Ep 35: Discombobulated

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Worlds are turning upside down. The Brothers-Z try to right the ship after a disconcerting week that they are left a little, uh... confused. This week:

Adam gets beat in Fantasy Football by his mother and then his wife - he's reeling. Perhaps he got beat because he was looking to draft Michael Bush instead of Reggie Bush.

Both Adam and Trent had faith in the U.S. Ryder Cup team. How wrong they were. ESPN ruins enjoyed the match on tape delay by reporting the real-time score... sabatoge!

Moving on to baseball - what's going on in these races? And why are the Twins wearing swimming goggles? And why does Trent want to put Carlos Santana on the mound instead of Johan Santana? Is Frank Thomas still playing? Are there horse socks?

Ryan wants to know if Adam or Trent are testing out new shows. Adam can't take any more change - so his rotation is stable - Dancing with the Stars, Gilmore Girls, Project Runway??

Outtakes
Hear some songs Adam sings to his son, Drew,

The Brothers Z talk about the new show "Trick my Truck." They wonder how those shows will go... hmmmmm

You all SUCK

In a brilliant move; Dennis Green, coach of the Arizona Cardinals, decided to let all of his QBs know that he doesn't have confidence in any of them.  On Monday, it was reported that Green would replace struggling veteran Kurt Warner with rookie Matt Leinart.  On Tuesday, this was no longer the case.  Green changed his mind and decided to stick with Warner.

So they have a starting QB in Warner who knows that you really don't want to play him, but Green thinks he has to; and a back up in Leinart that knows you think he's not ready for the big leagues.

And then you have a 3rd string QB in John Navarre who knows he was never considered.

Way to make the worst out of a bad situation, Denny.
--tz

In The Tank

I could see it coming, another loss for the Americans in the Ryder Cup. My brothers and I talked about the Ryder Cup on our last podcast and we wondered if Tiger could lead this team to victory. My brothers felt that he could, I was a little more pessimistic, and I proved to be right.

First to address Tiger. I firmly believe that in order to be a leader you have to at least have some of the basic traits and I am not sure that Tiger does to be an effective leader, especially in this situation, one that he is not accustomed to. Plus I am not sure how much of leader you can be on a golf team. In other team sports you can be a leader because you have others on the field with you to lead. In golf you can lead your twosome and that is about it. I believe the coach or captain has more of a leadership role/influence than any one player. This is all you need to know about Tiger's leading abilities . . . first hole, first day, first shot off the tee, Tiger goes in the water. What that told me, and I knew it at that moment, things weren't going to be different and that the Americans would struggle all weekend.


Now what's the overall problem? I don't know. Here are at least some observations:
1. The Euros were playing out of their minds. I saw at least 4 chip-ins to win holes on Saturday morning and they seemed to get all the breaks and make all of the shots they needed to. So first you have to credit the Euros with great play.

2. Secondly, the Americans made no shots. Every time the Americans had a chance to win a hole they couldn't get the ball to drop, or they opened the door for the Euros to walk through and they did.

3. No strong play from the "All-Stars." Tiger went 3-2, Phil went 0-4-1 and Furyk was 2-3-0, enough said. When guys like Scott Verplank, J.J. Henry and Zach Johnson are playing the best golf. You are in trouble.

4. The Euros have the better players overall that love this format and strive in this type of environment. Sergio is the perfect example put him paired with Tiger on the last round of any major tournament and he folds like a 2-7 hand in Texas Hold Em but place him anywhere near a Ryder Cup match and he is out of his mind going 4-0 over the weekend and overall is 14-3-2 in Ryder Cup.

The US team got thrashed. They all tanked as far as I am concerned. No one showed up and they should be embarrassed as a whole of their performance and their representation of the US. To me I am far more outraged over this loss than I am over the USA basketball team losing in the WBC. At least team USA basketball played hard and showed up. This US Ryder Cup team should be ashamed of their performance and US golf fans should be up in arms over such a lack luster and unmotivated performance from our players.

—RZ

PSA: To Football Players

When you are playing football, and you see a ball on the ground. Get on it. Hold it. Protect it. The little, lonely football needs your help. It has just been abandoned by someone - it needs to be secured. That way the ball is happy. You are happy and your team is happy.

This past weekend, I saw 3 games where a ball was either fumbled or muffed and someone tried to do something with it, but could not get a handle on it and the other team hopped on it. In each of these cases, it could have effected the outcome of the game.

Exhibit A: Wisconsin vs. Michigan - Score: 10-7 Wisconsin lead.
Michigan drive is stalled around mid-field and the decide to punt. Wisconsin punt returner muffs the punt and then tried to pick up the ball to "make something happen." The ball slips through his fingers and a Michigan player recovers the ball - putting Michigan instantly into scoring position. They subsequently kick a field goal and ultimately win the game 27-13.

Exhibit B: West Virginia vs. East Carolina - Score: 14-7 WVU lead.
ECU's drive stalled around midfield and they punt the ball. The punt returner for WVU muffs the kick inside the WVU 10 yard line. An ECU player tries to pick up the ball to score (which you cannot do in college football. The ball cannot be advanced by an opposing player on a muffed punt, just recovered at the point of contact), the ball trickles through and WVU recovers. ECU could have been inside the 10 lining up for the tying score against the #5 team in the nation... they end up losing 27-10.

Exhibit C: Florida vs. Kentucky - Score: 12-7 Florida
Early in the 3rd quarter, UF running back breaks a 20 yard run. Near the end of the run a KY player comes from behind and strips the ball from the RB. The ball spurts forward, and a KY player tries to pick the ball up to no avail, and UF recovers and scores on that drive. Florida wins 26-7.

In each of these instances, the team letting the ball slip away were underdogs trying to pull an upset. Get on the ball. These are fundamentals you learn when you are 8. I would hate to be the Pee Wee coach of any of these players. They're probably sitting in a sports bar, with their friends saying "Yes, I did coach him when he was younger. I remember when he was jus...OH MY GOD! JUST FALL ON THE BALL! I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THAT! JUST GET ON IT!" And then the Pee Wee coach has to suffer hours of humiliation from his friends. He gets drunk, tries to stumble home, falls on the sidewalk where complete strangers make fun of him. Then, too drunk to stand up, he falls asleep on the sidewalk where someone robs him.

So please - don't try to be the super hero, gaining possession is enough. Getting the ball for your team in fortunate circumstances is enough. Your team will not chastise you for recovering a fumble by falling on it - they will chastise you for bobbling it trying to do something with it and losing it as a result.

Your team will thank you, the football will thank you, and your Pee Wee coach will thank you for keeping him from being robbed.
--tz

Episode 34: Bar Room Chatter with Ryan

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Ryan chimes in on the 2 football games he had the most interest in:

Steelers vs. Bengals - Kickin' it old school as the majority of this game was caught on the radio (due to the need to visit Thomas the Train).
West Virginia vs. East Carolina - The Mountaineers travel to East Carolina to take on the Pirates. They showcased their new uniforms... the ones with a bulls-eye right on the back.

Me and My Flipping Remote

So, I woke up early this morning - not really meaning to, and started watching the Ryder Cup. Since it's in Europe this year, the broadcast is on a delay. I watch for a couple hours and around 10:30, I realize that College Game Day is on. I mistakingly flipped to ESPN News instead of ESPN (they are 1 channel apart here) - and I spotted the score.

I blew it. I had a good thing going, but noooo I had to grab the remote and try for more. Dammit... well I guess it's College Game Day until the "afternoon" matches come on... my mental chant - "keep your eyes off the 'BottomLine.'"
--tz

Mike and Mike Stellar Observation

Yesterday on Mike & Mike (ESPN's morning Radio Show), I heard that when the Yankees clinched that this was the first time in over 50 years that 2 teams from the same city won their division in the same year.  Mike Greenberg says this like it's utterly improbable that it would be that long.  Wow! 50 years?  Such a looooong time!

Well, considering that there are only 3 cities that have 2 teams (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles) then it's really not all that shocking, is it?  
--tz

Ep 33: Stepping it Up

Episode 33: Stepping it Up

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Ok, no full episode last week due to scheduling conflicts, so you get a little extra this week. The Brothers Z are getting into gear as the football season is in full force.

Adam is impressed by Ben Roethlisberger. Take a moment and re-read that last sentence. Why does he want Ben quarterbacking his team?

Is Sunday Night football the new Monday Night Football? If so, what is Monday Night Football? Confusing, isn't it?

It's Ryder Cup time! Once every 2 years we get one of the Brothers' favorite golf events -USA vs. Europe in team golf. Will Tiger lead this team in ways he has never done before in Ryder Cup?

Outtakes!
Adam tells a story about his Fantasy Football team, and the Brothers talk about the new Nike Commercial...what's up with that?

Stay Tuned for a word from our Sponsor... yes, our sponsor.

Ryan Blog - Take it Back

I want to weigh in on the Oklahoma/Oregon game briefly.

Now my brother Trent did a very good job of going over this in his “Bar Room Chatter” episode for our Brothers in 3-Z podcast, and this was before the fall out of everyone in Oklahoma from the Governor to the Owner of Haircuts by Bob on Sooner Avenue in Stillwater cried about making the game not count.

Excuse me? Not count? Seriously, people were saying this? I understood and heard the outrage from most broadcasters and commentators, but the silliest thing I have heard was that the game shouldn’t count. Come on! It’s not like in 3rd grade and the kick ball was called foul by your 75 year old farsighted recess teacher and you called “Do-over.” This is major college football and the notion to even float out there that this game somehow shouldn’t count is so ridicules that it is unbelievable to me that anyone would utter those words.

If we started to not count games that we thought there was poor officiating in, I might be the first in line to say that the Steelers shouldn’t have one the Super Bowl, or that the Dallas Mavericks got screwed in the NBA Finals . . . “Those games don’t count! Bad call, I want a do-over or I am going home.” Pout pout.

Everyone in Oklahoma, listen closely . . . . SHUT UP. You aren’t the first team to get screwed (and oh by the way, yea you still should have stopped them from scoring after the bad call), and you won’t be the last. So please quit your whining and go back to playing mediocre football in the 6th best conference in the country.

Brothers in 3-Z - New Blog

Ok. I converted this from my old blog, so the other posts prior to this one was from Trent. From this point on, the entries can be from either me (Trent), Ryan or Adam.

A few things are happening with the show. I don't know if you have noticed but we are adding a second regular episode to the weekly rotation. It is called "Bar Room Chatter." It will be a short - 5 minute or so - podcast with just one of us, released on Mondays. We will be commenting on something that happened over the weekend, maybe it's one thing - maybe it's numerous things.

We completly reserve the right to release more throughout the week. Hopefully you will enjoy them and we can bring a little something more to the table than just your everyday sportstalk radio.