A.J. Andrews talks Baseball, Betting, and Being Fearless

It was incredible. But there's some drama. That's why I love the playing system, like I love that the last week really matters. I guess it always does to wrap up the eight seed, but I love that teams are really to miss the play in tournament. And I just I like the new the new layout. Honest, do you notice anything different about me? Um? Let me see blonde hair check, spright, tan check, pregnancy check for the core so far, blue eyes check, hoop earrings. You tipped me

off because you kept showing him to me. That a presider to ask you it's a push president. I just picked him up the other day and I still have a month left. But I haven't pushed anything yet, but I'm dying to ask you. Have you heard of a push president? Did you get your wife a push president? Yeah? I mean, you know, when it comes to that type of stuff, guys have real short term memory. You know. It's like at the time, I remember there was a such thing called the push present. It's much like the

baby shower, all that stuff. You kind of put it in your head for a couple of minutes and then you go right back to sports when it's over. So can you remind me again to push present? Because if there's one thing you guys don't get enough of is fucking presence. Well you're kind of right about that right now with baby showers, I feel inundated. But no, I think I need to make a p s A because I know we have a high male audience. So my husband also did not know what a push present was,

and he started nicknaming it a pushover present. Because I started talking with our jeweler just kind of let him know about it, and then he started showing me some watches. He started sending me some links to some watches for him, and I said, what, what what are these? He said, it's for my push present. No, no, no, we don't eat get a push present. Oh, be honestly gets worse. So he ends up talking to our jeweler also, so we're both talking to our jeweler behind each other's back.

I picked out these lovely earrings, which I thought were very appropriate for what I'm about to do. And Sam got himself a watch and he said, yeah, do you mind going to pick it up? Blah blah blah, So okay, whatever, I go to pick it up and he said, and I got it engraved. But we ended up changing our baby's name, so Sam got the wrong initials of our baby on the watch engraved. I mean, that is hilarious. And he thought, oh, one day, you know, when he's eighteen,

maybe I'll give him this watch. And I got it, you know, right before he's born. So anyways, I just have to say, a push present is just for the person doing the pushing. And just because Instagram now has pregnant man emojis does not mean that men now get pushed presents. And Sam missed the ball on that one. Very very funny, Sam, I feel you man, listen, you deserve a present. Okay. Guys are very underappreciated in there. Do you know we have to stand there for a

couple of hours. You know, hard to stand there and watch, very difficult. And I hear you have to sleep on a little couch. I mean that's miserable. It's really miserable. It is. We get to sleep on a little couch, we get to order food, and we get to just watch you. So watching you, that's not easy. It's very traumatic to watch you do that. Nobody sticks easy, nobody's thinking about our feelings. It's very he deserves we deserve a standing there present. So you know, I'm with you, Sam.

But it looks like that watch is gonna be on eBay. I'll be searching for it so you can find someone who maybe is going to have that name. I know, Oh my gosh, this men, come on, But I know that's our audience. I wanted to just let you all know. Anyways, it was an awesome weekend for my jewelry collection. And in the world of sports, the Masters was so good. Congrats to Scottie Scheffler and winning his first Masters in

green jacket. Honest, did you see that? Now? This one high school in Dallas, Highland Park High School, which very ritzy area Highland Park now has a Master's champion, a super Bowl champion, and a World Series champion. Did you know that? I did not know that, and uh, now that you told me about it, it's I mean, what better advertisement for a Highland park to get athletes. I mean, they're going to have a very very easy time recruiting people to move to Texas to Dallas. It used to

be families would come to get some tax breaks. Now they're coming to have their kids play some sports. Amazing, how about that. Yeah, Scottie Scheffler, Matt Stafford, and Clayton Kershaw they all went to that high school and funny enough, Clayton Kershaw was the center on the football team for Matt Stafford. So that's pretty incredible. Uh yeah, nice area, nice part of the country. But it really was great

to see Tiger Woods back and in the mix. He made the cut after not playing in a tournament in nearly a year and a half. If anyone wants to go back and listen to our episode last week, we really put that into context. With Luke Donald, he was fantastic. He has all this firsthand experience with Tiger, so that was it was really fun to talk about that last week with Luke. It's still a great listen, even though with Masters is wrapped up. Yeah, so everyone was following

that story so closely. He started off so hot, Tiger did, and then it was just really inspiring to watch him finish at the end. It was an uphill climb to say the least. Yeah, it was just great to see him out there, and of course you could see those flashes of greatness still there. I mean, still holds the record there right like one it by like twelve shots

or what was it. I mean, he's he's still the king of the Masters, and it was really inspiring just to see him back out there plan after what he's gone through. Unbelievable. And then of course we had the u f C. What a Card to seventy three in Jacksonville, which I thought was part of America, But after watching it, I got some things to unleash on and they're very patriotic, so it was an amazing card. I watched it as usual.

I shelled out the eighty bucks. I mean, at this point, Dana White, it's eight bucks for every pay per view. They happen all the time. You can pay your fighters a little bit more. I see what they're making. You can pay them a little more just by how much I've given you in pay per views. That's so expensive. I'm you know, I'm not a big fight girl, but that I can't imagine people coughing that up. I can't

imagine you coughing that up. I cough it up. Listen, you can't imagine coughing it up because it's not ear rings. If it was ear rings, you'd buy them every weekend. That's true. That's true, or an inappropriate watch persons. Uh yeah, So now the baseball season is underway. So if I was mad at my husband for the watch purchase, now I've just really lost him. He's the biggest baseball fan. I think there are a lot of wives across America who just hate baseball season. But it is fun to watch.

We've got a great guest joining us today to discuss it. The first woman actually to win a gold Glove and newest member of the bed MGM family. So we got to give her a very very warm welcome. Jannice, go easy on her. A. J Andrews is joining us. I'm very excited, a very excited ambassador for women's softball. Gold Glove winner. I mean, welcome to bed MGM, and I

can't wait to talk to her about some baseball. But you know what, before we get into her, we do have to get serious for a second and talk about the horrible tragedy that happened last week, the passing of former Ohio state standout in Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Just twenty four years old. He accomplished a lot and it's just clear he was beloved by his teammates. Are

condolences to his family and friends. Just an absolute tragedy. Yeah, And it was really hard to stomach because so much of the attention this weekend was on the initial headline, which was the tweet from Adam Schefter. It broke the news of his passing, and let's just say it wasn't worded right at all. It was it was hard to read. He ended up deleting it and then reposting it. He has apologized. You know, it's a tough business. News breaks so fast, everyone's rushing each other to the news. But

this was a death. This was a death of a young man, and the tweet was about his failings at his sport, which was I mean, he was still a current NFL player. Like I, It just it really, it upset my stomach. Married to an athlete, I cannot imagine, and I hate even going here, and I hope I don't cry because I am hormonal and pregnant. But I can't imagine if something ever happened to my husband and the headline mentioned anything about his career, especially something negative

about his career. I can't imagine how that felt for his family to read that. And I mean, schefter has been buried for this, so I don't mean to do it anymore, but come on, we gotta have perspective. Yeah, I think it was a mistake. It happens with Twitter a lot. You know, he was the first to break the story. That is the type of story where you kind of take off your sports journalism hat and just report exactly what the tragedy is. And unfortunately he got

his signals cross. But you know, I just hope we we understand people flawed, you know, we forgive them. It was a mistake. I think his apology. I believe he apologized on his podcast, right. I think it was appropriate. I think he acknowledged what he did and it was wrong, and um, you know, nobody's perfect. But you know, the real tragedy is is the actual tragedy. It's just it's horrible when you hear something like that, and you know, just hug everyone and tell everyone you love him, because

you never know life. Life is very uncertain, and that's why sports is so great. You know. It gives us joy, gives us a little mental break from some of the things that make life hard, this being one of them. So really condolences to the family, to the organization, to all his friends, and just just a horrible loss. It absolutely is, absolutely is. So let's switch gears a little bit to the part of the show where we unleached its conto. So the NBA Playoffs are finally here. Games

every single night for the next two months. Hallelujah. I personally, like I said, love this new playoff format. It makes the end of the regular season so much more important. More teams matter, more games matter, and most importantly, a little bit more betting. So two teams that many people thought would be in the NBA Finals now need to play their way into the playoff bracket, the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers. These make or break games,

I think are really great for the sport. They're easy to sink your teeth into and get people into playoffs nice and early. But I want to unleash on one team that will not be there. The Los Angeles Lakers, the team that many thought would be back in the NBA Finals, couldn't even qualify for a spot in the play in round, and on Monday, the Lakers made it official. They fired their coach, Frank Vogel after three seasons, despite winning a championship just two seasons ago. I think this

is horrible. He's out after a thirty three and forty nine season that was good for the NBA, but come on, he's taking all the fall for a season filled with injuries, very questionable roster moves by Rob Polinka, and a team that seemed that they could just never jel Lebron picked this team. Lebron picked this team, like what why are we acting like this was? This was a coaching error, a d S always hurt. Westbrook wasn't a fit, and even Magic Johnson came out recently that DeMar Derosen was

supposed to come to La La Land. It was never supposed to be Westbrook. Lebron and him started talking and he made this happen. So Lakers had to get rid of all these great young pieces to get Lebron's guys, and it was a disaster. So look, that's what you get with Lebron. Now. Even Steph Curry have it. Last week he was saying, no, I'm good when Lebron said that he wanted to play with him. That's where we're at. Lebron is still great. No one is questioning his greatness.

He may be the best ever that's another argument. But if I'm an M B A G M, I am not falling for that same script again and going the Lebron route. Now, he may get you a title, but he's gonna blow up your franchise in the process. He may get you one title and then it's over. That time has passed. So Rob Polinka saying all the right things, but he did say on Monday there's a great amount of trust and he's referring to him and Lebron, or the front office and Lebron to get it right this summer.

But now look ahead. At this summer, only seven players are under contract, and that alone has them at twenty seven million dollars over the salary cap. They're paying these old guys way too much and it's not producing, and they don't even have a first round draft pick until this is not going to turn around quickly. So it seemed like Frank vocal was the least of the Lakers problems, but he's the one that took the fall for their struggles, and the Lakers hope to find a new coach by

the draft in June. So this is a very intriguing story. But I I have a hard time thinking that firing Frank Vogel was the right move. That was an amazing unleashed I couldn't emphatically agree any more. This is really I hope gonna shine a light on this sort of play with your friends, giving players this much power, super team nonsense that has really in some way ruined the NBA.

Lebron has taken a lot of flak for this because obviously, you know, he went down to Miami originally and held a big press conference, and you know, he kind of redeemed himself a little bit by going back to Cleveland and winning that title with Kyrie. But yet this move was all Lebron. It was all the organization just bowing to him and what he wanted. He gave away all these young role players to get Russell Westbrook. It was a tragedy and it's just it's sat to see the

coach scapegoat. I could not agree with you more on this. I mean, the only good thing about the Lakers season is maybe the emergence of of Austin Reeves. The kid looks like he can play. I think he had a triple double in the last game. I like him. He's athletic, he's got a handle, he can shoot. I mean, I can't wait to see him get out of Los Angeles. Maybe he's gonna get himself a little bit of a nice contract. That's about it. But yeah, I mean it's over.

I think Lebron's reign is over. And you know, when when the Lebron Jordan's conversations come up amongst fans, you got this is a stain on Lebron's legacy, the way he just always kinda pursues players and tries to be the GM. Jordan played for one team. He brought home the chip six times, and it was an arrow where

he didn't make friends with people on opposing teams. Lebron, why don't you keep your off season friendships in the off season and keep the killer instinct in the court because you and Russell Westbrook and your secret handshakes can go blues. Well. To be fair, mj did go to Washington and did kind of what Lebron's doing, of scoring a ton of points on a bad team, And I do feel like people have a short memory, like even that you didn't mention it, Like, I think people will

forget that. I'm not saying people forget Lebron as a Laker, but I think people will gloss over the struggling final years maybe. But this is what you said is so right about the legacy of trying to build these teams and basically being a bad GM. I think do, like you said, kind of staying Lebron's legacy a bit. But you know, if the Last Dance taught us something, it was that that was not what Michael Jordan wanted that the franchise wanted, so he wanted to continue to play

one of retirable. They wanted to blow up the team and in retrospect, obviously premature, so you can't really blame Jordan for that. You know, he went and played the rest of his career, but that's not what he wanted, So that was sort of the opposite in my opinion of this where Lebron is basically the GM. It's brutal,

It's absolutely brutal. Talking of brutality, let's move to a brutal sport that I love, that America loves, that the world loves, and it really is bringing just so much excitement every weekend, whether it's beyond you know TV or pay per view. The UFC always delivers. To borrow an adage from our previous guest, the legend Mr Kellogg himself, it always delivers, not just the March Madness Tournament, the

UFC does as well, and this was no exception. Down in Jacksonville, sold out arena, What a card, exciting fights, especially watching Hamsat and Burns go at it fight of the night obviously. But one thing that did surprise me that I want to unleashan is what is going on in Jacksonville. Okay, we had a rematch title fight between al Jermaine Sterling and the Russian. Can I say that

more emphatically? The Russian who happens to be from a country that is in a war that we oppose and we support the other side, and al Jermaine Sterling Jamaican heritage. But he's a Long Island kid. He's a Long Island king from a Long Island gym. His coach has a Long Island accent. You can't get more American the Long Island.

And here we are. The crowd in Jacksonville is booing him, booing him and his intro, booing him throughout the fight, booing the decision that he won, and cheering the Russian Peter Young or Peter Young, however you pronounce it in what that COMI language. Here's the deal. I'm an American, Okay. I don't care who's president. I don't care anything. I

support my country, that's what it is. And when you got an American going up against Russian, I mean, I don't know how many times you gotta watch Rocky to know you cheer for the goddamn American. Okay, I don't care what it is. I expect more out of you, Jacksonville, Florida. I expect more out of you. Now. I know that the booing was because you want to claim that your UFC fans and Al Jermaine Sterling won the title in controversial fashion because of a disqualification. That's not his fault.

That wasn't his fault that the Russian illegally kicked him while he was on the ground in the head. Okay, he was also fighting in that match with like a messed up neck. He dominated Petre Young. However you pronounced it, I'm not gonna learn it, Peter Young. I'm gonna americanize it, Peter Yawn. He dominated him and around uh two and three, took his back, wrote him like a backpack for most of it, and he was just getting booed the whole time. When he was trying to submit him. He couldn't submit

him because Peter Peter John is very good. He didn't submit him, but he won the fight, and um, it was just very disappointing to hear those booze for a guy who executed a game plan, beautiful jiu jitsu and ground control the whole match. Well, really rounds two and three and that first round, I don't see what the controversy is. He outstruck him in that first round. So when you go back and watch that fight, he outstruck

him in that first round. So and even if he didn't, even if the judges gave it to him, and it was wrong. You still cheer the American or you get deported. That's my new law. I'm lobbying. I'm calling I'm calling data white right now, and save anyone cheers for rushing against an American. Ever again, they're getting deported, They're getting deported. I've had enough, Usa, USA. I'm going to watch you do the rest of the episode. I love it. That

was so patriotic, very good. Now And I always like because you always educate me on UFC two, on this show, so I appreciate that you always keep us up to date. But man, that is that is horrible. I I didn't even know this happened until you told me. That's doble. Yeah. And during the match, even Joe Rogan was like, wow, I mean the crowd is rooting for Russian. He's like, you know, we're in Florida. Weird things happened in Florida. Yeah,

it was really I get it. Like I said, part of the reason they were doing is because they thought he won the title illegitimately. But again it wasn't his fault, like I said. And secondly, I mean, you know, he proved himself this second fight. He want so it's like, give the guy a chair. I mean, he got booed the whole time. It was really it was really weird. So that was my only problem. Otherwise, great card, expensive card, but good. I know. I know you are upset, like

you are heated. I think like a cartoon, their steam coming out of your ears. But you know, if it might be as upset as you is, are bad beat winner, Bad Beat all the week. So it's Paul Mansaur. Listen to this Twitter name. You should you should be happy. I'm reading this one at Paul Man two two three five nine two two three. Do you think that's some phone number? What is that social Yeah, I was. You're not supposed to put your social Security number when you

screen any buddy. We're all the other Paul Man's one to three and four. Where all those taking anyways? But yeah, he won our bad Beat of the Week winner, which is amazing because he gets a hundred bucks of bet MGM credit to try his luck again. But listen to how he lost. He hit us with two four leg parlays that he lost out on by one leg. It always is that way. Three out of four ain't bad except in betting. But he's gonna get a hundred bucks,

So that's awesome. Let's switch gears over to baseball and go ahead and bring in our guest. A. J. Andrews is next. She's a professional softball player who became the first woman ever to win a Rollings Gold Glove. That's incredible, the first woman ever, and now she's helping you win money on baseball and more as a member of the bed MGM family. A J. Andrews, what's going on? Welcome? Hello, Yeah, thank you so much for having me. We're so excited

to have you. This is so excited. Welcome to the family. Everyone here is so awesome. I think you're going to be very happy with bet MGM. I know we are. But let's tuck a little baseball and softball of course. But first I've got to ask you about this. This is so cool. I'm not sure if many of our listeners know this. Last year you trained with the US Olympics skeleton team. What was it like picking up an

entire different sport. I mean, softball and skeleton only have one thing in common, and that's that they begin with an s yeah, and sliding. They're sliding in both growth. But yeah, you know, for me. It's um, it was really interesting. I'm one of those people that just love trying new things. I don't know if it's a toxic trader, for it's a great quality that I truly think I can do anything. And so, you know, I went into skeleton. A friend of mine, a lot of myers, who is

a renowned olympian and Bob sled. She played softball in college and so we've just been connected throughout the years and I just kind of asked her, I sail, I want to win a gold medal, Like, let me know more about bob sled. How can I get involved? And so I went to a camp June of lat One and did both bob sled and skeleton there and it

was on a push track, so no ice. But I don't have the size for Bob sled, and so went more into skeleton, and you know, it was it was really interesting my first time on the ice act very terrifying, very terrifying, but um, it redirected and you know, kind of rewired the way that I viewed fear, or at least embraced fear, because every time I felt so I mean I felt nerves before a softball game, but I've never been genuinely afraid right going up to the play

to going out on the field. And I was terrified go on the ice even after the first one, Like every single time, I was nervous and so but I still did it. And so it kind of completely changed the way that I addressed fear as to allowing myself to feel it rather than try to write it off or get rid of how afraid I was. No, feel those emotions, feel how I am feeling in this moment, but then allowed to pass. And I'm excited to see how that's going to translate when I get back on

the field for softball. And I've never been someone that's afraid of failure, but I've also always been someone that's tried to purn my mind and Okay, you got this versus feeling it and letting it pass. So yeah, I'm excited. How you know, the two sports, while very different, will complement each other and my success and hopefully both of them. Wow, you mentioned sliding. Was your love of sliding part of why you pick skeleton because you're known for sliding reaching

for balls. You even famously broke your hand once and then continue to play the whole season with a broken hand, and you broke your hand from sliding, so you're definitely you may have gotten over your fears, but it sounds like you have no fear of pain. Yeah, Um, you know, I definitely fear of pain. Yeah, I don't have a fear of that. I guess I don't have a fear of I don't think about those things. So, like in the moment, the only thing I can think of is

my goal. Right, So when I broke my hand, I was just thinking about to rob this girl of a hand, right, I just want to make this diving catch and that's it. Um. And then like there's times I run into the wall, I'm not concerned or even thinking that the wall is there. I just want to make the catch, so my brain turns off to the things around me. And yeah, so I think that that's as far as sliding and um, what I'm going into, I just think it's it's a

part of who I am. Just trying to try to slide in and make the best place so hopefully in skeleton I can slide in and win a gold medal. I love that very aspirational. Yeah, how did you play softball with a broken hand? Like did you take advil? I mean, how do you continue to play with a completely broken hand? Yeah? It was rough. I mean I would have like rap patting around my hand. It was my glove hand, so thankfully it only hurt when a

ball landed in my glove. But uh, you know, I would have patting, and then when I would swing, my swing got pretty jacked up. I started to, you know, really let go early and just kind of swing with one hand. But for me, it was just I wasn't gonna stop. And you know, honestly that the year that I broke my hand was the year that I won the Gold Glove. So you know, I'm happy and I'm

thankful I didn't stop. And I remember, actually, I think the play that really solidified me winning the Gold Glove was it was the first time I had a dope. It made a diving catch after breaking my hand, and it was a really great catch going backwards. And I remember always we'll talk about fear, right, I've been fearful of landing on my hand wrong. If I made a diving catch again and just completely shattering it and not be empty back on the field. They're all these thoughts,

and then in that one play. I was kind of solely back on focused to my goal, and I had been the first time since I broke my hand that I wasn't thinking about what might happen if I land on it. I just wanted to catch the ball, and that was the play that I think got me to win the gold Glove. So it's a it's a really cool, cool story and a cool you know aspect of not allowing I guess you know, even a broken hand to stop you from your your goals and your destiny. That

is awesome. My blood is pumping. I don't feel like I need to go run a mile or something. Now. Have you ever thought about coaching or aspirational speaking in the future. Yeah, I actually I worked with a lot of young girls. I I coach. I used to do a lot of lessons outside of when I was in college with a lot of the young athletes, and it really is a passion of mine talking to two young

girls and just women in sports in general. And so it's really cool to be able to see, especially a young athlete that didn't have the confidence, like when you get done working at them, feel a little bit have a little bit more of a pep in their steps. So it definitely is something I enjoyed to do. You keep mentioning a gold medal, you want a gold medal. The US softball team was at the Olympics. They'll be back at Olympics. Uh and has placed silver at the last two. So what do you think is in the

future as we look ahead in US softball? What's the state of US softball? Yeah, I mean, I'm hoping it continues to grow. And being the fact that the Olympic committee in the country that the Olympics will be in each year or each four years, decides what sports are in it. I mean, softball hadn't been fired to this past Olympics for it, I don't know, like ten years. I mean, it was a while. That's so crazy. I

don't think a lot of people know that. Yeah, I know, And I don't think people a lot of people understand that the countries choose the sports to get to be in the Olympics. So if it's not a big sport in that country, it's not going to be in the Olympics. So softball big in America and big and jip hand right, So of course it was in this past Olympics. But Olympics, the Summer Olympics are going to be and I believe Paris in the next Summer Olympics, and it's not big

in Paris, so it may not be in Paris. And so then you have the girls then having to wait eight years because after that it will be in l A And so you know, it's hard to not you know, you in eight years, a lot of girls are gonna retire, and it's sad to think that every four years you don't get that opportunity, and sometimes you have to wait, like Japan for a lot of softball players like that was it, Like if I didn't make it to this one, then that's probably gonna be That's probably gonna be the

end for me. And hopefully softball continues to grow to where we don't have to have the weight of hoping that the Olympics is going to be in a country that like softball and it can continue to move on and be solidified every four years and something we can all watch right on. So let's go back to l s U for a second. You were there during a time that there was another big star there, Odell Beckham, jew Year, oh b J. Did you guys ever get a chance to hang or train together. Do you know

him at all any stories? Yeah, me and him were came in at the same time, so we're the same age. Were freshman at the came in a two thousand eleven and then also Odell but also Alex Bregman was there at the same time as a and so yeah, there's a lot of There are a lot of tigers out there doing it big in the big leagues. But yeah, me and Odub we were really cool. We were cool in college. He was somebody. We lived in an apartment departments on campus and we called it w c A,

but we called it as the Athletes Club Dub. All the athletes lived pretty close to each other. He lived in the infamous Building eight, and if you were ever talked to him or any athlete or football player that lived in building, it like that was that was the building,

and so you know, it was. It's very cool and it's fun too, you know, whenever I get to see I see him sometimes at different events or at s b s and it's cool to connect after so many years of you know, the grind that we put in wearing purple and gold, and to see it now being shown to the world in the professional sports. So really proud of him and all that he's accomplished and now that he's a new dad, and you know, I think it's it's really cool to watch him sixty. That's awesome.

Let's shift gears a little bit to the baseball season right now. Is that is what you're going to help with bet MGM doing. You know, baseball to me is evolving every season. They are continually trying to figure out ways to bring in more fans from the speed of the game, eliminating the shift to making up players during telecasts this year. What's something you would like to see the MLB do or maybe something they've already done that

you think has made a big impact. Yeah, I think that, you know, just continuing to give athletes, the players more of the spotlight, to just show who they are as people. Um, what makes them unique, what makes them authentic. I think what different leagues like the NBA or bold UP do so well is that you, yes, you're a fan of

the league. You may be a fan of a team, but you also are a fan of a certain player and just the pizzaz that they bring about, whether it be their style, whether it be things they like to do off the field, right, you know more about those players and what they do off the field as well as you know their stats on the field. And I think if Baseball can do the same and really be able to portray those athletes in that way to where yeah, yes, I love watching Mike Trout play or judge play, but

I also really like him as a person. Right, Knowing those personal stories about those people, I think that's what makes people real fans of people, even when they're not doing well. You know, I think it's easy to be a fair weather fan unless you actually know the person and you enjoy who they are as in their character. And I think be able to tell more of those stories with the MLB will continue to allow people to connect more with Major League Baseball and the people that play.

This year, I think he's a little bit before your time, maybe, but I'm sure you're aware of each row you know, as a softball player baseball fan. He's getting into the Hall of Fame game I consider maybe the best hitter of all time because when you look at his Japanese numbers, he has more hits than Pete Rose and Ty Cobb. Who is your favorite hitter? Who you've watched someone who's wowed you with their ability to do the hardest thing

maybe in sports, which has hit a baseball and get hits. Man, Yeah, you know, I definitely love each row because when you talk about that, I think so much when people think of hitting, they think of just the bombs, right, they think of the big hits, they think of the home runs, and they don't think about the players that get on base. So allow those people who do hit the home runs every single game or every other game to score the runs.

And it's about being efficient and being consistent softball and baseball. And so I I was actually have a conversation with Kenny lofton this past weekend, who is one of the best base dealers to ever be an MLB, and he was talking about how that's missing in the game, right, everyone's considering and keep talking about having the big hits rather than just being consistent, and how you don't really

see players that anymore. And so m I would say that from I mean, Jan Carlos standon, even though he's a big hitter guy like that's that's been one of my favorite players to watch for a really long time. But I do think that players that can just put the bat on ball and be really efficient can help the big hitters when they come up. You mentioned Kenny Lofton, who did steal a lot, and that's an art and

baseball that's kind of that's kind of change. A lot of guys don't run anymore when I was growing up, yet Ricky Henderson, Vince Coleman, guys who would put up big, big steel numbers. Do you think that's something that metrics has done to the game. Would you like to see more of it? You were someone who's who was very fast and stole bases. Why do we see less bases being stolen? You know, I don't know. I think that stolen the basis adds so much electricity and excitement to

the game. And you know there's players that are speed players, and you look at the athletes they go on it's just exciting, right, someone gets on base and you're like, what are they gonna steal? What are they gonna do? And then also when you have someone that's fast as an athlete, it makes you nervous even if you're in the outfield because now it adds more pressure onto you

where you have do you missed this ball? You know that that single is gonna be a double or triple for said person because they're fast, and you know if they get on base. As a picture, now you're concerned about whether they're gonna steal on you. Now you're you're distracted. You have so much more to think about than just trying to throw a strike. And so I think that

I don't know what has made that shift. I don't know why it's changed so much, but I do think if baseball can get back to that again, we talked about how baseball is a dying sport and it's not exciting anymore. Bringing more the exciting elements back into the games, such as base stealing, I think would do baseball so much justice. It's it's fun to watch those fast players.

It's fun to watch a home run. But to me, when you have someone fast on base, like when I was on base, I would love to create havoc right, pretend like I'm stealing, then go maybe not go delay steal. I mean, you you see a team become depleted when someone is just taking control out on a base path. So I would love to see more about again, that's good perspective too, about what it's like when you're out there trying to create that havoc that's exciting. You mentioned

Alex Bregman earlier, your fellow Tiger. He looked really good opening week, Astro's All star third baseman. Astros looked really good. A team like Toronto who had a lot of attention, with a lot of young talent, a lot of offseason moves, they had a good opening week. What else sticks out to you from this first handful of games that we saw, any early reactions, I don't necessarily have too many early reactions. I think I'm excited to see more about what the

Braves are doing. I think always seeing a team bounce back from winning, uh from winning the whole thing is what's interesting. I think they had a decent weekend, but just more improving, especially after losing a leader, and just what a young team like that can do moving forward and see if they really still had that pizzas that they had the past year. For me, I just think it's just kind of watching the teams. There's been so many moves, so many moves in this offseason, so many trades,

and just consistently watching how those play out. For me, it's hard to really tell from the first weekend. But I think once we continue to get more into the season, second week and third, that's when you really see what you're probably gonna what's gonna play out for the rest of the year. All Right, we gotta talk about my team. I'm a huge Yankee fan. I'm from New York. These are my squad. That's my squad. I liked it when

you said standing there. But Aaron Boone. Aaron Boone, he gets a three year contract extension this offseason, which doesn't seem like the Yankees. They don't do that. Do you think he deserved it? Like? Do you think he should have more postseason success before he gets that big extension? What's your thoughts about that? I? You know, to me, it does seem uncharacteristic, because I feel like anytime a

Yankee gets those extensions, they have proven them somebody. It's undeniable that so and so deserves whatever they're going to be getting. But I think it proves to how much they believe in him. It proves to how much they believe in his potential and what's to come. And maybe it's a shift in the Yankee organization. They're very old school, right, and so potentially this is something you see changing. How

do you feel about that? I mean you're being a huge Yankee fan, Like do you like seeing things change or would you like it to remain the same. That's a good question. I mean I like them to remain the same because they do a lot of winning. So if it if it, if this change means they're not gonna be doing a lot of winning, then I'm not a fan of it. I love the evil Empire. And you know, if if this is a change that's gonna affect the you know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So I'm a little worried. I mean, Aaron Boone, he hasn't proven himself. Giving him this type of security after you know, not really having the success the Yankees are used to in the playoffs is a little concerning because I just don't want it to get too comfortable sitting there was chew or sunflower seeds and thinking he's got a coushy job. Now. I mean, look, we have high expectations. I want you to you maybe we need you on

the Yankees to steal some basis. Listen, I would love to, but you talk about a winning team, I don't know, they haven't won the World serious since point nine. It's been a minute, so maybe maybe there needs to be a little bit of a change. I mean it's great second place. It doesn't count, almost doesn't count, you know what I mean? Honest, Like you get close, but untell you until you win it. You really don't get any bragging rights. You are right, it has been a little while.

I always forget that, but it has been I mean that's a long time ago. Forget you know. The other team in New York, though, has a lot of expectations too. I think if the Mets can get to the postseason with the healthy Scherzer and de Gram, they could be unstoppable. Honest, you can plug your ears if you don't want to hear any of this. But staying healthy might be the issue. As Schozer is older Gram's already out for a couple of months. How care or full are the Mets going

to be or how careful should they be? Really with the season where we only see them make ten to fifteen starts with those two, I would say being careful just because I feel like the talent that they've acquired this year is I mean, their chances of going a really a long way. I think are high. So I think making sure that you have a strong pitching staff, also keeping the players, you know, your your best batters in the lineup healthy, making sure they're not getting targeted.

You know, when they're up to bat. A lot of them got we're getting hit this that past weekend. But you know, I'm hoping that I think that I think that you know, being careful, just because I think they have so much talent and this is a this is a really talented Mets team, and I think moving forward, if they can keep everyone healthy, I think they may have a better chance than even the Yankees. Yeah that was that was gonna be my follow up question, but

you just answered it. So okay, you going the Mets are gonna have a better season the Yankees. All right. You know I'm not going to take that personally. You know, I hope you're wrong. Let's just say that, Well, a j we always like to play a game with our guests that kind of transcends sports a little bit. So this is part sports, part real life. So are you ready to play our game? Yes? What's the name? Well, that's the thing. We don't really have a name for

this one. It's it's more unwritten rules, unwritten rules in baseball, and they're yeah, unwritten rules, and there are unwritten rules in life. So let's start with a baseball one. You tell us what you think. We're going to give you the situation. You tell us what you think. So an easy baseball one. An unwritten rule. You should not show up a picture after you hit a home run and flip a bat or dance around the basis yes or no? No? No, I mean like no, yes, and you can do it. Oh, okay, no,

I don't believe. Okay, let the guys have some fun to come by, Like, let people celebrate that excitement. You worked hard for that. If you don't want the guy to celebrate, don't throw it down the pipe. I don't really know what. I don't understand, like being upset about it, like you. You allow that to happen, and now you're mad. I just I've never understood that. I like, I like it, I agree with you, I agree with you, And yeah,

I'm hearing what you're saying. You're basically saying, hey, hey, baseball, get into the modern era. Let these guys show a boat a little bit. Well, let them show their personality, it's fun. Yeah, I agree. Okay, another baseball one unwritten rule, never bunt to break up a no hitter. Yeah you're naight. Um oh, I don't care. You can do it just because it's a bunch of hit, Like I don't know, I don't I don't understand why that's uh, I say, yeah, you can do it. Yeah you're ruthless. Yeah, she's a

she's a competitor, she's like whatever. Look if whatever it is, these unwritten rules, I just think, first of all, what's alma was bunting? You see them about to bunt, you have ample amount of time potentially to go run up and get it. Hopefully your third baseman or first baseman is athletic enough, or if it comes back to the picture, you've done up p fps to figure out how to

get over the first base. I just think that a bunch of hit and for you to be upset for someone boosting their batting average, like no one wants to how to be the team that someone got a no hit her off of Right, So yeah, I'm a bunt. Do what you gotta do. Okay, I already know how you're going to answer this next one because I know how you are. You are ruthless. Don't steal bases when you're up big late in the game, you're stealing bases. Okay, well,

this one is probably different from what you think. I think if you're up by a lot and there's no probably about no chance the team is going to come back, you know, have a little, a little, a little, a little mercy and not steal bags. I think that's the least you can do. You gotta hit, you can stay at first. You don't have to take a second. Ye all right, just a little. You're showing a little. You're showing a little herd for the for the losing team.

I like it only because I'm winning, only because I'm all right. Let's move into some non baseball unwritten rules. Okay, I have some fun. Never text someone you're flirting with after ten pm? Can you do it? Yeah? He means, like the up you can do it up? Text is fine? You at ten o'clock. Like, I'm probably up right, But if you texted me at I don't know twelve and like, hey you up? You know? Could I text you after twelve?

If I'm asking you about oton if the scouting report on oh towny is going to hurt him this year. That's fine, but no you ups. But if if I'm talking baseball, can I tell you can't want them in the morning. As long as you're it's understood, I'm probably not gonna respond. I'm just actually back, like you really couldn't wait like eight more hours? Yeah, okay. What about unwritten rule don't wear white to a wedding? Oh for sure, do not do Yeah, yeah, okay, we agree on that one.

You would be escorted out on my wedding if you do. Oh everyone knows that. You know what I mean. So if you do that, that's just like you wanted. You wanted to start some drama. I've heard of people's mother in law showing up in white to their wedding, like not planned, like not like let's all wear white thing, but their their grooms mom wearing white. No, there's this thing on TikTok and it's am I the a whole? And like people tell their stories, and so a woman

on there said, am I the a hole? That I got my bridesmaid to her in a law were white to pour red wine on her mother's dress accidentally to make her change. First of all, bride I would have thought to do that. But now why is that, I'll ask you. Is that just not to compete with the bride? Is that what it is? Is that? What? Why is that a rule? I don't know. She would be one person wearing white at the wedding and it's the bride. You guys, Yeah, you guys are vicious. Women are vicious.

Like it's the bride white. You know that if you want to be the center of attention, just wear some other kind of gown. You don't need to wear white. No, it's her wedding, like, I don't know. That's a lot, all right, all right, all right here, I'm a comedian, so I'll ask you this one. Never heckoed comedian while he's on stage or else he's allowed to unleash all hell on you. Yes, now you you back the comedians? Are you will speak with Chris Rock? I thought I

thought comedians liked a little bit of heckoing. No, because I mean, I guess I don't know. I'm not. You don't they don't know. We never we never like okay because sometimes I've seen it and they like go in on the person and it it makes the whole thing, Not that it wasn't already funny, but it's it brings a lot of a lot more humor to it. And so um, yes, I believe you're gonna heckle. You should understand that. All right, you wanted this time there, it's

time for them to shine on you. So if you're gonna heckoll be ready for what's to come. I believe it, that's for sure. Alright, I thank you for backing us. Here is the last one to sum us all up. Unwritten rule. Never brag about your bet or someone else's bet that is about to win before it officially wins.

Oh yeah, I think I agree with that. It's kind of like when you go into a game, or it's a like when you're it's a no hitter, right, everyone in the deck outs like it's no hitter, talk about like you're supposed to talk about it if you're the team that's about to get there have no hitter against. But if you're on the other team, you don't talk about it. Right, if your pictures about have a no hitter, you're not supposed to speak on it, not to mention

it or all. It feels like it always jinks it And so I think that's kind of like the same thing applies. Don't talk about it. You're gonna jinks it like, let it play out. Let it play out. Yeah, I love it. A J. You are awesome. Thank you so much for joining us today and previewing some of the MLB action to come. You can follow a J. Andrews on Twitter at a J Underscore Andrews and thanks so much for joining us than guys for having me. Okay, so we've kind of previewed some of the NBA playoffs,

but let's get into the nitty gritty. Let's talk about the betting lines and bring in bet MGM betting expert. Man take a shot every time I say bet Peter andrew is joining as Peter, how you doing. I could use a shot right now if anybody wants to take a gamo with me. So, hey, you and me both thirty five weeks pregnant. I could use a shot right down too. Let's take a closer look at the playoffs. They start Saturday, Sons and Bucks two highest odds at bet MGM to win it all, so they're the favorites

to meet again in the championship. Will history repeat itself? I don't think so first off, I don't like the Suns at plus two sixty, and I think the Bucks are like five fifty. I don't think that's a good price to take right now. I think you have to start leaning the different direction. It's funny that you have teams like the Nets that are in the playing game at seven and one and the third third highest odds, So I think you have to look elsewhere. Both the

East and the West. There's a little bit of parody. I'd say more so in the East. You look at a team like the Celtics that could come in and swing in obviously mentioned the Nets. Even teams like um, you know, like the Bulls. They can make some noise. I know they have a tough first round match up, but there's lots of parody. I don't think it's worth while looking at two of the Chalk favorites. And we'll get into some of my picks in a second. But or for the series, I should say, but it's gonna

be an interesting first couple of rounds. You never know what's gonna happen. I know we're recording on Tuesday here before all the playing games are settled, But where did the Nets end? Do they end in that seven spot. What's everybody's assuming Did they end up in the eight seed and playing the one? A lot to tell over the next couple of days. That's interesting that you say that, though, because don't you think the NBA playoffs always end up

going real chalk because of the seven game series. It's usually the better team that wins, the healthier team that wins. And right now we're looking at a healthy Bucks team and we're looking at a healthy Phoenix team. So I'm surprised you say that the Phoenix part, the West part of it is more of the price. If they were sitting at four or five to one, I think it's

worth laying a couple of Bucks. But the East, the East doesn't have that powerhouse that it's always had when Lebron was there, when the Celtics had the Big Three. There are a lot of teams there that can win a string of two or three games and make it a series. I mean, we'll talk you know, Sixers Raptors in a second. That's a team right there off the

bat that Philly has not played well against them. That's the I think it's the four five or the three six, but they have not fared well against them, and and I love the Raptors in that series. You never know what a team can do when they get hot. I know we probably said it a couple of weeks ago that they could they could farewell against the Bucks. Obviously

that matchup has changed. But there's so much parity in the East, where what if the Hawks get in and get that eight seed, can they make a little bit of noise, do what they did last year where they just completely disrupted the Knicks. It's gonna be tough, and it's gonna be harder than last year. But there are a lot of complete teams without a team that has three superstars, you know, in their starting five. So stick in the East. Something I've been looking at the Miami Heat.

The best team have the six best odds to win the NBA Championship, and in their own conference, the Bucks, the Nets, and the Celtics have better odds than them. Why is Vegas cold on the Heat? Do you like the way I worded that? Too? Pretty clever? Perfect? You're good you. I think you'll see those odds change a little bit depending on what happens in the playing game. I'm with you, but I think it's the potential that they end up playing the Nets in the first round.

So if the Nets lose versus the Calves beat the Hawks of the Hornets end up getting the eight seed, things drastically change. If the Nets win Nets to take care of business, I think it's tonight and take the seventh seed. I think you'll see those odds shift a little bit, especially if they pay a team like the Hornets. All of a sudden, you're gonna look at them and say, Okay, that plus a thousand becomes way more likely because they're gonna sweep their first round matchup and then make their

way into a second. So they may not change drastically, but I think it has everything to do with the play in series and what could happen. Because if the Nets end up playing the Mining Heat in the first round, Nets are probably the favorite in all honesty, so that will vary. I think what happens once that's complete and we're looking into Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Let's look at the West a little bit. Let's talk about the West, the mighty mighty West, where the sun is, where the Suns are,

and where a questionable Warriors team is. What's the line looking like for the Warriors and steps return and how much does that determine? Is that line gonna move based on when he comes back? So he it looks like he's good to go and it looks like he's healthy. Clay Thompson coming off a pretty strong performance. I think he had forty one versus the Pel's last last week to wrap up the season. I think people are underrating that team. I think they're getting healthy at the right time.

They're going to be playing well together Versus a Nuggets team that frankly doesn't have much more than nicolea Yokich. You still have Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. Not sure when they're slated to get back. The only real call it perimeter slash interior defender they have is Aaron Gordon. That's worth speaking about. What's going to happen in terms of spreading the floor out for the for the Curries in Clay Thompson's the World, I think it's gonna be really,

really tough. I like Warriors so series minus one and a half. So to win by more than one game to close up the series, and then I think to win the series four one is plus four hundred. I really like that. I think Nuggets school will speak one out at home, but otherwise, I don't think that these teams compare when they're not healthy. If Murray and and Michael Porter Jr. Were healthy, not coming in cold whenever they do come in, I think you're talking a completely

different series. Absolutely, what's your favorite first round series to bet on? What looks like such a lock. It's I'm pandering again, like you called out last week when I was in Ontario. But I love this Raptors team versus the Sixers. Like, I don't know, he's still doing it. I thought Raptors podcast. I we just opened up in Canada. Baby Pete's got He's a good company man. You know what, when Sam officially got signed, I was like, that's it,

I'm changing my allegiance. Unfortunately things changed, but I still love the Raptors. Okay, that makes one of us. That makes more of us. Right, It's more about the Sixers team. It's kind of a hot mass. I mean, they can defend with the rest of them and anyone, but on the offensive side, you look at a lot of their

statistical analytics when they got hardened. Things have not changed, and you know where you're getting out of MBID, but you need to know what you're getting out of Harden and the rest of the core game in game out. The Raptors have taken them to the tool shed. I think they won three one season series, or maybe it was four one but games without van Fleet, games without Sakum, a couple of games. Granted didn't have Harden because he wasn't on the team yet. But Sixers just seem like

a messy team. You see Doc Rivers coming and yapping it at the media, trying to, I guess defend his team between in the wrong way. It just seems like they're all over the place. So for that, I'm probably gonna probably gonna take the Raptors. I think they're plus one fifty. I might take the series to go six games, so either way, plus two hundred, I think that's a fair number. It's not a sweep by any means either direction. This probably becomes a little bit of a chippy series.

But but yeah, I like the Raptors. Yeah we know. Yeah, Pete. Let me just ask you a question about Doc Rivers over there in Philadelphia. Do you think someone should just get that guy a hot tea? Because doesn't he just sound like he always needs a tea with lemon? What's up with his voice? Whish we should be he And the funny thing is it's like it's not like it's gotten progressively worse. It's just stayed the same for twenty years.

Every time you ever hear about him, it's uh yeah, cracking. Yeah, the voice is terrible, but just get I mean, just made the guy some honey with some tea, that's it. But are you even coaching if you don't lose your voice? You know, if you talk to a coach after a game and they have their voice. As a former sideline reporter, I feel like I'm like, you weren't even giving it all you had, right, Yeah? I picture like Frank martin my head, or someone like in college circuit that just

absolutely lose their marbles. The guys sweating through his suit jack and stuff. Yeah, how about Sean McVeigh super Bowl run, He couldn't talk at all. Yeah, I don't know, it's true. I mean, you look at Quince Snyder over at Utah. I mean I feel like I want to get that guy as zen x every game. But then the exception to the rule was, of course, the zen master himself,

Phil Jackson. But now in retrospect, when I look back, I'm like, look, i'd be pretty relaxed too if I had the most dominant players on my team for every team I coach. And I mean he always talked about zen, go with the flow. He never got out of his seat. And now I look back and look, dude, I think if I had Michael Jordan's Shack and Colby, I probably would have slept through the games. Yeah. Also, also LSD is now illegal, so that doesn't help Phil Jackson's future stage. Okay, okay,

justin thank you get a little spicy. I think it's a great place to wrap. I always kind of watching with YouTube. Peter, thank you so much for the laughs, for the pandering, for the Betty mines. We appreciate you.