Hey everybody, it’s time again for Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips around the world, Art Sorce with us, former kicker for the Rams and the Trojans, good friend Laura Snoke, attorney Laura Snoke with us, and we’re going to talk about this, that, and anything in sports, and we’re taping this Friday afternoon. In about an hour and a half, the Dodgers try to close out the Mets.
So Laura, I know you’re a big Dodger fan.
Who wins Game Five in this set, in this series?
Well, I actually thought this morning that the Dodgers had it pretty much lined up to win this game.
But then I read Plaschke’s column in the LA Times and I don’t know, now I think he might’ve jinxed it.
But he was basically, Dodgers are winning, no questions asked, you know.
But I think Flaherty’s gonna pitch really well.
Great matchup, I mean really great matchup you got you got Jack Flaherty and David Peterson, you know the
only thing I wonder about is the shadows at Citi Field because when they play those games on the
east coast at five o’clock, you know you get the shadows to kind of cascade out, and I wonder if
it’s going to be a little tougher on the hitters.
But I tell you what Max Muncy has proven his weight in gold in this series,
I mean he tied Reggie Jackson’s record 12 consecutive
times getting on base in a row which is unbelievable. You’ve got
Shohei Ohtani hitting home runs. Mookie’s hitting home runs. It
looks like Freddy Freeman’s ankle’s coming back together now. I tell you what I, said at the beginning of the season
Fred Yankees and Dodgers and that’s what Major League Baseball is looking at, except what a comeback by the
Guardians last night. That was one for the ages.
Let me ask you guys a question. On Thursday afternoon, simultaneously, we had the end of the Guardians game against the Yankees.
We had the beginning of the Dodger game, and we had the football game on Prime.
Art, what did you want?
You had to switch all the way to Prime.
What did you watch?
And I think we actually had it, wasn’t there also a WNBA game on as well?
Yeah, there was a final game.
What do you do?
Final game of the WNBA.
Well, I know what I did,
because I have to go to Amazon to watch the football game,
And to be honest with you that particular matchup didn’t do much for me, Denver and Payton coming back to play
You know, the New Orleans Saints, who they haven’t learned how to tackle yet
I’ve seen Pop Warner teams tackle better than they, did but honestly that Cleveland Indians game –
Excuse me the Guardians – that Cleveland Guardians come back. Oh my God. It was Christmas Day.
I mean when the Noel hit that home run?
But I was, I was going back and forth between the Dodgers and the Indians and the Yankees.
It was awesome. It was like the old days.
I’m listening to WFAN last night. They were one strike away from going up three nothing.
Art. Okay. So now today later, uh, they face each other again.
Now I don’t think baseball is quite the same as football as far as maybe a, I don’t know,
momentum but because you can either hit the pitcher or can’t hit the pitcher, but who do you like in Game Four?
Well I’ll tell you what now that I saw Judge and Stanton do what
they did and, and Torres hitting the way he’s hitting it’s kind of hard to go against the
Yankees, but then again you’re in Cleveland the fans are going to be going crazy, um at
this point in time, I mean I would call that a toss-up I think the, the Dodgers have a much
better chance to win their game and the tonight and, and get a
little rest before the World Series. I would honest to God, I
would probably take the Yankees if I was forced to bet.
But I mean, after last night, the Guardians are going to be hard, hard to deal with.
They’ve got two more games. They may be going back to New York up three two.
Laura, who do you think is going to win that series? Yankees or Guardians?
I mean, I think that yeah, I’m surprised the Guardians actually won that last game.
I thought I’d pick the Yankees to win the series in four. But like Art said, you never know.
But I think the Yankees are still going to win. I mean, I think they have a lot more talent.
All right, let me ask you a question. There was an article that I read, like a week ago.
Teoscar Hernandez of the Dodgers is a free agent. Are they gonna have enough money to pay him next year, Laura, a big Dodger fan?
What do you think?
They should. They should figure out a way to pay him because he’s put, he’s had a great season.
Um, he’s, he’s really been, um, he’s been,
what if he wants five years and, uh, 150 million?
Well, I don’t know. I mean, Shohei is deferring a lot of that salary. So they may have some
extra money there. I don’t know. I, I think they’re going to resign him. I mean,
Can I tell you the toughest question? Who are going to be the starting five pitchers for the
Dodgers starting the ’25 season, because there’s 17 guys, Fred, that are battling to get into
this rotation. I mean, now Kershaw said he’s coming back. I don’t know if that means anything.
If he’s, if he’s healthy, it does. But, but I mean, I was thinking about that the
other day. That’s crazy. I mean, you’ve got some, I mean, if those guys all come
back healthy, think of who they could go get and who they can market. And I mean,
It’s a tough decision.
I was looking at the pitchers that are injured, you know, the pitchers that are
on the I L, Gonsolin, um, um, uh, Glasnow.
I mean, Dustin May, I mean, those are all high-caliber pitchers.
So, yeah, I mean, it’s riches, you know, if they’re all coming back
healthy and it looks like Buehler, Buehler pitched a great game.
The last game he pitched, um, you know, coming up and gotten out of two bases-loaded jams.
And I don’t know, Dodgers look, Dodgers look really good. They just look really good.
That was the first time this year though, that, uh, he looked overpowering. He struck
out six in the four and a half.
No, they outscored, Dodgers outscored in that 30 to nine.
In the, in the post game show.
Yeah.
30 to nine.
Listen to this one, you guys. In the post game show that I watched on the, on,
on Fox, he was talking about he likes pitching a cold weather, which I had never, ever heard
a pitcher say, right? Because I guess he grew up in Tennessee and he pitched in the in the
Old Bowl, the old Vanderbilt Stadium, which if you’ve ever been there, it’s sunk into
the ground. And I mean, it gets cold in January and February down there. And he
I was amazed. I’d never heard that. And then of course, here comes the guys with the ice bucket.
All right let’s take a let’s take a quick break right here on Fred and the Fantastics,
we’ll come back with more.
Okay everybody back on Fred and the Fantastics with Laura Snoke and Art Sorce.
I am Fred you can email us at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com.
Art and I talked about this for the last four or five years the word greed. The NFL leads the world
the word greed. I’ll tell you what’s going on this weekend. There are two
games on Monday night. Did you know that, folks? One’s on ESPN and one’s on
ESPN+. Now here in Los Angeles in Southern California where Laura and I live,
we can get it on Channel 11. However, the rest of the country has to
buy ESPN+ for another $10.99 a month. Laura, how greedy is the National Football League?
Pretty greedy. I don’t understand why they’re having two games on Monday night.
That doesn’t make any sense to me.
Well, because they’re trying, they, they want you to, they got ESPN to get involved.
And the part of the deal is they have to have some games on ESPN+.
They’re splitting the viewership into, into two games though.
I, I, I don’t, I, I don’t know.
There’s a 45 minute difference between the games.
Okay, so the first game comes on at 5:15 Pacific time, 8:15 Eastern time.
The second game comes on at the old Monday Night Football time of nine o’clock,
Which means they’ll kick off about 9:07 and that’s the ESPN+ game
This is all about taking care of those who take care of you. I mean they, they want to get
$10.95 for one month. Everybody who wants to watch the Chargers and the Cardinals.
That’s what you’re gonna have to do. I would have put a little better game in there
I mean, you know, the Cardinals and Chargers are a good team.
I know who really cares about that game. That’s the problem with their thoughts.
I mean, if you want to really do it, you put San Francisco in Kansas city,
which is the big Fox game at 4:25.
That’s the game of the week.
I mean, that’s a rematch of the Super Bowl.
That’s the reason to stay home and not go to SoFi.
It wants the Rams and the, and the, and the Raiders.
Folks, it even gets worse. On Christmas Day, two games only on Netflix.
Now, Netflix advertised itself at $6.95,
$15.95, or $20.95, and I bought it six months ago.
However, I only bought the $6.95, and guess what? You can’t put the $6.95 on the TV.
You can only watch it on an iPhone. So I dropped them the next day.
I’m not going to spend another $15 or $20. I’m already paying $275.
Supposedly they picked up 2 million viewers in the last quarter. That’s how powerful.
Their stock is going out of control. I mean, it’s nuts.
Because of the football fans?
I don’t think so. I don’t think it has anything to do with football. I just think
there’s such a dearth of programming on the major networks. I mean, you know,
if you really want to see them, the best stuff on Netflix is the Brit Box stuff.
All the stuff from England and from Australia, they really do a good job with that stuff.
There’s some great shows from Germany, but I have trouble doing the subtitles, you guys.
I don’t know about you.
And I love subtitles. I don’t have any problem with subtitles.
I mean, at first couple of minutes, you’ve got to pay attention and after that,
it’s just, you just read the subtitles.
You just said, you just called it to, you got to pay attention.
You got to pay attention. That’s true.
And you can’t just like be watching your food.
Exactly.
You’ve got to watch the screen.
Do either of you guys and gals have Netflix?
Yeah, I do.
Okay.
I love Netflix.
So you can watch the games on Netflix.
I’m going to have to buy it for a day and then cancel it the next day for the 15th.
A lot of people do that.
Fred, you can get ESPN on a trial, you know, trial run.
I think that they charge like for a week, you get five bucks or something like that.
I did it for Peacock for a month so I could didn’t miss that one game they had on, but it is ridiculous
I mean eventually you’re gonna have I’m gonna tell you all the leagues you’re gonna have a pay-per-view deal
You’re gonna pick your team or pick your teams or you know
But I’m telling you, you won’t be able to get free stuff on TV,
I would say within the next five years, really do.
All right, Kansas City, San Francisco.
The 49ers are a slight favorite last time I checked. Art, who are you liking now?
I like San Francisco in this one. They’re getting a lot of guys healthy.
Um, you know, although they say that Andy Reid off a bye is like six and one, and he’s coming off a bye.
So I just think it means a lot more to the 49ers than it does to Kansas
City because Kansas City is undefeated and the Niners need to get going in the NFC West.
Laura, who do you think’s going to win, the 49ers?
They’re playing in San Francisco, right?
Yes.
Yeah, I think San Francisco is going to win the game as well.
I hope San Francisco wins.
OK, what about the other big one?
And I have no idea why it’s in the early market or the early time game.
Detroit’s at Minnesota.
Vikings.
Lions against the Vikings.
And that’s going to be a great game.
Lions, of course, have lost Hutchinson for the rest of the season.
Makes a big difference.
You had the best defense in Dallas, in Detroit, and the best offense in Minnesota.
Laura, who do you like in that one?
I like the Vikings in that game. I like the Vikings anyway.
I mean, they’re just playing great.
They’re, they’re, they’re, they’re just playing great.
I hate to say this to you, Laura, but Mark Mancini’s bet of the week is the Minnesota Vikings.
Uh oh!
So I’m going, I’m going to, I’m going with the Lions.
All right.
Before we go, I want to bring, I want to bring something up and Lori,
you’re an attorney, so you have some involvement in this, some thought
about this. So a couple days ago, folks, this is Fred and the
Fantastics, we’re taping it Friday. A couple days ago, I
read that University of Nevada, up in Reno, has canceled a
woman’s volleyball game against San Jose State, because San Jose
State apparently has a transgender woman playing on
the volleyball team. Now, I’m, anyone who ever listened to me
knows I have strong opinions. I don’t have strong opinions on this issue, but I have a strong opinion
on the fact you can’t do this to a young lady. You can’t do it to a woman. It’s the hardest
decision anybody ever could make, and there are five or other schools that have also canceled
against San Jose State. Laura, what are your thoughts about this? Because, you know, maybe she
could take a situation where she can lower testosterone thing,
but whatever the case might be, I think for a woman, that’s the toughest,
or a guy, switching, it’s the toughest decision anybody ever could make
even more difficult than having an abortion, I think.
Laura, what do you think?
Well, we’ve talked about this before that there is
a huge difference in abilities among people in general,
and everything is on a spectrum.
There is no, I don’t believe there’s any such thing
as everybody is on one side or the other.
There is a spectrum.
And I think for transgender women, for them to be able to compete,
for them to be able to be what they feel as become in their true self,
they’re not gonna have high testosterone levels
because those testosterone levels are being suppressed because they’re out as women.
So I just think, it’s amazing if you think about it,
when you look at a professional team,
these are the best athletes in that sport across the board.
And yet, despite that,
there are still a few that are better than them,
that they are the best.
And I think that that’s just the way it is.
And I don’t think that transgender women
should be penalized because they are in effect
becoming who they truly are, who they feel that they are.
I can’t even imagine what it would be like
not to feel like you’re in your normal body.
I mean, being a woman is like so integral
to my identity to have that in question
would be just such a horrible feeling, and to be able to recapture that and then be penalized for it.
And what was happening in the Olympics is there was all that talk about that boxer.
She wasn’t even transgender. She’s a woman that happens to have higher testosterone levels.
So what do we have like the testosterone police now?
That are two different, there were two
different people, two different women that were involved in that.
Yeah. I mean, transgender.
And they were, one was, I was thinking of the one who wasn’t transgender.
And you know, there’s just, I think it’s just one, I had a client who was transgender.
I have to tell you guys.
And I met her over the phone and the only reason I knew she was transgender was she
immediately told me that the reason my voice is so low is because I’m transgender.
And my first reaction was, okay, fine, let’s talk about your case.
And I represented her and she was a wonderful, wonderful person.
I never even conceived of her as not being a woman.
I mean, we went to the restroom together
and it was like she was a woman.
And I guarantee you she had testosterone suppressants.
I don’t know anything.
We never talked about it after that first conversation.
It never came up.
Art, politically you’re on the other side on a lot of issues.
How about this one?
Well, you know, I look at it in this vein, okay?
Well, I have empathy for both situations.
I don’t want my daughter out there getting hammered by a volleyball that hits her in the
face from a woman who was a guy.
Now, if she wants to swim against somebody, they’re not exactly fighting in the pool.
That’s a little different.
But when there’s physical involvement, or like a wrestling match, or maybe even, I’m just saying
the competition of trying to set a record in the swimming arena, that’s different than actually lining up and facing somebody.
So that’s where my difference is on it. You know, I don’t know what the answer is.
I wonder what happened for 2,000 years why it never ever came up.
I think it was in the closet. I think it did come up, but I don’t think people were
able to, how many what do you think the percentage of people who are trapped
inside – there goes kitty again I love your cat!
I mean is it less than is it less
than less than 0.5% or I mean this is why my point is we make such huge okay
let me ask you this question straight up all right I go to prison because I
embezzle something while I’m there I decide I want to become a female.
Should the government have to should they have to pay for my operation?
But it’s not it’s not a question of deciding.
I mean, that’s why I think good.
Well, I think a lot of times it is.
No, I don’t think it ever is I don’t think it ever is a decision. It’s like pretty close. That’s pretty
Never is it’s like people who are gay are not deciding to be gay
I think those are like I said, you don’t think people born between the two sexes
I think that things are a spectrum you know that how much you ever I think there are some
people like football players maybe who have high testosterone levels and you know and
there are other men who are lower
You think society, society and the morals that religion puts on us that
changes our views on things like that is what you’re saying?
No, I think that I think society catches up.
I mean, you can trace history back, you know, since recorded history, we’ve had
incidents of homosexuality. So we know that’s part of our DNA, if you want to go there.
But I think studies have shown that it’s a continuum and that there are people that
are in the middle of that continuum. And some people are already on the other edge.
And it’s, it’s, it, you know, I don’t know that we even know the answer, but I don’t
think it’s something that’s brand new.
Do you think the school should contact you if it was, if it was your daughter, should
the school have enough class to contact you and say that we, we actually think that
it might help, you know, your child, if we, if we, you know, looked at this
or can they do it without your okay?
I mean, I, you know, that those are, these are all very complex issues.
I mean, there’s a lot of parental, you know, like I said to you, if you, I mean,
I don’t know, a few months ago.
If parents are supportive, that’s one thing,
but there are parents who are not supportive
and that’s another thing.
That’s the other problem I agree with you.
I think that we need to support our educators
and our professionals and let them have the expertise to know the difference.
Yeah, I agree.
Art, you have 30 seconds.
Give me your final thoughts on Friend the Fantastics.
Just excited about what the Guardians accomplished
the other night with Noel hitting that big two run home run, you know, after,
after Stanton went deep and Judge went deep and, you know, it’s great for the
city, the city of Cleveland to see what’s going on.
Dodgers playing great baseball, great weekend for sports.
You got basketball. Oh, by the way, Kawhi Leonard is not going to be able to make
it for the season right now.
Right.
Thought I’d throw that out there in case anybody hadn’t realized that one.
But other than that, it’s a great weekend for sports.
Got some great college football games.
Looking forward to Georgia and Texas tomorrow on college football, but it’s just been awesome.
Laura, will UCLA ever win a big 10 game?
In football or, or USC for that matter?
I think they’ll win some in basketball. I think they’ve got a really good
Can they beat Rutgers this weekend? Can they beat Rutgers this weekend?
No, I don’t think so. Their football team does not look great, but I’m looking forward to a Dodgers –
Yankees traditional World Series and the Dodgers coming out on that.
We’ll have to put a bagel on that.
You know what tickets are cost for that?
A lot.
A regular season game in New York behind home plate,
which the other night when they were at it on TV,
there was nobody sitting in the seats.
And now I know why they’re like $2,500 for those seats.
That’s what they are in the Dodgers to behind home plate.
With Mary Hart.
Alright, for Laura, for Art, for Mario, thank you guys and gals for listening to Fred and
the Fantastics and we will see you around the corner, we promise.