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

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slash new heights. I'm just like

in the moment listening to the

song. All of a sudden I go on Twitter

and I see this fucking picture.

Like I'm not even sleeping

and I can prove it to you. You know I

play jazz. Sometimes when you close your eyes

Dude, every jazz solo I ever saw you play Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, Sports and Entertainment. Yeah, baby.
And brought to you by Peloton.

Find your push.

Find your power.

Push.

Peloton.

We're your hosts.

I'm Travis Kelsey.

This is my big brother, Jason Kelsey, out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Hence, New Heights.

And shout out to the old Bearcats.

Yeah, baby.

Back on the winning train a couple weeks in a row, man.

We are rolling right now.

How about that?

It's fun watching the cats.

But back to New Heights.

Subscribe on YouTube, Wondry Plus, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show.

That is with one S.

Jason, why don't you tell the people about this amazing episode?

Oh, we got an incredible episode lined up here.

We're going to talk about the Chiefs staying undefeated

in the Super Bowl rematch against San Fran.

Saquon's big return to the Meadowlands.

We're also going to get into time out of the house. That's right.
In particular, my time out of the house. We're also going to be joined by legend CeCe Sabathia.
How about that, baby? Former Cleveland Guardian. To be honest, I kind of like the guards.
I like the Guardians. I'm going to be very honest.
I don't think guardians is a good team name i get that it's the two statues the two statues on the bridge i would rather have been the cleveland statues i think that's cooler than cleveland i do not like the cleveland guardians on bit just being honest i don't know about the statues dude the cleveland pillars the cleveland stones like i don't like it could have been so many other things I said Guardians is a stupid name. I don't like the Guardians.
I don't know why. The Cleveland Carnegie Bridge.
Yeah, exactly. The Carnegie's.
I mean, I don't know. We're not going to get in on this, man.
I'm with it, man. I don't like that one.
I don't like Commanders. Maybe it's just because I'm too old now that I just don't like new names.
What are other expansion names?

Dude, I'm still waiting on the Utah Hockey Club to get a name, man.

Just be the Yetis, man.

Come on, man.

Please. Yetis would have been great.

Come on.

The Utah Yetis?

That's just sweet.

And they're the Utah Hockey Club?

So weak.

That is such a preppy fucking name for a goddamn team.

No, it's the same thing as the football team.

What, do you have to go to the game? You have to go to the game like a shoot and tie you gotta have your blaster on and a tie on otherwise you don't get into the club no man it's just terrible it's got to be just a placeholder until they find their like real name it can't be called the fucking hockey club they who knows they'll probably do yetis is way better yetis is a great name what's another expansion team recently? Ooh, what's the Kraken? That's not bad. The Kraken was sweet.
Pretty cool. It's not bad.
I like that one. The most recent football team is the Texans.
Is that the most recent expansion, like brand new football team? I mean, other teams have moved location. Yeah, nobody switched names.
I like the name texans we've been through this in

the last year like texans it's pretty good one it's not very creative but i like the oilers better yeah garden all right well let's uh let's get a little okay anyways uh let's get to some uh let's get this show started with a little bit of that new news

new news

that's right

new news is brought

to you by

timberland and Vans. No, I like my butters.
You do love your butters, man. And I got my Vans on, but they look like sneakers, man.
Let's start this thing off with a little kicking challenge. The first bit of new news, Jason, our episode with Pat McAfee last week.
You have officially been called out by our friends at Timberland and Vans. Been called out? Let's watch this clip.
Called out for what? How you doing? This is Steve Van Doren from Vans. We got famous Daniel here.
We made some special shoes up right here. Checking board, football cleats.
Oh, my gosh. Here's what I kicked in.
Let's see if said he was famous, Dan. Do you know who that Dan was? I don't know who that guy was.
Yeah, he's a big TikToker. Okay.
All right. No, I'm kidding.
I mean, he made it it there's no chance i'm gonna make this you don't you can't make a field goal jason no not in tim's why do you think you can't make a field goal in tim's because they're heavy ass boots and my hip flexors don't work because i ripped them off the bone when i had sports hernia pat mcfee just talked about how he tore his hip flexor playing soccer last week. Do you know what it's going to be like with my big, goofy ass trying to kick a ball this age? I'm not messing with you.
This age? You were just in the NFL last year. And now I am not.
Pat's been out for like five years. Yeah, let me tell you, it drops quick.
I get underneath that squat bar and I'm like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing still trying to squat 315 why the fuck are you under a squat bar i don't know just because i like hurting my back i think i just love the feeling of my knees cracking while i try i'm i'm a messed up individual for some reason i like it uh i'm a little fucked up connor uh barwin one time punted a ball after practice and his knee was never the same it bothered him for the rest of his career like yeah you gotta understand you can't be all quad right there you can't be all vmo yeah you gotta be a little bit yeah you gotta be hip flex you gotta be everything's got to work together when you're kicking man because if you you get high breaks that thing if you're doing it wrong listen if it's for charity uh i'll tear my hip flexor for charity that's what i'm talking about that's what i'm talking about it's a cleveland ball player right there all right i don't really know how this is going to be facilitated whether i have to make it what the deal is uh with timberland and vans but the challenge is accepted yeah Yeah. Famous Dan.
Was it Famous Dan? Stan? I think it was Dan. Brandon's going to type, it was Famous Dan.
It was Dan. You're right.
Thank you, intern, Brandon. Well, I'm going to have to go straight on.
I can't soccer style in Tim's, right? No, no. It's got to be boot.
It's got to be Luke Rose, square toe, right? Square toe that thing. You can get it in there.
Should I put like a little – you know the old square toe cleats they used to make specifically for kicking? What are you talking about? Are you talking about the steel toes that you wore during the season last year? I did. Stop.
This dude was out there in steel-toed cleats. That is crazy.
I do have a modified cleat, but it was not the flat front the way – they used to literally make like a flat front. put that clean like a frame with like a little bit on it with a little flash card that says like what how it was made and like how many games i'm gonna make a whole video with dom the cobbler in south philly he was the one who used to hook me up dom the cobbler they put tar on it i didn't even know there were cobblers that's what i thought that was like an old that was a like a profession that went extinct when they invented machinery i didn't know there were still cobblers but there are well stay tuned to uh all the new heights social channels and tune in next week to see uh what we have in store and how you can participate in this uh this fun charity uh fundraiser thatiser that involves Jason trying to make a field goal in Timberlands.
All righty. Huge announcement.
We've officially started the Heights Hotline. That's right.
And we want to hear from you. We're trying to figure out ways to hear from our fans and everybody out there that listens to this show on a weekly basis.
We obviously appreciate you guys so much.

So we've decided to create a hotline number.

That's right.

The number is 929-399-7260.

Hopefully somebody will put that number on the screen.

Why is this like 1-800-NEW-HEIGHTS or something?

Yeah, what does that spell?

Brandon said those are hard to get. This is hilarious.
Again, that's 929-399-7260. You can call in and ask us questions, and we will replay the actual audio.
So there's a chance you make it on the show, which I think is pretty cool. Without us just reading it, we actually hear your voice.
The topic for the first Heights Hotline, one that will be put in the episode, is going to be relationships. That's right.
Ask us any questions you have about relationships. Yeah, leave us a voicemail and ask to solve any issue or whatever questions you might have.
Oh, yeah. Next caller, this is the latest man.
How can I help you? We're trying to be our own Leon Phelps. This is pretty good.
So, yeah, the only thing left to do is record the outgoing message. So should we do that right now? Yeah.
Yeah, let's go. We got to get it.
This is going to be about relationships. What's the answering machine message? Hello, you've reached the New Heights hotline.
Yeah. Please leave us a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
With some advice for your relationships. We are the ladies' men.
There's also a strong chance we don't get back to you because there's probably going to be way too many people to get back to. But rest assured, we sure do appreciate you calling.
Not right now.

If you want to check out the Heights Hotline and see if we choose your voicemail,

make sure to sign up for Wondery Plus.

You'll also get early access to episodes without interruptions,

and we're still giving you three months free of Wondery Plus.

This Wondery Plus offer is only available for a limited time.

Visit wondery.com slash newheightsoffer to redeem. If it's free, give me three.
Let's keep this thing moving. We're still in the Wondery Plus realm with our film club.
All right. Now, speaking of our bonus content, last week we released our first New Heights Film Club episode.
How about that? We got some some fun replies from a few uh familiar faces hey we got a shout out from bridget herself blake lively shout out to blake um and uh blake saw our sisterhood of the traveling pants clip and posted this response on instagram i knew it i knew those pants didn't have anything to do with it I called it from the moment I saw it. I knew those pants didn't have anything to do with it.
You're a psycho. I called it from the moment I saw it.
These pants ain't important at all. It's just the title.
That's it. That's all it is.
It didn't have anything to do with it. Blake, thank you so much for proving me right and for offering that bit of knowledge that the author actually didn't want the pants in it, but instead wanted to have some type of magical thing because of Harry Potter.
So good. Yeah, it's great.
Yeah, I love it. And what a great response.
And we needed that. We needed that clarification.
We did. We did.
Blake was also not the only cast member we heard from. We also got a couple mentions from the one and only Tibby.
That's right. Amber Tamblyn.
I approve of this poster and both of you. A bunch of pants, a bunch of females, a bunch of hearts.
XO Tibby. Shout out to Amber.
Appreciate you catching the Wondry Plus or at least hearing about it and giving your approval. approval we appreciate that um any thoughts on the next film club movie should it be a thanksgiving slash holiday theme since uh it'll come out in november i think we did a chick flick now we got to balance it out and do just the most masculine movie of all time all right let's see let's uh let's take it to the 92 percenters on uh some uh some masculine movies maybe some terminators maybe some uh what what are some of the opposite ends i want to hear what movies do you guys think we can do i also want to hear what the swifties think or like the masculine movies like what do to hear this so bad.
Man, this would be good. Rambo, freaking Die Hard.
Really any 80s or 90s action movie has got to be just like Commando. This would be good.
This would be good. Bloodsport.
Bloodsport is the manliest movie. That should win.
I fucking love Bloodsport. God, I love that movie.
I'm down to watch it we'll see what uh you guys say on that front and uh once again uh we also want to mention that new news is brought to you by our friends at timberland and vans i'm about to go get some fresh butters right now let's uh let's talk a little out of the house moving on out of the house it's uh out of the house is brought to you by the backing of American Express. Jason got out of the house this week.
I did. I did.
How about it? This weekend, I should say, in Miami. And we got to talk about it.
You took a nap at the Arrows Tour. I did not take a nap.
What is that all about? Travis, you know I didn't take a nap. I did not take a nap.
How are you? This show is absolutely electric. It's the greatest show that's ever been on stage.
And're over here falling asleep not only was it the greatest show but um obviously i went to the two london shows this miami show was incredible i think part of it's like i don't know if it's back the fact that we're back in the u.s because i think the london uh crowd was incredible but the rain and everything dude it was like on another level i text you halfway through it like dude this rain tay is killing it she dude when reputation came on and she came out in the new outfit and the rain was coming down and the the place could have fucking erupted i mean it did like it was the amount of energy was insane it was so exciting uh But back to this photo, I'm going to give a little, I guess, background to this. So Kylie is holding Elliot, right? Ellie was just with me.
We were dancing and I was sitting down. So I'm on the same level with her.
Yeah. And I'm trying not to.
We're out in the middle of the open right here. And we brought a bunch of people to the show because a bunch of people have been asking us hey when are you going to taylor swift shows and mom went for the first time and we're trying to figure out we go out there and i realize i'm in like the middle of the open like it isn't like a box it's like a close like i'm so i'm like okay i'm gonna sit down and not be i don't want like i don't know i feel like i'm standing i'm holding ellie i feel like i'm a like kind of in a fishbowl like everybody's staring at me so i just sit down i'm dancing with ellie ellie goes over to kylie and then i'm just like sitting here and i'm just like feeling it and i'm like oh and i'm tapping my thigh and i'm just like in the moment listening to the song and then all of a sudden i go on twitter and i see this fucking picture and i'm like dude what the fuck like i'm not even sleeping and i can prove it to you there's evidence in this photo that i'm not sleeping you calling bo allen a liar bo didn't say i was sleeping bo did not say i was sleeping he just posted the picture oh he didn't say i thought he said i thought you said you were sleeping.
No. You were just feeling the groove, huh? Jets Jake, zoom in on my right hand in post.
Make sure that Travis sees this. My hand is hovering.
You can't sleep with your hand hovering above your knee. It's impossible.
Nice. I'm not major pain.
How am I going to? I can't sleep with my eyes open, much less with my hand hovering if I'm any. That's because I'm slapping my leg.

I was going like this.

I'm going like this.

Two, tubby, tubby.

And you know I play jazz.

Sometimes when you close your eyes –

Dude, every jazz solo I ever saw you play.

Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.

A little sexy sax.

Boop, boop, boop.

Like, I'm seriously – I'm like – so I'm kind of half joking. But this is like one of my favorite parts about the show.
Because the mist of the rain had just like started to get into my face. Elliot was with mom.
So I'm like, okay. And I'm just sitting here.
And I'm tapping my leg. And I'm just in the moment.
I invite Bo Allen and his mom. It's her birthday.
Nice, Mama Allen. His sister.
Nice. Grace.
And then all of a sudden, friendly fire. Like, I'm nervous about all these other people getting pictures with me and Ellie.
And I'm trying to have a moment. And then all of a sudden, I see this.
Betrayed by one of my best friends. That how it happens that's not betrayal that's just that's just a good friend that's just called being uh it's called being a best friend well i had uh all the uh fomo in the world uh with the entire family and a lot of our friends being there i had a bunch of friends that were also down by the stage that had been to a few shows overseas and they were saying the same thing that you're saying the miami stadium was just on another level it was incredible and it was man i wish i was there i wish i was there also there was there was a little bit of confusion among the uh the swifties uh they apparently confused kylie with bo allen and yeah that is not those aren't two people that I think ever should...
Not sure how you get those two mixed up. I'm sure Bo is flattered.
I don't know who's more disrespected, Kylie or Bo. Bo that everyone thought a former nose guard in the NFL is now a female, or Kylie that everybody thought you were a hairy nose guard with your arms exposed.
We would like to recreate this comment section with a little dramatic reading. Travis will play the miscellaneous brewer and Jason will play shells Ray.
Okay, let's go. Let's see what our voice acting skills look like.
Sound like, Oh God. Miscellaneous brewer.
He's a brewer, so he's a drunk. Kylie is so beautiful down to earth.
Look at those ripped field hockey arms. I mean, she's just the glue, the neck, the foundation.
Kylie is giving us Midwestern mom's life. It's a great Midwestern mom voice.
All right, Shell's Ray response. Where do you see her arms, Lowell? Kylie is sitting in front of Donna.
Someone else is holding Wyatt. Isn't that her dancing around Jason in that cowboy hat? And look at those guns.
No, that's a a man that's bo allen kylie is sitting in front of donna holding elliot sorry i put my glasses on and clearly that's not kylie okay but whoever that woman is good on those muscles sorry i'm blind Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha she had this ass jesus which i'm not gonna Well, I... Who doesn't? I do not.
I'm very happy she does not.

As bootylicious as Bo Allen's behind is, I'm starting to throw up in my mouth thinking about Kylie having Bo Allen's head. All right.
Well, let's keep it moving then. Overall, did the family have a good time at the show? Everyone had a good time.
Who doesn't have a good time? Not only did everybody have a good time, but everybody has been texting over the last couple days since then. Like, dude, she's just incredible.
And the show's incredible. Miami was another level of it.
I'm excited for her to be back out on tour for this final leg of the era's run here. Yeah.
Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It was an incredible trip.
So keep incredible trip so keep killing it say keep killing it yeah shout out to everyone that uh went to the eras tour down in miami special shout out to my friends that came along uh obviously maybe king swifty now bo allen who knows way too many swifty references uh his sister grace and of course the the birthday woman herself Susie Allen as well as Donna Kelsey's first show Elliot Kelsey's first show Wyatt Kelsey's first show was a it was an awesome time down there man it was great yeah and shout out to Tay Tay for powering for you through a few uh rain shows there dude yeah and that does it for out of the house brought to you by the powerful backing of American Express all right let's get into some week seven recaps starting with the chiefs chiefs 28 49ers 18 in the super bowl rematch uh yeah what are your thoughts trev i mean it's it's tough to call it a super bowl rematch i mean it's there were different guys out there yeah different guys out there obviously same organization same head coach a lot of the a lot of the same big time players but or big name players familiar faces but um at the end of the day we had a lot of guys step up uh on our team at least that uh that didn't play in the super bowl and then on top of that you know it was just uh it was a tough game man it was a it was a it was a get dirty type game i mean we ran the ball a lot kareem hunt was uh was getting downhill and finding finding extra yards after contact same with uh my guy carson steel dundee hitting the hole like a maniac man and uh and it was just uh it started off a little slow for us uh but i think we ended up you know catching some wind feeling some confidence there and uh and really just playing together man just being accountable when the when your numbers called and uh we found ways to put up some touchdowns man and that was the biggest thing going into there going into that game as an offense was man when we get in the red zone man enough of these field goals even though we love harry love harrison fucker and he's's going to make some fake field goals for us again this year.

Let's put up some touchdowns, man.

We work our tail off to get in that red zone,

and then all of a sudden we settle for three,

and it's just let's reward ourselves by getting that ball in the end zone,

and that's what we did, man.

And nobody is better at getting it in the end zone after the bye week than Andy Reid.

Not right now.

At 22-4, he has the highest winning percentage after the bye in NFL history.

What does Andy do differently than other coaches during the bye?

I don't know. I'm not sure.
That's his secret sauce, man. He's got the formula, man.
He has a unique way to find routines that challenge everybody in the building to be accountable, if that makes sense. He has a way to challenge the offensive line.
He has a way to challenge the receivers, you know, knowing that a lot of guys are banged up. He has a way to challenge Pat Mahomes.
And on top of that, he has a way to challenge the coaches to be able to put us in successful positions. And I think, you know, you give him that extra week of preparation and to think about it and to like really put a game plan together.
Coach Reed does it better than anybody, in my opinion, and I think that record proves it. Yeah, I think a lot of it, like you just said, is you give Andy's a great coach, and when you give any great coach more time to prepare, they're going to be that much more dangerous.
You guys came out right from the gate, and it felt like the offense was humming. I know there's some interceptions and some turnovers, but it was going.
And then on top of that, I mean, we got to talk about Spags. I know.
Oh, man. Come on now, baby.
Yeah, baby. And Spags, we trust.
Brock had a rough day out there trying to throw the ball. Now, he was missing some horses.

They've had the injury bug just like you guys have.

Are you going down in the middle of it?

That was terrible.

I hate watching it.

It sucks, man.

It's really unfortunate, man. This year, it just seems like injuries are happening to a lot of teams,

and it's like big-name guys on the team are getting hit with them.

Yeah, you just hate to see it, man, especially when they're good dudes, man. Yeah.
Yeah. So that never makes it easy.
But at the same time, man, that's football, brother. You got to find a way to the next man up.
He's got to be ready. And that's just, you know, unfortunately, the game we played and the game we loved, man.
Debo Samuel has pneumonia. That sucks, man.
How rare is that? I don't know that I've. Especially like right now.
I'm a healthy guy. Yeah.
Hopefully Debo gets good and gets healthy quick, man. You never like to hear that.
For sure. Defense is dominant.
They finish with three interceptions, one sack, five tackles for loss, and six quarterback hits. Insane stat.
The defense hasn't allowed a 300-yard passer since the Super Bowl against the Eagles. Shout out to Jalen Hurts.
Rookie safety Jaden Hicks came up with one of the biggest plays of the game when he picked off Brock Purdy in the fourth quarter. It was Hicks' first career interception.
How about that? Jay Hicks, baby. Right on time, man.
Especially big time on the goal line, too. Man, you see one of those things, man.
That's one of those you jump off the bench like, stole one, baby. Yeah, baby.
You already talked about Kareem Hunt and Nicole Hardman, but obviously, both of those guys coming in and having big games. We talked about the Niners having injuries.
Obviously, you guys have been thrust with a bunch of them as well. You guys are having guys step up.
Kareem Hunt ends with two touchdowns on 78 yards rushing. Kareem! McColl had a couple cool design plays as well as a, what is that, a reverse or an around.
A few jet sweeps, had a big punt return. McColl is just, he's always there, man.
He's always ready. And for whatever reason, man, he's just got the 49ers number.
Last time we were in San Fran or San Francisco, I should say, he had a big game. I think he had something like two or three touchdowns.
Big time in the return game. On top of that, he had a lot of jet sweeps as well, man.
I don't know if they realized he was – he's one of the jet sweep kings out here, man. This is what he does.
You just get the ball in his hands running fast, and good things are going to happen. Dude, something Andy does so well, as well as the coach for the Buccaneers and Baker and what they're doing down in Tampa, they get the ball to really athletic guys in space.
They'll take the shots down the field when they need to, but they such a good job of hey let's just get it to a really fast guy in a lot of open area like and it seems so simple but like no they're create he's creative with doing that you know what i mean because i mean all that stuff can it can get shut down if you get if you if you're showing any tells or correct the defense can scheme you up with that kind of stuff but at the same time man yeah get the ball in mccola hardman's hand i mean yeah let him go ahead and rock hand that thing off to him worthy yeah yeah exactly if you give a fast guy space to uh be fast man we have one in the round it felt like worthy was gonna just absolutely take it to the house and for whatever reason it just like 49ers players just popped out of the sky and just like surrounded him i was like man i could have swore that he was gonna take that to the house it had to bubble just like a little bit and i feel like guys got out in front maybe a little bit too much yeah you already know you never know on some of those jet sweeps and ends around end around how how that thing's timing up because you're so so focused on the defense and trying to get your guy that you just never know where the guy with the ball is. The other guy that continues to play well, even though everybody likes to highlight his touchdown to interception ratio is Pat Mahomes or Pat truck homes, as you might be referred to now.
I like to call it Pat Vick, Pat Vick. Yeah.
Using those legs, baby. First, he had the longest run of his career 33 yard scamper along the sideline at the end of the third quarter which if we're being honest like he kind of used his quarterbackness to his advantage man get out of here you watch it again that kareem pushes the guy out of bounds all right all right watch it again the guy kareem is literally over there in the flat.
All right. All right.
Gets away from him. Kareem sees 53, pushes him.
He loses balance. Okay, touche.
And then gets in the way of 90. Touche.
I'm not trying to hear this, man. I'm saying touche.
I'm sorry. I didn't see the push.
I hear what everybody's saying. Some quarterbacks definitely take advantage of that.
I think Pat has been pretty solid with if he's getting out of bounds he's doing it because he can't do he can't get any more yards with his legs he's not going to try and trick a guy of going out of bounds and then do it it's like the old fake slide i don't i just don't see pat doing it yeah well i think you're right he definitely was pushed he never he never looked like he was running out of bounds. He was running towards the sideline.
The other guy slowed down, but that was more because they thought that he was going to get forced out. I think you're right.
I think that's a good point out, Trav. I miss that.
I hear what everybody's saying, though. I get it.
Sometimes quarterbacks are protected on that sideline, and it can get guys to play a little bit more cautious and not just absolutely try and take his head off like the good old days of football right now. After the game, Pat said he didn't realize that that was his longest run.
Neither did I. I need to get my yards up because 33 is not that long.
Yeah. For a guy that scrambles as much as Pat, you would think that he would have a longer one, right? I mean, I've seen him take off on some guys now.
I didn't realize that 33 was his longest either. I know there was the one in the playoffs in 2019 against the Titans right before half that he actually cut back and got in the end zone on that one, like rumbled and bumbled and stumbled his way into the end zone, almost fumbled it, but he held on to it.
I thought that one was longer, but I guess 33. I mean, numbers don't lie.
History don't lie, man. We got Pat McAfee, our friend of the show, obviously, with our latest guest before this episode, had this tweet.
Pat Mahomes rolling. A little Forrest Gump chip.
Yeah, is that a fair? I don't think Pat really runs like Forrest. He doesn't have any knee drive.
Are you kidding? That's all that Forrest has. Forrest is robotic.
Forrest has got that real high knee drive. Pat runs like he doesn't have any knees.
Pat is like loosey-goosey. He is.
I'll say this. There's a meme or there's like a GIF online right now of an ostrich running away from a dog.
And he's just like weaving in and out. I'm just like that.
I mean, thatomes a little top heavy with the skinny legs and he's out there just kind of like leaning and i mean he's scampering though he's out of there the ostrich can roll now dog this is so accurate the bro he'd be out there sliding it's a deceptive ass interest that looks just like it that's so good dude you remember uh because i thought of kyler murray was doing it yesterday too and the hips were going all over the place it kind of reminds me of uh you remember that dak prescott warm-up that he did the one year and it's like hipster he's like he's shooting the yeah he's yeah where the hips don't move similar to the rest of his body. Whenever I think of Pat running, I always think of the hips.
Those are immediately where I go. Chiefs linebacker Drew Twank rule on Patrick Mahomes running style.
Maybe people underestimate what's under that dad bod. Shout out to Pat.
Pat Vick. Then on that same drive, fourth and one, Pat runs it into the end zone and trucks Mustafa, who I think, if we're being honest, I think he was laying the wood multiple times in the game.
All game he was, yes. I think he was going for the ball.
It looked like he was trying to reach and get the ball out of Pat's right hand and just was not ready for the contact. I don't think he was ready for it.
And, I mean you gotta be a ball player i'll tell you what he uh rookie in the league guys got a lot of upside flies around i mean i wasn't ready for him a few times he's definitely he came downhill and and got a few of our running backs um so the guys definitely got a lot of a lot of promise to be a great player for the niners not not that he isn't already, but this was kind of his welcome to the NFL moment. He even said it was online.
So he's a good sport about it. And that's how you know you're confident that you're a good player, man.
You can understand that, all right, listen, man, there's other good players out here. Sometimes you just get got.
Sometimes you get, like we've talked about, everybody gets got. The Chiefs, with that touchdown, went up 21-12 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Pat on the play said he wasn't even trying to lower his shoulder. He was really trying to absorb the hit because he knew it was coming.
That dad bod man, I had enough weight on me where he just went down. A lot of NFL fans ran with this, comparing the bod of Mustafa and Patrick Mahomes.
Dude, this is such a bad picture, Pat. They'll never just let him live down.
It's just always going to be. My dog hadn't seen son in like three months, man.
And then as you already alluded to, Malik Mustafa online was a good sport about it. I ain't going to lie.
I'm getting cooked. Oh, yeah.
Also had this special formation unleashed. I wonder how much more we're going to see this this year with Carson Wentz out on the field.
How about that? Carson, baby. So you guys go tackle over.
Yep. So the center is actually Wentz is behind the center.
And Joe Tooney is snapping him the ball. Yep.
Mahomes is is behind Creed but Creed doesn't have the ball. You're in the backfield.
Hunt is I don't even know what position that is. He's like a wing.
A wing but his hand's on the ground. I don't even know.
I mean this is why it's so fun. Who the hell knows what's about to happen in this formation? Fred Warner knew unfortunately unfortunately.
He stuffed it. I mean, we got some yards.

Don't get me wrong,

but we thought that was going to be a guaranteed touchdown

because it was just, I mean, it's tough to those one-off plays

when you practice them so long.

This thing's been in the playbook for, I mean, a long, long time, man.

And we had practice, you know, getting that thing perfect,

making the exchange smooth and getting the right guys out there. And sure enough, it's a fun way to get our guy Carson Wentz in the game, baby.
I will say running at the tight end and tackle over normally, at least I feel like when we try to do it, you go tackle over in short yardage and like goal line situations because it's heavy man coverage. And when you have the tackle over more, the man coverage guys have to go and push towards that side of the formation.
So it leads to like a huge... Running away from it, yeah.
Yeah. But what do I know? Kareem almost strong-armed his way through some tackles there.
But we ended up finding a way to get that thing in the end zone. That's all that matters, baby.
Everyone's banged up from both Super Bowl teams. The Niners are out.
I mean, Debo, Ayuk, McCaffrey. Yeah.
I don't even want to list all the guys because I think it's more than that. You guys are down people.
Is the Super Bowl hangover a real thing? I mean, you guys have won back-to-back Super Bowls, and you guys are 6-0 right now, so I don't. Yes and no.
I mean, there's definitely something about, you know, the feeling you have after a Super Bowl. You know, you want to, first of all, you want to get that opportunity back.
Like, it burns your fucking soul that you want to get that opportunity back. And then on top of that, man, you just have to have the fortune of being successful.
Or, I mean, have the fortune of being healthy and having your best players out there at the right times and big moments. And you got to find a way to win ballgames.
And, you know, that's not easy, especially when you have success. Because you can get caught up in, you know, kind of some of the stuff you've done last year.
You know, the really good coaches find ways to keep it fresh, to keep it new, keep putting their players in successful positions. And we've been lucky that we've had two of the best coordinators to ever do it, in my opinion, and Coach Reed and Spags.
And'm i'm saying this as the entire coaching staff is is uh chiming in on these game plans um and it's a lot of uh it's a lot of hard work that you got to be able to go go back and dig deep and um and fight through a lot of stuff that uh that got you to that super bowl and sometimes it's uh you just got to be fortunate and uh it's At the same time, you just got to be ready for anything to happen, man. LeBron's stat of the game.
McCall Hardman is the first player since 2020, Naeem Hines, to record 15-plus rushing yards, 15-plus receiving yards, and a 50-plus punt return yards in a single game. That is definitely a LeBron stat.
Yeah. I mean, shout out to Cole for getting in on the stats, man.

LeBron stats, that is.

Next week, the Chiefs are away versus the Raiders.

The Raiders.

The last time the Chiefs played the Raiders, as every Raiders fan in Tahoe let us know,

the Chiefs lost on Christmas Day.

It was like.

Yeah, definitely.

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

Chiefs are 5-0 at Allegiant Stadium since it opened in 2020.

Raiders just signed former Bearcat.

Yeah, Dez.

Got my guy Dez Ritter in there, man.

Who is the star?

Is Minshew?

Minshew's been in and out.

I think Minshew's in.

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

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Boyd in Ontario. Every big moment starts with a big dream.
But what happens when that big dream turns out to be a big flop? From Wondery and Atwill Media, I'm Misha Brown, and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi.
It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to, like, get other people to do it. And the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats.
Like, if I'm watching the dancing and I'm noticing the feet aren't touching the ground, there's something wrong with the movie. Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco.
Enjoy The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to the big flop early and ad free on Wondery Plus.
Get started with your free trial at Wondery.com slash plus. Let's talk about some of the other big storylines from week seven, including the Philadelphia Eagles.
You know it. Eagles, 28 Giants, three in Saquon's return to the Meadowlands.
And boy, was it a return. I'm not even going to say it.
I don't think it was a revenge game. But I think Saquon definitely appreciated how hard everybody was blocking for him on this day because he had 187 total yards and a touchdown.

We can watch these highlights all day.

I mean, he was absolutely fucking rolling and just dragging guys.

Yes, he was.

He had 176 of that 187 on the ground.

The second most against a former team in NFL history.

The first was Cedric Benson with the Bengals when he played the Bears.

189 on the ground.

So there you go.

Saquon was asked about the emotions surrounding this game in his postgame interview.

To be honest, I'm so happy this game is over.

I don't think I should get, besides the day, any more questions about the Giants. But like I always said, I'm thankful for that organization.
They're the team that drafted me. I still got nothing but love and respect for all the guys over there.
But I'm happy to be an Eagle. And that's about as classy as you can get as a player.
And that's what you love to see. Yeah, man.
He was also asked about seeing the fans burning his jersey. He replied, I don't think I ever experienced anything like that in my life.
In that moment, I was ready for third and one. Let's just say that.
Yeah, well, it might have been a little revenge game, especially if they're out there burning jerseys. Is this even fair to call it a revenge game for Seguin? I don't know.
Revenge game? I don't think it's a revenge game. game i mean it's just he's playing his former team it's not like i mean there's obviously bad blood there in in some ways but saquon is very adamant that he still has a love and respect for everybody in that organization sometimes it just doesn't work out like obviously you know the giants weren't willing to spend the amount necessary to keep them.
And that's the way the business works. And Saquon ended up signing with the Eagles.
And, you know, I think it probably felt good to go out there and play really well against a team that, you know, you at one point probably envision playing your whole career for. And obviously with, you know, the fans, just whenever fans are getting into the action it energizes guys and for sure i think he was excited to get out there and play really well should we encourage fans to boo owners and managers more uh i think fans should do whatever they want yeah you know i think if it feels right to boo owners and managers boom i don't really know the setting i guess you could do that at games, but I don't know how that would come across.
Yeah. We're booing them.
But I had a tweet that obviously I said I didn't really understand why Saquon is getting all this hate. Saquon, nice.
Saquon. Love a good wordplay, man.
Fuck. Listen, I get why the fans booed him.
I get he's playing for a rival. I get all that and that New York fans

are upset that he's playing for the Eagles.

100% get that.

The act like he's the bad guy

in this situation or that it's his fault

that this didn't work out, I think is bogus.

And I think

at the end of the day, the business side of it

didn't align with the Giants

and Saquon.

And the Giants had an opportunity to make it align.

And they felt like they didn't want to. So I don't know how Saquon is a bad guy here for going out and getting what he's deserved.
I'm with you, man. And to have a star player that is a hard worker, a great guy in the locker room, unbelievable player, athletically, mentally.
I just like, I don't know what else you want. I just don't know what else you want.
Like, what are you trying to keep around? You love to see those guys. I get it.
They're in a rebuilding year. Either way, I really, listen, I was a part of the decision in Cleveland when people were burning LeBron's jerseys.
That's a much different situation that happened here. Never burn mine.
Yeah. I still got my shit.
DraftKip did. I didn didn't get a heat jersey but i got some of those heat kicks i got the south beaches i got i got a few kicks that he wore down there and i just feel like you know i don't think this is the same situation well shout out to saquon for having a big day he helped out the eagles and uh against his old team and shout out to the Eagles defense.
Maybe the best performance of the year so far this season. Eight sacks.
God damn. That's a rough day for a quarterback.
They also let up zero offensive touchdowns for the second week. Defense caught a stride, baby.
Held the Giants to 119 total yards. Big offseason addition, DN Bryce Huff recorded 1.5 sacks

over the last two games since switching to a four-point stance.

How about that?

The old four-pointer.

Both hands in the ground, man.

He's clearly stated he prefers rushing out of a four-point stance,

and that's probably making a big difference.

Let's be honest, though.

The reason there are more sacks and the reason Bryce Huff has played better is because they're getting teams into known passing situations they're getting them into third and long they're getting leads on offense and they're getting the opportunity to rush the passer like i think the defense of what they've done the last two weeks has been impressive it's also been against two like really bad offenses and like listen man you gotta keep anybody when you keep when you keep teams this is what you're supposed to do when you play bad offenses you're supposed to do this you're supposed to get eight sacks so this is a great sign but like in order for this to continue four point stance two point stance who gives a shit get him in a third and long and you get sacks. Nice.
That's what it comes down to.

All right?

And I think that Bryce Huff is playing better.

The whole D line is playing better.

The Giants offensive line, I mean, they're out.

Their best player, Thomas, didn't start the game.

So, yeah, they were feasting, and that's a good sign.

But I think the big thing is we've got to continue to do a great job on first and second out.

And Vic Fangio has said this much, and we used to say it a couple years ago.

You have to earn the right to rush the passer.

Most of the sexacks in this league are not coming on first and second down you'll get one occasionally off a

naked or like two minute situation or something like that but the vast majority of sacks are

coming in second and long third and long staying ahead of the chains as a defense and having the

lead as an offense and if they keep doing that these numbers are going to keep being pretty good. Yeah.
All right, now let's talk about some numbers that do matter, and that's your fourth down success on offense. We talked about Sirianni and his fourth down call is not working, but that is not the case this past weekend.
No, not at all, especially the fourth and brown how about it baby up top um eagles went for it on fourth and three uh from the 41 in the second quarter and jaylen connected with you said at aj brown for 41 yards down the field absolutely epic man i mean they're not expecting it if you're trying to do something unexpected, throw a goal ball on fourth and three. Everybody, you want to come up on the line? We still got that dog out there.
We like him one-on-one. I don't know if you know that.
He's one of the guys we like to go to in that type of situation. Not a bad guy to go to in any situation, apparently.
There you go. He's out there with the pink shoes again.
Got to love the pink cleats. And eight minutes and 33 left on the in the third quarter the birds go for it on fourth and two on the five yard line jaylen scrambles for four yards uh to get the first and um then of course jaylen finishes it off with a little tush push uh two plays later tush push it in just like that the narrative the flips now all of a sudden we like going for it fourth down you know i mean shit's good shit's rocking baby i mean how about it birds fans let's go i hope people remember this because i feel like a lot of the times they're selective people remember when you go for it on fourth and you don't get it more than when you go for it on fourth down and you do get it for whatever reason that like is entrenchedrenched in your head when you don't get points versus two fourth down decisions that led to touchdowns, right? And a game that ultimately without both of those decisions is much closer than the final score ended up being.
Hey, they were the right calls. I don't know.
It's one of those things. You go for it and you get it.
It's the right call. You go for it and don't get it, you're an idiot.
You should do what are you thinking how could you make that great job coach lebron's dad of the game saquon barkley has the most rushing yards in eagles history hey through his first six games of the season that's a pretty good one that's pretty good he's in he's in good company i mean shady he was working cats for a long long time in philly definitely shout out to saquad next week the eagles head to cincinnati to play the bangles back in the natty baby uh you're gonna head back to cincinnati watch the birds man i would love to get a little adriatico's pizza i don't think i have time i think for some reason i'm gonna be in pitt. Get a little Skyline chili.
That's not a far trip. I mean, I was just back in Cincinnati this past week for homecoming.
I didn't stay for the game, but I was there for the week. Get a little Sigma Sigma in? Get a little drink out of your mug or what? No, no mug.
Both teams are coming off beating the Giants and the Browns in back-to-back weeks. It kind of seems weird that the schedules aligned like that.

Yeah, Cincinnati, man, I guess they're playing better.

It's weird.

Their offense looked really good against better teams.

In the last two weeks, they've kind of struggled a little bit offensively

compared to what they were doing against Washington

and some of these other teams.

But, hey, they got Joe Burrow. They got some horses out there.
They. Wide out.
I think they're going to be pretty good. Come on now.
Eagles have their hands full for sure, man. Yeah.
Before we get to our interview, we're going to get to some of the other games across the league from Week 7. Lions take down the undefeated Vikings in an awesome game.
Yeah. I mean, just an epic, epic game.

Yeah.

It did not disappoint.

The Lions have now scored more touchdowns

than Jared Goff has had in completion.

That's insane.

Goff is killing it.

Ben Johnson's killing it.

Jameer Gibbs was playing out of his mind.

Bro, what?

Yeah.

And they needed him to because Montgomery was – I mean, he got hurt early. He was playing a little bit limbered, it looked like.
Damn. Gibbs showed up.
The timing of the offense, the creativity is just so impressive to watch right now. They're in rhythm, baby.
And the Vikings, I mean, this was the clash of the Titans right now in the NFC. Both of these teams have been probably the two best ones.
We were talking about it the other day they're yeah best division of football right now if you look at the numbers and you look at the uh the records right that's right so did not disappoint vikings almost got it late with that fumble recovery for a touchdown i thought they had it man i thought they had it when i was watching the replay of how the game ended it's just like oh they's they're gonna leave that one like man we should have won it we should have had it vikings go up and then all but to golf's credit they did not blink not one second not a second uh denver 33 new orleans 10 i'm not gonna lie i thought new orleans new orleans is banged there at QB. Their line is – A little Sean Payton revenge game going back to his old stomping grounds where he won a Super Bowl.
September feels like a long time ago for the Saints fans. For a team that started pretty much hotter than anybody, putting up 50 burgers and blowing teams out.
But like you said, they've had the injury bug bad. They've had a bunch of guys, especially up front.
And as you know, once the O-line has been decimated, especially that offense, it's so much predicated on run and play action and the outside zone working in that Kubiak system. Man.
It's tough, man. It's going to be tough.
It's going to be very tough. Jacksonville, 32.
New England. New England, 16.

Nice.

We almost did it at the same time.

We were almost in sync.

Gave us a little coaching drama.

After the game, Pat's head coach, Geron Mayo, called his team soft.

In quotes, we're a soft football team across the board.

We talk about what makes a tough football team,

and that's being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run,

and that's being able to cover kicks.

We did none of these.

I don't know. We talk about what makes a tough football team, and that's being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run, and that's being able to cover kicks.
We did none of these. I mean, very few times do I think the head coach calling a team soft is like the right message to be sending.
Even if it's like, I'm all about being honest and keeping people accountable. That defense is different.
They've had some injuries. They've had guys leave.
Obviously, that defense, even last year with Bill, when we played in week one, they were really good. But they also had, Judon was still there.
They had a bunch of guys healthy. Like now they've had some, the defense has changed a little bit.
They've had guys in and out. And I got a ton of respect for gerard mayo i mean ton of respect as a player as a person i've heard nothing but great stuff i'm just talking about in general terms and he could be right i mean maybe they are soft i don't fucking know i haven't watched as much tape as gerard mayo has that's for damn sure i just know most of the time when i hear coaches saying stuff like that, it's meaningless garbage.

I hear you, brother.

It's tough following a guy like Bill Belichick's shoes.

Thousand percent.

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

Yeah, maybe you're fucking spot on.

Seattle 34, Atlanta 14.

Seattle got some defensive players back.

Geno Smith leads the NFL in passing and ranks sixth in completion percentage. how about that on pace for 4 821 yards uh at a 68 percent rate all right now yeah buffalo 34 tennessee 10 yeah i think everybody saw this one coming josh allen uh 21 for 33 uh for 323 yards and two touchdowns Josh looking.
And Amari Cooper, who had four for 66, got his first touchdown as a bill. Here we go.
Looks like the Bills are back on track. Cincinnati 21, Cleveland 14.
Nick Chubb scored his first touchdown back. Shout out to Chubb.
He's back out there, baby. Over 398 days after his leg injury versus the Steelers.
Chubb is back out there playing uh running the rock for the Browns Green Bay 24 Houston 22 in a game that came down to the wire but really Green Bay without the turnovers kind of was dominated most of this game first victory over a team with a winning record for the Packers and Houston has proven to be tough similar toC, they continue to just like find ways to win. Like all their games have pretty much been close, but CJ Stroud and company are just so good at the end of games.
Packers might have the hottest vibes in the NFL right now. Let's look at this tweet.
Piss hot. Well, their social media team's doing their job.
How important is hot piss to success in the NFL? I don't even know how to answer this. Am I the only one that kind of hates social media teams for NFL teams? Like they've turned into like these mean things.
And like, that's all they do with play. I like they got the cameras all around.
And I listen, I'm on a podcast. I'm on every fucking commercial that there is i get it i'm part of the issue as well i fucking hate the social media teams for teams now i just i just cannot stand them i don't know why it's like well you guys just get the fuck out of my face i'm just fucking worried about football and then they're like talking shit to people they're like talking shit to players like we should what the fuck when did social creating these this bulletin board material yeah don't be creating this bulletin board material hot piss yeah well matt laflora uh on packers players preparing for their uh first noon game of the year he said they got to wake up with their piss hot so that's where the uh the social media team uh this one's good they did it after the coach they capitalized good job green bay good job indiana 16 miami 10 not related to the game but dolphins are saying uh we could see tua next sunday against the cardinals how about it man we were talking about this on the monday night countdown ryan clark like every single neurologist that they talked to did not say like that he should stop playing football.

And they all don't know to what extent continuing to play football or continuing to get concussions is doing to like long-term affect him. Whether anybody else wants to like talk about it, I guess I will right now.
Like this has been the like big shadow in the distance of the NFL for the last decade, ever since that concussion movie came out.

Like the reality is nobody knows. It is scary to watch a guy go out and have the amount of concussions and the type of concussions that Tua has had and think that he's not doing something long-term here.
But the neurologists clearly don't know that he is. And this is one of the things- There's no signs telling him that, yeah.
This is one of the things that I think the NFL really needs to do. Like, I know we're doing the Guardian caps.
They're doing a great job of instituting rules and procedures in place that limit helmet to helmet contact and protocols that allow for safer return to play. I really think that there should be more research done into the longevity and effects that concussions have and ways to mitigate the potential symptoms.
Because like, I don't know, it just feels like something that the NFL can be pioneering, especially with the amount of money that it makes and the amount of resources and attention that it gets, that it can be a part of potentially developing treatments, protocols, lifestyle factors that can mitigate the potential long-term ramifications of some of these things that I think

is in the background of a lot of NFL players' minds.

Yeah.

Well, you just said a lot of big words, and my brain is turning.

And I just want to tell Tua, man, we're all supporting you, brother.

Go out there and just play healthy, man.

Play this game you love, man.

Thank you. turning and uh i just want to tell to a man we're all we're all supporting your brother go out there and uh just play healthy man play this game you love man and wish you the best of luck brother

washington 40 carolina 7 the red rifle renaissance was short-lived unfortunately in carolina or has

been short-lived got out to a fiery start but obviously panthers are still not a very good

football team unfortunately washington 40 carolina 7 the Panthers decline to even put Bryce Young in when they're down 37-0. Should they even go back to Bryce Young? I don't know if I'm Bryce Young.
I don't know. Do you even want to go back in in this situation? Rather, I mean, I'd love to get the opportunity to go compete, man.
I mean, they just have so many issues hey it's Canales' first year and they're trying to get it fixed hopefully they can get it fixed in the future I don't know there's still a long season left it must be so hard being that bad and knowing you still have 11 games they're 9, 10 or 11 What are they at? What's the carrot? Like, bro, I'm just being honest. I've played meaningless football games, and it's not fun.
It is awful. But usually there's like two, maybe three at the end of the season that you're like really trying to hammer out.
Week seven in your one and six, that's a bad feeling, brother imagine let's get fired up boys you imagine the guy giving pregame speeches before the game when you're one and six there's no speeches let's go and you're just in your head like dude will you shut the fuck up we're one and six let's fucking just go out there and fucking that's tough man we all know what's about to happen come on man you got the coach we can't have that mentality we can't have that mentality man why are we one in six because we're soft all right pittsburgh 37 new york jets 15 the controversial decision for the steelers to start russell start Russell Wilson over Justin Fields pays off. I mean, listen, I think Justin was playing really well.
Russell got it done. I don't think it was weird.
The Jets have been so good defensively the last few years. Now their D-line has changed a lot, and it feels like that's affected them quite a bit.
It pittsburgh just made plays like even on some of these deep balls that russell through like there were some yeah there were some really good plays made by the wideouts so and the running backs running had 101 and a touchdown where's jizz jade dude he was on tilt now you he was like on twitter i mean he told us a few weeks ago he oh, they need to hire Mike Vrabel. Then on Twitter after the game, he's like, oh, they shouldn't go defense.
They can't go defensive coach again. Like, he has no idea.
The best part about this is every New York Jet fan has no idea why they still suck. And they're all just trying to, like, justify why they're still terrible.
And they can't figure it out. Nobody can.
You have one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game.

A defense that was supposed

to be one of the best in the NFL.

You just trade for Devontae Adams.

Brees out.

All this money on the offensive line. And they still can't

win. It's fucking crazy.

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

The fans, they're like,

they're starting to go crazy.

Well, they're not out of it. They're not.
They're not Carolina Panthers yet. It's still kind of early.
They're still in it. Still kind of early.
And the AFC East is not like. The NFC West or NFC North.
Yeah, NFC North, yeah. It ain't the conference that's, or the division that's loaded this year.
You got the Bills coming on strong now, but there'll be some space in the bottom of the playoffs

on the AFC side to sneak in there.

And you get Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs,

anything can happen.

Game also gave us the coach quote of the week.

Brandon Marshall stopped by Mike Tomlin's

post-game press conference and asked him

if it was one of the boldest decisions ever

to start Russell Wilson.

And Tomlin replied, that's why I'm well compensated. Nice.
Hell yeah, Tomlin. We could just put Coach Quote of the Week in as Mike Tomlin quote because every week he's going to get something gold.
It's the best. Dude, did you hear his quote a few weeks ago? I forget who they were playing, but it was like a Monday night or a Thursdayursday night game i heard it yeah he hit him with the uh we gotta stop kicking our our own but if we uh if we stop kicking our own but we can uh start focusing on theirs it's such a banger it's so good he's he delivers it too man it's a fucking genuine as hell so good this is the best.
Then we got the Monday night games. We got the Monday night games.
The Chargers couldn't get it done against Arizona. Kyler Murray was scampering all over the place.
He is fucking fast, though, isn't he? Bro, those legs. It looks and feels like he's a video game.
And everything about him. It looks like you created a player.
You made him as short as possible. His helmet's fucking enormous.
And his feet are moving so quick. It's so good.
It's outrageous. His feet.
I can't even describe it. He can throw the ball.
He's got short arms and he can still throw the ball a mile. He slings it.
He slings it. It's so cool.
When he's on on it is fun to watch baltimore 41 tampa 31 in a game that was probably not as close as the score indicated uh tampa got out to a quick lead baker mayfield balling and then uh obviously mike evans goes down with the hamstring um and uh chris got a couple interceptions unfortunately and uh against a team like

baltimore man it's it's hard you know any little bit of thing it's hard especially when you don't stop the run dude gotta stop the run gotta stop the run they did stop the run in the first half though they did a good job first half they're doing good and lamar was actually throwing pretty damn well. Well, Lamar is 23-1 against NFC teams, which is a fucking mind-blowing stat.
His only loss is actually to Daniel Jones and the New York football giants. How about that? And that does it for our Week 7 roundup.
How about it? All right. All right.
Let's answer maybe one of your not-dumb questions questions because there's no such thing as dumb questions. Just dumb ass people.
No dumb questions is brought to you by Meta Quest. That's right.
Expand your world. All right.
First no dumb question. What breed of dog would make the best quarterback? Hmm.
That's actually got to be smart. It's actually a dumb ass question.
I think I think, yeah think yeah obviously you got to be smart you got to be able to get along with other dogs oh that's an interesting i didn't even think about that that's a good trait so you got to have a little bit of a friendliness to you but you got to be it depends on what kind of quarterback you want the one i thought about right away because i always think about intelligence when i think of quarterbacks, is a border collie. And border collies, they herd sheep.
They're like in-control animals. You saying they need to get along with other dogs is a great point that is making me rethink that.
Would it be like a mixed breed? Well, I mean, listen, I'm a big mutts are where it's at. They're just gotta do it responsibly but yeah i think mixed breeds are

when i think of dogs that get along with dogs or like anything really i think a golden retriever right they're just like the happiest dogs on the planet nine times out of ten yeah labs german shepherd is a powerful animal efficient malamue is that the one that like is like the secret service dog don't know. Better, yeah.
I think it is. It's got like the strongest bite force.
Damn. But do you need to be tall? Should it be a big dog? Because it needs to be able to see over the pocket.
Yeah, there you go. A little bit bigger.
Like Great Pyrenees. See, that's the thing.
I don't know a lot of breeds. I would say Poodle, but I think they're too fancy.
They're too high maintenance. You maintenance you know what i mean yeah but the ones that i think are really good usually are kind of like like down to earth and like with the team like pat's not high maintenance look at you've seen his body i saw there was a there was a bit on derrick henry that said he doesn't eat fried food anymore and i'm like man that's why i could never be a running back that's just like too much of a commitment i can't give a fried food yeah i don't i don't even don't think that commitment.
I can't give up fried food. Yeah.
I don't think that really means.

Some people just love football more than me.

Yeah.

I don't think that means that makes you a better football player.

I think that's just what he feels like his diet needs to be.

I'm going to say height is important.

Yeah.

I want a tall quarterback.

I'm going Doberman.

Doberman.

Smart, athletic, tall.

It's got a good blend of athleticism.

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

You know?

I can't disagree with anything you just said.

Definitely not an Irish Wolfhound.

They are stupid as a box of rocks.

I love my dogs.

Your dogs are very.

I mean, Nessie is.

She's got some smartness to her.

Oh, what was Balto?

Balto was a husky from the Disney movie, Balto? Balto. He's like the lead sled dog in the sled dog movie, Balto? Sled dogs are Huskies, yeah.
All right. Teamwork.
Huskies are a good team. They know how to work within a team.
Then you got the one at the front that's like the captain. Yeah.
I think I'm going to go Husky. There you go.
Big enough, not like overly big, pretty athletic, smart, work with the team. Yeah, I think that's the one.
All right, I'm still going Doberman. All right, cool.
And that does it for No Dumb Questions, brought to you by MetaQuest. Expand your world.
All righty. Our guest guest from vallejo california he played 19 seasons in major league baseball the guardians brewers and of course the yankees the 20th overall pick in the 1998 mlb draft from the university of hawaii what he is a six-time All-Star, 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner, ALCS MVP, two-time MLB wins leader, and a member of the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame, our hometown.
That's right, baby. Also, don't forget this.
A World Series champion. Please welcome CeCe Sabathia.
That was a hell of an intro. That was a hell of an intro.
Appreciate it. Heck yeah, brother.
This man is decorated, dog. Man, thanks for joining us, CC.
This is awesome. Can't tell you, I mean, we grew up watching you play, and we saw your whole career.
This is an honor to have you on with us. How's it going? No, it's good.
I mean, it makes me feel old when I hear people say they grew up watching me play. But listen, you already's silly man i'm playing with guys i'm playing with guys that were born in 2004 man how crazy is that's it so i'm like i'm sitting here like man i was in high school in 2004 this is crazy it's great you go from being like the young guy in a locker room to like the young og and then you you just the OG.
We're like guys are like, yeah, I mean, you, you were one of my guys growing up and you got, I mean, it's good to be that guy, you know what I'm saying? But you got to accept it. It's cool.
For sure. Heck yeah.
I was there actually when you were the young guy. How about it, man? The day you opened against the Baltimore Orioles, I was at that game and I still remember it because you were were the talk of the town this young kid coming out of nowhere big left-hander and bro it was awesome looking back being there and watching that i don't know what's it feel like to start your major league debut huh no it was it was crazy you know what i was thinking i mean just being out there i couldn't feel my legs the whole time like i was like you know what i'm, you're just so hyped.
Like, you don't, you know, you don't know what's really going on. But the whole time I was thinking, I was like, damn, I should have went to sleep last night.
It was a day game. It was a 1 o'clock game.
I didn't go to sleep until like 5 in the morning. It was like the second in.
I was like, I'm fucking exhausted right now. Like, I should have got some sleep.
Bro, that adrenaline was pumping. That's too funny.
That whole year, like 2001, I mean, mean that team was so great I played with a bunch of hall of famers I had Robbie and Omar up the middle oh man and I just felt like I got a chance to learn how to be a professional I didn't I didn't really know anything I was 20 years old man I was fresh out of high school um a football basketball player really just an athlete and kind of fell into that pitcher mode and um and it kind of took off so uh yeah i was really learning on the job and to have those type of players around me uh it was it was a blessing man it was it was really cool that's awesome the 90 uh guards were some of my favorite teams ever and like you were you were coming into like kind of like to tail in a lot of those guys careers and it was like man they're about to just hand this thing off to CeCe. He's about to take us right back to the World Series.
We already know. And no, man, it was awesome.
I remember Jason talking about that Baltimore game, man, is absolutely insane. I was going to ask you, I had no idea you were at the University of Hawaii.
Same. No, so I didn't go.
No, I had a football scholarship to play there. When I was in high school, I played football, I played basketball, I played baseball, I played everything.
And I could never get a school to commit to me. Like UCLA would say, okay, you can come here to play baseball, but we don't want you to play football.
USC would be like, we want you to play football, but we don't want you to play baseball. I thought as soon as I got on the campus and somebody saw me, they was going to turn me into an offensive tackle.

Yeah.

But I wanted to make sure that I still could play baseball.

So the guy in Hawaii was like, we'll let you play badminton here.

We don't give a shit.

So I was like, that's where I'm going right there.

So I ended up signing to go to Hawaii and never won a scholarship because I got drafted.

For sure.

Well, that's a good reason not to go.

We had this later in the rundown, but because we're talking about it right now, we got your highlights. Bro, you were a baller in football.
Big, big as hell. He was a dog.
Can you put this on here? There we go. Thank you, Brandy.
Check him out. Look at the big fella.
I'm the same size right now than I was right there back there.

You are enormous.

I don't think you're playing tackle, bro.

You're playing tight end.

But you got to think.

You got to think.

As soon as I got on, I was 250 right there.

As soon as I got into Pro Bowl, I was 285 immediately.

Wow. So I wanted to make for a good tackle.

That's too funny, man.

You are athletic as all get up, man.

Golly.

What was your favorite sport?

You're a big dude, man.

My favorite sport was football.

It was your favorite. I love playing football.
Yeah. What did you like so much about football? Football was always my favorite sport.
I always grew up playing it out in the streets, and I just always understood football. I could sit down and watch a whole game, and I was just always intrigued by it.
So I didn't get a chance to play it until I was in high school because of the weight limits and all of that stuff. Oh, man, you already know.
I grew up playing soccer. You know what I mean? I grew up playing soccer as a kid, and then I got to my freshman year and then just fell in love with the game of football.
So it was always my favorite. They didn't have the Southpaw out there slinging it? Nah.
Well, I tried that, man.

But it was – so my first two years I played quarterback.

And then I showed up my junior year, bro.

I was 6'6", 250.

They were like, yeah, we're going to need to put you at tight end.

You can help us out a lot more right here catching the ball.

I get it, man.

I got a similar story.

Before we get into the Indian stuff,

obviously everybody's talking about the World Series happening right now. Your former team, the Yankees, taking on the Dodgers.
I guess let's step into that real quick. What do you think about the matchup? No, I think this is the biggest, best matchup that I feel like we could have had in baseball.
The biggest stars are on stage. I mean, we got Shohei Ohtani.
We got Aaron Judge. You got Juan Soto.
You got Mookie Betts. You got Walker Bueller.
You got Garrett stage. I mean, we got Shohei Otani.
We got Aaron Judge. You got Juan Soto.

You got Mookie Betts.

You got Walker Bueller.

You got Garrett Cole.

I mean, the list just goes on and on.

You got New York against Hollywood.

I mean, I think this is the World Series that everybody's kind of been begging for for the last 10 years, you know?

And we finally got the matchup.

So I'm super excited for, you know, what's to come.

And to be honest, just watching these playoffs, every game has been exciting. Man.
like even just

the Guardians

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like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like So I'm super excited for, you know, what's to come. And to be honest, just watching these playoffs, every game has been exciting.
Man. Like even just the Guardians and Yankees series.
I mean, it went, you know, it only went five games, but every game was, you know, right down there to the nail. Guys hitting big homers.
And what I've loved about this playoffs the most is like the stars have been delivering. It's been Juan Soto delivering.
It's been Aaron Judge. It's been Otani going off.
So, you know, we're seeing our biggest stars on the biggest stage, and they're showing up and they're showing out. And I'm excited for this Friday to see, you know, these two heavyweights go at it.
I am getting pumped up for it too, man. I just – I love going to World Series games, man.
I think I've made it to like six of the last seven. I think since 2015 when the Royals won it.
That was like my first experience of World Series baseball. And I was like, man, these games are fucking lit.
Golly! It was lit in Kansas City. When the Yankees when you were, what was it, it, 09? Yeah.
When you guys won it, like how crazy were those games? Because was it still the new stadium or was that the old? Yeah, it was the first year in a new stadium. So it was almost like we had to kind of win, you know.
So it was that pressure of, you know, the boss, you know, he had signed me, AJ, Tex, signed for Nick, I mean, traded for Nick Swisher. so it was kind of the pressure of you know us boss bring you know he had signed me aj text signed for nick's i mean traded for nick swisher so it was kind of the pressure of you know us wanting to win in that new stadium but we had the whole the core four so like at this time somebody asked me yesterday like how did you feel at this time going into the world series i was calm because we i just i had derrick i had mo i had andy you had jorge i had all these guys that had been there before.
That's true. I'm just kind of riding on their coattails.
You know what I mean? I had kind of figured out during that year. No, but I figured out during that year that if I just did my little part and not try to do too much, I feel like it helped me be able to be better in those bigger moments.
I feel like in Cleveland, in 07, we had the best team in the league. We were young.
I was the leader of that staff, and I feel like if I pitch better and if I'm able to, you know, put stuff, you know, if I'm able to make those moments a little smaller and, you know, be able to show up bigger in those moments, we win the World Series. So that's why I was just, you know what I mean, like trying to learn from those experiences in 07 and 08.
And in 09, I'm just like, I'm just riding behind these guys and doing my little thing and, you know, end up, you know, with a ring. Man, I feel you on that one.
And I ended up obviously sticking around in KC, but like learning from the moments that I had previous in the playoffs, man. It's like you look at those moments like, man, I could have, I had control of that.
If I could have just twe tweaked it here if i could have showed up for my guys right here right here man you just you just know that you could uh you could have definitely propelled the team and you know that's the greatness that you uh that you bring to the game big dog but that's me with the city of cleveland though you know in that in that organization because i feel like it's just been starving for a world series and And 07, we were close. 16, they were close.

16, yeah.

But that team in 07 was really, really good.

And who knows?

We may stay together.

I may not end up a Yankee if we win the World Series in 07.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, you never know how stuff turned out.

You know what I'm saying?

Let's be honest, though.

They didn't have the pocketbooks to keep it.

You never know.

You ain't lying here, man. World Series check's a little different now.
You never know. That's fair.
That's fair. Let me ask you this because Philadelphia, the Phillies have been close the last few years.
You were just talking about the locker room and like the core four. What is it that enables a team that has like the talent to do it between getting it done and not getting it done? do you really think that is in baseball specifically it's just momentum to be honest if you look at like the the Phillies running into the Mets it was just they played them at the wrong time hot bats and hot bats and then sometimes when you play those teams in your division you look at the Phillies when they beat Atlanta a couple years ago when Atlanta was the best team in the league when you go go in and play teams in your division in the playoffs, like the Mets don't care about going in the Philly.
You know what I'm saying? That's a big advantage for the Phillies, like going into Citizens Bank and like having to play, you know, in that park. The Mets do that shit all the time.
So it doesn't bother them. They can go in there in October and show up and, you know, hit big home runs.
So it makes it hard when you play those teams in your division. And I think those three teams for the next five years are going to be battling it out for the division and to see who's getting to the NLCS, to be honest.
Nice. Who do you think is going to take the World Series, if you don't mind me asking? I got to go with the Yankees.
I have a feeling.

I think it's going to be a long

series, though. I mean, I have friends.

I mean, I'm really close with Mookie Betts.

I'm really close with Freddie Freeman.

You know, I root for those guys, too. But

you know, being here, being a Yankee,

being in New York,

you know, I've really, I've just

been watching this team all year, and it would

be big for us and me if they would win the World Series. So I'm excited, and hopefully they can get it done.
You know it. Awesome.
Awesome. Do you have favorite stories from your time with the Yankees or the Guardians? Like what favorite teammates maybe? Ooh.
I mean, you play with some iconic people, especially with the Yankees, obviously. But anything you want to share? Yeah, I've got a chance.
I got lucky, man. I got a chance to play with some Hall of Famers, like I said, in Cleveland.
Yeah, playing with Tome, Robbie, and Omar up the middle. I can give you a quick Robbie Alomar story.
He's probably – not probably. He's the smartest baseball player I've ever played with.
My year, I go 17 and five, that rookie year, 2001. And I'm starting game three of the DS against Seattle, playing at home.
And the first thing, I think I gave up a run or two, maybe even three runs in the first inning. And I'm a little nervous.
I mean, I'm 21 years old. You know, it's my first playoff game.
Crazy. I'm walking off the field and Robbie comes running by me.
He goes, hey, Poppy, what's wrong? And he goes, you're a little nervous. and I mean, I'm 21 years old.
You know, it's my first playoff game. And I'm walking off the field and Robbie comes running by me.
He goes, hey, Papi, what's wrong? And he goes, you're a little nervous. And I go, yeah, I'm a little nervous, but I'll be fine.
And he was like, he came to me. I sat down on the bench.
He came to me. He was like, don't shake Enar off the rest of the game.
Like, whatever he puts down, just throw the pitch and, you know, we'll live with it. Lean on your guy.
He was at second. En Enar was a rookie too.
He was at second base giving Enar the pitches. He called the game from second base.
I didn't give up a run for the rest of the game. He called the game from second base.
However, he was giving Enar the signals. He was giving Enar the signals and he was giving me the pitches whenever the throw.
And I won six and he gave up three runs. I didn't give up a run the rest of the game.
That's insane, man. Have you ever heard of that? Have you ever heard of a second base dude? I've never heard of that.
Never. No.
That's amazing, bro. Do you think him and Sandy just talk so much that Roberto ended up finding a way to kind of pick Sandy Alomar's brain, his brother's brain? Or was he just – I think that and just him, just the ability of just being able to, he just knew the game.
Like he would always, and that's how I kind of, I learned pitching from sitting next to great hitters, whether it was him or Eddie Murray, you know, all of a sudden on the bench and these guys would know what was coming next. You know what I'm saying? Just by whatever the count was, who the guy was on the mound, you know, who the guy was in the box.
And that's how I kind of learned how to sequence my pitches and kind of learned how, you know, to read guys' swings and different things like that. I didn't watch a lot of video.
I would just read guys' swings and kind of pitch to my strengths. And I got that from sitting next to guys like Robbie and Eddie Murray and Juan Gonzalez and just really soaking in from hitters.
One of the things I think is the coolest thing in baseball is that cat and mouse chess match is going on between the hitter and the pitcher and the catcher. What you're deciding to throw, how you're setting pitches up, how much goes into it from a game plan before the game and knowing what each batter's weakness is, how much of it is what you're – because everybody knows your fastball and slider were, like, the biggest things you had going on.
But, like, what goes into the pitch selection, that process? I don't even know how to ask the question, but it's something that's cool as heck watching. Yeah.
No, it is. I mean, and it's a lot that – it just depends on the guy, right? Like, a guy like Garrett Cole does a lot of prepping.
Like, he sits down and he does a lot of prepping he's going through you know every lineup every scenario every hitter and he's a guy that can tailor his game he can throw every pitch for a strike any in every quadrant right so he can pitch really to guys weaknesses where a guy like me what you just said my fastball my slider my strengths right so I got to stick to my. So if it's a guy like Mike Trout that's good on sliders and the slider's my strength, well, we're going to see who's fucking better today.
You know what I'm saying? I can't do what I can't do. You know what I'm saying? So I can only do what I can do.
So my strengths are my strengths. So once I figured that out about myself, it was less prep for me because now I can just go out and really just pitch my strengths and really, you know, command the plate the way I know how to and not try to worry about what everybody else is doing.
So it didn't really do me any good to watch anybody else's film because I'm not going to pitch the way that guy pitched you anyway. I'm going to go to what I can do, what I have that day, and we're going to figure it out.
So it was always just a lot about me reading swings and figuring out what I had that day. My catchers did a lot of prep, and I relied on them a lot.
You trust them. I didn't shake off a lot.
And whatever they put down, I would just throw with conviction, and we're going with it. Nice.
One of the reasons I think it fascinates me is because I feel like the pitcher-catcher relationship is very similar to the center-quarterback

relationship for what you just said. I was getting ready

to say that. There's a lot of communication back and

forth. You each have prepared in

your own way to be ready

for the game, and you kind of, the best

tandems figure it out together, but

what do you think of the modern state of pitching,

man? I don't know what to make.

Jason's talking about moving the mound back.

He said it's too easy. No, man.
It's too easy to pitch these guys the hitting philosophy has changed okay these guys these guys don't try to put the ball in play as much as they did anymore now it's just all about launching and you know getting their a swing off so there not – and the lineups aren't constructed where, you know,

you have to kind of pitch through the lineup.

Everybody's trying to do one thing in a lineup,

and that's just hit the ball over the left field wall or the right field wall.

So that makes it a lot easier for me to pitch when all you're trying to do

in every single count is just jack a ball over the wall

and not try to put the ball in play or not try to put the barrel on it.

And that's what made the Guardians so good.

They were just finding a way to get,

get on base.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Last year,

really great.

They didn't hit for a lot of power,

but they were on base and they can put the ball in play.

They didn't strike out a lot this year.

They were doing that where they put the ball in play and not

striking a lot,

but then hitting for slugging.

They were hitting doubles and homers and Naylor and,

you know,

Ramirez.

So that's what made them so great this year.

So I think the game is kind of coming back and reverting back to where,

you know, it's more emphasis on putting the ball in play

and not just, you know, exit VLO and launch angle.

And I think we've been changing the rules so much for hitters

that it's kind of swinging where you have to change the philosophy.

We can't keep changing the fucking rules.

We can't keep changing the rules when these guys want to hit 230 with 30. You sound like me and Jason when they keep changing these rules in football, man.
Oh, my God. You know what's crazy is that, like, it's cool.
I mean, I'm sure it's frustrating for you guys, but as a fan of the NFL, it's cool that they're willing to try different rules and change different things about the game. Where in baseball, it took us forever to get rid of the shit.
We all knew that that was the right thing to do, right? Or put the pitch clock in. So it's just baseball, you know, we get so much grief when we change the rules where now I'm watching the fucking kickoff in the NFL and I've never even, you know what I'm saying? But as a fan, it's cool to see that.
And the NBA does that.

I feel like baseball, we need to, you know, stay up to speed with, you know,

keeping our game relevant.

And I think, I feel like this year we've been seeing the payoffs from that.

It's definitely feel like it's led to more exciting play.

It feels like it's led to more offensive production.

Some of the rules they've changed.

The games are shorter.

I mean, you know what I'm saying?

You can watch a full game and not feel like it's taking up your whole day, and we're not missing any action. Right, right.
How do you think you would have handled the pitch counts and the less... I feel like you were still pitching full games at times in your career.
That never happens anymore. Has that happened once in the playoffs so far? Has there been a starting pitcher that's pitched all nine innings yet? I don't think so.
That's a great question. I don't think there's been a guy that's thrown a complete game yet.
No, I wouldn't have done well with it. Not in my prime.
You know what I'm saying? Don't take me off the mile yet, man. It's not happening.
I watched one of these guys, one of these aces come out. It was the fifth inning.
He had 89 pitches with no gripes. Like, if that was, you know, back in the day, I mean, there's no chance.
That wouldn't even be the thought. You know what I'm saying? Like, you don't even get off the bench until I got 120 pitches in the playoffs.
Yes. So, it's a different philosophy.
But I feel like everybody's built these Super Bowl pens where, you know, you look at. Relievers and, yeah.
Yeah, you look at the two teams that are in the, in the world series, like they're, they're going to be games where it's going to be reliever.

That's going to start the game in the world series.

That's crazy.

You know what I'm saying?

So just the way that the teams or rosters are constructed,

the bullpens are the best part of these guys,

these organizations teams back onto the world series. You think Sheltani finds a way to throw an inning here or there? Man, it'd be crazy if he closed out a game, right? Woo, man.
I'm not going to lie. That would be nuts.
That would be nuts. You want to talk about bringing baseball.
Yeah, that's awesome, man. I mean, I think, you know, the Dodgers are short, you know what I'm saying, on pitching.
I mean, if he's healthy enough, why not bring him back, you know?

Right.

Yeah.

That's what you paid him to do.

And he can do it at a high level when he's been throwing.

So if he's healthy, I mean, I don't see why not.

I'll be interested to see how they use him going forward anyway.

You know, if he's going to be a starter, if he's going to be, you know,

long relief out of the bullpen, I mean, I'll be interested to see.

And maybe we can get a preview right here.

Nice.

There we go. Well, my guy, Anthony Rizzo, was caught always calling the bullpen i mean i'll be interested to see and maybe we can get a preview right here nice there we go well my guy anthony rizzo was caught uh always calling the bullpen uh in the fourth inning prank calling the bullpen in the fourth inning it got out that he was doing that

all year this year did you guys ever uh have that on any of your teams you have somebody that was

always prank calling you guys in the bullpen or now you know who was the biggest pranker on all

the teams that i played with was brett gardner but uh i mean he would do i mean like wild crazy i mean one time we had our video guy he had we had uh we he took his uh his starter for his key like the uh the unlock he took the battery out so this guy took the truck he had a bought a brand new. He took the battery out of the unlock button.
So the guy takes the truck back to the GNC place and is like, oh, you know, something's wrong with the truck. They give him a new one.
He takes it out again. And when they open it up, he had put a picture of himself like this size in the battery thing in there.
That's a good bit right there. Yeah, no, Garty was the best pranker.
But when you sit in the bullpen, man, the whole time, like your stomach is just hurting, right? Like as a bullpen, because you don't know, as soon as the phone rings, you're like, this is me. Like, you know what I mean? Like, is it for me? Do I need to get ready? Especially in a big moment in the playoffs.
Yeah, so I can only imagine every fourth inning, like he's calling down there and and somebody's like, damn, they're about to shit on themselves getting ready. And he's just down there messing around.
I want to hear one of these things, man. They got to record one of these things.
Is he calling like the pizza delivery guy? Like, hey, can I put in an order for a pepperoni, a 12-inch pepperoni? And you got the hot wings today? I got to hear one of these things. Rizzo's funny as hell for that.
Nah, they definitely should record it. Rizzo is funny.
And that's, like I said, I mean, that's a good way to loosen it up and keep it light. But it's hard, man, during the baseball season to, you know, have different ways to, you know, get monogamous, you know, 162 throughout the season.
How do you guys get ready for 162 games? Jesus. Like, I know pitchers, obviously you're not doing all of them.
I was about to say. It's insane to me that there's that many.
Like, as a football player, once a week, that feels like too much. But three games a week? Four games sometimes? Every mean every single day but like I feel like your your schedule with football is like you're home all week right like but every day you're up from like nine to five like meetings from nine to five yeah so it's just like so every day is meeting so it's I mean it's basically so so for us basically the same thing., we know we have to be up at the park by the buses at 2, 2.30.
Got it. Our day really don't start until like 11.
Yeah. Yeah.
So you get up, I mean, do whatever you need to do. Buses at 2, game at 7.
I mean, it just becomes a part of your life. There you go.
For me, as like a pitcher, watching position players,

like I would always ask Gene, I'm like,

how do you guys do this shit every day?

Or like Jorge, catching 140 out of 120.

You know what I'm saying?

Like throughout the summer and you got these different pitchers

and guys coming in.

So being a position player in the big leagues is vastly underrated.

I feel like doing what Cal Ripken did is incredibly underrated and will never ever be fucking touched again nobody will ever come close to doing that they won't let you so no they won't even i mean yeah it's i mean in every sport though right like yes every sport now they have low management where guys ain't playing i mean i just saw him say he'll never play a back-to-back again in his career. That's crazy.
Yeah, I mean, it's just a different mentality. At least that's crazy to me.
I don't know. I don't know, yeah.
It sounds crazy to me, too. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, it's just one of those things where, you know, you're watching these guys get up and do this every single day.
And that's why, for me, I love to watch, like, the guys now, like Manny Machado or Freddie Freeman or Mookie. These guys post.
And I know how hard that is to do in this day and age. And you got to tip your hat to these guys.
I mean, Freddie with his ankle right now. Freddie with his ankle right now.
He is literally hobbling around the first base. But do you know how inspiring that is for like other players to see a guy go through a home summer.
Yes. You know what I'm saying?

100%. That's a huge rallying thing for the locker room.

That's a guy I want on my team.

Give me that guy.

Yeah.

I'm not even trying to be funny, but like 30% of Freddie Freeman

is better than 100% of anybody else.

Shit, give me that guy, bro.

Hell yeah.

I love it.

We're going to get to the start of your career with the Guardians, but we that guy, bro. Hell yeah.
I love it. We're going to get to this, to the start of your career

with the Guardians, but we were talking about rules

and how they've changed some of the things.

I got to ask you this question.

What is one rule that you would change to make baseball better?

The biggest rule I would change to make baseball better,

it would be every getaway day.

So every game that you play on the road, a getaway day,

it would have to be a day game. So like you guys like you guys don't like, so like every game.
So like as a Yankee, we play, we come in to play the Phillies on a Thursday. I would want that to be a day game and not a seven o'clock game.
So I can get out, not a night game. If that's a day game, we can get into the next city or get home at a reasonable hour.
But the Yankees, we always, cause we're always the gate or the dodgers or boston or whoever else then we always get a night game and then we're in at four or five in the morning with a game the next day so it would be universal getaway day has to be a day game and that seems fair for sure definitely it seems fair right but that's it don't happen man has the uh of the presented that as an option? It only affects such a small portion of the league that nobody has really presented it. That makes sense.
Yeah. But I have been, you know, in the league office, I've been saying, you know, that we need to correct this and get, you know, make it an even playing field travel-wise for everybody.
Right. Because I feel like that's such a big thing now with guys, you know, with their sleep and, you know, getting their rest.
And I feel like it puts some of these bigger market teams, the Phillies, the Dodgers, the Yankees at a disadvantage when they're getting in at five in the morning to every city. The TV networks want to keep them night games too, just because it's like prime time and stuff like that.
But sometimes you got to look out for the players for sure. Yeah, especially when you're playing 162 throughout the summer.
Give us one or two. You know what I'm saying? We got plenty of TV games.
So I saw you at the – actually last year's World Series. I saw you down there in Dallas, and I realized that you're staying involved with the MLB.
You're in like an ambassador's program. Can you elaborate on it? Yeah.
So I started working with the league in 2021 as a special assistant to the commissioner, helped them with players of prolly relations. I have a lot of relationship within the league.
You know, we go around and do meetings and, you know, and let Rob get in front of the players and, you know, any questions that they have, they can kind of, you know, address him right in front of them, you know, and have these meetings. When I was playing, I didn't have that access.
I feel like it's kind of helped, you know, with player relations or having guys feel comfortable coming to the league office with, you know, whatever problem that they have. You know, I was able this last year to do, you know, some things at Rickwood.
We had the game at Rickwood, Alabama, between the Giants and and the cardinals i threw a big softball game down there um you know just kind of honoring willie mays um so i've been able to stay you know in the league in the league office and stay within the game and that's been a lot of fun and for me when i when i got done playing i retired i was like oh i'm done with baseball like i won't be around baseball i won't watch baseball i'm a huge fucking baseball fan i love baseball we're a baseball family so it just keeps me in the game man i love it man hell yeah cc if you thought about getting into the uh broadcasting stuff and why i know you'll you'll dabble a little bit here and there but have you ever got approached by some of the networks or thought about doing it yeah you know what my last year in 2019 i in 2019, I actually worked at ESPN when Get Up first opened, when they first opened that Seaport studio. Yes.
It was good for me to be able to do that. And I was like, yeah, nah, this is not what I want to do.
Because that next year, I would have signed up and I would have did, you know what I mean? I would have went full bore. And I, I don't like, I feel like I can talk about sports in my own way and not be in a suit.
I don't want to be dressed up talking about, you know what I'm saying? Like, and I watch all sports. And for me, I want to talk about every sport.
I watch a lot of NFL. I watch a lot of basketball.
Obviously I love baseball, but I mean, I want to talk about everything. And I feel like, you know, when I was at ESPN, they just had me only talking about baseball so nice well let's talk about some other sports yeah I was about to say I think we uh we got we play the Las Vegas Raiders this week man I heard hey Charles listen listen listen might be a Raiders fan I am not a Raiders fan anymore not for the rest of this season I'm running'm running with Saquon and the Eagles, bro.
That's a good team to jump over. The Raiders just, they make it so hard to be a fan, bro.
From trading Devontae to not getting a quarterback in the offseason to just everything that goes on. I'm a diehard.

You know, I'm a diehard Raider fan.

Like, it runs through my blood.

I have to go to one or two games a season where I'm in Vegas.

I have to go to a game in person.

And I did that last week.

I went to my Steelers game and the Raiders-Steelers game.

But it's hard.

It's so hard.

I have to root for a winner, man.

And I feel like the Eagles are going to bring me some joy here on the East Coast. So I'm running with the Eagles, man.
Hey, man, we got to get to a game then. We got to go.
What's your favorite sport to watch then? Besides baseball, is the NFL the thing you like watching the most? Yeah, the NFL and then basketball, obviously. But I watch a lot of Premier League soccer.
I go over to watch a lot of soccer. I'm actually going over next month to watch Real Madrid, watching Bappe over there.
Like I said, when I was saying earlier, I couldn't play popcorn and football growing up. So I had to play soccer.
My dad was like, you're gonna play something in the winter. So he had me playing soccer and I kind of fell in love with him.
And like I said, I understood a lot of sports when I was young and I really just fell in love with it. So I still go over there and watch a lot of premieres.
I feel like all three of us kind of have that similar, like, appreciation for all sports and understanding all the game's rule or each game's rules and everything. Tell me this, though, man, because you can play in high school.
We were talking about it earlier. We saw the highlights.
Sometimes you watch these NFL games. You're like, man, I could have done that.
I can do that. I could have done that.

Absolutely not.

I'm not going to sit here and disrespect you guys like that.

I wouldn't take it as disrespect.

I wouldn't take it as disrespect.

I wouldn't take it as disrespect.

No chance.

I mean, yeah, I was pretty good in high school.

I don't know how I would have went in college.

Like I said, that first year when I got drafted by the Indians,

the Indians back then, I was 255 pounds. I went home that offseason when I came back in February.
I was like 285, 290. So I'm telling you, if I show up on a college campus, I'm an offensive tackle right away.
So, you know what I'm saying? Life might have been a little different. But, no, I mean, I appreciate what you guys can do out there.
And, no, I mean, it would have been interesting, but I don't know if I could have played as long as I played in baseball and the NFL. Man, 19 in football is insane.
I mean, my guy Mercedes Lewis, though, he's doing a tight end right now. He's in his 19th year.
And, man, hats off to Sadie. He's unbelievable throughout his entire career.
I remember watching him over there in Jacksonville and just in awe that I'm still, you know, he's still in the league doing it at the highest level, man. Which is crazy.
A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagle himself, has said he can play in the MLB.
Stands on it every time he's been asked about it. Do you think he could touch anybody in the league? You know what? I've seen A.J.
swing. And I've watched.
He was like a pretty good player. I saw him do some perfect game.
He went through like the high level perfect game stuff. So, yeah, I think any guy like that that played baseball for that long throughout high school has a chance to still play and swing a bat.
You can see Donovan Mitchell, a guy like Donovan Mitchell. He can, you know, he still swings.
He can still play. I feel like Kyler Murray.
Yeah, he was. You know, he played baseball through college.
So I feel like. Pat Mahomes out there playing baseball through college.
Pat Mahomes. Pat was a really good baseball player.
Yeah. And I feel like it shows up a lot in his football game, just watching him.
Like, he runs around out there kind of like a shortstop. He's flipping the ball with both hands and shit.
Isn't it crazy? You know, he's throwing from every angle. Yeah.
And I feel like a lot of the good quarterbacks are like that, where they're like, it's like the baseball effect, where you can kind of throw from, you know, all the angles. Yeah, it's a whole other skill set, really.
He's just out there almost like an and one basketball player, somebody that's at the park that really knows how to dribble, just different or have their own version of it man well actually how uh what do you think the easier transition is baseball uh to football or football to baseball i think it would be baseball to football i think it would be harder to transition from baseball from football to baseball you i mean and this is even like for me when i when i got drafted because i was a football player and i put you know i mean i was just I got drafted in the first round. Even when I got drafted, I was on the phone with Dan O'Dowd and I'm like, am I playing first base or am I pitching? Like I had no idea, you know what I mean? And in my mind, I was like, Hey, I can go play baseball.
I can take this million dollars. I can do this for two years and I can go back to college.
Chris Winkie had just did that. You know what I'm saying? So like, there's, there's guys, there was examples of me.
Like there was examples of guys that had took the baseball money and then went back to college to play football and i was like all right so if this shit don't work out then i can just go back and play football and that was always my fallback plan i think it would be a lot easier if you're basically if you're doing both if you pick baseball you can always fall back to go play football we tried to have a fallback guy uh tim tebow do it not too long ago man tebow is in the minors a little bit there have been some guys that have tried how difficult is it to get drafted and then immediately go into the minors it's extremely hard to um especially from high school right like somebody like me you know i you know i was a guy like i went from my mom washing my uniform after the game to, like, now I'm a professional. That's great.
You know what I'm saying? Like, this is every single day. Like, in high school, you're playing Tuesdays, maybe Friday.
And then when you turn pro, like, I was 17 years old still. I didn't turn 18 until, you know, three weeks after I got drafted.
So, like, I didn't know how to wash clothes. Like, they just drop you off in the middle of North Carolina.
the middle of North Carolina. You got to figure out how to get to the ballpark.
You know what I'm saying? You got to figure out how to manage your money. You got to figure out what you're going to eat, how much fuel you're going to have, you know, throughout the day, how to work out, how to do kind of everything.
So you, you go from being like an amateur and you're literally, you're a pro and it's just you and a bunch of other high school cats and you know 15 other Dominican guys that's trying you know what I'm saying like y'all literally down there trying to figure it out like it's like it was a culture shock it was a rough I mean the first three nights of my professional career I cried home I called home crying I was like like do I have to like if I come home do I got to get his money back? And my mom was like, you better stay here right there. Yeah, you are coming.
Good advice, mom. Good advice, mom.
Good advice, mom. Do not leave.
If it's shot clear, then you can come home. It's pretty rough.
So that's why, I mean, I have a junior in college right now. He goes to the University of Houston.
And I wanted him to get that college experience. I wanted him to be able to grow up, be a man before he entered that minor league.
Because, you know, he didn't have to make a decision I had to make. I had to make that decision because me and my mom needed the money.
He didn't have to make that decision. He can grow up, you know, go out and play some college baseball, grow, mature, and then become a pro.
I hear you. Man, we got to get to Cleveland.
Yeah, you already know we got to talk some Cleveland ball, baby. Yeah.
What was your time like in Cleveland? Not just as a player, but like in the city. Like what do you remember and like really take away from your time in Cleveland? No, I love Cleveland.
I mean, I always tell people like, you know, I was born and raised in Vallejo, California, right? Like I was I mean, if you open up my soul, there was a little probably a box in there with Mack Dre playing.

You know what I'm saying?

Born and raised in Vallejo, California to my soul.

But I grew up in Cleveland.

Like I got to Cleveland when I was 17 years old and I stayed there until I was 28.

That's three of the four of my kids were born there.

You know, me and my wife got married there. You know, I lived with a host family in Shaker Heights my first two seasons.
Shaker, okay. Yeah, I mean, I love the east side of Cleveland.
We really, really enjoyed the east side. I mean, I was going to Randall Park Mall to get all my clothes.
Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, you know what I mean? Like, I'm really ingrained in – I'm going to Nets and Shaker Square.
You know what I'm saying? Like, these are my spots. I used to jump to – I used to run over to Shaker Square to go see you play because they take the Rapid right down the district.
Oh, yeah. You know, that was my home.
And, you know, I stayed there in the offseason. I mean, I went to Cavs games.
I was there when it was Tractor Traylor and Ricky Davis. Come on, baby!

I'm in Tractor Traylor!

Ricky Davis and Darius

Miles, man. Exactly.

I grew up in Cleveland, man.

I am, you know, so

that city, you know, holds a special

place in me and my wife's heart.

And, you know, even my kids, if you, you know, you're going to talk

to my oldest son right now, he's an Ohio State fan.

And, you know, my daughter, they love, you know, being, they love being from Westlake, or they say Westlake, Ohio, but being from Cleveland. It's very near and dear to our hearts.
Like I always say, I grew up born and raised in Cali, but grew up in Cleveland. That's awesome, man.
You were talking about the Cavs, man. Did you ever catch LeBron, the wave of LeBron before he got drafted to Cleveland? Like, did you catch him at St.
Vincent, St. Mary? I did.
So we had this program with the Indians, what the Guardians called. We do it too soon.
I know. It was the development program.
So they would bring us all to Cleveland the month of January. So we would be up there the whole month.
So our big league trainer, his name was Paul Spacuzza, he would referee AAU in high school games. So one year in the winter, he kept talking about this kid.
He was like, oh, you got to come see this kid play. Blah, blah, blah.
He's telling all of us. He's telling me, Dave Risky, there's all these different guys that are with the Guardians at the time.
He's like,

oh, you got to come see

this guy play.

And we're all like,

no chance we're going to see

an eighth grader go play

basketball.

Like, we got better shit to do.

We got better shit to do.

That offseason,

we didn't go.

Oh, no.

We come back the next offseason,

he's like,

all right,

I got a better prop for you.

Like, the kid's playing

right across the street.

Like, he's playing

in the Cavs arena.

We can walk underneath. We can go.
We can watch the game. He was a freshman.
He had 40, 18, and 20. It was unbelievable.
It was unbelievable. And then, every since then, like, every time I was going, every time I came back to Cleveland in the wintertime, I was figuring out a way to go watch LeBron.
I even watched him play high school football. I was about to ask that, because he was a was a football player too man i got a chance to go see him play high school football i met mad and you know rich and all those guys very very young very early so i've been knowing those guys a long time i'll tell you what i try and like tell people about because i i went and saw him at the weinstein i saw him at cleveland state he had i mean he was selling out arenas so much you couldn't put him in a high school arena for, like, the big-time games.
You had to go to, like, a bigger arena. And, man, it was unbelievable.
I was sitting up in the nosebleeds, and you could still see how big he was on the court compared to everybody else. It was ridiculous.
And you could see the stars that would come see him play. Like, it would be – everybody would show up in Cleveland, like ai to whoever else like it's coming to you know going to the games and like even back then like you said trab like you can see he was way bigger than everybody and way more skilled but he would always make the right basketball play right like he can score 60 points in those games easy he would always end up with 24 8 and you I'm saying? Like he's making the right basketball play.

Every time I've watched him play since he was in a freshman in high school,

he's done the right thing on the court every single time.

His basketball IQ is off the charts.

Yeah, man.

I still remember going to that game, though, man.

It was unbelievable.

He went off the backboard in a game.

And at that point in my life, I was just like, man,

I want to be the next LeBron James.

Ended up choosing basketball over hockey going into high school. And a lot of that was because I was like, man, this dude just makes basketball look so fun and just sports look so fun, man.
Was that a big thing for you guys, like living in Cleveland, like choosing over hockey? Because hockey is a big sport out there, right? It's a big winter sport. Yes.
I mean, grew up playing hockey since at least since i was five i think jason was a little bit older but when he got into it i immediately got into it since like the the lowest level of uh of at least organized hockey and on top of that man we just we had so many we grew up with the same guys the same teammates throughout our our lives so it's like we we had a connection with like the team and everything and that was that was definitely the hardest thing for me uh going into high school was figuring out which winter sport i was going to play was it going to be hockey or hockey or basketball and i ended up hanging up the uh the skates but yeah it was weird because we played everything and we even played like two sports in the same season i like look back and like how the hell do Like how did Trav play basketball and hockey? I like wrestled and played hockey one year. I'm like, it's weird thinking back that we were even able to do that.
You know, our parents somehow made that work. I don't even know how they facilitated that.
I was just looking at a picture in my mudroom right now. My guy's got football pads.
He's got a baseball bat over there. He's got like, you know what I'm saying? Like just in the mug room right now.
Like it's like, it's crazy. And I feel like it's baseball deals with this a lot where kids like just play baseball year round.
Definitely in the South for sure. I'm such a big proponent of playing as many sports as you can while you're young because it just develops you more.
But it feels like I know hitting is like if you want to be a good hitter, you got to hit a lot. Right.
But too much of anything is a bad thing, right? You know what I'm saying? You don't have to hit that much to be like, we didn't hit that much. I played 16 baseball games when I was a kid.
You know what I'm saying? We played the Little League schedule. And then in August, we played football or whatever else.
Soccer. And then basketball or soccer.
You know what I'm saying? We're playing the sports. And I think, yeah, I think a lot of these kids get burnt out in their sport, whatever it is, because they just specialize way too early.
And I feel like you play these other sports, it makes you so much a better athlete, and it makes you better in your main sport. Right.
Like, football made me so much better as a baseball player. Basketball made me so much better as a baseball player because of footwork and, like so big or being able to move around.
You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm sure with hockey and you playing center or you know what I'm saying? You playing quarterback and like, you know what I'm saying? Like these things make you into your ultimate, make you into an ultimate athlete. When you play just one thing, yeah, you can get good at that one thing, but you're not as athletic as you ultimately could be if you play these other sports or even like your mentality playing your main sport changes when you play these other sports absolutely you've become more well-rounded man i'm with you man i promise i watch trav out there shaking guys sometimes i'm like man he's just out there playing basketball man especially off the line if you watch him off the line.
Yes. If I just had the ability to dribble while doing that, if I just had the ability, I'd be in the NBA.
Keep trying to tell y'all. He's got LeBron, the same Vince, the same Marion.
He's like, well, I'm hitting. But I feel like the same thing like with Miles Garrett, too.
Like, he's the same.

He's kind of like a hooper like that where he just moves fluid and he's like.

No doubt.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, it's pretty cool to see.

He had this one move last year.

He hit over a center.

I forget what team he was playing.

But he's literally, like, acting like a basketball player,

doing a crossover before the snap,

and then hits him and kills him on a one-on-one.

I was like, dude, thank God I'm not that center because I don't know what the hell you would even do like what the heck is that freaky move right there but yeah we talked about a little bit about uh roberto and uh and omar and maybe even diaz who were the guys that like that mentored you like when you first got into the league like maybe even like back when you were playing in the minors like who was that one guy me and jason always like to try and figure out the one person you could always lean on and you know show show some love to because they helped you out a tremendous amount who is that who do you think that guy was for you you know what it was um you know real early in my career it was manny ramirez cuz uh yeah, it was. And Manny was a first rounder, I think, in 93.
I was a first rounder. I came out in 98.
And we would all, like in Winter Haven and Spring Training, we all kind of stayed at the same hotel. Like the young guys in the minor leagues, we all stayed at the hotel.
And like some of the younger big leaguers would stay at the hotel. And Manny would kind of stay the hotel in his younger days and when i first came around he would take me out to eat and all this different stuff and um one time we're coming back from eating and this is like i mean we're hanging out maybe like a year or two now and this is like you know the third time this spring training that we're coming back from eating and he goes he looks at me he goes poppy why you never speak spanish and I would go, bro, I'm from fucking Valais.
I'm from California, man. He's like, the whole time, I think he was mentoring me because he thought I was Dominican.
Like, man. That boy Manny's name.
It was Manny early. We have a great relationship.
That's awesome, man. David Justice was there early.

But when I first got to the big leagues, it was Ellis Burks.

Ellis Burks was the guy who he bought me my first suit when I got,

when I made the team.

And he really, that first year, he really taught me how to be a pro.

Took me under his wing.

Told me what not to, what to do and what not to do.

Because I was, I was so young.

I was so green.

I had no idea.

I mean, I didn't even know how many innings you had to pitch to, to get a win at that point. You know what I'm saying? I'm like,

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I didn't even know how many innings you had to pitch to to get a win at that point you know I'm saying like like so I was really really really learning on the job and Ellis did a good job with me nice man we asked this question too uh not knowing who mentioned you do you have one guy one moment that was like you're welcome to major league baseball moment the best story I feel like where i felt like i was like one of the guys was um so after my my my first start i think i don't think i won that game maybe i no i didn't win the first start so the second start we pitched in detroit um and i went five innings i gave up four runs we fly to baltimore and we get in early we go out to dinner i ended up getting the win that night in Detroit. We go to dinner.
The guys take me out and I had like a suit on. And I just remember guys stuffing money in my pockets.
Everybody was like, they took me out and they were like, everybody handed me money, like cash. I just remember like waking up the next day.
I had all this money, all this cash. One of the best moments of my life.
They gave you a bomb mitzvah? Yeah, it was like one of those, like, welcome to the team, kid. You know what I'm saying? That's awesome, man.
That's cool. Which is pretty cool.
That kind of made me feel like I was a part of. You know what I mean? That's dope.
I like that better. Dude, in the NFL, we take the rookies out, and they got to buy, like, this absurd dinner.
I've seen that. Where they spend all their money.
I like that better. Let's give the young guys some cash.
I like that. That's the way it should be.
Yeah. And that's, I mean, when I first got called up, it was a lot of hazing.
It was a lot of like, you know, the young guys have to do this, do that. And now it's a lot different.
I mean, you know, for me, I want it to be different. I want the young guys to come up and feel comfortable, you know, be a part of the team.
You know of them to go through the stuff I went through. We kind of changed the culture a little bit, and now these young guys get to come up and feel comfortable, so it's good.
That's awesome. 19 seasons? 19 seasons, yeah.
I was lucky. You said you threw until you couldn't anymore.
Have you tried to throw a baseball? What does it feel like now if you tried to do that? Man, if I try to throw hard, it's not good. I play catch with my sons all the time.
I have a 14-year-old that plays, and I'm playing catch and throwing BP with him. But, yeah, my shoulder's done.
Damn, man. Which is good.
That's a good thing because I would still be trying to play. Like the Yankees in the World Series right now, I'd be calling catch., you all come out the bullpen right now.
You look like you need an inning. You know what I'm saying? It's a good thing I can't turn right now because I would be itching to come out of somebody's bullpen right now trying to get another ring.
I've been saying it for the past like three years. Everyone keeps asking me about retirement.
I'm like, man, I'm going to play until the wheels fall off. I just fucking love competing, man.
I like being out there on the field and showing up for the guys next to me.

It's just what I love to do.

So I can only imagine what it really felt like when that shoulder started to really mess up for you.

And you weren't able to have the success that you wanted to have.

I'm sure that was a tough time for you to come to realization with that.

It was, but it was like I knew I was going to be good at retirement. So I'm like, I'm doing a little bit at retirement, bro.
I knew I was going to be, I got hurt in 2014, which is Jeter's last season and I didn't really travel that year and I had, it was like, I had my first summer off. you know, we, we played a whole summer.
So we don't like, we never get Memorial day or July. Like we don't, we don't know what that's like.
So that first year, that first summer, I was like, Oh shit, I'm going to be like really good at retirement. So after that, like every year it kept crepping into where I was like, every road trip, like I'm packing and I'm like, fuck man.
I'm. Like I'm, you know, like we're before I'm, I'm happy to like pack and go with the guys and like, you know what I'm saying? Hit the road.
Now I'm, you know, upset. I'm missing this, this game or this daughter's competition or this stuff.
So it got to a point where it was like, you know, when I started, you know, getting upset about packing, it's like, it's time for you to be home. Yes, for sure.
And now I'm in the locker room with guys that have more in common with my 14-year-old son than they have in common with me. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's time to go.
I mean, as much as I love to compete, as much as I love the game, I don't miss anything about it. I got my feel out of it.
You know what I'm saying? Like, I won a championship. I got, you know, I got to do it at the highest level with, you know, what I consider one of the better, one of the best organizations.
So I don't, I don't miss it at all. You know what I mean? Like I'm, I'm good with it.
And I mean, I just love watching baseball now. I love it, man.
And like you said earlier, you're still doing a lot with the, the league and being that voice for players and that connector. We got a segment on the show called, we got to You Don't Have to Answer.
So let's wrap this crazy combo up with the segment. And it's exactly what it sounds like, Cece.
We're going to ask you some rapid fire questions. And I mean, you can literally tell us the fuck off or you can answer them.
We'll have some fun. Jason, go ahead and start with the first one.
Yeah. Are pitchers the most superstitious professional athletes out out there i think baseball players in general i think baseball players have to be the most superstitious athletes on the planet for sure yeah yeah 100 percent i can't agree to that weird superstitions you've seen over the years what's the weirdest one the weird uh i mean jeter ate the same thing every single day uh he would like peanut butter and honey sandwich he would take a bite of it and then throw the rest of the shit out.
I just got to get a bite in. I just got to get my bite in.
It was, you know, like he must have did that one time, didn't have time, had a great game, you know what I'm saying? And then like, but, and then for me, like it was always like, so before my starts I had to be in the hot tub at like 423. I had to be out of the hot tub at like 434 on the training table, like time.
I was the same way. I had to be walking out of the locker room at 636 with my jacket and everything.
So it was always about the time for me. You had times like that too? I would always go in and there's always a list in the locker room for football that tells you what time each position has to be out.
And I would go and find out when the centers and quarterbacks had to be out for snapping. And I would work back every 15 minutes.
I would have like markers. Okay.
At one hour before that, I'm taking my pre-workout drink and doing this at 45 minutes. I'm taking my anti-inflammatory at 30 minutes.
I'm getting changed.

Gotta make sure that thing

gets some time to kick in.

You get old, it all.

You get old, it all.

Yes, sir.

That's too far.

Man, you guys are crazy, man.

I can't do that, man.

I'm so bad with time

and I'm the most inconsistent

person in the world.

So I was like, man,

let me not just set myself up

for failure here

on these superstitions. So you don't have any I'm just going to show up to the ballpark football man no routine like that you don't have no routine like that before the game with time i mean other than making sure i take that anti-inflammatory about 45 minutes before i got on that field that's about the only one i got and sometimes i even forget to take that until i'm like right about to go out there.
Have you ever been out there and realized you forgot to take it?

Yeah.

It's like, why do I feel so bad?

Oh, yeah.

That's why.

All of a sudden, you turn on the film on Monday morning.

You see, man, Travis was real slow on the first quarter.

No, I've never been to the bullpen without my anti-flamatory or tour it all, whatever I got to take.

For sure. For sure.

For sure.

Whichever one it is.

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

Toughest ballpark.

I think Fenway is the toughest ballpark to play in.

Fenway?

I think so.

I mean, just the atmosphere, the green monster.

You have to change the way you pitch in that park.

And, like, you know, we talked about it earlier.

I don't like to change anything.

I pitch to my strengths. I do what I do.
And there you have to actually change the way you pitch because of the wall. So I think Fenway was always the toughest place to pitch.
What a home field advantage, man. That's crazy.
Do you have one batter you faced in your career that just like, you know, you're glad you never got to face him again? He just, for some reason, had your number. Man, I mean, I wish it was just one guy.
Right? I wish it was just one guy. But Manny Ramirez, for sure.
I mean, Manny, he would always get me in the biggest spots. And then Evan Longoria.
Evan Longoria, I mean, it got to a point where I was just like – I mean, there was one game where Tony Pena, he was our catching coordinator. He was like, just throw them all sliders today.
So it was like a game where I would just throw them all sliders. And he was like, just throw them all change-ups today.
You know what I'm saying? Like, there's really nothing I could do to get him out. Like, he just saw the ball out of my hand so good that the one time I ran over to him, I was like, bro, I'm going to throwing to you underhand.
I'm gonna completely change yourself. I'm just gonna turn right-handed.
I'm just gonna start throwing this thing over here. Who's on your Mount Rushmore pitchers? Wow, I've never been asked that question.
I would have to go Ferguson Jenkins for sure. Ooh, okay.
I would have to go Bob Gibson. Okay.
Randy Johnson. The unit.
The unit. And I'm putting Pedro up there, man.
Pedro. I mean, yeah.
Pedro is nasty, bro. Got those flexible fingers.
Pedro got those flexible fingers. That thing is.
Alien fingers. Yeah.
That's crazy. Pedro is nasty, man.
Pedro was nasty.

And he would come after you.

You know what I'm saying?

He pitched any time, and he would come after you.

So those would be my guys.

Pedro, do you see Pedro with his fingers back?

Do you just start stretching your hand every day?

I need that extra.

It's funny that everybody knew that about him, right? Do you still believe in the motto, mass equals gas? Absolutely. Yeah.
I had to be over 310 to be able to throw the ball over 95. What? Hell yeah.
My biggest I pitched at was like 338. I would pitch at.
Big man. Yeah, my Milwaukee days.
Milwaukee, early New York days York days I was like 330 I went on a trip to Italy one time I came back and I was like I didn't weigh myself I was just pasta and wine but I came back I was 346 I'll never forget getting on the scale and it was like 346 and I know take a few and a few and it's in December. You know what I'm saying? I got like six weeks before I need to be back to 290.
Oh, wow. He's like, what's Cece running polls for? He's like, man, I heard he went to Italy, man.
Don't go to Italy in the office. I was doing that lemonade diet where I was doing like the cayenne pepper with the lemonade.
Like I was crazy. Nice details.
I got down though. I got back.
Listen, man, we're the Kansas City dad bods over here. We just make a shake.
We make a shake. I love it.
All right. And then what's your advice to kids getting into baseball now, man? If you had some, just a little bit of advice you can give to some of our younger viewers, man.
Man, my advice would just be just to enjoy the game. Don't take it too serious.
Play other sports, but have fun and enjoy the game and really be a fan of the game. Watch baseball.
Go to games if you can. Go out and play with your friends.
I think the more that you're a fan of baseball, the more you fall in love with it and the better you become as a player. But I think you really need to be a fan of this game to understand it and to really know what it is to love it.
I'm with you on that, brother. Oh, yeah.
That's all we got. Appreciate you, man.
You got any questions for us before you hop up out of here? I mean, you guys both, I mean, played in Super Bowls or at the highest level. What would your advice be as far as getting there or you know, in, you know, Super Bowls or at the highest level, like, what would, what would your advice be as like, as far as like getting there or, you know, working towards, like, did you ever, did you work? Cause I never worked to play in the, like in the world series or to be in the hall of fame or like, it was just always just trying to get better or one day at a time.
Was that with, with you guys? Or was it like, no, I'm trying to win Super Bowls or this is like my goal. Well, I i'll answer first because i feel like travis they've won like two in a row so they might already be thinking about the super bowl but for me right now no you're always focused on winning the day right you're always focused on just getting better in any way shape or form and you're week by week i think everybody starts the season with like you you want to win the super bowl and that's like the end goal.
But I don't think that that's like where you're at at any moment until you're there, if that makes sense. Like it's always about, man, we got to be, you know, if we're playing Cleveland this week, how do we beat Cleveland? Or what did I do last week? How do I not make those same mistakes again and get better this week?

And to me, I felt like I was never, you know, that was always the main dream, but there

were always shorter term goals that were kind of getting you on the right, keeping you on

the right track, right?

Like doing your job, getting better every day and, you know, staying in the moment,

I think help you achieve all those long-term goals. Yeah.
What about you, Trev? I kind of go along the same lines as what you were saying, CC. Like one of my coaches in college used to say, feed the fire, fuel that knowledge and that love for the game and really like understand it to the, like the minute details.
I have never been satisfied watching myself on film. I literally am my worst critic, and I feel like if guys take that mentality, not only in sports but just in life of always trying to find ways to better themselves, you'll slowly start to take steps up that staircase of success and find ways to, I don't know, get better at whether it's catching the football, throwing the football, blocking, things like that.
I always try and take the four or five months that we have in the offseason to find one thing to really understand to a whole other level. And this year it was how to recover better, how to recover faster throughout the week.
What are some things that I can do? And it's just been a whole, like, I don't want to say change of routine, but it's just been a whole fine tuning of the routine throughout the week. So that even in, you know, week four to week 10 to week 16 to week 20, if I'm fortunate enough to play in the Superbowl, bowl i found a way to to be at my top and uh and like best like physical form uh for the guys around me and just be accountable man but i'm i would say just be uh be your own worst critic in life man you can't tell me i played terrible man i i'll be the one i hate myself i've already told myself that's what people that's what about playing here.
Like, how can you handle the pressure of playing in New York? No, I already put so much pressure on myself that, like, you know what I mean? Like, if I give up a run, I'm already, you know what I'm saying? So there's no amount of pressure that you can put on me that, the external pressure that's going to break me, you know? Absolutely. I got another question about one more football, if y'all don't mind.
It's just like I watch so much football and I see everybody talk about offensive lines and, you know, this offensive line is bad, that offensive line is bad. But the defensive lines have – every team has a freak on their defensive line.
Like every single one, whether it's Max Crosby or Joey Bosa or J.J. Watt, like won't they take some of these guys that don't make it on the defensive line and turn them into offensive line so you can kind of match some of these bodies and these fucking skill sets that these guys have.
It's crazy. It's a good point, man.
It is crazy. I think, one, those defensive guys are – it's a sexier position.
That's what I would want to play. So all those guys want to play, right? Everybody wants to get sacks.
They don't want to have to block Miles Garrett. You don't have to think as hard.
You can kind of just go and play your game. Every team has a freak, though.
Every team has like one or two on their defensive line. And to kind of talk about this a little bit more, like most of the best offensive linemen were those – like most of the best offensive linemen in the league at least I don't want to like not all of them but a lot of those guys were former position players right like I was a linebacker growing up Lane Johnson played tight end and quarterback Jason Peters who played with the Eagles for a long time was a tight end in college so there are a lot more skill and athletic guys switching to the offensive line for exactly what you're saying.
Like you can't just be a big, like strong guy anymore and be a successful offensive lineman. It's going to be really hard to compete with athletes.
You got to be a crazy athlete now and all that other stuff. And those are rare people.
It's rare human beings to find 6 six dudes that are athletic big strong like they just tough yeah you know it yeah yeah exactly but i just i just i feel like so many offensive linemen take so much shit or these offensive line period because they're like but it's like do you do you see what i'm like yeah do you see what i have to do over here What the fuck is on the other side of this? Come on out here and try and do it then, all right? Come on and block Miles Garrett.

Block Michael Persons. What I'm saying, but every offense is like, oh, the offensive line is terrible.
No, fuck that. Look at the defensive line.
They're fucking blocking. It's crazy.
The other thing with O-line is, like, if you do your job nine out of ten times, it's a failure. Like, if you give up one sack in a game, had a bad day pass blocking i yeah i could have had 39 snaps and i got my job done but that one is going to haunt me in my head so it's like you know like being a relief pitcher that's like being a closer right yeah yeah yeah one pitch so frustrating it's like man these guys get paid too they're pretty damn good they're pretty damn good my fire is fueled back to what Travis was saying because the World Series is coming up.
We're going to see a world champion announced in a couple weeks, and it's baseball season right now, man. I can't thank you so much.
Thank you enough, CC, for coming on. It was awesome talking to you.
Good serve. Getting your story and also just your frame on this series that's about to happen.
You're the best, brother. Appreciate it.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
I appreciate it. Big fans of y'all.
So anytime you want me to come on, anytime I'm on. Hell yeah.
Awesome. You're the best brother.
We'll definitely have to get a, get a few rounds of golf in over there on the East. That's what I'm saying.
Oh yeah. Jersey.
This is an easy one to get in. Exactly.
Hit up on trout. And that wraps up another episode of new heights thank you to my man cc saban for joining us make sure you're subscribed on youtube to the new heights channel and follow new heights on wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts reminder you can listen to new episodes of new heights early and ad free right now by joining wondery plus in the wondery or on Apple Podcasts.
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We got all the advice for you, baby. All right.
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