Rangers at the Break, World Cup Grades & McGregor’s 69-Second Scam

Welcome again to Just Wondering with Norm Hetzkis. Today, it's the All Star Break in baseball. How about those Rangers? How about that A. L. West? The World Cup reaches its final four. Let's grade The United States performance this year. And finally, Americans set another new record for getting suckered paying for a quote, fight. And now a word from our title sponsor. Eying retirement? We aim to turn your nest egg into a paycheck with half the amount you've been led to believe. Fluent Financial combines in house portfolio design risk management with income generating investments designed to aid your financial independence. Our goal is to develop an effective portfolio strategy to help you retire sooner and have a better Fluent Financial can also implement a program that allows business owners to install a cash balance plan, which may potentially reduce income tax payments. You've worked hard to become successful. Let us help develop an effective portfolio strategy that works for you. Learn more today about Fluent Financial. Retire sooner, better lifestyle. For more information or to schedule a meeting, visit fluentfinancial.com or call (972) 852-4800. It's the all star break in baseball, and the Rangers are in first place in the American League West. That doesn't tell you much about the overall Ranger performance though, because everybody else in the AL West is under 500. But I hear people say this all the time. Oh, the Rangers, it doesn't matter if they win the West. They won't go anywhere in the playoffs. The idea is to get into the playoffs. Do you remember the championship the Rangers won? They snuck into the playoffs that year. The idea in baseball is to get in the playoffs because baseball is a lot like hockey. The best teams don't win the World Series. That's proven over and over and over again that there's the best teams in the regular season because the playoffs are very different. You almost don't need a fourth starter. You get lots of days off, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But here we are at the all star break, and the Rangers are, right now, leaving the ALS, but they're a flawed baseball team. They need help in a lot of areas. With Jack Leiter gone for the season and Mackenzie Gore again being mysteriously inconsistent and Kumar Rocker being up and down like a yo yo, the Rangers could use another starting pitcher. Now, I hear people say, well, wait a minute. How about Cody Bradford or Jordan Montgomery? They're probably not going to be back for three to five more weeks. That's too long to wait. They could use a relief pitcher, besides Jake Latts, who I worry about getting overworked at the end of the Ranger bullpen. Mostly though they could use a right hand hitting outfielder. So we know the flaws. We know the needs. Here's the problem. The Rangers have nothing to give. Nothing to give. I don't know about the rankings baseball America and in rural wire and everybody give the Rangers system. They're not very high by the way. I'd call the Rangers the twenty seventh, twenty eighth, twenty ninth worst farm system in all of baseball. They'd be dead last, except they have a superb prospect in shortstop center fielder Sebastian Walcott. But Walcott's hurt now, won't be back until much later this summer, and the Rangers have no intention of trading him. After that, who's the Rangers' best prospect? Well, Rudowire's latest rankings say that after Walcott, when they had around number 10, their next best prospect is AJ Russell, who is number 136. Now, MLB has pitcher Kadin Scarborough next, and he's in the sixties, which is great, except Caden Scarborough is struggling mightily. The rangers the rangers can't put together a package for a significant other player. They just can't. And and that's Chris Young's problem. He knows what he'd like to go out and get, but he's left out there searching for scraps because that's what the Rangers can give in return right now. Scraps, basically. I don't know if the Rangers can hang on in the West. Seattle, barely behind them right now, has really good pitching, but just like the Rangers, their offense is terrible. Absolutely terrible. So the Rangers could stagger to the championship with the American League West. And at this point of the season, that is all you care about. Can you find some minor support players to bring in? Or even if you don't, can you make it to the end of the season? That probably dependent upon health. Will Corey Seager ever get well again and be Corey Seager this year? Should we worry about the injury to Jacob deGrom? There's a lot of things on the plate for the Rangers, but at least at the All Star break, they can say, we're a first place baseball team. What do you want from your favorite restaurant? Fantastic personal service, a cheery, welcoming, spotless atmosphere, and of course, great food. The primest of beef, Wagyu and lamb, incredibly fresh seafood, lobster, salmon, shrimp, hall of fame food from a hall of fame restaurant, two locations of Bob's Steak and Chop House, the original Bob's on Lemon Avenue, and the gorgeous new Bob's at Craig Ranch McKinney. My wife, Mary, is the cocreator of Full Moon Healing Balm, and I guess I'm the reason this terrific cream was developed. A few years ago, I began getting these huge, ugly blood blotches just beneath the skin of my arms and hands. The condition's called senile purpura. And no, you don't have to be senile to experience this embarrassment. It happens as you age. And then to cover it up, we begin wearing long sleeves, even when it's hot. It took two years working with a New Jersey lab to refine the all natural ingredients of full moon healing. Gently massage a very small amount into the skin, and within a day, the blotches begin to fade. See now, purpura usually takes weeks to disappear. But this balm cuts the timeline to about a week. And ordering's so easy. Just go to the website, fullmoonhealingco.com. This World Cup expanded for the first time to 48 teams has brought us a whole bunch of intrigue. We found out that the sport of soccer is making real advances on the continent of Africa. Those teams are just not pushovers like they used to be. But with all the happenings, all the, oh man, did you see that game? What an upset that was. Gee, they should have played better. Here we are at the final four. And the final four has Argentina, the number one team in the world coming into the World Cup. Spain, the number two team in the world coming into the World Cup. France, the number three team in the world coming into the World Cup. And England, and yes, you guessed it, they're the number four team in the world in rankings coming into the Cup. How this will play out? Some superb soccer team is going to win. Today, France and Spain in Arling oh, I'm sorry. It's not Arlington. It's Dallas Stadium that happens to be in Arlington. How goofy is that? And by the way, doesn't that stadium look great with a grass field on it? Wow. No. But the NFL's not gonna keep that. Anyway, with these four teams left, it turns out that the prices for the tickets are falling, falling for the finals of the World Cup despite the fact in the semifinals, we've got the top four ranked teams in the world. Why are they falling? Because The US isn't there, which is no shock. By the way, Mexico is not there, and that's just a tiny bit more of a shock. So how do we grade The United States performance in this World Cup? They reached the round of 16 and then got squashed like a bug by Belgium. The United States has now reached the round of sixteen five times this century. Once, they made it to the quarterfinals. And in that year, 2002, they were beaten by Germany. That's the furthest The United States have ever gotten, other than the first World Cup itself, way back in 1930. But that's the furthest The United States has ever gotten, to a losing quarter final slot. What do we make of this year's team? Well, they certainly created excitement with immediate wins over Paraguay and over Australia that assured them of being in the knockout round. And then in the knockout round, they beat Bosnia Herzegovina. But you know what? The United States was the seventeenth best ranked team in the world coming into this cup. And as a host nation, I know Canada and Mexico were also co host nations. But the vast majority of games were played here in The United States. As a host nation, FIFA gave The United States a cupcake draw. They had to beat the number 41 team in the world Paraguay and the number 27 team in the world in Australia. And then they got the round of the 16 by beating the sixty fourth ranked team in the world, Bosnia Herzegovina. There was such high hopes for this team this year. There were thoughts that this was the best American team ever. Was it? I don't think you can prove it by the results. Those are three teams they should have beaten, should have handled, should have advanced. They had a golden invitation to get to the round of 16. And there they met a met a Belgium team that was good but not great. I mean Belgium's not Argentina or Spain or France or England, those teams. But The United States just didn't compete well with Belgium. So has soccer made any progress in this country? I'm sorry, but my answer is, given the results of the World Cup, no. Despite all the excitement generated this year, no. The US hasn't made any progress internationally. Stolen Water Media is making a move. After two plus years, it's time to change and keep up with our growth. You can continue to view all eight of our podcasts on our Patreon pages. But now you can get all episodes at www.stolenwatermedia.com. This is a developing story, but you can begin by watching and listening right now at www.stolenwatermedia.com. Continue to find all audio wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and some you may not have heard of, but I think will enjoy. Are you just wondering where your next spectacular vacation will be? Relax. Feel the sun on your body. Let your cares melt away at the all inclusive Cerenian Bay Resort in Southern Belize. It's literally built right on the sand. The ocean, your ocean is just a few barefoot steps away. Laid back luxury, terrific food, a swim up bar, a spa, air conditioned gym, unimaginable service, fishing, snorkeling in gorgeous turquoise waters. Do you want relaxation or do you need adventure? You choose at Ceridian Bay. Mary and I have been there three times and this summer will be number four. Take a cozy bungalow for two or bring the whole family to villas that can accommodate up to 14. Sirenianbay.com, S I R E N I A N. The sand and the sea are just waiting for you to get here. I don't want this to be snide when I ask this question. But how much did you pay to watch the Conor McGregor Max Holloway fight on Saturday night? Conor McGregor described this as his comeback of comebacks. He hadn't fought in five years unless you consider that slow dance for nothing but big money against Floyd Mayweather, who, by the way, is the king of getting huge money to put on shows. It had been five years and a day since Conor McGovern had fought when he went into the ring Saturday night against Max Holloway. That that is unless you consider him fighting lawsuits and charges brought by a woman as as a fight. But as far as getting in the ring, it had been five years and one day. But but wait. But wait. How long had it been since Conor McGregor had won a fight? Six and a half years. That's right. Six and a half years. But, of course, they came up with that catchy phrase, the comeback of comebacks. And then the fight started, and then the fight ended just about that quickly. McGregor came out, threw a couple of kicks, fell down, tried to get a couple more kicks. No. He couldn't. And and then his opponent, Max Holloway, had to say, you know, he can't fight anymore. He can't fight the fight, and it was TKO. Sixty nine total seconds. How much of that was consumed by fighting? Thirty? Let's say thirty seconds. Okay? Okay. If you paid a year's subscription to Paramount, which by the way does have some other pretty good things. If you paid a year's subscription to Paramount, then you paid $3 a second to watch that fight Because the Paramount annual subscription is $90. So what do we make of that? Well, immediately after the fight, Immediately. There were calls that when McGregor's well, they ought to have a rematch. In fact, Max Holloway, who also made a bunch of money for the fight for the I'm sorry. For the quote, fight, end quote, on Saturday night. He said, quote, about the possibility of a rematch. Quote, let's get this effing money, boys. That's what it's about. It's about your effing money. Tyson, Jake Paul, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor, they're all in the same business. They're in the business of suckering you, suckering you for money. When's America gonna realize this? My guess? Never. And now a word from our title sponsor. Today's episode has been brought to you by Fluent Financial. Retire earlier, live better. And by Bob's Steak and Chophouse on Lemon in Dallas and in Craig Ranch in McKinney. Bob's, a Dallas tradition for more than thirty years. If you've enjoyed just wondering, please hit follow and a fresh new episode will land in your mailbox early every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Should you know a sports fan who might like our work? Please share our contact information with that person. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Just Wondering. I'm Norm Hitschkes, and know that every day I'll be just wondering about something. And I'm Mary Hitchkiss, and I'll just be wondering too. This is a Stolen Water Media production.