Hey, it’s that time again. Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips. Anything and everything in sports, and sometimes a little bit more with Art, with Laura, with Mark, and with you. You can email us at [email protected], [email protected]. All right, we’re taping this on Friday afternoon. We just discovered that this year we had 43 bowl games, but the Los Angeles Bowl is no longer in existence; it’s gone, so we have a new ballgame. Minneapolis. It’s called the ICE Bowl, and this is how it’s going to go. We’ve got middle school students, 12, 13, and 14, on one side and ICE members on the other side. ICE members will not have any numbers on their uniform. And they will have clubs.

Fred, did you know I won the Antarctica Open?

And they will have clubs, and there will be no fouls called one way or the other. With that being said, Art, what’s going on in the wonderful and wacky world of sports? Of course, this is the big weekend, big Sunday for the National Football League.

Well, I’m all excited. Finally, the NFL season has come to fruition, and I’m really a firm believer in the Walmart Super Bowl. Stan Kroenke, you know, built SoFi Stadium, $6 billion, and what the Waltons have done with the Denver franchise. I don’t care who’s playing, who’s not playing. The NFL decides who the champions are, and those are the two teams that are going to play for it. And you know what’s really funny, Fred? I looked at forms the other day, and in a matter of a year, and I don’t know how this happens, but all these franchises have gained $2 billion. What happened? Is that, like inflation for franchises?

Television money.

Connect Jerseys.

Television money.

Is that what it is? Because it’s gross.

Connect Jerseys.

Let me just throw this out to you off of football, let’s go to baseball. The Dodgers signed a contract a few years ago. I think it was 25 years, something like $8 billion, so they start off,

Spectrum,

They start off with $350 million before anything happens, so they pay for the,

Which is where I think the Big Ten’s getting the idea for this $200 million deal or $2 billion deal they want to do. It’s just the money in sports, you guys. It’s like, it just, Cody Bellinger. Five-year contract, Laura, $162.5 million. I mean, he’s not a spring chicken; he’s 30 years old. He’s in his prime, no doubt, but he gets $20 million up front. Think about that.

So, you know, that brings up an interesting question, and I’d love to know the results. Who would be the top five of eating contracts? The Broncos, with $85 million, I think, with Russell Wilson? The Dolphins, if they eat Tua’s? And the Dodgers, and Fred, you probably remember going back to, you guys, Don Stanhouse and Dave Goltz.

Oh, I do remember those two. Yeah.

How much money can you absorb on these contracts?

What about the Baltimore Orioles with the first baseman, Davis?

Oh yeah, that’s right, Glen Davis.

Didn’t they get caught up for a couple hundred million?

Glen Davis.

Yeah.

What about the Angels’ third base situation?

Rendon, there you go.

Yeah, and there was another one in there. I think it was Dan Ford.

Yeah, for the Twins.

So, okay, let’s just, let’s talk about the National Football League. What’s the most you’ve ever paid for a game? I know Laura has spent a lot for a Dodger game, but what’s the most, Laura, you and Ed have ever spent to go to a football, basketball, or baseball game?

You know, I don’t know because I don’t typically pay for the tickets; my husband usually does. But I know we got VIP,

Best answer I’ve ever heard.

Yeah.

We got VIP seats at SoFi,

When you’re as beautiful as Laura, you don’t pay for them.

You get away with that stuff.

They look at us, and we have to pay double.

You just go through the turnstiles.

$330. $330 for seats to a Steeler game.

I mean, I personally don’t. I just personally don’t think it’s worth it to go to a game and sit in the nosebleed seats. I mean, I’d rather watch it on TV. If I’m going to go to a game in person, I want good seats.

And have some good food to eat and good drinks, I agree.

Yeah, I just don’t think it’s worth it. So, if I go to one or two basketball games a season and one or two football games a season, I mean, that’s sort of my entertainment budget, you know, it’s fine. But I, and you know, I’m privileged, I mean, I can afford it.

You know what’s kind of fun, you guys? Sitting up at the members’ area at the LIV tournament at Bedminster with all the hobnobs, you know, with all the people from Fox, and all.

Right.

That’s kind of fun to do. But you have to have a press pass to do that, so.

I know the cheapest ticket I got, and you guys probably remember, I think it was 1982, walking around the Rose Bowl with two friends. I still keep in touch with one of them. A guy walks up,

The Neuheisel game?

No. The guy walks up to us, and he says, I’ve got three tickets for the game, give me $60. So we each paid 20 bucks and saw the Redskins beat the Dolphins, 27-17.

Wow. To go to the Rose Bowl, to the Super Bowl, and watch Riggins go around the corner and score the big touchdown. My God.

Fulton Walker’s 97-yard kickoff return.

Trivia question – who played quarterback for the Dolphins?

Wait a minute. David Woodley.

There you go, nice one.

Yeah.

Bottom line here, there’s so much to talk about right here on Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips. The NCAA, on Monday night, Indiana wins. They’re 16-0. And when they were winning, and it was fortunate because one more pass and maybe Miami would have won, it was intercepted. But the bottom line is, 16-0. I remember driving with my parents, like in the early 1960s, and the NCAA announced the games were going up from 10 games a season to 11. Art, we’re now at 16. Where does it end?

The NFL’s going to 18. You know what, here’s what’s amazing to me, and I think that’s a lot of games. Now they’re thinking about the college football playoff, 12 teams to 16 teams; we should find out about that next week. Six stadium teams just seems to me like 16 versus 1, you know, if you do it that way: I don’t know how they’re going to do it. But the bottom line is, Fred, that’s a lot, and we’ll see what happens. It’s gonna be very interesting. Who do you like this weekend?

I’m sorry?

Who do you like this weekend?

The Lakers.

We’ve got to go to Mark; Mark’s already indicated who he likes, so we can’t go in that direction.

Yeah, we want to find out what Mark’s thoughts are on the big games.

Well, I’m getting excited, a little nachos, cheese, Diet Coke, non-alcoholic beer maybe after that. But I’m really excited for the Rams’ and the Patriots’ Super Bowl. Are you guys,

I think the Rams might win. I think the difference, the difference might be, and you talked about it on Sports Overnight America, Art, they do not have their backup running back in Zach Charbonnet, and the Rams have Corham. And, you know, Williams is a good running back, but Corham certainly helps. And all season long, the Seattle club has gone with the two running backs. So Walker might be tired come third and fourth quarter as far as that is concerned. So, I do think the Rams have a shot here, although Mark saying he likes them sort of turns me off to that.

Here’s what’s funny about that. You know who the backup to the Seattle running back is now, Cam Akers, who was a Ram running back.

Yeah,

So I mean, there’s a lot of permeations in this game.

You know, you guys have watched the game, Laura, Artie, and you, Fred. If the Bears had won that game, would that have been the best throw?

In the history of football, yeah.

Oh, God.

But Art, tell me what happened. How could the Ram defensive back totally forget?

It looked to me like he got pushed off just a little bit by KMET.

I think he did, yeah.

I mean, I’m not saying it was, but it was like, uh. But hey, I’ll tell you what was bizarre. If I were the Bears, I would have went for two there, only because the momentum, the crowd, the flow, I would have done my favorite all-time play, everybody rolls to the right, play action. Tight end kind of fakes like he’s falling down, you got a chance Caleb can run, because he can run, or you dump it to him. That’s what I would have done. 18-17 game over. How did they do it?

Wow..

But the numbers indicate that the odds of making a two-point conversion are like, 45%.

But you gotta have that special play, Fred.

You have to have that special play at that special time. All right, we’re going to take a break and come back with more Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips right after this.

Hey, we’re back on Fred and the Fantastics, on BLEAV, and on PodClips. And Art, we’re taping this Friday afternoon. It’s tough for a guy who’s 128 years of age. What legal medicinal products do you use to help you answer some questions and talk sports?

Well, we’ve got the new Prevagen Chewables, these are awesome, you guys, they’re available in extra strength and also just regular style. You got mango, you got blueberry. Fantastic, they taste like little candies. Helps the noggin keep everything processed properly. The neurons are firing. But yeah, Fred, I gotta ask you a question about this National Championship game. The most physical ball game I’ve seen in college football since my era. I mean, some of those hits, the kids that played defensive end, Bain from Miami, hit Mendoza on that one play. I mean, crown of the helmet. On defense, guys were grabbing, pulling, holding. I didn’t see hardly any flags.

Wow.

Fred, what are your thoughts on that?

It was a rough game. Laura. What did you think?

Yeah, it was. It was a very physical game. What do you guys think about Mendoza? Do you think he’s gonna, he hasn’t really declared yet. There’s some rumors that he might play another,

Yeah, the city’s coming out.

If I had to go play for the Raiders, I’d be questioning things, too.

Well, maybe that’s it.

But, you know, you guys bring up an interesting thing. It was a real intense, hard-fought game.

Oh yeah.

But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that hockey fight, with the goalies getting it the other night. Did you see that?

Who were the teams?

So, it was San Jose and Florida, San Jose and Florida. And I guess the goalie for San Jose got in the middle of it and started pushing. And all of a sudden, Bobrovsky, of Florida, starts down the ice 200 feet and starts wailing on the goalie. So you gotta actually see that. And they were going at it for quite a while. San Jose, Florida. The goalies getting into it, the fans were involved in it. Gotta love it.

Hey Laura, how about Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka, a 38-year-old and a 40-year-old, in the Aussie Open men’s final?

Djokovic is 110 in Australian Open.

For professional tennis. A 40-year-old against a 38-year-old – unheard of. It takes me back to Kenny Rosewall.

Well, I’m not following. They’re in the third round, I’m not sure.

Let me tell you, my guy was Andy Roddick. I loved him. He just grew up in the wrong era.

Well, Djokovic has been my favorite player for a long time. And, he, even when I first saw him, I really liked him. And I watched him play the other night. He didn’t have any trouble with this young guy. But it’s just beautiful to watch, and he just has such a great game, and I’m really going to miss him when he’s gone. I don’t know how many more.

I think the GOATs are Nadal, Djokovic, and there’s one more that’s really good.

Federer.

Yeah, Sampras wasn’t bad.

No, he was awesome. You know what Andre Agassi says about keeping his marriage perfect? When we play tennis, we play on the same side, him and Steffi Graf, otherwise they’re so competitive. They say they don’t talk to each other for a couple of days.

My favorite woman in tennis was Chris Evert.

Oh, she’s such a sweetheart. She was married to Greg Norman.

Yeah.

Let’s go back to the football because I have a question.

It didn’t last too long. I heard it was like, two weeks,

That’s why Greg has dogs now.

Why do you guys and gal think about Alberto Mendoza transferring out of Indiana? What’s the reason? Because he can’t compete? I mean, his brother’s gone, you can’t possibly. I don’t think there’s any possibility.

Maybe Cignetti found somebody out there in the portal that he likes. I mean, Georgia Tech’s a great university, they play good football, Brent Key’s a good coach. They probably paid him the money he wants, maybe, Fred.

But do you think it’s possible he just didn’t want to compete with what his brother did, and it’s going to be tough for him to do that? I mean, psychologically?

Yeah, how do you live up to that? You can’t live up to a national team. I mean, 16-0, you said. How many games are they going to eventually play? That’s an amazing season.

Heisman Trophy? I mean, yeah.

Yeah, you know, watching his mom and his father in the stands,

So sad,

Unbelievable. I think she’s got some illness,

17 years she’s been battling MS. I mean, God bless her. I mean, she’s a beautiful woman, and the family is gorgeous. It’s so sad.

How about the story with Cignetti? I mean, he was on the scrap heap a couple years ago,

He was talking about waxing the tables at IUP. Yeah, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Art. You played football for USC, and you played football for the Rams. Did you ever see somebody cry at a press conference or a media conference?

Like Josh Allen?

Yeah.

What did you think?

Can I tell you something? Caleb Williams has done it, Josh Allen’s done it now. When you invest, you’re kind of totally immersed in trying to win. And, like Laura said on both shows, he feels like they put it out there and laid it out on the field, and they should have won the game, and they would have had a 37-yard field goal to win the game had the referee allowed the catch to happen. And I don’t know what the rules are to a catch in the NFL anymore. But to me, that was a catch, and I mean, this is eight years of this, Fred.

It was a catch and he was down.

Down by contact. Exactly.

They had the same exact play earlier, and they called it a catch.

There’s a picture of him holding the ball, knee on the ground, and the running back and the McMillan touching him. He’s down by contact.

The next coach of the Buffalo Bills, I’m going to call it, it’s going to be Phillip Rivers.

Oh, come on.

That’s what I heard this morning, but I don’t know.

Phillip Rivers.

Joe Brady.

He has no coaching experience; he’s a high school coach at, like, Nashville.

I know that Josh Allen said that he’s going to have some say in who’s the new coach. I don’t know what that exactly means. I don’t know what direction he might be going towards.

I’m hearing that they’re already clamoring to try to get McDermott back. The people are going to, like, fill the stadium up with signs and the whole shot.

Chris Shula will go third.

They deserve to get fired.

All right, Laura, you got 30 seconds to wind up the show. What’s on, what’s in your head right now?

I’m looking forward to the Conference Championships on Sunday. I think sometimes those are the best games of the year. It’s often better than the Super Bowl, although I do have fun with my Super Bowl party. And just, you know, I’m always really sad when football ends, but I’m looking forward to the baseball season. I’m looking forward to a good weekend. I hope everybody stays safe in this frigid storm that’s coming.

We’ve got 17 inches on the way, supposedly.

Yeah, well, I just talked to a friend of mine who lives outside of Milwaukee. It’s like a minus 30 wind chill, so it’s not so much the snow, it’s just the cold that’s going to freeze pipes. I hope that we don’t have any power outages. And I hope you got a lot of wood to stoke your fireplace, Art. Because those of us here in Socal, we don’t really have to worry about that.

My buddy rubbed it in earlier. You should have had to put long pants on today.

It’s like a beautiful 67 today.

You would have to wear the sandals today.

All right for Mark, for Laura, for Art, and for Mario. I’m Fred, and stay tuned all the time for more of Fred and the Fantastics. Bye, everybody.s