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NBA Lebron James to 76ers _ WNBA All-Stars _MLB Power Rankings _World Cup Soccer
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"Papi & The Professor's Sports Podcast" ft. Omar 'Sports Professor' Fonseca @BALLandBUDS
NBA Lebron James to 76ers🏀WNBA All-Stars ⚾MLB Power Rankings ⚽World Cup Soccer
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Poppy and the Professor Sports'
00:00:00
Speaker
You can't pretend, now get ready for the show.
00:00:17
Speaker
yo yo yo what up friends welcome back ballin buds at it again yes we are here for poppy and the professor sports baby yes i am omar the sports professor fonseca and this is my favorite show where i get to talk the sports and shoot the sports shit with my pops uh I love you so much. Thank you for joining me.
Weekly Recap and Upcoming Golf Talk
00:00:45
Speaker
i hope you've been having a good week thus far. how is How has your week been so far?
00:00:52
Speaker
Not bad. You know, play golf and on Wednesday. um Been going to the gym every day and, you know, just taking care of some errands here and there. Trying to make some progress. Doing some spring cleaning around the house.
00:01:06
Speaker
There you go. And we will talk some golf today because, you know, we only get to talk golf when Poppy comes on. We've got to get our updates, see where we're at in the leaderboard in the golf standings. We'll talk.
00:01:17
Speaker
Michael Kim shot a 59 yesterday at the
NBA Discussions: LeBron James Joins the 76ers
00:01:21
Speaker
3M Open. So we'll talk about that. We'll talk about LeBron to the Phillies 76ers as we are both Celtics fans. We will touch on that, give our opinion. and We'll talk World Cup.
00:01:32
Speaker
Spain winning the World Cup and what that did for USA in the future. We'll also touch on a little bit of baseball standings at the All-Star break. And then that's about it. Then I will go on into a mixed bag where we'll talk about a couple other things. So ah while you're there, make sure you subscribe at Ball and Buds, B-A-L-L-A-N-D-B-U-D-S on YouTube.
00:02:01
Speaker
handy QR code right there at the top that'll take you to our link tree where you can subscribe to our YouTube follow our Instagram so on and so forth as well hit that like button whether watching now or on the replay it does help us out in the algorithm gets us out to more people that have not seen us yet and last but not least make sure you hit that notification bell because if not you will not know when we go live at times like this that being said let's kick this bad boy off shall we all right lebron james this is the biggest news in the sporting world as of yesterday
00:02:47
Speaker
When the news broke in the morning, the and NBA had been waiting for this news to come out ah to the point that Adam Silver um and I was watching Wildcar Marr, shout out my brother Wildcar Marr, doing his show, and he mentioned ah this, and it was very...
00:03:08
Speaker
It was very transparent, too transparent, some may say, that they were waiting on LeBron to make his decision in order to set the schedule.
00:03:21
Speaker
um I mean, that's a lot of power for one player to have and kind of proves the some of the conspiracy theories right over the years about the and NBA. Maybe not all of them, but...
00:03:34
Speaker
Either way, he has made his decision. He will be going two the Philadelphia 76ers. And the crazy part about this is when we did our NBA show a couple a couple weeks ago, or last, about a week and a half ago,
00:03:52
Speaker
I had Bobby G, Game Face Lee, and Desmond Powell on with me. Shout out to them. Audible Sports Mid-Bose Pod, NBA Baseline Pod. Everybody tapping with them. But we were talking about where we thought LeBron was going to go.
00:04:04
Speaker
And I was the only one saying Philly and I was getting, you know, shot down because no one else thought that that was a good idea. Not that they didn't think it was a good idea basketball-wise because I think everybody can see The fit there basketball-wise with the rest of that crew is pretty good fit.
00:04:22
Speaker
Now, what you do with the rest of that depth of that roster is in question, but that starting five is the best starting five in the league, hands down. That being said, LeBron chose Philly over Golden State, where he could have gone and played with his friends Draymond and Steph. He chose it over the Miami Heat, where he could have gone and played with Bam Adebayo and the newly acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo.
00:04:49
Speaker
And he could have gone back home. to Cleveland to win another ring for them there. He decided against all of those places, pretty much shocking everybody except yours truly, the sports professor, going to Philadelphia to pair with the newly acquired Jalen Brown, Yoel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Vijay Edgecomb, coming off a tremendous...
00:05:16
Speaker
a couple of first season in Philadelphia.
NBA Power Rankings and Team Strategies
00:05:19
Speaker
So what are your thoughts on LeBron James's final decision where he will hopefully get to his 25th year? He's hoping two more years.
00:05:30
Speaker
What do you think? Well, I mean, Obviously, it's just amazing that this guy is still playing at age, what, 41? 41? And still playing at a high level. I mean, he's still slouching.
00:05:43
Speaker
so That's very true. He can play both ways, you know? So, um um you know, if he can stay healthy, I mean, he takes great care of himself. If he can stay healthy, ah and, of course, you know, talking about healthy, you know, if MB can stay on the on the court for you know maybe 65 to 70 games, that will probably you know be a you know a big deal for them. So if when you add those three young guys, you know you know especially Jalen Brown coming up of a yeah you know a tremendous you know season you know for him, I think they're going to be a force to be reckoned with, you know to be quite honest, you know and you know in the East.
00:06:28
Speaker
so um ah You know, the ah the the the experts out there still you know have the Knicks as the favorites. You know, obviously they're defending champions.
00:06:39
Speaker
ah But I've seen Philly as the number two with ah you know the number two odds. So we'll see. Yeah, ah I'm glad you brought that up.
00:06:51
Speaker
They released the power rankings just yesterday. And right now, in terms of when you put the East and the West together, the 76ers are coming in at number five.
00:07:04
Speaker
They have Oklahoma City Thunder at number one. um Now, they did have to get rid of Lugens, Dort, and Aaron Wiggins. and Isaiah Joe via trade. So they're starting to dismantle their roster due to the luxury tax and second apron like Boston did. And we'll talk about them in just a second. San Antonio at number two. Yeah, I don't like it though.
00:07:26
Speaker
I mean, i do I don't necessarily wasn't the the, I mean, I like super teams, but yeah, you don't always want to have super teams, but you don't want to have No teams that win back to back because then you don't just get a a level of greatness for a while. But we'll touch on that in a second. San Antonio at number two.
00:07:44
Speaker
They added Tobias Harris and didn't have any notable departures. As long as they get more experience, they should be back in the finals. You mentioned the Knicks. They come in at number three. They lost Mitchell Robinson to our Celtics and replaced him with Andre Drummond. He's a little older, a little long in the tooth, but still a decent player. Denver Nuggets at number four. Still got Nikolai. can't believe he's only like 30, 31 or 30. It's crazy. Seems like he's been in the league forever. But yeah.
00:08:16
Speaker
They lost Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas. um Tim Hardaway being especially valuable there as a loss. And then again, the Philadelphia 76ers coming in at number five.
00:08:29
Speaker
Jalen Brown added or stolen, I should say, from the Boston Celtics. LeBron James. They brought in Anthony Simons, and they and they only lost Paul George and Andre Drummond. So when you say best or second best in the East, I'm going to go ahead and give my hot take right now. The Philadelphia Sixers are hands down the best team in the East. That's starting five, if healthy, and I should preface that with if healthy. Yeah. um Because if it is, and Yoel Embiid
00:09:03
Speaker
can be healthy for the playoffs, there's nobody that can beat that that five in a playoff series if they are fully healthy. So fully healthy, I'm saying right now that the Philadelphia Sixers are not only the best team in the East, but possibly the best in the whole NBA and I believe will win the NBA championship. And unfortunately, I believe they will give us a second year championship of having to watch our most hated rivals win championships and making me sick to my stomach.
00:09:36
Speaker
ah Shout out, Peach, says Josh Harris lands LeBron but doesn't sign a wide receiver for Jaden Daniels. Yes, as we know. Josh Harris owns pretty much every franchise in every league. I'm being facetious, but he owns a lot of them.
00:09:52
Speaker
And he is the Washington Commander's owner. Y'all supposed to go get Iuke, right? But he's having his own social media crisis. He needs to put the phone down and – just uh play football but we'll see what happens there maybe you'll get him uh maybe you'll get somebody else we'll talk nfl in a little bit they got the flag football going on there that's when you know it's a slow nba season anyways back to the celtics though um and we talked about the the the 76ers obviously if healthy one of the best teams there um and actually i'm going to
00:10:28
Speaker
um I want everybody to see where we had picked in that last NBA show.
World Cup Highlights and FIFA Criticism
00:10:33
Speaker
So I'm going to show that here. um But with the Jalen Brown thing,
00:10:40
Speaker
i was I was pretty pissed off in that show last week, and I went off, and I had some words for Brad Stevens that were not not very not not kind to him as a person, but unkind towards his his style of of of of GM and how he traded um essentially one of the franchise's cornerstone players in what is the most historic franchise in NBA history.
00:11:08
Speaker
um And he's definitely was Jalen Brown, at least a top 15 player in Celtics history, if not top 10. So to just trade him away for, you know, a broken down old man who can barely stay on the court and was suspended for performance enhancing drugs last season.
00:11:29
Speaker
ah And, you know, two bags of peanuts, a hot dog and a 24 ounce Modelo from the Dollar General. I mean, that's all we got for Jalen Brown. And it really pisses me off um that we had at least we if we would kept kept those two, we have contending one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. At least one, two more years. You could have pushed the apron at least one more year and paid the luxury taxes and tried to win one more championship.
00:12:00
Speaker
But you decided that Jalen Brown and his personality or maybe some things he says or the way that people don't like the way that history he acts or whatever have you.
00:12:11
Speaker
um that he just didn't fit the culture or they had to make a decision between JT and JB. I don't think so. Again, i would have run it back at least one more year and try to win the championship.
00:12:24
Speaker
It hurts my heart to see JB go because I don't think the Celtics, actually, I know the Celtics are not a better team now than they were before with JB. And I know that both the 76ers and Knicks are better.
00:12:39
Speaker
So now we're looking at a season that is pretty much a wash. I know we're not going to win the championship. So it's going to be a season, a lost season that could have been a championship run. What do you say to this whole debacle on the Boston Celtics trading Jalen Brown?
00:12:55
Speaker
Well, I mean, I wasn't happy just, you know, just like you were. But the reality of this world now with all this first and second aprons and, you know all of this luxury taxes and whatever, I mean, that,
00:13:08
Speaker
forces the hands of some of these executives to, you know, to make some trade like that. I mean, we kept the team together, you know, and try to run it back. You know, but unfortunately, you know, you know, JV got hurt.
00:13:23
Speaker
So I don't know. Yeah. I mean, it it would have been nice to see that, you know, but I mean, obviously I don't get paid that kind of money to make those decisions. So, you know, hey it is what it is. You're right. I mean, we're not we're not better.
00:13:39
Speaker
I mean, you know, getting Paul George, I mean, this guy is, you know, he's being hurt, you know, a lot. So every season. um Yeah, we'll see. And I mean, and and and and and and as far as the the the money.
00:13:55
Speaker
You know, it's kind of like, it was like the same salary, right? I mean, yeah. I think he's earning like two or three million less or something, yeah four million less. Yeah. So, you know, kind of like, okay. So you feel you're still, you're still in that apron, right?
00:14:10
Speaker
For the next two years, you're still pretty much over that apron and you've made us a worse team. Exactly. Yeah. yeah So, yeah. We'll see. And i mean and I've been i have been celebratory of the moves that Brad Stevens has made as a coach and as an executive since he came to the Celtics. I think everything he's done has been good until now. This has been, hands down, the worst decision ah he's made here in Boston. And not only that, it may be...
00:14:40
Speaker
One of the worst trades ever up there with the Luka Doncic trade from a couple of years ago. Yeah, I know. So we did not really, we didn't get any value out of that at all. No, not for a player coming off a a top five MVP vote getting season that has given 10 years of his career to your franchise.
00:15:01
Speaker
And whether you like his his personality or the way he spoke out after the season or not, he was very quiet and a very good ah you know ah team player.
00:15:12
Speaker
for his whole time there. And we're going to miss his team. We're going to miss his teamwork. We're going to miss his leadership. We're going to miss his defensive ability.
00:15:23
Speaker
I don't know who's going to be defending the top players now like Jalen Brown was. Because now you've got to expend JT's energy or Derek White's energy on the best players. And now if you need to defend somebody big and it's not a center where you're defending with Mitchell Robinson, JT is going to have to defend those bigger power forwards and small forwards that are really good.
00:15:46
Speaker
And now he's going to have less energy to spend on the offensive end of the court. Yeah. Yeah. yeah It's a damn shame. It is a damn shame. But here you go. I'll show you all the rest of the outtakes from all of the NBA offseason, where LeBron was going, what we talked about with Jalen Brown here on the channel. I posted the Jalen Brown video yesterday. Y'all check out all the shorts coming up. It's pretty funny. It's going to be a review, so it's not going to be new information. But I want y'all to see where our predictions were for Jalen Brown and LeBron and stuff throughout the season. So it's pretty funny. All right. Well, let's move it on
00:16:23
Speaker
Into the World Cup. Yes, the World Cup took place and ended last weekend. And Spain, yes, the power one of the powerhouses around the world when it comes to football.
00:16:38
Speaker
Spain defeated Argentina and the GOAT Lionel Messi. Kylan Mbappe for France.
00:16:48
Speaker
took the golden boot home for the most goals i was very upset i was not there to see that that's another thing i have to say fifa and all you ticket platforms these days i know my pop sent me an article on this on the slow drip and how it's causing prices to be inflated i saw this firsthand with fifa uh you know if you want people to go to world cup games and your stadiums to be full, because that third-place game looked a lot lot of empty seats, you might want to stop dripping these tickets or at least release a lot more or at least lower the prices earlier because I tried to go to three games, two in Atlanta and one in Miami, and each time my decision was made harder and harder because the prices were at exorbitant
00:17:42
Speaker
amounts until the day right before. So if I'm someone who wants to make a last-minute trip to Atlanta, hop on a Greyhound, I need to know at least 24 hours before, not eight hours before.
00:17:55
Speaker
Also, why are we price-gouging people so much? Do you not want people to go to your games? I'm looking at an NFL site right now in Brazil because me and the Pops are going, as we've told y'all, to the NFL Cowboys-Ravens.
00:18:10
Speaker
Their tickets, obviously cheaper because they're in Brazil, but the point holds that it didn't seem like they were price gouging anyone. It seemed like a full array of tickets are listed.
00:18:22
Speaker
So we really need to stop this. I know it's most prevalent in America, but I hear it's happening in other countries as well. And it cost me from going to...
00:18:32
Speaker
the the game because I really wanted to go to Miami to go to that third place game and if I would have been able to see that price drop the day before instead of four hours before then maybe I would have been able to make a better decision anyways Spain won I'll get off my my rant here pretty pissed off about that now have to go ah fly to another country to watch the World Cup but i will I will it's on my bucket list now but anyways oh shout out to your team What up, my brother?
00:19:03
Speaker
Canteen. Check out the bottom line sports. Canteen flow and hot rod. They got a good sports group there at the bottom line
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00:19:12
Speaker
sports. Y'all go check that out. Shout out, my brother.
00:19:14
Speaker
um But yeah, anyway, so back to the World Cup. Spain won. Everybody thought it was Argentina's destiny because they started off so well and Messi was scoring goals at a high clip.
00:19:25
Speaker
But unfortunately, you know, they they lost and it was a, you know, a bad game. as soccer is to be 0-0 for the whole game until, you know, extras and then Spain won one, nothing in extra time. So talk to us about this game.
00:19:42
Speaker
Well, I mean, first of all, I really enjoy the world cup. um I did actually watch a lot of games while I was in Puerto Rico. ah You know, I made it a point to go out and and watch it, you know, at least one of the games. And it was pretty exciting.
00:19:57
Speaker
I mean, obviously they made a lot of money, you know, they they just got richer, you know, FIFA did. So, but anyway, um I'm not surprised that Spain won the game, to be honest. um You know, they they their strength coming into the game was just winning their the midfield.
00:20:15
Speaker
And, yes you know, and they they totally dominated Argentina in that sense. you know And even from the get-go, of you know Argentina was at a different disadvantage in the midfield because of the formations that they played.
00:20:30
Speaker
oh Argentina plays a 4-4-2 with the four line in the middle having two wingers and two central midfielders. Argentina plays a 4-2-3-1 where the three are the center midfielders.
00:20:46
Speaker
So there's a disadvantage in there already. And when Argentina lost Enzo Fernandez, you know, with ah with that red card, you know, that was a 3-1.
00:20:57
Speaker
So you saw from that point on, you saw that Spain started surging, you know, and just kept just throwing the ball into the box, you know, and until they got that goal of the, what is it, minute?
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was. I mean, they totally dominated. They only allowed one goal in the entire World Cup.
00:21:19
Speaker
I mean, that that's unreal. When you have a defense like that that can prevent ah you know all those goals from being scored, you know as you mentioned, not only are you going to win, but you are going to dominate. And their defense allowed them to do that, and that's how you become a World Cup champion. And thank you so much. I didn't know all that about their lineups and about their formations. That's very insightful. So i appreciate that information, but also it helps me to understand a little more about what happened in that game and why they were able to prevent it. Also, I could. Argentina's midfielders spend more than half of the game in their end, just trying to get over midfield.
00:22:03
Speaker
So, I mean, they, they, they pinned them deep and they just couldn't, you know, until the last, what was the the the the last, the second extra period.
00:22:14
Speaker
You know, that's the only the only time that they actually, you know, they got two shots. So. Yeah, and and the other thing I will say is as much as I lauded Messi earlier for being the GOAT, you know, he he he took a lot of time off in this game. There were a lot of, and I know this is. like But understand, that was Spain's doing.
00:22:37
Speaker
They ran them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They ran them. I wonder you think, yeah. they render Messi useless. I mean, really, you know, he never had much of a chance, you know, to do anything. Yep.
00:22:49
Speaker
They roughed him up, too. They roughed him up, too. Yeah, no, they really did. They challenged every ball. they They made sure to get in his space, as you said. and yeah And yeah, no, I'm adding on to what you're saying completely. That's exactly right. You know, they made it hard for him to do anything. But at the same time, Messi's playstyle is known where he will walk a lot of the field until he really needs to start running in order to conserve energy. and like That's playing smart.
00:23:23
Speaker
ah and maybe I don't think that's the way you play in the World Cup final. I think you need to go all out because I think he left a lot of energy on the field. And I
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00:23:32
Speaker
think he's one of the person that needs to be able to expend that energy to change the game. He wasn't allowed to go all out. I mean, I mean, Spain stifled, you know, the their whole, every time they try to mount, ah you know, an attack, they would just stop him at midfield.
00:23:49
Speaker
You know, so yeah, okay, you can see he's always played that way. Sure. He's he's studying, you know you know, as the game goes on, this this you know both teams, they're studying each other. They see how you you react you know when you're making certain passes and then they they they keep that in their you on the back of their head and then When it comes time, you know, hey, then that's when you go out and you apply it. So it looks effortless when he does it, you know, but he wasn't allowed to do anything in that game.
00:24:23
Speaker
Okay, well, we'll give it to him. Then I will accept that he was not allowed. ah Again, i think I think in the World Cup final, maybe you act like you're expending a little more energy just so people don't have criticisms on you. But here, neither here nor there, I do get it. He's a studier of the game. That's why soccer is played that way. You're completely right. You study your defensive motions and your and your and your you know your setups of the team in order to make sure you know where to attack. So yes, I completely get that.
00:24:56
Speaker
um How did you feel about the World Cup as a whole? So the big question here in the United States with the United States hosting the World Cup was would this be a boon for the United States, you know, boost the United States in terms of popularity in soccer? As we know, football is the most popular sport in terms of ratings and watching on TV. not necessarily being played because as hot take Jake mentioned the other day, and he's a really good point, a lot of parents don't want people playing football anymore because of the head injuries.
00:25:32
Speaker
um So could that combine with this make soccer a top sport in the United States? I said to Jake, I didn't think so. you I can't see it either.
00:25:44
Speaker
okay I just, I can't. ah And when we're a big country. I mean, when you think about it, you look at Cape Verde, right? 500,000 people in that country.
00:25:56
Speaker
You know, and that that was a pretty good team. I mean, they did they they did they did show show up to play. And their goalie, that old guy, man, I mean, he's he was incredible.
00:26:08
Speaker
So I hear some MLS teams are courting him. So, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, um ah that's what I heard. I don't know. Maybe maybe you know more and you know about that. haven't heard about it, but that's funny.
00:26:19
Speaker
But, yeah, I mean, you one would hope, you know, having three over 300 million people that,
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00:26:29
Speaker
you know, it would increase the popularity of the sport here and we could, you know, feel the better team. I mean, the U.S. s team did what they were supposed to do, I guess.
00:26:39
Speaker
There were eight teams ranked before the... ah The World Cup started. They made it to the round of 16. So, yeah I mean, was it a thought of the game, you know, the way they went out? Yeah.
00:26:52
Speaker
I mean, that looked pretty embarrassing. But, yeah I mean, they they got to where it would have been nice to make it into the eighth. But I think that they achieved what they could have expected of themselves.
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's exactly right. As we mentioned on Total Evisceration the other day, bless you, y'all tuning in, um me and Hot Take J going, ah talking about different topics there on Hot Total Evisceration, but I had mentioned um that exact thing.
00:27:26
Speaker
ah The men's team has never has never really been... Great, right? They've always been top 20, maybe top 25 in the world. Maybe times they'll pop in the top 15 top, but they're not. they're not a They're not a soccer power.
00:27:47
Speaker
Now the women the women, the women are the preeminent soccer power in the whole world. yeah um Even above the Brazilians, our soccer team, the women are the best.
00:28:01
Speaker
But And while that is a boon and a boost for women in the United States and little girls who now play more and more soccer, they now got the National Women's Soccer League and other soccer leagues popping up. So it is becoming more popular with girls. I can't see, yeah, for women, I can't see this being more popular for boys, you know, younger boys or men, unless they're parents force them into it because maybe they don't want them playing tackle football because you still got,
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00:28:32
Speaker
um you know, baseball, although baseball is cost prohibitive because you have to be able to pay for all the equipment and then pay for all the travel and stuff like that. Basketball is a little bit easier, still a little bit of cost prohibitive with the AAU stuff and the travel and stuff, but at least basketball, if you have the skills,
00:28:51
Speaker
they'll find you. Baseball, you know, it's a little more wide open. More people can play. You don't have to have as as niche of a skill set like basketball. um I still, yeah, I'm with you. I just can't see it.
00:29:03
Speaker
Because again, um and and again, I think it's until the men have more success and even then I still don't think it's going happen. But if the men have more success, if we had a star, you know, Christian Pulisic was injured pretty much the whole time. So we didn't really get to extol his virtues to the people that don't know about him.
00:29:24
Speaker
And that's sad because he's supposed to be our best player. And then we got to move it to somebody else who then gets a red card. And, you know, the president has to go making ca phone calls to get him in and all kinds of craziness happening. So anyways, ah yeah, I agree. I just don't I don't think that soccer is going to be.
00:29:46
Speaker
a preeminent sport in the United States. Canteen mentioned
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00:29:50
Speaker
this the other day. a lot of other countries put a lot more money into it than we do. That may be because we do have such a fragmentation of sports, and that is due to the diversity of our country and to the immigration of our country, that we have sports.
00:30:05
Speaker
from all over the world. And here in the United States, we play every sport from basketball to swimming to field hockey. Whereas in most under other countries, they only specialize in one or two sports and don't play all these other sports at all.
00:30:20
Speaker
Well, I mean, obviously soccer is not in our, you know fabric, if you would. And for some of these countries, you know, it's in their culture. You know, it's like, you know, I mean, they're they're fanatic.
00:30:34
Speaker
You know about it, you know, so they're just crazy. So, you know, it's just instilled upon them, you know, since the time they're kids, you know, so playing in the you know in the backyard, you know, whatever. So.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and as as you mentioned that when I was looking at the when we're looking at tickets for Brazil, I mean, all the stadiums in in these countries, in britain in the South America and and and Europe, they're mostly soccer stadiums. They don't have, you know, obviously American football. They don't play a lot of basketball. So, yeah, they have their smaller arenas, but mostly all their huge stadiums are all soccer based.
00:31:13
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yep. All right, cool. Well, we'll move it on from there. Let's talk a little bit of Major League Baseball. Let's take a little bit of look at the standings. We came off the All-Star break.
00:31:28
Speaker
And as we talked on our MLB show last week, shout out to Amul the Agilist and Alan Perales from Rec Room Hub Sports. We talked about the MLB at the break. We talked about how much better the National League has been this year.
00:31:45
Speaker
than the American League. They've just been so much better. The American League, as of now, only has six teams above 500, while the National League has 10 teams above 500.
00:31:59
Speaker
ten teams above five hundred so National League playing at a much better clip this year. In the American League, you have the Tampa Bay Rays leading the New York Yankees in the American League East by two games. They got 60 wins. The surprising Chicago White Sox, who two years ago were lost the most games ever for a franchise, has now come back to be in first place by three games in the loss column in the AL Central.
00:32:32
Speaker
over the Cleveland Guardians. In the AL West, you've got the Texas Rangers, aforementioned AP's team. One and a half games over the Marlins, but the Astros are two games back there as well, so a little bit bundled up there. In the National League East,
00:32:52
Speaker
Canteen Hot Rod. Your Atlanta baseball team is five and a half games above the Phillies. Phillies were playing really well there for a while, but they've stumbled over their past 10 going four and six while the Atlanta baseball team has gone seven and three to spread that out a little bit.
00:33:11
Speaker
ah We'll talk about our horrible, horrible New York Mets in a little bit. we have bring yeah We don't really have to, but they're bringing up the rear at 18 and a half games behind the Atlanta baseball team. That's just great. The Milwaukee Brewers, 64 and 39, six games above the Cubs.
00:33:28
Speaker
They're in the NL Central and in the NL West. The Los Angeles Dodgers, yes,
Cultural Representation in Sports
00:33:35
Speaker
who else would it be, pulling away in that division 11 games above second place with 66 wins.
00:33:45
Speaker
So those are your updated standings. Again, the Dodgers and Brewers have the most wins in the league as of today.
00:33:55
Speaker
How have you felt about the baseball season thus far? What are your thoughts on the standings there? um Quite honestly, you know, because our Mets are just so horrible, I really haven't been following, you know, baseball, you know, that much.
00:34:11
Speaker
I'm not surprised about Atlanta being in first place or or the the Brewers or ah now it's surprising to, you know, to see that the White Sox after having, like you said, the the worst season ever, um you know, they're back in first place. So, yeah, I mean, it's but pretty exciting, you know, I mean,
00:34:32
Speaker
We'll see who will win it this year. Probably the Dodgers again. but
Show Wrap-Up and Listener Engagement
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah, probably. But in showbiz, we always watch everything. So we are very well equipped and informed here.
00:34:46
Speaker
I will hit you with the ah updates here in terms of the trade deadline. So the trade deadline, the biggest chip is Tarek Skubal.
00:34:58
Speaker
with the Detroit Tigers, but just yesterday, he came out and made a plea to stay with the team as he wants to stay in Detroit. I don't know how you can do that, um since now, they are only five games behind in the AL Central, so...
00:35:16
Speaker
The division is technically still up for grabs, but the prospect Hall that they could bring back for him, i as a GM, would make that trade and get back as many prospects as I could.
00:35:31
Speaker
That's me. ah ah That being said, our were New York Mets are the one of the worst teams in the league. ah very very Very, very close. Actually, the Angels and the Rockies are the only two worst teams in terms of wins.
00:35:48
Speaker
It's just been a horrible season thus far. Injuries, Lindor and Soto have ah you know gone back and forth on who's been injured at a time. Soto is now getting imaging on his calf, which has been bothering him. He had to leave the game yesterday, so that's not good since he's been our best player all year long. Lindor's having a horrible season, is now in trade talks possibly, which makes no sense to me. I don't think you can do that.
00:36:15
Speaker
But the Mets should be sellers. They should be selling everybody else other than Lindor, Soto, and Alvarez and and the young pitchers, McLean,
00:36:27
Speaker
i am Tong, and probably, I'd say probably Christian Scott, maybe. But anyways, other than that, I think it should be a full wholesale fire sale and try to get back as many prospects as possible. What do you say?
00:36:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. I mean, we're not we're not going to go anywhere this season. You know, anytime that, you know, they they they show a glimmer of hope, you know, they go beat ah a really good team, you know, then they just come back and lose to a bad team. So, i mean, it's just no consistency. um The pitching, of course, fast has been terrible, um you know, all year. So,
00:37:09
Speaker
Yeah, and just losing Soto and Lindor at times. Lindor is not having a you know a good season at all. um Yeah, I think we should be selling. You're right. Just should be getting some prospects back.
00:37:24
Speaker
Yep, and hopefully they do. We'll see. Again, they are saying everybody, including... Oh, and I forgot Carson Bench and AJ Ewing. Yeah, that's it. And actually, here you go.
00:37:36
Speaker
SNY reports that the Mets are in complete sale mode ah except for... And all the people I just mentioned, Juan Soto, Carson Benj, AJ Ewing are two young outfielders. And the two young pitchers, Christian Scott and Nolan McClain.
00:37:55
Speaker
So Lindor is not there on that list. They're talking to the Guardians possibly about him going back to Cleveland. Bouchette is not on that list. ah You know, that was just ah he didn't work out. He just has not had a good season. He turned it on for a little bit there, but we need to get rid of him. That contract is not worth it for us. um And also, notably, Jonah Tong is not on that list.
00:38:19
Speaker
So maybe they're listening to deals for him, although I could I can't think that why they would do that. so But they should sell everybody. Yeah. All right, well, let's move it into golf, into our mixed bag here, because I did tell my pops to get ready for the show with the British Open because we were planning on doing the show ah yeah last week at some point in time, but I have all my my client stuff, if I've been really busy.
00:38:46
Speaker
So I haven't been able to do it, but I do, since you did do a little bit of research on that hit us with the last, um you know, the British open. i't I don't remember what the major was before that. I think it was the the Euro. I think it was ah the open, but correct me if I'm wrong. And also let's look at the, the golf standings here um and let everybody know kind of where we are heading into the, the fall portion of the season where the season kind of wraps up with the PGA championship.
00:39:21
Speaker
Uh, yeah, the, uh, I mean, uh, Scotty Scheffler is leading the, uh, the, the golf standings, you know, no surprise there. You know, he's been the most consistent, you know, player on the tour over the last, uh, you know, three years maybe. Uh, and I think, I believe Rory, uh, McIlroy is, uh, is in second place. Cam Young is up there.
00:39:41
Speaker
Um, the The open, I did not watch much of it because it's so early. but But I did watch the last nine holes on a Sunday.
00:39:54
Speaker
And, you know, the guy that won at Ryan Fox on that last hole, that was just amazing what he did. You know, that was the most difficult hole, you know, in the course. I think it only yielded like five birdies.
00:40:10
Speaker
ah And, and, he He split that fairway at over 300 yards, okay? He hit a 330-yard drive to the narrowest portion of the fairway. And then 179 yards, put it within 11 feet, you know, pretty straight putt in, and just won it on the 72nd hole. So that was ah that was a pretty exciting finish.
00:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, definitely was ah very exciting of a finish. Yeah, I mean, when you you've got to, in those championship tournaments, you've got to have that steel and that resolve in order to play, you know, much better than all of these other great players in the world down the stretch of these tournaments. And so, I mean, not only just being able to make those shots, but being able to do it with all that pressure, um you know, on you with all the people watching and all that is pretty amazing.
00:41:08
Speaker
Because most most most people bogey that hole. Okay. So getting out of there with a par is, is it was pretty good. And he went in there and birdied the hole to win.
00:41:20
Speaker
So yeah. Cam Young made a good run, though. He was like six under in the day, so he he was out there just waiting. But, you know, this guy just, he thought he was going to be in the playoff, but.
00:41:36
Speaker
Yeah, and Cam Young, good good young player, ah no pun intended here, on the course or in the PGA Tour. um So you'll be seeing his name in the standings continually going into the future. And then as you mentioned, Scotty Scheffler right now is leading those President Cup standings by a lot.
00:41:58
Speaker
yeah um He is leading by points, about 5,300 points. So it doesn't seem like there's much chance for anyone to catch him in terms of winning the President's Cup.
00:42:14
Speaker
But the PGA Championship, and correct me if I'm wrong. um You said the President's Cup? Yeah.
00:42:23
Speaker
You mean the FedEx Cup? Excuse me, you're right. I am looking at the wrong thing. Hold on. You are completely right. I apologize. See, that's why I was going to ask. Because I thought that was different. Okay, here we go. Yes.
00:42:36
Speaker
So, Scotty Scheffler is at 687. Yeah, was working at the president. Yeah, yeah. 688 points. Rory McElroy at 408. So, Scotty Scheffler is 280 points McElroy. Still a very, very... six hundred and eighty eight points rory mcelroy' is at four oh eight okay so scotty sheffler is two hundred and eighty points above rory mcelroy still a very very ah you know, ah stark difference. Could McElroy come back? Maybe. But but that that could be, you know, easily overtaken. And if he wins a tournament, you get like 500 points for winning a tournament.
00:43:11
Speaker
can't be That can't be right because they there's only two people. There's only one person has five hundred that's 500. What list are you looking at? i'm not I'm not sure what you're looking at. You're looking at the ah the FedEx Cup standings?
00:43:22
Speaker
No, maybe maybe I'm not. I'm looking at yeah ESPN official world golf ranking 2026. Official world. Okay. You know what I should be looking at? No, no i i no. I mean, yeah. ah So that list, the rankings, but they list a lot of gibberish in there that I don't understand, to be quite honest.
00:43:41
Speaker
Interesting. but But but yeah, the point is that Scottie Scheffler is a is a far ahead above everybody else. Yes. OK, cool. and we And we've got what coming up? We've got the PGA Championship as the last one of the championships or do we have another one?
00:43:58
Speaker
There's no more majors. There's no more majors. The Tour Championship, though, that's not considered... The Tour Championship is coming up. That's for that's to win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million prize.
00:44:08
Speaker
That's what I was thinking. Okay, cool. So that comes on August 27th, 30th from Atlanta. Oh, look, it's down here. Yeah, but that is a different... You got to look at the FedEx Cup standings to determine, you know, who's going to be in it.
00:44:22
Speaker
Got it. Got it. All right, cool. Well, the three... yeah Go ahead. go ahead. no good No, I wasn't. at Oh, no. I was going to say as well, that's all for golf. 3M open is going on right now. Shout out to Michael Kim. He shot a 59.
00:44:40
Speaker
Wow. ah In the, in the second round yesterday at the 3M open. so That is amazing. Yes, sir. And it has been, ah well, let's go, let's go. one How much time you got?
00:44:55
Speaker
um ah Maybe another 10. and Okay, let's talk tennis real quick. They had Wimbledon last week, and I really just wanted to get your thoughts on a couple things here in terms of tennis, not necessarily the the the the tournament itself.
00:45:14
Speaker
um But... ah Two big subjects came up. And by the way, the winner of the of Wimbledon on the men's side was Yannick Sinner, who beat Novak Jokovic in the semifinals, and then Alexander Zverev in the finals.
00:45:33
Speaker
And the reason that I bring this up, that he beat Jokovic, is because that's one of the questions I wanted to talk about. On the men's side of tennis, yeah I watched the whole match.
00:45:44
Speaker
It was a five-hour match, Jokovic versus um the the the Canadian guy. Oh, I'm blanking on his name right now. Yeah, don't remember his name either, but yeah. Auger, Auger something. Felix Auger something. Anyways, great match.
00:46:02
Speaker
He's a great young tennis player. And all I could think was, man, this kid is really good and he's young and he's overtaking. He looks like he he was really beating Jokovic in the beginning of that match in the first three three three games.
00:46:15
Speaker
And then in the last two ah you know two games, And Djokovic obviously came back to win in the final fifth set. But it started getting me thinking, okay, this is the last of the changing of the guard. And what we're seeing here is the last legs of Djokovic. If he's starting to have a little more problems... with these younger players who are on top, who are your Yannick Singer, who are your Alcaraz who was hurt and couldn't play in this tournament, who is your Zverev, who is your Felix Auger, right? Who are these younger players? And so we are, I believe, and I wanted to get your opinion, I think seeing that changing of the guard, and I don't know how much longer Djokovic has, maybe one, maybe two years before he retires, but we're definitely seeing that changeover like when we saw
00:47:06
Speaker
Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras changing into the Roger Federer, the Jokovic, and the, you know, um I'm blanking on the other guy. But, yeah, anyways. Go ahead. What do you think about that?
00:47:18
Speaker
ah I mean, it' yeah, I think you're right on point, you know, with that. I mean, Jokovic is, he's up there, man. I mean, and when you play a five-hour tennis match, yeah where you up it's it's hard, you know, and the older that you get, you know, I mean, you can be in great shape, but let's face it.
00:47:36
Speaker
you know You're just not going to have the stamina that 26-year-old is going to have. or you know However, mean, Akaraz is what, 22?
00:47:47
Speaker
true 22, something like that, yeah. Yeah, so I mean, you know of course he's going to have more stamina you know and and be able to you know dig deeper. But Djokovic, I mean, he's a great champion still. So you know he will give you he will give you some battles. But yeah, I believe you're right. I believe that we are seeing the change of the guard.
00:48:06
Speaker
in tennis and tennis is not my sport you know to be quite honest i will watch you know i when they got the major tournaments going on but outside of that i wouldn't go out of my way to do it so yeah most americans don't uh it is a worldwide sport as i'm looking at the women's bracket i knew that coco golf had gotten to the semi-finals but i don't know the other two ladies that were in the championship, but it's... I've never heard of them before. to no no Yeah, Noskova beat Muchova. They're both from the same country. Same country, yeah.
00:48:41
Speaker
I don't know what country that is. I should know better up with by the flag, but I don't. Probably like Belarus or something. Is it Czech? maybe Maybe. Either way, that shows you that not, again, like soccer, not very big in America. Coco Gauff did go far.
00:48:55
Speaker
um ah you know Naomi Osaka went you know as far as she could until Coco Gauff beat her. um But yeah, I mean, pretty much we don't really have anybody on that side. the bigger story and why I bring up the women's bracket here in the United States is because Serena Williams felt it was in, you know, that she wanted to come back and give a ah shot, at which is fine, whatever.
00:49:20
Speaker
You're the greatest of all time. That's crazy, man. Play as long as you want, you know, whatever. She went out in the first round. ah And her it's not like her sister didn't play into her 40s too. So it's not like it's imp impossible.
00:49:34
Speaker
No, it's not impossible. But I bring this up because I want to ask the controversial question, which I've been asking everybody. And that's GLPs.
00:49:46
Speaker
in the future this is in my opinion going to become a performance enhancing issue because if you're telling me in sports like tennis soccer you can have people that have used this drug to help them lose weight losing weight inherently will allow you to work your body and to be faster to be other things to be more agile to be able to be better at a sport like tennis Losing weight is exactly what would would propel you to be a little better, to be able to run the court. Now, I have found no one yet that has agreed with me that this was an issue, that Serena shouldn't have been allowed to play. And that's not what I'm saying.
00:50:31
Speaker
I think she should have, especially her being the greatest of all time. I think she can do whatever the hell she wants to do, and we let her. But in the future, there This is going to become an issue in sports because there's so many people out there that are now on these medicines that do allow them to go from 300 pounds to 150, which would allow them to play sports when they normally would not have been able to.
00:50:58
Speaker
So again, I'm alone so far in this. I've not had anybody come to my side and agree with me that this will become an issue. They think that if it's medically prescribed, then it's medically prescribed and you got to be good to go. And it's not a thing.
00:51:11
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. Steroids can be medically subscribed to, but baseball players, you know, abuse that. yeah So, you know, what do you think on that? ah You know, I never thought of you know of it that way. um But you're right. I mean, that will if you lose weight, you can be more agile. You know, it should help your performance.
00:51:34
Speaker
um Wow. Could it become an issue? um You know, it could. When you look at it from that perspective, I mean, that's valid.
00:51:44
Speaker
You know what you're saying, right? I mean, kind of like when they take steroids, right? You know, they can get bigger. you know, whatever. Well, this is the opposite, right? They're getting smaller and and therefore, you know, be able to do some things that they otherwise maybe, you know, wouldn't have been able to do. So, right. It could.
00:52:04
Speaker
I mean, wow, I've never thought of it that way. That's. Especially in the individual sports, maybe even in the Olympics, you know, because it's already on the Olympic watch list.
00:52:16
Speaker
So you're like looking into it already. So. Yeah, I mean, if the Olympics are looking at it, definitely could become an issue. Yeah. Yeah. And then, oh, I forgot to ask you in golf what you thought about live golf.
00:52:30
Speaker
Apparently, um you know, they're they're done after this year. They're never coming back to be folded and everybody's going to go back to the PGA Tour. Look, I thought that they I thought I get that the the Saudis, you know, buried a lot of money and lost a lot of money into it. But not only do I think it was needed um in order to make the the golf and PGA better, but also I thought personally that if they would have kept it going they could have started uh eating away at the pga tour now i know a couple of the pga tour players that were in live came back so that doesn't help when you're starting to lose some of your stars
00:53:08
Speaker
But I just felt like another, I felt all along like another golf organization was necessary because the PGA Tour had a monopoly and was able to do whatever they want. Not that they were doing a bad job, but just in general, having a monopoly leads to corruption in but business and sports in general.
00:53:26
Speaker
Well, I mean, Liv definitely forced the PGA's hand, right? I mean, they they came up with this signature event that paid, you know, much, much more than you know the regular events. um So yeah, they forced their their hand in ah you know in a certain way.
00:53:43
Speaker
um i never thought that that concept was going to last too long, to be quite honest, because it's it's unsustainable. you know the The amount of money that they were doling out you know to these guys and and they didn't really get all of the best players. you know They got some, but they didn't get all of them. you know so ah I'm not surprised that, you know, it's going to, I don't know if it's going to fold, but the fact that the the Saudis are not, you know, wasting any more money on it tells me that yeah I don't think that they're going to you know be around much longer. So.
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't know who's going to pick up and start paying for that. So I thought that they had already decided they were done. I thought this was the last season. But, yeah, maybe, i again, maybe they have somebody swoop in and save it. But, i yeah, I can't. I just, you know, save it for what, right? I mean, you know, I just don't think that that is a snap so sustainable, you know, model.
00:54:42
Speaker
You know, it kind of got have you got to have more more of the stars of the game, you know, and the PGA is done. job Yeah, no, makes a lot of sense.
00:54:55
Speaker
And then last topic, yeah ESPN made a lot of layoffs here recently in this past week. Now, this is a yearly occurrence where ESPN will lay off people.
00:55:09
Speaker
But this one is a little controversial because it did involve a lot of favorites like Carl Ravitch, Tom Pellicero, David Lloyd, Stefania Banks, Charles Davis, right? A lot of these faces that have been there forever, but also Ryan Clark, also Cam Newton, also Bart Scott.
00:55:35
Speaker
And I bring up especially Ryan Clark in general because the people that are going to make out on this show these firings are going to be the two top people that get paid at that network a is pat mcafee who apparently is getting double the raise in this now and is going to be getting like 60 million dollars or some shit as the large as the biggest best uh you know talker ever or i don't even like that show to be quite honest but
00:56:07
Speaker
It's okay. It has its moments where it's fine. Other times it can get a little annoying. I do like how they are able to interview pretty much anybody in sports that they want because not a lot of other shows can do that. So that's kind of why I watch.
00:56:20
Speaker
They'll get, you know, Nick Khan and Dana White and they'll get, you know, the the commissioners of the league and even first take doesn't necessarily get that sometimes. So I do like it for that. But yeah, other times it's kind of just like a bunch of dudes sitting around bullshitting, which I can do with my friends. So I agree with that.
00:56:37
Speaker
And then the other beneficiary would be Stephen A. Smith, who is Ryan Clark's good friend and said that he told the company he didn't like this move. But apparently, I guess he doesn't have the pull that he thinks he does. But he will probably, you know, get a little more power or money out of this as well. But at the expense of, you know, it looks like 10, 15 people that were very important at the organization losing their job.
00:57:02
Speaker
Obviously, business and capitalism, this is what happens. Um, but I don't know. i feel like, I feel like you gotta, ah you gotta to be one of those, you gotta to be one of those athletes, like a Jalen Brunson that gives a little bit back to the team in order to make sure the team can keep some of the stars.
00:57:20
Speaker
That's what I would do if I was making that much money anyways, I don't really need the extra, you know, 2 million, maybe give it away to somebody else, you know, at that point, but yeah who am I? What do you think? Well, you're right. I mean, um,
00:57:32
Speaker
Letting go some of those, you know, long timers in there, you know, favorite ones. Yeah, of course, it's going to generate some controversy, but, the you know, I'm not sure, you know, what their motivation is. I mean, I hear they're losing money.
00:57:46
Speaker
I don't know that, you know, they just, they just kept expanding, you know, way too much. You know, it's just tremendous overreach. You know, how many channels does ESPN have? You know, so how how many sports can you cover, right?
00:58:01
Speaker
It's like, There's not enough air time out there. so They have to do something, I guess, you know or just go under. And I do get it they they bought it. They bought out part of the NFL network.
00:58:16
Speaker
So they did have to incorporate some of their employees as well, which means that you're bringing on new people. You got to cut some people. I get it. yeah Like Pete Schrager. and yeah Right. Right. He's going to get money out of this. Right. Yeah. the The bigger faces. Exactly. And it is kind of a shame that that happens, but it is business. And I mean, you got to be looking out for yourself, I guess. So. Look, I've always been an ESPN loyalist. I'm not going to change on that, but you're right.
00:58:42
Speaker
Maybe they are trying. I i personally love ESPN Network because you're right. I can watch college field hockey. I can watch college wrestling. I can watch baseball. I can watch hockey.
00:58:54
Speaker
I can watch any single sport I want at any time. for me, it's great.
00:59:00
Speaker
Right. ah Right now they got the dog agility tournament. I might go watch that in a second. We'll watch some dogs racing over. and They got the flag football championship. which yeah actually you talk they They were showing dog jumping into the water yesterday.
00:59:14
Speaker
Yeah. but And the other thing is the flag football championship. So now, remember earlier we talked about people not letting their kids into tackle football because of all the injuries. Well, now flag football is becoming very popular. Definitely. Yes, sir.
00:59:28
Speaker
yep And they're showing the flag football championships on ESPN right now. Yeah. In fact, that's what I had on um TV. so Yeah, I'll probably go watch a little bit of it. i haven't watched any of it yet, but I'll probably go watch a little bit of it. yesterday know It's pretty fun, man. They have some really, really great plays, you know, in there. In fact, a couple of them made the um the top 10 on ESPN.
00:59:50
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, when you're not encumbered by all that equipment, you know, you're allowed to be a little more athletic and and and agility and and jump higher and run faster. That was a hell of a one-handed catch.
01:00:05
Speaker
Oh, my God, man. And another one in traffic that bounced off of the player that was trying to catch it. And when she went down to the ground, it bounced off of her.
01:00:15
Speaker
And her teammate was right there to pick it up and score. Oh, there you go. Nice. All right. Oh, yeah. I'm definitely going to check it out. Yeah. okay It has been awesome here at Poppy and the Professor Sports.
01:00:32
Speaker
We might come have to come up with a better name. we'll We'll put our heads together and think about something. But look, I love this is my favorite show. Love doing this with my pops. Just shooting the shit, talking sports like we do offline. So thank you very much for coming on.
01:00:45
Speaker
I love you very much and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Yeah, love you too, man. Thank you for having me. And hey, everybody out there, have a blessed day. Thank you. All right, you too, brother. I'll talk to you soon. I love you. love you. Bye.
01:00:59
Speaker
All right, cool. Well, that was awesome. Having my pops on. I'm going to talk to you for a little bit more. He has some things he had to go do, ah run some errands and stuff. Shout out, Faye. Loves nature. Hi, guys from Rock Chalk family.
01:01:15
Speaker
Prayers up for our girl over there at Rock Chalk. I saw she had a stream last night. i Unfortunately, or Thursday night, unfortunately, I was not able to watch it because I was working with my or teaching a course with my client.
01:01:27
Speaker
um So, but I'm praying and hoping she's doing well. And I'm so happy that you tapped in and everybody that tapped in, make sure you hit that like button for me. Subscribe at Ball and Buds, B-A-L-L-A-N-D-B-U-D-S on YouTube. Follow on Instagram. Subscribe at Rock Chalk as well on YouTube. And I'm just going to finish up a couple more stories here.
01:01:50
Speaker
So I did want to talk about the WNBA. The WNBA is having their all-star game this weekend. And so last night they had their three-point shooting contest.
01:02:05
Speaker
um And shout out to Aziz Fudd out of UConn, the rookie, coming in and becoming the first player to win the three-point contest as a rookie.
01:02:18
Speaker
So shout out to her, because that was really awesome. And as well, shout out to my hometown, Mystics. The Washington Mystics won the shooting stars.
01:02:30
Speaker
Ella Deladon, Shakira Austin, high school prospect. I love that. I love bringing the, they should do that in the NBA. I love that. Let the high school kids get some shine at the All-Star game. That's beautiful. Let a couple of high schoolers and college kids play. that' I love that. What a great idea that was, WNBA. Tonight, we'll move into the you know the actual all-star game led by two WNBA legends.
01:03:06
Speaker
I mean, first of all, Cynthia Cooper may be... okay the goat if not she's definitely top five all time um i mean i remember when she played with houston back in the 90s three titles i believe they won she's she's tremendous and another one of one of the greats um not in my eyes probably Man, maybe not as good as Cynthia Cooper, but not far behind.
01:03:36
Speaker
ah Teresa Weatherspoon, used to play for New York. Great, great, amazing player. Anyways. They're having their teams play off.
01:03:47
Speaker
um And so ah with what with the teams they chose, excuse me, Teresa Witherspoon has MVP Asia Wilson, best player in the league for a long time. I know all you Caitlin Clark stands out there, want to say she's the best in the league. She's not.
01:04:06
Speaker
She's a great player. She's not the best in the league. Asia Wilson has proved year after year that she is that. um She is her, as they say. Rookie of the Year front run runner Olivia Miles. They call her Magic Miles. This rookie has been playing tremendous. Shout out to my brother again, Wildcar Mar, talking about this the other day on his show as well. She's just tremendous. Actually, last night he was talking.
01:04:31
Speaker
um on on Audible Sports Bobby. She actually, they were talking about Olivia Miles. Tremendous. Aaliyah Boston, one of my favorite players since she she was in college.
01:04:42
Speaker
They're playing with Kate and Clark, Indiana Fever. Also, Ryan Howard, Nneka Ogumike will be there as well. In the other side, Cynthia Cooper's team will be led by Paige Buckets. Beckers will be leading that team as well.
01:05:01
Speaker
Kelsey Mitchell, um Natasha Howard, Gabby Williams, and another GOAT of all time could also be considered the greatest of all time.
01:05:15
Speaker
Brianna Stewart will be playing for Cynthia Cooper's team. So there you go. Those are your teams for tonight. Shout out also to, let's see.
01:05:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Late. That's why I won. o Shooting my shot here. Late arrival. ah Scratch was gold medalist Kalia Copper, who swapped spots and was replaced with the injured reserve pick of Kelsey Plum.
01:05:50
Speaker
Yes. Ain't my fault. ah Darren fumbled that. Kelsey, holla at you, boy. I'd love to talk to you. we can ah We can meet and, you know, go from there.
01:06:03
Speaker
beautiful young lady. Anyways. All right. The other part I wanted to talk about WNBA is the Caitlin Clark thing. Got to talk about it. Huge all season long, even to the point where Republican senators, and this is wild.
01:06:18
Speaker
Never heard of some shit like this before. Senators sent in memorandums and and, and, and requests for information on why Caitlin Clark was being treated in such a fashion. Now,
01:06:30
Speaker
Does Caitlin Clark get hard fouls and does she get treated yeah ah differently than other players? Yes, on both accounts. Yes, players foul her harder.
01:06:42
Speaker
Players play her harder. Players treat her differently. And the league treats her differently, which is in turn why the players treat her differently.
01:06:53
Speaker
Look, let's call spade a spade, as my brother Hot Take Jake would say. The WNBA is a basketball league that has been mostly filled with African-American women.
01:07:10
Speaker
That does not mean that Caitlin Clark is not a great player. She is. But she also, and this must be admitted and stated, was able to get to where she was because she brought a Steph Curry-like three-pointer shooting kind of game repertoire to the sport that had not been seen in women's sports at that time, and also did so in a majority Caucasian market in Iowa.
01:07:48
Speaker
So when the caucasian sector of the fan base that usually probably didn't watch a lot didn't watch a lot of WNBA because there weren't a lot of those faces that were represented. It's just how you know black people feel and a lot of other things were white people are majority represented. Same thing here, just inverse.
01:08:16
Speaker
They saw somebody that could play well and and dominate. Not that there weren't white people that came before. Obviously, we know Brianna Stewart. But again, bringing that Steph Curry, like three-point game, it made it a lot more exciting, right? So now they had something to stand behind. But of course, if she gets into the league and being a Caucasian face, something different than what they've always been promoted... They're going to promote that. And that is going to receive backlash and, you know, ah some i hate, if you want to call it that, whatever, just heart, whatever it is, you know, ah that, that they have a grudge, whatever that they're going to have against this Caitlin. I shouldn't say this girl, Caitlin Clark.
01:09:06
Speaker
But that is to be understood as well. Now again, does she get fouled harder than Paige Beckers? Sure.
01:09:18
Speaker
Paige, Caitlin Clark came in the league first. She is getting the brunt of this attention in terms of um in terms of Caucasian girls, that women that can shoot ah from three-point land and beyond.
01:09:33
Speaker
If Paige Becker said come first, I guarantee you she would be receiving that same treatment. And she still does get a little of that sick because you've got to prove yourself in this league. It's the same thing in every other league, which is why I don't understand why Republicans say I do understand. I know why they did it.
01:09:49
Speaker
because she's white but the and they're conservative and they don't want that happening to their representation understandable if you were in a majority white sport and you were black or brown you would want the same thing so i completely understand where they're coming from but a congressional letter is not necessary at all because this happens in every single sport all over the world when you come in and you are a highly promoted player and yes maybe you know racial tensions may have played a little bit more here But if you are a highly touted player in any sport and you come in as a rookie, they are going to treat you differently.
01:10:27
Speaker
And they are going to continue treating you differently. Now, again, yes, racial, you know, undertones do play in here as she was, again, the most popular Caucasian white woman, you know, that could shoot a three-pointer. Again, I know there was Breonna Stewart and other greats before her. But again, she brought that Steph Curry-like excitement to the game that not a lot of other people or no one had before her.
01:10:51
Speaker
All of these things come together and now there's frustration building, boiling over. They think that Alyssa Thomas is trying to punch her in the throat and they're running back. so You know, this is being I'm watching. I'm watching all the news stations, you know, ah Fox News, CNN, whatever, and they're all showing clips of this.
01:11:11
Speaker
And it's like, okay, but I also know Alyssa Thomas being a fellow Terp. Shout out to my fellow Terrapin, University of Maryland. She is a tremendous and amazing person. um So if she was trying to give a hard bow, which she was, um it doesn't necessarily mean just because the split screen shows that her elbow ended up in her throat, that that's necessarily that's what she was trying to do, rather than they probably just ended up that way. And it doesn't deserve fucking congressional action.
01:11:39
Speaker
Like, come on, what are we doing now? It's going to continue happening. And now it's blowing over because now she's getting mad at the refs and the refs are like, we ain't to take this from you. So now it's like, okay, now we have an advantage where we can foul you hard. You're going to get upset with the refs and you're going to cause yourself a game and wonder why you're being called for a technical.
01:12:01
Speaker
Well, why do you have so many technicals? You're like Draymond Green. Why do you have 17 technicals? Why are you yelling at the refs so much? Where did you get off? getting so much bravado you've only been in the league for two years or maybe is it because they've promoted you so much and your head has been so gassed up so much that you think you can do these things well that's where you're going to get in trouble and you're going to get those technical fouls and be suspended for the playoffs when your team is playing very well this year
01:12:36
Speaker
So anyways, we'll keep you updated. That's just my thoughts on the situation. Do I think Caitlin Clark makes the WNBA better? Yes. Do I understand why she gets a little more rougher or harsh treatment from the other players?
01:12:50
Speaker
Yes. Do I think it's fair? Yes, because it happens in every sport. Do I think it deserves congressional action? Hail to the Nizza. We've got better things that we need to be working on in this country, including gas prices, grocery prices, and working together across the aisle that I don't think you need to be sending in notes about Caitlin Clark.
01:13:11
Speaker
Okay? So get off your high horse. No one gives a Y'all don't do anything in the Senate and Congress. Y'all wasting taxpayer money. We demand better. Work on the issues that matter.
01:13:26
Speaker
And that's all you need from the sports professor, the professor. Now, go subscribe to Ball and Buds on YouTube. B-A-L-L-A-N-D-B-U-D-S.
01:13:38
Speaker
Hit that like button now or on the replay. Follow on Instagram. And make sure that you holla at your boy.
01:13:48
Speaker
I had a great time. Poppy and the professor sports love doing this with my pops. We're going to keep doing it. I'm going to make them. keep going on with me. We'll maybe have to come up with a better name. I liked it. I don't know. Maybe I'll change it. But anyways, I've been your host, Omar, the sports professor Fonseca. I appreciate you tuning in and I'm not sure.
01:14:10
Speaker
I am leaving in a few weeks to go international on vacation to a few spots. So I'm going to try to fit in a couple more shows before the end, but I don't know. I think we're going to try to do total evisceration this week. i'm Not sure what day. So smash that notification bell.
01:14:25
Speaker
So, you know, when we go live, that being said, I thank everybody for tuning in. I am Omar, the sports professor Fonseca, and this is ball and buds. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube.
01:14:35
Speaker
Holla. It's awesome.