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Season 2-Episode 30- We Have Awaken
33 Plays5 years ago
Well, we certainly didn't expect it to take us THIS long to get to episode 30 this season. Funny things happen when the world gets turned upside down by a pandemic, ya know? In any case, your favorite American rugby knuckleheads are back! In this episode we recap out All-Time XV's team from way back when, as voted on by our twitter followers and co. We also discuss the upcoming MLR draft, the pros & cons, and how much trouble could live sports be in if fans find watching a game from home more tolerable than at the venue. This and all general banter that you'd expect from the two of us. Plug in, relax and enjoy!
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar. Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Goals
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, how's it going? It is the Fancy Rugby Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glaser. We are back at Rugby just on the horizon for us. Not too far off, but we figured we'd get this in with, we got more than enough material to freaking dive into at the very least at this point, right? Yeah. So let's at least talk about what we know so far so that we don't have a two hour show when it comes back. Yeah, no, I know. Cause if we started talking about this when it became like,
00:00:35
Speaker
June 1st or whatever, whatever the kickoff of the New Zealand tournament is. Yeah, we'd be on here forever.
Engagement & Acknowledgments
00:00:43
Speaker
First and foremost, as is tradition, these things up here.
00:00:51
Speaker
Obviously you want to make sure that you're checking us out on all your favorite podcast apps and also don't forget about our friends the rugby mag and fancy rugby geek when things kick back off this fall because I dealt that we're gonna see a whole lot of News out of them unfortunately for the summer at the very least no, and I'm not sure if we're gonna get a I don't know if we're gonna get a
00:01:13
Speaker
Uh, New Zealand league, uh, fancy. Yeah. I saw FRD. They said they were going to try, but I am not putting my eggs in that basket. Wait. No, cause cause who knows what's, I mean, they're going to do that. There's going to be a, and I hear something happening with Australia. Yes, there is. So it's going to be, maybe they could play each other still and kind of limit it that way, but I don't know. Yeah. And so you don't want to get, you know, I know I realized how much work it is to set up a,
00:01:41
Speaker
you know, a fantasy. I'm sure, I'm sure it's, uh, I'm sure they want to try, but at the same time, they're probably also very realistic in what the possibilities are.
00:01:51
Speaker
Right. Especially because I've can't imagine, you know, the, there's a financial cost to doing that too. And so I don't think it's worth it. Yeah. I can't say I blame them.
Fantasy League Plans
00:02:01
Speaker
Um, but we will be starting a, uh, fantasy champions league next year. Our buddy Duncan keen has joined us after, um, answering a question correctly on who was our 10 in our, um,
00:02:14
Speaker
in our all-time 15s. And speaking of which, I do want to go back and kind of have a look-see at that. Those that didn't know and maybe wondered, I wonder whose was whose.
All-Time 15s Team Discussion
00:02:30
Speaker
So we'll give it a quick rundown.
00:02:34
Speaker
We had the beast at loose head, that was yours. That was your guy. Ben had one more player than I did. We were pretty much dead down the middle. I mean with 15 guys, it was pretty much gonna be tough. It was gonna be hard to split unless we had three exactly the same.
00:02:50
Speaker
I was surprised we had two. So right. Um, Gus Creevy at hooker, that was yours as well. And then, um, I had Martin Kester Giovanni, the Italian, we had two, we have two Italians in this team. This is pretty crazy. Something's wrong with this. I mean, they're two really good times. Um, that's our trip. Kester Giovanni is our tight head. Um, our four is Leonin Nakarawa from Fiji. Uh, that was my guy, Alan one Jones, of course. I mean,
00:03:16
Speaker
I don't know, who did that put him against? Somebody that wasn't gonna even- No, it was never. I don't remember who it was, but it was like, this isn't gonna go well, is it? Alan went at five. I think I put Noah. That's who it was. Okay. Yeah, it was. Big Sam. That sounds right. So yeah, Alan went at five. Henry Tulane gets six. That was mine. Richie McCaw was mine as well. The second he tried that, I was like, hmm, uh-oh. It was that.
00:03:46
Speaker
Sergio Prese is at eight. That was, I mean, that was a no brainer.
00:03:50
Speaker
I love Jamie, he's a personal favorite of mine, but I knew that. I knew he didn't have a prayer against Sergio. I was like, yeah, everybody loves Sergio. So that's not going to happen. George Gregan was the nine that we ended up with. That was your guy. I had P-Show. That was a pretty close one actually, if I remember right. And that was pretty much what the sermon did. Cause the other, the other match-ups were just going to be way too easy to figure out. We'll consume. We both agreed on that at 10. I had Matt Gitto at 12.
00:04:18
Speaker
You had rhino drizzle at 13. Um, I have shane williams at 14 And you had journal wome at 11 and stewart hog. We both agreed on was our fullback Yeah, that was um, that was a fun easy to put your your scotland At you know with stewart hog. Yeah, you can fill your requirement there and be like, you know what i'll put him at 15 and not think about it again Yeah, because you don't want to do something that actually doesn't belong at 15 and be like this feels stupid i'm not doing that and I actually had um
00:04:48
Speaker
Gareth Thomas for a hot minute. And then I was like, oh shit, who the hell do I put out wing? I was like, nevermind. I'm going to pick my white Welshman to Shane Williams and go there. So we had two all blacks. We had two Italians and we had two Welshmen in the squad. And I really, we probably would have had. And two Australians.
00:05:04
Speaker
Oh yeah, and two Australians, that's true. And we probably would've had two Englishmen had we both picked an Englishman that was not Johnny Wilkinson, but when we both picked different All Blacks, that wasn't named Dan Carter, that was right. And that's why Duncan figured out who our 10 was. He's like, well, judging by the fact that I was already picked an All Black,
00:05:23
Speaker
And you and you both have the same thing. I'm gonna go ahead and say Johnny Wilkinson Yeah, not too not too difficult on that one So yeah, and thank you to everybody that participated especially to our friends Carrick Sam George You guys are you guys are awesome for helping us
Player Transfers & Team Changes
00:05:40
Speaker
get the boat. Yeah, that was a that was a lot fun So a little we've been a player movement since we last talked a little bit do we
00:05:51
Speaker
Had the was the mail ins and Earl's thing final by the time last time we did this. So might have been at the end. No, we talked about that because yeah, we talked about the
00:06:00
Speaker
The other premiership teams being a little hesitant to bring in Saris on a one year deal. Yes. And bring them inside. Bring them inside. Right. And show them, you know, it's like, come on, guys, it's rugby. So that, of course, has happened. Chris Cook's also now joining the Bears as well on his way out. I mean, Reese Weber, sorry, Reese Webb, sorry, was kind of one of those things like, oh, I guess I'm not needed here anymore.
00:06:27
Speaker
so yeah yeah i mean and and you know we got freddy burns departing immediately oh my goodness things happening on wheels turning in bath right as things are coming out that you know saris weren't the only ones breaking the salary cap
00:06:42
Speaker
Uh, there are a few, there are a few issues here and there. Yeah. Beth losing, you know, I, you know, I'm looking right now at the transfers in and out and Beth brought nobody in. They've lost Reese Webb, Reese Davies, Freddie cook, Francois lows from what he's retiring. So whatever. Yeah. And Chris cook. Yeah. So it's like, you're losing all these starters and, and, you know, fairly well-paid players might I say, um, yeah.
00:07:10
Speaker
And they're, they're moving on to, you know, other pastors and in some cases, you know, most cases leaving the country. So yeah. While returning home for one and going to Japan for the other, which is odd. Yeah. I found that very, very odd that Freddie Burns Society is going to Japan. Like there were a couple of clubs that wanted them, but I think you'd do well in, in like France, but yeah, I think there would have been a tempting offer as well.
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah, so we have that. We knew about Johnny Gray coming into Exeter. Shocker. But there are loads left for you guys. Kavassie, go on his way to Worcester.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah. Worcester are building themselves a nice little forward pack. Not too bad. I think with that, with Kvesik and then with Joe Batley as well. That'll be nice. Jack Singleton will depart the Saracens for a year and join Gloucester. I think we talked about that a little bit already. And then Johnny May is joining him as well.
00:08:06
Speaker
They're going to be scary. Yeah, that's going to be a great team, re-xamet and him, you know, and then God mix in all the other freaking youngsters, Olly Thorley, you know, the Gloucester overnight thing. Although, Johan Ackerman out at Gloucester. Very, very odd.
00:08:23
Speaker
You know, it's odd in some ways, but in others it's not. That's a highly talented team he's got there. And they're just not performing the way a team that has that level of talent from 1 to 15 and beyond. It's ridiculous talent, and they're not getting the most out of the players.
00:08:47
Speaker
And I saw a rumor that it wasn't like the reason, but that the players were also kind of, you know, they had a hand in this. So there was something that there was a personality clash. He wasn't getting the most out of them. And maybe that's for the best. It could be for the worst, but at some point you got to, you know, look at the results and listen to the locker room at times for decisions like that. Right.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. Um, that's a team that should be in the finals, you know, one of these years. Yeah. Um, they should be getting out of the champions cup, um, groups at some point. Yeah. And they're not. And yeah. Humphrey Humphries will, um, we'll figure that out. I have no doubt about that. He was, he was a special player when he was, when he was playing. So I'm sure he's got a decent enough mind to figure this out. Good.
00:09:38
Speaker
Yeah, and then so Quinn's Andre Esterhaysen, we already knew that was happening. That's gonna be a there because I rewatched the Quinn's Exeter match. And of course, Paula Seake just had a day that that day was he scored a try help set up another. So between him and Esterhaysen in the midfield for Quinn's, that's not a midfield I'm about to run headlong and do by any means whatsoever.
00:10:02
Speaker
Nope. And obviously Kyle Singler's on his way out, but still, still a solid team at Quinn's. Does he's definitely building something over there at the scoop. Yeah, I like what they have going for them. Same. Marcus Smith. How can you not? How can you not? That kid's amazing.
00:10:19
Speaker
That's just someone you can build around for the next like fucking 15 years. God yeah. So and then I mean the team that you and I are pegging for next year to at least fight if not possibly go down for relegation. I'm not sure it's going to be much of a fight. Yeah. I mean Newcastle might have something to say about that. We'll see what Worcester actually is. I don't know. Ryan Mills leaving is not really fun for me.
00:10:43
Speaker
Don't look at but uh, yeah, this they're definitely going to be in the contention. Um, they're bringing in kyle brank. They're bringing in nadolo Uh, but really for me that's that's it. That's all they're bringing in You know the that that that's and nadolo's not yeah No, I like kyle brank. I don't think he's otherworldly though This seems very much like a team that so this this really does remind me a lot of uh, the indianapolis colts when they sucked for luck
00:11:09
Speaker
They're like, you know what, we're going to get some players in to make it see, you know, we're going to we're going to fight, you know, we're going to give them give it the old college try. The old college try. But, damn, you look at the players like players just outright released, not even that they're, you know, transferring out or that it's their decision, you know, or some have signed contracts elsewhere without
00:11:34
Speaker
They'll just be done this year. Right. It's a little different, but yeah. It still is, but it's not, you know, it's a little, you know, to see this many players to go without bringing anybody else in kind of tells me that they're going to be playing a lot of a lot of their kind of, you know, academies. Yep. Yeah. Try and bring them along. I suppose we'll see. We'll see how that pays off.
00:11:59
Speaker
Northampton are obviously losing, um, like a lot of people's favorite player in this league. Yeah. On his way to France. I thought you were going to say Ben Franks, but he's calling it a day. He's coming. He's going to coach somewhere in Wales or France. Hey,
00:12:15
Speaker
Yeah. He's so he's going right into coaching. Um, Sam Hill, leaving his brother Johnny for, uh, for my eggs are going to sale. Uh, Rob Lovers calling it time. Although, you know, I think they could use him a little bit longer in there as long as I remember it doesn't know how to throw a line out. Yeah. They're going to need another hooker somewhere in there. Um, but, uh, lost signing Ryan Mills.
00:12:39
Speaker
That was a pretty good move on their part from my end. If they can hold themselves off from being tempted by signing more overseas players, then they actually might write the ship after a couple of meh years. Yeah. And I think we can all agree they were pretty meh. Right. They do need to turn it around. And they had some goodness of bed this year. Yeah, agreed.
00:13:08
Speaker
Unfortunately, our boy Joe T on his way out of Worcester, but going to Leon, which is not bad, by any means. Not bad work if you can get it. No. And he's, I mean, Leon's not a bad club to end up on. So, um, uh, I'm, I'm happy for him personally as a, as an American fan. So, um, good on him. So it's, it'll be interesting how that, how that goes about. And then, you know, there's obviously other rumors that are getting swirled around about,
00:13:32
Speaker
We know that there's some big names coming in from the Southern Hemisphere to other teams that aren't the premier ship, but we're just running through this one for now. Snehman is the one that comes to mind right now. Yeah, a lot of those guys are over in.
00:13:49
Speaker
in Japan. Yeah. And they'll come back or come over. Well, uh, speaking of Whitelock didn't even end up playing in Japan this year. So he's probably gonna play for the Crusaders in this competition. That doesn't seem fair considering how good they were looking for the most part. Yeah, that's not fair. I don't like that. Can I get a do over? Um, let's talk about,
00:14:16
Speaker
Something that you and I probably are both on different sides of the coin on and it's fine to have different opinions But it's also good to hear both sides. It is in my draft and I you know, I'm on the This is this is not something that's actually worth the time Side and I don't think it's gonna be a good thing and you see more positive than I do So I'll let you leave with the good and I'll be that I'll be Johnny rain cloud afterwards
MLR Draft System Debate
00:14:52
Speaker
nature of rugby as it is, the kind of diaspora nature of it. Everybody's all over the place. So, you know, we have the MLR and that's great. They're still going to take some time to set up an academy system. So, we're in a culture in the US that doesn't exactly, doesn't at all operate the same way for sports that it does overseas. So,
00:15:09
Speaker
So I think this is a good way to bridge the
00:15:18
Speaker
There aren't real, there are some sports academies, but mostly that's for Olympic type sports, not for professional sports. And, you know, football has it set up one way and a lot of sports have it set up that way, but it's, you know, quote unquote, private organizations or some private schools that ended up end up running kind of sports factories.
00:15:40
Speaker
But we don't really have any of that set up for rugby yet. There are certain hotspots for rugby and some quality college sites, but many of those colleges are away from
00:15:53
Speaker
you know, MLR teams, like Arkansas State, I think is, or Arkansas is a pretty damn good rugby program. Arkansas State. Right. But there's, there's no real rugby there. Shout out to Steve. Arizona. Yeah. Arizona. Great program. Not much rugby. You know, there's no professional rugby team in the, you know, reasonable area.
00:16:12
Speaker
So there may be players who aren't like stars that still deserve a shot. You know, there's going to be the people that the clubs all know about, you know, the guys, the big names that'll end up signing. But I think this is good for the leftovers who maybe didn't get seen, but you can bring in and give them a shot. And it's kind of like on a trial basis and maybe they're good and maybe they're not, but at least it gives them the opportunity and puts them in a pool and can have some of these clubs say, hey,
00:16:41
Speaker
you know, like freejacks could draft somebody in and say, okay, well look, we want to keep you in the area and have you in our list of players. We're going to farm you out to one of the clubs and we'll have you develop just not as a professional just yet. But we want to get you there. So it's ways of getting people in the systems and building those Academy like systems that we can do in America that, you know, keeps,
00:17:09
Speaker
more players involved in rugby beyond college. Yeah. And none of that's wrong, but there's a couple of things that, um, for me, and this is as a person that's also, um, football fan, soccer fan. This is the method that MLS has tried for years and it's, and correct me if I'm wrong, but we were in Russia for the last World Cup.
00:17:35
Speaker
And that's completely our fruition of this system failing. And because we don't have, and I go back to, there's a couple of ways I can spout off here. I'm gonna try not to spout off. I go back to our youth programs in either sport. When was the last time we made a world championship in rugby and even came close to our impact at underage at U20?
00:18:02
Speaker
I remember it was a while ago. So back when I was like, yeah, maybe right. 12, 13 years ago, we had a reasonable you 20 program. Right. And, and the sports jumped about 12 years really in its own time. It's probably jumped 24 years. No way. So we need to start figuring out how to get these.
00:18:23
Speaker
these youngsters playing at 16, 17 in systems, not 22, 23. Right. So, and, you know, and as far as the players go that are coming into this draft and they're coming out of this draft, number one, I can't name 10 schools that produce a professional ready player off the top of my head.
00:18:46
Speaker
And that's what you're expecting. And if you're not, you're tying these kids to a team that they did not choose. And you're tying them to, if you're gonna fire them up to clubs, this is not a place they chose to go. And if you let them sign for an academy, they at least have a choice and be like, okay, this is where I wanna go. And you can move within academies. It is this thing, you can move within academies
00:19:13
Speaker
deals are very small and almost nobody gives a rat's ass. So it's much easier to move a player from one academy to another if they're ready for a switch. And it just really takes away a lot of players' rights. And seeing what I've seen in other sports and the major issues that are popping up with players' rights, I don't have a good feeling about that. And I also just,
00:19:38
Speaker
Well, the other thing with that is a lot of these players won't have much choice anyway. It's not as though if they were, because it's such a sport that's growing now, these are players who a club just wouldn't bother otherwise, wouldn't have bothered. If this draft is not in place, they likely wouldn't have access to this.
00:20:03
Speaker
Kind of on their own to find a club and hope that it's a club that can train them to be good enough To play at that at the professional level and then work their way into another tryout So this these are players were saying I want you know, i'm like, you know, i'm not good enough to be signed out of college But I think I you know, but this is the but that's exactly what you want to be signed right out of college exactly what a draft is
00:20:29
Speaker
Everybody this is as around one pick you expected that you're expecting value out of that You're not expecting some guy that you need to work on for three years and then he's 25 But this isn't this isn't the NFL Draft though. This isn't like they're not signing millions of dollars of deals This is them saying okay, we're gonna bring you in and bring you into the system. Otherwise, you know
00:20:49
Speaker
It wouldn't have signed you anyway or you know in the other if the draft wasn't there. These are for the leftovers This isn't for like every college. This is not like the nfl. That's not the way they're touting itself That's not the way they're touting it of course. It's not the way they're touting it. They wanted they want it to be a draft They want it to be interesting. They're not going to tell you that like, oh, yeah, this is like the bottom 400 players That you know, we've already signed however many I i'm i'm already not okay with this with the falsehood and stuff like that. I just
00:21:17
Speaker
No, this is a move by MLR to try and grab headlines because they lost their season. It's not a good one.
00:21:24
Speaker
I think it's a fine one though. And if it works, it works. It won't work. I can tell you. And if it works, I'll give you a hundred bucks right now and we have it on record. It's not going to work. Listen, you can't, and this is, as far as a development for the national team, this is not, this is going to be awful because you're talking about taking guys that are 22 and you need to take two years to develop them. Now the 24,
00:21:52
Speaker
The teams that we're trying to compete with have guys just as good as them and they're freaking 20.
00:21:58
Speaker
So that's never gonna, we're not even gonna come close. We need to get guys at least good enough by the time they're 22, 23, not wait till they're 24, 25 and hope and pray that they're healthy for a fucking World Cup. We need to, we're not gonna have any David Anuas or TT Lamos Atelis in this system. And it's not gonna help. Because it's the hybrid. They're gonna be outside of the draft system. They're gonna be involved in this well outside. I mean, we developed Lamos Atelis without a draft system.
00:22:27
Speaker
Because he signed for Saracens. He was in the Saracens Academy the whole fucking time. Right. And that's the only way you end up with something like that. You know, the guys like Joe T and Blaine Scully are fucking rare. You know, those are super rare, where they play football and then they come good when they're frickin'
00:22:46
Speaker
You know, but that's all we've had to rely on that and foreigners. So this is, this is just, to me, it's a way to develop the professional game has nothing to do with the national side. This is just them saying, Hey, let's get our league bigger. Let's get some headlines. Yeah. And in the long run, I mean, this is, this is how leagues are built. You know, there's always going to be some, some, you know, the players have to get shit on the owners have to lose some money to start and they got to work together. And then they'll sort it out when, when they actually do become a viable league.
00:23:16
Speaker
then there's reason to change. Yeah. But right now it's not, it's not, it's not that developed yet. You're telling me that if they find this is a quote unquote work, they're going to finally, they're going to stop doing it in 10 years. I don't know because there's this is because there's still players that are available outside the draft. Again, I say, don't start what to begin with.
00:23:35
Speaker
just get your, get your coaching, right? Get your academies set up so that the, that you can get some headlines, get people interested. Give, you know, I'm going to watch zero seconds of this draft promise, but it's something to do. Listen, I'm bored out of my mind. I'm still watching zero seconds of this fucking thing.
00:23:53
Speaker
I don't know how they're going to produce it. I think they're just going to probably release the results. Oh, yeah. Yip-de-fucking-do. No, it's not something that I think is going to work. It's a headline grabber at best. It's going to be a detriment to some of these players because they're just going to be, you know, if I'm going from freaking Arizona to New England, I'm going to know nobody.
00:24:16
Speaker
That's miserable life. Oh, and I have to go play for a shit house club like fucking us. Are you kidding me? No way, no fucking way. I would. That's what they're, but they know what they're, they're going into it with open eyes. They know what they're doing. They don't, they know how I don't think they do. I don't think MLR is presenting this the way that we, that they should. I don't think they're giving them all the facts. I think they're just saying, Hey, you get to play for this team that picks you. No, you do not. You have to be developed for at least a couple of years to be professional grade ready.
00:24:45
Speaker
I don't know because I haven't seen any of the communications, but maybe they did do that. I don't know. Yeah. They're not, they're not, they're not telling it because they're calling it the stars of tomorrow. This is not the stars of tomorrow. This is no, this is, this is your, the backups in your program of tomorrow at best. Yeah. So no, this is not the, they're, they're completely falsifying this thing. Uh,
00:25:07
Speaker
good God, somebody give me a fucking goddamn phone number that I can call him out at this point. Anyway, I don't agree with it. I think it's going to be a fortunate flop. And this is a misstep that has already occurred where we have a team that friggin was supposed to be a founding member. That's jumped already. Like this is one more misstep in this year and it sucks. You know, so it is where it is. Yeah.
00:25:33
Speaker
All right. Um, let's move on to games behind closed doors because, uh, this is a wide subject. This is not a rugby subject. It was a wide subject right here. Um, it's so those that didn't, that are not soccer fans, the German soccer league kicked off and I am not a soccer fan and I watched that
Impact of No-Fan Games
00:25:52
Speaker
shit. So it was weird. It was weird. Really fucking weird. Had to watch it for the experience. If nothing else.
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, like it was really odd. But we had this conversation about, you know, these, and I will say that soccer fans are a different breed. Holy crap, though. They'll go anywhere you tell them to and do it all day long and do it with a fucking half a pint in their hand at all times.
00:26:17
Speaker
But I just, as far as these big stadiums that are currently dormant that aren't having any activities done in them right now, if we have these events and we find that, hey, watching at home ain't so terrible and I didn't just spend fucking $200 at a whack, is this gonna present a problem somewhere down the road here for, you know, especially American sports?
00:26:43
Speaker
Well, so here's, here's the interesting thing. So yeah, we were, yes, this is a subject that's near and dear to my heart right now because we're seeing a lot of teams and leagues ask players to reduce their salaries. Once we saw that with premiership, apparently I saw a rumor that that might be a permanent request or a request for a permanent.
00:27:03
Speaker
uh, change in salary. Um, we're seeing that in base in baseball in America, that the, uh, the clubs are asking teams, they're trying to sort some sort of plan out, um, isolate themselves in some desert, like Arizona or something and just play all the games then. Um,
00:27:20
Speaker
And it's like, and play them in an empty stadium, stuff like that. It's like, you know, a lot of these owners, they, and they're doing it to reduce salary, but it's like the players are still playing the same games. They're still taking the same risks. They're taking even more risks now. It's a, it's a pandemic. Why would you make them take less money? Uh, but it's exactly that. If, if those stadiums aren't filled and the fans say, you know what, this is a better product on TV because now you don't have the in-game commercials, right? Or like, you know, the, the between play commercials, you don't have this and that it's just a game.
00:27:48
Speaker
There's no fan shots or anything like that. Everything just has to be the game. All of a sudden, it's going to be just the TV deal that makes everybody the money because fans are like, you know what? I'll just watch this on TV. Like, yeah, if I go to a game here or there, that'll be fine, but I'm not going to have season tickets. Why bother? I can watch all the games here. And I think this comes, I mean, it comes down to owners being
00:28:12
Speaker
Well, there aren't many owners that I hold in high praise for a lot of these teams. No. Really.
00:28:21
Speaker
Because here we go. So here we are. And I don't know what it is in other countries. So I can only speak for the way it goes in the United States. There's one stadium that has been built but that is currently used and owned by a professional team or has the rights to whatever the fuck you want to call it that was built by the owner's money alone. And it just got built.
00:28:44
Speaker
And that's it. Everything else is built by either the city or the state. And that's what taxpayer money, but they make all the profit off of it. Right. And then they, they, it's all a game anyway. Cause they say, Oh, we'll, we'll provide all these jobs back to the economies. People have to work the gate and, and work the stadium while we, while we do it. And then they contract it out to these companies that give it to, so like, I know my wife's been involved in that and several rugby clubs have volunteered.
00:29:11
Speaker
to go and work the concession stands. And the club gets like $100 a person, not even, maybe like $60 a person, depending on how many. And it's like, yeah, you bring 12 people, and the clubs, the teams are making all that money off of the concessions, but they're paying out dirt because it's all just for, you know, donations to charity, tax write-offs.
00:29:37
Speaker
So they're not even doing what they say they're going to do.
Live Sports Experience Comparison
00:29:40
Speaker
But the owners are making bank off of it, like Jerry World down in Dallas. You know, if that stadium suddenly becomes worthless, because fans decide they don't really need to go to a game, that like, you know, his multi-billion dollar organization is now only worth $1 billion. Right. And now we have to feel bad for Jerry Jones. He built like basically a high school football stadium with the money that he got from
00:30:05
Speaker
from being the Dallas Cowboys owner, basically, you know, right. And that's, that's the practice facility that they have down there. Um, yeah, it passes as a pretty damn nice high school football stadium, which is ridiculous to think about, you know, so it's been, you know, and for me, it's let, here's the other thing. Live sport experience. I can't say that.
00:30:30
Speaker
Football is at the top of my list. NFL football. Oh, it's not. It's a terrible game to go to live. It's horrible.
00:30:38
Speaker
I have to say I got a little more rowdy at a New England Revolution game than I did at an NFL game. Because the atmosphere that those types of fans bring is there's a lot of chanting, there's a lot of singing, there's a lot of good energy being put out by some of these fans. Whereas at NFL, good Lord, if you don't hear, I fuck you every five seconds, good God.
00:31:03
Speaker
Yeah. And it's also like, yeah, it's incredibly aggressive, but it also changes depending on the, you know, the who's got possession or where the ball is and all this stuff. You know, there's times when it's like, okay, now you have to cheer, now you have to be quiet. Like, there's a little bit of that. And then there's like, but you don't know any information. Like, I was at a game where a starting quarterback broke his ribs.
00:31:24
Speaker
And nobody knew in the stands because they didn't really say, I don't know that shit, but like, right. So it's like, Hey, where'd that guy go? And like, I don't know. And then you don't find out. So you're like on the drive home and you're like, Oh, someone's his ribs. And it's like, Oh, well, fucking somebody could have told us. Like, right. I was at a Michigan football game and the,
00:31:43
Speaker
the guy that was supposed to be there quarterback coming up this year towards ACL. I didn't know that. I was like, when did you do that on that touchdown run? Like he like dove for the corner and fucked it up then I guess. But yeah, so for me, that's not a fun one. I like the baseball atmosphere only because it's relaxed. It's not super intense and you can talk to your friend, have a beer, watch the game. It's super chill and I'm into that. I'm good with that.
00:32:14
Speaker
I'm not a huge NBA fan, but the one NBA game I went to was pretty fun. Yeah. I won't say, I won't say that that's wrong. Hockey. Sign me. Fantastic. I am all about that shit. Um, and then, you know, I've been to, I was lucky enough to go to a rugby match and well, I've been to one, I've been to a pretty cool one in, uh, that was at the world cup in London.
00:32:37
Speaker
Yeah, fine, whatever, fuck off. I mean, I had a semi. We went to the Saris match in New Jersey. That was also fun. That was also fun. No, dude, that match was so much fun. We were sitting behind two, which is also the same weekend I asked my wife to marry me.
00:32:59
Speaker
We were sitting behind two Saris fans and they were so into it and I was like, yes, this is so much fun. It was two guys that were really into it, but the rest of the section was pretty into it too. Yes, there wasn't a great attendance, but man, everybody was into it. Everybody wanted one thing to...
00:33:16
Speaker
They played London Irish, which everybody in New York was like, oh, I'm Irish. I'm gonna cheer for them Like you're fucking idiot, but that's fine. They lost anyway, so it didn't matter You know, but yeah the Saracens fans those were somewhat they were so much fun, you know Yeah, I just yeah I went to the Actually to see TT when he was playing for the Eagles against the Maori all-blacks right right right down in Philly
00:33:39
Speaker
That was a fantastic experience, much better attended than the Sarri's match, but you'd expect that with it being the Eagles.
00:33:48
Speaker
and uh like i saw friends from like all over the eastern seaboard at this this match and and that was the one where we were doing the the usa usa chant during the haka right yeah that's fun and some americans were like oh no is that wrong and even the kiwis are like no that was great no like that's what they that's what they want because um who is it that
00:34:11
Speaker
the box will sing ole and the English will sing swing low. So yeah. Just make a giant V and walk towards them. Oh, that's what France does. That's what the US did. Oh, did they do it too? Another US. I'm sorry. That's what England did. Sorry. England did that. Oh, England also did that. That's true. That is true. Yeah, because France did that the previous World Cup as well. Okay. In the final. They got fined for it, but that's right. I'll set it in England.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yes, they did because they crossed the line. That's why right. So yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of good in-game experiences out there There are some owner sports owners that I think should be prepared to take a hit I don't know if they will but I think I wouldn't be shocked. Oh, yeah It's your yeah, it's your players like you don't have a team without the players This is what you signed up for like
00:35:07
Speaker
pay your players, sorry if you had the league circumstances change. Most sports, the salary cap's based around the TV deal anyway, so everything else is just over.
00:35:17
Speaker
you know, just on top of what they're already earning. So it's already a license to print money. So I don't really want to hear it about owners. Oh, we might not make as much money this year, or it might lose a little bit of money. Oh, you won't make a billion dollars this year? Please let me play you to the world's smallest violin. Fuck you, dude. Super fucking sorry. Must be fucking nice.
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah, sorry owners if you haven't it like and you know rugby struggles only because it's a new sport but NFL football go fuck yourself. Sorry. Yeah, you guys have got more money than God knows what so please spare me spare me even the freaking crappy teens have a shitload of money So like get out of here go on go on now There's no threat of relegation you make money no matter what because it's all shared
00:36:09
Speaker
Look at us. Our mood is obviously not terribly softened during this time. No, it hasn't changed a whole lot. We're both super extra grumpy right now. This has been great. We got to let it out, man. I'm telling you. Fuck all of you people out there. You're all annoying me because I can't see you. I'm going to talk to you. Fuck you.
00:36:38
Speaker
Yeah Yeah, oh my god, this is true. All right, so we got rugby on the we got rugby on the return man Yeah, we'll be on the return. It's on the horizon. We got we got New Zealand rugby kicking off I can't gain next month to be a lot of fun there Australia rugby could be joining
Rugby Season Anticipation
00:36:57
Speaker
them as well. It looks like If the Highlanders, you know took the time to kind of pull their heads out of their asses This could be like the best five team
00:37:07
Speaker
division like ever. Cause shit, those teams are good. Especially with the speed demon that is potent Barrett. Oh yeah.
00:37:17
Speaker
Crushing that Bronco. I think he's ready to play again. I think the long layoff has done something to spice it up for him. The Blues are back. They could be a sneaky favorite. They could be quite good. They got the Yawani brothers and him.
00:37:38
Speaker
yeah as long as they oh wait we're missing one piece there though i don't know they don't have anybody to give the ball to to the guys oh well there's that too there's the ball and you can put it right fucking there yeah exactly that's it that's all you do that's all you have to do so i have to do
00:38:00
Speaker
So it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. I am too. It's gonna be a lot of fun to watch these five teams go at it. Obviously my hurricanes are gonna be.
00:38:12
Speaker
Uh, chomping at the bit they got but and then they might get arty back which would be awesome Wow, wow, that was like Oh, wow. Yeah, they could yeah remember we were like, oh arty's not gonna play this year and then Well, it's been like eight months, right? Yeah Yeah, that was oh, yeah, so they could get arty savaya back which will they'll probably play eight which means everybody else needs to look the hell out and
00:38:38
Speaker
yeah it'll be interesting and then like I said Australia could be back I think this I don't know if the Sunwells got approved to plan that Lee you're not they wanted to right they wanted to I know that so I don't know if they got approved or not they could yeah I think that'd be great fine I mean yeah this would be a shitty final year for that franchise geez I feel terrible for them
00:39:00
Speaker
So hopefully that gets going. Unfortunately, I don't think we're gonna see a lot of premiership rugby the rest of the year or champion stuff. I think we're gonna see the season end as is either without a champion and with the Saracens getting relegated only because that was a previously decided matter. Or they may have just crowned an extra champion with an asterisk, whatever.
00:39:23
Speaker
which would be ironic as shit. Because that's what Tony Rowe keeps frigging bitching about the stairs. That you're an asterisk. Fuck you. And there's your own. Guess what? You get one. Although, I mean, come on, with their new open style of play, they were going to win. Oh, yeah, I think they were going to. I think I would have been curious to see. I would have really been curious to see who gave him a shot at the final because that would have been a very interesting match.
00:39:52
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, no, I don't it's it is unfortunate. But yeah, I don't think we'll see that I think the champions cup will be bacon and You're gonna see people figure out. Yeah
00:40:03
Speaker
It's going to be up to the leagues to determine who goes into champions cup next year. I think they may just take the current standings, which if you just fell out of the championship spot in the last couple of weeks, that sucks. But there's a lot of leagues, there's a lot of soccer leagues that are making those types of decisions right now. And some teams are very upset. Some teams were in the relegation spot or relegation spots because some leagues have more than one.
00:40:30
Speaker
They were in that spot for no more than a week or two and it's like I mean look at that means bath. Oh bath would make the champions cup Over Queens interest. Oh, really? That'd be too bad with the Queen's having the seven number seven and glot Yeah, is it seven Gloucester at nine? Oh, wow. No, yeah, sir. No, so what would it look like one to one to six one to six Chiefs sharks bears Saints wasps and bath
00:40:59
Speaker
Wasp would get back in that, eh? Interesting. I mean, they are, they are a previous champion before. So it's not like it would be an unusual sight to see Wasp back in there. No, but I mean, they're also at six and seven, which is crazy. Right. That middle, that mid table from like three all the way down to like fricking nine was like eight points. It was ridiculous. It was very fine. Yeah. So if you look at, yeah, three, 38 to 28 from three till
00:41:27
Speaker
So 10 points. And then 5 to 9 is all within 7 points. Wow. So those were all within your shot of a Champions Cup spot. Yeah. That sucks. Oh, I mean, but listen, nobody expected this. It's not like you kind of roll with it. Like, hey, you know, you want to be in the Champions Cup? You got to, like, be there now. You can't really complain too much about that.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah. Don't, uh, don't flop so hard in the middle of your season. Gloucester. Gloucester being four and nine, uh, is a bit of a, is a bit of a head scratch. So I'll give you that one. Right. Um, and only 268 points for, um, yeah, that's not, that's not what they did last year. No, that's not what got them there last year. That was 390 points for
00:42:23
Speaker
Hold on, let me see if I can find the previous year. Exeter scored, yeah, 630 the year before. They're still a little bit on pace. Yeah, 587.
00:42:39
Speaker
Wow. And yeah, 587 to 268. Yeah. That's, you know, in more than double the games. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's not a good rate for them. No, no, not in terms of that at least.
COVID-19 Impact on Sports
00:42:52
Speaker
Um, let's see how much time we've been on this thing.
00:42:55
Speaker
a little under an hour. Okay. Um, that's a can of worms that I'm not going to open then. Um, we will be back for more, more recently because, uh, in, uh, the near future, because we will have rugby soon and it'll be so much fun. I can finally watch rugby on the, on the telly again. Cause I've been watching replays and yeah, I've been watching. Uh, it's been, uh, you know, I've, I've been bored out of my, it's been, it's been for me cause I've been watching with my high school team, my high school kids. Um,
00:43:24
Speaker
God, can I just give Brooklyn High School rugby a shout out the seniors that did not get a season this year? Absolutely. Oh man, and all the kids in Massachusetts and rugby worldwide that didn't get a senior season this year. And any sport. Talk about what's being inclusive here. Yeah, that's true. Because it sucks. I've been walking around the neighborhood and seeing a lot of, you know, seniors 2020, like softball and some other seasons. And I'm just like,
00:43:51
Speaker
Man that would suck if that was what I wanted to do, you know, like I if I had lost my senior year football season I know like, you know co-captain like all that stuff like I would have been that would oh, yeah, so My heart does go out to kids like the kids Ferta. Yeah
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah, I'll give one of my captains, Kobe, a little special mention. He's started our topside for this more than four years for him, all four years in high school. And if you're not from this country, you don't know how hard that fucking is for the sport to start for four years and be good.
00:44:32
Speaker
He's very he's been good all for all for the first three years. He would have been good this year, too. So absolutely. You know, the special special mention to my captain, Kobe, because I love him. He's a good he's a great kid. And I just I feel terrible. I've seen him play a couple of times. And yeah, he he's I mean, look, he's ready for the the next level. But at the same time, like there's there's that the experience of of being one of the few that's ready. Yeah. Yeah. And being one of the few that's ready for that. Like it's so much fun.
00:45:01
Speaker
Yeah, he's so he's going to
00:45:06
Speaker
I have a community college, I think it's division one double A. All right. So here, which is, you know, high ish level in college, not, not top level, but still pretty high. Um, he's, and he's going to, he's going to have a great time there and he's going to, he's going to do some, he's going to do some damage. And I'm the biggest, I'm now the biggest fan of that school right now. So it'll be, it'll be a lot of fun, but yes, there's just a little mention to that. Other than that, um,
00:45:36
Speaker
It's been, this is good. I'm glad we got back to this. Bugbee is coming. It's gonna be so much fun. Until we do next time. Anything else that I missed?
00:45:50
Speaker
Nothing for now. Stay safe out there, everyone. Yeah, please. Smart. Don't be fucking dumb. Be smart. Don't be dumb or people like... Let me get this out of my system in a second. Go ahead. You see all the people at these reopen things and all these people going to the beach and shit like that. It's people like that that are ended up taking these, you know, like kids like Kobe's season who are like, you know, we...
00:46:14
Speaker
we, you know, whatever we want to do matters and that doesn't, you know, whatever, they're going to keep that, this disease going in this country and make sure that even more people are affected. Um, not only, you know, the sports wise, but you know, it's going to kill people. Like this is not, which is way worse. Right. But we're all in, but we're just not going to see sport until these people decide, you know, no, it's not going to return to normal until these people decide to pull their hats responsibly. Yeah. For sure.
00:46:43
Speaker
pull your finger out of your ass. No, I agree, I agree. Yeah, we need to be smart. Wash your hands, wear a goddamn mask, stay inside when you can. Right, don't go out unless you need to. And don't be a fucking moron unless you absolutely 100% have to go somewhere. Right. Okay, all right. So other than that, we will catch you next time. Good enough. We'll try, yeah, good stuff. We'll catch you guys probably in a couple of weeks when we get a little bit closer to the kickoff of our
00:47:11
Speaker
more rugby and it'll be a lot of fun and we're gonna enjoy the hell out of this as much as we can now that we know it's a gift.
Closing Remarks & Optimism
00:47:20
Speaker
It's no longer something we can take for granted to gift. So until then, we will talk to you guys again. Thank you so much for coming along and we'll talk to you soon. Have a good one.