Hey folks, it’s that time again.
Fred and the Fantastics on Pod Clips and BLEAV.
Fantastics being Mark Mancini and Art Source.
I am Fred. You can email us at sportsfred@aol.com.
We’re taping this around one o’clock Pacific time on Friday,
Saturday night at the Coliseum in Los Angeles,
Utah State battles USC.
Of course, if you’re home and you have DirecTV,
You’re not going to be able to watch it because it’s on ESPN.
Artie. You have any comments as a former kicker for the trophy?
You know, I went through that whole dilemma with the Pac-12 network
for the last 10 years back East.
I will tell you this, Fred, by the time I get home late tomorrow night,
it’ll probably, that game starts, I believe, at 10:30 Eastern time.
I think I’m going to have to miss that one.
11 o’clock. There you go. Even later.
Mark, are you upset? You don’t have DirecTV, Mark, right?
Well, no, I can watch the game, but then I think, who is going to see this?
Really, this is David and Goliath.
I mean, I thought when we got into the conference…
I want to see Michigan and Texas.
Yeah, but I thought when we got into the conferences,
I didn’t need to see Bowling Green go against Ohio State, Alabama play Appalachian.
Now I get to see USC play Utah State at 8 o’clock.
By the time those guys get out of there,
it’s one o’clock in the morning.
Why is this game being shown at eight o’clock at night?
I mean, this is the problem
with the West Coast and football games.
Nobody’s watching this
unless you really want to watch this.
So you look at the late night schedule though.
You got Boise State at Oregon.
You got Texas Tech at Washington State.
Liberty at New Mexico.
These are all 7 p.m. Eastern time, 7:30 starts.
Mississippi State and Arizona State, Oregon State at San Diego State, and then the last
of the games, because there’s no Hawaii game this year, or this week in Hawaii, Utah State
getting 28 and a half from USC after their big upset last week against LSU, SC went
from 23rd to 13th. I think that’s a little bit of an overreaction, but I’m looking
at the college schedule tomorrow, I see some beauties, guys.
Arizona, I mean, Arkansas, at Oklahoma State, Texas
at Michigan, Michigan getting seven and a half
in the big house, Fred.
When’s the last time you saw that?
Well, I don’t know if they’re gonna be cheating or not.
You can email us, it’s sportsfred@aol.com.
You mentioned the USC game against LSU.
You know my feelings about the lowlife Brian Kelly.
Oh, I don’t like him. After the game,
I was there, Fred. I watched him do it.
He blames his coordinators.
He blames Nussmeier, the quarterback for the loss.
I thought he played well.
Yeah, you know what?
All he needed to do on that one situation in the third quarter,
when they were up by four, they had a fourth down.
I think they’re around the 30, 35-yard line.
You go for it. You go for the win.
You don’t let the team have a chance to come back.
If you got SC down by 11 in that situation, okay,
then that’s going to change the whole complexion of the game.
But when he slammed that fist in the postgame press conference,
I mean, I stood up and walked out completely. And about 10 other writers did the same thing.
Let me tell you USC, a lot of people aren’t giving them credit
to win this conference, but they got the same defense there
and that running back March they picked up from Ole Miss
Watch out, man.
They can run the ball down.
I was so impressed by the way they tackled.
It was like, I even said it in one of my articles.
I said, I haven’t seen them play that kind of defense.
I mean, really hard-hitting defense
and flying to the ball in a decade.
Let me ask you, Artie, a question as a former kicker.
If after the game, the coach blamed you for a loss,
how would you react?
Transfer.
Well, I was lucky enough never to never to miss one like that in my career,
but I’ve seen, I’ve had I have had people that I know that that have.
And, you know, if the coach is a classy guy, he puts his arm around you and says look,
you gave it your best shot. I need you to be ready next time.
We’re going to get through this. That’s what a classy coach does.
It never comes down to one guy – there’s enough mistakes in a football game, and that goes for any position, Fred.
I think as a coach, as a man that I want to play for, he steps up and takes personal responsibility, because it’s your team.
You’ve been beaten three years in a row, and you’re opener now, Brian Kelly.
What are you doing wrong in fall training camp for your team not to be ready?
And that’s a talented football team. And you can’t blame Nussmeier. Nussmeier played a great game.
You look at the numbers he had in that game.
If anything, you give credit to Lincoln Riley for going out and getting D’Anton Lynn and
the defensive line coach who came from North Dakota State and won many Division II championships.
That’s a transformed ball club on defense.
Let me just say this about Brian Kelly and the reason I can’t stand him.
He’s coaching Cincinnati.
I remember that.
And the kids finally get to the Orange Bowl and this is the program before they
were strong in football he runs out takes the Notre Dame job and he leaves
him without a coach
And how about what he did with the kid that was filming
practice in the 60 mile an hour winds you know puts him up on this huge
tower roof that was wrong.
That at Notre Dame has already just indicated he
wanted to practice outdoors he wasn’t happy with practicing indoors and the
photographer, the student photographer had to get on the
roof, he fell down and died. And then of course, he left Notre
Dame without giving them any notice to take a 10-year job at
LSU. And now he’s blaming his quarterback for the loss.
That’s Brian Kelly. And I can’t stand him. I really can’t.
All right, we’re gonna take a break.
He’s not one of our fantastic friends.
We’re gonna come back with more on Fred and the Fantastics right after this.
Okay, everybody, we’re back on
Fred and the Fantastics with Mark Mancini and Art Sorce,
so much to talk about.
But Mark, let me ask you,
between Bill Belichick and Nick Saban,
who do you think will do the best job on television?
Oh, Saban, I think.
I think Nick Saban, little more insight.
Belichick’s good, but I think Saban will.
Belichick’s on every show there is.
I was just looking at the USA Today article about the two of them.
I mean, they’re probably busier now than they ever have been.
I’ll tell you the guy I like, he’s on the College Game Day,
the former Notre Dame quarterback.
Good insight. What’s his name?
Brady.
Brady Quinn.
Yeah.
I like him a lot.
I do too.
I just can’t stand with Urban Meyer.
That’s the only thing that keeps me from watching him.
Do you like Chris Collinsworth?
I like Jack Collinsworth.
I call him crusty Chris – he can’t wait to get outside that booth and have a cigarette.
Do you like his son?
Yeah I like his son a lot. I like Jack as an announcer,
and the same thing with Ian Eagle and his son I think his son is an excellent announcer
and boy what a life he’s got ahead of him. What is he, 26 years old? He’s already on
network television.
I don’t, I don’t care for ESPN saying we’ll be back in five minutes.
You know, on their SportsCenter.
And that’s crazy.
You actually see that with, with them.
Yeah.
I mean, it’s like really five minutes. Did you have a sandwich?
Let me let me ask you guys a question.
John Sterling.
35 years with doing the radio for the Yankees.
He retired a couple of months ago.
Now he says he wants to come back to the playoffs.
Art, your comments.
You know, I love John Sterling for many, many years.
You know, him and Susan Waldman, I used to listen to him all the time on Sirius XM,
coming back and forth to work and stuff.
And but I got to tell you, you know, he’s 85 years old now, Fred.
And I think once you’re out, you’re out.
And if he wants to come back for a couple innings or something like that
in a playoff game, that depends on what the station feels.
But, you know, I think he did the right thing.
I watched him.
You know, one thing I’ll say about Vin Scully is I didn’t see any drop-off
in his ability to broadcast from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, all the way through till he retired.
But I did see a change in John Sterling. But I’ll tell you what, I was a huge Sterling,
Pete Van Weeren, Skip Carey, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson, in the WTBS days, you know, WTBS when they
did the games.
Eric Karros puts me to sleep. I have to tune the thing down. I don’t know
you Fred and Artie, but I can’t listen to Eric Karros. I mean, I know he’s a homer, but it’s just –
I like Tim Neverett a lot better than against the Dodgers. I think he does a heck of a job.
Yeah, but Eric Karros seems to have the pass or, you know, what’s the job? Joe, the head
broadcaster for the Dodgers, he seems to have the…
Joe Davis.
Yeah, he seems to have the magic touch.
Did you like Orel Hershiser?
I do like him.
I think they’re too Dodger-oriented.
I think there’s too much of that lately in sportscasting, Fred.
Nobody calls the game, just calls the game like Vin.
Even Vinny. You knew Vinny was pulling for the Dodgers, but you never knew that he was a homer.
He wasn’t Harry Caray. He wasn’t like these announcers like them. Let’s get a run.
Young Dodger, young Dodger pitchers giving up five runs in the first inning or seven runs in two
innings and then they pitch two or three innings where they don’t give up any runs basically
they’re saying he’s pitched a good game, uh, no you give up seven runs in five innings that’s
not a good game.
Yeah, that’s not a good game. The last time I checked that might be a 14 or ERA or something like that.
Bobby Miller, as we do this, his ERA is 7.71, but Yamamoto’s coming back, so okay.
When is he coming back, Fred?
Next week. Tuesday.
I can say next week.
You’ll probably be hurt the next start after that, but if it’s Yamamoto, and Glasnow
comes back, and Flaherty, that’s three.
Those are three pretty good pitchers.
The question is, will any of them stay healthy?
Art, what do you think?
I like those three, if healthy.
And I mean, I don’t know what Kershaw’s problem
with the big toe is,
but that seems to be a recurring problem.
You know, I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy
for saying this, but at a certain point in time,
somebody ought to see, just off the mound,
what kind of stuff, without hurting him, Ohtani has.
Because it’s been a long time.
And a lot of pitchers have come back
in this window even shorter than this.
And, you know, if the Dodgers are serious about it, you know, I’m not saying you have him
start games, but I’ll tell you what, if you bring them in for a batter or two, a lot
of people in that league have never seen it.
All right. Let me ask you guys a question.
On Thursday night, Thursday afternoon, Blake Snell, one of the best pitchers in baseball,
threw 42 pitches in the first inning and gave up two runs, only one earned.
Bob Melvin pulled him after one inning. Art, as a former football player, how would you feel about that?
Well, I was pretty happy because I took San Francisco in that game to the under, and I
didn’t want to see, you know, Snell go out there and mess up, but I don’t understand that.
There’s something going on between those two friction-wise, and, you know, we’ve had some
with Blake Snell and managers in the past, but he was pitching very good the last month or so.
I mean, I looked at his ERA and the matchups and he had been doing very, very well, but
you know, it wasn’t his fault the other run that he gave up. I didn’t see that.
Mark, I think the National League Cy Young is totally won already by one particular pitcher.
Who might that be, in your opinion?
Well, I think it’s Dylan Cease.
I think Dylan Cease is right up there.
I mean, he might not have the one-loss record, some of these other guys, but I said from
the start that I like Dylan Cease, the guy that came over from the White Sox.
Does the guy play for Philadelphia, Fred?
Chris Sale has won the Cy Young in the National League, barring…
He’s carried the Braves.
Yeah, there’s no question.
All right we’re going to come back with more on Fred and the Fantastics talk some pro football
right after this.
Back on Fred and the Fantastics with Art Sorce and Mark Mancini. We’re taping
this Friday afternoon and Friday night in Brazil it’s the Packers and the Eagles only on Peacock.
Eagles a slight favorite. Art who do you like?
You know I’ve been vacillating on this game, guys. and the more I think about it the roster that they have,
the talent they have, you know, I know they’ve got a new defensive coordinator,
a new offensive coordinator, Hertz, is in his fourth system in four years.
I’m going against the grain and I’m gonna take the Eagles. Fly Eagles, fly.
Mark, the world’s worst sports handicapper. Eagles a slight favorite against Green Bay in Brazil
this evening, who do you like?
Well, I like the Eagles as well, like Artie but this game, so you cannot pick it up on NBC?
Nope, just Peacock.
Wow.
You have to pay your $6 for the whole month and you get to watch the game.
Unbelievable.
Are you upset with that?
Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of crazy. You can’t, why would they quit this game?
That’s the world now. I mean, they’re forcing you to buy all the streaming services.
And here’s what’s funny, you guys. In Milwaukee and in Philly, because they didn’t want to deal with this,
they actually are going let the broadcast be seen on local television. Because the people in Philly will go nuts.
I’m telling you. They’ll be marching into the station like Jeff Fellenzer was talking about
on our overnight sports show.
They’ll take down the Rocky statue.
Alright Artie, When do you think the argument between DirecTV and Disney and AT&T will end?
I think we got some inside info from Jeff on our sports talk show, national sports talk
show. So I’m saying it’s going to happen before next Monday’s game. Yeah. So that’s what I’m going
to say. I hope so. I’m probably being a little positive here.
Mark, what do you think?
I think so too. They always seem to pull that. Thank God there’s not two Monday night games. There’s
only one. If there was two there’d be an uproar in four cities.
That’s right. I remember they used to do that early.
Well, they still do it, but it’s later on.
I think next the following week is two maybe.
Hey guys, we got some fun stuff in the NFL, Fred.
What?
There’s some matchups in the NFL
that they really did a good job schedule-making-wise.
You got Sammy Darnold who’s starting
for the Vikings at the Giants in the early window.
Giants are actually getting two points
as home favorites there.
And then you got the Steelers and the Falcons.
Well, the Steelers offensive coordinator
used to be the head coach of the Falcons.
Arthur Smith.
Mr. Smith. So Mr. Smith goes to Atlanta, and that’s an interesting spread to me.
Pittsburgh’s getting three and a half in that game.
And then the big game that I wanted to talk about, if we could,
Arizona and Buffalo.
Is Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhart doing the ballgame for Fox in the afternoon viewing window.
Dallas going to Cleveland, getting two and a half.
You know, I just read something, and of course, in different articles, you read different things.
The article said the Cowboys are worth $11 billion.
I read that too.
Now, didn’t you just read that it was seven or eight billion?
How did they pick up four billion just by signing CeeDee Lamb for $136 million?
They made four billion out of that?
How do you even rate these clubs, what they’re worth? Popularity?
Fans from around the country.
Well, we talked about this a couple of months ago.
The most-traveled team in the NFL for road fans, and I couldn’t believe it, is the San Francisco 49ers.
Yeah, it used to be the Dallas Cowboys and the Steelers.
Yeah, the Packers, I think, were up there, but no, it was the,
thought maybe the Raiders, but it’s the 49ers.
I thought the Eagle fans might travel a bit.
All right, what do you guys think about Caleb Williams,
in the opener with Tennessee coming down in Chicago? Do you think he’s going to be everything? He looked good in the preseason.
I think Chicago, I like Chicago.
I think they’ve got more talent than people realize.
And I think they got three wide receivers now.
The Chargers don’t have any.
And I know they’re not playing the Chargers, but the point I’m talking about, the Chargers.
The Chargers getting rid of both starting wide receivers was insane.
You like the under in the Vegas – Los Angeles Charger game, huh?
Yeah, because again, they got receivers who’ve never started before going for…
Fred, what’s the over-under in the debate Tuesday?
A what?
The over-under between Harris and Trump.
Mark, in 30 seconds, your final comments on Fred and the Fantastics.
Well, the Pirates are in the middle of a homestand
where they can get fat or get close to the 500 mark.
Washington, they have for four there three and one against them.
Eight games under 500 they got to win 18 of their last 24 games Mark.
Right and then then they get Miami coming in followed by Kansas City. They go on the road
They only have three more home games.
Kansas City was right there and then all of a sudden they lose seven in a row.
And they’re done. I thought they had cancer for a minute.
Art, give me your last 30 seconds.
I’ll tell you here’s what I think.
I think you got to watch the United States Open tennis – the first time in
15 years, there’s going to be an American man in the final.
And of course you’ve got Pegula against Sabalenka
in the women’s side.
I cannot believe how great these women played tennis.
I mean, I remember Evert, I remember Martina,
but I will tell you, wow,
these girls now can really play the game of tennis.
And I’m just excited about week one of the NFL.
Hope everybody out there can watch their games
And let’s get this thing settled between ESPN, ABC, and DirecTV.
Well, you mentioned the US Open.
I can’t watch it unless I can pick it up on Amazon Fire Stick or
Roku or something like that because I have DirecTV.
So I’m one of the hundreds out there that, or thousands that are going to be
very disappointed.
For Mark, for Mario, thank you guys very much for
listening to Fred and the Fantastics back with more down the road.
Bye everybody.
Great job.