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Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business of Sports. COVID has been so devastating,

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Speaker 1: and to see thirty eight thousand people of Funway Park,

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Speaker 1: it was really emotional and rewarding. From the business side,

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Speaker 1: from ticket sales to jersey sale revenues are up. Everything

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Speaker 1: was really good as well as solids there. I realized

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Speaker 1: that at the beginning of nineteen would be a very

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Speaker 1: unique opportunity in terms of a lot of contracts being

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Speaker 1: up at the same time and a lot of exiting

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Speaker 1: young wrestlers being available to go out and start a

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Speaker 1: wrestling company. The country is finally deeply getting the memo

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Speaker 1: about how amazing the sport is. I think the sky's

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Speaker 1: a limit for MLS. Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Hello,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. We're here

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Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. I'm Michael barn and I'm

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Speaker 1: Mike Lynch and you know who else is in on

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Speaker 1: the show. The Man Not only do his talents go

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Speaker 1: from fantasy sports, it goes just sports in general. His

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Speaker 1: knowledge Rich Truman, how you doing, man, Hello, gentlemen, how

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Speaker 1: are you guys? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're doing It's unlike

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Speaker 1: though the college football UH playoffs and the bowl games. UH,

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Speaker 1: we got a real problem because some bowl games have

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Speaker 1: already been scrapped and other games they're looking for teams

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Speaker 1: Lynchy to fill in. I never thought I would say

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Speaker 1: that sentence to fill in for another team. Well, Miami

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Speaker 1: pulled out and they're looking for an opponent for Washington State.

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Speaker 1: And then in the Sun Bowl, uh Rutgers maybe a

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Speaker 1: suitable replacement to fill in there. But many other bowls

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Speaker 1: have just been outright canceled. The Fenway Bowl was supposed

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Speaker 1: to be SMU in Virginia, Boston College was supposed to

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Speaker 1: play East Carolina, and the Military Bowl down in Annapolis, Maryland.

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Speaker 1: And you know, bowl games are teams don't really make

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Speaker 1: money that the teams that are participating there because they

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Speaker 1: have all kinds of expect is, but other teams in

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Speaker 1: the conference receive a payout as well, so that all

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Speaker 1: this has gone away. So this is a big financial

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Speaker 1: hit for for a lot of these schools. And you

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Speaker 1: know what, you have the big semifinals coming up this weekend,

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Speaker 1: and you know that could be some teams in doubt.

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Speaker 1: There's some Georgia, Michigan U, there's Alabamaica in Cincinnati. All

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Speaker 1: teams are taking different approaches to protocols. Michigan has been

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Speaker 1: very strict. I believe every player that team, uh it

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Speaker 1: was getting boostered. But there are a couple of COVID

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Speaker 1: outbreaks in Georgia, and right now Georgia's like a seven

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Speaker 1: point favorite against Michigan on New Year's Eve, So that

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Speaker 1: remains to be seen what happens with those two big

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Speaker 1: games which will eventually decide the champion of college football.

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Speaker 1: This is no other way to say it. This is

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Speaker 1: a mess. And the bottom line is, gentlemen, did we

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Speaker 1: come back to early from this COVID era that we're

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Speaker 1: in now? I don't think we saw, you know, um,

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Speaker 1: this new variant coming down the track. I think we

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Speaker 1: thought that the the the old the loan variant was

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Speaker 1: was delta um. And you know, this thing just sort

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Speaker 1: of came, and it came with such force and was

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Speaker 1: so rapid and just kept multiplying daily that I don't

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Speaker 1: think anyone could have foreseen that. I mean, we went through,

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Speaker 1: you know, a season last year, went through a baseball season.

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Speaker 1: We're probably going to make it to the finish line

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Speaker 1: in the National Football League. But from here on out.

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Speaker 1: I think it's just the roll of the dice, and

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Speaker 1: most of the season and all the major sports were

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Speaker 1: relatively uninterrupted, and just until the last two weeks. I

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Speaker 1: mean we saw it with the NFL. I mean, big

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Speaker 1: stars out like Travis Kelsey with the Chiefs can play

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Speaker 1: against the Steelers on Sunday. We saw major stars sitting

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Speaker 1: the last one or two weeks, impacting not only the

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Speaker 1: big fantasy playoffs that we're in, but also impacting, you know,

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Speaker 1: regularly scheduled NFL games and having impact on playoffs going forward.

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Speaker 1: And Lyndsey, if you are a big time fantasy sports

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Speaker 1: player like rich and I, just take your whole line

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Speaker 1: up and throw it up in the air, because that

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Speaker 1: is what has happened with COVID because either they're on

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Speaker 1: the list for their for the protocol. Uh never mind

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Speaker 1: the injuries that I've taken place. Uh it it has

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Speaker 1: scrambled everybody now to try to find somebody to fill in,

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Speaker 1: especially if you're going into the finals next weekly. Well,

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Speaker 1: how'd you like to be actually be a forget about fantasy,

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Speaker 1: how'd you like to be a member of the Washington

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Speaker 1: football team. I mean that was basically a minor League

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Speaker 1: football team they put on last night to play the

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Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys. They got crushed fifty six to fourteen. They

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Speaker 1: had two players teammates get into a fist fight on

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Speaker 1: the sidelines with just the frustration. I mean, it's like

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Speaker 1: basically rolling out the freshman team to play against the

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Speaker 1: varsity team. And you know, if the NFL was this,

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Speaker 1: if this was October, there might be some you know,

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Speaker 1: some decisions being made. But right now, you know, they're

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Speaker 1: stepping back on the vaccination. They just want this thing,

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Speaker 1: as Steve Young told us last week at his interview,

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Speaker 1: they want they want to get to the finish line

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Speaker 1: in this thing, and they'll do anything they can. As

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Speaker 1: long as they get eleven bodies out there in offense

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Speaker 1: and defense, games will be played. Rich, How is this

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Speaker 1: going to impact the playoffs? Now? We still have a

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Speaker 1: little bit of the regular season left. Now we're going

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Speaker 1: into the playoffs, and it's going to drastically affect a

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Speaker 1: lot of teams. Well. As let you said, they are

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Speaker 1: relaxing the rules a little in the NFL and the protocols,

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Speaker 1: so you might be able to get more players to

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Speaker 1: come back. But I agree with him. I mean, the

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Speaker 1: NFL is going to get this done. Big money involved.

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Speaker 1: They do have an extra week to play if they

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Speaker 1: needed to. But the end, you know, the NFL will

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Speaker 1: get it done as long as you have enough guys

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Speaker 1: to field the team. And you know one interesting you

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Speaker 1: know a couple of you know, interesting games on Sunday,

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Speaker 1: And going back to the COVID related that Baltimore was

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Speaker 1: decimated by injuries, and COVID and the Bengals put a

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Speaker 1: shot lacking on that. I mean, you put up over fifty.

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Speaker 1: And I saw an interesting statu Espien today that the

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Speaker 1: Bengals are the first team in NFL history with a

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Speaker 1: four thousand yard passer and a thousand on Russia and

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Speaker 1: to one thousand yard receivers, all under twenty five in

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Speaker 1: the same season. So the future looks at least offensively

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Speaker 1: promising for the Bengals. Well, all of this with COVID, Lynch,

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Speaker 1: we're talking the NHL. Obviously they in fact they're going

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Speaker 1: to taxi squads. The league says, no, we're not going

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Speaker 1: to Beijing for the Winter Olympics. I wonder, Lynchy, if

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Speaker 1: we're even gonna have any Winter Olympics. Well six the

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Speaker 1: Winter Olympics overall, You're right. What one of the differences

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Speaker 1: is that most of the competition involves individual athletes. Hockey

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Speaker 1: is a team, so the NHL is not send anybody

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Speaker 1: over there, but these these unless the country decides we're

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Speaker 1: not going to We're not going to send a delegation

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Speaker 1: over there of athletes, most of their individuals that are

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Speaker 1: going over there, and there are decisions that are made

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Speaker 1: by themselves, not by not by team members going over

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Speaker 1: and so um, I just wonder about the sense the

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Speaker 1: this is this logical to to to stage these games?

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Speaker 1: Is so much invested. I mean, how many the tens

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Speaker 1: of millions of dollars have they spent an infrastructure and

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Speaker 1: just they just can't let it slip away. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: on something and listen on a happy note. I never

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Speaker 1: thought I would see Tiger Woods with a golf club

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Speaker 1: in his hand. Ever Again, Lynchy, you know this game

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Speaker 1: backwards and forwards. You know the injuries that he suffered.

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Speaker 1: I am totally amazed when he went to play with

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Speaker 1: his son in the p n C Championship, Charlie. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, Charlie looked great in that. It's pretty good,

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Speaker 1: isn't he. Yeah, Well, ratings are off the chart. So

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Speaker 1: Tiger is just a ratings magnet. He's a ratings superstar.

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Speaker 1: And I think you know, he's a polarizing figure. Uh,

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Speaker 1: some people have many people are rooting for him to succeed,

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Speaker 1: and there are some people that are hoping that he fails.

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Speaker 1: I know that he wants to show the world that

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Speaker 1: he can do it. Um he hearkening back to Ben

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Speaker 1: Hogan's horrific automobile backs in it back in and Ben

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Speaker 1: Hogan came back and succeeded in won a number of tournaments.

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Speaker 1: I think Tiger wants to be that guy as well.

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Speaker 1: And I think they like him or or or despise him.

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Speaker 1: He makes you tune in and sit on the couch

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Speaker 1: and watch. Will he ever get back to form to

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Speaker 1: play in an actual p G A event? Well, golf

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Speaker 1: a lot of golf. Your power comes from your legs

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Speaker 1: and the older you get, as we all know, the

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Speaker 1: legs goal that everything else goes. But you know, he's

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Speaker 1: he's a he's in great physical condition. But there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of young guys on this tour that just hit

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Speaker 1: the ball so far and they're so good. But uh,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm rooting for him. I hope he comes back,

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Speaker 1: and I hope he makes it, and i'd love to

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Speaker 1: see him being the masters come April. Rich Truman, thank you, man,

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Speaker 1: it was really nice of you to come on in

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Speaker 1: and talk about it. But before we go, I'd like

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Speaker 1: to ask you two, gentlemen. It's early, I gonna put

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Speaker 1: you on the spot. Give me a Super Bowl prediction

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Speaker 1: from each each of you. Okay, I've got the Green

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Speaker 1: Bay Packers playing against the Kansas City Chiefs, with the

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Speaker 1: Chiefs winning thirty four. Now you would think that was

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Speaker 1: rehearsed because he had that information right of his tongue.

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Speaker 1: That was unbelievable, you know. And I was going to

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Speaker 1: say the same two teams. So I'm going to go

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Speaker 1: a little step. I had at some point the Chiefs

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Speaker 1: and the Bills are going to meet because I like

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Speaker 1: the Bills. I'm going close. I'm going with the Bills,

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Speaker 1: and I'm decided between the Rams and the Packers, so

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Speaker 1: I do like I'm gonna go right now, Bill's Rams. Wow,

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Speaker 1: you just went all radical on us. Man. It was

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Speaker 1: That's not a bad pick, but we should put some

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Speaker 1: coin on it. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to

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Speaker 1: say that. You've been listening to the Bloomberg Business of

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Speaker 1: Sports podcast. We're here every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'm

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Speaker 1: Michael Barr. You can follow me at Big Bar Sports

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Speaker 1: on Twitter. And I'm Mike Lynch. You can follow me

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Speaker 1: at Lynch e w CVB. And you can download this

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Speaker 1: show wherever you get your podcast