Crunching Tackles

Aaron Judge recently tied Roger Maris for fifth on the MLB single-season home run record. But his accomplishment has sparked a wider debate about how we should view this record? Should we think of Judge as fighting for fifth, or fighting for first? This week, we discuss:

2:20: Tua Tagovailoa suffered a scary injury on Thursday Night Football, which brought into question the health and safety protocols in the NFL around head injuries and concussions. Was there any misconduct on the part of the Dolphins or the NFL, and what should happen next?

13:33: BIG STORY—Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run in 2022, placing him in the top five single-season home run hitters. But all the players above him used illegal performing enhancing drugs, and their records have been brought into question. Should we recognize Judge as the true home run king?

33:14: John reviews Morbius eight months late!

38:40: The Rings of Power episode 6 recap!

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!

After a year-long investigation into racist, sexist, and toxic workplace behavior, the NBA has suspended Phoenix Suns' owner Robert Sarver for one year and have fined him $10 million. But for many people inside and outside of the league, this punishment hasn't gone far enough. This week, we discuss:

3:02: Roger Federer has retired from men's tennis. We reflect on his career and the timing of his decision. 

13:35: The College Football Playoff has announced an expansion from four teams to 12 teams for the college football postseason. We discuss whether this is a good decision, and how it will impact the conference realignments we have been seeing in the past two years. 

24:52: The American owner of Chelsea came under fire for comments he made wanting the English Premier League to more closely resemble American sports. We debate whether the backlash against him was fair, and if his points had any merit.

33:53: BIG STORY—Robert Sarver has been suspended by the NBA. We look at the reaction to the announcement of the suspension, and see how this situation is similar and different to Donald Sterling, the owner that received a much harsher punishment for similar behavior.

58:29: The Rings of Power episode 4 was a bit slower paced, but provided some excellent setup for the remainder of the season. We look back on the episode and what we can learn about the characters who seem the most important to the story so far.

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!

VAR, or Video Assistant Referee, has been a controversial subject since its introduction to world football, and other sports have a version of video replay as well. Why is video replay such a controversial thing? What does it make better? And is there anything video replay makes worse? This week, we discuss:

The US Open has been an amazing tennis tournament, and Chad and John catch up on all the headlines from New York (9:40). In many ways, this tournament has been a passing of the torch, and we look at the players who will carry tennis forward to the next generation.

For the big story this week, we look at video replay (21:48). From the beginning of its implementation, to its effectiveness at getting decisions right, to how fans feel about its use, we look at the topic from every angle.

Finally, we recap and review Episode 3 of The Rings of Power, our favorite of the three episodes so far (48:45). What are we starting to learn about the state of the world at this time in Middle Earth? We also suggest who we think will emerge as the primary protagonist in the story.

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!

After some technical difficulties, we are finally able to release what was supposed to be our 100th episode of Crunching Tackles. To celebrate, we are talking about the most entertaining athletes in sports—the ones you should be watching every chance you get. 

We begin with a reaction to the Deshaun Watson settlement (2:45), that will force him to miss 11 games of the 2022 regular season. Was this final punishment fair, or still inadequate? Next, we react to the changes the PGA Tour announced for upcoming seasons (14:30). Have they fixed their entertainment problems?

For the big story, we talk about the most entertaining athletes in sports (25:18). What makes an athlete entertaining on and off the field? Who are the best examples and what do they get right? And how do some athletes take this issue too far?

Serena's legendary tennis career has come to an end. Chad and John recorded an episode before Williams' third-round loss (please forgive Chad for predicting she would make it to the semi-finals), but there still are a lot of insights to be gained from the way she went out and competed in this final US Open of her career. On today's show:

John talks a bit about the new face of world soccer, and why he is so dominant in the Premier League (4:00). Then the guys discuss Serena's Williams first two matches in the US Open, both wins, and reflect on how she was able to raise her game to a level nobody thought she could (7:20).

Then, we discuss the first two episodes of The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime (29:40). What did we love about the show so far, what can we expect going forward, and we hand out a few awards from this stunning premiere.

In the buildup to the U.S. Open this year, Serena Williams announced that her career is soon coming to an end. That gives us an opportunity to reflect on her life and legacy, and discuss if she has the chance to leave the sport with a final triumphant win. This week, we discuss:

Chad recommends Light & Magic, the documentary telling the story of the visual effects team behind Star Wars and others of your favorite movies (5:02). Chad also recommends Thirteen Lives, a groundbreaking retelling of the story of the youth soccer team stuck in a flooded cave in Thailand (7:20).

Up next, the LIV golf tour lost a lawsuit against the PGA Tour right before the FedEx Cup playoffs started. Some interesting insights about LIV came up during the hearing, and we talk about all the things we learned from the evidence presented and the ruling. 

For the big story this week, we reflect on the life and career or Serena Williams. We examine the timing of her announcement, as well as the chance of success she has at the upcoming U.S. Open. We also discuss her early career, the impact she's had on younger athletes, and why her controversies are part of her story, but ultimately don't diminish her greatness. 

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!

On Monday, the independent arbiter for the NFL suspended Deshaun Watson for 6 games for violating the league's personal conduct policy. The NFL has appealed, demanding he get a much more severe punishment. This week, we discuss:

First up, John recently watched the hit Netflix film Hustle on Chad's recommendation (2:00). Starring Adam Sandler, Hustle is one of the more pure and delightful films of the year, and it gets the Crunching Tackles recommendation.

Taking a trip around the headlines, we discuss the LIV golf players who are suing the PGA Tour for anti-trust (8:30), and why we don't think their lawsuit will have any merit. Brittany Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Russian court (12:02), so will this have any impact on the prisoner exchange process? And after Deshaun Watson's suspension was handed down, the Miami Dolphins were also suspended in connection to the allegations made by former head coach Brian Flores (14:40). What does this mean for the team and for the lawsuit Flores has against the NFL?

For the big story, we dive deep into the six-game suspension handed down to Deshaun Watson (28:31). What was the rationale for the decision? Is the punishment severe enough? And what blame do the Texans and Browns have in all this as well? We answer these questions and more in the big story this week.

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!

Several months ago, video streams starting appearing online of a seemingly authentic professional cricket league, and hundreds of people started betting on the outcomes. But the truth, we have since learned, was much more complicated.

First up, Chad saw Nope and also saw a teaser trailer for Oppenheimer, which has since been released online (4:12). He thinks both of those things are worth your time!

We revisit the financial issues at Barcelona and why they have seemingly recovered from the brink of economic collapse. But has their recovery been ethical? We both have our doubts (8:00). The American government has given Russia a prisoner-exchange offer to bring Brittany Griner home, but is the cost too great (13:47)? And the LIV golf tour came to former president Trump's course, so what did he have to say about the upstart, dubiously-funded league (18:00)?

And for the big story, we talk about the fake Indian Premier League, and the wider world of match-fixing (25:42).

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!

Major League Baseball hit their midseason point last week and paused for the All-Star game and Home Run Derby. Chad and John are here to talk about why All Star Games exist and which one is the best.

First up, Christopher Nolan revealed the first poster for his upcoming movie Oppenheimer, and we discuss why we are excited about the film and why Nolan is such a successful movie director (2:50). We also continue to build up toward The Rings of Power tv show on Amazon Prime and why we can't wait to see this project air (8:53).

Recent sports stories include the ESPY Awards, where athletes who continue standing with Ukraine were honored (12:20), and John tells us about an interesting headline from the world of chess (15:47).

And for the big story, we talk about the MLB All Star game (23:10), and compare the exhibitions from the four major American sports.

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!

The two biggest programs in the PAC 12, UCLA and USC, announced that they will be joining the Big 10. This follows in the wake of the SEC taking Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12. John and Chad are here to discuss this topic and more on today's show.

First up, the guys react to an amazing commercial by Coors Light starring Patrick Mahomes, and why this commercial is so important as a cultural moment (2:11). There is also some new information in the Brittany Griner case in Russia, and we have reactions to that as well (6:14).

The Big Story this week is about the continued conference realignment in college football. Are we headed away from a Power 5 system and into a Power 2 system (16:35)? What can the ACC and other conferences do to compete with the SEC and the Big 10? And we wrap up with some discussion about the fourth season of Netflix's phenomenon show Stranger Things (40:40).

As always, make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on all our social media platforms!