Party Like It's 1999

[00:00:00] And Alabama Take Projection Welcome everybody to Takin' On Sports, I am TD, that is Greg. Greg, how you doing man? I am pretty good man, you know we finally coming to Omaha, so hey, it's a good start to the week. That's right, well let's just kick it off right there. For the first time since 1999, Alabama's going to Omaha, like you said, coming to see you. Yeah. And the boys in the College World Series.

[00:00:29] A lot of stuff. Yeah, great stuff so far, no losses, the bats are swinging hot, hopefully they stay hot, you know, unfortunately like the women lost in the semifinals last week. Hardly. You know, yeah, we'll get to them, but man, awesome, just awesome. And despite all the weather delays this weekend. Man. And throughout. Oh my God, they're hating on us, the weather's hating on us, we were supposed to finish off.

[00:01:00] Sunday night, so hopefully nothing weird happens Monday morning. Ah man, I was so afraid of that, you know, like you're swinging hot bats, you get that big grand slam, you're up five runs in the weather, you just keep pushing that restart time back and it never happens. Yeah. And you're like, man, please don't just let some fluky thing happen where St. John's comes out. Super high. You know, yeah, hair on fire, but it didn't. No.

[00:01:27] Alabama took care of business relatively quickly this morning after the restart, finished the last couple innings up. Like I said, just looking great, everything going awesome for the tide right now. Just awesome. I posted about it earlier, just hell of a, all the props in the world need to go to Greg Byrne for hiring Rob Vaughn and Nate Oates within a couple years of each other. Absolutely. Really turning it around. Great time to be an Alabama fan.

[00:01:55] And saw, I'm sure everybody's seen that template, the meme going around, but Alabama was the first D1 program in history to get a team into the men's college world series, the women's college world series, the men's NCAA tournament, the women's NCAA tournament, and the college football playoff. Hopefully the weekend hits on with the championship, but you're still impressed nonetheless. It is, man.

[00:02:20] And that's one thing that actually annoyed me, looking at that, I saw that meme, you know, that made the mistake of reading the comments, and it's just like, everybody in there, yeah, but no rings. I'm like, man. It's usually Auburn fans or the SEC fans are trolling. And, yeah, and it's, of course, yes, you're trolls, you're rivals.

[00:02:44] But then you're also going to have your Alabama fans. Some of them Bama fans are in there doing that, and it was just, man, everybody, this is an insanely hard thing to do. It's hard to win championships, and it's just such an awesome accomplishment.

[00:03:07] Yeah, it would suck to not get a ring out of any of these appearances, but it's so hard to win a championship, man, especially in these sports of these huge tournaments. You know, I mean, now the smallest one we have now is the damn college football playoff at 12 teams, and that's rising steadily, too. Like, it's hard to win. So this is a great accomplishment that Alabama fans should absolutely celebrate. Like, yes, we want titles. We want rings. But, hey, man, celebrate this. It's awesome.

[00:03:36] We're back in Omaha. Let's go win some games there, too. You never know what will happen. We do. It's still an accomplishment, and obviously if it was that easy, there'd be more people that have done it in a year's time. Let's just say it like that. Yeah, exactly. It's never been done before. And a couple close calls here and there. I think Texas in, I think the year they beat USC in the Rose Bowl maybe. You know, it was just the BCS Bowl, but I think they made the other ones.

[00:04:05] And then Tennessee was actually close a few years ago. Right, yeah. So, you see, if they had not lost to South Carolina and went to that playoff, was that the year when they would have? I can't remember if it was that or. No, it was that. I think it was after that. It may have been the year after when they won the World Series and went to the base. 22-23. Okay.

[00:04:32] They played in a New Year's Six Bowl, but not the college football playoff technically. There you go. Okay, yeah. Okay. And then, yeah, 04-05 actually when Texas played Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Michigan in the Rose Bowl. And they won the national title in baseball that year, 05. Yeah. Yeah, they won the College World Series. Yeah, so, but still, like we said, obviously, we want a ring out of it, but an amazing accomplishment nonetheless.

[00:04:58] And Greg Byrne deserves all the flowers, man, for just building such a strong athletics program, man. Yeah. And the other thing, too, I mean, he had that, you know, risky, he had that choice because, you know, you know, a lot of people after that run and when we went to the Super Regional and lost to Wake Forest,

[00:05:22] you know, they wanted the, that coach to be the head coach, you know, and some people were kind of upset, you know, that he wasn't named a coach. Mm-hmm. Yeah, the, was it, I think he's still on the staff, right? Yeah, I believe he does. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, Rob Vaughn has been just a, you know, pardon the pun, but a home run hire, man. Absolutely. The life that he's injected into this program, we knew he was special.

[00:05:52] I mean, he was doing great things at Maryland, a place that's, you know, really never had baseball success. And, you know, so for him to come in and, you know, we were in the middle of the gambling scandal and just up and down, you know, hadn't really, you know, we made that Wake Forest, you know, Super Regional, got blew out. Of course, I was a monster Wake Forest team, but, you know, just baseball had been dead in the water for a while

[00:06:19] and he certainly has injected life on the back. Absolutely. You know, got Justin LeBron and now. Well, I think we got a chance. I mean, there's, you know, Georgia and Texas are probably your favorites there, but, man. They're the big dogs. Yeah, and after this Super Regional, man, can you trust Georgia's pitching? I mean, they got the bats to maybe it doesn't matter, but, man. Man, those, yeah, both Bulldog teams. But they have, like, their first game, like 13 home runs.

[00:06:49] It was amazing. They're, in just the two games they played in the Super Regional, there was over 40 combined runs. So, absolutely ridiculous, but it was fun. I mean, absolutely a blast to watch those games. But, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, elsewhere, like I said, so Georgia, they took care of State. Texas took care of Oregon. They're in. And the Tide will be playing Oklahoma on Saturday. Two Central, I believe, is when it first pitched there. Yeah. Yeah, two Central.

[00:07:20] You got Georgia and Texas are actually playing each other that night at 7. That's a monster game. That's a crazy way for them to both start. That is. That's a crazy first-round game. Friday, it starts at 1 Central, West Virginia, and Troy, the two Cinderella's, man. Awesome stories. Troy getting through that Gainesville Regional course and hosting the other Trojans, Arkansas, Little Rock. And now, you know, they got to host a Super Regional.

[00:07:48] Mayor of Troy said it was the biggest thing that ever happened in the city, which he's probably not wrong. And then, West Virginia, the 16th seed, getting there. Just awesome, awesome, awesome vibes there in Morgantown at that stadium. A great Super Regional with Kentucky, too. Or a regional final with Kentucky.

[00:08:12] Then they had the Super Regional where they got the best of a – who did they – I am blanking on it right now. I can see it in my head. Or, hell, I'm just – just watching. Cal Poly, that's right, Cal Poly, who got out of the UCLA regional course. Yeah. And then your other match, North Carolina, another seed to team.

[00:08:38] And then they host Ole Miss, who went into Auburn and took two straight from the Tigers. But, yeah, so that's Friday. Should be a fun first round. Like we said, just hoping for the Bama Bats to be on a tear. Absolutely. Either way, still a great accomplishment that Bama fans need to celebrate. Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:09:07] We kind of mentioned, touched on the women earlier. Disappointing into their season. Still a great season, nonetheless. Just ran into a Texas Tech team whose pitching had actually been failing them, and then they just turned it on in the semifinals, man. Just unhittable and held the time for the Bats to go cold when we needed them most. But unfortunate end to a great season. But, you know, it's kind of a young roster. No, right. If we get some roster retention, add a couple pieces,

[00:09:37] and this team can be right back in for another special season next year. Tech would go on and lose the title game to Texas Tech. Or Texas, excuse me. Yeah, for the second straight year, the Longhorns back-to-back champs. Yeah. That's where about it. Have a shot to do the old men's and women's double here, if the baseball team can get it done. But great College World Series, great – the NCAA tournament in baseball was just – it's been so fun. Yeah.

[00:10:10] Absolutely. So, yeah, I mean, it is – I mean, overall, though, I was disappointed, but as soon as we didn't get that first win – Yeah, you just wanted – I mean, you kind of saw it last – It happened, you know, not too long after we stopped recording last week, but we were talking about just that thing where the boys were playing – yeah, the boys were playing in a win in advance and lose, and you got to play a, you know, do or die game. And we talked about how much you don't want to go to that do or die game

[00:10:39] because just all the pressure flips to you. Yeah. And – You don't. And that's exactly what happened. The guys got it done, you know, that big home run. Literally probably, what, five, ten minutes after we stopped recording. Yeah. Yeah. You – Oh, the big, yeah. That was huge. I mean, I was having issues with the ESPN3, of course, or the ESPN Plus.

[00:11:08] And so, yeah, I was listening on the radio, you know, on the varsity app, you know, being clutch at times. So, yeah, we got the huge home run there. And then Monday thought we were going to be going to Oklahoma City too, but didn't – going to win. We were going to the finals of Oklahoma City. It didn't work out. But, and of course, the Texas ace, as much as she has struggled to her standards

[00:11:34] through the World Series and kind of the season at times, she had her best performance ever. Yeah. Oh, shut us down. Yeah. Untouchable. We had two hits on today. Batters who had been clutch hits, you know, all season and all tournament long, just looking foolish. Yeah. Like I said, unfortunate timing for the basketball cold and for her arm to get hot, you know, to her to serve that mojo. But go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:04] But, you know, I would say I'm proud of them, but I think I was more hurt than anything just because, you know, I really like this team. You know, there's certain teams that you really like. And, you know, this team kind of came out of nowhere knowing going into season they were at pick ninth. I mean, nobody had any. And yet, you know, we had juice the whole season there. So, you know, you really wanted to see them hit.

[00:12:36] But, you know, it is what it is. Everybody is going to be coming. You know, both pitchers coming back next year. You know, it's a crazy thing to drop some briskees as a junior. You would think as much as she's accomplished that she is. Yeah. Like I said, there's a lot of production coming back. That's awful. You're like, man, it makes you feel better. And, of course, it's got a lot of bats.

[00:13:03] And on top of that, Vic Moten coming back, I would assume, unless, you know, who knows transfer, I'm sure, should be a commodity. But hopefully she'll return to Tuscaloosa as well because, you know, struggled a little bit in the College World Series, but getting that experience as a freshman is huge. So if she comes back and we have that one-two punch again. Yeah. Yeah. Sky's a little bit again. But, yeah, it's been a fun spring on the diamond. And now we hope the boys can continue it starting Saturday.

[00:13:33] Absolutely. Yeah. Starting Saturday. And luckily, even if we have a quick out, I'll be off that Monday. So I'm going to try to get out there if I can. Because, you know, it's only, you know, this is – unfortunately for us, we're not in that LSU category of, oh, we're always in Omaha. So you've got to take advantage of your kids. Let's see.

[00:14:02] Either way, we would play Monday. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Hopefully at night. In the middle of the heat of the day or at night. Yeah. Did take two or three in Norman this year. Hopefully with a win in overall OU on Saturday. Yeah. It is. It is. Absolutely. But as we know, the college world series is a tricky thing. It is crazy. Usually the hottest things coming in. Man, I forget what year it was. I read a stat.

[00:14:31] I caught one that kind of shot me. But it has been a good number of years now since the number one overall seed actually won the College World Series. I don't remember the exact year. But I saw it. And it kind of – it took me back. When I saw it, I was like, damn, really? Like, you know, it's one thing. You see that in the playoffs a lot. You know, the one seed hasn't won the NBA. And you're like, all right. But it's usually a couple years or something. And, like, eventually, yeah, those top teams eventually. Yeah, but it's been a while.

[00:15:00] It's also amazing how many times the last seed doesn't even come to Omaha. Second straight year, both one and two. Yeah, lost in the regionals this year. It happens way more. I mean, as we saw the – So, crazy. It just shows you – Not even super – Baseball is one of those sports. It's not necessarily always about who's the most talented team. It's about which team gets hot. You know. Right.

[00:15:24] And that's what makes it, I guess, the most equal tournament in sports, in college sports. You know, we have that dream of it being the NCAA tournament. But, obviously, that's a rarity much more common in college baseball. So, if you're into the upsets and teams getting hot and, you know, getting – Absolutely, yeah. The crowd going for the underdogs. Yeah, it's fine. The CWS is definitely – Let's move over to another finals. I just mentioned the NBA. Finals going on right now.

[00:15:55] Fun game three going on right now. About three minutes left in the third quarter. San Antonio got a three-point lead up here in New York. Madsen Square Garden just absolutely bonkers. The Knicks, shocking everybody, going into San Antonio, taking the first two games. And closing down games, too. Playing clutch, making big comebacks, and then, you know, getting the lead back late. Just making the big plays when San Antonio's not just absolutely on fire.

[00:16:26] The Knicks, and now trying to survive this game. Yeah, and, you know, it's close. I mean, that's the big thing with them, keeping it close. And not only that, I mean, you have confidence. I mean, if you can win in San Antonio, and now you're home with this crowd, you have to think you're always in it. If you have – Yeah, yeah. If you're about five minutes left in the game, you know, like you said,

[00:16:54] if it's within 10, then, you know, the Knicks aren't going down without a fight. Like, but, yeah. No, absolutely. But it's going to be tough. And, you know, the biggest thing, you know, then, of course, the first two games is Cat. I mean, that's the man that's been ridiculed at times and soft. And, you know, Minnesota, he was the – You can win with Cat. He's only going to get you so far. And that's why they shipped him to New York eventually.

[00:17:23] They thought that the rubber hit the road. He was not going to get him to where he was going to be. And I guess the joke's on Minnesota now. Because, if anything, he – you know, he made – Yeah, he has been – maybe not the star, but he has been the best player for the Knicks these first couple games. Yeah. Most consistent. I mean, Brunson's been – Brunson comes in clutch in the fourth.

[00:17:52] But, you know, he's had stretches in the first three and a half. And it's crazy. You talked about Minnesota, but, hell, even just a couple months ago, you know, you kind of heard rumblings or talks. People are like, well, maybe New York needs to trade Cat, move on, and try something else. They get a title. Nobody will care, man. And – nah. We'll never have to pay for anything again in New York.

[00:18:22] But, yeah, it's been a good first couple games. This one's looking to be another great finish here. So – and then kind of the – we talked about it last week. You know, your brain said Spurs, your heart says Knicks. But, man, now Knicks trying to do it. Not over yet, though. Don't count Spurs out. Yeah. I mean, the first games have been close enough where you can see it, of course, going either way.

[00:18:50] I mean, they're bound – punch back and forth. Obviously, the Knicks, a lot more clutch later than I gave them credit for just because of whatever we saw from the Spurs. But, you know, the Knicks, obviously what they've done, even though it was against lesser opponents compared to the Spurs, you know, they've come and done the same thing. So, you know, it's just who they are. And really, you know, shout out to another guy who doesn't get a lot of love at times, and that's Mike Brown.

[00:19:23] You know, that's a man that he's been a winner in regular seasons in many spots, most famously in Cleveland, LeBron, and then in Sacramento. And then regular season, great. And then, you know, has had issues in the playoffs at times. And so, you know, he's been canned maybe quicker than what he should have been, not given the respect at times maybe. Because, you know, the NBA is, as we know, is notorious for that. Two years and you're done if you haven't done what they're supposed –

[00:19:52] you haven't made a finals, you're done in today's NBA. We've seen a lot of questionable stuff. But, you know, now he's in the finals. And so, we shall see. Because there's a lot of people that thought they were crazy. Yeah, we know a lot of people like, what are we doing here? But, hey, like I said, if you win and nobody – you get a grace period and, you know, nobody questions your decisions now. But I said it ain't over. But we'll see, man.

[00:20:21] It should be, like I said, it should be a good finish tonight. Another big tournament starting up this week. The World Cup finally kicks off this Thursday, I believe, Mexico and South Africa. Not the first time these two teams have started World Cup. They actually started the World Cup in South Africa, I believe. And not O2, that would have been 2010. In O2? Oh, no, interesting. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no.

[00:20:51] No, no, no, no. Yeah, the Vuvuzelas. Oh, yeah. The Vuvuzelas. Yeah. Vuvuzelas. Yeah, 2010. Oh, man, yeah. That was huge for what? South Korea, though, the host of the O2 World Cup is actually in the same group, though. But, yeah, a little weird. Mexico is hosted as well. Interesting. Yeah, 86, and then they had another year, like 78 or something.

[00:21:18] It was a quick turnaround because I think I want to say the 86. I forget who the original host was supposed to be, but they fell through. And then in one of those years, yeah, Mexico stepped in. But, yeah, they kick off Mexico, South Africa, 2 o'clock Central on Thursday. Also South Korea and Chechia, the Czech Republic. The other two co-hosts, Canada and the U.S., kick off on Friday. Canada playing Bosnia-Herzegovina.

[00:21:48] U.S. playing Paraguay. And as far as the U.S. is concerned, this cup is about changing the kind of perception of what U.S. soccer is around the world. You know, there's always kind of been like a little, you know, people that are playing big, but they're really little fish in a big pond. And now it's about, you know, trying to prove you're a serious contender, that, you know,

[00:22:16] now you have more players than ever playing prominent roles in Europe at high-level football. Absolutely. They looked, you know, did lose to Germany the other day in the final tune-up, but looked good. Wasn't, you know, yeah, no shame in losing to Germany. That was a good thing. Certainly not. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I mean, it's a winnable group. You know, they look good. Group D for them, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey. That's absolutely a winnable group.

[00:22:45] And then you're on to that round of 32, and this year is the expanded World Cup. Of course, biggest one ever. So, you know, if you finish first or second in your group, you advance, and then the best eight of the third-place teams advance as well. So, but that's far off. Yeah, a little different, but that's far off. I'm running through these groups real quick. I already got Group A. Group B, Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Qatar, and Switzerland.

[00:23:14] Group C, Brazil, Morocco, who's everyone's darling's last World Cup in Qatar. I made that semifinal run, I believe. Haiti and Scotland. Group D, you mentioned the U.S. group there. Group E is Germany, Curacao, the smallest country in this year's World Cup. Ivory Coast and Ecuador. Group F is the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, and Tunisia.

[00:23:41] We don't have a true group of death this year because everything's so spread out, but, man, that's pretty close with Netherlands, Japan, and Sweden. Yeah. Group G, Belgium, Egypt, Iran, and New Zealand. Yeah. H, Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay. Group I, France, a lot of people's favorites, along with Spain there. Um, Senegal, Iraq, Iraq, Norway.

[00:24:08] J, Argentina, Algeria, Austria, and Jordan. K, you got Portugal, Congo, DR. I guess the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uzbekistan and Colombia. And Group L, England, a team in a country desperate to bring home the World Cup final. Uh, Croatia, Ghana, and Panama. Another kind of a sneaky good group there, but absolutely should be won by England.

[00:24:37] But, yeah, like I said, uh, kicks off, uh, Thursday. Um, let's see, some notable Brazil and Morocco play right away on Saturday. That should be a fun one. Uh, Netherlands and Japan on Sunday. Uh, let's see, just some good early games here going on. These group stages. Just France and Senegal. Um, Senegal, speedy African team with, uh, of course, Sadio Mane. Um, let's see here.

[00:25:07] England and Croatia starting next Wednesday. That's another good first, uh, first-round game there. But, yeah, uh, should be fun. Like I said, the U.S., it's about the U.S. Uh, making a deep run. Probably need to make the quarters or something, really. Um, mm. Right. Yeah. Yeah, just to the, yeah, just to the knockout. You need a one or two in the knockout to really, uh, prove that we belong. Um, yeah.

[00:25:37] Uh, let's see. Elsewhere in the world of sports, it gets a big story today is that the NCAA, uh, a judge in Texas granted an injunction against the NCAA allowing Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to be eligible this year. Which, man, I don't side with the NCAA pretty much ever. But this one, it's tough to, I mean, you feel bad for the kid. He's got a problem that he needs to address.

[00:26:04] But, man, you can't let him play after we, it's been proven that he's been on his own team before, man. Right. Yeah. On his own team. I mean, I'm, I mean, that's not that big of a thing to me when they've been on other sports, you know, college basketball, baseball, like, cool. Even maybe other games that you don't know everything. But here you are, you know, your game plan. Yeah. And, you know enough that.

[00:26:32] Well, we, yeah. We just talked about Alabama's former baseball coach that got fired for a game of the thing. And in baseball, he was, he wasn't betting, but he was tipping, he was feeding information to other people about it. And that's, and that's the problem here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I still can't believe how dumb they were with that. In the middle of Ohio. Alabama, yeah, baseball game.

[00:27:02] Plays and a huge bet on the LSU. It's like, yeah, they did not hide that well. But, yeah, this, I mean, again, like, you want Brendan Sourcy to get his problem under control. He's going to, you know, therapy for it, apparently, rehab. Yeah. Yeah. Talented kid. But, man, again, this just sets a bad precedent. Because now, and there's already talking, you know, the Big Ten's already trying to, yeah, saying they're never going to schedule Texas Tech in any sport.

[00:27:32] I'd about to say you might see some of the Big 12. They might do some temporary. Not play Texas Tech? I don't know. Yeah. I'd about to say I don't know what they can do legally, but I'm sure they're looking into it. Because that's, again, that's just for, say what you, you know, say what you will. There's a lot of people out there that, you know, talk about, oh, the sanctity of amateurism, da-da-da. And some of it's bullshit. And some of it's okay. This is absolutely one that just, for the good of any sport, there's, there's, yeah.

[00:28:03] Yeah. It's just, for the good of sports. Even pro sports. It's a game. It's supposed to be fun. It's not supposed to be something where you can fix it. And now you're starting to call anything into question. If you let this kid play, man, then, like, brakes are off, man. And there's, exactly. And it's, so hopefully this gets resolved before the season. But just kind of an unfortunate, another black eye for the NCAA and college football at a time when college football has taken a lot of black eyes.

[00:28:33] And it might actually, yeah. And honestly, this, yeah, like you said, this might be the one time when the NCAA didn't mess it up. Exactly. And yet, but we know how those injunctions go. Of course, we experienced one ourselves. You know, Ben Yaco, it's a fly-by-night thing. Yes, you can put it in and work for a little bit. You know, we still obviously have, what, fly a couple months of the season starts there. So, I mean, three months.

[00:29:02] So, by August, September, I'd be shocked. Yeah, no, I'm with you. I just feel like there's going to be some way the Big 12 can do something as a conference. Again, I don't know legality or maybe a different judge some appeal the NCAA, you know, goes to. But it just seems like that's got to be some law. Like, there's got to be a law against it. That's what's crazy to me. It just doesn't seem like, you know, it just, I don't know.

[00:29:32] As much as supposedly gambling and sports betting is regulated and stuff, hell, I mean, we saw the whole thing with the NBA and those dudes are doing time. You know? So, who, you know, we've seen with the NBA and people betting and we had that whole thing. Was that last year with, with the real, no, with Chauncey Billups and then we have the,

[00:29:59] the Heat, I can't, I forget the Heat player's name. Oh, yeah. Who was that? Yeah. I know who's on the line. He might. Go ahead. He's betting on himself and stuff. And, you know, he's in the pros and he might be doing facing jail time. You know? So, it's just like, man, it's just something about betting on your own sport where you have control over the outcome, especially as a quarterback, you know? And if you can't, you know, obviously, he wasn't a starter.

[00:30:29] I don't, you know, honestly, I don't know what he did in Indiana. You know, I really didn't know him until he went to. Cincy. Yeah. To the Big Ten, to Cincy, Big 12, excuse me, or Cincy. But, yeah, I mean, obviously, in a sport where you can have some immediate control over that and you're betting on yourself and you know stuff or who's hurt, even if we don't know. Yeah, I mean, it could change a lot of stuff.

[00:30:56] So, we, you know, it's a lot and it opens up everything because then at that point, you know, somebody else does the same thing. Can you ever tell anybody no again? Because they're going to throw that in your face forever. Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely one that's unfortunate, but I'm sure we haven't heard the end of it. I'm sure it's not quite resolved yet. Yeah. Oh, we haven't. And the real question is who's Mitch originally. Yeah, right. It was Mitch on his name.

[00:31:26] Or was he? Thanks, Bill. Obviously. It was Bookie who he took. Let's see. That's all right. Stanley Cup finals. Las Vegas up 2-1 on Carolina right now. It has been a great first three games in that series. Awesome. Yeah, every game decided by one goal. Game two went to overtime. Game three went to double overtime. Some crazy comebacks in there. Some crazy bounces. A lot of fun.

[00:31:55] Game four is tomorrow night, Tuesday night. Big trades in the NFL this past week. Miles. Right after we got off. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, one of those right after we stopped recording things. But Miles Garrett is now a Los Angeles Ram. AFC North quarterbacks will be happy to hear that. I know as a Ravens fan, I was happy for it. Jared Verse and some picks going the other way to Cleveland. Of course, he's a very talented guy too.

[00:32:24] But that's the Browns finally cashing in on Miles Garrett. You know, the best pass rusher in the league for a good number of years now. They got a decent ball. I mean, it wasn't terrible. Yeah, I thought. And, you know, the best thing, though, the Browns didn't completely mess it up. They didn't Cleveland. Yeah, exactly. They didn't settle for like a couple of second rounders or something. They got their first round. They got a second round. And they got a really good pass rusher in return too. So, which a little.

[00:32:54] Because they were originally. Because originally the Browns were trying to not get first. They were just offering picks. And they're like, your first time go, we're out. So, you know, he's got their guys. It does interest me as to why the Browns stuck on that. Like, do they think they still can contend a little bit? Or is this maybe something they're like, they look at him as a future piece of a trade, maybe midseason or something like that too,

[00:33:20] to try to get more picks and really rebuild this team, which, you know, needs to be done. But, yeah, for the Rams, of course, you know, they don't care about picks. They just added another great pass rusher. And, of course. I say, have those picks. Yeah, have those picks. And, of course, everybody online went crazy because Aaron Donald posted a video of him working out after the trade. And it's like, oh, Lord. They asked him if he was coming back. I was on Pat's show.

[00:33:49] And he was like, hey, would you consider it? He said, I'm thinking. Oh, man. It's hard to come back after being gone. But, man, that would be the craziest combo. That would be, Lord, a quarterback's worst nightmare, man. That is unfair to put those two. Even if it isn't, you know, Aaron Donald in his prime a couple years. But, you know, that's. Dude, Aaron Donald at 80% is still a stay. Exactly, yeah. Exactly. That's talk for if it happens, you know. Yeah.

[00:34:16] The other big trade, A.J. Brown, officially is now a Patriot. You know, that one's kind of been foretold for. Yeah, a long time now. But officially happened. So out of Philly, which means our boy Smitty, now the number one receiver in Philadelphia. Yeah, the man. And then New England gets Drake May. They get him a good number one. And A.J. Brown, he's in new situations. See if he's happier. Has played, of course, for Mike Grable before. Yeah, yeah.

[00:34:46] So knows that. So knows the type of offense he runs. So, yeah. But, yeah, Greg, I think that's everything I got in my notes for this week. Is there anything else you want to touch on?

[00:35:19] Yeah. It's great. I mean, it's just been a great time. If you just love all the sports, I mean, we just got done with our good women's college world series. We got them being fun. I mean, we got so much entertaining stuff to watch over the next couple weeks. Man. Yeah, absolutely. It should be fun. Yeah. Into the finals, college world series, Stanley Cup finals, and now the World Cup kicking off.

[00:35:49] Yeah, absolutely. Great, great, great few weeks of sports coming up here. I mean, anytime you can have that great run and not even football yet, you're in a good spot. Exactly, exactly. Absolutely phenomenal. But, all right, then, let's get out of here, then, unless we can think of anything last second. But we'll be back next week to talk about anything we forgot about. And, of course. Hopefully we talk about some bad mistakes. Exactly, yeah.

[00:36:18] Yeah, hopefully you'll be going to see us play a winner's bracket game. But, yeah. A little cooler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A little cooler at nighttime. A little bit in the shade there. But, all right, buddy. Roll Tide, and I'll see you then. Roll Tide. Yes, sir. Thank you once again for listening, folks. As always, subscribe, rate, like us, do whatever your chosen podcast platform asks you to do. Tell your friends about us. Tell your rich friends about us,

[00:36:48] especially if any of them feel like sponsoring a podcast. You can check out all of the family of Alabama Take podcast at thealabamatake.com. You can also find a bunch of wonderful writings there from our lovely, talented roster of contributors. If you'd like to join that roster, shoot an email to thealabamatake at gmail.com. Blaine will get you set up. We're always looking for new voices here on the Alabama Take. You can check out Greg at Bama Hammer.

[00:37:15] He writes a lot about Alabama women's basketball there and other Alabama athletics. You can follow us on socials at Taken On Sports. Of course, drop that G. And as always, folks, keep it done up real good yourselves out there.