Episode #34: NFL Holdouts, Gambling Scandals, and the Indoor Stadium Debate

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Host 1: Welcome in and welcome back to another episode after a week off of the Sports Shots Pod. But yeah, we broke the consistency yet again. It happens. Life happens. But we’re back for another episode—number 34. Cruising on the way down to 50. What are we going to do for our 50th? Get naked?

Host 2: Okay, buddy.

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Host 1: We’re like… I’m trying to think of an athlete. We’re like Christian McCaffrey of consistency. We get hurt every now and then. We miss a week, but we come back. We come back strong. He plays a full season out of nowhere. We pass on him in fantasy.

Host 2: Yeah. Now, we could be Joel Embiid and just miss more podcasts than we… No, no, we’re… I’ll take Christian McCaffrey as a lot better than Joel Embiid.

Host 1: Agreed. Agreed. But who do you think is richer?

Host 2: Oh, Embiid. He’s got that basketball money, baby.

Host 1: McCaffrey at one point was the highest paid running back. I think it’s Barkley now. I’m pretty sure.

Host 2: Yeah. Or maybe not. Who else would it be? Trying to think off the top of my head. Who else would it be? Well, because like McCaffrey was ahead by like a good margin.

Host 1: Let me take a guess right now. Let’s see.

[Music]

Host 1: The highest… for some reason Ashton Jeanty is on here. Wow. $23 million. I don’t think that’s right. That’s not right. That’s kind of bad though for the running backs because I mean we have that kind of squeeze on them. Barkley is $16.5 million. McCaffrey is $16.2 million.

Host 2: So he’s bigger by just a little bit. Just a little bit. Barkley’s not circumcised, that’s why.

Host 1: Yeah. Okay. All right. You said it. Do you want to just stick with the NFL? I mean, we’re about a month away. Well, well, well, well. First, first, what are we drinking? What’s in the cup?

Host 2: You know, underneath that stuff as traditional. I went… I went cheap.

Host 1: Nice. Hey, tequila is tequila, man.

Host 2: Yeah, it is. It really doesn’t matter. But just… I went the opposite. I went the opposite of you, though. I’m drinking the rest of my pricey stuff and drinking some straight whiskey, straight bourbon. Some Angel’s Envy empty bottle. As you can see, it’s gone. It’s all in the glass.

Host 1: Alcoholic.

Host 2: Yeah, I bought it. I bought it yesterday. I’m just kidding. Are you one of those guys that keep your empty bottles as like a souvenir?

Host 1: Oh, no. No.

Host 2: Okay. You’re out of college. What’s the point?

Host 1: Good. Yeah. What’s the point? I remember… even if I bought like a $100-$150 whiskey bottle and I could save the bottle. No, I’d… I remember going… hanging out with a friend when I was still in college in Mississippi, going out to his house. Well, him and his buddy’s house. They of course, you know, they drink like f**ing Russians or Irish. Yeah, that’s what I was thinking of. I mean, family got to put that stereotype in me. But, they did that sht. That was the first time I ever seen that. And I thought like, so y’all had like a whole row, a whole top shelf of just empty bottles of all the bottles that they finished. And it’s like when you look back on it, that’s exactly the kind of decor you will expect to see in a college dude’s apartment or dorm or whatever. Well, probably not dorm because you can’t drink on campus. Depends on where you’re at. But yeah, that’s kind of… kind of… kind of dumb, but you know, good. Good. You’re not one of those guys.

Host 2: Yeah. No, I’m not going to show off. “Look what I used to drink.” Yeah. Yeah. But what do you have now? Exactly.

Host 1: Yeah. You know, back then my money was up. All right. Just letting you know. Now, now when I asked you for that $20, now you see why.

Host 2: Yep. There it is. It’s up there. I drank it. One sip. $20.

Host 1: Yep. So, I know I’m late to this, but does my audio sound okay? I’m just getting some crazy spikes. I just want to make sure it’s good.

Host 2: You’re good. I mean, your audio is so clear. I hear your little one trying to join in to the broadcast.

Host 1: I know, man. I know. He loves… I actually heard him louder than you.

Host 2: Once I get… once my niece moves out to college, hold on. I’m gonna move my office into her old room and it should be more sound sufficient I think. Or it could be worse. We’ll see. You know, because I… that one I’m closer to the living room technically.

Host 1: I’ll be moving into a new room pretty soon.

Host 2: Yes, sir. Moving locations. Well deserved. Well needed.

Host 1: Well needed for sure, man. That’s coming up on Monday. I cannot wait.

Host 2: Yeah, let’s go in and talk NFL since we already started.

NFL Discussion

Host 1: We got a football game this month.

Host 2: Yeah, I didn’t believe it when you told me last week. I had to like actually fact check you and I know it was so unbelievable that you had to look it up. Usually you just trust me. What would I lie about, right? But this… this one was kind of outrageous.

Host 1: Yeah. At first I… at first, as I usually do, I complained and because it’s like how much football do we really need? That was the first thought to where we’re actually pushing the schedule up into July. Like are we really going to give these guys a break? Are we really… I mean or maybe… Well, no, bodies aren’t invincible these days because they’re breaking down a lot easier and quicker than they did back then… than players did back then. I mean, it’s happened… it’s happened pretty much across all sports. I feel like the game has got faster but the bodies haven’t kept up with how fast the game has gotten. That’s like you know like… like pitchers are throwing so hard we’re seeing more Tommy Johns than anything now. You know, now I know… I know we were talking about football, but it’s the… the injury still… it’s still… there’s still a cross reference to it because anytime you see a dude throwing 99, you’re like, “Oh, he’s going to be having TJ soon.”

Host 2: Yep. Look at Show. That’s what I’m… Shoe finally got up to 100. Tommy John, that’s it. There’s someone in my mind that we’re riding on right now that he throws 98-99 and we can’t have that.

Host 1: No, he’s gotta calm down. He’s throw a lot more sliders, more curve balls. You know who I’m talking about, right?

Host 2: Oh, you’re talking about the diesel.

Host 1: Yes. Hunter Brown. It’s always when a guy’s at his peak, man. That goes… That’s the… That’s exactly the sound his shoulder makes.

Host 2: Imagine Astros are just waiting for that to happen and then they’re going to sign him because like, “Oh, well, you’re hurt now. So, go sign for a little bit.” Feel like they did that with Correa.

Host 1: Okay, we totally pivoted off that, but it’s still… Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Still sticking with it. But back to football. But yeah, man. Like you know, Tank Dell is a good example. You know, he was small playing… Tank. He’s a good example of friendly fire is a thing. It was friendly fire twice actually that broke his leg.

Host 2: Yeah. But I don’t know. I don’t even know how you come back from this one. Like because he’s going to be… Was it… was it… was it the same knee? I believe so. Because remember he got… because wait a minute he broke his leg then he got shot then he tore his knee. That’s too much in one year. F***ing breaking records. This guy in one year for the moon. If it’s the same leg I think it’s okay. Now if he did it to other leg it’s like okay now.

Host 1: I can’t remember exactly which leg it was, but the fact of the matter is he’s still out and he’s just finished rehab and now he’s going back through that sh*t. And that’s… I want… I’mma… I’mma throw something out there that the Texans did along with the Cleveland Browns. So, there’s only two second round picks from the draft that have signed the rookie deals. Everyone else like across the league have signed first through seventh besides the second. A lot of the second round picks have not signed at all. And the reason for that is because the Texans and the Cleveland Browns with their first second round pick, they gave their guys guaranteed money for the first time ever. Now all the other second round picks are asking for that guaranteed money, which is kind of bizarre to me because a ton of second round picks haven’t signed the rookie deal. So, the other 30 owners are being stingy.

Host 2: Yeah, kind of 29 because the Browns have two.

Host 1: Oh, the Browns had two second round picks, but their first second round pick, they signed him guaranteed money. Texans signed their guy to guaranteed money, I think, because they didn’t have a first round pick.

Host 2: That’s… I believe so.

Host 1: Yeah. So, they’re like, “Might as well give him the money.” Now, all the other second round picks from the other teams are like, “Well, I want it fully guaranteed like these other two guys.” And so, I think they’re waiting on other teams to pull the trigger so that a new range happens like, “Okay, well, you know, the 54th pick signed a fully guaranteed.” So, 33 through 53, everyone’s going to be guaranteed or whatever, right? But it’s just an interesting thing that it’s going on right now. Like a lot of second round picks haven’t signed because for the first time ever their two guys got guaranteed fully guaranteed money.

Host 2: So yeah, that is interesting. I didn’t… I didn’t… I was not aware of that. Did that guy from Cincinnati ever sign? Shamar Stewart?

Host 1: No. They… he still hasn’t signed. I don’t know the full details, but the Bengals are trying to start something completely brand new that they never done before. Or they want to start it with him and it’ll affect every first rounder for the Bengals after that and he’s saying no like he doesn’t want it. Now mind you they’ve also haven’t signed Trey Hendrickson.

Host 2: Yeah, I couldn’t say his name right.

Host 1: And yeah, and they… he wants to be traded. So their… their draft pick that they probably drafted to replace him hasn’t signed because he just wants what they’ve been doing for the past X amount of years. But now they want to change the language and they’re the only team that’s doing this too. So that’s why he’s like, “No, I’m not… I’m not signing.” So if… if… if he doesn’t sign by a certain day, he could be traded to a team and just like a normal player. Now, he probably… if I was any other NFL team besides the Bengals, I probably wouldn’t give a first round pick for him, right? But because like they’re… they’re in the hot seat. The Bengals are because they’re not giving him the contract that he wants. So maybe a second round or third round pick for him and then you’re kind of guaranteed like a fresh pick. And Shamar Stewart had the highest RAS score. I forgot something. Our athletic score, right? He had the highest score out of anybody in the draft. Super athletic guy from A&M, but he only had like one sack, I think, in his career, but he’s just supposed to be like that guy.

Host 2: So, but yeah, just… I know it’s kind of boring the finance side a little bit, but just you know, we’re out.

Host 1: Interesting. Yeah. No, no. That’s why it’s interesting to you so you could add on to it, but you know.

Host 2: No, but I mean, talk about hard hits. No, but I mean that… I mean, like I said, I wasn’t aware of that… that most of them didn’t sign and you know, seeing it. The Bengals is an interesting case too with their contract situations, especially given… given the fact that a lot of their salary cap now is going to be tied up around three players. And you know, it’s the revaluing of positions and how much money we’re spending on and the top dollars that we’re spending on each position. Now where you know if you… if you do that then where are you putting the value in the guys that you’re still going to need to count on? You’re going to have them all holding out. I mean it’s… it’s a bad precedent that’s being set right now. I mean Trey Hendrickson… keep saying his name wrong… Hendrickson… correct me if I’m wrong… led the league in sacks. Correct?

Host 1: Yeah he did. Where’s the value unless it was… Yeah he… Yeah, it was it between him and Crosby. Probably, but I don’t have it right in front of me, but I know… I know he was at the top.

Host 2: So, if… Oh, for sure. He… I mean I don’t… I’ll say a little tidbit about Trey Hendrickson. I don’t get it, man. I like when I saw him even with the Saints like when he blew up the Saints his last year of the Saints like how is this like just average looking Joe sack leader getting 15 plus sacks for like five straight years and it’s just technicality. It’s just technicality with them. They know how… how to do… do the fundamentals. But yeah like a good… speak if you want… if you want to you know you say technicalities on the defensive line. I mean, if we’re going to go deeper into that position, there’s a guy, a Hall of Famer that I can think of that also attended our alma mater, and if… with his size, he had to have perfect technique.

Host 1: Yeah. You know what I’m talking about, right?

Host 2: No. No. A freaking video started playing on NFL Network and now I got it.

Host 1: Yeah. I kind of saw… at your house or something. I’m talking about John Randle.

Host 2: Oh, R… alma mater. Okay. See, when you say alma mater, I didn’t hear… I didn’t hear the R part, but… Okay. I thought you were talking about like… like… like… like your high school again or something.

Host 1: Well, if I… I mean, sh*t I can talk about my high school and talk about Brian Urlacher or Rakeem Cato. There you go.

Host 2: So, yeah, there you go. I can talk about that also. But yeah, you know, playing guys that actually play with technique and succeeds on every play basically. We’re not putting value in that anymore. And that’s pretty much what the Bengals are saying. That’s the only reason why you’re holding out. And that’s, you know, and the NFL is a copycat league. So if they’re going to do that, then, you know, there… the rest of the dominoes is going to fall, too. I mean, we… So it’s like I said with everything else, the bubble has to pop at some point.

Host 1: Yeah.

Host 2: But I don’t think… I think the Bengals are going to get it done right with… with Shamar Stewart. I… I just looked up his stats, his college stats. He had total four and a half sacks his freshman year, one and a half sacks. His sophomore year, one and a half sacks. His junior year, one and a half sacks. So very… very consistent. But I mean, scouts saw… saw something, right? So, I mean, you gotta trust scouts.

Host 1: Yeah. Something else I saw interesting… Cousins basically admitting that he would have re-signed with Minnesota if he knew the Falcons was going to draft Penix.

Host 2: Really?

Host 1: Yep. I wonder if… I wonder if that changes McCarthy.

Host 2: Of course it does. Maybe, maybe not. But well of course it definitely changes the dynamic of… well let’s say Sam Darnold. He doesn’t get paid like he is now. He’s exactly… he… he doesn’t… he doesn’t become the next Geno Smith. So like it’s… it’s just funny how like different dynamics happen like that behind one move. I mean and it’s not just with this. It could be like anything in life really, you know, like just one decision made by one person can affect someone else.

Host 1: Boy, that’s… that statement kind of hits home, doesn’t it?

Host 2: It does. It does. Reminds me of Mr. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady. One play can change a life.

Host 1: Okay. See, I was about to go real life or some sh*t but…

Host 2: Oh. Oh, sorry. No, I… I was thinking a football game.

Host 1: Yeah. Yeah. No, that… and that’s good. That is very good because we could have very much gone into a very deep tangent. But I’m glad you stayed with football because that is a very… interchange that… Yeah, you did. You did because that’s very interchangeable.

Host 2: Yep. But yeah, and speaking of… of money… I heard a new… NFL is getting a new… NFL is getting a new stadium.

Host 1: Ah, I say, you know how I feel about this. Kyle… audience, Kyle does not like change. He’s a very traditional man. “Get off my lawn.” I’m just kidding.

Host 2: Okay. All right. Well, first of all, okay. Well, hold on. I’m on… I’m in an apartment. “Get out my front door. Get off my doormat. The welcome doormat is not meant for you. It’s for me when I come home.” No. For real though, man. The change that I don’t like is Northern teams going into indoor. I get they’re going to be like, “What? You want people to just freeze outside?” Yes, I do. You paid the money. You know what the weather was going… You know what the weather was going to be when the game was scheduled? You bought the ticket. So, yes, freeze your ass off outside for my entertainment when I watch these 4:00 games that the NFL purposely schedules up north at 4 and 7:00 because they know that’s when it’s going to be coldest. So, yes, I want it. I want the snow on the ground. I want to see the fans shivering. I want to see the fat guy without his shirt that’s definitely going to get frostbite and he’s… and he was already drunk from pregaming. So, all it takes is like one or two beers that’s probably going to be limited to at the stadium, but then he’s already gone. And for most people, they can’t hold their sh*t anyway. Yes, I want to see it all. So, I’m tired of these teams up north going indoors and they’re only doing it just to get us… just to get a Super Bowl. Isaiah, when was the last time you ever heard someone say, “Boy, I can’t wait to go to Cleveland.”

Host 1: Never.

Host 2: So, why they think they going to get a fing Super Bowl? I mean, Joakim Noah said it himself in a press conference over a dozen years ago. I ain’t never heard of no one say that. “I can’t wait to go to Cleveland.” Okay, they got the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That’s great. And it’s a good place to go visit. But outside of downtown, which is where they moving out from, they’re… everything is a copycat. It’s like build up your own little mini city where you have these expensive ass overpriced apartments where you’re paying over $2,000 a month and when you hang up a frame and take it off the paint fing peels off. Have these expensive ass restaurants with the grass walls and… and… and… and the uncomfortable ass stools where you got to pay separate price for the fries. Those are the only places that it’s going to be opening up when they build these stadiums around. They did it in Atlanta when they moved out of Turner. They… they… they did it to the Nationals. Now they cleaned up some areas on the other side of the argument got cleaned up. Yes, but now you’re pricing out the common man who wants to just go to the damn game. You got to pay for all this other sht and these contracts when you go. You got to pay for parking. You got to get the gas to get up there because it’s not in the city. So now you got to drive way the f** out to go… to go to these games. The Texans is trying to do this sht. Trying to move south trying to move to Southwest Houston. They trying to get away from Reliant. I mean, look, it was a dumb idea in the first place to build a stadium right next to the fing Astrodome. But now, now the city is still paying for the Astrodome. I know they going to still be paying for the… for Reliant. And now they talking about they want another damn stadium. Now we’re back tapping into public funds, which is another problem that I have when you got billionaires who wants again the common man to pay for their sht palaces where you can’t even pay for the seats because most of the air is supposed to be for what fing expensive ass box seats that they want. Isaiah, I will never forget when years ago I was watching the game… it was college A&M against whoever the f*** that was playing and they was showing off at a college stadium how they spent over three million or whatever f***ing dollars they spent putting up chandeliers in the press boxes.

Host 1: Chandeliers in an outdoor stadium.

Host 2: At a college.

Host 1: What a way to spend $3 million, man. I’ll tell you that. What a waste. You know, you could look… Well, if you got it, you got it. You… Okay, fine. You got it. That’s… That… That’s cool. Because sht if I had it, I’d probably do some stupid sht like that, too. My… my only problem with… with northern teams or even southern teams going indoors is the weather factor during the game. It’s like I thought football was supposed to be played outdoors. I thought it was supposed to be played in the weather. Chicago is about to go indoors, man. There is no NFC… NFC North teams outside of Green Bay. God forbid, right? God forbid. That’s all I’m going to leave. I’m going just leave it at that. There’s no other… There’s no other teams up north. I… Okay.

Host 2: I got to say the snow… the… the… the… the biblical snow that every… everything now we’re calling it a hundred year snow, a hundred year flood, a hundred year. This… not everything could be 100 years, man. Like the sh*t happens. All right. It’s climate change. It’s science.

Host 1: Yeah. I… I… I… I actually have to have to design that so I know exactly all about that. But yeah. No. Yeah. It’s not… It’s not once and 100 years is just the probability, but it feels like it’s every other year now.

Host 2: Yeah. It feels like it’s every other year. I mean, come on. This… the science backs it up and no one wants to talk science. I get it. But I’m not… and I’m not using science to replace the other. It’s just you have to listen to one. Isaiah. We took some of those classes on probably more on the physics side, but you know, it’s… it’s all there. The evidence is there. Sh*t’s gonna happen. Okay. Whether you’re outdoors or not, because even if the… even if the game is indoors and there’s a massive ass blizzard, how the hell is people still going to get there?

Host 1: Yep. And guess what? You still got to go outside to get to the damn stadium. So what difference does it f***ing make?

Host 2: Yep. You gotta drive to and from there. There’s no… there’s no tunnel that you take straight from your home to, you know, you know, it’s… it’s to protect the billionaire… the millionaire and billionaires that’s going to these games now that don’t want to deal with the elements. That’s… that’s… that’s… that… that’s what it comes down to. Fine. It’s like why the hell is LA playing indoors? I mean, it’s when does it ever rain in LA for them to be? I thought they love being outside.

Host 1: That’s what I thought, too. Arizona, I totally get. Everything better be indoors. Houston, I get everything better be indoors. Dallas, same thing. New Orleans, Florida, you can get away with it because there’s always a breeze down there. Georgia, that humidity is sticky. But at some… but you know whenever they host these big time games like the SEC championship and sh*t that could be outside but a… I…

Host 2: It… spit it out. Go ahead.

Host 1: It’s nothing to spit out because there’s so many different angles to this argument, but the one that I want to stick with is just the traditional part of it. And we’re losing a lot of the aura to what we… what made football great. Honestly, like you know, you look… Come on, man. You know, you look forward to these snow games.

Host 2: I do. I do. The one that sticks out to mind is the Detroit and Philadelphia game.

Host 1: I thought you were about to go, you know, giving your fandom. I thought you were about to go to the Tuck Rule game.

Host 2: Nah, nah, no. I… I’ll do a little… But that… but no… that feel like the Chargers game. That sht was so f**ing awesome, man. And you could tell that the players were even having fun in that sh*t too. Dude, you talk about like you get tackled just poof, white powder everywhere. It don’t even… you could see what was the yard lines.

Host 1: Yeah, exactly. I think that they rather… maybe not, but I was like I think they rather play in that than rain.

Host 2: Oh, for sure. For sure. Rain, you slipping all over the place. Who wants to do that sh*t?

Host 1: Exactly. Then with the rain, you’re… you’re just running the ball all the time. And then you’re going to fumble because it’s going to… it’s going to slip out.

Host 2: Exactly. But then those games are awesome, too.

Host 1: No, they are. They are. I said weather plays a big factor. It’s also entertaining for the viewer, you know. It… it just everything, you know, you want to know what else? You want to know another angle is also directing all these teams especially the ones up north… to go indoors. Look how much is… look how much gambling is influences these games. For sure they eliminate all other outside factors. You bet your ass I’m checking the weather radar and taking the unders on some of these games. It… it fing sucks, man. It fing sucks.

NBA Discussion

Host 2: Speaking of gambling, that’s the perfect segue into the NBA. We got another one that got caught. And when does… when does it f***… when… when will they fing learn, man? When will they fing learn?

Host 1: Let’s look. Probably never. You know, there’s a… there’s a Netflix series I’m watching called Bad Sport, and it’s about… the very first episode’s about college gambling. They bought the players, two of their star players to, you know, not throw the game, but to affect the game where they don’t… they keep it within the… the score, you know. I’m losing my… my words, but it’s a… it’s really good. The first one’s about college basketball. They’re paying the players like $20,000 each to you know keep it basically… how do you say it… affect the game to… there’s a word for it and I’m just like fumbling… influence… kind of… that’s not the exact word but yeah they’re not throwing the game because they’re still going to win but not by more than what the spread is right? So and it worked but then they end up getting caught because the college players started… flashing their money and a journalist said… sparked it… sparked… peaked their interest and a journalist said someone needs to take a look into this and that’s kind of how they started… word got out through one person… these books… these casinos now can see like hey a lot of people are betting on this specific line for some reason and it hit.

Host 2: Yeah. You know, that’s what happened with the Cleveland pitcher.

Host 1: I’m just looking… I’m just… looking over again these… you know these line of creditors that’s lined up and this lawsuit that was put out against him because it’s… I mean you can look it up in the New York Times. Let’s see. If we could just go over one of the things… because this… the feds got them that this is… this is federal now so everything is like out there. He was sued by Hassan Sports… that’s got to be his agent… to recover $625,000. He was sued in 2018 for pass through rent in the amount of… 1990. He was also sued for another $2,000 for not paying homeowners associations fees in Georgia. He was sued by in Milwaukee by civil court… from a dental company for $34,389.70 and for another $26,826.76 by a barber.

Host 2: He’s also just a guy who just flakes out on bills. Kyle, I’m sorry to interrupt your podcast, but I have breaking news.

Host 1: It better be good. What’s up?

Host 2: Suns superstar Devin Booker has agreed to a 2-year, $145 million maximum contract extension, according to Shams.

Host 1: Oh, well then it’s true. That’s… hold on. They’re like, “We got a couple Rocket players. We’re extending our superstar keeping Bradley Beal.” I think they… they kept Bradley Beal. So, two years ago, moving on from… from Kevin Durant. Two years, $145 million. $72 and a half million a year. He’s making more than Curry. F***! He’s making more than the state of Wisconsin. You know, he’s making… Let’s name the states he’s making more than.

Host 2: All right, let me see. Let me see if I can name him off real quick. Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi, Idaho… South Carolina… West Virginia… Wyoming, yes, both Dakotas… Montana… Iowa… he’s… Maine. Maine. Who the f*** lives up there besides bears?

Host 1: Exactly. F***ing… Jesus Christ, man. Vermont. Easily go there and become the richest man living there.

Host 2: Yeah.

Host 1: This NBA money is different, man.

Host 2: Oh, it’s different then. That’s why these dude… It’s not… It’s not soccer money, but it’s… You know, it’s crazy. I said, “What? Didn’t we talk about what… what we would do if we have…”

Host 1: Oh, yeah. I said… when the Lakers sold, I said I’d buy a country. I’m going still stick with that.

Host 2: Yeah. You… You could probably buy Central America with all that money and then I become… I control all the trades.

Host 1: Yeah. You could buy some small third… third world country that has a lot of acreage. It was a nice beach, you know, and the entire trade would have to go through… go through me, right? You would buy somewhere on the Black Sea or the Mediterranean Sea, but then… Yeah. Then all… all trade access will have to go through you. All oil will have to pass you.

Host 2: Okay. See, but then you… you have to get agreement with all the other countries. And see, I will… the first… the first thing I would do is make sure I stake my claim in the ports.

Host 1: Oh, of course you got to. Port is where the money’s at.

Host 2: Yeah, you got to go there first.

Host 1: All right. All right. We’re not… We’re not… conspiring over here, people. We’re talking about… I am… we’re talking about NBA players not paying their tabs and also getting caught… trying to make sure that they hit on their unders because I don’t see how else you rack up $26,000 in a barbershop bill. I ain’t never… I mean those are some GTA prices, man. I ain’t never paid that much. Truth. I… I don’t think… I don’t even think in my lifetime for the haircuts. I don’t even think in my lifetime to this point I’ve paid up… $26,000 in haircuts.

Host 2: Nah, speaking of that, I… I just booked mine for tomorrow. But… you need…

Host 1: No, I do. I need it bad, dude. I haven’t had one like in three weeks. I’m down bad. Beard scruffy. Hair is growing back. Can’t even see my hairline no more. Speaking of beard being scruffy, it is so f**ing true because I went full shave cleaned off and this sht came back thicker faster.

Host 2: Right. That’s what I’m telling you, dude. That’s all I did all college. I had a goatee in college. Just kept shaving shaving shaving and did. But now, but now the f***… this man came out.

Host 1: Oh, okay. Side note. That’s… I told and I told you this, man. That’s the one thing that also sucks about getting older, the maintenance. And that’s why I was like because like I was like I’m tired. And that was the reason why I completely shaved it off because when I went and got my haircut the other month and I told him chop it all off. He was like “are you sure?” I was like dude I need a fing break. I’m all right. I’m fing tired of the maintenance of this. All right. It’s like dry skin. Always got to keep putting on lotion and constantly got to keep putting on the… like the… the beard cream for this sht. Otherwise, it’s gonna get tangled and it hurts when you try to comb it because obviously it… it’s gonna… it hurts when it like gets all tangled and sht. So, you got to keep doing that. And I have to do it every fing morning. Every time I wake up and I’m just f… I’m just getting fing lazy and I’m tired of this sht and I just rather just cut it off now. I thought I wanted it but now I don’t. And now it’s just going to keep coming back and I can’t f*ing control it.

Host 2: Ah, men talk. You know, you want… you want to talk about shaving your balls? I’m just kidding. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.

Host 1: Yeah, I don’t know either. Pause. Whiskey’s hitting good, man. Whiskey’s hitting good, but… Yeah. Let’s… let’s… let’s… let’s… let’s move on to some… some trades.

Host 2: Yeah. Yeah, people. Yeah. Just… just… just so you know, there’s the NBA. I mean, we’ve heard… we’re late coming back into it. This is about a week late anyway.

Host 1: Yeah. We got still degenerate gamblers still trying to influence the game and sh*t. And this has been a very money-heavy podcast. Money sports money-heavy podcast. How does a millionaire still is… how millionaires are still able to get loans because he had one taken out. Of course, he didn’t pay on it. I don’t know. I mean, you know, you say you have all these assets as collateral and they’re like, okay, you know, that’s all banks care about is collateral. Like, hey, in case there’s a case you don’t pay it, we’re going to take something from you. Well, you know what? It’s just… I mean, you know, someone with poor decision making skills when you know they have Bronny James on their roster. So yeah, not surprised. Anyways… what’s next?

Host 2: Yeah, tired of the gambling and it’s… this is about to be a snowball effect. There’s going to be more players coming out. Just watch.

Host 1: I wouldn’t doubt it. I mean, I don’t see why else you’re owing that much money to all these people.

Host 2: Yeah, something has… something to fix.

Host 1: Oh, fix. That’s… that’s… that’s the word I was looking for. Fix. They were fixing a game.

Host 2: Oh, duh. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. Anyway, yeah, it just popped… 10… 10 minutes late.

Host 1: Yeah. Wait. Like, yeah, that… that whiskey is hitting. It’s hitting in a lot of other sh*t.

Host 2: It’s kicking my ass. Isaiah, are you ready to see the Rockets hoist up that title next year?

Host 1: They better with the moves they’ve been making, man. And what the fans are talking about, they got a billboard already for KD. You believe that sh*t? I heard plural.

Host 2: Oh my god. Is this what the tax money is being used for? Or is it the Houston Rockets putting these up?

Host 1: First of all, there’s money in Houston. Second. Secondly… there’s a lot of money in Houston. Also, a lot of drugs. There’s a lot of sht in Houston, man. We can go a lot of sht. There’s… there’s… there’s too much sh*t in Houston. I mean, we could make a whole episode about that, but… I mean, just talking about just… just sports shots pod special episode vice.

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Host 2: Anyway. Anyways, yeah. They better… I’m expecting two championships in basketball in Houston next year.

Host 1: Wow. College and NBA. Are you… Are you calling your shot?… because I’ll listen. I’ll put the money down right now. I’ll double down. You want me to drive down? There’s casinos down there. You put… I’ll put $500 on a Cougar and Rockets Championship.

Host 2: All right. What… What are the odds right now? Let’s… Let’s see. I’ll… I… I’ll go ahead and look it up. You continue. I’m looking it up. You talk.

Host 1: Okay, fine. You… This is for me. You look it up. I’ll… I’ll talk. The only thing lately in the… in the trade news, Spurs got Keldon Johnson. Longtime veteran, he’s just that good like power forward/center that could, you know, give you some good minutes. Also a three-point shooter. I was wanting more of a rebounder, a power forward… a rebounder for Wemby so Wemby doesn’t have to. So just well because Wemby is a all round type of guy. Didn’t really get as much assist this year as last year because of Chris Paul. Obviously he’s a facilitator.

Host 2: Oh, no one cares about the Spurs. As we got… All right, so the Cougars… are… for 2025. They got them right now… is ranging from plus 600 to plus 700. For the Rockets after Kevin Durant, it jumped from 18 to 1 to plus 750 or plus… or plus 900 depending on your source. So Isaiah, how much money are you going to put down for both? Like I mean like I said, I would… combine them and then put you know five… 500 because I’mma do the… do the math. Not the math, but I’m going to see how… how much it is. So you… you tell the audience why you think you could have a double championship in… in one single city in the city.

Host 1: Let’s say 50. Because we f***… I’m not going to say we f***ing deserve it. That’s too entitled. First of all, the Cougars have win when… Isaiah, do you remember that… that very painful stat I shared with you… a couple months back about the Cougars?

Host 2: No one cares. This is a money podcast now. So, it’s a thousand odds for Houston to win March Madness. It’s plus 700 odds. What are you looking at for Rockets?… Draft Kings. Okay. For Rockets to win the finals. If you parlay them, it’s 8,700 plus odds. If you… if I put $500 on them, it’s $44 grand. So, $22 a piece. I’mma do it. Or if you give me $250.

Host 1: Yeah. Yeah. All right. I’ll give it a $250. If you give me $250 in… September, September, October starts because once basketball starts and if Houston starts winning, the odds are going to change.

Host 2: Yeah, of course. So, we put it in right now. What was I saying?… we’ve f***ing deserve it. And I’m just kidding. Now, do you remember that painful stat that I shared with you about the Cougars after they lost?

Host 1: No. What was it? Refresh my memory.

Host 2: They have the most Final Four appearances. Strippers.

Host 1: Oh. Oh, well, that’s it. They have the most final four appearances without a championship.

Host 2: Ouch. At seven. Ouch.

Host 1: You guys are the… the Jim Kelly of Houston of college… college football. When… when? I don’t know. They’ve been asking that question seven times, you know. So, I mean, like it’s… LA and LA obviously last year f***ing sucked the way it ended. I remember you texting right after, bro. I was so pissed. It’s like just shoot the shot.

Host 2: Oh my gosh. What are we doing here? I just… I just immediately… turned the TV off, kind of set the days and went to sleep.

Host 1: I would too. Yeah, I would too. The Rockets because the Rockets are greatly overdue. Wouldn’t you agree?

Host 2: You know, you’re not because you’re a f***ing Spur and you sitting… listen you’re sitting there doing this to me. I don’t… I don’t hate any team. All right. You see what I’m doing? I now you… The reason… Yeah. You’re… you’re showing all the five rings that we have. But… I… I wouldn’t… I… I know why you’re saying greatly overdue because it’s been since the 90s and that’s… and that’s us Houstonians saying that.

Host 1: Yeah. Now I think you guys have a deserving team to win. We blew… we blew a lot of chances obviously just… just not just speaking out of technicality just speaking on just emotional friendship… there’s a lot of well number one we ran into dynasties. We… Yeah, he did. So, that… that’s number one. And… and… and the different eras. In different eras. Yeah. So, that’s one. I mean, two, it’s hard to get out the state when the other two teams also had their own little one, they were winning, and two, they had their own little… I guess dynasties. Well, definitely won. But the Mavericks, no. But they were consistently winners. And I hated going up against Dirk. I respect the hell out of him now, but I hated him when he was playing. Dirk, same thing for Duncan.

Host 2: Yeah. Oh, all right. Guys, guys, guys that I completely hated when they… when they was playing, but I respect the hell out of now… now that they’re retired. Dirk, Duncan, Ginobili, hated his ass… what a great sixth man… Kobe, of course… but I mean obviously that hate… Kobe obviously that hate you know I guess turned into love… appreciation… appreciation. Yeah… let’s see… Carmelo… Allen. Yeah. See we said at the same time… starter with the Suns and… Oh, obviously, and this is still hate because appreciation it may not even… James Harden. I’m just kidding.

Host 1: I don’t hate him, but I’m disappointed.

Host 2: There you go. I’m disappointed… but it’s like, hey, I mean, we’re going to… Don’t call him the greatest Rocket of all time. Please don’t.

Host 1: I mean, oh, no. Heck no. That’s… that’s… that’s a big drop off. They were already retiring his jersey. And I was kind of like, what?

Host 2: Well, I mean, after… there is a big drop off, you know that it… there is a big drop. Celebrate something. We got to celebrate something. It’s not a big drop off. Who’s next? Yao… T-Mac. No… f***… I’ll go. I’ll stick old… stay old school. I’ll probably go Calvin Murphy. Go let’s see. That is old school. Go Clyde. Go Drexler.

Host 1: Yeah. Yeah. Clyde Drexler. Yeah… let’s see. Obviously Yao on that list. Yao. Of course. I mean it’s not… it’s… Are you… Are you going players you hate or people for jerseys you want to try? What are you… What are you doing now?

Host 2: Oh, well now I was talking about the Rockets… because you… you… pivot. I missed… I missed a transition.

Host 1: Yeah, you caused me to pivot. But no, no, but the guy… those guys that I named earlier, those are the ones that… And do you notice the… the comparison is that they were all in the Western Conference and they all gave the Rockets problems.

Host 2: Of course. So, of course, I mean, you could throw, you know, Curry in there. That’s going to always be hate.

Host 1: Damn. For real. That’s going to always be hate. I don’t want to hear his name. I don’t care. Don’t… Don’t… I… I… I… I don’t fing care. Take his… He could take his… care. Yeah. I don’t fing care. That’s going to always be hate.

Host 2: You don’t give a crap. You heard it here first. You know what? I kind of want to make this a short podcast. I mean, it’s not short. It’s 50 minutes long, but yeah, we… I mean we… I mean we are… we’re good.

Host 1: Yeah, we… we… we… we still have a little bit of time to talk about the All-Star game before it starts anyway… I’m just ready for the… I’m just ready for the home run derby. I don’t really care for the All-Star game.

Host 2: Yeah, same. Same. And besides, it’s a popularity contest, too. I mean, the… the All-Star… the MLB All-Star game is better than the other sports, but no, hockey kind of took a jump. That… those four nations, that was… that sh*t was legit.

Host 1: But that was wild. That was… but and the NBA goes team USA versus Team World. Well, first of all, we’re cooked. Secondly, that would be a good switch up. And I haven’t watched… I haven’t watched NBA All-Star game. I think the last one I watched was the dunk contest when Nate Robinson jumped over Spud.

Host 2: Really, brother? You’re talking about… we were… That’s like before college, I think. That’s way before college, man. I don’t watch it anymore. Like, it’s like I’m not impressed. Like I’ll see like… I’m good with you know… that was the last great one that I remember watching that’s going… I don’t know that’s going way the f*** back. I haven’t watched… I think the last great one that I watched is… Zach LaVine versus Aaron Gordon.

Host 1: No I watched that one too. Yeah I did that… that… that unbelievable because like I seen the endgame dunks between both of them. So like I was like okay no I can… I can watch a dunk contest for that. But no, the last time that would be the last time I remember watching it with excitement. Like I don’t even watch three-point contest anymore.

Host 2: Yeah, neither do I. I only watch the dunk contest and that… movie. I only watch… home run derby. I’m always watch NFL. I don’t watch f***… I don’t watch f***. But I keep rewatching that hit Sean Taylor put on that boy in the Pro Bowl. I think it was a punter.

Host 1: If I… if I remember correctly, I think it was a punter. I don’t remember who the opponent was. I just remember Sean Taylor just shooting in there like a f***ing missile, dude.

Host 2: Oh my goodness. It’s like, wow. All right. Nah, I’m good. If you’re good, I’m good, too. We’ll end on that note.

Closing

Host 1: Thank you all for listening. Hopefully, we’ll see you next week. Time will tell. We saw you this week. That’s going to… that’s… I can already tell you next week it’s up in the air because I’m moving.

Host 2: Oh, that’s true. Yeah, we got some… some moving happening.

Host 1: Yeah. Yeah… anyway, you… you’ll be seeing a lot of reels from us anyway. We’re busting out IG reels. Follow Instagram, follow YouTube, follow iHeartRadio. We’re on everything now. Shout out to our social media manager slash producer slash… I don’t know. I ran… ran out of titles working for free. Thank… working for free voluntarily. She’s doing awesome. But thank you guys for… keeping this up and we appreciate y’all. Peace.

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