FiredUp Network
Sunday, July 7: The Sports Wrap With Gerald Bentley & Rudy Reyes
of this week. Welcome into the fired up network. It's sports wrap wrapping up the week. Just going to hit some of the top stories that happened this week. I'm Gerald Bentley joined here by the rude dog himself, Rudy Reyes. And Rudy, it's been a. Hactic week in the world of sports. Lots of stuff going on, even though we're kind of in the, I guess you'd say the wall, right? The NBA's over. The NHL's over. Got NBA free agency going major league baseball, creeping towards a very late all star break. And plenty of the beautiful game going on to discuss. How's the week been for you? Busy. Busy. That's about the best way I can actually surprise it. I cover news in the big area. So KSBY and the, the area surrounding San Maria, Alampo, if anybody's in that neck of the woods, that's where I cover and you'll see me on this station. So it has been busy, but in sports, it's been probably even, even busier. We've seen everything ranging from tragic deaths to unpronounced officiating that could have ultimately went a better direction based on that officiating games could have been called a little bit cleaner based on that officiating, et cetera, so forth. I think more, more importantly, major league baseball in a full swing, literally, and there was a pun intended, I'll throw that in there. And that's another pun I throw in there as well. Lots of great games happened yesterday. My shocker of the week or the weekend rather for the July weekend, as we're now nearing the end of that and headed back to work week for most people. The pirates just destroyed the Mets. It was, it was, it was a football score 14 to 2. It was home runs, grand slams, it was filled with nothing but just, you hadn't seen that since 47 from the pirates. Now, and the pirates hit so many home runs, they ran out of fireworks. They did, they ran out of fireworks. I was listening to that game on Sirius XM and a company I used to work for. And just an absolute fabulous weekend in sports in general. You mentioned the NBA and how that looks in free agency and Demar DeRozan now going to Sacramento, choosing the Kings over the Lakers. I think it's situational. I don't think it had any to do with money. But there's a lot of, a lot of moves going on within the NBA. So you're right. It is the low that is sports with, with, with soccer on a very full plate as well. Lots of games going on this weekend. Lots of games going on today. Lots of games happened yesterday. So just a full slate. Yeah, it just keeps going 365 days and we can get into the Lakers too, because there's something going on there because DeRozan wasn't the only person to turn down an offer from the Lakers. But I wanted to talk about a couple of games that I was able to watch closely. They happened here in Kansas City this week. The men's US national team, they leave the Copa. This was back on Monday and they lose one nil to Uruguay. No shame in losing to Uruguay. They were playing at G.H.A. Field at Arrowhead, where the US men's national team had never lost a game. But obviously this is a different team. You know, it turns over every year. The figure that stood out among the game was Kevin Ortega. The young had official, the had referee in the game. Kevin Ortega just utterly lost control of the game. I mean, to the point, Tyler Adams gets a yellow card called on a play where he was struck down and the referee called it on Tyler Adams. They called a yellow card on the US and while the referee was standing there holding the card, he let Uruguay start playing. It got so bad, the referee refused to shake Christian Pulisic's hand after the game. Our team captain, one of the best players in the world, Pulisic said after the game, "Hey, we didn't lose it because of the officials." But that can't happen. I mean, paraphrasing him. It was just an embarrassment to the game. And you know, there's no shame in the US losing to Uruguay. Uruguay is a good side. They had Suarez from Inner Miami's playing for him, one of the best strikers in MLS. They're a quality team. They're always a contender for international championships. And honestly, they probably should have beat the US. But the officiating clouded the whole game. It did. It was a big, ugly, gray cloud. You could probably think that cloud to move in and over the stadium based on John Strong's lack of experience. See, you can have that conversation and see, you know what, John Strong may not have been his strongest suit. No hurt there. But I think, more importantly, the lack of experience within soccer in general and being able to referee a game within that landscape, certainly, you know, the question is back, was he ready to do this? Was he ready to step in and fill that role? Was he going to do the right thing and make the right calls? He didn't. And I think that, you know, even the pull sick did everything that he could to help mitigate the fireworks and to slow down all the congestive conversation surrounding how the US men's national team was just horrible and they suck. And, you know, the list just goes on and on and on. They were dealing with racial slurage that was pouring onto them as well. So, you know, you have two completely different sides of the coin. You have horrible officiating in one aspect of it. At least that's what I call it. And then the other aspect, you have people that are just basically slamming you and with racial slurs, a plenty. So, it just makes you wonder, where did this all unfold and unravel to where we're at right now? Well, I mean, with the US national team in particular, I think the, you know, the focus is going to fall where it always falls is on the coach, right? Greg Berhalter led a team with every major contributing player playing in one of the premier leagues in the league in the world. The lowest rated league would be MLS. But I mean, you have the majority of your starters are playing in high and Euro league, some of the top leagues in the world. You're not looking at a team of plucky underdogs who are just working and man, they give the effort. And if they can get a draw, that's great. No, this team is supposed to win. And the fatal flaw, obviously, was losing to the Panama Canalman two to one. Earlier, the week prior in Atlanta, that was highlighted by Timothy way, just throwing a punch at a guy, get in a red card, and then you go from being up one nil to losing to one. So, there's just, you know, it's kind of a lack of discipline, sort of a lack of focus. Berhalter got called to the table for calling the team over and letting them know that, hey, Bolivia is tied right now with Panama. So all we need is a tie. I mean, play to win the game, right? So they're playing it. You play to win the game. I don't know how many people have came out and said that people in the NFL, former players, head coaches, you play to win the game. That is what you do not to tie a game, regardless of what kind of game you're playing. Yeah, her medverts, former Chiefs and Jets coach famously made that slogan stick. You play to win the game. That was lost in Greg Berhalter. And I don't know if he survives. The next US men's national game, I'm going to be there. It's going to be September 7th at the stadium behind me, Children's Mercy Park, Sporting Kansas City Stadium. They're playing the Canadians who shockingly are still in the Euro or sorry, still in the Copa America, Canada won. I don't think anyone thought Canada would be the team advancing over the US, but they did that. You know, the officiating was really outside of all the mess with the US national team and it's been a mess for years. It was people were asking for Bradley to get fired when Bradley was the head coach and really they haven't had a great coach team since Jurgen Klinsman was in charge. So I don't know. I mean, everybody's been waiting for this to be the best US men's national team ever and it hasn't come because we're I think we're comparing them to the women and the women are head and shoulders above where the men are right now because well, well, honestly, the US tried more than anybody did for years. They need to take a page and we've had this conversation before, Gerald, that you need to take a page out of what's working and destroy those pages of things that you're reading that are not working, not working for your organization. If that's the case, you have to start all over again. Unfortunately, you're right. I don't know that Berhalter is going to be there next year. There's a lot of questions. Of course, as you stated, and well, well said, because it happens in all major league sports and always falls in the shoulders of the head coach. And sadly, this is exactly where we're at. This is a very poorly good example of how a coach that's been put in such positions such as these head coaching spots with players that are designed to win have to look at what's actually winning and what's working to get you to win. And they're not working in any, let's just say, valid attempt to to win to look at a different page in a different book. And the US women's national team is by far the best and has been for quite some time. And I don't see them going on any type of hiatus, not having Rapa no, not having, you know, a variety of players back. Obviously, with her retiring, they have the next woman up and it's been the theory for the US women's national team that the men's national team is just not capturing for whatever reason. And you're right. You can throw the officiating out the window. You can put the racial slur stuff on the on the side burner. If you want, this is about the unit. This is this is about lack of play, lackluster play within the body of play. And of course, yeah, the officiating, if you allow it to get involved into what you're playing, then yes, it could affect you in a negative way. Well, I think it definitely did. And here my bold and daring prediction, if the US doesn't beat Canada, when they play at Children's Mercy Park on September 7th in Kansas City, that will be the end of the Greg Berhalter era as the head coach of the US men's national team. They have one of the four US men's national team training facilities, literally across the street from Children's Mercy Park stadium. It's like a quarter mile away. They'll be there. They'll have a camp probably 10 days before the game. There's not going to be an excuse in the world to not go out there and thump Canada. If they lose that game, he needs to go. And I think he'll be gone. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. They need to put someone in position that it's going to go beyond talking to a game, but actually playing a good game and helping those players around him facilitate playing a better game, a championship level played game. The organization is fine. I don't think there's anybody that's heading shoulders above the rest. I think they're all on an equal playing field literally in regards to how do they get this coaching search right? Where do they go? Where do they look? Like in the NFL, head coaches come at a premium and so do men's soccer coaches at the highest level. And this is the highest level. And unfortunately, they just haven't got it right. Why outside of their infinite wisdom, they keep falling short. It may go back to their practices in regards to what they look for in a coaching candidate, what aspect they hoping to see the coach actually do the pinnacle of where that coach may be a former player. Maybe someone who's been there, done that. There are a lot of them out there, but a lot of them are kind of tired of the game and or have been so retired that they're so removed from the game. They just don't care. They just don't want to. I see, you know, there's some possibilities out there, but there's just so many right now. And because of that game on September 7th, which is right around the corner from my birthday and maybe watching that game, I think the Berhalter is probably on his way out. So I completely agree with your assessment. Yeah. And you need to get different people picking the coach. Now, if we go across the state line to CPKC stadium where you had the two unbeaten teams in the National Women's Soccer League matchup last night, I saw the Orlando Pride take a page out of the New York Red Bull strategy. And say, you know what? We're just going to hold, grab, push, shove, and see what we can get away with. And they got away with a lot. Early in the first half, Temua Chiwenga, who's leading the league in scoring and joined their tie, Temua Chiwenga and Barda from Orlando to players from Africa. They're both leading the league in scoring. They're on equal record-setting paces in the league. Temua, on a breakaway, chance to score. The Orlando player just reached out, grabbed her jersey and held her until she stopped. And that got nothing. I mean, it just got a fall. That should have been a red card. They got away with a hand ball. They got away with just a flat elbow to Michelle Cooper, another current for just hacking, grabbing, slowing down. The stadium was going nuts. Everybody was freaking out about the refereeing. Even to the point at the end of the half, he did call a red card on Orlando finally. That made it a 11 versus 10, but at that point, it was 1-1. Orlando parked the bus and they got a questionable fall called against a current goalkeeper, AD French, letting the game lead to a penalty kick and they ended up winning 2-1. And really, the referee was able to be a huge part in the game. A current head coach Flacco wouldn't buy in to blaming the officiating at all. I was on Twitter live during the game and I actually said this is an embarrassment to the NWSL that there's this out of control. Reminded me of a game earlier this year where a sporting coach, Peter Verme said, "Hey, it's supposed to be 11 versus 11, but we were playing 11 versus 15 tonight." Calling the four referees into question and said, "There's supposed to be a neutral party, but they weren't." And that's happening in lots of sports now. The horrible officiating is becoming an issue over and over again. Again, just looking in Kansas City, a game over the weekend, Bo Jackson's retirement game last Saturday, a home run by the Guardians was called a home run despite the fact that when they reviewed it on video and they sent it. They sent it to the video review umpires in New York. The ball was clearly fall by at least five feet on the video, clear as day and the video replay officials upheld it. Then just Friday night, the Royals had a home run called as a home run when the fan, the Colorado fan literally reached in to Giannaud's Blanco's glove and grabbed the ball out, played in case of fan interference. I mean, he put his hands in Dineer Blanco's glove. The fence in the course field is really low so the fans can reach right over. That was upheld on video. Baseball officiating this year has been horrendous. If you watch a game with the strike box in the graphic, you can see how horrible the ball and strikes calls are. And God, we know how bad NFL officiating has been and there are articles in the athletic about the lack of morale among officials. The massive turnover because they're tired of being shown up and looking bad, looking lost, but but they are. So I don't know what's the answer in sports because it's not good when the bad officiating overwhelms the game and it happened last night at the current game and we know it's going to happen in the NFL this year. You know, I've said this. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. And maybe I'm gonna say misinformation, but to be informed in regards to how bad officiating is internally as an organization to really have to look at this and say, okay, what are we getting right? What are we getting wrong? Let's look at this class as being half full and not half empty. For those that are half empty can see their way out of any given situation from an officiating perspective. Now, with that being said, you're right. Current should have won that game hands down. There are plenty of shots on target possession passes. They were leading in multiple categories for that game to go flawed by officiating and ultimately give that to Orlando was an absolute fallacy. They should be held accountable at the highest level. Now, same thing can be said for the NFL when officiating gets out of control. That's it. You don't hear anything more from the officiating crew. You're nothing from the NFL. They'll say, well, maybe he tiptoed in, tiptoed out. Maybe that was a touchdown. So many times you find situationally that place will determine what rules look like postseason. And into the following season, right? We see the Jesse James rule, right? Is a ball to either cross before any part of your body lands, they need to be simultaneous, right? So things like that, they really change the game. Hits on players, low blocks. They've changed kickoff returns. You know, there's so many evolutionary components, not only to keep the game safe to players safe, but to make sure officiating is a, let's just say, for lack of a better term, officiated properly and effectively. And I think that people are part of the problem, but they're also part of the solution. If that makes sense in regards to, in regards to how it's officiated, you know, who has the clear line of vision, the clear line of sight? Who are you going to rely on if you're making the bad call? When are we going to group up and have that conversation? You know, what is this? What does this look like? So, I mean, there's so much information involved in, in officiating, right? It's all about understanding the rules, knowing the rules, executing those red cards when they need to be thrown, flags actually need to be thrown in the NFL. And of course, pitchers, you know, being off the mound, there's box, there's walks, there's a time clock. You know, there's so many things that have changed various games, but there's one game specifically that really kind of bothers me, at least from an organizational standpoint, is the national women's soccer league in general, because they don't seem to get it right, even when they should, even when they have to, even when they need to, they don't. So, that's not the positive officiating style you should look at. Well, I don't know what there is one, to be honest with you. Do you think it's time, and this is something I've thought for a while. You can have the replay rules, but if the replay officials are just looking at protecting the egos of the referees, you're failing because they look like clowns. You think it's time now with all the majorly games being televised, six cameras, minimum shots, instant instant replays, to have a couple of people that are game day officials in the booth directly connected to the officials on the field, and just real time say, "Hey, whoa, man, you got it wrong. This is the call," because that's what we're doing. We're watching the game either in the stands or on TV. You're in the stands, and to the NWSL and MLS's credit, they don't do what Major League Baseball does and delay showing controversial replays. They show them right there at the time as it's happening, and the officials just look horrible. Why not have somebody that's got a TV background and somebody who knows the rules of the game, sit there, and real time, just like you're doing play-by-play, watch the game and direct connection into the umpire, to the referee, and say, "Hey, whoa, man, that's wrong. This should be the call." And just fix it real time, because the team getting a letter or getting an email a couple of days afterwards really doesn't help because the game's over. You mentioned the NWSL has been a problem all year. It has been one of the current Smithfielders, Vanessa DiBranardo, is still out from a concussion that was just called a routine fall and moved on with. Well, a couple days later, they upped it to a red card after the game. The game was over. The current one, it didn't really matter, but they issued a red card retro active light. Somebody should have been watching it real time and said, "Whoa, hey, wrong call, let's go." And it's happened all the time. I think it's horrible. When you don't have that type of, I mean, look, you're on the field. Like I said, you have line of sight. You can see these develop. If you're not, okay, look, I understand not being in the field of play when players are scrambling on both sides of the ball. I get that. But if you're on the sidelines, you can clearly see what is a foul, what is not a foul, what's a red card, what is not a red card. I think real time, and you're on to something, I think they should really contact somebody within the organizational totem pole rather and all that conversation with them in a real time situation. So you don't send an email saying, "Oh, sorry, we're going to upgrade that to a red card." What is that going to do after the game? The game's already over with. It's in the books. The loss is a loss. It's not going to change the loss because somebody got a red card. It doesn't change the dynamic of the game. It doesn't change the outcome of the game. What could have changed the outcome of the game is the right call made with a red card thrown in there in the ring immediately because that's what the actual play called for. I actually went back to YouTube and checked that out and I'll try myself. Are you serious? This went by four, two pairs of eyes. Are you serious? I mean, if you want to, if you feel daring, if you're the NWSL, put someone in the back of each goalie spot. At least you have another bird's eye view. Yeah, cameras are great, but the camera's only there for what? The audience. Are they there to analyze? Are they there to decipher whether or not you get a sidekick out? What good is that going to do? It could be balanced because we're getting ready for the start of the, I think without argument, the single worst officiated game in sports. Now the NFL, we get going and the referee's maybe got a huge impact on NFL games. In fact, we just saw the departure of arguably one of the worst umpires in Major League Baseball history, Angel Hernandez. But because of the umpire's union, Angel Hernandez was allowed to fail his way up on the job for a couple of decades. He was horrible. Everybody knew he was horrible, but they kept trotting him out there. It degrades the game. And with the huge presence of sports gambling now, legalized almost everywhere, people know it. Now it factors in. I don't think the sports books really care that much because it's another factor in that multi-factorial analysis that creates your betting odds. But it sure annoys fans and Angel Hernandez was an embarrassment to baseball for years, but he was allowed to keep his job. That right there shows to the discredit of the organizational failure from officiating. You can blame the officials, but let's look at this from a different position. If the officiating organization is the one, they are responsible for a good product on the field, which is the officiating, just like teams look for a proper protocol from good players, great players, and even average players on the field at all time. So why is officiating health such a lesser standard? Well, that's a real easy answer. They don't get paid as much money. So do they care about outcomes of games that they have no vested interest in? No. Honestly, is this going to affect their sports book? Well, they can't gamble. So that will apply to them as well in addition to players and head coaches. Anybody else related to any individual 32 of the organizations within the NFL? Now, with that being said, the same should be applicable to those officiating bodies, whether it's in tennis, whether it's in, of course, there isn't any in golf, but, you know, you need to car. There's a fish also that doesn't come to play as much, but... Well, exactly, because you're, this is not a team sport. Yeah, you're hitting a ball. You will really need two or three people, except for your caddy and you and your clubs and your balls on the field and call it a day. But when it comes to the failure of these organizations putting the proper product out on the field to call these games effectively, and without bias, tends to be probably some of the bigger challenges, because sometimes you see referees get a little too chummy chummy, especially in the NFL with some of these players, because they like them. You know, they appreciate their play. Maybe I get a little autograph something, something if I call this a fifth down. In fact, it wasn't first up. I'm not suggesting this happens, but I'm just stating that from video that I have watched, I have seen referees go chummy chummy with some of these guys, wide receivers, not so much linebackers and corners, because they're all up front. But when it comes to wide receivers and tight ends, things of that nature, maybe after a touchdown or after a huge gain on the field, you see that kind of reaction. That shouldn't be the case. Now I may be the odd man out, but that's not professional. To me, that is not professional. One here. Let's be honest too. The league has a role in this too. Are Patrick Mahomes and Matt Stafford going to get different calls because of who they are than a Jake Browning or Sam Darnold as well? Absolutely. Yeah. Heck yeah. Absolutely. All day. And then they'll have makeup calls. You heard those, right? The makeup calls are the ones that they don't get immediately, but then they'll get a call eventually within the body of the game, within the game that could affect the outcome of that game in the favor of an individual player. Come on. Anybody who's who's drinking the Kool-Aid needs to put that down and it switches some unsweetened tea because it's just a horrible look. I think what needs to happen though, really, I mean for all the major league franchises, all the major leagues, at some point, the players are all using every technological advantage, every workout advantage. The game of baseball, almost everyone can throw in the upper 90s now. When I covered the Indians, when they were in the World Series, only like two people per team could. Everything's moving faster. The officials are the part of the game that hasn't been sped up and I know full and well at 52, even though I work out an hour a day every day, I'm not keeping up on an NFL field with the players. How in the world is somebody who's 55 years old working part-time, which is what NFL officials are going to keep up on the field. Let's just use the chase for an example. With a Xavier worthy running a 4170, a Hollywood Brown running a 4240, adjusting Watson running a 4340, all the defensive players running just as fast and the glob of humanity in the middle, moving around trying to get the balls, trying to disrupt Mahomes passing. How are the officials going to keep up with that? How is a 55 year old guy going to keep up with Xavier worthy or Hollywood Brown? They can't. No, they can't and they rely on camera angles. That's why they put cameras on cones, especially when you're talking about deep threats and fast threats because if there's somebody who's questionable from a corner spot covering a wide receiver and that camera in there is designed to take place of that referee that can't scamper at 40 miles an hour to get that out of the field. So I just don't see that as being a reality and to be honest with you, there's going to be more technology put in place outside of cameras. You see above NFL players, heads and bodies and the mass motion that our teams with very huge linebackers or pass-rushers or offensive tackles and guards. I mean, it's like the mobile unit. You're not going to be able to see everything, but the camera from overhead may be able to see something that they cannot see. So I see some valid incorporation of camera usage, more technology involved in the NFL, maybe not so much adaptationally this year. But in years ahead, I could see that being a very solid case and a very strong case will be made for the seasons prior leading up to that technology to decipher whether or not it's going to be validated and if it will work. Well, and here just to bring this topic to a conclusion, every NFL team has a contract with an analytics company. I was able to listen to a press conference with the analytics company that the Chiefs hired. They have sensors ringing GEHA field at Arrowhead. Every ball used has a microchip and an RFID tag. The same things that are used to do inventory at Walmart. So you can just walk up to the shelf and you know how many items are in there. They're in the footballs. They're already in there. The teams know exactly to the fraction of a centimeter where the ball stopped moving. Every team has access to that data. We don't need the guys pulling out the 10 yard chains and the officials trying to figure out where the ball goes. That doesn't need to happen anymore. You have precise analytical empirical data on where the ball stopped moving already in existence. Real time, every team has it. They know exactly where the ball stopped. It could be incorporated tomorrow and then you never have a question on a first down again. It's not happening, but it could be. It could very well be. It could change outcomes of games on both sides of the ball. It really doesn't matter. The problem is that will the NFL find a way to mitigate through the minutiae of using this system in order to make it real time, to make it where it becomes a standard. I can see that again. Futuristically speaking, if they wanted to dive into the chief's data locker and say here, this is what we have. This is what we could show you. How can we incorporate this? You would take the human element and basically erase it as far as making the right call or making the wrong call. Now, you can't use it in the totality of the game. No, but would you use that? I'm holding and stuff. Exactly. Things like that. You could use tripping. You could use that for hits below the knees. Those are the obligatory calls. When it comes to ball positioning and ball placement and whether or not that ball reached the end zone before that body touched the ground, those analytics are priceless. Again, I see them as far as from an organizational view, from the NFL, doing something like this sooner rather than later. Yeah. Every team uses them. I know every team in the MLS, they have biometric scans on all the players. They can tell what their blood oxygen level is. They can tell their max heart rate. The coaches can look and see, hey, this guy is out of his peak performance range. We're going to need to, let's go ahead and sub him out. There's a lot of it already being used. It's just slow to get in. Not in any league, really. Nobody's doing a great job of it. Oh, they will. Coaches talk about analytics. They don't necessarily mean they want the analytics to affect the ball because that could affect their ability to win or lose the game. Yeah. Hey, I wanted to get into what was actually really sad story as we're getting close to the start of NFL training camps. They're coming up here. First training camp reporting is going to be coming up within a week. The players are going to be arriving at training camp probably next Sunday. One person who won't, unfortunately, is the fourth round pick of the Minnesota Vikings this year, Kyrie Jackson. He was a passenger in a fatal car accident, was one of three people in a Dodge Charger that died after being struck at high speed by an infinity yesterday in Maryland. It's really sad because this is a story that we've seen hit the NFL, received rice and a couple of his friends involved in high-speed crashes during the off-season in Dallas when they were racing a Lamborghini and a Corvette. Henry Ruggs, Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver. He's sitting in jail for vehicular homicide from a high-speed fatal accident a couple of years ago in Vegas and you know, you had lives just ended. A NFL dream washed away by somebody driving at over 100 miles an hour in a crash involving alcohol. It just shouldn't happen but it's happening more and more in America. We are the only major economy in the world that has auto homicides, auto fatalities on an increase. It's a sad situation, Gerald. Let's just call it what it is. When you're 24 years old and you get drafted and I've interviewed plenty of draftees and their hopes and dreams of going there and I'll use Lamar Jackson as a great example. He was drafted last guy in 2018 by the Baltimore Ravens. Just an outstanding guy. He'll continue to see his legacy. He'll continue his path throughout the NFL landscape. Unfortunately, Kyra Jackson will not and not only was he lost but you lose people senselessly every single day in automobile accidents. Whether you're drafted by the NFL or you're just a regular Joe right off the street. It happens every single day and that is the worst part because situations like this unfold on a regular basis and sometimes I cover stories at KSBY that aren't exactly filled with positivity and great outcomes and such. I can relate to this story in the sense of he'll never see an NFL down. He'll never be able to experience albeit the Vikings get to the point where they win a Lombardi and he won't be a part of that. It's just so sad that we as a nation, we as people cannot be more responsible before getting behind a wheel of a vehicle that could kill people. It doesn't matter whether it's a motorcycle, if it's a tractor, if it's a go-kart of ATV, it doesn't matter. And the fact alone that we're paying homage to a young man who will never play in the NFL, will never experience those life changing events that happen within his lifetime is now gone. It's now gone. This happened on Route 4, Pennsylvania Avenue at 3.15 in the morning just a couple of days ago. And I'm just so I'm so saddened by this because when license 21 and so his inability to drive was basically taken and so he himself now is carless because of somebody else's insignificance. However, with that being said, as you know, the people that are driving drunk are the ones that end up surviving, whereas the people that get hit are the ones that die and it's sad but true. So I can only I can't even imagine what the parents are feeling what they're going through right now. The Minnesota Vikings had offered ongoing therapy for those employees, players to take part in any emotional support that they may need as an organization, which I thought was absolutely fabulous by the Vikings to do. It's just sad that he was a life-changing person within the context of his family that changed everything. And unfortunately, it's just something that people from all over the country can relate to because they've had someone or know of someone or been related to someone who died in a tragic accident such as this. And my heart goes out to all of them, including Kyrie Jackson's parents, his family, his friends, and the Vikings. Well, and you and I both drive across major metro areas on the highways every day, and I've seen it. I'm driving around Kansas City on the 4th of July. I saw an infinity gunning it, racing it down the Bond Bridge, the bridge that you see in the background of the shots from the Casey current stadium, whipping across the bridge at like 100, driving up towards what was a fatal car accident that had one of the exits closed. Blue right by a police officer. Then I saw what was a horrendous car crash between a charger and a challenger on I-70. I see cars racing at 100 some miles an hour every day, and it's just mind-numbing to me because there was so much talk about what was Rishi rice thinking. How is he that irresponsible? It's a snapshot of the country as a whole. We have the safest cars in the world. There's plenty of cars made that aren't able to get into the US because of our safety standards. Auto fatality should be dropping like a rock, but it's actually the opposite. Since 2018, they're up 16%. They've risen every year. Even with traffic dropping during COVID, our auto fatalities raised because people were driving faster and racing, and it's just mind-boggling the amount that have happened. There's no wonder why every other ad on TV, if you're in a major media market, is some attorney at law talking about traffic accidents. It's really horrendous, and it's a case where the real world is encroaching onto sports. Maybe it can be a warning. Maybe a few people realize, "Hey, wow, man, there's a reason why there's only 30 NASCAR drivers on the high end. There's a reason why there's only 30 IndyCar drivers than 20 F1 drivers because these cars aren't made to go 120 miles an hour." That's right. That's exactly right. I think the NFL could find something in the way of maybe sponsoring MAD, most against drunk driving or some other organizations. Don't forget, we lost Wayne Haskins, former Steelers quarterback as well a year, almost two years ago. I remember when he passed away just getting into the prime of his career. Just trying to restart what he once had being drafted by the then-red skin/commanders. He died trying to cross the freeway, inebriated, trying to get gas because he ran out. It's impaired judgment at all levels, whether you drink a little bit or you drink a lot. I don't drink at all. Even if I did, I wouldn't drive because I know the stakes couldn't be higher. What do you say to a mother because you killed her son or daughter or her husband? After something to say, it's already been done. It's over. You can't change it. You want to live with a... You don't continue to drive for which you're driving and you're going to find yourself behind bars and/or dead or killed someone else. Maybe just not finding a way out of it. Before you drive, give somebody else the keys if you've been drinking. Yeah, it drives a speed limit. Man, if you want to drive a race car, well, every one of the professional speedways, they have racing schools. You can go drive a race car. You can go down to Kansas Speedway, the Richard Petty driving experience is there. You want to throw a couple hundred bucks down. You can get in and you can drive a NASCAR and do a few laps. They'll make sure you don't kill yourself. I mean, the numbers don't lie. In 2020, there was 107 fatal accidents a day in the country. 2021, 118, 2022, 117, and the numbers have only increased according to auto insurance companies. They haven't released the official data yet. It takes a while to get them all reported through NHTSA, but the expectation is it's going to spike even more. So definitely something to keep in mind and say a prayer for Kyrie Jackson's family. I want to shame because it looks like they were just wrong place, wrong time, and somebody was massively out of control in the sports car and just plowed into them because Dodge Chargers are heavy cars. You had to really hit it hard to do the damage they did. Yep, that's exactly right. So think before you drink. Yeah. Hey, with that. With that, we'll wrap it up. Got our sister channel, the wrestling spotlight, weekly champion belt. Do you have a champion for the week as we wrap up the week of sports? My champion for the week would have to be Caitlyn Clark. And I say that because she is just she is underealable. And I know that's a new word. Someone may actually coined that. Unflappable. She goes through these motions. People are fighting her literally on the court and she just continues going about her business. And she's she's she's my champion of the week because she's so resilient and unfappable and unwavering and reminds me of a skit that I was watching of the late Robin Williams about the American flag and how kids interpretation of the American flag had people cheering and standing on their feet because of the way that he discussed and interpreted what the flag meant to him and historically accurate, I must say, on top of all of that. So for those that are watching, thank you so much for tuning in. Check me out at ksby.com also on the Roodockshow.com and let me follow up. Roodock Ray is on X slash Twitter. Well, and I'll go with talked about him earlier. I'll go with Christian Pulisic for showing leadership in a losing effort because he is the shining star of the US men's national team and he stepped up and was the spokesperson for the team instead of the coach actually. He was the strongest voice in the room. So I'll give it to Christian Pulisic. He showed good sportsmanship, went to shake the hands of the official and the official turned away, which is just disgraceful. But, you know, good sports only goes so far at some point you need to win, but we'll give him a championship out. He gets, he gets something. It's just not quite enough, not what the fans were looking for at the Arrowhead Stadium for sure. Now, while and with that, we'll wrap it up here on the fired up network. The best way to watch the fired up network is to download that true TV plus app. You can get it everywhere. You get your apps and you can also see wrestling spotlight on the true TV app and you can get it on any TCL TV. If you have a TCL TV, just hit the plus button. For Rudy Reyes, I'm Gerald Bentley. Thanks for joining us here on the fired up network for sports wrap and have a great week. We'll see you next week right here at fired up network. Thanks.