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Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, after a great week weekend in the Northeast
Speaker 2: in Rhode Island and Connecticut. I am back. Listen. We
Speaker 2: got about six more weeks until football truly begins in Earnest.
Speaker 2: The camps are now games just down the road. You know,
Speaker 2: I thought I'm going to have at least ten to
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes here on what we've watched with our politics
Speaker 2: over the course of the weekend. I said this on
Speaker 2: Instagram about three weeks ago. I said, a month is
Speaker 2: a long time. Trump has a very high disapproval rating.
Speaker 2: He's not a terribly strong candidate, either was Biden, obviously,
Speaker 2: but I think Trump has a history of stepping in it.
Speaker 2: Jd vance to a lot of moderates, myself included, can
Speaker 2: be a little extreme. So I think there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people out there that could change their mind in
Speaker 2: the next three months. Kamala Harris, I have no idea.
Speaker 2: Here's what I've watched, though, that's fascinating. A lot of
Speaker 2: the smartest opinions I've watched over the last month are
Speaker 2: people not involved on a daily basis with politics. I
Speaker 2: mean Fox News predictable, MSNBC predictable. CNN actually has been
Speaker 2: willing to go after both sides, which is refreshing, and
Speaker 2: that drives by the way Liberals tend to believe that
Speaker 2: CNN is theirs, They're on their team, and CNN has
Speaker 2: not projected that over the last three weeks. As somebody,
Speaker 2: I feel, I'm kind of an independent that leans left
Speaker 2: socially right fiscally. I've appreciated CNN's coverage. I think New
Speaker 2: York Times has been willing to be highly critical of
Speaker 2: Joe Biden. Again, Democrats tend to think the New York
Speaker 2: Times is on their side, and I do think the
Speaker 2: media mostly leans left, with some obvious exceptions. I think
Speaker 2: both sides, Republicans and Democrats, have shown an ability to
Speaker 2: bulldoze democracy. I saw Bernie Sanders get pushed down a
Speaker 2: hill by the Democrats and Hillary Clinton. I just watched
Speaker 2: Joe Biden get pushed down a hill. I'm not disagreeing
Speaker 2: with the result. I mean, think about this. This will
Speaker 2: be the first time since nineteen seventy six. This is remarkable.
Speaker 2: This will be the first time since nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 2: Many of you watching not born that will have a
Speaker 2: presidential match without a Bush junior senior, a Clinton, Bill
Speaker 2: or Hillary or Joe Biden on a presidential ticket. That
Speaker 2: shit's crazy. You got to go back to nineteen seventy
Speaker 2: six to not have a Bush, a Clinton, or Joe
Speaker 2: Biden on the ticket as the president or vice president.
Speaker 2: I'm all for fresh faces, new blood, I'm all for it.
Speaker 2: I have no idea who the vice president would be.
Speaker 2: Shapiro out of Pennsylvania wildly popular Democrats need to win Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: That would probably be a logical choice. I have no
Speaker 2: idea about Kamala Harris. She's already being marginalized by the
Speaker 2: right as wildly extreme. Well, I mean JD. Van would
Speaker 2: favor a national abortion ban, complete and utter abortion ban.
Speaker 2: That to me feels extreme. I tend to be I'm
Speaker 2: not libertarian. I think you need government. I'm agnostic. I've
Speaker 2: said that thousand times. I'm agnostic. Most of my friends
Speaker 2: are much more religious than I am. I'm pro choice
Speaker 2: within region. I think there's a cutoff at you know, ten, twelve,
Speaker 2: fourteen weeks, whatever the reasonable cutoff is. But I'm I'm
Speaker 2: pro choice, I'm pro business, I'm anti extremes. And a
Speaker 2: lot of the more common sense, thoughtful opinions I've seen
Speaker 2: over the last month are from non political pundits. People
Speaker 2: get into their camps. You got to be kidding me.
Speaker 2: Politics is it's business. In sports, It's all about money
Speaker 2: and power. That's all this stuff is about. Democrats wanted
Speaker 2: Bernie Sanders to hit the road. He hit the road.
Speaker 2: Democrats wanted Joe out. You know, the donors dried up.
Speaker 2: Now they come flush with money. In for Kamala Harris.
Speaker 2: I get it. I'm fine. I'm just, I just I
Speaker 2: don't have to like jd Vance. I don't. I don't
Speaker 2: know much about Kamala Harris. I'm just looking for fresh faces,
Speaker 2: new blood. That's all I care about. The problem with
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris go back to the twenty twenty primaries. For
Speaker 2: whatever reason, people just don't like her too much. Word
Speaker 2: salad inauthentic. You know, there's some private things in her
Speaker 2: past which are a bit turbulent. I'm not real judgmental
Speaker 2: on that stuff. I actually think the Democrats have an
Speaker 2: excellent bullpen. They're not terribly well known outside of their region.
Speaker 2: You know, Gavin Newsom is considered too slick. I'm not
Speaker 2: insecure on that stuff. A good looking guy whose articulate
Speaker 2: doesn't bother me. It's like when Oprah years ago decided
Speaker 2: to lose weight and her ratings went down. Housewives felt
Speaker 2: out of touch that she didn't relate to them. That
Speaker 2: was according to research. I'm okay with a guy that's
Speaker 2: smarter than me, better look at than me. But Gavin
Speaker 2: Newsom is easy to marginalize. Even though California's economy is robust,
Speaker 2: even though California's got advantages over the rest of the country.
Speaker 2: You can put videos all over the internet of our
Speaker 2: homeless issues. I mean, if you were homeless, where would
Speaker 2: you live? You get treated better here, and the weather's Mediterranean.
Speaker 2: I don't think he has a great deal of electability.
Speaker 2: I think there's this stigma he's just a little too pretty,
Speaker 2: and I think that turns the Midwest and southern voters off.
Speaker 2: Pete Poodu Judge. I think Pete Poodoo Judge is awesome.
Speaker 2: The guy speaks like six languages, seven languages. He's a
Speaker 2: Rhodes scholar, incredibly articulate, thoughtful. But again, he's gay. In America,
Speaker 2: are we ready for that? It's remarkable to me that
Speaker 2: that has to be asked. But for a lot of Americans,
Speaker 2: moderate to conservative Americans, I guess we have to ask it.
Speaker 2: Gretchen Whitmer gets a lot done in Michigan. I think
Speaker 2: the bullpen's fine. Josh Shapiro governor, really popular governor of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: The Bullpen's excellent. But on a national scale, can you
Speaker 2: introduce them to people? I mean, if you're asking me
Speaker 2: who I think, forget about easiest route, forget about anything
Speaker 2: other than what I think are people that would get
Speaker 2: stuff done and be electable. I would argue that Pete Buddha,
Speaker 2: Judge and Gretchen Whitmer, though I don't think there'll be
Speaker 2: the ticket, would get more done. I think they would
Speaker 2: get the most done. You know, Gavin Newsom's reputation nationally
Speaker 2: is WHOA, he's really woke if you live in California.
Speaker 2: He pushes back on the wokeism regularly out of Sacramento.
Speaker 2: This is a very difficult state. I mean, we're bigger
Speaker 2: than Canada. What's our population, thirty eight million people. This
Speaker 2: is not an easy place to govern. California is not
Speaker 2: I've lived here eight years. I feel safe, I feel fortunate,
Speaker 2: I feel grateful. We have a homeless issue. We have
Speaker 2: the perfect weather in America. It's not overly humid in
Speaker 2: the summer, it's not harsh in the winter. Our shoulder months,
Speaker 2: spring and fall are very pleasant. Listen, you're not going
Speaker 2: to get the perfect state. But I think there's a
Speaker 2: lot of interesting candidates. And I think if Democrats would
Speaker 2: have seen Joe Biden as a one term president from
Speaker 2: the beginning and could have marketed and promoted many of
Speaker 2: these candidates for the last three years. They would be
Speaker 2: much more viable today. And some of this stuff is
Speaker 2: name recognition and momentum and what people know. I think
Speaker 2: if you listen to Pete Buddha Judge talk on any issue,
Speaker 2: he is whip smart. I think he is. When I
Speaker 2: hear him talk, he reminds me of President Obama. Is
Speaker 2: that any topic, any issue, ask him a question, sit
Speaker 2: back and listen, and smart stuff comes out. And that's
Speaker 2: generally where I'm voting. I don't want extremism, and I
Speaker 2: don't want dummies, and I don't want angry, and I
Speaker 2: don't want old politics. It's interesting because I'm paid to
Speaker 2: largely watch things, observe things, and have strong opinions. So
Speaker 2: during the course of the football season, I mean like
Speaker 2: Labor Day weekend until about February twenty fifth, I'm locked
Speaker 2: in on NFL College Football World Series and the start
Speaker 2: of new seasons. The only exception is during a political season.
Speaker 2: But in July and August I got nothing to do.
Speaker 2: I take a lot of vacation time. The preseason in
Speaker 2: the NFL now is mostly useless. Veterans don't play. The
Speaker 2: practices from the CBA are down padded practices have virtually
Speaker 2: been cut in half. So the NFL preseason used to
Speaker 2: be something, especially Week three, it's nothing now. A lot
Speaker 2: of stuff in the summer is niche, which doesn't really
Speaker 2: drive interest for a large audience, which we're always seeking
Speaker 2: in my business. But I have watched a ton of
Speaker 2: political coverage, and it makes me prouder of sports coverage,
Speaker 2: where I do feel there are a lot of people,
Speaker 2: perhaps not in the middle, but feel a responsibility to
Speaker 2: be somewhat moderate in their fandom. I get none of
Speaker 2: that with politics. I got about five people I watch
Speaker 2: in politics that I trust and respect. After that, and again,
Speaker 2: I'll say it, I thought CNN, which the left things
Speaker 2: they own, I thought CNN was reasonable. I mean, if
Speaker 2: you're bitching about coverage. In my career, if somebody's complained
Speaker 2: about coverage, I know I've said something very close to
Speaker 2: the truth. People don't get mad if you're wildly inaccurate.
Speaker 2: They get pissed off when you're accurate. And so the
Speaker 2: fact that see N's gotten major pushback, that's a pretty
Speaker 2: good sign. Because mostly we know that conservatives watch Fox,
Speaker 2: liberals watch MSNBC. My guess is that Trump will step
Speaker 2: in it in the next three and a half months,
Speaker 2: and this will be a fairly close race. You know
Speaker 2: the idea. I think swing voters if you looked at
Speaker 2: a couple of the recent studies on swing voters, and
Speaker 2: I'm more of a swing voter. The big turnoff in
Speaker 2: this is Trump's sort of authoritarian lean and Biden's age. Well,
Speaker 2: Biden's age is off the ticket. So I think actually
Speaker 2: Kamala and preferably Shapiro to a lot of people, I
Speaker 2: think they'll make it competitive. Trump's actually very unpopular. He'll
Speaker 2: step in it. He's gotten better at this time not
Speaker 2: stepping in it, but he's still Trump. And I think
Speaker 2: we'll have a very very close race. I don't think
Speaker 2: swing voters get talked about much, and I don't think
Speaker 2: because we're such a tribal nation, they have the impact
Speaker 2: they used to. But I think it's going to be
Speaker 2: really close today, just based and I think Kamala is
Speaker 2: so unknown, very much a fresh face. How much of
Speaker 2: a footprint can she create in three months. It's a
Speaker 2: lot of work, but she's younger and got more energy,
Speaker 2: very telegenic. I think it'll be close. I think a
Speaker 2: lot can happen in three months, but I'm interested and
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about it. The discussion I recently
Speaker 2: got into with somebody who's very political in my social
Speaker 2: circle and very knowledgeable on this stuff. You know, I
Speaker 2: got into about two weeks ago. I got into a
Speaker 2: discussion with this person and I said, you know, what
Speaker 2: really strikes me is how weak the presidential candidates are now,
Speaker 2: how weak they are. Who wants to run for president
Speaker 2: Biden Trump and RFK in a country of three hundred
Speaker 2: and forty million. Really, that's it. Two guys who would
Speaker 2: be eighty something in their presidency. In RFK, who's kind
Speaker 2: of a conspiracy theorist and a little strange. That's that's
Speaker 2: what we have, Like between the vile nature of social media,
Speaker 2: which is an attack dog on people's families, between let's
Speaker 2: face it, in the private sector, you can make so
Speaker 2: much money. There's no money in politics unless you know
Speaker 2: your Nancy Pelosi was stock. And I look at it
Speaker 2: and I think, to myself, my biggest fear isn't one
Speaker 2: side of the other bulldozing democracy. They both do a
Speaker 2: pretty good job at it. And I'm not a Trump.
Speaker 1: Guy at all.
Speaker 2: I'll never vote for Trump, but that doesn't mean I
Speaker 2: like the left. I can abstain. My biggest concern is
Speaker 2: are we going to get better candidates? Is this It's
Speaker 2: it's Koop's, it's conspiracy theorists, it's old timers, it's extremists.
Speaker 2: That concerns me. Not the American people, not the our government,
Speaker 2: not the levers we generally have in place, not even
Speaker 2: the Supreme Court, which leans far too right for my taste.
Speaker 2: Look at the quality of candidates were getting. It sucks,
Speaker 2: it really does. It's bad. And the weaker the candidates,
Speaker 2: the weaker the president. So I just want to watch
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris and her running mate. I just want to
Speaker 2: watch and listen new ideas energy. We'll go back to it.
Speaker 2: Since nineteen seventy six, this is the first time not
Speaker 2: a Bush, not a Clinton out of Biden. I'm good
Speaker 2: with that. May the best team win.
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Speaker 2: Okay, there was breaking news with the NBA and its
Speaker 2: broadcasting rights, so TNT matched the Amazon Prime bid. So
Speaker 2: as of now, the NBA will be on ESPN its
Speaker 2: current partner NBC, and it's going to come down to Amazon,
Speaker 2: which the NBA would prefer. It's more global. The NBA
Speaker 2: wants to get off cable TV, where they've been very
Speaker 2: beholden to a platform that is losing the subscribers in
Speaker 2: the last five minutes, right, It's been hemorrhaging subscribers for years,
Speaker 2: and so the NBA though TNT had the right to
Speaker 2: match it and would go to court to fight the
Speaker 2: right to keep the end coverage. That's the Barkley shack
Speaker 2: Ernie Kenny Smith show. Win for the audience. So the
Speaker 2: audience is familiar with that broadcast team. We're all comfortable
Speaker 2: with the TNT guys. The NBA is saying, yeah, that's great,
Speaker 2: but Amazon's got a much greater reservoir of money. It's
Speaker 2: a sending, it's got global reach where we want to
Speaker 2: get out of the cable business. The win for you
Speaker 2: and the win for fans has always been keep the
Speaker 2: current broadcasting teams ESPN and TNT. If you like the NBA,
Speaker 2: you know where to go. You start going to streaming
Speaker 2: ventures Netflix and Amazon. You know, I've got seven different
Speaker 2: packages on streamers, Fubo, Sling, just trying to keep up
Speaker 2: with leagues. And you know, I would love if I
Speaker 2: had three channels. But you know, I'm a sportscaster. That's
Speaker 2: my life. So the NBA's real concern is to get
Speaker 2: off cable and to get into the streaming world. TNT,
Speaker 2: which will fight it in court, wants to remain relevant.
Speaker 2: I said this a week ago on a podcast. TNT
Speaker 2: does not have enough of a sports library to keep
Speaker 2: me as a viewer if they lose the NBA, I'll
Speaker 2: never watch TNT again. It's like just not a viable channel. Now.
Speaker 2: If Fox lost a World Cup, Fox still has college football,
Speaker 2: College Basketball, World Series, NFL Big Ten, I'd still watch.
Speaker 2: If ESBN lost the ACC or if they lost Major
Speaker 2: League Baseball, well, they've still got the NFL, they've still
Speaker 2: got the NBA, they've got the SEC, I'd still watch.
Speaker 2: For a TNT. They don't have anything after the NBA
Speaker 2: that draws me to a television I mean, they have sports,
Speaker 2: but not stuff that pulls me in. So for TNT,
Speaker 2: they I think David zaslof the President came to terms
Speaker 2: with this is it. If we want to stay in
Speaker 2: the sports business, you're gonna have to overpay. And you
Speaker 2: know what's very clear, and I'm knock on what. I'm
Speaker 2: very grateful for this. The only thing that matters on
Speaker 2: television in America outside of every four years in politics
Speaker 2: is sports. Sports owns Linear TV they own. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's nothing else on cable that matters outside of sports.
Speaker 2: Maybe Fox News and Sports. That's it. That's your rundown.
Speaker 2: That's who dominates cable. And so I think TNT understands
Speaker 2: they're just basically it's a life preserver. TNTs like we're
Speaker 2: either irrelevant in our landscape or relevant for ten to
Speaker 2: eleven years, whatever the contract is. I don't think it's
Speaker 2: a prudent move by TNT. I think they'll lose eight
Speaker 2: hundred million to a billion dollars a year. But if
Speaker 2: you want to stay relevant, sometimes you got to make
Speaker 2: deals where you lose money. My entire career in sports,
Speaker 2: I've seen it happen. If you want to stay relevant,
Speaker 2: I mean, Fox has to be in the NFL business.
Speaker 2: It's not a choice. They have to be relevant. You
Speaker 2: try to with NFL rights, you may hemorrhage money in
Speaker 2: the first few years, you try to get close to
Speaker 2: breaking even. In the middle years, and in the last
Speaker 2: two to three years of a contract with the NFL,
Speaker 2: you try to make money. Super Bowls you make five
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars five point fifty maybe a profit two
Speaker 2: three hundred million dollars. Shareholders are happy. So I think
Speaker 2: it's just a matter of matter of survival for TNT.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a great business move. It's a
Speaker 2: it's a money hemorrhaging move, but I don't think they
Speaker 2: have a choice. Finally, the USA today I always thought
Speaker 2: the Purple section was underrated, has made their football predictions
Speaker 2: for this year and they have the New York Jets
Speaker 2: beating the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure who's going to win the Super Bowl. That's
Speaker 2: not going to be the matchup. I'll bet you one
Speaker 2: hundred dollars it's not the matchup minimum. What I find
Speaker 2: funny about the media predictions is that the NFL, though
Speaker 2: we view it as the League of hope, and you
Speaker 2: can't there's no predictability. The NBA is currently the most
Speaker 2: unpredictable sport baseball. There's a hand full of teams that
Speaker 2: just make more money and buy better players the NFL.
Speaker 2: The last twenty years, the league's overwhelmingly been controlled by
Speaker 2: two players, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes NBA six year
Speaker 2: six champs. We thought Denver was going to be a dynasty. Potentially, No,
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure if they're a top two team
Speaker 2: in the West. Are they a top three team now?
Speaker 2: With the growth of OKC and Minnesota and Dallas getting
Speaker 2: Klay Thompson, So there is this sense that the NFL, oh,
Speaker 2: you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you do.
Speaker 2: The Bills have won four straight titles. They'll make it five.
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes is going to win his division. It's going
Speaker 2: to be Trevor Lawrence or C. J. Stroud winning their division.
Speaker 2: NFC North and the AFC North are really good, so
Speaker 2: there's a handful of teams that could make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: But I mean NFC South, it's Atlanta. It's over Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2: If he stays healthy, wins the division. Only Tampa can
Speaker 2: challenge them. So people tend to think I'm anti Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2: Go to his last year in Green Bay and look
Speaker 2: at those numbers. Those are not top ten quarterback numbers.
Speaker 2: Since then, he's played four snaps behind a brand new,
Speaker 2: somewhat makeshift offensive line. I it is remarkable to me
Speaker 2: how a franchise with an impulsive owner, an unproven defensive coach,
Speaker 2: a forty year old quarterback off an achilles surgery, and
Speaker 2: an offensive line that is completely rebuilt and a rookie
Speaker 2: will start at one of the tackle spots is considered
Speaker 2: a super Bowl winning team. That's crazy to me. USA today,
Speaker 2: I may never read your red section again. That's you.
Speaker 2: You've got to do better the volume. Thanks so much
Speaker 2: for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a moment
Speaker 2: rate and review.
Speaker 1: Hey What's up Everybody? John Middlecoff Here from three Now Podcast.
Speaker 1: The NFL season is right around the corner, and if
Speaker 1: you want some of the best football content out there,
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Speaker 1: the entire season. Subscribe and follow the three and Out
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