Cowboys-Eagles Betting Lines, Pete Rose Confessions & Notre Dame’s Free Pass | Three Wide

I told you, stop it. I'm not ready to do this yet. I guess I have no choice, do I?

Well, hi, and welcome to Three Wide at Scout at The Statler. That's a lot of things. Three Wide Scout Statler.

Alright. Let's take them one at a time. What is a Statler?

Well, the Statler is the well known hotel and, perhaps hotels and residences combined. I don't know how they do things these days down here. But it is downtown.

It has been here for years and years and years. It is a local icon. Now what is scout, you say?

Well, all of these hotels, even these that have been around for a long time, now have to have a trendy spot in them where guests can hang, and, maybe even natives can hang. And here at The Statler, that would be Scout, and that is where we are. Now, what is Three Wide?

Well, that is the weekly show that we do from here. Today, it is me. I would be Mike Rhyner.

Wow. Some would say, it's never been proven. I got no ring to prove it.

It is Mac Engel, the longtime front page columnist Hey. Of the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the host of the Engel Angle Thank you. Heard here on Stolen Water.

And it is the always incredible Ziggy of beer thirty sports o'clock. I don't know about incredible, but I appreciate it. I do.

I do know about incredible. It is another show that is heard here on the Stolen Water... Under the Stolen Water umbrella.

Now we should tell you that, you can go to the website, stolenwatermedia.com. Is that right, Becca? Yes.

Okay. Stolenwatermedia.com? Yes.

No. Okay. Go to stolenwatermedia.com.

You can find their podcasts. You can find Your Dark Companion. You can find any podcast that we do.

And when I say you can find them, I mean, all the episodes. You need back episodes? They're there somewhere.

I don't know what... I'm not sure where, and I can't tell you how to get to it because this is something I've never done myself. Yeah.

But they tell me that they are there somewhere, and that you can find Mac's. You can find Ziggy's. You can find YDC.

You can find any of them you want there. Okay? Now what did...

What else do we need to... What else did we need to hype here? Is there something else?

Yes. Oh, yeah. We are live here at Scout at The Statler.

I said that already. And Scout is a really, really cool place. If you were a downtowner, if you live downtown, and, yes, people do live downtown these days.

Do you? Mhmm. I did for ten years.

And you know what? I loved it. And, if you are one of a downtowner, then you need to come in here and check out Scout because this is a cool place.

They've done a great job of refurbishing this and bringing it up to speed, making it a place where people actually wanna hang out. So come down here to The Statler, check out Scout. And if you get down here right now, you'll be able to check out Three Wide.

Hey. Scout with Ziggy, with Mac, and with me. Alright.

On Three Wide, our mandate is to stick to sports and all that that implies. No. Not all that that implies.

Just sports. All that that implies does not, does not fall under the heading. So with that in mind, where shall we begin?

I I have a Downtown Dallas question for you. Oh, okay. Because This is this is sports related.

Okay. So I heard this, and I've been meaning to ask you this question for about the last two years. I heard this, this is like a urban myth about Jerry Jones, that shortly after he bought the team, which would've been 'eighty eight, 'eighty nine, maybe even in the early '90s, he bought and had his own private bar nightclub here in Downtown Dallas.

Is that true? I'm too young for that. This is Mike's this is Mike's alley.

He's... He was here before anybody got here. Yeah.

Ever. Yeah. Natives, anybody.

Mike was first. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Methuselah came after him. Have you heard that legend?

No. I have not, But I would not dispute it. Mean, it sounds plausible.

Yes. So if anybody out there knows if that's true or not, I don't even know if it still exists, but that was an urban myth that I heard a couple times. And, you know, I've been around the franchise closely, indirectly, for twenty five years or whatever.

That was one that came around. I was like, you know, I bet who would know that? Hall of Famer Mike Rhyner.

Well, I'm sorry I let you down. It's alright. Well, it may not be true, but it...

It's one of those it's one of those legends that considering Jerry's persona, you would say, oh, yeah. I could believe that. Oh, yeah.

I can believe it too. Absolutely. I can believe it too.

For sure. Can you believe that the Dallas cowboys are actually getting worse? We're not even at the midway point, and they're getting worse.

Alright. For me, after Tampa Bay, anything's possible. I thought you hold it for us.

Was gonna say after Tampa Bay was the real bay, which is Green Bay. And Green Bay did what Green Bay does to the packer... I mean, to the Cowboys.

Yes. They did. Oh, six and one in the last ten years of facing us.

I keep telling y'all, not... We got we got the playbook. It's like Jerry calls us and gives us the plays before they happen.

I don't dispute you. Okay. I don't dispute you for a minute.

How many Super Bowls did the packers have in those last ten years? About as many as the Cowboys. Hey.

But we've won the playoffs. We've won in the playoffs. Yeah.

The packers have come closer to it than the Cowboys. No doubt about it. But...

Yeah. Ouch. I thought that that that Bucks game, when I went to that game, I covered that game.

And I'm sitting there in the press box, and I'm... And never in my... In any scenario did I think they would lose that game.

Not because Tampa was bad, but because Tampa was starting an undrafted rookie free agent quarterback from my alma mater, the University of Kansas. Yes. And here's the crazy stat.

I don't know if you saw this. I'm texting somebody from the big twelve during the game while Jalen Daniels, a quarterback that I had watched as a KU alum, frustrate me for four years because I know he's talented. This guy's...

This this big twelve guy's text me. He's saying, when's the last time a Kansas quarterback... And we were going through...

When was the last time a Kansas quarterback did anything in the NFL? And we we couldn't... We were coming up with names.

Nothing. Todd Archer of ESPN, longtime Dallas cowboys and NFL reporter, comes up to me after the game, and he shows me this. The last time a Kansas quarterback started and won an NFL game was Don't tell me.

Can I guess? Sure. John Hadel?

Good guess. It's after John Hadel. Oh, Ziggy, you have any idea of this one?

No. I'm... Was waiting for you to just give it back.

Can you name me... Can you even name me Kansas quarterbacks? Right?

After John Hadel, I run on his shit. That's kinda like saying famous Texas Democrats. Right?

There are none. God bless you. God bless Dan Richards.

No. I... Yeah.

No. Right? No.

None. 1978 was the last time a Kansas quarterback won and started an NFL game. It was Bobby Douglas.

And here's the funny part. He got benched. At some point during the game, he got benched, and Archie Manning came in and replaced him, and they won the game.

So, technically, Douglas got the win because he started. Right. Right?

Arches work. I think the last time a Kansas quarterback played it all was a a named Mike Northseth in the late eighties. And that's why when the bucks got that game against Dallas and they're starting Jalen Daniels, I'm like, there's no way.

This... He'll he'll turn it over a few times. He'll screw up, and they'll win this game.

Okay. So And none of it happened. I said this last week, and I'm a say it again.

That means you didn't want... You've never watched Tampa Bay play. Because Tampa Bay, if you look at their season right now, as it sits right now, I know they're, like, one and five or They have a one and five.

Yeah. They're one and five. I know they're bad.

Don't get it... Don't give me call. That bad.

But they're... The... Every game they have lost has been by six or less points.

Yeah. They're they're playing teams close. Playing teams close, good teams, not not bad close with Baker Mayfield.

No. Even with Jalen. They played they played the pack...

They played the packers very close. Like, I was... I...

We did not think we were walking out of that building because we... I went to that game. I did not think I was walking out that building with a win.

I thought we were gonna lose that game, and it was it was gonna be a fucking terrible flight. But it... We thought we were gonna lose that game, and I had my son with me.

And my son was like, are the Packers even playing? Like, you know, like, who's this quarterback? Because, like, he was asking, like, who is this guy?

I'm like, I I don't know. I gotta look him up. So when I looked him up...

Because he's... He was undrafted Yep. Which was crazy that That's an...

That sounds insane. Undrafted. A rookie undrafted.

And then gets a start after Baker goes down, which nobody thought Baker was gonna go down after the the contract negotiations and all that stuff like that. And he... Baker, to be honest, wasn't playing great anyway.

No. But he gets hurt. He's a small guy, and that's been the...

That's been a knock on him for a while. But I thought, as I sat there that night, Mike, and I'm talking to people that you know and like, you know, Todd Archer, Clarence Hill, John Machota, name them, who's covered the Cowboys for a long time. We were we were asking, is this the worst regular season loss in this century?

No. It's it's in the debate. It's And so that's why as bad as they were to...

Against Tampa, and then they come out and they hire a defensive assistant coach, and they make some personnel changes at tight end and a defensive end, and they do some other stuff. And then to come out, and the offense just totally craps the bed against Green gonna say, yeah. Like, the...

It it wasn't the defense's fault. Like, the defense did kinda what they were supposed to do. Green Bay dropped three touchdown passes.

We did. So it it could have been worse. Golden is still running, suicides for us.

Don't worry. At Dak Prescott's numbers. He threw the ball, like, 53 times.

Exactly. Yeah. And they ran, what, like, 16 times or something like that?

They had a stretch of plays, Mike. You go look at it. It was like something...

It was almost criminal. They ran the ball whatever in this... In the first half, and then they passed it, like Yes.

30 consecutive plays. And... But that's my thing.

It's... I don't think That's crazy, man. Yeah.

Yeah. But that's that's what I'm saying. I don't think you could say the offense didn't play well.

They just got boxed into... They started losing. They started losing, and then you start chasing thinking they had to had to throw the ball.

Coaching, though. That's coaching. Notice that, like, for instance, the 40 niners in the Washington game last night, Washington was still running the ball down two touchdowns.

And what happened? Miraculously, they started coming back. They started...

Because you had to respect the run and the pass. As a Packers fan, I loved it because we were just acting like we were gonna blitz, drop out, and and Dak was confused. He threw it fifty fifty some odd times.

It's too many times for him to throw. Oh, that's... It's crazy.

We have a horrible run defense. I will say that. We have a...

We are middle of the road when it comes to to to run defense. Well, the Cowboys cured it. Well, I...

This is a real... This is you... This is how bad you know it is right now for Brian Schottenheimer.

When people, I don't care who it is, are sitting there saying, boy, they got their shit together in Washington on that sideline. I don't know what you guys are doing, but they they really got their stuff together in Washington. That's when you know it's pretty bad.

Yeah. Yeah. Why?

Can I just say one more thing about Bobby Douglas? Please. A former Kansas quarterback.

I remember a game back in the sixties Whoo. When he was playing for the Chicago bears. Yeah.

That's when I met. I was a bear. Yeah.

Yep. He was playing for the bears. They're playing the cowboys.

The cowboys were really, really good then. The bears were not. The Bears had a very chaotic quarterback situation.

I don't know if it was injury driven or what, but for whatever reason, they wound up playing Bobby Douglas in this game. And there are three things about... I remember about Bobby Douglas.

Number one, he's huge. Number two, he's a left hander who could barely complete a pass. Number three, he ran the ball on just about every down, and it was...

It it gave the Cowboys fits, and I think they lost that game. So this was at the Cotton Bowl or Salt Lake? This this was in in Chicago.

Okay. So... Okay.

So he he holds a place Oh, in your heart? In cow... Yeah.

In cowboys lore. It's not a not a very favorable place and probably one long forgotten by everybody except me. Brad Sham.

Yeah. Brad Sham was probably there. He would probably remember.

This this might have been before him, though. Oh, yeah. In the late sixties.

Or or late sixties or very early seventies. You talk about a Cowboys historian. He knows it all.

Oh, I know. I know. And he could probably tell you more about that game than I can.

But but being a Cowboy fan like I was back then, I I just couldn't believe what I was watching. This quarter this quarterback who could barely throw the ball was running it on every play and beating the cowboys. So is your cowboy spirit broken?

Is it? I'm asking you. Yeah.

I've I've You don't have it. I don't have a dog in the for you? The consistency of this is astonishing.

Yeah. It is. It is.

And if I really had cowboy spirit, which I don't anymore, it would be. Now, you know, in my former life, in my former work life, I almost secretly rooted for them to lose. Just blasphemous.

Because... I know it's blasphemous. He's got...

I know you're... Go explain the logic. I I can relate to this.

That made it great for us the next day. That that meant that that Monday when we came in there for cowboy Monday, it was just gonna be rip roaring. I mean, it was it was a lot easier for us when they lost and when they won.

And I know that's me being selfish and everything, and people probably think, man, what what what kind of what kind of traitor are you anyway? But there's, like, a breaking point in that... And, like, if you're following that s curve, if you remember the media here that follows the team, if they lose, especially for talk radio, it was just gold.

Right. But if you lose too much, then the season's over. And you don't want And you don't want that.

You don't need that. You just need them to play just barely. Yeah.

Just just make make everybody think that you're a contender. But what... The crazy part about it all is is that they still got a chance to win the NFC least.

Oh, yeah. They do. They do.

They absolutely do. Is an absolute joke. The fact that they have not won a game in two weeks, the whole conference or division in two weeks that two of them played each other is crazy.

It's almost as bad as the American League West. And here's the killer. Both divisions are so bad, and our local teams have it gifted to them.

Half of the starting quarterbacks in the NFC East are out for the year. Jalen Hurts. Yep.

Hopefully, he lives. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Jackson Dart. Man, how the hell do the eagles let him play that game in London with blood clots?

Like, if it was just his calf, but they were already playing in the... Yeah. I'm like, what the fuck is wrong with Philly?

Man, I guarantee you, worse has been done than that. No. Not blood clots.

Blood clots, like, he coulda died. I've heard of guys London. I've heard of guys playing with stuff in their brain.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, these guys don't have much brains when it comes to I mean, like, you know, blood in their brain to blood.

In their brains. I got you. Got you.

Got you. Yeah. Yeah.

Bad things going on in their brains. Troy has famously come out and say... Troy Aikman has famously come out and say that he does not remember a playoff game.

He does... Like, he cannot remember it at all. Ziggy, I don't think that that type of anecdote is atypical of players before the concussion thing became public.

For sure. This blood clots, I'm like, they put you on On a plane? Yeah.

Like, the amount of risk that putting him on a long ass flight. We're not talking a Right. Six hour...

A four hour... No. This is like a twelve hour flight.

It's like an eight or nine hour flight from Philly to London. Yeah. I'm sorry.

Yeah. You're right. Eight to nine hours.

It's long. It's a whole fucking day in the air. Like, what?

I... I've seen a lot of stuff. I've...

And, Mike, I know you've heard a lot of stuff about, hey. Just... It's okay.

You can play with this. You can play with this. I've never heard of anything like this.

Blood clot. Not a blood clot. Like, not blood clots, excuse me, in your lungs.

Like, and then on top of that on top of that, I just... They just announced today that the n f... Or NFL just announced that the Eagles did no wrongdoing.

Right. They didn't see anything wrong with it. The fuck How long was the investigation?

Yeah. Like, it was shorter seconds? Shorter than their investigation into Josh Jacobs and his domestic dispute.

Oh, yeah. That's right. He's still with the girl.

Him and the girl are back together. What they're really saying is they didn't they didn't do anything because they didn't see anything. They didn't see anything because they didn't wanna see anything.

Yeah. But That shit is crazy. I know how, like, every doctor...

And I I came to appreciate this about sports orthopedic surgeons when I had my, neck fusion done, because I had it done by a guy who does a lot of professional athletes here. And however many... He was terrific, I have no complaint at all.

One thing another sports orthopedic doctor told me about sports orthopedic surgeons who perform those types of procedures on professional athletes and high performers is they put you on the most aggressive timeline there is. He's like, they're not sitting and violating any you know, Hippocratic oath. They're not putting you in danger.

But if it says six to eight weeks They're putting you on six. They're telling you five. Oh.

Because if they don't tell you five, you're not coming to see them. Really? And it And I I don't wanna suggest that that these guys are viable, but it's more like you can go to...

If I if I went and saw five sports orthopedic surgeons, and I said, yeah. I need to have this neck fusion done. When's my timeline?

That's probably a couple months. Okay. And then you go to...

Keep And then going and going, and then you find the guy says Right. Six weeks, you're fine. Really?

Oh, I'll go see you. Yeah. That's crazy.

It's not it's not like they're putting... At no point did I feel like I was in jeopardy of anything. But it's more like, hey, look.

If you want these guys to come to you, and you want that... You want them as patients, or whatever you wanna call it, you've gotta be aggressive, and you've gotta feel confident in that diagnosis. And with this...

But this is just so totally out of even that You can't lane. There's no way there's no way to there's no way to excuse this. And the fact that the NFL has already done this quick ass investigation and, like, if if I was Jalen Hurts, I probably would never play for the Eagles again.

Honest to God truth because forget me being the player, forget me being the quarterback, I am first a human being. I am a man, And you put my life at risk. Of course, the player's gonna say put me in.

I don't care, whatever the case may be. But that's why the doctors are supposed to step in and and say something. And for all of the media pundits out there that were taught, oh, it's just a it's just a blood clot in his calf, so he could be alright.

I would out for three weeks, blah blah blah. You're an idiot. And all of you need to be fired.

Because you're all fucking morons, and you know nothing about the medical field, so shut the hell up about medical stuff. Same thing with the Caleb, Williams thing. I never really got into that.

I I laughed because I was like, bro, like, he cried like he was gonna be... Like, he snapped his leg in half, but I would not make fun of it other than that because he's a bear. But, like, come on, man.

Like, we gotta stop this, like, we know pain threshold of what other people's pain or pain is or that we think, oh, you know, it's just in the calf muscle. That's okay. Yeah.

But danger of that is is clearly life threatening. Well, it's I guarantee you the league figured out who was going to be looking at this and looking at them and and diagnosing whatever was wrong with them and just kinda looked at them and said, you know what to do. That's case.

That scares me the most about a blood clot, my spouse had one. Obviously, it can be fatal, and it can cause a stroke. Right.

And I don't know about you. I... I've...

She and I have and some other loved ones in my discussion. If I've got a stroke, call it a day. Really?

Well, I mean, yeah, you see people who live with strokes, and it's not good. And Depending on the severity. Depending on the severity.

When they catch it and all that. I'm thinking I'm thinking of the extreme ones. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No. I feel But it's more like, what were they... Like, how could you be so casual about that?

Wrong hit, and it's over. It's over. And and and that team, like, we're not talking about, like, the Cowboys who...

No offense. No no digs right now, but we're talking about a team that is a violent defensive team. They are very physical.

They hit the shit out of Jalen Hurts almost all game. And you don't have the o line to protect him that you used to. Like, it's...

As strategically thinking as football head here, right, this made no sense. There was no win win in this situation. There was no win win situation in this point.

You're either gonna injure him more with the blood clot, or you're gonna fatally kill this man for a fucking game in London that has no Yeah. But it's London, man. Yeah.

I mean, trying to get the international out. Marketing. Marketing.

He's QB. By the way. Protect the shield.

Speaking of... But, speaking of the shield, the shield is tripping. You know the Steelers are going to France next week?

Yeah. In the middle of the riots? In the middle of the riots?

Like, what are we doing? They will have security out there. What about the fans?

What about them? That's crazy. Yeah.

Those are crazy. You're right. Yeah.

Those Steelers fans might be looking forward to that. Yeah. I mean, I have noticed this in the last ten years.

There is... I can't think of a customer right now that gets the shaft more than the ticket paying NFL fan. I know everybody complained about the Taylor Swift Harris concert.

And, oh my god, this is crazy. This is crazy. And, yeah, that was crazy.

And people are paying out the nose to go to concerts and all this other stuff. FIFA would like a word. FIFA was pretty bad.

I I got shafted on the line. I got shafted bad. I I can't I can't really disagree with that.

But the difference about the NFL game is like, oh, we might move the game. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, we're gonna flex it. Yeah.

Yeah. We're gonna put it on Sunday night. We're gonna move it into Monday.

What? And so college fans kinda get it bad. The NFL one is the worst.

Yeah. Worse. Because the author is television, and that's where their priority is.

So you're talking about Paris where there's riots going on? Yeah. It's an inconvenience, but we got an eight eight...

We have an 08:30AM slot to fill, on Sunday morning, so that's the priority, and that's what we're gonna do. That's crazy. I...

Honest to god truth, that's just insane to me. And, like, I mean, I guess I get it, but it's at the same time, it's like we we don't have any other fields we can go to. Like, we don't have any other places we could play right now.

Brazil? I mean, no. No.

Brazil's... Yeah. Brazil's out.

That that field is terrible. But Oh, my God. That was the most overrated You think that makes a difference?

It feels terrible. They don't care. They play on anything.

As a Packers ers fan, I have nightmares about that field in Brazil. I thought we lost Jordan Love forever on that field. And...

Yeah. So... No.

Look at the fields they play in in Washington Yeah. Pittsburgh Yeah. They get trashed.

And so the the the Brazil field, I was like, yeah. Was like just bad. Yeah.

And look at the Cowboys receivers on, Sunday night. They were slipping all over the place. That was their fault, though.

Like, as as a... As an equipment manager, though, I would think in my head, like, okay. Well, CD Dunn slid once.

Picking shoe cushion came out of his shoe. I don't know how they don't know that at Like 10AM on Sunday. Yeah.

Like, what... Okay. So you know it's about to be...

It's... It was warmer in October than it usually is in Wisconsin. Right?

And it's gonna be humid, so it's... You know, it's... The field's gonna be fucked.

Alright? Let's just be honest. It's like playing on, like, rain There's water.

Field. There's water. Right?

So you would think that they would have the deeper cleats. None of them did. Like...

And that was my thing. It was like, as a coach, I'd like, yo, time out. Everybody switched fucking cleats.

What are we doing at halftime? And everybody came out, and it was the same shit. Pretty much.

It was weird. That's So why they lost shoes. They try to get get them in cleats, but they don't want to.

You know? Listen. They lost more than the cleats.

But I'm just saying, that would have been my telltale sign when when CD fell and the the interception. I'm like, hey. As a coach or as the equipment manager, hey.

You good? You need some new shoes? Like, let's let's figure this out.

But, nope, they just tied them blue boys up and kept on rolling. What if the player says, I'm good? You know, I know it's...

I fell down, but I but I like these shoes. That's not the first time you fell down, Let me get you another pair of cleats so don't fall again. I don't want you to get hurt.

See, that's what you do. You put that doubt of hurt in the ear. Like, hey.

I don't want you to get hurt. And then they're like, oh, alright. Have you noticed...

I've noticed this. This is a trend that's happened in the last ten years. Have you noticed how NFL players and major college players, how they have consistently taken padding out of their pants?

Yes. Yes. I mean, they're not worried about it.

Yes. And now they're wearing shorts just about too. And I mean, how many how many front leg injuries have you...

We seen? It's not necessarily about that. Because I I know you point, like, that's a deep, deep thigh bruise.

That's what you're potentially Yeah. Vulnerable to. And a lot of it's fashion.

They won't look cool. At a speed. Yeah.

At a speed. But that... That's all it is.

You know? It is. I mean, they used they used to wear pads for protection.

Right. You had to protect that area. Well, the pads started getting smaller, and then it was kinda like, I mean, these pad...

We were talking thigh pads being about a quarter inch Like, they don't wear them now. They don't go back. Wear them now.

They don't wear any knee at all anymore? There are knee pads, but, I mean, yeah, I was gonna say it just really depends on the players, man. Like, yeah.

I mean, now we're starting to see players with pants up above the knees. Yeah. For sure.

But, I mean, think about it, like, really honestly. I mean, how many players... Again, we see the noncontact ACLs and MCLs and stuff like that all the time.

We don't really see, like, someone getting hit low and, like, bone or or muscle, like, con... You get contusions, but you don't see any major injuries on the upper thigh or lower, like, you see ankles. That's about it.

Yeah. But there's nothing you could do about that because they can't make the cleats any high. You know what I mean?

Like, all the cleats got No. It's just it's just weird. I was watching.

It was the Seattle game, and I think it was Jackson Smith and Jigma. And his... If if you...

When I looked at him and you looked at the what a wide receiver looked like in 1990 or 1988, and just the uniform, you don't even recognize it anymore. Oh, yeah. No.

The pads, everything, it's all gotten so much more slender, more narrow, lighter, but it's like, are you even... Like, you're wearing pads, brother? I mean, you got anything on?

I mean, the helmet? Rugby, they don't wear pads. They don't wear anything.

Like, let them rock. Pretty much. Yeah.

Let them rock. I'm with it. Like, I I feel like the...

Like I said on last week's episode is that I feel like the game has gotten so fast that they're looking for every single little slight edge that they can get to get those... To keep those four flat 40 times though. You know what I mean?

Because other than that, they're gonna end up too slow and and get miss a tackle or something like that or not be able to cut right, and that's just... Yeah. So it just...

To me, I would feel like, I would feel like they should I would feel like they should be okay without those front pads there. Now what I would love to see is something you know, for their ankles because the amount of ankle injuries we've had this year is kinda crazy. Alright.

Now we're being asked a very interesting philosophical question. A deep question. That is a deep question.

So, let's just go around the horn and see if we can get an answer to this. The question is... Show.

Bree just held it up so I could see it, so I could read it. Thank you very much, Bree. The question is, do we wanna take a break today?

Do we? I say we flip a coin. Does anybody have a coin?

Who has cash anymore? I have a coin. I have coins in the truck.

Do you really? Well, go out in the truck and go get it. Then we would be at break.

Mike, this is your show. There you go. Not all of us is in the hall of fame.

You know what I mean? Wow. So a lot of pressure on the hall of famine.

Oh, I don't know. Wow. What the hell?

Let's take one for five minutes. Five minutes. Five minutes.

That's it. Alright. Bye.

We will be back with more. This is Three Wide from Scout at The Statler. Just like that.

We're back with Three Wide at Scout at The Statler in the heart of Downtown Dallas. Now I would like to tell you a cup... About a couple things that they have down here.

First of all, in addition to scout, they also have the waterproof. That is a rooftop bar and pool up on the 19th Floor with nice skyline views. Very romantic, I'm told.

With live music, DJs, and many, many special events. Also, there is Bourbon and Banter, a speakeasy. Below Scout, full bourbon library, Ziggy.

Yeah. Make sure you check out the phone booth, man. That phone booth, trust me.

It's a vibe. Open until 2AM. All of that right here inside The Statler in Downtown Dallas on Commerce Street.

Oh, yeah. So check it out. Alright.

Can I just say one thing and get into one thing that I wanna get into? Cheers show. Well, I don't wanna get into this.

No. I won't stay on it if you guys don't want to. If you guys got something else that's burning in your soul, we...

Just let me mention this, and we can get to that. But the World Series Oh. Is shaping up here.

In fact, it has taken shape, and, it's coming down. And, man, I love this. Why?

Because it's not Yankees and Dodgers. Hey. Hey.

Hey. Relax. Relax on the Yankees.

It is not Yankees and Dodgers. It was a foregone conclusion Yeah. At the start of the freaking baseball season before any game was ever even played Dodgers had it.

That the Dodgers and Yankees were gonna wind up in the world series. And now that is far, far from the case. Not only is it not Dodgers and Yankees, but let's take a look at who it is.

It is the Milwaukee Brewers in the smallest market in baseball and the Tampa Bay devil rays, who almost baseball day trippers know of them as they're no good, they lose a a million games just about every year. Well, that was then. This is now.

Right now, the Rays are the absolute model of how you should run a baseball franchise. They have the best manager, a guy who, if he were to become a free agent, the line would form to the left. And every big player in this game, regardless of if they have a guy now or not, they would fire their guy to hire Kevin Cash.

Yeah. They would do that. And, man, I just love this.

This is wonderful, and it's gonna be a great World Series. If you've been watching the playoffs and watching these teams in the playoffs, then, you know, we hear so much about playing the game of baseball the right way, whatever that may be. It's different things to to different people, different strokes for different folks, and all that stuff.

But for me, these guys play the game the right way. I mean, they they can do anything that the game might call for. They execute like crazy when they had to, and it's it's like all up and down the lineup.

They don't have a guy in there who cannot execute just about anything they might be called upon. And this should be a really, really good World Series. Who are pulling for?

Good question. Yeah. It is a good question.

I don't know. Both of these teams have won me over because of the way they play this game. In fact, I I I was really, honestly, kind of hoping Cleveland was gonna get in.

Oh, absolutely. They also play very similar to that. They do.

I mean, they belong in the game. I mean, just about everything I just said about these two teams can be said about them. Cleveland.

Yeah. But I was really excited because if Cleveland got in against Milwaukee, that means both cities of this world series would be places where once upon a time, the Edmund Fitzgerald tied up. Love that.

That's such a great one. I'm all for Milwaukee. I'm all for Milwaukee because two of us.

I am. Well, you're... I mean, is that the Green Bay thing?

It is the Green Bay thing, but, you know, we gotta go for the blue and gold. It's like they go for us in the green and gold. Alright.

Fair enough. Yeah. Mean, I don't have a dog in a fight.

Long suffering fan bases that have never won a team, Pete. That's true. So You got two of them here.

You think about this century, you had the Red Sox that fell off the list. You had the White Sox that fell off the list. You had the Astros that fell off the list, and you had the Rangers that fell off the list.

The Brewers now could fall off the list. Nice. And that leaves only Tampa, San Diego, Colorado, and Seattle as the only teams not to have won a World Series.

And I can't put my heart into Tampa because I've been to that market before, and they just... That's just... What they've done from a baseball personnel standpoint and how they flip that roster and they have gone young when the when the older guys get old, they've done that better than any team in professional sports.

If you go look at their last twenty years and they've gotten World Series, and they've had division winners, and they've had playoff teams, they've done it bet as well as anybody. And the fact that they're this close, I don't think they're gonna win it. I think Milwaukee is the best team.

But I am... You know, when my... When I was when I when I was young, I remember those great brewer teams that had Paul Moliter Yeah.

And Robin Yout and Cecil Cooper. I remember those teams, and they got close once. They were good.

They were really good, and they lost to Saint Louis. That was forever ago. So I'm all on board with Milwaukee because I'm biased.

I know how much... Think about how much it meant to you watching the Rangers win a World Series. Oh, the greatest night of my sports life, and it will never be overtaken.

And I would imagine that was... I think I wrote it before then, and I think I was right. That was the lowest television attend...

Television rated world series ever. This one will be worse than that. It will.

No one's gonna watch this other than diehards like you and hardcore fans of those respective franchises. Not so many. Know what?

Degenerate gamblers. And you know what? I don't care.

Gamblers. Who don't care who's watching it. I don't care either.

Yeah. That's a TV problem. Let them figure it out.

They're getting their money. I'm not worried about television getting their money. But that...

I am such a sucker for fan bases that have never won a title. Yeah. I like them too.

I like as one who was part of one until just a few years ago. I I feel you, man. Do you have a prediction?

I think Milwaukee's gonna win in six. Oh, six? Tampa Bay is really good.

I'm just... The way Milwaukee plays, I'm a sucker for that. Lot of contact, lot of speed.

That's old school baseball. Yeah. That's the kind of game I like to watch.

Well, Tampa does that too, though. No. It does.

You're right. It does. You're right.

You know, Tampa Tampa is... Both of these teams are great at playing the game on the field. You know, whatever the game calls for, they can do it.

And they know how to do it, and they don't mind doing it, you know? There may not be a lot of big stars here, and I don't know, maybe that's gonna make for a little bit better World Series. I know that it kind of...

It's costly on the pop culture front. You know? Well, I mean, know, it's funny.

Who qualifies as a big star in Major League Baseball these days? Oh, for sure. Oh, Tony?

Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge. Oh, boy that left.

Name shall not be spoken to the Mets. What's his name? So to.

Juan So to? Yeah. That coward.

He's awfully good. Oh, boy. That was, what?

You've named three. Yeah. He...

And Toronto was the the the big hitter from Toronto. He was he was... Last year was his year, but there's there's been different, like, for baseball.

And, again, this... I'm not an enthusiast. I'm not a fan like that.

So this is a good question to ask you, though. Yeah. Like If you're not...

What baseball... Can you name me nine baseball players other than outside of Texas? Can you name me nine?

Well I'm not trying to embarrass you. I'm trying to illustrate a point. Sure.

Alright. So I said... We said Ohtani.

What's the other pitcher? Mookie Betts. Okay.

Dodger. Yeah. Know.

As as a man who hates the dodgers, I know a lot of dodgers. Know them because they've been so good. Good.

Yes. Shit. That's a great question.

What's See, it just illustrates... This is what this... Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter. No. Yeah.

This illustrates baseball's problem, and it's been the problem for the last twenty years. Oh. Since that whole generation of bonds and Clemens and all those guys retired, I don't think they have done a good job of developing.

And some of it's... The technology world has changed so much. You can name me dozens and dozens of football players.

Right? Sure. Yeah.

Yeah. Can we talk about star power? Yeah.

What teams have star power anymore outside of the dodgers and yankees? You know what? That's really it.

The baseball world needs to look at... Because the only other sport that plays long like that, like baseball, is hockey or soccer. The season.

Hockey plays half the regular season that baseball does. So Baseball is a different beast. So this is I'm saying.

Plays long too. So that's what I'm saying. They need to look at one, I I feel like it...

Our attention spans are so short now. That's it. They need to they need to shorten the season.

They've done everything they can to speed up the game, but it's just Okay. The season. There...

So one of the proposals that they're talking about in this new collective bargaining agreement Right. Is to go from one sixty two to one fifty four. Which is what they went to one sixty two from.

Right. It's too fucking long. Is eight is eight enough?

Well, it's... Listen. Then you start cutting into profits.

You start cutting into revenues, players aren't But don't they share profits from hat sales or merch sales and stuff like that? Don't they get a... Everybody get a a piece?

Yeah. Like like the rangers won the world series. Right?

Right. They had to... They got one thirtieth of that revenue.

Right. One thirtieth. That's crazy.

That's... Right? That's crazy.

Yeah. But that's that's That's baseball. That's the way they do it.

Yep. But I I think, though, like, that's the biggest problem is because, I mean, as a fan of the Yankees and my friends that are fans of Mets and, you know, and family that are friends of Mets and we are fans of Mets, we've gone to games and stuff like that. Hell, I got a homeboy that I was in the military with that diehard Cubs fan, and those are, like, crazy fans.

Like, they they don't care how bad. It's just they're immune to them being bad. So they don't watch baseball until, like, August.

Mike, you... But you watch from I watch from opening day day. Right.

Yeah. But... And my my point to that is is that baseball, you can't find all the games.

Right? You see what I'm saying? So, like, you're going to technology route.

Right? As far as, you know, streaming and Apple and and Netflix and all the stuff like that. But the guys who watch all of the games, Mike, no offense, are boomers.

They don't fucking have streaming everything. They don't know what else shit. Streaming everything.

I'm sorry. How many I'm not... Yeah.

I'm just saying in general. So you bring up a good point. I talked to a I talked to a restaurateur in Fort Worth about this.

Statler, the scout here at the Statler Hotel, beautiful place, by the way. Absolutely beautiful. Do you know how hard it is for these bars and restaurants now to get all the games?

Get all the games. Yes. Yeah.

Yes. Virtually impossible. It is.

Like, there are not enough teeth because you... All the the different apps and all these things that you need to to be able to watch everything. That's the problem.

It is. That's that's really the problem is that, like, you say buy the MLB package and get all the games there? But, I mean, if you're if you're like a restaurant owner.

No. But you can't. Unless you have YouTube TV or or...

You can't buy it separately. You have to have that specific provider in order to do it. Like, you can't buy the ticket with DIRECTV.

You have to have YouTube TV. Yeah. It...

So it's the same thing. Do it, but it's extremely expensive. Yes.

And this guy was telling me, like, if they wanted to do it here, and that's to say they wanted to... There was a fight. Mhmm.

And it's a $70 fight, let's say, and they put it on here, and they don't pay for it, those companies hire private investigators to walk around bars and restaurants all the time, take a snapshot, and then they get a notification, and they get slapped with a heavy fine. I'm sure they do. And I...

I'm sympathetic because I'm... I I went to a bar recently over the summer. I wanted to watch a...

It was a playoff game. I said, do have such a... He's like, yeah.

We don't have that. It's starting to be like that for college. It is.

Yeah. Think about it. Because, like, I was trying to watch the, the OU game at a bar.

And Didn't have it? It was on SEC Network, and they didn't have it. And I was like, alright.

Well, I have it on my phone, so just give me your charger so I can plug up. I don't wanna go home yet. So I'm you did?

Yes. I just plugged my shit up. I was sitting at the bar.

Hey. Give me the charger. I'll plug it up so I can watch all the TVs and and still watch my game.

Like, yeah. So, I mean I didn't wanna go home. Cord cutting was gonna save us all this money.

And and what happened to that? I I Got them. I I always laughed like, oh, they're gonna sit...

They're they're gonna go broke. No. They're not.

No. And now they're making more money than ever, and all it does is drain our wallets. Every chance they get.

But, no, that's why I think, like, even with with NFL, like, we were talking about this on the show with me, you, and, Greg about, like, how the NFL is gonna go to their own streaming thing. I just... They make too much fucking money to to to disappear from the networks.

The networks are... Netflix is... By the end of it all, Netflix is going to be the number one streaming platform out if they're not already, but they're going to be the number one streaming platform from not only movies, shows, sports as well.

They are they are trying to be ESPN esque of the streaming platforms, and it's working. They got baseball's all star weekend. They got Christmas Day, football games.

They got, I think... Did they get playoffs this year? I like, they're they're working on I've I've...

So it's really it's really, really expensive to do that. For sure. And it's just a question of whether or not...

Because for the longest time, the guy who... I kept eyeing that. I'm like, when is Netflix gonna do live sports?

And they and they kept kicking it down. They didn't want it. They didn't want it.

Then Prime did it. Hulu did it. And now they're all kind of doing it.

And it's just a question of, do you wanna get in that game? Because it is so ungodly expensive because Yeah. It's the return of programming.

Well, it's it's really... It is and it isn't. Like, if you look at the amount of money that these...

That the traditional networks pay Mhmm. To televise it, they lose money on it, But... Or they did forever, but they lose money on it just as a straight a straight line.

They lost on it. But in terms of leading into other programming, that's why it was so valuable. Mhmm.

And that's why CBS and Fox overpaid for it. And so does Netflix wanna do that? Wouldn't surprise me.

I mean, I wouldn't rule out anything. I know I know this. Major sports college conference commissioners are praying that they do it, whether it's Apple TV, Netflix.

Oh, it's coming. They they want them to do it. Yeah.

Could it be all of them? I I don't know. It's just it's just like it's what's it worth.

You're like, okay. So we have the SEC. The SEC is worth a fortune.

Right? Right. Think about that.

They've got such a monopoly. Like, I went to the Texas Ohio State game at the September 1. There's a 105,000 people there.

And I'm walking around, and they've turned it into the Texas State Fair. From an atmosphere, it's amazing. Right.

I'm like, this is incredible. I mean... And I'm like, who the hell can compete with this?

How how do you compete with a 105,000 people? You got Beavor walking around the field and all these a list celebrities. You got Kevin Durant, Matthew McConaughey, Austin Powell, hot women, drunks, all this stuff.

Like, how do you possibly compete with this? Miami would like a word. This is why I think the ACC is so important.

I think the SEC, you're correct. They have a monopoly because they've been good for so long. Biggest big games.

Right. But Miami versus Duke doesn't do it. But this is this is this is where I've been saying this for years, and I I pray that Notre Dame finally fucking listens and goes to the ACC in football.

They don't want to. They won't. They won't.

The reason that it doesn't... One, they're already in the basketball world ACC. Two, it doesn't make any sense for them not to because their games...

Most of their games this year have not been televised except for the BYG. They're all televised. Everything's televised.

I'm saying, like, major. They're not... All of them have been there.

They just tell. They don't care. That's...

Doesn't I I carry them anymore? They are. NBC does, but it's like usually the last game of the night.

They don't give a shit. No. So I called a friend of mine who works at works at Notre Dame, and I said, when are guys gonna join a conference?

And he said, they don't wanna do it. And I know why they don't wanna do it. It gives them, one, they get all the money.

Look at the the the money that they make from that is staggering, and it gives them an identity separate from everybody else. Now the people who run the Big Ten and the SEC are really tired of it. Yes.

As they should be. They're like, wait a minute. We're really sick of this.

Why do we all have to sit down and you get a special exemption? Right. They're like, because we can.

And NBC, which has had Notre Dame for fifty years, that's their one anchor, well, had been, to to major college football. So they continued to do it. And meanwhile, the people who run Notre Dame sit there and say, this gives us a separate identity from everybody else.

If we join the Big Ten, because that's where they would go. If we join the Big Ten, we're just another Big Ten school. I don't think they would...

I don't think they should join the... They should join the ACC. They don't want to.

It's gonna be the Big Ten or nothing. I mean, your logic... I I get your logic, but that's that's...

Your logic's not bad, but the Big Ten is where the bigger money is. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So you're talking about a difference of 25 to $30,000,000. No.

You're right. You're right. So if they go to the big 10 the ACC, it's always But here's my thing, though.

And that's why they wanna do it. Then... And and and I'm I'm saying this from a from a hater standpoint because I I can't stand Notre Dame.

I I hate Notre Dame. Because you hate Catholics? No.

Had to ask. My aunt is Catholic. And So who are you pulling for?

Like, the the Mormons or the Catholics in the I'm actually pulling for the Mormons. Let's go BYU. Let's go BYU.

That's a lot babies being born that night. Let's go, baby. Hell, yeah.

I was so excited. A lot of wine. Too.

Number four, get down here. Get down here. Oh my god.

No. But, yeah, I I I think that Notre Dame, they should be treated then as outside of the big five conferences. They shouldn't get...

They should be in the twelfth spot where we're gonna give it to Boise State or UNLV or whatever. Because here's my thing. When is the last time that Notre Dame has been in the championship or been that good where they can just stand alone and be just great?

I... They haven't. Two years ago, they were good.

Two years ago, they were good, but they weren't they weren't championship good. Well, there... There's the problem.

How many teams are really championship good? Usually, one or two. Georgia, Ohio State, Indian...

Not Indiana. Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama. You think Alabama's part of it?

I think Alabama's going to SEC. I'll take your money. How about Texas?

How about Texas? They could. Texas They're gonna win Saturday.

Here's the problem is is... Yeah. I mean, who are they playing Saturday?

Ole Miss. Yeah. Ole Miss Ole Miss is a fraud.

Everybody's... We've figured this out. Ole Miss is a fraud.

Ole Miss is the best quarterback in college football. Yeah. And they're and they're never good.

Best college football. They're never good. I don't know about the best.

He's good, but he's BYU's quarterback. Who would you rather have? I'm a fan of Chandler, so I'm not gonna do that to my guy.

He's stud. He's stud. Nine years old.

I said he's... And he's old. I was gonna say for college football, he's fucking old.

So that's not fair. BYU's quarterback is, like, 22 or some shit. So I just...

My thing is is I feel like like though that Notre Dame gets a pass and they shouldn't. Because besides two years ago, they were shit. They were mediocre at best.

Now they lost their, they lost their immediate test of USC versus Notre Dame, and USC is a joke now. They they don't play USC anymore. They're not No.

They put it back on. They they put it back, and it'd be, what, four years from now? It's our one year.

It's three, four years from now. I think it's two. Miami is their only rival that they've reignited because now they're doing this Miami verse...

The Catholics verse... Or saints verse sinners thing again that they used to do back in the nineties. Versus convicts.

Yeah. Catholics and convicts. Like, they're doing that shit all over again.

But my thing is is if we look at Notre Dame, they are, to be honest, no better than fucking Boise State. They play no one. Name me one good team they played in last two years.

BYU? They they lost. Played USC?

And and USC is not a good team. USC hasn't been good since Lincoln Riley got there. Let's stop.

I... Here's the here's the problem. He ain't wrong.

You know, here's the problem with it, though. They're as valuable, if not more valuable than any college football team in the country. They are the cowboys of college football.

Pretty much. Catholic church. Think...

You're talking about generations of fans. You got 80... Have you ever been to South Bend?

I have not. Don't want... I just wanna place I wanna go.

You should go. It's neat. It's cool.

I mean, it's it's an amazing scene. Wanna go just because, like, I just wanna see You should go. What all the hype is.

Penn State, I wanted to go to that game. My cousin was playing for SMU that year that they played, Penn State. Oh, in the playoff game?

Oh my god. The all white... Like, he was like, that shit is amazing.

Like, that... It's like it's like waves of white. It was...

It... So I'm like, as a people are the shirts. I can't imagine you want to go to that.

I'm a fan of I'm a fan of football atmosphere. So if I'm surrounded by white people, it is what it is. Okay?

It's not that I can do with that shit, especially college football. Like, I wanna go to I wanna go to Bama. Wanna go to Alabama and what...

Like, they tailgate good. Ole Miss, they tailgate good. They...

That's cool one. You know what I'm saying? Like like like, I've I've You should have been to a LSU.

To Notre Dame. Everybody go. To an LSU.

I've been to an Oregon. I've been to OU obviously, and I've been to Texas. Like, the tailgating and the whole experience of it has made me say, okay, these stadiums that are, like, monumental or historic in college football, I wanna go.

Like, Texas A and M, I kinda wanna go just because that that... Like, their stadium Amazing. Is crazy too.

Like, Kyle Stadium out here is really good. So it's like... It's certain stadiums, but I just...

My thing is the only thing I could say about Notre Dame is they have that, like, nostalgia. Oh. Other than that, fuck them.

No. It's it's a... But now...

But they can pay money. There's... That's Yeah.

They're buying guys. Like, Jordan Love was a stud. There...

I mean, what anybody thinks about them, I don't disagree. I grew up... That was two and a half hours south of my house, and I got I got beaten over the head with it.

But in terms of where they should be and where they are, I have never really aligned. And they're gonna be a part of it because their their following is, as Mike says, Dallas Cowboys. Yeah.

Alright. Yeah. I just...

I don't understand that, man. I just don't understand it. And then my thing is it...

It's so fucking expensive to go to their school. Tell me one that's not. Yeah.

I mean, look at That... That's universal. Yeah.

I mean Go down the street and try to get into El Centro and see how it works out for you. Tell me what s... SMU is probably $90,000.

SMU is... Yeah. SMU is crazy.

TCJA, did he TCJA, TCJA, TCJA is probably more than that, even though their football team is a joke this year. Ugh. They've had their day.

Ugh. Just I'm telling you, you know, one thing that's been great, and I I don't know, Mike, if you've done this, the way college football atmospheres and stadiums have been refurbished all over this state, I'm talking all of them. SMU is amazing.

TC is great. Baylor is great. Houston's great.

A and M is phenomenal. UT speaks for itself. Tarleton State did a great job.

Yeah. All these places... If you're looking for, like, a cool Saturday, and I'm not pimping for anybody, as Iggy talked about, like, game day experiences, like, one that I really wanna do, but I have not done, I really wanna see a game at UTEP.

Really? Kids, the mountains in the background. It's it's so different than anything else.

Yeah. But they've done a phenomenal job. Well, they've all learned how to put on a show.

They did. Yeah. Yeah.

Absolutely. All learned the value of putting on a show and showmanship and promoting and everything like that. They they they finally got it through their heads that number one, it's okay to do that.

Number two, they better do that. Yeah. You have to.

Yeah. You have to because, I mean, it's... Like, UNT has a good fight.

Absolutely. You know, like, that's... Like, it's it's it's amazing.

Again, the money that we as fans and and and just ongoers, just bystanders, just wanna pump into college sports, and it's it's fun. It's beyond fun, and it's like you get to live like almost like a kid again. You know what I mean?

Like like as a college kid. I don't know. You know, I...

Some of the tailgates I have keg stands and stuff like that, like, you know, it's just like, fuck it. We're here. It's one big party and it's and it's it's food and then, oh shit, football.

We still got football to play. Like like as if you're gonna jump on the field. And even though I don't like storming the field, I think it's stupid.

Someone could get hurt. Have ever done it? I have not.

I would like to be in attendance though when they do it. Oh, nice. When they do it, so that I can just see like Yeah.

It in person. Ocean of people. Yeah.

Like, because it it does look cool as hell. Now granted, like I said, I do think someone's going to get hurt, and I think it is a dumbass idea. That's the old man Ziggy talking.

That's the responsible father talking. But as the kid, Ziggy, oh my god. Please run on the field while I'm here so I can watch all you idiots fall and just run on the field in in, like, in waves.

I just I just wanna see it. I just wanna watch. I don't wanna join.

I just wanna watch. Well, on that note, old man Ziggy can take us out of this. Oh.

Old man Ziggy, who's a shade out of his teens Hey. Can just take us out of this. A shade out.

A shade out. Hold on. That's gonna do it for us for today.

Thank you very... What? We got thirty minutes.

Oh, we got thirty minutes? Okay. Well, screw me.

I didn't know. Look. I'm looking at my wife like, damn.

Hold up. Wait a minute. That's why was like a shade.

Alright. Okay. Okay.

But, but... Yeah. No.

That's that's funny. But my question is I thought we were an hour. Is is is the NFL NFL is starting to miss that, though?

Miss what? The tailgates and stuff like that. Like It's a different crowd.

It's is the only place that You I can do it in Buffalo. You can do it in Green Bay. Green Bay.

You can do it in Kansas City. Kansas City is amazing. Francisco has a pretty good, like I can see that you got big enough parking Philly Philly, I always hate Philly's fans.

Nope. There... That's good one.

That that Philly has a good And you like your life in your hands there. I think there's prob... But it's a it's a different it's a different fan.

You're you're... It's a different it's a different fan. It's a different client.

It's a different demographic. I remember, Gil Brand explained that to me, god rest his soul, that one of the reasons why the Cowboys were so successful back in the sixties is that Tex Ram was smart enough to sit there and identify the fan who said, I I don't I don't like college football because I didn't go to that school. So he he appealed to the fan who wasn't a college graduate.

Mhmm. And their whole idea was, we're gonna go after people who want to identify and support a football team, but they don't have any tie to A and M or TCU or Texas or any of those places. And that's basically what they did.

And then they did what they did better than anybody was marry television. So you get now even generationally, you have... And I'm sure you've noticed it when I go to Cowboys games.

Mhmm. The Cowboys fans that I see, they're not going to Texas games. The Cowboys fans I see, they're not going to A and M games.

Right. It's it's a... It's weird.

And you're only talking about a 100... Mean, a 100,000 people is a lot of Right. But So you're saying the football fan is disappearing?

No. NFL fan and college fan are different. They're just different animals.

That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. You know?

I mean, the the guy who is just a fan of the game and will go see anybody. I don't know. That's a that's a great question.

Like, you were... Because you were talking about you're a fan of the Brewers playing the Rays. You're just a good...

I wanna watch a good baseball game. And that's gonna be a I'm a fan of the game. They're not like me.

So... But the question about the... So to piggyback off that question, though, to to the referring it to baseball, would you go to an actual Tampa Bay Milwaukee game?

Yeah. If you were in town... I do have were in town.

If you happen to be in Milwaukee for a summer day and... Well, what are gonna do today? Oh, let's go see the Brewers play the reds.

Would you do it? Yeah. Okay.

I'd do it. I I think it That would be in play. Yeah.

I mean, it would depend on what other options I might have. So to answer your question on my end Would you do it? Well, for football, yes.

Baseball, no. Football football, if I'm at... Like, for instance, I was in a A football game is far more expensive, and it's a much Tucker Tucker ticket to get.

But if I was... So for instance, SMU, I went to SMU's game, and then I went to a I went to a cowboy tailgate the following day. So I like...

I've done it. You know I mean? And like I...

If I go out of town, I would do that. If I was out of town and I'm like in Seattle or something like that, and I could... I would go to Washington University and then go to Seattle Seahawks game.

I would do it as a... But I am like a die hard football football fan. So it just doesn't like...

Would you go to see if Charlton State was playing Abilene, Hell, yes. I'd probably be more inclined to do that. See, but I'm a I'm a I'm a gambler.

See, this that's where... That's... That that also is...

Like, I think gambling also has changed that for a lot of people because, like, now can go to games and be like, I got a prop bet on that player. And, like, I may not give a flying at all about anybody on that team, but I got a $100 or $10 right on a parlay with this dude. Grand, hon.

I mean, some of these parlays are crazy, but I won't speak about my bank history. But at any rate, you can gamble on players, you can gamble on teams and stuff like that. So it makes the football fan more...

I I think it makes them more of a fan in general because now you start to learn players. Now you start to learn the the coaches. Because, like, I wasn't...

I was a OU fan and a Green Bay fan. I didn't really care about I didn't really care about anybody else except for the people in our division or who we had to see in our conference and stuff like that. But now that with gambling, I'm betting on Tarleton State.

I'm betting on Coastal Carolina. I'm betting on Illinois. Like, I've never even...

I don't know anybody from there or even that played there. So, like, why am I gambling on them? I mean, why am I even going...

Why... Paying attention to their games? Because of gambling.

Because I I went, I read a website. Oh, this is a good get... This is a slam dunk bet, blah blah blah, and I won money.

And now I'm like, oh, shit. Well, I need to pay attention to this team. See, I think there's way more people like doing that now.

I think gambling and fantasy sports are supporting it much more than Mike... The Mike Rhyner's who were in town saying, you know what? I think I'm just gonna go to a game to watch a good game.

But you know what's funny, though, is that may be where baseball needs to... Like, how the NFL has kinda like... And the NBA too has kinda just, like, leaned into gambling more.

Baseball might need to do the same thing. Have. Really?

Oh, you can bet on Well, no. I know you can bet on it. What I'm saying is is, like, how the NFL's number one or number two sponsor, I think, is, like, fantasy FanDuel or something.

FanDuel and and then draft kings. And then, like, those are major contributors. Right?

And then now basketball's got call sheet, draftkings. I think baseball has done call sheet. And and the the thing that But I've never seen it.

I I think baseball's I think they've done it. But the the fact that none of us can say we've seen it shows us Well, I I think See? I mean, I I can't say that I've seen it or exact...

Tell you exactly what it is, but I'll bet they're into that. No. I'm not thinking are.

I'll bet they're into it far more than you think. The reason I saw it Right. Is because the reaction is, wait a minute.

Major League Baseball kicked out Pete Rose, and now you've totally gone into bed with gambling. Alright. Thank you.

Can we bring this up? First off, I do think that it's stupid as hell that they are lifted the sanction after he's dead. Fuck you.

He's gone. Like, he he wanted... He even said it with his own words.

He wanted to enjoy being inducted into the hall of fame. Don't do it. Don't give it to me when I'm gone.

Like... And and I get it. He bet on his team and la la la la la la.

Alright. Cool. He was still one of the greatest baseball players to ever do it.

Mike, would you put him in? No. I wouldn't put him in.

Interesting. Would you put Barry Bonds in? So I changed my attitude about this and...

Because I have a vote, and Bonds isn't Bonds isn't on the Yeah. Not on this one. He's...

No. He'll never be on. Never be...

Yeah. Yeah. He's he's dumb.

Jesus. I... My attitude for the longest time was my attitude was, first of all, what Bonds and Pete Rose did are two totally different sins against the game.

Right. And baseball players' attitudes were, well, wait a minute. There was no rule that said we couldn't take steroids.

Well, yes, there was. It was called the law. And so you could always say, I remember Tom Hitzges saying this when he owned the Rangers.

Yeah. There's also not a law in the Major League Baseball Players Association rule book that says... Or players...

That says you can't shoot the second baseman. So Valid. These are totally different animals.

And the reason why guys got away with taking steroids for as long as they did was because the Major League Baseball Players Association successfully argued against testing against it. And eventually, the owners just said, okay, we give up. And then...

So guys were taking steroids right and left because they worked. So Bonds gets busted along with a handful of other guys Right. Even though a whole bunch of other guys took it and never got popped.

So my attitude about Bonds was, I'm not gonna vote for him. Now he never he never made it on my ballot, so it didn't matter. Rose was different.

Rose was not... Rose was banned for life by Major League Baseball, and the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum decided, okay, we need to have a special committee that comes up with a ruling on what to do with Rose because he was banned for life. Rose was never put on the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ballot.

And the commissioner's point was, these should not be mutually exclusive. His point was, just because we've banned him from having a job in Major League Baseball should not prevent him from being on the ballot from the baseball play... From the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

And I totally agreed with that. My... And I always thought was, you've gotta put him in because he had the most hallowed record in the history of the game.

His resume is unbelievable, and I think the Hall of Fame's job is to tell the story of the of the game. And if you're gonna do that, then you can't do it without one of the most significant players in its history, and that's Rose and Barry Bonds. And my thing is if you put them in, put him in, but tell the whole story.

For sure. Yeah. Don't just say, here are all his accomplishments.

You say, here are his accomplishments And here's the demons. And I think you do it with Bonds. Right.

Bonds took a ton of steroids, and he... That record is totally hollow, totally hollow in my mind. And I'd put him in.

But Rose tampered with the fabric of the game. That was the problem. And and it wasn't just that Rose tampered with the fabric of the game when he...

And his point was, well, I never bet on the reds to lose, which... Okay. That's fine.

But there were games in which you didn't bet on Cincinnati. That you knew you were gonna lose. Yeah.

That tell... That told gamblers, okay. We...

And he did it based on pitching matchups. Right. And the problem was, like any gambler, he got behind on baseball, on basketball, football, and other sports, and he needed to make up money.

He knew baseball. Right. And he was really good at it.

Like his his betting record on on betting Reds games or baseball games was really good. So that's... That to me, I can't disagree with that, Mike.

And I was always offended when Pete Rose would say, well, gee whiz, all these other guys were taking dope. That was that was Pete Rose. He's like, they took dope.

Yeah. And they're in the hall of fame. I'm like, you idiot.

They didn't bet against their team or on their team. Like, that's the one thing that you can't do. And I'm with you on this point, and I grew up the biggest...

I grew up... I was born in Cincinnati. I was the biggest Reds fan, sitting in big Pete Rose fan.

And as I got older and I appreciate what an absolute grade a horse's ass that he could be to other people Mhmm. I'm like, yeah. I don't know.

Fuck this guy. But I just don't think if you were in charge of a museum, your task is to tell the story of whatever it is, whether it's art, whether it's music, whatever. They're a huge part of the story, and their legacy is somewhat tainted.

And to me, put them in, but tell the whole thing. Yeah. I was about to but that...

To me, that's not a problem. Like... I think the younger generation of baseball fans that are they don't care.

They don't care. They don't care. They they grew up.

They're growing up with betting betting on the games. They're growing up with all these stories in the NBA. I've been growing up with completely different guys.

They're growing up with... Yeah. They're growing up with with...

Like you said, we can't name nine stars right now. Right? But my thing is is that Would you put you put in...

Would you put in both of them? I mean, I wouldn't put in Rose because he asked not to be put in if he died. If he died and and can't enjoy it, he said he said with his own words Yeah.

He said it. He does not wanna be put into the hall of fame. So let the man rest.

I don't know. I probably could be talked into it. I used to be really dug in on this against it, but I'm an old guy.

I'm an old salty now. I know. It does.

No. It does change. I totally understand that.

I I probably could be talked into it now. How about bonds? Oh, thank you, Rebecca.

Yeah. I mean I mean, it's true though because it's like you tell... So that shows your brilliance.

But that but that was my one thing. He's where he is. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. But that's why I say the thing about the...

Like, when people were saying the asterisk and all that stuff like that, I was like, that's corny. Just tell the whole damn story. That's all it is.

And and I'm not fooling myself. Pete Rose was a Pete Rose was a white trash. I mean, were he...

No. Seriously. I know the town part of Cincinnati grew...

Grew up, and he grew up poor, and he was white trash. And considering where he was, where he came from, and to have the career that he did. And if you ever go down the rabbit hole, I'm sure you've done it, of baseballreference.com and type in Pete Rose, and you see these statistics that are from a different world.

You're like, how the hell did he do? The guy played professional baseball for almost, like, thirty years. It's it's astonishing some of his statistical achievements.

And you know what else he did? For those thirty years, he got out there every day. Every day.

Yeah. Every day. If there was a game and he could stand up, he was playing.

Yeah. And you couldn't... And that's the the crushing part.

And, you know, the ironic part to this is that no one loved money more than Pete Rose. Nobody loved money more than Pete Rose. Well, you don't have it.

And... Well, no. He had it.

He just kept blowing it. Well, I'm saying when you when you grew up, don't have it. Yeah.

You you don't have absolutely right, Ziggy. So and he just kept spending it because he was gambling on it. And the funny thing is what kept him relevant, what kept him in the news, what kept him a massive draw at autograph shows or at his own booth there in Las Vegas was the fact that he was banned from baseball.

The thing that he fought against, if they had put him in Yeah. The thing that made him the most famous Right. That's what made him so rich, and that's what made him so...

That's why he would sit there and find... Just sign trays of baseball. Yeah.

And And wouldn't even look up. Wouldn't even look up. Just one run after the other.

Just totally focused. Have I bored you with my when I met Pete Rose story? No.

Okay. I will You got more? I I've got...

Well, this is when I met him. So I'm at a casino. I'm in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in '96.

I'm a graduate assistant at TCU and its athletic media relations office, and we're there for a media real... A media something or another. And I've just lost $50 on a game that I don't have.

I do not have $50 to lose, but I've lost PIT Syracuse football or PIT Boston College football, and somebody says, hey, there's Pete Rose. I'm like, what? Are you serious?

They said, yeah, he's right over there. So I'm not an autograph guy. This is gonna be an exception to the rule.

So I'm like, what can I get him to sign? What can I get him to sign? What can...

So I run over, and I see... And anybody who's been to a casino knows what I'm talking about. I see a table full of parlay cards.

I'm like, bingo. So I run up, and I grab a college football parlay card I can't find a baseball on. So then I'm...

Now Pete Rose is my childhood hero. This this was my guy. I I was devastated when he was banned from baseball because I was stupid enough to believe this idiot that he wasn't gambling on everything under the sun, including, you know, the ninth pitch of Pirates Reds in September.

And I was devastated. And meanwhile, I'm like, where's where is he? Where is he?

Where's Pete Rose? Where's my hero? And this this is the ultimate don't meet your heroes.

So there he is. I see him sitting at a blackjack table wearing one of these god awful, gaudy sweaters. And he's got his hair done up and spiked, and he's fat.

And he looks like he hasn't slept in a month. And he's with some girl who is not his daughter, young enough to be his daughter and his date. Was he out of the game by then?

Oh, yeah. Had been for a while. Probably a And good 10 he's sitting there, and I'm like...

And I'm nervous. Now I haven't done this job yet, and... Because you've you've...

Get this. You go through a transition where you're just not impressed by it anymore. Right?

But at that time, I'm like, holy shit. There's there's my... There's Pete Rose.

I can't believe it. And I'm so excited. I'm I'm shaking.

I'm so excited. And Pete Rose charges for autographs now. Right?

Oh, yeah. That was his main source of income. Right.

So I walk up to Pete Rose, I said... And he's at a blackjack table playing $50 hands or whatever, and I'm shaking. I said, mister Rose, I'm from Cincinnati.

I don't mean to bother you. I grew up with the biggest failures. It would mean everything.

I... This is the only thing I could find. Would you please sign this for me?

Takes a pen, signs it. Thank you so much. Nods, and I run off.

And you thought you thought that I had just discovered Noah's Ark, like pulled it up. I'm like, there it is. I got it.

And I walk back, and I see my group of friends, and they're all like, and I hold this up, and whatever money I've lost doesn't matter. No. Hell yeah.

So I eventually framed that. I have it in my house. I eventually framed it with the Sports Illustrated where Pete...

It's a tight shot of Pete Rose where he admits to gambling on baseball. So I have a Pete Rose parlay card next to... That was my one meeting with Pete Rose.

Boring story. No. Wait.

What? That's it. I love talking because Great story.

Can still feel how... Because I was shaking. I was so Yeah.

Yeah. So that's... That was my one meeting with you.

Even look up, though. And you know what? Now that I think about it, I'm like, I'm shocked he signed for me.

Yeah. No. Well, he heard Cincinnati.

He probably was saying, yeah. He was like, didn't wanna look like an asshole in front of everybody else. Yeah.

But that was... And I don't know if you had an equivalent to that when you were younger and you met one of those guys who was, you know, a big deal to you when I was a kid when you were a kid or or use it. Did he even look at you or make eye contact with you in any way?

Yeah. At at the very end, I can still remember it. He he looked up and...

But I understand. At that point in his life, he was used to people coming after him. Yeah.

Right? And the older I got when I covered Major League Baseball, I heard stories about Pete. He could be incredibly charming, like Jerry Jones level charm.

Yeah. But I also knew that he could be... And there was another side to him.

So when I handed it to him, now that I'm older, I appreciate he probably felt he wasn't gonna be rude. It was one guy. I'm being very nice.

And he just signs it. And I look at him and says, thank you so much. And he just looked up and he nods, and that was it.

There's no words. Alright. So I know Alright.

You gotta look at a nod. I gotta look at a And as as a meeting with, like, an a... Like, a celebrity Yeah.

That's pretty good one. That was a good one. On top of he was probably on a bender.

Like, if he's at the table, he's on blackjack table. He's like... He's winning.

He's like, alright. Fuck out of here. Yeah.

Appreciate it. Get out of here, motherfucker. I'm on a roll.

But it was only... I got... It was some...

And I think... I don't know if he ended up marrying her or not. It was some Asian girl.

She was pretty, and she... I mean, she looked like something that was straight out of a, you know, a strict clothing Relax. Or No.

But it was, like... But I remember my first impression was, oh my god. There's Pete Rose.

And then they're like, oh my god, that's Pete Rose? And that was Pete Rose. Oh, man.

The fall from grace. Yeah. It's a rough one, man.

It really was. That is a rough one. It's a...

It's such a great story though, isn't it? Yes. It is.

Oh, it's an awesome story. Story. Yes.

Did you see the last documentary he did, the one with HBO? I think so. I must have It's worth your time.

If you're a p... I mean, there's nothing really new in it, but he he was very honest. And at the very, very end, he said, yeah.

I don't I don't gamble anymore. He said, you can't win. I'm like, took you this long to realize?

Figured that out. It it took... He ruined your legacy and your career.

At at the bitter end, he finds out that the house always wins. Not gonna win Eagles Cowboys minus three and a half? You're not gonna win that pick?

You're gonna let that go by? You could resist that? This is my Pete Rose take.

Oh, man. Well, is this it? Alright.

I... That's my best. Alright.

Blake says autograph story. Mike's face when he looked. Done?

Are we good? I just wanna make sure. Wanna make sure everybody's happy here.

Got a lot of people to answer to. Sorry. That's funny.

We have to pander to them all. You know? Cowboys, eagles, Monday night.

Do we know what the line... We only see what the line Can flex it? That's all I'm asking.

Yeah. To win. Don't wanna see afternoon?

Or... Oh, I have a better question. Do you...

I think the Cowboys are really, like, have taken this rivalry shit a little less serious than they should have. Why in the hell did they let them... The Eagles get Joe Milton?

Can... As Cowboys... You can't block it.

Yeah. He was... Yeah.

You can't pull him up from the fucking practice squad.... Never gonna do that. They didn't like him.

Think about this. Ziggy, they cut him. Nobody signed him.

They cut him. When they cut him, nobody signed him. Nobody coulda had him.

If the Cowboys didn't like him, I promise you He would've been next Monday night, they're gonna lie... Dislike him a lot more. I'm telling you right now, if he messes around and has a season, the cowboys...

Like, it would be the best revenge story of all time. Okay. The cowboys are two and four.

The eagles are two and four. Ziggy, what is the betting line without Jalen Hertz? Where are they playing?

Eagles are The game is in Philadelphia. In the city of Brotherly Shove. Brotherly shove, baby.

Eagles are minus three and a half. Minus three. Minus three.

Mister Rhyner, wanna take a shot at that? I'll take Philip. Do you wanna take a shot at the betting line?

What do you think what do you think the line is? Home team automatically gets three Yeah. Take my three.

You took three and a half? I took three. I took three.

You took three? Alright. I'll take three and a half.

Unbelievably, the Dallas Cowboys are favored by Get the ball. By what? Four and a half.

Fuck out of here. What? Well, I am here in a minute, but, yes, the cowboys are favored by four and a half.

Four and a half. Alright. Alright.

Hear me now. Believe me later. Alright.

The cowboys ain't winning that game. I mean No. They're not.

I mean, is Barkley playing? That's the question. If Barkley's playing, they're winning the game.

That's not a bad piece of advice. If Barkley's playing, they're winning the game. He really looks like he might be at the back end.

Well, yeah. I mean, they all Trying to see. What's wrong with him?

Exactly. He's been hurt. Hurt.

Yeah. I know. But but what is it?

It's a lower it's it's a lower leg injury. I think that's what... Like, the biggest thing is it's it's it's a leg injury, and they haven't been able to kinda figure out at all.

I can't see that. I just... I don't know.

Me personally, what's the over under? That's actually more impressive. Let's see here.

Yeah. That would be... I'm a over under kinda guy.

Well, I'm blind. That doesn't help. 44 and a half.

Oh. And I don't think the Cowboys have hit the over in either one of the last two games. I would take the over on this, though.

44 and a half? You would take the over on that? Yeah.

Neither one of the defenses are good. No. That's true.

Well, neither one of the teams Yeah. But that we're on it. Right.

But what kind of offense do the teams have? Well, I think I think that after Sunday night's debacle, the Cowboys come out and score three touchdowns. I think they do.

I think at least three touchdowns. I think they come out. They're they're Man, can't count this Cowboy offense for anything.

Yeah. The... Yeah.

So the Saquon injury was a hamstring injury. Hamstring. Yeah.

I don't know don't know how you can trust the Cowboys. I don't. See, I can't.

I don't more faith. And I guarantee you, Joe Milton will kill them. I have more faith.

Oh, I like that. That's a good opinion. But, yeah, I was gonna say if Joe is I don't agree with Joe because I like it.

But if Joe is starting, I do I do foresee the eagles winning that game, but I also see it being a higher scoring game than 44 and a half. That's crazy. So you're going with the over?

I'm going with the over. I'm not touching the cowboys minus four and a half. That's yet another reason why I do not bet on games because I suck at it.

And a half? You're smart. You're a smart man.

Oh, I... So I'm awful at betting games. Alright.

They just held up the rap sign. That means we gotta get on out of here. So let us say thank you very much for watching this.

No matter where you are, no matter when you may be watching it, this is a podcast, you know. And that means it lives out there forever. And you can watch it any place, any time.

And we hope that you will. Thank you very much, Brie, for the the things the folks here at at Scout, at The Statler as well. And, thank you for watching.

Till next time. For Mac, for Ziggy, I'm Mike. Bye.

This is a Stolen Water Media production.