See Thru Uniforms And Other Strange Sports News

[00:00:00] 2-2, you have got to be kidding me! What in the world?

[00:00:09] This is a presentation of Hobson Media. Woohoo!

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[00:00:19] This is the Church Pew Sports podcast featuring a group of pastors delivering

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[00:00:47] As the Church Pew Sports podcast begins.

[00:00:50] It's more like a baseball bat than a kneecaps.

[00:00:53] That man next to you is somebody that gots to heaven today!

[00:00:56] We ain't got tomorrow, we got now.

[00:00:59] Man we welcome you into another episode of Church Pew Sports where we got now.

[00:01:04] We ain't got tomorrow, we got now and now is May has started.

[00:01:08] We're in the month of May already, it's hard to believe.

[00:01:11] We're glad you're along with us on this journey of connecting sports and faith and life

[00:01:15] and having some fun along the way as we do it.

[00:01:18] I hope you'll forgive my stuffed-up-edness that is actual medical condition.

[00:01:22] I'm stuffed-up-edness as we get things started.

[00:01:25] Paul Miller, it's good to see you again tonight joining me remotely

[00:01:30] as we have a wide-ranging, far-flung discussion about all sorts of things in the world of sports.

[00:01:38] Yes I'm very excited.

[00:01:41] We're on the leading edge of the Summer Dead period where there's not a whole lot to do as a sports fan.

[00:01:50] Once we get to the end of the NBA playoffs and the NHL playoffs,

[00:01:54] we're going to be left with golf and tennis and baseball, which for some people is okay.

[00:01:58] I should probably throw a NASCAR in there.

[00:02:00] For others it's a little sparse and so it's actually the time of year where we get to have a little fun

[00:02:06] with some of our topics.

[00:02:07] We're going to do a little bit of that tonight but we are going to kind of debrief

[00:02:12] the first month of the Major League Baseball season

[00:02:16] and there's nobody that I would rather have that conversation with than Scott Holmgren

[00:02:23] and special first-time guest Anna Marie Holmgren.

[00:02:28] Welcome to the both of you.

[00:02:30] I'm wondering when you guys found out that we wanted you to do this.

[00:02:35] I'm wondering how that conversation went and if there was any like,

[00:02:38] well who's going to say what and who's going to talk first in the next few seconds.

[00:02:41] Rehearsal. Rehearsal.

[00:02:43] Not at all. We are improvising.

[00:02:46] We are riffing at ease right now.

[00:02:49] We're making it up but yeah, thank you.

[00:02:51] I just walked out and I said, guess what?

[00:02:53] You're going to be on the podcast.

[00:02:55] There you go.

[00:02:56] That's how your agent behaves Anna Marie.

[00:02:59] I mean that's what I call, you know, speaking on behalf of your client,

[00:03:04] I would think he would come to you with hat in hand and say,

[00:03:07] should it be pleasing to you?

[00:03:10] We would love to hear your voice on the podcast, not the way he just put it.

[00:03:14] Well, I think you get what you pay for, right?

[00:03:17] Well, plus Scott's now a big time podcast producer and host Paul.

[00:03:22] So we're lucky when we can even get him on anymore after his latest foray.

[00:03:28] Yes, his new podcast Breaking Bad, I mean Breaking Nations.

[00:03:33] We'll maybe talk about that as we get further into this conversation,

[00:03:36] but we do have some traditions we have to uphold on the front end.

[00:03:40] Anna Marie, every first time guest on church pew sports answers the same hazing question.

[00:03:45] And just because you're married to one of our frequent guests on the podcast does not absolve you from this question.

[00:03:54] So here you go.

[00:03:56] We need to know who are the sports teams, any sport, any level that you follow as at what I would call irrational levels so that people who watch you in your sports fandom go.

[00:04:12] What is up with her?

[00:04:14] So who would that be for you?

[00:04:16] Yeah, I love that you gave me that caveat of what you call irrational because it's totally rational to me.

[00:04:22] This is what I've got to say.

[00:04:24] I was super excited to see that, you know, Bill had a shirt that said Cardinals on it.

[00:04:29] But as I looked closer alas, it is not my beloved St. Louis Cardinals.

[00:04:35] But that would have to be the team for me.

[00:04:38] And two years ago, Scott gave me the gift of a lifetime and I finally got to see my first Cardinals game live after a lifetime of pulling weeds in the garden and listening to baseball and the radio.

[00:04:53] And becoming a not just a baseball fan, but a Cardinals fan to actually step into Cardinal Nation.

[00:05:01] Step into that place and then to have it be the first game that Albert Pujols returned at first base.

[00:05:09] And then I get a Pujols ball at the end of the game.

[00:05:14] The fact that our wedding picture is not up on a mantle, but that Pujols ball is in a protective case.

[00:05:22] I think that's totally rational. That's all I'm saying.

[00:05:24] How did you get that ball?

[00:05:26] My husband and his amazing ways.

[00:05:30] Wow, that's pretty cool.

[00:05:32] I have by the way, one time been to a game at Bush Stadium.

[00:05:38] I was in St. Louis for a conference, a ministry conference and a few of us decided to blow off a session, which you're supposed to do at ministry conferences.

[00:05:47] And buy tickets, walk up tickets.

[00:05:50] And we ended up on a scorching June afternoon sitting in the uncovered unshaded bleachers basically feeling like ants at the picnic under the magnifying glass.

[00:06:02] And what I will long remember is that there were two guys sitting in front of us who were they were they were friends and they were having a good time when they were loud.

[00:06:12] And they were betting each other on the outcome of certain at bats.

[00:06:16] And one guy says to the other, okay, enough of this because he had lost a few of them in a row.

[00:06:21] He says, I'm going to give you 10 to one odds that before this game is over, I'm going to catch a grand slam home run ball.

[00:06:33] I mean, you talk about crazy. And we were sitting like in the left center field bleachers so I guess theoretically it could happen.

[00:06:42] Everybody gives you know, he bets him $100 or something.

[00:06:45] So several innings later, Cardinals load the bases and everybody's starting to chatter out in our little section of the bleachers.

[00:06:54] Those of us who were still alive after not melting into a dehydration puddle of sweat.

[00:07:00] And sure enough, a bomb is launched in our direction.

[00:07:05] It is coming in and I am sitting there like this is actually going to happen.

[00:07:10] I cannot believe this.

[00:07:11] And it was caught by a guy like three seats down.

[00:07:15] Wow.

[00:07:16] That's my all time.

[00:07:18] That's my all time cardinal memory and it has nothing to do with the team.

[00:07:21] It was just like the craziest wager moment ever.

[00:07:24] Now, for our listeners who've been with us for a while, you'll remember that Scott and Anna Marie have have road tripped a lot to to half the major leagues stadiums and they've got some more on the bucket list still to come.

[00:07:39] So, I, you know, before we talk about the actual on the field product these days, I would, I think it's time for you guys to share some travel hacks.

[00:07:48] Some things that you've discovered about the best way to enjoy the ballpark experience.

[00:07:54] Stay married.

[00:07:55] Yep.

[00:07:56] The nastiness of airports and hotels and all that stuff.

[00:07:58] Give us some give us some travel baseball fan travel hacks.

[00:08:03] Well, the first thing I'll say is make it comfortable.

[00:08:06] Right.

[00:08:07] So one of the things I always try to do is when you scope out where the ballpark is get get up if you're going to stay at a hotel find some place as close to the ballpark as possible so that you can just take it easy.

[00:08:19] You don't have to mess with parking.

[00:08:21] If you can walk if you can cross the street, that's even better.

[00:08:24] So several times we've tried to, you know, stay at the place right across the street, get out walk around in the morning.

[00:08:30] Enjoy some lunch and then get there early.

[00:08:32] It does make a lot easier when you're not having to worry about parking or you have to worry about taking a bus or the train or whatever makes for a much more enjoyable experience, especially afterwards.

[00:08:42] No waiting in a parking lot.

[00:08:44] Although when we were at Chavez ravine in LA there was no way to dodge that bullet so but go easy on yourself make it easy make it fun.

[00:08:52] That's my first tip.

[00:08:53] Yeah, and it's just easy for us to have fun.

[00:08:56] It's with the game that we love and we we as Scott said, we get there right when they opens and we just try to absorb everything including the people.

[00:09:07] I remember when we were in Atlanta got there early enough for my eyes to be opened to the number of workers that were required flipping hot dogs and hamburgers and getting those ready and there was about six or seven people behind it and I just went.

[00:09:25] Can I just tell you guys I appreciate you and can I get a picture with y'all because this is all part of my experience as well.

[00:09:32] So you got to look for those things that probably you wouldn't know to look for in terms of just the human interest and the people part of what's going on for the park, at least for me.

[00:09:41] And of course it helps me tremendously to have an incredibly fun and patient husband like Scott because Scott knows that even before we get to our seats.

[00:09:49] I've made about 10 new friends because there's about 10 people that have got stories for me that I need to hear.

[00:09:55] When we showed up in Seattle and my wife was in a boot brace because she had broken her ankle and on either side of us were two other people with Velcro wrapped appendages.

[00:10:06] We thought, okay, we were in the right row.

[00:10:08] This is the walking wounded row.

[00:10:10] And then you have a great time, right?

[00:10:12] As long as you get to meet the people.

[00:10:14] Yeah, I had broke my ankle two days before and we were in California and I said, well, thank you Lord for Amazon.

[00:10:21] Here comes a boot.

[00:10:22] Here comes a knee scooter.

[00:10:23] I'm not missing being able to see the Mariners play at home.

[00:10:26] I mean, this is our bucket list.

[00:10:28] You guys know this.

[00:10:29] You've been talking about it.

[00:10:30] And I finally get down there, have all down there with some assistance and all kinds of other people with boots and wraps come on.

[00:10:38] And I just said, hey, take your murderers row.

[00:10:41] We've got Velcro row right here.

[00:10:43] So we embrace all of it as much as we can.

[00:10:46] And I'll tell you, I'm a geek.

[00:10:49] I've got an MLB stadium passport book and I go right to customer service and I get a stamp and the date that I was there and Scott is the detail guy and remembers so much about each park and then we spend the night just after the game putting it all down with ink and on the paper and we have a good time.

[00:11:12] That's okay.

[00:11:13] So I'm just thinking about how many men are listening to this podcast right now and going.

[00:11:19] How did you pull that off Scott?

[00:11:22] How did you marry someone who is into sports like you are so my question is, who was the baseball junkie first or was it kind of that was one of the things that brought you guys together or how did that happen?

[00:11:36] I will say the Lord says his ways are far higher than our ways.

[00:11:41] So I have no answer.

[00:11:42] I have no rational reason why I am blessed to have such an amazing wife.

[00:11:47] But you know what, it all started when we first were dating right when I found out her dad was a coach and brothers were all athletes right and I love sports and it just became sort of part of our dating experience.

[00:11:59] So we actually traveled to Texas to see her younger brother in a soccer tournament, which was awesome.

[00:12:04] And you know it just kind of went on from there right and when we were younger in the early 90s right that was when Jordan was doing his thing with the bulls so there was always sports around and the love of baseball has been really you know a core piece of the fun that we had together.

[00:12:22] So I played ball and coached and as a kid we would pack up the station wagon go down to Central Illinois and watch my dad catch behind the plate and hit and all the things so there was certainly seeds that were planted.

[00:12:34] I'm sandwiched in between two brothers, sports are just a part of my life.

[00:12:39] But baseball what's not to love and and and whether it's baseball or NFL or whatever sport your husband loves I would just have to say you love this man so you know our case is different.

[00:12:51] I came into this marriage absolutely loving America's pastime, but you love the man and so you learn to love the things he loves and you take an interest in it and you just watch what God does when he when he grows that.

[00:13:05] I knew nothing about the Civil War before I met Scott and you gave him a nice plug about his podcast beforehand and it doesn't it hasn't reached the level like I'm not going to be going to every single Civil War battlefield.

[00:13:18] Not yet.

[00:13:22] So under the auspices that it's easier always easier to spend some other people's money than your own.

[00:13:30] Paul I have to think that they are just just one step away from getting an RV.

[00:13:36] I mean there's no reason to not have a Madden cruiser the Holmgren cruiser to make their way to the rest of the ballpark on the list and just forget all of the air travel.

[00:13:46] Yeah, I know you're kind of joking but I want to know seriously have you ever talked about getting an RV.

[00:13:53] Absolutely not. You have to remember I worked in the hospitality industry so for me it is hotel city all the way.

[00:14:02] And by hotel industry you know he means the Ritz Carlton so and we had the wonderful thrilling experience of meeting our first grandchild when our son and daughter in law was still in the army.

[00:14:15] And station at that time they were living in an RV so we got a taste of it.

[00:14:20] And I can imagine it's fun to be behind that big wheel driving that big rig. It's a lot of work though.

[00:14:27] Yeah, I would think so too. All right let's get you onto the field let's get between the between the white lines and baseball is it's a month in really to its to its season and you start to see some trends developing you pick up on some early surprises and some under performers and some

[00:14:44] uniforms that we can all see through and I'm curious as to what you would list as your kind of your big early season didn't see that coming players.

[00:14:57] Yeah, you know so as you think about the off season and all the money that got thrown around right just just stop with the LA Dodgers right well many half a billion dollars that they wound up spending one of the guys behind besides signing show hey to his long term contract

[00:15:13] was a pitcher from Japan a guy named Yashinobu Yamamoto and he got 300 million he got a pretty sizable contract. And so there were high expectations with him and after opening day, he's doing fine right has got a 350 er so he's made six starts

[00:15:32] he's okay, but it's my cubs who actually signed another Japanese import a pitcher by the name of showed it in an aga. He has been incredible for my team he has an 0.98 era through six starts.

[00:15:50] He has won more games than given up to earn runs he's won four games and only given up three earned runs and a whole all his starts. So he has by definitely out shown the higher profile Japanese pitcher and that sets, but then there's some other players

[00:16:07] you know we all we will all root for one Soto being in New York and Jose Al two base heaven is normal. Great start to the year, but a name from the past would be Marcelo Zunia and my wife knows Marcelo Zunia this is kind of one of the things I thought about is, can my wife name the players or does she

[00:16:24] know who they played for because Marcelo Zunia used to play for St. Louis Cardinals there you go okay. That's the Sunday school question.

[00:16:35] You know, I don't know Jesus. He's hitting well over 300 he's having a heck of a start to the season so he's doing he's doing real well.

[00:16:43] And then there's all these young pitchers and this is what I love is especially the guys you don't expect in the National League and the American League there's a guy named Ranger Suarez. He's pitching for the Phillies he's got a 132 era Boston has this amazing pitcher get this his name is cutter Crawford.

[00:17:00] Now if that's not a pitcher name. I don't know what is cutter Crawford his era is 135 and then bill you cannot bat an eye at young character school for the Detroit Tigers. He's he's got a 172 era so there are plenty of guys coming right out of the gate in this first month and bring

[00:17:20] in some smiles to the fans in those cities. Yeah so who's on the opposite side of that ledger book and the underperformers that everybody was counting on a little little bit more pop in the bat or perhaps performance on the mound.

[00:17:33] Sure, well nobody's favorite player Tim Anderson. You might remember him and that little dust up that he had out at second base last season when there was that famous down goes Anderson call.

[00:17:45] He got shipped off to Miami and he's floundering there he's got a 221 batting average not doing really well. Ronald Acuna junior. So last year's NL MVP. He is nowhere near his normal pace he's only hitting 245 and his strikeout rate is double what it was last year so he's had a tough start to the season this year.

[00:18:09] And then the NL rookie of the year. So Corbin Carroll the outfielder who played for the Diamondbacks you know took him to the World Series exciting young player to watch he's struggling to he's hitting $1 93 so when you're below the Mendoza line that's a little tough.

[00:18:25] But then other guys like Labor Torah as a struggling and another former Cardinal Randy or Rosarana for our Tampa Bay raised down here in Florida. He's he's off to a slow start as well so for as many bright surprises there are like the entire Kansas City Royals team, you've got a whole team full of struggling

[00:18:45] team players like the Houston Astros and nobody's really too sad about that.

[00:18:52] Wow. All right so the biggest headline in baseball from my vantage point this year so far has to be the uniforms because I'm seeing the headlights of the guys where their pants are ripped in half or whatever and I was watching PTI.

[00:19:11] And I well first of all I heard that major league baseball is going to do a recall or they're going to like try to reboot the uniforms for next year and people are wondering why they're waiting till next year and everything else so will bond and cornhizer we're talking about it on their show and here's what I'd love to do.

[00:19:29] I'd love for us to listen to what they had to say and then I'd love to hear you guys give us your perspective on their perspective on the uniform recall that's coming in baseball.

[00:19:40] At its core what has happened here is Nike was innovating something that didn't need to be innovated. That is so cool and crushing and Tony it didn't need to be innovated. I mean major league baseball you know okay you make them lighter you go to some synthetic material you make it so that you know players I don't

[00:19:59] know feel more aerodynamic but you don't need to spend all this time on it and change the uniforms multiple times and make them look just sort of cheap and flusy like you don't need that. So enough with this story go back to the uniforms that's what they apparently do.

[00:20:16] And by the way that is officially in the history of church pew sports the first use of flusy like so. Yeah so you guys are watching this game more than Paul and I are and Marie are you surprised at the amount of attention and what appears to be the lack of quality in the basics the stuff you're wearing on to the field.

[00:20:41] I gotta tell you my first thought was this has got George Costanza ripped and all over he got he got the ear of somebody and said you know it would be a great idea. And yeah I there's been enough craziness with uniforms in my lifetime of watching baseball from the white socks.

[00:21:01] The shorts softball uniforms. Yeah the the vests when they took on a try I heard that you know at one point in the baseball pass the uniforms are actually made out of satin which didn't do too well and and then I think about how can our classic players have played in flannel and done so well so I was just like who is listening to George Costanza and why are they messing with something that just didn't

[00:21:31] need to be mess with is it because so many things in the game have changed already they just let's just tack on one more. And this is from the mouth of a woman who has literally washed thousands of baseball uniforms jerseys pants hats socks and other garments.

[00:21:48] So the other possibility is who are the guys washing the uniforms going we're having trouble getting all these stains out could we get a different material please.

[00:21:57] I'm just you know I'm just stunned at how long this story has had legs to it since spring training for sure and as as as lucrative as the world of baseball is kind of seems to me like the commissioner might have been paying some degree of attention several weeks ago and said hey guys

[00:22:18] I don't care what it takes but overnight we need to return to where we were and that didn't happen it still hasn't happened and now they're talking about how OK we're going to make some changes we're going to fix it in time for next year.

[00:22:32] What am I missing I can go to fanatics you and order an old school jersey tomorrow I don't understand why they can't remedy what the players are even complaining about it seems kind of like a strange whiff.

[00:22:45] Yeah it's kind of like what's that what's the saying just because you can doesn't mean you should know this is a classic example of somebody not heating that advice.

[00:22:57] OK so aside from uniforms Scott Annemarie more germane to the actual conduct of the game and we'll fire this question at you and I'll let you guys get on with planning your next road trip.

[00:23:10] I don't know if it's accurate to say that the balls and strikes umpiring has been worse this year than ever before but it has been it has been rough and perhaps it's because we're paying more attention to it.

[00:23:25] Maybe it's because there's so many graphic boxes on the screen and so much more analytics of it all.

[00:23:32] I was watching a compilation in preparation for this conversation of the like 30 worst strikeout calls of this season and they weren't all Angel Hernandez granted he's the leader in the clubhouse but they weren't all him.

[00:23:50] And these were not remotely close so my long winded question to you is is it worse or are we just focusing on it more.

[00:24:02] Yeah you know I think it's probably the same human nature doesn't change.

[00:24:06] I just think a lot of umpires have forgotten the first rule of umpiring which is be invisible it when you're doing your job well nobody should notice.

[00:24:18] You shouldn't make crazy calls that are so blatantly wrong.

[00:24:23] You should also not make snap judgment calls like ejecting a manager when somebody behind the dugout made a comment or tossing a picture without a warning just because they were not doing it.

[00:24:36] Because I think he was thrown at him so I mean you've got an overall attitude of umpires that are that are forgetting their place and they're trying to impose themselves I think a little too much but you know if you would ask me a few years ago if I thought electronic umpiring you know electronic balls and strikes maybe via an earpiece or something was crazy.

[00:24:57] I've now come full circle where I really think they should just do it.

[00:25:01] I mean the technology exists they've tried it in the minors just get beyond this because we're all watching from home and we can all see if it's a ball or a strike so let's not pretend that the guy behind the plate has some magic power and he can really tell.

[00:25:15] And I just happen to disagree.

[00:25:16] I think he does have some magic power and they're well trained and there's human error and people make mistakes.

[00:25:24] Listen yesterday's game between your beloved Tigers and my beloved Cardinals it was a pitcher's duel and that umpire was as Scott said invisible he was calling a great game which made it a pitcher's duel and look we have good days we have bad days I just think it's escalated because we can see it all.

[00:25:46] I have a theory I have a theory.

[00:25:49] What's your theory that if they they being majorly baseball if they would simply remove from the umpiring rotation for once and for all a gentleman named Angel Hernandez that the focus on umpiring overall would diminish tremendously because the reality is he's really really quite poor at this job and he didn't do anything to my Tigers I'm just talking in general the guys from

[00:26:16] the top are really bad and I for the life of me there are some great mysteries in this life I have wondered repeatedly how certain politicians continually win reelection in their districts and all that you know things that just boggle the mind.

[00:26:29] Well one of them that I have is why is baseball so willing to hurt its own product by continuing to allow this particular individual to mangle the outcome of many many games and I think that his colleagues who as Ann Marie pointed out are doing a really good job.

[00:26:51] I think they are the innocent bystanders and getting caught up in umpire incompetence and it's unfair to them.

[00:26:59] And it's certainly not fair to the players who are out there trying to guess what a strike might be on this ad bat.

[00:27:06] Okay, so in the spirit of church pew sports.

[00:27:09] I'm going to I'm going to make an analogy and you guys can all tell me if this is not worth much but in my years serving as an executive pastor one of the questions that I would often ask myself if we were having trouble or issues or concerns with a member of our staff.

[00:27:29] I would ask myself, am I tolerating this person because I have this impression that the price that we would pay in removing them and having to replace them feels greater than the price that we pay and just allowing them to continue to do what they do and so often.

[00:27:49] Human nature is to feel like you can just take the easy path and not make the change so in the case of Angel Hernandez.

[00:27:59] Is he just being tolerated.

[00:28:02] Would there be any fallout if he was removed like you were saying Bill or it's so in other words are the powers that be in Major League Baseball just kind of being scared.

[00:28:16] That's my question for any of you.

[00:28:19] And by the way, they have this in the other sports I mean are there bad NBA refs are there bad NFL refs and like Ed Hockley he was you know these gold standard right but are they chucking refs and umpires out of NFL and NBA that this would be a precedent.

[00:28:34] Well, I can tell you this in Detroit we still are reciting the mantra Decker reported after last year's playoff game because there was one official by the name of Brad Allen who certainly did not equate himself very well.

[00:28:49] Yeah, I would you know I would think that every sport has its issues with officiating.

[00:28:54] However, most of them are sort of self policing where you won't see that official assigned to as many or as many high profile or whatever games and baseball that's harder because there's so many stinking games that you have to get these guys going in the rotation.

[00:29:14] But I cannot imagine that somewhere in triple A there's not an umpire who would walk on broken glass to get a major league assignment and perform with more accuracy consistency and by the way humility than Angel Hernandez.

[00:29:36] So would there be any blowback if he was removed from maybe from Mrs. Hernandez.

[00:29:42] I would have to think there would be because I mean I'm sitting here listening to this trying to rack my brain I can't recall a single time an umpire ever being pulled like active.

[00:29:53] There's always you know issues of guy stepping down or whatever and it's kind of done on the on the low down but there's never been anything that high profile and I do believe there would be it'd be issues it'd be another another thing for the league to have to deal with another thing for the commissioner to have to deal with.

[00:30:09] I mean come on we're dealing with pants do we weren't really want to deal with Angel Hernandez at this point.

[00:30:14] One pain in the ass is no sorry.

[00:30:16] I mean, I just don't think I don't think there's any easy way around this one because of the way that they close ranks.

[00:30:24] Well it'd be interesting.

[00:30:26] Let's put it this way.

[00:30:28] I have not heard a lot of other umpires come out with either attributed or anonymous quotes of support.

[00:30:35] There's complete silence and this man is operating in a vacuum so who knows and we get down further in the season we get into September.

[00:30:44] And now we've got every single pitch every single game matters and you might have one of those moments where people are like why didn't we take care of this back in April.

[00:30:53] And by the way, it's not as if he became a substandard umpire in 2024.

[00:31:00] This is not a new a new occurrence.

[00:31:03] This has been happening for quite some time so I my apologies extended to the entire Hernandez family who are clearly subscribers to church pew sports.

[00:31:12] So we don't like the man.

[00:31:14] He's just not very good at his job.

[00:31:15] So let's find him another let's find him another role in baseball, whatever that may be.

[00:31:20] And let us remember what I believe to be the positive example of an umpire with humility and and admitting a mistake and we can all look back at Jim Joyce with Andres Galarraga.

[00:31:35] The no hitter calls several years ago in Detroit and he came out right afterwards and he said I blew it.

[00:31:42] Forgiven super easy.

[00:31:45] He didn't go and eject anybody.

[00:31:47] He didn't go you know to make himself the show so that's one of my one of my baseball beefs and otherwise we're off to a fun start here in Detroit and we're kind of enjoying a little a little positivity out of our out of our baseball Tigers.

[00:32:01] Okay, so where is your next visit?

[00:32:03] What's your next road trip?

[00:32:05] Yeah, well I think it's going to be somewhere in the Great Lakes region.

[00:32:09] So it's it's an easy drive down to Chicago and to knock out of Cubs in a socks game and then you just zip up over the state line.

[00:32:16] He hit a bruise game.

[00:32:17] So that's one option.

[00:32:19] The other one is a quick road trip over to Detroit and then Cleveland into Toronto aren't that far away.

[00:32:25] So I think those are the stadiums we got our eyes set on this year for the next leg of the journey.

[00:32:31] Yeah, actually we're going to be at Wrigley here in the next couple weeks we're going to see the Cubs take on the pirates and I haven't been to Wrigley in Wow more than 20 years so I'm super excited to experience all of that as a as a gal who grew up in the

[00:32:47] Chicago land area but I'm a Cardinals fan and Mary to a Cubs fan we're going to have a good time.

[00:32:52] That's so cool. We are so glad that you were able to join us and Marie thank you for doing so and Scott let's give a little plug to your fresh off the hot off the presses podcast having to do with all things Civil War.

[00:33:07] Yeah, thank you for that plug.

[00:33:09] It's been a passion of mine for my whole life basically and you know one of the things I think about history is we don't learn enough from it so I'm just hoping to inspire people to listen to the stories from history.

[00:33:21] Especially the Civil War it's so uniquely American and unfortunately we live in a day and age where there's a lot of tension right now and I don't think I've heard the word Civil War, repeated so often in the media and in the news today as I have, you know,

[00:33:36] lately. And so I think there's a good reason to listen to it and hopefully learn some things you didn't know so it's called Breaking Nation, and it gets released intermittently so there's a there's no schedule to keep or anything.

[00:33:49] But the episodes are kind of long. So maybe plan a road trip around it you know enjoy a good hour drive. And let me know if you like you can sign up at the website breaking nation calm.

[00:34:00] Thanks. You know, you know who would have loved to have had lightweight see through tarot away uniforms. Civil War guys I mean they were out there in a wall I can't imagine what's going on.

[00:34:12] They were just a lot cooler. Yes, it's still going to help McClellan be a good general.

[00:34:17] No, gentlemen thank you so much. This has been fun. I love the product you put out.

[00:34:22] Great to have you with us. Thanks so much. So Paul as we continue along we realize you mentioned this at the outset of the program that we are on the leading front edge of the summer slow season the summer slump the summer dead

[00:34:38] summer dead period in fact the the amount of sports content that's attractively talked about you can talk about it for a long time but attractively like an audience comes in.

[00:34:50] It's the pickings get a little sparse in fact this special report just came in from from a place called Springfield coming up later the live pickleball tour from Riyadh where it's 110 degrees in the desert and the actions heating up.

[00:35:05] But now it's time for competitive rock skipping. They are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for new sports content. Yeah and barrel scraping is up next.

[00:35:16] So we're either going to have to talk about barrel scraping or start mining some of the headlines and some of the storylines that are out there from all sports and just kind of touch on a kind of a pulpery of sports topics so where do you want to take us?

[00:35:31] Yeah so I've been thinking about this bill and I think there might be the seeds of a new feature on our church few sports podcaster at least a summer feature because I was I was feeling the onset of the dead period and but I also was noticing that as I was going to the

[00:35:48] websites that I normally browse when I'm bored and stuff like that there are plenty of headlines that are intriguing. And so here's what I did. I found five current headlines in the world of sports and what I'd like to do is just rapid fire those headlines at you and the question is

[00:36:08] story no story. So you just need to you just need to respond in rapid fire real time and say okay if is this a story or is this not a story and here's why for a person. All right.

[00:36:21] So the first one is is E. Kiel Elliott re-signed with the Dallas Cowboys are the Cowboys still America's team who if not who is now and Zeke re-signing in Dallas is that a story or no story?

[00:36:36] That's a surprise but it's not a story. I don't know that what he's got left in the tank and Dallas they still draw a big audience so they will still be talked about and featured. I don't I haven't viewed them as America's team in a long time.

[00:36:52] They haven't won anything. You could make an argument that football fans in America are more likely to tune into a game with the chiefs or now you tell me if I'm crazy they might be more inclined to tune into a game with the Lions.

[00:37:12] Yeah. I don't know if that's true or not or if that's just my read my location bias but it kind of seems like the popularity of that team is really exploded so yeah I Zeke Elliott could sign anywhere I think it's kind of close to being done.

[00:37:27] He is close to being done.

[00:37:29] I agree with you. I'm thinking back to last week when we had Alex Roush on here and I asked him is the Michigan cheating sign stealing thing is that a story or not a story and he was kind of like yeah that's not a story so for those of us who live here in the shadow of Ann Arbor or whatever it's definitely a story but if you get out around other parts of the country it's not.

[00:37:54] And so I think that location bias is a real thing. Yeah. So the second one second headline that I found it was just in the in the aftermath of the draft and this one is has a much far much farther reaching implication 23 of the 32 first round draft picks in the recent NFL draft were from schools that are either going to be in the big 10 next year or the SEC.

[00:38:19] So there's a trend here. Is this a story or not a story.

[00:38:26] Well it's it's it's a little bit misleading in that these conferences are becoming so huge. Yeah that it's not as if you're picking from the same small pool of talent. I think it's a story.

[00:38:40] I think it says a lot about the concentration of talent into conferences. I don't know that it necessarily says that the that those conferences have such vastly superior talent. You can take a kid who this year played at USC or Oregon and you can credit the big 10 with them being selected by them but that's not where they earned their the reputation so but it is a story and I think that kind of a thing will continue largely because the conferences keep

[00:39:10] expanding and bringing in more and more talent there. They're not letting in weak teams. They're they're bringing in some strong programs. Yeah I agree. I think it is a story because I think it's a trend. I think it's where college football is heading.

[00:39:26] Yeah. And I guess I should say I'm here for it because I'm a fan of one of the biggest brands in the big 10 you know and so so good for me right as an Ohio State fan but not necessarily good for all my friends up in Minnesota who are Minnesota

[00:39:42] and I'm not going to go for but whatever they're you know they're still in the big 10. Okay so so definitely a story. All right then that's what I got for you is this is really interesting. This is about Dionne and Shadur and their social media.

[00:39:54] I don't know if you caught this headline but there was a guy who got I think the term they use is processed at the University of Colorado where like they're encouraged to enter the portal or you know just short of being cut or whatever and he had a few things to say in the media about how that was handled by Dionne and he wasn't a fan.

[00:40:22] We'll just say that and then Dionne or then Shadur came out on social media and defended his dad and said that guy's mid which mid is just the current hip way to say average at best right so then then Shadur gets blasted on X and then dad decides that he needs to come to the defense of his son and so now you have the dad who's the coach defending the son.

[00:40:53] Who's the cocky quarterback and Dionne came out.

[00:40:57] And said well here first of all, Shadur says yeah somebody says to prime sorry tell your son to stop acting like he's the coldest guy out here and then put up a foreign eight season.

[00:41:08] So somebody gets on Twitter and takes a shot at as Shadur and Dionne jumps on and says he's going to be a top five pick where's your son going I've got time today.

[00:41:17] So now we got this back and forth going on we got Dionne and his boys and it feels like it's a little bit of a house of cards and it's starting to crumble I'm wondering if this is the beginning of the story or if this is not a story and we should just ignore all of it because they're going to go away quick enough.

[00:41:33] Well Dionne's hard to ignore.

[00:41:35] So even though it's really not a story contained within that that anecdote that you shared.

[00:41:42] It's impossible to ignore Dionne.

[00:41:44] Yeah, Shadur is not not that hard to ignore.

[00:41:47] I don't think you're going to see him be a top five pick but I guess I could be wrong.

[00:41:54] If they don't win then it's not going to be a story.

[00:41:57] The more they win at Colorado the louder Dionne becomes and the more likely it is that we'll have another incident like this because he's not done clearing out what he would deem to be the inferior talent at Colorado.

[00:42:13] Remember how he did it the first time when he first arrived.

[00:42:16] He said some just pack your bags and get in the portal.

[00:42:19] Just leave I'm bringing my own guys in.

[00:42:21] Yeah.

[00:42:22] All right.

[00:42:23] Well, I guess you can do that but certainly you can't act surprised when some guys lash out at the way that they retreated.

[00:42:29] Yeah.

[00:42:30] Do you think Dionne is still coaching at Colorado after his boys move on?

[00:42:33] No, I'm not convinced he's coaching at Colorado throughout the coming season but certainly not after his boys are gone.

[00:42:39] I think this is a fun idea and let's face it for any father and son this would be a pretty cool opportunity to have that quality time.

[00:42:49] I think after that he's made it clear that he's there for his boys.

[00:42:53] I would be surprised if he's still there after they're gone.

[00:42:57] Yeah, I think you're right and so this might be a fading story that's going to go away on its own quick enough.

[00:43:04] All right the next one just happened last night and I have to just pause for a moment and say that my interest in the NBA playoffs has surprisingly gone up since LeBron and KD and staff.

[00:43:18] For the first time in forever are all out before the end of the first round.

[00:43:24] So is this the end of an era?

[00:43:27] Is this the death of super teams in the NBA?

[00:43:30] Is this a story or not a story?

[00:43:33] I think it's a story and I think that it while it may be the end of that era basically because in my own case because I have so thoroughly disconnected from the NBA.

[00:43:48] I'm probably not aware of the new crop of really good players.

[00:43:54] I have a young friend named Max he texts me all the time about so and so player I have no idea who he's talking about.

[00:44:00] So I just come back with things like a lambir could do that you know because I have no idea what I'm you know he's Max is 30 years younger than me.

[00:44:08] I don't think Steph is done but that team you know Clay is not playing very well.

[00:44:15] Dreymon is definitely on his final run of his career.

[00:44:20] I don't know what happens to that team.

[00:44:23] Nobody knows what keeps happening to the sons and I haven't yet come across anybody who's devastated that the Lakers were eliminated and that Bron has to sit down and stop throwing tantrums on the court.

[00:44:36] So I think it's a story.

[00:44:37] I think it could be the end of an era.

[00:44:39] I think there will still be super teams though because the ability to sign players for ridiculous fantasy amounts of money is still a thing and players will still recruit each other as free agents.

[00:44:50] So I think you'll still see super teams come together.

[00:44:54] Yeah.

[00:44:55] And maybe it's a kind of a redefining of the term super team because like I look at the Celtics who are probably odds on favorite to win the title this year would you call Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and

[00:45:06] you know, who I pours in gifts before he went down would you would you call that a super team.

[00:45:11] Maybe those are good players.

[00:45:12] You know, I have to say I'm really looking forward to the second round match up between my Minnesota Timberwolves getting but with the

[00:45:23] with us getting ready to relocate to Minnesota I have everybody telling me that my favorite NBA player needs to be Anthony Edwards.

[00:45:29] Yeah, it's really good.

[00:45:30] So I'm anxious to see the T-Wills play against the Denver Nuggets.

[00:45:35] I think that's going to be fascinating to see Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns go up against Yoakic and Jamal Murray and the boys in Denver.

[00:45:43] I think that's going to be an amazing series.

[00:45:45] It just feels more interesting to me because when you get the superstar guys out there like LeBron and Katie and those guys, I've just found myself rooting against them for no other reason that I want to be a grumpy old get off my lawn guy

[00:45:59] right.

[00:46:00] And I want them to go away.

[00:46:01] Well now they've all gone away at least for this year and so I'm a little more a little more interested which might be a commentary on me.

[00:46:08] I think it's something else.

[00:46:10] I'm more intrigued by the promotion of a team over the promotion of a player.

[00:46:17] And now we have entered into that time where the individual stars that we've all known about by on one name basis, most of them are out so now it's left to team.

[00:46:27] So now I can never as a Pistons fan I can never root for the Celtics but they are really really good.

[00:46:34] Yeah.

[00:46:35] Minnesota is surprisingly good in the last thing that the networks want the last thing they want as they prepare for negotiations for a whole new TV contract.

[00:46:45] The last thing they want is for Minnesota to win the title so I of course then will root for Minnesota to win the title because I small market teams will take it.

[00:46:52] Yeah, it's not the biggest market in the world.

[00:46:54] No.

[00:46:55] Yeah.

[00:46:56] Okay.

[00:46:57] So, so definitely a story and then our last one bill is the NCAA.

[00:47:03] I'm going to tip my hand and say I think this is definitely a story.

[00:47:06] It's fascinating to me the NCAA isn't talks to settle the various NIL and I trust lawsuits that they are in the middle of right now.

[00:47:17] And it's just fascinating to me story not a story.

[00:47:23] Oh, big time story.

[00:47:24] Yeah.

[00:47:25] And the NCAA having learned little to nothing after losing the Ed O'Bannon case about name, image and likeness is now being slapped with other lawsuits from every direction that they are like the speed bag in the boxing gym and it is just coming out from every direction.

[00:47:44] But boom boom boom boom.

[00:47:46] And as we've talked about on this program numerous times few organizations in the world of sports need to go away more than the NCAA at least when it comes to revenue generating sports.

[00:48:02] Yeah, maybe you leave them around to be the governing voice over some of the sports that you know are lesser less popular don't have big TV deals.

[00:48:12] But yeah, they're going to they're going to go down in flames here because they don't have a leg to stand on in these suits.

[00:48:20] No, I climbed in the wayback machine earlier today and I was I was searching for the furthest back article I could find talking about this and I'm going to I'm going to take you all the way back to like September of 2022.

[00:48:36] That was back when NIL was kind of a fairly new thing and if you remember, there was an antitrust case that the NCAA was involved in about education expenses and whether or not those could be covered and the Supreme Court ruled 90 against the NCAA and I found this article in the

[00:48:55] athletic where they were quoting just Chief Justice Brett Kavanaugh where he says there are serious questions, whether the NCAA is remaining compensation rules can pass muster in the future so that was like this foreshadowing of what was to come and I think we need to give props to Jim Harbaugh because

[00:49:14] the people that were quoted in that article besides Justice Kavanaugh were Gene Smith, the athletic director at Ohio State but nobody really cares what any athletic director thinks so that didn't matter and then the James Franklin, the head coach at Penn State was quoted

[00:49:28] but nobody cares what James Franklin thinks. Jim Harbaugh was actually the first big name head coach of a prominent brand and NCAA football team that came out and said revenue sharing should happen so I think there's some inevitability to it and I don't know if Harbaugh was the tipping point to make that happen but he certainly was talking about it from the very beginning of the conversation.

[00:49:54] And there are more than just a few perhaps paranoid Wolverine fans who do truly believe that part of the dogged investigation into Jim from the NCAA isn't tied so much to buying a recruit a burger and violating the COVID protocols as it is this constant

[00:50:19] sermonizing about the need to share revenue because we know this the NCAA's got some revenue in that office building in Indianapolis and parting with it is not something that they were really looking forward to and now they're going to have to they're going to have to do do so under under the force of law.

[00:50:39] Yeah, and that's that's that's gonna sting. That's for sure. And so yeah, whether you had the NCAA has to settle because they're going to lose these losses cannot get into a courtroom. They just know the last time they got into a courtroom was at this Supreme Court level.

[00:50:53] And a Supreme Court that is divided over the color of the sky five and four decided nine to nothing against the NCAA. That my friends is what you call decisive. All right time for Holy Discontent.

[00:51:06] It's time to blow off some steam get it off your chest rant about what's most bothering you. I got a lot of problems with you people. No, you're going to hear about it. It's time for Holy Discontent.

[00:51:25] All right, my Holy Discontent. Not the first time in the history of this program but once again, Sinclair Broadcasting Diamond Sports, the owners of all of the Bali sports regional networks like Bali Sports Detroit and in those same ones in every part of the country have now dropped from all Comcast Xfinity cable subscribers losing

[00:51:48] millions and millions of viewers over another squabble. That means that in the summertime for folks at least in my part of the world are not able to watch the Tiger games are not able to watch a little program that I host called Michigan golf live and the ripple effects of this continue to reach and reach and reach.

[00:52:07] So now here's major league baseball at a time when it is trying desperately to cling on to an audience of any show any form to the point where they've actually changed the way the game is played and the shot pitch clock and all that.

[00:52:24] They are now sitting by and watching one of their broadcast partners who by the way has filed for bankruptcy. Now dig the hole even deeper by removing its product from a gargantuan cable carrier.

[00:52:41] It's ridiculous. It's it's moronic. It's greedy and something needs to happen to fix it both for selfish reasons for for me because I need eyeballs on our TV show, but also just for sports fans in general, who are wondering what the future is of being able to watch their local teams.

[00:53:01] And right now that there's not a clear cut solution to all that so that's my holy discontent.

[00:53:06] Yeah, we need the day the day of Portnoy or who are almost clay trapped talking about the golden ticket. Yeah, you're right. We were talking about that last week. That's really good. Okay, my holy discontent is about

[00:53:19] the US women's US professional women's soccer. I should say the US Women's National Team program, the United States just withdrew their bid that they were they had been together with Mexico to host the women's World Cup in 2027 and they were one of three finals and they were the favorite

[00:53:40] to win the World Cup, which is a huge thing but three years out from 2027 they decided to pull their bid because they continue to push for equal revenue as the men's game.

[00:53:55] So here's a quote from Cindy Parlo, the head of US women's soccer hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking having additional time to prepare because they were saying they need more time 2027 is too soon to pull this off.

[00:54:07] She's saying have additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe. I'm proud of our commitment to providing equitable experiences for the players, fans and all the stakeholders shifting our bid will enable us to host a record breaking

[00:54:22] women's World Cup in 2031.

[00:54:24] And then here's the the Evar Sysnega who's ahead of football Mexico.

[00:54:31] The strength and universality of our women's professional ease coupled with our experience from organizing the 2026 World Cup, because the US and Mexico are hosting the men's World Cup in 2026.

[00:54:43] He says that means that we will be able to provide the best infrastructure as well as an enthusiastic fan base.

[00:54:51] So they're light on fans, and they're light on funds here's a couple of facts for you US women's soccer.

[00:54:57] The last women's World Cup was held in Sydney and it grossed $570 million.

[00:55:04] The last men's World Cup in 2022 and Qatar was grossed $7.6 billion.

[00:55:13] So stop talking to me about equal pay and equal whatever until you can generate the kind of eyeballs and revenue that the men's game generates.

[00:55:24] You need to stop talking about pay us the same and give us the same prize money and all those other things and it's too bad because now we got to wait.

[00:55:32] We got to wait till we got to wait past 2027 at a minimum for whenever the next time is that the US decides to host the women's World Cup and the game itself is fun to watch.

[00:55:43] But so much for watching it in the US.

[00:55:46] There are some very talented players.

[00:55:48] Let me make an analogy.

[00:55:50] Caitlin Clark, the most talked about female basketball player on earth.

[00:55:56] Yeah.

[00:55:57] Obviously the number one draft picks.

[00:55:59] She goes to play.

[00:56:00] She's drafted by the team in Indianapolis and it will be big.

[00:56:03] They will put people in the seats there.

[00:56:06] Caitlin Clark's salary from from the Indianapolis team is $78,000 a year as the most popular player maybe in the history of the WNBA.

[00:56:24] 78,000 a year.

[00:56:25] Now she's about to sign or maybe she has already signed a big deal with Nike.

[00:56:31] So for close to $30 million she'll be fine in that regard but that's not what we're talking about.

[00:56:36] We're talking about team salary.

[00:56:38] Why?

[00:56:39] Because the league's economic model and the revenues that it generates don't merit the same first year contract numbers that the NBA would give to its first round pick.

[00:56:52] It's the reality of the economy.

[00:56:54] It's not necessarily, it's not all misogynistic.

[00:56:57] Sometimes it's economic and that's kind of what this whole thing is.

[00:57:01] Let us let's move to the end here.

[00:57:03] Let's get to our three minute message and kind of wrap things up and we'll save some of our other stuff for next week.

[00:57:08] So here we go.

[00:57:11] Homer I'd like you to remember Matthew 726, the foolish man who built his house on sound.

[00:57:18] And you remember Matthew 2117 and he left them and went out of the city in Tibetani and he lodged there?

[00:57:30] Yeah.

[00:57:31] Think about it.

[00:57:33] Think about it.

[00:57:35] Okay.

[00:57:36] Well, it was really fun for me to have Scott and Annemarie Holmgren in our conversation tonight.

[00:57:41] I love those guys.

[00:57:42] Bob, you know, I have a lot of history with them and I really am jealous of their marriage because they share sports fandom.

[00:57:49] It's, it's Annemarie's as big if not bigger of a baseball fan than Scott is.

[00:57:54] And that's what makes it fun to watch them and kind of live vicariously through them.

[00:57:59] And it made me think of a verse in first Corinthians 16 that I just want to share with us tonight as a quick little nugget for us to think about Paul says the Apostle Paul says let all that you do be a part of the

[00:58:12] family and be done in love.

[00:58:14] So you caught it earlier tonight Annemarie says, get to know your spouse find out what they're interested in and get interested in those things because you love that person and you want to do that for that person and then Scott says, here's the

[00:58:29] ways that I make our little quest to get to every major league ballpark something that my wife can enjoy and so they're both doing their quest to hit every major league ballpark in love.

[00:58:41] And if we can do it about major league baseball.

[00:58:44] We can do that about just about everything so I want us to think I want each of us to maybe myself first of all to think about the relationships that I have in my life that matter to me that are important to me and then I want to take the

[00:58:58] challenge to say that let everything that I'm doing in those relationships be done first and foremost in love motivated by love.

[00:59:08] A simple little idea that's really easy to forget and kind of gloss over so I just want us to take the example of the home grins apply that to everything we got going in a week it may not be as cool as hey let's

[00:59:20] go to go to some more sporting events across the country but I bet you you can if you think you can think of some things where you can do them in love and it will bring you together.

[00:59:32] Yeah, good stuff.

[00:59:34] Really enjoyed having Anna Marie with us as well hopefully we'll do that again sometime soon and you know sometime during this summer dead period it might be time for the spouse podcast where I can bring going on you can bring Bobby on and we can

[00:59:47] talk about the things they put up with from us sports fans from time to time because that would have to be a long form podcast conversation. Yeah, that'd be fun.

[00:59:57] Thank you all for listening make sure you check us out online at church pew sports dot com and follow us on X and on Facebook and help spread the word by sharing the link to the podcast with somebody else in your world.

[01:00:09] We'll talk to you again next week.