Passed Ball Show

6-3-2020 Passed Ball Show. John spends the majority of this show talking about how Black Lives Matter is a movement that all people should be taken seriously. All lives matter is an ignorant statement that’s ignorance makes a statement of its own. History has shown that black lives have not mattered. George Floyd’s murder is an example of a black life not mattering. Many people have judged the violence of some of the protests and making it seem as if it is the bigger problem. It is a classic pivot, usually one that hides the person’s racial biasness. Civil unrest happens when a person has exhausted all avenues to solve a problem. All avenues to no avail. What is happening against them is wrong and nobody cares. Think about it the next time you see somebody upset. John hopes this round of protests send the right message, the fact that we need to change. God created all of us as his children- all of us are equal. Why did mankind screw that up? It is time to change the curve. John then reminds the viewers of the NFL and MLB teams that have never hired a black head coach/ manager. He asks the question of “What makes a black person different than a white person?” John finishes off the program by spending a couple of minutes talking about Wes Unseld, the former Washington/ Baltimore Bullets player and Washington Bullets Head Coach and General Manager who passed away just the other day.

5-23-2020 Passed Ball Show. John talks about the proposed changes to the Rooney Rule in the NFL and how teams can use it as a tactic to gain draft picks and better their team. Rather than that, teams that have a history of not hiring minority candidates should be mandated to. John once again mentions the fact that eleven teams in Major League Baseball have never hired a black manager, yet few think it is even worth mentioning. He then remembers former Astros first baseman Bob Watson and recaps his telling of scoring the 1,000,000th run in MLB history and what is was like working for George Steinbrenner. Watson was also the first black General Manager to win a World Series (1996 Yankees). John talks about a comparison he made about Michael Jordan and Johnny Carson that coincidentally got mentioned on another sports talk show. He finishes off this podcast by showing why the 1987 Blue Jays did not choke and how a player can be drafted by five different MLB teams and never play in a minor or major league game.

5-16-2020 Passed Ball Show. John starts off this show by teasing his Rooney Rule take which will air on his next show. John then talks about the allegations against NFL players Deandre Baker and Quinton Dunbar, innocent until proven guilty vs guilty until proven innocent, and lists pasts NFL players who got additional chances in the NFL after doing terrible things. John then talks about the tragic passing of up and coming NBA star Drazen Petrovich and how it relates to that of MLB pitcher Jose Fernandez. John mentions how similar their Hall of Fame cases could be and why one will always be a Hall of Famer and the other will never be thought of in that regard. Will New York City ever be the same? It is impossible for the most populated city in the United States to keep social distance, especially on its subways. Should businesses move to less populated areas? Finally, John talks a little bit about the fans and why they are not losing anything if there are no sports for the foreseeable future. Also, John makes a case of why any player has the right not to play under the proposed amended season.

5-9-2020 Passed Ball Show. John talks about the Yankees’ Core Four and how criminal is the neglect of Bernie Williams. Outside of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, there was no more impactful Yankees player from 1996-2000. Any mention of Core Four without Bernie disrespects the player who traced back the team to the Stump Merrill days. In fact, before the significance of Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada can be brought up, Paul O’Neill and Timo Martinez need to be mentioned. John then talks about the upcoming MLB Draft and the decision to reduce the 40 rounder to just five rounds. That means that around 1050 players will not get selected this year. Perhaps the draft needed to be reduced, but five rounds will likely ruin lives, but also sets in place the reduction of minor league baseball teams and leagues. A wise team would load up on minor league free agents that missed out on being selected during the five round draft. The goal should be to sign those players before the ones that were drafted. John then talks about Craig Hodges and his decision to make a statement to the President during the Chicago Bulls’ visit to the White House after their second straight NBA Championship in 1992. Hodges did not make a statement that was out of line, however, as the 12th man on the Bulls team, it took attention away from the team and most importantly, those that were the reason the team won the Championship. While a debate is warranted over whether Michael Jordan could have used his fame to better race relations, Hodges’ timing was off. He was Collin Kaepernick before his time, but it became more of a disruption than constructive. Hodges then shows sour grapes complaining about the All Star Game’s Three Point Shootout, as if anybody even knows about the change to the rules and the addition of the “money ball.” John finishes off the show by questioning the Hall of Fame resumes of Bill Walton and Tony Perez.

5-2-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this show by talking about the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons teams of the late 1990’s and why they were successful. They absolutely should not back down from their reputation as instigators and dirty basketball players. Any remorse is contradictory to what led them to their two NBA Championships and three consecutive NBA Finals appearances. Plus, it comes off as forced, PC, and not genuine. Isiah Thomas should stop complaining about not being included on the 1992 NBA Dream Team. Michael Jordan was basically the general manager of that team and had a big say on who was on that roster. Michael did not get along with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and others, but respected them as basketball players. Isiah was the ringleader of a basketball team that not only played dirty, but attempted to injure its opposition. John then gets into the rankings of the sports Hall of Fames. Not surprisingly, he ranks the Baseball Hall of Fame dead last when it comes to its inclusion of the best players to ever play its game. He then makes some powerful comparisons to the Hall of Fames or Football and Basketball and how they made it right.

4-16-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this show by giving respect to the sacrifice of the great Jackie Robinson. Jackie handled something that was unfair and unacceptable now and changed the history of civil rights. John openly asks why people are now more accepting of differences in skin color but were not for so many years? Did God not always create every man equal? We seem to understand more now, but why didn’t our parents? Why didn’t our parents’ parents? From NASCAR driver Kyle Larson losing his job and sponsorships and the former LA Clippers owner being forced to sell over racist remarks, where was the pressure of the public prior to now? We should be ashamed of our ancestors. John then talks about whether sports are an essential form of employment. The sports unions want to convince you so to allow their players to get paid. John admits his ambivalence on the issue but leans towards holding off until there is a cure or vaccine. He then calls out for all unemployed Americans to take a page out of the book of the Pearl Harbor aftermath. There should be a mass group of people deciding to work in the hospital industry, food service industry, the post office, etc because that is what we need our Americans to do. Just like we needed military personnel for World War II after we were cowardly attacked by the Japanese. Finally, John makes it clear we are better off not playing sports, especially if the only option is to drastically change the way a game is to be played.

4-2-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this show reminding some about the importance of sports even in a time where there is no sports. He talks about the 33 NFL non-special teams players who played a game into their forties. He re-tells a hilarious Bill Simmons comparison about Tom Brady. After that, John talks about a couple of extremely tragic deaths that involved former players for the Houston Oilers/ Tennessee Titans. The Steve McNair story, which is well known, bit then he talks about the untimely suicide of former Oilers defensive lineman Jeff Alm. He compares the death of Alm's friend to that of a person unintentionally killed by the coronavirus and how one would feel if they brought the disease into their home. John then mentions the MLB players who won the first World Series Championship of two different franchises and finishes off by talking about the two Joe Fergusons and two Jim Marshalls, individuals who played two different sports.

3-28-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this version of the show by talking about how odd it is to not have live baseball to watch right now. Would you rather have games played in front of no audience or wait until fans can once again attend? John then talks about the upcoming MLB draft and how if it is limited to five rounds, teams can sign as many amateur players without any sort of draft system. John feels that would be revenge for a lousy idea in the first place. He then talks about the coaching/ managing careers of NBA Head Coach Bill Fitch and MLB manager Bucky Harris and openly questions their place in their respective sports’ Hall of Fames. Finally, John speaks a little bit about the 1978-79 Seattle SuperSonics, the 1981 Montreal Expos, and the 1948 Cleveland Browns.

3/11/2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up the program telling people to chill about the pandemic involving this virus. He then talks about the depth, particularly in the first round, of this year’s upcoming NFL Draft. Is this the year Gonzaga finally wins its first National Championship in College Basketball? John then talks about some of the worst teams in the National Basketball Association. Finally, John makes a case of how the 1914 Philadelphia Athletics may have thrown the World Series.

3-7-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this program by giving the Yankees and Dodgers the preseason odds to win their respective league pennants and reminding those who are bitter about what the Houston Astros did to not rule them out just out of spite. John talks about how common scoring five goals in an NHL game is, even if it does not happen as much I’m this generation. Spoiler alert- a player in NHL history has scored seven goals in a game. John then talks about Washington Redskins offensive tackle Trent Williams and how borderline criminal it was for the team to under/ mis- diagnose a cancerous growth he had in his head. How can Williams trust the Redskins medical team to even give him a physical? John talks about the opportunity some of the lesser known college basketball programs have to make a statement in this year’s NCAA tournament. John then spends some time talking about the value of today’s reliever in baseball and how that should influence how much a six inning starting pitcher should make