Loading summary
Transcript279 lines
- [00:01]
Don Hahn
This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [00:05]
Peter Rosenberg
That sounds like heaven to me.
- [00:06]
Don Hahn
Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app, and your smart speakers. This is Don Hahn and Rosenberg.
- [00:18]
Peter Rosenberg
Why would Major League Baseball want to change the torpedo bat? Major League Baseball's been handed a gift, a legal gift. Nobody's injecting their behinds with PDS to create home runs. Baseball didn't have to go. Jimmy switched to baseball baseball and juice it behind everybody's back to be able to increase home runs. They found a legal form to increase the offense. Why in God's name would baseball want to change it? You know why? Because they don't know what they're doing. They're a poorly run organization. That's why. They'll probably screw it up. Because if they know what they're doing, they'd leave it alone. They'd promote it. They would issue a press release. Good news, fans. We're now entertaining. We have a baseball bat that people are going to hit home runs. Enjoy. Thank you. You're welcome.
- [01:00]
Don Hahn
Don Hahn and Rosenberg on 8 ESPN.
- [01:06]
Peter Rosenberg
I saved the good stuff for radio. I don't need people.
- [01:09]
Alan Hahn
I mean, that was a phenomenal way to start the show. No, there's no question about it. You talk about a lead off home run. I mean, that was Don McGregor today.
- [01:18]
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, I just. It kind of hit me because we were talking in the meeting about like the different angles on this thing. And I just keep thinking to myself, it's like every time baseball gets talked about because we heard it at nauseam with Michael because Michael was a baseball guy. Paul, there's not such thing as bad publicity. Baseball's loving this. Why? Every time baseball is the most talked about sport, it's around some controversy that ultimately isn't good. You know, it's pds, it's spider tack. It's now Torpedo bats or it's something that. Dude.
- [01:52]
Alan Hahn
But why is Don. I don't get it. Why is this version of the bat that now we're calling Torpedo bat? Why is there something bad with this? Well, I don't understand the bad connotation. Don't we love offense? Don't we love to see the ball hit? Are we sick and tired of seeing like, you know, again, it's the all or nothing home runs and strikeouts. Like, we all talked about how bad the game has gotten to a point where they had to make rules. They had to start curbing the idea of the. Of the defensive shifts. We had to change things about the game. We had to put a clock in so we had more pitches, we could have a game that doesn't last four hours. We had to change things because pitching became defense became too dominant. And we love seeing offense. If this helps the offense, there's nothing wrong with it. And there should be nobody out there listening who has a problem with this. If you do, you hate your sport. That's all it is. And any. You talked about this earlier in the show, Don, all the purists, and I love the voice you use too. The purists who are trying to protect the game and say, well, Babe Ruth didn't have this and he didn't have that and that there's. This is a numbers driven sport that has history tied to every number. And now the unfair advantage. Let me remind everybody that it's the only sport that does that. Because let's just take one look at the league that I cover on a daily basis, the NBA. LeBron James is now the all time leading scorer. He's the only human in history to score 50,000 points in a career in the NBA. And you know why? Part of the reason why Kareem Abdul Jabbar is now number two is because a, when he first got in the lead, they didn't have a three point shot. And then when he did play in the league, nobody really used it. Does that make it wrong? Should they not credit LeBron James because he shot a bunch of threes in his career and was able to get to that many points? No, it's a, it's, it's adaptation. It is evolution. It's what you do in a sport. And it includes equipment, it includes bodies getting stronger, it includes changing dimensions of the court in the field. But that's just part of sports. So don't use what happened in 1940 as something that I can't ever make my sport better because God forbid it's different than that, the way they played it all those years ago.
- [04:06]
Peter Rosenberg
But the whole reason this is a controversy is because baseball made it so by not just being public with it once this bat became known. All right, let's just, hey, this is, we got a bat. And this is what's being used. Just so you know, so it doesn't have to be discovered. Because when it gets discovered, it's like, why was it being hidden? You hide things when you're making it seem like something nefarious is going on. Some impropriety is happening when there wasn't any impropriety. It's a perfectly legal bat. Some were using it the Yankees decided to use it at a greater extent. They hit a bunch of home runs and now that becomes the reason. If they had issued a press release in 23 saying, you're going to notice there's some differences in the bats, this bat is legal, nothing wrong, nothing to see here. Then by the time we got to 20, 25 and the Yankees hitting the home runs wouldn't be a big deal. Now what you're seeing, well, a Pete Alonso hits a grand slam home run, they got to tell you. Oh, by the way, no torpedo bat. So is that to mean that if somebody does hit a home run with a torpedo bat, it's less of a home run? What if the MVP this year used a torpedo bat? Is that less of an MVP than before? Shouldn't be. It's just a change of equipment that if baseball embraced and publicized, we'd be over it by now. But they hit it cuz they don't know how to do it. Alan. They're so convoluted in a way that they think and they do things like the NFL to its credit, they're like full disclosure on everything that's going on with the tush bush. Like they're telling you everything that there is going about it. How many owners like it, how many owners don't like it, like full transparency. And then eventually they'll come to some sort of a conclusion whether it's legal or illegal. Like, and everybody was in on the process. So there's no impropriety, there's no feeling like something nefarious was happening behind closed doors. And that's what this feels like because it was just handled poorly by baseball. So the Yankees aren't wrong. Giancarlo. Stan's not wrong for using it. Lindor is not wrong for using it. Just the way that baseball handles everything. I don't know why they mess things up. They do all the time.
- [06:13]
Alan Hahn
Peter, you, out of the three of us is Don obviously loves. I love baseball. Don loves baseball. You probably will be like the least in love with the sport. Right? So do you laugh at this stuff as somebody that like is more into other sports than this one and think like, like, like Don just said, how do they always find a way to just screw up anything that even is good?
- [06:34]
Griff
I don't, I don't laugh at it necessarily. It's just, I don't know why baseball feels the need to make things so challenging. I mean they always sort of tell on themselves in every situation, whether it's the steroids or the live ball, whatever the thing is, it just seems like they always create their own controversies. It's just. It's odd to me. But at the same time, I probably disagree with you guys, or at least don a bit, in that I could see a world in which this quickly becomes actually problematic. I mean, I don't think you want a world in which teams are hitting 15 home runs every series. So to me, I think there is still some legit controversy here to keep an eye on, But I don't think we'll know for a few weeks.
- [07:19]
Peter Rosenberg
But it's like anything else, right? You let it. You give it a try. And if it gets a little crazy, then I think everybody would be in agreement and we gotta do something here. But I don't think it's gonna be that crazy.
- [07:32]
Griff
I think you're probably right, you know.
- [07:34]
Peter Rosenberg
But just keep an eye on anything. Listen, there's some rules that you have and you try things out, it doesn't work. You try something different. All right? This bat is leg. There was no way they can tell the Yankees or anybody else. You couldn't use this bat. But if it becomes something that everybody starts to use and every record is destroyed and every game lasts six hours because 20 runs are being scored a piece, oh, we gotta do something. And I think everybody will agree when that day happens, but I think you're gonna see the pitchers adjust. They're smart people. Same thing happened in hockey, right? They tried to open the game up and they did to a certain extent. And if you remember, coming out of the lockout, you saw a lot more goals scored and good, bright coaches found out ways to defend it. And now the game is kind of balanced out. The three on three overtime went from. My God, this is amazing that there's some people like, damn, they're defending it wrong. They're coming out of the zone. We might have to tweak the rule a little bit. Maybe have a delay of game penalty or not allow you to exit the zone and come back in. Like you just toy with things, right? I mean, that's part of growing as a sport. You try some things out. We tried the replay on pass interference in the NFL because the NFL caved to the controversy with the Rams Saint championship game. They tried it out, didn't work. They got rid of it. Now they'll try this bad. If it ends up being too much, I think everybody will be in agreement we do something about it. But if you're transparent about it, guys, then there's less controversy. You're making everybody part of the process, when you're doing a cloak and dagger, it makes it seem like something's going on, there's some impropriety going on. And that was never the case here. But boy, it feels that way, doesn't it?
- [09:13]
Alan Hahn
Yeah. Now let me introduce you to an MIT educated physics professor at the University of Michigan who is now working. Who he did work for the Yankees, now he works for the Marlins. His name is Aaron Leonard. He is the one that really came up with this concept that is now being used. And he spoke with the media yesterday about it and he almost seemed like caught off guard. Like, he almost seemed surprised there was such a big deal made of this whole thing. And so one thing that everybody pointed out, including himself, was that Giancarlo Stanton was using this bat last year in the playoffs. We all remember the last we saw Stanton, he was destroying baseballs in Cleveland and destroying Cleveland season along the way. So Leonard was pointing that out, but it was asked, like, why are we only hearing about it now? If this is something that has been in the league or at least used by players since 2023, here's what he said.
- [10:10]
Aaron Leonard
A lot of players have used them over the years and they don't necessarily want to draw attention to themselves. And it's not really my business to draw attention to it either. It's respond to any player's request from whoever they are and, you know, definitely help them with whatever needs they have, whether it's equipment needs or data analytics, you know, training, anything like that. So it's just one of those things where, you know, if the players want to discuss something publicly, they can. If you guys want to ask them about it, you can. And people chose not to.
- [10:39]
Alan Hahn
So, Don, that's where, when you talk about it, feeling like, why was. Why is this such a secret? Why does it feel so. So let's not talk about it. Let's keep this under wraps. Even he is like, well, the players who used it, if they want their names out there, I'll leave that up to them. I'm not going to reveal it. Like, why, why are we treating it like this is some kind of like a secret weapon that we didn't want to talk about and now it's been exposed and so we don't want to reveal the people that used it first. Like, it's very strange, this whole thing.
- [11:13]
Peter Rosenberg
Well, the strange thing, not everybody knows. It didn't seem like it was common knowledge. Why, like, why do you have this bat that could be so helpful to you? And no one seems to know about it. And we had Javier call and say, you know, idiot Red Sox fans, idiot Met fans. Listen, the idiot Brewers, I mean, they're in Major League Baseball, their manager. And the pitch, they didn't know about it.
- [11:36]
Alan Hahn
He had Pat Murphy had the great line. It's not the wand, it's the magician. Right, but we're not talking about the magicians. We're talking about the wand. Because the magician we're not used to seeing hit the ball.
- [11:46]
Peter Rosenberg
It just felt like it was a big secret. Why, if it's perfectly legal, then why is it a secret? You know, the Yankees didn't want anybody to know about. They stumbled upon something they didn't want to know about. I can understand that from a competitive standpoint for the Yankees, but what I don't understand is why baseball felt like they had to keep it quiet. And in your baseball, right, why would you let everybody know, hey, we got a new bat that's going to drive. Hey, pay attention, people. We got something that might create but some more offense here, and it's perfectly legal. You know, why wouldn't you. Why wouldn't you even put like promote that. But you keep it on the, on the, on the down low. What do you keep on the down low, guys? You keep things on the down low that seem like it's not sure about it. It's not good, right?
- [12:29]
Alan Hahn
It's not right. It's not on the up and up.
- [12:30]
Peter Rosenberg
It's something. And that's why people reacted the way that they did. So the idiot Red Sox fans, the idiot. It just. It was our ignorance of just not knowing it. And then Michael told us about it before the game and then it became a thing because when. And it's not even like the Yankees, it's the, you know, when something in New York, when it gets exposed on national stage. I mean, let's face it, I'm not saying it because I used to work or have our show on there or the relationship that I have with Michael is. Yes. Regional sports coverage from an attention standpoint, because it's. The Yankees is national Jays. Right. I mean, honestly, it probably.
- [13:12]
Alan Hahn
People are getting this network all over the country, right?
- [13:15]
Peter Rosenberg
There might have been as many people watching that Yankee Brewer game that would watch it if it was on ESPN on Sunday Night Baseball. So it is kind of like. And no offense to the Brewer broadcast, apparently they brought it up, too. But the brewers broadcast doesn't have the kind of spotlight that the Yankee broadcast has or if it was on Sny. Sny, the same thing, right? When you consider how popular Gary, Keith and Ron are. And the Mets coming off the kind of season that they had, so it's a little bit different. So that's when they got the exposure. So it shouldn't have been. It should not have come out that way.
- [13:52]
Alan Hahn
And again, it's one series against the brewers team that proved yesterday that they are still really bad at pitching. And so we'll find out. It's going to be in the 30s tonight at the stadium. The Diamondbacks will have Corbin Burns on the mound. Will you know, will this still be a story after tomorrow? Will we just kind of shrug and go, well, it's not the bat, right? Like. Like that. It could be over in a day or two or by the end of the month, as Peter said, we could be looking at. They really need to look into this. Like, this is crazy. Like, the numbers that we're seeing around the league are insane because so many of these bats now have been ordered and they're going to show up in all these different stadiums for all these different players who are going to try it out and see if this is. This is the best thing for them. So we still are in that. It's the experiment mode. We don't know. But we do know that it's gotten everybody's attention.
- [14:43]
Peter Rosenberg
Well, listen, the analytic people, we make fun of them, they know what they're doing. And this is. This going. This is going to improve offense to the point where nine home runs are hit a game? No, it's not going to be like that. Let's not take away from their Yankees ability or how bad the brewers pitching was, whatever. But I do think you're going to see offense go up.
- [15:04]
Alan Hahn
I'm for it. 800 now with 93776. Let's go to Virginia and talk to John about this. Hey, John.
- [15:12]
John
Hey, how are you guys?
- [15:14]
Griff
Good. How are you?
- [15:15]
John
Can you hear me okay?
- [15:16]
Griff
Oh, yeah, we got you loud and clear, buddy.
- [15:19]
John
Nice. So a couple things for Don. Like, I don't think baseball has missed the boat with trying to speed the game up. I think they've hit it out the park with the pitch clock.
- [15:28]
Peter Rosenberg
Yes.
- [15:29]
John
Mountain visits the automatic runner, the bigger bases, they're trying to get more offense. And like Rick, he just alluded to, like, all these bats are on order. So it's not like these bat companies didn't know this was coming down the pike. Maybe us as the consumer, as the baseball fan, because I am a baseball fan, I'm like, I'm going to tune in regardless of A pitch clock or whatever. I'm a baseball fan, but I'm in my 50s. Right, right. But they're trying to get this new younger demographic into the game and they need more offense, so.
- [16:05]
Richard
All right.
- [16:06]
John
But they're not breaking any rules. I think it's very much like golf.
- [16:09]
Peter Rosenberg
So why so cloak and dagger then? Why was it so secretive? Why. Why did we have to find out three, two years after the fact, you know, by. By Michael K. On a broadcast. Why didn't baseball leave the statement, just.
- [16:24]
Alan Hahn
Put out a press release just saying, hey, this has been brought to our attention for everybody to know in case there's any wonderful, that these are legal bets. And that's it. Now we all know, but.
- [16:34]
John
Just alluded to Giancarlo Stan was using it last year. Francisco Lundor was using the bat during spring training.
- [16:41]
Peter Rosenberg
Right.
- [16:42]
John
It was never a problem until there was like this boom of home runs. And now everyone's like, oh my God.
- [16:49]
Alan Hahn
This is new thing.
- [16:50]
John
Look at this.
- [16:50]
Alan Hahn
And you know what it is, John?
- [16:51]
John
Come on.
- [16:52]
Alan Hahn
Exactly. And you know what, John, thanks for the call. You know what it was? It's because it's the Yankees and people didn't like it. Yankees came out of the gate and they're. They're mashing home runs and they're being the Bronx Bombers and people like, wait, what's with these bats? What are these guys doing?
- [17:06]
Peter Rosenberg
But wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. It gets announced before the game that the Yankees are trying this new bat.
- [17:14]
Alan Hahn
And then that game or during the game. That wasn't during the game.
- [17:17]
Peter Rosenberg
It was like, I think it was. Anthony was. When Michael mentioned it, it was like, like just before, like the start of the game was during the game.
- [17:26]
Griff
I think it was in game, whatever it was.
- [17:28]
Peter Rosenberg
And then in that game they hit nine home runs. And nobody knows about these bats until Michael says something about it. Like nobody was curious about it.
- [17:35]
Alan Hahn
There was no article about was game two of the regular season. Nobody knew about it.
- [17:39]
Peter Rosenberg
Nobody knew about it.
- [17:41]
Griff
No.
- [17:41]
Peter Rosenberg
All right. So yeah, it just happened to be the New York Yankees. The Yankees are really good. I think it would have happened, you know, it would have been less exposed. But I'm just saying if anybody had hit nine home runs and then you found out they were using a different bat, I think it might not have been as big a story because again, baseball is usually not a big story unless it involves certain teams. But it would have been like, well, what's going on here? And now all of a sudden it's like, well, it's been around. Yeah, but nobody told us. We didn't see it. Nobody noticed it. Oh, by the way, Stan used it last year during the playoffs. Well, he mashed during the playoffs by supposed to think that that's why he mashed. Oh, by the way, Doerr had a huge second half to the season. So am I supposed to think it's because he switched to the torpedo bat and that's why the Mets turned it around?
- [18:21]
Griff
I don't.
- [18:21]
Peter Rosenberg
That's not fair.
- [18:23]
Alan Hahn
Why is no one also bringing up the fact that Stanton used it last year?
- [18:27]
Peter Rosenberg
Because nobody knew.
- [18:28]
Alan Hahn
Wait, wait, wait. And this year shows up, his elbows are so screwed up, he's having three different PRP injections and can't play. And some of the speculation that he brought up was because he used a different bat last year. And everybody's now jumping in on this.
- [18:44]
Peter Rosenberg
Thing, but nobody knew what the bat was.
- [18:49]
Alan Hahn
But everybody knows now, though, and people are still ordering this thing.
- [18:54]
Griff
Big G, according to Brian Hoax, says, quote, when asked about bad adjustments that could have contributed to the elbow injury, said, quote, you're not going to get the story you're looking for. So if that's what you guys want, that isn't going to happen. He. He's going to use the torpedo bat.
- [19:11]
Peter Rosenberg
But so, right, he's gonna still use it. So obviously it couldn't have hurt him that bet. But you see the stories that now begin to build and the narratives, the false narratives, all because we just didn't know about it until nine home runs were hit in a game. If baseball got out in front of this, then none of this would have been a problem. None of this would have been an issue. There wasn't even an article. Nobody even speculated. Why would I pay attention to the bat? And the first thing you would think is, well, obviously every bat's legal. They check these things out, right? They're rubbing the pitcher's hands like a first date, for God's sakes, when they come off the field. So obviously, if a guy's using a bat that's illegal, they would know about it.
- [19:50]
Alan Hahn
Yes.
- [19:51]
Peter Rosenberg
So that's why it's really a non story. If baseball just got out in front of it. But they decided to keep this thing a secret, if there was nothing wrong, why were they keeping it a secret? If I want to play the conspiracy, the game, everybody says, well, everybody hates the Yankees. Well, it kind of seems like if they kept it a secret, it sounds like they wanted the Yankees to have an advantage. If you wanted to play that game now I don't think that's the case either. I just think baseball has no idea how to promote itself.
- [20:18]
Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [20:21]
Griff
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
- [20:23]
Don Hahn
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
- [20:31]
Griff
I love why DJ Cool right now? I need to know. Jacob, I haven't asked you about music.
- [20:34]
Peter Rosenberg
Today, but his birthday.
- [20:36]
Griff
Why? Dj, My guy, DJ Cool. Why?
- [20:39]
Alan Hahn
Happy birthday, DJ Cool.
- [20:40]
Griff
Oh, man.
- [20:41]
Alan Hahn
How it is?
- [20:42]
Griff
Oh, no, no, I know. Let me guess.
- [20:43]
Tessa
No, actually, no, I'm wrong.
- [20:44]
Griff
Cool's like, on this day. Oh, this song came out. Oh, on this day, this song. Cause Cool's in his, like, early 60s already.
- [20:51]
Alan Hahn
Gotta be.
- [20:52]
Griff
Yeah, he's on the. He's on the older side.
- [20:55]
Peter Rosenberg
I sent it to the group text last night, but for some reason I didn't hit send. And I noticed it this morning, so I sent it to you this morning. That Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the release of High Fidelity.
- [21:05]
Griff
Hello.
- [21:06]
Peter Rosenberg
Also the 30th anniversary of the release of Tommy Boy. Jeez, that affected me more, like 30 years ago. Tommy boy came out 30 years ago.
- [21:18]
Griff
Wait, wait. No.
- [21:19]
Alan Hahn
Even High Fidelity at 25 just feels crazy, right? Feels like a long time.
- [21:24]
Peter Rosenberg
95. March 90. March 31, 1995.
- [21:28]
Alan Hahn
Now, does High Fidelity hold up today? Whenever I just.
- [21:32]
Griff
So why would it not?
- [21:34]
Alan Hahn
Well, I'm saying, as far as the store. It's a record store, right?
- [21:38]
Griff
Like, record stores, the kind of comeback. Well, the kind of record store that the store is in. High Fidelity is still very much a thing. I mean, they're everywhere. Trust me. I go to them in every market. They're. They're everywhere.
- [21:50]
Alan Hahn
Okay.
- [21:51]
Griff
So, yeah, I think. And by the way, those people still exist in stores. I would say maybe not quite to the same extent, but yeah, in my experience, record shopping, it's around now. I was just telling Don something during the break. Alan, I wanted to share with you as well.
- [22:06]
Alan Hahn
Okay.
- [22:09]
Griff
I appreciate everybody who asked me about my daughter. She's what, nine and a half weeks? Something like that. I truly appreciate everyone who asks. It shows care. And I appreciate you, but can I complain about one thing?
- [22:24]
Alan Hahn
Oh, boy.
- [22:27]
Griff
Does everybody have to say the same? How's the sleep going? You got any sleep?
- [22:33]
Alan Hahn
That is such a cliche. People do when you have a kid, Alan.
- [22:36]
Griff
It's. And then you know what they're forcing me to do? They're forcing me to be a bad guy and stunt a little bit and say, sleep's completely Great. She's sleeping, like, 10, 11 hours a night.
- [22:50]
Alan Hahn
You want to tell them?
- [22:51]
Griff
And then they all go, oh, and listen, I'll follow it up by going, hey, it could change at any time. I'm just telling you where it's going right now. We took our sleep training, which we learned from our night nurse, very seriously. We follow the pattern. So far it's working. Maybe it will change, but right now it's good. But guess what? Can't someone just say, like, how good is it? Is she doing anything yet? Has she done anything cute yet? Like, what's she doing? But why does everyone have to say, how are you sleeping?
- [23:20]
Alan Hahn
All it is is just a little passing. Like, little something you can both just smile about, and then we can move on.
- [23:25]
Griff
Well, let's.
- [23:26]
Alan Hahn
That's what.
- [23:26]
Griff
You know what, then don't ask me. Show real care or keep it moving.
- [23:30]
Alan Hahn
You know what that is? That's from those great commercials about, you know, how people are turning into their parents.
- [23:35]
Griff
Yeah.
- [23:35]
Alan Hahn
And that's what. That's one of the things. Like, you could see the guy from the commercial when someone goes, she getting any sleep? And. No, don't. No. Right. You have. He steps right in. Right? Yes. The baby sleeps. Right. Like, that's. That's from that. That's in that.
- [23:49]
Griff
It's just such. It's just a generic. I appreciate you, but just go one notch better. Come on.
- [23:54]
Alan Hahn
Can I go back to High Fidelity for a second?
- [23:55]
Griff
Sure, sure. I love the movie.
- [23:58]
Alan Hahn
Jack Black. Was that, like, the first time we met him?
- [24:00]
Griff
Very. It's very close. It's. It's right there.
- [24:03]
Alan Hahn
Because, again, you know, again, Cusack's wonderful. Of course, it's a lot of great, you know, performances, but I feel like he was my favorite character in the. Right.
- [24:12]
Griff
Oh, yeah.
- [24:12]
Alan Hahn
He's.
- [24:12]
Griff
He's the.
- [24:13]
Peter Rosenberg
He's athlete.
- [24:14]
Alan Hahn
Turner Overdrive. Like, come on.
- [24:16]
Griff
He's. He's a big. By the way, underrated series that. They did. The High Fidelity series.
- [24:23]
Peter Rosenberg
I didn't say that.
- [24:23]
Griff
I know you didn't.
- [24:24]
Alan Hahn
You don't watch.
- [24:25]
Griff
You don't watch the premiums now, Alan, you might watch it.
- [24:27]
Peter Rosenberg
What do you mean, the premium?
- [24:28]
Griff
You don't watch. You only watch network television if it's not. If it's not on ABC at night.
- [24:33]
Peter Rosenberg
I just finished.
- [24:34]
Alan Hahn
I didn't know it was a thing.
- [24:35]
Griff
Yeah. Hulu.
- [24:36]
Peter Rosenberg
I just. I just.
- [24:37]
Griff
With Zoe Kravitz.
- [24:38]
Alan Hahn
I'm on it.
- [24:39]
Griff
With. With Zoe Kravitz.
- [24:41]
Alan Hahn
Oh, I'm on it.
- [24:41]
Griff
Whose mom, of course, is in. Jesus. Good God. Almighty is in the first one and Zoe takes it on in the. In the series.
- [24:51]
Peter Rosenberg
I did not see it, but you'd enjoy it. But I just. I just listen. It's not. It's going to show my age, but Nancy and I just binged man on the inside the Ted Danson vehicle on Netflix.
- [25:01]
Griff
You only. It feels like you only watch shows that are like older actors, last runs at a show.
- [25:08]
Peter Rosenberg
I enjoyed the show.
- [25:09]
Griff
No, I'm not saying it's not a great show, but you never just watch. We're all talking about a show that's good. Don is never in. You always only mention a show that like it's either a network show or. I've never. I only hear about it from you. You've never gone with the trend like White Lotus. You have any idea what's going on with White Lotus?
- [25:29]
Peter Rosenberg
The one thing I got, I'm good. That's what it's about. I don't think.
- [25:35]
Griff
No, I thought what it's about, but.
- [25:36]
Peter Rosenberg
The fact that it went there.
- [25:37]
Griff
Well, I went there. Boy, did it ever.
- [25:41]
Alan Hahn
I gotta give you guys a tournament update, by the way. Brought to you by Amazon.
- [25:45]
Griff
What's happened since yesterday?
- [25:46]
Peter Rosenberg
Fill me in.
- [25:46]
Alan Hahn
Well, what we have is an all chalk final four like you Dreamer. Excited?
- [25:51]
Griff
Oh yeah.
- [25:52]
Alan Hahn
Starts with Florida Auburn at 6:09. By the way, note the start time. 6:09 is the tip off on Saturday.
- [25:59]
Griff
That's about right. Yeah.
- [26:00]
Alan Hahn
Not Thursday, Don. Saturday followed by Houston Duke. We don't have a tip off for that because we don't know.
- [26:06]
Griff
I can tell you it'll end up being right around 9:14.
- [26:09]
Alan Hahn
9:14?
- [26:10]
Griff
Yeah, because the first game will end around 8:49. And then we'll get Chuckster and then EJ and Clark, Kellogg and Kenny talking for what, down a half hour? And then we'll watch Route Houston and that's it.
- [26:24]
Alan Hahn
Okay. Breaking it down to a fine powder. And anyways, that was the tournament update. It was brought to you by Amazon Pickup. Amazon pickup is a convenient and secure way to collect your Amazon packages from locations near you. This is a good time to bring in Richard from Manhattan. Why? Because he wants to talk some college hoops. Because he wants to see something that we'd never see. Go ahead, Richard.
- [26:47]
Richard
Okay, fellas. By the way. Hi, Don, Peter. Hi, Al. Okay, fellas, the NCAA tournament is all about money, am I correct?
- [26:56]
Peter Rosenberg
Yes. Like most of them, of course, they.
- [26:58]
Richard
Have four playing games that really nobody cares about. But it's part of the thing and they make a lot of money on it. Am I correct?
- [27:06]
Peter Rosenberg
Yes.
- [27:07]
Alan Hahn
Yeah.
- [27:08]
Richard
Well, this coming weekend we have what they want. The best teams. These guys are the highest paid, the best. They've been mauling everybody. They're four number one seeds and they're all playing this weekend. Am I correct?
- [27:23]
Griff
Yes, that's right.
- [27:24]
Richard
Now there are three games that are going to be played. Am I correct?
- [27:27]
Griff
You're still correct.
- [27:29]
Richard
Okay. That is not the maximum we can have. We can make this more than three games and make more money. And it's simple because we used to do it and we don't do it anymore. And now it's more appropriate to do it for all the reasons. If Duke and Florida both win, Peter, Don Allen and Florida lose. Wouldn't you love to see them both play each other on Sunday in a runner up.
- [28:02]
Alan Hahn
He wants a. You want a bronze medal game, you bronze medal is essentially what you're doing here. Olympics, we have that.
- [28:09]
Richard
I'm asking you, would you like to see that game?
- [28:11]
Griff
I love you, Richard. I like to say I'm good. I never watch.
- [28:15]
Alan Hahn
You aren't even in the chat. Yeah. You're not interested in the championship game.
- [28:18]
Griff
Thank you, Alan. Fair point. But I'll tell you this. Even in World cup, which I adore, I never care about the Fakocta bronze game. Never care.
- [28:26]
Alan Hahn
Is there something to be said though for that?
- [28:28]
Richard
All right. As far as Calipari, he's going to have this on his resume. He'll probably be the only coach ever in NCAA history, if your definition is seedings, Upsets. Right. He lost last year. The biggest upset, 215, Oakland and Kentucky. Am I correct? This year's NCAA's biggest upset, sadly, was St. John's Arkansas. 210. So he went from losing the biggest upset to winning the biggest upset the following year. And let me push one last thing. I'm against Jay Billis. The NCAA tournament, Believe me, I lived through this in the 60s, up until 79, 80, maybe even 81 was horrible. The NCAA tournament was chalk, chalk, chalk. The best teams won. There was no such thing as upsets. March Madness came about in 82, 83. That's when it started. You're not going to see any more upsets. You know, he wants to see the best teams. That's true. And you don't want to see blowouts. In other words, Cinderella will win one or two or three games, like fdu, like Florida, Atlanta, whatever. But isn't it worth it to see the. The upsets and if they get blown out. Yes, I agree. Rutgers losing to Michigan was Terrible. Penn losing to Michigan State was terrible. And we've all seen some of these games. St. Peter's a couple of years ago got blown out in their big game, the Elite Eight. But up until that point, I'll buy the three wins that they won because that keeps hope alive. That's what this tournament was based on. It's not going to be March Madness anymore. To me, it's much sadness, really. It's not going to be the same anymore. The best teams, yes, but we don't want to. If I want to watch the best teams, I watch the pros, the best players. I watch this tournament for the upsets. And now that I don't know the coaches, I don't know the team, they leave. We can watch the numbers. 215, 116, 3, 4. This is what we watch, the tournament. Sadly, I don't think it's going to be the same. Thank you, fellas. Always a pleasure.
- [30:32]
Alan Hahn
Thank you, Richard.
- [30:33]
Peter Rosenberg
Thank you, Richard.
- [30:34]
Alan Hahn
I don't agree. I don't agree. I still think because it's in any given Sunday type of situation, because it's a one and done, because you just catch a team on a bad day or a team that just is unreal and you still will get into me, it's always going to be the first weekend you'll have it. I don't know if you'll get it through the second weekend. You might still get it in a sweet 16 and have one Cinderella that reaches the final eight. Will you still get him in the Final Four? As Jay pointed out to us yesterday, you did have that recently where you did have a couple of teams that snuck into the Final Four.
- [31:09]
Peter Rosenberg
Still basketball, right? Anything can happen in a given game.
- [31:11]
Alan Hahn
Anything can happen, guys. So I still think you'll, you'll, you'll still get those stories, but you just.
- [31:18]
Peter Rosenberg
But the storylines are going to be different. I do think the game is going to be different. And as far as having the consolation game, why would like, why would Cooper flag play in that game? If Duke lost to Houston, he's going to the NBA. That's the first overall pick. Why would he, God forbid.
- [31:31]
Alan Hahn
Forbid.
- [31:32]
Peter Rosenberg
Want to get hurt in a game that nobody's going to care if they. Who wants to finish third? You're going to battle for who's actually third? No, nobody would.
- [31:41]
Alan Hahn
I think what he is saying, it's a way you could sell that game.
- [31:44]
Peter Rosenberg
Not if the players don't play in it.
- [31:46]
Alan Hahn
But that's.
- [31:46]
Griff
Why would you.
- [31:47]
Alan Hahn
Exactly.
- [31:48]
Griff
That one. Why would you play hard? Listen, if well, it's funny. Richard, Richard's worried about them, not about the tournament changing. Imagine the likelihood of a third place game at this point, a second place game at this point. Point zero, zero hope.
- [32:00]
Alan Hahn
Yeah, well, again, he was put, he was pointing out too, is the money aspect and the interest that could be generated in it. But what you guys are using is the logic of why would any, why would the player play in that game? Especially the ones that know they're going right to the draft or seniors who are like, yeah, I'm done, like, I'm out. Like, there is no honor to it. There's nothing there. And there's no tradition to it. In the Olympics, the bronze medal is still a bronze. It's a medal. I go home with something.
- [32:26]
Griff
Right.
- [32:27]
Alan Hahn
Because the loser of the bronze medal game, you go home with nothing. So at least I got something to bring home.
- [32:31]
Peter Rosenberg
Finishing third, the NCAA Tournament's not a thing.
- [32:34]
Alan Hahn
No.
- [32:35]
Peter Rosenberg
Getting a bronze medal in the Olympics is a thing.
- [32:38]
Alan Hahn
Although. What, you know what's weird? In some arenas in college basketball, they do hang Sweet 16 banners. Some even just hang banners that say, we got to the tournament. But so would a third place finish be something that you would celebrate?
- [32:51]
Peter Rosenberg
I guess, if you wanted to celebrate. But would you celebrate it if you want it in basically a bunch of backups because none of your stars are playing the game?
- [32:59]
Alan Hahn
Yeah, no, definitely not. No. But would it, would people watch it if it could be sold in packaged?
- [33:05]
Peter Rosenberg
You don't think so? I don't think so.
- [33:07]
Alan Hahn
Fair enough. I, it just, it's, it's Richard. He always makes us think about things, right?
- [33:12]
Peter Rosenberg
Oh, sure.
- [33:15]
Alan Hahn
I, I, I, There's a call I really need to get to that time for right here. But we got to do it before the end of the show, so we have calls to get to. We'll update you on all the action for coming up tonight, including Knicks and the Sixers. Tonight, the Knicks are favored by the second highest. Is it highest? Right? This is the second highest number they've been favored by this year, this season in this game. So it feels like one of those, you know, they should definitely win this game tonight. They are playing the Sixers after all, and the Sixers are not trying to win anymore.
- [33:49]
Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [33:53]
Griff
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
- [33:54]
Don Hahn
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
- [34:02]
Peter Rosenberg
What the hell is this?
- [34:04]
Griff
Oh, my God, another one of Alan's. Great.
- [34:08]
Alan Hahn
No, no, no, this is Jack Black.
- [34:12]
Peter Rosenberg
Speaking of which, Jarv. Jarv sent out that prior to High infidelity.
- [34:19]
Griff
Nope.
- [34:20]
Alan Hahn
High fidelity.
- [34:20]
Peter Rosenberg
High fidelity. Because I get confused with the REO Speedwagon album. Sorry.
- [34:23]
Alan Hahn
Sure.
- [34:24]
Peter Rosenberg
Jack Black was in Mars Attacks. Cable Guy. Remembering the cable guy. That was like a full year or two before.
- [34:29]
Griff
Oh, I forgot. Cable guy's first.
- [34:31]
Peter Rosenberg
Cable guy was probably his first. And he also.
- [34:37]
Griff
No, well, cable. The Cable guy is pretty big. I mean.
- [34:41]
Alan Hahn
Yeah. Okay. Well, I just. I. First of all, it's like to hear him. Let's Get It On. Right. Is what they performed at the end of that movie. Right. Marvin Gaye.
- [34:50]
Peter Rosenberg
Yes.
- [34:51]
Alan Hahn
It was phenomenal. It was just, you know, he's incredibly talented.
- [34:55]
Griff
Jack Black. Let me say something. I love Jack Black to death. Yeah, I saw him at the hall of Fame. Rock and Roll hall of Fame. And he's got to work on the look right now. Like the huge. He's huge. Plus the huge gray beard. I like. He's just like. He's choosing to look a hundred. And I wish he did.
- [35:18]
Alan Hahn
Just. He's just being a dad and hanging out and having fun and all that stuff. That's what he's doing.
- [35:23]
Griff
Very nice of you just being.
- [35:24]
Alan Hahn
Being a guy. All right, we got to run through some stuff here, including game time. Brought to you by Tull Mordue Irish Whiskey. Because when it's game time, it is Tully time. Mets continue their series with the Marlins and coverage begins immediately. Following us right away here in just a few minutes. Top of the hour, 6 o'clock on 8 80. Knicks and the Sixers here at Madison Square Garden. That coverage begins at 7. Knick fans, that'll be on 10:50am tonight. Yankees. They start a series with the Diamondbacks in the Bronx. That'll be a 705 first pitch. And the Islanders welcome in the lightning at 7:30. Tullamore Dew, the original triple distilled, triple blended, triple cast matured Irish whiskey. Be sure to grab a Telemore Dew or try the new Tullamore Dew. Honey, during tonight's action, glasses up to enjoying Tullamore Dew responsibly. Tessa in Wes Caldwell wants to talk to Peter. Tess.
- [36:16]
Tessa
Yes, I definitely do. Thanks so much for taking my call. I appreciate it, guys. I'm just so confused right now. Shout out to that caller that shouted Gris and Richard and myself. I appreciate that. And of course, shout out to Don, keeping it real and supporting me. But Peter, what I'm so confused about with you is you just admitted to the whole world that you basically kiss heiny to get up to go further in life. Like, that's how you got on first take. But you gonna hate on me when Don. When you ask Don a question, saying, like, who would be good to go against Richard? And he said, me. And you go like, no, Come on. How do you even have any pose to stand by? You just admit it to all of us that you kiss butt to move up. Come on, knock it off.
- [36:56]
Alan Hahn
There's two.
- [36:57]
Griff
There's two things. There's two things.
- [36:59]
Alan Hahn
Two things that you're a hater.
- [37:01]
Griff
Number one. Number one. No. You know, you're not Richard. Tessa. You're great. You're not. Richard's an enigma.
- [37:09]
Tessa
You're not me. You. You're the one in la la land with Richard. That call said all three of our names. You're in la la land with Richard. That don't mean that I can't go toe to toe with him.
- [37:17]
Peter Rosenberg
I. I just rant and I feel like definitely now we have. But.
- [37:23]
Griff
But it's not about you're.
- [37:24]
Alan Hahn
You're.
- [37:25]
Tessa
I know about all you're act.
- [37:26]
Griff
No, you're acting as if it was who's more knowledgeable, who's a better fan. It's just the fact that he's an enigma.
- [37:32]
Tessa
The guy said, Richard, Tessa, Griff. So? So Don said, I think Tesla. You asked the question, why you immediately say no like that? Besides being a hater, why you immediately say no like that?
- [37:42]
Griff
You're not Richard. You're not Rich.
- [37:44]
Alan Hahn
I'm gonna let you go, Tessa.
- [37:45]
Griff
You're a lot of things.
- [37:46]
Alan Hahn
You're not.
- [37:48]
Tessa
I'm the unicorn.
- [37:49]
Griff
And Griffin isn't Richard either.
- [37:51]
Alan Hahn
All right, Tess, we had to let Tessa go, okay?
- [37:56]
Griff
I love Griff. He's not getting the reaction Richard's getting either. I'm sorry. Danny's not. Ira's not.
- [38:01]
Alan Hahn
Listen, we're going to start planning now. Call her Palooza. We're going to do a big show. We're going to call her Palooza. And they. The biggest names have to show up. They have to show up, and they'll have it out.
- [38:13]
Griff
Well, what do you want them to do?
- [38:15]
Alan Hahn
Topics. Well, we have topics.
- [38:16]
Griff
Richard.
- [38:17]
Peter Rosenberg
Hi, Richard.
- [38:20]
Alan Hahn
We'll give them some topics. We have to debate them out.
- [38:22]
Griff
Can I.
- [38:23]
Alan Hahn
Their best personalities forward. And we'll go from there.
- [38:25]
Griff
Can I. Can I. Can I say something here? When. When you. And when you and Don are going hardcore into, like, intricacies of hockey, for example, I don't jump up and say, you guys got to do this. Change the conversation. Trust me. I say, you guys know what you're doing. And I'll chime in when appropriate. I kind of feel like when it comes to booking events, we should treat me with that same respect. This event that Alan's describing would be such a colossal failure.
- [38:54]
Alan Hahn
Failure.
- [38:55]
Griff
Oh, my God. A boring hunk of crap. I'd leave before it started. I mean, I'd rather be dead. I'd rather be dead.
- [39:04]
Peter Rosenberg
You do get vacation time during the summer, right?
- [39:06]
Griff
So, you know what? How's July 15th?
- [39:07]
Alan Hahn
You want to take time off?
- [39:08]
Peter Rosenberg
That's great.
- [39:09]
Griff
How's July 15th sound to you?
- [39:11]
Alan Hahn
I mean, how's tomorrow? We could definitely work.
- [39:13]
Griff
Listen, listen.
- [39:14]
Peter Rosenberg
I love this idea.
- [39:16]
Griff
I'm just to let the. So, wait, what are you going to do? You're just going to fall back?
- [39:20]
Alan Hahn
You're making it sound like we're going to spend four hours doing it. No, it's just one thing. We'll just. We'll have each at a time, and it's. It's their wheelhouse. Her wheelhouse is the Giants. She goes crazy with the Giants. And it's very entertaining. Like, it's. We'll find things. You know, it's. First of all, it's spitballing, by the way, so thanks for the support. Second of all, I said we start thinking about it. And by the way, though you think.
- [39:42]
Griff
You are, you didn't say, hold on. Be fair to me. Don't. Did he say it would be Don? Did he say, we'll call it a segment during a live show? Or did he say, we'll have a.
- [39:49]
Alan Hahn
Live event as we talk? It's just one of these things. We're going to just plan it out. I just think we get the best.
- [39:58]
Peter Rosenberg
But I love.
- [39:58]
Griff
By the way, I love Tessa. That's not fair. All I said was, no one's Richard. No one is rich. Richard's an enigma.
- [40:05]
Peter Rosenberg
Guys, we're chopping this. Nobody was committed to anything in particular.
- [40:08]
Alan Hahn
That's what I'm saying. Like, you know, Peter's.
- [40:10]
Peter Rosenberg
But I would like to see this happen.
- [40:11]
Alan Hahn
Bigfoot in the hole, whole thing, man. Like, I'm not going. I'm not showing up.
- [40:16]
Griff
I'll leave. You didn't say that.
- [40:17]
Alan Hahn
I'd rather be dead.
- [40:19]
Griff
No, I said I'd rather be dead. I didn't say I'd leave. If you did it, that would be being a bad team.
- [40:22]
Alan Hahn
I think you did say you'd walk out. So we got to walk out now.
- [40:26]
Griff
No.
- [40:26]
Alan Hahn
Enjoy Mets baseball.
- [40:28]
Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [40:32]
Alan Hahn
I don't want to know how the sausage is made, but I just want to know it's good.
- [40:35]
Don Hahn
Hear more of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.