Hey, it’s time for Fred and the Fantastics, on BLEAV, on PodClips across America and around the world. We’ll talk this, that, and anything in sports and more. Art Sorce from the Rams and Galaxy Sports, Matthew DiBiase, sports historian, and Laura Snoke, who picked the winner Seattle to win it all just a few days ago. Congratulations to Laura. And you can join us by emailing us at [email protected], [email protected]. We are taping this Friday afternoon, about one o’clock, all right, here we go again in three hours. On ESPN, we have the celebrity all-star NBA game, so some of the actors and singers will be battling it out. That’s on ESPN by six o’clock, we have another game, The Rising Stars, but that’s not on ESPN. So now you gotta switch to Peacock.

You’re missing a lot of Rising Stars, too, from what I hear,

You’re missing a lot of rising. But Laura, you have any comments about watching the first game on ESPN and being forced to switch to Peacock for game number two?

Well, I mean, it’s not that much of a burden to switch stations.

What if you can’t afford all those streaming services?

Yeah, like me, you know, I don’t do that, you know?

I think ESPN is on most cable or satellite channels.

Yeah, they are.

ESPN is not something you have to be on the internet for. Peacock, you do have to be on the internet.

How about Peacock2 or Peacock Plus?

Well, Peacock Plus, you know, the interesting thing about the Pluses on the internet, is that it doesn’t matter with sports because they still have ads. So, if you’re watching Peacock Plus, and you’re watching, like, Law and Order, for example, which is on Channel 4, you get it without ads if you pay the Plus. If you’re watching sports, the sports still have ads. It’s the same feed, so you really don’t get anything by Peacock Plus from the sports side; you do get it from the drama side, and everything else. So, but, Peacock without the Plus is, I think, like a couple of dollars a month. I mean, it’s not really unaffordable for most people, but they all add up, you know.

I think I’m paying,

So I think it just has to be, we just have to make it more affordable.

$600 with everything.

How much?

$600 with everything.

Yeah,

If you do the whole thing, I mean, it’s ridiculous. I mean, I swear to God.

What do you mean, $600?

In other words? In other words, it’s $290 for the full package on Verizon or DirecTV. Then you start getting into all the other add, add, add, add, adds, I mean, it’s $29 here. It’s $39 there, you know? It’s to the point where, really and truly, you guys, they’re slaying the goose with the golden egg, like you said earlier, Laura.

Yeah.

And you know what? You know what else they do? They raise the price. I don’t even know which ones I’m getting. I mean, I’ll be honest with you, you know, it’s so confusing.

You need a spreadsheet.

I know.

Seriously, yeah,

You need a spreadsheet because you can get like, okay, so you subscribe to Hulu, for example. And then all of a sudden, you have to also bundle it with Disney.

But you might already be paying for Disney independently of Hulu. So now you have to, like, stop your other.

Or you get ESPN on your package on Verizon, but then you want to get ESPN Plus. And you wind up getting like all the other Disney and all the other. Then you got Netflix, and you got Apple. And I mean, it’s to the point where, wow.

You know, it’s a sport that’s rising now, with all this stuff putting on pay-per-view? Because I was talking to my cousin Julia Stewens, they were fifth graders, right, at a school in Maryland. You know what their kids are more aware of these days?

Savannah Bananas.

Premier League Soccer. Because I’m talking about my books, my baseball. Other than the NBA, there’s no reaction on baseball. When I talked about my idea of wanting to write about Premier League soccer, oh, wow. And they could recite soccer stars, because Premier League soccer is far more accessible now than the other things. Saturday morning on ESPN, they show Premier League, USA Network will show Premier League, the ESPN2, they’ll show Premier League. You can see a lot of that, and the kids are becoming more aware of that than they are of baseball.

Do you think that Ted Lasso has something to do with that, Matthew?

Well, yeah. You know, hey, but I’m serious. They know more about soccer now, these kids, than they know about baseball or maybe NBA.

I got to tell you the reason why soccer is the number one sport, or football is the number one sport in the world. You need shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of shoes, and you’re off playing soccer.

And the kids play it from the time they’re little, and it’s co-ed, so everybody gets to play.

And it’s great cardiovascularly.

Great exercise.

But I think you’re going to see far more awareness of soccer because the more they put NFL and MLB on streaming and all that, you’re going to see a disconnect. And I think more kids now, because what’s more accessible and what more you can see more often.

See, I grew up around the world, and I love the World Cup, you guys. And I am looking so forward to the World Cup, as long as it doesn’t get politically oriented.

But it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be. It’s already happening.

Sadly, I have a funny feeling it is, too.

Let me change the subject here, because this is driving me crazy, too. It’s Friday afternoon, we’re taping this show. Saturday at 12:45 Eastern time in Eastland, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. UCLA is playing Michigan.

Number one.

That’s 9:45 Pacific time. What the blank is happening? UCLA and SC made the big, I don’t care how much money they made, that’s the biggest mistake in their lives. There’s absolutely no shot at beating Michigan.

That should be a primetime game on CBS, not a 9:45 in the morning game.

9:45 in the morning, Pacific time. So, they have no shot, they have no shot for sure because it’s 9:45 in the morning, and they couldn’t beat Michigan if Michigan was playing four guys against five. Art, your comments.

I was going to say I have it written down right here, the same thing, Fred. It’s amazing, we’re on, I say UCLA and number one Michigan, it’s gonna be a litmus test for your favorite coach, and, you know, I don’t think he’s gonna do,

Who’s that?

I think it’s going to be a bloodbath.

Mick Cronin.

It’s going to be a bloodbath.

Yeah,

I haven’t seen, I haven’t seen the point spread, but Michigan is going to be a 10- or 12-point favorite.

I was gonna say 11 points. See, right on the head.

And I think they’re gonna beat them by more than that.

I do too.

And Cronin’s gonna blame the fact that Skyy Clark is not playing; hamstring, and he’ll miss 11 games consecutively. But Cronin’s,

How about that a team like UCLA, that at home plays so great, but they go out on the road, and I understand that’s a big travels deal. They’ve gotta go to Penn State, they’ve gotta go to Rutgers, they’ve gotta go to Michigan; they gotta go everywhere, right? But still, at a certain point in time, are the courts not a 94×47 piece of hardwood, as Chick Hearn used to say? I mean, you gotta play the same offenses, I mean, you wouldn’t think that it’d be that big a deal, but in college basketball, it is.

They lost to Indiana in double overtime two weeks ago, and that’s gonna possibly cost them the NCAA bid.

That’s a heartbreak, too. Heartbreak.

But, but, but, let’s see, they have 11 National titles, one in the last 51 years, since John Wooden retired. They have no shot on earth of winning ever again with Cronin, and they gave him a five-year extension. So this is what I wrote to the L.A. Times,

How much is he making, honestly?

What?

How much is he making a year?

Over $10 million, I’m sure. Over $10 million. And this is what I wrote to the L.A. Times; they might not run it, but this is what I wrote.

He’s a good basketball coach.

They run all of your letters.

Wait a minute, and I write it in honesty and what I really believe. I believe Cori Close should be the UCLA women’s basketball coach,

I read that – they did run it.

She should be the head coach of the men’s basketball team.

Yeah. They ought to switch, because the women are so talented, despite Cronin, they’ll still win. And with Cronin gone, the men have a shot.

That’s right. They did run it. It was in the paper the other day. I read it.

I didn’t see that, oh, did they?

Yeah, but,

They don’t deliver up in Westlake Village anymore. You have trouble getting their paper all the time.

Here’s my pet peeve,

You’re not going to believe this, I wrote the article,

Here’s my pet peeve,

Laura. I only get the papers on Sundays. On Super Bowl day, of all the days on earth when you want the sports section on Sunday, they didn’t come. However,

You know, my Washington Post sports page wasn’t so hot, either.

Here’s my pet peeve, UCLA,

Let me tell you a story, let me tell you a story. So on Monday, on Sunday, I didn’t get either paper, so I complained. And the woman that runs it is doing a good job, she’s trying hard. The guy had an appendicitis operation, and so OK, I understand. So on Monday, I got the L.A. Times, the Daily News, but they didn’t give me the USA Today, so then on Tuesday, they gave me the USA Today. In fact, they gave me two USA Todays, and they gave me the other papers, and then they gave me on Wednesday the Ventura County Star, which I never bought. So it’s a remarkable situation because when I go out there in the morning to pick it up, I’m wondering, what city am I living in? And what country am I living in? And where the hell does it end? More on Fred and the Fantastics right after this.

Hey, we’re back on Fred and the Fantastics, on BLEAV, and on PodClips, and we’re with Art Sorce, former kicker for the Rams and the Trojans of USC, Laura Snoke, attorney. And Matthew DiBiase, our sports historian, so much to talk about. The odds are out now on the 2027 Super Bowl to be played right here at SoFi in Southern California. Art, the Rams in Seattle on top at minus 950. Art, do you have any thoughts? You bet a shekel or two.

Well, you know, if the Rams can find a special teams coach, they got a chance to win it all next year. But I really love this, and Matthew’s got a really great long shot that we’re going to get to him in a second. But my pick next year for the Super Bowl, I got two in the AFC, I got Buffalo and Denver. And I got the Rams in the NFC, if we could catch some punts,

That’s the key there. Zach Smith, Zachary, Xavier Smith.

You must have loved the Super Bowl, Art, because it was basically, you know, all that great kick, all that great kicking for Seattle.

Matthew and I were talking off the air, Laura, because he said, If they, you know, if he’d have kicked another six, if it had been 18 to nothing in the final, an MVP would have finally been a kicker in a Super Bowl.

Well, I thought about that when I was watching the game,

Because it’s a record. He kicked a record five field goals.

And, by the way, Adam Venetieri did get in the Hall of Fame this year. A kicker. And a lot of people compare me to him; that’s a great comparison, but it’s a little shaky.

Laura, you picked Seattle to win the whole thing. Off the cuff, who do you like in 2027?

Well, I am a diehard Raiders fan, and we always pick the Raiders every time.

What are the odds on them, Fred? Come on, dig it up. You said 60,000, what was it? 60,000, Steelers?

This is 180,000, 180,000 to one.

Got ten bucks on that.

My second pick would be also a perennial loser in the Super Bowl, the Buffalo Bills.

Laura, it might be worth ten dollars at 180,000 to one.

Ten bucks to win $11 billion? I’m all in.

Is it my turn now?

Yeah, go ahead.

I’m going to take this psychopathic, insane flyer, okay? Provided that we’re all still alive next year and democracy isn’t overthrown and I’m not sent to a gulag. I’m going to say, Pittsburgh versus Chicago in the Super Bowl. Do I have to pick a winner?

Yeah, you got to pick the winner,

Pittsburgh. I’m going with Pittsburgh.

With a 42-year-old quarterback and Aaron Rodger?

Why not? Why not? Why not? Hey, look at George Flannery.

It’s a good way to go out, huh, Fred?

Let’s see if Mike McCarthy can get the job done. I don’t know.

Okay, let me ask you guys a question.

Are the Raiders going to keep, they just hired a new defensive coordinator named Rob Leonard because he was the defensive line coach for Crosby. Now, do you think they did that because they want to keep Max Crosby? I think they did that to keep Max Crosby, and I think they should keep him.

Kubiak said he had a nice conversation with Max Crosby over coffee and is looking forward to next year, although my husband said, Can you imagine Max Crosby over-caffeinated?

And here’s the deal. They brought in Mike McCoy, who used to be the head coach of both I believe the Chargers, and he also coached Tennessee this year as an interim coach. He’s pretty much known as a quarterback guru, and they want to get Fernando Mendoza. What are your guys thoughts on Mendoza? I’m hearing Colin Cowherd loves him, scouts don’t like him. What do you guys think about Mendoza?

I like him.

Yeah, I like him.

I think he’ll be great.

He showed courage in that National Championship game. Miami used every single dirty trick in the book.

That shot, he got right in the chin, man, that was something; unbelievable.

He’s a fighter. He scrapped it out.

Quite a kid.

I applaud him for courage, He’s got guts and that’s leadership and all that. So sometimes you don’t need the physical equipment. If you’ve got leadership, that’s what you need to be.

There’s a Jim Plunkett. There you go, Jim Plunkett won two Super Bowls. That’s who he reminds me of.

All right, but let me take the other side. All you guys and gals said true, but he does not have the world’s greatest arm, and it’s a different world, college to pro.

So those windows get a little bit smaller,

I mean, it’s got to be a little bit better arm.

What are the Eagles going to do with A.J. Brown, you guys?

Well, they got that new offensive. Can I interject? They got that guy in Mania. But I got a little prediction I want to make. That guy has very little experience. And if there’s still that disconnect between Jalen and that guy, Petullo, who they got rid of, and there’s,

Who’s now in Miami, because the NFL is just a regurgitation deal,

Yeah, but if there’s the same disconnect and the Eagles crap out early, if they fail to make the playoffs or they crap out in the first round of playoffs, you watch not only that Mania go, you watch Sirianni go, too, because I don’t know. I think that’s the reason why the Eagles crapped out, because Jalen didn’t believe in the system.

Have you ever seen a player actually argue with a coach in a playoff game on the sidelines?

I know, I know, but I think that was the key. Because if you’ve got to know C’s calling plays and all that, you’ve got to believe. That’s why Arians was so great, because he had a perfect relationship with Peyton.

Did he not drop four key passes in that game, though?

I know that too, but I think Sirianni, if the Eagles crap out early, I wouldn’t be surprised how many Mania goes, but Sirianni goes too.

I agree with you.

Peterson, he went left shortly after.

Let’s look at it from a real point of view. He has the best general manager in the game in Howie Roseman. He’s got the best owner in the game in Lurie. That team was basically set to win Super Bowls; they’d already won one Super Bowl and been to another in the last four or five years. Kelce just got done railing on A.J. Brown, so we’ll see what happens. But are you guys going to watch the All-Star game in the NBA this weekend?

Nah.

Well, I don’t even know what network it’s on – is it ESPN?

I know, I don’t even know it either. I’m going to be watching the Olympics. I’m going to be watching the alpine skiing events because that’s going to be on the weekend.

Give me some downhill skiing, baby, I’m in.

Now it’s the slalom, because downhill is done, it’s going to be the slalom. It’s the giant slalom and the regular slalom. That’s what I’m for, men and women.

Those moguls scare me. I wouldn’t do those moguls on the toboggan.

Let me make a prediction right here on Fred and the Fantastics. I predict that Art Sorce, his next newspaper will be, are you ready, Art, that you’ll get on the web, will be the Baltimore Banner. Why? They have just decided to explode their sports section to replace the Washington Post. So they’ve hired all kinds of new people.

Well, you know, the California Post, I sent them a resume and the whole shot. I want to do sports on TV in California. They said. Are you willing to move here? I said, yeah, for the right amount of money. They said, What is that? I said, 200k? They said, that’s a little out of our budget.

So, the California, the California Post.

Give me a counteroffer.

Wait a minute, the California Post is going to TV?

Well, what I’m saying is their TV section, you remember how good their TV section was with Marshawn? And I was talking about Larry Stewart on the Sports Overnight show. Because I think you really need somebody on the weekend, that on the Friday, you know, newspaper that could tell you where everything is. How to find it. On different cable sides, I mean, that’s the hardest part of the new streaming and linear TV myriad.

Laura. As we sign off Fred and the Fantastics for this show, since you are a Raiders fan, I’m going to throw you a question. Are the Raiders going to go 2-15 or 3-14 in 2027?

Neither. The Raiders are going to have a winning season, I predict. I was kind of a little tongue-in-cheek about predicting they’re going to win the Super Bowl. But I do predict, and you heard it from here, from me to here, that they are going to have a winning season.

Seven, they’re going to do it, Fred.

Laura doesn’t drink, do you?

I’ve known to get a few sips here and there.

Have you talked to Mark about picking winners?

We collaborated.

Mark and I laughed so much on Monday, you guys, because I told him, I said, I really loaded up when you said that, you just really felt like New England. And I mean, he does win one out of three. But you know what it takes to be a successful gambler, you’ve got to win like 52, 53%. I shoot about 57. Gingie, my great uncle, who’s like 90 years old, lives in Vegas. He’s 61% for his career. So I listen to Gingie, he’s good, he knows, but he hangs out with the guys that wear the real shiny jackets. And he’s been doing it for 60 years. So I mean, this guy,

Ask him about the Raiders next year,

He’s already got season tickets, the whole shot, he’s all in with the Raiders. He just wants Mark Davis to have nothing to do with the franchise; he’s going to be OK.

Well, that ain’t going to happen, that ain’t going to happen.

Art. If you were doing TV handicapping, you’d say the 57 is 67, that’s a guarantee also. All right for Matthew, for Laura, for Art, for Mario, putting the show together. Thank you, guys and gals, for listening to Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips. Bye everybody.