Hey everybody, it’s that time again. That’s right, Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips. Anything and everything in sports, and sometimes a little bit more. Art’s with us, Laura’s with us, Mark’s with us, Matthew, our sports historian, with us, and there’s so much to talk about in sports. But being a USC former kicker, Art Sorce, on set, folks, we’re taping this Friday afternoon. USC is two and a half at home at a 7:30 nighttime start against Michigan, which means it’s 10:30 where you are, Art Sorce, which means you won’t probably see the end of the game.

P.S. I’m in Laguna Niguel right now, Fred, so nice to be on the West Coast, going to my 50th reunion.

USC’s two and a half. Hang on, Art, who do you like?

I gotta go with Michigan in this game just because of their physicality.

Oh, my,

I think USC’s gonna probably keep it close, but I just think Michigan has too many big studs up front. And, you know, USC’s still a year away from playing solid Big Ten football. They have a recruiting class, from what I was told very recently, that’s second to none coming in next year now if Lincoln Riley can get through this season. But yeah, I would have to take Michigan in that game. I’ll tell you there’s a bunch of good games this weekend, you got Alabama and Mizzou, that’s a super game, Florida and Texas A&M, BYU at Arizona on ESPN late. I mean, there’s a big weekend in college football, and I think you’re going to start to see a little settling. I’m also excited to see Ohio State have to go to Illinois and play for the industry.

Did you hit the Michigan State lottery?

Illinois had trouble. I think Ohio State’s better.

Michigan State; UCLA played the game of the season to show you they have the talent. What they did to Penn State was, absolutely, I mean, Jerry Neuheisel made himself a potential candidate to be a head coach in the very near future, with his play calling, Fred. Do you agree?

Let me tell you about Jerry Neuheisel. This was really interesting, too. When Rick Neuheisel got fired, Jerry, of course, the former UCLA quarterback, also was an assistant coach; they kept him, see, they trusted him, that he wouldn’t screw around with the next coach. He’s proven himself over the next 13-14 years now that he’s a straight-on type guy.

But he was the tight-end coach. You knew when a bunch of Bozos call and plays, this kid comes in and did incredible. And Iamaleava played great as well. But I got to tell you something. We’re hearing all kinds of rumors in Pennsylvania right now. Matt Rhule, Curt Cignetti from Indiana, you know Rhule played for Joe Paterno, who’s now the coach of Nebraska. There’s a lot of things happening. James Franklin is going to have to really, really toe the line here in the next five or six weeks because his job is on the line.

You mentioned,

All he’s done is choke, I mean, throughout his whole thing. When it comes to the big ones, he’s always choked it out. He’s never,

Four and 22 against top 10 teams in a decade.

Yeah, one CFP appearance, and that was last year when they expanded it to 12 and all that. It’s pathetic. I think it’s time. The fact that he lost to UCLA, that’s just insane. I mean, I’ve got a friend who works for UPS, and he’s long since hated Franklin’s guts and all that.

Wow,

Yeah,

Tell us,

They were cheering after the game, Fire Franklin.

Folks, you can email us at [email protected], [email protected]. You know, it’s interesting, there’s a little article in this week’s USA Today Sports Weekly that UCLA’s quarterback might trade himself to Texas. Arch Manning not playing well, and I don’t think they’re being funny. The article said there’s enough money in Texas to buy Imo out, and he ends up as a Texas quarterback if Arch Manning wants to leave.

Yeah, well, you know, hey,

All right, Laura, any comments about college football 2025? Because I’ve said this before on the show since this NIL started, transfer portal started, I do not watch, do not read as much as I used to. Laura, are you still a big college football fan, college basketball fan versus what you were before?

Yeah, it really hasn’t changed, I don’t think, the fan experience so much. I wonder about the students. You know, I mean, like the cavern at the Rose Bowl, because there’s no UCLA fans there. I mean,

Yeah, 30,000.

There’s a million things to do in Southern California, though. That’s kind of always been the problem. You got the beach, you got, you know, all kinds of things you can do. I got to ask you guys a question, and everybody can get in on this. The Cleveland Browns are paying eight quarterbacks right now, all right? What do you think, the total money that they’re paying for eight quarterbacks? Now, two of them are with other teams. I’ll go through the list: Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Dillon Gabriel, Joe Flacco, Shedeur Sanders, Bailey Zappe, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Kenny Pickett.

75, 70, 75?

Really? You’ve got 10 guys on the payroll,

$75 million. What are they paying for?

We should do a show just on all the worst teams in all four sports.

What was that?

I said, we should do a show just on all the worst teams in the four major sports, Cleveland would make the top five.

Can we get the project in there, too, in Philly?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

The Colorado Rockies. Remember the Colorado Rockies.

Yeah,

We’ll never forget the Colorado Rockies.

KOA Rocky Hockey.

It’s more fun to talk about the winners, though.

That’s what they always do.

All right, on Saturday, Arch Manning gets another shot, this time against Oklahoma. Laura, do you think he’s going to play well, or do you think he’s going to play as badly as he played last week?

I don’t know. I mean, he’s got the talent, but he doesn’t seem to be able to put it together in the game. I think, I mean, it might be a confidence issue, or the fact that the expectations were so,

You know, a lot of people have put a lot of expectations on him,

Yeah, it’s gotta be the expectations are so crushing.

Yeah, I mean,

Matthew, the Red River rivalry. One of the things that impresses me, and I’ve been looking at this, is Steve Sarkisian, that this dude is some great coach. If you look at his overall record, he loses three or four games every year. And the pattern is continuing at the University of Texas.

Yeah, I’m going with Oklahoma and the Red River War,

I agree.

So I got to wonder what’s going on with that offensive line at Texas.

Yeah, I’m going with Oklahoma and the Red River War.

I agree.

Because they’re like the stealth team, they’re the stealth team in this race here. I’m keeping my eyes on the Sooners.

Hey, Nebraska is not a bad team either. Nebraska has been coming up like gangbusters.

And that’s why Matt Rhule is being viewed a lot as this. He’s done it with other schools, too. He did it with Baylor.

Back in the day, it was Tom Osborne, Jarvis Redwine.

I think it’d be great for college football to see Nebraska get back into the blue bloods of the game.

Let’s take a quick break, and we’ll come back,

But I think they made a mistake going to the Big Ten. Nebraska should never have gone to the Big Ten. That’s a big mistake. They should have stayed in,

Who?

Nebraska, going to Big Ten, that was a mistake, they should have stayed in Big 12.

Mark. Do you disagree with that?

Yeah, I liked them in this conference. They’re getting stronger, you know? The only disappointing thing that I’ve already seen in this conference is there was only 30,000 at the Rose Bowl to see Penn State and UCLA.

And many of them were Penn State fans. All right, we’re going to take a break and come back with more on Fred and the Fantastics.

How’s your sciatica, Fred?

Horrible. Anyways, my back, folks, my back, Art, that’s how my back is. And remember, I broke my hip,

You and LeBron James now.

What?

He has a sciatica problem,

Right.

Who?

LeBron James.

Oh yeah. He’s not playing,

And his son had a heart thing, a heart thing too, his son, Bronny.

All right, so let’s, how many more years do I have to suffer through, LeBron trying to guard somebody? Laura, what do you think?

You know, I’m a LeBron James fan, so I think you guys, especially you, Fred, I think you’re too hard on LeBron. He is by far in the top five players ever to play the game, and last year, I think he averaged 27 points. And I mean, so, yeah, you know, I’m a LeBron James fan. I’ve been a LeBron James fan since I first saw him when he was in high school. And we’ve sort of watched him grow up. And sometimes he stumbles, but you know what? He’s been a great asset,

He’d be the first to tell you he is in the all-time top five in the NBA. That’s my problem.

He’s won in every city he’s been in.

I don’t, I don’t think he’s in the top five, and I don’t, I don’t think we’re talking, I’m talking now. I’m talking now,

Larry Bird above LeBron.

Fred, you wouldn’t take him over Elgin Baylor?

Not a chance. I’m talking,

I put Bird above Lebron,

Who?

Bird above LeBron. Bird.

My thing would be Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, certainly in the top five, and Michael Jordan.

I thought you were going to tell me Shawn Bradley.

Where would you put Wilt in there? Would Wilt get in your top five?

Wilt?

In my top five? Yeah, top three.

I’d put Russell ahead of him because Russell was a bigger winner, but,

More championships.

But you guys can do what you like.

Magic. I think Magic was the best ever.

Who?

Magic.

The guy who always gets overlooked is Kobe Bryant in my book. For some reason,

Magic came to the NBA in 1979.

I’m also a big Kobe Bryant fan, so he’d be in my top five.

I really miss Kobe. I love the way he played basketball,

Magic and Bird paved the way, because if Magic and Bird didn’t come in, the league would have been dead.

How about Oscar Robertson and Louis, Lou Alcindor?

Yeah, but Artie, at 11:30, you got to see the NBA Championships on Channel 2. The league was dead then.

But I’d put Wilt above Jabbar, I still,

No, Jabbar had the skyhook. Nobody’s mastered that.

That’s what makes it exciting.

Let me throw something out there, because I’ve been scratching my head going back and forth with these Dodger guys. Um, is there some kind of conspiracy theory? Because every time I turn on the TV, they keep saying the Dodgers are trying to repeat and be the first team in 25 years. It just seems like, I mean, I had Philly and Toronto in this thing. Toronto’s going to get there, but I don’t want, I don’t think they want to see a Milwaukee-Toronto.

I don’t know the way the umpire was calling strikes.

Oh, come on, and Sanchez got ripped off.

Did you watch the Padres? Did you watch the last inning of the Padres game?

Yeah, yeah.

They got ripped off. I’m just telling ya, that umpire was off going to dinner somewhere.

Yeah, they fined two Padres, they fined some guys, you know, for complaining.

Let’s talk a little baseball here. We have a lot of listeners in New York, based on the emails. What about the future of Aaron Boone, as far as,

See ya, Junior.

Oh, I like Boone, I like Aaron.

You think he’s going to stay around?

I think he’s done a great job. I mean, look at his record, I mean, he’s won some division titles there.

He couldn’t have won as many games as he did if he didn’t get into the dugout. Come on,

He only won one pennant. He was a heartbreak manager until last year, when he finally won his first pennant. But even then, you know, they didn’t execute against the Dodgers. Man, so no, I think he’s got to. Hey, Bruce Boshy’s available,

There you go.

That’s a real man.

If I were Cashman, I would float, I would send something out to Boshy: would you be willing to listen? I would.

Let you in on a secret. I don’t know if Cashman is on really firm ground either.

Didn’t he just sign a three-year contract, though?

Who/ Cashman did?

I thought he did.

Oh, what does that matter? Money nowadays, you just pay it off and roll to the next guy. Use the Cleveland Browns model.

That’s what I was just going to say about the Cleveland Browns.

Let me ask you guys a question. Cody Bellinger.

Yeah. Free agent.

Love him.

Free agent. Does he re-sign with the Yankees, or does he go elsewhere? Laura, what do you think?

I like Cody.

Yeah, I like him too. I was sorry to see him leave the Dodgers,

One of the best defensive outfielders.

I don’t know, I think they should re-sign him. He’s played great for them, whether they will or not, who knows?

In that outfield. I’ve got to tell you, a lot of people don’t like the center fielder Grisham, but he had a career year free agent.

Slight adjustment in his stance in his hands. It made a big difference. I look at that ball club, what that ball club needs is a little discipline, and they need a healthy Garrett Cole to come back. Because Rodon and Freed, that’s all they really had. Schindler, I like him too, but he’s still young. I think there’s a base there, there’s something there, they always farm, they have a great farm system, but there’s something missing. Sixteen consecutive years without winning a World Series. You have to put the blame somewhere, all right?

So the manager emphasizes the fundamentals, makes sure the players know how to field, and that they execute the plays,

You want to talk fundamentals? That play that the Dodger third baseman made, Muncy, while Mookie was racing the guy to third base.

Mookie called that play.

That was one of the best plays I’ve ever seen, fundamentally. And Freddy Freeman going to cover second base. I’ll tell you what, that impressed me more than anything I’ve seen all year.

I’ll tell you one thing. I’ve got to give the Dodgers credit, and I don’t give much of it. But they’re standing up to Manfred because Manfred’s trying to change this whole TV thing, he’s doing little things. He’s trying to get the players to buy into the salary cap. Now, he’s coming up with the TV contract, and the Dodgers own Spectrum, they’re not going to give up that TV contract.

No. So what do you guys think is going on with Ohtani? Why he’s not hitting?

The league has figured him out.

He had a killer curveball in that game. Man, what a curveball he was throwing, man, I had never seen him pitch like that..

How about Schwarber hitting it over the pavilion in right field?

I thought somebody was going to get hurt.

Was that incredible or what?

If you’ve never been to Dodger Stadium, what you said about L.A. is an entertainment town, not really a sports town. So, if there’s other things that are going on that are more entertaining than sports, which means the teams have to win to be entertaining.

Matt, I felt bad for,

There’s always people at the Dodger, I’ve been to Dodger games multiple times, there’s always people wandering around outside, you know, in the concourse. I mean they’re not sitting in their seats.

What are they doing?

I thought when that ball went over, because I was at the game when Ohtani hit the 434-foot home run, which was, I mean, I’ve never seen a ball hit like that. I was at the game and I saw it.

Stargell hit one out, too.

Stargell hit two.

But, you know, that could really hurt somebody.

The one that Vin Scully said went to West Covina?

I thought it was going to Pasadena. Yeah, exactly. So, I don’t know, people in the stands are at least prepared for it. I mean, I figured out what I do when I go to the game, I look for whatever young guys are around me, and I say, You guys are the designated ball catchers.

Yeah, there you go. Hey Matthew, are the Phillies going to sign their two big free agents, the pitcher and Schwarber?

I don’t know, man, and right now,

What do the papers say, back in Philly?

I mean, Artie, we’re still shell-shocked, man. No one’s really talking contract. I mean, one wonders if Thompson’s going to get the axe and all that. Or maybe they just break the whole thing up and restart all over again.

I hope not.

He just got the Phillies when Duran walked in that tying run. I knew they were going to lose, and the fact they kept going 1-1, I knew the Dodgers were going to take it.

What was the theory behind Nola only going two innings?

How many games? How many postseason games are there where there’s two errors on the pitchers?

Yeah,

I know, I know.

When was the last time a city’s lost, like in baseball, football, and hockey, in the same night?

Pretty tough. It’s pretty tough to do.

Good question. I’m gonna have to look that up, man.

The trifecta.

Gotta look that up.

The Golden Sombrero.

Gotta look that up.

Final question, did you guys pay attention? Thursday night, Al Michaels, from Arizona State, talking about the New York Giants running back, Art? Do you have any comments about that?

Oh, I loved it, you know, I got to tell you I’m still a big Al Michaels fan. And Bam Bam Skattebo, what a ballplayer this kid is. Did you see the postgame press conference where Daboll was trying to talk to the media?

Yeah,

You keep hearing these shrieks from the clubhouse. And he goes, it’s like that every day. So, I mean, this team, you know, there’s something about infectious young guys. Jaxson Dart is the darling of New York; Cam Skattebo, he can play on my football team anytime. He’s a throwback football player. And I loved it.

They have a chance to be like Washington was last year. It’s not going to be this year, but we’ll find out what they can do next year. They’ll win a few games.

Very quickly. Bears/Washington on Monday night. Art, two quarterbacks.

I personally, I think the Bears are kind of coming into their own. But the sophomore season for both these guys, and you know how that sophomore jinx works? Neither one of them has looked particularly awesome. But it’s going to be a great game. I like the Bears on the road there.

Oh my gosh.

Is Jayden Daniels back from his injury?

Yeah.

And I like Washington.

Last year, when Chicago was in Washington, the Hail Mary beat the Bears at the end. Remember that?

Yeah, sure do,

And they’ll probably, they’ll probably. I like the ‘Skins in this one big time.

Who are the ‘Skins? Who are the ‘Skins?

Well, I, I, I, I had. You know, I broke out the,

In the NFL. It’s keeping up with the Joneses, you got Daniel,

Hey, I broke out the rigging,

You got Mac and Jeeves Jones for the 49ers. How can the 49ers be 4-1 with half their team on the IR?

Yeah,

Good question. Mark, are you a big Robert E. Lee fan? With that, with that, that’s it on Sports,

Hey, this Thursday, I’m really jacked up. The Steelers and Bengals, the Penguins and Kings same night.

Hey, by the way, a good friend of mine and her husband went to the first Kings game a couple of nights ago.

Oh yeah, Colorado,

$200 bucks a seat.

$200 bucks a seat. For hockey.

I can’t afford to go to any more games. I better get those press passes lined up.

Even for hockey, which is,

But Art,

I’m glad Laura’s back. We were, I was wondering what happened. What did she eat at Dodger Stadium? Them damn Dodgers.

A Dodger veggie dog is what I had.

Make sure they’re cooked.

Does Farmer John make veggie dogs anymore?

All right for Art, for Laura, for Mark, for Mario. I am Fred. Stay tuned for much more. And Matthew, of course. Stay tuned for much more down the road on Fred and the Fantastics. Bye, everybody.