WEBVTT
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Hello.
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Hello, everybody.
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Welcome back to Slander and Slay on Buzzer.
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I am Tracy Sandler, the slander part of Slander and Slay, and I am with the amazing Nikki Kay, the Slay half.
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How you doing, Nikki?
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Oh, you know what?
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Every day is the best day.
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And it kind of feels like it kind of feels like we're a little bit in the quiet before the full-on storm that is about to be September, October.
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Um, when you think about NFL kicking off, baseball postseason, NBA now what end of October.
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It's it's just all on the horizon.
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And I'm I'm bracing myself.
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And it feels like you're right, it's the calm before the storm.
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However, it feels as if the storm has really picked up early.
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There's just been so much going on, I think, in the baseball conversation, NFL training camps, but it is nothing compared to you are correct once it really gets going in three weeks.
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I mean, we are actually less than three weeks away from the start of the season.
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Since the first game this year will be on that Wednesday night, we are like we're at the time that we are doing this, we are 20 days away from the end of the day.
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In Melbourne, banana Melbourne, Australia.
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Yeah, so we're three weeks from that game, but then the night before will be the Seahawks and the Patriots.
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So it'll we'll already have had a game under our belt, which is just banana cake.
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Silly me for not knowing that.
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No, you're not.
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No, that if there's a lot of changes this year because of the Melbourne game, like they have made a lot of changes, but uh and NFL just taking over every day of the calendar, every day.
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And Roger Bedell saying this week it's I think the word he used was inevitable, or that, or soon at some point, there will be an international team, which I'm glad I'm not in charge of the logistics of that because that sounds difficult.
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Yeah, how do you feel?
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How do you feel about that?
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I think it depends where the team is.
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I'm I'm very curious.
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Should this actually happen?
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Like, does international mean team mean Toronto?
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Does it mean maybe Mexico City?
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I don't think you can have a team in London.
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I could be wrong, in Paris, though.
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May I just point out right now, if there is a team in Paris, somebody is gonna go back to being a beat reporter for the Paris croissance or whatever the name of the team is.
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Oh, I love that.
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The Paris baguettes.
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The Paris baguettes, and I will be reporter number one for the Paris baguettes.
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Literally, I'll be your apprentice.
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How about okay?
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Fair.
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I love it.
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I absolutely, absolutely love that for us.
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So so much to discuss.
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Um, starting with a little bit of sad news.
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Uh, we all know Hayden Panettier passed away this week.
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And I think for those of us who love football, those the females who love football and who've loved it maybe longer than was considered quote unquote normal.
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Her performance and remember the Titans, I just remember watching and being like, that's me.
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There I am.
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Right.
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She was the coach's daughter that we all, I mean, first of all, what what um when you talk about her legacy on the screens, I just remember every role she played.
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I always wanted to be, you know, she's someone you look at from afar and I was like, wow, I would love to be her, you know, and um emulate.
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And it is so sad.
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36 years, too young.
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And yeah, the it started with that role in Remember the Titans.
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And she was the iconic coach's daughter, yelling at the team like her life depended on it, like she wouldn't want to be out there.
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And um, that's that's who many of us have grown up to become.
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So yeah, just just devastating, but worth really worth celebrating her her memory and legacy.
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Yes, 100%.
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I was thinking of the scene where she's yelling at the ref.
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I'm like, well, there I am, from which is me currently from my couch, constantly yelling, that's not a strike.
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That's not a strike.
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That's not a strike.
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It's not that's not a strike, it's just it's just not a strike.
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Um, and I I mean you can't use so many challenges, but like it's not a strike.
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So um had to definitely want to talk about that and acknowledge that.
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So especially as we go into football season and so much going on.
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I saw a preview for something yesterday that's kind of now been all over my social media, and I had kind of been paying attention to it, but now I feel like I'm being inundated with it and I kind of can't wait for it.
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And that is the Alex Earl Netflix series.
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Right.
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The Earl Meets World upcoming reality show, it feels like it's been in our kind of like ether lexic like discourse over the past.
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I mean, ever since the Alex Cooper, Alex Earl feud kind of ignited over social media, and everyone wanted the tea, and then we learned like we're not gonna get it until this Netflix reality show series featuring her family, which September 4th is the premiere date.
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And I'm the football season, even right, right.
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And I think we're at a really interesting crux with Alex Earl because she's so big and she's become so likable, you know, that as we see with any celebrity figure in the spotlight, there's always like that turner turning point, the the the boomerang arc.
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And now it's like, is this too curated?
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Is this too um polished?
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Are we going to get reality?
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Um, I don't know.
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And it feels like her and Ashton, her sister haven't are like, oh, I don't want people to see this, which makes me want to see it.
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Of course.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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It's genius.
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I actually think Alex Earle is a genius marketer, and I think she's gonna change the way we all market, even with her skincare line.
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And I had read something about this, and I just thought this was so interesting.
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So she got big a lot by doing get readies with me and being very real during her get ready with me and all of that.
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She started doing a lot of unget readdies with me way before she announced that she was doing a skincare line.
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And that was very smart because there then there was already a transition once it was announced, and then the way that they marketed that, and even with the Alex Cooper thing with like we're not gonna get an answer until the Netflix, well, genius.
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They created all this buzz, and I don't know, we'll see.
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I'm pretty excited about it.
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We will see.
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She has a tendency to be very real, but it's a Netflix Netflix show, and they are also very polished, so it's gonna be it'll be fun to see how this all plays out, right?
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Right.
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And I mean, there is a point though when you become so big that you don't need to share everything, and so I don't know.
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And I think she'll address.
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I'm wondering if we're we're gonna get any info on the Tom Brady rumors uh or sightings or whatever it may be.
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Like, I yeah, there's a lot that that could be revealed, or it could be very milk toast.
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Yeah, well, you know what?
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Time will tell, and that'll just be a couple weeks away.
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It'll get us ready for NFL.
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We'll have the Netflix show for Alex.
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It's called Earl Meets World.
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Yeah, that's just genius in itself.
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That's fantastic.
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It's great, it's just great, it's fantastic.
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All right, well, I'm super, super excited about that.
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I wonder how excited Braxton Berrios and Tom Brady are for it.
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That's the big question.
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So we'll Well, did you see?
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Okay, Braxton's on like a major, you know, people love Braxton.
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Did you see the Giants' social media clip where he was asked to name all the beauty products in a female's bag?
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And it was Tracy, like some of the things were so obscure, like from eyebrow gel to toe separators for pedicures to like slick back hair gel, and he knew every one of them.
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So Alex, Alex raised him right.
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Tell me, tell me you've dated beauty influencers without telling me you've dated beauty influencers because also Sophia Colpo before Alex Earl.
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So Earl, so he um he definitely definitely knows what's up.
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That's really funny.
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Very green flag for the girls.
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We loved that.
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We do love that.
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If you can tell me about slick back hair gel and eyebrow gel, we're probably gonna be just fine.
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So yeah, that that's pretty fun.
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I also would argue that Braxton Barrios is very lucky to have had Alex Earl and Sophia Colpo, not from a on-the-field career standpoint, but who in the world would know who Braxton Berrios was if not for these two.
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Very true, very true.
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So I know that there are probably plenty of Giants fans or male football fans that get mad at me for saying that, but I think it's it's very, very, very true.
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So we've mentioned NFL season's a few weeks away.
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We are in training camp.
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Okay, I saw a trend this week.
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I don't think it's a good trend, Nikki.
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So here's the trend there have been multiple NFL injuries this week during joint practices.
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I think like a lot of them.
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So we'll start with the Chargers, who every year the offensive line gods do not like the Los Angeles Chargers.
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Didn't like them, I don't think, when they were the San Diego Chargers, because every year they suffer a major offensive line injury.
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And so this week at joint practice with the 49ers that you and I actually were both at, center Tyler Biadish, which I think I'm saying that correctly, he suffered a damage to his ACL.
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So he's not out the whole season, but he's out for a while.
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And it does feel like every year with the Chargers, and I know we had a whole Justin Herbert conversation a couple weeks ago, but I'm gonna say this in fairness to Justin Herbert, every year.
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What is up?
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Right.
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And you look at Biatish, who signed a$30 million deal, three-year$30 million deal to replace Bradley Bozeman, who retired last year.
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And then you look at Justin Herbert last year, third most sacked quarterback in 2025, sacked 54 times.
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Um this is just devast, this is devastating.
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It is, it's devastating.
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And one thing when I was watching joint practice is the Chargers look like a really, really good football team and really a contender here, but health is going to be such a big part of it.
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And before we get to other training camp injuries, I'm going on a little tangent, but it's a health tangent.
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So Kobe Bryant for the Bears was a huge free agent signing of theirs.
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He got hurt, he is out for a while.
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And this is a thing with football when we look ahead to a season, and we've talked a lot about the Rams, and it feels like they are the front runners, but health in football obviously is such a huge part of it, and so many things can happen between now and the end of a football season.
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But here you have two major injuries that are from major free agent signings for these teams.
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It's it's really, really unfortunate.
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But then there were a couple others, and I want to get my notes so I don't forget.
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Okay, so Jaden Higgins, uh, wide receiver for the Texans, tore his ACL in joint practice with the Raiders.
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So he's out.
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Alvin Camara sprained MCL in joint practice with the Cowboys.
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He's expected to miss a month.
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If he actually misses a month, it means one regular season game.
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But I just it's interesting because I've always felt like the joint practices were better from a football standpoint.
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And Kyle Shanahan has always said that.
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Like from you, you get more in a joint practice than you necessarily get in a preseason game because you know your ones are going against the ones.
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You can really see how you stack up.
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However, I don't remember there being this many joint practice injuries.
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And I think it a little bit begs the question.
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Um, these are important, but I guess we've talked before training camp injuries, preseason game injuries are just awful, but I don't it's just I'm over the preseason right now.
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Like it feels like it's been stretched out so long.
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These injuries are just bad news, bears.
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And like, I don't we just gotta get to we gotta get to real football because it's I I don't know.
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I mean, and that's the injury to for the Chargers O-line what just it felt so ominous.
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And what are we are we're supposed to be building up hype and excitement?
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I could not agree with you more.
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Sorry, I caught you mid tip right there.
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That is okay.
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It's because I talk too much, and so I was thirsty, and my appers.
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We're just three appers, three yffers, and I needed I needed that water.
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It did feel ominous, and again, it is.
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I just don't know specifically with the Chargers, it feels like their offensive line.
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And I don't know.
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So I have a question for you.
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Yeah, what is what is the solution?
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Like they've cut from four to three preseason games.
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We have these joint practices, which I do think, like I just said, for teams are more beneficial in terms of really seeing where you're at.
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You can't just pop on the football field, you know.
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You can't just have training camp against each other, your own team, and then pop on the football field and hope everything's gonna be fine.
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There does need to be some level of practice, but what, in your opinion, is the solution?
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Well, okay, we may not have one.
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No, no, and of course, I'm not gonna fix something that's you know, but well, don't sell yourself short.
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Thank you.
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But you've been on the beat for uh NFL team much, much more like embedded than I've ever been around it.
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But it I was kind of shocked to learn what two days ago was quote unquote the last day of training camp.
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And then we also, you know, and then we also have the buildup to the actual, you know, season.
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Now it's it's what 20 days of practices.
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Is there a way to I don't know, can condense or fold them into one?
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I or is that still not enough?
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I don't, I don't, I don't know.
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It's a good, it's a very good question.
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I I wonder if, I mean, granted, these injuries have happened in joint practices.
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So, and I think part of what happens, and part of it is just bad luck, but I also think teams practice against each other for a while before they get to a joint practice, and then you start practicing against someone else.
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And these are obviously very competitive players, very competitive athletes.
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So the juices get turned on really quickly, really quickly.
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And I think maybe that's part of it.
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Again, I think part of it is just total luck.
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But I wonder if you if you have joint practice that I don't know, you have two preseason games with joint practice, then start the joint or and or just do the two because you have the joint practice and then you play that team in the preseason, so maybe it's two.
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But that being said, we're not even to week two of the preseason yet in terms of games, and these injuries have happened.
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So I don't know if there's a I don't know.
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And and the thing is too, and I go back to this a lot, is it is football, but this is not a sport that is known for its delicacy, and there is a reason that quarterbacks in a practice wear a separate jersey to make clear to everybody do not touch this person.
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He is the quarterback and the most important person on the field.
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There is a reason that a lot of guys are held out of preseason games or they play one series and that's all they're gonna get the whole preseason.
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It's very hard to tell.
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And we talked last week about how preseason for uh for a lot of it is for teams to get an idea of the guys, you're not not your starters, not even maybe your second, your second team guys, but it's the other guys.
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Do they fit on your team?
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Is there a spot for them on the roster?
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Is there a spot for them on your practice squad?
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Is there a spot for them on another roster, on another practice squad?
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And I don't know how you see that without the preseason, unless joint practices were just two days and day one is the ones versus the ones, and day two or the twos versus twos, three versus I don't know some hybrid of that.
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I I don't know.
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It I don't know how you fix it.
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And at the end of the day, it's football, maybe it just can't be fixed.
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Uh yeah.
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I I mean, and the season keeps getting longer too, right?
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And then you got to figure out these guys are putting stress on their bodies, even though it's the off season, they're still working out.
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Of course.
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And so it's just it could be a much bigger picture pro uh problem.
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It I don't know, but it does seem much more prevalent.
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Uh, this the season ending injuries before the season even begins, which is just so devastating.
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Uh it is, it's awful.
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Do you think, and and this is a tangential to this conversation.
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I have people really wondering when Aaron Donald's gonna come back.
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Like seeing this now, it's like, okay, I don't blame him for taking his time.
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Will he be fine enough to jump in in the course of the regular season?
00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.600
What would you guess at this point?
00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:57.759
You know, it I would guess I okay, so I would have originally said when they first traded for Miles Garrett, and this was like the beginning of the rumor, will he come back?
00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.360
I would have said midseason.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.159
That's when I would have felt like that's when he would come back.
00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:15.519
However, now that he has been working out at the Rams facility and he's been very uh visible doing so, now I feel like maybe it's much sooner.
00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:25.519
I kind of wonder if there's an idea that it goes after the Australia game because that flight is gonna be really hard on everybody's bodies.
00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:28.480
I know that everyone's doing they're both doing both teams are doing it differently.
00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:35.680
The Niners go a week before the Rams are like going, playing, coming home, but that flight is gonna be really tough on everybody's bodies.
00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:42.960
And so I'm wondering if there is an idea that they definitely want to push it to after that, and maybe it's a month into the season.
00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.960
It's just that he's already so visible at the Rams facility.
00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.680
I don't think midseason makes sense anymore.
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.759
What approach would you prefer?
00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:54.400
In terms of when I would go to Australia, yeah.
00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.519
Or yeah, sorry, I didn't even I was talking about Aaron Donald.
00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:00.559
No, no, no, but yeah, would you I could we could talk about both?
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:05.599
I so okay, I think I would go on the going you're playing.
00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:07.839
I want you to play, yeah.
00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.720
So it's it I have to give like a little context to this.
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:22.640
So as you know, I covered the Niners for 10 years, so I am of I have experienced the Kyle Shanahan thought process.
00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:29.119
They before Mexico City, we were all in Colorado Springs for a week because the players were getting used to the altitude.
00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:37.759
Kyle really liked when they haven't done this in a while, but when they would have back-to-back East Coast games, they would go to the Green Briar for a week, so not going back and forth.
00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.039
So I'm used to that.
00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:47.440
So I feel like that would be my answer just because I haven't done the other.
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:59.519
I have to say, when it comes to Australia, I I understand the thought processes, and I totally get like the idea that you don't get jet lag if you're never jet lagged, so to speak.
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:04.640
Like if you're there, if you're flying in, you're playing a game and you're flying back, there's not really an opportunity to get jet lagged.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:28.799
But when it comes to Australia, that is such a long flight, and it is such a big time difference that I think in that particular scenario, I would want to go early and really adapt because it's a long, that's a lot of it's you're more hours in a plane, obviously, than you are where you're playing.
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:32.160
Yes, and I believe the time difference is 19 hours ahead.
00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:35.680
Like that's just seems it just seems like a lot.
00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:46.960
But by the same token, this is sort of interesting, tangential, different sport, but Roki Sasaki was pitching for the Dodgers in Colorado, and the team had been there since Monday.
00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:52.319
They flew him there Tuesday because they felt like the less exposure to altitude the better.
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:59.920
And I thought back to, like I said, this Mexico City trip where we were in Colorado Springs for a week, for them to get you know used to the altitude.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.400
There are probably pluses and minuses to both.
00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:08.559
I just think for me, I would rather have the time to adapt if I were a player.
00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:11.920
Yeah, I think culturally for me too, I'd be so curious.
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:15.839
Like I'd be like, I want a full week, I want a full week down under, you know.
00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.920
That's like totally fair, right?
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:18.240
Right.
00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:19.119
Fair.
00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:25.680
So I would selfishly, just for curiosity, would want to have more time in Australia.
00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:38.960
But I also understand, I mean, I think I'm sure both teams are looking at it like outcome of this isn't gonna turn determine our trajectory in the season, right?
00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:43.279
Like and if you lose, like you can make excuses either way, right?
00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:51.440
So um I think because it's not a must-win game, like you can't go wrong with either approach, right?
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.640
That's probably true.
00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:00.559
Though, since it's the division game between the Niners and the Rams, owns McVay, wouldn't it be except when he doesn't?
00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:05.440
I feel like he owns McVeigh except when except when he doesn't, and when he doesn't, he like really does not.
00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:07.279
Yeah, it's usually for a very big thing.
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:10.720
But wouldn't it be interesting as it comes to the end of the season?
00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:31.599
Uh, and I I don't know that the 49ers are gonna be up for the division just based on the Rams and the Seahawks, but we come to the end of the season, and it's a the NFC West is gonna be determined by your division record, and the Rams lost to the Niners or the Niners lost to the Rams, maybe whatever it is, it actually is interesting.
00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.359
Yeah, week one game may actually end up mattering.
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:36.799
You're right, which is no crazy.
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:43.039
I was but it might not, and watch me be have tempted fate there with that, like being like, Oh, it's fine, whatever happened.
00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:53.039
Well, just to clip it, if if it comes down to the division record, especially if it's between these two teams, we're gonna have to clip this and be like, Well, turns out it really matters.
00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:53.920
So I don't know.
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:55.440
I think that that's interesting.
00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.480
I have a fun little tidbit from Ram's practice this week.
00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.759
Do you remember so?
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:05.839
So year 10 of Sean McBay as a head coach, he was hired as this young wonder kid, right?
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:09.759
Do you remember when he kind of like broke out onto the scene with the Rams?
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:20.559
He had so much unbridled energy that he would need to be, he had a physical get back guy assigned to keeping him from running off on or running onto the field during games.
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:22.160
I do remember that.
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:22.799
Yes.
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:27.920
And NFL Films did a whole little uh feature on this assistant coach.
00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.400
He was from on the strength and conditioning staff.
00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:34.000
And so I didn't know if we had ever addressed it again.
00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:38.240
So I asked Sean, I was like, Do you still have a get back guy on staff?
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:44.000
And Sean was like, No, I was such a dip, you know, like laughing about himself.
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:54.160
And he goes, I knew I really had to change my ways when I was watching the Nuggets play, and Nikola Jokic had just what won his MVP.
00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:58.799
And I went back into the locker room to kind of meet him and talk to the guys.
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:05.200
And Nikola knew me as the guy who needed someone to restrain me from running onto the field.
00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:14.240
And he goes, if that's what the NBA MVP knows me as, then I really need to reassess my priorities and how I approach what I do.
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.400
And I just thought that was so funny.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.839
I never expected it going into a Jokic interaction.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:21.839
That is really, really funny.
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:30.160
And I remember in week 18 of the 2021 season, the Niners were playing the Rams and the Niners were playing for a playoff spot.
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:34.079
And they went down 17-0 in the first half.
00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:40.240
But when the Rams scored their first or second touchdown, I can't fully remember which one was.
00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:51.119
Sean McVay went running down the field to the end zone, was in the end zone celebrating, and like Niner fans, and like it was this whole thing with the Niners like that's so obnoxious.
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:52.640
He's the coach, blah, blah, blah.
00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:54.640
And the Niners came back and won that game.
00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:58.720
Now, the Rams ultimately beat them in the NFC Championship game and then won the Super Bowl.
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:04.720
But the Niners did come back and win that game, and it was a talking point in the NFL that whole week.
00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:10.400
And so I wonder if that was part of it too, because that was that was like a whole thing.
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:14.880
Thing he's funny, and his energy is so infectious and contagious.
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:18.960
It's like I would rather him need someone to rip physically restrain him.
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:21.519
You know, just stomach bay, don't change.
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:23.839
Well, and I think that's true of everything in life.
00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:29.519
You'd rather have to bring someone back than try to get them more, so to speak.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:34.079
Because you can't you can't really make more you can bring back.
00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:36.319
You can't manufacture the passion in anything.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:37.039
There you go.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:44.880
And you can't you want someone, whatever got someone to the point of success that they're at they reach.
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.359
You you don't want to change that, right?
00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:48.799
Because that's the magic.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:51.759
Yeah, I think that that is that is a hundred percent true.
00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:52.799
That's the magic.
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:53.599
I love that.
00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:55.519
Maybe that's the title of this episode.
00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:57.279
Just throwing it out there, buzzer.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:58.640
That's the magic.
00:24:58.799 --> 00:24:59.599
There we go.
00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:08.640
All right, Nikki, we're going to change gears a little bit because we are heading into September soon.
00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:14.000
Baseball is real for you know, for people who really start paying attention now, they really start paying attention.
00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:23.440
And for the first time in a very long time, we have an MVP conversation, and that is between Shohei Otani and Pete Crow Armstrong.
00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:25.839
And I'm gonna have to give a disclaimer on this.
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:30.400
Yeah, I'm gonna have to give a couple of disclaimers on this.
00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:31.440
I'll give two.
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:36.880
Number one, I love Shohei Otani, and my love for him knows no bounds.
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:38.319
I mean like no bounds at all.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:40.160
Okay, so I love Shohei Otani.
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:52.640
Number two, Pete Crow Armstrong, aka P C A, had made comments about Dodgers fans before the season that I found personally offensive.
00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.079
And he said that Dodger fans only goes to games to take pictures and blah blah blah.
00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:57.279
Anyways, I didn't like it.
00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:01.039
You can take a picture at a game and still really enjoy the game and know what's going on.
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.400
And I know it's you know you know where it's funny coming from.
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.920
He grew up in Southern California, which made it even worse.
00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:14.880
But now I have a third disclaimer that I think is gonna be a wrinkle that you are not prepared for.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.880
I so I've been anti-PCA, just forget the MVP conversation.
00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.880
I didn't like that, made me upset.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:24.559
Then let's fast forward to the all-star game in Philadelphia.
00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:31.920
And I'm at my hotel and I'm like running down the hall, and I see these two guys in front of me, and they're getting in the elevator.
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.440
And I was like, Can you hold it?
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:36.720
And the guy's like, Yeah, no, I saw you running, I'm holding it for you.
00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:41.119
It was PCA, and then I was like, Man, I can't hate him.
00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:42.240
That was so nice.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:43.680
So that's where I am on that.
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:46.880
I think you really have to re-evaluate your priorities.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.119
PCA held the elevator for you.
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.039
PCA held the elevator for me.
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.359
Shohei has never held the elevator for me, though.
00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:55.759
In fairness, there hasn't been an opportunity.
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:58.799
So I will say I'm just saying, but he did.
00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:00.640
PCA held the elevator for me.
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.599
So this is a real, this is a real conversation.
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.440
And when Shohei was pitching, I think it was really not much of a conversation.
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:09.279
But now he's a DH.
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:15.359
Now he's he's just the DH, quote unquote, which he was a couple years ago when he had his 50-50 season.
00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:22.240
But he's the DH and PCA, I mean, now they're they're on equal footing in terms of positions and positioning.
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:29.599
Um, I know PCA plays in the outfield, but I'm but in terms of like this pitching hit or hybrid, we obviously don't see that a lot.
00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:34.799
But the other question, and this is the thing with the MVP, and I think we've talked about this.
00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:36.640
What is a most valuable player?
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:43.759
A person to me who is the most valuable player in terms of their team winning.
00:27:44.000 --> 00:28:00.079
And at the moment, and I don't like having to say this, but at the moment, I think PCA does have the edge on that because the Cubs are in a very different position than the Dodgers in their division and kind of where things stand, and in their roster construction, right?
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:17.200
But also, I do think baseball is the one sport where MVP is assessed a little bit differently than I mean, I I come what you said about MVP impacting the team's positioning and strength, that I think holds true for every other sport.
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:28.000
But I think baseball, especially when you've got the NL and AL, and it is a it is a team sport, but comprised of individual individual stats, right?
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:28.880
That's a good way.
00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:29.920
That's a very well said.
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:36.720
So because it is really just you at the plate, like you know, or you on the mound.
00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:43.119
Yeah, and at the time of us recording this, PCA is the betting favorite to win NL MVP.
00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:48.240
I wonder when the last time someone beside Shohei was not the betting favorite.
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:49.680
That's a very good question.
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:59.519
Can you remember a season where it hasn't been because last so he, you know, his first MVP was in the when he was in the American League, so he was the AL MVP.
00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.759
So I don't I don't think I paid as close of attention to it then.
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:09.599
Um and then he's been the NL MVP 24, 25.
00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:11.519
This is season three with the Dodgers, right?
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:13.680
Yeah, so 24 or 25, and he was the AL.
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:16.079
And was he the AL MVP twice?
00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:26.960
I or was he I think I don't know, but I just I think that he's been he's kind of been the overwhelming, like, especially last season with him pitching.
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:28.480
It's like, how could you not?
00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:34.559
Right, and then yeah, and the season before was 50-50, right?
00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:37.599
So that was super special, yes.
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.000
Um, and then the season before it was so he won it with the angels.
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:43.839
So he won in 2021 when he was an angel.
00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:49.039
He won the AL MVP 2021, 2023, and the NL MVP 24-25.
00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:49.839
So I don't know.
00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:50.640
That's a good question.
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:58.559
I don't know when because two years ago, when it was 50-50, there was no, I mean it was, and it was his first season with the Dodgers, and he like so exceeded expectation.
00:29:58.640 --> 00:29:59.920
There it was not a contest.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.720
You're right, last year with the pitching and the hitting.
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:06.000
So I don't know, it's probably been quite some time.
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:15.599
Um, I know that I think, or I think, but I feel pretty confident Shohei would be more interested in winning a third straight World Series than another MVP award.
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:18.000
Well, what but we're talking about the MVP right now.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:41.039
We're talking about the MVP right now and uh PCA Well, no, but I only I only bring that up because I feel like this next six weeks obviously really matters for the MVP, but I think the I only say that because the Dodgers may prioritize things differently than maybe another player whose guy was fighting for the MVP.
00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:42.640
Right, right, right, right, right.
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:48.480
And I think you'd rather have a team in World Series contention than winning an MVP.
00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:51.920
But the Cubs are also and the Cubs are also in World Series contention.
00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:52.720
The Cubs look great.
00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:58.880
So I don't I think right now, if I had to say PCA is the MVP, it's just gonna be very interesting six weeks.
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.279
Yeah, second straight, 30-30 season, um, leading all of baseball and war.
00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:07.119
Uh, he's just that everyday two-way threat.
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:08.160
And I don't know.
00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:14.000
I think it's I think it's really it's fun, especially like the kid with local ties here in LA.
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:17.440
Um, I think Shohei's won it so many times before.
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:21.440
I'm personally, I would personally like to see PCA win.
00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:23.519
I like a little bit of disruption too.
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:27.359
You know, give us give us other stars to to celebrate.
00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:28.880
So here's the question though.
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:42.240
Let's pretend, and it's it won't happen right now, but let's pretend September comes and Shohei's back on the mound for the final month of the season, and his offensive numbers are the same as PCA's, and he's dominant on the mound.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:44.640
Then does this become a very different conversation?
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:50.160
Well, that's like that's like a dream, like like but not really, because he's he's he's doing sessions.
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:54.960
I mean, it's not really a dream, like in theory, they've said they plan on him being back in September.
00:31:55.119 --> 00:32:01.200
So to come back to come back in September and be absolutely dominant in limited innings.
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:02.720
Yeah, I don't know.
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:03.440
I think we'll see.
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:05.119
Yeah, that's what I think we don't know.
00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:07.279
So that's that's the big question.
00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:26.000
But I think right now, as things stand, um, it's PCA, and it probably will be PCA because you're right, also they're not they need him good for October, so they're not throwing out, and that's I guess my I guess that was my point also earlier in terms of World Series versus MVP.
00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:26.480
Yeah.
00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:28.319
So uh, but you know, we shall see.
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.359
But those cubbies are also really excited and they're really fun to watch.
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:36.960
There's a lot of, I feel like there are a lot of really fun teams right now in major league baseball.
00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:38.960
Um, the White Sox are a fun team.
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:40.880
The Cubs, as we said, are a fun team.
00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:45.519
The Red Sox, so I think they've been on a bit of a skid, but they're a really fun team.
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:47.839
And the Brewers are a really fun team.
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:54.640
I mean, there are a lot of really fun teams right now in Major League Baseball, especially in the National League.
00:32:54.720 --> 00:33:03.680
So it is gonna be very interesting to see how all of this plays out over the next six weeks of regular season and then into the playoffs, which is crazy.
00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:05.599
Absolutely crazy.
00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:10.640
I mean, I'm already at a point where someone asked me about doing something in October, and I was like, that's gonna have to get back to you on that.
00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:13.039
That's gonna have to be a TVD situation.
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:17.519
My October, I don't make plans in October because I need to keep it.
00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:18.240
Rightfully so.
00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:21.039
Yeah, so that's just kind of that's just how I roll.
00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:22.079
That's how I roll.
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:23.599
So that is super fun.
00:33:23.759 --> 00:33:27.279
Okay, we also had a big thing that happened last weekend.
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:34.559
And for those of us who were were very into the New York Knicks during the playoffs, which would definitely be the Slander and Slate podcast on Buzzer.
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:40.079
We were very into the New York Knicks, very into one Jordan Woods's lucky bag.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:42.480
They got married last weekend, not her in the bag.
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:45.279
Jordan Woods and Carl Anthony Towns in Malibu.
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:47.200
This has been so fun.
00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:53.119
I just think the evolution of Kat specifically has been a really cool story in the NBA.
00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:56.640
Um, and that this is a couple that met nine years ago.
00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:57.920
They've been friends.
00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:01.440
Um, Jordan lost her dad, Kat lost his mother.
00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:07.599
There's sorrow intertwined with their connection, you know, and strength that that was born from that.
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.800
And I just I I really enjoyed this couple.
00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:21.039
And I really loved seeing, I think Carl Anthony Towns was one of the the guys I was happiest for that he got to win an NBA championship with New York.
00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:22.960
Um, it's it's awesome.
00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:24.480
And yeah, it was in Malibu.
00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:28.960
It was a summertime affair, which I believe Kat was insistent about.
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:31.199
Um, I have to double check on that.
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:32.800
And Jordan looking fantastic.
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:40.400
She wore Danielle Frankel, who huge, huge boutique wedding designer, uh, wedding gown designer, and Kat and Ralph Lauren.
00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:41.519
So I don't know.
00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:46.000
I I love I love the merger of powerhouse couples like this.
00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:49.519
And our king and queen, Timmy and Kylie, were there.
00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:51.519
Which doesn't get any better.
00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:52.880
It does not, you know, Kylie.
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:55.280
I say that half joking, but not really.
00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:00.000
Kylie is my game day fit basketball queen, and Timmy is my fan king.
00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:01.920
I mean, he just loves that team so much.
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:04.159
So uh that was that was really fun.
00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:05.280
So we love seeing that.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:08.719
Kind of felt full circle for the uh Knicks run.
00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:10.000
Right, right.
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:18.079
What a what a way to keep the party going and to have probably the whole squad there and be like, all right, let's get back into that title defense mode right after this.
00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:18.639
Yep.
00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:23.920
And they have a couple months to enjoy being newlyweds before they go right back, right back into it.
00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:27.840
Because as you said at the beginning of the show, end of October, NBA is back.
00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:28.480
Banana.
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:33.360
Well, yeah, like Luca's already hosting the Lakers at a Slovenian minicamp.
00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.840
I would love to be at that Slovenia mini camp.
00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:43.440
I like would love to be there just to observe, cover it, just sit there.
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:46.000
Like, I think that would be so cool.
00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:48.400
And I hope somebody is documenting it.
00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:54.000
Well, and we gotta be we gotta be honest with all the drama surrounding the Lakers organization right now.
00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:57.519
And I say drama in terms of um uncertainty, yes.
00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:03.199
A you know, whether it's the sale to Kushner and Iger or whatever's going on with the bus family.
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:05.360
The bus family is like a whole thing right now.
00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:08.400
I feel like we're in succession, a new succession, right?
00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:14.960
It would be succession NBA style would be the bus family right now, which you know, which you know means somebody is writing that show.
00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:16.400
Right, right.
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:28.400
And the best thing is is that the players, the athletes, get to be overseas, locked in on each other and basketball, and that's no better place to be, no better timing.
00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:28.880
Perfect.
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:34.639
Yes, I could not agree more, and again, really would have loved to been there to report it, but we're here talking about it.
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:36.320
But I I'm a big Luka fan.
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:43.039
Actually, we're having um a merger Friday night of two of my favorite things, the Dodgers and Luka Donchik.
00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:49.119
It's Luka Donchick bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium on Friday, uh, followed by a showhei bobblehead on Saturday.
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:51.280
So you know where I am gonna be this weekend.
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:53.519
Back to back bobbleheads for trades.
00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:55.039
Back to back bobbleheads.
00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:56.480
A lot of you may not know this.
00:36:56.639 --> 00:37:03.440
In fact, probably none of you know this except for Nikki, but the centerpiece of my dining room table are my bobbleheads.
00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.719
Like some people have flowers, some people have different things.
00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:08.079
I have bobbleheads.
00:37:08.239 --> 00:37:10.320
Fracy has a bobblehead bouquet.
00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:12.960
A bobble, yes, a bobblehead bouquet.
00:37:13.039 --> 00:37:13.519
I love that.
00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:15.920
All right, Nikki, it's time for K-pop.
00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:18.880
And I would like to know what is your internet rabbit hole of the week?
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:23.440
Okay, this is more of um an unveiling of something we've touched upon before.
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:30.719
Ooh, but and I want to get your opinion on this because I think female fan sports fans should be pissed off.
00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:43.280
And I'm gonna tell you why because those images we got of Justin Herbert and Madison Beer canoodling at practice or you know, just hanging uh Olivia Ponton, Joe Burrow.
00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:46.079
We got Marissa Ayers, Jackson Dart.
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:51.599
Um, that's all part of a coordinated bit.
00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:53.199
Yes.
00:37:53.679 --> 00:38:02.239
I and I, you know, we talked a little bit about our Rams preview, and I've thought a lot about it in the last week.
00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:04.159
So I'm glad that you brought it up.
00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:05.360
What are your thoughts on it?
00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:13.440
Well, and by coordinated bit to give some context, it's all been the NFL trying to bring in more female fans.
00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:17.840
And I just think as women, we're we're smarter than that.
00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:25.519
We don't need to be interested in something because a woman we love and admire is seen with her boyfriend.
00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:26.320
Like right.
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:29.199
If we're interested in something, we're interested in it, you know.
00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:36.159
Well, it's also like you can't bottle up something that was organic and then repeat it.
00:38:36.239 --> 00:39:02.320
And I think with the Taylor Swift thing, you have a group of Swifties and a tremendous fan base who is so committed to Taylor Swift that when she started dating Travis Kelsey and she was going to games, it naturally and organically made a lot of young women, especially, but also a lot of women more interested in football and paying attention and becoming more fans.
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:04.079
And that was tremendous.
00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:09.599
But I don't think you can then be like, okay, well, that worked when that was organic.
00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:11.519
So let's see if we can make it work here.
00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:16.000
And I've it's I'm glad you brought up because like I said, I've thought a lot about it in the last week.
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:18.639
And I don't want to say I find it offensive.
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:39.760
Maybe that's too strong a word, but kind of I do because it does feel like still, and I saw someone tweet, I think, I think it was Lindsay Rhodes, but I'm not a hundred percent sure it was her, but said, well, and like quote tweeted the the piece that announces or the article about this, and said, Oh, well, maybe they'll give us pink jerseys too.
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:42.400
And I was like, And they already did, and they already did.
00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:43.039
That's how it started.
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:48.559
It's almost feels like we'd made so much progress, and now we're back to the pink jerseys.
00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:57.679
And I love pink and I love bedazzle, but like it's more the principle of it, and it does feel a little silly.
00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:04.480
It also feels a little like it was coordinated with quarterback specifically, right?
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:08.159
Which feels a little bit like 80s teen movie, right?
00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:15.440
And it's it's like how many of these visuals are similar enough that we start going, what's up with that?
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:16.320
Right.
00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:25.840
And then to find out it is a coordinate effort, which I think was not clearly was not supposed to be a secret, like that may have been something they wanted to get out there.
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.159
So yeah, I agree with you.
00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:34.320
Uh female fans are smarter than that, and it does feel I don't know.
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:38.239
I just feel like, yeah, I feel like it missed the mark and a little tone-deaf.
00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:38.880
Yeah.
00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:47.760
I mean, you talk about the agency of uh female fans in general of anything and the power they have to move markets, right?
00:40:47.840 --> 00:41:00.559
And move product and like maybe give us a little bit more, like a little bit more credit than just trying to inundate us with girlfriends at boyfriends practices.
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:02.079
100%.
00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:05.119
Yes, I could not agree more with that.
00:41:05.199 --> 00:41:14.000
So sorry, I know we had mentioned it on one of our platforms, but I I kind of the more articles that have come out about it, I was a little incensed.
00:41:14.079 --> 00:41:16.159
I was well, I think we mentioned it.
00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:17.519
I think we mentioned it last week.
00:41:17.599 --> 00:41:20.159
I think it was on yeah, maybe it was on this one.
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:21.519
I can't remember if it was this one or the Rams.
00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:22.320
That's the thing, guys.
00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:24.239
When you're doing so many shows, sometimes it's hard to keep track of it.
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:27.119
We're yappers, but we're yappers when you yapp this much.
00:41:27.199 --> 00:41:28.960
It is hard to remember where you're yapping.
00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:36.800
Uh, but and I think that we mentioned the article, but as time has gone on, the first article saying it, as time has gone on.
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:41.440
I'm I have thought, like I said, a lot about it.
00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:43.360
And I think okay.
00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:44.239
I'm glad you're with me.
00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:45.199
I'm glad you're with me.
00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:48.000
Yeah, yeah, I'm very, very much with you on this.
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:50.400
Uh well, Nikki, this has been fun.
00:41:50.639 --> 00:41:51.440
Say it anyway.
00:41:51.760 --> 00:42:06.239
So I know we're gonna, but the good news for you guys is uh, as you know, Buzzer is streaming Rams preseason games, and you can catch Nikki and I again before I believe it's Saturday's game, uh, with a little bit of a preview.
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:10.960
So there's just so much slander and slay for you guys, and I think all we can say is you're welcome.
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:16.000
Wasn't it at the wedding crashers where the girl goes, I will find you.
00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:18.239
Yes, it sure was.
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:21.119
That should be an audio drop for our show at some point.
00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:23.199
We will find you.
00:42:25.039 --> 00:42:26.559
That's so funny.
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:28.639
I love it.
00:42:29.280 --> 00:42:33.199
And with that, you can find us wherever you get your podcast.
00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:34.800
And you know I love a segue.
00:42:34.960 --> 00:42:38.880
So subscribe, rate, review, find us.
00:42:39.119 --> 00:42:40.480
We will find you.
00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:42.480
We will find you.
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:48.159
This has been Slandering Slay on Buzzer, and we'll talk to you next time, by all.
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.519
Love you.
00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:00.800
Hello.
00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:06.719
Hello, everybody.
00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:10.400
Welcome back to Slander and Slay on Buzzer.
00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:18.480
I am Tracy Sandler, the slander part of Slander and Slay, and I am with the amazing Nikki Kay, the Slay half.
00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:19.519
How you doing, Nikki?
00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:20.640
Oh, you know what?
00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:22.480
Every day is the best day.
00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:32.159
And it kind of feels like it kind of feels like we're a little bit in the quiet before the full-on storm that is about to be September, October.
00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:41.200
Um, when you think about NFL kicking off, baseball postseason, NBA now what end of October.
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:43.520
It's it's just all on the horizon.
00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:45.600
And I'm I'm bracing myself.
00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:48.880
And it feels like you're right, it's the calm before the storm.
00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:53.039
However, it feels as if the storm has really picked up early.
00:00:53.119 --> 00:01:05.680
There's just been so much going on, I think, in the baseball conversation, NFL training camps, but it is nothing compared to you are correct once it really gets going in three weeks.
00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:12.159
I mean, we are actually less than three weeks away from the start of the season.
00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:20.000
Since the first game this year will be on that Wednesday night, we are like we're at the time that we are doing this, we are 20 days away from the end of the day.
00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.480
In Melbourne, banana Melbourne, Australia.
00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.040
Yeah, so we're three weeks from that game, but then the night before will be the Seahawks and the Patriots.
00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:32.319
So it'll we'll already have had a game under our belt, which is just banana cake.
00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:34.239
Silly me for not knowing that.
00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:35.200
No, you're not.
00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:45.920
No, that if there's a lot of changes this year because of the Melbourne game, like they have made a lot of changes, but uh and NFL just taking over every day of the calendar, every day.
00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:57.760
And Roger Bedell saying this week it's I think the word he used was inevitable, or that, or soon at some point, there will be an international team, which I'm glad I'm not in charge of the logistics of that because that sounds difficult.
00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:58.560
Yeah, how do you feel?
00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:00.159
How do you feel about that?
00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:02.560
I think it depends where the team is.
00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:03.760
I'm I'm very curious.
00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:04.959
Should this actually happen?
00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:08.159
Like, does international mean team mean Toronto?
00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:10.319
Does it mean maybe Mexico City?
00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.360
I don't think you can have a team in London.
00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:15.520
I could be wrong, in Paris, though.
00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:24.400
May I just point out right now, if there is a team in Paris, somebody is gonna go back to being a beat reporter for the Paris croissance or whatever the name of the team is.
00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:25.280
Oh, I love that.
00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:26.639
The Paris baguettes.
00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:32.240
The Paris baguettes, and I will be reporter number one for the Paris baguettes.
00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:33.759
Literally, I'll be your apprentice.
00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:34.800
How about okay?
00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:35.360
Fair.
00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:36.080
I love it.
00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:38.319
I absolutely, absolutely love that for us.
00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:40.080
So so much to discuss.
00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:42.639
Um, starting with a little bit of sad news.
00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:46.159
Uh, we all know Hayden Panettier passed away this week.
00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:57.120
And I think for those of us who love football, those the females who love football and who've loved it maybe longer than was considered quote unquote normal.
00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:01.680
Her performance and remember the Titans, I just remember watching and being like, that's me.
00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:03.039
There I am.
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:03.759
Right.
00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:14.879
She was the coach's daughter that we all, I mean, first of all, what what um when you talk about her legacy on the screens, I just remember every role she played.
00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:23.039
I always wanted to be, you know, she's someone you look at from afar and I was like, wow, I would love to be her, you know, and um emulate.
00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:25.759
And it is so sad.
00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:27.919
36 years, too young.
00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:32.159
And yeah, the it started with that role in Remember the Titans.
00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:38.240
And she was the iconic coach's daughter, yelling at the team like her life depended on it, like she wouldn't want to be out there.
00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:42.560
And um, that's that's who many of us have grown up to become.
00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:49.840
So yeah, just just devastating, but worth really worth celebrating her her memory and legacy.
00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.360
Yes, 100%.
00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:54.479
I was thinking of the scene where she's yelling at the ref.
00:03:54.719 --> 00:04:01.759
I'm like, well, there I am, from which is me currently from my couch, constantly yelling, that's not a strike.
00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:02.879
That's not a strike.
00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:03.840
That's not a strike.
00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:06.319
It's not that's not a strike, it's just it's just not a strike.
00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.919
Um, and I I mean you can't use so many challenges, but like it's not a strike.
00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:14.719
So um had to definitely want to talk about that and acknowledge that.
00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:19.519
So especially as we go into football season and so much going on.
00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:30.560
I saw a preview for something yesterday that's kind of now been all over my social media, and I had kind of been paying attention to it, but now I feel like I'm being inundated with it and I kind of can't wait for it.
00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:33.120
And that is the Alex Earl Netflix series.
00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:33.759
Right.
00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:43.279
The Earl Meets World upcoming reality show, it feels like it's been in our kind of like ether lexic like discourse over the past.
00:04:43.439 --> 00:05:00.399
I mean, ever since the Alex Cooper, Alex Earl feud kind of ignited over social media, and everyone wanted the tea, and then we learned like we're not gonna get it until this Netflix reality show series featuring her family, which September 4th is the premiere date.
00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.600
And I'm the football season, even right, right.
00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:19.199
And I think we're at a really interesting crux with Alex Earl because she's so big and she's become so likable, you know, that as we see with any celebrity figure in the spotlight, there's always like that turner turning point, the the the boomerang arc.
00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.839
And now it's like, is this too curated?
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.720
Is this too um polished?
00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:27.040
Are we going to get reality?
00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:28.720
Um, I don't know.
00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:35.439
And it feels like her and Ashton, her sister haven't are like, oh, I don't want people to see this, which makes me want to see it.
00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:36.399
Of course.
00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:37.439
Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:38.240
It's genius.
00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:48.560
I actually think Alex Earle is a genius marketer, and I think she's gonna change the way we all market, even with her skincare line.
00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:52.240
And I had read something about this, and I just thought this was so interesting.
00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:58.959
So she got big a lot by doing get readies with me and being very real during her get ready with me and all of that.
00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:05.600
She started doing a lot of unget readdies with me way before she announced that she was doing a skincare line.
00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:18.879
And that was very smart because there then there was already a transition once it was announced, and then the way that they marketed that, and even with the Alex Cooper thing with like we're not gonna get an answer until the Netflix, well, genius.
00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:21.759
They created all this buzz, and I don't know, we'll see.
00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:23.120
I'm pretty excited about it.
00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:24.000
We will see.
00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:33.040
She has a tendency to be very real, but it's a Netflix Netflix show, and they are also very polished, so it's gonna be it'll be fun to see how this all plays out, right?
00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:33.439
Right.
00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:41.040
And I mean, there is a point though when you become so big that you don't need to share everything, and so I don't know.
00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:43.040
And I think she'll address.
00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:49.279
I'm wondering if we're we're gonna get any info on the Tom Brady rumors uh or sightings or whatever it may be.
00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:55.199
Like, I yeah, there's a lot that that could be revealed, or it could be very milk toast.
00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:56.800
Yeah, well, you know what?
00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:59.519
Time will tell, and that'll just be a couple weeks away.
00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:00.800
It'll get us ready for NFL.
00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:02.399
We'll have the Netflix show for Alex.
00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:04.079
It's called Earl Meets World.
00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.240
Yeah, that's just genius in itself.
00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:07.199
That's fantastic.
00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:08.639
It's great, it's just great, it's fantastic.
00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.360
All right, well, I'm super, super excited about that.
00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:14.800
I wonder how excited Braxton Berrios and Tom Brady are for it.
00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:15.920
That's the big question.
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.000
So we'll Well, did you see?
00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:22.639
Okay, Braxton's on like a major, you know, people love Braxton.
00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:30.160
Did you see the Giants' social media clip where he was asked to name all the beauty products in a female's bag?
00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:43.680
And it was Tracy, like some of the things were so obscure, like from eyebrow gel to toe separators for pedicures to like slick back hair gel, and he knew every one of them.
00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:46.319
So Alex, Alex raised him right.
00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:54.000
Tell me, tell me you've dated beauty influencers without telling me you've dated beauty influencers because also Sophia Colpo before Alex Earl.
00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:57.120
So Earl, so he um he definitely definitely knows what's up.
00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:57.839
That's really funny.
00:07:58.079 --> 00:07:59.600
Very green flag for the girls.
00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:00.480
We loved that.
00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:01.680
We do love that.
00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:07.920
If you can tell me about slick back hair gel and eyebrow gel, we're probably gonna be just fine.
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:09.519
So yeah, that that's pretty fun.
00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:21.120
I also would argue that Braxton Barrios is very lucky to have had Alex Earl and Sophia Colpo, not from a on-the-field career standpoint, but who in the world would know who Braxton Berrios was if not for these two.
00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.040
Very true, very true.
00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:31.839
So I know that there are probably plenty of Giants fans or male football fans that get mad at me for saying that, but I think it's it's very, very, very true.
00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.039
So we've mentioned NFL season's a few weeks away.
00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:36.240
We are in training camp.
00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:38.000
Okay, I saw a trend this week.
00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:39.919
I don't think it's a good trend, Nikki.
00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:47.600
So here's the trend there have been multiple NFL injuries this week during joint practices.
00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:49.600
I think like a lot of them.
00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:57.039
So we'll start with the Chargers, who every year the offensive line gods do not like the Los Angeles Chargers.
00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:03.840
Didn't like them, I don't think, when they were the San Diego Chargers, because every year they suffer a major offensive line injury.
00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:16.320
And so this week at joint practice with the 49ers that you and I actually were both at, center Tyler Biadish, which I think I'm saying that correctly, he suffered a damage to his ACL.
00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:20.480
So he's not out the whole season, but he's out for a while.
00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:32.000
And it does feel like every year with the Chargers, and I know we had a whole Justin Herbert conversation a couple weeks ago, but I'm gonna say this in fairness to Justin Herbert, every year.
00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:32.799
What is up?
00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:33.679
Right.
00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:43.919
And you look at Biatish, who signed a$30 million deal, three-year$30 million deal to replace Bradley Bozeman, who retired last year.
00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:51.919
And then you look at Justin Herbert last year, third most sacked quarterback in 2025, sacked 54 times.
00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.519
Um this is just devast, this is devastating.
00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:57.200
It is, it's devastating.
00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:07.759
And one thing when I was watching joint practice is the Chargers look like a really, really good football team and really a contender here, but health is going to be such a big part of it.
00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:12.960
And before we get to other training camp injuries, I'm going on a little tangent, but it's a health tangent.
00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:17.840
So Kobe Bryant for the Bears was a huge free agent signing of theirs.
00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:20.320
He got hurt, he is out for a while.
00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:34.879
And this is a thing with football when we look ahead to a season, and we've talked a lot about the Rams, and it feels like they are the front runners, but health in football obviously is such a huge part of it, and so many things can happen between now and the end of a football season.
00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:40.159
But here you have two major injuries that are from major free agent signings for these teams.
00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.559
It's it's really, really unfortunate.
00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:45.759
But then there were a couple others, and I want to get my notes so I don't forget.
00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:52.559
Okay, so Jaden Higgins, uh, wide receiver for the Texans, tore his ACL in joint practice with the Raiders.
00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.320
So he's out.
00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:58.320
Alvin Camara sprained MCL in joint practice with the Cowboys.
00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:00.080
He's expected to miss a month.
00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:03.840
If he actually misses a month, it means one regular season game.
00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:10.559
But I just it's interesting because I've always felt like the joint practices were better from a football standpoint.
00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:12.000
And Kyle Shanahan has always said that.
00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:18.639
Like from you, you get more in a joint practice than you necessarily get in a preseason game because you know your ones are going against the ones.
00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:20.159
You can really see how you stack up.
00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:25.519
However, I don't remember there being this many joint practice injuries.
00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:29.360
And I think it a little bit begs the question.
00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:42.080
Um, these are important, but I guess we've talked before training camp injuries, preseason game injuries are just awful, but I don't it's just I'm over the preseason right now.
00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.480
Like it feels like it's been stretched out so long.
00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:46.960
These injuries are just bad news, bears.
00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:52.720
And like, I don't we just gotta get to we gotta get to real football because it's I I don't know.
00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:59.679
I mean, and that's the injury to for the Chargers O-line what just it felt so ominous.
00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:03.519
And what are we are we're supposed to be building up hype and excitement?
00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:06.320
I could not agree with you more.
00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:08.399
Sorry, I caught you mid tip right there.
00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:09.200
That is okay.
00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:13.039
It's because I talk too much, and so I was thirsty, and my appers.
00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:16.639
We're just three appers, three yffers, and I needed I needed that water.
00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:19.600
It did feel ominous, and again, it is.
00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:24.399
I just don't know specifically with the Chargers, it feels like their offensive line.
00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:25.679
And I don't know.
00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:27.200
So I have a question for you.
00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.960
Yeah, what is what is the solution?
00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.759
Like they've cut from four to three preseason games.
00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:41.600
We have these joint practices, which I do think, like I just said, for teams are more beneficial in terms of really seeing where you're at.
00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:45.679
You can't just pop on the football field, you know.
00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:51.600
You can't just have training camp against each other, your own team, and then pop on the football field and hope everything's gonna be fine.
00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:57.600
There does need to be some level of practice, but what, in your opinion, is the solution?
00:12:58.000 --> 00:12:59.679
Well, okay, we may not have one.
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.720
No, no, and of course, I'm not gonna fix something that's you know, but well, don't sell yourself short.
00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:05.919
Thank you.
00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:14.320
But you've been on the beat for uh NFL team much, much more like embedded than I've ever been around it.
00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:20.960
But it I was kind of shocked to learn what two days ago was quote unquote the last day of training camp.
00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:28.320
And then we also, you know, and then we also have the buildup to the actual, you know, season.
00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:31.600
Now it's it's what 20 days of practices.
00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:38.480
Is there a way to I don't know, can condense or fold them into one?
00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.159
I or is that still not enough?
00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:41.840
I don't, I don't, I don't know.
00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.240
It's a good, it's a very good question.
00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:49.919
I I wonder if, I mean, granted, these injuries have happened in joint practices.
00:13:50.480 --> 00:14:05.039
So, and I think part of what happens, and part of it is just bad luck, but I also think teams practice against each other for a while before they get to a joint practice, and then you start practicing against someone else.
00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:08.320
And these are obviously very competitive players, very competitive athletes.
00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:13.679
So the juices get turned on really quickly, really quickly.
00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:16.639
And I think maybe that's part of it.
00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:20.320
Again, I think part of it is just total luck.
00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:34.720
But I wonder if you if you have joint practice that I don't know, you have two preseason games with joint practice, then start the joint or and or just do the two because you have the joint practice and then you play that team in the preseason, so maybe it's two.
00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:40.159
But that being said, we're not even to week two of the preseason yet in terms of games, and these injuries have happened.
00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.960
So I don't know if there's a I don't know.
00:14:43.039 --> 00:15:02.480
And and the thing is too, and I go back to this a lot, is it is football, but this is not a sport that is known for its delicacy, and there is a reason that quarterbacks in a practice wear a separate jersey to make clear to everybody do not touch this person.
00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:05.519
He is the quarterback and the most important person on the field.
00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:14.240
There is a reason that a lot of guys are held out of preseason games or they play one series and that's all they're gonna get the whole preseason.
00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:15.440
It's very hard to tell.
00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:30.559
And we talked last week about how preseason for uh for a lot of it is for teams to get an idea of the guys, you're not not your starters, not even maybe your second, your second team guys, but it's the other guys.
00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:31.919
Do they fit on your team?
00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:33.360
Is there a spot for them on the roster?
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:35.200
Is there a spot for them on your practice squad?
00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:38.080
Is there a spot for them on another roster, on another practice squad?
00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:51.440
And I don't know how you see that without the preseason, unless joint practices were just two days and day one is the ones versus the ones, and day two or the twos versus twos, three versus I don't know some hybrid of that.
00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:52.240
I I don't know.
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.919
It I don't know how you fix it.
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.360
And at the end of the day, it's football, maybe it just can't be fixed.
00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:58.480
Uh yeah.
00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:02.320
I I mean, and the season keeps getting longer too, right?
00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:07.840
And then you got to figure out these guys are putting stress on their bodies, even though it's the off season, they're still working out.
00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:08.320
Of course.
00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:13.759
And so it's just it could be a much bigger picture pro uh problem.
00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.000
It I don't know, but it does seem much more prevalent.
00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:23.679
Uh, this the season ending injuries before the season even begins, which is just so devastating.
00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:25.279
Uh it is, it's awful.
00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.960
Do you think, and and this is a tangential to this conversation.
00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:33.519
I have people really wondering when Aaron Donald's gonna come back.
00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:39.039
Like seeing this now, it's like, okay, I don't blame him for taking his time.
00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:43.200
Will he be fine enough to jump in in the course of the regular season?
00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.600
What would you guess at this point?
00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:57.759
You know, it I would guess I okay, so I would have originally said when they first traded for Miles Garrett, and this was like the beginning of the rumor, will he come back?
00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.360
I would have said midseason.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.159
That's when I would have felt like that's when he would come back.
00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:15.519
However, now that he has been working out at the Rams facility and he's been very uh visible doing so, now I feel like maybe it's much sooner.
00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:25.519
I kind of wonder if there's an idea that it goes after the Australia game because that flight is gonna be really hard on everybody's bodies.
00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:28.480
I know that everyone's doing they're both doing both teams are doing it differently.
00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:35.680
The Niners go a week before the Rams are like going, playing, coming home, but that flight is gonna be really tough on everybody's bodies.
00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:42.960
And so I'm wondering if there is an idea that they definitely want to push it to after that, and maybe it's a month into the season.
00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.960
It's just that he's already so visible at the Rams facility.
00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.680
I don't think midseason makes sense anymore.
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.759
What approach would you prefer?
00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:54.400
In terms of when I would go to Australia, yeah.
00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.519
Or yeah, sorry, I didn't even I was talking about Aaron Donald.
00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:00.559
No, no, no, but yeah, would you I could we could talk about both?
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:05.599
I so okay, I think I would go on the going you're playing.
00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:07.839
I want you to play, yeah.
00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.720
So it's it I have to give like a little context to this.
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:22.640
So as you know, I covered the Niners for 10 years, so I am of I have experienced the Kyle Shanahan thought process.
00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:29.119
They before Mexico City, we were all in Colorado Springs for a week because the players were getting used to the altitude.
00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:37.759
Kyle really liked when they haven't done this in a while, but when they would have back-to-back East Coast games, they would go to the Green Briar for a week, so not going back and forth.
00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.039
So I'm used to that.
00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:47.440
So I feel like that would be my answer just because I haven't done the other.
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:59.519
I have to say, when it comes to Australia, I I understand the thought processes, and I totally get like the idea that you don't get jet lag if you're never jet lagged, so to speak.
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:04.640
Like if you're there, if you're flying in, you're playing a game and you're flying back, there's not really an opportunity to get jet lagged.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:28.799
But when it comes to Australia, that is such a long flight, and it is such a big time difference that I think in that particular scenario, I would want to go early and really adapt because it's a long, that's a lot of it's you're more hours in a plane, obviously, than you are where you're playing.
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:32.160
Yes, and I believe the time difference is 19 hours ahead.
00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:35.680
Like that's just seems it just seems like a lot.
00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:46.960
But by the same token, this is sort of interesting, tangential, different sport, but Roki Sasaki was pitching for the Dodgers in Colorado, and the team had been there since Monday.
00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:52.319
They flew him there Tuesday because they felt like the less exposure to altitude the better.
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:59.920
And I thought back to, like I said, this Mexico City trip where we were in Colorado Springs for a week, for them to get you know used to the altitude.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.400
There are probably pluses and minuses to both.
00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:08.559
I just think for me, I would rather have the time to adapt if I were a player.
00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:11.920
Yeah, I think culturally for me too, I'd be so curious.
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:15.839
Like I'd be like, I want a full week, I want a full week down under, you know.
00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.920
That's like totally fair, right?
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:18.240
Right.
00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:19.119
Fair.
00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:25.680
So I would selfishly, just for curiosity, would want to have more time in Australia.
00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:38.960
But I also understand, I mean, I think I'm sure both teams are looking at it like outcome of this isn't gonna turn determine our trajectory in the season, right?
00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:43.279
Like and if you lose, like you can make excuses either way, right?
00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:51.440
So um I think because it's not a must-win game, like you can't go wrong with either approach, right?
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.640
That's probably true.
00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:00.559
Though, since it's the division game between the Niners and the Rams, owns McVay, wouldn't it be except when he doesn't?
00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:05.440
I feel like he owns McVeigh except when except when he doesn't, and when he doesn't, he like really does not.
00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:07.279
Yeah, it's usually for a very big thing.
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:10.720
But wouldn't it be interesting as it comes to the end of the season?
00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:31.599
Uh, and I I don't know that the 49ers are gonna be up for the division just based on the Rams and the Seahawks, but we come to the end of the season, and it's a the NFC West is gonna be determined by your division record, and the Rams lost to the Niners or the Niners lost to the Rams, maybe whatever it is, it actually is interesting.
00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.359
Yeah, week one game may actually end up mattering.
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:36.799
You're right, which is no crazy.
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:43.039
I was but it might not, and watch me be have tempted fate there with that, like being like, Oh, it's fine, whatever happened.
00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:53.039
Well, just to clip it, if if it comes down to the division record, especially if it's between these two teams, we're gonna have to clip this and be like, Well, turns out it really matters.
00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:53.920
So I don't know.
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:55.440
I think that that's interesting.
00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.480
I have a fun little tidbit from Ram's practice this week.
00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.759
Do you remember so?
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:05.839
So year 10 of Sean McBay as a head coach, he was hired as this young wonder kid, right?
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:09.759
Do you remember when he kind of like broke out onto the scene with the Rams?
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:20.559
He had so much unbridled energy that he would need to be, he had a physical get back guy assigned to keeping him from running off on or running onto the field during games.
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:22.160
I do remember that.
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:22.799
Yes.
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:27.920
And NFL Films did a whole little uh feature on this assistant coach.
00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.400
He was from on the strength and conditioning staff.
00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:34.000
And so I didn't know if we had ever addressed it again.
00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:38.240
So I asked Sean, I was like, Do you still have a get back guy on staff?
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:44.000
And Sean was like, No, I was such a dip, you know, like laughing about himself.
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:54.160
And he goes, I knew I really had to change my ways when I was watching the Nuggets play, and Nikola Jokic had just what won his MVP.
00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:58.799
And I went back into the locker room to kind of meet him and talk to the guys.
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:05.200
And Nikola knew me as the guy who needed someone to restrain me from running onto the field.
00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:14.240
And he goes, if that's what the NBA MVP knows me as, then I really need to reassess my priorities and how I approach what I do.
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.400
And I just thought that was so funny.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.839
I never expected it going into a Jokic interaction.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:21.839
That is really, really funny.
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:30.160
And I remember in week 18 of the 2021 season, the Niners were playing the Rams and the Niners were playing for a playoff spot.
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:34.079
And they went down 17-0 in the first half.
00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:40.240
But when the Rams scored their first or second touchdown, I can't fully remember which one was.
00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:51.119
Sean McVay went running down the field to the end zone, was in the end zone celebrating, and like Niner fans, and like it was this whole thing with the Niners like that's so obnoxious.
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:52.640
He's the coach, blah, blah, blah.
00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:54.640
And the Niners came back and won that game.
00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:58.720
Now, the Rams ultimately beat them in the NFC Championship game and then won the Super Bowl.
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:04.720
But the Niners did come back and win that game, and it was a talking point in the NFL that whole week.
00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:10.400
And so I wonder if that was part of it too, because that was that was like a whole thing.
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:14.880
Thing he's funny, and his energy is so infectious and contagious.
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:18.960
It's like I would rather him need someone to rip physically restrain him.
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:21.519
You know, just stomach bay, don't change.
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:23.839
Well, and I think that's true of everything in life.
00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:29.519
You'd rather have to bring someone back than try to get them more, so to speak.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:34.079
Because you can't you can't really make more you can bring back.
00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:36.319
You can't manufacture the passion in anything.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:37.039
There you go.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:44.880
And you can't you want someone, whatever got someone to the point of success that they're at they reach.
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.359
You you don't want to change that, right?
00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:48.799
Because that's the magic.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:51.759
Yeah, I think that that is that is a hundred percent true.
00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:52.799
That's the magic.
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:53.599
I love that.
00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:55.519
Maybe that's the title of this episode.
00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:57.279
Just throwing it out there, buzzer.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:58.640
That's the magic.
00:24:58.799 --> 00:24:59.599
There we go.
00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:08.640
All right, Nikki, we're going to change gears a little bit because we are heading into September soon.
00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:14.000
Baseball is real for you know, for people who really start paying attention now, they really start paying attention.
00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:23.440
And for the first time in a very long time, we have an MVP conversation, and that is between Shohei Otani and Pete Crow Armstrong.
00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:25.839
And I'm gonna have to give a disclaimer on this.
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:30.400
Yeah, I'm gonna have to give a couple of disclaimers on this.
00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:31.440
I'll give two.
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:36.880
Number one, I love Shohei Otani, and my love for him knows no bounds.
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:38.319
I mean like no bounds at all.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:40.160
Okay, so I love Shohei Otani.
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:52.640
Number two, Pete Crow Armstrong, aka P C A, had made comments about Dodgers fans before the season that I found personally offensive.
00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.079
And he said that Dodger fans only goes to games to take pictures and blah blah blah.
00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:57.279
Anyways, I didn't like it.
00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:01.039
You can take a picture at a game and still really enjoy the game and know what's going on.
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.400
And I know it's you know you know where it's funny coming from.
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.920
He grew up in Southern California, which made it even worse.
00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:14.880
But now I have a third disclaimer that I think is gonna be a wrinkle that you are not prepared for.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.880
I so I've been anti-PCA, just forget the MVP conversation.
00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.880
I didn't like that, made me upset.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:24.559
Then let's fast forward to the all-star game in Philadelphia.
00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:31.920
And I'm at my hotel and I'm like running down the hall, and I see these two guys in front of me, and they're getting in the elevator.
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.440
And I was like, Can you hold it?
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:36.720
And the guy's like, Yeah, no, I saw you running, I'm holding it for you.
00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:41.119
It was PCA, and then I was like, Man, I can't hate him.
00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:42.240
That was so nice.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:43.680
So that's where I am on that.
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:46.880
I think you really have to re-evaluate your priorities.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.119
PCA held the elevator for you.
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.039
PCA held the elevator for me.
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.359
Shohei has never held the elevator for me, though.
00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:55.759
In fairness, there hasn't been an opportunity.
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:58.799
So I will say I'm just saying, but he did.
00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:00.640
PCA held the elevator for me.
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.599
So this is a real, this is a real conversation.
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.440
And when Shohei was pitching, I think it was really not much of a conversation.
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:09.279
But now he's a DH.
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:15.359
Now he's he's just the DH, quote unquote, which he was a couple years ago when he had his 50-50 season.
00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:22.240
But he's the DH and PCA, I mean, now they're they're on equal footing in terms of positions and positioning.
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:29.599
Um, I know PCA plays in the outfield, but I'm but in terms of like this pitching hit or hybrid, we obviously don't see that a lot.
00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:34.799
But the other question, and this is the thing with the MVP, and I think we've talked about this.
00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:36.640
What is a most valuable player?
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:43.759
A person to me who is the most valuable player in terms of their team winning.
00:27:44.000 --> 00:28:00.079
And at the moment, and I don't like having to say this, but at the moment, I think PCA does have the edge on that because the Cubs are in a very different position than the Dodgers in their division and kind of where things stand, and in their roster construction, right?
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:17.200
But also, I do think baseball is the one sport where MVP is assessed a little bit differently than I mean, I I come what you said about MVP impacting the team's positioning and strength, that I think holds true for every other sport.
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:28.000
But I think baseball, especially when you've got the NL and AL, and it is a it is a team sport, but comprised of individual individual stats, right?
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:28.880
That's a good way.
00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:29.920
That's a very well said.
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:36.720
So because it is really just you at the plate, like you know, or you on the mound.
00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:43.119
Yeah, and at the time of us recording this, PCA is the betting favorite to win NL MVP.
00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:48.240
I wonder when the last time someone beside Shohei was not the betting favorite.
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:49.680
That's a very good question.
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:59.519
Can you remember a season where it hasn't been because last so he, you know, his first MVP was in the when he was in the American League, so he was the AL MVP.
00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.759
So I don't I don't think I paid as close of attention to it then.
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:09.599
Um and then he's been the NL MVP 24, 25.
00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:11.519
This is season three with the Dodgers, right?
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:13.680
Yeah, so 24 or 25, and he was the AL.
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:16.079
And was he the AL MVP twice?
00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:26.960
I or was he I think I don't know, but I just I think that he's been he's kind of been the overwhelming, like, especially last season with him pitching.
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:28.480
It's like, how could you not?
00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:34.559
Right, and then yeah, and the season before was 50-50, right?
00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:37.599
So that was super special, yes.
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.000
Um, and then the season before it was so he won it with the angels.
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:43.839
So he won in 2021 when he was an angel.
00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:49.039
He won the AL MVP 2021, 2023, and the NL MVP 24-25.
00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:49.839
So I don't know.
00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:50.640
That's a good question.
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:58.559
I don't know when because two years ago, when it was 50-50, there was no, I mean it was, and it was his first season with the Dodgers, and he like so exceeded expectation.
00:29:58.640 --> 00:29:59.920
There it was not a contest.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.720
You're right, last year with the pitching and the hitting.
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:06.000
So I don't know, it's probably been quite some time.
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:15.599
Um, I know that I think, or I think, but I feel pretty confident Shohei would be more interested in winning a third straight World Series than another MVP award.
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:18.000
Well, what but we're talking about the MVP right now.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:41.039
We're talking about the MVP right now and uh PCA Well, no, but I only I only bring that up because I feel like this next six weeks obviously really matters for the MVP, but I think the I only say that because the Dodgers may prioritize things differently than maybe another player whose guy was fighting for the MVP.
00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:42.640
Right, right, right, right, right.
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:48.480
And I think you'd rather have a team in World Series contention than winning an MVP.
00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:51.920
But the Cubs are also and the Cubs are also in World Series contention.
00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:52.720
The Cubs look great.
00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:58.880
So I don't I think right now, if I had to say PCA is the MVP, it's just gonna be very interesting six weeks.
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.279
Yeah, second straight, 30-30 season, um, leading all of baseball and war.
00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:07.119
Uh, he's just that everyday two-way threat.
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:08.160
And I don't know.
00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:14.000
I think it's I think it's really it's fun, especially like the kid with local ties here in LA.
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:17.440
Um, I think Shohei's won it so many times before.
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:21.440
I'm personally, I would personally like to see PCA win.
00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:23.519
I like a little bit of disruption too.
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:27.359
You know, give us give us other stars to to celebrate.
00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:28.880
So here's the question though.
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:42.240
Let's pretend, and it's it won't happen right now, but let's pretend September comes and Shohei's back on the mound for the final month of the season, and his offensive numbers are the same as PCA's, and he's dominant on the mound.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:44.640
Then does this become a very different conversation?
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:50.160
Well, that's like that's like a dream, like like but not really, because he's he's he's doing sessions.
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:54.960
I mean, it's not really a dream, like in theory, they've said they plan on him being back in September.
00:31:55.119 --> 00:32:01.200
So to come back to come back in September and be absolutely dominant in limited innings.
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:02.720
Yeah, I don't know.
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:03.440
I think we'll see.
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:05.119
Yeah, that's what I think we don't know.
00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:07.279
So that's that's the big question.
00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:26.000
But I think right now, as things stand, um, it's PCA, and it probably will be PCA because you're right, also they're not they need him good for October, so they're not throwing out, and that's I guess my I guess that was my point also earlier in terms of World Series versus MVP.
00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:26.480
Yeah.
00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:28.319
So uh, but you know, we shall see.
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.359
But those cubbies are also really excited and they're really fun to watch.
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:36.960
There's a lot of, I feel like there are a lot of really fun teams right now in major league baseball.
00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:38.960
Um, the White Sox are a fun team.
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:40.880
The Cubs, as we said, are a fun team.
00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:45.519
The Red Sox, so I think they've been on a bit of a skid, but they're a really fun team.
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:47.839
And the Brewers are a really fun team.
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:54.640
I mean, there are a lot of really fun teams right now in Major League Baseball, especially in the National League.
00:32:54.720 --> 00:33:03.680
So it is gonna be very interesting to see how all of this plays out over the next six weeks of regular season and then into the playoffs, which is crazy.
00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:05.599
Absolutely crazy.
00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:10.640
I mean, I'm already at a point where someone asked me about doing something in October, and I was like, that's gonna have to get back to you on that.
00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:13.039
That's gonna have to be a TVD situation.
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:17.519
My October, I don't make plans in October because I need to keep it.
00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:18.240
Rightfully so.
00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:21.039
Yeah, so that's just kind of that's just how I roll.
00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:22.079
That's how I roll.
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:23.599
So that is super fun.
00:33:23.759 --> 00:33:27.279
Okay, we also had a big thing that happened last weekend.
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:34.559
And for those of us who were were very into the New York Knicks during the playoffs, which would definitely be the Slander and Slate podcast on Buzzer.
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:40.079
We were very into the New York Knicks, very into one Jordan Woods's lucky bag.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:42.480
They got married last weekend, not her in the bag.
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:45.279
Jordan Woods and Carl Anthony Towns in Malibu.
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:47.200
This has been so fun.
00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:53.119
I just think the evolution of Kat specifically has been a really cool story in the NBA.
00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:56.640
Um, and that this is a couple that met nine years ago.
00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:57.920
They've been friends.
00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:01.440
Um, Jordan lost her dad, Kat lost his mother.
00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:07.599
There's sorrow intertwined with their connection, you know, and strength that that was born from that.
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.800
And I just I I really enjoyed this couple.
00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:21.039
And I really loved seeing, I think Carl Anthony Towns was one of the the guys I was happiest for that he got to win an NBA championship with New York.
00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:22.960
Um, it's it's awesome.
00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:24.480
And yeah, it was in Malibu.
00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:28.960
It was a summertime affair, which I believe Kat was insistent about.
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:31.199
Um, I have to double check on that.
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:32.800
And Jordan looking fantastic.
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:40.400
She wore Danielle Frankel, who huge, huge boutique wedding designer, uh, wedding gown designer, and Kat and Ralph Lauren.
00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:41.519
So I don't know.
00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:46.000
I I love I love the merger of powerhouse couples like this.
00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:49.519
And our king and queen, Timmy and Kylie, were there.
00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:51.519
Which doesn't get any better.
00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:52.880
It does not, you know, Kylie.
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:55.280
I say that half joking, but not really.
00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:00.000
Kylie is my game day fit basketball queen, and Timmy is my fan king.
00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:01.920
I mean, he just loves that team so much.
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:04.159
So uh that was that was really fun.
00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:05.280
So we love seeing that.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:08.719
Kind of felt full circle for the uh Knicks run.
00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:10.000
Right, right.
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:18.079
What a what a way to keep the party going and to have probably the whole squad there and be like, all right, let's get back into that title defense mode right after this.
00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:18.639
Yep.
00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:23.920
And they have a couple months to enjoy being newlyweds before they go right back, right back into it.
00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:27.840
Because as you said at the beginning of the show, end of October, NBA is back.
00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:28.480
Banana.
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:33.360
Well, yeah, like Luca's already hosting the Lakers at a Slovenian minicamp.
00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.840
I would love to be at that Slovenia mini camp.
00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:43.440
I like would love to be there just to observe, cover it, just sit there.
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:46.000
Like, I think that would be so cool.
00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:48.400
And I hope somebody is documenting it.
00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:54.000
Well, and we gotta be we gotta be honest with all the drama surrounding the Lakers organization right now.
00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:57.519
And I say drama in terms of um uncertainty, yes.
00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:03.199
A you know, whether it's the sale to Kushner and Iger or whatever's going on with the bus family.
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:05.360
The bus family is like a whole thing right now.
00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:08.400
I feel like we're in succession, a new succession, right?
00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:14.960
It would be succession NBA style would be the bus family right now, which you know, which you know means somebody is writing that show.
00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:16.400
Right, right.
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:28.400
And the best thing is is that the players, the athletes, get to be overseas, locked in on each other and basketball, and that's no better place to be, no better timing.
00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:28.880
Perfect.
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:34.639
Yes, I could not agree more, and again, really would have loved to been there to report it, but we're here talking about it.
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:36.320
But I I'm a big Luka fan.
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:43.039
Actually, we're having um a merger Friday night of two of my favorite things, the Dodgers and Luka Donchik.
00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:49.119
It's Luka Donchick bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium on Friday, uh, followed by a showhei bobblehead on Saturday.
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:51.280
So you know where I am gonna be this weekend.
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:53.519
Back to back bobbleheads for trades.
00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:55.039
Back to back bobbleheads.
00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:56.480
A lot of you may not know this.
00:36:56.639 --> 00:37:03.440
In fact, probably none of you know this except for Nikki, but the centerpiece of my dining room table are my bobbleheads.
00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.719
Like some people have flowers, some people have different things.
00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:08.079
I have bobbleheads.
00:37:08.239 --> 00:37:10.320
Fracy has a bobblehead bouquet.
00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:12.960
A bobble, yes, a bobblehead bouquet.
00:37:13.039 --> 00:37:13.519
I love that.
00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:15.920
All right, Nikki, it's time for K-pop.
00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:18.880
And I would like to know what is your internet rabbit hole of the week?
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:23.440
Okay, this is more of um an unveiling of something we've touched upon before.
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:30.719
Ooh, but and I want to get your opinion on this because I think female fan sports fans should be pissed off.
00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:43.280
And I'm gonna tell you why because those images we got of Justin Herbert and Madison Beer canoodling at practice or you know, just hanging uh Olivia Ponton, Joe Burrow.
00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:46.079
We got Marissa Ayers, Jackson Dart.
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:51.599
Um, that's all part of a coordinated bit.
00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:53.199
Yes.
00:37:53.679 --> 00:38:02.239
I and I, you know, we talked a little bit about our Rams preview, and I've thought a lot about it in the last week.
00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:04.159
So I'm glad that you brought it up.
00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:05.360
What are your thoughts on it?
00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:13.440
Well, and by coordinated bit to give some context, it's all been the NFL trying to bring in more female fans.
00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:17.840
And I just think as women, we're we're smarter than that.
00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:25.519
We don't need to be interested in something because a woman we love and admire is seen with her boyfriend.
00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:26.320
Like right.
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:29.199
If we're interested in something, we're interested in it, you know.
00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:36.159
Well, it's also like you can't bottle up something that was organic and then repeat it.
00:38:36.239 --> 00:39:02.320
And I think with the Taylor Swift thing, you have a group of Swifties and a tremendous fan base who is so committed to Taylor Swift that when she started dating Travis Kelsey and she was going to games, it naturally and organically made a lot of young women, especially, but also a lot of women more interested in football and paying attention and becoming more fans.
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:04.079
And that was tremendous.
00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:09.599
But I don't think you can then be like, okay, well, that worked when that was organic.
00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:11.519
So let's see if we can make it work here.
00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:16.000
And I've it's I'm glad you brought up because like I said, I've thought a lot about it in the last week.
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:18.639
And I don't want to say I find it offensive.
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:39.760
Maybe that's too strong a word, but kind of I do because it does feel like still, and I saw someone tweet, I think, I think it was Lindsay Rhodes, but I'm not a hundred percent sure it was her, but said, well, and like quote tweeted the the piece that announces or the article about this, and said, Oh, well, maybe they'll give us pink jerseys too.
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:42.400
And I was like, And they already did, and they already did.
00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:43.039
That's how it started.
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:48.559
It's almost feels like we'd made so much progress, and now we're back to the pink jerseys.
00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:57.679
And I love pink and I love bedazzle, but like it's more the principle of it, and it does feel a little silly.
00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:04.480
It also feels a little like it was coordinated with quarterback specifically, right?
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:08.159
Which feels a little bit like 80s teen movie, right?
00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:15.440
And it's it's like how many of these visuals are similar enough that we start going, what's up with that?
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:16.320
Right.
00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:25.840
And then to find out it is a coordinate effort, which I think was not clearly was not supposed to be a secret, like that may have been something they wanted to get out there.
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.159
So yeah, I agree with you.
00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:34.320
Uh female fans are smarter than that, and it does feel I don't know.
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:38.239
I just feel like, yeah, I feel like it missed the mark and a little tone-deaf.
00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:38.880
Yeah.
00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:47.760
I mean, you talk about the agency of uh female fans in general of anything and the power they have to move markets, right?
00:40:47.840 --> 00:41:00.559
And move product and like maybe give us a little bit more, like a little bit more credit than just trying to inundate us with girlfriends at boyfriends practices.
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:02.079
100%.
00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:05.119
Yes, I could not agree more with that.
00:41:05.199 --> 00:41:14.000
So sorry, I know we had mentioned it on one of our platforms, but I I kind of the more articles that have come out about it, I was a little incensed.
00:41:14.079 --> 00:41:16.159
I was well, I think we mentioned it.
00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:17.519
I think we mentioned it last week.
00:41:17.599 --> 00:41:20.159
I think it was on yeah, maybe it was on this one.
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:21.519
I can't remember if it was this one or the Rams.
00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:22.320
That's the thing, guys.
00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:24.239
When you're doing so many shows, sometimes it's hard to keep track of it.
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:27.119
We're yappers, but we're yappers when you yapp this much.
00:41:27.199 --> 00:41:28.960
It is hard to remember where you're yapping.
00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:36.800
Uh, but and I think that we mentioned the article, but as time has gone on, the first article saying it, as time has gone on.
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:41.440
I'm I have thought, like I said, a lot about it.
00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:43.360
And I think okay.
00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:44.239
I'm glad you're with me.
00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:45.199
I'm glad you're with me.
00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:48.000
Yeah, yeah, I'm very, very much with you on this.
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:50.400
Uh well, Nikki, this has been fun.
00:41:50.639 --> 00:41:51.440
Say it anyway.
00:41:51.760 --> 00:42:06.239
So I know we're gonna, but the good news for you guys is uh, as you know, Buzzer is streaming Rams preseason games, and you can catch Nikki and I again before I believe it's Saturday's game, uh, with a little bit of a preview.
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:10.960
So there's just so much slander and slay for you guys, and I think all we can say is you're welcome.
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:16.000
Wasn't it at the wedding crashers where the girl goes, I will find you.
00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:18.239
Yes, it sure was.
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:21.119
That should be an audio drop for our show at some point.
00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:23.199
We will find you.
00:42:25.039 --> 00:42:26.559
That's so funny.
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:28.639
I love it.
00:42:29.280 --> 00:42:33.199
And with that, you can find us wherever you get your podcast.
00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:34.800
And you know I love a segue.
00:42:34.960 --> 00:42:38.880
So subscribe, rate, review, find us.
00:42:39.119 --> 00:42:40.480
We will find you.
00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:42.480
We will find you.
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:48.159
This has been Slandering Slay on Buzzer, and we'll talk to you next time, by all.
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.519
Love you.
