Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Type in media.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: With a burning river. Our sports cast, the Guardians bats are hitting up a little with the weather. Hopefully a solar burst is on the way. They need it. OTAs are officially underway, minus a few key pieces. Who are they? And how big of a deal is it we finally give away this wicked autographed jersey we've been bellyaghing about for weeks? And is it too much for a few GD outfits, the rain to knock some of this pollen down? I sound like Jerry stiller on muscle relaxers. And Kenny and Ron received a cease and assist. What's that all about? And more on the Burning River sportscast.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Let's do that again.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Oh, that's the one, bro.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: But you made me laugh too hard.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: It doesn't matter. It's over. We're just rolling with it. You told me.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Oh, good God.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Just roll with it, man.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: But anyways, enough about us skipping and Shannon FM f them all.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's just the further worcification of the NFL.
Can you imagine if Roger Goodell was in charge of the military?
We put people in coal mines and let them breathe in black smoke for 35 years.
But even that is soft because you're soft.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: You're soft because great, I'm hashtag flaccid right now. Kenny would love to get fired.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: I'm opening my mouth and the noises won't come out.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: We're going to go boating and get.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Hammer drunk because I'm a little pissed off.
Welcome in to the Burning River sportscast presented by Tabin Media. I'm Kenny Thunder. Seated beside red hot Ronnie Jams, the number one name in news and brews and the only strawberry blonde to win the Presidential Award of Broadcast and Podcast Excellence. Ronnie, where can the masses find the most exciting Rhymes with Cleveland Frowns podcast in all of the land?
[00:02:22] Speaker A: They can find our podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I'm talking Apple Podcasts, spotify Stitcher. Google Podcasts. Amazon Music. Pandora iHeartRadio Podcast castro good pods and so many more. And bear with us, kenny's dying. I'm dying. We have colds. We have allergies. It's all just a big clusterfuck here in Northeast Ohio, and we cannot talk.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: This is grass, man. It's killing me.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Yeah, all that pollen out there.
All right, so we're going to start off tonight's show. Today's Show. Tonight. Is this the Today show or the Tonight Show?
[00:02:57] Speaker B: It's the morning show.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: It's the morning show. So we're going to start off the show with the sign nick Chubb Jersey Giveaway, presented by Tapin Media, burning River Sportscast. Not in any way whatsoever affiliated with the Cleveland Browns or Nick Chubb.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: All right, let's get to it.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Yeah. We have a winner for this thing.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Finally have a winner.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: We have a winner. First off, before we get started here, I do want to take a moment to thank everyone that entered the giveaway and subscribed on YouTube. Very gracious of you. We really appreciate it. If you're watching this now, and you did not win, then make sure to stay subscribed. We will be doing more giveaways and raffles in the future. And I know that the next raffle that we have on the schedule will coincide with the grand opening of our online store. So that's coming up soon, probably in the next month and a half or so. We're trying to get that ready, but I think it's going to be either the first 250 or the first 300 customers will be entered to win something special.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: So your chances of winning are pretty high.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: Do you know what this something special is going to be yet? Do we have that selected? I know we've thrown a couple of ideas.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: It's going to be pretty cool. That's all I'll say. All right.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: So make sure you stay subscribed and you're ready to go.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: But yeah.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: So, you'll know, when we know what that prize is going to be and then you can get entered. But without further delay, we're talking about this Nick Chubb jersey giveaway. So let's welcome Jeff Shelton, the winner of the jersey.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Jeff what's going on, guys?
[00:04:28] Speaker A: How are you?
[00:04:29] Speaker C: Good, man. How you guys?
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Good, good. So you have been selected to win the Nick Chubb autograph jersey. How does it feel, man?
[00:04:39] Speaker C: Great. So listen, about a month ago, I also got chose through work to actually go meet Nick Chubb up in Willoughby and throw the football with him at Lost Nation Sports Park up.
So a month ago, literally, I was on the field with them throwing a football and just getting to chop it up with them for a few minutes or whatever. And it was pretty great. And they made a poster size picture of us. And he signed those and they got mailed to us.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: And my buddies were, damn, you're having a run here.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: And I was like, listen, if the Browns can have the run I'm having right now with just my little bit of luck, we're good. We're good.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Yeah. I feel it. I feel it. So not to make every single one of our other subscribers super jealous, but this is Jeff's second run in with Nick Chubb in his many.
Um, look, so you kind of answered my first question here. My first question was going to be, have you ever won anything like this? Obviously.
And I was going to ask you about your time with Nick Chubb because I did some stooping. I saw your profile picture. I saw you said profile picture for life. So definitely mine as well.
[00:05:48] Speaker C: Probably never changing it realistically.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: But besides that, is Nick Chubb as great in real life as he seems for, like, the average fan on TV?
[00:05:56] Speaker C: So, listen, I got to be honest with you guys. Yeah. So when I was going to meet him, I had this whole plan in my head. I was talking to some of the guys at the gym because I was worried he's going to be real, like he's all business on the field as we all know it's. Real straight face.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Nothing about him, right?
[00:06:10] Speaker C: Love it. And my son's Ten, he's a huge fan. But anyway, so told my budies, I'm like, hey, if he's real, like straight laced, he doesn't say much. I'm not going to lie to you guys. I'm cracking a joke. My goal is going to strictly be to get Nick Chubb to laugh if he's like real straight. And everybody's like, oh, my God. Great. So I was going to make some sort of, like, leg size joke or whatever. Since I had the shorts on, I was ready to go after those Hawks dude. I was going to be like, hey, man, I'm glad you wore these pants today because otherwise I didn't want my legs looking small in this picture. But no, he was super funny.
He was joking. He was laughing. I was throwing the football to him. He was like, man, you're throwing some heat.
And then when we got done in the little video I posted, when we got done, I walked up to him, got to DAP him up again and was just kind of like thanked him for kind of he's such a great role model for my kid, man. I try to teach my son, put in the work. Don't worry about being loud. Don't worry about being nosy. Just put in the work. So I thanked him for that and he was cool, man. It was just really just the nicest guy. He was high fiving random kids because I don't know if you're familiar, I wasn't with Lost Nation Sports Park, but it's like an indoor soccer field. They got a bunch of different things there. So there was people there and kids are just like, oh, my God. When he walks in, he's high five in these random kids. He's got no entourage. It was him, his mom, and who I believe is his girlfriend. And it was just real relaxed. It was great.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Yeah, that's awesome. No, I mean, that's the kind of down to earth vibe that we love about Nick Chubb.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Yeah, like you said, a great role model for all the kids. He is all business on the field. He doesn't get into trouble off the field. He just does everything right. So it is a know, on our show, we've talked at length about the possibility that they're going to be moving on from him just because the the direction that the team is going with the offense and things like mean. Do you have any thoughts on that? Did you get any inside information from Nick Chubb? Are they in extension talks? What's going on here?
[00:08:06] Speaker C: You're your best friend.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Basically.
[00:08:12] Speaker C: I just told him realistically, I was like, I got to be honest with you, man, you can't ever leave. I did tell him that. You can't ever leave. I was like, I don't know that I've been a bronze my whole life. I'm 39 years old my whole life. And I can honestly say I told him straight. I was like, you're the only bronze player. I can honestly say I need you to retire.
Whatever happens, I need you to retire here. Now, as far as how do I think it works, they don't pay back, but I just feel like he's the exception to the rule, and I'm not even talking about his ability. I just feel like he's the guy you don't move on from purely based on the fan base. You can't he doesn't cause any issues. Everyone loves him. And realistically, I know the offense is going to look different, I mean, as you guys do, but look at his numbers out of the shotgun. I think he's going to have a great year. I think he comes in with another great year. I think he does what he always does. Yeah, we pass probably a lot more. It looks like we're going to be pass heavy, but I can't see it going different. And how do you move on from I just think that you got to make it work.
Fans would riot. Even if we're solid, fans would lose.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: I keep saying. Yeah, that's what I come back to, is the fact that fans would absolutely ride. I mean, we saw the backlash when Baker Mayfield, for example, was kind of sent packing, and he know, regardless of how anybody feels about Baker Mayfield, he is not how these fans would feel if they sent Nick Chubb packing. And he didn't, as you said, retire a Cleveland Brown, which is what I mean, both of us here are pulling for he is my favorite Cleveland Brown that I have ever watched.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Agreed, 100%. To have a guy that's been here that short of time, that I think so many people feel the same way about, so strongly about, it's just special. And I think the thing about Nick Chubb is this offense, even without Nick Chubb, it doesn't get so even if even if Nick Chubb's skill starts to decline over the next few, if if his role is changing, I don't know that that's a huge detriment. Right? I mean, because as long as he's still putting in the work and is getting the job done, I can't see how you get better by getting ready.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: And with Nick Chubby, he doesn't seem like a me first kind of guy. So hopefully, with being that team first mentality, even if he loses a few carries here and there, his overall numbers may suffer. But I saw he just came out and said, I want to be with the Browns for the long haul. I'm chasing Jim Brown, so that's where we're at. So hopefully Jeff, I want him to retire a brown. I hope he does stay here. I hope that's the case.
[00:10:52] Speaker C: And how do you get better? I mean, like, you guys get how do you get better? I mean, I'm not saying I get it, man. We all know if you watch the draft, you watch the NFL, there's running back steals late in the draft. Everybody knows that. I'm not saying you're always looking for that. Me and my budies don't even believe drafting guys in the first round for running back. Don't. When we watch the draft every year, it is what it is not to knock.
I just think that as long as there's no decline, which I don't know how there could be, I mean, I get it. We shifted gears this year. Ford's going to be the backup. It looks know, but I think that that's a good thing. I loved cream hunt. I was glad he was here. But I think that we all saw production decline last year and I think it's just that's the reason he's not with the team right now. Yeah. I think as long as Chubb keeps moving, I think we're good. And I think that he doesn't seem like money guy to me either. I mean, he would prove me I'm not saying that he doesn't want to be paid fairly, but he doesn't come across like money guy. That I think when it comes time to do that one last deal because I think that's really what we're looking at with running backs. Probably one more deal.
He's not going to try to break the bank. I think he's just going to want what's fair.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:58] Speaker C: And I think that as long as we can give him what's fair, we're good.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: When that's kind of how his contract situation worked out the last time, right? I mean, he got paid, but he didn't get paid.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: He wasn't what's his name? Steelers. Right. Le'Veon Bell sitting there holding out for being the highest paid quarterback.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: I mean, and these other guys, you see it saquon. No deal. You know what I mean? Dalvin, Cook, Dolphins are trying to flip them. I mean, you could go on. It is what it is. We got the good guy locked up and I think that we're going to be able to keep it that way is what feel strongly. Because he'll be one that heartbroken if I got to watch Nick Chubb ever put on another jersey. That one's going to hurt, man.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Same, bro. Same. No. One more question for you here, Jeff.
How do you think the Browns fare this year? And I'm talking hot takes only.
I don't want none of this bull crap. We're going to be about 500. No, I want you to pick a side. I mean, unless you seriously think we're going to be 500. But no, where do you think we're going to end up this year? What do you see us doing?
[00:13:03] Speaker C: So to me, it's playoffs or bust. And here's where I'm at. The way I look at it is we went to the playoffs with Baker that one year and it wasn't and Baker played all right, but it wasn't that good. And anybody that had high expectations for Watson to come back with six games last year and ball out had lost their mind, we knew what it was. It was for him to get comfortable. The season was kind of what it was. Cool.
I obsess over these clips, man. Watson's at all the OTAs, he looks great. I think that we did a lot to improve the wide receiver core. I'm not hung up on this DHOP stuff. I don't really care about DHOP. It would be cool, but we're so deep. Who are you getting rid of? Right?
[00:13:42] Speaker A: We're losing in that scenario. DPJ.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: Yeah, it's DPJ 100%. Right. And we all know that. That's fine.
I think it's playoffs or bust. I think Watson's ready. He's putting in the work. And I honestly want to make the playoffs and win that first game. I don't want another first round exit. Let's make some moves. Let's try to show that we're here because for all intents and purposes, I'm all in on Jim Schwartz. I think we made great improvements on the I. My thing is I think the wide receiver improvements we made were great. I was high on Elijah Moore last year. I wanted him. So all that did was come together for a guy I already wanted. And God, when we added our speed guy because Schwartz was not it, I think that he doesn't even make we.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Hate Schwartz on this program, so thank you, dude.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: And I wanted to love him. Football player I wanted to love him. Yeah, I'm sure he's a great guy.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Except for, I don't know, player of all time, though. Absolute.
[00:14:41] Speaker C: I don't know if you saw he got baited recently online, though, on Twitter into liking a fake quote from DHOP that said, I always wanted to play with that guy Anthony Schwartz, and he retweeted it.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Really just wants to play with him.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: And he retweeted it and said, let's get to work.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Football player. He's also delusional.
[00:14:59] Speaker C: He doesn't know who you are, Schwartz. I'm sorry, man. Not to be a jerk. He doesn't with you, but yeah. So playoffs are buz.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Yeah, we're with you. We appreciate that.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: Quick follow before we jump off here with Jeff. So you mentioned Deshaun's first six games last year, and I agree. I think we all knew what that was. It was difficult to think past beyond that, that it would be any more than really just kind of shaking off the rust. But what's your leash on him this year before you hit the panic.
[00:15:29] Speaker C: Think? I don't really have a panic moment for him this year, if I'm being honest. I think I'm comfortable with five.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: You're not panicking.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Okay. You're right.
If he's out here and we're like through five games and we got like, four touchdowns and like, three picks and it's like we're owing five, yeah, I got a problem.
Realistically, nobody can sell me, and this is where I'm going to get if I'm wrong, I'm going to get punched. It is what it is. The takes and hit me in the face. You just can't punch me and tell me that this man is that far. I guess he missed a year and a half, if you will. But you can't tell me he's this far from the guy that was there in 2020 with nobodies in the Texas. I'm not buying it. They traded away D Hunt for a running back that's not even in the league anymore, essentially that we all bought into off of one fantasy football season. They did get him a left tackle, which was great, but the help was awful. It was just bad. So I think that through the first five games could it look a little bit whatever because we're getting used to I think the offense looks different. I think we all agree on that. It's going to be a lot more spread out, a lot more shotgun.
But I think he's got something to prove and I think game one's a chance to prove it. I want to come out and I want to beat Cincinnati right out of the gate.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: I picked Cleveland to win that first game in our theoretical schedule game that we played last episode. So everybody predicts the schedule in.
But seriously, Jeff, we really appreciate you joining us. It's always a pleasure to talk to a fellow dog, but why don't you go ahead real quick before we jump off, let everybody know who made you a winner of this fantabulous prize. That is an autographed Nick Chubb jersey.
[00:17:26] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. Appreciate it, guys. And I want to give a shout out to Burning River Sportscast presented by Tapin media for making me a winner, man. Thanks so much for having me on today, guys.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for being here.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: Thanks. Have a good one, guys.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: Yeah, you too.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: Bye.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: Bye, man. Good times. Good times there with always. Always feels good to make someone's day.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: Let me tell you this, jeff brought the heat, man.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: He did bring the heat. He was way more prepared than I thought he was going to be. Listen, for everybody at home, I literally gave no prompts. I said, we're going to bring you in and I'm going to ask you some questions. So hopefully you're good to go.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: That dude's a winner, man. There may be a third spot open on the Burning River Sportscast after that.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Sorry about it. Big seal. He's not in the booth tonight.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: He's absent. He has a good excuse this week. His brother's graduating high.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: You know, you never lose your job to excused absence unless you're the big Seal FMLA. Yeah. So sorry about it. No, but seriously, though, I'm jealous now because Jeff is taking our signed Nick Chubb jersey so our studio will once again be without one.
We didn't think this through. We probably should have bought two.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe later.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: But while we're talking about Nick Chubb in the Cleveland Browns, don't forget to check out our merchandise at WW dot Thetappinmedia.com Shop. It is in no way whatsoever affiliated with the Cleveland Browns or nicholas. Jamal. Chubb. None. It is 100% ours. Tapin Media, burning River Sportscast, not the Cleveland Browns or Nick Chubb.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: We purchased it all here, and we're here for your entertainment.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: So but with that being said, we have dropped our Chubb line, which refers to your level of chub during the game.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Level of excitement.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah. While you're watching the Cleveland Browns. So there was a post about it this week. The products are tagged. Make sure you take a look. Go see what we have to offer here. Many other things besides just the chub line on that shop.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: Yeah, but the whole range of chubb is pretty exciting.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: Yeah, you let everybody know just how excited you are.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: But yeah. Get to the store WW dot Thetapendmedia.com shop and then click on show specific and Burning River Sportscast to get to our merchandise. And we will constantly add items as time goes on. But right now, let's get in to the Burning River Rundown.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Burning River Rundown.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: All right. Before we get into all of the shenanigans, we once again start the show on a somber note this week, jim Donovan, the voice of the Cleveland Browns, has announced that his leukemia has unfortunately come back. If you're a fan of the Cleveland Browns, then Jim Donovan is like a part of your family. I would say you're used to listening to him every single Sunday, calling the Browns games. His cancer was in remission for the last several years, but that's no longer the case. However, we are confident here at the Burning River Sportscast, presented by Tapping Media, that Jim is going to kick cancer's ass once again and be back in no time, possibly even for the season.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Yeah, hopefully for the season. This has been what's the word? It's been a long term issue for Jim. I mean, he was first diagnosed in, I think the year 2000, had a bone marrow transplant in 2011. So we've been fortunate to have Jim on the radio for all that time and for him to be as healthy as he has been. But it's just one of those things that, like you said, it brings you down a note, creates some soberness to just everything that we are and we talk about and the things we like to have fun with. Because you don't realize how lucky we are to have a guy like Jim Donovan in Cleveland, especially if you listen to sports talk. And there really are we are so fortunate. And the thing is, it's not that we don't know. It because there's plenty of people that I see anytime we post about Jim that still talk about how they'll turn their TV on mute and they'll deal with the time delay just to hear Jim Donovan call games, because he's so much better than listening to whoever the CBS or Fox lineup is each week. He's a true professional. One of those just really good media guys.
I think a lot of the guys around town have had the chance to work with Jim. I'll tell you the same thing about what a great guy he is, but just always insightful and just one of those guys. You can feel the passion of what he does, and there's nobody that does it better than Jim Donovan. So best wishes to him and his family. And like Ronnie said, hopefully we have him back on the mic for this season.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Yeah, and I did have a quick note. Mean, this is just kind of a weird thing that I saw. A lot of people were saying he had a leukemia relapse. So pardon me if that's the correct term, but that just seems so it felt so wrong. I was like, Why do we call it a relapse?
[00:22:42] Speaker B: Maybe how he described it, but I agree, it felt weird.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: It felt like we were talking about some sort of addiction or something that he could kick that just came back and it's like, no, this is cancer. It's a little bit more serious than a relapse. Yeah, but I don't know. Just neither here nor there. I just wanted to say nomenclature.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Schulman Klature.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: I thought it was odd everywhere. I saw that.
But anyways, Jim Donovan get better. Kick that cancer's ass.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Jim Donovan is the Big Jimmy in Cleveland.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: Yeah, big Jimmy. And then Jimmy haslam's a little Jimmy.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Little Jimmy.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: Lil Jimmy.
[00:23:17] Speaker A: In other browns news, here DHOP. Rumors are hot and heavy right now. So hot. So hot. So it sounds like the Browns are legit. One of the two top contenders for nukes services.
The players have been recruiting him on Twitter. That's all been public, but according to reports, deshaun Watson is going all out behind the scenes to recruit him. What are your thoughts here? Kenny Thunder?
[00:23:41] Speaker B: Well, my first thought is I think Deshaun Watson needs to probably cool his jets a little bit because the bad luck if you go all out and then you don't get the guy.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Well, I think that's why he's not doing it publicly. Those are just reports that are behind the scenes he's doing.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Yeah, but those kinds of reports don't get out unless you want someone to leak that.
You want someone to leak something I'm leaking right now. Ill brain fluid.
[00:24:05] Speaker C: That's true.
[00:24:06] Speaker B: No, here's my thoughts. Look, DHOP is, we all know, has tremendous hands, one of the best in the game for the last several years. But I do have concerns, and it's primarily around the fact that he's 30, which we often talk about, like, that's ancient in NFL land. And it is, but he's 30. It's not like he's 40.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: He's not your normal athlete in the NFL either. He's one of the top performers at his position.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: He is. But what I worry about is actually the PED suspension from last year. Because if you're at a point where you're 29 years old and you're feeling like I need an edge because I've lost something, that's a personal thing, right? You aren't taking those just because you want your body to look good. He was in great shape. Now I will say that 30 and need PEDs to compete.
That's concerning.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: He has had a few injuries lately that's the argument is that he was taking them to help come back from the injuries quicker.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: And that's I think, the second concerning piece is everybody that has been talking about this, talking about DHOP has mentioned, like, this isn't a guy that's going to practice a whole lot. He's not going to be with your squad. He's going to show up on game days and hopefully you get the best out of him. But I just don't know. Look, I am all for bringing in a guy with tremendous talent like DHUB. I'm also a little bit gun shy of bringing in another Odell Beckham type that we have high expectations for that just never really fits into the recipe.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: The rub there, I would say, is.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: You want to rub me?
[00:25:52] Speaker A: No.
DHOP has never had locker room issues like Odell has. D Hop, at least all of his teammates and everybody that's ever been around him has said he's a very team forward guy and wants to win and all this stuff that he quit going.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: To practice last year.
[00:26:11] Speaker A: Look, I mean, I get it.
We're going to get into practice and what that actually means here a little bit. Yeah, we talk about practice.
All right. So we'll run through the major questions here that everybody has surrounding DHOP and all the rumors that are going on right now. So one, do you think this is going to happen ultimately? Do you think the Browns end up with DeAndre Hopkins?
No, you don't.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: And I'll tell you why. It's because when they interviewed Kevin Stefanik.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: The first time stefanik, we're back to Stefanik. It's his birthday last week. A couple of weeks ago, we said Stefanskia. Now he's back to Stefanik about.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: D Hop's, a great athlete, this and that. But I'm very comfortable with the guys in our room.
What was he going to say?
But what I thought was interesting was then when they went and asked what's his face in Dallas from Green Bay, what's?
[00:27:10] Speaker A: McCarthy.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: McCarthy. They asked Mike McCarthy the same thing and he know dhop's a great athlete and all that, great career. I'm comfortable with the guys in our room. I think that's becoming the refrain across the league with all these teams, is we're not going to say too much. We're not going to get into this whole conjecture and speculation about what this team is going to do. Comfortable with the guys in our room. It's. An easy, print friendly response to we're not that interested.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: Fair.
I'm going to say I do think it is going to happen.
And my reasons for this are and we'll get more into DPJ and everything here in just a second. But my reasons for this, my main reason for this is because there are now DPJ trade rumors going around and the fact that he may not be in our receiving corps makes me think that possibly there's going to be a spot opening up for DHOP here soon. So that's my main reason. Next question. Do you want it to happen?
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Do I want it to happen? Yes. I'm always in favor of the Browns bringing in talent and making themselves better. And whether or not DHOP practices every day is less important to me over whether or not he's a good fit.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Here in a stud on Sunday.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Does he still have it? I guess is my biggest concern is if you were feeling like that a year ago, like you weren't quite there and then you figured that PEDs would have came in two years ago, this was probably when he was 28, somebody said, hey, I got this a secret sauce for you. And he was like, all right, don't be hoodwinked. And so that's my biggest concern, whether any practices look, a lot of guys get veteran days off during the season, so that doesn't bother me as much. But yeah, I mean, if they signed DHOP tomorrow, I'd be stoked. This team again is making win now moves because they feel like they have a window and the right personnel to do it.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: So and I 100% agree with you. I think if we could get DHOP for a reasonable price, I don't want to break the bank for him, but if we can get him for a reasonable price, I think absolutely we do it with the window that we have right now and saying, like you said, win now, I want to win right now. So I would make the move.
But with that being said, who ends up being the OD man out in that case, and I've already said it's going to be DPJ. He's on the last year of his contract. We still could get value for him if we trade him. The other people you got behind him, like David Bell would be another option. But David Bell is on a second year of his rookie contract. You're probably not getting rid of him. All these other guys we just brought in, you're probably not getting rid of any of them. Amari Cooper is obviously staying. So, I mean, the obvious answer to me is DPJ is who you trade away because he's an up and coming I don't know if I'd necessarily call him star, but he's an up and coming solid receiver. And there's talk about if we keep him and he ends up a free agent next year he's going to be one of the top wide receiver free agents in the league.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: I don't think anyone is the OD man out here. I don't think that signing DHOP forces you to relinquish any of those assets.
Do you have to move them around on paper to practice squad or this and that? Do you maybe have to look at contracts and rework numbers? Possibly, but I don't see a room with a guy like DHOP because I think he's here today, gone tomorrow. Right. So that's a move that says, hey, we're going to bring in flashy talent.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: But you sign him just for this year.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: But the reality is flashy talent may be good to win you a game or two in the NFL, but you also need to sustainably build this thing. Because he's an Andrew Berry draft pick, I don't think he's going anywhere.
DPJ and the fact that they brought in some other guys, like who else is in that receiving room is going to be critically important this year. To me. It's Elijah Moore. So I don't think elijah Moore, DPJ DHOP.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: Elijah Moore is actually my biggest argument against DHOP because I think they think that Elijah Moore is going to have a real breakout season and in order to allow him to do that, you might not be able to sign DHOP.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I just look at all four of those guys when I say they all do different things. Right.
[00:31:25] Speaker A: That is also true. I think there's room for all of them to eat if we're going to play the style of offense know it's reported that we want to play.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: And it wouldn't surprise me for them to keep cedric tillman on the bench a lot this year the same way they did with david bell last maybe.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: By far our tallest receiver.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Maybe David Bell ends up being the on man out because a guy like Cedric Tillman comes in and flashes in his pet.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: I'm going to be so pissed if they get rid of the Venus fly trap.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: But I think it's clear that they can move on from Anthony shorts at any moment.
You have Jacques Grant. There special teamer.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: He's just a placeholder at this point.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: To have Coop DHOP, DPJ and Elijah Moore and then mix in some of those other guys when those guys need a, like I don't know that you have to have an OD man out. I guess it's my point.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So with that being said, I mean, obviously the answer to this one for you is the question is, is he worth it for you? Obviously yes, because nobody's the OD man out for me. I still say even with DPJ being the OD man out, I think it's worth it to take the risk because I think there's enough talent behind that between David Bell and Cedric Tillman as far as your next round of receivers coming up that I think it's worth it to take that risk. Of what you may get out of.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Like, are we overvaluing DPJ to an extent here's a six rounder who's never had a thousand yards in a season. So don't get me wrong. I like Donovan peoples jones. I think he's afforded himself really well in the time he's been in Cleveland. I think he's acclimated the NFL game. I think he's gotten better every year. But if he had to go to make room for talent to come in, I can't be upset about that.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: I feel mean. That's kind of where we're at. I think that wraps it up. I think we're in consensus here. If we could bring in DeAndre Hopkins for a reasonable price, it's absolutely worth that risk of maybe what little downside.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: I don't care what little Jimmy spends.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: His money on lil Jimmy.
Rumors that Deshaun Watson has said, I'll take less money if you bring in wouldn't just can you imagine Deshaun Watson reworking his contract for a second time this offseason just so we can get another player and hopefully make a run?
[00:33:44] Speaker B: Why wouldn't Deshaun just be like, DHOP, if you come here, I'll just give you $5 million cash out of a bag. Nobody has to know.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: Is that against the NFL rules you signed for veterans? Are they going to do an internal investigation and then we're going to be in big trouble, and I'll take you.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: To Puerto Rico next year?
[00:33:58] Speaker A: Yeah, they're friends. They can get away with it. But anyways, next up here, the Cleveland Browns were snubbed in the NFL global markets program.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: What the hell, man?
[00:34:11] Speaker C: Kenny's so angry.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: Kenny is so upset that he literally can't talk.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: I can't talk. No, but this is one of the dumbest things. I sent this to you immediately when I saw and I was so angry because I was like, here's the NFL looking at growing the sport, growing the game globally in a way that really hasn't been done before. I mean, they tried the NFL Europe thing for a while, and that was okay, but it was mostly trash. And I think the NFL has proven in the last 20 years since the NFL Europe experiment that this is a transcendental game. And people all over the world do want to watch this. I mean, they sell the crap out of these games when they go to Wembley, when they go to Mexico City, and they're starting to get legitimate fandom in these cities. But before NFL Europe, before the NFL global program of dump came along, the.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: Cleveland Brown technical term, the program of dump.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Yeah, goodell's dumps. I don't even know what I'm saying. I'm so angry.
The Browns have had Browns backers literally everywhere. They're world decades before.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: If you look Browns backers organizations, like, there's thousands of them, and they're literally worldwide. There's multiple in just about every country in the entire world. Like, why you would not include the Cleveland Browns in the global markets program is absolutely beyond me. And it makes no sense. None.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: The only thing that makes sense about it is the fact that it's another way for little Jimmy to be in the doghouse over the Deshaun Watson thing. Because if you notice in that global markets campaign, I think the Steelers were in three different markets.
It's like why everybody loves picking. You're just picking winners and losers at that time because all that's going to do is increase visibility and Merchandising and you're we're we're deciding the Browns don't get any of that.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Nope. We get none further punishment. Yep. Thanks a lot, NFL Roger Goodell, you son of a bitch.
Next up here, Miles Garrett has been Mia so far in Ota.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: He's in Miami.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: No, he's just missing in action. And nobody or I'm sorry, everybody in Cleveland media seems to be making a really big deal about this. But to me, it's kind of a non story. The only reason I'm talking about it is because everybody else is talking about it. I don't understand. This is literally it's it's optional. It's in the name.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: If it were mandatory, you'd be there.
[00:36:46] Speaker A: Yeah, it'd be called MTAS, but it's not. And the other thing that gets me is Nick Chubb has missed every single practice that Miles Garrett has. But for some reason, we want to harp on Miles Garrett not being know. While we're talking about Nick Chubb, let's talk about there's been other players in the past that have missed this odell, missed this Joe Thomas, who everybody loves universally, love not just in Cleveland but everywhere, missed pretty much every Ota that there was. Players miss this stuff all the time. Why is it a big deal that Miles Garrett is missing OTAs? I just don't understand.
[00:37:20] Speaker B: Big names miss these literally Grony said all the time because they're optional. If the NFL wanted them to be mandatory.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: And I know the Browns don't think this is a big deal because Kevin Stefanski, every single chance he gets comes out. He says, I want to remind everybody that these are optional practices.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: But, I mean, here's the thing. Miles Garrett knows how to play football.
[00:37:41] Speaker A: He didn't forget.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: He didn't forget in one. I'm pretty positive. Are you sure?
[00:37:45] Speaker A: Maybe Mason Rudolph grabbed the helmet back and hit him over the head and he forgot how to play.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: I mean, I do think that there's value, especially for younger guys in these programs, right? Because this is the first time they're maybe seeing a new playbook. This is the first time that they're getting to be around coaches and teammates. But Miles is at a point in his career where he could go to any of the other 31 NFL teams in the country and he'd be a starter day one just because he showed up.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: Well, and everybody likes to talk about, well, Jim SHORTZ is new in town, so he needs to learn his defense. Bitch. Miles Garrett has changed coaches more than anybody in the league at defensive end, and he's pretty much an expert at it at this point. So what do you mean? How much can your position actually change? Defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinator? When you're a defensive end, like, your job is to rush the quarterback. That's what we brought you in for.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think your job as a linebacker and as a defensive back are much more complicated in a new scheme. As a defensive lineman, you might have a couple of different new fronts that you're looking at. Hey, we haven't really put you here.
[00:38:51] Speaker A: We're not going to pass rush you every time. We might drop you into coverage one time.
[00:38:54] Speaker B: Yeah, but let's be honest, who wants Miles Garrett in coverage?
[00:38:57] Speaker A: Jim Schwartz if you're putting Miles Garrett in coverage, I already don't like you're doing it wrong. Yeah.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: So, yeah, I mean, the answer is simple for Miles. It's find the quarterback, find the ball, make quarterbacks cry, which are all things that he's been doing at the top tier at the highest levels of the game for his entire career.
I think it's a big deal I will say this. I think it's a big deal because people expect Miles because of the Pedigree, because of him being the first overall draft pick to be a leader. And I think since day one, we've always had that question about Miles not so much about does he want to play football, but there were those that questions his will and WANTINGNESS to and desire to play because he was into poetry and cinema and all the other things that had how dare Miles Garrett have a life. Yeah.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: So there's always to be football 100% of the time, all day, every day.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: 24 366 there's always been these questions.
[00:39:55] Speaker A: About, like, there's an extra day in there.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: His desirability about the game of football, but I think if that's always been the mo was like, hey, we're really not kind of sure where this guy feels personally about it. We know that he's a great athlete, and we know that he's good at it. Why do we have the expectation then that he is the supreme leader of this Paul team?
Because he's never asked for that, and he's never stepped out and proactively engaged in that way. You listen to a guy like Deshaun Watson, they talk about the team and all the things that need to happen. He steps into that leadership role. Miles has always been soft spoken in a lot of the same way that Nick Chubb is soft spoken. They go out there and they do their business.
[00:40:40] Speaker A: Your leadership style is much the same. I will say, no offense, Miles, nick Chubb's a little bit better at it, but your leadership style is pretty much the same. You go and lead by example.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: Well, Nick Chubb's just had fewer off the mean. Miles has had some weird things happen to him in Cleveland. I mean, not only the accident last year, but he was like starting fistfights in traffic. Maybe he didn't start it, but somebody came and punched him through his like.
[00:41:04] Speaker A: Of all the dudes, why would you pick Miles Garrett to punch in the face at a traffic light? That's what I wonder.
[00:41:11] Speaker B: And not that those things take your leadership away. I mean, hell, look at Deshaun Watson and the stuff that he's been involved in.
But I just think that that's never really been a natural role for him. And I don't think he cares. I don't think he cares whether he's looked at it.
[00:41:23] Speaker A: I don't think the Browns care.
[00:41:24] Speaker B: No, because he's going to do what he does this year. He's going to go have 15 or 16 sacks. He's going to feed and he's going to pressure quarterbacks, and he's going to make a lot of tackles.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: And I will say this, we're big fans of Miles Garrett here. If the Browns do have a good season, like a lot of people are predicting them to have, he's going to be more engaged. And he's actually probably going to do much better than he has been doing like last year or the year before, where everybody expected him to possibly be chasing that sack record. He didn't quite get there.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: I will say this, though, his motor.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Runs faster when we're winning. That's all I'll say.
[00:41:56] Speaker B: I will say this, though. Miles has, for as good as he's been, has been a preseason defensive NFL MVP candidate every year pretty much since he entered the league fair.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: This is actually a good segue into my next piece.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: And he's never been there. And that not that he hasn't had a great career, because he has. But you do feel kind of like the payoff hasn't been there and only because in the draft that we took him, number one, pat Mahomes didn't go until number ten.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. Like, if we had Pat Mahomes versus Miles Garrett, how does our franchise look right now?
[00:42:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, here's a guy that hasn't missed a championship, a commerce championship since he entered the league and has won two Super Bowls.
[00:42:46] Speaker A: Most ridiculous stats of all time. Yeah, it is a good segue, though, because speaking of Miles Garrett, did you see Bradley Chubb ranked his top five defensive ends this week on a podcast on Tyree Kill's podcast? And he left not only Miles Garrett, but he left TJ watt off of his list. So his list. His top five is Max Crosby from Las Vegas, nick Bosa from San Francisco, hassan Reddick from Philadelphia, micah Parsons from Dallas, and Brian Burns from Carolina. Apparently. So one Brian Burns question mark. Nobody knows who that guy so obviously I think we're both in agreement that Bradley Chubb was either smoking something when he was on this program yes. Or he just, for being a top tier NFL talent, does not know football.
And so I guess I just want to ask real quick, where does Miles Garrett rank for you?
[00:43:50] Speaker B: He's certainly not outside the top five.
There's just no way yeah, there's no.
[00:43:57] Speaker A: Way he's outside of the top five.
[00:43:59] Speaker B: Look, for the last couple of seasons, I would probably say TJ watt, Miles Garrett, and Bosa.
[00:44:06] Speaker A: I could even throw Parsons in there. He doesn't put up the stats like the rest of these guys do, but the way he disrupts a game is next level.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: I just think those three guys are so next.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: Those would be my top three.
[00:44:20] Speaker B: I mean, if you're looking for a franchise builder, someone to actually build your whole defense and your team around, I would take any one of those three.
[00:44:28] Speaker A: Guys in a don't know. Like I said, Brian Burns, I don't know where that came from. I like that Bradley chubb didn't even put himself in there. So he's just like, I suck. So we'll just go with these next five.
[00:44:38] Speaker B: Like, it's not that Max Crosby and Hassan Reddick are bad players.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: No, they're very good players. And Brian Burns, for that matter, he's a good player. I just don't understand how you where does somebody get off putting him ahead of TJ watt and Miles Garrett?
[00:44:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's not mean look, I think Brian Burns suffers a little bit about Carolina. Same way Miles because the Panthers are.
[00:45:07] Speaker A: He'S like, if the Browns were any good at getting he'd be in like.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: I mean, can you imagine the difference Miles'career would have been if he had been drafted by the cowboys and was in primetime eight nights?
[00:45:20] Speaker A: He would be the only defensive end we talk about.
[00:45:24] Speaker B: He'd be on every Wheaties box. He'd be on every morning show in the said you play for the Browns. Said you play for the Browns and you write poetry.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, we love him. We love you, Miles.
[00:45:35] Speaker B: Here. Look, I don't like miles. I love Miles. But just saying.
[00:45:43] Speaker A: It'S just a microcosm of like, you come here and you're a big name, but what could have.
[00:45:51] Speaker B: I mean, like, Miles Garrett has the kind of personality and look that he could just Jim Brown it and just go to Hollywood, probably. He could make a living out there just fine. But he plays for Cleveland, so celebrity is much lower than it could.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: You know, you mentioned Miles Garrett getting punched in the face in a traffic light just a little bit ago. Well, over the weekend, it was reported that Demetrik Felton was robbed of his vehicle at gunpoint. Don't know if you saw this or not, but again, let me just reiterate, why are people targeting Browns players? Do you think this is a good.
[00:46:31] Speaker B: Strategy, pro athletes in general?
[00:46:33] Speaker A: Why you think that's a good strategy? You think you're not going to get caught? You think that you're going to get away with like, you rob me of my car. Nobody gives a shit. You rob a Cleveland Brown of his car. Somebody's going to be looking for you.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: And what are you going to do about it? Like if someone takes your stuff?
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Nothing.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Look, this is just a bad job out of the criminal on this part because what? I don't know, I've always assumed because in my professional life, I deal with more white collar crime, like hacking and financial computers and things.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, you deal with a lot of that, Mr. Mortgage man over.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: So I've always thought that criminals and predators are more thoughtful about the way they operate. That I always picture them as, like, sitting in a basement for eight to 12 hours a day doing everything they can to penetrate all these defense. And they employ all these different tactics and things and they're actually really smart people. They just instead of like, I go to my nine to five and they go to theirs. That's theirs. It's in the basement of some guy's house, hacking systems away. Bad job out of a criminal to.
[00:47:36] Speaker A: Not like, do some research.
[00:47:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, hey, who drives that black Ferrari? It probably is probably anybody.
But if you come take my Challenger, what am I going to do?
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Let me just say that stealing a car, worst crime ever. Unless you know somebody that's pretty well connected, that has a chop shop that you could take this thing to right this second, worst crime ever. You're going to get caught eventually.
[00:47:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Think about the steps to actually getting away with that. Have you seen the Fast and the Furious movies?
[00:48:04] Speaker A: Yeah, they're pretty bad, but yeah, they.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Have semis flying through the air in a lot of those.
[00:48:08] Speaker A: Yeah. That's like real life.
[00:48:10] Speaker B: Not where you want to be.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: No.
60 seconds.
[00:48:15] Speaker B: Let's ride.
You have to get the car to a freighter and get it out of the country immediately.
[00:48:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:22] Speaker B: Do anything with it.
[00:48:23] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:48:23] Speaker C: Terrible.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: Terrible. It's a bold strategy. Let's see if it pays off for him. Cotton in general, don't rob anybody.
Let's not rob anybody. We shouldn't do that.
[00:48:35] Speaker B: We're caught up in the motives and the execution. Don't rob anyone.
[00:48:39] Speaker A: Don't do it. It's easy. On a brighter note, the players were asked which dog they preferred in the logo contest. By a slim margin.
[00:48:47] Speaker B: Did they interview all the players?
[00:48:48] Speaker A: Yeah, they got them as they were coming off the practice field.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: All the players?
[00:48:51] Speaker A: Yeah, literally all the players. Even some of them that probably aren't going to be part of the team.
[00:48:55] Speaker B: This sounds like fake news.
[00:48:57] Speaker A: By a slim margin.
[00:48:59] Speaker B: Election fraud.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: They chose the dog that I prefer. Sorry about it, Kenny. Feels bad.
[00:49:05] Speaker B: It sounds like election fraud in at least three states.
[00:49:07] Speaker A: At 1.1 of the Browns, I think it was Ford switched a bunch of the names over. So they do like exactly when they first do the tally in the social media post by the Cleveland Browns, which we are not affiliated with whatsoever. Not at all.
[00:49:21] Speaker B: Not even little.
[00:49:22] Speaker A: Yeah. When they first do the social media post, it shows that your dog won. But then it said without the changing by Ford, it shows the real count. And by a slim margin, the Cleveland Browns did choose the dog that I prefer. So, again, sorry about it, but voting is live now. For that, you can vote once per day.
Not affiliated with the Browns. You can vote once per day. Winner will be announced on Monday, June twelveTH. So we will definitely be talking about that on the next episode.
[00:49:51] Speaker B: Do you think the winner will be affiliated with the Browns? Will they be allowed to just draw whatever they want and be like, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Browns.
[00:49:58] Speaker A: I'm the logo.
[00:50:00] Speaker B: Or like, even after you win a logo contest, are you still not that's allowed to be affiliated?
[00:50:04] Speaker A: You're not allowed to be affiliated.
You want to talk about why we name mentioning that we're affiliated?
[00:50:08] Speaker B: Name imaging lightness right up at the.
[00:50:11] Speaker A: Top of the show.
[00:50:11] Speaker B: So let's bring that up. Yeah, so let's dive into this a little bit. I don't know if you all have ever received a C and D before, but we have been served. We're officially served. But we were officially notified to cease and desist our marketing campaign to bring to you our Nick Chubb autographed jersey.
Look, all we're trying to do is grow engagement with some fans. We all like the game. It's entertainment. We bought that out of our own pocket with our own proceeds from we.
[00:50:44] Speaker A: Are here just trying to do good things. Cleveland Brown shutting us down.
[00:50:47] Speaker B: We have a vendor's license. We have our Secretary of State filing. Like, we're above board on all legit business.
[00:50:54] Speaker A: It's not like we're just in our basement doing well.
[00:50:55] Speaker B: It's an actual studio in revenue and expenditures. And we bought a jersey that was autographed by Nick Chubb.
[00:51:05] Speaker A: And our post said that we not anything about anybody else. We, as in Burning River Sportscast, presented by Tapin Media, are giving away a Nick Chubb jersey.
[00:51:15] Speaker B: The post came from the social media account of the Burning River Sportscast, and.
[00:51:20] Speaker A: It didn't say affiliated with anything.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: It just says Burning River sportscast.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: So we've been ceased and desisted, but.
[00:51:27] Speaker A: The giveaway is over, so it doesn't matter.
[00:51:29] Speaker B: The giveaway is.
[00:51:34] Speaker A: Conversation. I will at least give them this. I had a conversation with their legal department, which was interesting and everything's kosher.
[00:51:42] Speaker B: We're all good.
[00:51:43] Speaker A: We're all good. Everything's good. Everything's good. They told us we're all good. Our show is all good.
[00:51:47] Speaker B: But to be clear, we are not affiliated.
[00:51:49] Speaker A: Yeah, to be clear, just so there's no we, even though I talked to their legal department, we are in no way whatsoever affiliated with the Cleveland Browns or Nicholas Jamal Chubb or any other.
[00:51:59] Speaker B: Giveaways or raffles or prizes or anything that we do.
[00:52:01] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll make sure we have disclaimers not affiliated.
And then finally, as we're talking about legal stuff know, not being affiliated with the Cleveland Browns anymore, the first Energy Stadium sign has been removed from Cleveland Brown Stadium. So it is officially official.
[00:52:21] Speaker B: I'm actually surprised that we haven't heard more news about this. Not that we're moving with a sign, but more chatter around who wants to buy the naming rights to that. It's been dead.
[00:52:31] Speaker A: Maybe if we buy the naming rights to the stadium, then are we affiliated? Affiliated with the Cleveland Browns? Yeah.
[00:52:38] Speaker B: I don't think we have the money to do, like, 70,000 t shirt giveaways small business at the entry.
[00:52:44] Speaker A: Small business loan. Excuse me, can I take out $25 million for the naming rights of Cleveland Brown Stadium? I don't even know if that does it, but it's worth a shot.
[00:52:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's worth a shot.
[00:52:54] Speaker A: Next up here, though, we're going to get into the Cleveland Guardians. The pitchers are coming back.
[00:52:58] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:52:59] Speaker A: Except for Zach Pleasedack. He's had a God awful season this year. So far he has been officially DFA'd.
Not sure if anyone's going to claim him off waivers or not. He's got a $3 million contract that nobody probably wants to touch. But it's actually probably a good thing for us. He's still a very young talent, so hopefully he winds up in the farm system still with the Clippers and we're able to hang on to him.
[00:53:20] Speaker B: DF Eight is one of those things you just don't want.
[00:53:22] Speaker A: It's like a no. Nobody wants DF eight. In case anyone doesn't know a home that's designated for assignment, that means that you aren't good enough to be in the majors anymore.
[00:53:30] Speaker B: Siberia.
[00:53:31] Speaker A: Yeah, it's over for you, at least temporarily. But Tristan Mackenzie, he was back. He was back on Sunday. He came back hot.
Ten K's, zero earned runs.
[00:53:45] Speaker B: They need it, man.
[00:53:45] Speaker A: In five innings pitched. And we got the dub and split with the first place Minnesota Twins.
[00:53:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And the bats, I think have to Terry's credit, who kept saying, like, as the weather warms up, I don't know if that's the sole reason, but they have excuse in better Nailer's been hot before.
[00:54:04] Speaker A: He got.
[00:54:08] Speaker B: Mean. Have you seen the weight that guy's put on, man? He looks like he had a nice offseason, dude's a load.
He went from a load to a super load. But yeah, the bats have come alive. It's good to get some pitching back and this team just has to stay healthy and they have to get after it because it's still a long season. I think before that, before this last spurt where the bats came alive a little and you had the rotation changes, it was looking pretty bleak.
[00:54:41] Speaker A: We bought them under 500 or something.
[00:54:43] Speaker B: And you're starting to go eight is kind of a lot. Even if you get good midway through the season, eight is kind of a lot.
[00:54:50] Speaker A: So luckily, on the bright side, let's. Rattle off all the things that we can be happy about right now. One, Jose Ramirez continues to be great as always. Two. We still have Tito. Three, we're not quite back to 500 yet, but there appears to be some life within the organization. And four, we're only three and a half games back because we play in the terrible division that is the Al Central.
[00:55:14] Speaker B: That is a huge boost.
[00:55:15] Speaker A: And again, we just split with the Twins. So that helped us keep Pace there.
[00:55:20] Speaker B: They just got to stay there, though. They can't afford to keep going to seven and eight games back.
[00:55:24] Speaker A: No, they shouldn't do that.
[00:55:26] Speaker B: No, but look, it's finally not only just in general, it was 90 degrees all last week.
[00:55:33] Speaker A: It's getting warm here.
[00:55:35] Speaker B: Ball games on the Guardians are starting to play better. Just starting to feel like summer a little feeling good.
[00:55:40] Speaker A: OTAs are happening, and we're mad that Miles Garrett isn't, like, everything's coming together.
[00:55:46] Speaker B: Yeah, just like it always.
Yeah. The only thing is we could probably use, like, one day of rain.
[00:55:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And I wish the Cavaliers were still playing, but they actually weren't.
[00:55:56] Speaker B: Not a bad series so far, though.
[00:55:57] Speaker A: I mean, no, miami came back, tied it up, and have officially stolen home court advantage. So that's good.
[00:56:03] Speaker B: Yeah, dude.
[00:56:04] Speaker A: These teams couldn't be any further from each other, but they're both worth rooting for in different ways. Like the know, you got pretty much every single person besides Jokic, who Jokic to begin with was written off from the get go. He's the only second rounder that's ever been NBA MVP. Now he's multi time, I believe, NBA MVP. So that's a good story in itself. But basically every other player on their team has had career ending injuries that they've come back from because they happened early enough in their career. And medicine is what it is now, and they're able to get back on the court.
[00:56:38] Speaker B: Did you hear them going through his scouting report coming out of the draft on during game one? He was slow and didn't have any handles and couldn't jump.
[00:56:47] Speaker A: Did you hear his.
[00:56:51] Speaker B: Accurate?
[00:56:52] Speaker A: He said, I didn't want to go play college basketball. It's too fast. I can't jump very high. He literally rattled off everything that they said.
He's the ultimate. Like, I just don't give a fuck what they say. I'm going to play my style of basketball. And everybody's talking about how he's like a combination of Shaq and Magic Johnson. He sees the floor better than everybody, but he just bullies the shit out of everybody.
[00:57:15] Speaker B: That and if he wins the finals this year, get ready, because all of a sudden the conversation, even though it's way too early to start the conversation, get ready, because the Jordan and the LeBron conversations are going to start with this guy because great.
[00:57:29] Speaker A: Everybody started those with Steph Curry for a minute, too, but then he's kind of falling off a little bit as he's gone.
[00:57:34] Speaker B: And it's not that he's still the.
[00:57:35] Speaker A: Best point guard, probably, but careers, because.
[00:57:38] Speaker B: He'S had a great career. But Nicholas is still so young, and he is just such a I'm just he's so weird to watch because in.
[00:57:49] Speaker A: A vast he literally shoots like you. That was your shot when we were growing up as you brought the ball behind your head and shot, like, fading away every time in a vacuum. He's good at it, though. You suck in a vacuum.
[00:58:00] Speaker B: You look at this guy and he's stout, but you don't look at him and go like, that guy looks like he's one of the best athletes on the planet. No, especially when you compare him to.
[00:58:15] Speaker A: Like you might look at him and say, that guy looks like one of the biggest athletes on the planet.
[00:58:19] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe especially. But in a vacuum, though, you wouldn't but next to other guys on the court, you go, okay, he's big.
But, man, imagine if that guy put time into his body like LeBron does, and maybe he does, and he's just got those weird, long twitch muscle fibers.
But imagine if that guy was built like LeBron. He'd be 100% unstoppable because he's darn near unstoppable now. Yeah, you just watch him play bully ball and he just no one can't stop.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: It's impressive to watch. And I think that we don't get to see him much out here because he's a West Coast team. He's on a west coast team.
[00:58:52] Speaker B: And we don't thank God, because those jerseys are God awful. How do they wear those?
[00:58:56] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:58:58] Speaker B: Their whole collection is awful.
[00:58:59] Speaker A: But up until the finals, everybody out on the East Coast didn't really get to see him, and now we're getting to see him. We're like, Holy shit, this dude's really good at basketball.
[00:59:05] Speaker B: Yeah, well, that's why the LeBron conversations are going to start, because you're going.
[00:59:08] Speaker A: To go, we're like, I got it.
[00:59:09] Speaker B: This.
[00:59:11] Speaker A: No, I agree. I think everybody likes to jump into those conversations way too early. So, I mean, that'll be what his first mean? Just to catch LeBron. He got four more or three more.
[00:59:22] Speaker B: Yeah, but he's four more, two MVPs, right?
[00:59:24] Speaker A: Three more. Three more. Three more.
[00:59:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
Two more in a bubble.
[00:59:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Still counts.
[00:59:32] Speaker B: It still counts. But then also on the Miami side, I mean, I think there's a lot.
[00:59:35] Speaker A: Of likability which Miami? I'll be honest. Miami is the team that I'm rooting for. Yeah, there is a lot of likability over there on that side. They're kind of like the 2000 we've talked about the Cavs being like this team, but the Miami Heat really are they're like the 2003 Miami Heat or Miami Heat? Detroit Pistons, where it's a lot of guys that nobody wanted. Everybody thought yeah, they're just Kevin love.
Besides Kevin love. They're young cast offs that they're like, yeah, it didn't work out here. We shipped them over to the Heat, and they've put together this team, and that team just wants to play basketball. They want to play basketball together. Everybody's playing for each other.
Jimmy Butler is next level. I can't believe the amount of teams that have just let this guy walk and the fact that he does it his own way and he knows how good he is. He lets everybody else know how good he is. I mean, some of the clips that come from this guy like, oh, Tobias Harris over me. You really think, like, there's that one, there's the stories of him coming into practice and beating everybody with the third stringers when he was with who was that, Minnesota?
And then leaving. It was like, I'm done. You got to beat the starters with the third string. This guy's been everywhere, and he's always had a chip on his shoulder. And it's finally showing up that, hey, he's not just good, he's as good as anyone else.
[01:00:55] Speaker B: He's had a really impressive playoff run this year for, you know, I think it's been a fun series so far. We'll see what happens.
[01:01:04] Speaker A: And you do have the Kevin Loves, who apparently wasn't good enough to start for the Cavs, even though we got bounced round one because we didn't have enough experience to hang with.
[01:01:15] Speaker B: Couldn't you couldn't have played Kevin Love for eight minutes in that series?
[01:01:20] Speaker A: Don't even get me started. Don't even get me started. So mad. So mad. But with that, that's going to wrap it up for all of the Cleveland. And actually we started into the non Cleveland News, so let's continue with that non Cleveland news. There's a new kickoff rule in the NFL, the fair catch rule. So soft, bro.
Excuse me, what are your thoughts on this?
[01:01:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's just the further worcification of the NFL.
I get that player safety is important, but it's a delicate seesaw. Right. Because at the end of the day, these guys play a gladiatorial sport.
[01:02:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:02:02] Speaker B: And you can never take out all of the pain or all of the potential for something bad to happen. You have top tier athletes that work out twelve months a year to be the biggest, fastest, strongest, most animalistic humans on the planet. And then you give them pads and say, now run into each other as fast as you can. You can't get away from that being potentially dangerous. And my whole problem with it is just when did danger become this thing that like, danger is dangerous, but when did it become unacceptable? Because we have boxers that their whole job is to just punch the other guy in the head until he falls asleep. Hey, that's got to be dangerous.
[01:02:48] Speaker A: Number one. Number one priority is player safety, which I actually understand, but at what cost? At what point is it not the game that the players agreed to play?
[01:02:59] Speaker B: Like, can you imagine if Roger Goodell was in charge of the military.
[01:03:04] Speaker A: Excuse me, we're going to take away.
[01:03:09] Speaker B: But what if your number one priority was soldier safety?
[01:03:16] Speaker A: We can't send anybody to war anymore.
[01:03:18] Speaker B: You can't send anybody to war anymore because I can't guarantee your job. The one that you're getting paid for is potentially to lose a limb or lose your life.
And in return, we pay you for taking lives and taking limbs. So this whole idea that football players are some kind of different class of human that should be treated differently than we put people in coal mines and let them breathe in black smoke for 35 years.
[01:03:48] Speaker A: Pop.
[01:03:51] Speaker B: We have a lot of jobs that are dangerous. People that climb high lines for a living have a dangerous job. They work in the snow, ice and.
[01:03:59] Speaker A: The electric them videos of people climbing all the way up to, like, changing the light bulb or something at the top, the top of the tower.
[01:04:06] Speaker B: Wild.
[01:04:06] Speaker A: You pay $30,000 to do it one time?
[01:04:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Awesome. Absolutely.
[01:04:10] Speaker A: I don't wish I had that job. I'm terrified of heights. Sorry.
[01:04:12] Speaker B: I digress, but I just think there's a lot of jobs in this country that there's an assumed risk of danger and even peril.
And nobody forced these guys to go make $16 million a year. And they don't all make that. But okay, even the ones that don't make that get paid. Well, in today's world, maybe they didn't 25 years ago, but you're making in a year, it's called a million dollars. And if you play for three or four years, you've made $4 million. How many people make $4 million in their life?
[01:04:43] Speaker A: Not me.
[01:04:43] Speaker B: Not a lot of people.
And the trade off is the assumed risk of danger and apparel.
[01:04:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I'm with you.
[01:04:54] Speaker B: When did we get to this point where we are that soft?
[01:04:57] Speaker A: And like I said, I'm all for player safety, but not at the cost of the game.
[01:05:01] Speaker B: Right?
[01:05:02] Speaker A: When is it not football anymore? Are we going to just start?
The road we're going down now is we just get rid of the kickoff altogether and everybody starts at the 35.
[01:05:11] Speaker B: I mean, to be honest, everything about football is dangerous. Like just outlaw at all.
[01:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah, let's get rid of it. All right. We could talk all day about this, but let's move on here. In other non Cleveland news, shannon Sharp and Skip Bayless are officially breaking up after seven years together on Fox Sports. And it sounds like there is some real bad blood between Shannon Sharp and Skip. Every major network is now trying to recruit Shannon to be their next big name. As far as sports talk radio goes, my bet is he's going to land on ESPN like everybody else does, and Fox is going to have a really hard time replacing him because Skip Bayless, apparently just micromanages, is in charge of every single thing on that show. So what are your thoughts on this whole thing. Do you even care?
[01:05:57] Speaker B: One, no, I don't really care, but.
[01:05:59] Speaker A: We won't spend a lot of time on this. Two, Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharp got nothing on Kenny Thunder and Ronnie Jams.
[01:06:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, their show is trash compared to this, even though we're not affiliated with the Flame Browns in any way, shape or form.
[01:06:12] Speaker A: No. Or Nicholas Jamal Chubb.
[01:06:16] Speaker B: But look, here's the thing that I do that does bother me about this, and it's not because I even like Skip Bayless. Skip Bayless is, I mean, a monster in his own right to have the career that he's had and the exposure that he's had and the money that he's made. But Skip has been good for Shannon. Whether or not he was good to Shannon, another question entirely good for Shannon. Shannon Sharper's made a lot of money talking BS with Skip Bayless. They're on in every waiting room, in every hospital, dentist, bar in the country, all day long, every day, just clicking up Nielsen ratings for a job that's not really your some, they manufacture arguments.
[01:07:04] Speaker A: So that they could spew them at each other.
[01:07:07] Speaker B: For you, we could probably try that model where we just put a topic on the table and we just decide.
[01:07:12] Speaker A: You pick one side, I pick the.
[01:07:13] Speaker B: Other, and defend it to the death. But that's not reality. Who doesn't get along that often when some of these things we've agreed on.
[01:07:20] Speaker A: Too many things in this show. Let's go back and redo it.
[01:07:22] Speaker B: When some of these things are so just objectively true that you're like, no. Well, we're going to fight about it anyway. But that attention to detail, that micromanaging that Skip's productions have had, have put Shannon now in a position where he can go write his own ticket to Fox, to any other network television show.
[01:07:42] Speaker A: Is Shannon Sharp. A great talent. Sure. But Shannon Sharp got his big break on Skip's show.
[01:07:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:07:50] Speaker A: I mean, as much as it became Shannon and Skip show, it's Skip show.
I agree with you there. I do think that Skip Bayless, I mean, the stories are out.
Absolutely awful to work with nut job. But as you mentioned, great for Shannon Sharp's career. Yeah, his broadcasting career didn't do much for his football career.
[01:08:13] Speaker B: And I guess you get to a certain point where you're like, okay, I don't need Skip anymore. But I don't know, loyalty is important to me. You're an absolute asshole to deal with. A lot of the time, I hate you, but this thing works. We bros.
I would hope that in 20 years, when we've made it big, we would realize that a lot of that was.
[01:08:33] Speaker A: Because I can't wait to break up.
[01:08:34] Speaker B: With you of the way that we've worked together.
[01:08:36] Speaker A: Nah.
[01:08:40] Speaker B: Even when it wasn't always easy.
[01:08:43] Speaker A: I'm going.
[01:08:44] Speaker B: But, yeah, like, I've never really cared that much for Shannon's takes in general, even when before he was on first take when he was on NFL Today, I've always thought he was kind of weak and he was flashy because he wore nice suits and he worked out and that was fun. But bro, he had the easiest job.
[01:09:00] Speaker A: These last few years. Like, literally. Skip bail is like 90 now.
He's just like, shitting on skip bailers every day. Like, it's so easy. You have no arguments. You don't even know how to form coherent thoughts anymore.
[01:09:11] Speaker B: Hip stays in tremendous shape, though.
[01:09:13] Speaker A: He does. But he's still old.
[01:09:15] Speaker B: He is old, and he is just a weird guy.
[01:09:18] Speaker A: But anyways, enough about us skipping and Shannon. F him. F them.
That leads to the burning river sports, guys. I'll take outline.
[01:09:28] Speaker B: I'll take outline.
[01:09:29] Speaker A: Oh, man, you can hardly talk in that.
We got a sounder for that, right?
[01:09:34] Speaker B: Burning river sports guys right now.
[01:09:40] Speaker A: All right, so don't forget to call and leave your hot takes on the hot take hotline. Remember, these are hot takes. I want to hear Watson haters or lovers. I want to hear Stefanski haters or lovers. I want to hear someone tell everyone why they think the Browns won't move on from Nick Chubb, which they will. We want hot takes. We want hot takes. We want hot takes. We want hot takes.
[01:10:04] Speaker B: 3302-278-0800, you were saying takes, not cakes like pancakes. 3302-2780-8033-0227-8.
[01:10:16] Speaker A: Call now. Operators are not standing by. All right, so you know what time it is. Let's take a quick revenue break and get back here to talk about Deshaun Watson expectations for the season.
[01:10:28] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
[01:10:30] Speaker A: Get ready for Platonic on Apple TV in this series from the director of Neighbors. A Platonic pair of former best friends approaching midlife, played by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, reconnect after a long rift. As the duo's friendship grows, it becomes more consuming and destabilizes their lives in a hilarious way. Click the link in our show notes to get a free episode and then subscribe to Apple TV Plus to see the rest of the first season of Platonic.
All right, so to start this second half of the show and really it's our only segment in the second half of the show, let's talk about Deshaun Watson expectations.
[01:11:08] Speaker B: Deshaun watson expectations.
[01:11:13] Speaker A: You're going to give us a just I mean, really? We want to have an open discussion about Deshaun Watson here. So first of all, I'm going to give some questions. I'm just going to throw them all out there. I'm going to let you speak on this, and we're going to kind of go see where this takes us. So the questions I have that I want answered, where does Watson end up this year as far as rankings go? Everyone's talking about him returning to form. Do you think that's actually going to be the case? And what can our expectations realistically be for Deshaun Watson?
[01:11:45] Speaker B: What do you think, Kenny? So these are all great questions here's. The reason we're having this discussion is because I'm a little pissed off at how the narrative has changed here.
[01:12:02] Speaker A: You should have called the hot take hotline.
[01:12:04] Speaker B: I should have called the hot take hotline and I would have said, I'm calling about the Nick Chubb jersey. Click.
Worst hot take, which we definitely were not affiliated with the Cleveland Browns on in any way.
[01:12:14] Speaker A: Or Nick Chubb.
[01:12:14] Speaker B: Or Nick Chubb.
[01:12:15] Speaker A: That phrase trademark not using outside tradition.
[01:12:17] Speaker B: Ricky Bobby I'm just disappointed at the lack of fortitude that has been displayed by essentially everyone that was excited about this Deshaun Watson trade and what that means for the Browns. Because on the day it happened, I remember walking out of my office and my boss walks out of his office and saying, we just kind of looked at each other like, what? We just traded for Deshaun Watson.
[01:12:52] Speaker A: That just happened.
[01:12:53] Speaker B: This is going to be wild wiggity, bro. And from that moment on, it was like, yeah, we got $230,000,000 guaranteed in a top five quarterback.
That was the expectation at the time was that Deshaun Watson is not just a franchise quarterback, is not just good enough to make the playoffs. It was, this guy is good enough to change your franchise, to change your culture, and to take you not just in the playoffs but into the playoffs, to make a run, take you to the promised land in the playoffs.
And all of a sudden after six games of, I mean, let's call it what it was mediocrity last oh, it wasn't.
[01:13:44] Speaker A: You know, I'm a fan, but it wasn't good.
[01:13:46] Speaker B: It seems like even the most ardent supporters of the trade, people that were the most excited about Deshaun Watson, especially those in the Cleveland media, have all of a sudden tempered their expectations to the point where we're okay with as long as Deshaun gets back to being a top twelve quarterback in the league, we should be good.
[01:14:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:14:16] Speaker B: Yeah. I also want the Browns to have a top twelve quarterback in the league, but that's not why we paid him $230,000,000 and traded away all of your future sustainable draft picks. You traded him away with the expectation that he was going to return to form and be a top five or a top three weapon in this league. So I just have a real problem with just the way that people's opinions have shifted on this from where it was at the start because no one really questioned it at the start. It was pay the guy, whatever. You can bring the guy here. We need the quarterback, Baker's, not the guy.
You got to have a special elite talent here. And now all of a sudden we're saying he doesn't necessarily have to be special or elite as long as he's pretty good.
[01:15:08] Speaker A: Yeah, and I would agree with you. I think that's doing the entire franchise a disservice to say we just want him to be pretty good. My expectations for Deshaun Watson and where I think he should realistically be is a top five quarterback. I mean, that's where I'm going to start this whole thing off with, is I agree with everything you just said. I really dislike the way that everybody's kind of taking a step back, and I don't know, I guess you could make the argument that now there's a few other good quarterbacks that have risen up the ranks, that he slides back a few spots, whatever the case may be. But neither here nor there. Here's the deal.
Like you said, you traded away our entire future for him. So dude's got to come in and be a top five quarterback, plain and simple.
[01:15:55] Speaker B: That shouldn't be aspirational at this point. No, that's the expectation.
[01:15:59] Speaker A: And on the flip side of that, I mean, I'm one of the people that I think he can be.
[01:16:05] Speaker B: I'm not even talking about I'm not even there yet. Like, can he be or can't he be? It's just that's what he needs to be.
[01:16:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So as far as expectations and what they realistically need to be, he needs to be a top five quarterback. If he's not, if at no point during his contract he returns to a top five quarterback, it's a huge swing.
[01:16:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:16:24] Speaker A: You lost because we have a window here. We talk about it nonstop. Is, we have a window here. We got Miles Garrett. We got Nick Chubb. We got all this young talent in the secondary, on the defensive line. Now on the offensive line, skill positions on the offense. We have all this young talent, and it's there and ready to go. And you have the backbone and the skeleton of a championship competitor.
[01:16:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:16:51] Speaker A: Or at least yeah, if bare minimum, a team that can compete for a Super Bowl.
[01:16:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it's hard to win a Super Bowl. So it's hard for me ever to say, like, Super Bowl or bust, because weird things can happen, right. The ball bounces the wrong way sometimes, but to be one of the top fumble four or five teams in the league, I think is a reasonable expectation.
[01:17:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree.
I think that's what we should be shooting for. And here's the thing. I will say this. I'm actually not one of the people that says division winner or bust. Would I love to win the division? Absolutely. I want them to win the division. I think they should win the division at some point under Deshaun Watson. However, I also know that we play in the toughest division at football. So if we don't win the division but we win a Super Bowl, I'm good.
[01:17:41] Speaker B: But even that is soft because you're soft. You're soft because great.
[01:17:46] Speaker A: Hashtag Flaccid, right?
[01:17:48] Speaker B: If he's a top five quarterback in the league, who are the quarterbacks that are better than him? And are they all in the AFC North?
[01:17:55] Speaker A: Well, quarterbacks aren't the only thing that wins games.
[01:17:57] Speaker B: Well, that's not what I heard before. We traded for Deshaun Watson because I was told we have this great team and Baker Mayfield is the only reason you can't win.
[01:18:06] Speaker A: That's actually a good point.
[01:18:11] Speaker B: This team okay, if you don't win the division, it better be because Cincinnati is 14 and three and because Baltimore is 15 and two and you just happen to be 13 and three or 13 and four.
[01:18:23] Speaker A: You don't even know numbers anymore.
[01:18:25] Speaker B: No. So pissed off about this because it's so ridiculous.
Because you can't have that expectation that Deshaun is a top five quarterback in the league and this team goes ten and seven and sneaks its way into the playoffs.
[01:18:37] Speaker A: That's what I have him going.
[01:18:38] Speaker B: If he's a top five quarterback in the league, that record better be much better than that. It better be an Aaron Rogers record of the past when he was in his prime, a Tom Brady record when he was in his prime, a Peyton Manning record when he was in his prime. Those are guys you think about top five. I mean, Ben Roethlisberger consistently was a double digit winner in Pittsburgh.
Those weren't teams that snuck into the playoffs very often. They were often, hey, these guys got the quarterback and the tools to do it. That's what this Browns team should be. And it's just alarming to me that all of a sudden we're backed off on that to say, well, you know why? Ten and seven is acceptable, man.
[01:19:14] Speaker A: You know why? It's because we've won the offseason so far. So nobody wants to put a damper on that.
[01:19:19] Speaker B: I know. And no one's going to care until you go nine and eleven or six and eleven next year. And then you're like, what the hell happened? Well, I don't know. We all let our expectations drop as soon as he got on the field.
[01:19:34] Speaker A: Yeah, which is weird because as I mentioned, everyone in the media, everybody that's watched any practices, all the talk is about how he's returning to form. He looks great. He looks phenomenal. The ball just rockets out of his arm. He's been pinpoint accurate on pretty much every throw, and it better be yeah, I agree with you, but I'm just saying it's an odd dichotomy that we have where it's like he's returned to form, he's great quarterback, but maybe he's only top twelve.
[01:20:03] Speaker B: Maybe he's ten and seven this year, maybe nine and eight.
[01:20:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't really understand that. But with that being said, if he is returning to form, in your eyes, and even if he's not returning to form, where do you think Deshaun Watson ends up ranked this year as far as quarterbacks go? Like around, where do you think he ends up?
[01:20:24] Speaker B: That's a great think.
[01:20:27] Speaker A: It's I'll think too long. We don't have all day.
[01:20:29] Speaker B: I know. I think it's about there's again the aspirational piece and realistically, so aspirationally I think this guy has to be a top five quarterback or the sole things to swing and a miss.
Do I feel right now confident after the six games I watched last year that Deshaun Watson is going to be a top five quarterback in the NFL this year? No. And part of that is because I think the game of football is hard, and I think it's hard to take as much time off as Deshaun has. I think the expectation that the rust is kicked now is almost I think in twelve to 14 months we're going to look back and say, who are we kidding? This game's too hard to take that much time off and then return to form right away. Especially it's one thing for running backs or defensive ends, you're the quarterback, you're the leader of the team. There's different expectations.
It's a different role. It's a hard, complex role with a new offense and new city, new everything.
So I think my expectations are, my realistic expectations are, is he's somewhere in the top 15? I think the AFC is loaded with a ton of good quarterbacks this year.
[01:21:38] Speaker A: A lot of good quarterbacks.
[01:21:40] Speaker B: But I think if he ranks out at twelve or 13 or 14 this year, that is a huge swing and a miss for $230,000,000 guaranteed.
[01:21:47] Speaker A: I mean, that's fair.
I'm on the opposite side of you as far as where I think he ends up. I think he does return to form completely.
I think Deshaun Watson ends up a top five quarterback this year. And I think that even with him being a top five quarterback, my prediction on our record was ten and seven. I think that's due to some Brownsy breaks that we get, we like to lose games that somehow we should win.
I'm sorry, we somehow lose games that we probably should win. And I think that probably happens a couple more times this year because we can't escape that no matter how hard we try.
[01:22:24] Speaker B: No, you're the worst.
[01:22:26] Speaker A: But I do think Deshaun Watson gets back to it. I think he's going to be a top five quarterback this year. And I point to the same things that our buddy Jeff said earlier in his interview, is you can't tell me that this dude who's in his mid 20s, he's not like, he's getting old and he's aging out of things. He's in his mid twenty s, and you can't tell me that this dude has lost that much, that when he was like a top three quarterback, that he can't get back to that form and still dominate this game.
It hasn't passed him by. He's not 30, he's not 31, he's not 32, not 45.
[01:22:58] Speaker B: I got love for Jeff, but if I could offer a rebuttal, it's not even that the game has passed Deshaun by or he's too old or his skills have diminished. It's that can a good player be coached by a bad coach in a bad organization that limits your opportunities to.
[01:23:20] Speaker A: Be successful well and. There's another argument. You know, I'm as critical of Stefanski as anybody else. We both are. However you look at Kevin Stefanski's numbers with Baker Mayfield and with Jacobi Brissette, and those two players put up by far the best numbers of their career with Kevin Stefanski. Now they go other places. They were both top 15 quarterbacks for at least a season while they were with Kevin Stefanski.
[01:23:48] Speaker B: Jacobi threw like six touchdowns in that time.
[01:23:51] Speaker A: Fair.
But statistically, he ranked in the top 15 for inefficiency. Sure.
Now they go elsewhere, and the highest either of them ranked was like 22.
So I'm not a huge Kevin Stefanski defender.
[01:24:07] Speaker B: That's my whole thing.
[01:24:08] Speaker A: Deshaun Watson on the other side of it. He's been a top three quarterback. So where does he go with Kevin Stefanski after they've had a whole is.
[01:24:15] Speaker B: Deshaun's talent superlative enough that it can surpass poor coaching, poor scheme and all of the things that being a Cleveland Brown brings to the table.
[01:24:28] Speaker A: You're talking about intangibles. You're not even talking about you're not even talking about the argument of whether or not Kevin Stefanski is a good coach or a bad.
[01:24:37] Speaker B: I'm talking about 20 years.
[01:24:39] Speaker A: Browns have been the dumpster 20 years. They are.
[01:24:42] Speaker B: For 20 years, you've had two winning seasons. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
[01:24:47] Speaker A: That's fair.
[01:24:47] Speaker B: I mean, the things nobody else has.
[01:24:49] Speaker A: Been able to overcome it yet.
[01:24:50] Speaker B: The things that you're known for are kick sixes on prime time. Like, those aren't literally there. The things you're known for are Miles Garrett swapping a quarterback on Ed with his helmet. The things you're known for are Dwayne Rudd throwing his helmet off to lose a game in the middle of a field goal. Like, these are the things that you're known for as the Cleveland Browns. Is deshaun good enough to overcome being a Cleveland Brown?
[01:25:17] Speaker A: You just rattled that stuff off. It just makes me feel bad.
And we are Cleveland Browns fans, yes, but we are not affiliated in any.
[01:25:24] Speaker B: Way with.
[01:25:28] Speaker A: I guess I guess bottom line here is buckle up.
I think both of us agree it's going to be fun to watch the Cleveland Browns, regardless sure. Whether it's a train wreck or they come out just swinging and come out on top there, open up the season with a win against Cincinnati, like I predict. I mean, it's going to be fun either way. You can't be a Brown team has to have offense. There's like, no way that they don't have a good offense.
[01:25:55] Speaker B: We said that with Odell.
You can't be a Browns fan and not be a fun. But my final note on this is just I want to go back to real quick. When I said I was told nonstop the reason this team with all this talent on paper couldn't get to the next level was because of the quarterback room, because of Baker Mayfield.
[01:26:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:26:23] Speaker B: I just want if statistically, Deshaun ends up being somewhere in that vast open vacuum of quarterback play that Baker Mayfield.
[01:26:36] Speaker A: Sat in, basically 15 to 20.
[01:26:38] Speaker B: Bring the same energy because you can't be like, Deshaun's so much better. But if he's the where's the consistency? There so many people who are not genuine that don't have any consistency to their takes and their thought process that they'd be willing to let Deshaun's poor play go because he's Deshaun and because he was good one time.
Bring that same energy.
[01:27:05] Speaker A: Bring that energy. It doesn't sound like Kenny has a lot of energy.
[01:27:07] Speaker B: It's not energy. I just can't talk. I mean, my throat is gone.
[01:27:10] Speaker A: Kenny would love to get fired.
[01:27:11] Speaker B: I'm opening my mouth and the noises won't come out.
[01:27:15] Speaker A: Just keep doing that. That's fun to listen to. That leads us to the river. Sports, guys. Hot take.
[01:27:20] Speaker B: Hotline.
[01:27:22] Speaker A: So don't forget to call Kenny since you can't talk about anything at all right now, tell the people what we want to hear on the Hot Take Hotline.
[01:27:29] Speaker B: I want you to bring that consistency. I want you to bring your takes on Deshaun Watson. Bring that same energy. Talk to me about how bigger socks and Deshaun's better, and then call me in six months and let's do it all over again. See where you're still at.
Burning verse hot hang Out Line 3302-2780-8033-0227-8080-3302-278.
[01:27:55] Speaker A: Operators are not standing by because it's an answering machine.
[01:27:58] Speaker B: It's an answering machine.
[01:27:59] Speaker A: And once again, be sure to check out our gear at WW Dot Thetapenmedia.com Shop and go ahead and click Show Specific. And then you click burning over sportscast. Check out all of our sweet ass gear that's on there. You get this mug. You can get this mug and get that hat, that hat, this hat, that hat, that flag, all kinds of shit.
[01:28:19] Speaker B: I just keep pointing at you with my chapstick like it's something are you.
[01:28:23] Speaker A: Some sort of politician?
[01:28:24] Speaker B: You're giving me the thumb point because in addition to my lack of a voice, I also have the worst chapped lip of all time. Just been split down the middle of.
[01:28:33] Speaker A: Your like, we need a guy back there working the camera so we can get a close in on that.
[01:28:38] Speaker B: It's real bad.
[01:28:39] Speaker A: Terrible.
[01:28:40] Speaker B: But what I was going to say was, can you just include the link tree, the thing that has the access button to our shop in our couple of Next posts? It just makes it so easy to get there when I when that link.
[01:28:51] Speaker A: Is I actually added it to our link tree the very first thing. You go.
Excellent.
[01:28:57] Speaker B: Good work, Webmaster.
[01:28:58] Speaker A: So in closing, Kenny Kenny Thunder, what can we expect next episode, which is now two weeks from now?
[01:29:05] Speaker B: Because we're biweekly now because we are biweekly, not bisexual. And if we were, that would be okay.
This pride month, what we can expect in two weeks. Browns news. Cavs news. Guardians season updates.
Hopefully my voice sounding a little more silky and smooth.
[01:29:23] Speaker A: Me too. I thought it was going to be a bad day, but you sound so bad that my voice not sounding 100%. I sound great right now.
[01:29:31] Speaker B: I'm the bigger Mayfield to your deshaun. Watson.
[01:29:32] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it.
[01:29:34] Speaker B: You make me look good, so I'm just out here. That's what I'm here for. Just trying to make Ronnie Jams look good.
And then we do have just on a personal note, my baby is on the way here in hell yeah. A few weeks. Hell yeah, baby. Time to celebrate. This weekend, my baby started eating solid foods. Oh, boy.
[01:29:53] Speaker A: It's wild. It's been wild.
Sorry not to steal this spotlight. Your baby's coming soon. Your baby's going to be born.
[01:30:01] Speaker B: My baby's going to be born. And to celebrate, we're doing the old the diaper party this weekend. So maybe in two weeks, we might even have some shenanigans to share.
[01:30:09] Speaker A: We're going to go boating and get hammer drunk. Not at the same time, you don't do those at the same time. We don't.
Although I did hear on not to name drop another show, but on the Pat McAfee show, somebody claimed that you were allowed to drink in boat and everybody else was like, no, totally no, you can't.
[01:30:25] Speaker B: Do not do that. Don't do that.
[01:30:27] Speaker A: That's not legal.
[01:30:27] Speaker B: Have a sober driver.
[01:30:28] Speaker A: Really?
[01:30:28] Speaker B: If you have alcohol on the boot in Canada or here, they can board you and cite you and give you a CND. You give you A-C-D. We've been ceased to this once this week. Let's not make it happen twice. But that's what you can look forward to in two weeks.
[01:30:45] Speaker A: We return. Yeah. So check us out on social media. Tap in Media is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at the Tap in Media and Burning River Sportscast. That's this podcast is on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. TikTok TikTok and YouTube at Burning River Sportscast and on Twitter at Burning River pod. And you can find our podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. I'm talking to Apple podcasts spotify. Google Podcasts. Amazon Music. Stitcher Pandora. iHeartRadio Podcast Castro. Good pods and so many more.
[01:31:10] Speaker B: So many more.
[01:31:11] Speaker A: You know what it's time for?
[01:31:12] Speaker B: Didn't we just get added to a new one recently?
[01:31:14] Speaker A: Yeah, it didn't count. It was like some one that nobody's ever heard of. Okay, there's literally like 300 directories that we're on. Yeah. You know what it's time for, Kenny?
[01:31:24] Speaker B: My favorite time of the day.
[01:31:25] Speaker A: It's time for facts for Facts For.
[01:31:32] Speaker B: Okay, so Facts for Dave, because I.
[01:31:35] Speaker A: Best sounder in the game.
[01:31:36] Speaker B: I'm having such a hard time speaking. We're going to keep these short and sweet today and just run through this here to share, drop some knowledge on you.
[01:31:48] Speaker A: We're going to drop some knowledge.
[01:31:50] Speaker B: We're going to do it here for days. So, number one, facts for days. We talked last week a little bit about Antarctica and the art Arctic and how they named.
Also, fun fact about Antarctica wasn't last.
[01:32:03] Speaker A: Week, it was two weeks ago. Biweekly two weeks.
[01:32:04] Speaker B: Bisexual. Antarctica is the only continent without any reptiles or snakes.
[01:32:11] Speaker A: Well, damn. Because they're cold blooded, they can't live in Antarctica. Duh.
[01:32:16] Speaker B: So not only is there no McDonald's in Antarctica, which is also the only continent without McDonald's, we don't have any lizard friends. And Ronnie nailed it there. They are cold blooded. So because they cannot produce their own heat, they would just be turned into lizard popsicles.
[01:32:31] Speaker A: Feels bad that's a good reason not to go to a continent is I don't want to be a popsicle.
[01:32:37] Speaker B: That's true. Don't be a popsicle.
[01:32:39] Speaker A: When Pangea was splitting up, it did not carry the lizards to Antarctica. Well, it might have, but they became popsicles.
[01:32:45] Speaker B: Yes, they did. And they stayed.
[01:32:48] Speaker A: They were never mind in warmer places.
[01:32:51] Speaker B: Where they became popsicles. And that's why they're no longer there.
[01:32:54] Speaker A: Somebody ate them. Number two.
What the hell was that? Number two. I'll say it for you. Nobody heard that.
What do you got?
[01:33:04] Speaker B: Number two.
[01:33:05] Speaker A: Who does number two work for?
[01:33:08] Speaker B: The brain is the fattest organ.
[01:33:13] Speaker A: It is.
[01:33:15] Speaker B: The stomach may be our body's fattest part, but the fattest organ is our brain, as it is composed of nearly 60% fat.
[01:33:28] Speaker A: But why?
It's not a muscle. It's an organ. That's why everybody always says it's a muscle. It's an organ. It's not a muscle.
[01:33:37] Speaker B: Why I'm so smart? Oh, that's why my brain is huge.
[01:33:41] Speaker A: It has to be.
Okay, I'll say it. If you're this big, then your brain's got to be massive.
[01:33:50] Speaker B: Big shirt, big brain. You know what they say?
[01:33:52] Speaker A: You know what they say?
[01:33:53] Speaker B: Big belly, big hat, big brain, big head.
[01:34:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[01:34:01] Speaker B: I didn't see that one coming, though, did you? I mean, did you know that the brain was the fattest organ in your body?
[01:34:05] Speaker A: Who knew?
[01:34:05] Speaker B: Who knew? You do now.
[01:34:07] Speaker A: I know. You know, I know.
[01:34:08] Speaker B: Number three.
[01:34:09] Speaker A: A lot on facts for days over the past however many weeks it's been a lot of weeks that we've been doing this.
[01:34:14] Speaker B: Go on, number three.
[01:34:15] Speaker A: Number three.
[01:34:17] Speaker B: This almost doubles as a PSA.
[01:34:19] Speaker A: Okay, yeah, listen up. This is going to be as good as the Nair story.
[01:34:24] Speaker B: It's not that good.
People go to banks. Even with the advent of online bank.
[01:34:30] Speaker A: I haven't been to a bank in years.
[01:34:31] Speaker B: People still go to deposit checks or talk to a banker. Isn't it?
[01:34:35] Speaker A: Maybe if you're 90.
[01:34:36] Speaker B: Maybe if you're 90.
[01:34:38] Speaker A: But Skip bailiffs, go to the bank.
[01:34:40] Speaker B: Skip definitely is a brick and mortar guy. Yeah, but should you have the need or the desire to go to a bank, keep in mind here goes my voice again.
[01:34:52] Speaker A: Keep in mind you can't even get it out.
[01:34:55] Speaker B: That half. Keep in mind half a solid 50% of all bank robberies in the US are done on a Friday. Well, Dang, those are overwhelmingly large statistics.
[01:35:09] Speaker A: They think they're going to steal their money and ride into the sunset like, thank God it's Friday night and got paid.
[01:35:20] Speaker B: That was the musical enlightenment by NSYNC Ronnie Jams.
[01:35:24] Speaker A: The musical stylings of NSYNC brought to you by Ronnie Jams.
[01:35:27] Speaker B: According to recent government statistics statistics? Statistically, Ralph, I don't know where you're getting your statistics. Bank robberies in the US take place most often in mid morning on Fridays.
[01:35:41] Speaker A: Never go to the bank at 10:00 on a Friday ever again.
[01:35:44] Speaker B: And in southwestern states, we're good. For instance, out of the total stolen in 2011 of $44 million that's a lot of millions. Only 8 million was ever recovered. So not only is it dangerous to go to a bank on Friday at midday, it's also quite lucrative.
[01:36:08] Speaker A: So you're saying we should rob a bank?
[01:36:10] Speaker B: I'm not saying that. And I'm not affiliated with the Cleveland Browns. And don't be just a part of the problem. Be the whole damn problem.
[01:36:15] Speaker A: And only you can prevent river fires.
[01:36:18] Speaker B: Burning rivers burning rivers cast burning rivers boards cast burning river sports cast sports cast.
[01:36:29] Speaker A: Does it hurt to whisper?
[01:36:31] Speaker B: It just doesn't feel weird. It feels weird. Feels bad because I just can't make voices. Noises come out of me.
Glad you stayed on for that.
[01:36:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:36:44] Speaker B: I've been in this business 15 years. What's your name?
[01:36:47] Speaker A: Fuck you. That's my name.
[01:36:49] Speaker B: You know why, Mr? Because you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight. I drove an $80,000 BMW. That's my name.
[01:36:58] Speaker A: New York. Let me get a cough out now we're good.
[01:37:08] Speaker B: Podcasting when you're sick, hashtag illness.
[01:37:11] Speaker A: It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
[01:37:18] Speaker B: I am the one who knocks. I don't know if you all have ever received a C and D before, but we have been served. We weren't officially served, but we were officially notified to cease and desist that phrase.
[01:37:34] Speaker A: Trademark note.
Thank God. It's Friday night and I desperately want to make love to a schoolboy. No, we mentioned you mentioned Miles Garrett getting punched in the face in a traffic.
[01:37:57] Speaker B: I'm funny how? I mean, funny like I'm a clown. I amuse you. The brain is the fattest organ.
[01:38:05] Speaker A: It is.
[01:38:07] Speaker B: The stomach may be our body's fattest part, but the fattest organ is our brain, as it is composed of nearly 60% fat.
[01:38:20] Speaker A: But why?
It's not a muscle. It's an organ.
[01:38:25] Speaker B: That's why everybody always says, why I'm so smart. Oh, that's why my brain is huge.
[01:38:33] Speaker A: It has to be.
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