Takes

John Lackey is the alpha of the Cubs clubhouse

Who's the alpha on the Cubs right now? [John] Lackey. I would say... This dude's an absolute animal... He's going to be pissed [if he doesn't make the postseason rotation], and rightfully so.

The World Series hangover is a real psychological and physical phenomenon for players

I think what you're seeing in baseball with the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs... is that the World Series hangover is for real, and these guys needed a little bit of an all-star break and now have hit their stride... It's as much mental as physical.

A quality Latin player who can bridge the language barrier is the most important part of a good clubhouse

The biggest part of a good clubhouse is a quality Latin player that's able to communicate both sides... Like a Pedro Strop. Awesome dude... And he can mix and match. Like he can help me understand maybe if a guy doesn't speak English... The personality is hard to break when you have that language barrier.

Successful pitchers need to have a bit of an 'asshole' streak to be effective on the mound

No doubt [pitchers need that streak]... the day [John Lackey] pitched, he's the biggest asshole on the team. You love him for it because he brings... an edge that we didn't have. He brought that F-you to the other team... sometimes putting a chip on your shoulder or having a way to get yourself going when you're older... that's important so you may need to take your mind to a different place.

Philadelphia Phillies fans are the worst in baseball to play against

[Worst city fan-wise?] Philly. That wasn't even a hesitation. They get on you with a hatred... Literally wanting to like anger in the face. Like they mean it... I really like I want to fight you right now.

Teams should not shift their defense when they have a large lead

If the game's out of hand, do you still let them bunt? You shouldn't shift. You're taking away half the field for me... I'll stop trying to get a hit as soon as you stop trying to defend a whole side of the field... If you're up 9-1 and you're shifting, that's a dick move.

Cam Newton can't be sexist because he only alienates his male teammates

All Cam Newton really had to do, if we're being honest, is just be like, hey, if I'm so sexist, how come I only alienate my male teammates? How come I refuse to dive on balls when men are there? I cross to the other side of the street when I see men on a loose ball.

It is better to watch the Yankees lose late in the playoffs than in the Wild Card game

I'm going to disagree on the fact that you're glad they lost tonight because it's going to be so much better to watch them lose two games or three games.

Andy Reid is the second-best coach in the NFL right now

Andy Reid is the second best coach in the NFL right now. Agreed. Agreed. It is crazy. We did this. We actually talked about this off air... Andy Reid behind Bill Belichick is the second best coach.

2017 should just end already because it has been a terrible year

Gosh, can 2017 just end already? Hot seat 2017. Also Cool Throne 2016 though... It sucks that 2017 now sucks.

The LSU Athletic Director should be on the hot seat instead of Coach O

My hot seat, a lot of people are calling for Coach O to be on the hot seat. Nope. But read an article by Tom Fornelli... The athletic director is the one that should be squarely on the hot seat.

The NFC North is currently the 'Division of Quarterbacks' in the NFL

My other cool throne is names. Speaking of quarterbacks, cool throne... NFC North quarterbacks because that is officially the division of quarterbacks. Mitch Trubisky is going to start for the Bears... Matthew Stafford, Dark Horse MVP, Aaron Rodgers, Super Bowl winner, and Sam Bradford.

Bryce Harper's 'dick' reputation is just a byproduct of him playing hard with flair

The way he plays the game, he's playing the game hard and he's going out there and competing. And he competes with a little flair. And sometimes that can rub people the wrong way. But when you have those guys on your team... you love those guys in your team because you like the guys that play the game that way.

I hate the new NBA All-Star Game captain draft format

They're now making the all-star game where two captains pick the teams, which I fucking hate. I hate when they do this. My brain can't figure it out. I can't figure this shit out when you switch it all, when you swap it all off. They did it with the Pro Bowl, and Pro Bowl's never been the same.

A woman will lose respect for her boyfriend and likely cheat on him if he skips a 'mancation' for her birthday

I just wouldn't respect a guy if he, like, canceled on his dudes for the weekend. I'm like, I know I own you now. And then I don't respect you and I'm going to cheat on you probably.

Bill Belichick is tanking the Patriots' defense to prevent Matt Patricia from being hired as a head coach elsewhere

Is this Bill Belichick being the master puppeteer and making Matt Patricia undesirable for other teams to hire away this offseason? Because guess what? No one's going to want to interview him after this shit. He'll be there another year.

Coach O is the greatest interim head coach of all time, but not a great permanent head coach

Coach O is the greatest interim head coach of all time. Of all time. You give him some guys that aren't getting the most out of themselves... Coach O will whip them into shape in two seconds. You give Coach O the team from day one... he's a great interim coach. He's not the greatest head coach.

Dabo Swinney is millennial Nick Saban

Dabo Swinney has yet to hit his prime football guy years. Dabo is millennial Nick Saban. That's it. Right there. He's Nick Saban with a smartphone.

A 'nice guy' coaching approach does not work in the NFL.

Coach Trestman, it was more like kind of the nice guy approach... which that doesn't work in NFL. I'm a nice guy as well, but I'm on the field trying to put my foot on your throat. It just didn't work that way.

Odell Beckham Jr. is the new J.J. Watt of milking injuries for attention

Odell might be the new J.J. Watt in terms of always being injured and showing how he's in. He has the injuries that he then plays through those injuries. Kind of a Tiger Woods thing... oh, my finger. Wow, let's do a million sideline reports on my finger while I keep playing.

Brandon Marshall would easily win a fight against Odell Beckham Jr.

Brandon Marshall would whip the shit out of Odell Beckham.

Hobbies are red flags for men; you should only play video games or watch sports

If a man has a hobby, that's just a red flag. Hobbies are red flags always and forever. You either play video games or you watch sports. That's how men do it.

John Fox needs to be fired and Mitch Trubisky needs to start

John Fox needs to be fired. Mitch Trubisky needs to start. Danny Trevathan should probably do a lot of thinking about himself. Mike Glennon, just go away, and John Fox get fired again.

Tony Romo misses almost all of his in-game predictions

He gets a lot of predictions wrong. That's the one thing that they've said about Tony that he's really good at is making predictions, but they don't talk about how he misses almost all of them.

Tony Romo talks too much and doesn't let the game breathe

If you think Tony Romo is revolutionizing broadcasting and the greatest thing ever, you're just straight up not listening to him talk over Jim Nantz. ... I want to watch, let the game breathe. Tony Romo's like, he's down my fucking throat the whole game.

Playmakers is the greatest show ever created

It's [Playmakers] the greatest show that's ever been created. That was also canceled after one season because the NFL was upset.

Duke is dirty but Mike Krzyzewski is too powerful to be caught

Duke, so here's my fear with Duke. Duke is dirty as hell... Krzyzewski is such a godfather and has this figured out so well. Like, I think it's impossible to get to him. And I'm sort of worried it's impossible they'll ever get to Cal, too.

Shoe companies should be allowed to pay college athletes

I actually think this should be allowed, to be quite frank with you. I think the shoe companies are the ones who should be able to pay.

Kentucky fans will eventually miss hating Rick Pitino

I think Kentucky fans are going to miss Rick Pitino. Hating Rick Pitino was awesome. He was the perfect villain. And I actually think I'm going to miss him.

Kirk Cousins respects the media biz to get them on his side against Dan Snyder

All-time biz respecter move by Kirk here. He's basically got flashcards for the reporters... He is doing it, I would expect, to get the media on his side. So he's like, all right, if I get the media on my side, then I'll basically be able to strong arm Dan Snyder.

LA is a bad football city because they don't know who Boltman is

Seriously, this is a perfect example of how L.A. is just, you can't have a football team in L.A. How do you not know Boltman? He's fucking Boltman. Like, it's pretty clear that it's Boltman. And you can't ask Boltman to take off his helmet.

Bruce Arians is on the hot seat because he is losing his mind and making terrible challenges

Bruce Arians is officially actually on the hot seat because I don't think he has all his marbles... That challenge though, everyone was saying how bad it was, but it we correctly identified it as the football guy who gets so frustrated he just challenges a random play he knows he's gonna lose.

Twitter's 280-character limit will ruin threads and make the app unbearable

Twitter has announced that the app that everyone loves and can't make any money has announced they're going to make everyone read more. So 280 characters... I might not be able to be on Twitter anymore. That's so much reading. They just doubled their product. And they just ruined threads.

Warren Moon is the best quarterback I ever played with and it's not even close

Warren Moon. It's not even close. Really? Warren Moon. We played two seasons together. I had 244 catches and 24 touchdowns in only two years.

Randy Moss is the most talented wide receiver that has ever played the game

I knew he was probably the most talented wide receiver that's ever played the game. Because he was that rare. But all the other things in his football brain is what knew that, man, this kid is really, really special.

The NFL product suffers in September because the CBA limits padded practices

When they changed the collective bargain agreement... the player's like, okay, we want to practice less. All right, we'll grant you that. It's affected the product, all right? Because you can't have the few number of padded practices and train people how to play in the NFL. It's not going to work, so the product will suffer the first month of the season.

The quarterback is the most valuable player on the field, followed by the left tackle or defensive end

The quarterback [is most valuable]... [Second most is] the left tackle or a defensive end... [Third is] either a corner or another defensive end.

Joe Flacco isn't consistently elite, but has 'elite moments' where he raises his team to that level

Is he [Joe Flacco] elite? I think he's right on the edge of it... In the pressure moments, can a guy rise up and elevate his team to the elite level? Joe Flacco not elite anymore but has elite moments and raise his team to an elite level.

Colin Kaepernick doesn't have the personality to effectively verbalize his cause

I just don't think he has the personality. I think that it's very, very rare that you see someone take such a prominent position on something that's really profound and not really necessarily have the personality that would allow them to be able to verbalize it... when you can't communicate with the general public of what your cause is and your reasoning, it's not going to endear people to what you're trying to say.

Colin Kaepernick is a starting-level upgrade for 4 to 5 NFL teams right now

How many teams in the league right now do you think he would be an upgrade for at the starting quarterback position? Well, you can go through them. At least four or five. I mean, you don't have to leave New York. I mean, Josh McCown. I mean, my goodness.

Every professional athlete needs a 'common sense guy' in their crew to keep them out of trouble

Out of your crew, have one guy that's got some common sense... you need a tech guy. You need a driver. One guy to do the troll accounts. Social media.

Dwyane Wade signing with the Cavs was a case of the Bulls overpaying a player just to sell jerseys

The Dwyane Wade Bulls contract was one of the worst contracts ever... it was one of those contracts that was like, everyone said this is stupid. The Bulls probably knew it was stupid... It's the old Jerry Reinsdorf, got to sell some jerseys, not actually win some games.

The NFL intentionally delivers its most entertaining games when its back is against the wall

Just so happens, the NFL had the most entertaining slate of games in years. Maybe a call? On the weekend where they perhaps needed it more than ever. Maybe [Commissioner] David Stern made the call.

Joe Flacco is officially no longer elite and stinks

I think Flacco stinks. Are we now worried that Joe Flacco's eliteness is so far behind us that we will never remember that he was once elite?

Ben Roethlisberger has the worst body in America

Is Big Ben hurt? Well, yes. So he's always in a constant state. His body is never good... Big Ben, as the crow flies, has probably the worst body in general of anyone in America. Name me anybody with a shittier body.

Blake Bortles is officially back

So my who's back of the week is Blake Bortles of the Blake Bortles Wikipedia Club. Huge game. Four touchdowns. He's back.

Iowa and Wisconsin football programs exist solely to have their hearts ripped out in moments of hope

Iowa and Wisconsin are both very similar in college but they just live to get crushed. It's like there's just moments in between getting your heart ripped out. So there's no real, like, excitement otherwise.

Jeff Brohm is a true-blue football guy because he runs an up-tempo offense to get his heart rate going

Jeff Brohm is like everything he does. He's just such an underrated – he needs more national attention as a football guy... Very rarely do you have a true blue football guy who also likes to play a little up-tempo offense. He just does it because he gets his heart rate going.

The Giants failed by buying 'shiny toys' and ignoring their offensive line

The disappointment has got to be the Giants... It's when you go out and you get yourself nice, shiny toys, but you don't really make sure your carburetor's working... They went out and they got Ingram and Marshall, but they didn't do anything to upgrade their offensive line.

Sean McVay has the same rare 'command of the room' as an early Mike Tomlin

Sean McVay has that as well. He is like, he has a rare ability to command the room, get a player's face, but not have the player look at him like, man, who are you? ... It's a kind of a rare thing, kind of like an early Mike Tomlin.