10/1/26 Full Show

0:00On Reddit, true crime doesn't come from journalists. It comes from the victims, the witnesses, and sometimes, the suspects themselves. Every Tuesday on Crimes of Reddit, we read these posts out loud. I'm Sabrina Deanna-Roga, and I'm Alexis Linkletter. One of us brings the story, the other goes in blind, reacting in real time, just like you. New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen to and follow Crimes of Reddit, available now wherever you get your podcasts. You might just be able to do your own thing if you're partnered with Satan. It's Mike Shope and the Bulldog.

1:01It's too busy, you know, making Scott Norwood miss field goals. Oh, come on. Now WGR sports radio 550. Game 1. The Sabers and the Blue Jackets. The Sabers ender play with a record of zero and zero and zero. As do the Blue Jackets. Just, you know, a season to look forward to. I sure hope they can capitalize on the games in hand they already have on Toronto. Oh, Sabers, at two games in hand, I mean, you get those. That's four points for a bam. Just leapfrog them right away. Toronto already has gone and used its two extra games. Yes, right. Both at home. They must go on the road at some point. I even looked, but I predict their next game is in a way game. But I don't, I've not looked at, not looked ahead. I don't think they would be gifted a three game home set to start the year, but Saturday night. So it's happened. Saturday night.

2:01That's right. That's right. Don't they usually play at home still on Saturday night? Not as, yeah, regular as it used to be. Right, but it's still a thing that I, yeah. Oh, there it is. I spoke too soon. They are at home Saturday nighting as Ottawa. Oh, and that is, they don't play tonight, right? They wouldn't play three in a row. And they don't play Friday either. So yeah, they've opened up with three in a row. The Leaf schedule already on the show today. Already made the show. Well, we've talked about this. Ooh, plenty of times. And home next Tuesday too. Nothing in between. They don't actually play any road. Four in a row. All right, I'll stop. I'll stop with the Leaf schedule. The sabers are up there. Week after next, I think. All right, don't the sabers go Montreal, Toronto, Montreal in two weeks. I have not looked at the schedule to that extent. What is exciting to me, as we've discussed, is that, I mean, just speaking for myself here, unlike last year,

3:03I'm excited for a sabers season. It's been a long time. Yeah, they've got our attention. You're right at the beginning. It's been really, the I go rookie year was super exciting. That's Ryan O'Reilly. That's a Vander Cain. That's Robin Leonard, as the show of resounded older than these names. But that was like, what, 15? Yeah, October of 15. Yeah. And then the next year was interesting, because it couldn't be that bad, right? Like they could have a same team the next year. And probably they'll be fine. And then that went south very quickly. And I don't think since between 2016 and today, I've really, I mean, you look forward to the season because it's the season, but it's not been, well, like it can be, or like it was then, or like it was many times over the years. This year though, because of last year, it's like right there.

4:03And I am, I think I'm most fans, like I'm optimistic for it. I'm excited to have it back tonight's the night. But I'm also a little bit wary about the comedy, some part, what happened to the roster in the off season or what didn't. And then just sort of like the typical anxiety, not anxiety, but the doubt you might have because of what Saber's history has been like. Yesterday, Greg Wyshinski talked to us and he said how he wrote this and he brought it up, that whatever he said, Armageddon, like the Saber's going to the playoffs two years in a row, that's what they have done. Not that this is relevant, but when they went last time, it was 10 and 11 before that, it was six and seven. You know, that's right. It doesn't mean anything. There's usually two years out of it. And then thought of that, that those were little pockets within also somewhat drought.

5:04I mean, I don't know. 07 to 11 or 10, excuse me, it's not three years. It's not exactly a drought, but still. Yeah. 11 was out of nowhere. That's the year of the sale. Right. 10, they're pretty good. 10, they won the division. I mean, it was wired a wire. They had a very charmed year. Yeah. And then the next year is Pagula and the mad dash at the end of the season to make it. Still, 15 years ago, so whatever. But can they be as good? Can they be as good? I have a hard time saying yes to that. Can they be as good? Of course, it's possible that they just sort of pick right up and they don't miss the guys that left because the new guys fill in or even guys that were here elevate Quinn as an example, maybe chiefly, I think, as someone who I think, you know, looks like he maybe turned a corner

6:12late last year to me the way he looked on the ice and the way he was playing. So, you know, but I would not, I would not bet on it. I right now would bet on them being a wild card team. I just think and I would take it. Yes. I would sign for I don't care. Wild card one, wild card, whatever it is. Just get me in because I think that around them while they were standing still, basically. I mean, they're backfilling with people who are already here who have earned the opportunity, but they have not earned your trust yet. They haven't shown that they can do it on a long haul, you know, 20, 30 goals, 50, 60 point. None of them have had the opportunity to do that. You know, there is a time and a place where young guys do sort of break the door down and

7:12deserve that opportunity. And you could argue to me because the way I sound right now that that's happened, that it's reasonable enough that Helen, use an oscillant and even cool leak, deserve the opportunity and it's smart. These guys are are going to be important key players for us. But it's just a little I still I still just have a hard time rectifying that a team that had missed as often as they had and got back on track to the extent, I mean, they didn't just squeeze in. I mean, they were one of the stories of the league last year. They flew in. Yes, that's right. And to have that happen and capture, recapture the imagination of your fan base and make the choices they made, which again are all defensible. You know, there's a big difference to me between paying Alex Tuck,

8:14nine and a half or 10 million and 12. Byroom was untenable. Like I would not, if Byroom had wanted to stay here and they had wanted to pay him 12 and a half million dollars, I would have said I think they're crazy because of what they've already got invested on defense. And like this is not you need more upfront. You can't seek more money into the blue line with power and Dalline already on the big con. So well, they could have just kept him. That's right. But they would have then risk losing him for nothing. In another year and that's what they ended up doing with Tuck. Right. So that's right. I didn't thought of that. I mean, they could have done that. But I like the return in the trade. The trade was valuable. It was worth making the trade. This was Tuck a year ago. Right. It's exactly right. Trade him for futures. So they could have done that with Byroom. So anyway, it's just, it is still very strange to me that a pro sports team that I just described here. I think, you know, pretty capably at that moment in time,

9:17you know, loses guys that were very important to the overall here. And doesn't try to replace any of it with anything proven. Well, let's just, let's talk about this. They might have tried. They probably, oh, right. Sure. Try to do something. That's right. But you just get there for whatever reason. By the way, and this is a little bit like when we talked about Kevin Adams a lot, if you do assume that they tried to replace, say Alex Tuck or Byroom, you know, somebody even changed the goalies out, then there's a strike against for not succeeding. Yes. You know, like Adams would say he would get defensive. And like, well, we're trying. Yeah, but then I would say, well, I would assume that. The job is to get the job is to get it done. The job is to get it done. So, okay, probably there was some effort made, but it wasn't successful. You know, whatever you want to say here, they did.

10:19They didn't find prices that they liked on guys they wanted to buy. And or didn't think what they had to offer was being respected. Whatever it was, they couldn't find a match. I think, and I'm, you know, saying this partly because I want it to be true. But I think they felt probably that they were dealing from a position of strength because of their young players that you've already named. That, you know, if we have to go into October 1st with all those guys, then we will. And now we're going to find out how that goes. And in a month or two or three or four, they might pivot. And all right, well, we are coming off last season. And now here's an opportunity that we didn't have in July say. And okay, well, this is when we're, we feel like we have to do the thing. But again, like at the risk of sounding like I'm an apologizing for them,

11:19they didn't have to do it already. Like, it didn't have to happen by now. They can go forward and see what Coolique is, which, you know, might take a little bit to get what you want to see out of him, especially with where he appears to be starting in the lineup. Okay. Helen use Oslin, maybe not as sort of slow, you know, slow roll on that. But we'll see what that is as NHL regulars full time regulars. Funny, Coolique has played more hockey in the NHL than either of them, but he's coming off a year of absence, which I think has to explain where he is in the lineup. We'll talk to Paul here at, you know, in less than an hour. And he's been making the point and I agree with it. Like if Coolique is going to be in the spot he's in in the lineup, send him to Rochester, let him go center the top line there, and put Danforth on a line with Karek and Malen, saying like, what are we doing here? So I don't know how long that will last,

12:22but clearly they didn't agree with that, you know, with that idea. They have Coolique where he is. I want to believe in this and I want to believe in the GM. And I was a little bit disappointed that there wasn't a big move in the summer. Whatever it might have been, there really was not one at all. No, so absolutely. That would have been fun. Cellwagers not a big move. No, it's a fine move, but it's not a tension getting. Look at what we did to our team move. It would have been fun to talk about, but it didn't happen. And to whatever extent, whatever they wanted to do that they didn't do, this is their bet. This is like, all right, well, we like these young players. We're going to see what it looks like. And the season is so long, like kind of what I just said, but the season is so long that you can do this. You can go into the first month or two and see what you have. There are going to be injuries. There are going to be developments around the league where maybe there's a player

13:23that comes available that wouldn't have been available by now. You know, and you just want to hope that this GM is sort of like on the ready for it. And I just, I don't have this quite the same level of confidence slash benefit of the doubt when it comes to the owner. Because for too long, the owner just kind of let it rot. I mean, it was it was embarrassing what the Sabers had become. Now you make this change at GM. By the way, it hadn't happened by this time a year ago. Kekele Linen was in the organization, but he was not at the helm. And so if you want to trust him and that move, then this is I think what you want to do is let's just see how it starts. I mean, they're not going to run away with anything. They're not going to, you know, probably be 20 and three. And okay, everything's fine. Probably now. There'll be some adversity. And I think maybe even more, yes or no, even more,

14:25perhaps interesting than tux goals. And I mean, his all around value to the Sabers is what happens in net. Because hella buck is still there. Like he is still somebody that I think you could call Winnipeg right now and get him. Yeah, I think so. If you called and added whatever your last offer was that they didn't like. You know, and even if you want to assume that since July 1st and no move clauses and whatever, like if look, look, Luke and in can't be involved anymore. And that's that's might be assuming a lot, but whatever. If you if you got to a place where they said no, after, you know, not look, some other package that doesn't involve a young goal, the under contract, call them back and add something to that. Yeah, I think you could make that deal that deal could be done maybe in an hour.

15:25But you'd have to be willing to probably at least in Kekalainen's view overpay to do that. There's a lot to be said for not overpaying. And there's also a lot to be said for hanging on to your young guys and not being hasty with them to get a guy that might only be really helpful to you for two or three years, which might be the case with Hella Buck at his age. But the thing about that is that's where I circle back to my original point here about a team in the position the sabers are in. If internally it's well, we didn't really improve. We're going to be better two years from now because we kept Osseland and Helen use will really appreciate that in two years. Like if all those guys hit and turn into top line type players for them, they're going to be really set up great. But if that's the bet, I don't want to say it's sacrifices this year because they've

16:27still got a respectable team that I think can be competitive for a playoff spot that they're putting on the ice. But they did not participate in the offseason the way Florida did, the way Toronto did, the way Boston did. And Montreal, I think I got to leave out. They did not do anything like add a top line player. They added a role player and cried right very late, which I think is a nice head. I would not have minded that idea here. I've been here. I could have been here. But like teams went after it. Tampa lost radish. They went and got John Carlson to replace radish. We need a guy that can run our power play. I don't think Carlson will have the year radish had last year who will. I mean, there's a monster season. But that's a respectable known commodity that does the thing you lost that was most important and you replaced it. The sabers are betting on guys that can't grow beards to do all that and that might work. And it especially might work down the road. But for this year, I don't think that they didn't

17:32improve. The thing about them that their history kind of avails them to and this is going to be just going to sound maybe like inside out. But you go 15 years without a playoff appearance and you go 60, whatever it is, almost with like a kind of a reputation for stopping short, which is even maybe putting it nicely. A lot of their history is either we can't pay you or we don't like each other anymore. Dom, you know, just right. Their history is littered with these sort of dramatic failures. There's fractured partings, departures all over the place. But even if you just take the last decade, what if you if you are willing to spend, you can get away with any sort of big buy. If they had paid Alex talk, a lot of people would have said, that's a bad idea.

18:33But it would have been okay because it's the sabers and they don't do that. And they were really good and he was really good. And like, all right, well, the cap is going up and like, don't worry about it. This will be a bad deal in three years, but you know, we're trying to win. It would have been defended. I absolutely would have defended it. Same with Byram. Like if they had just sort of wrote it out, written it out with Byram and maybe even given him a deal, something like what he got, if even that same it would have been you could have defended it because wow, this franchise, what would Greg Wachinsky have said to us yesterday? The sabers don't do this kind of thing. It's a new world. It's a new new day in their history. And if they had traded for Hellebuck or still do it, same again, like same thing. They're going big. And the sabers never go big. Right. The team they have is a combination of winning the lottery or almost winning the lottery and lucking out on Thompson. And you know, guys that were just sort of like, be list players on other

19:39teams and you know, you drafted high enough for so long, this is what should happen. You built a team of really promising young players with Thompson as the cherry on top who just, you know, poof became this big goal scorer. Dalline hit like, you know, power, power to a lesser extent. But yes, the goalies were good enough. You kind of just did the math, so to speak and built this team that way not to make it sound like it's all just sort of a given. But what you didn't do is go, you know, rail hunting or something where you just sort of get the best guy. And had they done that, somebody like me says, I don't like it. It's like, it's just, but I got to a place with the hella book idea like, okay, you know, this is a moment for them. And I don't know if Kekelein in senses it because he's new here. But as I see it, this, this, this offseason is kind of a moment for them where they got the fans back. They got everybody's respect back. You know, they, they had a

20:43great scene. They had a great team. Now what? Yeah, that's interesting to say you wonder if Kekelein in senses it or not because I think that can probably, I think it can work as a, as a positive factor. If you're plugged into that, because that could get you to act, get you to appreciate the moment that you're in and how expectations have risen and it had been so long, but it could also the downside to that where it could be to your detriment is that your, you're going down the list of things that you could do and you get to like, there's a line where like, okay, ideas I love, you know, maybe there's two or three things ideas that, oh, this is a great idea. Can't do any of those. How about the pretty good ideas? Okay, where are we on the list? We put a gun to my head. I'll do that. Like if you act because of the moment and feel like you need to do something to quench the

21:50thirst of the fans that wanted a significant move that said, like we're planting a flag, we're one of the best teams in the league and we know it and we're going to try to keep up with Florida and Tampa and all that. You could really make a mess. You, you could overpay and do the wrong thing, simply because it was a thing that was available to you, but it really didn't line up with what you thought was a good idea, but it was a thing to do that would, you know, meet the criteria, whatever the criteria are, recognize that everyone doesn't have the same criteria. Well, it's Tim Murray. Right. It's Tim Murray and O'Reilly and Kane. Yeah, let me do all the, look at all this stuff I did. Look at it. Well, that was really hot. Yeah. And it went up in flames. Did it have to? I don't know, but it did. It did. Why? They didn't have the rest of it right. I don't want to risk the line in playing 28 minutes. Yeah. Right. But, you know, it could have worked. And it was supposed to be fun. And that was spending

22:51money and that was spending assets. And like now, maybe even to a greater extent, then they had a lot of them. Yeah. So I mean, if Tim Murray is your GM or whoever, if your GM is operating with that kind of mentality, he probably trades the fourth pick for Matthew Nies, if that were ever a bell. Like not worrying kind of like Leonard. Like I've got this asset. Yes, it's valuable. Yes, it will really help me in a couple of years. If, if I'm right about the guy I choose, or I can plug the Alex Tuck size hole in my roster using this asset with a guy who is basically Alex Tuck, but 10 years younger or seven years younger. Whatever. There's also still Larkin. Right. Yeah. And that's your ease on your list. Yeah, that's it. I cannot fathom a world where Florida, Minnesota of Vegas is Larkin. Yeah. We think. Yes. That was originally. I don't know if it's been a lot of talk to him.

23:56He has a neck injury. I've really expanded. Yeah. He's really hurt. Oh, yeah. He's a reporter. He's really hurt like the Pittsburgh guy. I think it's got traded to Dallas. That wasn't going to play tonight, but it's going to be ready on Sunday. I mean, what an amazing story. Yeah, whatever recovery. Somebody just sort of waved at him and he was better. I mean, I don't know. There are people who think that that's possible in life. Game one, Sabers and Blue Jackets. Paul Hamilton, his Bulldog mentioned three o'clock today from Columbus. He probably has made it yesterday. He was on the way. So he's probably there. It would be really weird if he weren't there already. Yeah. One of the biggest games in Ohio tonight. There's also Steelers Browns. And we will spend a minute on that. Maybe even try to predict the outcome at some point. That means you want to pick the game? I can't wait to. I'm already just trying to decide who to back. Also today, busy, busy Mike Giardi Boston Sports Journal, Bills and Patriots on Sunday, Sal Capaccio, Travis Yost, as we get closer to pregame and face off

25:04for the opener. Mike's open the Bulldog here, 803-050. Can they be as good? Are you thinking they won't be? Or just what? I'm going to try and to sway you. We'll look for your calls after a break. This is WGR. Sometimes it feels like the news is full of things that have never happened before. And that is not exactly true. In fact, it may have happened this very week, hundreds or thousands of years ago. I'm Sally Helm, host of the podcast History This Week from the History Channel. Traden Bargos, Thomas Jefferson tried them. Rent too high. We've been arguing about that for a while. Each episode is proof. The past isn't that far away. Listen to History This Week, available now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I just love this youth movement that they've got on the roster and the energy that comes with it. And more than anything else, the fact that I feel like whether it's Noah Oslin or Polanius or any of these guys, I just feel like they're all ready for the moment to stake their claim to these roles

26:10that they're going to be playing for this team in the apps in Savalex, Talking Players, like that. I just really like the mix. I like the vibes. I think that while there are some other surprise playoff teams from last year that I think might regress, I just feel like the Savers are on pretty solid footing. Let's go Buffalo. Greg Wiesinski yesterday from ESPN, loved hearing that. Optimism that the, if you will, youth movement will win out for them. Are we betting? Do we have a hat trick bet? Are we do are we are we back? I don't have my microphone on. I haven't even, I'm not in shape. I'm sorry, my alarm didn't go off. The dog ate my home. I haven't even looked at the game, considering from a wagering standpoint. I've not even considered it. Let's say right now is your alarm going off. Plus you have an extra hour. That's right. This year. What is, tell me 500 for the stage hat trick. That's, that's, that's, that's favorite. Did he score four or five there

27:14once? I scored five in Columbus. That's the owns them. Maybe that's when this even started. Yeah. Is when he did that and I started looking at the odds and like, oh, plus 7,000. I don't think I bet it right after he scored five. That was really five. I think I started soon after that. That was really five goals. Or maybe I already had it and there wasn't a thing to get to four or five. Like you couldn't bet it. I don't know what anyway. That's, that's a juicy number. 6500. It is. Last year I stopped our Taj Thompson hat trick bet business model. We, we had to pause because the number it was regularly below 5,000. And it just wasn't as lucrative to pair it with, I had to start putting extra stuff in there and just know they're sleeping on them. Yeah. Now I like that. I might have to, I might have to just on principle just get, get back on the horse. If they're going to start me with that kind of number, what a principle. I'm looking for $10 to get me a thousand.

28:14Aren't we all right? So with the Sabers minus one and a half and Taj Hatrick was getting me close when this all started. And I thought like, okay, I can lose this. You know, however many times I can lose this, you know, I lost, I mean, maybe lost $400 before it hit, but then I won a thousand. Like, okay, this, this works. I'm going to do this. It's works. It's a proven, it's full proof. A proven method of this model making money. So I might have to fight that up. Coolie is plus 40,000 by the way. I mean, if you want to make it interesting, I'm looking for a way to buy fantasy island. So if I spend a hundred dollars on coolie to have a hat trick. And I win 40 grand. Is that that's not enough though, right? Probably just fantasy island. I don't know. I don't even know if that's a down payment. It's a lot of land. It's a lot of land. It's a ride's land. It probably are all broken. I don't know. Wasn't even open this year. I feel like the ride just fantasy island. The rides might even be to the detriment of the property. A couple of

29:16million. At this point, like if you were buying the property, you might just be buying it to get the rides off of there and do something else. Disassemble them. Yeah. And you know what, build apartments. We have enough of that. We have enough of that in the island. Yeah. What do we want on that space, on that property? What do we want? What's best? Maybe it's an amusement park with water slides. It's like what we have. I actually thought of just a water park. Yeah, just forget. That's what they did last year. I forgot about the roller coasters and the log flume. I love that's water. Just yeah, just get full on. You know, get one of those lazy rivers. Yep. You want a lazy river? I definitely want to. I love the lazy river. When the kids were little and we'd go to like frontier town in Ocean City, Maryland, me and Kursa would just sit in the lazy river. Just go round and round. Yeah. Just float around. You're basically envisioning great wolf lodge only outside. Right. The whole thing is outside. There's little little fountains. There's that big bucket that's on your head. Right. Right. It all works. So, you know,

30:21can we make it year round? I probably want something year round. Can I build an attraction around the lazy river? Can I build a great wolf lodge? Although there is one pretty far. 15 minutes away. That's a. I don't think I need another. Yeah. Although it's across the border. Is there a competitor? Yeah. We try. Niagara Falls tried this. Do you remember what? Yes. There was that huge water slide place. I never once even set foot there. I never thought about it. No. I don't think I had kids when it was active. I think I'm done with water slides. I think I probably am too. I've been to a few different places. I'm not going to name them because it's not about criticizing, but like where you just sort of like bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, the whole way down and you sort of like feel like your elbows are getting cut up. Nobody wants that. And it's got to be smooth, man. If it's not going to be, if I don't know that it's going to be a smooth ride, I love a water slide. Yeah, but if there's a crease in there, then I'm going to catch my heel in or something. Like, I don't want any part of that. If I buy, if I, if Coolique has a hatchback and I parlay those

31:23winnings and buy fantasy island, no creases. That's my pledge to you. I still as a kid. Remember. That'll be the side of the line. A vacation with my family where we stayed in a motel right on the ocean in Myrtle Beach. And there was a water slide. There were a lot of water slide places. It was like the maybe the advent of the water park. Maybe hadn't happened yet, but places where you just find like, here's a place that's got three water slides. It's 20 bucks for the day, go in, whatever. And there was one place that had a seamless slide. And I just remember how happy my dad was. Yeah, my dad might have been 50 years, 50 years old at the time. And just watching him go down that thing, get out of the little pool and go back up because he was like, a little good weight. No seams. It's the best. No seams. No creases. That'll be the sign out front.

32:23Fantasy Island. Now with no seams. Under new management. Seemless. Seemless. Seemless fantasy island. What's the marketing? Was there that work in this room? They did have the water slides open last year. So you could go there and just do that. That was all they had. Yeah. And this year they didn't even open it. Yeah. Well, I don't think a coolie catcher is going to be enough, but it's nice to think about. Yeah, it's nice to dream. I was texting with Sal last night. Okay. About the Yankees. In fairness to him, you everyone, like my bet was there's no way Sonny Gray pitches a good game in the playoffs. He had a great year. He did pitch a good game. He was not the reason. No, he pitched a very good game. He probably should have stayed in. I don't know. I mean, they made their moves in the bullpen to do what they wanted to do. And in these two games, very small sample size, the guy they got to

33:26get the guy out each time came in and got give up ahead and gave up a run. It's like, oh, it's a one run game. Not anymore. We went to the bullpen. And then next thing, you know, it's nine and we're good night. But as you yesterday, how many series end and you nailed it three out of four? He said three out of four. I said one out of four. But white socks went through Yankees. I thought wood. And then also the Padres, whatever that looked like. I don't know. So late. I am, I'm texting with Sal because I was I was digging it a little bit. I am closer to becoming a Yankee fan that I've ever been. I'm a little bit kind of tasting it a little bit. You can't do it now. What? You can't do it now because like they're in the playoffs. Are you talking about it? Just a little bit, just a little bit. I recognize that I like watching their broadcast. I do too. It's the team I follow the most closely. I mostly do that because I feel like if there's any baseball conversation that's going to happen on this show, it being about the Yankees works for the audience for Sal for Paul, whatever.

34:32And but mostly it's I like to broadcast that that's it. I'm fine with it. I like David Cohn. I don't think I would watch it if I had access to every Red Sox game. I don't think I would watch the Yankees instead of the Red Sox game because I'm a fan of the Red Sox. But the broadcast gets me there all the time. I'm going to buy fantasy island and the new logo will have pinstripes. You cannot, you cannot, you cannot. I can't like a team. You can't decide you like the Yankees. Can't be the, has to be like what the Giants anyone else is on the blockies. You cannot be bad. You don't get to decide. You said Manchester United. I had no idea they were the Yankees. I honestly did not know. They were the Yankees. Well, you said all the reasons I got on board was is lose. I mean, lose relative. Tell me how many times they finished below Everton. They haven't been a championship caliber team since I started following them. So I had I was innocent. I didn't know what I was signing up for. And I think it's honorable that I'm staying there through this ghastly era that they

35:34think is. Please. So don't get on me. Please. You know exactly what the Yankees are. It's a good way to get. Well, you have despised what the Yankees are for most of your life. And you are how old now 54. Something like that. You cannot just decide you like the Yankees because you like Michael K. I'm not deciding anything. I'm just telling you that I'm feeling something. Well, go to the doctor. I'm not deciding anything. It's not a choice. No. Becoming a fan of a team is not a choice. It happens to you. You're born somewhere. That's your team. Enjoy. Good luck. GLGL. That's your team. You were born there. So good for you. Go ahead for you. That's your team. You know, that's how that goes. It's not a choice. I'm not choosing to like the Yankees. I just sort of I definitely found myself rooting for them in the last two games. Oh, you hate the Red Sox. I hate the Red Sox. That'll make this easier. That's part of the equation. I already hate the Red Sox. I like the blue jays. So that doesn't help. Yeah, right. That's like

36:36me. That's like me and the pushback I get because I have an Orioles cap. Like, you're not allowed to like the cap. What are you talking about? I'm a grown man. I like the cap. Listen, listen, let me ask. That was my actually, that was my father's yearbook quote. I'm a grown man. I like the cap. No one knew what he meant. He was the editor of the yearbook and that's it got through. It got through. Let's see what Yankees rays looks and feels like. And my should I, on principle, should I want the rays? I should I should want the rays. That should be my style. It's the Tampa Bay rays. And I'm not going to want to watch no rays and Cleveland play in the A no, it's over. Some of those games will be in Tampa, which is a huge problem for me. It's over. Yeah. If the Yankees lose to the rays, the baseball season is kind of, there's nobody on the other side. I like, I guess I could want to see the history if the Dodgers win three in a row. Yeah, but they're not, they're not likable. Seeing if, seeing if anyone can beat the Dodgers, like, that's interesting.

37:37Tampa Dodgers aesthetically, really, even just saying the names sounds awful, but I could competitively, I could easily get there on rooting for the rays because they're, you know, they're the rays. We had that World Series. Sure we did. Blake's no. The Dodgers have played everybody in the world. They're in the world series every year. They take turns. Didn't we have the Dodgers in the race? Yeah, I don't, I don't, but sure. I came remember who was in it last year. I was at the game. That's a real James and Dodgers. Toronto. A little more recent. That was close to home. So very sad. But anyway, Tampa versus the Dodgers is, you know, David Goliath, it's the worker versus the, you know, the billionaire class, whatever. It's, there's, that's juicy. The, the rays people that built the rays went to LA. Like they left. Yeah. That's a long time ago now, but they, they took the money. Well, I don't know. Give me a chance. Let me, let me watch it and like, in report back Yankee's race.

38:38I'm not, I'm not, what will give you a chance of being a Yankee fan? No, I'm not choosing anything. I just want to see what it, what I, yeah, yeah, I'm going to want Tampa to win because that'll, that'll be like, right, shot and Freud. Like that'll feel good. But then if they do, it's and I'm going to realize like I'm not watching baseball. It's like wanting the one seed in the NCAA tournament lose to a, whatever. And then you're like, Oh, I don't know any of the guys on this team. I want Kentucky back. Oh, there's a none that likes them. Okay, great. Like what am I doing here? Sister gene, right? Sorry, sister gene did not need to catch a straight there. The late. Welcome to the show. First time. I don't know. I'm not saying there's anything voluntary happening here. But I enjoyed texting with Sal. I want to predict. They would win big and then they did. And I was kind of gloating. Get a handle. Get a handle on yourself then. Just, just get it under control. That's all I ask you to just go go back to rooting for Cincinnati. That's what I should do. That's got to be really satisfying. That's very fulfilling. Go Reds. That's what I, that's Everton. That's

39:39what I should do. Just root for the Reds. And never know who's on the team and never want to watch a game and being mad at Jeff Brantley. That's, that's what I should do. You know, because he's always telling you the thing that they would have said 30 years ago. See on their broadcasts. Yeah. Okay. I figured I just wanted to make sure. Yeah, I don't need, I don't want to be like that anymore. I'm, I'm done with that. I don't have to pick losers. I'm done with losers. Paul Hamilton coming up at three later. Mike Giardi, Sal Capaccio, Travis Yost. Big day. Sabers in Columbus, Game 1 tonight. Pre-game at six. Mike's show up in the Bulldog WGR. Every week on the Moth Podcast, you'll hear true stories that will intrigue you, inspire you, and make you laugh. He said, is there anything in your diet that might be spiking your blood sugar? I said, sometimes I eat pizza until I'm unconscious. He said, I think that might be it. For real stories live on stage, from comedians, astronauts,

40:41accountants, farmers, and people just like you, follow and listen to the Moth wherever you get your podcasts. It's Paul Hamilton. Oh, it's symbolic and hell will it go to each other? So is he? By the way, we have to fight. With Mike's show up in the Bulldog. Not check was just totaled by an Iowa State player against the board. I think it was by Hamilton. Not WGR. Really a pretty unnecessary hit by Hamilton. Hamilton is still awfully mad. He's being held back. Sports Radio 550. Whenever I stop and think about it, I just love that guy's voice for what he's describing. I think imagine the biggest brawl you've ever seen in hockey. And the announcer is like, Mike Milbury seems really mad as he's climbing into the Madison Square Garden crowd to

41:46fight fans. Someone with his own shoes. He's not pleased. He seems to have a little bit of a problem here. He's kind of upset. I mean, come on, man, lean into it a little bit. There's point, punch and security guards. That's going to be a suspension, whatever. I just like, come on. Different times maybe. He sounds like he's broadcasting from a library. Yeah, he didn't really rise to the moment. And if I know the player, if I think I know the player that Paul was, I mean, there would have been huge crowds. So I don't know what happened there. Sabers and blue jackets, tonight from Columbus, Paul, did you make it to Columbus? I did. You know, that guy said that it was an unnecessary. There's no such thing as an unnecessary hit. That's not that's not a thing. No, no, hit is unnecessary. We're competing out here. Right. And I think I may have told you guys, this my girlfriend at the time recorded that. But she didn't get the first part of the game when I

42:48scored two goals in the first five minutes. So we don't have the goals, but we do have the brawl, which by the way, did wind up in the stands. Not with me. I was in the locker room by that. But it did wind up in the stands. Holy Moses players and fans. College hockey brawling in the stands. I had a tattoo. My jersey and shoulder pads were off. My skates weren't off yet. And I heard the commotion went out and they're up in the crowd. Wow. Do we have a clip of that? Did you grow from record that? And did I'm sorry? Did that frake is spill over from the thing you were involved in originally? Yeah. So you started a brawl that ended up with fans maybe getting punched by hockey players. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No doubt about it. And I wasn't even involved in the ball Hamilton grows. Inmeasurably. We didn't know this. I did not know the part about the fan bro. Well, the broadcast of it, they couldn't, they didn't understand what was going on. And finally, the female person said, I'm going to go over there and see what's happening here. Because I don't understand what's happening here. Well, they're in the stands. That's what's happening here. Is there any chance that exists somewhere? Like a college hockey fight with fans? Shouldn't that

43:54maybe exist somewhere? Oh, that's happened many times in many buildings. I remember we were at Mancato, which is now Minnesota state and the fans were like behind our bench, like hanging over the glass. And I didn't know what was planning on nor did I hit the fan. But I swung my stick as hard as I could on the glass right under their chin. And that ended it right there. Wow. Do we have to talk about the Sabers? Paul, what conference was Iowa State in the federally with the Charlestown chiefs? Like, what the hell was going on out there? Federal prison. That's how we rolled back then. I mean, I know it's a different era, but holy cow. No, no, unless the game was on TV, Mike, there's not going to be footage. I mean, I shoot it with the camera phone or something. Well, Channel 8 wasn't there. For the six o'clock news. Nothing like that. What was this 1978? Paul, what are we talking about? Yeah, somewhere there. Right. No, it would have been a year or two later. Oh, wow. Good stuff. Do you think anything of the sort will happen tonight? Paul,

44:55in Columbus. I'm hoping so. You're for it. You will be able to witness it. Well, they can't be involved. Is that okay? All right. All right. All right. All right. What happened? All those bench clearing brawls that used to happen back in the day. You missed them. I can tell you missed them. All right. So the Sabers lineup going into night one here. I know we've been over it a few times in recent days, but what's the final answer? Yeah, Samuelson's in. Yeah, he was fine. He was out there for the morning skate paired with Dalline, which put crevier with power. Crevier has already played with everybody. Start with Timon's and then Dalline. Now he's playing with power. So it didn't take long. And for his effort, he's got a contract expression. So good for him. You know, that he's already earned that. And that's seems like the kind of general manager that Yarmul Kekalainen is going to be. He's not going to wait. You know, he's going to evaluate. He's going to look. I think he's very confident in how he and his staff evaluate players. And if he feels that they're a fit for the Buffalo Sabers, they're going to get a contract extension. What do you like

45:57and not like so far recognizing you've gotten, you know, very limited looks at him. But what what crevier is a maybe of quite a curiosity going into tonight is six eight defensemen who to my eyes, Paul, I've seen very little. But what I've seen is a guy that he doesn't move around the ice like Logan Stanley did. I'll put it that way. Like he moves around the ice very effectively. Like he looks like a player more normal sized. Yeah, this is a hockey player who can move. He can shoot. Stanley can shoot too. That was one thing he could do, although he never could get the shot off. And yeah, I mean, I said to him, power is sitting next to him after we were done talking to crevier. He says, this is the first time that your defensive partner is bigger than you. He'll have to go, yeah, pretty much. I mean, he's just a towering man. And, you know, so yeah, I've liked what I've seen from him so far. He seemed to have fit in well. And just talking to people around the black hawks last year, it was like he came up for the miners and everybody was like, wow,

47:01well, where's he been? You know, they really liked him and then he started playing some top four minutes and then he gets traded when the Byron trade. And I think there were some Chicago fans are all disappointed in that. I think they liked what they saw with him in three quarters of a season last year. Well, it's nothing exactly new. I mean, Byron has come and gone. Byron, did I say that? He's coming gone. But really, the Sabers continue to have their blue line locked down for years now. Here they've added crevier and that's through 2031, I guess, four years from now. So Dalline, Samuel, Sin, Power, Zellweger, even for a couple years too. Three years, I think, Zellweger. Yeah. So this is their team. And here they got, you know, two guys in College hockey and one in Rochester that are supposedly going to be very, very, very good hockey players, you know, all three project to be top four guys. So, you know, they're

48:06not going to be able to put all them into the lineup. I mean, they're going to, if they want to, they're going to move some people. So it seems like, you know, they're happy with what they have. So, again, that's, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, you've got trade ammunition if you need it. I mean, but yeah, they've got all these guys signed long term. Plus they got three really, what I call studs coming. You know, one, they just drafted in the first round. It's going to be a Denver this year and Cleaver and then now Mert Kud down in Rochester. And where is Cleaver? Is he, where is he? Why can I think of the Minnesota dilute, Minnesota dilute. I thought, okay, good. Paul put Mancato in your head. That's it. I still call it Mancato. We even know it's charged a Minnesota state. My dad calls it Mancato, but I call it Mancato. Did St. Cloud change something too? Because we used to play St. Cloud and they, I'm thinking they may have changed their, their name. I'm not sure. St. Cloud state. Yeah, I don't, I don't know, Paul. I'll, I'll Google for

49:07you. And then, and so third pair is what? Mets a girl sick then? Yeah. And then Gilbert would be the extra from what we saw today. As Wendy Ruff said, they're gonna seven here. That's why they called up and just to explain people might say, well, uh-oh, Zellwiggers on IR. It's, it's okay. They had to have an aroster spot to bring up Gilbert. If he's ready Saturday, he can play because you can retroactive it. I didn't say that word, right? But whatever. Retroactive, yeah. Didn't seem like it came out of my mouth correctly. And, um, yeah. So if he passes, he supposedly is doing the baseline testing again today. If he passes, he'll be able to play Saturday. Yeah. He feels fine, according to Litty Ruff. It's not that he regressed. You just can't, you got to get back to your baseline. He hasn't done it yet. So, you know, that's all that they're waiting for. Sometimes it takes a while. Um, I, I can't remember the player, but there was a saber who was like feeling great, but he couldn't get to his baseline and it took him a bit to do it. Uh, but don't worry about that he went on IR. It doesn't matter. He can play Saturday if he's ready. Do guys still, I can

50:11remember when this baseline thing first became like a known thing. And I don't want to, I, I already regret having started down this road because I don't want to make light of treating concussions, but they're the idea that you should like not, like sort of fudge your baseline test. Before the season begins so that the, you know, to get to such a high level by the, you know, once you get hurt, yes. Uh, you know, who did that? Was like a joke or like a, just a thing that I know I heard hockey players talking about. Like, let me suppose it's happened. I know who knows. Yeah. Dr. Johnny fever. Okay. When he took that breathalyzer test on the air W. K. R. P. Like, he blew it. No pun intended. Uh, the first time, like the baseline sober, right. And he was just like really slow on the button. Right. And then he just got faster. I don't remember much. Yeah. It's like 10 things I remember. I'm, I'm, I'm being very honest here. I can watch a movie, enjoy it. And three to

51:11five years later, watch it again and really not know what happened. It is all, it's like watching it again. I just don't retain any of that stuff. You, you, Boke used to be that way too, where he could recite lines from movies. And I'm like, how do you guys do that? He's not anymore like that. Is it flytrap or fever? Am I? No, no, the two of us. One's the one that gets fast. Do we need this laid out here? Venus flytrap and Dr. Johnny fever, DJ's at WKRP in Cincinnati. Thank you. And they brought like a sheriff's deputy in or something to, to, to provide evidence on the air of like what happens? How, how quickly your skills can deteriorate once you've had a drink. And so flytrap and Johnny fever both were drinking the same amount out there doing shots or what they were doing. And flytrap deteriorated and made the, you know, the example of like, this is why you shouldn't drink and drive. And he's like passing out into the chair. Dr. Johnny fever got better with each drink. Like his reaction time was faster. And the sheriff's deputy was like, ah, this is, now what we wanted. Paul still no recollection of this. Now the bulldog is laid it out in such detail.

52:15Not at all. Way too long. Is crevier good penalty kill time? I would imagine so. But we'll see. I mean, I mean, Samuel, send in Dalline, obviously, Power Will. They'll miss Timons there. That's the big thing Timons does. So, you know, you have Mets and Grizzlyk. I mean, Mets have finally got some penalty killing time near the end of his 10 year last year. And, and did okay. First, whatever reason, Lindy Ruff didn't put him out there till the very end. So I suppose could be him. Well, that's just have to wait. The problem with the penalty kill is they've been working on the power place so much that we haven't really gotten to see the penalty killers. I mean, they're out there. But some of their penalty kill is on the power place. So we're not really getting a true idea of the penalty kill because because of that. So, you know, well, our first real good exposure is going to be today during the regular season. We're going with are we going with Louis Krevier and that he is from Quebec City. I actually happened to ask him today. Oh, I hope

53:16I hope he answers yes. He said yes. I said Luis or Louis and he said Louis will be fine. Good for you Paul. He's from Quebec City. So then a better not be we better not hear that S. Yep. Well, I don't know about that. But I just I just go and ask like I ask for I remember asking Varada and he told me Votslav and for two years I called him Votslav and nobody else did and people would criticize me and I'd say look at I went to him and asked him and he told me what to say and then finally after two years everybody kind of caught on Paul Hamilton on the Westor hotline. So the forward lines Paul there they are really going to take this colleague Eric Mellon's time line out for a spin it seems unless there's some some giant misdirection and he's going to be in some different place or something. I know we've talked about it maybe every time we have visited since this started happening and I think we're in agreement but I you know they're they're doing it so I guess let's see how it goes. They at least are going to Pocouli get center it sounds like.

54:21I'm already said he didn't really like him at wing today. He said he liked him better at center. So it seems like he's going to move to center and character the wing. So I can at least get a little bit behind bat more but still yeah I they're going to run. And Wendy said look at if we have a problem in the top nine somebody's not playing well or whatever I can I can move him up you know and so it just makes me wonder again and I know I've mentioned to this to you guys. Is he saying to Kool-Eek you got to earn it back? You got to earn your spot back even though he is not your fault that you wound up with a blood clot but you got to earn it back. There's nothing wrong with that. That's right and you know maybe if it goes well enough you know we'll see what kind of timeline there is on that but you know I think maybe we've pointed this out too like the McLeod spot is the immediate spot like you might like to see Kool-Eek eventually up on a you know with Thompson say like he was when he initially left the lineup I think but even if he would have played with

55:23CREBS and Hellenius that makes even more sense and I think frankly McLeod with Karrick and Mellon sign also makes sense like that's a line I wouldn't mind putting out against the other teams best line if I've got McLeod Karrick and Mellon sign on the ice. Sorry I interrupted you if there's no more injuries then when Zooker comes back somebody will come out. Is that Karrick? Is that Kool-Eek? Is that who? I mean but as I always say though it just this all seems to work itself out in the end and when he's ready to come back there's probably going to be another injury that you don't have to worry about it so but if they do have to worry about it then somebody's coming out when he comes back. How about the the opponent tonight Paul here is I don't have a sponsored read because it's not the pregame show as we look you know across the ice at tonight's opponent brought to you by no one because it's not the pregame show. Wow what to boom. What? First of all you out there thought you sponsored that and you didn't. Right not now.

56:24Well what what is nice clear to be is there visa stuff with him too? I know like the Marchenko thing got resolved very quickly for Toronto and he was you know in the lineup barely 24 hours after the trade was made. There's been a few days since they transaction but we've seen other times when the Sabers acquire players from Canada that they got they get held up. Do we know Naisa status for tonight? Well I've seen and I know your guys are missing it because there've been times where it's been going on while I've been talking to you but they've already gone through the pregame stuff. His picture is not up on the board yet so everybody else is but we'll have to wait and see on that. The big thing about this game is there are 12 defensemen that'll be on the ice between the two teams. Five of them will not be that would normally be on the ice would not not going to be out there. Two for Buffalo and three for Columbus. Provaroff, Severson and Fabro are not playing. They're all three are injured. So then you know right off the bat Columbus also

57:26has a problem on their blue line missing half of their guys. Luke and in tonight and then maybe do you think also Saturday? Yeah could be they could they wouldn't need a backup until the home game on Monday followed by the road game and Montreal on Tuesday in the middle of the month. So they could there are there are enough days in between if they wanted to ride Luke and and right up till that point they could. I don't know what he's going to do. I don't know if you would alternate with Alice or not because I think he likes how Luke and in handles the alternating also. So he may want to say to say you know what let's just try it. Let's let Alice go Saturday and look in in the next day and Alice and let's just try it and see how it goes. If it doesn't go well but you can always put Luke in and in and let him roll with it. So you know Lindy Ruff is not showing his hand yet so we're not going to know till Saturday. Very good. Are you at the arena? It sounds like maybe you are. I am yeah I decided quickly that I sit in the hotel room after a game with my

58:32eyes wide open going I wish I was driving right now so I'm going to do that today. I've already checked out and got a room around Willoughby Hills on the other side of Cleveland which is about 2.5 hours away. So that's about the what I can do after a game and being here all day you know drive for 2.5 hours get half the drive done grab a room and then I only have a couple of hours tomorrow. Sabers have five in a row at home after tonight to start their season and then it's Paul alluded to it Montreal Toronto Montreal. One of the goofiest road trips I think I've ever been part of. It's like are you kidding me why not just go Montreal Montreal Montreal Toronto. What are we doing here? They'll come home between each of those games probably for their day off. Not home home home. You don't think so. Well it's Tuesday Thursday Saturday so yeah I would. They're there. They're it's insane. I'm going to be on so many trains. I'm not even going to know what I think I'm going to be on three trains. No I think it's more than that. However many it's three or more. You'll stay up there in that week. Yeah. No I'm not going to stay up there. I'll come back for the Toronto

59:36game in Toronto. I'll stay in Toronto and then hop back on the train Pat Mullichar was going to come to that the next Montreal game so off we go to Toronto or back to Montreal and then back to Toronto on Sunday to go home. That's what I meant in Canada. You'll stay in Canada. That's what I meant. Oh yeah yeah okay. Thanks for this. Sarah we don't have rock music blurring behind you. Maybe next time you could arrange that. Well it was going actually it's right at the end when I was on with your son and Brad and it started and we thought we were getting the cannon because the cannon was up on the thing and we the music was blurring and Brad's going I love this and you're saying I love this and we we were disappointed the cannon did. All right well sorry to them. Thanks for this and we'll talk again soon. All right take care. All right there you go that is Paul Hilton on the westor hotline. His appearances are brought to you by Raylax Honda Raylax we got this. Chicago Saturday night Minnesota Tuesday night Dallas next Thursday night Utah next Saturday night Florida

1:00:40the following Monday afternoon. Holiday Columbus day right you still call it Columbus day. I had that today's Columbus. As soon as that flew out of my mouth I thought what are we calling that now? I'm sorry I apologize. For me tonight is Columbus night. How's that now? They're playing Columbus. Oh right sure. Yeah. Who they playing on on the 12th? Florida. Okay it's Florida night. Yes I could or Florida day. Yes it's a day game. You got it now. You're right you're locked in. I think I think I made a decision while we were talking to Paul. I think I'm gonna I think it's been working on me for a little while and I find myself more and more feeling like I'm going to become a Florida panthers fan. Oh you know I think that you know I like you know I like their style. I like the coach. You know the fact that they're in Florida. It's not that appealing but I think I can get past that and really I love their broadcast. Here I thought it was safe to just sort of speak

1:01:42openly and this happens. Is there a Buffalo team in Major League baseball that I would be you know moving out so I could root for the Yankees? Sorry I'm not prepared to take any follow-up questions but I made my statement. I don't expect to root for the Yankees stand on my state. I just feel like I could but Tampa is a team that you have to respect and I love it when I'm watching the raise and the Yankees in New York and the raise win like I love that. Mm-hmm. It's like an underdog even though this it's a Major League baseball franchise it feels like an underdog always perpetually but then I know that if the Yankees lose the series to the raise I'm not going to care anymore about like I'll kind of want to the Yankees are Yankees right in Tampa's Tampa and Tampa and I'm just not gonna not what it should be about. Yeah. No I sports is not rational like that. I

1:02:43definitely always feel that part of it. Yeah. Sabers and Blue Jackets pregame at six one of those games coming up is a 630 game. We'll have to figure out what to do then. The game in the first game in Montreal is 630 game. Baseball is doing that all the time and maybe hockey is starting to do more of it. Coming up at four Mike GRD from the Boston Sports Journal he's been on with us many times. No Christian Gonzalez apparently at Patriots practice today or Christian Barmore to key players on that defense were not spotted at least by one reporter at practice. What are the Patriots getting into this Sunday? Sal Capaccio Travis Yost in the five o'clock hour Mike show up in the Bulldog here at 803-0550 this is WGR. Hey y'all I'm Maddie and I'm Poodle and together we host the podcast reality gays. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one. So whether it's 90 day fiancee love is blind love after lockup or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love your gay besties got you covered

1:03:47all new shows every week following listen to reality gays wherever you get your podcast. He's been good there's a level that I think he can get to he's working hard trying to do the right things I'd like to see a few more opportunities but he's doing the right thing and I think you'll get rewarded for that eventually. You know he's playing a little bit more wing is that affected a little bit of his playmaking ability maybe but again that's kind of the luxury that we're at right now. When you're up consta Helenuse is the subject first of three tonight first of three this year with Columbus tonight seven o'clock usually opening night there's like a drawn out player intro period so maybe you're looking at quarter after or yeah 20 after yeah I would think of where the opening phase of that I'll introduce all the video associate coaches and all that

1:04:52stuff on the trainers and you know the equipment managers the whole the whole team and then the players who aren't dressed will be in suits on the bench and then yeah that'll introduce the whole lineup. That's all we do it. So Zellweger will be one of those kind of awkward walking out from the tunnel behind the bench quick wave because he will not be well if he doesn't play. Well that's yeah well yeah tonight he won't. No I mean Saturday. Don't write Saturday and get that far. Sure yeah. Yeah for the home opener. Right yeah they don't do that for the sabers tonight. No they do not. The visiting team is not yet. They don't exist. No really no and I'm sorry I shouldn't have muddied the waters about knives. He's been practicing there. There's no there's no I'm sure he's available. I just I thought to ask Paul just because there wasn't question about Marchenko and that got resolved quickly but anyway they played both games. Yeah Toronto. Yeah they won last night after losing their opener to Montreal. So yeah I would expect to see nice tonight for Columbus. You're hoping to. You love him. Yeah but you know when I you loved to win I loved

1:06:00him as an idea for the sabers. I mean he might as well just fall into a crevice in the earth's surface going to Columbus. I'm never gonna pay attention to Columbus. Oh wow wait till they hear that. No wait till that goes up on the scoreboard. The flagship I'm never going to pay attention to you. And the sabers will be like that's we didn't say that. That'll be a story. Let's go to Dan here. Hello Dan. Hi thanks for taking my call. Sure thing Dan. I'm actually pretty bullish on a defensive group even with the departure of going viral. I think most people would agree that among the top four defensemen last year if they had to depart with one of them I think he would probably be the one. Also before I agree with that. Yeah I think he's a good player maybe a solid B player like high B player but

1:07:03I think it's also important to acknowledge that he's always played with seems like he's always played with a number one overall pick in his career in Buffalo but I think that in the aggregate with the I'm actually I loved it outweigher even before they traded for him to be honest but I'm in the aggregate across the six defensemen I think that they I think they might be better. I really do and even like I don't point on the offensive side just curious about your thoughts on it. There is some concern about replacing tux production but I remember before the previous year there was also some concern about replacing petrika's production too so. What I'm going to be looking out for this year with all these younger players is that net front presence especially with Alex talk being out also with Zucker being in or Zucker being out for at least a couple weeks as well. I think there are two of the best in the league at it but I was kind of curious to see what your

1:08:05thoughts were on the you know for example with defensemen we talk about how it takes him a few years or a X number of games to develop into their full potential but that net front presence is kind of a skill too that some of these players may need to learn so I was just curious to see how many games or seasons or there was any just thought about and having that that presence there as well. The young guys. Yeah it's a good question. I agree I've said I don't know about if they're going to be better overall really depends on what they get out of Kravier I think and then Zellweger of course too but that could be right like if Kravier hits to like is an upgrade as a third pair guy and that's not where he's starting here right now but you know I feel pretty safe that Zellweger will go with power when he's healthy but we'll see you know there were there were plans last year for that to be canceling and that never got in the air

1:09:07right so it could be in flux but I like the Zellweger bet right away to replace Byram and I like Byram maybe more than than than some but I think the on paper like reading about him watching some clips of them I think it's a good it's a safe bet it's a good bet doesn't have to work but I think it's reasonable enough and yeah the overall could be stronger I think power is starting the year at a different place than he was at the start of last year like I just I think it's not just a fan sentiment I think has changed on him I think there's a lot more pro power it was you know constantly he was the guy that seemed to be in the crosshairs because he wasn't mean enough or whatever it was isn't it there are there were flaws and there probably still will be in his game his net front awareness and and whatnot could have been better I'm not saying he was a perfect player but I always thought it was worth you know staying on track with him and I think they finally

1:10:11started to get paid off and if that continues then that's a way that they'll be better back there just because he's more fully formed I think he's more comfortable more confident in everything he's doing because I think he's seen some success now and so that could really build on itself so I like that point the net front I think is a good point too I think like looking at their lineup I'm not sure who that guy is I mean I don't want to say like default to don doing everything that talk did because he was here last year too like but yeah and they'll miss that well especially while Zuckers out because that was a big part of his game as being in front of the net yeah good job Dan I agree with pretty much everything you said let's go to Jack next hi Jack hey guys how's it going good thanks first time call and been listening to you guys for years thank you so thanks guys I was I wanted to talk about the goalies all right my son and I have had season tickets for

1:11:14five years I canceled them last year after the Colorado game at the beginning of the season but we're looking and they need to trade on why they can and I say go with Lion Cotin Ellis and let those two guys ride it that's just my thoughts on that one and Mike I played show show and ball with the Orioles with Murf don't know or Chris oh I'm gonna let you know that okay yeah good thank you yeah we were Cardinals so I don't know how big a rivalry birds birds that birds though yeah yeah thanks Jack yeah birds uh yeah show shown good times um I say that now is I don't have to be there for like 12 hours on a Saturday with three games that are all just far enough apart that I can't go home I was only ever there once so for some reason in my kids baseball years it was only ever once that we were there yeah it's tough to get to yeah it's hidden there at the end of beard avenue there you can see it from hurdle but there's you know the park it's yeah it's a little it's it's tricky I mean trading gem trading Luke and in I think that's crazy right now without

1:12:18without a proven NHL starter in you know in because I don't think Alex Lion is carrying the male for he's not he to me he's not a he never has been I only he is now he was a very nice compliment to Luke and he had a very good year for them he's not a number one and Ellis is barely played so I mean that's the opposite like the only way I'm trading Luke and it is if I trade for hella book that's it he's to me their best bet still you may be sour on him uh you know and fans are they have every right to be disenchanted with this player or that player they do not have a better goalie right now Alice may develop into one we'll see like that is still a project that is not a finished product uh yet to be like the number one goalie on your team or even be you know what Lion was last year which was you know splitting time with Luke and in I just I think

1:13:19that would be a leap of faith that would be irresponsible at this point so I don't see a Luke and in trade without a hella book trade that's the only way I see it I think just in general we've made it to opening night they should want to get into their season and see what they might think they need I mean right now you're still guessing at that like you would have been three months ago so let's see if after 10 or 20 games what is their problem I mean they they will be held accountable to being a team that has to have the playoffs in sight like that there's no turning back on that after last year and sometimes you know you get a third of the way through the year and you don't have a certain thing you got to go get it at that point I've got the surplus if you will on you know in terms of young talent forwards at some point it becomes I mean I gotta make it and it's not

1:14:20like you ever want to have to live like that but this is what they've sort of signed up for this year after last year and I think it's a good thing I think as per our conversation from last hour it was an opportunity for them to go big and you're spending wise in the off season and they didn't do it whether that was in a trade or a signing or something and so now we'll see if they were right as they get into the season and maybe they will be yeah you know we talked to Greg Wachinsky yesterday he talked about how much he liked the talent and the vibes and sort of the the makeup of the Sabers roster that is giving them the benefit of the doubt or giving those young players the benefit of the doubt and again we don't know yet if that will be right to do yeah I mean you could I I would not advocate for this at all is something that makes sense trade Luke in for another Luke in in you know like a dip you know some some version of a guy making around 5 million bucks

1:15:20who's not a made man yet who's been sort of up and down you know kind of like Luke in has been mostly and that that is that would be change for change say I don't need that and I don't need that I think it makes any sense that's what the penguins and oilers did right exactly last year it well yeah Tristan Jari for Skinner okay great well how that go you know terribly so it's not worth doing to me you it could work anything could work right but to me you're just as smart to hang on to Luke and in and hope that he gives you another you're like he gave you last year their gold tending was a strength of the team that's why to me like Halibuk was never my first favorite idea it sort of became my last resort idea and was still worth doing and I think it still is now but that's a different level of player you're not exchanging mid goalie for mid goalie you're going

1:16:21for someone who credibly can be considered the best goalie on earth right now at least at the pro level that's a very different thing that's the only way you're trading Luke in in right now I think it would be insane to do anything else Mike Giardi on the Patriots coming up in 20 minutes five o'clock hour Sal Capaccio and Travis Yostin at six pregame for Sabers Boulou jackets might show up in the bulldog here thanks Jack for your call this is WGR hey there I'm Kendra Adachi and my show the lazy genius podcast helps you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't and you get to decide what matters I'm not here to tell you what to do I'm here to give you a new way to see episodes of the lazy genius podcast are full of compassionate time management tips and permission slips to do what makes sense for you new episodes drop every Monday following listen to the lazy genius podcast on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts

1:17:24it's my show you might be mocking me or you might be staunchly agree with me I can't tell I'm mocking you and the bulldog what is Fuzzy Bear's role in this production not WGR sports radio 550 we were just talking about and I appreciate a few tweets I've gotten about it since like the all-time great guests on the show the one seeds if you will and I will say our current guest he was very high-ranking Mike Giardi the Boston sports journal so Mike I'm going to turn my back to bulldog and tell you that he's in here for the last five minutes blasting Wilson contraris to me I don't know I'm I'm I'm I'm a little bit weary from the last five minutes Mike could you notice the play last night Mike Boston sports journal so I know we're here to talk Patriots but early innings story makes like a diving play corrals the ball from his knees throws to first and contraris isn't there like he's running to the bag and catches the ball he has to

1:18:30reach out to catch the ball he's not at first base and the game was still scoreless and I thought it was a really weird play that wanted some analysis from the broadcast grew and all he said was he wasn't there and I'm like well why what was he doing what what is happening oh this is happening again so you know what that was that was contraris who was dealing with a hand in debris also apparently had his head in his anal cavity okay that was part of it too great that was not on the injury report yeah I guess flying here Mike no no they they tried to hide that so did he it was yeah right I guess so all right fair point interesting we can we can move on it just I thought it was a really it more than the mistake made it didn't it result in anything the next player grounded out the ending was over and then we just went out with our lives but in the moment I'm like why wasn't he there and Tim McCarver would still be talking about it right now if that had happened like how in the world are these people not addressing the first baseman just

1:19:30decided not to cover first base hold on there are only four of them in the book me really seriously can we have more people involved in the broadcast we we continue to think we need more people on these games no no less is better less is more for sure well thank you for today Mike Mike GRD boss and sports journal I know we started with baseball can you guys I don't want to be the guy that says they should change the format every year but is two out of three not impossibly short after a 162 game season I they don't want to play into the snow you know the snowfall two out of three like 162 games for what Houston Boston Cubs Cubs like those were goods the red socks had a historic great good season with a 15 game winning streak and everything and then okay bye that's so I don't know what you do to fix it I don't want to be changing it all the time but just seems impossibly short two out of three Mike what do you think you have a thought on that well I

1:20:31would say that I'd say the smart thing to do would be to reduce the regular season by a handful of games and then you know because I kind of think it's sort of under the guy's a the weather issue that you you run into in October especially in the northeast but also you know quote unquote player safety don't blow guys out but yet you know they'll play 162 in the regular season because home dates mean money mean TV contracts etc so you know that's that pro sports I think it's fine this right there that's right the Cubs and Red Sox that last series we were talking in here but they have to whatever they have to do to split up that double header they will do it I mean they wanted to move everything up but they had to make sure they could empty the stadium and refill it for the extra yet the game well Mike I mean it was okay for it it was okay for the yet he said have their last game scrub again this would not have changed the result don't get done right the Yankees are vastly superior team but like then the Yankees get their last game scrub because of the weather in the northeast because that game didn't have any bearing in the playoffs and it's like oh so you made the Red Sox and Cubs

1:21:32travel from Boston to which the series got moved up to play a double header then fly to Tampa Bay at 11 o'clock at night and do that whole thing and the Yankees get to sit there and put their feed up because well we're already in position so yes no change here we we get the rest of next today and the Cubs and Red Sox both go winless from there as it happens well I mean hey Mike they added hockey games this year too two extra hockey just what everybody wanted with more regular season hockey games so we have that up to 84 unbelievable right I went up with the Bruins face off the other night I was like it's too early it's still September yeah I feel like we're feels like we're still a week and a half away from this you know you've got it nailed down when the season starts too early and it ends too late that's really when you know you have yes like hockey that's a sweet spot so Mike what is up with the Patriots I mean I think a lot of people predicted regression but so far it seems to most it looks worse than they had expected is that true is that fair I'm

1:22:35yeah how much time you got I mean we could I could I could go on an epic rant that would probably go for 20 25 minutes here I know we can't do that we have that we have that if you have that we have that yeah so obviously the big question you just look at Drake May and there's been real regression you know the Patriot Fandall Tayyout it's only three games but it's really been seven this is really started in the post season last year the last good game he played from start to finish was the jet game the regular season finale and you know we you saw the jet team last year they stunk on wheat rye and pumpernickel that was a bad bad football team and the Patriots treated as such then they started playing playing the real teams and oh well they went through the top five defenses it was like the gauntlet that no one had ever seen before yeah that's great but he didn't play well then and you got exposed completely in the Super Bowl and now that's sort of carried over where some of the brain dead plays he's making just they're inexplainable yeah like you just you're looking to me go what what were you thinking and he can't even really tell you what he was thinking

1:23:41you know we've had people like are you practicing well is that he often has to some plastic but you know it's just there's a million different things right now and I think he will bear the brunt a bit because you're the quarterback and you nearly won the MVP last year but he's not the only one that's playing subpar football right now well we'll hopefully carve out of some time here to get to everyone else but while we're on May Mike what do you make of the there's two stories now that are sort of gaining momentum in the narrative world one is there's a shoulder problem that dates back to these playoffs you're referencing from last January in February and then there's the relationship between he and his head coach Mike variable the shoulder story first because I know it's at least reached the point where Mike variables being asked about it at the podium is it is that smoke is something there how do you read that part of the story so the whole thing has been very interesting

1:24:41in the way it's evolved you know you mentioned the injury happened in the FC championship game against Denver he needed to shoot up the shoulder to play in the Super Bowl although again I was told at the time and then told afterwards there was nothing structurally wrong with the shoulder now they could be beesting me and whatever he just was he was dealing with some pain and some stiffness and this is the best way to let him be what he had been for the better part of the year and then he had the entire offseason we saw him never miss a day in the spring or summer he threw the ball very well this summer like this is the part of it I think I'm getting people like you guys told us he was ready to make the leap I'm like well if you watched him in the summer like we did every day you would have sought the same thing like he looked really good this summer not perfect but like more calm more confident delivering the ball with accuracy on time the whole thing right that usually just like haven't couldn't have predicted this thing was going to happen and then now this week it's been the development like after the game there's something wrong with your shoulder a lot of

1:25:42words that he used to answer those questions didn't say yes he didn't say no next day on the radio same thing didn't say yes didn't say no yesterday we were in front of him and I said look this is the yet to know question I'm not trying to be a jerk but like can you is your shoulder affecting how you're throwing the ball and he said no he's it and if you look at way I'm playing it's not the decision making and that you know that has nothing to do with my shoulder but that's the major security office coordinator that well I think he got dinged up in the game on Sunday so you know like I don't know it's the first time he's been on the easy report this year but this came out there he didn't think there was any issues and they said himself no definitively my shoulder is fine so I don't know I don't know if they're playing games I don't know if they're appeasing him because maybe he feels like he's on an island with this thing but whatever it is it is I can just tell you like even though he didn't play well against Jacksonville he's still ripped a handful of throws okay that if he had a shoulder problem he he couldn't do you know so that's

1:26:44what we have look at it okay and how about the relationship between the coach and the quarterback that I saw the clip of variable with the WEI guys seemingly begging them to ask him the right question so he could say it was a horrible decision or terrible or whatever it was and I just thought yeah that's interesting I I'm sure there's a method to that that variable I don't think you would just like half cock go off and you know verbally assault the quarterback like that on a radio show but that was kind of it was optically that was that was weird to me so I and they you know from all I can gather for when I witness like he does like card coaching but this might be to the next level sort of hey you know I'm not protecting you here I mean you know when he said repeatedly like we got to coach it better the guys around I'm gonna do better like it's you know it's not just one guy but he's not exactly sugarcoding the way the quarterback is playing and the decisions that he's making it's costing the team games I mean you if you watch the Seattle game it wasn't a great

1:27:48game by the Patriots offense but if you didn't implode in the final quarter they win the game and so now what what what kind of conversation are we having now if they go down and jack them on loose oh they're two and one and maybe the quarterback's not playing great but the two and one and they beat the defending champs who embarrassed them in the Super Bowl they beat them on their home field on the day that they brought up the banner you know so like it just I think the coaches really trying to hammer home Brable is like our fate rides with your decision making you know like you can't you can't do some of the things you're doing we don't teach you to do these things and like you don't want to put the the guardrails on them and tell them can't do the some of the things that make him or made him last year I should say special but at the same time and you guys probably you know not probably you went through this with Josh like there's a certain element where you just got to let him play because that's what they are but you can't keep putting the fate of the football team and and ruining the fate of the football team early in the season with some of the choices that you're making because I mean some of them are inexplicable that's a good and the right

1:28:52point about how fickle it all is when you think about the Seahawk game like that's the NFL right there is just I mean the the bills could have lost a Houston easily they just got all the bounces turn over stuff and now it's two and one versus two and one if that happens and like it's just a different conversation I was on with Matt Collar this morning purple insider on the Vikings and we talked about May because they're coming here Mike and he said you just can't make that throw that interception at the end of the game I said actually no quarterback makes that throw like I think I think you know that your whole life is a quarterback is to throw it away if under any duress even if you take a grounding penalty there so what I mean you're still you're going to kick that field go and tie the game I mean it's easy to say from my couch but yeah that that was really surprising so in your one of the one of the yeah one of the things they keep saying they keep using the golf analogy and it wasn't just Vrable it's been McDaniel's as well it's like you know Vrable's point is

1:29:52it's like he's almost squeezing the club too tightly and that's not you're not going to get better shots that way anybody who plays gone I'm a terrible golfer actually retired but like when I played like the more you want it is generally when it goes poorly you know like you just have to ease up a little bit and trust you're like you're damning the ball more than he's throwing it you know there's these these things that sort of correlate there and yeah it's just it's been it's been bad it's been bad and I would have said coming into this game because I don't all respect I don't necessarily love the bill's defense certainly not from a personal standpoint if they sort of make this change to Jim Leonard but like I can't tell you that they're going to get right in this game the Patriots are because I think the quarterback and the stuff around them just hasn't been good enough for me to think oh it's about to happen because it hasn't been about to happen yet Mike Bulldog shoots in the 70s I'll have you know 71 the other day 71 at the at the one of the easiest courses you could have played in your life I mean it's still whatever it's you know you're

1:30:54going to shoot your rage someday I could get the 71 if I was playing like one of those short par threes okay yeah this isn't maybe like on a good day maybe that's what it would have been you say you retired from golf oh yeah I just got you know I get to a point where if I can't figure out a way to get better at it it just became more frustrating than it was enjoyable so that that was that I can relate to that for sure Mike Giardi Boston sports journal on the west of her hotline with us here bills and Patriots on Sunday at high mark stadium in orchard park how about Josh McDaniels is rolled in all of this there's there's some that I'm reading and hearing about excuse me that are getting after his inability to change from the first half to the second half and then it's maybe become a little predictable I know is there is there a leg to stand on on that point so they're definitely more simplistic than you would like them to be or that you're accustomed to a Josh McDaniels offense being however like I said there's a whole number of things

1:32:02that are going into this right now not the least of which is like their protections been really bad they were almost at 60 percent pressure rate against Jacksonville and like I like Jacksonville's defense they might actually end up being like a top seven top eight defense but that pressure rate is unsustainable and it was a lot of like quick stuff too so you know when you're quarterback when you're right guard which was a massive problem for them and you know they'll be in new right this week when they're giving up quick pressures three or four times a second into the snap the whole play goes to you know what like I don't you know there's there's no formula for that that's not what the play was designed to do but that's what's happening right tackle was a disaster against Jacksonville but the week prior it was the center against against Pittsburgh the week against Seattle it was the left guard so it's it's always something different and so I asked Josh today I just like hey is there you feel handcuffed almost because you really don't know where the leak is going to spring next it's like I can't really coach that way it's not fair to the guys

1:33:03but you know I think it was pretty clear like there's some things we can do right now because we're just not getting good execution across the board it never gets enough play this point in in football discourse but it's so true look at the packers right now like yeah they just can't their quarterback is good he just can't get the ball off we had the chargers last week Mike and this is kind of their story and I don't know is Justin Herbert bad all the sudden or is it just that the pressure physically mentally psychologically just all sort of compounds and you know you become a player that looks like you just have never played before like it just it becomes so discombobulated so it's so it's so true I would just like to go back to make quickly like he's hesitating more in the pocket than I remember he's been doing as a rookie and you remember that team was awful and it was poorly coached in the whole nine yards but like he he doesn't trust what he's seeing defensively but he also doesn't trust that my protection is going to hold up

1:34:07or that my wide receiver is going to read in the right place and you know that just compounds sort of the I got to see it now before I throw it and you know if you try to see it before you throw it for too long in this league that's when you make mistakes because the other guy see it too they stepped in front of the pass and well there you go Mike you said you made a comment about the bill's defense I'm not sure we disagree with you about that like they haven't been they haven't been strong uh... they last week was better but really right now that the first two games they got they got big plays at at important moments like sacks that help them get stops and get off the field but and Detroit can do that to anybody but Houston still maybe not and so yeah it's it's a work in progress for sure I just wonder if may it's only a few games but I mean thinking of last year he won here and then the game in Foxboro the bills came back but it was the game in the 30s is there maybe in your mind some or has he said it is there some elements which is kind of like counterintuitive when it comes to playing the bills for a lot a lot of teams but maybe it's a sort of

1:35:10a to put it one way kind of a happy place for him and the matchup isn't so bad and the spread seems to think New England is very live in this game I mean it came down under seven today so it's not like this is expected to be a blowout or anything yeah I'm just at the point with them like I said I got I got to see it now far I believe it very big thing last year with the team you know kept saying to them like do you got to trust me believe it before we see it but you'll eventually obviously they did see it they won in Buffalo the one under when 16 of 17 games it's just a ball I'm trying to you try to take that sort of approach but I'm just watching them I mean it's 23 games again good defenses but 29 points in three games in no touchdowns last week you know 13 points against the Steelers whose offense was putrid in that game and you had multiple you need to go on that just I think Mike if you can

1:36:16hear me we're having a tough time with your connection so unless we can sort of grab you back really fast we'll probably have to wrap but always a great conversation with him indeed yeah we didn't talk about the spread yet but it did tick down oh yeah six and a half I think Zach's efforting to get him back I at least wanted to ask him what the status of the status of the defense is like I that I've seen some numbers that it's been pretty good but I mean they'd give up 35 points last week to Jacksonville so I don't know how good it certainly wasn't good last week I would assume but we'll see I think maybe we'll be able to get him back here or I don't know maybe not it's always fun watching your producers see if they're talking to the person on the phone that's a sign that like this is gonna come back together here and I'm out of things to say so what's your gut feeling about this game um I'm I'm Mike is back um I'll ask you again later then yeah or we can we can talk about it in a second Mike in the time we've got left what what's going

1:37:19on defensively I've seen some you know reasonably encouraging things but 35 points last week obviously not not so great I mean they just got outskined by Liam Cohen red zone stuff you know that five trips to the red zone five touchdowns and one of them obviously was on a super short field after made through the interception um Gonzalez has played well he's here is maybe this is going to be a question mark you can practice or at least wasn't practicing again today for the second straight day you heard your shoulder early in the game against Jacksonville but stayed in the game so that's a little bit of a concern the you know they have a ton of money invested in the interior in Milton Williams and Christian Barmore Barmore is a spotty player you know sometimes he's great sometimes he's not Williams has was awesome last year for them Williams is getting double team to tongue now so he's sort of graduated to that level where he's getting treated like Jeffrey Simmons or Chris Jones or Aaron Donald and he hasn't yet figured out how to win first that and like I said

1:38:20Barmore uh some of the other guys in the interior are just getting pushed around and that's that's a problem when you've invested that many resources and that was a generally a real strength deal this year are you guessing that both Christians play Sunday or maybe not what do you think yeah it's a good question he told us after the game that he was fine but obviously that's not the case my guess is just based on his familiarity with the system and his overall importance to what they do the fact that he still might end up being a game time okay um because I know I think they understand yeah I think they understand the the importance of the game it's a must win but yeah you know you don't want to be one in three and dig yourself a deeper hole in the in the division as well right thank you Mike always a pleasure are you coming up Sunday I'm guessing yes I unfortunately know with my boss I are alternating this year so I am sad that he'd not get to see the new stadium this season I'll have to make sure next year that I do but I was in Jacksonville

1:39:23and let me tell you something after how that trip went uh coming back to get home I'm not all that sad I don't have to get on a plane uh oh all right well so beans trains and automobiles for you last weekend yeah all right too bad thank you Mike talk again soon bye bye yeah my light shardy Boston sports journal I feel very much the way I felt last week about the team in a damaged state coming in and going into the year I certainly expected New England to be more of a threat than even the chargers so you know I feel a little somewhat cautious but my overriding feeling I think I said this right away on Mondays when we started talking about this game I can't let I can't let this team get well against me like that if it happened with the chargers okay conference wise tiebreaker whatever this is the team that took the division from you last year and they are damaged coming in here it if not physically with these injuries that we just talked about on defense

1:40:28but mentally emotionally it seems like a very fragile situation and I just I need the bills to find a way to keep their foot on they they've even done anything to the Patriots yet but it feels like they've got their their foot on their necks and I can't let them up I can't let them get well against me the stakes are very big like the one seed the division all of it is a huge step forward if the bills keep them you know at bay if they let them back through the door I I think you know be having a race all season maybe six interceptions against one touchdown pass for May through three games we'll have more on bills patriots with cell kapaccio at five the sabers season starts tonight Travis Yost in just over an hour we'll talk more about their season to come and their opener in Columbus as we continue 803 05 50 for us Mike show up in the bulldog WGR hey this is Richard Dijk the host of the sports media podcast if you're interested in what's happening with all the

1:41:29places where you consume sports the sports media podcast has you covered I've been turning down interviews all week odour copy reached out Oprah George Stephanopolis so I said no I was booked on the Dijk podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon I must live up to my responsibility listen wherever you get your podcasts we need to stop trying to choke the life out of every single play so that like that ball that he's trying to throw to Chisholm in the end zone I mean just believes he believes that he's going to be able to I don't know you'd have to ask him what he believes yeah I know okay so well then ask me what my assessment is what's your assessment of that it's a terrible decision yeah you know I'm saying like that again we want to throw a touch down passes Mike Brable I mean it sounds tension maybe high in New England already seems

1:42:32seems seems seems like it is at least a little Mike she already didn't say different no you know just they can't get everybody to agree on whether May is injured I mean so what did Mike say that he asked May yes yes or no said yeah because because the last time it came up he said a bunch of stuff May did when asked the question and never said yes or no he just talked and talked and talked like people who don't want to tell you what the answer real answer is and so yeah Mike said not to be a jerk but this is a yes or no question is your shoulder hindering you you know is it bothering you and they said no right and and I was thinking of following up with Mike but we went into some other places what is May's incentive there I mean players don't like to admit to injuries so I think

1:43:32that that wins the day when it comes to his it doesn't mean he's not hurt right he could have definitively answered any other time he's been asked by simply saying no I think the the reason a story like this sort of gets traction is when a guy doesn't answer definitively you you can then spin that into you don't believe him you're skeptical whether he's being honest but you don't you don't have him refusing to really answer the question and when you get that that I think grows the story it's it's like you know it's it's oxygen for a fire because I asked him and he had a chance to tell me no I'd be very surprised if he said yes at this point of a season but he didn't say no so it has sounded like like what what this has generated is this little little corners of the fandom and media coverage that's like of course he's hurt he because he didn't say no and again

1:44:33you could be arriving there even if you get said no but that's what happens is you know the player doesn't want to say you know yes or no but he's going to talk about it sort of leave the door open for that to be an excuse like come on he's playing hurt and that is what I think some people who cover the team have perceived it as and the team meanwhile has been going absolutely not they've been you know he's fine he's fine there's no limitations but the annuals was asked yesterday about play calling are the things you can't do right now because Drake is incapable like no there's no there's no restrictions you know the full playbook everything's available to us so the team has been he's fine whereas May was a little he's just not committed all about it basically is all there is and that's all it really takes for people to speculate yeah right but yeah the players in a tough spot yeah because if he says yes then he's making excuses and you know what kind of leadership is

1:45:40that and he's good he's good enough to play I see he made this throw in that throw also why isn't he on the injury report right he wasn't until today right he must be fine he must be fine but yet you know so you're damned if you're damned if you know you say yes you know you're you're copying for an excuse you're fishing for an excuse you say no we're gonna think you're lying because we're watching you throw the ball and if you're not hurt man we got a big problem because you forgot how to throw but you know again that's all it all gets exaggerated you know it's a couple of bad throws just imagine them saying that right right it's not like every throw has been terrible it's just like consistently you know it's just like any guy like I said the same thing about Rogers at his age a guy gets to that age like he's one of the best throwers that's ever lived I think Rogers and can he still find that you know on occasion in a game maybe multiple times yeah but down in down out play in play out can you count on it is it gonna be there for every third

1:46:45and seven probably not and that's kind of where may has been this year it's just inconsistent in a way that well it's surprising because it never looked that way prior to now but he was so good last year should have won the MVP some have said many have voted I have said speaking of Rogers tonight who are you four tonight Aaron Rogers or DeShawn Watson what what what a choice Sophie's choice Watson makes it easy to roof for Rogers um easy yeah yeah because Roger's just annoys me I don't want to compare the two yeah let's not let's really not I mean I but the stuff that buss me about Rogers is all superficial there's nothing I mean I don't know some of the stuff you know the conspiracy theories and stuff can be damaging to people have been hurt

1:47:47by the the the assertions and all that like that so that but that's that's kind of vague you know like Watson I think damaged people like legitimately sure so they're very different I just mean you're not a fan of either no but rather mine yeah um but I like Watson bothers me he's more offensive to me on multiple levels is it a is it a moral decision who you pick here or is it maybe can to be a football one where you have two teams that are two and one winner goes to three and one yeah Steelers and Browns I guess from a removing any bias about you know hatred or dislike or whatever for either guy I guess I would tell you I'd rather the Browns win because I believe in them less and I don't really believe in the Steelers either but they're the Steelers like if they get to three and one and they're tracking towards ten or eleven they're just gonna be around and annoying whereas I think the Browns get to three and one I wouldn't be so eager to tell you they're gonna get to ten or eleven like to me they could still go up and smoke at any moment I think the

1:48:53Steelers have more good players and even Rogers even though he's not what he once was I still think his level of play has been you know over the last year more consistent than Watson's like he's more dependable to me than Watson so I'd be more threatened with the Steelers being three and one therefore give me the Browns very well the Browns have owned this spot Thursday night at home Pittsburgh and recent years like they have it's it's dramatic the Browns have really owned this spot let's say I'm not let me say first I'm not sure I disagree with you about any of that like I think the Steelers have to be the more credible AFC team let's say the Browns win this game 23 to 10 they've won the last two comeback drives late like even a little bit closer but let's say they win and you sort of like what you see personal allegations now sure right just objective one you know

1:49:55yeah as a football team what do they look like give them this game okay and be impressed like not blown away mm-hmm all right now let's do the rest of their season at the Jets four and one Baltimore they they also could be the Browns and lose to anybody I know that's right that's right how many wins is this if they right if they look good they have they have it's Tampa and Carolina I mean they could be the third worst team in the NFL they beat Pittsburgh their favorite at the Jets interesting all right maybe I think maybe if the Jets lose in Chicago yeah the Jets yeah okay maybe uh Baltimore yeah no we're not gonna go that far four and two at Tennessee five and two at Pittsburgh rematch five and three saints split that's not that's not an easy game it's not an easy game but it's the Browns there are no easy games right you know but it's not the bills I'm gonna give them a loss in the sink in okay five in the Orleans okay five and four now Houston five and five by

1:50:59week Vegas I mean listen to this six six and five uh Bengals at home six and six Atlanta what's into this seven and six who did this yeah who did this at the Giants eight and six at Baltimore eight and seven Colts eight and eight and oh I just can't do it I can't do it you're you're you're you're not this is not a little objective exercise that's doing right now it's a great until you said Colts that is no your topic you will not give the Browns a winning record no winning season at the Bengals in week 18 believe it or not there's a week 18 eight nine in the hunt yeah right when this game they're around they're in the hunt yeah like the whole year probably that's probably winner this game is in the hunt the whole year yeah I think Pittsburgh still could be anyway but you know you can do this with the Steelers we did this in the offseason I remember

1:51:59doing it they go Indianapolis at home next at Tampa with no Mayfield at New Orleans in Paris France the Browns again by week the Bengals who they just beat Philly Denver Houston Jacksonville Baltimore okay well they're different they won their division that's the difference that is tough there yeah Jacksonville has already beaten Cleveland so Cleveland has that game from the boy I don't know you know you know now like considering that I kind of feel like let Pittsburgh have this one yeah the Browns have the easier path to being annoying like in the in the race kind of thing I want the Browns back I like having the Raiders back so far I want the Browns but I want my 1980 standings back I like having the Browns and Raiders I appreciate this sentiment they have to get they have to rid themselves of the quarterback before I can ever get there I just can't you know as bad as I feel for the fans I just can't no I'm not I'm just not interested I'm glad there's a hockey

1:53:06game tonight that you know just you know I'll I'll keep tabs I'll get to it but I'm glad I got something else that outranks it they're enough because any other Thursday if they weren't if we're like you know this season opener or I'd be like yeah I feel compelled to watch the football game that's the thing that I'll probably be talking about there is a Sabers game next Thursday night also we did this earlier maybe Utah there's a home or Dallas is a home game next Thursday night it's Dallas and well Dallas in football plays Tampa without mayfield and maybe that's another game you could skip yep those things are going looking looking good for you I like it as hockey season starts I work these are Thursday night games you can do without I'll be on the football game for sure maybe not entirely I mean of course I'm interested in what the Sabers look like but I'm not going to be blind to the the Al show. Sal coming up in less than 20 minutes Travis Yost as well next hour

1:54:07Mike Schoep in the Bulldog here this is WGR. Are you looking for a football podcast that doesn't put you to sleep with a fog of analytics or insult your fandom with phony hot takes I'm Dan Hanses and I'm Mark Sessler and we're the host of He the Call the NFL podcast you've been waiting for. He the call covers the entire NFL not just the same five or six teams you're sick of delivery news weekly power rankings plus previews and recaps of every matchup. Yes we cover your team and we do it with a touch of mirth because football is fun why shouldn't your football podcasts be the same. Follow and listen to He the Call NFL podcast wherever you get your podcast. It's Salca Pachio filling up right behind the bills bench right now with their flags and they're hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey let's go Buffalo Chan on WGR sports radio 550. I'm of several minds here as we open things up with Sal as to where to start. Is one of them to talk about Mike Tomlund's mind crash? Yes. Yes. We feel like Sal was a son

1:55:12the age his son is I feel like is more even of an authority on Minecraft and all I have is like I watch my kids and there were blocks and maybe a sheep and stupid sheep but there was all that going on. There really wasn't any real structure there like like a like a booty hotel with a therapy center or whatever or a CBS. It wasn't a CBS. Sal how impressed are you by what Tomlund created there? I'm incredibly impressed because I don't they have an appetite for it or the ability I would be very frustrated doing it. I wouldn't have the patience. I have watched Max has played Minecraft that is right. I mean I've watched him play but I don't really get super into it but he even said yeah that's really impressive like when I showed him the video I was like look what my Tomlund did this is pretty cool right. It's like yeah that is and I mean I'm watching the thing with Tomlund I'm like oh my god like yeah he you know the booty hotel and here's the entrance like over here we have these conference centers and you know I wanted to dense populate

1:56:13densely populated area and I wanted to walk the water nearby a water and like glass underlings for natural light and all this stuff against Mike Tomlund narrating it is like what is happening. And what really but what I really started to think about and I've been thinking about this a lot today which is like okay you're in Pittsburgh right if you're doing this on the fan in Pittsburgh and you're Angela Filiponi or whoever over there like what what is the level of talk about like how much time this guy dedicated to this. You know and that Warren Sharp broke it down like when how much he won before and after in playoff games I'm like like I don't know if that's fair but sure like he's doing this and it's got to be a part of the discussion. Have you ever asked Sean McDermott like how much tetris he's played over the years. No but I did think about like what. Imagine asking him like like what. Each NFL coach like what would be Joe Brady's game of choice like I try to keep thinking about like all right what about Joe Brady well Sean McDermott you know what about I don't know Mike Vrable

1:57:15whoever like what's there like we know Tomlund now Minecraft guy he spent all this time what if you really pin the guy down it's like okay what's your game of choice he would spend the most time on like what would it be well I mean I think that question could be asked to me after this is kind of a fun big big-ish sort of story I have no idea if it ever interfered with his work I mean I don't know like that's also fair to say about Tomlund but Rex Ryan was a stratomatic guy right I knew that about Rex because somebody we both know was aware that I played a lot of stratomatic so I was told like any it's not even like it was a secret I mean he has there's some maybe on Twitter or some video or something where Rex and his brother played strat but I don't know about 3500 hours I don't know how much that even is 3500 hours is how is that that's years it's well it's I'm packing that he broke it down it's 5.6 hours a week for 12 years yes wow so that isn't that that the you said am I it's an hour a day so let me we've talked to sell for maybe 3500

1:58:19hours probably yeah yeah so I know the reason tell you you're you're right to go to like you know people breaking down like what what did it mean to their performance and like all this sort of stuff because we I think we all know I don't I don't want to speak for everyone here but I am positive that when I was younger there were you know young women at the time that I was dating that broke up with me because I wouldn't leave my house anymore because I needed to play NHL 93 okay like that that happened like I'm sure of it like now I would I didn't tell them that I don't feel good I got an excuse and now my friends are over and there's a case of beer and we're we're playing NHL 93 like just that happened it's swingers you get right you you can get into it to the point where oh I'm gonna be late for work if I don't stop now but you keep going anyways and so if you're you don't control it it can be a thing this is the kind of the Murray conversation about

1:59:22Call of Duty right right like you just get so into it that you I don't say you lose track of time but you stop caring about what time it is like I know it's four in the morning I gotta get up at seven but I got to play this one more level I I once I once got on a crap stable Vegas at 10 at night and got off at 10 in the next morning I didn't care I was like I didn't know what time it was you're in Vegas doing that it's a good so wrapped up what you're doing now listen that's one time one night and I'm like okay I gotta leave the next morning this guy is coming home from practice maybe doing it you know when they're by week they're doing it all season I would say though I do want to give space for that could be an outlet for exactly it's so intense yeah and it's just relaxing and he need maybe like that's what because there's a lot of this that I was thinking about today with man if you're in Pittsburgh you're probably talking about that but I think it hope somebody goes you know the manager might need it it might have needed to do something like that to relax his mind a little bit I mean there's a very long list of important things in my life that I have

2:00:22done for less time than the amount of time in the 90s I put in designing my outfit for Tiger Woods golf not even playing the golf like do I want this watch yeah if I play this one golf course and I make a birdie then I can buy the wash I just want to play the golf course make the birdie buy the watch and then I go back in that kind of clashes with the hat that I bought yesterday right I mean just the amount of time I spent on the dressing myself what does Tiger Woods look like with the Norge Mohawk let's just see I mean I have access to this information I want to know oh okay next time Dion Dawkins comes at me with what I wear I'm like okay I don't put that much thought into what I wear but I've put a lot of thought into what my golfer wears right Tiger Woods I'm Tiger Woods I'm Tiger Woods it okay virtual golf that's right okay here's to Mike Tomman it's so cool yeah you want to go to Drake May and the Patriots next because that's that's chomping at me a little bit like yeah let's yeah let's let's I just like I okay I just wanted to

2:01:25make sure I got this things I want I've been thinking about it like this whole injury report thing is super bizarre to me and it should be a bigger story than it is not now I know the shoulder is a big story like I get that part of it like that is a big story people have been wondering about the shoulder and it's been asked ever since week one what's going out the shoulder nothing but they keep saying nothing and it keeps appearing to be like something's wrong yet they keep saying nothing he keeps getting asked he's very evasive a look you know when Mike Gerrardy whoever asks and then he shows up on the injury report after not being on the report with a right shoulder there's only two reasons this could be number one it absolutely has been an issue and they've been lying or something happening against the Jags and guys to my knowledge nothing happening against the Jags yeah Gerrardy was on with us an hour ago and said that he asked me I think today about it pointed yes or no question is your shoulder bothers you and he said no right well he can say that and he's a football participant I would expect him not to say I wouldn't expect him to say

2:02:28anything else than that okay he's not going to say it is but I think that just the the whole operation of how this has looked and felt from the injury report standpoint is weird it's almost like okay well if they keep getting on us we better say we'll put him on then today they you're making it more of a story now it's New England you can never trust it right maybe they just didn't want it to be a story and he struggled so badly that it became one anyway and now we're here that okay well it's almost like the organization's making an excuse for him maybe I mean teams don't want hockey starts tonight teams don't want other teams to know about injuries so there are there are times I think where you compromise that but I think it got maybe too big and he's thrown six interceptions and like looks it looks bad so one is reasonable to wonder if he's if he's not a hundred percent and I think now they finally got around to admitting it that's what I think is probably happening here I agree but they're not admitting it that's the issue I

2:03:29have like he's on the injury report after them saying no no no no it's not an issue nothing's going on and then he's and then he gets on there like so to me there are your there's doing exactly what you're saying but still everybody says no no everything's fine well it can't be fine if he's on there and we all know that nothing happened on on on Sunday and it's been kind of obvious to anybody with eyes watching that something's been an issue I just think it's all weird to be honest with you yep there's a lot there man like I'm sure you've heard the variable radio appearance we play the clip from it earlier where like he's he's like the he's basically asking the host is asking the wrong question he's asking about Drake makes feelings and Braebles getting agitated like don't ask me how he feels he's got to ask him what he feels or what he thinks like ask ask me what I think of the play that's one of the things of the decision whatever did you think of the decision or the terrible decision like he's like waiting to just hammer his quarterback I just know what it would sound like here if Brady or previous to this McDermott ever really did it

2:04:34that hard I mean I know McDermott had his moments where you know after Josh throws three picks to open the season on Monday night football at the Jets he's gonna tell you he needs to be better but he's not going on a radio show like asking to be teed up so he can say he's making terrible decisions it was very weird right and and a couple things about that so I find this whole thing fascinating because I've spoken with people who have worked for organizations like in the media space who said this week to me when this happened like they're stunned that the head coach would say on a live radio interview it was a terrible decision even getting teed up like that like that's another layer to it just to say those words like oh my god like I can't believe he would do that like people have worked in the media and with teams that has said to me like because I've ran this by people and there's a reason why and I'll tell you why in a second but they're like this is unbelievable like why would he that that makes it a huge story the other part is which really weird to me so this was on w e i w e i's our sister station Odyssey sister station in Boston

2:05:40they are not the flagship station of the New England Patriots the sports hub is he he did this unlike the non even flagship station who does like a weekly interview with him I just find this whole thing super bizarre to be quite honest you know from a from a whole like relationship standpoint they're doing this interview he's doing this interview with them now I guess that this is a long standing thing from what I understand with the e i that goes back a long time which is good for them that's great they're there Odyssey I'm glad for them I just think that it again it made it made something that wasn't there become there yeah yeah so you've got yeah you've got the piece where you're making news uh for criticizing your quarterback publicly but you're also doing it not on our partners station that's right that's right the the whole thing is just bizarre and just because we're here again and we'll move on if everyone's ready to I just want to say again um because I think it's important like I know someone out there right now that didn't hear us talking

2:06:42about this yesterday I've been going well I'm sure Varebil has told him that it was a terrible decision privately and of course Drake may knows it's a terrible decision and like I grant you all of that probably has happened but it's just another thing for Varebil to use that platform like everyone that Drake may knows would be tech did you hear what your coach said about you like you don't need any of that that's just added you know it's like your it's like Twitter come to life because everyone heard it and it's on your phone in a way that like you got to just throw your you know burn your phone to avoid it and that's I don't know it just doesn't didn't need to happen I guess is all no I look hey I'm with you and I just think that it's been it's been fun kind of following this whole thing and then you throw it on the Yankees beat in the red socks last night sorry bulldog but it's made my day great like just kind of like kind of listen and I'm happy to be done with it honestly it was it was it was hard it was another one of the things in my head to

2:07:42start with hard to really buy into like that it was they were gonna get you especially one's Anthony left game one just like come on this team can't can't get that I kind of wanted to say that I like them a little bit yeah yeah texting Sal about these he thinks he's becoming a Yankee fan I don't know maybe a little bit yeah maybe a little bit yeah I did not hear that they are they are I think a little easier to root for than some other Yankees teams in the past well the fact that they had the year they had without judge largely I mean is you know a couple of weeks here or there right you know that's that's admirable I think you know I certainly like the pitching staff there's there's stuff you can respect about it but like I don't think at 54 years of age you can decide you like the team that's 127 world series it's not a decision it's not it chooses you you don't choose it it chooses you I'm not saying I like boon I like anybody who's em battled and I have a

2:08:46friend in Connecticut who is just the worst you've ever you can imagine on cashman like the lengths he'll go yeah to blast bright it's just completely incredible and so okay well I think that's way off so I mean I mean I don't really care about too many of the players but it's just like they're playing Boston they're gonna play Tampa and I'll want them to lose to Tampa if they don't I'll be happier in the next round because it's more interesting if it's the Yankees in that Tampa which is not fair to Tampa enough let's get to the bills before I start what's the latest from the bills today so still no Christian Benford today two days in a row where he has not practiced now I think we've learned here the Joe Brady operates a little bit different than Sean McDermott not that not the guys have ever gone without practicing Wednesday Thursday and still not played like it wasn't a non-starter ever it's happened but I think under Joe Brady you know you could be you could be out there on Friday like last week we saw this we can't comment and you still play so tomorrow would be that day however

2:09:49Benford not out there two days in a row after having the toe injury and then being declared out that's not trending well for him but the good news is they did get Keon Coleman speaking of him back today and the only other player who wasn't out of the field today was San Franklin but that was a personal reason so only Christian Benford is a DMP due to injury guys who didn't practice yesterday Joe and Jason back today as I said Keon Coleman back today TJ Sanders after the appendectomy he was practicing today so all those are trending up DJ Moore nothing red jerseys still on the red non-contact so she's still going to be limited Josh Allen red jersey yes the other non-contact not on the injury port as opposed to Drake May right New England is New England for you I think I know but let me just get it out kind of scary maybe a little bit familiar from last week and how we talked about the chargers because it's been going so badly or they are they asking to get run over

2:10:53I'm going to just have a carbon copy of what I thought last week about the chargers which is the only way you lose this game is by giving it to them however I do think that if you do it like you did last week they'll take more advantage of it than the chargers did yeah like the last week the bills did give the game to the chargers but the chargers didn't take it from them in the bill said okay then we're going to shut the door and we're going to do what we have to do as this game goes on I don't think you get away with it from New England um they're going to be more buttoned up and Mike for Abel's going to be smart enough to be able to not put his team but now granted with the drag may thing you never know he may make a terrible decision but that is the way that you want to know up path of victory last week I said path of victory for the chargers was the bills give them the game they turn the ball over they make mistakes that's the path of victory again here for the Patriots I just don't think they match up with the bills um personnel wise I don't think they're playing while they're banged up on the offensive line they're on their third right guard now uh this week we don't know about Christian Gonzalez we don't want to know about Christian Barmore they are ripe to

2:11:53be run over Mike if the bills play like they did maybe against the lions I think the bills run them over and out of orchard park I think if the bills play like they do against the chargers they lose the game okay interesting I I I you mean client to agree with all of that um and we'll just add what I've been saying since we started talking about this game right away on Monday that sell it feels like such an opportunity I know it's so early in the year and one in three like I won't want to be shoveling dirt on the wingland but your your your three games clear and you've got the head to head at least the first one I the state that they're in with all this swirling about the shoulder and the relationship with rabble and all this stuff uh more than even the chargers who are a conference opponent but not in your division they didn't win the division from you last year stopping your five year run I can't live with the bills letting the the Patriots off the deck right now like you

2:12:53you've got them in a position where you can really damage them and I they can't have a get well game against me they just can't I agreed and and you know last year that we brought up yesterday earlier this week they're in the same position these two teams it was one week later but even then the bills were four and oh new England was two and two yeah you had a chance to just bury them last year and you didn't do it they lost the game and you walk out and you're okay well you're going to my you're going to it land on next week money night you'll be fine right they weren't the bills went to it land and lost a week later you're in second place yeah right that's right that in the rest of the year the bills had to be looking up the Patriots essentially like that's that's the ramification of losing a game like this whereas the reward is you have really given yourself some space and oh by the way they now got to deal with a lot of their own internal stuff going on well it's really only speculation so I should apologize for saying it but some might be thinking that that's when Sean McDermott started off on Grand Theft Auto was that week and then they lost and then

2:13:55they're lost again and 3,500 hours later he's out of a job who knows I wonder if there's like a Minecraft coaches thread like Mike my Tom is not just any NFL coach he could like tell his fellow coaches like yeah this is what I do in my spare time and then I don't know like it's not the worst thing you could do right I wonder sale back to Minecraft do you know did anyone did ever come up like you know Tom was in that job for a long time and not that you would ever really at but at some point you would have asked a coach hey you know maybe in the summer is training camp is starting like hey what do you do to relax like what are you doing sure what do you do to enjoy your time away from football I just I don't think I ever heard about him in Minecraft neither so I've never heard anything about that I know then the the weird thing is so like it's so cool I'm like I'm a Mike Tom one fan I like the guy a lot and it's so funny that like he's leaning into this he's like I'm gonna show everybody this Minecraft city there wait I was telling

2:14:57about right like he's out there going yet he goes I am I'm gonna do a live stream of it and he was people were wondering about it and he was like super proud of it which he should be by the way it was really impressive and he should be proud he's on Sunnett football a couple weeks ago after Todd Monkin goes and basically goes on his rant because what Mike Tomlin said you guys saw that right so Tomlin based Tomlin basically said the brown the browns are the browns right uh-huh so Monkin uses that as fuel for his fire for the team they go out there and they win against the Bengals and he says after the game none of this browns his browns stuff I heard it and we heard it and he said he used the effort and he drops it up bomb he's mad and Mike Tomlin goes on Sunnett football that night and he says Maria Taylor asks so many goes you know what I love about this job I can give all the billboard material I want I have no accountability now yeah that's this yeah what are they gonna what are they gonna do to me right exactly I love it so he's just just being Mike Tomlin now late great friend and coworker Rick Woodson at the Democrat and Chronicle who was a

2:15:58beat writer and a colonist for many years and then later on in his career he was on the desk and so I'd see him when I was just starting you know late nights and weekends and all that and he was always kind of really caustic about it but sometimes in a funny way and he would say something that was maybe a little bit much in the room and he would sort of look over his shoulder I mean like what are they gonna make me do work nights and weekends he was already doing right I have another Thomas story I want to share is I think this is a good story and it's cool because we're talking about the guy right so several years ago you guys remember when the bills when all the NFL team used to have the Wednesday media conference call with the opposing coach sure right hmm they stop doing that years ago and I don't remember exactly when or why but it just became like ah you don't have to do that anymore right don't you ruined it but probably right we should do a conference call every Wednesday with the opposing coach and a player that the writers in that city would choose and they would make that person available so they stopped doing it for a while well they but they they gave the coaches still a chance like if you want to do it you can do it but you don't have to very few

2:16:59did but my time was one of them he still did it my time and still did the opposing media's coaches call so he was asked one day by somebody in his media like why do you do that and he said because we're all in the same ecosphere together like we we all love football I want to make everybody's job easier to cover this game because I love this game and he said I would hope that the other coaches would do it even if they don't I know they don't but I wish they would and I want to make their job easier even though they're opposing right I'm like man that is super cool so I go to the NFL owners meetings and every year at the NFL owners meetings they have this really big party I think you guys have seen me tweet about it whatever it says yeah who is who is there or right and Tomman is there and I made it a point I went up to him I said coach my name Selkopachi why cover the Buffalo Bills I want you to know how much I loved that you said this and I told him the story and I said that really resonated with me and my time and goes dude I'm so happy come here you know what come hang out I want you to meet my wife and daughter guys I spent an

2:18:01hour with Mike Tomman's wife and daughter simply because I told him how much I like this and he was like just the coolest down to earth dude tell me about all the things he's doing with his kids like you and I sit down the radio like this it was awesome I don't know if it's fair to say bellicic ruined it but what I meant is he's got the bills roster out he just reads every name and talks about how great everybody is even when Josh Reed isn't on the team anymore he's still going to tell you how dangerous Josh Reed is after beating them 17 times in a row shut up very cool Travis Joe's coming up Sel we got to go thank you real quick Sel nevermind tonight Sabers we're half an hour from pregame and you've got an event a station event at Brightsmith on the Agress Street right real quick yet come on down watch party Brightsmith on Agress Street 12.59 Agress Street I'll be there the song will be up big screen TVs it's going to be awesome watch party tonight it's going to be really fun thanks I'll talk tomorrow all right you got it guys thanks good deal there's Selkopachi on the western hotline his appearances I brought to you by New York's only outlet liquor when you need to stock up it's the place to buy a case what's your outlet Travis Yoast setting the scene for the NHL season after this here on WGR welcome back the Sabers open the season

2:19:04tonight in Columbus or their season anyway we've had a couple of nights of regular season play already with us now as our friend Travis Yoast another guy that's a high seed in the guest guest tournament we're starting to whip up in our minds Travis Yoast of TSN not as much time as we would normally have for you we'd like to go as long as you want normally we've got about 12 or 13 minutes if you have it for us Travis so how's life here's to the new season how's life is good by the way 12 minutes that sounds like a force to eat against like Mount St Mary's in the first round I might be getting bounced early you're getting sold short here by the half hour segment but that's what we got definitely earned a higher seed there's no question about yeah how optimistic are you for the Sabers this year Barry for lots of reasons number one for the first time in forever you could point to the priors and be like yeah this is a really good team we saw it all year last year and they

2:20:06returned almost the entirety of this core year over year and on top of that I don't care what anyone says or how long we might wait I still have my eyes on Winnipeg and counterhello buck and the Sabers being on the shortlist of potential bitters there and even even if that doesn't materialize whether Winnipeg you know holds firm or he's moved elsewhere and you know the base case cannot be the Sabers getting hello buck I just mathematically it's not likely I just I mean I like this roster I mean you look at the lineup of the opening night lineup even with a couple injuries I see they get Samuelson back tonight like even with a couple injuries like you know yeah I said where where's where's what what am I what is what is jacking at my heart rate a little bit here looking at this and it's like oh do I love cool look on the fourth line it's kind of an energy line with carrot and it's like yeah that's exactly the point I'm nitpicking the combination of the fourth line usually when you're doing that you're already a playoff caliber team and we're talking about what the ceiling is for this group and by the way I actually think that's

2:21:10the interesting debate is like what is the ceiling especially in a very competitive division the one head win working against the Sabers maybe two if you're not as confident about the goal pending but you know even if you set the goalies aside the one head win they're going to deal with is this division is very good and even if the Maple Leafs are just good not great you've got another team year over year that that is going to be challenging for the Sabers in that division so that that to me is that they're going to have to you know fight out of that division there's no doubt about it and you just cannot go through long lengthy stretches this season of swamps or you know cool cool scoring you know two three weeks you got to avoid that best you can but you know the personnel in this in this lineup they can dress a really talented group and uh you know the only thing I would say I'm down on is season opener in Columbus uh I uh I wish there was somewhere else than Columbus Ohio because they're a threat or because they're boring uh you said it not me I didn't I didn't want to say they were boring I didn't want to say they were boring but

2:22:11since you said it got you a degree with that that's a rudder that's a rudderless ship uh I got to be honest so not expect that much from Jackets this year yeah I I hope our audience appreciates how bullish you are on the roster Travis I still have the some some hesitation maybe maybe that's even not strong enough um about tuck and biram I like what they did to replace biram so I shouldn't include him because it's really largely about tuck that at a team that had the 109 point season and just barge their way to the top of the best looking division in hockey not getting someone who can grow a beard to replace tuck like I'm a little leery of just counting on I'm excited about the kids I've seen them all play um I recognize the talent but like doing it and doing it against Florida and against Tampa and against whomever else you want here Carolina I gotta know it seems like it seems like a little too much of a bet that's a long shot to me yeah so a couple things you said

2:23:16there I just want to point out I agree on both like to me if this is your point that they've done a good job or can survive and even maybe even thrive in the post biram world like I I thought that was a brilliant deal by the savers they they really couldn't afford to keep them around and you know you know I you know if it is it you know equivalent to having biram under second pair I'm not sure if I would go that far but this is still a really talented blue line it's where they have the depth and you know I even even with the injuries you're gonna have Dalline anchoring a top pair that's always a good scenario you're gonna have power and crevier and then second pair and you're gonna have girls you can met and met on the third pair met so it was one of the best young players who couldn't get ice time last year I thought he was fantastic when he did get the good did get a call up last year and so you know like I think the blue lines in good shape I I would agree that not replacing tuck with a let's say bonafide NHL regular inside of that middle six there's certainly risk there but two things that I that I think counter that risk number one you've got a C of not just young players but young players who have produced already a little bit at the NHL

2:24:22level or at least previously a junior level like there's reason to be excited about this group I mean I think the second line tonight's Benson Austin and Quinn I mean that that's a really good second second group and the other the other piece too is you know I always think about okay in a downside scenario let's say you know some of the kids struggle especially against tougher competition because they are moving up the lineup you know one of the benefits of not you know going all in and talking by room and going max to the cap and keeping the younger core round is if this is so so at best you know going into the trade deadline the sabers are a buyer I mean this is a team that absolutely like missing the playoffs I think would be pretty damaging to the organization given what we watched last year and given how much young talent on this roster so I think even you know maybe it's a little more salary cap centric and roster building rather than like is this lineup still 109 points worthy I just think they have so many bullets in the chamber now in a way that they didn't

2:25:22three four five years ago with Travis Yost who is being open about it he fears slipping in the seating in the WGR show in the bulldog guest tournament but hey if he's a three or a four seed he's playing about an hour from campus and you don't want to play him so I'm just going to say that for now um Travis if you would expand on the hella book thoughts you have at this point like who does Winnipeg have as alternatives does he just not come back like what what do you think you know so yeah I so I think I think I think it's a matter of time like you know with these organizations across the board and really across the sports they like to pretend that they'll they'll sit on their hands and whistle into the whistle into the air forever the reality is teams can't afford to do that and it what makes it a little trickier in Winnipeg's cases you know hella bucks on a contract with terms still remaining so the jet can at least port 10 for a period of time like you know what we're good but I mean you guys saw the same quotes I did you guys are watching the you know

2:26:24the clippings coming in preseason like that is there is a divorce there between hella buck and Winnipeg and he is going to be dealt one way or another and clearly the sabers are on the short list of viable contenders to make that deal not only do they have this same covered of young players that would that would certainly intrigue the jets in a trade and I think we saw some smoke about that you know early early this summer you know they got the space to make it work and and if you look at hella buck like I I spent the one of my summer articles like okay hella bucks getting a little longer in the tooth how how great how well do great goalies I mean great goalies you know age into their mid 30s and on and you know the reality is you don't have a ton of comps of these guys and you also are dealing with survivor bias but long story short I mean his comps are guys like long-quist and will long go and most of these goalies even in their mid 30s we're still top 12 goalies in the league and if I could tell the Sabers organization fans you're going to make a deal you're going to acquire a goalie a little heavy on the mileage but who has been one of one in net

2:27:29over the last five years he may be the eighth to tenth best goalie over the next four years you making that trade I think every single sabers fan on the planet they what you know they want a glance at the return but I think they're going to sign that deal 10 times out of 10 I mean the Sabers for all the good years and bad they have been chasing a goalie for a very long time and I have to say like when you ask me you know within the division like I think Montreal's maybe a half step ahead I mean by the way you talk about roster you want to talk about salary cap and roster building Montreal's one on one in that space but it what is the differentiator like the Sabers team can play high pace up tempo so can the Canadians right and so can a few teams in the league in the division for that matter if you had a goal tending advantage that certainly changes the math a little bit and if I'm putting how if I you know if I blank and he'll buck is now manning the crease for 52 games for the Sabers this year or let's say it's a trade deadline move of sorts and you get you know 15 games down the stretch in the playoffs like now I still think now you're

2:28:31thinking talking about okay who's beating Buffalo in the division right now I have to be honest like I do think it's Montreal's division to lose but there is such very little daylight between the maybe the top three or 14s in that group I agree with you I think Montreal that's who I would pick I don't do like a column picking the league or anything but I like Montreal to win this division I think they're just really set their young guys are they're like a year I like demadoff and Hudson are like just that much ahead of the Sabers young guys where they're already really good and maybe can still even get better so I'm very and they still have call field and Suzuki who are you know top line studs I think they're really really built and furthermore on Montreal Travis I don't even think their best goalies playing yet I think Fowler will take that job by Thanksgiving and they'll be better for it I completely agree one other thing too and maybe I'll leave you guys on this note because I think it's a nice little twist of irony that you know pure Sabers fans sense fan you know any other team in the division you kind of have to smirk at you know the the maple

2:29:33leaves go back like six seven years ago they deployed a ton of money to invest in the quote-unquote core four right before the league said you know what we're gonna enter a global pandemic and not grow the cap for four years the complete opposite has happened in Montreal where they locked up this young core right before the cap exploded I mean there I they the Canadians heading into 2026 have to be on a very short list of kind of Oak City Thunder in the NBA go back a few years ago where it's like this isn't a barris men are riches and you've got insane cap flexibility that's going to be the team that the Sabers are gonna have to conquer this year and likely the next few years thank you Travis always great to hear your voice on the station good luck tonight boys take care all right Travis Yost of TSN Sabers and Blue Jackets pregame coming up in less than 20 minutes we really were pressed for time there was no bills conversation there that's a very big departure for us with Travis time it's time for a break and then we got to pick the game that's right oh yeah right because that takes a few minutes yeah that sounds like I was trying to cut him off I definitely was not no I

2:30:41don't think you I didn't mean to a guy would know certainly didn't mean to imply that I just know I know I know I know I weren't a hurry and now we're just what I said now we're just goofing around let's take a break Mike show up in the bulldog the Steelers and Browns tonight we'll discuss it after this year on WGR history that doesn't suck is a legit hard-hitting American history podcast told through entertaining stories as we approach America's 250th anniversary now might be the time to go back and learn how we got here with more than 200 episodes you can bend your way decade by decade defining event to defining event from the founding into the 20th century join me professor Greg Jackson for history that doesn't suck an Odyssey podcast available on Apple podcasts Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts