Valley Buzz - January 4th 2025

They're gonna go on the road. There's a wildcard. Here we go.

somewhere today doing a lot of clinic. Is he in Japan or something? He is in China. Yeah. Yeah, he is in China. So we got the Hall of Fame. A Bob Hinks thing's waiting for you to call. We got quite a bit of to talk about in football. We got a lot going on. There were some upsets this week in the college games and. Yeah.

Pretty much unbelievable. Red Sox, they just kind of laid down. They're just waiting for the season to start now. Well, you know, at least with the Red Sox, we got Bueller and we got Crockett from for pitching. I mean, I feel a little bit better with that. Hey, Bob, you're coming off a little bit loud.

Okay, we need to turn it down, do we? There was a static or something you could do to maybe turn it down slightly, but you come off a little loud just to make sure the list is got a great experience. How's that now, Jesse? You sound great right now. Thank you so much. You're a good man and there's darn few of us left. So as far as the pitching goes, I think we're ready. We kind of did what we needed to do. The bold panel fell in.

when the season starts with the guys that, you know, we had injured Tommy John, whatever, coming back. I think that'll play out all right. What about these free ages? Like, how come no one's going after Alonzo? It's his price tag too high, maybe. I don't know.

Well, Soto was the gem of the free agents to everybody. He was the one everybody was after, you know. But, yeah, Lonzo, he wouldn't look bad in Fenway. You could use him as a DH first base. Yeah, yeah. But I think

The one you gotta look, you gotta deal with is who she is during that. You get along, so you gotta get rid of your she does contract. Well, someone would pick him up, wouldn't they? Left hand to bat? Well, you're not just gonna throw him under the bus for 18 million. I mean, you're gonna release him, eat it? No, by being traded, wouldn't you think somebody? Somebody would do it, but I don't think they,

I don't think they're after a long long long long long. Or anybody like me? No. We thought for a while, Bregman, but they haven't. How much money did the wretch? I mean, they did go picking up Bueller, and I know a lot of people are saying, you know, Bueller's been hurt, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

for $11 million, Chapman. We got him. So they spent money, three pitchers, they spent money on anybody. 10 million, okay. What was the other's just that we spent money on? Well, was it 21 million for a Bueller? Yes, sir. Yeah, Walker. Yes. One year, 21 million. I think 21 million was it was only one year.

One year. Right. So there's 31 million. Yeah. Who else? That Crockett. From being paid Crockett. Nothing. Yeah. Right. No. We traded for Crockett. We traded for him. You're right. You're right. But we haven't paid him any. No, that's true. So we're only sitting on 31 million right now. That's true. And we got

The guy that can't even picture shit halfway through the season some picture I don't know why they got in but yeah relief picture. Yeah, what was the third baseman's name? That we thought was gonna do well, and then he got fat. Oh Pablo Sandoval Sandoval that's what that that's what they'll left. He is Sandoval. Yeah

Yeah, he can't he won't play till maybe July August. Okay, so we're we're about maybe 41 million. That's all we spent. Yeah. Yeah. No, I hear you see the cheap way out of things that we the approach. And Brazil said

We're going to spend some cash. Yeah. That's what he said. Yeah. The end of the year. In our world, 41 million is pretty good cash, but not in that world. Not in that world. No, that's true. That's true. I mean, you could come out and get along, though, but I just don't think that they would. They're going to do that. No, no. No, I don't. You were honestly in on Soto.

You're gonna have to pay him $50 million a year. We've got these bobble heads. We ain't even, we're up to 41. They're all through. Yeah, yeah, that's true. No, they're not. John Henry's, his main focus is not the Boston Red Sox anymore. I don't believe. I might be dead wrong.

No, his focus is money. Money. When he first bought the Red Sox, he was all in. We're going to bring a championship to Boston. Right. So we spent $41 million in the old pack to see to get it for a while. Yeah. And that's his thing. That's it. Yeah. That's what he's interested in. Are we terrible? No. No. I think you could be a playoff team. Oh, I agree. And I guess that's what we got to look at right now.

You know, if we keep people healthy, Woody, you know, we got Casas at first. I don't know who they're thinking of for a second, but story it short, Denver's at third. You've got a Bray-U in right field, Duran in center field or Rafaela. If you put Rafaela in center and then you put Duran in left, or are you going to play that Rafaela at second base?

You know, whatever, but we got a decent club there. You know, the longs of good, longs of good serviceable catcher. And they picked up this other kid. I'm trying to think of the name for a backup catcher that they got. So yeah, that's not a bad team. And as you said, some of that pitches come back if Whitlock comes back and Tanner Howe. And did they resign Martin or did he go?

Oh, he's gone. He's gone, right? Yeah. Him and Janssen both are gone. So you've got Chapman as your closer. Yeah. And you're going to have Whitlock in there. Whitlock in the bullpen for sure. I'm glad not to see him start. I need him in the bullpen. He can't handle that. No. No. So give him to me in seventh, eighth, then. Yeah. Yeah. He's got good stuff.

Yeah, he's got good stuff. No, I'm with you. So I'm feeling, yes, is it a little bit of a stretch, but they're definitely playoff capable. I think that's not out of the realm of reason. The Orioles definitely got worse when you consider they lost burns. Yeah, they did pick up Morton though, Jesse. He's like 51 years old.

You know what? Martin was a great pitcher. I always liked Martin. He was. Would I have picked him up? He's a grinder. Yeah. You know what? At that age? I don't know. What do they... How have the times got to be set on him? Well, what are they paying him though, would he? Maybe they bargained and they're going to roll the dice that he'd get one year out of him, you know? Right. But I wouldn't want him to take that chance in the situation that we're in.

Yeah. Oh, no, for the socks. No, I'm with you. But I loved him. Oh, yeah. He was. He was tough. Yeah. But I don't feel that that's a trade for for burns. Oh, no. Oh, good Lord. No, no. Burns. They just put a name in there. Now he he he could mess you up.

You know, on any given night, but he's not going to be burned between the 15, 16, 17 bogies. And if we didn't get burns, I'm glad to see him in the National League. You know, we don't have to face him. Right. But there's another guy the Sox could have went after if they were truly looking to get it done. And I don't think they did, do you? I didn't hear any rumblings about going after him. He wasn't going to be cheap money.

Right. What did he end up making? Was I think it was somewhere around 35? I think 35 36. Yeah. In a fairly lengthy like five or six years, I think wasn't it? Yeah. Something like that. So yeah, he got a darn good contract. No. I think we did. I think we did well with Crockett. Oh, yeah, he's electric. I watched him.

pitch a couple times on ESPN there. And yeah, he's got good stuff. Oh, yeah. And you know, one of the things that I mean, I never believe that I would say it. But has Burns ever had Tommy John? I don't know as he has. Okay. It's coming. That's what I'm saying.

Now Crockett had Tommy John at the age of 22. He was just coming back from the, I think, last year. Yeah, so he's back on track. And then this year should be his breakout year again. And that gelato that we got last year that sat out.

with the Tommy John, he'll be back too. And there's another stat, of course. But he's got to go through his breaking back period to get him. But, you know, when that was the thing with sale is you don't know how quick they're going to go through that. You know what I mean? So like sale, we just, we didn't wait long. We weren't patient enough. You're right. You're right, because sale, this was his,

year back and he was obviously strong. I mean he was. Could he have done that with Boston last year? Absolutely not. Couldn't do it. Why is that? Why? Because he wouldn't have got the run support or anything. Well, well, okay. Just saying.

Yeah. I mean, look at the team he was on, on a very good team, but he still was battling 7-8 innings. A star in wood of Cora, let him go 7-8. No. No. I had to bring it back because have you watched that, that series?

I forget what it was called, but on the red side. On 2004. This one was about 80 cents when they were playing the match. Oh, I got to watch it. I haven't seen that. No.

Give us a shout out to the break. 603-843-8623.

Jesse, is that Bachmann Turner overdrive? Not this time, this is T-Rex with Bang and Gone. Oh, T-Rex, Bang and Gone. Okay. Bring cramp, Jesse. I should have known that. Hey, no worries. You got a lot of music in there. Yeah. Welcome back to the sports bus. What's the number, Bob? 843-86. 2-3. Get them going. Yeah, we're going to have some calls in.

So, we got the NFL last week. We got two games today, a bunch of games tomorrow, people arresting people. So, Saquon Barkley, if he gains 101 yards, if he were to gain, he would be the all-time leading seasonal rusher in football. But Philly's gonna sit him. They're not gonna... They're gonna sit.

Sarani's already said he's not going to start him. Okay, that's the story. Let's see if they get into a close game because Philly has already clinched their division and for the playoffs. So should they plan with the chance to the all time record or is it wiser?

to keep him out so that he doesn't get that sprained ankle. He doesn't get banged up. Let's just go out and say this, Bob. Who holds a racket? Eric Dickerson. How many games? 16. OK, he's on the 17th. Does he break it? No. No. In my mind, he doesn't. Right. Because it's probably why he's sitting.

But NFL will call him if he would break it. They would have season leaders and Russia's top name. Who is it? Who is it? Who is it? It's John. John, what's up? Can we go back to the stock stock for a second?

You're the caller, yeah. All right, so I feel good about the two starters. You know that you wanted Mueller and I wasn't the kid from Chicago, but left in there. Crockett, yep. Yeah. And so those came about the one issue that was built. This is the issue that we still have.

I don't think he's the complete answer. Well, we have Chapman for the closer, John. And we were talking Whitlock to be seventh or eighth inning. Yeah, like Martin used to. Yeah, correct. Well, got to have a little bit more depth there, I think. My concern is still never.

And he ended up, he began for third baseman with errors. And they don't seem to want, I thought the best thing for him would be, let's make them the... We'll loosen you a little, John. Oh, okay, can you hear me now? Yeah, yeah. I think...

I know most, I know most taken. We've got a number of people that could defensively play third base. So guard or somebody like act could play probably is good defense on third and maybe DH and play first base with cars. You could switch into. But what are you going to do?

You know, with Ushida then. Well, they're trying to get rid of it. Well, I wish I'd hurry up. Yeah. I know. One point I want to make is that I still want to get pregnant for third base. But see, I don't think they're bringing him for third base. I think they're bringing him for second base. Well, that's what the pocket

That's all the middle infielders we came with. Oh, we've got a ton of them. Yeah, I don't. I'd like to see David. You're breaking all up, John. Oh, I'm sorry. No, that's OK.

You're still falling to the same thing. If you get pregnant, what are you going to do? Somebody has to fall. So it's going to be Ushida. It's going to be Carces. Somebody like that has to go if you get pregnant. We don't

I think we got to get off the Bergman thing because I think we could go the way we are and stir that line up to make a pretty good lineup if they were willing to do that. Yeah. Yeah. And like what he said, he might become that John. They might find that so guard can play third well.

and contribute offensively. And that's what they might end up doing. They'll see what happens in spring training. Yeah. But the whole the whole key is you, she they got to do something. Probably a lot of it. All right, John. All right. Have a good weekend. All right. Take care, John.

So it comes down to the same thing. You see, Bob, you got to do something that you got to do something at first base. And you see the has to has to disappear. Yeah. Yeah. So he's he's a key piece. Right. And that's so do you get a left left field? And then what do you do with red snapper?

Well, he can be your fourth outfielder because, as you know, over 162 games, and he's a good right-hand hitter against a lefty. You put him in that lineup, but, you know, I think, but we got to get away from that. We got to get away from all this righty

You and I agree with that, but Cor is not going to agree with that. Because they play that analytics game all the time. Not who's red hot. You know, I'm going to play the red hot hitter. I don't give a darn who's pitching.

I do not mind coming down in the later part of the innings when you need something or you make that switch, writing the lefty and do it that way. But like, don't start a lefty in all your righties, you know, and vice versa all the time. You got, you start nine, boom. And now you make an adjustment in the later part of the innings when you need it.

So yeah, what I'm saying with Red Snyder is, you know, if you've got a tough stretch of games and the hot weather and all that, and you want to give a break, give them a game off, or you want to give somebody a game off, that Red Snyder is going to be used for that. You know, you need a fourth outfielder. You know, so that's what I meant by that. But, you know, when answer to John's problem, I think

We gotta figure out what divers, I mean, if I'm divers, they pay me all that money, I'm not gonna go and try to improve my defense. When do you think, you know? So I hope he's doing that and maybe when we get to spring training, he's dropped a few pounds, he's gotten a little bit healthier with that shoulder and let's see what happens, you know?

And he may not write. Well, then we DH him. And we say, we got to have somebody play third. And so that means you she doesn't play or DH sits on the bench at $18 million. Yeah, I know. I mean, that's the whole thing. Yeah. Where you headed with this? I guess we got to almost

get to spring training and maybe and figure it out. Yeah, it comes down to the trade deadline. Something we'll do this. But, you know, as far as the pitching goes, I think we're ready and team wise. Hey, let's go. People have got to, you know, stories going to step up. He can't be getting hurt. He finished.

And I think that's why they let him go. I think they just felt that, hey, we can get some power out of a couple guys. Maybe story is going to have better power numbers this year. You got causes for a full year.

He's shown he can hit some home. Boom, boom, boom. Hey, we got to go to another court break. We're going to come back with some college football. So 3, 8, 4, 3, 86, 23. Give us a shot. Bam. Get it on. Boom. Good tunes today, Jesse.

after turning 40. Here we go. Now a little BTO. Attaboy Jesse. You can be my DJ for a lifetime Jesse.

I appreciate that. Thank you. When I have a big birthday celebration here in a couple of years, a year and a half, I'll bring you down to be my DJ. Looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to, hopefully, I'm still around then. That's what I'm looking for. Oh, I might be. I might be able to move a little bit. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Did you guys catch any of the college football games this past week? Oh, we did. We did. Some great... We were just talking... We're segwaying into that. Look at the seedings. The top four are now gone. Going into the semifinals. All the teams that had bi-weeks and rested are gone. Yeah, they are. What's that tell you? You got to play to stay ready. Yeah. Number one, you know,

Sometimes I don't think that rest treat you well, but I can Football is the only one where I would think you'd want that Because you get guys back healthy Yeah, like Bella check always wanted that remember they really pushed to get that when it when it was just the top two that got the buy they always wanted that yeah But I just you know

I think it hurt him a little bit, but I just think it's got to do with the seedings. You know what I mean? Well, I agree. Well, Oregon ran into a buzz saw with Ohio State, I think. Yeah, but if you watched them, you didn't think anybody could beat them the way, and it wasn't that they were terrible.

But Ohio State was right there to beat him in the regular season, but it was early. It was early. You want to take the good team that's early. Don't let them get going. It's like anything, a great starting pitcher. You get him early, or you don't get him at all. Right, right. He settles in. And Oregon got him early. Yeah. And they only beat him by a point, would he? And then when they come in to this tournament,

It was all of them. And in that first game, which I watched, remember that quarterback, and again, like you say, it was his second game quarterback in Feral House, a little time management that he didn't call that timeout in time. If they'd have got that timeout, they might have got that field goal won that game. So yeah, exactly.

But no, they ran into a bus stop. But can you tell me that Boise State is number three? I don't believe so. I really don't. You know, are they better than Ohio State? Right. Are they better than Penn State? No, I don't. I mean, I don't know, Bob. I think a lot of people look at these division one teams.

you played division one if you played division one and I played division number one I'm playing on Georgia you're playing on on we'll say Boise State yeah there's a difference there's a big difference this

a ball place is division one b ball place if you are in a and Georgia Clemson Alabama comes knocking on your door you're real yeah yeah okay sometimes they make mistakes but you're not playing correct these boys are cut different if you look at Boise State and you look at

And I think like we've talked before how are they seated is it just because Boise State won that league that they're in that conference that they deserve to be

Seated higher Then Ohio State because Ohio State came in second in the Big Ten or you know I mean a third whatever the heck they were because they lost to Michigan They didn't go to the championship game, but holy cow. I mean Ohio State to be ranked eight Overboard and boyage the state third that that to me is not Not even close

I mean when Penn State got on the ball and boys they stayed there, they were blowing their line back three steps and they were going and they scored and then they scored again. I mean the defense was just unbelievable on them and then Penn State went in a different direction and then they come back which I don't know why you do. No, no.

if they weren't even in the same boat. No, no, not, not even, not even close, not even the same. But, but we get to Texas, Texas, Brittany, lost that game. Oh, they did. They did. The one I felt bad for when that poor kicker missed those two. I didn't want them to have to lose that way. I'm kind of glad that

You know, it went to overtime anyway. And, you know, if they got beaten overtime, oh, well, you know, they had an opportunity after that. But was that the, that was the game that they lined up and he was going to kick that first field goal and that thing went way to the left. Yes. I have never seen a field goal missed.

by that much. That much. And out of bounds on the left hand side. Yeah. Yeah. That thing went up deadbeat. Yeah. Just total, total huckage. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know whether it was because they don't recall looking at it. A bad hold. You know, was the ball slanted or whatever. But yeah, that thing went wow. What the heck? I said, that's got to be a racket. 30-yard field goal missed by 50. Yeah.

Yeah, that was outlandish. But we've got two really good games, I think. Ohio State and Texas, that game's in Texas, and Penn State Notre Dame. I think that's going to be a very good game. Notre Dame shocked me over Georgia. Oh, they came to play, Jesse. I think Notre Dame, again, I like this Marcus Freeman. What have they been criticized for? Not being tough enough up front. Well, they certainly got some up front guys and not having the speed

And they got two guys in their backfield now that can flat out run. So to match the speed of the SEC and towards some degree, the Big Ten. I mean, before this even come about Notre Dame and Georgia. Georgia wasn't anything like they were the year before. No. And I know guys move on, blah, blah, blah.

If they played Georgia of last year. Oh. Yeah. No, no, no, no. They ended up the same once. So did they get tougher or did Georgia get weaker? I think a little bit of both. But look at Notre Dame Woody. They lost their second game and then they've won 12 games in a row. Yeah. They played pretty darn good. You know, so I think Oregon won undefeated.

I mean it's so hard to read in college because of your schedule Alabama they play a weak schedule other than Georgia, Clemson you know well the SEC is pretty damn tough league I mean even

They're playing Ole Miss. They're playing Texas A&M. Did Alabama and Texas play this year? No. They didn't play each other. But, yeah, they've all got some patsies. Look at Georgia playing UMass. Who's Boise State play? Well, I've just looked up their schedule. Who do they play, Jesse?

He's getting on it. He'll tell us. I just don't know from coming from where they do how they are ranked three. Or if they tried to set this tournament up and they had to be a three. Well, that's what I'm saying. Did they pre-set it up? I didn't follow that as much as I should have where I think the conference champions all got

these deals like Arizona State won a conference. So they were for Boise State won that mountain conference or whatever that ran. They got the state played Oregon and lost by three points early in the season. They did. Other than that, they played a ranked UNLV, which was ranked in the top 25, but at 24. So no one really spectacularly. They play Wyoming, Oregon State, Nevada. Yeah. It's nothing that's really screaming competitive.

Yeah. Yeah. See, so that's, that's the issue right there, but they won that conference. So they, so they got to look at next year, setting this up in my way of thinking, okay, like what Jesse just said, what's your strength to schedule? What did you play for top 25 teams, you know? Right. Yeah, your conference schedule, if you're playing, they got to do more of that. Now I'd be interesting to ask them and say,

How are you going to do it next year? So Dartmouth now can go to tournaments in football. Yeah, the Ivy League. Yeah. You can figure that out, but now they could go. So if they go undefeated, can they get in this tournament? Well, I don't know about this tournament. I, you know, I did division one. Yeah, but they're going to get into that next level tournament that

You know, like UNH has gone to some games and that type of thing. That's almost a 1A, isn't it? I mean, Dartmouth's not, come on, buddy. I mean, they're great. No, I get it, but they be in that tournament. Is there something that says you can't go to that tournament? That's a question I don't know. I'd have to try to find that out. Rich will find that out for us. He'll know that.

I just think it's great they can go post-season. 6-0-3, 8-4-3, 8-6-2-3. Hey, almost through the first hour, Woody.

Here we go. Hey, welcome back to the sports page. You got the Hall of Fame of Bob Hentstein setting in today. Just waiting on your call. Yeah, well, waiting. I don't know where Bruno's hiding.

in the Moose Lock Wobbler. We haven't heard from Troy. He must be fishing. We'll have to find out the ice conditions from Troy if he ever gives us a call. That's right. You've got to get ready here for your big deal up at Champlain. We'll let freeze over this year. I've got to believe it's a little different than it was last year. Oh boy. Can only hope

Yeah, get you up there. Get Mr. Daniels and you up there. Got some fishing in. Yeah, he's he's got to have shoulder surgery this year. And he's going in in February to get rotator cuffs there. Listen, no excuses.

They're not easy on him. No. No, I don't want him. He's got to get back for his golfing season too. He should be back for that. He would think. But he's getting the surgery done right on the most important month of February. That's when Champlain freezes. I have to send him pictures just to make it mad.

Yeah, let's hope that you guys get some good eyes. Anyway, this year. Boy, hasn't it been funny with the snow this year? Bob, it's like yesterday morning woke up, had four inches of snow. I said, where'd this come from? I guess just a squall went? Yeah. Yeah. Him it. But then other places, maybe a dusting and

Yeah, we got a dusting in my house. That's all. And then the sun came out and it kind of pretty much took care of it for the most part. But I think we're going to be building a little ice for the next 10 days looking, you know, highs in the 20s. I mean, not ordinary for January. Right. Right. Yeah.

But yeah, it's January. Yeah. I mean, the three or four days we had it just getting melt and everything down didn't help us any with the ice. No, and I felt bad for the kids being off a vacation that it wasn't great for skiing. I skatin, sliding anything really, you know, it just

Yeah, I just totally trainwrecked most of the ski areas. Yeah. Even in Kellington. Yeah. Stuff like that. Yeah, you get that 50 degrees and, you know, it just isn't conducive. I don't mind a 50 degrees once we get about 13 inches of ice. Right, right. Then we'll take it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So the

Football playoffs today start with our regular season I should say the end of the regular season So we got Cleveland at Baltimore and Cincinnati at Pittsburgh and those teams are all So what means what for the two playing today? First game Cleveland Baltimore Baltimore can clinch their division With a win. That's that's what they've

They want to do that. All right. We'll continue after the top of the hour break. 603-843-8623. And we got to hold another hour. We'll be waiting to hear from you. Damn.

Here we go. Just look him in. That's what I am. I'm here too. Whatever I can. Be an early morning. Late afternoon. Where the sports bus. We're here for you. On and shake, shake, shake. Go on and shake, shake, shake.

in here in a minute doing a golfing clinic somewhere. And we got the Hall of Fame of Bob Hinkston sitting in here answering all the questions. Yeah, Happy New Year to everybody. Always fun to be here. How was your New Year's Bob? It was good. Quiet. You know, we had some people over old folks party five to nine. Really? People went home at nine. Really? Yeah. I mean, we've all seen the ball drop enough, would he? Oh, I know. You know what I mean?

We cleaned up the kitchen and we were in bed before 10. So, uh, all, all good. Yeah. Uh, watching. What was it that late football? Oh, yeah. What? What? I watched Penn State game. Yeah. What time did they get over? I didn't see the whole game. No. Yeah. They got over it was late night, but it was late. Yeah. Late. Yeah. Which wasn't terrible.

I had four or five jalapeno poppers there. Oh, yeah. Oh boy. I kept it in strong. I kept it going. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I haven't heard where some of the good places were, you know, a lot of people go out to eat. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure if there was any, you know, pannies around.

Yeah, no, we had everybody brought a dish and we, you know, had a good meal and a lot of laughs. And you give everybody a ride home, did you? No, the people that were all responsible, they all had somebody that, yeah, you know, didn't partake. And so, yeah, we're getting to that point, you know, where I know you got to be. Who is it?

We're all getting old, Bob. Well, thanks for reminding me. Hey, you sound good? You sound good, man. I'm laying in my bed. It's midnight. Macau. Oh, my Lord. Wow. You should have seen the journey here. It was like a movie. I'm serious. I've slept. So I'm like 80 hours in since I left home. Yep. I've slept.

So I didn't sleep for like 40 hours because I can't sleep on the plane. Wow. Last night, I went to bed like quarter of 11. I'm like, I'm sleeping the night. I slept. I woke up and I'm like, yes, I look at my clock to 30. I saw three, three and a half hours. I've had an 80 hours. Oh, my Lord. So listen to this journey. So take the flight.

to Boston, Hong Kong, two-hour delay in Boston, check the engine, whatever, 50 and a half hours, get in a van. Now, I got to go through customs in Hong Kong with my passport, get in the van, drive five minutes, go to like a safety gate, get to go through the passport thing again.

drive a half hour to Macau over this fifth that are how long the bridge was. We get to Macau, just short of Macau, there's like a transfer station, like a big airport, but it's no planes, it's a transfer, because there's like three provinces all come together and one, like, so people from Hong Kong, so in the van, if you're from Hong Kong, you can't drive your vehicle in Macau, you have to have a different license plate.

Really? So we pull over the side of a road, we turn around, there's another van behind us. We jump out, jump in his rig, drive five miles into Macau, and we got to get out on the side of the road and go fit like a rest area toward another customs. I got to show my passport and three passports I had to give up in like 30 minutes to get here. And it's all the same country.

right it's all the same country did you read what it is not the same country hong kong is not china it's not and and macao has different uh... currency they have uh... hong kong dollars in other than what they have in the mainland of china it's just it's crazy i'm like i drive a vehicle to mexico canada that's not a big deal now

Yeah. So how's the money work? Is US more than Macau? Oh, it's it's monopoly money. That's why I don't feel so bad about what I just lost at the, uh, for nation. For every dollar at $7.3, Hong Kong dollars. Really? Wow.

I hit a slot for 1,500. I was with this 80-year-old lady sitting next to me. I'm like, oh my god. And then I did the math. I won like $75. And I lost some big win. I'm like, $75. Just crazy. Oh, man. It's nice here, though.

It was nice. It's like a tiny Vegas, like all the big casinos. Good golf course right in the city. Camp started today. We had the 16 kids and parents. Yeah, it's good. It's good. What's the weather like, Rich? It was 70 today. I wore shorts. I wore shorts and one of my sweatshirts, pair of sunglasses. Sunburn. Sunburn. What do you know? I got the sunburn here today. Why is it cold?

It's gold. Yeah. I have to get a sunburn with full layers on. Yeah. No, I got my head got sunburn as usual. Yeah. Well, how are we doing in the football standards? What's happening? Okay, here's what's happening now. Hutch is in last place, 154. Woody's in third at 159. You're in second at 163. And I'm on the top of the pile still, 166.

Wow. I thought Woody caught me again this week. Well, it was close. Woody had 10 wins. You and I had nine and Hutch had eight. And then in the football, Woody and I had, each had three right. You had two right. We all had Texas. You and I had Ohio State, Woody had Oregon. Woody and I had Penn State and Woody.

had Notre Dame. He's the only one who had Notre Dame. How about the four teams that get the buys get knocked out? All knocked out. Isn't that something? How's that? I'll tell you how it works because the conference champions shouldn't have got a damn buy. See, he goes, Bob wrote me after the game. He's like, one, two, three, four seats got knocked out. I'm like,

They were the one, two, three, four seats for the tournament. They weren't the top four teams. No, no, no, I know that. Just because they were, yeah, but they're going to change that. How can you have the all four teams who got to buy loss and got killed? You can't. Yeah. And that's all you were saying about Boise State being three. Arizona State four. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you a funny story. So I was talking to Mikey Phelps the other day.

And we were talking about the game. I said, you know, I said, what is the state only lost one game this year? And they lost by three to Oregon. And he looked at me, he goes, well, maybe Oregon's not that good. I go, yeah, maybe not. We'll find out. Sure enough. Because they were the only undefeated team in the country. Correct. But boy, it wasn't Ohio State on a mission.

I mean, they came into that game. If they played like that against Michigan, they went in that game. Didn't they take Ohio State last week to win it? You did. Yeah. You did. You had to be talked into it. But you did. Yeah, my, my home. What are you talking about? Hey, how'd you like you running back for Boise State?

I mean, when you're a one-dimensional team and you're playing the roster, it's not easy. Right. Yeah. Like, dole says he'll be great in the NFL. I said, he should be OK, but I don't know about great. What was one of those games? One of the games that was armed, one of the teams averaged 60 pounds heavier per man on the line than the other team, one of those games.

Yeah, that might have been Penn State and boys. 60 pounds. 60 pounds a guy. Yeah, because Penn State just pushed him off the ball in that early going particularly. Holy cow. They how about that? How about the key of the call the helmet to helmet? I don't know. Yeah. Oh, I went about the referees in the Boise Boise State game.

They don't call offensive paths interference, which clearly was the first half. And then they score a touchdown, and they call hands to the face that took the quarterback 0.2 seconds to get rid of the ball. Yeah. And they got caught from the game. That would have been 24-21. Yeah. There's definitely some different refereeing going on. There's no question of some of the stuff they're going. Look at that. It's like the passing interference. They allow you to put your

around the waist of the guys to be able to come up front and knock the ball away. How is that? Because they've got the four biggest fan bases in the Final Four. Yep. And I mean, I don't know which game it was, but they had five passing interference all the way down the field and never called the one. That is a good game.

That is a good point, Rich. When you look at that, you're right with the fan bases. That's who we got. Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Penn State. Right. They all have a big fault that they want Boise State, Arizona State, Oregon to be in there. Yeah. I don't think so. Would you want to watch Boise State play Arizona State with national semifinals? No.

I mean I would watch it but the rest of the country wouldn't like it's not you know it's I mean I don't know it's you know it's all money out of it just the matchups didn't make sense Oregon had the toughest road to the finals and they were the number one team in the country number one seed yeah

You're right, Rich. They got to reshape how they see those teams. No question about it. I think that committee has really got to look hard at how they put those teams in that position. So what they got to do is, all they're going to do is do what they didn't last 10 years, who they think the best four teams are, who used to just play in the tournament alone and make those guys the four seeds and let the fifth seed cry.

They're all in the tournament. I mean, we're gonna put everybody in the tournament. You gotta have the four best teams getting a buy. Like, that's not. So quick question for you. What do you ask me this? So Dartmouth can be in the playoffs now, but they won't play in this level. Well, they'll play in that UNH level, won't they? Yeah, they'll play in the Montana state.

Yeah, felt the code. No, the code. Okay. The question was, could they play in this tournament? No. No, there's a rule in it. I mean, I don't know. You know, I don't know if there's a rule in it, but I mean, it's not. That's like Davian Goliath. Like it's they play in one league and what is it? The FPS and the

I don't even know. There's two of them. FBS. Jesse would know that. Yeah. We were talking about traveling, Bob. You and H and those other colleges are part of the FCS. FCS. Yeah. There you go. FCS. They're in the FCS. Yeah. No, they couldn't play in it. I mean, North Dakota states won that, like,

What's the last eighty out of eighty two? Some point they would say, hey, can we play in the big tournament? No. You got to go to a quick break here.

I think I'll just wait. I was undoing, laying in bed here in Macau, China. Yeah, we're doing that. We're going to be doing our picks. So see if you can dial us up through the internet. And we're going to be doing our picks and we'll come back. I mean, stay on the line. Okay. All right. All right. Six, six, oh, three, eight, four, three, 86, 23. Again.

And it's week 18 time for the football picks Woody.

We got rich listening in okay Cleveland at Baltimore I gotta go Baltimore Baltimore rich and hutch went with Baltimore, too Is he okay? We'll let him help chime in if he Cincinnati at Pittsburgh I'm gonna go Cincinnati

Whoops. He fell asleep on it. He fell asleep. I hate to go against the home team, but I got to go Cincinnati. Joe Burrell is playing lights out. And I think even though Cincinnati's defense is a little shaky, I think they need to win that game. Carolina at Hot Lanta. What does it mean to both teams? Carolina is nothing Atlanta.

I think it's pretty much nothing to. Yeah, I'll go on Atlanta. I'm going Atlanta as well. Caroline, I think, is just weak. Washington at Dallas, Washington. You guys should have rich back. Okay. Are they a park? I'm not. I'm going Washington. I'm going Dallas. You're going Dallas. Okay.

Chicago at Green Bay. You know where I'm going. Yeah. Green Bay. Boy, Chicago. That terrible. I gotta go Green Bay. You gotta, I mean, that's no brainer. Jacksonville at Indy. What do you got? Well, what do you got? Indy, I'm gonna go. I'm going Jacksonville. I'm going, I'm going with my boy. Okay.

You're going, Andy? I'm going my boy, uh, Mac Jones. Um, Buffalo, what New England? Buffalo's sitting everybody. New England says they're trying to win Buffalo is going to win that game. Buffalo. Yeah. Buffalo. No way they're losing. Bruno's New York Giants at Philly. Philly's going to sit, say, well, I'm Barkley, but I'm still going Philly. Yeah.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay Tampa Bay's Gonna win that division New Orleans is I'm beat up. You're back. Okay New Orleans at Tampa Bay. I'm going Tampa Bay Okay, I'll go New Orleans. They're going New Orleans Houston at Tennessee and Houston's And you take it Tennessee no, okay, I'll take you all right Houston

San Francisco at Arizona. I'm going to San Francisco. I'm going to Arizona. You're going to Arizona. Kansas City had Denver now. Kansas City, they say, doesn't need to win. Denver's got all the people. How can you bet against my homes? You can. You can't. Who you take? Casey. I'll take Denver. Oh, wow.

The Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Yeah, charges need to win that Las Vegas is a mess, you know, so I'm going charges Seattle at the Rams Ram I'm going Rams

Rams are in the playoffs. I don't think Seattle can make it, but they'd like to be a spoiler. I'm going Seattle. You're going Seattle? Boy, you and Hutch. All right. Miami at the New York Jets. That could be a mess. I'll go Miami. You go Miami.

Well, you got my pics, right? I got your pics, yeah I'm just not tell what he might pick I did not tell what are your pics? Yeah, I didn't tell him that no I didn't tell him you're already watch the game 13 hours ahead of you

Well, let's tell you now. Let's see if I can be Buffalo. I'll beat Casey. Thanks, Woody. I mean, thanks, Rich, after I picked Casey. Thanks. All right. Miami and the Jets. I'm going Miami. I'm going Miami. I guess the Jets. Yeah, I know you. Aaron Rodgers last. Aaron Rodgers last game. He's not even playing.

They stink. They stink, though. And then here's the big one, Rich. Minnesota at Detroit. Detroit's banged up, but you're going Vikings. I'm going Detroit because here's the deal. They don't want to have to travel. If they lose this game, they're going to have to travel next week. And after all they've done this year,

Jared Goff, they're gonna pull it out of the hat. They're gonna pull it, they're gonna pull this game out. Who do I pick? You pick Minnesota. The rest of you three pick Minnesota, I pick Detroit. The reason I pick Minnesota is because they're gonna meet again in the playoffs and Minnesota's gonna lay in that game. Okay. Well, it'll be, we're gonna pick the playoffs next week, don't worry. Okay, we gotta pick college rich while we got you on. So we got Ohio State in Texas.

And we've got Penn State and Notre Dame. So who you got, Woody? Ohio State or Texas? Boy, that's a tough one. I'm going Ohio State. I'm going Ohio State all the way. I know. I am too. I think last time Texas played a big game, I took them and they got speed. I'm going Ohio State. I'm going to take Ohio State. I'm talking the winner. You picked them the winner. OK, Penn State and Notre Dame.

God, I hate both teams. Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Penn State. What is going Penn State? What I watched this last week, and I picked Penn State in this other pool I'm in, but I'm going to switch it up and go Notre Dame. I like the way Notre Dame played. Boy, Rich, they played some tough against Georgia. They did, but they tie it out.

Okay. Penn State just doesn't have a very good offense though, do they? No, they just kind of pound it. You know, I mean, any scoring, but boy, I like names for names defense. Yeah, but I like Penn State's line. Oh, they're good. They're good. It's good. It should be a great game. So here you go. I can't even believe this is coming out of my mouth. Okay, we'll see next week. We'll have the finals next week.

Well, here's the beauty of Notre Dame for me. I was talking to someone about this last night. The beauty of Notre Dame being there is they actually earn their way instead of being picked of one of the four teams to get beat by 50. They've earned their place. No, they did. And they beat Georgia, a really good team to get this fire. You're exactly right.

Yeah, they haven't backed into it. And all fairness, George is starting quarterback and playing the game. Right, but that quarterback they had was did well. He did not play badly, Rich. There were some drop balls and there was some offensive line, you know, bad ones that got him penalties, but he did not play bad. No, at all. I don't think. So how about the kid getting away on the ref?

Yeah. What? We were talking about this the other night. Think about these college teams that go to these bold teams. Like, I think it was Ohio State we were talking about. I think you've got 160 football players. Or somewhere right around there. And you've got more band members, just band members, than football players.

And then you count to cheerleaders and all that business. You're talking about 300 and something people and equipment to get to these bowl games. They must take three planes there. I don't know how they move it all. You parked? Or do they send them on buses? I mean, all the equipment and stuff usually gets driven by the

The equipment guys, they leave a few days earlier now on the football side of things. I don't know about the band and the cheerleaders, what time they get the tuba and trombones. Oh, yeah. No, you're right. I mean, I wouldn't think you could take that all on a plane, could you? No, not all that stuff. Maybe they should have trucked down with that, too. I guess. What do you do? You wrap up a set of drums and put them in the cockpit? I don't know.

What exactly there's a ton of money

Wing the wack, wing the wack, wing the wack, wing the wack, wing the wack, wing the wack. I'm gonna listen to the rest of the show, see some of our colleagues. All right, save travels brother. Okay guys, see you later. All right, take care. Yup. The mighty jungle, the mighty sleeps tonight.

I'm the kind of guy. I'm a wanderer. Hey, welcome back to the sports fun.

My daughter says if you don't know the words, dad, don't sing. I shouldn't have been singing. Hey, we got to do these sponsors. They're the guys that make this happen for us. Jiggs Market. Kitter's Automotive. Upper Valley Stoves. Pumping them out today. They are. Whoops. Wilson tire. Proud sponsor of the Dofold and they keep rolling you along. Yeah, Richard's electric.

Marsh Brothers Delly, where Rich gets his grub. HP roofing. Martin's mechanical. William Smith auctioneers. I'm playing field. J.A.S. auto body. Bubba's barn grill. Fielding suns out of Grantham. Moving mobile homes and modulars. Painting place signs. Chad Hemingway. Barton concrete. The Hilton Garden Inn.

where we are. What was her name? Her name is Brianna. She won the gingerbread contest. Oh, yeah. We see him out here. Good job. Congratulations. Good job, Brianna. Uh, Lundy lawn care and East Plainfield Lotto and the Allen's vending hotline and patches farm. Thanks to all those people for a great, uh, great time that we have. Like the guy out front said,

You guys have a good time, don't you? And I said, we sure do. We have fun. I'm not sure what patch has got going on up there right now. Kind of in lingo, I guess, until sugar season starts up. But I'll bet you they've made some sap here. I'll bet you over these last three, four warm days that we had.

I'll bet you they may be pulled 200 gallons. Yeah, I bet if you went up there, you could wrestle up a couple of things, fill up your grocery bag. Barb makes those pickles for the pretty darn good up there. And they'd have some syrup, like you say, kicking around and some other goodies. You'd come out of there with some, yeah, some of their apple pie in a jar and not, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You wouldn't come out of there hungry. Right. Making some donuts, some of those sided donuts. Oh, I'm sure they got a few on the side right there. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good spot to go up there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Boston Celtics, they went to a patch there where, holy cow, they just, and

But it's who they're playing. It's who they're playing. Like they had a great game last night. Yeah, they did. What about? Prichard last night was eight for 10 on field goals in six for eight on three pointers. I mean, yeah, he's been stepping in. Yeah, he has. I mean, he works hard at it. You know, he might be able to, you know, he's like a white

You know, like on Boston, the white that plays there. He kind of just, he hustles around. Derek White, yeah. Yeah. Derek White led them in score last night. Yeah. So where Jalen Brown didn't play, but hey, Porzinga's played, which is always good to see that he's still, because they need him for the playoffs. Yeah, I think they need him. But

They're 26 and nine, you know, they're not playing terrible. No, they could be better. It's the way they lose, you know? Yeah. They lose because they don't hit their threes and they leave the whole league and threes take it, which you know that they could turn around and go inside and beat you, but that isn't their game to turn over. No. No. You guys see that Jimmy Butler mess?

Yeah, he's suspended for seven games. He doesn't want to be on the team. Well, move him. Someone will take him. You know that. Let me ask you a question. Yeah. Would you trade him for that? I don't, I don't think I would, but you know, given the

The age and in the chemistry, you know, I don't know what it I mean. You'd think about that, would you? Yeah. Huh. Would you trade Tatum for? Rich always talks about Luca for Tatum. Luca. Oh, that's now I could be interested in that.

That's more tantalizing. Yeah. Yeah, I could, I could wrap my mind around that, Woody. Would you? Well, I don't know. Why does Tatum come out trading like this? Why does that come out? I mean, Tatum's not terrible. No, he's not. I think what frustrates people with him.

He disappears. He disappears at times, yeah. A lot in the playoffs. And he wants to be, I'm assuming he wants to be the guy. He's being paid like the guy. Yeah. So Wayne Brown. And Brown is too. But Brown is being the guy. Brown is. You know, with the MVPs and everything. Yeah. Yeah. But Tatum, you're right, the disappearing and well, first of all, it's me is

He can go inside and do some things and really, really dominate, but you're right. He falls in love with the three-point shot. And again, that's my whole problem with the NBA basketball is too much on the three-point shot, you know? And you know, they're just stopping you right there. You know what the only problem with that is?

high schools do this because they haven't got the shooting no to take that money because they watch the NBA would right they're following yeah they're following what they're doing this is what we got to do and we got kids in high school I watch them warming up they got no more chance making

three partners that I do a being man on the moon, you know? And get inside and work on your little 12-foot jump shot, you know? You know, like in high school, it was running and getting it up. You've got athletes get up and down the court, you know, and forget about it. Forget about sat not taking a three. Number one, that takes too much time. And when you mess some of the other teams going down, scoring a layup, they are.

So, I'm not saying that it doesn't have a place in the game, you know, but to be concentrated on, I don't, I, yeah, correct, no, you don't, you don't. And so I just don't see it. And I watch some of these, you know,

Younger kids and teams and they're having to get way down here to huck it up there They're not taking a good shot. You know, I think that's the reason why you see a lot of low scoring games Exactly, you know, what did you say the score was with?

Hanover and Lubbin. And last night, how many points did Lubbin score? I think in the 20s. They were under 30. Yeah. Did you ever think you'd see that? No. What do you think? Lang Metcalf rolling over in his grave with that? Hello. Who is it? Hello. Who is it? Jack Smith. Jack. Jack. How are you, sir? Okay.

How are you guys? Good. Happy New Year to you. Thank you. What do you sounds like he's in the other room? Does he really? Yeah, I can barely hear him. OK. I've got a question on women's basketball. OK. College in high school. I watched a lot of it. D1 is fine. But if you get in the lower divisions and you get in high school, I see that.

They can't make layouts. And I don't understand why. You know, they're pumping up the threes, but they go in to make a layout. They don't go up strong. They don't have any moves. They don't use the backboard. And I just don't understand why they can't do it. I think it's an AAU thing that they don't teach it, but they could make so many more points if they could make layouts, but they don't do it.

And you can ask your wife who is a pretty good basketball player in high school and ask her what she thinks what the difference is Those girls could make plans. I don't want to get into that. Okay Yeah, but seriously, I I don't think it's you're right Jack. I don't think it's emphasized enough I watch high school basketball. I'm gonna go from here to watch high school basketball and I would

Their count, the miss layups that I'm gonna see today on both sides. And I'm watching two pretty good teams. One's are in Tetford. It is gonna be a bunch of miss layups. You're 100% right. Yeah, and I don't know why they don't work on that more, but they don't seem to. We did go to a game last week at King State and they had a little freshman and she had more moves under the basket than you could count. She was awesome.

I think her name was Desaro, and she's pretty sure she's from Vermont, like Fairfield, Vermont, or something like that, but she was incredible. Well, like when I watched the women's basketball, who dominates in women's basketball? Well, the tall women. Because they don't jump very well. And they don't slide and move people out. And it's kind of like

The big girl that's down underneath all the time, she's getting a rebound, putting them back and stuck. And they have a hard time pointing them all underneath, because they don't jump off. So, sorry if we didn't help you, Jack. I'm as mystified by it as you are. So, but maybe somebody's got an answer. I don't know, but I'm just putting it out there.

Appreciate it. Happy New Year to you. Thank you. Take care. All right. Bye-bye now. Bye-bye. 603-843-8623. We've got time for one more call. We come back for a couple. Damn.

I'm pretty woman Walking down the street, pretty woman Kind of like to meet pretty woman Leave you alone, not the truth Come on, get as good as you Roy Orbison I got a text message, come on Right off the wire Patches fire me, five barrels

55 gallons apiece. Wow. On them three long days. Wow. Cranking it out. What's sugar in the summer? I know. I have to ask Matt, how many times has that happened in his career? I bet not many. Wow. You know? Holy cow.

I wanted to ask you guys, if you turn on the sports radio in this area, you're hearing a lot this week about fire, Gerard Mayo. Are you guys on board with that? Or are you giving him another year to figure it out? You know, I think you got to take that whole coaching stuff. I think we need to start over. But on the other hand, he never was dealt a good card in the office.

No. But what, you know, everybody says a players coach. He's a players coach. Do you like all your coaches? I don't really care if you like me or not as long as you play. Right. Right. Restricted. Yeah. Yep.

Jesse, my take on it is, yeah, he was put into a very difficult situation. I don't know who had to say of his coordinators. Really bad roster too. Yeah. Yeah. And he's, he's getting in there with a weak roster and he's got a very first time

defensive coordinator never been a coordinator before he's a brand new head coach and Was Alex van Pelt his a pick? I don't know. Yeah, he's not blessed with a lot of things in his basket to be successful, you know, I So like Woody said, I guess I'd be inclined to They definitely got a strength in that roster with offensive lineman a quality receiver and

Maybe he can do better. I don't know. Patriots lose to Buffalo. They have the number one pick. Then they got a whole right pick. Ransom. Yeah. Who's the guy, Jesse? That if they trade that pick down, they can get a great defensive guy and like the ninth pick something like that. Yeah. I trade down to them. It probably works.

They should definitely stay within the top 10. I'm not sure if there's an exact player in mind. I just think they should hold teams ransom like other teams in the past having and get as much draft picks as you can and then stay in the top 10 and add a big playmaker, whether it be on the offensive line, the defensive line, add to this roster and add picks so that you can continue to add to this roster.

Yeah, it's not going to be a one-year quick fix, Jesse, in my opinion. I don't think you're going to turn it quite that quick. Maybe you can. But you're right. They need to build some draft capital and make some good picks. Because look at last week Woody and I were talking about it off the air. They never even touched the quarterback from the Chargers, Herbert.

Yeah. They never got told. They never tried. Don't know if it would pass rush or anything. It was just, he was back there. He had all kinds of time to pass. And they could have drafted that lad McConkie kid too, who's had a fantastic season. Instead, we've drafted two receivers who can't touch the field.

Correct. Correct. So then there's that Elliot Wolf. There's the other piece that mayo have input in Elliot Wolf. I don't believe he did. I think that was the crafts. So the crafts need to shoulder some of the whoops. Hey. Great show Woody. Yeah. Had fun.

We're seeing it next week, huh? Well, I don't know. I got to get the word from higher upper, you know, but I'd be here if needed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Okay. All right. You both have one for weekend. All right. You too. Just check. All right.