. But I will say, I
00:52:45
Cody Atkinson
but They still are two and a half games out of the division and a game and a half out of the wild card. So you can't really fault them for going for it. But I think if if you look under the hood, I just don't think this is a baseball team worth investing in at the expense of the future.
00:52:59
Justin Daulton
Well, you also can't stay healthy. Like Jeremy Pena goes out and not Jeremy Pena.
00:53:01
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:53:02
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Jeremy Pena. Um,
00:53:03
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, he's back down.
00:53:06
Justin Daulton
that goes down with injury yeah scoobles a flash in the pan but that only solves a problem once every five games like that doesn't solve that doesn't solve what what happens the other four games so you know as as we've talked about you know with the race you know looking at the trend line of like the race adding bullpen depth and then adding up but a a outfield bat that solves a problem for every day not necessarily a problem every five days that the austros have
00:53:11
Cody Atkinson
yeah
00:53:33
Cody Atkinson
If I thought they were a starting pitcher away, from being an upper echelon team, I would be all for it. Because he only impacts every five days, but but he has the most impact you could ever have every five days, right?
00:53:46
Cody Atkinson
like if that's what they If I thought that's what they were away from from a World Series or an ALCS or whatever, by all means, whatever it is, then then I would be all for it.
00:53:47
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:53:57
Cody Atkinson
I just, I don't think he... I think you go get him and I think you still fall short of doing anything worth having invested in. And that's that's the worst outcome.
00:54:08
Cody Atkinson
and And I think that's where they'd be headed. But we're sitting at a very cool part of the MLB calendar. MLB All-Star Week, I really think it really should be called like weekend because most of the activities are on the weekend.
00:54:21
Cody Atkinson
MLB All-Star Week begins this weekend. I'm a huge draft guy. I've i've said this before. The MLB draft is on Saturday. I think you get rounds one to four on Saturday.
00:54:21
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:54:33
Cody Atkinson
And then you get the remainder of the rounds on Sunday. i don't think I'll be able to watch either of these just because of timing and other things going on this weekend. But I definitely would be locked in on this and, and full disclosure, it'll be a solo pod next week because Justin's got a, a nice vacation coming up with the fam and the MLB draft will be, the MLB draft and the all-star weekend in general will be a point of discussion.
00:54:59
Cody Atkinson
So, so definitely look for that. You also have the futures game on Sunday. So if you're rooting for a team that, that that isn't playing well this year, you you can get a ah sneak peek at the future. Or if you're just any team with a farm system, you you had at least a couple guys here at the futures game worth getting excited about.
00:55:17
Cody Atkinson
There's a new all-star three on three game on Sunday. I can't, I don't know what this is, but it's like ah a baseball legend, like Ryan Howard is, is on one team. And think Shane Victorino was on another. And then there is a a all-star from softball from the, uh, the new a USL American United softball league.
00:55:40
Cody Atkinson
Um, there's going to be one, all one of them on each team.
00:55:41
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:55:43
Cody Atkinson
And then it looks like the third player on each team is a, at least the the first two that I saw was a Philadelphia based athlete from a different sports. You had like Devante Smith was on one and Tio was on another.
00:55:57
Cody Atkinson
So, um, Definitely some stuff to get excited about there. That'll be interesting to check that out. ah Home Run Derby is Monday. They changed the format up again this year. So I think the, yeah, so I believe the time clock is gone and we are back to swing based, which is a number for me.
00:56:07
Justin Daulton
Everything they do it every year.
00:56:13
Justin Daulton
Yeah, that's why i was reading.
00:56:14
Cody Atkinson
I thought the time clock was electric. I know I'm in the minority there. I thought it was so much fun. and And I thought it did. I thought that I felt like the Home Run Derby was doing less damage to the second half season of its participants than it used to.
00:56:28
Cody Atkinson
and And you just don't see a guy like we were kids.
00:56:28
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:56:31
Cody Atkinson
i this Maybe this should have made my top 10 list, but I think it was Bobby Abreu who went for 44 home runs in round one of the home run derby and then immediately got eliminated the next round because he was too gassed to keep going.
00:56:43
Cody Atkinson
even though he Yeah.
00:56:44
Justin Daulton
It's the jo it's ah it's a Josh Hamilton in New York. you know yeah the Those type of...
00:56:48
Cody Atkinson
don't think it. Does that ring in a bell, Bobby Abreu, doing that for like and he was on the White Sox?
00:56:54
Justin Daulton
It doesn't ring a bell for me. Because I remember, like I said, I remember the Josh Hamilton where he hit...
00:56:55
Cody Atkinson
Hold on.
00:57:00
Justin Daulton
I feel like had 100 home runs in the first round. I know it wasn't, but it felt like it was 100 home runs. I remember i mean Ryan Howard participating a couple times. Uh...
00:57:12
Justin Daulton
I don't remember Bobby Abreu in it.
00:57:14
Cody Atkinson
Maybe it wasn't.
00:57:18
Justin Daulton
Yeah, i don't know.
00:57:20
Cody Atkinson
and
00:57:20
Justin Daulton
I'm excited for this year. i won't i'll be on a I'll be on a boat, so I won't know i won't be able to watch it, but Junior Caminero is going to be in it this year.
00:57:26
Cody Atkinson
Yes, he will.
00:57:27
Justin Daulton
So it's going be exciting.
00:57:27
Cody Atkinson
Yoram will not. Let's see.
00:57:30
Justin Daulton
Well, I mean, Vlade Jr. won it two years in row and still hit a ton home runs in the second half of the season, so I still have faith in Caminero to to go out there and hit home runs when it's all said and done.
00:57:41
Cody Atkinson
There you So what I'm going to do is by the next show, i will say who it was. I'll figure it out. I got to look into this. But there was a guy, he just could not not hit a home run. Maybe it was Josh Hamilton, and I'm just getting gears mixed up.
00:57:56
Cody Atkinson
But he had like 40-something home runs, i I swear, in the first round, and then hit like three in the next round.
00:58:00
Justin Daulton
I think you're thinking of Josh Hamilton.
00:58:02
Cody Atkinson
Maybe it was Josh Hamilton. He it like three in the next round because he was so gassed. And i I just liked the time clock.
00:58:06
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:58:07
Cody Atkinson
I thought it helped avoid that. and And it was just, did there's some electricity to like, you got 15 seconds. This next one's got to go out or it's over. um But they're going back to swing based. So we'll see how that plays out. Maybe it'll be a nice change of pace. And maybe the answer to the home run derby is switching it up every few years to keep it fresh.
00:58:26
Cody Atkinson
Then I'll start all-star game on Tuesday.
00:58:27
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:58:29
Cody Atkinson
So that's MLB all-star week festivities in Philadelphia. and with that let's kick it over justin you're the list guy and we have our most um um know the word i'm looking for is we this is the most adventurous we have gotten with a list and the written yeah the the returns on this are to be seen this is either go to be incredible or atrocious
00:58:46
Justin Daulton
Yeah, the most personal.
00:58:55
Justin Daulton
Yeah, the whole point of it. So as you mentioned and in the in the rigmarole at the beginning of this is it's the top 10 sports moments that shaped our fandom. So this isn't as you refer to this isn't watching a Super Bowl, a random Super Bowl with your dad that makes you into a football fan. though This is what what happened with your sports teams or a player or time span or whatever may be that.
00:59:17
Justin Daulton
made you into the fan you are for that team, that player, et cetera. So I'll give you my first one. My first one is going to be a time span, um as we talked about, Cody, before we logged on here.
00:59:28
Justin Daulton
um It is going to be from 1999 to 2004. The Houston Astro Killer Bees was my is my time span that I'm going to this And specifically Craig Vigio.
00:59:39
Justin Daulton
um I played second base growing up, and Craig Vigio was my favorite player. played for my favorite team at the time. And then 1999 to 2004, when I first really started to like actually watch baseball fall and watch the Astros, I went to games in the Astrodome before I retired.
00:59:56
Justin Daulton
i watched a lot of games in at Enron and now then Minimate. And then I haven't seen anything in Daikin yet. But once I come back to Houston, I'll watch things in Daikin. But like those 1999 to 2004, you're going to notice, i don't I'm not saying the next season in there, but two thousand or from 1999 to 2004, that killer bees, man, like was ah ah an amazing time to be a Houston Astros fan.
01:00:20
Justin Daulton
And for of to watch Craig Biggio go out and hit, you know, to get his 3000th hit, you know, to be the captain of that team for so many years. and able to model my game off of him. Like, I was i was shorter in stature like Biggio was. Not too very short, but, like, Biggio wasn't, you know, 6'5", like Lance Berkman was or anything like that. But that that that Craig Biggio, that kind of spit fire, like, you know, that was kind of the game I played at second base. You know, putt-a-putt down, get down first base, you know, kind of do what you had to do to to to help the team win.
01:00:53
Justin Daulton
I modeled my entire playing style off off of Craig Vigie. I wore seven so many seasons for it. So once and again, that they retired his jersey number years later. But that 99 to 2004 range, man, was such an incredible time to be an Astros fan.
01:01:09
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it really was. If you were anywhere near Houston in that era, you knew the killer bees. And if you were our age in that era, the killer bees definitely shaped your just your love of of baseball and and especially Astros baseball.
01:01:27
Cody Atkinson
and and so and scrappy teams i mean if you if you were an astros fan you had two choices in life you could either be a biggio guy or a bagwell guy but those were your only two options and and then to me as a bagwell guy the stance was mesmerizing as everybody knows there's just
01:01:37
Justin Daulton
yeah
01:01:43
Justin Daulton
Yeah, yeah. yeah
01:01:46
Cody Atkinson
He was more fun to mimic on the little league field. You get asquat like as low of a squad as you could and ah you would swing and miss. And maybe that's why I have back problems to this day.
01:01:59
Cody Atkinson
um Yeah, the the killer bees made an impact on everybody. Something similar. The same era will make an appearance on my list, but in a slightly different way.
01:02:10
Cody Atkinson
Wait I'll start with number 10, and this is where I'm just going to tell you right now. I had no idea where to go with this list, so you're going look at this and be like, this guy's this guy missed the target entirely. Number 10 for me, I call BAS, which we all know to be battered aggie syndrome.
01:02:19
Justin Daulton
oh yeah
01:02:23
Cody Atkinson
I have lumped three moments into here. um I'm going to give you chance to guess the first moment.
01:02:27
Justin Daulton
okay the first don't know is it is it oh I don't want to is it the Johnny Menzel horse collar tackle
01:02:31
Cody Atkinson
You know it. You know it.
01:02:37
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah. It's I, loved I lumped, lumped three moments into here. There's the, the Johnny Manziel horse collar, no call against Auburn that cost us the game.
01:02:45
Justin Daulton
Auburn yep no
01:02:46
Cody Atkinson
Um, during During the Kyle Allen years, there was an LSU offsides no call that led to and a game ending interception.
01:02:53
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Yeah. Sure.
01:02:55
Cody Atkinson
This one sticks with me more than anything because that was my last game in Kyle Field as a student. And I was stood in the stands for 15 minutes after the game and just like in awe of like, this is how my this is how my my my student experience is going to end in the most BAS s fashion of all time.
01:03:13
Cody Atkinson
um And then I also this one is and I don't remember the situation exactly, but I remember texting you about it when it happened and being like, it's it's it's transferring sports. There was a baseball game against LSU.
01:03:26
Cody Atkinson
where they i forget is if either we slid into third and they called us out on a clearly safe call or LSU got called safe on a clearly out call. It blurs in my mind, but the outcome sticks because I texted you and I said, LSU can't keep getting away with this um in every sport. So if there's one thing that shaped my fandom, it's battered Aggie syndrome. and And I think those are three very clear moments where you were just like,
01:03:55
Cody Atkinson
It's not meant to be for us ever because it's is just the way sports go. And I know we've gotten away from that a little bit. We got we were the beneficiaries of holding no call against Notre Dame this last year.
01:04:06
Cody Atkinson
and And in moments like that, I don't know how to act because i this is not what I grew up with.
01:04:07
Justin Daulton
Yep.
01:04:11
Cody Atkinson
We don't get away with things. And so BAS is number 10 for me.
01:04:13
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:04:16
Justin Daulton
Yeah. As you say, like the the standing or being in the stands for 15 minutes after the the LSU game, thats that was me at the Auburn game because I was at the Auburn game where the no call happened and you could see it.
01:04:27
Justin Daulton
I was on the third deck on the north end zone.
01:04:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:04:29
Justin Daulton
Like I could see the horse collar from 200 yards away at that point and it was very clearly a ah horse collar. And I was like, I literally were telling my my parents, i was like, I'm not leaving until they start the game back up.
01:04:41
Cody Atkinson
yeah I'm not leaving it until it takes this.
01:04:42
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Yeah, correct.
01:04:45
Cody Atkinson
believe was at the photo check at that time.
01:04:45
Justin Daulton
um
01:04:48
Cody Atkinson
think I was working.
01:04:49
Justin Daulton
um
01:04:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:04:51
Justin Daulton
Such a bad one, man. Johnny Dissert better for his for his last season at a and m
01:04:55
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:04:55
Justin Daulton
Um, uh, my number nine is going to be game one 62. Um, Evan Longoria walk off home run. Uh, this was, I'd already been a race fan, but I, as you and I have spoken over the years, you can't be a fan and win the championship in your first year.
01:05:10
Justin Daulton
Um, so the year that i I finally gave up on the Astros when they sold the farm and I couldn't, I couldn't forgive them anymore for selling the farm. Uh, that's when I jumped over and became an Evan Longoria fan and Tampa race fan. That was year they to World Series. I was like, I can't ah can't claim that.
01:05:24
Justin Daulton
So flash forward to 2011, which was about four years-ish later from the World Series. That was the first time I actually felt like I was a fan. I watched so many games i that year.
01:05:36
Justin Daulton
I watched Game 162 Live because it's on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. You're watching the ticker for the the Boston Red Sox score update. The Red Sox co collapse and the eighth and ninth inning.
01:05:47
Justin Daulton
And then the Rays force extra innings against the Yankees. And then eventually Longroy hits the most poetic home run in Rays history into the short porch in left field at the trough where it's it's the it's the short fence.
01:05:58
Cody Atkinson
the break work
01:06:02
Justin Daulton
And, you know, it's the the the iconic, like, hands up as he's rounding first base. Like, that was the first time I was like, this is... This is special. It ultimately didn't leave anything. We sucked into 2011 postseason.
01:06:15
Justin Daulton
But that was the first one actually actually felt like I was a fan of that team. I could actually like actually feel like I have something invested with them. And like I just never looked back since. like I loved the scrappy team aspect ah of the Rays. I loved the moneyball aspect. they They do moneyball with analytics, and it makes a whole lot more sense than what the Athletics ever did.
01:06:33
Justin Daulton
And they, you know, it sucks because you lose fun players, but like, man, the times that you do have them, like, I still have a Longoria jersey. You know, I still look back at the days of Snell and David Price and Chris Archer and, Glass now and Carl Crawford and all these other guys that came through Tampa that should have been,
01:06:54
Justin Daulton
raised for life but just we didn't have the money to pay these guys towards the end of the career if you keep any of those guys on contract the Rays have one or two World Series titles in the last 10 years and like that's that's a real like not even me being a fan like that's a real possibility that this team has one or two World Series titles in the last 10 years because of the level of talent that these teams had but it all goes back for me to that game 162 with Evan Longoria man like cue the violins like I'm so happy that he's getting his number we' retired with Tampa this year like That is a guy that played the game the right way and and shaped my fandom has my second half of my life of choosing which baseball team I wanted to to root for for the foreseeable future. that That felt justified by picking the race at that point in time.
01:07:39
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and um that's why the Rays need to go all, that's why that's why you really need to see the Rays go for it at the trade deadline this year because
01:07:49
Cody Atkinson
the the way that they have operated, they've gotten so close and they've been one of the best run organizations for so long, but um ah you really want to see them risk it to try to take the next step and get one.
01:08:02
Cody Atkinson
so I would really love to see them them land something big. This year, a major rave moment. I'm just going to throw a couple of honorable mentions out here because you mentioned some some people.
01:08:14
Cody Atkinson
um Honorable mention Kevin Cash walking out on the field and saying he's out and he's out. um been Double challenging.
01:08:22
Justin Daulton
He's safe. He's safe.
01:08:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I'm getting them both wrong.
01:08:24
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:08:25
Cody Atkinson
That was the most incredible managerial moment I've ever seen.
01:08:26
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:08:29
Cody Atkinson
And then the other one is Kevin Cash pulling Blake Snell ah yeah after one single in in a way that I was utterly baffled by because you had Game 7 Charlie Morton ah on the mound ready to go the next game.
01:08:29
Justin Daulton
yeah
01:08:33
Justin Daulton
And the seventh inning of the World Series, yeah.
01:08:45
Cody Atkinson
He was not going to lose that in my opinion. So that was that was just a couple of fun Kevin Cash jabs. I was I enjoy making fun of Kevin Cash, even though he actually is a really good manager.
01:08:59
Cody Atkinson
um
01:08:59
Justin Daulton
He is. And if he was on any other team, he probably had already won a World Series if he was on any other team.
01:09:02
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah. ah For me, this is where I'm going with the same era of the Astros. I don't know exactly how to communicate how this shaped my fandom, but this is something that has stuck with me for decades at this point, is the Astros and the Braves in the playoffs in the late ninety s early two thousand s being inevitable.
01:09:23
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:09:24
Cody Atkinson
It was i wall right here in 1997, the Astros lost to the Braves in the playoffs three games
01:09:24
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
Astros vs Braves Playoff Rivalry
01:09:30
Cody Atkinson
to nothing.
01:09:30
Cody Atkinson
In 1999, the Astros lost to the Braves in the playoffs three games to one. And then in 2001, the Astros lost to the Braves in the playoffs in three to zero. So every other year for those six years, the Astros got bounced by the Braves in the playoffs.
01:09:48
Cody Atkinson
handily and this will live with me forever i cannot forget this um to this day i have a disdain for the braves because of this like i will i may mildly at times root for the braves because they have fun players but in the back of my mind i'm like i hate this team because they i had to watch them beat us every single year it felt like for it felt like for a decade obviously it was only three times in the six-year span but
01:10:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:10:14
Cody Atkinson
Dude, I cannot express to anyone who wasn't a fan of one of these teams at that time how inevitable this was and how demoralizing it was. ah I don't know how it shaped me, but it did because I still think about it.
01:10:29
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I mean, it's one of those,
College Football Rivalries and Personal Stories
01:10:30
Justin Daulton
the way that you feel about the Braves, because I do feel the same way about the Braves, is the way I feel about the Cardinals. Like, I can never truly root for the Cardinals because of, what, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, you know, time frame with the Astros, and i feel the same exact way. Like, it's it's one of those that, like, when you have those rivalries, you know, we talk about with A&M all time, right? Like, we talk about, like, the rivalries with Texas, but the real rivalry was actually you with Texas Tech.
01:10:55
Justin Daulton
Like, that was the school that we were actually, like, on even playing field with, like, and it was if like every every year it was up to, up to like is Mike Leach to pull something out that works or is it going to be, you know, Sherman figuring it out this year or someone or whoever it's going to be, you know, as you kind of go through it.
01:11:05
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:11:10
Justin Daulton
So that's what I always kind of put it is like the Cardinals was, was Texas. Like we could not get past the Cardinals as Astros fans, but the real rivalry was, the breaks like we just we we were on playing even playingfield through the radio of season just couldn't get it figured out in and the playoffs So that's how I've always equated it to it. But yeah, that that time period was was a time. And you felt like there were some really good teams in there that could have gone to an NLCS, potentially a World Series, and it's just it just never happened.
01:11:39
Cody Atkinson
Nice.
01:11:41
Justin Daulton
um My next one is going to be... I'll go November 9th, 2002. To a lot of people, this date means absolutely nothing. pi means absolutely nothing to you, Cody.
01:11:54
Justin Daulton
But it is the first time that I went to Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.
01:11:58
Cody Atkinson
nice
01:11:59
Justin Daulton
For for those of you who don't know, we played number one Oklahoma University and we beat them. I sat front row of the north end zone. And the first time I saw the sway, like, cause it was a Nike, I came at Kyle Nothing is better than an, I will stand on that. I've been in a night game in death Valley.
01:12:18
Justin Daulton
Nike is a Kyle field is still number one. when I saw the sway for the first time, and this is no still the jumbotron on the other end, like, no, we still had the horseshoe cow field at the time.
01:12:29
Justin Daulton
When I felt the sway, I felt like i like I was in a seat. Like, it just, the boat was rocking. Like, it was, I was enamored. And from that point on, I was like, I'm going to Texas A&M. I'm going to stand in the student section. I'm going to buy all in on this. And like,
01:12:43
Justin Daulton
And I never looked back, like remember walking through the campus because we walked from Northgate to Kyle Field and like walking through the campus and like going past a century tree and going past all these amazing buildings amazing architecture um and just falling in love with the campus. And I was only eight years old at the time or whatever it was.
01:13:00
Justin Daulton
and just being completely, completely like fixed on it. Just be like my one track mind for the next 15 years of my life. i was like, I'm going to Texas A&M, I'm watching football games and this will be my BAS for the next, for the rest of my life because it's gotta be Texas A&M. But for my first game ever to go there and be against Oklahoma and we beat Oklahoma, upset them because we weren't ranked at the time.
01:13:23
Justin Daulton
Um, Was incredible. And like, obviously I've been to a million games since and I still love everything about tax A&M and I love the traditions ah at Kyle Field. I don't care if you call it a cult, but it's, it's, it's at this point, it's, I have maroon blend because of it.
01:13:40
Cody Atkinson
100 man that yeah the first time at kyle field is if if you're an a&m fan first time at kyle field is is an experience uh and if you haven't been you should uh check it out especially if you're a listener who hasn't chosen a college yet check it out it's sick we both love it um number eight for me i'm going linsanity uh
Unexpected Sports Phenomena: Lin's 'Linsanity'
01:14:04
Justin Daulton
Oh, okay.
01:14:04
Cody Atkinson
for For no reason other than I think this is well this was just one of the most fun ah era eras, periods, stretches, whatever you want to call it.
01:14:15
Cody Atkinson
This is just some of the most fun sports has ever been. of just because Because we had like Tebow mania too, it was pretty sick, right?
01:14:19
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:14:23
Cody Atkinson
like And this was I think Linsanity came right after Tebow mania. but
01:14:27
Justin Daulton
It was pretty close, yeah.
01:14:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, but Tebow Mania, did it didn't hit quite the same because he was like he was awful for three quarters, and then in the fourth quarter he would make it happen. But you were always like, all right, one of these games, the fourth quarter is not going to happen.
01:14:40
Cody Atkinson
But Linsanity was just insane.
01:14:41
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:14:42
Cody Atkinson
like the The whole world came together and was like, none of us know who this guy is. None of us know where he came from or how he got here because he just he's never been on a radar before, and he just came in and lit the basketball world on fire And it's just some of the most fun. And it just reminds you that these stories are out there, right? Like at at any given moment, you could just turn a game on and and you could be watching the first game of of what what is the most electric run of of the next decade. and
01:15:13
Cody Atkinson
It's just like everyone coming together and everyone rooting for it, regardless of what team. like I wasn't a Knicks fan, but I was like, dude, I want to I want to root for Jeremy Lin because this is a ton of fun. and And I was stoked when he signed with the Rockets after and he never he never recreated it.
01:15:28
Cody Atkinson
He never did.
01:15:28
Cody Atkinson
But I was still happy because i was like, what if he does? um It was just a reminder of sports can be fun and sports in an era where sports doesn't bring people together as much as it used to. That was a story that sports brought everyone together. And and that's just some of the most fun I've had being a sports fan.
01:15:28
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:15:48
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I vividly remember that that that spring when it happened, right, where it was just like it was must-watch TV every day. every Like you're turning on SportsCenter see what what Jeremy Lin did.
01:15:59
Cody Atkinson
Yes, you haven't even dropped tonight.
01:15:59
Justin Daulton
Like but I miss ah old ESPN or like old SportsCenter in the morning when the the you had the boxes on the left-hand side and like Stuart Scott telling you that like it's as cool as the other side of the pillow.
01:16:11
Justin Daulton
like And that was like just a whole part of it, man. It was so good to turn on SportsCenter in the morning to be like, all right, what what what happened last night with Jeremy Lin? So good.
01:16:19
Cody Atkinson
I mean, Stuart Scott himself could have been one of these, honestly.
01:16:23
Justin Daulton
I'll get correct. I have another date for you, Kovie. This one you might have an idea before I say what it is. May 6, 2015.
Becoming a Hockey Fan: Tampa Bay Lightning
01:16:33
Cody Atkinson
You're out of your mind if you think I know any day ever for a year.
01:16:33
Justin Daulton
um
01:16:36
Justin Daulton
is oh As soon as I start, you're getting exactly note. Tyler Johnson goes five hole on Carey Price to win game three against the Montreal Canadiens.
01:16:47
Justin Daulton
on The Lightning would then go on to win the series and go to the Stanley Cup finals in the first year of me being de a Tampa Bay Lightning fan. A lot of people don't know
01:16:55
Cody Atkinson
It feels like you put this on here because I WWE promo'd you like 10 episodes ago.
01:17:02
Justin Daulton
but what a lot of people don't know is you are the reason why I'm a Tampa Lightning fan. So that's also kind of part two to this. You and I are playing NHL on PS4 at your apartment.
01:17:13
Justin Daulton
um And I sat there and told you the first game that I win that it's going to be my team. um and like So I'm playing against you. You're playing against the Sharks. I'm like, just beating me, handling every single team I pick. I'm picking like the best teams I'm playing.
01:17:26
Justin Daulton
Picking the Bruins, picking um the Kings because the Kings were good at the time. like I was picking all these teams. i couldn't get to couldnt I couldn't get anything to go. I'm wearing a Raze hat and you're like, just pick the Lightning dude and see what happens.
01:17:38
Justin Daulton
And sure enough, the first game that I played with the Lightning had beat you. We discovered so many cool names. Like that was Valtteri Fibola. That's where we got discovered the family or the the trio.
01:17:50
Justin Daulton
We dubbed Tyler Johnson the family company because it was Johnson and Johnson.
01:17:52
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, Jonathan and Jonathan. think Stan and the Post was on that game.
01:17:55
Justin Daulton
So I mean, Stantos was there. That was our early Hedman days. Like there was so many guys on the team. There's been Bishop, obviously, before we knew Vazzy. So like you were the reason why I'm a Lightning fan all these years later. But that game specifically, we talked about it already on the pod We're at B-Dubs in College Station.
01:18:13
Justin Daulton
And so at that point, I had never really understood what playoff hockey was or mint until I watched that game where you were on pins and needles the entire time. And that was where like, I'm hooked. Like, cause watched hockey games with you mid passing. Like we watched the stadium series that year cause it was the sharks and we watched a few games in passing there.
01:18:30
Justin Daulton
We finally got to go watch a lightning game cause we were in Texas. So like not getting lightning games on, on television. So we finally get the playoffs and we're like, that was where like, I'm hooked. I was, I was a drug addict at that point. I was like, yeah, put it straight to the veins, baby. Let's go.
01:18:44
Justin Daulton
Like, cause it's just, it was that good. But like that led me to pick my first favorite player and in, and in, then in the NHL with Tampa with Tyler Johnson. And man, I haven't looked back since what a, what an amazing sport that you introduced me to, but also helping pick my favorite team and haven't looked back since.
Iconic Underdog Moments in Sports
01:19:03
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and you are, ah you kind of fast forwarded past the part where I had to tell you at least like three or four times that the Lightning are actually good, you should play with them.
01:19:13
Cody Atkinson
And you would be like it's hockey in Tampa Bay, they're not good, I'm not picking them.
01:19:13
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:19:16
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:19:17
Cody Atkinson
And was like, no, they are good, I promise you. It was like, it was a few games before you were like, fine, I'll play as them. And i was like, dude, I'm just telling you they're actually good.
01:19:27
Cody Atkinson
well then you fall And then you but yeah, you were trying to be the, whatever, the Penguins and the Flyers and the, you were just trying to be at, and was like, dude, just pick Tampa.
01:19:28
Justin Daulton
Yeah. yeah
01:19:37
Cody Atkinson
Like, this is crazy. um Yeah, that was iconic. that That game will come up time and time again, as long as we're, as long as it's me talking to you, that game will continually come up because it was it was pretty iconic for both of us. Just ah ah one of the best playoff hockey games I watched. And definitely,
01:19:58
Cody Atkinson
had an impact in cementing both of us as hockey fans moving forward. My number seven is the Boise State Statue of Liberty. and
01:20:08
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:20:09
Cody Atkinson
This, I have to imagine it's on your list somewhere, if not, at least on the one.
01:20:09
Justin Daulton
one hundred percent 100%. It's not, it's not because i I suck with my teams, but yes, that is for sure.
01:20:16
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:20:17
Justin Daulton
yeah
01:20:17
Cody Atkinson
um This for me, so I, it me and you both have kind of like a, ah just a ah low key love for Boise State. Like we both root for, for Boise State at the G5 level and just have like our whole lives because of this run that they went on that kind of,
01:20:27
Justin Daulton
Yes.
01:20:37
Cody Atkinson
you know, pinnacled and in this play. and And to this day, this is the reason why I am just a huge fan of G5 teams and a huge advocate for their inclusion.
01:20:48
Cody Atkinson
Like I might occasionally look, you might, you might hear me talk about how good a matchup could have been if not for the G5 team that made, but you will never, never hear me support.
01:20:57
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:21:00
Cody Atkinson
the removal of g5 from anything because they are so much fun and i know that they can pull off upsets and if if you watch 99 beatdowns but you get one boise state over oklahoma it hits like crack and and you can never take that away from me so you will not catch me um in any way shape or form talking bad about Tulane and JNU making the playoffs because they got in and they they both got handled, but ah they could have they could have given us history.
01:21:37
Cody Atkinson
And because they didn't, when one team gets in and gives us history, it's going to hit even better next time.
01:21:37
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:21:42
Cody Atkinson
So I'm a huge fan of the underdog. I'm huge fan of The small school getting a chance and and that that all all comes down to Boise State, Oklahoma, and being too young at the time, too young to know that they didn't have a chance and then watching them do what everyone said they couldn't do.
01:22:01
Justin Daulton
Yeah, incredible
Legendary Sports Moments: Tiger Woods' Chip
01:22:02
Justin Daulton
moment. Like, something that, like, I will show my kids. Like, I will pull up the the YouTube video to show them that game because that game is one of the best college football games of all time.
01:22:11
Justin Daulton
Like, and it deserves to be talked about in that in that vein. So, no, I'm right there with you. um I'm going to take you to the springtime in Augusta for the 2005 Masters where Tiger Woods ships off the 16th fringe and the ball slow rolls into the hole.
01:22:31
Justin Daulton
I kid you not, after Tiger wins, yeah, it's the fist pump, it's everything. It's prime Tiger Woods. I kid you not, I go in my backyard, grab my pitching wedge because I was still trying to figure out wanted play golf. And I'm trying to replicate that in my backyard because it's just one of those moments. Like, you you think about, like like, when you talk about the greatest ever play their sport, like, you think about the Michael Jordan jumper, right? The the the one that is in all the Gatorade commercials. You think about LeBron tracking down Iguodala and blocking the layup in the finals. Like, you think about Jeter, like, in the the cutoff at first base. Like, you think about those moments, and then you think about Tiger Woods at the prime of his career.
01:23:13
Justin Daulton
and that putt going in and it's the uh verne lundquist call as well that like plays a big factor of it all too like i think about that every single time um i'm on the fringe and i'm like can i chip this in and am tiger on the 16th green at a guess national right now like that those those go through my head because of that moment in time like it's incredible like it is in that was a shot that so many people the moment you say 16th green I'm sure every single you know April and Augusta they're replaying that shot at least once um per the per tournament out there
01:23:48
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, absolutely. and i wasn't as locked into golf at that age, so it won't be on my list, but ignore the washer if you can hear it. oh I am also very aware of the the the replays of it. that You say it, I immediately know the fist bump. like It's just iconic and peak primetime Tiger Woods at the time.
01:24:11
Cody Atkinson
ah Number six for me, this is another i cheated and I gave a category. never leave a game early and never write a game off.
Lessons from Iconic Comebacks
01:24:19
Cody Atkinson
So I was thinking of UMBC, the first ever 16 seed to beat number one, Virginia.
01:24:27
Cody Atkinson
That was iconic.
01:24:28
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:24:30
Cody Atkinson
Just an incredible, I'm thinking of App State over Michigan. over Michigan, very clearly.
01:24:34
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:24:36
Cody Atkinson
I'm not talking about any other App State game.
01:24:39
Justin Daulton
Nope, nope, nope, nope.
01:24:39
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:24:40
Justin Daulton
App State never did another upset after that.
01:24:42
Cody Atkinson
They are still known to this day as a giant killer because of this game. Like, incredible.
01:24:47
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:24:47
Cody Atkinson
i also was thinking of twenty eight to three the ah the the Super Bowl comeback.
01:24:50
Justin Daulton
Yeah, 20-3.
01:24:52
Cody Atkinson
Just moments, like, like to this day, i if if i lose if I'm at a game that I care about, I will not leave early because I don't want to miss history on the off chance that it happens.
01:25:03
Cody Atkinson
and And that's because of the game.
01:25:04
Justin Daulton
Is that also like 2013 Miami Heat, Ray Allen in the corner after everyone's like, all the Heat fans are leaving and they're trying to get back into the arena when Ray Allen ties the game for them to go to overtime.
01:25:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:25:08
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:25:15
Justin Daulton
same Same category.
01:25:15
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah. You could also do, I guess this probably should have put this one on those LSU A&M seven overtime. um I was there.
01:25:23
Justin Daulton
i left that game i left that game i was
01:25:24
Cody Atkinson
I was there. Yeah.
01:25:26
Justin Daulton
Like, I wasn't there, but I was at home when the interception, quote unquote, interception happens.
01:25:31
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:25:32
Justin Daulton
I race quit and I go back to my room and my mom has to call me and say, the game's still going. I'm like, what do you mean the game's still going?
01:25:38
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:25:38
Justin Daulton
Like, I left. Like, so I get it.
01:25:40
Cody Atkinson
I was there and we left during the interception because I wasn't driving and I was there with my cousin who had kids that needed to get to sleep and he's like, hey, let's get going. Like, that's an interception. We were walking through the tailgates at Reed Arena and we were like, that's so weird that there's like insane cheering going on.
01:26:00
Cody Atkinson
Like, what's happening? Why are people still invested in the game? It's over. And we got to a tailgate.
01:26:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:26:05
Cody Atkinson
who where they filled us in on what happened. And we watched the rest of, we watched all of the overtimes, everything we watched from that person's tailgate before we got in the car and left. um So actually that will probably, that's that's probably number six.
01:26:18
Cody Atkinson
This is, that's the pinnacle of of me learning to never leave a game early, never write it off is, is watching the end of LSU seven overtime from a tailgate because we Yeah, and they need to go back.
01:26:30
Justin Daulton
And that's the game that changed over time Wilson College football. stop My last one before we start getting into actual winning will be the, and please note earlier I said
2005 Astros Playoff Run
01:26:44
Justin Daulton
99-2004, the 2005 Astros playoff run.
01:26:44
Cody Atkinson
a
01:26:47
Justin Daulton
um Starting with, God, was it the Braves? No, who did we beat in the DS, the LDS that year? Was it the Braves where we won it in extra innings?
01:26:59
Cody Atkinson
There was the 18 in the game.
01:27:00
Justin Daulton
I can't remember.
01:27:01
Cody Atkinson
I think that was the
01:27:02
Justin Daulton
It was the 18 inning game, yeah. I remember listening to it. You can tell me who it was in a second, but i remember listening to it on the radio on my way to baseball practice. And because I left the game or I left the house and we were losing and we tied the game up and we're listening to on the radio all the way to practice. We ended up canceling practice because everyone that had practice wanted to watch the game and we would end up watching it all the way through.
01:27:24
Justin Daulton
um But that sparked it. And then go into the NLCS, you deal with Bradledge giving up the the walk-off home run to pull holes where the ball still hasn't landed, you know, 15 years later.
01:27:34
Justin Daulton
And then you, we finally get over the hurdle and you go to the world series. Unfortunate that you get swept by the white socks, but like that playoff run is the first time in my life. And and I mean, this is the first time of my life that I had a team actually win something and actually was invested in what, what could happen. I remember saying it was past my bedtime and like no one in my house carrying that. I sit at the house on bedtime to watch these extra inning games and in the NLCS against the Cardinals.
01:28:04
Justin Daulton
I was a baseball nerd. I made like a PowerPoint presentation over the NLCS and like the ups and downs of that of that series. um And to this day, that is still like i know I know what it feels like to go through playoff runs because of the 2005 Astros. like it's it's It's burned into my head ah like how good that team was and how you know we joke about it. You wanted to get a tombstone and bury this team. was like, you can't do that because of the 2005 Astros. Yeah.
01:28:31
Cody Atkinson
No, that's why you do it is because of the 2005 Astros.
01:28:31
Justin Daulton
i
01:28:35
Justin Daulton
So, but like, that's where I really like noticed. I was like, man, like sports are special and it evokes a certain type of emotion that you need to experience it to understand what that emotion is.
01:28:46
Justin Daulton
When you get so close, you can taste it to, you deal with the agonizing defeat and it's like, Hey, we can get back and we can win. And like, that's the beauty of sports. And it's something that's like, that's an adrenaline drug that pumps through it when you're watching these things. And it all goes back to the 2005 Astros.
01:29:01
Cody Atkinson
It was a three to one series win over the Braves, which included the 18-inning game, and then 4-2 series win over the the Cardinals, and then the World Series results that we don't speak of.
01:29:08
Justin Daulton
There we go.
01:29:12
Justin Daulton
There you
01:29:13
Cody Atkinson
All right, so we're on number five now,
01:29:14
Justin Daulton
Yes.
Kemba Walker's March Madness Impact
01:29:16
Cody Atkinson
right?
01:29:16
Cody Atkinson
All number five for me is Cardiac Kemba Walker.
01:29:17
Justin Daulton
Yes.
01:29:21
Cody Atkinson
I don't know if you will remember this much.
01:29:22
Justin Daulton
Yes.
01:29:25
Cody Atkinson
I was trying to look up what year it actually was a second ago, and then I started looking up the... Astros stuff, but this is the this is an 11-game run that was the Big East a Conference tournament that UConn wins.
01:29:39
Cody Atkinson
um It makes the March Madness, as I think, 5 or 6 seed, and then goes on to win March Madness all behind Cardiac Kemba Walker, putting the team on his back for 11 games, hitting multiple game-winning shots, going crazy. This was the first year i was in college, and I wasn't a big college basketball fan because I was going to A&M Corpus. We didn't really have a a basketball team or anything to care about. And, you know, i was heading to A&M College Station soon and basketball wasn't big there at the time either.
01:30:09
Cody Atkinson
um Wasn't really into it, but I kept getting home at noon every day because that was when my classes ended and UConn would be on in the Big East tournament. So I naturally just ended up watching their entire run, decided that this was the first year I would fill out a March Madness bracket filled it out with UConn winning because that's the only team I had watched and I'd only watched them win and they go on to win it all. And I have been, I've been hooked on March Madness since I've become a big college basketball fan and I've never seen anything as exciting as that run. And I, and I, i literally look for it every yearly for the, for three years after that, a team had to win their conference tournament for me to pick them to win it all because I was trying to recreate how much fun that was.
01:30:54
Cody Atkinson
Um, And that is that that Kemba Walker run is the reason I watch college basketball today. So that's that's number five for me. Cardiac Kemba Walker and the 11 game stretch that started it all.
01:31:10
Justin Daulton
What a great time that was. um My next one will be 2012 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea Football Club, where Chelsea underdogs did not just did not need to be in there, upset Barcelona the game before to go to the final, and beats Bayern Munich on a 4-3 in penalties after drawing 1-1 in regulation.
01:31:35
Justin Daulton
and that was the first time that i I paid attention to international soccer that wasn't like the 2008 World Cup like type of scenario where you know the the in South Africa with the Zambulas or whatever the wherever they were called like that was the first time was like I'm picking in a team and that's where i discovered Chelsea Football Club and I was like this is it this is my team and that was back with like Frank Lampard uh Diego Costa like all these guys and like I remember being in class because I was a senior in high school.
01:32:03
Justin Daulton
remember being in class with a guy that was a Byron fan. And we were like... talking crap all day long because we were in same classes pretty much all day and talking crap all day long about who's gonna win who's gonna win um and then chelsea finally once i come to school i'm just like i'm walking on cloud nine like i'm like that i just won the champions league final um that was the first time that i tasted some sort of victory um within a within the team that i that i was following um obviously with time change it was really difficult to always watch chelsea play But that game happened in basically prime time because of where it was taking place in London. So it was just such a good time to to be a part of that. And Chelsea has since won another Champions League since then and a couple of Premier League titles in there as well. So I'm definitely vindicated in picking Chelsea Football Club.
01:32:50
Justin Daulton
But that was the first time that I was like, hey, like, I have a team that's actually like good. And it was really fun. Like, I don't claim it as like a championship because like, I don't, I don't watch all like you all 50 games that they play. And I didn't watch all the Champions League, but I tuned in for the Champions League final because you do, like if your team's in the Champions League final, doesn't matter if you watch them or not, like consistently you tune in to watch the Champions League final and to beat Barcelona and Messi and then beat Bayern Munich, which is basically the entire German national team.
01:33:16
Justin Daulton
You tune into that.
01:33:19
Cody Atkinson
Certainly. I've never gotten into the Premier League before. Amanda wants get into the Premier League, so i we we're worth considering it. um i think there's I think there's a good chance for Everton fans because the owner of
01:33:28
Justin Daulton
Nice.
01:33:32
Cody Atkinson
Everton is the same owner that's trying to bring a hockey team to Houston. So if he brings one to Houston, I promise to support all of his endeavors. Thank you for finally bringing my my dreams to reality.
01:33:45
Cody Atkinson
um Number four for me is Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to end the World Baseball
World Baseball Classic Highlights
01:33:53
Justin Daulton
Hmm.
01:33:53
Cody Atkinson
Classic.
01:33:54
Cody Atkinson
To me, this was kind of the pinnacle moment of like – just kind of seeing what the world baseball classic could be.
01:34:06
Cody Atkinson
And this is why you will continue to see me get incredibly passionate about the world baseball classic. This is why I went to to three games in Houston when it was here. It's why I complained relentlessly about the U S team, not looking invested about guys being with the team and then leaving the team and yada, yada. It's, it's why I get, you'll hear me complain that it's at the beginning of the season and pitchers can't go a full five innings and we don't get You know, these legendary performances, but in this moment, we got the legendary performance where at the time, Los Angeles Angels teammates, Shohei Otani, final at bat of the entire ti tournament, the gold medal game, Shohei Otani strikes out Mike Trout, Japan wins the World Baseball Classic. It was electric. And the suspense of that moment was incredible. You were watching the, you know, one of the best hitters of our generation who has always struggled to stay healthy and Mike Trout and, and, you know, a Shohei Otani that was really like butting into his own as this is,
01:35:07
Cody Atkinson
An elite pitcher and hitter and just every pitch of that at bat had the most suspense and the most excitement behind it. And I just I want that every time the World Baseball Classic comes. And um I really hope that they take a page from soccer and hockey at this point and just put it in the middle of season, spend spend the season and give us absolute electricity for the betterment of the game at the WorldScope.
01:35:32
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for sure. I have another date for you. December 24, 2006. I've already talked about this game when we did the Texans list. um The Houston Texans walk off with game-winning field goal kicked by Chris Brown on Christmas Eve against the Indianapolis Colts for the first time in franchise history.
01:35:47
Justin Daulton
I was in the stands for it. It was on the opposite end, so I had the perfect view, like straight on. Like you sat in my i seats over there. Like it you have ah you have a full, basically half field.
01:35:58
Justin Daulton
and i remember watching it now like basically like bent over like just praying like i'm in church close we're going to to christmas eve mass when i get out of this game and like we're all just like bent over praying over over chris brown who is one of the most inconsistent kickers in texans history but you're just over there like fingers crossed and like you're just like please please please like one hell of a game back and forth game we've finally beat peyton manning get the monkey off our back to like we actually start to put a team together. And obviously it still takes another another five years before we bust into the playoffs and actually have a good team.
01:36:29
Justin Daulton
But that felt like the moment of like, man, the suffering from 2002 to and then it paying off another five years later, like, you felt like the natural progression of being a Texans fan was finally starting to pay off, like, getting past Derek Carr, getting to Matt Schaub, like, you know, surviving Rosencopter and, like, doing all these things, like, you finally feel like you can become a serious franchise and, like,
01:36:53
Justin Daulton
you know, spending my entire life and in NRG, now Reliant Stadium once again, like, that was an incredible moment. And, like, that game will live in my head until I'm no longer on this earth. Like, because it's, like, that is pinnacle to me of, like, I'm ah i'm a football fan. I'm a Texas fan for life because of it.
U.S. Hockey's International Potential
01:37:12
Cody Atkinson
Number three for me is, ah so we've we've gone in different directions with our list here. Yours is very much personal to your teams. Mine is very much why i root for the things I root for and believe the things I believe. And if you know anything from this pod, it's that I am all in on U.S. hockey. And I think U.S. hockey is ah pretty much the greatest thing that's ever existed. And I didn't get to experience Miracle for myself. so This is not the Miracle run.
01:37:40
Cody Atkinson
This is the TJ Oshie shootout. Do you remember this? TJ Oshie takes six shootout shots on his own.
01:37:45
Justin Daulton
Yes, I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:37:51
Cody Atkinson
So they they do like the initial, like he takes his one in the initial run. And then I guess like, I don't even, I'm trying to like, I was trying to read up on this to remember how it all happened, but they go into extra, the the extra penalty.
01:37:56
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:38:03
Cody Atkinson
And at that point you can, I guess, pick anyone to shoot it. And TJ Oshie shoots all of them because he is a penalty shot master.
01:38:09
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:38:11
Cody Atkinson
He goes four for six in his penalty shots. The U S wins. I don't even remember the game itself. What was at stake? Like I, you couldn't tell you anything about that, but I can, I can just tell you TJ Oshie became ah an American hero.
01:38:25
Cody Atkinson
In one moment, he was every American's favorite hockey player.
01:38:28
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:38:30
Cody Atkinson
And it was the most, he was so good at shootouts. He was so creative. It was electric. and And that was kind of my moment where I was like, U.S. hockey can be a ton of fun. Because this is, if you're if you're timelining here like this, yeah I wasn't like a hockey head at this point or anything, right? Like this is, I like i got introduced to hockey largely in college, like,
01:38:54
Cody Atkinson
I'm not a hockey – this was when I was like, oh, my gosh, U.S. hockey is a blast. And, like, I got – it kind of helped plant the seed for why, despite the fact that I've never had a team – a real team to root for. i have never fully walked away from being a huge fan of hockey. I just am fans of random teams, and and I struggle to stay invested in it because of that. But when U.S. hockey rolls around, I'm locked in because I watched T.J. Oshie become an American hero, and I loved every second of it.
01:39:24
Justin Daulton
Amazing game. I also don't remember what's at stake at this point. um
01:39:27
Cody Atkinson
No, not a clue.
01:39:30
Justin Daulton
So you and i i for this next one, we both grew up cheering for the little brother in college football. A&M was always in the shadow of Texas, never got the big name recruits, never got you know any sort of momentum.
01:39:45
Justin Daulton
And then Texas decides to get away from Big Brother and go to the SEC in 2012.
Johnny Manziel's Legacy at Texas A&M
01:39:52
Justin Daulton
and this redshirt freshman by the name of Johnny Manziel walked on on campus.
01:39:59
Justin Daulton
and wins the whole damn thing, goes out and wins the Heisman. um It is quite literally the best moment of my Texas A&M life, watching Johnny Menzel play football, but watching him win the Heisman, thanking us, like the student body, like the 12th man, like being behind him,
01:40:18
Justin Daulton
I have the picture up there of the Oklahoma game from the from the Cotton Bowl, which is probably one of his best games of all time. um You have, the obviously, the back the Alabama, he wakes up hungover, beats Nick Saban, Alabama, in Alabama. and alabama But seeing a Texas A&M quarterback win the Heisman, our first year in the SEC,
01:40:39
Justin Daulton
I still say if the the first game of the season hasn't been canceled, we beat Florida it because we know what we have going into the Florida game. We beat Florida. Even if we lose the LSU, we have a chance at the national championship, um or at least the SEC title and then a potential national championship bid.
01:40:55
Justin Daulton
um But it was all capped off with Johnny winning the Heisman. And like, that is something that like, even if we never win ah national championship in our lives, we can't, we say that we were there when Johnny won the Heisman and we got to live that, that moment in time where it was special. Like Johnny is a special football player.
01:41:14
Justin Daulton
There will never be another Johnny Manziel that can play the way that he did and have the off the field life that he also lived. But man, it was a special, special time. um And something that i I, all of us that were in call station at the time will will cling to for the rest of our lives.
01:41:30
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it can't be overstated how fun that was. um how Looking back, how kind of disappointingly empty it was in the sense that like they just had to put a defense around him and then in year two, and it could have been incredible, and they they just didn't and couldn't. And Kevin Sumlin could never recapture it, and Cliff King very left, and and all of that, you'll you'll look back and be like, what could have been? But boy, was that the most fun you could ever have watching A&M football.
Steve Bartman Incident and Fan Impact
01:42:02
Cody Atkinson
My number two is I'm goingnna i'm going to say the categories. This is the the the The moment that I was like, I have to know how to be a fan. I have to know how to data experience moments properly and stay out of the way. If I'm sitting in the first row of a baseball game, which I've never sat that close to the field really in a baseball game, but this was the moment where I was like, you've got to have your head on swivel. And I'm talking about Steve Portman.
01:42:32
Cody Atkinson
interfering with with the foul ball causing, i don't remember who it was, i think maybe even like a Moises Alou or something to not be able to catch the ball.
01:42:33
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Yeah.
01:42:42
Cody Atkinson
It all spirals and the Chicago Cubs curse lives on.
01:42:43
Justin Daulton
yeah
01:42:45
Cody Atkinson
um i do not condone the way he was treated after that. He had to change his name, change cities, change jobs. He had to do everything to to to keep living his life. I don't condone that.
01:42:56
Cody Atkinson
That's a little crazy. Just you know, let the man live his life. He made a mistake. But that was like, that lives with me. If like, if I ever am at a baseball game and I'm sitting like one or two rows away from the field, like it's in my mind, the whole game, like you gotta be ready.
01:43:11
Cody Atkinson
You gotta be ready. Don't lean over that fence. Know which team hit it, whether to get out of the way or to catch it. Like, you know, you're just kind of like, it was the moment like, you gotta stay locked in.
01:43:22
Cody Atkinson
And it's because I will never forget watching everything fall apart after he interfered with that foul ball. in just amazing fashion.
01:43:31
Justin Daulton
chicago comes man what a curse franchise um my number one is 2020 through 2021 tampa bay lightning um there was no way that these two teams weren't going to be on my list of moments um this was the first i remember texting you through these two seasons i'll never forget the feeling of being the bad guy like rooting for the bad guys of of it all because that was the year that Everyone's like, you won in the bubble. So it's an asterisk.
01:44:00
Justin Daulton
And then Kucherov is hurt for most of the season, but then he comes back but but because of the loophole of you didn't need to have, you didn't need to abide by the cap in the playoffs. So you can bring back a player in the playoffs and not get the cap hit.
01:44:11
Justin Daulton
And the entire league being like, you can't do that. Even though it's clearly written in the CBA for the, for the NHL players.
01:44:16
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and then at every team that had the opportunity to do it did it from that point forward.
01:44:16
Justin Daulton
Um,
01:44:20
Justin Daulton
Correct, correct. um But it was all capped off with two amazing Stanley Cup runs. The first one beating the the Dallas Stars and the second one beating the Montreal Canadiens.
01:44:31
Justin Daulton
um And just an incredible moment in my life of just watching... a team that I literally was my most recent team that I committed to like being my team for the rest of my life, finally getting over the hump, like so many playoff runs, you know, obviously we talked about 2015 of, of coming up just short against the Blackhawks, but then we talked about the winning the president's cup and losing to the, to the, to the capitals who ended up winning the Stanley cup that year.
01:44:57
Justin Daulton
to finally getting into the bubble and everyone's like are we even going to get playoff hockey and when we get playoff hockey what is it going to look like um living through the bubble and coming home and watching us you know the year before getting swept by the columbus blue jackets coming back into the bubble beating the blue jackets i think it was like seven overtimes or whatever it was in the bubble and then just going in and and running all the way through the through that santa cup run But then going into the next year where we it's the reconfigured, you play by like a division that's closer to you, so you don't have to travel as much because it's still COVID rules.
01:45:30
Justin Daulton
And, you know, so it was all mixed up. Like, we'll never see the Lightning and Canadians at the Stanley Cup ever again, but we got it that year. And it was... To this day, it's something that I will i will remember. i will It sends chills on my spine every time i watch the announcers talk about the Tampa Lightning or the Stanley Cup champions. like a If I never get to experience it again, it is something that for me that it's pinnacle. I will i be chasing that high of winning a major four sports title for the rest of my life because of it.
01:46:02
Justin Daulton
um I do believe that I will see it again in my life. Um, maybe not from the lightning, but why I do believe that we will get it with the Texans at some point in time. Um, hopefully Texas A&M as well, but man, it's, you got it as well with the Astros, um, in 2017, right? 17.
01:46:17
Justin Daulton
right seventeen
01:46:18
Cody Atkinson
What's that? 17 and 22.
01:46:22
Justin Daulton
22, like going back to back, almost only three in a row, losing to the Avalanche the third year in a row. But like, man, like that time period, of like it just, it was special, man. It is just such a good time.
Tampa Bay Lightning's Stanley Cup Wins
01:46:34
Justin Daulton
And that is why I'm a hockey fan. and That is why I'm a Lightning fan. And that's what, you know, I, I still have championship gear in my closet and I wear it from time to time just to relive those, those moments.
01:46:44
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, you're welcome. First off. i Yeah, as i know that they think we yeah we we both have experienced what only two, right? Yeah, it was the back-to-back and that's it.
01:46:54
Cody Atkinson
So yeah so we both experienced two, one of them with an asterisk for different reasons.
01:46:56
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:46:59
Cody Atkinson
But ah to even when the asterisk is added, like you can't take those experiences and those moments away. And and it's just it's so much fun. We waited so long to finally root for a champion.
01:47:10
Cody Atkinson
And you both got it around the same time. For me, the number one is ah the reason – so talking about asterisks and ah and and baseball being a ah a flawed sport where if you're not where if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.
01:47:31
Cody Atkinson
ah
01:47:31
Justin Daulton
Yep.
01:47:32
Cody Atkinson
The Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa home run chase – um is probably the most like is my favorite thing that's ever happened in sports history it was so much i was like the perfect age to to only care about home runs because that's all that was that was the coolest thing that could happen and to watch those two chase each other um sammy so so with a corked bat both of them on steroids we don't know these things at the time like to watch this chase was so much fun And to watch the way they interacted with each other was just like pure baseball because there was nothing but respect between the two.
01:48:10
Cody Atkinson
Not only were they chasing home runs, they were the division rivals, ah Cubs and Cardinals.
01:48:11
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:48:17
Cody Atkinson
And, and they were like, ah like actively like cheering for each other and supporting each other in this child, least, at least in public, which is really all that we got to experience and all that we got to see.
01:48:29
Cody Atkinson
They were actively supporting each other. um in this chase and, and, you know, we, we did the sports movies recently and there's a, a movie 61 about Roger Maris and, um, Mickey Mantle chasing. and And at the end of the movie, they show the clip from Mark McGuire talking about how much of an honor it was to break that record and how much respect he had for Roger Maris who said it before, um,
01:48:58
Cody Atkinson
and And even just in that clip, it's just like the respect for the game, the respect for the history, just the pure class. Call it what you want for how asterisked and scarred the era was, but that was so much fun. And and and honestly, it was it was peak baseball. And it was a huge reason I'm a fan of baseball. It was electric, but it was also pure in so many ways. And then so dirty and flawed behind the scenes because of everything that was going on that baseball was letting happen and letting get out of control that we just didn't know about yet. And it it sums up baseball so well.
01:49:38
Cody Atkinson
And it is a so big of a reason why i like why of why I grew up with baseball being my favorite sport. It is a huge reason along with, you know, my cousin playing baseball and going to every one of his high school games and going and going to A&M to watch three games in a weekend and drive back. Like there's so many reasons, but it all started there.
01:50:01
Cody Atkinson
Baseball is my favorite sport. And I don't know that I would have the same experience A relationship with baseball that I'd do if it wasn't for that McGuire Sosa home run chase. I had a Mark McGuire rookie card back in the day, too.
01:50:13
Cody Atkinson
I really wish I still had that.
01:50:14
Justin Daulton
Damn. Yeah, that'd be great.
01:50:16
Cody Atkinson
I don't think it's worth a ton, but like it was it was sick. It was because he was on the A's at the time.
01:50:23
Justin Daulton
Yeah, i was. i A lot of people don't remember that. he He started with the That's fair.
01:50:27
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that's the list, man. That's what I got. I think I will say, them i think if I recall, I think this this list concept was my idea I sent you. um And the reason I had this idea was because the Maguire shows a home run chase.
01:50:40
Cody Atkinson
And when I told you that I was like, yeah, we could do something like, i don't know, like this.
01:50:41
Justin Daulton
ah sir
01:50:44
Cody Atkinson
I had one of 10 in mind and this was it. And I had to find nine more to fill it up.
01:50:51
Justin Daulton
No, it works. I mean, it would it ended up being a really good list. So it's it's fun to kind of look back and reminisce over why we are the way we are. And hopefully the wives listen to this because it gives it di a little bit into the psyches of of you and I of why we are that we are.
01:51:01
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:51:05
Cody Atkinson
Maybe have a therapist this good too.
01:51:08
Justin Daulton
and And why I have hundreds of dollars of jerseys in my closet and and teams that I don't even support because I, why do I have a Cleveland Browns jersey in my closet? Because it's Johnny Manziel.
01:51:16
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:51:17
Justin Daulton
Yep. So, no.
01:51:17
Cody Atkinson
Why do I have a Boise State hoodie in my closet that I was supposed to mail to you two years ago? That was last week.
01:51:22
Justin Daulton
It wasn't two years ago. It was last year. But yes, the same.
01:51:25
Cody Atkinson
Because of the Boise State trick play, that's why.
01:51:27
Justin Daulton
Correct. Correct. Yeah. So, I mean, it's incredible to go back and reminisce, man. so this was, this was a blast kind of go back and, and think on like and things that I actually got to live through.
01:51:39
Justin Daulton
Like, you know, our parents will get to talk about how great the eighties were and all that stuff. Like, man, the, the two thousands have produced some amazing moments for, for sports. And it's, it's fun to all look back on it every once in a while.
01:51:48
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Late 90s, early 2000s were just incredible for sports.
01:51:55
Justin Daulton
Absolutely. Well, man, well, that wraps that up. Before give it to you to to to sign off, obviously you've already talked about Next week is all you, my guy. So very excited to what you get to talk about with the MLB All-Star break here next week.
01:52:02
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:52:08
Justin Daulton
Obviously both of us pulling for the American League to to win home field to advantage. I think they still do that for the All-Star game. So that way when the Rays win the the the American League, then we get home field advantage against the Dodgers.
01:52:20
Justin Daulton
and hopefully Hopefully not the Dodgers, but the Dodgers.
01:52:20
Cody Atkinson
There you go.
01:52:23
Justin Daulton
um and then a
01:52:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, he'll be like the Brewers or somebody. dude, Brewers race would hit so hard, man.
01:52:26
Justin Daulton
MLB would hate it if it was Brewers-Codgers or Brewers-Race.
01:52:27
Cody Atkinson
That'd be so much fun. The MLB would hate it, but that would be – it would be the equivalent of, like, Carolina Vegas for NHL where, like, nobody wanted that, but, like, it was a ton of fun.
01:52:39
Cody Atkinson
ah That's what it would be.
01:52:39
Justin Daulton
Correct.
01:52:40
Cody Atkinson
The MLB would be so mad, but every game would be so good.
01:52:44
Justin Daulton
Yeah. But then I come back from vacation and we're going to talk Pac-12. They're still calling themselves a Pac-12, but the newly dawn or the new dawn of the Pac-12 where Boise State's heading it off over there.
01:52:56
Justin Daulton
um But we will also be doing our monthly MLB check-in for July. so obviously that'll be post-All-Star game. Probably you and I talking trade rumors that week, I would imagine.
01:53:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:53:07
Justin Daulton
Whatever you come up with with headlines. But that starts our summer or that ends our summer of list video today. But We get into preview season, man, as we get closer and closer to summer or summer camp for for college football.
01:53:20
Justin Daulton
And then training camp for NFL will open late July, getting into early August for the with the Hall of Fame game. man So we're basically in football season. So I'm stoked to talk Pac-12 football because Boise State potentially getting some more respects out there on the West Coast. than um My hope is in something we can talk about on that is will we see the West Coast powers come back to the West Coast conference?
01:53:44
Justin Daulton
So something to think about over the next couple weeks as we as we get into that.
01:53:48
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. um At least now when you listen to the Pac-12 preview, you'll know why we're doing a Pac-12 preview. And it's because of the Boise State trick play. and And a butterfly flapped its wings and Boise State beat Oklahoma.
01:53:57
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:54:00
Cody Atkinson
And now we're doing a Pac-12 preview despite the fact that it's not a major topic.
01:54:02
Justin Daulton
The only the only G5 conference that we're talking about in the summer preview.
01:54:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah. So now you know why. No, if you've, I hope you enjoyed the episode. yeah It will be a solo show next week. So probably a little bit of a shorter one, but um should be action packed. We'll definitely, there'll be some world cup to talk about and tons of baseball. Just seeing how everything shakes out over the next four or five days.
01:54:25
Cody Atkinson
And then we'll be back with previews. So i hope you enjoyed the show. um Don't forget to leave a like, comment, subscribe, share it with a friend. Help a few others find out about this. Until then, we'll catch you next time. I'm Cody.
01:54:37
Justin Daulton
I'm Justin.
01:54:38
Cody Atkinson
Peace.
01:54:39
Justin Daulton
Peace.