Playing Catch! (Up)

Have the Cubs lost their way under Jed Hoyer? Brian doesn't hold back his frustrations about the team's inconsistent strategies and its potential impact on morale. We also highlight the Cubs’ recent Independence Day triumph, but we can’t ignore the looming uncertainty. Join us as we banter about the identity crisis facing the Cubs and my cheeky attempts to woo Brian over to the Dodgers.

Is MLB hypocritical when it comes to gambling? We break down the latest controversy surrounding the league's draconian suspensions, including a lifetime ban for Tukapita Marcano. The conversation gets heated as we explore the contradictions of MLB profiting from betting sponsors while penalizing players. This scandal sheds light on the broader issue of sports betting’s pervasive presence in media and its implications for the sport's integrity.

Celebrate the future of baseball with stories of young talent and innovative fan experiences! We marvel at Wyatt Langford’s historic cycle for the Texas Rangers and discuss how new rules are shaping the game. From the quirky Lake County Captains' Roto-Rooter Toilet Row to the inspiring tale of the Oakland Ballers founded by two local legends, there's no shortage of excitement. Plus, we spotlight trailblazers like Kelsey Whitmore, making waves in the Pioneer League, and look at how these stories are creating a dynamic, inclusive future for baseball. Join us for a fantastic week filled with passion, innovation, and a whole lot of baseball!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

What is up everybody? Welcome inside Three Crow Studios, morristown, tennessee, or as we like to affectionately call it, motown. This is two guys talking baseball Dallas Danger, happy to be here with you, along with my best friend and colleague, who's looking awfully sharp today in all his Dodger gear. That's Brian Logan. Brian, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you this week? I'm good man, I'm feeling good.

Speaker 1: 0:46

As we are recording, it is July 4th, Independence Day. So by the time you hear this, we hope you had a wonderful 4th of July and woke up with all ten fingers on the 5th. And yeah, so today we're doing. You know, we took a little hiatus off, obviously about two years, and when I came back there was a couple of things. I'm not going to try to go back and cover two years' worth of stuff because that would literally be impossible, but a couple of things that have happened over the last few months, you know, fall into this baseball season that I wanted to touch on and cover and have us give our opinions on. So we're going to do that today. But thank you, as always, for joining us.

Speaker 1: 1:28

And, brian, before we get started, I'm going to ask you, at the top of every show, obviously how you feel about your Cubs, but the running joke for those of you who aren't privy to our personal conversations is that every year, as football season looms closer, brian cares less and less about the cubs and just starts watching football, which infuriates me, because our entire friendship was built on watching baseball every day. And uh, so I'm hoping that even if you give up on the cubs, this means that you're just going to jump on the bandwagon and and follow the dodgers. So. So how are you feeling about the Cubs? This means that you're just going to jump on the bandwagon and follow the Dodgers. So how are you feeling about the Cubs as we see it today?

Speaker 2: 2:08

Today is a great day for the fourth. I'm very excited because we played very well. Spoiler alert the Cubs won today, yeah, and they won big and they needed a win. They did. They did 10-2, and we got to watch a little bit of that game and, uh, I'm very excited that they got a win. We made it through the eighth today, yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:31

So, but, uh, I'm a little concerned with my cubs. Uh, we're going through a lot of growing pains here and, uh, you know, jed hoyer is not my favorite person right now. Uh, he came out uh this past week and said that he was going to give it three weeks and then he was going to start selling off the team and making the moves. Now I know everybody's doing that and that's the whole thing, but I feel like he's already written off the season in his mind and I mean, come on, and I know we disagree on this, but if I was one of the players and I thought that he just didn't care, I'd be like, well, just pay me and we'll just, who cares? Nobody expects us to win anyway. Sure, you know? I mean, I know they don't do that and they do care about the game and they're trying to win. But what I'm saying is is it puts down, uh, it trickles down through the club in a negative kind of way. Yeah, so yeah, I'm very frustrated with him.

Speaker 1: 3:29

I think you know, and since we talked about it off air I've had more time to sort of digest it and think about it and I haven't seen exactly what he said. I'm just going off of what you've told me secondhand. But it seems like to me that, like I get where Jed Hoyer was going, I get what he was trying to say. I just don't know that he communicated it properly in a way that didn't make some fans and you're like you may be right some people within the organization feel a little uneasy, uh, unnecessarily and maybe unintentionally. I would think obviously unintentionally. Why would you intentionally?

Speaker 1: 4:03

right make your make your people feel uneasy when you're in that position. But yeah, it's, it's weird and we talk about it all the time. With the Cubs you never know are they in, are they out, are they? Are they both dependent on the day? You know, because they've given us that some too over the last few years. And, um, you know, I feel for Jed Hoyer a little bit. It was a very unenviable task. Following Theo coming in right as the 16 championship team is getting torn apart and sent out across the league that has come to fruition. Now there's really hardly anybody left at all from that squad. But it's just weird. The Cubs operate very strangely sometimes and I'm not a Cubs fan. Obviously I follow them through you, as I say, all the time, but I can imagine it gets frustrating at times.

Speaker 2: 4:59

It does, and I think part of you know our whole team identity for my whole life has been that we're the lovable losers. Yeah, and it's okay. If the Cubs lose every day, fans don't care, but they do care, right? You know what I mean. I'm glad that I got to see 2016. I think of all the people and I've said this before in podcasts I think of all the people who died before they got to see that, and there's tons of people, yeah, and I got to live and see it, you know.

Speaker 2: 5:30

But to just assume that it's going to be OK, I mean it's, that's not cool. I mean we're in last place. We do need to make some changes and I know people have to go when you make changes, but I just I don't know. I'm happy with who the team is, who they are and uh, but I also realize we got to do something and get new players, uh, but I will say this that jed hoyer is no theo epstein oh, and I don't think anybody would try and jed Jed Hoyer included, would try to convince you otherwise.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:06

I mean, and I don't know, you know, I mean, I don't know the guy, obviously, I just see him on the TV every now and then and that's, you know, very media friendly. I just hope that he's he. I think I get the wind and this is just me that he thinks very highly of himself, right, right, um, I know the Rickett family, ricketts family does, yeah, of course, uh, and that's a whole different conversation. And you know they're, they're wackiness, yeah, but, um, you know, it's just I don't know if they're, if there's well, okay, well, okay, I'll say it this way I don't know if they're serving the fans, but then again, I also don't know if they should be serving the fans. Yeah, fair enough. So we're in limbo.

Speaker 1: 6:49

Yeah, we're stuck. You're back in Chicago. Cub limbo.

Speaker 2: 6:55

Yeah, you don't want to be mad, but you're madder than hell, so you don't know what to do with it, though. But what about your Dodgers? How are they?

Speaker 1: 7:01

Yeah, so we got rocked last night. If Christian Walker never plays another game in Dodger Stadium again, it'll be too soon. But that's neither here nor there. I'm feeling good. You know we were talking about this too off air earlier and I feel like the view of our season so far has been that of underperformance and there are elements of that. Don't get me wrong. I'm not here to say that we've performed at peak potential at all. However, I think there's a philosophy in place that has gone beyond the October-minded approach that the Dodgers have had into this extreme. There's no need to win 111 games if we can win 100, but keep guys healthier and give them more time to heal so that when we get them back they're good to go. And we've got them healthy in october. Right, and we're starting to. We're starting to get some guys back. We're starting to see some rehab assignments.

Speaker 1: 8:05

Joe kelly was in rancho the other night, looked great. Um kershaw had. You know everybody called it a setback. But all the dodger reporting was saying they're not calling it a setback because he was so ahead of schedule that when he got a little sore they were like well, that's fine, we'll shut you down for a week because we've got time because we thought you were ahead of schedule anyways. So you know, we're getting healthy, we're getting some guys back. You know, assuming that goes well and we have a relatively healthy roster going into October, I still feel like you know, um, we're the favorites, right?

Speaker 1: 8:45

I don't see if you view the whole picture and not just, well, this is the record right now. I think you have to have the Dodgers as one, or maybe two, depending on how you feel about the Yankees or the Phillies, who are both great ball clubs and are going to have a good shot at it too. But then there's that whole thing in the back of my mind of, well, somebody that we're not thinking about right now is going to get hot at the end, be close enough to sneak in and stay hot and then just rip through all the good teams, not to say that they won't be a good team themselves, but this is a game where we're used to only the very best teams get a shot at playing in October, and we've expanded that and there's all the reasons why and they make sense, and I understand we're never going back. So I'm not going to sit here and sound like an old-timer that's bitching and trying to say, well, let's just go backwards, because that's never the answer to anything. But from a Dodger fan, and trying to say, well, let's just go backwards, because that's never the answer to anything.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Right, but from a Dodger fan perspective, the teams at the top of the standings that are getting these buys need to figure out what's the formula if there is one to get right at the outset of the playoffs and not let these hot teams sneak in at the sixth seed, winning the last wildcard spot. And there might not be a solution. This may just be what it is forever, and that's okay. We'll live with it. It'll be great, it's exciting, it's fun to watch. I had a blast watching the playoffs even when it wasn't the Dodgers last year. The playoffs are fun in the playoffs, you know, even when it wasn't the Dodgers last year.

Speaker 2: 10:25

So yeah, the playoffs are fun. I mean, everybody likes the expanded team's excitement, but it doesn't necessarily translate into the actual playoff scheme is kind of what I'm gathering you're saying.

Speaker 1: 10:40

Well, it's just, you know it's less about the best teams and more about who gets hot at the right time than it's ever been Right. And there's always been an element of that. Don't get me wrong. You could have you know back in the day. If it was a close pennant race and you got hot in September, you could take it Right. So there's always been elements of that.

Speaker 1: 11:08

But now and the other thing that's interesting too is you know the trade deadline's coming up and obviously the Dodgers are associated with every name that anybody thinks will be traded at all, because that's just the nature of the way the Dodgers do business. And it's interesting because we know so little. This close to the deadline, we're less than a month away and we have no idea really who's buying, who's selling, who's on the market, because one day you'll hear one thing, the next day you'll hear nah, they changed their mind Because so many teams feel like they're still in it. You know the end of July, first of August, when the deadline is, that you know there's more buyers and less sellers. So even the guys that are getting traded, the asking price is a little higher than it probably should be, just because the demand is so high and they can get them into bidding wars and stuff. So it's just going to be interesting.

Speaker 1: 11:56

It's always interesting at the deadline, it's always interesting in October. But just to put a bow on it, I feel good. I mean I feel good about this team, I love this team and I think I think success is is um, I mean that's the only ending that's satisfying for this squad, for the for the next 10 years. I mean that's, that's it. If we don't win it, it's a disappointment.

Speaker 2: 12:16

I agree with you. I think they're going to be there. I think they're the odds-on favorite, uh, in the national league. Um, and again, they're very exciting for me to watch, um kind of the polar opposite of the cubs. Um, and that's good, that's a. You know they're, they're a palate cleanser.

Speaker 2: 12:33

There you go there you go um, but yeah, I think the dodgers have a great opportunity to be in there, and I think they're. They'll always be in the picture, sure, but I agree they do have to. They're gonna have to win some. Yeah, it's nut cutting time, man, I mean it's, and they know that, and I think they'll always be in the picture, sure, but I agree they do have to. They're going to have to win some.

Speaker 1: 12:45

Yeah, it's nut cutting time, man. I mean it's, and they know that and I think that's clear. If you know, if you pay attention like I do and watch every day and listen to what the guys and what the coaching staff and everybody's saying along the way, they get it. They know that's why they spent all that money, that's why they're doing things the way they're doing it this year. So, yeah, feeling good, but we should move on.

Speaker 1: 13:06

We've gotten a little long-winded with our opening comments and we got quite a bit to cover today. We don't want to keep you any longer than necessary. So first thing we're going to do, I'm going to try to get the little bit of negative today out of the way. We're going to go back to June 4th and talk about some MLB-sanctioned suspensions surrounding gambling and specifically gambling on the game of baseball. All the info I got from here is from MLBcom, sort of the official release on the matter. So this is nothing but the facts, sir, madam or otherwise. First things I'm going to do is I'm going to run down all the names, who they are and what their punishment was. So the headliner of this is Padres Tukapita Marcano. Infielder. Slash outfielder. Really hadn't found his footing in one position. Yet Young guy like 24, I want to say he bet on Padres games, so he got the Pete Rose treatment and he is banned from affiliated baseball for life, which is brutal, brutal, 24 years old and he's done.

Speaker 2: 14:23

Well, he didn't find his place yet and he won't be.

Speaker 1: 14:27

No, he won't. I imagine there's a place for him in Mexico or Korea or Japan, probably Obviously a talented guy to be already cracking the major leagues a little bit at 24. Well, younger than 24, because before he went to the Padres he was with the Pirates and he was playing a lot of—not a lot, but he was getting big league time. So, young guy, promising future, and it's gone. Now Four others were all suspended one year for betting on baseball games that did not involve the team they're on.

Speaker 1: 14:54

I should mention, before I move on, tucapita did not play in the games he bet on because he was injured. So these four players are suspended for one year for betting on games that that they didn't have anything to do with, that didn't even involve their team. That was, um, the a's right-handed pitcher michael kelly, padres, minor leaguer, left-handed pitcher jay groom, philly's minor leaguer infielder jose rodriguez, and diamondbacks uh, currently are at the time, I guess, minor leaguer. But he had also got some big league time the last year to relief pitcher Andrew Salfrank. So they all got a year, and that's the difference. Is Marcano bet on his own team, he gets the harsher suspension. They bet on other teams. That's not viewed as much of a violation, although a year suspension is still a pretty big foot down. Viewed as much of a violation, although a year suspension is still a pretty big foot down.

Speaker 1: 15:48

Yeah, these were quoted as unrelated violations and, brian, the way I took that was to mean none of these had anything to do with the other. These were all isolated incidents that investigations revealed there was wrongdoing. So clearly there's a movement within the league office of making sure that this isn't getting out of hand, and I think and this is what I really want to talk about here, brian and I think the reason the league is sweeping and doing these things, the way that they seem to be doing, is because you can't turn on a game or a pregame or any sports-related show on TV or radio or otherwise, or podcasts excuse me, without hearing this is brought to you by DraftKings or BetMGM or you name the betting app. That's who's sponsoring sports media right now. That's who's sponsoring sports media right now. And you know, I don't think that's the issue.

Speaker 1: 16:50

Obviously these guys did wrong and they should have known better, but at the same time, I don't know, is this a double-edged sword? Is this a little bit of a catch-22? I don't know. I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around.

Speaker 2: 17:10

It just doesn't feel right. I guess is what I'm trying to say. It's very hypocritical of the league to take money from betting sites and not allowing some of them to bet on other teams or whatever, or bet on other sports.

Speaker 1: 17:22

Well see, that's the thing is. I think they can bet on other sports.

Speaker 2: 17:25

Okay.

Speaker 1: 17:26

I don't think betting on other sports is an issue. I think it's just betting on the game of baseball, right, but then again also, they may have inside information.

Speaker 2: 17:36

Sure, Now we're getting back to the Black Sox and all that, and that's way, way back there.

Speaker 1: 17:42

We don't need to get into that.

Speaker 2: 17:46

But I mean, know, is there larger conspiracies? Probably not, yeah, but you know somebody in some office somewhere might think that and then you know it could get out of hand. It could get way out of hand yeah and and again.

Speaker 1: 17:57

I think that's why this hammer came down the way it didn't. It was like here's five suspensions at once that have nothing to do with each other. Yeah, is here's a statement. You know we're making an example and not that they did that unjustly, because none of these players appealed these suspensions Right. So clearly they were busted, they were hooked.

Speaker 1: 18:17

I mean, there was no way they thought they could get out of it or get it reduced, and it's a pretty zero tolerance policy to begin with, right? So once the league proves in any way you did it, there's no sense in fighting it. You know, it's just, it is what it is at that point. But yeah, I just, I don't know, man, it just feels icky. It feels icky to read that a guy who's 24 years old and is a pretty you know, not highly touted prospect, but a prospect that is looking like is going to be a guy that could be a major leaguer for a long time never has the opportunity anymore. But every time we turn on a game, gambling, this, gambling that spend money on the gambling apps.

Speaker 2: 18:59

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:59

It just feels a little icky to me and I can't put my finger on it. You know, and again did the crime do the time. I understand that Right. I'm not saying these guys should be able to do what they did and get away with it scot-free, but you know, it's just a shame you know it is.

Speaker 1: 19:21

And listen. You don't have to agree with what I'm saying. You don't have to feel sorry for two capito marcano. I'm just sad that this is the last time we'll ever probably get to say his name out loud, because it's fun to say, right, um, yeah I don't, I don't know man, I don't know what else to say on it.

Speaker 1: 19:36

Um it, you know, but but but you, you have an interesting take a lot of times on on gambling, in terms of baseball anyways, because of your fandom, and you know really, time spent with Pete Rose.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Right Right, For those of you who don't know, as I have a small friendship with Pete Rose and his management and a few years ago I haven't seen him for over five years. So I guess it's a very, very small friendship. Sure, but at the time I was talking to him regularly and we had went to dinner one night in Las Vegas and the whole night at the dinner, I mean, he was talking and interacting with everybody.

Speaker 2: 20:17

He wasn't being rude or nothing, but he had an iPad sitting on the table in front of his dish that uh had the ponies on it. He was watching the horse races because he was completely betting on it, right, and uh, and that's okay because he's allowed to do that. You know so, but I just poor pete's. Time has come and gone. He's, he's done his penance. We've got to recognize him for his accomplishments and you know he's paid the price A lifetime ban may be, you know, too stringent for any mistake.

Speaker 1: 20:54

Yeah, and there's plenty of people on the other side of this, but I tend to agree with you on one thing, and I don't know thatete should be around the game in any capacity officially, but man I I feel like we got to get him in the hall of fame yeah, I'm not saying let's hiring, right.

Speaker 2: 21:14

I mean they brought him back to do uh, was it the? It was the world series, right that they?

Speaker 1: 21:19

brought. Yeah, it was on a panel or something.

Speaker 2: 21:21

It was on a panel a pre-game show and he and he did good. Yeah, you know, I mean, he wasn't, he wasn't pre-game show and he and he did good. Yeah, you know, I mean, he wasn't, he wasn't knocking it out of the park, but he did good he was you know, grandpa that's what he is.

Speaker 1: 21:31

He put the, he put the ball in play and ran it out. He didn't hit a lot of home runs exactly he teed it up for somebody else.

Speaker 2: 21:38

There you go. You know that's probably probably as much as we get, uh, but he does need to be in the Hall of Fame, without a doubt.

Speaker 1: 21:46

Yeah, and you know, for me, really overall with the Hall of Fame and I don't want to get too far down this trail because we'll go off on a tangent but I also think that certain steroid guys also need to be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, barry Bonds was the most feared hitter of his generation before he blew up like a blimp. Right, he was a Hall of Famer without it. Roger Clemens, mark McGuire there are guys that were Hall of Famers without it, right? Sammy Sosa eh, that's a tough one. He was a pretty, you know, average, maybe a little above average player, and then all of a sudden he's hitting 60 every year for four right right that's a little suspect, um, but to me cooper's town and the entire experience is it should tell the story of baseball.

Speaker 1: 22:40

And that era is not only a part of the story, it is a big part of the story, because would we be sitting here talking about Major League Baseball without the 1998 home run race? Baseball was not in a good place. That's a good point, and I'm not saying I think it wouldn't exist anymore. I just don't know that the hype and the buzz and the interest would be there to facilitate us doing this and feeling like it's a worthwhile endeavor. You know what I mean. Right, the game's kind of hot right now. Yes, and I think, at least at some level, we owe that to 1998 and McGuire and Sosa, and you know, and Bonds, you know, and you know, and Bonds, you know, and you know after that, in his seasons where he broke the records, and you know, say what you want about the records and who holds them.

Speaker 1: 23:39

No-transcript all the parts you know right that's how I view it, and and I also don't like the extreme exclusivity of the hall of fame, but again, I promise not to go down too far of a tangent there. But uh, but yeah, five players suspended, four for a year, one being uh marcano for life and uh pete rose, still on the outside looking in as far as the hall of fame goes. You know, hopefully that, um, that wall gets knocked down at some point. So before we move on to quick hits, I want to just uh, on a little bit of a technical note, if you hear what sounds like a scratching noise, right, brian's beloved, uh corgi corgi son I was gonna say son, I was like well, I need to explain that it's not a human son. Yes, it's okay that'd be weird.

Speaker 1: 24:25

It's, it's, it's a doggy, son. Um, he's my little nephew. Rex is in the room with us and he likes to, uh, you know, scrape the the carpet to make sure he's got the perfectly laid out spot. So we apologize. Uh, we're not going to tell the dog to stop because we're in his house and uh, you know that's his carpet.

Speaker 2: 24:43

I'm just the guy that that you know dishes out the food and fills the water and opens the door because they have no thumbs, exactly so we do apologize if you're hearing that.

Speaker 1: 24:53

We think it's faint enough that it doesn't affect it too bad. So, uh, just wanted to let you know. We are aware, we know what it is and there's literally nothing we can or will do about it exactly you know, I don't know, deal with it, or or fast forward, it'll be okay, all right.

Speaker 1: 25:09

All right, brian, you ready for some quick hits? Let's hit some quick hits, all right. Number one rangers rookie wyatt lankford. Very highly touted rookie uh out of university of florida was just drafted. Last year fast track to the major leagues was on the opening day roster. Well, last Sunday on Sunday Night Baseball he became the first player ever to hit for the cycle on Sunday Night Baseball. That's an accomplishment, brian. Sunday Night Baseball has been an institution for a long time.

Speaker 2: 25:36

Forever. Yeah, I mean my whole life, pretty much. Yeah, not exactly my whole life, but pretty much.

Speaker 1: 25:43

Yeah, I mean definitely my whole life. As long as I remember, I grew up with John Miller and Joe Morgan. Every Sunday night during the season, man, it didn't matter who was playing, we were tuning in. Yeah, it was appointment viewing, which is something that doesn't quite exist like it used to, but anyways, big accomplishment. Here's the thing about Wyatt Langford. We could talk all day about how great he is and the prospect of him being a really good player for a really long time.

Speaker 1: 26:08

Major League Baseball social media throughout the season. They will do rankings, you know. Oh, here's the National League and American League MVP rankings as we see it, the Cy Young rankings and, of course, the Rookie of the Year. Well, they just recently you know a day or two I guess, after Langford hit for the cycle they did their Rookie of the Year rankings. They had him no 5 in the American League in the Rookie of the Year rankings and Brian and I, just last night, were having a really good conversation about guys like Tim Anderson, who Tim's been bad. Don't get me wrong, he's been really bad, but there was a time not even that long ago, a couple years ago where I don't think he gets DFA'd, but there's so much talent just below the surface and cracking through. Now that this is sort of at least for the time being Brian, baseball is becoming a young man's game because it seems like there's a good, talented young player waiting to take your spot if you struggle for what your team feels like is too long.

Speaker 2: 27:15

The youth movement. I mean, we've been talking for years that things are coming up the pipeline, that players are moving up through the ranks and that they'll be here, and they're starting to trickle in and starting to be here and and that's great for the game yeah, it's really cool to see and you know to to have all this young talent, you know, waiting in the wings to be the next batch of stars.

Speaker 1: 27:39

I think is what? So? You know, because we already have a batch of stars that rivals any time period ever, when you have guys like Shohei Otani, who are doing things that have never been done. When you have a guy like Mookie Betts, who not only is already one of the faces of the league because of his talent and his game and what he brings to the table socially and publicly he's a six-time gold glove right fielder and he switched to shortstop. Yeah, I mean, this is unprecedented stuff we're seeing on a daily basis in the big leagues right now. Yeah, I mean, I could go on Bryce Harper, ronald Acuna Jr it's everywhere. Man, it's incredible. There's so much good talent in the major leagues and there's just more coming.

Speaker 2: 28:33

Say what you want about the current game compared to the way it used to be, but we are living in a very good era for baseball and I think we're just kind of at the tip of the iceberg for that oh yeah, I think, with the new rules and the youth movement coming through, the game is just going to get more exciting and more exciting and be and we were talking today too about, uh, pitchers throwing 100 miles an hour with just crazy, you know, movement on it um, that's going to make the game more exciting too, because it's going to make it harder yeah, I mean it's.

Speaker 1: 29:06

I don't know that it's ever been as hard as it is to hit in the major leagues, as it is right now. I mean it's, it's insane what these pitchers are doing. And and and you know that, yes, there's the elbow injuries and we're not going to get into that either, you know, because we're not going to argue over what's causing it, because at the end of the day, we don't know, and there's no end to that discussion, no conclusion in sight, but it's hard, it's hard to hit a baseball. And now that you know, now that, like 95 isn't even really gas anymore, geez, good grief. Yeah, the advancements in pitching have gotten way ahead of the advancements in hitting. Now, do I think the hitting will catch up? Sure, but is it five, 10, 20, 25 years? Who knows? Right, you know, and I think the new rules are playing into that too, because the more action on the bases means more small ball offense. And we have gotten and I will admit this as a guy who is into the modern game and is into analytics a lot. We have gotten a little too. Three-true outcome, strikeout, walk home, run. Yeah, sometimes you just need a bloop, sometimes you just need to fucking pardon my language, you just need to sit, you know, pardon my language, you just need to, you know, sit back, change your approach and wait on a ball and poke it out the other way. Yeah, yeah, small ball. I'm all about some small ball. Oh, I know you are, I know you are, I live for small ball, uh, so anyways. So we got a little, uh, a little off track there, but white Langford, you know, one of the many, many bright young stars coming up through the ranks in the big leagues right now. So, uh, we got, we got some fun ballpark experience things.

Speaker 1: 30:54

I want to talk about Brian. The first one and this is maybe the most asinine thing I've ever seen, but I kind of love it the Lake County Captains. They're located right outside of Cleveland. They are the Guardians high. A minor league affiliate has announced Roto-Rooter Toilet Row. Okay, this is eight seats on Toilet Row. The seats are toilets, or at least they look like toilets. They're obviously not functioning bathrooms. That'd be a little crazy and out of control. Imagine if they were. Yeah, I don't want to.

Speaker 1: 31:29

But, the quote from the late county captains is that the seats are super comfortable, elegantly designed and have unparalleled views of the field and the game. So, in addition to the good views and the big, comfortable seats, I noticed in one picture there's a magazine rack on the back, and I don't know if they're putting programs in there or random baseball reading materials or what, but that's kind of cool. They also have a bathroom attendant. His name is Horatio. I guess he's working every night. What a great name. Well, you know, my whole thing is there's only one guy. What if he needs a day off?

Speaker 1: 32:09

No days off in the toilet row? I guess not. So Horatio is going to bring you, if you're sitting in these seats, mouthwash combs and gum, as needed to keep you fresh is what the website said. We want to keep you fresh while you watch the game. And I dug up, you know. I went to the ticket website and these seem to run about $25 a pop. So, first off, brian, we got to talk about man. What did Roto-Rooter spend on this?

Speaker 2: 32:37

I know, I mean that check had to be huge, right? I mean, first of all, let's start at the very beginning. The guy walks into the room and he goes now hear me out. Yeah, Whose idea was?

Speaker 1: 32:48

this? That's what I want to know. Yeah, and I'm the king of last minute notes for this podcast, but I did at one point think should I reach out and try to talk to somebody from the team, because I just want to know the story? Can you tell me where in the hell this idea even came from, right, was this your idea and you pitched it to them? Did they pitch it to you? Was it a collaborative effort in a room with people from Roto-Rooter and people from the team? Because as crazy as it is and as crazy as it sounds, it's pretty genius too. It really is.

Speaker 2: 33:23

I don't know, man, I would be intrigued to try it out as long as the chairs were comfy. That's the thing.

Speaker 1: 33:31

Well, that's the first thing it says is they're super comfortable. Okay, I mean and this is high-A baseball, so a $25 ticket is a very premium ticket.

Speaker 2: 33:40

Yes, absolutely, I mean, that's more your like all-you-can-eat ticket price at a high A yeah well, and at Smokey's it's $24.95 or $99, and you get your really close seat and you get the all-you-can-eat buffet deal and that's a double-A squad in a really tourist-heavy place.

Speaker 1: 34:07

you know town Location, yeah, so you know, yeah, yeah, 25 is premium at high a. Yeah, I, I would.

Speaker 1: 34:12

I would really love to go and check this out I would too I you know I'm all for anything creative that the minors and the independent teams and the summer league teams can do to generate some revenue. And I think they're doing that tenfold here, because not only do they have the Roto-Rooter money, but they're selling these seats. I mean, people are going to sit in these seats and there's only eight of them, Right? So you know that's pretty cool.

Speaker 2: 34:39

I mean, what about the guy that comes in and he has, you know like six or eight beers and he decides that he's not going to go to the bathroom and just turns around and starts doing his business right there? Well, I think he would be asked to leave and they'd put his picture up at the entrance because that's that's not only frowned upon, it's pretty illegal too well, I mean, if you've been there, you've been there and with that we'll move on.

Speaker 1: 35:06

Uh, this is another fun ballpark experience thing. So, uh, we, we, we love our ballpark food and, uh, at some point, maybe even today, we're gonna do a little patreon short on our favorite ballpark meals of all time. Uh, but this one, kevin James of King of Queens, fame noted Mets fan, posted a picture from Yankee Stadium of what is now known as the Bronx's Chicken Tender Bucket Drink. It's literally a giant souvenir cup drink with a chicken tender bucket on top of it and the straw goes up through the tender bucket, so you literally can sip your drink and eat your chicken tenders at the same time brilliant really cool sign me up yeah, that's ballpark food like genius right and you get to take the cup in the ball.

Speaker 1: 36:00

Yeah and it's all souvenir. It's nice. You know like collectible looking stuff and picture had two in it and it looked like they were different. So it looks like there's like collectible.

Speaker 2: 36:09

I mean, imagine you bring that home and you use it for nachos and beer. Incredible, right, incredible. It's the gift that keeps on giving Clark, it is a gift that keeps on giving.

Speaker 1: 36:18

So it was hard for me to find a lot of information on this, but one person on reddit I saw said the last time they were at yankee stadium it cost uh 22. Okay, now they didn't say when that was, but that's our ballpark and you know, when I brought that number up to you off air brian, you were shocked.

Speaker 2: 36:36

It was that low, very low, very, very low, because uh, somebody uh once was like beers are like 16 bucks or something like that, and that was a while back. I mean, don't quote me on that, I'm just trying to recall that I think someone might have said that at one time. Anyway, it's the New York market. Things ain't cheap up there. Well, things aren't cheap in any ballpark.

Speaker 1: 37:01

Let's just be honest to begin with. And then you add that it's New York City city and the bronx and yankee stadium and all that I will say.

Speaker 1: 37:08

I see a lot of those beer price lists going around and and it's like I don't know how much I believe, how legit it is accuracy, yeah yeah, so, um, because the you know the last one I saw, the dodgers, were like on the cheaper end and I was like there is no way in hell dodger stadiums on the cheap end of Major League Beer prices yeah, all anybody ever does is bitch about prices at Dodger Stadium. Right, I mean, that's just what it is, but I hear it's worth every penny there. I would love to find out one day, real soon, pal, yeah, one day, all right. So we're going to finish up quick hits here. The All-Star Game uniforms have been unveiled. We'd seen the hats maybe a couple weeks ago, but we've got the jerseys now. And, brian, I was surprised to find out how much you love this year's version of the All-Star uniform.

Speaker 2: 37:56

I am really stoked for this man. The National League. That's my colors man. I think the cubbies look great. I just love it. I love it, I love it and I really like the American League. I think it's so much better than the past two years.

Speaker 1: 38:12

Well, I agree with that. I think I like the more classic look and it seems like they're going back to that with a lot of their stuff. You know, holiday stuff and All-Star and all that. You know, special occasion is what I'm looking for their type of stuff. But, um, you know, I like the national league a lot more than the american league. But the american league is growing on me, right, and that's the jerseys.

Speaker 1: 38:36

I hate the hats. I can't stand the hats. They're gaudy and terrible. But the jerseys I'm okay with. Um, they're not so bad. The bigger question here, brian, I think, because this comes up every year about this time and there's always a big movement for this Should we go back to them not wearing? So they've swapped it on us. When I was growing up, they wore American League and National League jerseys on the home run derby workout day. Then, for the All-Star game, everybody wore their team's respective home or away jersey and hat and pants. So you know, the home was always in white and the, you know, the away was always in gray or powder blue, depending on you, depending on what era we're talking about, what teams we're talking about, right? So should we go back to that or should we stick with. Every year we design a new American League and National League. Look for the All-Star game.

Speaker 2: 39:39

I think that we stay. I'm kind of on the fence when we first started talking about it, but I think we stay with the uniforms. When I grew up, the new uniforms yes, let's stick with the uniforms let's not send them out there naked the new uniforms, the new jerseys and the new hat.

Speaker 2: 39:59

when I was a kid, they did wear their respectives and I liked that too. That was pretty cool to see it all hodgepodge together, but I think I like the new jersey every year with the hat, especially when they're cool like this year, sure.

Speaker 1: 40:15

I was shocked several years ago to see pictures from the first All-Star Games in 33. Okay, I know it was the 30s, I think games in 33. Okay, I know it was the 30s, I think it was 33. And they wore jerseys that said All-Star or AL All-Star on them, okay, and I was like, oh wow, because as a kid that always felt like something that they'd always done. Right, it was such a part of the All-star game that it just felt like that's the way it always was.

Speaker 1: 40:47

And it never occurred to me that back in the 30s they would have made special jerseys for these guys, because it wasn't a big money business like it is today. Right, and that goes into the real reason why we'll never go back because they make money selling the jerseys and hats. Absolutely so why would they not make that money just to appease some people on Twitter? Right, I'm also on the fence. I like what I grew up with and that is the special jerseys on home run derby night. And then for the game. You wear your team jersey. I would be okay with that. Right, wear your team jersey, I would be okay with that.

Speaker 1: 41:28

Right, I'm not adamantly against them wearing the the. You know the, the new style in in the game completely because, like you mentioned, off air, I like that. It makes them look like the same team, right, you know it does get a little visibly, visually kind of um, disorienting sometimes if there's a lot of color variation going on on the field. At the same time. You know, with hats and shoes and you know sleeves and armbands and whatever, you know, whatever they're wearing, you know it's all going to be team color and so I'm with you. I'm on the fence because I could kind of go either way. But again, I understand that we're never going back because they sell them and they make money. But again, I understand that we're never going back because they sell them and they make money. And when they're cool, you know I like, I mean people like the jerseys, let them buy the jerseys. That's great.

Speaker 2: 42:15

What was it like two years ago? Maybe three, I think it was two, but I might be wrong. Where they were? The tan, brown ones.

Speaker 1: 42:30

Oh, that was several years ago when they were in San Diego. Yeah, oh rough. That was those I did not like those at all.

Speaker 2: 42:33

Well, that's what you get for trying to look like the ugly ass San.

Speaker 1: 42:34

Diego podcast. And you know, I like brown, I like the color brown and yellow.

Speaker 2: 42:37

I mean, I wear a Tony Gwynn jersey every now and then and I can't stand the team, but I loved Tony Gwynn growing up.

Speaker 1: 42:43

Yep. So there you have it. There's our take on that. That's going to do it for Quick Hits and so we're going to move into our final segment of the day and a topic, brian, I'm really excited to talk about. So, back in the fall, I want to say November, yeah, november 2023,.

Speaker 1: 43:01

This is from an ESPN article written by Jeff Passan, the godfather of baseball journalism, the only guy I trust. If it's trade deadline news and he hasn't said it, then it ain't happened yet, but he wrote this article that I got most of this info from, at least from the the founding of the Pioneer League's newest team, the Oakland Ballers. So two Oakland natives and fans, baseball fans A's fans, if you will, paul Friedman and Brian I think it's Carmel they decided that when the A's announced they were going to leave Oakland, that they were going to start a new team, independent professional baseball team in the city of Oakland, and there was a quote in the article from Paul Friedman about how they kind of felt like their hearts had been ripped out of their chest because the A's have been in Oakland since what? The 60s.

Speaker 2: 44:01

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:02

And they're such a part of that city They've won World Series there the Earthquake World Series game. There's so much history there, so many great players. I mean the whole Moneyball era. You know there's a lot of history in the Oakland Coliseum and the Oakland A's and John Fisher, the owner of the team, has been urged by fans for quite some time now to sell the team. If he doesn't want them, just sell them, you know.

Speaker 1: 44:28

And so that movement continued into this and they also, I want to mention I didn't have this in my notes, but I do remember they said that they were not trying to replace the A's, that the goal was not to replace what they once had but to move forward and to celebrate what they had, but become their own unique new element of the city of Oakland and its baseball history. So they got all these fans together and they crowdfunded around $2 million to pull this off. Wow, you know, made a bunch of renovations to the ballpark, I mean, and they very quickly got this team together. This came together in the fall for this season and they made that clear. They said they did not want to wait until the A's left for Las Vegas or Sacramento now, as it turns out, but they wanted to go ahead and be playing right away and go ahead and start the movement right.

Speaker 1: 45:29

There's so much to this and there's so much we're going to talk about. But, brian, first I want your thoughts on the idea that two guys that are a fan of Oakland baseball just got all these fans together and they pulled money and they made it work to put a team together. And the Ballers is so cool. The Ballers is actually an homage to one of their friends. I read that. I didn't know that. But it's also cool because they use the short-term Bs instead of as. It's kind of a playoff of. You know we're second to the as now because we're the Bs. I just want your thoughts on the whole idea of how this came together and what they're doing for Oakland.

Speaker 2: 46:08

I think it's great. I mean, I think it's amazing that they were able to raise so much money and actually get that, because that's hard. Crowdfunding is not easy.

Speaker 1: 46:17

No, and we're talking in terms of like a couple thousand dollar projects, not millions of dollars.

Speaker 2: 46:23

Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I have been involved in some crowdfunding things for other people and it, uh, it's a crapshoot. It really is right, like right up to the end, sure, um, you know. So, yeah, I just think it's great that they raised the money and that they got everybody united, because that, right, there is amazing too, like you know who's to say if you raise the money, that they got everybody united, because that, right, there is amazing too. Who's to say if you raise the money, that they would all be united to do it? Because that's another thing. Everybody's got to agree where to go to lunch and how to run the team.

Speaker 1: 46:55

Sure. Well, I think a lot of it too came together out of what they called the reverse boycott game, where they filled the Coliseum, which is not happening. That team is selling very few tickets right now. But one game everybody got together in Oakland and said we're all going to this game and it's going to be one big protest, right, and they were chanting sell the team. And they had the flags and the shirts that just said sell in the team colors which you're seeing everywhere now. It's great. And I think that's when they saw oh, we do have this united front, we can make this happen, we can make this work.

Speaker 1: 47:34

The ingenuity, incredible, the drive, the passion on board for it, 100% and in the spirit of moving on but not dwelling and trying to replace what you had. They actually had it worked out to play a game this year at the oakland coliseum it would have been june 29th, right, and then it was a done deal. They had the paperwork signed and and the the coliseum was good, and then the a's pulled the rug out from under them. But they're so cavalier and so positive because they didn't get bummed out, they never even announced it, right. And then they said hey, by the way this was supposed to happen, but instead we're doing what we call coliseum day at the, at the ballpark we have as a celebration to the coliseum right since we couldn't play there this day, and I just love that again cavalier attitude of you. Know what You're going to have to pivot, you're going to have to call audibles, you're going to have to see plans not come to fruition and then pivot and make it work anyway.

Speaker 2: 48:44

Yeah, stay positive about the whole thing Instead of getting bummed out because the a screwed you 100%.

Speaker 1: 48:51

You know, staying positive and and that's I mean it's, it's a beautiful thing. So you know, they're just they're, they're really killing it and I love it so much. What they're doing, um, they, we, we. A couple years ago, when she was signing with the uh, atlantic league's staten island fairy hawks, we talked about kelsey whitmore, right, uh broke a lot of atlantic league records as the first woman to do a lot of things. She is now an oakland baller and became the first woman to start at pitcher in the Pioneer League's history. So she's just breaking more barriers, knocking down more walls and making history, man, and that's so cool. We love Kelsey Whitmore.

Speaker 2: 49:38

We're all about the women in the game.

Speaker 1: 49:41

It's the one thing that I think makes baseball so unique is, I think women have a real place in the game, right, if we let them. Not that they don't have a place in other games, but but I know baseball and I know there's a 100% a place for them, and and and I I do sort of dream of a day when we've got a woman on the field in a major league uniform. Absolutely, that would be really cool. I hope we're headed there. I don't know if it's Kelsey.

Speaker 1: 50:06

There's a lot that's going to have to go into that Beyond the level of play. It's going to have to be the right kind of person to take all the heat, because there's going to be some heat, a lot of heat, a lot of heat. Not to compare that experience, that hypothetical experience, to what Jackie Robinson went through. But there are similarities. Yes, jackie was the right guy, not just because he was a dynamic baseball player, but because he had the right demeanor and was the right person for the job. Right, because you know, I mean I can't imagine what he heard from the stands and from other players on the field that first year. Yeah, I mean, that had to be difficult and there's tons of stories of Jackie's courage and um, you know what an upstanding guy his character that's the word I'm looking for when he was in the Negro Leagues before he got got signed by the Dodgers. So you know, there has to be a woman in that same vein that not only can play the game at a high level, but do that while also taking it on the chin and not letting it affect her and and showing that women belong, right, right, and I believe that I believe that they belong in this game and I'm looking forward to that day potentially happening.

Speaker 1: 51:13

So maybe it's Kelsey, we don't know until it does happen. But in that same breath it's important to mention this is a team that for like five or six weeks in a row, had a player on their team get their contract bought out by a major league organization. They are a pipeline. This is an affiliate league. Well, it's not an affiliated league, it's like a partner league. Major League Baseball is somewhat involved in this league, although these are not minor leaguers, right, these are independent players being paid by their team. But you know, it's a bit of a pipeline already. So it could be Kelsey. We never know. I know it could happen.

Speaker 2: 52:00

That would be amazing if she could make it all the way up and break the gender barrier or someone does. It will happen, happen. It will definitely happen.

Speaker 1: 52:09

Um, but yes, there's some eyes on the, on the team and and the league and and all you know who they play and uh, that's amazing that they've had this much of, uh, an impact so far yeah, it's wonderful and and and it's growing because just recently and and I pulled all this info for this part of the story from the Pioneer League website directly Walter Haas very famously made his money in Levi's in the Bay Area and was a billionaire and a former owner of the A's and his time is sort of viewed as the glory days of the A's and a former owner of the A's and his time is sort of viewed as the glory days of the A's.

Speaker 1: 52:51

Well, two of his heirs have bought into the ownership group. So not only does that give the Oakland Ballers a tie to those glory days in their attempt to celebrate the history of baseball in Oakland, it also gave them a pretty big financial boost, which is so important in any Very important I mean it's everything. It's not a high-profit business model to run an independent baseball team because you have the player salaries as a factor and you don't want to get known as the team that underpays your players compared to the other independents. Right, and especially after COVID, there's a lot of these teams that the ones that are still around are still maybe catching up a little bit and still hurting from the loss of income during COVID. So big financial boost, huge tie to the past that they didn't need necessarily, but it's not a bad thing at all that they're going through this. So wonderful for them. And Brian, something that I think you wanted to touch on was what the Ballers are wearing on the back of their jerseys.

Speaker 2: 54:09

Yeah, they've got the town name on it, oakland, instead of their names. So the whole thing is about the movement, which is great and fantastic, and I think that's very, very cool and very innovative and that it's nice that they're dedicating that part of the game back to the town, which is the fans 100%, and it's a fan-run organization, so of course they're thinking about the fan experience and the way the fans feel about it, and that's great.

Speaker 1: 54:40

More teams should be doing that more than they are, especially at the major league and affiliated level, where player development and money take charge more, I think, sometimes than the actual fans themselves that are the ones giving you that money, right?

Speaker 1: 54:59

Which is far more important than the money itself the people that money is coming from. Because people paying money to buy a ticket, to buy a hot dog, to buy a beer, to buy a jersey, to buy a t-shirt, you know they are emotionally invested in your product. That's an emotional investment business and this ownership group totally understands that. And for me, with the with with oakland on the back and them basically saying we're gonna, we're gonna put oak Oakland and its baseball history on our backs, I love that number one for the team aspect of it, you know, and the camaraderie element. But also I love kitschy little unique uniform thing Absolutely, I do too.

Speaker 1: 55:43

And I think a lot about the white elephant on the Oakland A's jerseys from the old quote you know about you've got a white elephant on your hands, yeah, with the second team and all that stuff from way back. You know when they were. I'm pretty sure it was from when they were still in Philadelphia, right. But you know, and that's always been one of my favorite little like niche, if you know, you know, if you don't, it's kind of like what are they doing? Uniform things, as they always had the uniform with the elephant on the on the sleeve.

Speaker 1: 56:09

You know, yeah, and that goes back to that great story and it ties into this history again, and so I think I think they're doing all the right things, man, um, I'm really keeping my eye on the oakland ballers. I'm mostly keeping an eye on their shop because they they sell out of stuff pretty quickly. Yeah, they sold out of caps real quick and I haven't been back to check and see if they've got them again because I've got to have a bees cap. It's going to happen, man, I'd like to have some merch to support the sell the team movement out there in.

Speaker 2: 56:38

Oakland too.

Speaker 1: 56:41

Maybe get me one of the shirts that's green and yellow. It just says sell. That's definitely in the cards. Got to shout out last dive bar. That's one of their big partners in oakland that's done a lot, uh in helping them plan and promote and host a lot of these events uh that they've been holding. And um, you know just super people out there in oakland doing, doing all the right things and um, you know, uh, from from two guys talking baseball to all of you, we love it, keep it up, we're following it, we're, we're gonna keep, we're gonna keep our eyes on it because it's fascinating. And we're, we're all about the movement all about it.

Speaker 2: 57:15

I mean just we, we want to see it succeed and maybe go out there and experience that too that'd be great, man, that'd be awesome, that'd be great.

Speaker 1: 57:23

And, uh, speaking of putting us in a position to be able to fly to Oakland to see a game out there. That's going to do it for us today. But you know, we appreciate you listening. We're still kind of getting our feet back in the water. If you tuned in to our last episode hoping for video on YouTube, we had some technical difficulties. The bad news is we didn't have a video feed that we could share. The good news is we got the audio, so the audio is still there, and the other good news is it was just a little bit of an oversight on our part and we fixed it very easily.

Speaker 2: 57:57

Yeah, it's fixed.

Speaker 1: 58:01

With this episode we are rolling good as can be, so you can finally see the new studio set up and how great it looks, looks, and uh, you know, uh, how much fun we're really having when we do this, brian, because this this show is a lot of fun.

Speaker 1: 58:12

So, uh, but thank you so much. If you like what you hear, you can follow us on twitter. Brian is at three crows, bri bri on twitter. I'm at dallas danger. The show is at 2gtb pod. We also have a store, and it ain't just T-shirts and hats, brian, it's a little something for everybody, a little something for everybody, including the puppies.

Speaker 1: 58:33

Yeah, we got dog bowls, dog collars, dog leashes, all that fun stuff, notebooks, stuff you can use. Everybody can talk themselves out of a hat or a T-shirt. I know I do that all the time because you know we've all got plenty of them. But you know, if you like what you hear, we'd really appreciate your support. 2gtbstorecom, and it's free to go look around. It's free to go take a look and see what we've got. We appreciate that all the same. Also, we're working on a patreon. We didn't really get into the patreon too much two years ago but we've decided we want to really lean into it and create some extra content for those of you that are listening and enjoy it. So you can head over to Patreoncom. Slash 2GTB We've got some things in the works.

Speaker 1: 59:18

You know, last week we did a little history of the bobblehead, courtesy of Brian. That was a lot of fun to talk about bobbleheads. We're going to talk this week about our favorite ballpark meals of all time. I'm excited to talk about that and then make Brian go downstairs and grill me a hamburger because I'm hungry. And then, you know, last week, if you listen to the show, I made a little joke in the title and at the outset about a movie called we're Back, a Dinosaur Story, and Brian had never even heard of it, and it was something I remember from my childhood, but I don't remember anything about it other than it existed. So we, at some point, are going to watch that film and give you a review of it on Patreon. So a lot of fun stuff we're going to be doing watching some old games, watching some baseball movies and whatever other crazy crap we come up with for extra fun content.

Speaker 1: 1:00:07

For those of you that support the show, we really appreciate any way that you can do that, and a big way you can do that without spending a dime right now if you're on YouTube. Thank you so much. Please leave a comment, comments, help people find the show and also subscribe. There's some things we want to get into with this show that we need a certain subscriber count to be able to accomplish on YouTube, and that's just us. Being honest, we don't have the subscriber count we need. So even if you're listening on a podcast platform and you don't really use YouTube, please still go subscribe. It'll help us out a lot and I promise it won't be an inconvenience to you in any way. You won't even notice that you've subscribed to us if you don't use YouTube, but it'll go a long way for us. So that's all the ways you can help support us and help us get this thing off the ground and running. So, brian, we can hopefully do this for a long time, absolutely so. Another great week, yeah, another fantastic episode. Thanks again for joining us and until next time.

Speaker 1: 1:01:01

I'm Dallas Danger. That's Brian Logan. Thank you so much. Have a great week we.