Good evening everybody, and welcome to our last fire up of the year. Are you guys all ready for it?
Yeah?
Yeah, let's do this. It's sad that I'm.
Not ready for a year at the end of the year, I'm not ready for Christmas.
I'm not ill. You got a week to go, buddy, It's.
Gonna come, whether you're ready or not.
I know it always, it does every year.
It does every year.
Yes, yes, yes, it's good to see you. And no, door wasn't blocked. He was putting time out. So before he starts even saying anything to stop saying something about will he wouldn't do it.
You got time out there you go. We want people commenting about what we're talking about, not necessarily other issues or other things. So we welcome all kinds of great, you know, comments, as long as they're related to what we're talking about. So the topic and the title hmmm, bowling anyone you almost oh, ball games, that's what we're talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, although I will say Scott will tell you he once got an award for the most unusual form and bowling, so we talked it mm hmm. Yeah.
But we're not going to We are going to talk about the college bowl games going on this weekend. We're going to see the first of the college football playoffs and this is the first time that they're actually doing it in home stadiums.
Yes, for the first round of the college playoffs. Yes, And did you see the stipulations on the ticket And I think it's great they did it this way.
Go ahead, let us know.
They made sure that it was forty percent for each team home or away gets tickets. That way, the home teams can't just dominate the whole stadium. The other twenty percent are for media, politicians, stars and crap like that.
They are letting the ticket sales revenue all goes to the CFP, so it doesn't go to the home schools. The homeschools get to keep the parking and the concession sales. And the other thing that's going to be different is away teams have the option for their hype video during their introductions, just like the home team does. So that's a little different, right.
So like, if nope, not just talking about Michigan here to talk about Michigan. If Michigan was in it and they were playing against somebody, you would see the hype video they did in honor of James Earl Jones this year, because that's the one they use for every game with him passing away. Mhm A, I'll be here. I have faith in him. He shows up every show.
That is smoking. Jay set a fire under the guys. Well, sometimes the guys need a fire lit underneath them.
Number one, I'm gonna say it right now, Joshua door Will is not a semi virgin. He doesn't need to hear that. In my chat, I warned you he did it again, so I put you in timeout, and that's where it ended.
So the first playoff game starts tomorrow night, and it's not an in state rivalry, but it's kind of like a small rivalry. It's at Notre Dame, and Indiana's gonna play Notre Dame. So let's go around the room what we think is gonna happen in this game. And I'm gonna let because I know George is a big fan of Notre Dame, I'm gonna let George go first.
Well big fan.
Yeah, I mean I had the Notre Dame experience many many years ago. But I think that all Indiana has had a great year, no question about it. I mean nobody predicted them for being in the CFP. But I'm telling you what, Notre Dame's had a damn good year two and they want to see it continue as well. Very interesting though that the two schools from that state are playing each other. So you got number ten against number seven is where they ended up in the rankings.
This is going to be a home game for Notre Dame. But as Candy mentioned and Jeremy talked about, you know this is they're trying to try to be fair with this audience, with the fans in the stands. But I think it'll still be prominent that the home team is going to get more cheers, more excitement than the road team. But that being said, yeah, I would think this game is going to be closer than a lot of people think.
Though.
I'm gonna go with Notre Dame thirty in Indiana twenty four as my final score this first game.
Okay, Pensman, what do you think?
Well, before I give my before I give my predictions, go out and go to bet us and keyword under Sideline Sports and place a bet between of these pool games and maybe you'll get a discount on your first bet. So I just want to point that out. But with that said, go I'm going for Notre Dame in this game. It's gonna be close, like George said, and I have thirty four to thirty one in that game.
Smoking Jeremy, b what do you think?
I'm more along the score that Pensman said. But at the same time, it's been a while since that Indiana gave up big points to any opponent, So I do think it's a one score game. But I got Indiana winning because they play better defense.
I'm gonna go with Indiana too. If you didn't, if you didn't all here last night. And I don't normally say this too much, but I am officially I was born in Indiana. I lived there for only a year and a half of my life. But so there's a little bit of a hoosier but you know in me, so I am gonna I'm rooting for Indiana. I'm a big ten girl, and I i'd like to see Indiana win. I think it's gonna be like like Jeremy said, I think it's gonna be twenty four to twenty one. It's
gonna be a close game. I think it's gonna be a good game. But I think Indiana's got a really good coach and I think, you know, he coached the year and I think he's gonna he's gonna help propel him. With that being said, there are some other games on, so that's tomorrow night. There's other games. Besides, we're not gonna get into each bowl game because there's lots of bowl games and there's ones that have already happened. So
but let's go the CFP first Round. So Saturday, the first game on the slate is SMU versus Penn State. This time, I'm gonna go with Pensman first.
I don't like Penn State. I don't care for him, but I think they're gonna win. Jeremy's guy is clapping, but I think Penn State's gonna win. SMU is going to be put up a fight, but I think Penn State's just a little bit stronger and James Fredlin's going to get the first big win off the monkey off his shoulder. So we'll see what happens.
Okay, smoking, Jeremy, b what do you think.
I think it's going to be a close game. Both teams do what the other team doesn't like. But the I'm gonna Strake it up to coaching. SMU has a better coach, James Franklin has been mid and lost big games. Is the higher then you're at Ben State. SMU might pull it out.
Okay, George, Well, right now, the matchup predictor that ESPN uses as saying sixty seven percent of the nation is picking Penn State to win sm you only ad about thirty three percent.
But when you look at them, they're both.
Teams are very very good teams. Even the passing game. I mean Jennings against al er Uh. Jennings has over three thousand yards passing. ELA's got almost twenty nine hundred yards passing. This is totally unusual because you know, all the teams under paternal basically we're running attacks most of the time. They have good, good, solid running games Penn State. But now there is more diversity. I mean, you got guys that are all American candidates. In the rushing end
of the receiving department. Of course Smith of SMU, I mean, this guy is an animal. They had over twelve hundred yards rushing and I believe about fourteen touchdowns. That being said, it is going to be a close game because I think that what happens is you know, oh, you know, nobody will picked this SMU to be there, sort of like what I said about Indiana, and nobody picked them to get this far. So that being said, I am going to give Penn State one chance, and one chance
only to prove us wrong. They have a habit of losing the big games, as we know, especially at the Ohio State or Michigan. So Penn State will win this game, but it's going to be awful close. I'm going to go Penn State twenty eight and SMU twenty four.
And I think one of the factors that's going to play into it that none of you have alluded to is the weather. SMU is from Dallas. They're used to it being a lot warmer. It is supposed to be old. And yes it is the noon game, so that does help it a little bit. But I think I think Penn State's got the edge besides having being playing on their familiar rounds, playing in their stadium, and then the weather, I think the edge goes to Penn State. I think this will be this might be a little bit more
of a scoring game than I'm not. So I'm going to say thirty four to thirty thirty four thirty Penn State. So the next game is the four o'clock game, that is Clemson versus Texas, Smoking Jeremy b your thoughts on that game.
Texas is gonna dog walk them. Clemson has no shot in the team. Uh huh okay at home and you know the crowd outside the stadium might be louder than the away teams crowd inside the stadium.
Okay, George, your thoughts?
Yeah, yeah, Again, the predictor has got eighty percent chance for Texas and only twenty percent chance for Clemson.
You know, Clemson's been up and down, you know, most of the year.
They've had some good they've lost three times, ten and three. But they still got a good, solid team. But Texas is loaded. I mean most people had Texas as the number one team for several weeks during the season.
As we know.
Oh and you know they had a couple of bumps in the road there and finished eleven and two overall. The quarterback comparison, again, you got two guys with pile up the statistics. Clemson guy club Nick has got thirty three touchdowns and eight interceptions five interceptions only and then ours of Texas he's got twenty five touchdowns and nine interceptions. Yeah, both these guys are good. They got good offensive, skilled players on both sides of the ball. But I'm still
going with Texas too. I'm going to say Texas is going to win. Let's go with thirty eight to twenty five.
Okay, Pensman, your thoughts.
I have Texas one in this, and it's like everything's George said and Jeremy said. I agreed that on that Clemson's not strong like the other like they had Trevor Lawrence those games, those teams when Trevor Lawrence was on that team, they dominated. They haven't been dominated since then. They've been barely winning these games. Texas is gonna win thirty eight to twenty one.
Okay, I as well think Texas is gonna take Clembs into the house. Clemsing got in just at the last minute. Do they belong in there? That's a whole nother different story. But Texas is gonna beat them, and I think they're gonna beat them handily. I think by at least ten to fourteen points at least. Okay, So the last one for Saturday night is probably what I would say should be the best game of that day, I think, and
that's Tennessee playing Ohio State. So, George, your thoughts on Tennessee traveling to Ohio Seven.
And a half point favorites, I believe is what I saw for Ohio State.
Of course, they're still being recuperating from that.
Michigan upset victory over Ohio State down in the Horseshoe, as you all know. But Ohio State again, very strong team, very good, good skilled players, good athletes up and down. You know, Brian Day is moving forward after that lost to Michigan as well he should. And the fact of the matter is is that I don't I know, Tennessee's had a good year also ten and two, but I don't think that they can beat Ohio State on the road.
I mean, as much as Michigan loved playing at Ohio State, it seems like the last couple of visits there, at least this is a very tough environment Tennessee. Yeah, I mean you look at their scores though, I mean again, you know, they score let's see here, thirty six points in the win over Vanderbilt, and then U tip they beat him fifty six to nothing, and then they scored seventeen against Georgia in the loss. When they played Georgia,
that's Tennessee. And of course the offense was just non existent for Ohio State against U of M oh my god, losing that game thirteen to ten.
Yeah, yeah, I sure did. So sometimes you don't know what you're gonna get. I guess with Ohio States offense.
But long story short of it, I think it's gonna be Ohio State. I'm gonna say, let's go with about twenty seven to.
Twenty.
Pensman, what do you think.
It's gonna be tough game? Tennessee's coming in strong, but I think Ohio State comes in and went their home. They have everything to prove because of the Michigan game, because of the fight. They want to prove they are the better team. So I think they're gonna win at home. I think their fans are gonna go crazy because this was the first playoff game at home, so I think they're gonna go crazy. So I think it's gonna be thirty five to twenty eight.
Okay, smoking me. What do you think.
One in four versus Michigan twenty six and four against all other opponents. That's Ryan Day's record, But guess where those four losses all were the college football playoffs. Ryan Day choked in the playoffs too. He's just like James Franklin. He cannot win the big game. I have this feeling that we saw how to Tennessee's defense is a lot like Michigan's if you look the way it is. They're very good at stopping the pass and they just stuff the run with containment flits. I think you could see
the upset in round one Tennessee win. I'm gonna say, like twenty four to seventeen.
Wow, Wow, I do I do have to say for Ohio State losing to Michigan like you did when you did, gave really good film to Tennessee to figure out how to stop you and hold you at Bay. So that's gonna that's gonna help Tennessee. I also think Richard I think Day is coaching for his his job, so he's got a little extra motivation. Whether that transfers to his players and the players on the field. I think Ohio State narrowly wins this one by two.
I want to you have not talked about one thing we were talking about. You've had stupid comments about other crafts that we're not talking about. We're talking about sports. We are not addressing the bubble bath situation. You want to address the bubble baths situation, go do it on face time. Uh. Meghan Nausty twelve, thank you.
Happy holidays to you, Meghan, thank you, thank you, Hi Megan, And again, Joshua, we will address you if you are talking intelligently about what we are talking about on the show. If you want to have that kind of a conversation, you can have it elsewhere. So on too. Okay, So what do we think going forward?
Then?
With the picks that we have, who do you think is most likely to win the next round? Guys?
Well, because I picked that on you don't they would? They would fase the Boise State, right, mm hmm, Soise States winning that, okay? And then I did and I picked s m U over Penn State. So the other one would have been Indiana over not Tree Shame. And I'll always call him not for shame as long as I'm alive, because they've been no Tree shame ever since the Catholic versus Convicts era?
Are you talking about the movie.
Convicts?
The University of Miami versus Notre Dame era of football when they were going back and forth and everybody would win every other year. But uh so that would put them up against who would be their opponent, Because I'm not looking at the bread Georgia. Georgia. Georgia is gonna. Georgia will dog walk whoever comes out of there. That's what I see. I don't care which which one wins, whether it's my team more than Georgia's team. Both teams
don't have a shot against Georgia. Oregon's dog walking whoever they have to play. And the only one right and then the only one that I see that will have a hard time with anybody is Texas coming out and going up against Arizona State. I don't see Arizona State beating Texas.
Wow, Wow, you're going out limb that played Jeremy.
I just I think Texas is the better team. But I can care less about the rankings. Arizona States in a week conference.
They're well, they're rested, though, rest.
Or rust haven't. Once you get rolling, you're rolling.
That's an awesome pick. I like it.
Okay, George, what do you think?
Well, of course I disagree with him with the regards to Notre Dame, but I do anticipate Georgia would beat Notre Dame in the second round. I've got Boise State over Penn State in round two. I've got number one Oregon beating Ohio State at the Rose Ball on New Year's Day.
That's going to be a great game.
And that's by the way, the Rose Bull is obviously very happy that it worked out that way. Which is the old traditional Pac twelve against Big ten. And then the other one that Jeremy said, I agree with him. I don't see Arizona State coming out of that game with Texas. I'm going to say Texas is going to win that. And that's the Peach Bowl down in Atlanta.
That's another one that's New Year's Day. So for as far as the next round goes, I'm sticking with all the favorites except Arkansas's is a four seed and they're going to lose to Texas a five seed.
Bensman, what do you think.
I need help with the second round because I didn't really look at the bracket for the second round. I just know that Arizona.
State, Arizona State will play the winner of the Texas game.
And I got Arizona State over Texas.
Wow.
No, no offense, Jeremy, no offense, just the way they came in. Just no. I know, I'm just saying no offense to Jeremy, but the way Arizona State has been playing the last couple of weeks prior to the playoffs might be a surprise. Might be surprised there, Jeremy. I got Oregon. I got Oregon winning that game. That Gabriel is gonna he's he's probably mad about not winning the Heisman, so he's probably gonna show.
Hunter.
No.
Travis Hunter definitely didn't deserve it.
It should have been.
There you go, and I got Boise State wedding.
Okay, I'm carry twenty nine touchdowns on three hundred and seventy eight carries with two four hundred and sixty nine yards in, averaging seven point three yards per carry. That guy should have been the Heidsman. Travit Hunter got it because I think if he didn't.
Yep, that's true, that's true. That's true. Okay, guys, should we go to talk little talk a little NFL?
Sure?
Why not?
Why not? One of the things I want to talk about is how banged up the NFC North division is Green Bay Packers have five players on IR, the Vikings have eight players on IR, the Bears have nine players on IR. And then there there's Detroit that happened to twenty two players on IR, and yet there's still twelve and two.
Uh, you might got to reduce that to twenty because two came off the IR in the last twenty four hours that hit the Melo bomb move and Jalen Reeves Maven and David Montgomery was never put on it. So the number twenty two is incorrect, okay, because they were anticipating that David Montgomery would get put on it. So that takes well down to nineteen mm hmm.
That's still quite a quite a few the whole division.
Do you want to know what's twenty because we've been playing with seventeen on IR all year and winning, and everybody's crying about losing four players in a game when we lost. While we were winning, nobody was complaining about the injury, right, and so the legion of whom is ready to rock?
Hey, that that's the whole that's the whole premise. Next man up, that's what you have to be ready for that next man up. And you got a winning and be ready for that. You can't keep using injuries as an excuse because everybody's got injuries, every team.
And it seems like I said something about this because somebody asked me, what about injuries, because Detroit has had been plagued with injuries the entire time. Dan Campbell's built here, been here, and I said, we're built different than every year he's been here. And I think I said something to the fact that this is the deepest roster that the Lions. I've had salent. Why in my history as a band, not only as a writer or a broadcaster. That's I'm fifty four. It started when I was five.
That's forty nine years. People, I've never seen this much death of talent. And I said, so this next man up thing may get put to the test. And it started early. It was actually started in week three. First it was Derek Barnes, and then four plays later it was Marcus Davenport. Then the next game we had another injury. And then we had another injury in week by week by and not week by week six, And that was
a major one. A guy that was like leading for defensive Player of the year, and Aiden Hudson when he broke his leg. And then everybody remember all week before the game, what's Detroit gonna do with now Hutchinson. They don't have a pass rush, they won't be able to win games. They won eleven straight without him.
Can I say one thing first before you keep going. I thought you guys were done after Hutchison went out. I thought you guys were just I was like, well, there you go, because he was he was lead in sacks to prior to when he got injured. As soon as he got hurt, I was like, oh. I was like, well, lines are done. They kept the nex spand up and started performing better. I was like, all right, maybe not yeah, And you.
Know, we had a good game the next week versus Minnesota, and then what was it? The Titans came the downtown and offensively we had one of the worst games of the year. That ye're we you're offensively worst outfit foot of the year. But what did we have? We had the best special teams output of any team in twenty years since Devin Hester was running the ball.
I'm not well.
The only thing I can say is that you know, Brad Holmes and his staff, scouting staff and pro Pro Development staff whatever they're called, has done a hell of a job in looking over the rosters and the extra players that are available to pick up, because I've never seen this happen before, where you pick up guys that actually do come in and they contribute immediately, whether it's one week practice, whether it's five days practice, whether it's
four days whatever. These guys have stepped in and answered the call, answered the bill.
As they say.
You could talk all you want about all these injuries, but if Detroit did not have that kind of depth, there's no way they'd be twelve and two right now.
They have the.
Deepest roster in the division and probably the conference. So back to our friend Candy's point, I don't think it's I don't think it's any kind of trend the NFC North. I mean, two teams play outside, but two don't. I don't think it has anything to do with just everybody in this conference, in this division. I just think that Detroit has a better way and a better system set up to acquire more backup, more talent, perhaps guys that could be disgrundled where.
They're at right now.
Who knows why all of them are available. We don't know all the reasons why.
What we do know is that Detroit has been shrewd, very shrewd in picking up the guys that they think can fit in, they think can help. And Jeremy's right, there's been a problem all year with these injuries, and the Lions of Man overcome it. So that's my two cents. I'm taking a little bit of what all you guys have said, because obviously they are still the front runner, no question about it, the Lions.
My two cents is when you see a team that has that many injuries and yet they still have the success that they're having, it's a testament to who's bringing who in, but who's coaching those players and coaching them up to fit into your system and to match with everybody else, because obviously there's a good there's got to be a buy in because you've got to play angel as a team, whether you're a defensive unit, whether you're offense.
And kudos to your coaches because that's a testament to having really good coaches that are helping those players get up to speed and get in there and to be able to be effective as soon as possible.
I want to go back to something that ag said in that last presser said, he said, he goes when it comes to bringing these new guys in, instead of changing who they are, I work my scheme around the type of player they are so that they don't have to change what they've done good their entire career. For the veteran guys and for the younger guys, they just tell them, hey, I see you play this position good. I'm gonna put you there, and so your job doesn't change.
Then if your job doesn't change, and you've been doing it everywhere else at a decent level, or even even at a practice squad level, hey we're giving you a shot. You're going to be in the game today. Prove us something. You'll get to stay here. Otherwise you'll be back on the waiver wire tomorrow. I mean, because we've done it, and that's why we've kept fifty two people on the active roster. They address this at the beginning of the season.
They did it on purpose so that they can sign a practice squad player to the active roster and that then have them not be dressed. It doesn't count towards the salary cap because it's below the top fifty one. Keep them on practicing with the first team the next week, give them a chance to play, then let them play the next week, and then they wave them to bring them back to start the clock all over again. Then they can do the whole dressed to undressed being four
more time. We've done it all years this way. Everybody's like, when are they gonna add somebody to make it fifty three newsplatch? They're gone.
With that being said, what games are we looking forward to this weekend in the NFL? And we're gonna start with Pensman.
I'm looking forward to the Steelers Ravens game because the Braves have been talking, They've been they I saw an article today that Lamar Jackson is getting frustrated losing to Pittsburgh because the Pittsburgh's got his number, so they're at home. So Lamar Jackson is getting frustrated, and I don't care. I love when he's frustrated because I'm a Steelers fan.
So that's why I'm looking forward to And I'm looking forward to seeing some Bowl games to see what happens, and if we get upset with the teams that we picked, then that's fine. But I just want to see good games and see good competitive football and the bowl games, but that's the main game I'm looking for. And after everybody's got something to say about the football games, I got one more topic I want to talk about.
But go ahead, though, Okay, mister George, what NFL game are you looking forward to?
Oh?
All of them, of course, But one that I got my eye on is the Minnesota at Seattle's four o'clock game on Fox, and we'll see if the Vikings can can continue this little magical season they're putting together. You know, Geno Smith, I'm not a big fan of his, but you can't argue with some of his stats. But the one that really is a bad one is his touchdown the interception ratio fourteen and thirteen. That's that's horrible. So I don't think that Minnesota is going to have.
Perhaps this tough a time.
But that being said, anytime you go on the road, of course, it's a different environment. So right now, the spread I think is Minnesota by three. But I'm looking forward to that one, and I know Lions fans are too, because they want to see Minnesota tripped up and lose that game in Seattle.
It would be won.
That's it.
Jeremy, what are you?
I would have said New Orleans versus Green Bay if New Orleans stayed as good as they were at the beginning of the season, But since they fell up, I think green Bay is smoking them. Here's the crazy thing about this is Seattle's been very inconsistent, whether at home round the road. But it's been like one bad game, then they have a great game. They just had their bad game bases just facing green Bay.
This kid could be.
Right.
They alternate when they turn on and off, and in those games where they're good, Gino doesn't turn the ball over. They run for a lot on the yard. Packers have struggled against decent run games all year because of the new defense and the way they're they're still learning how to work together in jail, and they've had a couple
of injuries that here and there. Thank god they got Cooper back last week because they you saw that he was the big difference in that Seattle game because if he wasn't there, I think Zach Charbine it ran all over the middle of that lineup like Monty and Gibbs did. So Minnesota is dealing with some injuries. I just read they got nine people not practicing today on top of their IR. That's eighteen players people. You can't have that
many on IR and that many not practicing. That's a bad combination because we're talking about a second right, So Minnesota is going he goes, well, I hope this improves. But you know, you have some players that are long in the tooth that are just coming back to practice. I mean, luckily for them, Steven Gilbot came back to God forbid, you don't trug who's opposite Byron Murphy right now to cover anybody, and that Stephen Gilmore's in. But
it was a couple of their linebackers. There was a linemen in there, there was a running the one of the backup running backs. There was all sorts of people on that list. So they're not as healthy as their IR report looks.
The one thing I will say about Seattle and the Packer game is I was surprised because I cannot remember the last time I watched a game where we went went to Seattle, and normally the fans are so loud in Seattle, it's always the Twelfth Man is so loud. But yet you could hear the Packer chants and how many Packer fans there were, And I read that Aaron Rodgers was on the pack McAfee show and he even said he's never heard as many Packer fans at a
Seattle game. He said that was crazy. And we talked on Inside the Pigskin on our network a couple of days ago, and we were talking to Football Talk Bo because he's from Seattle, and what he is saying is that he's seen a turn with some of the teams that come in because Seattle's ticket prices are so high, and their season ticket prices are so high that they're selling some of their season ticket holders are selling their seat their seats, and a lot of times they go
to visitors instead of the home crowd, and so you're seeing kind of a turn where you're seeing a lot more of the twelfth Man. Isn't necessarily the twelfth Man for Seattle. It's not as loud, so it'll be interesting. Like I said, I've never seen I've never heard Packer fans as loud in Seattle as they were this past weekend.
See exactly. It was two thousand and nine, was the last time the Packers won in Seattle. M oh not as bad as Pittsburgh winning in Philly. It's been since nineteen sixty five and it's not happening this.
Year either, Candy, I'm out of here.
To try And I.
Know I don't want to talk about that game. That game, Yeah, I know that game was so rough.
But you talk about fans, Candy, and we all know the Lion's successful story where they're going in there and buying and buying and buying. And these fans in these other cities obviously, oh sure, sure here all makes a few extra bucks. You know, they're selling them a lot of ticket holders.
But at the same time, that price in the aftermarket ticket fails because these tickets have been sold out for months. People. Yeah, the market bears what the prices are. If your team is good, you pay more. If your team is bad, you pay less. And that's why you see a lot of the the fans going on the road that can't afford the home games. Right now, in Detroit, and I'm talking about the regular seasons, not the season ticket holders, we were sold out of season ticket holders. I think
that the second fastest. I think the only team that hold out their season tickets faster or not was the Chiefland don't know ye. A buddy of mine said, I couldn't afford to go to a home game, but I was able to afford to go to any Indianapolis polt. Another buddy of mine says, I couldn't afford to go to a home game, but it was cheaper for me for for a Lower Bowl ticket, to get a ticket to go to San Francisco this year than it was
to get a Lower Bowl ticket in Detroit. Did you ever think you'd hear these statements for a week seventeen games?
No, but he is.
He added up the hotels and the and the He just said his plane ticket and seat ticket is cheaper than the cheapest lower Lower Bowl ticket in Detroit.
Right now.
Wow, that's crazy stuff. Wow.
And that's also depending on who you're facing, Like if the Colts would have been come into Detroit, those tickets would have been a lot less than they normally are. If you're playing a bad team, the tickets are left. The cheapest ticket this weekend in Chicago is one hundred bucks. How much the cheapest nosebleed is for face value in Detroit this year two and fifty.
Yeah, there'll be a lot of fans.
And a reigning defending champions the NSC. That's what makes it more surprising.
That.
Yeah, So the two games that I think I'm most interested in, what's gonna be tonight's game, obviously if you have been watching though, Denver is up twenty one to thirteen. And then the other game that intrigues me is the Eagles Commanders game. That game interests me.
That interests everybody in the NFC, because this is the last test for Philly. Really, if you look at the records of the opponents, this is the team that's in second place. They have the best shot to knock Billy off their little high horse rate now saying that they're better than everybody else. But the bad part is, out of all the top four teams in the NFC, they've had the weakest second place schedule of any team in the NFL. The record of opponents against is eighty five and one thirteen.
Hear that Philly. Hear that Philly not.
Including tonight, So that's gonna change a little bit because they finally facing a team we do wining.
True this it's true, I mean.
The way they've only played four teams with the winning record all season and they're two and two in those games.
Let's face it, it's going to be a barn burner. The Jags are visiting the Raiders.
Pilot Bowl edition fifteen on the year or sixteen on the ear.
And let's face let's face it.
So what what can't what candies try to tell you is get some turkey and fall asleep during that game.
And let's face it, when you're playing it. When the NFC North is playing an NFC North divisional game, it really does not matter what the record is because we all play each other very tough. So the Lions go to the Bears and.
Well, did you watch that game last Monday? The Bears quit. Let's face it, the Bears are quit. They got the interim interim head coach, the first interim offensive coordinator may to be the intermed coach in the career. And it just goes to show you he belongs up in the booth, call in the plaze, not on the sideline, because it looks like he has no clue what's going on. And offense, they put up twelve what was it thirteen points or
was it twelve? No, it's twelve because they went for the two and didn't get it right.
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
So if Detroit doesn't win this game by double digits, then I'm gonna say the injuries are a problem on defense.
Bears have lost eight in a row now, Yeah, And I'm gonna make a bold prediction.
This is the game where the interceptionless streak of Caleb Williams tens if he had to melofan Will playing Brian Branch is getting good. It's ready to go. Kirby Joseph Terry On Arnold has been so close to getting his first pick. But I think it's gonna be either if he had to melofan Will with Terry on Arnold that gets the interception.
Yeah, sounds good to me.
Any other NFL topics, because I know Penzman wanted to bring up a topic.
I have one more. If you watch my channel, I like to make fun of the Dallas Cowboys. So I'm just I'm just saying, if Dallas Cowboys barely want in Carolina because Carolina is Carolina, can they rebound against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's the real question. That's one answer. If they win, they'll move to seven and eight, then the Cowboys will be yeap.
But more I know because here they are with two weeks. We gotta win out a week and make the playoffs.
And yep, that's why I make affordable.
Oh okay, I'm gonna take a quick station break before we go into my towne. But let's do this station break. So The Self Word to Tribune Publishing Company published a book late last year, Lessons from the Microphone, Tuning into the Enduring Wisdom of Visionary Leaders. It is written by Scott the MotorCity mad Mouth Morgan Roth, and the forward is written by none other than George Korn. It is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, Google, and Apple Books.
Get your copy today. It's a great gift idea for anybody that wants to get into the media business or anybody that's a sports fan, because there's all kinds of great stories in there and lessons to be learned and lessons that were learned. There's also a link on our website www dot Selfwordatribune dot com. We also have a link on our website to our merchandise store, so you can get a hat, you can get a sweatshirt. Go
check those out. And while you're on our website, you can check out the writing of the two gentlemen, Jeremy and George. They both for us. Go check out their awesome articles and once in a while there's a picture in there that I might put in You just never know. But there's a lot of other great content. Go check out our website www. Dot sell, Florida Tribune dot com. And then on top of everything, if you like to listen to podcasts, you can find us wherever you get
your podcasts. Monday nights we talk baseball, Tuesday nights we talk football, Wednesday and Thursdays. You just never know what we're gonna be talking about. We've talked it from everything from hot dog eating contests to NFL to check us out. If you see the red subscribe button, hit it like a share us with all your friends and family. We'd love to have more subscribers, and we'd also ask you to subscribe to the other channels for our hosts that
they host their own shows and their own channels. At the end of the show, you'll find out where to go to click theirs as well. Okay, guys, you know one of my original ideas was I created what's called my Town, So my town segment what is happening in your town? And George, I didn't prep you tonight, so I'm gonna let you go first because I know you and Jeremy are kind of from the same town. See, you never know if you're gonna get the same topic, So let's start with you. George.
Well, I know Jeremy's not going to talk about this one, so I figured i'd be safe with this one. Ky Cunningham Ki Cunningham is making his case to be an NBA All Star.
The Pistons have won more.
Games than I can't tell you how long it took them to win eleven or twelve games last season. But Kate has been very impressive. He's been healthy, he's dishing the ball off more, he's running the offense I think in a nice, easier type of way. And he's listening to his new coaching staff, which is very important as we know, as the Pistons cleaned house after last year's debacle.
But Kate Cunningham is on his way, on his way to the NBA All Star Game, I believe, and also he deserves definitely a shot at the Olympics the next time that comes around for the NBA players or the World Championships, as you know, those are held too with basketball in the off years that there's no Olympics. So pats off to kid. The fans are starting to come back the Pistons. I know they lost tonight to you Jah, but they are certainly on a better road than they
were one season ago. So that's my town.
That's your town. Well, I'm gonna let Jeremy have a little bit of time, So I'm gonna go to Pensman first, Pensman, what's happening in your town?
Currently, the Pittsburgh Penguins are winning against the Nashville well tied with the Nashville Prewers fifteen minutes and fifty eight seconds. I just got done telling Scott last night that Sidney Crosby better step up his game because he hasn't scored in a long time. He put it a Goalilaite and Mike Tomlin. Time of possession number one, number two, clock management, two minute warning, use your time outs proper, use your
time with possession. Wisely, you cannot win games with twenty minutes of possession time and ten first outs, think Tomlin, think that's my talent?
Jere me, Well, we already talked about the injury situation here in Detroit and it's getting better, and I expect there's a couple more that will come off the IR in the next couple of weeks, because we still got and Loan is supposed to return by week eighteen. Mostly it's been back. But when will you see him on the field. That's a big question. I'm tired of paying him to ride the bike and Chris Ellich open up
the checkbook. The either plan can't work if you won't get good players, and neither will the Tigers that might.
Know that's your tone. Okay, So I've got a couple of things. The Milwaukee Brewers signed in the least extension that will keep them in the state of Wisconsin till twenty fifty. Great for Milwaukee. The other thing is the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Cup Finals the NBA, but one of the things that was also announced during that finals. ESPN has announced that ninety one year old Hub Brown will call the final game of his broadcasting career on
February ninth. It'll be a full circle moment for Brown. The Basketball Hall of Famers finale will be in Milwaukee, where where his professional coaching career started in nineteen seventy two. The Bucks will play host to Philadelphia that afternoon, with the game preceding that day's Super Bowl. Brown will work with the game work the game on ABC alongside Mike Breen, who will handle play by play duties. ESPN released the news during the NBA Cup Finals in Las Vegas on
Tuesday night. Brown is a two time NBA Coach of the Year and had stints as head coach in New York, Memphis, and Atlanta. He has been with ESPN since two thousand and four. ESPN said it would honor Brown's career, including more than fifty years associated with the NBA and thirty five years as a national television and radio analyst throughout that broadcast.
Now that's something to tear about exactly.
Good career, good career as an analyst.
So that's something that looks forward to in twenty twenty five. Any other topics you guys want to bring to the table tonight.
I got one, Okay, I got one, And I'm not trying to make fun of Jeremy. I'm not gonna say anything, but I want to just want to hear his opinion. Had you guys as well. JJ McCarthy's supposed to get healed up by next year. Will JJ McCarthy's start next year instead of Sam Darnold.
I yes, because they really can't afford to give thirty million dollars minimum to a QB outside of JJ. They're probably going to resign Daniel Jones at like a ten eleven million dollar contract, who still has guaranteed money being paid to him by the Giants as a backup. But you may see Daniel Jones just start the season. And there there's one thing you can't say about KOC. He has been for the last two seasons dead quarterback, career reclamation project. He brings anybody in and they can win
a game or two for him. So because with that second surgery, everybody says, oh, it's just a cleanup, he'll be fine, they come to find out during his rehab he pore the meniscus again while they were in there. They repaired it again. So JJ might not be ready even by the week one of the season.
Yeah, George, and.
He thought, no, I just think it's a big gamble.
Uh. You know, he's been out all year, and like Jeremy said, I mean there's a lot of rehab that goes into coming back, and they all, but I agree with you the two about the amount of money for somebody that's a veteran like Darnold, it is a crapshoot, really, But the team has won twelve games this year with this guy.
It'd be awful difficult in my mind.
To think that they're going to close the door on that chapters.
Yeah, the fans have actually said, because I talked to a lot of them with the shows that I run in the NFC North Era area, they said, unless he went gets them to the super Bowl, and I doubt they do. Oh really, he won't be resigned. Okay, they don't want them resigned. They want to start the jj mcsy and whatever else you have. It's thirty million dollars when you only have forty to sixty million left. Oh,
I know you got to make you know. It's the same conversations we've had here in Detroit, and that's why they've been frugal. Everybody can say it's dollars store, Brad. It's smart when you got less money starting the next year than you had the previous year to roll over and make yourself have some more.
Yep.
Absolutely, And it's hard to pay one guy an absorbing amount of money when you need to have depth, you need to have backups, you need to have people that protect. Let's face it, the quarterback POSI has gotten salaries have gotten astronomical, and some of them are way out of whack.
Is if you don't if you don't pay for the offensive line that to help protect him and have running backs, then what good is paying one quarterback Because if you're only paying one guy, he can't do if there's no I in a team.
Right.
I do want to add one more thing because it happened right in your area. Miami Christian or Northern Christian Academy won their state championship in the first year that Teddy Bridgewater was head coach in Division three A. And now he said, if there's a team with an injured starting quarterback that needs somebody to come in and help, I'm available.
Hey, hey, Teddy, good job, Teddy.
Yeah, way to go coach.
In the semi final game, not only did they go un defeat it through this entire season, they beat the other team sixty three to nothing. Ooh, just as a team that had four wins the previous season. Wow, wow, So you're talking about Yes, they had some players developing that became starters out of the dav and the varsity rings and everything else. If you're talking about a first year high school head coach coached a team to an
undefeated record in a state title, congratulations, Teddy Bridgewater. Looks like you might have a career in coaching anywhere you want.
That's true, That's true. Okay, guys, with that, I think this is the last show of the year, So let's go. People can get a hold of you. And yeah, unfortunately it doesn't pay to do a show on December twenty sixth. I don't know how many people would be watching anyways, so we're gonna wait, probably not many, probably not. So with that being said, let's go around the horn. Tell everybody how they can find you. Where they can, you know,
either read you or watch you. We're gonna start with Pensman tonight.
You can reach me on YouTube Pensman Sports and I'm on x at Pensman Sports.
Okay, George, you can find me at find me at the South Florida Tribune under the Motor City Tribune. Will you see writing and columns from Jeremy and myself and Scott and photography by the wonderful Candy oh oh, in
my book, Yes, Detroit Sports Broadcasters on the Air. There will be a link at the end of my column to that book, so hopefully you can take a look at that and support all the authors that we have here on the program and also reach me at Gikurnel yahoo dot com, on Twitter at Sanjee Sports ninety nine and linked it as well. So looking forward to talking to all you folks, and thanks to those.
In the chat room tonight as well.
Merry Christmas.
Smoking Jeremy B.
Well, I'm gonna go to reverse. I'm gonna talk about the social media's first. Just to get it out of the way. That's my name on Facebook. You can find me at Smoking Jeremy B. On Twitter at Smoking Jeremy b One on Instagram at smoking Jeremy B. On Snapchat. You could also find me on the MotorCity Tribune heading underneath the sellthplord a Tribune website where you can see me with wonderful authors such as Scott Morgan Roth and George Draigorn and Candy's beautiful pictures all over most of
the articles that are in there. That being said, you can also find me right here on the South flord A Tribune YouTube channel where occasionally I'm on Fire Up or the MotorCity Mad Mouth or Fire Inside the Big Skin. It depends on where Scott needs me and when, and if I'm available and he needs me, then you can find me on my YouTube channel, which airs into my Facebook, it airs on Twitter, it airs on it goes everywhere, which is MEE can't fighting with the Motor City Lions.
I'm live almost every day of the week, like this show's live on there now. But I want to say thank you to Candy and Scott, thank you to George Acorn, thank you De Pensman and everybody who's ever been a fan or a guest on my show. Ralph Williams, we missed you tonight. Hope you're feeling better. Enjoy your Christmas party.
Yes, but it's.
Been one heck of a year, and I believe I'm going into my third year with the South Florida Tribune now.
Awesome, awesome, look.
So thank you. It's been a blessing. I've learned a lot, I've been told I've grown a lot. I thought I drew wider, but uh, I hope you enjoy your I hope you enjoy your Christmas with your family, remember those that are not there with you, and hold those that are very clot No day is guaranteed. And that being said, Andrew take it.
Yes, look at there. There's a book, Lessons from the Microphone, Tuning into the Enduring Wisdom of Visionary Leaders. It is written by my husband Scott the MotorCity mat Morgan Roth. It is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, Apple, and Google Books. There's only link on our website www dot self Florida Tribune dot com, where Scott also writes and Jeremy writes and George Wrights and George wrote the forward for this book as well. Go get your copy
today if you want. You can see George has a self Florida Tribune hat on if you want a hat or a sweatshirt, or go to there's a link on our website as well, or if you want to read anything that these two fine gentlemen have written on our website or a plethora of other information. Have a lot of the local local colleges down here in the state of Florida. We have the gators that send us stuff, the hurricanes, fsu FAU USF NOVA, all of them send us information and stuff, so go check out our website.
We also have the Dolphins, the Jags, and the Lions send us stuff smoking Jeremy B. Wrights, George Wright's Scott Writs, go check out their writing. If you like to listen to podcasts, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts. Monday nights we talk baseball, Tuesday nights, football, Wednesday and thursdayights. You just never know what we're gonna be talking about. And on top of all that, if you want to sponsor a show or advertise, you can call Scott nine
five four three four four one. You want to email us if you want to be a guest on this show, or if you have topic ideas, it's self lordattribute at gmail dot com. But finally, this is the last show of the year, so I want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, all of those good things, Happy New Year. I also will say my husband has a birthday coming up. It happens to be on the twenty ninth, so happy
birthday to Scott. And then when everybody is celebrating the New Year, not only are Scott and I celebrating the new year. It is also our wedding anniversary that day, as we got married on January one. What a way to start the new year. So we will be celebrating our happily married life two. So but with that we wish every one of you a happy holiday season. May it be filled with lots of love and family, and may the new year blessed each and every one of you.
We all want you to We want to thank everybody that was in the chat room tonight. Again. If you want to come in about things that are relevant to our show, we address them, and if you don't, we just let the chat go. So but we want to thank everybody that is tuned in today and has watched us over the course of this year, and we look forward twenty five. So smoking, Jeremy B you always end the show.
You ready, I'm ready, right. Try every day to be a better person than you've heard the day before. That's the only way to make the world a better places. Start right here. Much love to everybody, Happy holidays, Happy New Year. We love you. Thanks, Thanks everybody you, thank you.
Happy holidays, Very Christmas, everybody, se