Hey, folks, it’s that time again, Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV in PodClips.
Laura Snoke with us, known Laura a long, long time, attorney Laura Snoke.
Andy Baran from Connecticut, my cousin, with us.
And Art Sorce, former kicker for the Rams and the Trojans of USC, with us.
And we’ll discuss anything at all in the wonderful and wacky world of sports.
You know what’s wacky this week, and we’re taping this on Friday, folks.
So on Saturday, UCLA plays LSU and USC plays Michigan.
And guess what? The same time.
So one’s on ESPN, one’s on ABC and one’s on CBS.
Art, do you have any comments about that?
Well, I gotta tell you, I feel bad for my boys.
The Trojans are gonna have to go into the Big House in Ann Arbor.
And I think they’re gonna wind up playing
a pretty surly Michigan team that still has a lot of talent. And on the other hand, you know,
you look at a team like LSU who, you know, Brian Kelly’s not happy with them. And yet the Bruins,
you know, are looking at getting 24 points tomorrow, the spread’s down to about 22 right now.
But I have a sneaking suspicion that the Bruins might play LSU really tough because the LSU
back four, the safeties and the corners, have very little discipline and if
Garbers, who I think is a pretty decent quarterback can get his receivers you
know on crossing patterns, and, and running that Chip Kelly offense that
they still have there, I think they’ve got a chance to, maybe not pull an upset,
but they can make it a good game, so that’s how I look at that those two ball games.
But that’s ridiculous playing them at the same time – it makes no sense.
Laura, let me ask you, 12:30 for the UCLA game and 12:30 for the USC game, which game you’re
going to be watching?
And now you’re asking me to go with my head or my heart.
Yeah, there you go.
My heart would be watching UCLA, but I think the SC game is going to be a better game.
I hope you’re right, Art, but I don’t really think UCLA has a chance against LSU.
But that’s why I like them because nobody’s given them a chance and that mentality of like 60 guys
Because that’s how many guys you get to take on the road
Kind of coming together saying what do we have to lose?
Because everybody has already said all the Bruins over there and have any chance this year
Well, you know what? They still have a lot of talent in that ball club. I guarantee you that much.
So I just have a sneaky suspicion and well, I hope I’m right.
Andy Baran, I know you’re not supposed to –
It’s an easy decision in our house, Fred.
The Baran house is a Michigan house, right?
So this is an easy one.
There you go.
I knew that was coming.
But my question is,
obviously the Big Ten now is UCLA
and the Big Ten is USC.
Shouldn’t they have said something?
The networks, we don’t wanna play
at the same time simultaneously?
I just don’t think it makes any sense.
And not just for the people in Los Angeles.
No, it dilutes the audience completely, Fred.
It’s crazy.
It is a little crazy.
Well, there’s 52 games on TV tomorrow.
That’s another thing that’s crazy.
I mean, seriously.
At what point in time, when I was playing football, you know,
back in those those nether, nether years, if you got one or
two games on a Saturday, you know, it was like unbelievable.
Now, 52 games are being televised nationally.
And there are three games tonight, Friday night,
including a Stanford at Syracuse.
If I was a high school player,
I’d be upset about that too.
All right, listen, we’re talking college again.
And folks, for the folks outside of Southern California,
you may not follow this that closely.
Loyola Marymount is a small school.
Their best basketball player transferred to UCLA.
They’re not getting any NIL money.
So they dropped six sports very quietly.
Now, I’m going to repeat, that NIL thing is the worst thing that ever happened to collegiate sports and all of us, I think,
and already did make money playing for the Trojans.
We all wanted the players to make some money, but we didn’t want the fact of a quarterback making $7 million and somebody else making $30 or $40,000.
We wanted everyone to make the same on the 85 man roster,
and we didn’t want it to come from sponsors that the players themselves sold.
We wanted we wanted the school to go out and get the sponsor
and the NCAA to go out and get the sponsor.
They have wrecked the collegiate game, in my opinion.
There’s a lot of ADs right now that are having to hold off their,
you know, putting new facilities together or refurbishing their stadiums,
because to compete at the highest level, they need to come up with 20,
minimum of $25 million to give these guys the money that they want to
have. Well, you know, the alumni are getting hit, you know, coming and going
on this thing. And at what point in time, you know, does, does this not
make any sense at all? And believe me, I think if you could play college
football and make a couple of hundred grand a year, you ought to be happy as a lark.
Okay. But do you have one guy making, like you said, Fred, $7 million and the offensive tackle,
who’s in charge of blocking for him, making $40,000, at what point in time,
as we’ve always talked about, is, you know, one of the sharps from Vegas going to show up to
the tackle and say, hey I got $200,000 that says you let the guy make three sacks tomorrow.
Laura let me ask you something, you live in southern California, did you even read the story that Loyola dropped six?
No, and I’m a, I went to Loyola Law School. So I get, I
get communications from them as an alumnus. And I didn’t hear
about that at all. Very sad.
It is.
Women’s swimming and five other sports, because they weren’t making enough money from NIL.
What about the kids that went there for a reason they wanted to be in Los Angeles. Let’s say they lived in San Francisco.
Hey, I got recruited to swim for Loyola.
What a beautiful campus, too.
A beautiful campus, and there’s no longer a team.
There’s no longer, for those six teams, that the Loyola bosses dropped.
Fred, do they pull scholarship money from all the kids who are on those teams?
I don’t know.
Well, they’re not going to be playing it.
They’re going to have to transfer.
I’ve swum in that pool. It’s a beautiful pool.
I, that’s, they’ve got great facilities, I’ve seen their sports facilities.
I don’t know how the NCAA didn’t see this coming.
Like, how did they not see these, these pitfalls in their plan?
Well, you know, and here’s the other thing, Andy, on the same thing.
If you look at what the Southeastern Conference teams make in terms of all the
other conferences compared to the ACC, the Big 12, the Big Ten, they’re making
almost $55 million a team from their network contract.
Which is double what the Big 12 makes, triple what the Big, the, the, the,
the Big Ten, triple what the Big 12 and four times what the ACC makes.
Right.
And now, you know, you’re wondering why the PAC 12 wants to bring four new teams in and,
and try to get back together with San Diego State and all these other schools.
There’s so much money in college football, and college football and basketball basically fund all the other sports.
But they haven’t figured out the proper way of dividing it, I guess.
Well, and you know what?
There’s been these, these non-conference games in the past have always been these high run-up scores,
but now it’s varsity playing against JV and it’s almost dangerous because –
It is 73 to nothing at halftime.
Or like the schools of the big money are attracting all the best players.
And it’s just it’s, it’s varsity versus JV on the field. It’s crazy.
All right. This is Fred in the Fantastics.
We’ll take a quick break and come back with a whole lot more.
All right, everybody, back on Fred and the Fantastics with cousin Andy Baran, good friend Laura Snoke.
Hey, Shohei’s on the phone, Fred.
He wants to talk to you about his…
Shohei Ohtani’s on the phone.
He wants to talk to you about what a great night he had last night in Miami.
He wagered big money and he came out on top. No question.
Ten RBIs and three home runs and a couple of stolen bases and Sean Green no longer holds
the all-time Dodger record for home runs with 49 as Ohtani goes over the 50 mark.
Let’s talk about the National Football League this weekend.
An interesting game, I think.
The Ravens 0-2 at the Cowboys 1-1.
Cowboys losing last week at home for the first time,
I think in 15 or 16 games.
They have the Ravens a slight favorite.
Ravens 0-2, Cowboys 1-1.
Laura Snoke, you’re going to probably watch that one.
Who do you like?
I like the Ravens. I like the Ravens.
I thought the Raiders kind of pulled that game out.
I mean, they could have very easily lost that game.
So yeah, I like the Ravens in that game.
I like the Ravens as a team.
I mean, they’re just a great team to watch.
I love Lamar Jackson.
I think you’re going to get a healthy dose of Derek Henry.
So who do you like, Denard, who do you like?
I like Baltimore as well, because that team has too much talent to be 0-3 and Dallas
showed me absolutely nothing against the New Orleans Saints, unless the Saints are marching,
you know, to a, to a Superbowl.
But I mean, all I can think of is, you know, when, when you’re 0-3, I think the
percentages are between 3 and 5% of making the playoffs and Baltimore was considered
one of the top four teams in the in the league going into the season and in Dallas their defense,
but Dallas they can look so good one week and then the next week you don’t even know who they are.
And right now, again folks, we’re taping this on Friday. CeeDee Lamb they’re not sure if he’s
going to play and of course he’s their best wide receiver. Andy Baran, you’re –
Yeah I’m in the same boat here. I mean, Baltimore has got to be as good of an O-2 team as I’ve seen,
right? They’re, they’re better than their record. I don’t, I don’t see them
drop into O-3. They know the stakes. They’re there. I still think
they’re a playoff team for, you know, and, and, you know, given the talent
that’s on that team and their quarterback, I see them coming out and
making sure that they don’t lose that game.
All right. How about the Packers at the Titans on Sunday? Let’s see what the odds are.
The odds are the Titans actually a two and a half point favorite at home.
The Packers going without Jordan Love.
Art, who do you like?
I don’t like Will Levis.
He’s got to learn how to, well, I think the coach actually said it best, Callahan.
He said, maybe we should just punt on first down and then we won’t make any mistakes.
But I mean, honest to God, I look at that game and you got Malik Willis going back to
Tennessee, the quarterback from Liberty. You know, you’ve got a great defense in
Tennessee, but I gotta tell you, I just think the Green Bay, Green Bay has got
a great defense. I love the way they played last week without, without love.
So I would have to take the points on the road in that game. Um, I don’t think
it’s gonna be high scoring. I see 20 to 17, maybe Green Bay, something of that nature.
Laura, do you have an opinion on the Packers without Jordan Love against the Titans.
I think the Packers are going to win the game, but I think it’s going to be close. I think it’s
going to be a low-scoring game. I think the team that doesn’t make mistakes is going to win that
game. The team that doesn’t turn it over or just make bonehead plays, like getting a lot of…
And your running back last year for the Raiders, Josh Jacobs. One heck of a running back.
You know, all the Raiders exiles are playing very well, including Derek Carr in New Orleans.
Yes. So I was going to comment on –
Don’t get me started on the Raiders.
Andy Baran, as Laura tells you, and we’ve told you, big Raider fan, Raiders are
five and a half at home against the Carolina Panthers 0-2 switching quarterbacks.
So you have an opinion, Andy Baran, five and a half at home?
Yeah, I think they’ll cover that.
I think they’re a better team.
That’s my bet of the week, actually.
Yeah, I mean, they’re able to go to the back of quarterback
because they have a guy who’s a veteran who can win you some games.
But he’s not dynamic at this stage in his career.
You’re talking Andy?
Andy.
Andy Dalton?
Andy Dalton.
Yeah, I mean, he’s safe, right? He’ll do all right.
He’ll, he’ll keep the seat warm until they decide to go back to the young guy.
Um, but I don’t, I don’t see them making a whole lot of noise.
Are you, are you a big fan of the, of the owner, uh, David Tepper?
I don’t know. Um, I don’t know that I have strong feelings either way with him.
Okay. Cause a lot of people in Carolina, I’ve got a lot of relatives that live down there
and, you know, they were going to build a, really a beautiful facility for the ball
club and halfway through the damn thing, they decided they weren’t going to do it
anymore. So he, you know, he laid out $200 million and then said, forget it.
We don’t want it. And I mean, to blame a young quarterback who really doesn’t
have much of a supporting cast, to be honest with you, for their start. And I
mean, I don’t know. Dave Canales may be a brilliant offensive mind, but he has
the toughest job in the National Football League, in my opinion, based
on the talent level of that team.
Laura, put you on the spot, five and a half, and your Raiders.
Oh, the Raiders are going to win, for sure.
No question about it.
I think they’re going to cover the spread.
I think they’re going to, it’s going to be a blowout.
All right, Fred and the Fantastics.
Laura, 30 second final comment. What’s going on in sports?
I’m just I’m just wondering what everybody thinks about how, what about Bryce, Bryce’s future in as a quarterback in the NFL.
I mean, he certainly hasn’t, he, like Art said, he doesn’t have much of a supporting cast.
He also has some, you know, a learning curve that he doesn’t hasn’t seemed to quite come hasn’t seemed to quite get gotten over.
Um, you know, it’s been football’s been great.
I think it’s interesting that the whole change in the kickoff rule hasn’t seemed to result in anything more,
anything particularly different than any other kickoff returns we’ve seen for the last few seasons.
Um, there haven’t been some huge, dramatic, um, runbacks, um, yes, it’s
The kickers are getting really lonely. That’s what I’m hearing.
Cause they’re out there all by themselves, but they’re used to that.
All right, so Art, is Bryce Young the kind of guy that can play well for another team,
or what do you think?
I think the kid has talent. I think, you know, you saw what he could do at Alabama,
given, you know, the supporting cast around him. I don’t think he’s a dynamic. I even said that
I like Stroud better than him as the number one pick, and I think it’s been proven out, although
it’s only been one year. I think the kid, given the opportunity, matter of fact, if I was the Raiders,
I would think about maybe going and getting somebody like that and, and because I think the
kid has great potential and, and I look at Minshew and O’Connell and I agree with what Laura said,
those guys aren’t going to take you to the Promised Land, but maybe a guy like Bryce
Young with a new start, a fresh start with, with the talent that Mark Davis is going to
provide for him. Maybe that’s what he needs. Maybe he needs a fresh horizon, a new start.
You know, I mean –
I kind of think, I wish the Raiders would have taken Colin Kaepernick when he was available.
Wow.
Oh, that’s I’ll throw some controversy out here, because he was a very talented guy and
he got kind of got blackballed,
Yeah, he did.
But the Raiders have a way of ignoring those things.
So I was kind of surprised that they actually didn’t.
Well, that’s great. The Raiders are. They are.
They do have a history of ignoring those things.
And it’s funny you say, I don’t think that’s controversial.
And as time goes by and you look back that whether or not he was good enough to play at the level any
longer, I don’t know, but he deserved a chance. And it’s really unfortunate that no one gave him
that chance.
I agree.
Finally, Art, in 30 seconds, your final comment.
Well, you know, it’s a great time for football. You’ve got the pennant races coming in to focus now, you know, the hunt for
October in baseball. You got the NBA getting ready to go to training camp. It’s a marvelous
time for the world of sports and I’m just really looking forward to tomorrow’s SC – Michigan game.
I think it’s going to be one heck of a game. I got to play in two Rose Bowls against Michigan
and I’ve actually been in that stadium and I don’t think the SC guys are ready to deal with
107,000 crazy Michiganders. So it’s going to be a very interesting ball game.
All right, for Art, for Laura, for Cousin Andy, for Mario, thank you guys and gals listening
to Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips, back with more sooner than you
think.
Bye, everybody.