Steve Hartman & Jared Smith Talk Oscar Odds, Deebo Samuel Sr. TRADE, 2025 NFL Combine/Draft, and So Much More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Well, living the.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Dream once again here on a fully loaded sports Saturday.
This is Fox Sports Sunday. Excuse man, I'm already on
a Saturday kick. I'll explain why in a second. We
are broadcasting live from the ti raq dot com studios,
tire rack dot com. We're gonna help get you there
and on matt Selection fast reshipping Free Road has a
protection over ten thousand recommended installers ti iraq dot com

(00:28):
the way tire buying should be.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Jared, how you doing today? Oh, Steve, I'm fantastic. I'm
in full so I'm in full March madness mode. And
Saturdays are intense like Saturdays, and this might be one
of the last ones because we've got conference tournaments, but yesterday,
like every single team in college basketball played yesterday. It's
wild and over the next two weeks it's only going
to get more mad.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, I got a little discombobulated the top of the
show today because, as you know, Jared, I am on
every Saturday and Sunday here on Fox Sports. I was
going to fill in with VJ. Husky last night and
I got into a little fender bender last night on
my way. Nothing serious was your fault. It was I

(01:11):
hate to say that, you know, I was a little discombobulated,
but yeah, I'm already of the Saturday mode and I
didn't do a Saturday show my thanks to my dear
friend Arnie Spanning for jumping in last night. But we
got a big show today. You know, here's the thing, Jared,
So obviously we and I, you and I have not
worked together. But you know, here's one thing I knew

(01:32):
immediately because Rich Ornberger and I have been partners for
over a decade. You know, in San Diego days, we
used to do an afternoon drive show, morning show. We've
been doing weekends forever. And I'm like thinking, well, you know,
finally I get relief because it seems like everyone I
work with is a Penn State person. Okay, so LeVar

(01:52):
Arrington is a Penn State person. As a guy, John Schaefer,
I worked in San Diego, Penn Stay person obviously Rich,
and all of a sudden I find out, Jared Smith,
oh did you graduate like the same year or like
the same time you were there with Rich?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Right, Steve the story with Rich and I. It's like
one of those fate you know, kind of love stories.
So not only did we go there at the same time,
the exact same window. So I'm in the stands like
a drunk idiot, you know, in my frat boy Penn
State days rooting for rich on the field and lo
and behold. That was four to eight Lo and Behold.

(02:30):
Twenty years later, we get paired together doing the same
radio show. Like, it's really wild when you think about it,
because you know, there's so many people that you work
with over the course of your career, and this was
my first national radio show here at Fox. You know,
we've been doing the bed MGM thing for the last
you know, on this our third year doing it, and
it's just things come full circle, right like fate, like

(02:51):
those weird stars align type moments like that. That's what
it felt like when I found out that, Wait, the
guy I'm doing this show with, like my big break
into you know, radio, is like the guy that I
used to watch, like, you know, grind out running plays
for Michael Robinson back in the four to five Penn
State fot We'll see. It's wild stuff, Jared.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Take it from someone that's been doing sports talk radio
since nineteen eighty nine. Okay, you will literally run into
the same people over and over and over. It's a
recycle job. Okay, once you're in, you're part of it.
And by the way, a little programming note, So, Jared,
I know that you are the betting analyst and doing
a tremendous job. You're out based in Las Vegas. Right now,

(03:31):
a little programming twist that you're not aware of, but
you will be right now coming up at the bottom
of this hour. A tradition that's been part of my
radio experience for thirty years.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Now.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Wow, surrounding the Academy Awards. Now, I know that we're
a sports show. I know a lot of people out
there don't give a rats ass about the movies, but
the one thing they do care about is can you
give me a sure bet? And we have I have
a friend of mine, he is known as Lucky Leshu,

(04:05):
who is the ultimate Academy Awards insider, and every single
year for thirty years, he has come on, we will
do this rapid fire. You don't even really you can
step back at the during this segment, Jeric.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, I just want to listen.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to
literally go through all twenty three awards, all categories from
you know, documentary short all the way to Best Picture,
and he will just rattle off who's going to win.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
What's amazing Now, what's amazing is his batting average is
well over ninety percent. Document it because it's annual. I mean,
you know, we will talk about Best Picture of the
Acting awards, you know, you know, the main awards. Right
this guy when a costume design would make up you know,
documentary shorts, they.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Have the insider trading.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
He literally is so welcome. I've literally known this guy
for over forty years, but for the last thirty years
as Lucky Lishue. He comes on social media people always
are you know, all over me. Is he coming on?
Is he coming on? Is coming on? Well? The Academy
Awards obviously are happening not too far from where I'm
broadcasting right now tonight. So this gives you an opportunity.

(05:15):
I mean, Jared, there is gambling on the Academy Awards.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Right huge, well, and now because of all of these
trading sites that have opened up, right like it started
with the election, and you could kind of you almost
could legally bet that used to not be a thing.
You couldn't legally bet on the election in you know,
you have to go offshore. And now a lot of
these offshore sites like cal she and you know, those
types of things that are putting like futures contracts out

(05:40):
and they've you know, they kind of skirted the system
and what's really gambling and what's like a futures contract,
you know in the stock market world, and they've kind
of you know, that's a very thin line now. And yes,
you could do it legally. And also bet MGM in
Canada has odds out. In fact, I actually have the
splits because I pulled it up. I get sent all
the bet MGM releases. I actually have all of the

(06:00):
ticket counts and all of the current odds and the
handle percentages of all the markets that are being put
up on bet MGM. So bet MGM you can also
if you have to be in Canada, you also can
bet on the Oscar. So yeah, that has been the
thing for years now, all those weird gambling markets. If
you think, if you can think about it, Steve, you
probably can bet on it.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, and then that's my whole point. So we're going
to give you an opportunity enough people have heard him
over the years and gotten rich off of him saying
he's a guy coming on. So the answer is yes,
he will be John Us at the bottom of this
first hour, and as I said, if you miss it,
you can hear on the podcast later. But again, lucky
shoot Letshoe will join us and give us picks for

(06:42):
all the categories for Tonight's Academy Awards. All right, so, Jared,
you mentioned March Madness. Now I'm a UCLA guy, Okay,
so obviously basketball is near and dear to me. It's
interesting the way I view March Madness and my first
year as a student at UCLA. My freshman year was

(07:05):
two years after Coach wood and retired.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
And I had the good fortune of meeting and interviewing
Coach Wooden many times over the years. He was the
real deal, one of the funniest men Jared I ever
knew in my life. He was hilarious, like when I
mean like laugh out loud funny. I remember one time,
the late great Bill Walton. It's still hard for believed

(07:29):
that my dear friend Bill has passed, but his backup
center was a guy named fen Nator who actually went
on to a pretty good professional career, first in the ABA,
then the NBA, and we did a joint interview with
John Wooden. I think it was commemorating around his ninety
fifth birthday. Almost made it to one hundred, but he
was still lucid all the way to the end. Sharpon's attack, right.

(07:50):
So we were doing this my partners and I had
Coach Wooden on and then s Nator was also on
the air at the same time, but they were in
two different locations. Both were on foam. So I brought
up the fact that during spen nators two years at UCLA,
they were sixty and oh, I mean not only were
they sixty and oh, I mean every game was like
a thirty point blowout with Bill Walton, but he never

(08:13):
started obviously because of Bill Walton. I said, did you
ever ask Coach wood In, Hey, coach, yeah, we're gonna
win tonight by you know whatever. Yeah, how about how
about starting me instead of Bill?

Speaker 3 (08:26):
You know?

Speaker 2 (08:27):
And so Sven goes, yeah, coach, did you ever think that?
And Coach wood in dead pans, he goes, Spenn, I
never liked you. I swear I almost fell out of
my seat. It was such a dead pan line. He
was a wonderful guy. But because of being a UCLA guy,
unlike you Penn State guys who you don't know much

(08:48):
about the NCA battle, we really don't. Actually that's a
second fiddle.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
We know a lot about football, but that's about it.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
What what do you believe? Because March Madness to this
day is still such a unique in event. And think
about this. Brackets are filled out seemingly by ninety nine
percent of the people in this country. And I have
maintained over the years, the first two full days of
the tournament, where you have sixteen games on that Thursday
and sixteen games on the Friday, should be a national

(09:16):
holiday because nobody is working. Everybody is just looking at
their brackets through you know, all those games on those
first two days of the tournament, and it doesn't matter
the fact that you don't know anybody. I remember years
ago I had a female news anchor work in television
with me. She goes, I want to make out one
of those brackets. I said, okay, So I gave her

(09:38):
a bracket and she goes, where is ball Street? No no,
no st period means state, not street. She ended up
picking Villanova because she had Villanova roots, Philadelphia roots, and
they won the national championship.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
It's usually the people who don't know, she knew, not
anything well that have success at the bracket.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Give us a sense, because you're so knee deep in
all this, what is it about March Madness? I mean, yeah,
there's the Super Bowl, a single day event, but yeah, seriously,
there's nothing that compares to the three weeks that is
March Madness. Why is that?

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, Well, I think it's the finality of it, and
I think it's the intensity of it. Basketball unlike football,
which can you know, I think football's gotten to this point,
especially with college football, because the game has evolved. The
college game has evolved to the point where it's basically
almost it looks a lot like the NFL game, at
least at the high levels. In college there isn't that

(10:33):
you have these real true underdogs, you have these actual
Cinderellas that make these runs, and then there's the finality
of the loss and just the intensity of a forty
minute game where you might be going home. And I
think that's where it's kind of taken the culture of
America by storm. And I'll push back on one thing.
I think the first day of March Madness. The Thursday

(10:54):
should be a national holiday. Friday should be a national
day of morning because most people are carrying up their
brackets after they've gotten there all their upsets in the
first round. But now those really that first weekend, that
four day stretch because of just how you know, tightly
packed all of the games, are the intensity of the games,
and then that ending, that moment where it's the thrill

(11:17):
of victory and the agony of defeat that is kind
of intensified because of just how many games there are.
I think all of those things combined. And then, oh,
by the way, over the last five years, you've kind
of thrown this gambling element into it. And I know
there's some controversy about college sports gambling right now. I
don't think legalized gambling is the reason why we're getting

(11:37):
some of these scandals. We can discuss that later, but
I just think it's a it's a vibe, like it
really fits the culture of what American sports are.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, I mean, it is still a unique event. Even
if the players buy and large are anonymous. Unless you
have a horse in the race, it doesn't matter. Everyone
wants to get involved, all right, we got a lot
to cover today. We got some NFL news. With the
NFL combined to get to the forty nine, ers made
a trade of a player that a few years ago
was deemed untradable. What's the aftermath of Deebo Samuel leaving?

(12:08):
Will break it down. This is Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Steve Harvin, Jared Smith Here Fox Sports Sunday. We are
live from the tirerac dot Com studios. By the way,
you can stream this show and all of our Fox
Sports Radio shows live twenty four to seven in the
new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Sports Radio
in the app to stream us live. And one of
the newest features in the app is that you can

(12:44):
select Fox Sports Radio as one of your presets.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Just like the presets on your radio dial.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
So make sure to preset Fox Sports Radio on the
iHeartRadio app. It will always pop up on the top
of your screen, which is a really really good thing. Again,
Lucky Lushue will be joining us here in less than
ten minutes with his complete rundown of all the Oscar
winners in tonight's Oscar Show. So we're looking forward to that.
In the meantime, the San Francisco forty nine Ers made

(13:13):
a deal today, basically gave away a guy that was
deemed untradable. Just three years ago twenty twenty one, Deebo
Samuel had this surreal season, Jared, where he had not
only great receiving numbers, but rushing numbers. He just seemed
to do everything for the forty nine Ers that year,
a year they lost the NFC Championship game to the Rams.

(13:34):
But three years after that he was deemed dispendable and
so bye bye Deebo. San. Let me ask you this one.
How much of a plus is this for the Commanders
moving forward? And I really want to compare in terms
of the betting lines here, Jared, of what to expect

(13:54):
from these two teams in twenty twenty five, where do
you stand? Where do you think everyone's stand in terms
of what we would expect from the Commanders this year
versus the forty nine ers.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
It's a good question. I think the gap is probably
a lot smaller. There definitely smaller than it was last year.
I think this year. So for example, the wide receiver
trades that have happened in the last year, There's been
significant trades in this position over the last year. I'll
give you the names Deebo, Mike Williams, Hopkins, Judy Mingo,
DeVante Adams, Amari Cooper. Of those guys, I mean, besides

(14:29):
Davonte Adams, who was you know, kind of a cherry
picked third round pick for you know, in the Aaron
Rodgers regime with the Jets, Samuel is kind of a bargain.
I mean, a fifth rounder for Deebo. I mean, you're
you're getting a fifth rounder for Mike Williams, You're getting
a sixth for Cooper, a seventh for Mingo. I mean,
I think Deebo, if healthy, is better than all of

(14:53):
those guys. I think he does more. And of course
with Kingsbury's offense, I mean, he's gonna be kind of
the Swiss Army knife. The question about Washington to San Francisco.
So I just actually last week did my off season ratings,
and I'll be honest, I think I'm at the point
now with a lot of these teams there's not a

(15:15):
big gap I think at the top. For example, San Francisco,
I had them four and a half better, four and
a half points better than the average team last year
to start the season, and they ended the season one
and a half points better. So they essentially the Niners
dropped the full field goal throughout the course of the
year of my ratings, whereas Washington started out three points
worse than the average team finished three points better. So

(15:36):
if the if these two teams played tomorrow on a
neutral field, I think I might slightly, slightly make Washington
a favorite.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Oh, I don't think there's a doubt really right now, Jerr,
because I look at the forty nine Ers and all
of a sudden a team is low to question marks.
Let's let's talk about the impact of Trent Williams. You know,
this is a guy who had a late career resurrection,
first Team AP All Pro three consecutive years, but he's

(16:05):
at the end of the line, and so Trent Williams
is a huge dynamic in that forty nine Ers offense.
And then all the questions about Brock Party and he's
Rock Party a passenger on a luxury liner or is
the actual captain of the ship. I mean, there's a
lot to like about him, but there are limitations to

(16:27):
his game. There's a reason why he was the last
pick in the NFL draft. Yeah, And so much of
what happens in the draft. And we'll get into this
a little bit later on as we do a little
evaluation where we stand through the combine everything else. But
so much of the NFL is being in the right
place at the right time.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
And in fact, I have said this about the Pro
Football Hall of Fame. Half of the Pro Football Hall
of Fame is made up of guys who would have
been great anywhere. The other half were in the right place,
right system, right team, at the right time.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yep. And again, brock Party for the price is different
than Brock Purty at forty million eights exactly at the
current price. Like, it's all relative to what they're being paid.
But what are your alternatives right now?

Speaker 2 (17:07):
By the way, one of the stories that came out
with people are trying to force this Matthew Stafford's story.
So I'm here in Los Angeles obviously, and I'm doing
television and radio, and I'm telling everybody this is the
biggest non story out there. Matthew Stafford will be a
RAM one hundred percent. He's not going to the Giants.

(17:28):
He's not going to the Raiders. People misread because they
wanted to make it a story what the Rams had
actually done. So they knew they had to restructure his contract.
That was a given. He had no guarantee money in
the contract, and he's had certainly relatively two good years
of the Rams making the playoffs each of the last
two years. So you know, you're an agent, you're Matthew

(17:50):
Stafford's agent, You're going to come in with high demands
and the Rams are going to counter with less. This
is a normal process and negotiation. So what they the
Rams said, Look, I'll tell you what. Why don't you
go out there and see what the market is like
for Matthew Stafford, a thirty seven year old quarterback who,

(18:10):
by the way, is our property. So that's exactly what
they did. And you know, even agents are going to exaggerate.
You know, these are wow. The Raiders are offering this,
and the Rams know this. Less need wasn't born yesterday.
And but the bottom line is he wasn't going to
go anywhere. The only way that was going to go
anywhere is Let's say the Giants of the Raiders call

(18:31):
right and say, all right, we like to make a
deal for Stafford, and you count with an offer that
they will not match, and that is give us your
first round pick. You know, you're not going to give
up a potential top ten pick in the draft for
a thirty seven year old quarterback on a team where
he's not going to make that much of a difference anyway.
It's not like Matthew Stafford is going to be the
Raiders quarterback and boom, they're going to be in the

(18:53):
Super Bowl. Same thing with the Giants. These teams have
a lot of needs right now. So this was a
non story. You knew eventually he was going to remain
a RAM. I kept saying that over and over again,
we should be concerned. No, there's no concern. He's not
going anywhere, and it gets again, that's exactly what happened.
That this is this is why we talk about you know, like,

(19:15):
I look at the Rams right now, and to me,
they're a step and a half above where the forty
nine ers are right now. They had two of the
three finalists for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Jared Versus
was the defensive rookie of the year. You say, well,
what about Cooper cup I go, what about him? He

(19:36):
wasn't even their top receiver anymore, Puku nakool. Look what
he did two years ago. You know, Kyron Williams is
one of the most underrated running backs of the National
Football League and you have a quarterback that is still
playing at a high level. I just look at the
NFC West right now, Jared, and I'm like forty nine
ers who I think that they're in for a big downfall.

(19:56):
And honestly, I think John Lynch knows that.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, And what the Rams have been able to do
is reload through the draft some what they hadn't done
in prior years where they were very heavily reliant on
those free agents. Right, and don't get me wrong, Von Miller,
Leonard Floyd. They go win a Super Bowl, Okay, that's cool,
and then the cycle resets itself and it didn't fall
off a cliff. I mean, the Rams weren't obviously a
playoff team until recently, but they had that little just

(20:19):
a little bit of a dip, and then now they're
right back to where I would say, I don't want
to say Super Bowl contender, but I definitely think they're
in the tier below that in terms of the top
echelon teams in the NFL and where they're gonna be considered.
Obviously Kansas City and you know those likes in the AFC, Buffalo, Baltimore,
and in the NFC it's still Philly and and I'm

(20:39):
very fascinated to see how the market kind of responds
to this offseason, because obviously things could change very dramatically
over the next month. We're gonna have the Draft, We're
gonna have free agency, all of those things could change.
But right now, the Rams are behind teams like the Packers,
the Commanders, the forty nine ers, and the Super Bowl
odds like you can get the Rams right now twenty
five to one to win the Super Bowl over at
BEM teams like the Niners fourteen to one. There's eighteen

(21:02):
to one.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
I saw these odds, and I'm like, are you kidding me?
I'll take the Rams at twenty five to one in
a heartbeat right now.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
Absolutely. And you know, offensive line, defensive lines where I
really noticed the change. I mean, their defensive line is
so young, Fisk and Turner and young, and I think
the what Kris Shule has done a fantastic job with
that defense again, first year defensive coordinator, and again you
get McVeagh at the top. You know the offense is
going to be good.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
All right? Coming up on the other side, It's the
moment many of you been waiting for. Lucky the Shoes
going to run down all twenty three categories in tonight's
Academy Awards and he is going to give you the winners.
But first let's find out what is trending. Martin is
switched seats. I'm sitting where Martin was a half hour ago.
Now he's on the other side of the glass. You

(21:47):
coming here next, No, that is I don't even know
what buttons to push over there?

Speaker 5 (21:52):
You know that the red one, the one that goes on.
That's the way.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
There's a whole panel of things. You got in front
of you.

Speaker 6 (21:59):
With a ten thirty left in the third court of
the Boston Celtics have a twenty point lead over the
Denver Nuggets sixty eight to forty eight ball team.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
Being lead and scoring right now by Jalen Brown.

Speaker 6 (22:09):
He's got seventeen points, adding three rebounds and three assists
to that total. Jason Tatum with nine so far. It's
only two freight from the floor, one for five from three.
He has five rebounds and six assists as well, But
again nine points for Tatum in this twenty point definite
right now, Christian Brown the leading score were for Denver.

Speaker 5 (22:28):
He has sixteen points.

Speaker 6 (22:29):
In Nicola, Jokis adding eleven points, eight rebounds, four assists
in twenty one minutes of action, sixty.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
Eight to forty eight to score there.

Speaker 6 (22:37):
With one minute left in the second period, the Pittsburgh
Penguins have a one goal lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs,
four to three, and at halftime of a top ten,
our top sorry, top eleven college basketball matchup, we're looking
at Michigan State and Wisconsin. The eighth ranked Spartans the
eleventh ranked Badgers, Wisconsin in the lead thirty four to
thirty two. Again that game at the half and anksious

(23:00):
waiting Steve to hear who's gonna win these oscars.

Speaker 5 (23:03):
I've raced in my sports book and open the app
let's go.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Well, I mean, you heard what Jared have to say.
He's he's ready to go as well. Martin, thank you
very much. Once again, this is Fox Sports Sunday, but
we detour for a moment On Oscar Sunday, we are
live from the ti raq dot Com studios, and as
promised as he has for decades, joining us once again
to give us a full round of tonight's Oscar winners

(23:26):
is the legend himself, Lucky Leshue. Lucky. How are you today,
you guys? We are doing great. Lucky. By the way,
Jared is here. Jared. Jared Smith's a guy that operates
out of Vegas, so he's very anxious to hear what
you got for us today, Lucky. So I'm not going
to waste any time. There are twenty three categories. It's
sort of rapid fire again. If you miss it now,

(23:49):
you can go back to our podcast, which will be
posted right after the show. All right, let's get it
started with the first category. Here, Animated Short. What's gonna
win here?

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Lucky It short goes to Wander.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
To Wonder, Wander to Wonder. There it is for animated
short film. Best Animated Feature.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Animated feature would be The Wild Robot.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
The Wild Robot we go to International feature.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Film, got an upset here for you? I'm still here
will be the winner.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Wow. So Amelia Perez, No, I'm still here. Yes, let's
go to live action short.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
It will be a short called a Leen.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Ad Leen. Let's say a Leen, Oh a Leen, l
I e n a Leen. All right, very very good.
All right, let's go to best sound.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Best sun will go to Dune Part two.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
Dune Part two gets best Sound Production Design.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
That will go to my favorite film of the year,
Wicked Wicked.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
We'll get productions.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
All right.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Let's do the two documentaries. Best Documentary Short Feature.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
The Only Girl in the Orchestra, The Only Girl in
the Orchestra.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
All right, Best Documentary.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Feature Documentary Feature. Another upset here. It's gonna go to
Porcelain War.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Porcelain War is gonna win that one.

Speaker 7 (25:22):
All right.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
We move on to makeup and hairstyling.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
That's the easiest one. The substance.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
The substance will win that one. Horror movie, al right.
Best costume Design once again, Wicked. Wicked wins costume design.
Best cinematography goes to the Brutalist. Brutalist wins best cinematography.
All right. Couple of music awards, Best Original Song, Well.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
The category should be canceled, but it won't. El Mal
from Familiar Perez will win.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
I heard that's not even a song, all right, but
it has one in all the precursors. Best Original Score.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
Another Oscar for the Brutalist.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
The Brutalist wins that one. Best Film Editing.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Film Inniting will go to Conclave.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Conclave gets editing. Best Visual Effects.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
That we'll go to Doom Part two.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
All right, very good, and now we get to the
big eight, starting with Best Adapted Screenplay.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Another victory for Conclave.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Conclave wins Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay, that will
be no wins Original Screenplay. All right, let's go to
the acting categories. Best Supporting Actress, Well.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
We all know Ariana Grunde deserves it. You shall have
it stolen by Zoe Saldagna for Amelia Perez.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Zoey Saldonia for Amelia Perez. Best Supporting Actor.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Easiest award in the Evening Kieran Colkin for a Real Pain.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Kieran Culkin, a Real Pain. Let's let's actually skip to
Best Director before we get to the top acting categories.
Who will win Best Director.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Sean Baker for Anora.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Sean Baker Anora, all right?

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Best Actress Award the Evening. But I think the legacy
goes to the me more in the substance to.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Me Moore, unbelievable. Who would have ever predict she'd win
an oscar she will for the substance Best Actor.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
It goes to Adrian Brody for the Brutalist.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
And then finally best Picture.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
I'm calling for the upsetet. I say, Conclave best picture.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
Wow, Conclave wins best Picture. Lucky leshu as always, people
have been writing frantically all your predictions down by the way,
did you get all those sean? Excuse me, Jared?

Speaker 1 (27:59):
Did you get my left I'm a lefty. I'm gonna
need to ice my left wrist after that.

Speaker 8 (28:07):
On the il Yeah, writing down here in the control
room too, all right, some.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Of these are some big money.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, I mean these are these are all the great
well Lucky as always, thank you so much. We're always
confident your track record speaks for itself. We appreciate the time.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
So there it is Jared Lucky li Shoe. That was
awesome And that's how he does it every single year.
So he runs down the categories.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yes, Chris, so, Jared, which ones do you like best?

Speaker 2 (28:36):
Right now?

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Of well, I have to go well, here's what I
knowt well, so here's my ods. It's two plus two,
So I got the bet MGM odds. And obviously there's
other shops available and sometimes the limits. But right now, yes,
best actor Brody's the favorite. Best director Baker is the favorite.
So a lot of these are favorite picture. Conclave is
plus two fifty. That's a really good price if that

(28:59):
ends happening. Best Actress to me, more is the big favorite,
so no surprise there. So again, a lot of these
are big favorites, sure, but plus two to fifty for
Conclave if that's if that wins, and that's a big mover.
So on February twelfth, Conclave was sixteen to one, which
is a huge, massive number, And now plus two to
fifty is basically saying thirty ish percent implied odds that

(29:23):
Conclave is going to be the winner. In Anora's minus
two hundred, which is about sixty five percent sixty six percent,
So Anora is the favorite. So that'd be a pretty
big upset there.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Well, I think again, knowing Lucky all these years that
I have, he takes in a lot of different things. Obviously,
the individual branches, remember how this all works with the
Academy Awards, so the individual branches decide the nominees, but
everyone in the Academy votes, So in other words, music

(29:54):
people nominate the music categories, Editors nominate the editor, actors
nominate the actors directors. That's the way it works. But
when it gets to the final vote, all Academy Award
members vote, so that that can throw you off a
little bit, and has over the years. I believe that

(30:15):
one of the reasons he might be leaning the Conclave
is the Screen Actors Guild Awards came out and their
top category is sort of the Ensemble Cast, and most
people thought Honora was going to win it, and it didn't.
It went to Conclave, and so that's one of those
where he's thinking, you know, the actors branch is huge

(30:35):
with the Academy. They may have a lot of say
in terms of swinging Best Picture, which, by the way,
in recent years we've had a few.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
I mean, Coda, where did that come from? Right?

Speaker 2 (30:45):
When Coda won Best Picture, wouldn't even nominate for Best Directors.
So yeah, when you have, you know, an insider, as
we have with Lucky Lishoe, he is working it all
the way to his final prediction.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Harman real quick to back back off of that in
the north and you just said so eighty According to
bet MGM for Best Picture, eighty one percent of the
money is on a nor to win. So this would
be a massive upset. It would be. And then there's
another upset. I'm seeing the best, so I'm going through
all the odds now right MGM doesn't have all the
They only have the big ones posted some of the
offshore outs. For example, the Only Girl in the Orchestra

(31:18):
for Best Documentary Short, that's plus one fifty right now,
that's another good, you know, upset, kind of pick. All
the other ones seem to be relative favorites. Best Documentary
Feature here, hold on, so Jared Wars plus one twenty five.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
That's another good one to w Yeah, okay.

Speaker 6 (31:37):
Looks Wander to Wonder is best Animated Short, looks to
be slightly over plus money and a leen Best Live
Action Short looks to.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
The even money. I'm not on bet MGM, but I'm
on I might.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Should I hop a flight to Canada and get get
what about? What about?

Speaker 2 (31:55):
What about the International Feature Film? Where everyone obviously picking
Amelia Perez? He said, I'm still here the Brazilian movie
is gonna win there, that's.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Minus so that's minus two hundred Emelia Press plus one
twenty five. So I so again, sometimes the market sniffs
these things out, and obviously Lucky's fantastic, but if he
knows it, there's probably other people that know it, and
then once it kind of seeps its way out into
the market, that's when people bet it. But again, a
few of these, and I think to your point, because
of the exposure, right, like if a sports book takes
a lot of money on one particular bet, especially something

(32:26):
that's unique like this with the oscars, even if the
news gets out because of the liability on one particular side,
they don't move the odds as much as they might.
So that might be the case with Conclive.

Speaker 8 (32:37):
Yeah, so that is I'm kind of fascinated. I know
there was a lot of like inkspilled over. This is
on documentary I believe, what was it, black Box and Diaries,
which I know is like getting some pressed because it
can't actually be shown in Japan.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
And yeah, that one's twenty to one on Best Documentary Feature.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Right, and he has porcelain, right, And then for the
Best Sacramery Short Feature, as the only girl in the Orchestra.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
That one. I'm betting that one's so other than other
than Conclave. The juiciest pick that Lucky just gave out
that I can find right here off of mine. Now, again,
this is just one website, so there's multiple other sports books.
I just looked at the one that was available to
me as I was kind of, you know, sifting through
this only Girl in the Orchestra would be the next one.
That's the best payout? Yeah, plus one fifty undred dollars

(33:22):
wins you one fifty.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
How about that? All right, guys? Another year?

Speaker 4 (33:27):
That was all.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
I'll be honest, there's there's a certain element of fate
Steve that I'm on the show today for this segment
because the hip right up my mind.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Oh well, here's what happened. When when I found out
jaredy you were going to do this, I said, all right,
don't even tell him about Luckyles show. I will break
it to him because Richard and rich has been part
of this for years as well, but he's not as
in tune with the Betty market. You know. I've always
touted it that way, saying, you know, there's many outlets
that we'll take bets on the Academy Awards, and those

(33:55):
that have profited reached out to me on X and
like it is lucky coming on.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
I go, Yes, this is awesome. I'm going And if
we make money tonight everyone, I mean, I always pay
it forward. So the next time in min La, we'll
go out for a nice little Yes, Oscar Lucky.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yes, I would always say wager at your own risk.
Yes we have wait, but you have someone that again
has a pretty amazing track record over the years. Yes.
All right, coming up on the other side, we'll get
back to some sports, including what's really the aftermath of
what's going on at the Combines in Indianapolis. This is
Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harbin, Jared Smith. Here, Fox Sports Sunday.

(34:34):
We are live from the Tairaq dot Com studios. All right,
so we got our.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
Oscar buzz, our Oscar fixed in for the day.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Now we get back to what's happening around the National
Football League. Jared, I'm really intrigued by your perspective, because
again we are at that point. Well, the NFL's three
sixty five, we understand that, but you know, the odds
are shifting constantly as we now get ready for free agency,
so the ground who's going to be franchise tag all

(35:05):
that leading up of course to the NFL Draft. So
have we seen anything move around over these couple of
days of activities in Indianapolis? And as we know, watching
guys run forty times is meaningless, that's all for television's sake.
It really comes down to physicals, which are very very

(35:26):
important to these teams before the draft, and then the
interviews where they get a chance to sit down with
these future NFL players to get a read on whether
they're the right foot for their team. But have we
seen any movement in terms of Super Bowl odds, conference
winning nods over these last couple of days?

Speaker 1 (35:44):
Pretty quiet, Steve. I think this is kind of the
quiet period for those markets, the markets that I'm starting
to see not only get posted but also start to move,
or the draft markets. So the NFL draft over the
last four years. It was really the pandemic draft right
in twenty twenty that really sparked this draft betting movement

(36:05):
because people were bored, there was nothing to bet on,
and all of a sudden, Roger Goodell's on his couch
telling you who's the number one pick, and you could
bet on that and people were going crazy for it.
Since then, the NFL Draft has been the off season
market to look at because if you think about it,
let's say you bet on the Chiefs to win the
Super Bowl next year. All right, well, you're gonna have
to wait eleven months to figure out if you're right
or not, and over the course of that eleven months,

(36:28):
the odds could move up or down where you could
have gotten a better number on the chief So I
think because of the time horizon between now and when
the Super Bowl is and when the conference championships are,
those markets aren't as popular now. If there's a crazy number,
for example, like the Rams at twenty five to one,
and then all of a sudden, let's say they drop
to one hundred to one because Stafford might be gone. Well,

(36:49):
if you think, like you successfully predicted that it's all
for show and he's going to be back with the Rams,
that's a bet you'd want to make now, knowing, Hey,
I think Stafford's still going to be with the Rams
next year, but the price is not indicative of that.
Let's make that wager. But at the top of the market,
Eagles Ravens Bill's Chiefs, like, we expect these teams to
be great teams all year. You're gonna be able to

(37:10):
bet them throughout the course of the season. You don't
have to risk any crazy injuries to a Mahomes or
Lamar Jackson in the offseason. The draft is what I'm
really seeing. And cam Ward, the number one pick, has
taken a lot of steam this week. Of course, teams
are maybe willing to trade up for cambin Ward, and
I think that gap between him and shaudor Sanders is
growing wider and wider as the combine wraps up. And

(37:30):
it seems like for now that cam Ward at number
one is the juicy option at the top of the track.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
All right, But being number one doesn't mean he's going
to be taken by the team that's sitting at number one.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Very true.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
And so you know, we're sitting right now with the
Tennessee Titans, and this this is a weird situation. I mean,
this is a franchise that has gone south real quick.
I mean, it's hard to believe, what was it three
four years ago? They were the number one seed in
the AFC, and it's hard to believe that they think

(38:04):
that they have themselves a franchise quarterback in Will Levis,
So it would seem natural that you're like, Okay, well
that's a team that definitely is going to take a quarterback.
But what is your read right now in both cam
Ward and Shade or Sanders? I mean, is there stock
plummeting right now? Or because they seem to be so

(38:25):
clearly the top two quarterbacks in this draft that their
stock is actually rising.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
Well, what I'm hearing is Sanders is actually closer to
dark Jackson Dart than he is to Ward. I don't
know if I buy that. I do think Sanders is
going to be a good pro. I think he's very
accurate with the football. He's like, you know, you go
to the Italian restaurant, you get the seven layer cake.
He is elite at layering the football. Just a fantastic

(38:53):
ball placer. And I think that's what the NFL really is,
is being able to read the defense and put the
ball in the right spot. Now, his athleticism is certainly
in question. He takes too many sacks. He can't get
out of the pocket and create plays. That's why he's
gonna drop in the draft. Cam Word can do all
those things, but I don't think he's as accurate as
consistent with placing the football. It's really how the Titans

(39:14):
view Will Levis compared to cam Ward. That's the key.
And I don't think they love based on what I'm hearing,
I don't think they love cam Ward enough to take
him at one. So you either trade back or you
take Abdul Carter and you continue to build because I
think Will Levis he's a cheap, you know, cheap option
this year. You know, he's only gonna make a million
dollars in year three of his rookie deal. And I
think the Titans are at least content with that because

(39:36):
they don't view cam Ward as the number one pick
in the draft.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Here here's my thoughts on the draft. If you're trying to,
you know, figure this whole thing out, believe what everyone
thinks when the college football season ends, because we know,
as we get closer to the draft, the lies just
come out. You remember how Will Levis was going to
be picked over C. J. Stroud? Remember, ever, suddenly remember
that whole thing leading up to Will us could be

(40:00):
the top quarterback of the draft, or at least the
second quarterback pick of the draft. Never believe that, always
believe what's happening right now? All right, we got some
NBA news we're gonna get to. This is Fox Sports Sunday.
Rolling along here another busy sports Sunday. This is Fox
Sports Sunday, and we were broadcasting live from the tire
rack dot Com studios. Tire rack dot com. We're gonna

(40:21):
help get you there and unmatched selection, fast re shipping,
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tire rack dot com the way tire buying should be.
All right, So we talk a little NFL here in
the first hour, we got our oscar picks in if
you missed it, podcast is going up right after we
get off the air. You can hear Lucky liss Shoe

(40:42):
run down all twenty three categories for tonight's Academy Awards.
Coming up in the next hour. Our MLB insider John
Paul Morosi JP is going to be joining us.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Are you a big baseball guy at all?

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Jered?

Speaker 8 (40:55):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (40:55):
Yeah, so I would say if I had to rank
the sports that I watch and bet on, NFL, college football,
college basketball, Major League Baseball would be my core four
and then NHLNBA golf probably be like on that next tier. Yeah,
maybe like International Soccer World Cup beyond the following teer.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
You know, my history with gambling is not good. Why
why I'm not there a reason why. Well, I'm gonna
share a very quick story with you. So the guy
that ended up being the best man in my wedding
was a bookie. He was an illegal bookie. Okay, wow,
among other ventures of illegal venture capitalism, I guess it was. Anyway,

(41:42):
So he was, he was very And this is in
the early eighties, Okay, this is way back in time,
and so you know, nothing was illegal gambling. In fact,
I remember being in Las Vegas for Super Bowl sixteen,
which is January nineteen eighty two, the first forty nine's
Super Bowl win, and there was only one place in

(42:04):
Vegas you could bet, and that was the startist Started,
So the only place that exists in those days. It
actually took sports bets and I actually bet the forty
nine ers to the under and at a college basketball
game University of Virginia with a great Ralph Sampson and
one one three three way Parley Big then got a
speeding ticket on the way back. Let's get into that anyway.

(42:27):
So the nineteen eighty one NCAA basketball tournament, I decided,
I'm really cocky at this point. I'm twenty three years
old in my fifth year at UCLA, and so I
bet on six games that first day. I mean, I
think about, they're all fifty to fifty, right, it's one
or the other. Right. I lose all six games. I mean,

(42:50):
the odds of that are well the same as winning
all six games. Yeah. So the next day, in a
frantic attempt to get it back, I bet five games.
I lost all five. I was now out of three
months worth of rent. Wow, and had to make the
sniveling call to my father, which was something that was

(43:13):
not very pleasant because my dad made it very unpleasant
for me. And so from that point on, I just said,
you know what, maybe this is not for me. So
I'm always amazed, especially people like you, Jared, that it's
not a matter of engaging in the actual act of gambling.
It's the idea of following the trends and figuring out
what's what and you know, getting action. I mean, that's

(43:36):
what it all comes down to. That being said, I
want to turn to the Los Angeles Lakers So Tuesday,
I was actually at the game at Crypto dot Com
Arena for Luca going against his former team, the Dallas Mavericks.
I was doing a TV shot there. I hadn't done
a live TV shot at a Laker game since Kobe played.

(43:59):
I mean, it's been a while since I had been
out there. But the atmosphere was electric. Everybody was there.
I mean everybody was there to see this. And you know,
after those ugly losses they had at Utah before the
All Star break and then that Charlotte loss at home
after the break, they've rattled off five straight wins and
all of a sudden, they're the third seed in the

(44:20):
West and technically they're tied with Denver in the lost
column for the two seed. What's the buzz on the
Lakers right now? I mean, I honestly, my initial thought
with Luca is his game is so similar to Lebron.
I don't know how this is going to work, but
it's working right now. And Luca hasn't been shooting the ball.
Well see, you figure his SHOT's going to get better

(44:42):
as he gets back into shape, so to speak, after
having been out since Christmas. Are the Lakers considered a
real threat right now to actually win the NBA Championship
this season.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Personally, no, but I understand why the vibe in the
market thinks so, because we just saw Luca go to
the finals last year and people are like, oh, Luca
and Lebron like, and I think this is the way
that I'll frame it. Game seven, everything's on the line.
Who would you rather have Lebron and Luca or Sga

(45:18):
and chet Holmgrim. I think we all know the answer
to that question. But the problem is you have to
get to Game seven, and then you not only have
to get to Game seven in the like because I'm
projecting that'll be a Western Conference final, right Oklahoma City
in La. Or could be Oklahoma City and Denver, who knows,
But you're projecting the Thunder being in the Western Conference finals.

(45:38):
They're odds on. And when I say odds on, this
phrase is misused in gambling terms all the time. Odds
on means they're more than fifty percent, so minus one
p fifteen, meaning they're about a fifty eight percent implied
odds to win the Western Conference. That's the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Lakers are plus six to fifty. They're basically the second,

(45:59):
tied for the second favor essentially behind them and the
Nuggets and the Warriors are right there too, So the
odds are telling us it's kind of a four team
race in the West right now. It's Thunder, Nuggets, Lakers, Warriors,
And I think if you flash forward to a game seven, yeah,
I'd rather have Lebron and Luca, but it's the grind
of getting through the playoffs. And I think a big
misconception about the NBA postseason hits long. Man, It's like

(46:22):
two months long. So this is a situation where the
Lakers don't have a ton of depth, and that depth
will be tested over the course of a seven game
series in the first round, seven game series in the
second round, and then oh, by the way, now you
get the Thunder potentially in a Western Conference final. And
unlike the regular season, Steve Lebron can't take knights off,

(46:43):
Luca can't take knights off for rest management. You can't
do that in the playoffs. They've had the benefit of
that during the regular season. So I think in a
one game roll of the dice, i'd rather have the
Lakers and their top two, But you have to get
to that one game roll of the dice, because unlike
the NCAA tournament, it's not winner going every night.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
You know, we've seen such a change in the NBA
in recent years. You had that unprecedented run of four
consecutive years with the same two teams in the NBA Finals,
the Cavaliers really Lebron versus the Golden State Warriors. But
since then it's just a revolving door. A couple of
years ago, the Denver Nuggets look so dynamic in winning

(47:22):
the NBA Championship. You thought, all right, here's a team
that was put together the right way in house. Obviously,
the joker turned out to be a lot more than
anyone ever dreamt he would be as a second round pick,
and all of a sudden, you're like, Okay, this team
is a team that seems to have the ingredients to
rattle off a number of championships. And then last year

(47:43):
they disposed of the Lakers that seemed to be like
their free spot on the Bengo board. And then they
go belly up against Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
Like what happened there? I mean, and losing at home
in the final game.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
And so I think that's why a lot of people
right now you look at the Thunder. You look at
the Cavaliers. Look what the Cavaliers did the other day
to the Celtics in Boston. I mean, Garland and Mitchell
are the real deal and they just absolutely ate them
up at teeny Garden. So here's a Cavs scene that

(48:15):
has won nine straight games. They have the best record
in the NBA right behind them or the Thunder. You
know the amazing said about the Thunder. So they're forty
eight and eleven. Okay, that's amazing in itself. Point differential
twelve point seven points per game for the season. They
weren't just winning like they're blowing people off the court.
But there doesn't seem to be a lot of trust

(48:37):
in either the Thunder or the Cavaliers based on, well,
we don't really know what we're going to get in
the postseason. You have the Celtics wanted a year ago,
but you had a year where Milwaukee came out of
nowhere seemingly to win it. The year Golden State wanted.
Who had the Nobody had the Warriors that year to
win the NBA Championship. So I think that's that's what

(49:01):
makes it intriguing right now. I still think even though
these two teams, young teams, young bodies, get it done
on both ends, you know, defensively, offensively. Again, point differential
for the Cavs this year's eleven point six. These are
two dominant teams right now. But I think it's a
it's a weird dynamic for much of the reason you
just gave Jared, it's a long postseason. It's and you

(49:25):
can't trust home court anymore, that idea of playing, you know,
to get the best record, home court advantage. We've seen
enough teams belly up in that final game to say
that's not kind. That's not the guarantee we used to
think it was to have that game seven at home.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Definitely not. And I think in the East it's a
totally different scenario. It's really just two teams, yeah, and
it's really Boston and Cleveland, and you know, there's a
big gap between those two teams and the Knicks and
the Bucks, and then even a bigger gap and then
you get the Pacers with Boston. If porsingis is healthy,
I just don't see anyone beating Boston in a seven

(50:03):
game series because they can come at you from so
many different ways. With the Knicks, I think that's the
one team that maybe has the mentality and the toughness.
I don't know how tough Klee. We're gonna find out
how tough Cleveland is in this postseason. I know they're good,
but how tough are they? I think the Knicks are tough,
but what do they have left in the tank come

(50:23):
May when you need those games? Because I think Tis
is just running these guys into the crowd every night,
and we saw it last year. Like I thought, the
Knicks would have given the Celtics a much better series
than the Pacers, but the Knicks ran had a gas
in that semi final round, couldn't get over the hump,
even though they had to lead in the series and
had a lead in the decisive the really decisive game.
I think it was either I think it was Game
three or Game four on the road where they had

(50:43):
the lead and then the Pacers came back late and
Haliburton hit the shot and that was it. It was over.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Series is over.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Knicks had nothing left in the tank, and the Pacers
then got obliterated in the Eastern Conference Finals, even though
they had some opportunities too to win some games. But
I don't think I don't think anyone is tougher and
better than Boston, like the top Like it's like the
you know, I won't use it on the air, but
you know, the mess around and find out category. Like

(51:08):
I think Boston's at the top of the toughness and
the talent category. I think the Knicks have the toughness,
but maybe not the talent and the juice. Cleveland's got talent.
I don't know how much juice they have. We're gonna find.
Maybe Cleveland gives them a series. Maybe Cleveland gives them
a series and they're tough enough to get over the
hump there. But I still think it's Boston in the
Eastern Conference finals again.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Well again, what Cleveland did in Boston the other night
was like impressive. And then their guard play. I mean,
you got two all star guards and they're looking like
all stars right now. All right, coming up on the
other side more NBA, as we try to dig deep
and maybe find a team out of the West and
a team out of the East, they could have a
much deeper playoff run than anyone would imagine right now.

(51:51):
I got some in mind myself. I'm sure Darrek does
as well. Keep it all right. Here, this is Fox
Sports Sunday, Steve Harvin and Jared Smith here on Fox
Shorts Sunday. We are live from the Tirak dot Com studios.
John Palmer Rossi, JP, our MLB Insider is going to
be joining us coming up in the next hour. I
actually spend a lot of my time heared also in

(52:13):
the Phoenix area, which is a good area to be
during spring training. If you never have done this before,
either in Florida or in Arizona, just going out to
any spring training baseball game, I highly recommend it.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
Total it is.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
It is. It's layback. Usually they get really creative with
the eats at these spring training facilities. I mean, I'll
use Campbellback as an example with the Dodgers beautiful stadium,
and you know all throughout Arizona. I've been to a
number of the places down there, but just kicking back

(52:50):
and you know, taking it in and you're going to
see some players that you know, obviously are not going
to make the major league rosters, but you're also going
to get closer to some of the big stars than
you've ever been before. It's worth it. If you're a
baseball fan, you probably have already done them. If you haven't,
I highly recommend it.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
Do you get a chance to do that, Jared, Yeah.
So I grew up in South Florida. Actually a fun
story about my upbringing. My grandfather was best friends growing
up with Jean Michael Stick Michael Wow, you know, former scout,
you know, head scout. You know, he was one of
the reasons that they, you know, Yankees had the renovation
in early nineties there. But he used to take us

(53:29):
to Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Because my family grew
up in you know, I was born in New York
and we moved to South Florida when I was really young,
when I was like five years old, and my grandfather
used to take me to Lockhart Stadium in the early
nineties before the move to Tampa and Steinbrenner Field, they
played at this rinky dink you know, ballpark in Fort
lauder like a municipal field essentially, and so I remember,

(53:50):
you know, some early memories of my baseball fandom was
going to Lockhart Stadium when I was young and going
to Yankee spring training games. It was it was it
was a trip.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Geen Michael's one of my favorite guys.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
He was.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
First of all, he was one of those revolving door
managers for George sam Brenner would bring him in a
couple of times. He bring him in, he fire him,
he bring him back. You know, he was like that
fill in guy. He's also one of my favorite players
as well, because I actually I'm sort of addicted to
like Baseball Reference, He's one of the few players that
I have seen in the history of Major League Baseball
as a player who played at least ten years of

(54:23):
Major League baseball and has a career negative war, which
is almost impossible. If you have a career negative war
and yet you still get in ten years of playing
major league baseball, that's pretty impressive.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Hard to do, hard, hard to do, hard to do.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Hard to do. All right, let's talk a little bit
about NBA sleepers right now, and a team that I've
got my eyes on and I think for good reason
is the Golden State Warriors.

Speaker 4 (54:52):
Now.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
The Golden State Warriors run to the NBA Championship a
few years ago, came out of nowhere, and that was
the year that Clayton Thompson, after sitting out for two
full years, came back mid season. People that have been
listening to me know that you know I name dropped
like crazy. But Michael Thompson, his father, and I did
a radio show together for five years. I first met

(55:14):
Clay when he was fourteen years old. His brother Trace
was thirteen, future Major League Baseball player, and they came
to join their father and me at the NBA Finals
in Detroit in two thousand and four. And then we
had planned on a day off to take the boys
to a Tigers game, and the day of the game

(55:35):
that their father, Michael bailed on us. Let me get
this straight. You fly your boys to Detroit, and you
want me to take him to the game. He goes,
can you? I said, sure? And so I take a
fourteen year old Clay and a thirteen year old Trace
to the Tigers game. And the good news for me
is they still remember that all these years. I've asked

(55:57):
them for the money back for all the money I
spent on them for a food that because her father
refused to do that. But anyway, just a great family,
tremendous stuff. But I look at this. The Jimmy Butler
dynamic is interesting to me. By the way, there's a
story that Jimmy Butler's got some legal problems right now,
some unpaid renter, so I don't know, some crazy stuff,

(56:17):
but this is a player. Jimmy Butler in his time
of the heat, proved that he could play big in
big games. And Steph Curry, Steph Curry still, I mean
that game that he had the other what fifty six
points the other day twelve threes. I mean, come on,
it's just absolutely insanity. Look, I'm not picking him to
win an NBA championship, but I think they're going to

(56:39):
be a tough out in these NBA playoffs.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
I agree. I think anytime you have experience, and like
because of the length of the postseason, it takes a
certain level of experience to be able to manage those
highs and lows. And I think that's where teams like
the Cavs, like the Thunder are going to be a
little bit undervalued, perhaps in those areas. They're not undervalued

(57:05):
in the actual real market itself, but I think teams
maybe overestimate their ability to make it through the gauntlet
that is the highs and lows of an NBA postseason,
Whereas the Warriors, it's more about the physical like with
the Lakers and the Warriors, it's not about if they
can take the mental gauntlet. It's the physical gauntlet of
what the NBA postseason is. That teams are a little

(57:27):
bit concerned of whether or not Lakers Warriors can get
through that physical test. But mentally, I would put Golden
States five against almost anyone else in the field right now.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Who would you say has been a bigger disappointment this
year in the NBA? The Phoenix Suns are the Philadelphia
seventy six Ers.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
Well, I think with the Suns. Yeah, I think the
Suns because with the Sixers high, with you on the side,
I totally expect it. I mean, I'm at the point
with Joel Embiid now where it's like he has become
the villain that everyone you know maybe thought he was
going to be. When you know he's he has these
moments where it's just he looks like he's a dirty
player and and and then he doesn't have that redeeming

(58:08):
quality of giving you his all every night, right, and.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
Then Paul George Dynamic, who went from at one point
maybe the most underappreciated player to the most overrated player
in the NBA.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
I totally agree because the thing about Draymond Green, like, like,
you know, Draymond has that ability to get under people's skin.
Joel Embiid has that same ability. The problem is Draymond,
you know, goes one hundred percent every play right, and
and that's where you you know, you know, he's the
guy that you don't want to face. You don't want
him to be against you, whereas Joel Embiid you almost like, yeah,

(58:39):
I want to go up against him because think mentally,
I'm tougher than him. And I think that's where I
struggle with guys like like and the way that the
Sixers have kind of constructed their team with Doc Rivers
and all this stuff, like it's just it's it's a
very difficult pill to swallow. I am not on board,
uh with with any of that. And I would say
the Sun's bigger disappointment because I expected to say fail.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Yeah, and the problem for here, here's the thing about
the Suns. So Matt Eshbia takes over as the owner
right now. He was He's one of those guys that
you claims he was a basketball player, right he went
to Michigan State. He was one of those guys who
sat on the bench next to is Ooh and he
was on the team in the uniform for one thing

(59:22):
is GPA. You know these guys that fill out the
benches on these schools where they say, well, our jr
overall GPA of our basketball team was a three point
Oh really, and then you find out, well, that's because
that guy that's sitting there that literally never plays, That's
who matt Eshbia was. But somehow he parlayed that into
thinking he knew what's best for a basketball team. He

(59:45):
took a team that one year made it to the
NBA Finals followed by a sixty four win season, and decided,
we're gonna get this team to bring in Kevin Durant.
And then if that wasn't enough, how about giving a
max down contract Bradley Beal who's never won anything his
entire career. Yeah, and there's just no way out of
this mess. I mean there's just they got three guys

(01:00:08):
all making over fifty million dollars a year and no
way out. I've rarely seen an owner this incompetent, just
believing in his own personal hype. Oh I played the game.
No he really didn't. Sorry, you didn't play? Did you
think he did? And so you think you know the game.

(01:00:29):
That's why I've always you know, doctor Buss, you know
someone that covered obviously LA sports all these years that
I did. You know, he was a really smart man.
He was fun. He was a fun guy. I can
remember way back in the day Jared actually going to
clubs and seeing like this old guy walk off with

(01:00:50):
the best looking woman in the room, and I realized,
that's doctor Buss again. How does this guy? Oh, I
know how he pulls it off. But anyway, but he
knew how to delegate and understand. You know, I I'll
control what I can control. What I'm going to do
is I'm going to make my team the IT team
in LA. I can't overplay the Forum club. I know.

(01:01:13):
I did some voice work on the on the Winning
Time show, the TV show that came out for a
couple of months. Really yeah, if you heard the radio,
uh that was you, that was me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
I'm doing I'm doing a show with a celebrity, well.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Semi, but one of the producers of the show is
a friend of mine, so he goes, I'm going to
use you on this.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
That's cool.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
But it was pretty accurate in the idea that doctor
Buss understood that I need to make this a happening.
And as someone old enough to actually remember the foreign
club and sneak my way in there a few times
over the years, it was exactly that. Imagine having the
biggest nightclub in LA tagged onto the basketball team. So

(01:01:53):
he he knew what he could control. But he allowed
basketball people like Jerry West, like Bill Sharmon you know
later Mitch Cupchak to run the team. And that's what's
necessary if you're going to be a successful owner. You
got to be able to delegate and put the right
people in the right position.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
That's what American aff is having an issue with right now.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
With the Complins, Well, that's exactly the problem. But you know,
he was a dear friend of my old boss, Al Davis.
I worked for the LA Raiders back in the eighties
and Al Davis was the general manager. But Al Davis
actually had been a coach and a general manager in
the old American Football League and knew a lot more
football than Jerry Jones does. All right, let's find out
what is trending right now. So is that a busy

(01:02:36):
day today, Martin, or what's what's.

Speaker 6 (01:02:37):
Happening not quite now? Slow dance sports, slow dain Sports.
But the Sunday showdown is over. Boston Celtics Denver Nuggets
Boston victorious. They improved to forty two and eighteen eighteen
and eleven at home UH one ten to one OZHO
three the score. Jalen Brown led the team is scoring
with twenty two points on six for fifteen from the floor.

(01:03:00):
Jason Tatum got off to a slower start, never really
got going from three to one for seven from three,
but finished with sixteen points. Al Horford had at nineteen,
Derek White seventeen. This Celtics team is just the balance
is incredible between them. But Christian Braun led I'm sorry.
Jamal Murray led the Nuggets to scoring. He had a
big fourth quarter, finished with twenty six points. Christian brough

(01:03:21):
in twenty four, nicolea Jokic one assists, shy of a
triple double twenty points, fourteen rebounds and nine assists. College basketball,
excuse me one minute left in the game here between
Michigan State and Wisconsin. Michigan State, the eighth ra EE
team in the nation, wisconstantly eleventh, sixty nine to sixty.
The score of the Spartans, the home team, and the

(01:03:43):
lead one oh six left in the game. There with
four to thirty one left in overtime. I'm sorry, five
minutes left in overtime.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Nope, four to thirty one.

Speaker 5 (01:03:52):
Here we go.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
That makes more sense.

Speaker 6 (01:03:54):
Maple Leafs and Penguins tied five apiece there and Steve,
like I said, it's a slow news day.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
It's a slow news day, but we're making it busy
on the show today. That's what we try to do,
you know.

Speaker 6 (01:04:06):
I mean the big the big news was was your
boy Lucky coming on here.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
It'll be even here. If he rattles off all those
winnes tonight, he'll do well. I'm looking forward to you know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
I'm in the process of investing right now. Yeah, we're
making our making our buys.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
So if again, if you miss the Lucky List shoe
oscar picks for tonight's Oscars. Again, we'll have our podcast
up right after the show today. All right, Martin, thank
you very much. We'll check in with you a little
bit later on. Once again, this is Fox Sports Sunday. We
are alive from the tire rack dot Com studios, and
again a reminder check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
A ton of great videos from many of our Fox

(01:04:41):
Sports Radio shows. Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube
to see a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows,
and be sure to subscribe so you always have instant
access to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. All right,
I want to ask you about what has to be
the biggest surprise team in the NBA this year, and
Bickerstaff has done an unreal job, the Detroit Pistons. Let's

(01:05:05):
remind ourselves of what this is. How many wins they
had in each of the last five seasons, well, actually two, okay,
so obviously in twenty twenty and twenty one, not full
seasons because of the COVID situation, they had twenty wins
both those years, winning percentage of thirty percent. And then

(01:05:28):
the last three full seasons they were twenty three and
fifty nine, seventeen and sixty five, and last year fourteen
and sixty eight. This year they're thirty four and twenty seven.
I mean, that is unreal. So when you have a
team like the Pistons, who right now, by the way,
are the sixth seed in the East, and considering all

(01:05:48):
the teams with losing records behind them in the play
and round, I think they're gonna make the cut most
likely in that top six. But is this a team
where they go into the postseason Jared were like, nothing
to lose, Like, I mean, you know, no one's expecting
anything from the Pistons. That's another team that I would
look at saying they're playing with house money. That's that's dangerous.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
And they're good against the number two. I think that's
the key. You're gonna get a lot of big underdogs
in the East when they go up against the Calves
and the Celtics, and that's to me like that that's
the big advantage to betting the NBA in the playoffs
is you know you're getting max effort. You don't know
that on regular season nights, although from the Pistons you

(01:06:34):
do know that. So I think when you get to
the playoffs you have to be careful. If you're just
gonna bet these teams to win, I would be more
interested in betting them to cover. And it'll be interesting
to see what kind of numbers we get. Like I'm
going back now earlier this year at home on February fifth,
they're actually pretty About a month ago at home, the

(01:06:54):
Pistons were a three and a half point home underdog
to Cleveland. They lost that game by three, so if
you kind of, you know, put that out there in
the universe. And in January they were a ten and
a half point road underdog at Cleveland. So that's kind
of the numbers you're gonna be looking at here. You're
gonna get them at a plus three plus four price
at home, maybe a plus ten plus eleven, maybe even

(01:07:16):
higher than that, depending on how well Cleveland does in
their earlier round games, because it looks like that could
be a potential three to six matchup, you know, in
the first round. And I think that you know, a
two seven, three six where you know, you get Detroit
as a ten point dog on the road. Yeah, Like,
I think that's where I would consider betting Detroit in
the playoffs. But I don't think they're gonna win a series.
I think that is a bridge too far for me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
Well, I the thing that impresses me about their record
is they have a winning record on the road.

Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
That's really impressive.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
I mean again, they have a winning record on the road.
I mean, I mean you talk about coach of the
Year JB. Bickerstad, I mean it's like run away if
he's not unanimous somebody. I mean, it is unreal how.

Speaker 8 (01:07:57):
I think it's also a rise of Kate Cunningham, who
was a very high draft pick for them, and like
I as a I mean, I'm a Pistons fan myself,
but like he's.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
A legitimate watching through all.

Speaker 8 (01:08:08):
They went through, and like he never really quit if
there was one. If the main complaint is about NBA
players not really you know, being too detached from the teams,
that's not a problem with Kate Cunningham at all. He
wears everything on his sleeve and just really seems to
be the heart of the team. And this is this
is a team that like lost Jade and Ivy earlier
in the year too, and they've just somehow gotten better

(01:08:28):
and kept trucking.

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
Yeah, I understand this. Chris is our insider on Detroit sports.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Yeah, he's the Detroit gad.

Speaker 7 (01:08:34):
No.

Speaker 8 (01:08:35):
I mean, this is a team I literally go back
with since my childhood since like you know, my dad
knew Bill Amber and getting to throw the ball out
for warm up to Grant Hill, Like this is this
is a team in my blood.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Yeah, they're my blood too, as the hated ones.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
Okay, yeah, the future is bright, like they were a
four and a half point home dog to Boston the
other night. I mean that if you're going to get
them at a twelve thirteen point dog at Boston in
game one of a potential second Like, let's say they
pull off an upset and they're playing the Celtics in
the second round. Man, you're gonna get some fat prices
on them.

Speaker 8 (01:09:08):
I think I think what the goal is for the
Pistons of years is that just that just win a series,
just win, just to show that at least you're back
on the stage.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
And well, let me ask you right now, britten Off. Yeah, again,
they are four and a half games clear of the
playing teams. I mean, all four playing teams right now
in the East have a losing record. I don't see
anything with the Heat, the Magic, Hawks, Bulls. I mean,
these are just I think if.

Speaker 8 (01:09:32):
You're the Pistons, you want to try to get But
I mean, how about I have matchups so well?

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
I mean I agree, but let's say you had a
Pistons Knicks first round matchup. Man, could you imagine, Jared,
what do you think?

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
I think that would be one of the most Like
the totals would be like like one to eighty in
those games.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
Yeah, exactly, it would be.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
It would fit school, old school basketball right there. Again,
I think the Knicks are a really interesting team because
if if they can figure out a way to just
keep their legs about them, they have the like if
you were picked, if you picked one team in the
Eastern Conference that has the mentality to beat Boston in
a seven game series. I honestly do think it is
New York, but I just don't know if they're gonna

(01:10:12):
have enough legs. Whereas Cleveland has a great backcourt, but
I don't know if they've got enough toughness. Man a Detroit,
New York matchup in the first round of the playoffs.
That's what scares me because that that would probably suck
the life out of the Knicks, where I'd much rather
have them face a little bit more of a free
flowing offensive team in the first round so they can
maybe keep their legs about them. But yeah, that'd be
a really good series MVP.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
That's something that people love to wager on. I know
Jared over the years, and to me, what's weird to
me about NBA Most Valuable Player over the years is
what we call the fatigue factor.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
I mean technically, Michael Jordan should have been MVP every
year he played between full year. He should have been
ninety six, ninety seven to ninety eight. But one year
they gave it to Bark when he moved to the
Phoenix Suns led him to the finals, and another year
they gave it to Carmelo, and I felt like it

(01:11:06):
was like the fatigue factor. One thing I appreciate about
the NHL. Gretzky won the Heart Trophy, which is the
MVP Trophy eight years in a row because he was
the most fabable player. And no, there was no fatigue factor. Okay,
the guy wins eight years in a row. But you
you look at Nicola Jokic and you look at the
numbers this guy puts up. He is averaging twenty nine

(01:11:30):
point one points per game, twelve point seven rebounds per game,
and ten point five assists a game, a triple double.
And I'm thinking on a team right now that's the
two seed in the West. And I know Shay gilgis
obviously you could make the argument best player on the
best team. You know Jannis is in the conversation, you know,

(01:11:51):
Jason Tatum says he doesn't get respect. That's because he's boring.
He's really boring player. But I mean, how is Jokic
not the most valuable player in the NBA.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
He's just not this year unfortunately. And I agree that
on the surface it might appear that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
By the way, he's also shooting forty four percent threes.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
I think. So, there's two things with these award markets, Steve,
that are fascinating to me. Yeah, One is the odds
can be moved very quick like the like it can go,
especially early in the year when things aren't really you know,
settled yet a month, all of a sudden, a new
favor could emerge. So just the volatility of this market
is fascinating. The second thing that people, and this is

(01:12:32):
the most important thing with this market. And I say
this people all the time. We talk about it on
the Saturday Show when we're talking about you know, NFL
MVPs and you know college football Heisman trophies. You have
to remove your opinion from the situation. You are not
handicapping who you think the MVP is. You are handicapping
who the voters think the MVP is. And the voters

(01:12:52):
they can be fickle, but they also over the years
give you tips and trends and voting patterns. Just like
the election, there is a thing called voter fatigue, and
that is a real thing. And for a guy like Jokic,
for a guy like anyone that's already won the award
Giannis embiide, in order for you to win it again,
you have to do better, do more. But Joki has

(01:13:14):
done that at all. I mean, let me give you this,
and this is no knock on. Shake Gilgisure part of
the worst trade in NBA history. I mean, I mean,
what was it, six number ones and Shay gilgis for
Paul George whatever. Jokicic has twenty eight triple doubles this year,
Shake Gilgess has zero. So right now, Jokich has a

(01:13:35):
higher field goal percentage, a much higher three point percentage.
He dwarfs Shake Gilgess's rebounds and assists triple doubles.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
I just talked double doubles. Jokicic has forty six, Shake
Gilgess has five, and the only difference is Shake Gilgess.
Alexander is averaging three point two points per game more.
That's the only advantage he has. So if you're talking
about is Jokic going next level. Yeah, if he averages

(01:14:04):
a triple double over an entire season, as it hasn't done.

Speaker 1 (01:14:07):
That before, that's the key I'm talking about. It's Yo
relative to the field, It's Jokich relative to MVPs of
Jokic's past. That's what the voters have shown up. I mean,
that's why Gilcenter is a massive favorite to win this
order and he's a minus six hundred favorite. He's bigger
than some of the Oscar picks that Lucky gave out
his favorite tonight. He's I mean, it's almost a foegone

(01:14:28):
conclusion he's going to win the award, and I think
a lot of it to his team's success, a thunder
having historic year, especially defensively. Their points per game difference
is off the charts, and I think a lot of
that plays into account. But the biggest factor here is
for Nikoli Jokic to win another MVP, he is going
to have to blow past his prior MVP years and
raise the bar, and he just I think he's reached

(01:14:51):
the bar and he is maybe playing slightly at a
higher level than he has in years past, but he
has not raised the bar considerably from his prior MVP years.
Which is why as it's like fresh blood we want
to see and it's it kind of vibes with the
underdog culture we see in March Madness. We want to
see a new team come from out of nowhere like
San Diego State make the final four. But it's just
it's really hard to do because it's hard to do

(01:15:12):
it again and then raise the bar once more. And
that's where Yokic's and not saying he's falling short. He's
having he is having an MVP year, but he's not
having an MVP year relative to his MVP year's past.
It's like, right at the level that he was.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
At forty four percent, three point shooting on top of
everything's incredible. All right. Coming up on the other side,
a story that well, people aren't betting on it, but
gambling is a big part of it. We'll explain. This
is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harby, Jared Smith. Here, we
are Fox Sports Sunday, and we are live from the

(01:15:47):
Tyraq dot Com studios. Well, someone that I have always
been a big fan of is back in the news,
and that is the late great Pete Rose. So President
Trump has announced that he wants to pardon Pete Rose,
so I gets Pete back into the conversation. Pete, of course,

(01:16:09):
passed away this past September at age eighty three. This
is a story, Jerry, that I have literally covered from
the very beginning. My first year on air as a
radio guy was back in nineteen eighty nine. He was
the manager of the Reds when all of a sudden,
the story broke that there was a huge investigation going
on of Pete Rose, and he was a longtime friend

(01:16:30):
of the veteran broadcaster I was partnered with at the time.
I introduced myself at a Dodger game to him during
this investigation. He gave me an exclusive interview. Really thrilled
me at the time, and I sort of I interviewed
Pete many times over the years. Of course, you're in Vegas,
where Pete lived his final days. I want to get

(01:16:53):
your thoughts on this whole thing, because when we talk
about Pete Rose. John Dowd, of course, who led the investigation,
interviewed him many times. I asked him repeatedly, was there
ever any evidence at all the Pete Rose ever fixed
the game or he ever bet against his team? And
he said no. And I'm like, Okay, so there was

(01:17:18):
precedent here. Back in nineteen sixty three, Pete Rossell suspended
two of the biggest stars in the NFL, Paul Horning
and Alex Carris, for betting on their own teams. They
were suspended for one year. Both the reinstated, and both
eventually were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
I mean, we have people that are mass murders that
served less time than Pete Rose has. This has been

(01:17:41):
the most unprecedented. We had the recent passing of Fay
Vince and who I blame for a lot of this
because it was talking to Bart Jamadi, who of course
passed away just days after he laid down what had
gone on with Pete Rose and the suspension. Pete always
maintained that he and Bart had an agreement that this
was going to be reviewed after a year, and he

(01:18:02):
fully expected to be reinstated in baseball. Obviously, it didn't
happen because Faith Benson decided that's never going to happen
under my watch, and it's continued on. But now Rob
manfor the Commissioner of Baseball says, yeah, he sees mulling
over Pete Rose's Family's request to remove Rose from the
ineligible list, which is why he's never been on the
ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Where do you

(01:18:23):
stand on this?

Speaker 1 (01:18:25):
I mean, I think posthumously, I like it. I think
in the moment we shouldn't have probably could put him in,
just because there's too much buzz around it. But at
the end of the day, there's a big difference between
betting on your team and betting against your team, major
difference there. I wish I had a stronger opinion on this,
so you would think, oh, the Gambley guy has a

(01:18:45):
strong opinion on Pete Rose. Like, at the end of
the day, he broke the rules, and I'm fine with
the punishment that he got. I think if he would
have shown more remorse during his life, he probably would
have gotten, you know, put in before this. But because
of the situation where he was a little bit more
I guess hesitant to really show any remorse that the

(01:19:05):
baseball didn't didn't really reciprocate any any kindness that he
showed later in life. So I don't think there was
a crime like there was really like, it's it's it's
it's a tricky situation. See, I don't have a strong
opinion on him, but possimously I think it's it's it's
okay that he was dug well.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
The reason I mentioned this again because look, for many,
gambling obviously is a horrific vice that they just can't
come overcome and they need help. There's there's the adrenaline junkies.
Heete Rose the way he played the game. He played it,
by the way, in more winning games than any player
in the history of Major League Baseball. No one that

(01:19:41):
ever saw Pete Rose play didn't come away with the
thought that he is doing everything he can to have
as team win. Yep, he played all of The guy
ran to first base when he walked. That's why he
got the nickname Charlie Hustle. Theer like, what are you doing?
Why are you running the first base on a walk?
That's the way this guy was wound up. But that personality,

(01:20:01):
couple with the thrill of winning in gambling, really led
to his demise. John Paul Morose is gonna be joining
us a little bit later on, and she'll talk about
that everything around major League Baseball much more coming up
here on Fox Sports Sunday. Rolling along here having a
great time on another sports Sunday. I was saying, a
busy sports Sunday. I'd be lying, it's we're not busy yet.

(01:20:24):
We're getting there. We're getting close. We are broadcasting live
from the ti raq dot com studios. Tyre rack dot com.
We're gonna get you there and unmatched selection, fast free shipping.
Free road has a protection over ten thousand recommended installers.
Tire rack dot com The way tire buying should be
coming up here in about twenty minutes. John Paul Morosi
JP is going to be join us. He is our
MLB insider as spring training now moves into March. I

(01:20:48):
don't understand, you know, I get it way back in
the day, Jared, We're you know, in the old days,
I mean really old days where professional athletes actually had
to hold down off season jobs to pay the bills.

Speaker 1 (01:21:04):
That's really old.

Speaker 2 (01:21:05):
Yeah, I mean I mean really old, but I mean
that's the way it was. And so, you know, whether
you're baseball, for any of these professional sports, you had
an off season job, and then it made sense you're
going to have an extended preseason or spring training to
get yourself in shape so that you could actually play
the sport at the highest level. I get all that,
but this idea of why do we still have six

(01:21:27):
weeks of spring training for what reason? Doesn't make any sense.
I mean, I mentioned earlier it's great to go to
a spring training game, but do we really need six
weeks of spring training?

Speaker 1 (01:21:39):
I think we do, but we don't need maybe as
many games. Like I'm okay with the guys going down
there and going through the motions. I don't think they
need to play every day for a month. I think
that's where we probably are kind of like we're just
waiting now. To be fair, I know they need to
go through a lot of live especially the younger players,

(01:22:01):
especially the guys that are the minor leaguers that you know,
they want to see if they're ready to make the
jump to the major leagues. I know it's very valuable.
But not only that, Steve, then we have extended spring
training after that, like it's it's like it's it's spring
training is almost longer than the actual season itself.

Speaker 2 (01:22:16):
Do people bet on spring training baseb Oh, oh my god, Okay,
So I I just there was a run back in
the very brief time, as I mentioned earlier, that I
was gambling the one sport I got rich off of
was baseball, and it was it was a season in
which the Dodgers pitching was dominant, and every game seemed
to be a two to one game or three to

(01:22:37):
two game. And so I just all I did was
I played the under you know, total runs in the game.
And I think that some incredible streak of like fourteen
consecutive games the Dodgers went under, which seems unbelievable. And
I just rode that pony for a while. But you
mean there are actually people like wagering on spring training baseball?

Speaker 1 (01:22:59):
Oh not. So here's the thing about these off markets.
And when I say off markets, I mean you know
markets that people you don't think of right off top
of here, like NBA, NFL. You know, those are the
obvious ones. If you know more than the average person
in a market like spring training, for example, if you

(01:23:19):
know this picture is trying something new today and it's
probably not gonna work because he's never tried it before. Like,
if you have that inside piece of you know, context,
you have more information than the sports books about a
market like Major League Baseball spring training games. If you
have that piece of information about the NFL, like I
know this team, this coach really likes this player doing this.

(01:23:42):
That information is already baked into the market because these
random game. Now here's the rub is, the limits are
significantly lower on a spring training game than an NFL side.
Like you can bet one hundred thousand that you can
walk up to a casino Vegas drop one hundred thousand
dollars on an NFL side, They won't bat an eye.
You do that on a Major League Baseball spring training game,
people could be like, Okay, what do you know? So

(01:24:02):
the limits are lower. You only probably bet you know,
ten percent maybe of what you can on a big
NFL game. But the information isn't as widely available. So
if you have that information, you have an edge on
the sports book. So actually, the best professional gamblers that
I know, the preseason NFL games they do better than
the regular season because they have the information and the

(01:24:24):
sports books don't have that baked into their number.

Speaker 2 (01:24:26):
Just yet, you would love this story. So back in
nineteen eighty seven, the NFL had replacement games. It was
the only time in the history of the NFL, And
you think how crazy this was. So I'm working for
the Raiders at the time. The LA Raiders and we're
two games into the season and then the players walk out.

(01:24:48):
Think about this for a second. I believe at the
time there were twenty eight teams in the NFL. They
canceled Week three. Twenty eight NFL teams had two weeks
to put together a roster simultaneously. I mean, still to
this day, the most mind boggling thing I can imagine,

(01:25:10):
twenty eight NFL teams simultaneously in two weeks have to
put together an entire roster without the Internet, without the
Internet or anything. I mean it was just in fact,
when you say no Internet, I'm like the media relations guy.
I had to put together an impromptu media guide in
a week and a half. A players, most of the players.
I had no idea. It was will with no computers.

Speaker 1 (01:25:34):
I mean, it was my mom all the time, how
she got through college without the Internet.

Speaker 2 (01:25:38):
No Internet, no computers. I mean, I have a typewriter.
So anyway, But anyway, here's the crazy thing about all this.
So we had a lead up to this first week
of these replacement games, and a couple of the Raiders
scouts were coming to me saying, give me a hundred dollars,

(01:25:58):
one hundred dollars a lot of money for me at
the time, I go, why he goes, we have the
because Vegas was frantic. How do you put odds out
on these games?

Speaker 1 (01:26:07):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (01:26:08):
You had no idea what to do. But they had
to put numbers out because it was the NFL, and
I didn't give them one hundred dollars. They had a
six game parlay and every game cleared easy, unbelievable. I
would have won. What are the six game parlay?

Speaker 1 (01:26:24):
Just I mean it probably fifty to one pay.

Speaker 5 (01:26:27):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 2 (01:26:27):
It was like five six thousand bucks that I've got
threw away, That's how crazy it was. But like you say,
a lot of times, if you got any kind of
insider information like they had on how the makeup of
these teams were and Vegas was blind, they're like, ah,
you couldn't blame it on how they were before the
you know they were that first week they were just
running blind and had to put out something and it

(01:26:51):
was like easy pickings.

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
So that's the difference between bookmaker and gambler. Yeah, the
gambler can choose what they want to bet on. The
bookmaker is forced to put up numbers on every single game.
That and there, there aren't a lot of edges that
the gambler has over the house for the most part,
Like the casinos here in Vegas are bright, tall and

(01:27:13):
shiny for a reason. But the really sharp, the sharpest
of the sharps, like the Bill Krackenbergers who does the
Sunday Show with us, like other professional gamblers that I
work with here in town. The real sharps understand where
the cracks are and then have the right bankroll and
the right network to exploit them. And it's again, it's

(01:27:34):
a nuanced thing. Now we social media has blown this
out of proportions. Everyone with everyone with a Twitter account,
x account these days is a gambling expert. But the
real gambling experts would never blast out their edge on
social media to their however many followers, because once you
do that, you lose your edge. So it's like this
cat and mouse game that now, because gambling has become

(01:27:55):
so popular, it's harder to find the edge because the
information is so much much more widely available. Everybody wants
the clout of being called a gambling expert, so once
they get a piece of information from a respected pro,
they just put it out there on their social media
or they give it to all their friends because they
want to sound cool. That is making the edges significantly
harder to find.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
So the lucky list shoes do not live in that
world anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:28:21):
Well lucky, I'll be honest, Like, the oscars markets have
been up for so long now that there's not a
lot of edge left. But that doesn't mean that we
can't have fun and make bets on the Oscars. Like Conclave,
as I said, was what like sixteen to one?

Speaker 2 (01:28:35):
Yes, and so show especially Conclave to be a surprise
Best Picture winner tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:28:41):
So if you bet Conclave at sixteen to one to
win Best Picture, oh my goodness, you made the bet
of the year, because that thing's gonna go off at
probably two to one. It's probably gonna come down even
more because I'm starting to tell my people, like, for example,
I just tweeted out, I just set the list to shay.
I just tweeted it out. Everyone everyone knows what I'm
on now. Yeah, And unfortunately, that's the that's the the

(01:29:02):
you know, the given that shared doing content is you
have to make it public. But once you make it public,
well and then your edge's gone.

Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
Yeah all right, well, sorry to get it out there
so quickly where other people couldn't take advantage. But if
it works for you, Jared, I will be very.

Speaker 1 (01:29:16):
I'm not a professional gambler, and I think that's a
common misconception is a lot of people that do this
on social media and on the shows like we're not
professional gamblers, we just play them on TV and radio.

Speaker 2 (01:29:28):
Exactly the point. And I look at no one's been
a worst prognosticator over these many years that I've been
doing this because I'm expected to make my thoughts on
who's gonna win, who's gonna lose. Very few times, am
I right? I was right about Matthew Stafford, though I'd guarantee.

Speaker 1 (01:29:43):
Who had all on that because a lot of people
thought he was gone, I know.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
And I was like, if you make it the.

Speaker 1 (01:29:47):
Whole Raiders Montana thing, where Brady the way like some hold.

Speaker 2 (01:29:51):
On, hold on? So the Raiders have swung and missed
at two main targets right now, Ben Johnson to be
their head coach, yeah, and Matthew Stafford. So Tom Brady,
this is the theres always a question about Tom Brady,
no questioning his resume as a quarterback put some firmly
in position to be in the goat, but what can

(01:30:12):
he do outside of that? And mixed reviews his first
year as an announcer, and so far as a I
would imagine hands on administrator for the Raider organization. You
think he's got klop right, he's Tom Brady so far?
Oh for two? All right, coming up on the other side,
we're gonna switch scares. Get back to little Major League
Baseball spring training. Talk thoughts about the Pete Rose Hall

(01:30:35):
of Fame situation. Anything MLB the man hasn't covered, ore
MLB insider John Paul Morosi, JP, keep it right here.
This is Fox Sports Sunday. I'm watching the reg carpet
situation for the Oscars tonight. Look, ealer shoes picks are in.
You heard him here on Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harbin,

(01:30:58):
Jared Smith. Jared has set the world to blaze.

Speaker 5 (01:31:01):
With his.

Speaker 2 (01:31:04):
Picks on the Oscars. It's amazing how you did that, Jar,
Everything's changed.

Speaker 1 (01:31:08):
I'm excited. Oh, I moved the market on Conclicte. It's
down to plus one eighty now after all right, Well,
I also gave him out, so I'm sure other people
are betting them today. All right, Well, We'll see how
this all plays out.

Speaker 2 (01:31:20):
Once again, we're live from the tire rack dot Com studios.
It is an honor every single time that we have
an opportunity to talk to this gentleman. He wanted to
wait a second. Apparently John Paul Morosi got win of
the Conclay pick and has decided to put down the
phone for a second and make the pick. I guess
he did. Johnny is right now. Is our Fox Sports

(01:31:42):
Radio MLB insider, the one, the only, the Great John
Paul Morosi.

Speaker 5 (01:31:46):
JP.

Speaker 2 (01:31:46):
I know you're a Michigan man through and through. Do
you have any interest at all in the Academy Awards?

Speaker 7 (01:31:53):
Steven Jared the Good Afternoon. I have minimal interest only
as so far as I have not watched many of
the movies. I saw a Conclave, which I understand is
on many of the short lists. But to be honest
with you, I just I've got my baseball, I've got
my hockey, and I've got all the stuff my kids watch,

(01:32:14):
and aside from that, I don't have a lot of
time to watch much else.

Speaker 2 (01:32:17):
All right, Jared's got a lot of questions. I have one,
right out of the box baseball question. So Pete Ross
is back in the news because of President Trump's pardon
that he is saying that he's going to give the
late Gray Pete Rose. Let me ask you this, as
a voter yourself for the Hall of Fame, if Pete
Rose's name was on the ballot, which it's never been,

(01:32:39):
if Pete Rose's name was on the Baseball Hall of
Fame ballot, what would you do?

Speaker 7 (01:32:46):
I would not vote for him because of this. I
My philosophy on voting for players who have had significant
disciplinary action against them in a baseball context, which obvious
he Rose has, is that if you if your transgressions
rose to the level of a suspension of a significant length,

(01:33:08):
which of course in the case of Rose it did.
It also did for people like Alex Rodriguez for BDS,
and did for Manny or Mirrors as well. And so
I don't vote for a rod I don't vote for Manny,
I would not vote for Rose. I do vote, and
then I have voted have in the past for bonds
and clements because they were not suspended. Now some may say,

(01:33:31):
how can you, how can you draw that distinction? The
reality is it is a very very difficult line to draw,
and I draw it at the line of was the
player suspended under Baseball's rules, and in the case of Rose,
obviously he was. I think that this this case and
and the conversations surrounding it are are very interesting. It's

(01:33:53):
certainly it's an interesting conversation. If if he were to
be retroactively oosthumously reinstated by Major League Baseball. Hypothetically, if
that happens, we are still a long way from him
even getting on a ballot to be considered by the

(01:34:14):
Hall of Fame. His period of time to be considered
by the writers is done, so that will not happen
because the writers, they only have a jurisdiction on a
player for a certain number of years after he's retired. Basically,
it's within the twenty years of his retirement are actually
now it's fifteen, so fifteen years of his retirement that's
the only window in which the player is considered by
the writers. So he's off of our ballot consideration. He'd

(01:34:37):
be right to the Veterans Committee, which meets with a
screening committee first, with heavy oversight by the Hall of
Fame chairman, Board of Directors. So basically, unless the Hall
of Fame, the power structure of the Hall. Unless the
Hall decides that they want this to happen, it will
not happen, no matter what the Commissioner's Office says or

(01:34:58):
any other entity. It's just it's up to the Hall
of Fame. And so I see that. I see a
decision by either the White House or or Major League
Baseball as being completely separate and really not all that
linked to the decision made by people in Cooperstown.

Speaker 1 (01:35:15):
I respect her candor JP, because that's really all you
can have is you have your values, and you vote
according to what your values are, and and that consistency
is admirable. Let's get to what I think is one
of the most intriguing divisions in baseball this year, the
NL Central the Brewers. This has been their division. You know,
three out of the last four years they've won it.
Woodrif's coming off the injury. We'll see how that, you know,

(01:35:36):
shapes out. Of course, they brought in nest Cortez in
the off season. You hope him and Sabali can kind of,
you know, seal up the back end of that rotation.
But the Cubs are the favorite. I guess the questions
two Part A. Do the Cubs deserve to be the
favorite based on what they've done in the off season,
and and b is woodrif's injury coming along, where you
think he's gonna have an impact early in the year.

Speaker 7 (01:35:55):
Yeah, Jorda, and two really important questions. First of all,
the Cubs eight and O by the way they're they're
fixed and Cactus League play, and you would have thought
that they were actually losing earlier to day to the Reds,
and even now they're having a rally. They closed the
gap to five to three, and they've still gotten met
on base. So who knows. Maybe they maybe they're gonna
have a perfect Cactus League season. But I mean that,

(01:36:16):
of course in jest. The reality is that the Cubs
are a better team now than they were when we
last saw them at the end of the season. You
bring in Kyle Tucker, I think you address some other
areas of need with with moves that they've made. I
like what the Cubs have done. The Brewers are are
still close. I actually was just in Brewers camp the
last couple of days in Arizona. Woodrift the idea is

(01:36:39):
that he will make an impact in the first half
of the season more than likely, but not on opening day.
I think he is. They're They're not really trying to
rush him to get ready for opening Day. It's more
of a probably by the my May May one is
probably a safe estimate giver take a couple of weeks.

(01:37:00):
But they have in Freddie Peralta someone who's more than
capable of starting on opening Day. Still like their bullpen.
They don't have Devin Williams anymore, they traded them to
the Yankees. We expect mcgil will get a lot of
closing duties for them early on. Yellich is back healthy,
Jackson Curio I think is only going to get better
year over year. They may have a young player Durbin

(01:37:20):
who they got on the Williams trade that may play
their base for them. So I think it's fair to
point to paint the Cubs as the favorites, but we
have seen it many times before. You dismiss the Brewers
at your own peril. And I also happen to think
that the Reds are going to be a much better
ball club this year than they were last year, with

(01:37:40):
some young talent and one of the more electrifying talents
in the game in.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
Eli de la Cruz.

Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
I want to ask about one of last year's biggest stories.
Paul skeins, you unbelievable starts. Started the All Star Game,
ended up the season with a sub two ERA Rookie
of the Year third in the Cy Young voting. Apparently
in his first springing back, he's coming up with a
two seam fastball. He's got a cutter. I mean, this
guy is adding to his repertoire. You've seen a lot

(01:38:08):
of pitchers over the years, JP. When I think of
the three most dominant pitchers over the last decade plus,
you have Scherzer, you have Verlander, you had Kershaw. Do
you see that possibility of Paul Skeen's being of that
ILK as being a dominant starter for an extended period
of time.

Speaker 7 (01:38:29):
I do it all. Of course, it all comes down
to health. But he is, and and this is maybe
the irony in this conversation. He's probably the best pitching
prospect pure prospects since Strasbourg, and Strasburg of course had
his career cut short by injury, even the more dazzling
pitchers like de Gram there just there hasn't been the

(01:38:50):
amount of sample size for a Hall of Fame case
yet for him, just because he's been hurt so much.
But do I think that Skeens can have a career
like Verlander, like Schuzer. Absolutely, It's a long way between
the answer I'm giving you right now and actually doing it,
because health and consistency are a huge reason why. But
I will say this, all the markers are there for

(01:39:13):
someone who I believe has the makeup to do it.
He really seems to have a real discipline and certainly
bitched at Air Force, so he's got that as part
of his background. But I like the discipline nature of
the way he goes about his work and the manner
in which he took upon the mantle of starting the

(01:39:34):
All Star Game, and he didn't get carried away with it.
He treated it with the respect and the reverence that
assignment deserves. He does, I think, in his own understated way,
have a good time competing and enjoying the game. But
he strikes me as the type of disciplined competitor that
Verlander is, that Schuzer is. Those guys I covered in

(01:39:57):
both in Detroit for years and they both both Justin
and Max arrived at the ballpark every day of their
careers and still do to this point. Even though they're
not this anymore, but they show up believing they're the
best in the world every day. That's that's how they
just engage with the universe. And Skeins doesn't necessarily have

(01:40:19):
a He's not gonna have this big swagger where he
talks about it a bunch, but you can tell when
you're watching him and when you're around him that he's
got that level of confidence. I think Skeens just hope
he's blessed with health, and if he is, he'll be
in Cooperstown one day.

Speaker 1 (01:40:35):
Yeah. I haven't seen a player as young as him
be as highly regarded the in the betting markets. I mean,
he is a prohibitive favorite two to one to win
the Cy Young where Zach Wheeler the next guy on
the list eight to one. That's a big gap between
Skeens and the rest of the market. So that's assuming
a lot out of a kid that again just is
figuring out how to pitch in Major League Baseball, but
he's doing it pretty well. Another big favorite the National

(01:40:57):
League West. I mean, the Dodgers are just a runaway
freight train. I guess the question JP is, I know,
over the long haul, it's really tough to outrun a
team like LA with all that firepower. But is there
a team in the National League West that has any
chance of upsetting the Dodgers to win that division? Or
are we just wasting our time and money.

Speaker 7 (01:41:16):
I think that the Diamondbacks have a legitimate shot. The Padres.
It's amazing. And the Dodgers, they were the most talented
team last year. They've only gotten better. They have what
appears to be an eighteen man rotation right now, so
they've got plenty of They got plenty of talent. They're
a better team now than they were a year ago.
They're scary. The d Backs have a really good team.

(01:41:36):
They also signed Corbyn Burns and less we forget the
Padres were one game away from knocking them out in
the first round. Okay, so the Padres came out with
one more quality performance in Game four or Game five,
that series ends and the Dodgers season is over, and
it's a very different conversation. The other thing I want

(01:41:57):
to point out, because I know both of you do
a lot of work both locally and nationally, this is
the thing I want everybody to remember when we hear
so much Oh my gosh, the game is all about
the big markets, and it's in New York and LA
and if anybody else wins it, it's going to be
a surprised. On this date last year, people were actually saying,

(01:42:18):
we have to redo the entire format of the playoffs
because we just had a World Series that featured the
Rangers and the Diamondback that was a year ago, with
the same sport, the same teams, the same rules, the
same everything, and people were saying, the war is the
large market team that wins their division. Whatever can we

(01:42:40):
do to show greater compassion for the Dodgers and Yankees
for their plight is just without optimism, but what could
ever happen to them? So let's just put it. I
wanted to mention that because I think that there's all
this we're getting carried away here with the love and
the inevitability of the Dodgers. Yes, they are the best team.
They probably should win the World again, but you could

(01:43:01):
have said that about them and the Yankees many times
in the last decade. And the Yankees last championship was
in two thousand and nine, and the Dodgers have won
two since nineteen eighty eight. So it's we gotta be
careful with getting too carried away by the recent results. Yes,
they've got a great team. They're going to start the
season in Japan. It's gonna be awesome. But I expect

(01:43:22):
the Cubs to take one of those two games in Japan.
Why not, because we saw the Podreys they split with
them in Korea last year, and the Cubs have a
quality ball club. So the gap between the Dodgers and
everybody else is not as big as the payroll would suggest.

Speaker 2 (01:43:39):
Well, again, I have a lot of friends in San
Diego that we're getting ready to celebrate. Hey, for Orlano,
the gas lamp was ready to roll. The Dodgers had
to have a bullpen day, and I must win Game
four against the Podrays in San Diego. They got that
win and the rest was history. So I'm with you. Yeah,
it is interesting to Juxtable was a Rangers Diamondbacks World

(01:44:03):
Series leading up to a Dodgers Yankees World Series?

Speaker 7 (01:44:06):
Right, Yeah, it's the same sports. And again, the last
time we had back to back world champions in this
sport was the Yankees in two thousand. Yeah, that was
the last time. So it's been a quarter century, so
I really and again right now, yes, we're talking a
ton about Dodgers, Mets, Yankees to some extent Boston. Yeah,

(01:44:30):
like the big market teams are having a bit of
a moment right now. They are, But there's a big
difference between winning a bunch of regular season games and
being able to have the Commissioner's Trophy at the end,
and we have not seen the team do it in
back to back years in twenty five years. So if
any I mean again, it's a lot of people think
the Dodgers will win, and then there's a decent chance

(01:44:52):
they'll be right. But remember this, if that is in
Jared's world, that's where you're putting your investment right now.
Bear in mind, and you're expecting something to happen that's
never happened in the last twenty five years.

Speaker 2 (01:45:03):
JP, great stuff is always thanks for joining us. We'll
talk to you next week.

Speaker 7 (01:45:07):
Can't wait for next week. It was a great pleasure, Stephen,
Jared to have a great weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:45:11):
All the best that there is, the great John Paul Morosi,
good stuff. Yeah, you're a baseball guy. I love baseball.
Let's get in there is wedding the appetite right now.

Speaker 1 (01:45:21):
Jared, Oh, I'm ready I'm really My favorite betting baseball
is called the nerfy.

Speaker 2 (01:45:25):
Oh hold it, hold on, I want to hear it.

Speaker 1 (01:45:27):
On the other side.

Speaker 2 (01:45:27):
I want to break this down because there are a
lot of people that shy away. They bet on football,
maybe they bet on the little hoops. They don't really
know how to bet on baseball. Jared's going to fill
you in on the other side, but first let's find
out what is trending right now.

Speaker 1 (01:45:42):
Martin is back. It's had a long day here as I.

Speaker 6 (01:45:46):
Have a sneaking suspicion that Jared is going to also
educate you or what a nerfy is.

Speaker 2 (01:45:50):
I have no idea. That's not a nerve done. When
he said the word, I immediately redirected because I have
no idea what he's talking about. But I'm going to
find out like everybody else.

Speaker 5 (01:46:01):
Yeah, nobody knows. I do though.

Speaker 6 (01:46:04):
Just for the record, Jared and I've actually followed some
of your Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:46:07):
No, first, you know, I appreciate you both. It's my thing.
You know what, great everyone has a thing.

Speaker 6 (01:46:12):
Great way to watch a baseball Anyway, let's get to
the business. The New York Jets could per at Ian
Rappaport are considering releasing wide receiver Devontae Adams should the
team not be able to trade him, but the Jets
are taking calls.

Speaker 5 (01:46:29):
The Celtics beat the Nuggets one ten to one oh three.

Speaker 6 (01:46:32):
Jalen Brown led the Celtics with twenty two points and
eight assists, Al Horford with nineteen. Jason Tatum only one
for seven from three, he finished with sixteen points. Jamal
Murray led Denver with twenty six. Jokic an assist away
from a triple double with twenty points, fourteen rebounds, and
nine Boston approved to forty three and eighteen.

Speaker 5 (01:46:51):
Right now, we have.

Speaker 6 (01:46:52):
The Portland Trailblazers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Speaker 5 (01:46:58):
Four minutes left in the first half. Oh, come on,
where did it go?

Speaker 6 (01:47:02):
It was four minutes left in the first half, forty
two to forty two. If there's been any update from there, No,
there we go. Are four minutes left in the first half.
They're in a commercial break right now, forty two to
forty two. Earlier today, in college basketball, Michigan State beat
Wisconsin the eighth rank Spartans with a seventy one to
sixty two wind. Jayden Aikins led them in scoring with
nineteen points. We have fifteenth rank in Michigan playing Illinois

(01:47:26):
right now. That score is Illinois twenty nine to twenty
five with about two thirty two left in the first half.

Speaker 5 (01:47:33):
Just under eight minutes left in.

Speaker 6 (01:47:34):
The first half between Memphis and UAB, Memphis trailing twenty
two to sixteen. In the NHL, the Maple Leafs beat
the Pittsburgh Penguins six to five. Almost wrote pirates. There's
all that scheme stuck. Almost But at the end of
the first period here it's the Bruins and the wild
all knotted up at zero.

Speaker 2 (01:47:56):
What do you think of neur feast? I have no idea.

Speaker 5 (01:47:59):
Yeah, I think guess.

Speaker 2 (01:48:00):
Nerfy Well, you have a nerf ball show. So no
correlation none. I can think of no correlation. But the
good news is I have this special time with jar
where I can actually find this out. You're going to
find it. Take them to school, all right? Once again,
a reminder, thank you very much, Martin. This is Fox
Sports Sunday, and don't forget after the show, our podcast

(01:48:23):
is going up. So if you miss any of today's show,
including Lucky Lishoe's predictions on tonight's oscars, check out the podcast.
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts,
and then follow rate and review the podcast. Again. Just
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. You'll
see the show posted right after we get off the air.
All right, Jared, So educate me right now on nurfy.

(01:48:45):
What are we talking about? And how do you bet baseball?

Speaker 3 (01:48:50):
So?

Speaker 1 (01:48:51):
The biggest complaint, so the usually the betting markets these days,
people who bet on games, the majority of them are
actually casual fans and they just want to make games
more exciting. So what's the biggest complaint. Well, we'll do
this in question and answer for him. The biggest complaint
the casual fan has about baseball today? What is that?

Speaker 3 (01:49:08):
Steve?

Speaker 1 (01:49:09):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:49:10):
The games are too long?

Speaker 1 (01:49:12):
You long, too barring, blah blah blah. That's why the
new rules were clocks. Yeah, all that stuff. So how
do we make the casual fan more excited to watch
a baseball game? While we just chop off the last
eight innings and we just focus on the first inning.
So the NERFY stands for no run first inning and

(01:49:33):
RFI nerfy all right.

Speaker 2 (01:49:35):
I like this, all right, and essentially it's just one
first inning nerfy.

Speaker 1 (01:49:38):
Alright, that's it. It's a yes or no bet. Will
there be a run scored in the first thing. There
could be ten runs scored in the first inning, doesn't matter. Yes, no,
will at least had one run be scored in the
first inning? Now, typically, well, I mean, what give us
some numbers here?

Speaker 2 (01:49:55):
Alright, So what percentage of games in Major League Baseball
all have a run scored in the first inning?

Speaker 1 (01:50:03):
So usually hold on, Actually, let me pull up my chart.
I'll give you the exact number from last year.

Speaker 2 (01:50:07):
This is kind stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:50:08):
This is well, I track every single one and I
tracked the playoffs too, which is absolutely fantastic. So last
year it was about fifty three percent of games had
no run in the first inning. Okay, so the nerfe
should be favored. It was actually a really historically good
year for the nervous.

Speaker 2 (01:50:27):
Now is this uh to interject for a second here? Yeah,
can you bet on just a single team not scoring
in the first or it's a collective first inning?

Speaker 1 (01:50:34):
It is a So the bet at its purest form
is both teams top and bottom of the first But
then there are derivatives of that bet, where you can say,
will the Astros score a run in the first inning?
Yes or no. Now, obviously those odds significantly higher because
you're just getting three outs instead of six. But the
reason why this bet is so popular is because we

(01:50:55):
live in a society that is instant gratification. So instead
of having a wait or a nine inning game, literally
the first now I have one end because you can
also bet the other side. Right, you can bet the
your feet yes run first inning or the nerfeet no
run first inning. Now I have one and lost these
bets before Steve on the first pitch of the game.

(01:51:16):
There is no bigger thrill or agony than winning or
losing a bet in one pitch. Okay, Yll Schorer's known
for this first pitch.

Speaker 2 (01:51:27):
Boom home run, all right, So bottom of the first inning,
no hits, nothing, zero, two pitch and a guy hits
a home run and you lose the bet, and it's
it's it's brutal.

Speaker 1 (01:51:38):
But so that would be brutal, And I've lost bets
like that before too. So I've also lost bets where
an error or something very unforeseen, like you know, ball
hits a pebble goes into left field and and a
run scores based off of that. Now, the timer, it's
a cruel bet. You could do everything right and then
something like that could happen. But again, because of the

(01:52:01):
culture that we live in, these bets have become wildly popular.
So I took it to the next level. Over the
last three years, I've tracked every single game. I've tracked
every single team, I've tracked all the odds, and it's
a market that again, right, if you're talking about how
to find an edge in a baseball game, well, the
actual game itself everything's kind of baked in. But when
you take those derivatives and you really boil it down

(01:52:22):
to six outs one inning, then you can maybe start
to find Hey, this picture, because what is the one
thing you know for sure in every game? The first inning,
you have one, two to three in the order, and
I know who the picture is. Once I get past
the first inning, I have no idea who's gonna be
up in the order. I have no idea who the
pitcher is going to be. So betting on a full game,
there's a lot of unknowns. I know exactly the sequence

(01:52:45):
of events that's going to take place in the first inning.
It's the most known commodity in any baseball game. Who's
at the top of the order. Really, you only have
to handicap the top five hitters, wow, and then the pitcher,
and you can do splits. This guy's really good against
this team. And the other thing is handicapping the pictures,
some elite pictures like Max Shurs or Garrett Cole. They
get a little amped up in the first inning, right,

(01:53:07):
what's the age old cliche, get them early or you
don't get them. So you get a lot of these
odds where it's like, oh, Max Shure's is on the
mound today, he's gonna pitch a shutout in the first inning. Well,
it gets at lamped up early, throws a fastball right
down the middle and it's gone.

Speaker 3 (01:53:18):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:53:18):
He doesn't give up around the rest of the game.
So again that's where the angles are in baseball, and
that's where I've had a ton of I mean, this
has been three years of this now with these Nerfy bets,
it's been an absolute blast and they become very popular
in the market.

Speaker 2 (01:53:30):
See, I think about a lot of times you hear
these ace pitchers. They always say you got to get
it to them, get them early, because if you don't,
then they settle in and it's lights out. The good stuff.
So now, like the Nerfy is, it's got to be
wildly popular the.

Speaker 1 (01:53:46):
Way you're people go crazy for the right bets.

Speaker 2 (01:53:49):
Well, I'm gonna take advantage of Jerry's presence on the
show today because on the other side, we're going to
talk about what's hot right now? Okay, what's hot? He's
hanging in Vegas. This is where he is. He of courses,
are betting analysts, so he's got it all down. What's
hot right now? What should you be taking paying attention
to on the sports market. We'll break it down. This
is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harvin, Jared Smith. Here, Fox

(01:54:12):
Sports Sunday. We are live from the ti iraq dot
Com studio. So I thank our crew today, Martin who
fills many roles here. He just finished the show and
then did updates on this show. Chris, who lent his
expertise on the Academy Awards today, as long as the
resurgence of his beloved Detroit Pistons.

Speaker 8 (01:54:30):
It's right, Pistons, Yeah, Pistons, Detroit basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:54:35):
Yeah, good stuff.

Speaker 8 (01:54:37):
It is a It's it's funny because I you know,
you know me, I do Lions content, but I the
Pistons are kind of like my it's a guilty pleasure,
but it's not one I've been able to enjoy probably
for about fifteen years.

Speaker 2 (01:54:50):
They were I mean, they went to seven consecutive Eastern
Conference finals right in your heyday when you're young, right,
My senior year in high school was four Yeah, exactly,
So that that makes a lot of sense. And of course,
our brilliant producer Shay who just continues to accelerate into
superstardom here at Fox Sports Radio. It's too nice.

Speaker 1 (01:55:10):
Come on, no, I don't know, it's compare me with
you and I just keep going up.

Speaker 2 (01:55:15):
We try to we try to do our best. I'll
tell you. It's been phenomenal today, is Jared. Jared's been
unreal today because it's a unique angle. Jared. You know
you're I find your odyssey interesting, you know you you
you know I've read your bio. You know I had
to catch up, like I you know, who's this kid?
And of course I see the whole Penn State thing.
I'm like, oh, no, should have known, should have known,

(01:55:37):
would never be rid of that college? No, no, no, no,
But I mean you've sort of migrated into this world
of being a betting analyst. Obviously here on the we
you know, during the football season we count down to
kickoff and everything else. It's always been a passion years
Otherwise you wouldn't do this, uh and so. But the

(01:56:00):
one thing about being immersed in that world. And yeah,
I one of my very first sponsors when I did
my first talk show was the Olympiad, which was the
first sportsbook in Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace. And one
of the guys that was a dear friend of mine.
Well it was Lou Diamico and Vinnie Maulo.

Speaker 1 (01:56:20):
Okay, I know him both. Vinnie.

Speaker 2 (01:56:22):
I worked with Vinnie. Well, if you see Vinnie, say
Steve Harty says high. But literally they were sponsors of
our show. And to show you how crazy this is.
My first year was nineteen eighty nine. We would bring
one of the two on at five o'clock West Coast
time to start to talk about what's going on at
the Olympiad. And it was Game three of the World Series.

(01:56:44):
Was that day they were about to have the game
on and they said, wow, we just lost our transmission.

Speaker 1 (01:56:50):
That was the day of the earthquake at the.

Speaker 2 (01:56:53):
Giants Ace and we were at such a primitive little
radio station. We didn't even have a wire service, so
one of us might have said, wow, what happened to earthquake
or something that we had no idea. They just had
lost their transmission at the Olympiad in Las Vegas. So
I know what it's about. It it's an incredible world.
I really end of your situation there. But the one

(01:57:15):
thing about being a part of it is like, you know,
you want to sort of lend your expertise. You know
what's hot what's not right now? So what's hot right now?
I mean where people turning for there? I mean once
the NFL season ends, you know, and obviously the whole
world's making some sort of bet on the Super Bowl.
Where do you go from there?

Speaker 1 (01:57:35):
It's all college basketball. I think it's actually a very
seamless transition, like my sports calendar. So this is the
fifth year that I've been a professional betting analyst, And
you know it was it started in sports broadcasting, and
then I took kind of a finance route when when
I settled down to New York and got married, and
then the marriage ended, and then all of a sudden
I wanted to get back into broadcasting, and that's when
that was twenty nineteen when Passporal was repealed. Is twenty

(01:57:57):
eighteen when Passport was repealed, But eight twenty nine teen
is when all these networks said, hey, there's there's some
content demand here. And I had a friend reach out
to me and say, hey, you know, I remember back
at Penn State. There you go another call back to
early in the show that I remember it used to
be a big gambling college. Do you still want to Can
you talk about it? Because you know, we're going from
the Fantasy network to the to the gambling network and

(01:58:19):
we need people who can talk about it. And that
just put my you know, career back on a rocket
ship because I was struggling in broadcasting. I was a
local news reporter in New York for a number of
years until I, you know, got into the finance realm.
But what this does is it allows you to approach
the the gambling markets like a sports calendar. Because the
public loves the NFL, loved the Super Bowl, and then

(01:58:40):
March Madness is as bad on as the super Bowl.
Like that week you're referring to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
almost as much handle or if not more than the
actual Super Bowl itself. So we get this nice little
transition into March Madness, and then things kind of calm
down a little bit. April May will get the Draft,
and then we'll get the NBA playoffs, and then we
just reset the cycle once again again as we get

(01:59:01):
to the summer in the NFL. So right now I'm
fully focused in college basketball, and I think over the
next two weeks conference tournaments, especially starting up, you will
start to hear a lot more buzz around the NCAA
tournament and people betting on it. If you are a
March Madness fan.

Speaker 2 (01:59:15):
This is something else I recommend, and my friends and
I did this years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:59:19):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:59:20):
Will we take in that first weekend all four days
in Vegas? Yeah, you get rooms and then you just
sit in the sports book just you know, how many
bets can you make as many?

Speaker 1 (01:59:32):
The limit does not exist.

Speaker 2 (01:59:34):
Sixteen games on Thursdays, sixteen games on Friday, eight games
on Saturday, eight games on Sunday. It is an absolute
How do you spend that first week in Vegas?

Speaker 1 (01:59:45):
I am usually very busy, and I am also usually
locked in my command center, and I don't see the
light of day until like Sunday night. That's usually how
it goes for me.

Speaker 2 (01:59:55):
Wow. Wow, I'll tell you how spoiled them is the
UCLA basketball. I don't even care UCLA making the tournament
if they don't make it to the second weekend.

Speaker 1 (02:00:03):
Yeah, that sounds about it.

Speaker 2 (02:00:04):
I don't unless there's a Sweet sixteen attached to a season,
that season was a waste. Absolutely, Hey, Jared, great stuff today.
I always appreciate the time. Thanks so much. Keep it
here on Fox Sports Radio.

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