Takes

Getting into a line brawl is the best way to shift momentum when you're losing a playoff series

As a hockey expert, my plan, whenever you're getting your ass kicked in a series and you wanna shift it around, just get into a massive line brawl at the end of that game and just try to change the energies up somehow.

I would rather be down 3-0 in a series than 3-1 because of the lack of pressure

It does sound stupid, but I just think vibes wise, 3-0, I know what you're saying. 3-0, you can kind of sneak up on 'em. 3-1, you can't... when you're down 3-0, if you can win game four and five, all the pressure flips back.

The Thunder will beat the Pacers 4-2 in the Finals

I think I'm gonna stay with four, two Thunder.

I personally guarantee Terry McLaurin will be on the Commanders next season

I personally guarantee that they're gonna pay him more guaranteed money and he's gonna be a commander next year. And that's a guarantee.

The winning score at the US Open will be over par

Can we bet on the winning golfer to have a, a score that's over par? Yes... I wanna bet on winning score over par. I think this US Open is going to the course. Mm. Officially I've seen enough of the content where now I fear this course.

TJ Watt is unhappy in Pittsburgh and wants to leave

TJ Watt... he's gonna cost a lot of money. I think he's unhappy and I think he wants to go... I could imagine TJ Watt wearing a Green Bay Packers jersey.

Sports owners should be forced to sell if their team doesn't make the playoffs for five consecutive years

I think they should have a new rule in own, in, in all sports that if, what call it five years, if you don't make the playoffs in five years, automatic sale. Like whatever the threshold is, that would be awesome. 'cause relegation is never gonna come to American sports. But if you could relegate owners that would be sick.

Apple is going to force brain chips on everyone and we'll have no choice but to accept them

I don't want it, but it's coming. It's gonna happen and I'm gonna have to get it... So it's chip or be left behind. Correct. No choice. We just have to chip.

Winning is a band-aid that cures everything in sports, regardless of the problem

Winning cures everything. You know, winning is, it's a band-aid that, you know, it doesn't matter if it's a bullet hole, whatever, you know, it cures everything and you just kind of go play baseball.

I am officially the best bunter in Major League Baseball history

I do say this though. I do say I'm the best bunter in major league history... I had one bunt attempt got it down. So. Anytime big situations, I always say I'm the best bunner in major league history. You ready to, can't take that away from me. I'm one for one.

I am the undisputed greatest chess player of all time

I'm not sure I'm the right person to, to ask really, but I don't mind. That's that's completely fine by me... I feel like I'm, I'm getting there. So, that's all I can ask for.

I am currently the best at every single format of chess

At the moment I would say that I, I'm definitely the best at every, at every format that we we play. And honestly, my closest competitors are still the, the old guys, guys around my age. So yeah, the kids, they're good, but they're, they're not quite quite there yet.

Relationship hobbies must be established from the start because you can't add an addiction later

Before you start dating, you have to have all your hobbies set because you can't just add golf. You can add golf, but you can't add golf addict. There's a difference. There's a, you could be a golfer, but if this guy's playing seven days a week and YouTube tutorials and practicing swinging the living room, that's going to, you're gonna need to ease into that one.

I avoided going near the windows of my 14th-floor apartment for two weeks because I was afraid of falling through them

Roughly between one and a half to two weeks... I didn't wanna get close enough to the window. Like say, God forbid I asked the, the leasing lady, she said this double pane thick glass. But like if you were to go through a window at the 14th floor, you're, you're f-ed. You're done... I made sure I wasn't like putting pants on or anything close to it.

The Thunder will beat the Pacers in five games

Hank you think it's it's over. Yeah. Five games. You're already calling it over.

The Indiana Pacers will win one home game in the NBA Finals

I'm gonna say the Pacers are gonna win one at home. They're gonna win one of game three or four. And if I'm wrong, who cares?

Ice tennis would be cool as shit

Ice tennis would be cool as shit. Yeah. If you're on skates. Yeah. Somebody should make that happen. That would be cool. I would, I would watch ice tennis.

James Dolan getting involved again will ruin the Knicks

This would make me nervous as a Knicks fan because James Dolan, they're like little run here where they've gotten back to being a good team. Feels like James Dolan took a step back. Now he's maybe taking a step back forward and he's a shithead owner that will ruin something.

Victor Wembanyama will kill everyone next season after training as a monk

I do feel like this is gonna be [Wembanyama] fucks everybody up next season because he's Yeah. He's figured out like secret ancient martial arts.

The Stanley Cup Final will go seven games

This one I I said before the series seven games no matter what. Done deal. And now, I mean, how do you see this not going seven? It's, it's just, it's incredible and I want it to go seven.

Connor McDavid is the greatest hockey player of all time

I just started running around the room... running around greatest hockey player of all time. I just started tweeting that like, it's just, it's incredible to watch him.

The winner of the 2025 US Open at Oakmont will be over par

I think based on what I've been reading and seeing on Twitter, like we might have like a a over par winner... I want that. I love that about the US Open.

The best way to lower your golf score is to get good from 100 yards and in

If you wanna get good at golf, number one I'd say is get good from a hundred yards and in. 'cause then all your bad [shots] drop... get in the hole in three shots, you know, like you're gonna, your scores are gonna get lower so much quicker.

The Indiana Pacers' game plan is to lull you to sleep and then fuck your world up in the last three minutes

The Indiana Pacers have done it again. They stole game one in Oklahoma City. These pacers, they just keep doing it... The Pacer's game plan is to lull you to sleep, being giving you a 10 point lead and then in the last three minutes, fuck your world up.

If an NBA game were only 45 minutes long, the Indiana Pacers would be a lottery team

Surely they can't do this again, right? They didn't need until 0.3 seconds left in the entire game. If NBA playoff, if NBA games were 45 minutes long, the Pacers would be a lottery team.

The NBA Finals don't feel special because there is no 'Finals' script on the court anymore

How do you not have just like a script NBA finals? How do you not have anything, maybe even on the baseline there? It's the same argument I make with the throwback jerseys... When I watch a highlight of this game 10 years from now, I wanna know it was the NBA finals and there's nothing on the fucking court except YouTube TV.

The 'Sharknado' meta and Smurf accounts are ruining Marvel Rivals

The developers of Marvel rivals... are tanking the game. So they're, they're allowing these guys to do... Smurf account... and then they've changed the team up and now there's a sharknato that you can light on fire and the sharknato is ruining the game. It's bad.

The Anthony Richardson experience in Indianapolis might already be over

Anthony Richardson is hurt another shoulder injury to the quarterback... I feel like this could be Daniel Jones... I just feel like the Anthony Richardson experience might be over.

Joe Flacco will start Week 1 for the Cleveland Browns

Probably Joe Flacco. Yep. Just because that's the guy who you can get ready with fewer first team reps in August... I believe that they're gonna try to move Kenny Pickett before the training camp opens... Flaco will start week one and then once one of the other two guys is ready, they'll put that guy out there.

Michael Jordan is the GOAT over Tiger Woods

[Big Cat]: who's better? Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan? [Wright]: Michael Jordan.

Tiger Woods is an extreme introvert who was broken by being forced into the Michael Jordan marketing playbook

It's always astonishing that no one in that room at Nike... occurred to no one that the playbook had been built around Michael Jordan, who is an extreme extrovert. And they applied it to Tiger Woods, who is an extreme introvert and like, honestly feels like they broke him.

Bill Belichick will eventually coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I feel like Belichick has been eyeballing the bucks... The Buccaneers are willing to do kooky things if they think it's gonna make them better... It would make sense if you can hand him a talented team in a weak division where he could cobble together enough wins to get to the playoffs.

Jay Wright as the head coach of the Knicks would be fantastic.

Jay Wright as the Nick's head coach would be fantastic... outside Rick Brunson, he has more connections, deeper connections than anyone else out there in the coaching pool.

I'm anxious that CJ Stroud's arm soreness will become a long-term worry.

I'm not worried about him yet. But I am worried that I might end up worried about him. Pre-worried. I'm worried that I'm gonna be worried about him. Yeah. I think they call that anxiety.

Magnus Carlsen is no longer the GOAT of chess because he keeps losing.

I'm gonna say right now, Magnus [Carlsen] not the best. 'cause I have been watching chess religiously for almost 48 hours now. And all I've seen is Magnus lost.

Kevin Durant might be traded by the Suns this offseason.

I don't know, I feel like the seeds have been planted... I thought last year he was, there was a lot of stuff right. A lot of stuff around the draft. There was like rumors about Houston... I feel like the seeds have been planted.

Nikola Jokic is on an unobtainable level compared to the rest of the NBA.

To me [Jokic] is unobtainable. Like you cannot get to his level right now. And there's gonna be a lot of people arguing [SGA] just because it's better... But I don't think a sane person, a real basketball person should look at this and be like, okay, SGA is now the best in the world.

The 2025 Thunder will eventually be seen as the worst version of their championship dynasty.

This is gonna be the worst thunder team to win an championship because you're gonna get so much better over the course of the next couple seasons with their draft picks. This is actually a down year for the Thunder.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will win the NBA Finals in five games.

Thunder in five. I played, I think it was plus six 80 Thunder Games one and two, Pacers Game three, thunder game four and five.

Mark Twain was fundamentally a 'bummed out guy'.

Almost done with Chernow's latest opus thousand pages on Mark Twain... Bummed out guy though, man... That's not your takeaway. Mark Twain not so happy. Bummed out guy.

Coaches should always be involved in the post-series handshake line.

I just think that, you know, maybe [Paul Maurice] is downplaying how much that the coaches mean to a team... I think they deserve to be in there and, you know, whether you're winning a series or losing a series, going through that handshake line, you know, just what it means to shake every guy's hand... I think it's one of the best traditions in hockey and it shouldn't be taken away.

The Florida Panthers will win the Stanley Cup in six games.

I think it's gonna go six. I think they steal one on the road early and take care of business at home and then win it at home. I think winning at home game six would be huge.

Tyrese Haliburton is the most important player on the Indiana Pacers

Tyrese Haliburton is the straw that stirs the drink. Correct. He is. I mean, without Tyrese, none of this works. The instant baskets after a made layup. Those don't happen without him out-letting the ball down the court. He's the most important player, I think on the team.

The Indiana Pacers are the best team in the Eastern Conference

The Pacers played the best basketball, the most consistently of any team in the postseason. Is that fair to say? Yeah, definitely. Okay. So ipso facto, they're the best team in the East.

The 2025 NBA Finals is the 'Paul George Finals'

These are the Paul George Finals. Paul George was traded for, I think it was Sabonis and Oladipo. And then Sabonis became Tyrese Haliburton. And then also Paul George was traded from OKC that became SGA. It's the Paul George finals.

The New York Knicks will regret not going further in the 2025 playoffs

I think when time comes and you look back at this year, you're gonna regret not going farther. And you're gonna understand how golden of an opportunity this was to get to the finals with all of the injuries and the path just opening wide up.

Karl-Anthony Towns is the greatest scapegoat in NBA history

I think Kat [Karl-Anthony Towns] is the greatest scapegoat in NBA history in terms of like, this happened with him with the Timberwolves too. And I'm not saying the Kat is a perfect player... But Kat is not like your only problem. He's still a big guy. And you'd rather, if you have a problem on defense, you'd rather he be a large man than a small man.

Cal Raleigh is a legitimate MVP candidate and deserves more national attention

Cal Raleigh is the catcher for Seattle Mariners. He has 23 home runs and that's insane. It's nuts that he's doing this as a catcher... He won't win MVP, but he's got my vote. First catcher with 20 home runs before June.

The Oilers will win the Stanley Cup in seven games

I think it's Oilers. I got Oilers in seven. I think it's Oilers.

The 2025 OKC Thunder championship will be the worst title of their upcoming dynasty

We have gotten ahead of it and we think this actually will be the worst Thunder team to win a title in their dynasty run. 'cause you guys [Alex Caruso] are probably gonna win like six in a row. So you're saying this is the worst this year? Yeah. We just back where we'll be like, can you believe that team won?