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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from Newstalk ZB.

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Speaker 2: Let's get your state side to update you on all

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Speaker 2: things American sport with our man Leon Buzzby Leon, thanks

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Speaker 2: for joining us. As always, Let's start with basketball and

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Speaker 2: the march madness into the playoffs.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so much madness is into the final stages with

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Speaker 3: the women's Final four taking place. It took place yesterday

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Speaker 3: in Tampa, Florida and Tan San Antonio. For the men

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Speaker 3: this year, there was a bit of pushback because there

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Speaker 3: were no Cinderella Cinderella stories eight that's that's been a

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Speaker 3: much lower seeded team upsets one of the favorites. But

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Speaker 3: at the end of the day we were left with

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Speaker 3: the best four teams of both competitions. So yesterday in

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Speaker 3: the women's Final four, we saw in semifinal won the

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Speaker 3: overall top seed, the u c. L A Bruins. They

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Speaker 3: lost heavily to the number two seed, the Yukon Huskies.

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Speaker 3: In the other semi final, the number one seed and

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Speaker 3: the fenning champion South Carolina game Cocks in interesting eighth

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Speaker 3: also dominated the bidding. The Texas Longhorned, another lot stided

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Speaker 3: games so hard to pick a win in the National

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Speaker 3: Championship game. It's both uknnents Outh Carolina evenly match, but

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Speaker 3: should be a compelling contest none the less.

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Speaker 2: Pony absolutely looking forward to that, and of course the

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Speaker 2: men's games on at the moment, so we'll see who's

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Speaker 2: who's cutting down the net as they say, next Tuesday.

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Speaker 2: You're right though, about March madness. It is about the

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Speaker 2: Cinderella stories, isn't it When when a less fancy team

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Speaker 2: gets gets up over the top of somebody who's ranked

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Speaker 2: much higher. Just a lack of those this year, no

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Speaker 2: particular reason. It's just the way that it went. The

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Speaker 2: top sides just remained the top sides.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just the way of pair not this year.

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Speaker 3: So everyone loves to see the Cinderella story, but you know,

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Speaker 3: for obvious reasons, it just didn't happen this year. And say,

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Speaker 3: there was a bit of pushback from the fans, but

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Speaker 3: the end of the day, we've got the best teams

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Speaker 3: competing for their national total.

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Speaker 2: Okay, let's go to Major League Baseball, and I want

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Speaker 2: to start with the torpedo bats. This seems to be

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Speaker 2: dominate discussion now. Unlike a traditional bat that tapers down

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Speaker 2: towards a thick end cap. The torpedo bat shifts that

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Speaker 2: mass lower down the barrel. It creates a bowling pin

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Speaker 2: like shape. And I guess the idea is to concentrate

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Speaker 2: the weight where the players most often make contact, so

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Speaker 2: it gives hit us more power and control. Well, I mean,

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Speaker 2: why has there been so much discussion about these new bats?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if I should say that too

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Speaker 3: much more Pony, you still my thunder there, but there's

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Speaker 3: been a lot of discussion around the recent use of

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Speaker 3: this bat. Say, for your listening audience, point, I'll try

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Speaker 3: to span the best that I can. So it was

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Speaker 3: first used last year by All Star Yankee Jean Corlis Stanton.

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Speaker 3: He's a renowned slagger in Major League Baseball. So in

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Speaker 3: October of last year, when he first started using it,

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Speaker 3: it's betting average for that month increased dramatically when he

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Speaker 3: had seven home runs of a boarding game span. Then

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Speaker 3: you fast forward to this season where the Yankee batters

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Speaker 3: they crushed fifteen home runs in their there has three

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Speaker 3: games of the season using that particular bat. Now that's

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Speaker 3: an unprecedent a strike grade poney and then unders bear

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Speaker 3: the south. So There are currently forty one approved manufacturers

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Speaker 3: that supplied bats for the Major League Baseball The bats

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Speaker 3: themselves have to meet stript measurement criteria as you alluded to,

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Speaker 3: and as long as they are within those parameters, you

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Speaker 3: can distribute the weight of the bat however you want. Now,

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Speaker 3: with that in mind, the creator of the unconventional torpedo

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Speaker 3: bat as a retired physics professor, Aaron Lennart, who at

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Speaker 3: the time was a New York Yankees front office staffer

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Speaker 3: but is now employed by the Miami Marlins as a

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Speaker 3: field coordinator. The logic that Lenhard had was to redistribute

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Speaker 3: the weight of the bats in intense moving the so

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Speaker 3: called sweet spot to where the better strikes the ball

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Speaker 3: most frequently, which is about six or seven inches down

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Speaker 3: from the end of the bat. Now, I won't go

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Speaker 3: any deeper. The matter would be her all day, Piney,

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Speaker 3: but to a pfat as well, within the rules that

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Speaker 3: any player can use it. Just to note, they're not

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Speaker 3: all Major League Baseball players choose to use that bat,

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Speaker 3: but it's certainly a game changer. Personally, I think it's

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Speaker 3: a positive innovation for baseball because in recent years pitching

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Speaker 3: is dominated to the detriment of the game.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and crowds love big hits, which they're getting with

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Speaker 2: the torpedo bat.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. So we're still early on in the Major League

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Speaker 2: Baseball season. But how are the standings panning out in

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Speaker 2: the American League in the National.

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Speaker 3: League, Yes, so in terms of early season fixed point,

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Speaker 3: it's a long regular season grind, as you know, one

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Speaker 3: hundred and sixty two games before the playoffs even begin. Now,

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Speaker 3: I mean it's a real war of patrician for Major

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Speaker 3: League Baseball in terms of the amount of games they played,

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Speaker 3: and the team that lifts the Commissioners Trophy at the

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Speaker 3: conclusion of the board series you'll find as the deepest

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Speaker 3: and healthiest roster they're currently The teams that are off

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Speaker 3: to a good start are the defending champion LA Dodgers,

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Speaker 3: of course, in the San Diego Padres, and the Philadelphia

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Speaker 3: Phillies in the National League. In the American League, the

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Speaker 3: Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and LA Angels are leading

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Speaker 3: the way. However, if you were to compared both leagues,

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Speaker 3: the National League is superior to the American League in

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Speaker 3: terms of overall winning percentage. Case in points ken of

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Speaker 3: the fifteen teams in the National League over five hundred,

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Speaker 3: while in the American League only six of the fifteen

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Speaker 3: or five hundred or better. Big disparity there.

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Speaker 2: Let's go to the NBA, then, where we find ourselves

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Speaker 2: near the end of the regular season eighty two game

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Speaker 2: regular season, about seventy seven seventy eight games for most

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Speaker 2: of these teams. Where are we with those teams that

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Speaker 2: are likely to be playoff bound and those who are

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Speaker 2: making a late season run for it.

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Speaker 3: In the NBA, there are only a handful of games

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Speaker 3: left before the postseason starts. In the Eastern Conference it's

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Speaker 3: the Cleveland Cavaliers and DEPINNY champion Boston South is basically

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Speaker 3: ahead of everybody else here. However, in the top heavy

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Speaker 3: Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder, although they're one of

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Speaker 3: the younger teams in the league, they have the best record,

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Speaker 3: closely followed by the Easton Rockets, and the next six

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Speaker 3: teams following them are just simple position to trying to

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Speaker 3: cure that all important home court advantage in the opening

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Speaker 3: rounds of the playoff.

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Speaker 2: What about for MVP discussion, leon Net's always as big

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Speaker 2: a discussion as who's actually going to win the whole thing.

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Speaker 2: Who are the main names of the discussion for MVP.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so this discussion or this narrative has been going

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Speaker 3: on for a while now. So there's much speculation around

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Speaker 3: us because as most people are aware, ok see Thunderstars, Shine,

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Speaker 3: gilgerst Alexander, everyone for them, SGA, there's odds on favorite

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Speaker 3: winners first Individual Award despite three time MVP winner the

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Speaker 3: Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic putting up historical numbers this year

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Speaker 3: as on pace for the greatest statistical season of the

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Speaker 3: modern era. This season, the Joker is averaging a triple

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Speaker 3: double and a few games ago recorded an incredible sixty

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Speaker 3: one to ten and ten in a double overtime game

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Speaker 3: on which ten were lost. That's crazy numbers there. So

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Speaker 3: if we relate that to the NBA, and obvious example

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Speaker 3: when we think back is when Michael Jordan was playing

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Speaker 3: the NBA during his tenure with the Chicago Bulls. Everyone

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Speaker 3: knew he was the best player in the league year

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Speaker 3: in year out, but was not awarded the regular season

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Speaker 3: MVP Award every year. Some of those that voters felt

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Speaker 3: like it was time to give something else to the award,

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Speaker 3: even though that player was close to being but not

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Speaker 3: only considered the best player that season. Another very recent

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Speaker 3: example was in the NFL this past season. Previous two

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Speaker 3: time MVP winner Lamar Jackson, he's a quarterback for the

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Speaker 3: Baltimore Ravens, had much better number than his previous MVP years,

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Speaker 3: but the voters chose to award the regular season MVP

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Speaker 3: to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who had a breakout year.

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Speaker 3: That was because the voters were tired of Jackson. I

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Speaker 3: felt it was someone else's turned to win the Covenant Award.

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Speaker 3: Now in a way, that seems really unfair because the

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Speaker 3: vote against the words evan player. It happens often more

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Speaker 3: often than we think. But I opened away that shit.

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Speaker 3: Someone them have paid the debate about the MVP race

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Speaker 3: in the NBA and the likely the outcome.

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Speaker 2: It certainly does leon thing. This is always for you

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Speaker 2: timely on buzzby Stateside, with us regularly here on Weekend Sport.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk sed B weekends from midday, or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio