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Sports Talk and Insights with David Pivnick of McGuireWoods LLP 10-19-25
00:16:58
In this episode, David Pivnick, Partner at McGuireWoods LLP, sharing his takes on the MLB playoffs, NFL storylines, and the Chicago Blackhawks’ promising future.
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- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and the Becker Business Podcast. We're thrilled today to visit with David Pivnick. David's a brilliant leader. He's a lawyer, but something that not everybody knows. He's also a brilliant and avid sports fan. So I thought what we would do today is take a break from hardcore business podcast and discussions and talk sports with David. David, I know you follow a number of professional teams. I know you follow the Cowboys, the Milwaukee Bucks, and some others. We also always try and talk a little bit about Chicago sports. Why don't we start with what's top of mind for you? What are you watching in sports currently that that's got your interest?
- [00:43]
B
Yeah, I mean, appreciate you having me on, Scott, and always happy to chat sports on the podcast or otherwise. I mean, sadly, right now, what's got my interest primarily is the baseball playoffs, both because I'm a significant Blue Jays fan and was very optimistic about the Jays up until about three nights ago. Less optimistic right now than I was Sunday afternoon before the ALCs started. And then, you know, at the same time, I've. I've been going to brewers games with my sons because I've been able to get some tickets for the nlcs. So, you know, light rooting interest in the Brewers. Not really a Brewers fan, more. More of a Cubs fan, frankly, in the National League, but a true Blue Jays fan. And so was very excited about the playoffs and. And both the teams I care about are down to nothing to start, so that. That's what's been keeping my attention, but it hasn't been very promising so far.
- [01:38]
A
Thank you.
- [01:39]
B
And.
- [01:39]
A
And. And talk about, if you could, something that somebody in America cares about besides the Toronto Blue Jays, because I know that nobody in America cares, at least for 100 years, what happens with the Blue Jays. Is there any. Well, I. I kid you, but is there a chance that the Blue Jays come back? What are your thoughts there?
- [02:02]
B
I do think there's a chance the Blue Jays come back. The odds are certainly against them. You know, in. In the history of. Of the major leagues, I think there are seven teams that have come back in a championship series from down to nothing, and not a single one of them has done that where they lost both of those games at home. So it's certainly a steep uphill climb. But, you know, the bats were completely silent in the first two games, and, and, you know, I think the pitching, you know, we have a couple veteran arms in Bieber and Scherzer that have been struggling of late, but they're veterans and I'm hoping they can put it together and give us a chance to try and even the series in Seattle and get some momentum. If you want to talk about something. Well, two things. One, on the 100 years comment, just the absolute height of irony coming from a Cubs and Bears fan to be making jokes about long drought. Like just. Just really aggressive and unwarranted there. But on things that people care about. I. I will.
- [03:02]
A
First of all, first of all, let me just take. Let me just take umbrage that because. Because the Beers were the best team in the world in 1985, not that long ago. And also the Cubs won the World series in 2016. Quite frankly, the Cubs came out of this year with 92 wins, back on track to start to compete like a real team. The Bears are.
- [03:24]
B
Are.
- [03:24]
A
Have won 60% of their games this year and look almost unstoppable at this point. So to take shots at the Beers. Seems this is why people don't all love Canadians anymore. It was unnecessary and not nice. But going back to what you were going to talk about.
- [03:41]
B
No, I mean, first of all, I was there with you when the Cubs won the World Series. It was a wonderful day. And they do have that one title in the last 110 years. And the Bears winning in 1985 is definitely something to be proud of. But if we're measuring things in centuries, and the J's two World Series championships are less than 40 years ago were more recent than the Bears title, it does seem like your gratuitous shot was the one that missed the mark. And before I get back to the umpiring, I will also note, it was about a year ago that you and I were on a podcast and you said, David, the bears 4 and 1. This is the year we figured it out. And I laughed at you and said, you sound silly. And you said, that's so rude. How could you say such a thing? And lo and behold, what did they lose, like a thousand games in a row after that last season. So I would. I would hold off the plaudits for the Bears. I think they're better than most years. This year I actually have some optimism in the Bears, but I wouldn't be planning the parade just yet were I you.
- [04:44]
A
No, I think that's right. I mean, the jury is still very much out. I mean, Campo is a tremendous athlete. Whether it could be a long term tier one quarterback remains to be seen. Whether he holds the ball too long or not. I. I don't know. How about Your Cowboys? How about the other teams you're watching? What else are you watching in sports? And you were about to talk about some of the complaining about umpiring going on. How bad is the umpiring and the reffing? I can't really tell, but. But what are you seeing out there?
- [05:11]
B
Yeah, the umpiring first of all is terrible. It's consistently terrible. And it's great that next year they're going to have challenges in baseball, at least on ball and strike calls, so that some of those will be more accurate and there'll be a pathway. You know, the Jays game on Monday night, and I want to be clear, it was bad in both directions. Like, it started the game hosing the Jays on the first couple batters and they came in to score. But the Jays benefited from a ton of bad calls, too. So this isn't sour gripes because of the result. But Doug Eddings, the home plate umpire, missed over 20 calls over the course of the night, which is really staggering. It was statistically one of the worst performances in years. I think the prior performance that was equally bad was also Doug Eddings. And then as if he was trying to mock the fans, like me watching the game and seeing how terrible he is at colleague balls and strikes, he refused to give the ball to the catcher and kept insisting on firing it to the pitchers himself as if he was part of the game, which was just clown worthy to begin with, but particularly embarrassing when he couldn't do his own job properly. So I have. I have no disdain for umpires generally. I'm sure they're lovely people and would be great doing literally anything else. But robot umpires on balls and strikes can't come quickly enough. They. They need to get the calls right. It's embarrassing for sports at this level and with the amount of money people are paying to watch and paying for the players to be watching, umpires just get it wrong consistently where we have the technology to get it right. And it's all the more infuriating when we have to watch umpires act like they're the ball game and that people are showing up to watch them perform because nobody is there to watch Doug Eddings throw the ball to the pitcher. I assume even if his wife, if he has one, is there, she doesn't care to watch him throw the ball to the pitcher, like call the balls and strikes, do a better job of that and be invisible. And so that's my soapbox. I imagine it's just me and literally every other person who watches baseball? Who feels that way? But it's high time that Major League Baseball starts getting the calls right. And we just can't have umpires ejecting players and controlling games because they can and have no consequences.
- [07:39]
A
So, so thank you so much and take a moment on I, you know, you're an avid Cowboys fan. I'm an avid Blackhawks fan. Give me your two thoughts on those two franchises and where they're at.
- [07:53]
B
Yeah, the Cowboys are. It's been a disappointing year for the Cowboys. I was in Charlotte this weekend with my daughter and took her to see the game and that didn't work out well and I'd taken my voice to see them in Chicago. So I've been present for a couple of road losses this year. The offense looks great. The defense is every bit as bad as it was expected to be. And then the injuries on the offensive line and deciding Lamb have have made a big difference as well in a couple of closed games. But I mean, the bottom line is they're, they're a team that will be competitive in most games because of the offense. Dak looks terrific, which is enjoyable to see. He's performing really well, but the defense is just bad. There's no excuse for it. It's just bad. And folks who are blaming that on the Micah Parsons trade and saying that the Cowboys brought this upon themselves are frankly just missing the mark because with Micah Parsons, the defense would also be just bad. It might be marginally better, but it's just a bad defense. There's a lot of upgrades that are needed. Our cornerbacks have just been awful. I think they have potential, but they just haven't been good. Pass rush as a whole has been bad. Run defense is pretty mediocre. Not, not a lot of good things to say. And so it really limits the amount of optimism I could have for the team when on one side of the ball they look pretty good and on the other side they're about as bad as it gets in the league. So, you know, hopefully they'll be entertaining. There'll be some high scoring games the rest of the year, but I'm not expecting much.
- [09:23]
A
Thank you. And Dak Prescott is having a great year and he's actually, his career numbers are pretty good in the big scheme of things, aren't they?
- [09:32]
B
Yeah, terrific. I mean, he will. By the time he retires and well before that in the next couple years, he'll hold every single major Cowboys passing record. I mean, all of the. He's had a great career. He just hasn't won a Super bowl and ultimately you get measured as a quarterback for playoff success and he hasn't had that yet. And it's not going to be this year where that changes, but hopefully we can do something on defense. We've got a lot of draft picks over the next couple of years. We've got a bunch of money under the cap to spend. We save some money by trading Micah. Hopefully they can bring in three or four upgrades on defense because I think that's what's needed and maybe give them a real shot in the next couple of years to get that title, which, which would be awesome.
- [10:14]
A
And you talk about Micah Parsons for a second. Any thoughts on the trade at this point and any thoughts there on that trade?
- [10:23]
B
Yeah, I mean, look, at the end of the day, Jerry Jones takes a lot of heat for a lot of things. And I, you know, I, I do sometimes wish they had a true general manager and not just the owner and his son running up football operations. I think there's some value to having the wisdom of, of some, you know, external voices in the room. But ultimately they offered to make Micah the highest paid defensive player in the league. He, he got more money from Green Bay, so good for him. But I think they negotiated with him fairly and him proceeding to make a public trade demand the sort of gamesmanship in the preseason where, you know, he wouldn't, he didn't put on the uniform and then he lay down on the sideline on a training table. He wanted out and he got his wish. And I certainly wish him no harm, but I'm one of the Cowboy fans who look at, I think Kenny Clark, the defensive tackle we got, is a solid player and has been doing a great job this year. He's been one of the bright spots on defense. He's. We got two first round picks that I don't think Green Bay is as good as other people think they are. So I think those will likely be in the middle of the first round. And we're not paying Micah $47 million a year, the highest contract for any non quarterback in the sport, which I just think is an overpay. And so it certainly limited our ceiling this year. But I am a firm believer, even with Micah Parsons, the Cowboys did not have a good defense this year. So we would have just been paying that money and not getting the picks and additional flexibility to have a team that barely made or just missed the playoffs.
- [11:55]
A
No, thank you. Give me a take on this because I'm an nf, NFC Central fan or NFC North. I Guess. Now give me a take on the Green Bay packers in the Lions and where they're at and how good the Lions, Packers, Vikings are.
- [12:08]
B
I think this year all of the teams in, in the division look somewhat flawed. The Vikings are just not that good. I think the Bears are actually outside. I mean, I joke earlier, but I think the Bears are better than people give them credit for being. I think they still have a real risk of, you know, snapping defeat from the jaws of victory. They, they were putting themselves in that ballpark on Monday night, but they managed to pull out the win. And I think if the Bears can get a few of those bounces to go their way, I think they are a team that could be a legitimate contender in the Central. I think Detroit's offense is a juggernaut. I think their defense has some bright spots, so I still think they're the best team in the division, but I don't, I don't think the margins are as big as they were last year. And the Packers, I think, are very good, but I still think their defense is beatable. I don't think Mike has made as big an impact on defense as they were hoping. And their offense is actually quite talented, but where their wide receivers can't seem to stay healthy. I don't think Jordan Love is as good as many packers fans seem to think. He's fine. I don't think he's a bad quarterback, but I just think he's fine. And Josh Jacobs is a beast, but I think they're ultimately a good team, not a great team. And so I think the Bears should be in every game they play this year. And if things break red, I think they could be a playoff team. But I think the Lions are still the class of the division.
- [13:40]
A
Thank you very, very much. And, and, and take me back to hockey for a second. You're our resident expert. You're from Canada and so complete expert on hockey. Talk to us about the Chicago Blackhawks. And what are you seeing so far and what do you think?
- [13:57]
B
Yeah, I mean, the, the biggest thing about the Blackhawks so far, they, they had another somewhat quiet off season, and they got a lot of criticism for that. But the biggest difference with the Blackhawks so far this year is they're coming out and they're competing and playing hard for 60 minutes of every game, making the other team work. And that that's an embarrassingly low threshold. So it's unfortunate that that's even a discussion point because they weren't getting to that level over the last couple years. But they weren't. And so the fact that they are now getting there, that they're making the other team work for 60 minutes. Bedard looks great. He's. He's not just looks faster, but the metrics show he's moving faster on the ice, he's more physical. He's mixing it up a little bit in the quarters. Frank Nazar is an absolute stud. He's got a great career ahead of him. I think it's a very bright future for the Blackhawks. I don't think this is a playoff year, but I don't think this is going to be a bottom of the league year either. I think they'll make marginal improvements up the standings, but I think they're a lot more promising and a lot easier to cheer on because they have a lot more talent and a lot of picks and talent on the way. And if guys like Lev Shinov can develop, I mean he's had a rough start to the season, but I still think he'll be good. I think Kevin Korchinski and Roch in Rockford will be solid and I think Sam Rosella, Renzel and Alex Vlasic on the blue line are both terrific. So I think there's a lot of young talent, pretty well rounded core of young talent and a lot of our prospects are dominating in college and their respective leagues in the ahl. So the future is very bright. This year is not yet, but I think they would have a real chance at the playoffs next year and I think they could be a contender in the not not so distant future.
- [15:43]
A
Fantastic. No, I do like it does look like they're more competitive this year. It does look like naysayers the real thing. And so it I am cautiously optimistic that they're moving in the right direction. They've got, they've got some way to go but clearly there's reason for some optimism there with the Blackhawks more so than in years. David, it is great to visit with you on sports. Such a pleasant relief and such a pleasure. We talked Flu, Jays, Cowboys, Packers, Blackhawks. We also talked some of their refereeing problems in the, in the in baseball quite frankly. But it seems to be an endemic challenge in sports. Just a challenging job to do right at the speed that the players play at versus the strength and athleticism of the umpires. It seems like they're struggling to keep up with the games today. It is what it is. David. Great to visit again. David Pivnick, partner leader at McGuire Woods. He was also featured this month as the Warrior of the Month So outside of talking sports, he's actually a brilliant, brilliant litigator who works at the intersection of healthcare, white collar litigation, false claims and private equity and more. Thank you, David Pivk, for joining us today. What a pleasure to visit with you.
- [16:52]
B
Thanks for having me on, Scott. Always a pleasure.