Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man, I'm forty. Go ahead, make my day every single week. I put my freaking heart and soul into this. I don't go out there and laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't wanna go out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football. For everybody, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from yesterday. Still the same person I was yesterday, and I got the same
thing for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You play to win the day. You don't play to just play it. That's a great thing about sports. You play to win. I don't care if you don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you start telling me it doesn't matter if you retire, get out for the matter. Role players, they matter too. And we bring that up only because there
was a role player and a different role that a manager took. I think that maybe many people didn't necessarily recognize and that was the difference in a Tiger's win last night over Cleveland. Another good ballgame and another nice win for Detroit. I don't know whether to feel frustrated or satisfied with what the Tigers have shown us against Cleveland so far. Welcome everybody on a Thursday morning to exes and bros. I'm Matt Shepherd. Trent Bally is our producer. We look
forward to the discussion all morning long. The Meyer hotline is open for it as always eight six six, eight three, eight forty eight forty three. The text line Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about the topic you want to discuss. If you want to do it, jump on board. We will shift, all right, we can pivot, we can turn into discussing whatever it is you think is most important. Yes, we oftentimes in the summer months, we oftentimes start with baseball.
That's because baseball's played every single night. And the Tigers were winners last night over Cleveland five four, five three until it got really hairy in the ninth. Walks problem, wild pitches, lack of concentration, Jake Rogers behind the dish. But they hold on and that's the most important thing. Let's not focus on a negative here. We've done that enough. Let's worry about what happened, how they were able to do it. Cold Keith continues to impress
kids, hitting over four hundred over his last eleven games. How do you not recognize that? I feel good about it when I watch him last night, Like he hits he tried, gets off to a really good start. In case you didn't watch it, in case you have Exfinity, couldn't watch it or anything like that, and you're just kind of following the progress on your phone. They get off to a good start with two runs in the first a Keith triple scores when Silperez the Matt Verling with a sacrifice sly to
score Cold Keith. I watch Cold Keith play. I see how he's adjusted. I see how he's gained confidence. You have two and he's not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination. We know he's betten in just two fifty, but as I mentioned, over four hundred over the last eleven games. When I watch him hit that triple to deep center field, I think, MM, how are your bias? What's he thinking? Like he's on the bench because Zach McKinstry started it. Short bias is on the bench.
He plays the day before he takes an offer. He's watching Cole Keith catch fire. It's not like Bias hasn't done it before. He has. He would love to find that mojo, find that rhythm, find that feel again, can't seem to find it. But role players is how I started the show today. And the role player is one Andy A. Banyaz. Now do you want Andy Banyaz starting at second base or third base or maybe right field, positions which he's played. Do you want him starting everything?
Relate? Nope, I don't, But I do love how he accepts his role and embraces it. It's a part time starter. He'll come in and pitch in situations. And last night he came through on a one two pitch. He drilled his third home run of the year to left field. It
made it five to three. And then in the ninth Cleveland played one and had the tying run and game winning run actually or the go ahead run at second base, had two runners on second and third, one more key swing by a Cleveland guardian and look out right, then you and I are talking. You and I are in a different mood. We might be in a foul mood, but I see the way they played last night, and granted it's just their forty fourth win. They're still under five hundred to home.
But I see the way they played last night, I think, damn, where's that bin? Where have those battles in the batter's box bin? You can't blame Matt Vierling. Matt Vierling's had a really nice season so far. Now, granted it's two forty six, it's got a career high twelve. Therein lies part of the issue for me as I watch the game and I'm thinking, hmm, why is it? And I like him a lot, by the way, this is what aj Hitch is forced to do. He
is forced to try so many different lineups. See, when you have, as you and I have talked about all season long, when you have everyday players, what you get is you get guys slotted into familiar and comfortable positions, not just defensively, but you're able to do that offensively too. With your lineup, you know a certain guy is going to be leading off, you know a certain guy is going to be a bat in second and third, and so on and so forth. It's a relief for a manager,
it's a confidence for a team. Matt Vierling has batted first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh this year, do you know, he's batted leadoff more than any other spot. And then last night he was forced into because of this team situation batting third. Riley Green was your cleanup hitter and he went to for four. So good for the All Star. That is not the ideal. That is not the ideal situation. That is not how this team is supposed to be built. Matt Vierling on a
really good team is a contributor, There's no doubt about that. I bet you a ton of teams would love to have him, whether you're playing third base, right field, center field, A lot of teams would love to have him. But they would love to have him batting sixth seventh more oftentimes than not not batting leadoff and not batting third. But it did work out for the Tigers last night in a nice win, and they got a chance to win the series from the division leaders later on today. So that's great.
And Jack Flaherty's going to throw for Detroit. That's that's really good news. In the eighth inving Andie Banyez digs in as a pinch hitter. Now I told you Cole Keith and how well he has played over the last eleven games, or so I think. And this is part of in the Den that I recorded and you'll hear it later on this morning. We don't always recognize those key decisions made by managers or coaches in a game. We're too busy celebrating the home run woo one two pitch, flyball deep left field,
their ghosts three run homer negative too, chep. A lot of people want to just negativity cells and they just want to look on the dark side, if you know what I mean. Oh, sure, absolutely, That's why you know I didn't necessarily want it straight into the negative. It's a feel good moment. It's a nice win for them. Last night, the cole Keith had the triple, his second of the year. He drives in a
run, he scores a run, he's hitting the ball really well. And yet in the eighth inning, in a leadoff spot, aj Hinch goes to his bench. He goes to Andy a Banyez against the lefty. Granted, part of a matchup, but it's more than a matchup. It's a feeld thing for him because he's got other options. He could go one Bayez, He's got other options on his bench. He goes with Andy a Bonyez not a home run hitter by any stretch. It's his third bomb of the year
that proves to be the difference. Guy's willing to accept his role and to do it with a smile. Manager's got to feel as well as the matchup. There was a combination there and it ends in a win. Have this? Where has this been? All season long? Meyer Hotline is open for you. We welcome the feedback eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty eight forty three. A little later on, Jim Capperoni from Spartan mag will join us eight thirty five. We'll talk a little MSU football as we get
geared up and football creeps a little bit closer on exies and Bros. The Super Sale is back this Friday and Saturday only at Meyer. Shop for summer get togethers and find super low prices on favorites like fresh from Meyer, boneous skinless chicken tenderloins for two to sixty nine per pound, Meyer hot dogs and Hamburger months for one forty nine, and Meyer canned vegetables for forty nine cents.
Shop super low Meyer prices while supplies last and get the same prices in store and online shop the Meyer Supersale Friday and Saturday only six slasions applying. See all deals in store and in the Meyer app. Bill Simonson here for my good friend Josh Garvey. Now he's a managing shareholder at Dorn Mayhew's Grand Rapids office. The world headquarters are in Troy, Michigan, on the east side of the state, and they have locations all around the world. They
have over five hundred and fifty motivated accounting professionals ninety years in business. And I mentioned the ten offices worldwide. So if you want to connect and partner with one of the top CPA accounting you remember uncomfortable you're in Michigan world a little bit. Who's Troy office on the east side of the state and Josh way of course flows Jack holder for just made me very aware of what he was doing at the same time, So it's sort of got my own little
world a little bit. Dorn Mayhew sign. You can find out more just google Dorn Mayhew. That's Doe ri n m A y h w Ordorn dot com. They're one of Americas and the worlds top CPA accounting and business firms. They're Dorn Mayhew Coming up later today at three on the Huge Show in the Michigan Sports Network, I'll deliver huge opinions on everything you're talking about. Eighteen after the Hour, Welcome Back Exues and Bros. Monday through Friday from
six until nine. The Meyer Hotline is always open for you eighty six y six eight three eight forty eight forty three, and we'd love when you text the program Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. Is how you get involved. You can get involved in a lot of different ways, and we welcome it. Whether you're in Cadillac or Grand Rapids or Pataski or Charlotvoi or Travers City.
Jump on board and thanks for being part of this Thursday morning. We do have a poll question for you, and we do have an answer to yesterday's poll question that we'll give you in the eight o'clock hour. Our poll question today, and you can vote as often as you like on our Facebook pre Exes and Bros, or follow us on Twitter or on x at XB mornings. Here it is now. This may seem a little unique, and the reason I did I don't want to give you a tigers or red Wings
or pistons or Lions or Michigan Michigan State pull question every single day. I'd like to try and find out a little bit more about who our listeners are. There's not as much going on in sports today. I get Wimbledon's going on. I know the Scottish Open is upon us. I get all that. The NBA Summer League. Are you into that at all? There were four games last night Dalton connect had twenty for the Lakers. Bronnie James, who everybody wants to talk about, was horrible. Period. There's no other
way to describe it. Horrible. Maybe you're into the WNBA, I don't know. Are you into soccer at all? The Copa America is the European Championships. Are you following Columbia? I doubt it. They've won twenty eight straight matches that started back in twenty twenty two. It's an unbelievable run and they're into the finals against Argentina. Are you into the Copa Americas? I don't know. That's part of the poll question to try and get to know
you. Which of these events are you most interested in? You may be shaking your head, you may be laughing so hard you're crying. You may be angry at are you serious? I'm just wondering the euro Soccer Championships, Wimbledon, the Scottish Open, the NBA Summer League. Which of these events are you most interested in? Notice I did not include none of the above, Trent Valley? Should I have included none of the above? Well?
I think that's an interesting question because you and I were talking the other day about how if people aren't watching baseball, what are they watching? Right? I think this is a good way to find out. I don't really subscribe to the idea that people are taking a sports sabbatical and they're just out on the lake for three months straight and not watching any sports. Really, see, I believe just the opposite. I think they are. I think there's
a lot of people who separate themselves right now. They wouldn't be if the Tigers record was just the opposite of what it is. Well, that's just it for me. Is I think people might tune out of the Tigers, but they still got to watch something. Sports people are sports people, you know. But you're not going to shove things down the throat. So that's the reason I bring this up. Do you, with all due respect to
the WNBA Do you think they're watching the WNBA? Do you think they're watching Asia Wilson get a twenty twenty the second player in Ace's history and the first player in the history of the league to do it. Do you think they're watching that? If they're not watching Caitlin Clark, then probably not WWBA. All right, So these are some of the things that were taking place yesterday. You've reached the final four at the All England Club, but that's during
the day. Do you think they're engrossed in that? No? Okay, I bring up the Soccer Championships. Are they sticking around watching those games yesterday or dv R ing them? Do you think they're doing that at all? Oh my gosh, look at what happened to the Netherlands. England beat them two to one. So it's now England and Spain. Do you think that's the case. It's a good matchup. But no, I'm with you, it is a good matchup. That's not happening. The Scottish Open hasn't happened
yet. Golf perhaps, I mean, I watch it, you watch it. I love playing it. I'm pissed that I can't right now because of a herniated disc. But I watch it. Do you think they're it's possible. Well, I'll be honest. I think golf and tennis, which are two options in the poll question which you can vote on, I think those are the two that are kind of carrying the load right now for sports, if you will. And look, this is a bit of a unique summer
sheep. We'll talk in a couple of weeks here. The Olympics are coming up. Summer Olympics. Well, there you go, and that leads to the next and that is the fact that Team USA was a winner last night over Canada. Did you watch the game at all? First exhibition games? Saw the highlights? Okay, I watched it. Team USA fell behind early, they didn't shoot the ball very well, but they did beat Canada, who's got some really good players. I mean Shae Gilgus Alexander to mention one
of them. It's a good team. Canada is a good team, and they're in a tough, tough bracket. They've got Yannis and company to try and deal with so in Greece, and they've got others. But Team USA has got you know, they've got a really easy bracket. They've put together
for some reason. The Olympic Committee has put together in the bracket with Canada, three maybe four really really difficult teams to match up against, and teams that could threaten Not that they will, but if there's any team to threaten them, it would be one of those teams from that group to threaten the USA for gold. Speaking of Team USA, how surprised were you that Kawhi
Leonard won't be going to Paris because of a knee injury. The belief is that the Clippers made the call, not the US team, but the Clippers his NBA team, and Derek White of the Celtics takes his place on the team. Derek White average fifteen points five assists per game for the world champion Celtics. Yeah, the surprise there, SHEP is the latter part of what you talked about, that Derek White got the call, not that Kawhi got
hurt. I think we're all used to that at this point, or that the Clippers made the call and maybe it's just precautionary, but SHEP, let me throw this at you. There are three champion Boston Celtics on this Team USA roster, not one of them as Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, right, that's what surprised me. Yeah, I didn't mean to pose the question, like, are you surprised that Kawhi Leonard is out? No, I'm the biggest surprise of the whole news is that Derek White takes his place. Did
you see the tweet from Jalen Brown? It's three emojis of the face and like almost like the magnifying glass over an eye, very you know, cryptos. Yeah, and that's his team mate. So that's a that's a tough thing. You can't go too far into it. But don't kid yourself. He's at home right now going really, are you kidding me? You're going to take Why do you think that was? Why would the USA Selection committee take? And I like you know this, We talked about this during the
playoffs. Why would they take Derek White instead of Jylen Brown? I have I have a theory on this. There's not enough basketballs to go around right on that team, There's there's so many players who are used to it and being the guy right well, I think they wanted a guy who is willing to accept a certain role and accept limited minutes. There's twelve spots on the team. I think what they're saying is they're building the team right. Very
few NBA champions run a twelve man rotation. I'm just using that as a benchmark because one of these guys in the Olympics is only going to play five six minutes a game. Maybe that's Derek White now exactly. I think that's what it is too, that they were There's a part of you that looks at it and you're like, Okay, I'm surprised. But the executive director,
Grant Hill, remember what he said. He said, I'm trying to build a team, okay, and I'm trying to win, so I need to put together the right pieces that fit and still give us a chance to win. It was an interesting decision when we come back. Another interesting comment or article the first half grades by ESPN. Where do you think the Tigers sit? What grade did they get? Did they get it right? And if it's not right, what would you give them? That? And more?
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That's fr Ed I the Pizza Man dot com. Together we can make a difference. The Supersale is back this Friday and Saturday only at Meyer. Shop for summer get togethers and find superlow prices on favorites like Fresh from Meyer bonouskiinless chicken tenderloins for two to sixty nine per pound, Meyer Hotdogs and Hamburger buns for one forty nine, and Meyer canned vegetables for forty nine cents. Shop super low Meyer prices while supplies last and get the same prices in store
and online. Shop the Meyer Supersale Friday and Saturday only exclusion supply. See all deals instore and in the Myer app Huge Here for Vanandel Institute Purple Community Now there are grassroots fundraising network powered by the volunteers who support viai's mission to improve health now and in the future. Learn more at Purplecommunity dot org thirty five after the hour, in the third hour of program this morning, Jim
Camperoni from Spartan mag is going to join us. Looking forward to that conversation that'll be at eight thirty five here on this Thursday morning. Tiger is a one run winner. Last night's team USA wins in an exhibition game against Canada. Derek White takes the place of the injured Kawhi Leonard headed to Paris. The hero in that Tigers game were many. You like it when a lot of different people are contributing. But andy A Binya is coming off the bench.
I thought, what was interesting with andy A Banyas with a home run, the leadoff home run in the eighth on a one to two pitch he actually fell in an O two hole. I think the interesting thing about that is how I always marvel at how people go about their business. I don't care what it is you do in life. That doesn't matter to me. What matters most to me is the kind of person you are, how you treat people, things of that nature. I don't care what you do for
a living. I gotta be honest with you. I don't know what most of my friends do for a living. It doesn't matter. I care about the character of the individual, and I hope they feel the same way with me. I hope it's like, oh, you know that's my friend because he's on radio and TV. I hope that's not the case. I love watching people prepare. If they're good at their job, prepare for their job. Andy A. Bonyez always shows up at the ballpark with a smile on
his face. Really good dude. I used to see him in the clubhouse all the time and he say, how are you my friend? And fitz Pump and how is a family move on? Right? He accepts the role. That's not an easy thing to do. I always try to keep in mind athletes who reach the highest level more than ninety percent of them. We're the best player on the high school team, with the best player on their
travel team, with the best player and their college team. If they did, if they went there among the best at the minor leagues, otherwise they're not getting called up, right, that's a You've got to be the best of the best to reach the highest level. Even bad teams, even the worst teams in baseball, have some really good players. Would you take Ryan McMahon if you if you're a baseball team right now, you need an infielder, you need a solid player at third base. I answer me this,
would you take Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies. Yes? The answer to that is hell, yes, absolutely, you would. Serviceable, reliable, he can pick it at third base. He's got good pop. I know it's in Colorado. He got fourteen bombs this year. You'd take that right on a crappy team. He's still only twenty nine. He's durable, like you just said, last year, played one hundred and fifty two games, two years ago, one hundred and fifty one year before that, one hundred
and fifty one. Would you take him? Damn right, you would. And Colorado stinks. Somebody's going to trade for Luise Robert. Somebody out there in need is going to at least kick the tires with the Chicago White Sox who stink and say, what would you need for Luise Robert Junior? It is eleventh home run yesterday, mad power, great speed hose for an arm. You got to engage him a little bit more because he seems to wander just a little bit, not always there concentration wise, but maybe somebody can
get to him. The talent is definitely there. That team is awful. He's really really good. So you get my point. So accepting a backup role, a role where you're not playing every day, you don't have a home defensively, you're not in the lineup every day. You know, when you show up at the ballpark, you've got to look at aj Hinch putting out his daily lineup on one of the doors that leads to the dugout that heads out to the field and recognize whether or not you're playing. Andy Biyyas
lives that every single day. I got to check the lineup at my end, not today, So how do you prepare for that? It's challenging. The mindset has got to be different. So I give him a ton of credit. Here's what he does. He goes out in the bullpen when those guys are throwing, and Bania is usually one of the first guys of the ballpark. He's on that first bus oftentimes, just like pitchers are. Pitchers go out, they get their work done. They go out to the bullpen.
Andy E. Banya Is stands in, not that he's taking swings against them, but just so he can get looks at the pitches, identifying the fastball, identifying the slider. Here comes the curveball, good looking cutter right there. Watch out, that's a change up. He does that for moments like last night. Yeah, that's called stay in ready ship. Yeah, that's called a man who goes about his business and his craft the right way.
Doesn't mean that he's always going to be successful. It doesn't mean that he deserves more reps and he should be in there on a daily basis. It's just how he prepares. I respect the hell out of that. He follows off the one two fastball up and in. He gets another one to two pitch. It's a slider up and away, flips the curveball. Home run number three. Now there's a part of you that might say, oh, wait a minute, if he's that good, but if he prepares that,
well, why isn't he in there every single day? Well, as I've said this time and time again, talent does matter. There are other guys who are just better. So you keep striving to reach that. He'll continue to do that. In the meantime, you like what he offers to your ball club in that role. I've said this at nauseum. Those are the kind of guys you want to have. You want to spot start them, You want to create a pinch hit situation for them, but you don't
want them in the lineup every single day. Good win for Detroit last night, but it doesn't change the grade that you may have for them as you reflect back on the first you know they haven't reached quite one hundred games yet, but you want to. It doesn't reflect necessarily how you feel. A one moment win doesn't reflect how you feel about the first ninety plus games. ESPN Plus came out with their rankings of their teams. They gave them grades, not rankings, but grades. So they say a B. You know,
you know you were in class. You're probably an L A student I was not terrible at math, but five teams got a's. This is the best to the best so far. Shouldn't surprise you who it was. You and I can guess that Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee. They're the division leaders for the most part. Kansas City primarily because they've surprised everybody.
Who's a bigger surprise. Kansas City, who was a dog a year ago, or Cleveland, who finished ten games under five hundred, have won the Wills Pay rules in all of baseball, and yet they're in the lead and have the second most wins in the Amya League. I would say either one you'd be fine with, and both deserve as so far. Kansas City, by the way, just swept a double header yesterday, so kudos to them. It's a fun team to watch, and it was a nice little story.
I think when you and I first started following this, you and I thought, oh, Kansas City, good for them. You know, they're not much, They're not much of a threat. We don't view teams like that as a threat because we just didn't believe it. They finished last in the division a year ago. Folks. They were thirty one games back of the Twins last year. Fifty six up, one hundred and six down. That was Kansas City last year. After sweeping the double header last night.
Do you know how many wins they have? Remember they had fifty six last year. Do you know how many wins they have this year? They're at fifty plus, right, they're fifty one. They could, legitimately, I believe, reach the number of wins this year that they had all of last year before the All Star Break. Yeah. I always find it fascinating to kind of retroactively look at the over underwin totals before the season, just to kind of see what Vegas thought and what expectations were. And the Royals were
supposed to win seventy four and a half games, said Vegas. So you know why you think that, because Vegas is usually right. Yeah, p'd be damn close. Right. There's a reason that they make the money they do. Yeah, that's why I don't bet, Trent. There's a reason I don't bet. It's because those places in Vegas they have a lot of expensive furniture, a lot of expensive frills in their hotels and casinos. They know what they're doing. I think every single sports gambler in America has a
bone to pick with Vegas, I would guess. So if anybody's putting money on the Kansas City Royal, I don't know if they were or not. Well, I'm sure Royals fans, you know, Tigers were seventy four and a half, I'd be going to Vegas and putting money on the Tigers. Yeah, yeah, I thought you meant before the season began. Now, I don't know how many games they have left before the All Star break. Maybe they can't reach it. It still doesn't take away how surprising and impressive
this has been. But I do believe before the season began, and I even think at the beginning of the year, when Kansas City showed some consistency, you and I collectively would have said, that's a nice story. You know why, it's a nice story because we didn't think it was sustainable, and we sure as hell didn't think they were a threat to Detroit. Right, you'd say, that's a good start. Yeah, good for them showing
some progress, right with their core. Right, and now you look at them and you go, damn, I wouldn't mind having some of those pieces, Uh huh. Right. Kyle isbel goes yard in the second game Salvador Perez homeward him both games. Sixteen bombs Now for Salvador Perez. They beat you in a lot of different ways. I was watching a ton of sports last night. I watched the Phillies game. I'm sure you did too, because I know you love baseball. Phillies Dodgers. That's the marquee matchup of
the night. Philly beat you in so many different ways. I praised them a lot on this show. You know why I like him. Speed. Bryson Stott gets down the line, beats out an infield single. Trey Turner gets an infield single that scores a run. They've got good speed man. Witt Maryfield legs out a triple on a routine fly ball. Well, Andy Pius lost it in the in the lights, but still the point is Witt Mayfield put his head down a ramp. He didn't say that's a can of
corn. I'm out of here. No, put his head down, ran hard out of the box. All the things you learned as a kid when you were playing Little League, and all the things you're teaching young kids now as a little league coach, whit Maerfield did. It's pretty awesome anyway, I've digressed a little bit. Sorry. I get into that role and I just absolutely love watching certain teams play because I like their style. No, that's okay. And then also watching Phillies Dodgers. I mean that's one of
the marquee matchups of the season. And the Tigers get the Dodgers next. So if you want to do a little scouting, what am on? Well? Yeah, they play again today at six oh five. For those who want to watch, now, I will tell you this about the Dodgers as a immediate I start to laugh know this last ten games, no team in baseball has had a worst a worse pitching performance than the Los Angeles Dodgers. No team in baseball they're pitching. I saw this on the FS one broadcast
prior to the game last night. The numbers are awful. They're allowing most home runs, their er is the worst, the whip is the worst. They have struggled mightily, and yet they still lead the division comfortably. How should that make Tigers fans feel? Sheep? They've got fifty five wins and their pitching is brutal. Yeah, and they got a seven and a half game lead, and Tigers fans are over here waving the flag for Terror School, as they should. But we just keep banging the drum for all our
pitching's great. Doesn't seem to matter, does it. No? And that's because we've been told. And I don't think that it's necessarily wrong, but we've been told all our lives the pitching and defense wins championships. It's a nice cliche. I'm not going to necessarily disagree with it, Okay, but I say this all the time. You got to score runs, damn it. Defense is great in football, right, Chiefs won because, I mean
their defense is really good. Their wide receivers really struggle at the beginning of the year, leisure. In the end, Patrick Mahomes is winning the game for you. He doesn't play defense. Yeah, and over time, the Chiefs defense held the Niners to a field goal that was ultimately the difference, right, sure it was. But Patrick Mahomes is pulling games out of his rear end on a regular basis in order for them to get there. Yep,
Boston plays really good defense. Indiana plays really good defense in the NBA. Guess what. They also score a lot, Dallas. Perhaps their lack of defense was a reason they didn't win the championship, but their offense is the reason they got there in the first place. So I don't mind the cliches. I use them too, and I think they are appropriate. But you must be able to score well. You also got to be realistic about it. You can draw as many sports parallels as you want. We're Big
ten people. Ship. We see Iowa every single year rolled through the Big Ten West with that great defense, and then what get throttled by a better team in the Big Ten East because they can't move the damn football. They can't score period. Their punter is the best player on the team. And I'm not being flippant saying that. No, ye him. Look, we had the interview earlier this year with Tim Lester, their new offensive coordinator. I gave him a statistic that blew his mind. He didn't know about it.
The statistic I gave was, your punter punted four more yards than your quarterback through It's just insane. And he laughed and giggled. But when he looks it up, he's like, holy crap, you're right. That scares the hell out of me. Yeah, yep, that's ridiculous. That is ridiculous. But it's so true. Look, it's not that I disagree with it. Okay, I like defense, two, I really do. Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup Finals. Maybe they didn't win it. Maybe they didn't
win it overall because of their lack of defense. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals because they were the number one scoring team in the NHL. And by the way, Florida as good as defensively as they were, they were a top ten offense. That's what I'm saying. Anyway, we continue. So they were five A grades given out to Major League Baseball teams by ESPN, plus six teams received a B, nine were average, were a C, six more with a D, and four with an F. What do you
think the Tigers deserved? And what do you think they got? How about C for the Tigers? How about incorrect? Would you give them a C? It so tough because I give the pitching an A and I'd give the heading a D. You give the hitting a D. Yeah, So I don't really know where you fall in with the whole team, you know what I mean? Sure, No, I get it. You know you're trying
to balance it, right, I look at the whole overall product. I would give the hitting probably lower than a D. I agree with your pitching for the most part. There are certain guys you can nick pick, right, it shall be Miller, Kent to my Aeta. I mean you give it an A when you got Kent to Maeta and Shell be Miller with those numbers, probably not maybe a B plus. Sure that's fair, you're right, Yeah, that's perhaps that's a little semantics. I give them an F
or a D rather I give them a D on the season. And this this goes back to expectations. That means there's a little bit of a compliment in there. That means I had high expectations for your team. ESPN plus gave them a D plus. Here's what they wrote. The last time the Tigers ranked in the top half of the AL and run scored two thousand and sixty inan What did we just say about scoring once again? Another week Detroit offense. They break down the numbers and get a little bit deeper into it,
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