Thursday, May 2, 2024 I Full Show

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 want to go out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football for everybody. I think that at 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, and 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, per retire, get out for the mat Hey good way to start this Thursday. Welcome everyone, Bexes and bros. Monday through Friday, six until nine throughout the great state of Michigan. Matt

Shephard, that's our producer. You can call him on the Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three Tigers, who winning yesterday four to one. They win this series for the Cardinals. That is four straight series wins for Detroit. Now, we focus a lot of people focus a lot on the negative, unfortunately bothersome sometimes for me too. But that's what it's about. Baseball is about gonna win every game. You should know that.

You do know that. There are just certain times where you look back and you're like, that's the one game you let get away, first game at the doubleheader two days ago. Right, okay, But it's about winning series. If you can win series, you're in great shape. You're gonna win your divisions as simple as that. You're gonna win the more series wins you have. I'm not talking games, I'm talking about series wins. That's

the goal. You beat Cardinals in a series, you beat the Royals in a series, you beat the Rays in a series, and you feel pretty good about yourself, and you should. You also beat the Twins in a series. So the last series loss was to the Rangers. Now, the Twins have played really good ball as of late. They've won ten in a row. Detroit's seventeen wins entering May is the second most in franchise history. Only the eventual World Series champions. Nineteen eighty four World Series Tigers were better.

They were eighteen and two. What, yeah, I know, eighteen and two. Yes, that's the famous thirty five and five. Remember though, that team won its first seventeen road games. Those are a couple of things. I don't think we'll be duplicated last year to give you, to give you a perspective, last year, Detroit was ten and seventeen entering May. Now. Granted, I mean it's May second, so yesterday was May first. But I'm just you know, we haven't really been able to dive

into May just yet. So there's your situation right there. Kentamaieta got his first win as a Tiger. Four hits over six innings, pretty solid. Veerling had three RBIs. Detroit has kind of owned Saint Louis in Inner League play. I told you yesterday anytime the Tigers take on the Cardinals, or maybe it was two days ago, I think it was yesterday. I think of World Series because they've met in the World Series three times, with Saint

Louis winning too out of the three, but Detroit has owned them. They're thirty one and sixteen against Saint Louis all time in interleague play. Now they're off to New York to take on the Yankees, and looks it's a Yankees team that is has shown to be somewhat vulnerable at times eight and five at home. They've come back down to earth a little bit. They split their last ten games. They're twenty and twelve on the year. After winning Baltimore

yesterday, We'll see what happens with that. I don't know if that's the measuring stick, but I will tell you this, we're thirty one games deep. You're getting a little bit closer to recognizing who your team truly is. Detroit will have today off while the Yankees play in Baltimore. Carlos Rodan throws for the Yankees here today. Game one tomorrow against New York. Resolson against Marcus Stroman. That's the scheduled starter anyway on Saturday, So it's a good

weekend to be in the Big Apple. On Saturday, Casey Mize against Clark Schmidt, and then the wrap up has Trek Scoubel against Nestor Cortes. Then it's off to Cleveland, who is lead the division. And again it's early, but at some point and I say that quite a bit. I used to say it. We'll call in games, and I think a lot of people say that it is early. You play one hundred and sixty two games and you're only thirty one games deep. It is early. However, at

some point you and I are going to stop saying it's early. When that is is up to the individual. What did Sparky Anderson used to say? Give me forty games and then you got a better idea. Now there are exceptions to the rule, right, Houston two thousand and six, I think, struggled and then reach the World Series. But the point is you're starting to see this team and it looks pretty good at times. Right. The

pitching is definitely keeping them in it. And it's funny how a series win can kind of change your mood a little bit, because yesterday we're talking about missing an opportunity in Game one. Then you score eleven runs, you feel like, oh, okay, not bad. Don't let victories or even losses. Don't let either one cloud your judgment on what you think is happening or question certain things. It's all right, Still, eight hits isn't a ton, Okay, you got to give some credit work where credit is due.

Saint Louis played halfway decent two. How good are the card I don't know. We don't know yet. We know there are three games under five hundred, but we're just not sure. And I would guess people in Saint Louis are saying the same thing about Detroit. Now you lost to a pretty good team, are they? We don't know yet. We do think, and I think it's important here. We do think that we've got some some off

issues that need to be figured out. But it's a pretty cool moment for Matt Vierlin, who picked up his third home run of the season, a two run blast of the third off Miles Michelis, to do it against his hometown team. He was a fifth round draft pick out of Notre Dame but grew up in Missouri and Saint Louis was his hometown team. So it's a it's that's kind of a neat moment. A couple of days ago we had win Silperez had his first two home run game. That was a neat moment.

There are certain things that take place during the season you're like, oh, this is really cool. I like it. Memorable stuff in the NHL last night, Stars beat the Vegas Knights three too. It's the first time the home team has won a game in the series and they lead the series by that three to two score. Oilers over the Kings. Edmonton win the series and eliminates LA for a third straight year. Leon Drivesidel had two goals. Connor McDavid had a couple of assists eleven in the series for McDavid,

most in franchise history, which surprised me. And then Boston is in Toronto tonight. The lease Leafs get this. They have lost six straight home playoff games. The Bruins, in the meantime, have lost five consecutive series clinching games, which tells you what the Oak cliche. Go ahead, something's got to give. NBA Finals from last night, and don't forget speaking to the

NBA. James Edwards of the Athletic is going to join us. We'll talk Pistons and the NBA coming up here on a Thursday morning edition of Exus and Bros. Stay with us. We're back with more after this across the great state of Michigan. He and sure for my good friends from flying As Whiskey.

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Look for the Flying Ace Whiskey bottleneckers on bottles all across the state of Michigan here over the next couple of weeks and you can donate and that money will go directly to the Folds of Honor Michigan program on behalf of Flying Ace Whiskey and also Flying Ace Whiskey has put up four scholarships for the children. Flying Ace Whiskey an American made whiskey, taken a lot of pride in America.

Look for it in stores and pubs all across Michigan. Friday, July twenty sixth, that's Soaring Eagle Casino in resort the offspring Bruty fly for what same show, same night, Simple Plan plus special guest who mus Stand part of the Soaring Eagle Summer out Door Cosser Series. Tickets as low as twenty six dollars and on sale now at the Soaring Eagle box office or online at detics dot com. Party Hard Rockharder The Offspring Simple Plan in Humus Sang July twenty

sixth, showtime seven pm. Details at Soaring Eaglecasino dot com eighteen after the hour. Welcome Back Acts Bros. Monday to Friday six and till nine Here on the Michigan Sports dot work across the Greek state of Michigan. We are on in Flint on WTRX Sports Extra thirteen thirty am. We're on a Cadillac WKAD The Ticket ninety three point seven FM. In Grand Rapids on WMAX ninety six point one FM, The Game Up in Grayling and Gaylord WGRY one o

one point one FM up North Sports Radio. How about the Mitt w LUN one hundred point nine that serves Midland, Saginaw and Bay City. We're on in Pataski and Charlevoid w MBN one oh four point seven FM. The Ticket Northern Michigan and The Ticket Up in Traverse City as well WKAD ninety three point seven NBA from last night. Celtics led wire to wire. They post a one to eighteen eighty four win to eliminate the Heat. Jaylen Brown Derek White

each had twenty five Boston that can play either Cleveland or Orlando. And then this is a little bit of a surprise. Maybe it's because in basketball, probably more than any other sport, home court. I don't know. It just seems like more home court advantage than home ice, more home court advantage than home field in baseball or football. That's that would be my guess without

really looking up the percentages, and sometimes those can be skewed. But Dallas a one twenty three ninety three winner over the Clippers, largest loss in playoff history for La Luka Doncic and he's been hurt with a bad right knee thirty five points, ten rebounds, twenty of his thirty five game in the second half. mAbs lead that series three games to do. You would expect them to go home and wrap things up. How you do that is similar to

you if you had a chance to watch Boston at all. Boston just dominated Miami from the very get go. Look, they're a better team than Miami, There's no question about that. Miami with a couple of big pieces, really big pieces, and Rosier and obviously Jimmy Butler. So Celtics should get that done right. But that doesn't mean it always happens. I mean, look what Milwaukee did the Indiana the other day, and they did it without Ante Tekumpo, and they did it without Lillard. So you just never know.

I think you know this, this happened yesterday. Mike Trout is out for a good part of this season. He'd be lucky to play I don't know, ninety five games or so. He's got to have surgery. We mentioned this yesterday. I think there are some people starting that they're not questioning whether or not he's a Hall of Fame player. There's no doubt he is. There's no doubt, all right, he's the best player of his generation. And if you can't give him that, one of them. The injuries

are troublesome. Thirty six games in twenty twenty one one and nineteen games the year next, eighty two games last year. Let's say he plays ninety five this year. For as durable as he was early on in his career, playing at least one hundred and fifty seven games in each of his first four seasons. He has struggled since with injuries. Why that is, I don't know. People speculate. I'm not going to go there. We do know

this in his career, he's a three hundred hitter two ninety nine. If you'll allow me to round up, he's gotten much better defensive lane wins above replacement is really big for a lot of people. And he's fifth all time amongst center fielders. You know who's better Willie Mays, the Tigers, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Mickey Mantle. Mays's war, just so you know, one hundred and fifty six point two. That's nuts. It's absolutely crazy. Speakers at one thirty five point two, cob Is at one point

fifty one point four. You're not there's no way you're you're surpassing that, all right. Trout's War is about fourteen over the last few years. It's pretty damn good. I don't know if you've ever done this. Go to Baseball Reference dot com and it's easy to access, and they have a baseball

grid that you can play. I've played it quite a bit and my son and I, my oldest son and I play it quite a bit and then we kind of compare, and we played it yesterday and it's just a cool little grid where you'll say it. You'll say like the Times at the top and then on the left it will be Saint Louis. So they want you to fill in. Give you a player who's played for the Tigers and the Cardinals. Every actually, basketball does this, football does this, hockey does

it? They all have this grid, Ben, have you ever? Have you ever played that? By chance? No, it's really cool. It really tests you, okay, and what you try to do. The easy thing to do, you know, it would be like Jack Flaherty for Tigers and Cardinals. You don't want to do that because the percentage is probably very high. So you want to find somebody who has played for both. But it's a rare combination. It's not someone most people would think of. Okay.

So for example, you know, my son put in Edgar Renteria that was his for the Cardinals and the Tigers. That's a good one. Or a Cardinal or Tigers and White Sox was next. So down the left side you had Cardinals and you had White Sox and you had another category, and then you have something along the top three. All right, So for example, Tigers, White Sox, who would you put? So A lot of people immediately go, oh, chet Lemon. I put Steve Kemp, And

the percentage for Steve Kemp was point three percent. In other words, point three percent of the people got Steve Kemp. Another one was three hundred home runs for a White Sox player. I put Frank Thomas my Son, put Paul Konerko. Those are the only two of hit three hundred homers. You don't want to go look it up. That's kind of cheating, but you want to figure it out. You put a MVP, all right, who was a Tiger's MVP? They had that down left side? Was most Valuable

Player? And then the category is MVP. So I had Hank Greenberg because I figured a lot of people put Miguel Cabrera, right, I put Hank Greenberg. Anyway, the rarity I got was sixty six, which is pretty I was pretty happy with. Mike Trout will be in that discussion down the road. But one of them was a six war. Did you have a

who had a six war and an MVP season? Because six Wars was pretty good, I put Carl Yastrimsky. But just to give you an idea, what made me think of it was, you know, the wins above replacement, Trout posting about fourteen war since the start of twenty twenty. So he's not catching any of those guys. He's not catching Cob, he's not catching May's, he's not catching Speed. Probably won't catch Mickey Mantle, who's at one hundred and ten point two. And then people wonder about the homers and

the RBIs and the hits and so and so. I don't think Mike Trout's getting three thousand hits, He's sure. I don't think he's getting five hundred homers. You'll get four hundred easies. He's the three hundred and seventy eight right now. The RBIs, you know, okay, and runs those are those to me, the RBIs I think are important. But look, this is a good excuse me. This is a guy who drives in what can easily he'll easily average eighty five RBIs, ninety RBIs, but he hasn't had

more than eighty since twenty nineteen. You know, MVPs all that stuff. No doubt he's the first ballot Hall of Famer. It just here's the thing that differentiates them. Will he be can Sittered one of the greatest of all time in center field if the injuries continue, if he does, if he's not playing games, it's hard to do that. It's hard to think that now when you've got so many others. Our phone number, by the way, on the Meyer Hotline eighty sixty six, eight three eight forty eight forty

three. James Edwards of the Athletic We'll join us at eight thirty five. It's a little bit later on here on Exis and Bros. On a Thursday morning throughout the great state of Michigan. Stay with us. Huge here for my good friend Drew and the crew at Impact Power Sports. Now. They're located on fourteen Mile Road in Rockford, just north of Grand Rapids here on the west side of the state. They are Michigan's newest Yamaha Go to golf

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Road in Rockford. Also, if you want a shot at winning Lomas Brown's Lions golf cart a custom build Lions golf cart, text impact to two one zero zero zero. That's impact to two one zero zero zero and you could win Lomas Browns Lions golf cart this summer. From Impact Power Sports and the Huge Show, we're teeing off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in

need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discovery land for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now at Meyer l TGA Classics dot com thirty five after the hour. A couple hours from now, we'll talk with James Edwards of The Athletic. If you missed any of our conversation yesterday, remember

the conversation with Ben Raven from Mlive. We'll play that about an hour from now. Okay, we'll do that because it was an informative one. So seven thirty five Ben Raven from Mlive a replay and then eight thirty five James Edwards from the Athletic. I wanted to ask people about covering games. I've read some things recently. We're more and more broadcasters are calling out umpires.

It happened the other day in the Twins broadcast Byron Buxton was injured and one of the umpires was telling telling him, in so many words, let's hustle it up, okay, to get off the field. He wasn't feeling really good all right. So Rob Drake was the first base umpire and kind of was a little upset with Buxton's pace and wanted him to hurry to get off the field. And well, the Bally Sports North crew didn't like it too much, La Troy Hawkins, Corey provis So they were critical of him,

which is, you know, that's fine. Same thing happened in the Baltimore game Baltimore Orioles, I forget who. I don't know if it was Gunner Henderson at the plate, but of course, who do you have behind the dish? Cebe Buckner, who's you shouldn't know? Umpires names, you shouldn't know, referees names you were. I mean, those are the people who are supposed to be silent but help the game along. It's not a good thing if you're recognizing umpires on a regular basis. Oh boy, we got

Angel Hernandez. Oh boy, we got Cebe Buckner. Uh oh, we've got Teddy Valentine. Those are not good things. TV ted is what they call them. He embraced that stuff in college basketball. Cebee Buckner behind the plate calls a strike three that was clearly low. It was gunner head, Yeah, thank you. And Jim Palmer just says, you know what, he shouldn't be umpiring, and he is and they know it. There's two different situations where they are calling out the people who are policing their game.

Do you remember, before the playoffs began in the NBA, Anthony Davis called out the league itself. Do you remember this at all? Anthony Davis said, Remember the three players announced for Defensive Player of the Year, Anthony Davis is not one of them. It was Rudy Gobert. It was Bam Autebayo from Miami, and it was of course Victor Webbin Yama. And it won't surprise me if Weben Yanama women wins it. Even though he's a rookie. There is no Anthony Davis, and Anthony Davis came out and said, quote,

I'll never get Defensive Player of the Year. They're not giving it to me. The league doesn't like me. I'm the best defensive player in the league. I can switch one through five, I can guard the pick and roll the best in the league. From a big standpoint, I block shots, I rebound. I don't know what else to do. I'm over it. I'm done with accolades and individual awards, done with winning a championship too,

because the team was eliminated. But yeah, that's more and more teams or players, I should say, And more and more announcers are feeling comfortable about calling out either players or leagues. Charles Barkley did it. Charles Barkley said, for all you punks and idiots and jackasses on other networks who want to be who want to be media and want all the players to like y'all, do your damn job. The Lakers suck and the sun suck because of

the players. This goes back to what I was saying earlier on the show. Not this morning, but in the past. We want to criticize coaches, and for good reason. I'm not saying there they don't deserve any blame. But you and I both know. You and I both know the NBA, for example, is a players league. We see these great shots of team huddles. Let's go full sound up with the players listening to the coach and the coaches miked up. Let's go inside the huddle and hear what Manty

Williams has to say. Give me the dry erase board and drop up a play. That's great stuff, and it is. It's good access. I love it. You should love it too. But for the most part, for the most part, that is it's a player's league. We say it all the time. The only time we criticize coaches is in losses wins we credit the player. Look, I did it too, I said it this morning. Luka donciz thirty five and ten. How come we're not getting any

throwing any flowers at Jason kids feet? Charles Barkley said last night in the postgame Boston in Miami, they're raving about what the Celtics did. He goes, I'm not going to give them any flowers. I'm not giving them any candy. They should have blown them out. He's right, He's absolutely right.

This is what's become though I don't know where it started, or when it started, or who it started with, but there is the fear that you're not going to get your exclusive You're not going to be able to sit a guy down, You're not gonna be able to talk to him in an extended interview because he holds the power Tiger Woods, Lebron James whatever. Have you ever noticed that if you criticize certain individuals, they hold it against you,

And that's what's happened. But those are good examples right there of broadcasters Bill and willing to say, you know what, this guy's he's not very good. He hasn't done a good job. I've done that in the past. I think you have to pick your spots, and I think you have to be careful with it. Charles Sparkley doesn't have to worry about it. He doesn't have to face the same team every single day, he doesn't have to travel with that team. He's being honest, he should be. He

doesn't take friendships into his job. It's part of the reason he is so effective at what he does. I don't think he's I don't think he's a great analyst. I don't think he'd be a really good court side analyst. Of course, they do have stan Van Gundy for crying out loud DNT. Why doesn't that ever get brought up just out of curiosity? Remember when Matt Millan was the second analyst on Fox. It was John Madden and then it

was Matt Millan. Matt Millan was really good. He becomes the general manager of the Detroit Lions and proceeds to stink just awful, goes back to the booth and it's primarily Big ten network now and people just don't want to hear it. People are like, give me a break, this guy was so bad, so on and so forth. Okay, hurt the reputation, I understand it. How come I done? Happened with stan Van Gundy? Like people go to seek out his advice. I mean he literally said not too

long ago. The problem I think for Detroit is what are you going to do with your cap space? Where are you going to try and win. My guess Tom Gores wants to get this thing done quickly, not sit around and wait on a young core. I think that's probably the right approach. You screwed this franchise and you've got members of the media seeking your advice. What would you do now for the Pistons when he was in charge of the Pistons? How absurd is that we blame so many people we blame This is

so hypocritical in the media. We blame so many people for so many different things, different walks of life, avenues. Doesn't have to be the sports while they're doing it. Then when they're done, we all, hey, let's let's get their advice. What do you think you'd do. Man, here's a guy who says, you're gonna have to supplement as you go along. They've got good pieces. Durren Thompson, Sasser Ivy, he's naming Kid Cunningham. He's name in five six guys for a team that won thirteen fourteen

games this year. Thanks Stan, who in their right mind goes to him and says, I got an idea. I want to do an interview. Let's bring on Stan van Gundhy and ask him, what would you do with the Pistons. Are you flipping kidding me? That's ridiculous. But those same people who do that, what do they do. They'll go out and they'll criticize this and criticize that. But they were good friends with stan Van Gundy while he was here in Detroit. So let's ask him what he would do

in free agency or to rebuild this team. Didn't you already ask him what you would do to rebuild this team? And all he did was sink it further into the toilet. Well that's James Edwards at eight thirty five. See if he's got a thought on that. I do want to ask him because there was a podcast out there. I didn't listen to it, but they actually had stan van Gundy on and asked them asked him his opinion of what he would do with the Pistons. It's laughable. But the same person who

had that podcast, what are they gonna do. They're gonna go out there and they're going to criticize this person and that person and so on and so forth. I mean, oh my god, the hypocrisies. But we don't say anything about it. Nobody says a thing about it. It's maddening, absolutely maddening. Meyer hotline is eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three. The text line is Sports Radio twenty one thousand. That's how

you can jump on board. Speaking of getting something together and being an architect, whether it's Matt Millan and stan Van Gundy blowing up their franchises, or is it Brad Holmes who has had an unbelievable run with the Detroit Lions. Who's the best architect in Detroit? Slash the state of Michigan history. Brad Holmes is getting all kinds of flowers right now, and for good reason. It's been incredible. His moves for the most part a right, not just

the drafts. I'm talking about his moves overall. I think really good general managers they have to decide, they have to recognize when things go awry, what's working and what's not working. Cut bait if you will. I can think of probably two others. Look, Scott Harris is trying to do this. Troy Weaver is trying to do this to no avail. Steve Eisaman is trying to do this. Who are the best architects that Detroit has ever had? Jack McCloskey of the Pistons. I mean, he's the one who drafted

Isaiah Thomas. He's the one who drafted Joe Dumars and John Sally and Dennis Rodman. He's the one who traded for Vinnie Johnson and Bill Lambier and Mark Aguire and Rick Mahorn and Adrian Danley. You can't you can't deny that he got championships out of it. Bill Lejoy, he's the one who built the eighty four Tigers. And look, I don't think it's just an architect of

a championship team. Dave Dombrowski was pretty damn good. Did he set the organization back to quote unquote go for it by trading a lot of young talent. A lot of that young talent wasn't very good, So that's the downside of his tenure in Detroit. But he did make them extremely competitive. If you don't think Joe Dumars was a really good architect, you haven't paid attention.

Look at how good the Pistons were, not just with the one championship, but contending regularly in the Eastern Conference finals, regularly in the postseason, and of course Jimmy Devellano. Jimmy Devellano is probably the best architect. How do you deny that? And I'm not picking just one guy from each team because I said Bill Joy and Dave Dombrowski. You don't have to go to from just one team. I said Joe Dumars and Jack McCloskey. Now,

granted, except for Dombrowski, it ended up in a World championship. Tigers should have had I think two World Series championships under Dombrowski. I think they should have won in two thousand and six when losing to the Cardinals, and I think two thousand, what was it thirteen when they lost to the Orioles his mistake bringing in Brad Ostmas or twenty sixteen? Is that what it was? I forget which was here? That was because they lost to Boston in

one of those years? Was that twenty thirteen? Okay, either way should have had it right, the Joaquing Ben Wah giving up the Grand Slam to David Ortiz, losing to Baltimore. I'm not counting the San Francisco. The Giants were just better that year period twenty twelve. Anyway, those architects, these are the art that's who Brad Holmes is trying to be. Brad Holmes will probably if if the Lions ever win that Super Bowl. And Ben Raven

is a guy we talked to yesterday. Well replayed that at seven thirty five. He covers the Lionsfranlive dot com. We asked him about Brad Holmes. If he does, he'll probably viewed as the greatest architect this city has ever had because the Lions have never done it. Because the Lions were so bad, the other guys inherited just as bad situations. When Jimmy Devellano took over the Red Wings, they were horrid, you know the stories. They were

called the Dead Wings. They were giving away cars once in a while just to get people into the building. And it started with what the key piece for Devil Lano, It was drafting Steve Eisman, It was the start. Took a while to get there, but it was the start. For McCloskey, was drafting Isaiah Thomas. Took a while to get there, but it was a start. For l Joy, it was multiple players. It was the drafting of Trammel and Whittaker, first round pick of Kirk Gibson, so

on and so forth. You know, the stories. I don't need to rehash it for you. For Dumars, it was overcoming some of his mistakes, but bringing in guys. His wasn't as much drafting. I don't think his was more about trading for Ben Wallace, trading for Richard Hamilton, acquiring Rashid Wallace, bringing in Chauncey Billups. That wasn't a home grown team. Phone number on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight

forty three. We'd text to the show sports Radio to twenty one thousand or exes and bros throughout the great state of Michigan. The Huge Show a little bit later on today from three until six, right here on the Michigan Sports Network, stay with us. We're teaming off our tenth here at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for the best who are yet to

help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now. At Meyer LPGA Classics dot com. Bill Simonson here from my good friend Josh Garvey. Now he's a

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Mayhew. That's Doe ri n M A y Hwordorn dot com. They're one of Americas and the worlds top CPA accounting and business firms. They're Dorn Mayhew. We played for the three. They're Russia. With the game on the line, I'm Herman more Lions all Pro wide receiver now with Eagle Casino in Sports, the new sportsbook app from sore in Eagle anywhere I'm at. I'm still in the game. Sign up now and get up to one thousand dollars.

That's right, up to one thousand dollars for a risk free bet on your next favorite underdog Harley er prop Eagle Casino in Sports made in Michigan, Made for Michigan. Must be twenty or older in Michigan to playing man. People are upset about the Old Valley situation with Exfinity, aren't they. Somebody tweeted the other day they said, it's time to do right by your fans, especially those depending on DEALI Sports lift the blackouts already. It's a blackout

with Exfinity. The contract is with Exfinity. That's part of the issue. And then there's others who just think, well, I'm not in TV, I know how to handle this. Here's what you do. Just put them on regular television. That's not the way it works. Man. Sounds just simple as just well, let's just flick a switch. They can't put put on there, so let's go broadcast on Channel four in Detroit or Channel eight

and Grand Rapids Nope, it's not the way it works. Man. It's surprising to me that people are in this business and they just don't get it. Welcome to the second hour of Exus and Bros. Here on the Michigan Sports Network throughout the great state of Michigan. Bottom of the hour, we will replay our interview with Ben Raven from m Live. In case you missed it, he joined us yesterday. We'll play it again today for those of you who didn't get a chance to listen in and at eight thirty five,

James Edwards of the Athletic will join us as well. In case you missed it. Last night, Dallas beat Vegas on ice three to two. They lead that series, and Edmonton eliminated the Kings for a third consecutive season four to three, the final there in favor of the Oilers. We know already that Tampa has been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. The question is down in Tampa, at least while they're talking hockey anyway, what do you do

with Captain Stephen stamcos he has spent sixteen years in Tampa. He will be a free agent right now this summer and will get no doubt a ton of interest from other teams. How would he fit with the Red Wings? I think it's a fair discussion. Not sure how many people want a thirty four year old he can still play, man, he can still play. Where would he fit well? Toronto May believes are a team for sure Florida. If he wants to stay in Florida and not and Tampa isn't the right fit

for him, then that's a possibility. And people have speculated Detroit and for good reason. See others have said, well, maybe Utah is a good fit. I don't know. Man, he wants to win. Who gives them a chance to win? Maybe this is home cooking on my part, Completely open to that criticism because I think the Red Wings should have made the playoffs this year, and I think they're on that bend if they stay healthy to do just that. Do they need certain pieces? Yes? Is Steven

Stamcos one of those pieces. You could always use more scoring, But you'd rather them focus on the blue line or in net, wouldn't you. Absolutely. I'm not saying they're going to go out and get Connor Hollibuck, but they need somebody who can stop the puck a little bit more consistently. Anyway, I read an article the other day about this, and here's what they

had to say about the Red Wings chances. It said projected cap space twenty nine million, which surprised me because I didn't think it was quite that high. Anyway, they said, Steve Eisaman's team just narrowly missed the playoffs, and this upcoming offseason seems like a pivotal moment for the Red Wings rebuild. Bringing in Stamcos would help infuse a championship culture into a locker room that hasn't seen the postseason since twenty sixteen. So let me just stop right there for

a moment. Infuse a championship culture. I've talked about this before. There are guys who have played on championships Olimana, Patrick Kane this past year, and guys who've made the playoffs plenty. It's not a championship culture necessary. That's missing. It's talent on the blue line and defensive talent up front too, because, as we all know, it's defense isn't only by the two

defensemen who are on the ice at the time. It continued and said stamp Coos could also add some offensive pop that was lacking at the top of Detroit's lineup in twenty twenty three to twenty four, with the exception of a few key players. Fair enough. I think that's an excellent point. They still need to score goals, we think, not necessarily you. I'm just I use we as a generality here. Okay, First of all, can Steven Stamkos let's address you know, one thing at a time? Here? Can

Steven Stamkos still score you? Damn right? He can't without a doubt. He's still especially on the power play. Now. Is he Nikita Kutcherov on his team? No, but Kutcheroff won the scoring title. Is he bredon point? Not quite. He's still pretty damn good. He still had eighty one points. He still had forty goals year. Forty goals would have led the Red Wings, for crying out loud. So he can still play now the ice time. Yeah, that's up to coach Laan to figure that out.

And he's familiar with him, so that's a plus. Right. So the question is, look at age thirty four, you guy's got to be committed, and he sure seems like he would be committed. Absolutely, So it makes a ton of sense. I think can he still get goals, no question about it. Does this team need goals, no question about that either. We think, based on the regular season numbers from based from up from a year ago, that this team is a really good offensive team.

And they are they finished what top half? They're not Colorado, They're not Toronto. Toronto could be a eleminated tonight. Colorado's advanced. Dallas is leading Edmonton, is there? Tampa, Vancouver, New York, Carolina, All those teams better in goals four during the regular season than the Red Wings all

in the playoffs. Now here's what you might say, Well, wait a minute, shot, Nashville, Florida, Boston, Vegas, Jets, Kings all right behind Detroit, and they didn't make the playoffs fair enough defensively or maybe special teams wise, Like, what do you think the difference between the Oilers and Kings series was. I'll tell you what it was. It was special teams. And Edmonton had another power play goal last night. They had

nine overall in the series. But when I bring up those teams Winnipeg, La, Florida, Boston, know this, All those teams led by Florida best in goals against Detroit's bottom half. There no team below Detroit in goals against made the postseason. Tampa was barely above them and they made the playoffs. So does Detroit need it? Yeah, you can always use Like I said, you can always use more scoring. But defensively, that's where they

have to get better. Is Steven Stamco's viewed as a better defensive forward than a lot of guys that they have not really anyway, So the article continued and said, this potential marriage may come down to the length of the contract. That's always key. How much you're willing to give him and over how many years. That's the hard with teams who haven't made the playoffs for eight years and many who feel like they're not ready to turn the corner yet attracting

a guy like that. That's what they mean by overpaying. It's not always in money, it's in years. Two. What would you give a guy like Steven Stamkos number one, number two? If you're willing to give it to him? Why not? Why not? Patrick Kine? Those guys want multi year deals, and I don't blame him. Are you willing to commit a long term deal to a thirty four year old forward or a short term deal? What do you consider a short term deal two years, three years.

Guys in hockey can play a long time if they can stay healthy. And stam Cooast has had some injuries, what would be the max that you would give him? Meyer hotlines open for you eight sixty six, eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could TECHT Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. Bottom of the hour, we'll replay our interview from yesterday with Ben Raven eight thirty five. James Edwards from the Athletic joins us to talk Pistons and

NBA, on x'es and bros. Throughout the great state of Michigan on the Michigan Sports Newer. April showers brought May flowers and so much more to Soaring Eagle Casino and Resorts. Winnings are in bloom every Friday in May, every hour from three pm to eleven m. Two lucky guests, we'll have the chance to pick a flower from the bouquet of premium play. Your next win is only a pedal away. You could win up to two thousand dollars in

premium play here Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort. Your getaway reimagine visit Sooringeaglecasino dot com for complete rules and details. Little Anti Ghost to bring you back here At seven eighteen on this Thursday, bottom of the hour, venravenplive dot com, who joined us yesterday, will replay that interview from yesterday in case you missed it. Meanwhile, at eight thirty five, James Edwards of the Athletic will join us. We'll talk Pistons and NBA here on ex'es and bros.

We're open to any conversation you'd like on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three to the phone lines. Ben, who's waiting for us? Yeah? We got Kenan Burton, Hi, Ken, how are you today? Happy Thursday to you? Happy Thursday to you? Shep now, shep. When you were a basketball announcer for University of Michigan, was Dave Brandon The Athletic directors in it started with Bill Martin, and then it went to David Brandon, Yes, which one hired John Beeline Bill

Martin. Bill Martin did, Okay. The reason I'm calling is and I hope I'll try to talk as fast as I can so I can quicker than I can take your time my friend, my lifetime best friend passed away of cancer in two thousand and thirteen, and we were I was a Michigan season ticket holder and my friend was a Michigan fan. And I wrote Dave Brandon a long letter on email and asked we were having an outing form to raise money because he was a self business owner and he was hiring a hard time

making a living. And Dave was nice enough to send a hat signed by him he sent. I asked him if he could send the picture, and he sent the picture with his signature on, and we had a frame and a couple other things like a T shirt and stuff, and I of course sent them back and thanked them for everything well. And then I sent him also back after the outing was over was and thanked them again an email. And I could tell these were his emails because he wasn't been like me.

He had a hard time sleep in the middle night. They were like two thirty three thirty at night. And so when my friend passed away in twenty thirteen, two years later, I wrote again to Dave and thanked him for all he did and sent him a nice card thanking him and told him my friend had passed away. And he wrote me two or three more times on

email and told me he was a cancer survivor. And I knew that because he's about three or four years younger than me, and I remember him when he played foot Bowl because I could back in them days when I had more of a mind than I do now, I could remember every player on the team. And what I'm trying to say that he got such a bad rap, especially from the guys at WTKA, and I won't mention the names. Everybody knows who they are. And I wrote them with a letter to saying

what he did for my friend and myself as a friend. And they're trying to tell me that I didn't know the whole story, and I probably don't know the whole So all I know is the man was nice to me, and I would I would speak good about him the rest of my life. And I know you probably know him. I don't really know him personally. I just know him as somebody that wrote me back at two three thirty in the morning and made a way out of it being friendly to me. Yeah,

well forgive that from him. Yeah, Well that's Look, this is what happens anytime you come in contact with person. That's why I was just talking about this with somebody yesterday. They were talking about certain race car drivers. They were asking you about athletes and who athletes make an impression on you and how do you form those impressions. And we have had a pretty deep

conversation. We have to remember sometimes when we run into athletes or general managers or coaches or managers whomever, sometimes celebrities, we may be catching them at an off day. It's tough to be on all the time. You know, it's tough to be the person you want to be all the time because things happen in people's lives that we're just not always familiar with. Obviously, he's made an impression on you because more than once, so that tells you

something about the man, at least when it comes to your situation. I don't blame you. I'm not going to try and change your opinion, even if I had a different opinion about David Brandon to you, because first of all, it's not fair. Second of all, you have this impression, and it's a rightful impression because of what he would the time he took for you, and I would say this and thanks for the phone call. I'm sorry you lost your best friend. That's heartbreaking. I would say this to

anybody. I say this to my kids all the time too. Time is very valuable in anybody's life. You take that. This is why it's important for us. This is much smaller scale. I get it, it's just a talk show. But you take the time to call. That's taking time out of your day to listen to us and have the guts to call in and express your opinions. You deserve to be heard. I'm not going to

rush you off the phone. It's not fair, it's not right. Dave Brandon took the time to email you more than once, the time to actually heed to what you had requested for your friend. I would never forget that either, And to me, if I were in your shoes, I would always feel obligated and honored in that situation, because not everybody does that. Do you remember when you were a kid, Well, this is dating myself. When I was a kid, I used to write letters to certain players

because they were my favorite players and I wanted something from them. I didn't care what it was, whoever that player may have been. If they sent something back, all that does is endear you. More to the person who's making the request. It's not that hard, you know. I've been fortunate. There's a lot of people who have sent me letters and send it to Komerica Park always wrote him back. Have to really important. It's just the

right thing to do. Sometimes there's just the right thing to do. Sometimes I think we've lost that in our society. It's just a nice and the right thing to do. You can't I get guys like guys who are superstars, guys like Mike Trout for example, Guys like Show ayo time they get it all the time. It's almost impossible. You've got to have somebody to actually do that for you because you're trying to, you know, play a baseball game every single day. It's impossible to do that, it really is.

But a guy like David Brandon in your situation, yeah, I mean, that was the right thing to do, and kudos to him. Not everybody has the same experience, Not everybody knows him the same way. That doesn't make him a bad guy if it comes in a different form of a relationship. I can't say that I had that same experience, that same relationship with David Brandon. We knew each other obviously, but I enjoyed my time. There are certain certain things that happen with athletic directors that kind of stick

out with you, as you know, a representative of a university. So I'll just give you a quick thought. We were at the Big Ten Tournament and we're getting ready to do a broadcast. Usually, I mean Bill Martin would always come up, how you guys doing, always always say hello, right or manually did the same thing when he was when I was calling games at Michigan and he was in charge, David Brandon didn't do that. We're at the Big Ten Tournament and you're going, wait a minute, you're talking

to everybody butt your home broadcasting team, which was a little surprising. And Mark Hollis and Michigan State, who was actually at the tournament. He's the one who came over and said hello to us, Michigan State eighty, which was a little surprising to us. When we come back, Ben Raven of

m Life joined us yesterday to talk Lions at NFL. We'll replay that conversation for you in case you missed it, and then bottom of the eight o'clock hour, James Edwards from the Athletic joins us here on Exis and bros across the great state of Michigan. Stay with us Huge here for my good friend Drew and the crew at Impact Power Sports Now. They're located on fourteen Mile Road in Rockford, just north of Grand Rapids here on the west side of

the state. They are Michigan's newest Yamaha go to golf cart dealer Now. If you're looking for a golf cart for the neighborhood, the business, the golf club, maybe that second home or the lake, stop buying. See Drew and the crew. They can hook you up today. At Impact Power Sports. We also have e bikes, quads, side by side, yard toys for the big boys and the big girls. Anything you need when it comes to power they have it at Impact Power Sports on fourteen Mile Road in

Rockford. Also, if you want a shot at winning Lomas Brown's Lions golf cart, a custom build Lions golf cart, text impact to two one zero zero zero. That's impact to two one zero zero zero and you could win Lomas Browns Lions golf cart. This summer from Impact Power Sports and the Huge Show, we're teeing off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in need

while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discovery land for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Your tickets now admire LPGA Classics dot com. Get some facts and come back and seebe. Get some facts and come back and cev. Don't throw out salaries or other things. Get some facts and come back and Seebee.

You can't handle the true now told our players you need a bit more like a dog. We don't need a bunch of cats in here. Looking in the mirror, I look good. I got my extra bands on, I got my other shoes. Be a doll. We don't need no meals. We don't need no cats. We need more dogs. How you wanted to train? Are you not at ocay? We weren't good. There's no sense of asking me things about the game. I'm telling you we laid an egg, so I'm not gonna break it down for you. He sucks,

He sucked. He laid an egg. That's all I have to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not going to break it down for you. Nothing went well for us. It's on us. We have to figure it out. And we went eighth. Dad Platalauer of the show here on XIS and Bros. Throughout the Great State of Michigan. Matt Shepard, we'd have been our producer. You can call him on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three. You can always text the show

as well. Sports ready to twenty one thousand James Edwards from the Athletic joints us at the bottom of the hour if you missed it. Tiger is a four to one winner yesterday over Saint Louis. They win two out of the three games. Yes, most of us feel like they should have swept them, but let's be careful. There four straight series win for Detroit and there's seventeen wins entering this month of May. The eighteen wins overall second most in

franchise history. Only the eighty four eventual World Series champions were better at eighteen and two. Remember they won seventeen straight road games to start the year. That's unheard of. Last year, this team was ten and seventeen entering the month of May. They had a decent month of May and a good September. That's about all they had a year ago, But there's optimism there. Matt Verling, with a two run homer yesterday propelled Detroit to the four to

one win. They have today off. They are in New York for a weekend series against the Yankees, and then they go to Cleveland. Cleveland atop the division, Minnesota charging hard. The Twins won their tenth in a row yesterday. Byron Buxton was hurt or is hurt? I should say? And I think he's a really good example of a really talented player who just can't seem to stay healthy. I don't know what it is. I really don't. I mean, this is a guy who you talk about talent. He's

got a ton of it. He was recruited as a wide receiver to Georgia. I like him a lot. I've had the opportunity to talk to him a number of times, do interviews at his doll He's a really welcoming and a really easy dude to like. The problem is, you know, he just can't stay healthy, right knee injury a year ago, limited to eighty five games. When he's in the lineup, Minnesota's numbers are incredible compared to when he's not in the lineup. He's that much of a difference maker.

But it's interesting there's a national broadcaster who has a talk show host on a four letter network who came out and was just criticizing Mike Trout, why can't you stay healthy? He doesn't say that about, you know, Zion Williamson for some reason. He doesn't say that about Byron Buxton. Byron Bucksin is one of those guys who as a center fielder, just like Mike Trout, although Minnesota wanted him use him as more as a designated here a year ago.

Those are two guys. They put a lot of force on their body with how they play the game. It's always a really tough discussion when you're talking with players or coaches or managers on how to reel a guy in, Like I think it was Jim Leland who wants it. You don't want to take the mustang out of the horse. If he's if that's who he is, let him be that player. When a guy goes diving for a ball, in left center field and lays out to make the catch in early May.

People will say, Oh, you can't make that play, and you can't. You can't do that in May. You do that later in the season. What do you mean do it later in the season. Those games later in the season might not be worth it. Damn if you're not making those plays innerly May. I don't want a player to be different and play timid. Don't go crashing into the wall. You don't want him to make the catch. He doesn't do that. You know what you're going to say.

You got to go all out to make that catch. How do you let that fall? How do you let that hit off the wall? Why don't you try? Why don't you give your a effort. I'm not making I'm not trying to change players. Man. The reason you got to where you are is because of who you are and how you play. I want that in them. It comes with the price sometimes, and for Buxton and Minnesota it's absolutely come with the price. It's the hell of a player.

You just wish he could stay healthy. And that's where not load management in baseball. You're playing, but you can do other things instead of being out there in center field every day you can be the DH. So maybe early in the season this is simplicity, I know, but early in the season maybe you're playing him defensively once in a series and he's DH and two other times. A lot of guys don't like that. Buxton hated it. He wanted to be out there every day because you feel like you can be a

difference maker even if you're not hitting the ball. But Minnesota charging hard. They've won ten in a row. NHL Stars beat Vegas three to two. That's the first time the home team has won a game in the series. They leave that series three too. Is a really good game. Last night watch that and then I watch a little bit of the start of the Oilers Kings game. Edmonton wins at four to three. They eliminate LA for a third straight yearly On Recitle had two goals. Connor McDavid had a couple of

assists eleven assists in the series overall. They move on to the second round. Will play either Nashville or Vancouver, who play tonight. Boston will play in Toronto tonight. Celtics led wire to wire they eliminate the Heat one eighteen eighty four. Jaylen Brown Derek White each with twenty five. Boston's going to play either Cleveland or Orlando. They played an and Dallas went into LA and handed the Clippers their worst playoff loss in history, one twenty three to ninety

three. Luka Doncicz had thirty five points ten boards. Twenty of his points came in the second half. The MAVs lead that series three games to two. Speaking to the NBA, we will talk with James Edwards of the Athletic at eight thirty five, so hope you can stick around and join us for that. Yesterday and we just played the interview with Ben Raven from m Live. We were talking about the Lions obviously in the draft and so on and

so forth. This is what the NFL does so very well, right, I mean, it's it's amazing how they can go draft and then you got or you have the combine before the draft, and you get the draft, then you got OTA's and then you got you know, rookie camps, and then you've got training camp, and then you've got the season, and after the season and after the Super Bowl. Nobody cares about the Pro Bowl,

but then you've got the combine. I mean, they just keep you engaged all the time, and writers are instantly giving you something to think about as well, like Jeff kerrvcbssports dot com ranking the NFC teams following the draft. You and I both know this is just filling up space. And I'm hypocritical right now because I'm sitting here talking about it, but it does peak your interest. I'm just wondering what they think of my team filling the blank.

San Francisco reached the Super Bowl a year ago? Would they be the favorite? According to him, they are, but the Lions are right behind him. Here's what he writes about the Lions. The draft is where the Lions shine. They hit a home run by selecting Terry on Arnold in the first round. Should be a Week one starter and a playmaker in this Rake Straw fell to number sixty one in the second round, giving the Lions needed depth

at the corner position as well. Cione Vaki, who can play running backers safety which again that to me is irrelevant, appears to be playing the former for Detroit, giving the lines more depth behind David Montgomery and Jamier Gibbs. Detroit Eddi Kevin Zeitler. Then he goes into you know, for Jonah Jackson, a'man Ross Saint Brown with a massive extension Jamie Wims. They don't mention anything about Penney Seool. He just basically tells you why he thinks they're the

number two seed. And in the words of Bob Seeger Blank, I've known that for a long time. He's got the Eagles three, Packers, four, Cowboys five, Rams six, Tampa seven, and Chicago eight. Interesting that three of the top teams in the conference, three of the top sixteen teams in the conference are in the NFC North A Bottom of the hour, James Edwards joins us from the Athletic will talk NBA and more, your phone

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to play. It's so fun to watch a young player come up from the minor leagues and make an impact, especially one who assigned seven years ago, was once a top prospect, lost the prospect status, then regained it a couple of years ago. Wincil Perez is that player, and he's doing something every game to impact this Tiger's team. He's arguably the Tiger's best base runner and infielder by trade. He's learning to play the outfield and he's getting better

in better. He's already made some fine running catchers to the gaps, and oh yeah, he can hit a little. Parah has only got the call to Detroit because of some injuries, but it sure looks like he's here to stay. Imagine this the day filled with indulgence, bursting with excitement, impacts with extraordinary moments that build memories to last a lifetime. To day, there's

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Welcome back XS and Bros. Monday through Friday six till five. We're all throughout the Great State of Vision in Traverse City from Kutowski and Charlie Boy Run in Midland, Sagota, on Bay City at Graving at Gaylord, run in Cadillac and Flint and Grand Rapids. Of course, we're glad you've taken time out of your Thursday to spend some time with us here on Axes and Bros. The Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three.

A reminder, if you want to call it, it doesn't require what we're talking about. If there's something you have had on your mind, something you noticed last night that we may have missed, something that took place during the day, a story you want to share. That's what we're here for The Meyer Hotline eight six eight three eight forty forty three. Or you could text

us Tech Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. Ben. I know we had a caller earlier couldn't hold through the breaks, right, what's on their mind? Are people complaining about Trout because of him getting hurt or because of his contract and that's Breton Grand Rapids. That's a great question. That is a great question. The bigger contract you have the more is expected, So are

you getting your money's worth? Excellent question, don't know the answer to it really is up to you to decide on whether or not that place a factor. I think you'd be lying to yourself. And I like Mike Trout a lot. I think he's an incredible player. I think, look, the numbers speak for itself. Sometimes I don't even get involved in the All Star

stuff because it's oftentimes a popularity contract contest. But if you're a three time MVP, you're a nine time Silver Slugger, you're a two time All Star Game MVP, you're a Rookie of the Year, you're the Player of the year, you lead the league in all those categories, and so on and so forth, you're a hell of a player. I bet you. Bret will say that too. He brings up a very valid point, though. When you're making thirty seven million dollars, I think is what he's making a

year, right, and he's going to make that until twenty thirty. Yeah, I know I feel the same way. I'm shaking my head too, right along there with you. He's thirty two right now, They've got him until he's thirty eight. It's Miguel Cabrera type situation, and remember it can go, it can go quickly. You see what happens with jose A Brahu.

Did you see what they did? They pulled with him? What they what Toronto did with Alec Manoa. Manoa started the All Star Game a couple of years ago, and then what happened he was he was sent down, and you're sent down because you're struggling to the Complex League. That's what happens to Josea brew They optioned him to the Florida Complex League after an April that saw him hit below one hundred and he's thirty seven. I'm not saying that's

going quickly. I'm just telling you things. Those things happen, and when it comes and it comes quickly, you're just like, oh man, that's not how I want to see him end his career. Jose bra you third all time in Chicago White Sox history in home runs. This is a guy who is He's an absolute hell of a player. He's been a hell of a pro. But it's gone, at least for now it is. I don't think that's Mike Trout yet, but I love that perspective from Brent Yeah,

thirty seven million bucks. You expect him to be out there more often than he is. I think that's fair. Got another caller, Yeah, we got a Paul and gr All right, Hey Paul, how are you today? Hey? What's up? Chap? How are you? Good man? Hope your Thursday goes well? What's up? Oh? You you as well. First of all, I want to give a big shout out to Friday the Pizza Man three one three on Twitter. I went to his pizza joint yesterday and man, it is the best pizza I've had my ever had

in my life. And I've been to Italy. So I just want to give a big shot out of that guy. He I know he's a fan of the show. I know he calls in all the time. I want him to know I appreciate it. That's really cool, that's really cool of you. He's got great I mean, I think his food is outstanding. I just got back from Italy in the fall. I just got back from Italy in the fall. The food there in Italy best food I've ever had in my life. But I love going to Freddy's place because he's got great

stuff. You're right, good for you, Thank you for that go ahead. I still think his pizza is better than the stuff in Italy, But I digress. So, yeah, I just want to talk a little Tigers man. I think they they look a lot better than what I expected this year. You know, I figured we'd be pretty good. I figured.

I think I still think we're gonna win the Central. But I mean, it's so exciting and it's so nice to finally just see it come together, you know, And yeah, well why they why are they better than you thought? What I mean, I'm interested to know what you're what you thought they were going to be number one and number two? Where are they better? In what regard? Uh? The bullpen is is so good, and you know, Riley Green up to this point is doing much better than I

actually thought he would. I mean, dude, he's already got seven home runs. And you know, we're seeing guys like once Gio Orchella comes back. He was a nice addition by Scott Harris. I really love Mark Canna, and not only like you know he has He's just a professional hitter. You know. He every single at bat from Mark Canna seems like a professional at bat. And it seems like the younger guys are learning from that.

Karen Scoogle, I mean, man, he is good. He's I figured he would be in the running for the cy Young this year, but man, I didn't know he was going to be this good, Like he is best in the MLD good right now. And you know, we got we just got a dominant Moulten and I figured we'd be around five hundred you know the rest, you know, for April and May. But you know, five games over five hundred is awesome. So, you know, I think

they're I don't think they're overperforming. I think they're They're right where they should be. Yeah, you think this is who they are, This is who they are right now. Interesting. Okay, that's great, love it, go ahead? Oh yeah, sorry man, Sorry, so yeah, I know right now. I still think they're going to win the Central this year. Yeah, I agree with you, you know, and thank thanks for the phone call. Sorry, we're almost up against it and James Edward's going

to join us. I'm with you on that. I said when I started doing this show, I said before the season, they should win the Central period and that was my expectation. So I'm sure not surprised at the back end of the Bullpen or the bullpen in general. It was really good a year ago. I am still worried about the offense. They still don't score enough runs for me anyway, but it'll come as the weather heats up.

I'm sure that will come all right, because I think Spencer Torkolsen is not going to be this kind of hitter right now at June nineteen or whatever. I think Cole Keith will get adjusted a little bit, so I'm with you on that. I think they could use another stick. Quite honestly, I still don't think they have the home run power that I would like to see, and I am slightly concerned about the defense. But I do like their

pitching an awful lot, and I love their bullpen. Despite what happened with Shelby Miller the other day, I think they're the best team in the division, and I think Tigers fans should be have that expectation. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Ben. We got a text or two, I believe, before we get to James Edwards from the Athletic Yeah, Ken Griffy Junior is a better center fielder than Mike Trout in my opinion,

it's not even close. Get rid of both players' injuries and if they never missed a game, it still wouldn't be close. And Trammell got robbed of the MVP in nineteen eighty seven, right George Bell was the MVP that year. That was super frustrating. Never said that Mike Trout was better than Ken Griffy Junior ever, Nope, Ken Griffy Junior is one of the greatest players of all time. Smooth, fluid, phenomenal player. Ten gold gloves. You know you have as many gold gloves as al Kline. You know you're

saying something there because that's incredible. Yeah, I didn't think so. I was just using that as a perspective, So I hope that wasn't misleading in

any way. I was just bringing up certain names that Mike Trout was on track for with war wins above replacement, because that is a that is a I really believe that is it's a statistic that more and more people are especially voters for the Hall of Fame. Look at now they if they did, they would they would pay more closer attention to to Lew Whittaker because he should be there. But Ken Griffy Jr. Like I said, is to me one of the greatest players of all time. His war wins above replacement is

right around eighty four. All right, it's at eighty three point eight. Mike Trout's got a higher WAR. That doesn't make him a better player. I'm giving you a perspective there, so when you say it's not even close. Mike Trout led the league in war for five consecutive years. He led the league in offensive war five consecutive years, and seven out of eight he had some of the more dominating seasons in history. Quick time out and when

we come back. James Edwards from the Athletic joins us on Exus and Bros. After this, we're teaming off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed

our neighbors. Get your tickets now Admire LPGA Classics dot com thirty five after the hour he's as good as it gets and what he does, James Edwards writes for The Athletic you can fall him on x at J L. Edwards the third he writes about the Pistons, about the NBA and there's a lot to write about going on right now after some finals in the NBA Playoffs that we'll get to coming up at. James Edwards joins us here on Xes and

Bros. Across the great state of Michigan, throughout the state of Michigan and the various markets Flint and Cadillac, Grand Rapids, Grayling, Gaylord, Midland, Saginaw, Bay City, Pataski, Charlevoy, Traverse City. That's where we are and that's where we can bring you this coverage of a little NBA

talk with James Edwards. James, good to have you, buddy. Glad that we're back talking again about the Pistons a little bit and as we look forward to the NBA Draft, it seems like we say this an awful lot. Tell me where you think this franchise is in. If you want to call it a rebuild, go ahead, But where are they in the process of trying to get better in your mind? Good to hear from you too, Matt, appreciate you having me on. I think they're in a vulnerable

state. It's a situation that I don't think anybody could have imagined. Whether that's the fans, whether that's the players, the front office, the ownership, the coaches. It is a very vulnerable state, and usually out of vulnerability, big decisions are made. And I think this team has to do something of great significance. They cannot afford to allow all of these young guys to continue to develop and hope that they get better. They tried that last

year. It very clearly presented the worst season in franchise history. So I think they're at a very vulnerable and almost franchise altar in summer, and I think they're going to have to shake things up across the board in order to try to one try to build back optimism within the fan base, and two to get back on track in this rebuild and show that there is progress and that these things aren't always linear. What's an example of shaking things up?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think they can afford kind of as I mentioned, like, I don't think they can afford to have as many young guys as they have you look across the NBA, and you look across you look at these teams that are contending and in the second round or still fighting in the first round. The majority of them have made moves that made a trade or two that gave up young players to get better players. You look at Minnesota with Rudy Gobert, you look at somebody like Denver gave up picks

and Gary Harris to get Aaron Gordon a few years ago. You look at Boston and the moves that they've made throughout the years to try to build this roster. Obviously, all that stuff starts with drafting well and getting a guy or two that you can build around. I think credit to Detroit, like I think Kate is that guy, and the hard part is done. You've got a guy that got better in the midst of the worst season ever while coming off season ending injury with a metal rodney his leg, and he walked

away. I think if you didn't believe that Kate was the guy, I don't see how you don't walk away from that. Now, despite the records, I don't think a lot of it was his fault. So they got the hard part done. They got the guy to build around and how it's time to go build around him. I just think that they should highly consider moving on from one or two young guys. Joins us here on Exis and Bros. You can fall him on Twitter on x JL Edwards the third.

I'm with you on that, especially with the young guys you've mentioned teams getting better. Og On and ob going to New York is a really good example of that too. I continue to be amazed by a guy like Jalen Brunson. I could talk to you all day about this, but I mean a second round pick and how good he has been. When you say shake things up, I'm with you on that. Does that mean I don't want to read too much into it? So I want clarification. Would you not take

advantage of the top five pick your due in the upcoming draft? What if you got number one overall? Or would you trade that to try and get a stabilized veteran force that might help some of these young guys along. I'd trade it. I would trade it if it's one, two, three, four or five, whatever it ends up being, I would trade it.

You talk to people around the league, this draft is not a desirable draft at the top Obviously, every year there are Hall of Famers or as soon to be Hall of Famers selected drafts, So there will be one in this draft. Don't get me wrong, like that's just the way things shake out. But talk to everybody across the league, and they don't know where that player will be picked. That player could likely be picked at seventeen like he's

picked at one. I've been told that there are executives in the league that think picks one through three could have some value in a trade. But I think a lot of teams would probably be afraid to have the number one or two pick in this draft because there is a little bit more margin for error in comparison to previous years in previous prospects. So I think there is value.

I think, and I had a piece of scuz last week or earlier this week where talk to my colleague Sambasini, who is massive in draft coverage and one of the best, And a lot of teams also see the number one pick this year as like four or five, six in a normal draft. So I caution fans that if the Pistans gets the number one pick, don't think that this is like Lebron or Victor Winbinyamo or even Kid. This

is more like I would say, like Anthony Bennett type stuff. So I would one hundred percent tury to pick, and I'd even package it with a young player or two to try to get because I don't know how much value. I don't know if those a couple of young guys like an Ivy or during if they're peak value right now after this season. But if you have the number one pick to that, it can kind of enhance that and you could probably get a good piece or two or three from a team that's maybe

looking to get a little bit younger. One hundred percent agree, one hundred percent with you. I'm so glad you said that. But a couple of other things you bring up Kid Cunningham, and for good reason. I think he's a solid ball player, I really do. What kind of leader do you think he is? Because I think sometimes we get that thrown around an awful lot. It can be challenging for a young guy to lead a team, especially through navigating these difficult waters like he's had to you, what kind

of leader? How would you describe him as such? Yeah, I think is a legitimate leader. I know it's probably hard for people to see that just giving their record. But you know, I hear stories about him talking to halftime, stepping up and speaking. I hear stories about him at practice. I hear stories about him sitting with guys on the plane to talk.

This guy is somebody that all of his teammates respect. I think one thing that's important to remember is Cade was that guy coming up through the high school and college ranks. So all of his teammates who are similar in age are very very familiar with him, and they all saw him as the guy as such, and there's a big respect for what he did and who he is as a player, and even more so now as their teammates, for him

as a person. I think people who haven't been around Kate, I think the best way to describe him is like you could just tell he was raised right, like his parents did a great job. He's very polite, he's very just aware, he's not there's no diva to him. I think he's very real, and I think it comes across with his teammates. I think

they genuinely appreciate that. I also think that you hear stories like for somebody like Simone Fantechio as soon as he got to Detroit there in the middle of a West coast trip and we're out there and he tells the story of Kate comes up to him. They've never met, and he's like, where do you like the ball? Where can I get you the ball? And Simona, He's like, nobody's ever asked me that before. And you hear anytime Simone talks about him, it's as glilling as it gets. So I think

he just handles people the right way. I think he speaks up in an aggressive way when he needs to, but I think he also just leads by example, and I think he has great respect in that locker room, and I think he also has great respect from some of the star players in this league. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I think those are important anecdotes. I know you've written it before, but it's still worth mentioning because not everybody knows that. It's a great example of what kind of person, not

just a player, but kind of person. Kid Cunningham truly is you mentioned the draft now. I was talking about this yesterday because Tyres Maxie went off for forty six the other day. You saw it the most points by as tied for the most points by an opposing player in a playoff game at Madison Square Garden. Ever with Michael Jordan. That says something. He was in

the same damn draft as Killian Hayes. Everyone talks about Tyreus Haliburton and I loved Haliburton coming out of Iowa State, but MAXI was taking twenty first overall. Another miss by stan Van Gundy and the Pistons. So many foreign players, James, that one that are mentioned, right, what's that? That one was actually Troy? That was Troy's first draft? Well was that Troy's I'm sorry, you're right, Troy, but there are so many foreign players

who are viewed near the top and not as many college players. And this is tough for you because you see all these guys and you write it, but so many fans and usual members of the media. We don't watch guys play in France. Okay, we don't know who a lot of these guys are. Why do you think I think the league shift might be the run word, but has seen so much of an influx on young players from foreign lands rather than college players. Are the college players just not as good as

we think when we watch them in the NC Douale League tournament. What's your belief on that. It's a good question. I think that some of it is intrigued, right, Like it's hard to equate their leagues to the NBA, while I think historically the natural comparison for the NBA has always been the

college game, so there's some of that. I also think that the Spurs and what they did early in the late nineties and early two thousands, with the likes of Tony Parker and Montagnobili, started to have teams look more European. And I mean, if we're being honest, the best players in the league are not from here right now, Jokic, Luca Jannis. I mean, you make a top seven list, those three are in there, embeed,

so there's four. I think there is a it's just been an untapped historically, hasn't been as tapped dating back like twenty ish years as it is now. And I think they're just trying to find diamonds in the rough and they're trying to the game has just expanded so much globally. And I also think, like I said, there's intrigue, like we're so able to watch available college games that I think even scouts are like Okay, well, I've

watched this guy since he was twelve years old. Let me let me see what I can see over here in these in these European state air countries, and see how I feel that this equates to our game. So I think there's a little bit of it. I also think, like I said, there's been a lot of talented players coming from overseas and it. But I think primarily it's the intrigue in the ability to not necessarily know how it will

translate. But you see these sets, and I also do think European players are more fundamentally sound in most cases, but that is that is something that plays into it, for sure. That's interesting. You talk You've been in every NBA arena, every NBA city, talk to just about every NBA player,

I would guess. Do you think there is a growing concern from American based basketball players and who want to play in the NBA and realize that they're you know, there's only sixty four times sugar sixty four spots to get drafted. Do you think in general they're worried about the security that America has in that regard with more Americans playing in the NBA. I've never heard that personally.

I've never posed the question either, But I mean, you hear a lot of players talk about players like you don't find too many that don't love Jokic, that don't love Giannis and Lucas. So I mean maybe guys that are fringe roster guys maybe have concerns. They probably also have concerns about the the age limit in the NBA. But yeah, I haven't heard that directly. Yeah, fair enough. James Edwards joined to share on Exus and Bros

fall him on Twitter. J L. Edwards third team president. Why is it needed and what type of criteria does that person need to possess in order to get the job. I think there's a couple of things. I think one that they just need a funneling of leadership. It needs to be one person who is everybody knows who they report to, everybody who knows that they are directed to, everybody, somebody that can make the right play or the right call, the right shot. It's all about having one voice be the

final say. It's a position that the Pistons ever had since twenty eighteen. It is a common position an NBA franchise. I know a lot of people like to say that there's too many cooks in the kitchen. I understand that that critique and what it is. But if you look around most NBA front offices, there's owner, there's a team president, there's maybe a vice president, there's a GM, and then a coach. So there's usually three or

four solid voices in an organization. It's just a matter of making sure that everybody knows who's getting the final say, and who everybody is, who everybody's direct what's the sort of looking for direct talk, who they're directly talking to, and who they're directly reporting to. I think that's of great importance. And then also I think, yeah, there just needs to be a little bit more structure. I think there needs to just be a different voice and

team building. I think those are the big things that they're looking for, and I think there's some big names that they're going to go after. Some of those guys are in the postseason now, which is why if there are people who think that this hobo search has gone on too long, it's really only been two weeks. But there are protocols in place where if they want to go get one of the best guys, and one of those best guys are they have a team still playing. They got to kind of wait out

that process. So it's certainly it's a moving target. Currently, you're not just a basketball fan and a basketball writer who covers the Piston that you're also a Detroit sports fan. You see the symmetry that the Lions have built that has made them so successful under Brad Holmes. Compare that symmetry to the symmetry in the Pistons front office, if there is one, and how far they

need to go? Can you? I think that there, I think it seems like Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes are more on the same page then I'd say even a lot of president and head coaches, not even in the city, but in the league. I think that's a big thing. I think that I think that's the big thing. I think that those two really seem to value the same type of players, the same type of the character.

It's the one thing that sticks out to me about them. And while I think in the NBA you can have different visions of how NBA you can play different styles in basketball football you can, but at the end of the day, it's still quarterback, drop back, handoff, Like it's still this it's pretty universal, but basketball there can be different styles. Whether or not a style is outdated or not, that's another conversation. But I do think that in terms of how a team should be built, there seems to be a

little bit of a disconnect there with the Pistons and maybe Steven Alliance. All Right, lastly, before I let you go, and I appreciate the time Monty Williams, how can he be better in year two along the Pistons bench and how much, say, will he have in personnel with this team moving forward? Yeah, if he's back next year, I think one way you can get better is is I think shortening the rotation, depending on what they do this offseason, if they're able to add two or three legitimate NBA players,

maybe keep that tation down to nine to eight. I think that's one way. I think maybe being a little bit more emphasizing the development. Obviously, he comes from a program where he was coaching veteran players and and and maybe had a different type of emphasis. I think obviously this team is young and has some young players, and that needs to be the focal point.

But yeah, I think just certainly like how many players he plays, trying to understand who he has as a as a rotation and if he needs has to whittle it down to try to give this team the best chance to win. I think that should be the case. But yeah, if he is back next year, he'll have some things to clean up himself. All right, you said that twice. Then if he's back next year, why wouldn't he be Why wouldn't he be? Yeah, they just won fourteen games.

There's a change. Definitely a chance. I think I think it'll be interesting to see. I don't I don't think it's as likely as people also, that's people think very interesting. We'll be watching and we'll be reading The Athletic with James Edwards. Thank you, my friend, great stuff as always, appreciate your time very much and your friendship. Take care of Thank you. You got all right, James Edwards. Follow him on Twitter. Jay Edwards,

the third rights for the Athletic. Fantastic stuff. If you missed any of that, We'll play tomorrow six thirty five. Really enjoyed that conversation. Could have gone on a lot longer because there's a lot of different things that we wanted to hit on. But maybe we'll do it at another time with James and Talking Pistons and the NBA thanks to Ben our producer, are thanks to you for your text your phone calls and James Edwards for his time.

Hope you can join us again tomorrow here on exes and bros. Have a great rest of your Thursday. Everybody enjoy We're teaming off our tent here at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family funjin Us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discovery Land for kids, and of course elite women golfers from around the world competing to

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