It’s that time again, folks, that’s right, it’s on BLEAV and PodClips, Fred and the Fantastics, the Fantastics being Art Sorce, 128 years of age, former kicker for the Rams and the Trojans. And Laura Snoke, attorney and definitely a fighter for her human rights and our human rights, right here on Sports, on Believe in PodClips, anything and everything in the wonderful and wacky world of sports. And let me start with this. And folks, we’re taping this Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. By the way, November 2nd, we’re going to lose Daylight Savings, which I still don’t understand why we don’t keep it year-round. But okay, I’m a UCLA Bruin fan. We no longer have a football team. I think a lot of people realize that Foster should not start his career as a head coach with UCLA or with anybody at this level, against schools in the Big Ten now, and even schools in the Mountain West. The bottom line is, I think we knew that Martin Jarmond made a major, major mistake, and so they owe DeShaun Foster $7 million. I firmly believe, Art Sorce, that Martin Jarmond should pay some of that money out of his salary for hiring him in the first place. Your comments?

I’ve never been a big fan of him, even when he was at Syracuse. I just, I think the whole Chip Kelly debacle and the fact that the Bruins are drawing around 20-, 25-, 30,000 people in the Rose Bowl. They have to put tarpaulins up to make it look like, you know, like, what the Jaguars did down in Jacksonville. You know, I remember going to UCLA football games in the ’70s, you know, with the great coaches like Vermeil and Tommy Prothro and Donahue, and playing against them when I played at USC. And 85,000 people in the Coliseum, 90,000 in the Rose Bowl. And, you know, even in normal UCLA games at the Coliseum would draw 60-, 65-, 70,000 people. And then for a lot of years in the Rose Bowl. You know, with Terry Donahue’s teams and Bobby Toledo’s teams, who was our defensive back coach at USC in the ’70s, he had some great teams. But to see that program just drop into where they are now, I think they made a crucial mistake, Fred, by going with USC in Oregon and Washington to the to the, to the Big Ten plus Eight. I think if they’d have stayed, I think you’re going to see this Pac-12 reemerge now with a lot of West Coast teams. And UCLA would have been probably one of the top teams in that echelon, as opposed to being one of the bottom teams in the Big Ten plus Eight. And, plus, the travel for the other sports, it’s got to wear on the kids. I mean, you know, you’re taking these long-term trips from Rutgers to UCLA, you can’t have a long trip.

Laura, Let me ask you, Do you think the Big 10 is thinking exactly what Art said? They were hoping that UCLA didn’t join the Big Ten? Your comments?

I don’t think they care. I mean, I think that it’s better for the other teams, yeah. It’s just it’s really a tragedy, what’s happened with the Pac-12 and what’s happened with UCLA, and, and, and you know, I mean, it must be so horrible to play in the Rose Bowl with having so many empty seats because it’s such a huge stadium.

I played in a Shrine All-Star game there; we had 40,000 people, and literally, it felt like there was nobody there. Because that was when it used to seat, you know, with the bench seats, 100,000 people, then they put the box seats in, and now it’s 90. But, you know, the thing that really bothers me more than anything, you guys, is they had an opportunity. Who are they going to turn to? That’s what I’m trying to look at. I hear a lot of noise about one of the guys at Florida State, who’s a defensive line coach, Tony Wise. I believe his name is. I look at. You know, who can they turn to to resuscitate the program? I mean, you got Neuheisel, you got Jim Mora Jr., you know, I just don’t know who you can actually go to.

And again, the bottom line is UCLA does not pay as much as some other schools pay, so that’s going to be a problem also. Again, I don’t know how Foster got the job in the first place. Nothing against him. He’s a great running back.

What do they have against Bieniemy? By the way, I thought that would have been a great place to get your first shot. You know, he’s been with some of the great coaches, I mean, he’s a guy that’s waited his turn. If anybody deserved a crack at that job, it would have been Eric Bieniemy, in my opinion. And there’s something that I don’t know, that’s holding that poor guy back from getting a chance as a head football coach.

Thirty years ago. That’s what holds him back. We all know that story.

Okay, so are they going to hire John Gruden?

No, I know, what I’m saying is that’s what they’re holding against him. That’s the only possible reason, because, as you said,

So, he was 25 years old, he was going out with co-eds at University of Colorado.

Are you,

Talking about,

He was 25?

Yeah.

Oh, please,

Okay, talking about,

That’s what I’m saying. It’s just a three-year difference.

I mean, it wasn’t abuse, it was just dating, right? I mean, I dated an 18-year-old when I was 15.

Did you really?

He was a lucky lad.

I really did.

I had an 18-year-old girlfriend when I was 16.

I actually ran into him when I was doing a mediation. Do you believe that? After I hadn’t seen him for 36 years.

Oh my gosh.

That’s a true story.

Kitty Cat just covered her eyes back there.

Since you guys have mentioned some guys going out with co-eds and whatever, Jake Retzlaff left BYU because a woman accused him of some sexual problems.

Four TD passes last week. Fred,

That’s what I was going to say. And then, of course, he admitted, she admitted that it was consensual, but at BYU, you can’t have sex while you’re in school. So basically, he was on probation, so he transferred to Tulane this week, Tulane at Mississippi, and that’s Lane Kiffin. Art, do you have a thought about Tulane versus Ole Miss? You got a USC guy versus Jake Retzlaff?

You took it right out of me. I mean, that’s my pick. That’s one of my upsets of the week. I got them as an upset, I got Auburn against Oklahoma as an upset, I got No. 9 Illinois playing the 19th-ranked team, and they’re getting 6 1⁄2 points. I love them, I love Mizzou. And I think Florida is going to play for their coach and give Miami a rumble down in the old Hard Rock. So I’m with you on that one. I think Tulane rolls in there, the Green Wave, and they upset Ole Miss and Kiffin.

I’ve got your USC Trojans playing Michigan State.

Who do you like?

Well, it’ll be 11 o’clock at night by the time that game comes on for me.

Oh, that’s right, you’re in the East.

So let me tell you something. I’m going to be playing in a golf tournament that Saturday, too. I have a funny feeling that’s going to get taped, and I’ll watch that Sunday morning early. But I think Michigan State is gonna give them a little, they’ve played nobody, you guys, let’s be honest. I love USC. They’re 3-0, ranked 25th. But look, if they played Missouri State, Georgia Southern, which is their old coach. I’m like, Oh my goodness. And then last week, wow, that was a tough situation. Watching Purdue, and Purdue is such a beautiful university. But you know what, I think that coach has a chance to turn that program around. But I mean, I look at this, I’ll tell you what. I think Michigan State, I think Michigan State, might just sneak in there and give the Trojans a run for their money.

All right, let’s take a 30-second break right here on Fred and the Fantastics with Laura and Art, and with you, you can email us [email protected] back with more right after this.

Hey everybody, we are back on Fred and the Fantastics. You can email us [email protected] with Art and Laura. And we’ll talk about this, that, and anything in sports. Heard on PodClips and on BLEAV, and Art wants to know, Fred, what do you think about the tush-push? I hate it. The official can’t even find the ball.

They don’t know if their guys are offsides, they don’t know if they’re leaving early. I mean, how do you referee? Where’s the ball?

I don’t know how the owners could have not passed the change in March when they took the vote. And maybe you have an opinion, Art. Why would they say OK to that?

You know, the only thing I can think of, and I mean, this is kind of funny. But it’s almost as if it’s a return to the very basic beginning of football in the 19th century. I mean, the flying wedge is what it reminds me a little bit of, and you know, now I know that Hurts can actually leg press almost 900 pounds, I can see how he gets away with it. But how do they determine if a guy’s knee is down? It’s just so hard to referee the play. I don’t think it. For years, for 100 years out of 105, you couldn’t help somebody into the end zone.

Laura, do you have anything on the tush-push? In the National Football League?

I don’t like it either. I think it’s. It doesn’t even feel like it should be in the game, and they have already admitted that they blew two false starts in the Eagles game. So, I mean, it’s like, Art said, it’s impossible to officiate, I mean, nobody can find the ball. I mean, you can’t get a camera in there because there’s all these bodies around.

I want to see one day where they fake the tush-push at the 40 and then they do like in rugby, where the ball rolls out, the guy grabs it, pitches it to the guy going around the corner, because all the defensive guys,

It’s kind of like a rugby play.

That’s what I’m saying. I think that would be a great play off of that, where you fake it in there. The ball’s rolling around, he pitches it out, and the fastest guy, like the Miami Dolphin wide receiver, just takes it and runs around the corner. They go, what? What happened?

All right, we’ve improved football by getting rid of the tush-push. I have another way to get football where it should be in the National Football League. Again, 50 years from now, there’ll be no National Football League; we’ll be playing flag. But I think, and Art was a place kicker, I think the goal posts have to be narrow. Right now, it’s six yards, I think, across. I think it should be narrower.

Fred. I got to tell you, here’s my theory on that, all right. When McKay was coaching at USC, I always told him, I said, Coach, I want to get some narrow goal posts, and he looks at me, he goes, he says, Why do you want to do that? I said, because the more I narrow my focus, that way, if I try to get him inside, let’s say 12-foot goal posts, when I go to the Coliseum, the goal posts are going to look really wide. And I agree with you, Fred. In high school, they’re 24 feet. In college, for years, they were, they were 20 feet. They’ve just changed them to move them into 18’6″, and in the NFL, they’re 18′ straight up. Now, the reason college changed is because they play a lot of college games in pro stadiums. They didn’t want to have to keep changing the goal posts all the time. Makes sense. But I’m 100% in agreement with you. We got to bring those babies in two feet on each side, make them 14 feet wide, and I think that’ll make a big difference.

Laura, we have 68-yard field goals now. Aubrey of Dallas wins the game. And the game is, a big situation now, where if you get to midfield, you hike it back eight yards, that’s a 68-yard field goal. The game has changed. Laura, do you agree with Art and agree with Fred that perhaps we should narrow those goal posts?

I do. All due respect to Art, you know, I don’t like games that are won just by kicking, I mean, it’s just not as entertaining. I mean, that’s the issue with UCLA, because Los Angeles is not really a sports town, you know, like Philadelphia or Chicago, even.

Too many things to do.

L.A. is an entertainment town. And the only way that sports is entertaining is if the teams are winning. I mean, L.A. fans don’t go to losing, even,

Do you guys know the new rule in the NFL now?

What?

The kickers used to have to get the balls right out of the box and kick them on game night; now they can actually kick those footballs during the week. I’m gonna tell you something.

Oh right.

That’s a huge difference. I mean, you get some of those 350-pound guys kneeling on the ball a little bit, putting a little, rub it down. I know, for a fact, kicking the old R5 Rawlings football out of the box at USC, I would try to get other teams, like the J5V Spalding ball, if another team had that. I’d get one of our managers to grab one of those balls because they would go 10-12 yards further than the old R5 football, which was a passing ball with very narrow bottoms, right? It was a difference in 8-10 yards. Now, I wondered why this kid, Little, kicked a 70-yard field goal in preseason. Then I heard about the rule change and it made all the sense in the world. It’s like these quarterbacks going out, playing with a football that looks like it’s it might be two or three years old.

Like Deflationgate.

Thank you very much, Fred.

Tom Brady.

It’s like Deflategate without the deflating.

Now Brady’s in big trouble again because now he’s pushing the envelope with headsets on in the coaches’ box. While he’s supposed to be the network lead broadcaster, the NFL’s put themselves in another conundrum. Honest to God, Fred,

How many dollars does Roger Goodell make, seventy-five million?

Yeah.

Un-blanking-believable. Alright, we’re gonna test Laura here now. Art was a kicker for the Rams. From the age of five, I’ve been a Ram fan. Unfortunately, Laura’s been a Raiders fan. Laura, did you see the Chargers versus the Raiders in Las Vegas? Or did you stay home and watch it on TV?

No, I watched it on TV.

Why?

I did watch it, though, unfortunately. It was a very depressing game.

It was. I’m gonna tell you something, Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers,

Chargers looked good, though.

That’s what I’m gonna say. I mean, if they can get this kid healthy again, Khalil Mack, that defense looked absolutely unbelievable, and Bosa looked good, you know, for Buffalo the other night. I mean, I gotta tell you.

Khalil Mack, you will recall, played for the Raiders.

Yeah, I’ll tell you,

Another ex-Raider doing really well, like Josh Jacobs, and,

Yeah, am I crazy? Did you guys ever watch Draft Day with Costner?

Yeah, when he was the Cleveland GM?

Right? Wasn’t one of the stars Chadwick Boseman? Didn’t he play Camille Mack? Wasn’t that his name in the movie?

I believe it was, I believe it was.

What are the odds of that?

Well, I mean, the kid was awesome at Buffalo, but to be honest, I mean, he didn’t have the grades to go to a lot of other schools. But he’s a fantastic football player, and I mean, everywhere he’s been, he’s been successful. I mean, I gotta tell you, I look at the NFL right now, you guys, and Green Bay is really, what they did to be able to get Micah Parsons brought the whole level of that team to another level. Now you’ve got them, you know, you look, you look at the Eagles, you look at Buffalo, you know, Kansas City’s up against it this week, you guys. I mean, they say, 11% of teams that lose their first two games, don’t, you know, only go 11%, go to the playoffs. 0-3, it’s like 3.2%, so they have to,

They’re a six-point favorite; they’re not gonna lose that one. But okay, in our last couple of minutes, I’m gonna put you guys on the spot. Jimmy Kimmel was suspended or fired this week by ABC. Now, let me throw this out in a sports realm, okay? The Dodgers, of course, have a chance in the playoffs. No question. Mookie did not show up to bow down to Trump. I almost said something else, Trump in D.C. He did not show up, some of the players did not show up, all right. So some of Trump’s henchmen call the Dodgers, and they say, You’re not gonna play Betts in the playoffs. Or, Walters is not gonna be able to buy the Lakers, $10 billion involved. Walters, one of the owners of the Dodgers, wants to buy the Lakers for $10 billion. He’s gonna have to go in front of the Justice Department. You will not get that passed if Betts plays in the playoffs. Art, your comments.

That would be so wrong, and I would be totally amazed if that actually came to fruition. All right, Jimmy Kimmel made a comment, you guys, offhand, where he said, This guy was a MAGA guy.

Right?

Okay, and he was not a MAGA guy.

All right.

The reality of it is you can’t throw crap out there, even though it’s working on both sides. You can’t lie to the American people to make yourself look good, Fred. I don’t care if you’re a MAGA guy, if you’re the furthest left liberal, whatever you want to call yourself, you can’t, you can’t do that.

But wait a minute. Didn’t he call the shooter a MAGA guy? Not, he didn’t call,

He didn’t call Charlie Kirk, well, Charlie Kirk is a MAGA. Was a MAGA.

Yeah, he called the shooter that, and that’s not true.

He didn’t really,

That’s not really. So he’s wrong.

Did you watch the actual video?

I did. He sort of said there, he sort of said, and he did imply that for sure. But I don’t think he,

So what?

He’s not a newscaster, he’s a comedian.

Yeah,

Is he a comedian?

I mean, he’s not, he’s not,

Maybe his ratings, maybe his ratings didn’t support it.

But, but, let me ask you something,

Oh, so you think he got fired because of his ratings?

Hang on, hang on a minute,

I think Disney didn’t want to deal with all the BS, personally.

But wait a minute,

And you have Nexstar and Sinclair, which are full, far-right-leaning companies, who made, who made a statement. That’s the real reality of this, they said, look, our viewers are very upset and we, we want to make these deals with the SEC. So that’s why this all came to fruition.

But Art, again, he didn’t attack Trump.

Come on, Fred, Fred, I’ve watched him, I’ve watched him.

No, no, but in that, in that case, he didn’t.

He did.

He just was wrong about who killed him.

He did attack Trump. He said, he said that when, when the reporter asked Trump how he felt, I’m paraphrasing now, I’m not quoting, a reporter from I don’t know where, asked Trump how he felt, how he was grieving the loss of his friend. And Trump said, I’m feeling really good. Look at this beautiful ballroom that they’ve wanted for 200 years.

I saw that, I saw that.

So Jimmy Kimmel made fun of that, and that’s, in my view, that’s really what happened, because Trump can’t, Trump, unlike, unlike Art Sorce,

He doesn’t take criticism really well,

He cannot take a joke.

He has, like, no sense of humor. I mean, the guy has no sense of humor whatsoever. And being called like, compared to a four-year-old who mourns a goldfish really pissed him off. And that’s why he called his friend Bob Iger and said, Get rid of that M-F guy, and that’s how it works. Or, or else, I’m not going to, I’m going to. And they’re already threatening to pull licenses of people who criticize the president. I mean, free speech for MAGA?.

Let me ask you, let me ask you guys a question real quick.

Free speech for MAGA and, and the others get thrown in jail?

Okay, let’s touch on the Epstein thing. The Democrats had two years of complete control, and nothing happened with Epstein. Then they had two more years where they still were in control of a couple of the houses and, and the presidency, and they did nothing. Now they want everything released. Did you watch Kash Patel and the senator from New Jersey?

Yeah.

Do you think that’s? That’s the kind of stuff we need in the United States Senate, that we need that kind of by-play?

I mean, I need to know, I need to know if the president is a pedo or not.

Do you need to know?

Yeah.

I think we all should know if he’s a pedo.

Well, we know that he’s been accused by, like, 18 women of sexual abuse.

I think he likes women; I don’t think he likes little kids.

And convicted of sexual abuse or found liable for sexual abuse. And, admitting that he liked to grab women’s you-know-whats because he’s a star, so I mean, I don’t know if he likes younger girls or not.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Now, I’ve heard, I’ve also heard stuff about Joe Biden, I’ve heard stuff about Bill Clinton, I’ve heard stuff about almost every one of these men and women. So, I mean,

That’s why the Democrats didn’t want to release them.

That’s right, exactly, that’s what I’m trying to say. It’s like, Wow, who are our leaders here?

I’m not apologizing for the Democrats. And I’m certainly no big fan of Bill Clinton. But nobody in the history of our country has ever, has ever stifled free speech like this administration. Ever. Like they do in The New York Times. Let me tell you this: I’m a lawyer, I’ve prepared a number of complaints on defamation. First of all, the complaint is one cause of action. It’s 65 pages. It looks like Trump wrote it. I couldn’t find any legal justification for anything that he says in this complaint. You treated me horribly, he said to a reporter, and we’re going after you because you treated me horribly. I mean, what are we talking about here?

I think both sides, I think both sides have to cool it down. I mean, when you run, when you run for the southern section of New York, when you run saying, I’m going to get this guy, that’s really not right.

I’m just talking about free speech, you know? There is a legitimate discussion among people that are way smarter than I am as to whether or not there should even be a First Amendment. I mean, there isn’t, there’s a right to restrict hate speech in Germany. In Germany, you can’t talk, you can’t say Sieg Heil, or I believe in,

Or yell fire in a theater.

You can’t say that, you know, but we don’t have that here, we don’t have that prohibition against speech.

Okay, what’s going on in England, you guys? Why are the British, who, parliamentary procedure? I mean, we all watched, you know, the great series they had talking about, you know, the Thirties and the forties, with, you know, the Communists coming in. And that was all part of it, you know, with the razor blades and whatever that series was called. I mean, are we just not doing the same thing over and over, decade after decade?

I mean, does socialism really work?

Century after century? Yeah, does socialism really work? Where has it worked? That’s my question.

Art, I have to say this,

And the VA, it works, socialized medicine works great in the VA. That is an example of socialized medicine. And I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been, I say, if you pay taxes, I think you should be covered. I mean, it’s fantastic, it is,

Let me, let me,

And one of the greatest medical institutions in our country.

I’m dying to hear Fred.

Cleveland. Sorry.

Let me just say this. I have followed politics since the age of five because my mom was deeply involved in it. There’s been no human being like the guy in D.C. now. Not even close. And I don’t care if Biden’s mentioned, if he’s mentioned, we should know he’s mentioned. If Clinton’s mentioned, wouldn’t be shocked at all, I don’t think there’s any question. But if Trump’s mentioned, he’s the one that’s stopping it now. And that is the problem. But before we go, I want to go back to the original question. Do you guys really think it’s out of the question that, because Betts didn’t show due respect, that Trump’s so upset that he goes to the Dodgers, I’m just throwing this out, and you’re saying,

No, it’s not,

No, no, what I’m saying, let’s say that he goes to the Dodgers and he says, You’re not going to play him. Or if you play him, you’re not going to get your $10 billion buy of the Lakers okayed by our Justice Department.

Okay, he’ll be, he’ll be impeached in five minutes if that happens.

Why do you say that?

Because that’s wrong, that has nothing to do,

How’s that? Any different than Kimmel?

Because it was the networks and the people, Sinclair and Nexstar who made that decision. They went to Bob Iger, they went to Bob Iger and said, Look, the guy absolutely lied on national TV. He’s been going after Trump incessantly. Okay? His ratings are the fourth from the bottom in that time slot. He basically, hey, listen, the guy’s worth $100 million. Am I going to cry any tears for Jimmy Freaking Kimmel? No, he’s a sad piece of work.

You should cry tears for the First Amendment.

And business decisions are not. Business decisions are not supposed to be dictated by the Executive Branch of the government. They’re supposed to be dictated by the free market, not by the government. And if ABC wanted to fire Kimmel because of ratings, they could have done it for the last, I mean, how many years he’s been online? They only did it because Trump told them to do it, and I don’t think it’s, I think it’s completely, that that could happen,

I would love to hear the substantiation. I would love to see the true substantiation for that claim, and I might be able to deal with it.

What I would do is faint if Betts all of a sudden gets an injury and doesn’t play in the playoffs, that’s all I can tell you. All right. For Art, for Laura, for Mario. Thank you guys and gals for listening to Fred and the Fantastics, and stay tuned all the time. Back with more later. Bye everybody.

And remember, everybody, we love everybody.