Hey, folks, at that time, again, Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and PodClips around the world, along with Mark Mancini, the World’s Worst Sports Handicapper, Art Sorce from Galaxy Sports, and a former kicker for the Rams and the Trojans of USC.
I want to talk about the National League MVP because Mark got a strong opinion, and I think it’s Ohtani going away.
It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t play another game this season.
We’re taping this on Friday. Right now he’s got 47 home runs and 48 stolen bases. He’s going to end
up with 50-50. Mark, why is it not Ohtani as the NL most valuable player?
Well, I don’t think you give it to a DH that doesn’t play the field. One. Number two, there’s a lot of people in
love with this guy. They gave him two MVPs and they couldn’t even get the Angels to the .500 mark.
Um, I think Bryce Harper to me is the MVP regardless of the injury
problems. The Philadelphia Phillies are going to win the World Series.
I’m telling you boys – mark it.
Okay. So he thinks the Phillies are going to win the
World Series and I think Bryce Harper is more of an out.
I mean, Bryce Harper plays the game at a better clip than Ohtani. It’s just he gets
himself dirty and everything. And Ohtani just, you know, sits for 30.
What is he, Pigpen?
Hey, Bryce Harper plays all out.
He’ll go first to third on a single.
Okay, Mark, why don’t you let me explain something to you here.
Mark, I think Bryce Harper’s a great player.
But Ohtani is still gonna win the MVP.
Art, what do you say?
And if it wasn’t Ohtani, I’d put two other guys,
Francisco Lindor or Marcel Ozuna ahead of Harper.
Because Harper’s playing first base with a bad elbow.
Every time they run on him somebody scores. The guy, the guy, and I’m not saying he’s not a great hitter.
Not a generational player. He is gonna lead Philly probably to the National League Championship Series.
Whether they win or not, I’m not sure, but Ohtani is the National League MVP this year.
Folks, you can email us at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com.
He’s doing something that nobody’s done in history, Mark, history.
I said, you know, people don’t understand this, but, you know, if he steals second base,
that stops the double play.
So I mean, so the 48 stolen bases is sort of important and again, it’s going to end
up 50-50 for the first time in the history of baseball.
Yeah, but they need to hit like .290 or something like that.
They’ve made it easier for them.
They’ve made it easier.
You can’t wear them out.
Are you talking about the pizza box bases?
Well that’s one.
The second thing is they can’t wear him out, keep going over to first, if they do it
Then they give him a stolen base as well. So
Well, I can do what the Giants used to do when Maury Wills came to town.
They’d bring the sand out off of first base and just load it was like a sandbox out there when he tried to steal.
To me, he’s not, to me, he’s not the most feared hitter because he’s, he’s had the gift of having guys –
Have you seen the Colossal shots he’s actually hit.
If you look at those three Dodgers, if you take the Dodgers and you look
at those three guys, Mookie Betts was surrounded by guys in Boston, Freeman was surrounded
by guys in Atlanta, and Ohtani was, you know, surrounded with guys in Anaheim. Where was
Barry Bonds ever surrounded with? They kept taking guys with them every year in
in San Francisco.
Surrounded by his ego.
Yeah, that’s, you know, and I think, you know,
Art was kidding, but he’s right from a lot of aspects.
You know, I’ve done these shows for a long period of time
and only one guy ever didn’t show up twice.
And that’s very –
Try to get an interview with him sometime, Mark.
It’s true.
I don’t know, but Dusty Baker actually got him
to sign a baseball for me that he hit
onto the golf course while I was practicing putting.
Wait a minute, I gotta tell you the story and that baseball is one of 11 baseballs that he ever signed
in his entire career, 11 baseballs.
But isn’t it kind of funny how whenever the name Barry Bonds comes up, it’s always tied
to steroids.
But with Ohtani –
You know what, he was a great player before he ever did a steroid.
But with Ohtani –
Mark, he was a great player before he ever did a steroid.
With Ohtani, the whole gambling thing or everything
just kind of went under the carpet somewhere,
and they never addressed the elephant in the room.
You’re gonna have to talk to Attorney General Garland about that.
No, I swear, I believe,
as important as Otani is to baseball,
something is gonna come up.
Something is going to come up
as far as the gambling is concerned,
of course, as interpreters are concerned.
I think you’re right, Fred.
His interpreter.
I know he’s right, because you know what?
Baseball needs a superstar,
and they need to grow the game internationally, because you know what?
They’re not doing a real good job
of helping out the inner cities of the kids in America play baseball.
Baseball, they have no concept of marketing to the public and the kids.
2025, you know where the Dodgers open?
They open against the Cubs.
They open against the Cubs in Japan.
And we’re going to take a break right here on Fred and the Fantastics.
All right, folks, back on Fred and the Fantastics with Art Sorce, a former kicker for the
Trojans of USC and the Los Angeles Rams. And Mark Mancini, I don’t think he kicked too
well, but he definitely is the World’s Worst Sports Handicapper.
Let’s talk some NFL this week on Sunday, the Jets at the Titans,
and I don’t know what you can say about Aaron Rogers,
he played okay, didn’t look very mobile, the Titans looked horrible, the Titans are a slight favorite,
actually the Jets are a favorite by four, last time I looked.
Who’s playing quarterback for the Titans?
Malik?
Levis.
I’ll take the other team.
You’ll take the other team. I guess you’ll take after what I saw last week.
Isn’t, isn’t Mason Rudolph –
Go ahead.
Mason Rudolph is in Tennessee too, isn’t he?
No, but Levis, Levis is going to be quarterbacking for the, for the Titans against Aaron Rogers,
and of course, Aaron Rogers being 40 you saw.
Did he look mobile at all, Art?
All I know is in those free plays where somebody jumps off sides,
there’s no greater quarterback in the history of the world.
That was funny. That was funny.
I mean, when they put that stat up, I went like, oh my God, 40 out of 42 times,
he threw touchdown passes? That’s unbelievable.
So the Jets need to find a way to get their cadence set up
so they can put him in more situations like that.
We’ll see what happens. I don’t know if I’d give four, but…
That’s a lot of points.
the Jets might win here. All right, the Giants, who might be the worst team in football,
the Commanders are not. 0-1-1 versus 0-1-1. Commanders a two and a half point favorite,
which means on a neutral field they’re dead even. Mark, who do you like, the Jets or?
That’s my upset pick of the week. Everybody’s down on the Giants. Danny Dimes is a bum.
They’re going to go into Washington and win.
Mark, who do you like?
Years ago, they did that too. They were the worst team and they went into Washington and
beat them and they beat them back at home and knocked the ‘Skins out of it. So yeah, you
might be right. That’s a trap game.
It was like last night. Did you see the numbers
of Alan playing against Miami in the last 13 games? When I saw that
13 and one.
Yeah. I was like, well, how can they even think about betting any other way? And I went
bed at halftime thinking, boy. my under was screwed. Well it hung right in there and Al said it with
two minutes left there’s only one thing left to decide.
Well, by the way, what did you guys think of the first week of the National Football League
from the point of view of uh viewability?
Tom Brady was terrible.
Tell us tell us why he thought he was terrible on Fox.
You know, he just, first of all, before you do any job, Fred,
you gotta have a couple of dry runs,
you gotta get out there, say what you have to say,
get a little rapport with Burkhardt,
who’s his play-by-play guy,
just to show up in the booth
and think you’re good enough to make it happen.
And I’m not saying he won’t be great at what he does,
but my point is he needs to put a little work into it.
I liked it.
What do you think, Mark, did you get a chance to watch him on Fox?
Yeah, yeah, I kind of, you know, you gotta, you gotta walk before you run.
He’ll, he’ll do good I mean, expertise and knowledge.
And 375 million reasons why he’ll do good?
Yeah, I mean, you know, the thing is, he’s a perfectionist, he’ll figure it out
and he’ll get better. But, you know,
There’s a third guy in the booth, Markey –
Uh, the Tyreek Hill thing was interesting on the way to the game.
Something must have happened there, I thought.
They said OBJ and him were like, racing.
That’s what I heard, according to Drew Rosenhouse and his –
I find it hard to believe somebody would actually pull you out of a car and handcuff you on
the ground if you didn’t say something to, you know, it just, I don’t know.
Every, you know my uncle always used to say –
Well, I’m going to tell you it affected the Miami Dolphins based on what we saw last night.
My, my uncle would always say, Mark, if you ever get stopped, always put your hands on the steering wheel and listen.
Ten and two.
Yeah.
OK, but Mark, let me just throw this out.
You’re not black, I’m not black.
Historically –
I was raised a poor black man.
What are you talking about, Fred?
Historically, you’re in danger.
I agree.
You’re more in danger.
Like black driving in Newport Beach, I hear you.
Aren’t you more in danger
if you’re a black guy than a white guy?
So I mean, they didn’t know who he was originally.
But Fred –
All it took was just one bad policeman, the other two guys were pretty cool.
And off of what I saw the one cop should be fired.
Right. I agree 100 percent.
I think that was just horrible and you know and of course on Thursday night he only caught three
passes for 28 yards. What are the odds of that a guy with that kind of talent?
Well, here’s the thing.
If you’re playing Miami, you’re a double-teaming Tyreek Hill.
Well, but you’ve got Waddle on the other side. I mean, that’s not bad.
And they threw the ball to Waddle a bunch. But I’m telling you, Tagovailoa was off from the start last night.
That horrible interception.
Are you telling me –
When you get the guy on the shoulder pad, he was just, he wasn’t, you know, and we’re all human beings.
you’re gonna have good games and bad games.
But what scared me is when he got hit, Fred,
for the fifth time, I basically said,
give him a hundred million dollars,
let him go back to Hawaii
because he doesn’t need to play football anymore.
This is not good for anybody.
Breaking news, it just came over the wire.
Dave Roberts has not ruled out
that Shohei Ohtani could pitch in the postseason.
What did I say? I’m telling you, they wanna win a world ball, man.
The clown show continues.
Let’s go back to Tua for a second.
Get that idea from Platsky or me three weeks ago?
He’s on the MLB thing, yeah.
What if Tua says, I want to play,
and the league says, we won’t let you play?
Who wins?
Well, I hope Lee Steinberg, who’s
his agent and the guys that are in charge,
let him know that he has nothing more to prove.
He gave it everything he had.
He signed a big contract.
He’ll honor that contract.
He’ll be the general manager or whatever he wants to be
with the Miami Dolphins for the next 30 years.
I want to know what team is going to win a Super Bowl
with a 5’7 quarterback.
That’s what I’d like to know.
Well, yeah, I know you’re kidding,
but he’s not 5’7, but it’s a-
He’s 5’9 and a half and three quarters or whatever.
Okay, but you cannot see the defenses.
You think this guy’s going to lead you to the Promised Land?
Do you think he has a great gun? He’s got a great arm?
Yeah, but,
I’m saying it straight up. I said the same thing when he was at Alabama.
Okay, but if the Dolphins would have to host a playoff game at home because they can’t win on the road in the cold.
You know, it was interesting. Another Oklahoma bench lead was Baker Mayfield last week.
He’s probably laughing at the Cleveland Browns.
Four touchdown passes.
He was player of the week in the NFC.
Don’t you think?
He was. He was voted Player of the Week.
He has to be sitting back and Cleveland’s probably going,
Connor, are we that stupid?
And we spent $260 million on this guy
and we could have had him for $100 million
and he actually took them to the playoffs.
People don’t remember he took them to the playoffs, you guys.
What is the deal with Deshaun Watson?
This guy must have to go to a nudist resort or something.
No. Hey, Mark, I don’t think anybody’s getting this.
The woman was from 2020.
It’s the same. It’s part of the same crew.
They’re the same group.
So it’s not like he’s doing it now.
Maybe he’s learned his lesson.
But people are writing this as if,
Hey, he’s gone off his rocker again, and this was five years ago.
It’s kind of a skewed.
That’s what I think too, Fred.
Until we find out what really is going on,
we all got to kind of like button our lips.
They gave him a boatload of money.
He’s only started 13 games.
That doesn’t change the performance he had last Sunday.
He was horrible.
He’s big, big.
Yeah.
We’re going to take another break right here
on Fred and the Fantastics.
Hey, we’re back on Fred and the Fantastics,
Art Sorce and Mark Mancini.
What do you guys think about Notre Dame last week losing to Northern Illinois?
The Huskies came to town and slapped them around!
Well, let me tell you something.
Having been to Notre Dame Stadium twice and never won with great teams, the USC teams of the mid-70s,
I gotta say that’s one of the great upsets. Appalachian State at Michigan, that’s one of the ones, man. God bless those guys.
And we have to be able to go in to touch down Jesus Notre Dame Stadium and pull off that kind of an upset
after Notre Dame played an unbelievable game against Texas A&M on the road in the opener.
You know, you got to you got to take your hats off to the kids.
Mark, go.
That is the only, that’s the only gratitude these teams have because most of the time,
the Goliath is just knocking Davey into another state.
I mean really when you look at it
the way the college football has these payday games, where, like Mercer State goes to Alabama,
and they get like 1.3 million to keep their program alive, while they’re like getting massacred.
Kind of like Bowling Green plays Ohio State, and Nebraska used to play Pacific –
Let’s talk about my relative’s favorite school, Michigan,
getting clobbered last week by Texas.
Art, I guess they didn’t know the signals.
I guess they didn’t know the segment.
Pat Hayden just called, and he wants Sark,
and Orgeron, and Kiffin back.
Mark, what about the Wolverines
looking just deplorable last week?
Any comments?
Well, it shows you how good Texas really is,
what Sarkisian’s built over there.
It shows you how fast Harbaugh was to leave.
Yeah, he built a powerhouse and Texas could be the team to beat, guys.
I mean, they are just-
I agree, I agree.
Yeah, they can be-
And Sarkisian learned a whole lot while he was down there with Kit.
I’ll drink to that, right?
Keep your eyes on Penn State too.
Penn State’s another good one, but yeah,
when you look at what he’s done at Texas, it’s phenomenal, man.
Well, he has the perfect personality to deal with the University of Texas alumni.
Yep, yep.
They bought into it.
They did.
It’s that Kool-Aid.
He learned that from Pete Carroll.
Pete Carroll is the purveyor of Kool-Aid.
I don’t know what’s happening in Florida State.
You know that there are some coaches –
We’ll find out this week.
Mike Norvell goes back to Memphis.
In USA Today, they mentioned on Friday that there are some coaches in the Big 12
that have a t-shirt which says, I Pay players.
We Pay Players.
Now, we were supposed to have a guest on,
he wrote “The Price: What It Takes
to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos”.
But if they’re, and I don’t think they were being funny
at USA Today, they’re being serious.
There are coaches in the Big 12, We Pay Payers.
Art, in 30 seconds, is there any way out of this once the genie’s out of the bottle?
The horses are out of the barn, the genie’s out of the bottle, and I say, here we go.
See those on the camera, folks?
That’s what college football is all about.
Yeah.
It’s who gets the greenbacks, baby, and who can raise the most to pay the most.
Mark, in 30 seconds, your final comment.
Well, Paul Skenes man, set the rookie record with 156 strikeouts.
Pirates are on a roll.
Trying to get to the Mendoza line and, you know, hey, the Pirates, you know, had a touch.
Win 20 in a row, we go to the playoffs, Mark.
All right, everybody, thank you for listening to Fred and the Fantastics. Mario, thank you very much. Art, thank you.
Mark, thank you.
I am Fred, stay tuned for many more editions of
Fred and the Fantastics on PodClips and on BLEAV.
Thank you very much.