7-24-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 3: SEC or Big Ten with more CFP contenders; Ohio State had WHAT in NIL; unreal Barry Bonds stats
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McElroy and Kublik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning, 9 a.m., Wednesday, July 24th, right here on JOX 94.5. We talked a little bit about Ryan Day at Ohio State earlier and how you sort of judge him as a head coach. Unfortunately, because being 1-3 against Michigan, people overlooked the 56-8 situation.

So that would be 55-5 against teams not named Michigan. It would be 40-0 against Big Ten teams not named Michigan. Feels pretty good to me. Not bad. Ryan Day, yesterday at Big Ten Media Days, discussing rebuilding his team every single year. You can see the look in their eye. It's a special group. And then the pieces that we've added.

You know, we're very, very excited right now. And it's a fun group to be around every day. Coach Mick's been doing a great job in some of the workouts we've had this summer. But now as we head into the preseason camp, it's going to be critically important to build a foundation. Every year, you know, you rebuild the team. You don't just jump back to where you were the year previous. And we're going to work really hard to have a physical preseason camp and build that foundation because that's going to be what's going to be the difference in the end.

And it's got to be rebuilt every year partly through NIL, right, Greg? I think so. You figure Ohio State players got a lot of money in NIL. Yes, they're probably not hurting, I would imagine. So if they wanted to buy some of that ice, they'd be good to go with that, correct? Yes. Enough ice to where polar bear services could help them out? Probably so.

uh polar bear services specialize in the hvac systems but they also do plumbing they also do electrical there's just so many ways that they can help you out i'm always very grateful when i call weston anything that i have that goes on in my house he can say yeah we can fix it there's yet to be an example in which they can't fix it so call them today and remember this is the independent train dealer nothing can stop a train or it's hard to stop a train whatever that

saying might be. I think nothing can stop a train, that's for sure. But I look at all these things, man, to just keep reminding myself, I know that if there's someone I need to help me out, whether it's a whole system install or a system tune-up, Polar Bear Services will get you taken care of

every possible way. Remember, if you have a problem with your heat or air or electrical or plumbing, just pick up the phone and call the Bear. It's 205-497-BEAR. It's 497-BEAR. Going to go to Mario Cristobal live from ACC Media Days in just a moment. How much would you speculate that Ohio State spent on NIL in football last year? I'm going to say 8 million. None of these numbers are real anyway, but just like what someone that's affiliated with Ohio State would say they spent. John says 8 million.

What Ohio State would say? Correct. I think Ohio State would say 10, but in reality it was 15. Ross Bjork yesterday at Big Ten Media Day said that Ohio State and their donor-led collective and brand affiliates distributed $20 million to football players last season. Wow. I'll be the first to jump in line and say I don't believe it, but hey. It takes the under or the over? I'm going to take a lot under.

But what I mean, they had a big fan base, brother. I'm not saying that they don't do a lot, but we're we're we not having a conversation about a year ago begging for money because they didn't know how they were going to pay the guys that they needed. And now it's just 20 per. Well, I'm just going to tell you this. Seeing your rival win a championship does a lot. It does. I would. I could think back to a time not that long ago where, you know, one particular player was paying a lot of money after a championship was won. Yeah. Yeah.

It led to their own championship. Just some numbers thrown out from Ross Bjork, the Ohio State athletic director, which is just another weird thing to say. But I don't think it's weird. That he's the area athletic director? No, no, no. I don't think it's weird, though. I don't think it's weird for people to talk about the money.

Oh, no, it's not weird to talk about. It's just $20 million for one college football roster feels like a lot. It feels like a lot, but they have a gigantic fan base. I mean, the largest fan base in the country. I thought that was A&M. I don't think so. I think they have a million living alumni, Ohio State has. That's $230 per scholarship athlete. Whew.

I know they're more than maybe the walk-ons got, whatever. But if all that money just went to scholarship athletes, about $230K. Okay. It's a lot higher than the normal collective giveaway for a lot of guys. I can tell you this much. It would make a lot more sense if that was what was paid and they still lost to Michigan, with the reaction being what it is. It wouldn't shock me. I know what Bama's is. I know what Auburn's is. I know what Texas A&M's is.

I mean, I know what these teams are paying. Like, I know what's in their collective. I know what Ole Miss's is. I know what Memphis's is. Like, I know what these teams are paying. 20 is really high, but it's not like three times as much as the next closest. It's about 50% higher than what most teams have to offer. Yeah.

All right, let's take a peek into ACC Media Day's Mario Cristobal currently live at the podium in Charlotte. He's always been the forefront of any and every place that we've been at. And it starts with guys like Jalen Rivers over here. The guy's a complete pro from top to bottom. Elite as a competitor, as a mentor to the younger guys, and his approach to his craft.

So it starts with the guys up front and making sure that there's complete alignment between the coordinator and the offensive line coach, right? Understanding what defenses do, what they do well, where their personal advantages or disadvantages might be, and scheming our plan as it relates to that, okay? And to do that, you have to have good personnel up front, especially when you have a quarterback like we feel our quarterback and quarterbacks are, to give them the right amount of time to allow them to,

to just at a very high level operate within the system and sometimes improvise on their own. So we feel good about the personnel up front. We feel really good about the personnel outside on the perimeter, in the core, in the backfield, the combination of those things.

Cam's, I would say, his football IQ and his knowledge of protections and understanding where he is, where he isn't protected, how to get to a protection to make sure that he is, and everything that's built around it will allow to be efficient, protected, and allows us to keep him upright.

Coach, keep your focus right there. His colleague in the blue shirt. Hi, how are you doing, Coach? Good, how are you, buddy? Good, sir. T.J. Wilkerson from 90.9 The Light. My question for you, I mean, the transfer portal has been huge for Miami, including landing guys like Cam Ward. You also got...

Damian Martinez out of Oregon State. Y'all have been really busy in the transfer portal. Can you tell me how much of an impact and what role it has had for your program? Sure. No, that's a great question. I was actually, we were talking about this earlier in the other room. I think the use of the portal and how you build your roster is all dependent upon what the starting point is for a program, you know?

At a previous program, there wasn't much use of a transfer portal by us because we were very junior and senior laden. We have a handful of fourth and fifth year guys that are awesome, and they need to be complimented by guys that have had a significant amount of snap counts, experience maturity at certain positions. And it's a great blend because you have guys that have been here and have been through a lot and are driven to compete and win.

And then you have some transfer portal guys at some positions that needed bolstering that are driven, that want to win and want to be at Miami. And then they're sandwiched in there with some uber-talented freshman classes.

That's a really good blend. You've got them at all levels and at different positions. So now that allows for higher level play. It allows for great mentorship for the younger guys and development for the younger guys. And now you build the right kind of depth. You're more staggered, right, where it's more sustainable. The coming years, you know, it bodes well for Miami knowing that it's layered where upperclassmen

are also complemented by younger guys. And there are some younger guys in starting roles as well. But overall, the blend and the mix is really well. It's really good. Sorry. Coach, we're going to hustle a microphone to the very back on the left-hand side. Gentleman standing up receiving it now.

Good morning, Coach Cristobal. Good morning. Jesse Coker from the College Huddle. Cam Ward comes from an air raid style offense. Shannon Dawson also is a guy with a history of an air raid style offense. Can you talk about how his skill set lines up with what Coach Dawson likes to do and will that be kind of a different offensive philosophy for you guys this year with receivers like Restrepo?

Well, it's a perfect marriage because you're looking at two very high football IQ guys that continue to evolve. You know, I think sometimes it's unfair to pigeonhole a guy into being just an air raid guy. There are passing game principles that relate to the air raid, but there's also...

Five, six, seven-man protection and play action, schematical stuff that is more towards a power spread team as well as a very efficient and powerful run game that we've also put together. So it's a great blend. And the evolvement and the morphing of our system allows a guy like Cam, a guy like Jalen, to maximize their abilities, right?

Whether it be in the run game, whether it be in the screen game, the passing game, we feel that there's a lot of different ways that we can attack opponents. It starts with the guys up front and the guy behind center, and we feel that we're super blessed to have guys that we wouldn't trade for anybody in the country. We feel they're the best. Coach, from the podium, what does accomplished greatness mean to you?

Accomplished greatness to us would be a way of life. It relates to alignment in everything you do. I mean, we always at our place say how you do anything is how you do everything. So whether it be the classroom, the community, how you are at home with your family, how you are in the community with people that you're trying to impact, how you are in the locker room, how you are on the road, how you are when things are going well or when they're not going so well and you face adversity, greatness is being the absolute best you can be all the time. It's a way of life.

Coach, we're going to go back to your right, third row, gentleman in blue, TJ. How you doing, Cristobal? My next question for you would be, we've seen a lot of great Miami teams over the years. Can you tell us what's different about this year's Hurricane team? What's different? I can tell you what's progressing. And back to what we were talking about earlier, there's a starting point for everything, right? And starting point at Miami for us was making sure that

that we enhance the caliber of talent in the locker room, that we increase the level and capabilities of the coaching staff, and that we blend in the strongest and most unbreakable culture that we can. And we've been at it for two years, so systems are growing, players are developing, people are there for the right reasons, right? Growth and development, hard work and good people is a very strong combination.

We feel awesome about the people in the building. These guys, they run to the work. They run to the fight. They're awesome to be around. It really is. It's awesome to sit back and watch them work. It lets you go home and feel good knowing that no matter what, these guys are ready and willing to show up because they're driven. They're driven to win. They're team goal oriented.

So what's different? I don't know if I've ever answered one of those questions well or to the point. Because they're kind of projections and almost like hopes and wishes. For us, we're about the work. We've been lucky to have been around great coaches.

great mentors in our profession as players and as young coaches, and we apply all those principles and values, and we've been blessed enough to have a locker room full of guys that are all about it. And they're eager, so I can't wait to have the opportunity to get to work with them.

Coach, staying on the right side, back to the fourth row in the middle. Jeremy Granderson, ESPN Charlotte again, Coach. Miami has traditionally run a pro-style offense, but with maybe a more mobile quarterback like Cam, does that open up the playbook at all for you guys? Well, I think Miami, we've got to go through different eras now, brother. I mean, we go back to Tessa Verde and Cozart, and it's pro-style, and then Miami's gone power spread, open spread, air raid, condensed. I mean, it's done just about everything.

We believe in Cam Ward, and we believe that Cam Ward will allow Miami to do things that Miami hasn't been able to do in a long, long time. We have complete trust and faith in him and the guys around him. He's a dynamic player, but even more importantly, he's a dynamic human being. Strong leader, raised the right way, unbelievable parents, like the guys beside him. All those sets of parents right there are the reason why those guys are like they are.

And I think when you combine that with the talent that he has and the guys around him, it's exciting. But we're not here to make any predictions or projections. We just want to get to work. That's all we want to do. We want to get to work and want to get at it, and we want to go prove ourselves.

That's Mario Cristobal live from ACC Media Days. A couple questions that he took there discussing his team. Obviously, quarterback Cam Ward, GMAC, can make this offense different. I don't think there's any doubt about it. That's going to be a huge factor in their success this year. I mean, last year, if you look at Miami, they really weren't that far away. They were abysmal in the red zone, and they were not good at quarterback when it came to turnovers. That...

Really, it'll tell you all you need to know. The fact that Tyler Van Dyke in the midseason last year went 5-11 touchdown-interception ratio is just not going to be good enough. It's not sustainable. You can't win. And the red zone, they were in the 90s statistically. So now you've got a quarterback that can create with his legs. That's going to help in the red zone. You already have an offensive line that should be really good. Weapons are good.

Run game should be rock solid, but you've got to finish drives, and you've got to have a guy that's not going to turn it over. And I think they've addressed that with the addition of Cam Ward, but I'm as optimistic about what they have on defense as I am on offense. I think offensively they're going to be great, but defensively in the front seven, they should be among the best units in the sport. Secondary is a bit of a question mark, but other than that, man, they're in a great spot.

Auburn's annual kickoff Birmingham presented by the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club is going to be Thursday, July 25th at the Finley Center in Hoover. Huge Auburn pep rally. You can bring the family, kids for the play area, face painting. Join Albie in voice of the Auburn Tigers, Andy Burcham, as well as linebacker coach Josh Aldridge. Also, Chris Davis.

Going to be in the house that evening. There will be a silent auction. You can bid on unique items, experiences. A big send-off for the Birmingham Area Auburn Freshmen. VIP ticket upgrades are available, including food, drinks, exclusive swag. Corporate sponsorships available as well. Proceeds go to fund scholarships for Birmingham Area Auburn students. That's Thursday, July 25th. Tickets and more information at kickoffbirmingham.org.

We'll continue talking some media days and other things around a couple of coaches that's happening at media days. We haven't gotten to that Big Ten team whose schedule is a little bit different. We haven't discussed. We'll do that next on Mac and Cube in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. Michael Rowan Kubrick in the morning, 919 Wednesday, July 24th, right here on Jocks at 94.5.

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Tyler Fitzgerald, though, for the Giants, three for three, hits a home run in his fifth consecutive game. First Giants rookie since at least 1900 with five home run game streak. First Giants player with five game home run streak since...

Barry Bonds. Great guess. In 2004, who has the franchise record seven games streak with home runs. That's a little bit of a prelude to our bad box score of the day, which we will give you one, but we're also going to go a little bit of a different direction with some numbers that I found on Bonds that are absolutely staggering that we need to share. Also yesterday, Cardinals 2, Pirates 1.

But the real story here was Paul Skeens. He goes eight and a third, longest start of his career. I guess he wasn't tired, exhausted in this one. Gave up four hits, two earned runs, struck out eight. First career Major League Baseball loss for Paul Skeens. Still a great outing. Ninth straight game with at least seven strikeouts. That's tied for the longest streak with at least seven strikeouts by a rookie since 1893. 97 strikeouts in his first 12 games. Tied for fifth most Ks.

by a pitcher in their first 12 career games since 1893. Scoreless inning streak was snapped at 14 in the fifth. So either way, he does get touched up a little bit late, but another fantastic outing for Paul Skeens, who has just been unbelievable this year, G-Mac. Yeah, Paul Skeens is ridiculous. And, I mean, no one's really figured him out now. By this point, I mean, how many starts do you have? Is it 16 starts? 12. 13. 13 starts. 13 starts.

You would just think by now they'd start to figure him out a little bit, but they haven't. I mean, it's pretty amazing. And the guy throws noise, no doubt about it. He's big time. Mets take down the Yankees 3-2 last night. Judge walks four times, doesn't get much of a look last night. Yankees lost 14 of their last 20 home games 0-5.

in one-run home games over that span. The team that we referenced in the Big Ten that may be facing a little bit more than people want to give them credit for, the Michigan Wolverines. Now, I know people may point to that Texas game early and say, oh, yeah, it's going to be tough. You realize they have three teams on the schedule? I'm sorry, four teams on the schedule. GMAC that finished in the AP Top Ten last year.

I did not, but now that you're telling me. Washington finished second. Texas finished third. Oregon finished sixth. Ohio State finished tenth. It's a little misleading, though. A tad. A tad. But we still think Texas is going to be that caliber team. We think Oregon is going to be that caliber team, and Ohio State is going to be that caliber team. And now it's really pushing back on that. But –

You look at this schedule for Michigan, Texas at home after you play Fresno State. Now, Jeff Tedford has to step down due to an illness, but we know that's a team physically that's at least going to bring it. You'll get Arkansas State in week three, then USC at home, Minnesota at home. You travel to Washington, but you get a week off after that. Then you go to Illinois, play at Memorial Stadium in Champaign. You got Michigan State at home after that, then Oregon at home. At Indiana, a week off before you play Northwestern at home.

then you're at Ohio State. It's not that bad the way it falls, but when you talk about playoff caliber teams, to immediately look at it and say there's three there with an outside shot at a fourth, that's a tough road for a team that we have some real question marks about. I'm with you. You really think about it. I mean, how many legitimate playoff contenders are in the Big Ten? I've heard some people say in the SEC there's five. That seems like a lot. I don't know. I mean, by the time the season, we fast forward to the end of the year, is there really going to be five contenders?

and the SEC that are within striking distance. I look at the playoff contenders in the Big Ten. It's hard for me to get past three at the moment.

I mean, if you want to include Michigan, I'll listen to that. I totally support that. Michigan is the defending national champ. If they found their way and established a ground-and-pound identity, it wouldn't surprise me if they got there. I think it's going to be hard, but I think it can be done, especially if they get a win against Texas in Week 2, which is huge for them. If they can somehow get that game, then obviously you've got to –

You've got a layer of protection when being evaluated against probably a high-level SEC team. So how many real legitimate Big Ten playoff contenders are there in your eyes? If we're just talking outside chance of making it at all. Yeah, just getting in. I'm not saying winning it. Yeah, we know Ohio State is most likely going to be in. That's a pretty easy one. We'll go ahead and throw Oregon out there and say that that's going to be two.

I do think Penn State is one, like we talked about. They haven't been great against maybe the highly ranked opponents or the bigger name opponents, but they don't have a ton of those on the schedule, and they're going to have a lot of talent. So Penn State would be three for me, and then it starts to get tough. I think somebody's got to exceed expectations if they're going to get there, and that includes Michigan for me. Now, schedule difficult, quarterback situation uncertain. There are other parts, tight end, running back, defensive line, that you feel great about.

But there are parts of it that I look at and say, I don't know. You think about what they've done the last few years, Greg, with kind of going ground and pound. I mean, what did they run the ball, 32 straight times against Maryland or whatever it was? Thereabouts, yeah. Okay, so they were elite in that department. Are they going to be elite enough in the departments that they have been elite in to offset maybe not being B-minus in other parts? You and I were both pretty high on J.J. McCarthy. Yeah, he only threw the ball eight times a game, but...

The kid could rip the football. And he has some pretty good receivers. So are they going to be great enough in the areas that they were great to offset some of the areas that they might not be nearly as good in this upcoming season? That's my question. But after that, I don't – I mean, is Washington a bit of a wild card? Is SC kind of a wild card? Wisconsin, does that offense kind of finally get ramped up this year? I don't really view them as playoff contenders, no. I'm with you. So I'll say three, maybe four. Three, maybe four is about where I'm at, too.

I can't really get beyond Michigan and say, all right, yes, they're a playoff contender. I'm having a tough time with it, frankly. I mean, it's not like – do I think SC can make some noise? Maybe be dangerous? Perhaps. But, goodness, a lot of things have to fall into place for that to go down. I mean, winning eight? You think six is too much in the SEC of just potential of getting to the play? Like realistic potential of getting there? Yes, 100%. Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss. That's four. Yeah.

So all you have to do is go to, I mean, take your pick of LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M. You can't add one or two of those? I'm just saying. Does it feel good about getting to the playoff teams? Well, when people start filling out their playoff projections with five, six SEC teams, I'm going to tell you that ain't happening.

Because there's always things that we don't anticipate. Like, can Boston College go to Missouri and win? They could, but I'm just saying, like, these are things that can happen. You know what I mean? There's always those games that no one really anticipates that just totally throw a team off, and there's going to be a team that you just listed in that group that's going to go 5-7. I don't know who it's going to be. I'm not, at this point, capable of predicting that.

But there's going to be a team that has the injury bug or something. And, yeah, I mean, I think that's way too many. Like, I like the SEC's depth a lot. But to anticipate in the first year of a 12-team playoff they have five, six teams in, I don't see it. You would say four is pretty much a lock? I think four is very safe. If you'd put the over-under on SEC teams in the playoff at four and a half, which way are you going? This year I might go over because I think five is very realistic.

Could be, but it's going to require... How many teams we feel good about? We just said three in the Big Ten. So if it's three in the Big Ten, how many do we feel good about in the ACC? We did this the other day. Three. Maybe three? Yeah, two or three. We'll go on the high end and we'll say three. So that's what, six? Playoff teams we feel great about. Big 12? Oh boy. One. One maybe. Let's go on the high end and say two. Just being generous there, I'm thinking...

Oklahoma State, Utah. That's being generous. So we take our G5 and go with a 1. It's 9. We got it right there. I feel like we opened up the door for the possibility of more teams to get in that we're not counting in the level of confidence would go SEC right there. Here's my thing. I think Ole Miss has to

go 10-2 or better. At worst. And it depends a little on who those two teams are. Like, we just look at, oh, it's an SEC schedule. Great. That SEC schedule is not the equivalent of what Georgia's playing. It's not. We could fast forward to the end of the year and Ole Miss will have beaten one ranked team, potentially.

If they lose to Georgia, they lose to LSU. How many ranked teams, how many ranked wins are on their schedule? You brought this up at Media Days, and it was a fascinating point, and I've actually brought it up to a lot of other people. I don't think you have the same conversation with Missouri. Same thing. Exactly the same conversation. And you're not getting the benefit of the doubt. You can say, oh, it's an SEC schedule. Yeah, it's cool, but not all SEC schedules are created equal. It's just not.

Missouri 10-2. Everybody just says you're in, you're in, you're in, you're in, you're in. All right, Missouri 10-2 with losses to, let's just say, Oklahoma and Alabama. Okay, so what? Your best win is going to be A&M on the road. You're going to need Auburn to be a 10-win football team.

And probably South Carolina would be like a seven-win team, State to be 500. Are you going to have a win against a team in the top 25 at that point? If you get – no. If A&M or Auburn extend like that, you're one of the few losses. A&M and Auburn are probably top 25 teams, but I can't tell you that for certain.

Right. You're going to need a lot of help there because I don't think that's a 10-2 lock you're in. I don't. And same thing with the Ole Miss schedule, as you stated. You look at that Ole Miss schedule and you kind of go down the list and you say, all right, if you drop two of these, let's just – as you said, you said Georgia and who? Georgia and LSU. You're going to need Florida to be pretty good. You're going to need Kentucky to be pretty good. You're going to need Oklahoma to be really good because, as you said before, how many top 25 wins do you have there? Maybe Kentucky. Right.

Maybe Oklahoma. It's not like there's a lot. And those are still iffy that you might get those. So, yeah, I think 10-2 for those two teams is not – I understand why a lot of people are saying, oh, 10-2 in this league, you're in. 10-2 in that league, you're in. They're wrong. But on those two teams, I think it's a little bit different. I think they'll go with a conference championship runner-up. Who maybe got to their third loss in that game. Yeah, that's 10-3 in that game.

and had a loss in the conference title game that Mizzou and Ole Miss didn't play in. They would be given the benefit of the doubt because you can't hold those teams accountable. They got to their conference title game, had to play the extra. Depending on the wins. I mean, if they have no wins against Top 25 either, then guess what? This is a moot conversation. It's a moot point. Conference title game losers are going to be very intriguing to watch moving forward. Very much. Because that has essentially been a throwaway team for a while. I mean, you've gone from –

sitting on finding a spot in the New Year's Six or maybe the playoff to like Cheez-It Bowl for a while, you know, Liberty Bowl for a while. How are they going to – you bring up a good point, Greg. How are they going to be viewed now? I don't know. The 12-team playoff. I don't know. I do know that. They have thrown them out with the rubbish like immediately when they've lost that game. And that might be very different now.

Especially if the better team that we perceive to be in that game loses that game. Now what are you doing? How far up does the underdog who wins that game jump? How far down does the favorite go if they were to drop that game? Things we're going to have to wait and see. We don't really know. But I think it's fascinating to consider because for a while we know what it's been.

I just think looking at the whole dynamic of how many teams are really going to be in the playoff mix, I think strength of schedule. You heard Nick Saban talk about it. You've heard a lot of people talk about it. Strength of schedule is paramount. And I think you're going to be given benefit of the doubt if you played a tough non-conference schedule. That's my own personal opinion. I think the non-conference is going to be held in higher regard than the conference games. If you played a tough non-conference game because of how all these schedules were, you know,

kind of sourced a lot. And it's like, for instance, it's difficult to put together a schedule right now and try to create them equal. They're just not. I mean, with divisions, you at least had a built-in excuse. Hey, this is your geographical location. These are the teams you have to play. You don't have that luxury anymore. These things are just throw a bunch of

And they did a good job, I thought, of making everyone's pretty challenging. Or it's the best they could. Some are more manageable than others. But on paper, a road trip by Ole Miss to Florida in November would be a really, really tough game three years ago when these schedules started to be put together. No doubt. So I think they did a good job. But it's going to be interesting, man.

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27.05. Rhett Lashley has a fascinating idea. We will share that with you, let you hear it next on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jux 94.5 and Jux FM.com. Hurry and... All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, 9.37 a.m.,

Final hour of the show, wrapping it up here. A couple of segments to get to. We've got a lot more to talk about. Wednesday, July 24th on JOX 94.5. We did have some commentary coming in on the Instagram account. It's at Mac and Cube if you want to go be a part of that there. Lee comments, Cole, just FYI, if you missed this earlier, we were talking about just, well, a lot of random store locations, storefronts, gone, not gone, that we want back.

He said there are three Donato's Pizza locations in Alabama, 460 in the United States. A friend of mine owns one in the United States. Dave, you should stop in sometime. I have, Lee. It's been a minute, but I've been there. I have carried pizza out there before. So hang on. How many? Three in Alabama. Three in Alabama. How many in the United States? 460 in the United States. Papa John's is 5,200. Well, nobody was trying to compare the two. Greg, we were just saying that, you know. How many does Shaq own?

A lot. You know, there's 7,000 dominoes. Okay. Hold on a second. You said 52,000 or 5,200? 5,200. Okay. Gotcha. 5,200, 7,000 dominoes is 6,800 pizza huts. How many CCs? Stand by. 11.

They're all right down the road. I know we got one down there. $275. Oh, wow. They must have other all-you-can-eat places in other states. Inflation. How many Pizza Pizza? What's that place called? Little Caesar's. Yeah, how many of those? Stand by.

I don't know the name of it. I will say $7,300. I'm going to say $1,000. There's at least $1,000. Just $1,000? $4,035. Wow. That feels low. Listen, you go $399 for a large. I know. Or buy one, get one free large. You're going to get some folks. You're going to get them. You get some foot traffic. Yeah, but they've been the same since they stopped two pizzas at once, though.

I don't know. Do they cut it in slices yet? I don't know. Okay. Anyone got time for that? All right. A couple folks also chiming in to our what stores would you want back from the mall back in the day. David Garnett just says arcade. Outlaw of college football. Sounds dangerous. Never heard of it. He says barrel of fun arcade. It actually had an entrance shaped like a barrel here in Tuscaloosa at the University Mall. I remember that. Was it good? Was it a good arcade? Yeah.

I don't remember that. I remember it being a barrel. I was like, oh, I got to go play Donkey Kong, and I couldn't. It wasn't there. I was really disappointed. Jolly tweets in a real-deal food court arcade. You can still get the food court now. Go out to Hoover, and they got that. They have Popeyes and Chick-fil-A right there. What else do you need besides boardwalk fries? Maybe cookies. Bryant tweets in Dipper, not diaper, Dipper Dan ice cream shop at Midway Plaza in Opelika. Okay.

That is not a cool mall. I'll tell you. Been in there a lot. Been in there a lot? Yeah. Wow. It wasn't the spot for a lot of things that you needed. Not the spot. Can confirm. Not the spot. Rod tweets in, sports fantasy at the Galleria. Had jerseys, hats, t-shirts, stuff for every pro sports team. Packed with stuff. As a Red Sox fan, I was always able to buy home and always jersey and team jacket. I could live in that place. There we go. I remember that spot. Had some good stuff. Couldn't afford much of it, but it was good. Jonathan tweets, Troy's R Us.

There we go. Toys R Us was fire. Probably top three all times a kid. Yeah, it was the best. When we used to go to Toys R Us once a month, it was like the greatest day ever. There were very few places that you could go and spend hours just looking. Well, yeah, that's the thing. You didn't even have to buy anything. You had a great time. Any place where you can go and not spend a dollar and have a blast, I'm in. Yes, sir. You come across that Cobra Commander figure, you'd be begging. Yeah.

I'm familiar with it. Just an aisle of Ninja Turtles stuff. Yeah, it's incredible. They had things that you didn't think were out, like G.I. Joes or Transformers or whatever. They had Ultimis Prime. Clint Burton tweets in, Mark's imports at Madison Square Mall. Concert shirts and, wait for it, Ninja gear.

Okay. I don't have to wait until Gatlinburg? I do feel like in the Galleria, John, there was some sort of a weapons store that had – it may have been called a cutlery shop, but they had throwing stars and samurai swords. And every now and then you go, oh, they got some nunchucks in there. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was basically a burden of devastation, but I'm not sure how much of it was legal at the time. Yeah.

They'd be like, oh, no, you can't have the five-pronged throwing star. That's illegal. But the three stars for sale in this state, you can have that one. We'll take it. Never got a throwing star to stick in a tree, by the way, when I was a kid. No, no. You tried, though. You put those damn movies on, cha-cha-cha-cha, and then you got there and throw it 52, 700 times into a tree, and it never sticks. Maybe that's on you. Nunchucks up on a Gatlinburg work, though. How many times did you hit yourself in the face? Zero, because I didn't swing it near my face. I just had one and just swung it around. Did you try to go between the legs? Nope.

Because I knew what would happen. Every young kid needs a pair of nunchucks. Do they? No. I'm going to tell you right now. Maybe not a legit pair. Mine do not. I had some. I had the ones just padding around it. I didn't have any, like, wood hardcore ones. Oh, no, I got the real ones. Nothing there in my office, just in case. The regret that I'm having buying my two boys the miniature bats at Rickwood, we have come really close to...

To hit a children's hospital emergency room really quick. Tell you, the children's hospital punch card would be a great idea. We did not need to do that. That was bad. High five. Get the sixth visit free. Seymour tweets in, Hibachi Express in Brookwood Mall. Double meat for $1.00. Yeah, fire. Real fire. Well, there's a Hibachi Express in North Alabama that...

It's located in a prior Wendy's that I'm just going to say you should probably stay away from. There were times that I would go. Japanese and Chinese, according to the read I used to do on the radio. Really? Oh. I mean, do you think about bringing two cultures together like that? That's it. How many people can do that? Way to go. I think I definitely have had. I definitely stopped at Brookwood Mall. I don't think I ever bought anything there, not one thing, except for Hibachi Express or whatever. That place was legit.

You love Chinese food, don't you? I love Chinese food. Panda. You talk about Panda, Panda, Panda all the time. Panda Rich. The song and the food. The opening of that song is pretty legit. You can't deny that. Zaxxas Sam Goodies. Is that the music store?

Yes. What was the one they had in Brooklyn? Turtles? Turtles? Turtles, I think, was Brooklyn, yeah. Did y'all not have Virgin? Palisades had one. Did y'all not have Virgin here? Well, no. Virgin ripped. No, we didn't. That was literally the biggest store ever. I know a few. That and Tower Records. It was the biggest store ever. You could go buy anything. Blockbuster Music was a thing for a minute. Correct, yeah. That was big time. Here? Back when you had to buy the whole cigarette carton for a CD. Yeah.

I did like that you could take the CD, scan it under something. You could listen to it right there. Yeah. They tried that for me. It wasn't as easy as you would think. No, but I like the concept. It was a good try. I'll give them that. It was a good shot at doing that.

All right, when we come back, we're going to go a little bit of a different direction on our bad box score of the day. I do have one for you, but also I came across some Barry Bonds numbers that we have to go through because it is absolutely mind-blowing. You have to wait for all of those, but one thing you never have to wait for, GMAC, is your dental care. It's because Family Canela has you taking care of the urgent care office where you can be seen the same day. We understand that.

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Sharp Remains, I feel like it's still around. It's still there, yeah. It's kind of gone junky, though. Yeah, there's stuff. Is Sharp Remains like a different Brookstone? Yes, yeah, basically, yeah. Brookstone was upscale stuff for a while, and now you go in there and it feels kind of like crap. Yeah, it's like how many different portable Bluetooth speakers do I need? How many mini drones? But this one looks like a rock. You can have it outside. Exactly. How many people with lice have sat in this massage chair today? Not at the Houston one.

I'm just telling you. Your 3D glasses don't work, sir. Yes, correct. I don't care about touching that ball and seeing the electricity go to my fingertips. That doesn't do anything for me. I can do that to McQueen. I don't need to go to Sharper Image for that. That's a fair point.

Alex Sullivan tweets in, me and my family own Donato's in Vestavia. We'd love to feed you guys one day. All right. Well, hell, with all the free pub we've given you today, you should. Back with more next. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Appreciate you guys tuning in. Appreciate all the offers coming in as well. May take you up on those one day. We'll see. I'm so hungry. I've been trying to diet. We've talked about pizza for three quarters of the show. Well, I'm over it. Is that a bad thing? Maybe a few more pizza conversations. Maybe a few more pizza conversations.

You trying to trim up for the football season? I know I'm going to gain in the season, so I got to be trim going in. I got you. It's harder now. All right. Let's get to our bad box score of the day quickly. Offense. He was giving them the business. Potential rounding. Offense number seven. It's a 10-yard penalty. I'm talking to America here. That's the game. All right. So I'll take you to the Elf League. We love it. The Elf.

I'm sure I'm mispronouncing this. How would you pronounce W-R-O-C-L-A-W? Rowclaw? Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, I would go with it. We'll go with it. The Rowclaw... Warriors. Giants. Nope. Nope. Let's say Marauders. Panthers. Old school. They went down to the Stugart. I'm sorry, Stugart. Levitards. No. Well, that's talking at 8 on 5. Be careful what you say. We've done them before.

What? Stugatz? Stugart. Stugatz. They are the tortilla chips. No. Never. The centurions. They're the Serge. Serge what? It's pronounced Serge. Sarge? S-U-R-G-E? Serge. Never mind. Serge, they're named after the gold soda? Yes. 40-0 was your score on this one from last weekend. Okay.

Stu Gart outgained Roe Claw. 394-145 on the game. Solid triple-A. In the passing department, 297-74. Okay. That's closer. He's cooking. Now rushing differential is only 97-71. Your yards per play, 6.2-3.8. Time of possession, which I know a lot of people don't make much of anymore, but when it's 17 minutes and 16 seconds to 42 minutes and 44 seconds, I feel like that deserves to be talked about.

And that's what it was in this game. An air raid with control? Only in Europe, man. A lot of screens. There we go. A lot of screens. Receivers putting in work. I also need to point out the passing performance of one Mike Vitale, not Dick, for the Road Claw Panthers. In the game, he will not be bad about it next week because he went 10 of 21 for 61 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions.

Not a good day. In the game. Not what you're looking for. It's not ideal. Ryan Hennessey, not from Channel 13, went 29-37 on the other side for Stugart. 281 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions. There we go. Also ran for two touchdowns on six carries. Definitely not Ryan Hennessey. No. No. All right, that's your bad box score of the day. Maybe should have saved this for about about it, but I have to share a couple of these with you guys. I found this on Instagram the other day about Barry Bonds.

I've tried to tell people those last three or four years were – for me, it was must-see TV. If you picked any two Hall of Famers in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, any two that you want, and you added their MVPs together, Bonds would still have more. Still? Any two in the Hall of Fame. Any two ever? 53% of the runs driven in by Barry Bonds in 2001 were driven in by Barry Bonds. Okay.

Of all of baseball's runs? No, of his. 53% of his RBI were driven by him, which means a lot of solo home runs. Okay, yeah. Lots. Barry Bonds has more career intentional walks than the entire Miami Marlins franchise. That's insane. Let him play money ball. That makes sense. How do you even put that together? That's insane. From 2001 to 2004, 40% of all Barry Bonds at-bats ended in a walk or a home run.

40% of four years of baseball at bats, a walk or a home run. Not a game, not a week. And it's not like he was taking a lot of nights off. No. He also reached base in 94% of those games played. Four years on base in 94% of your games. That's insane. Only member of the 500-500 club. 500-500. This one right here is, if you turned every home run that Barry Bonds ever hit into and out, his on-base percentage would be 384. Wow.

The same as Alex Rodriguez. Oh, my God. Well, put him in the damn hall, man. Stop playing. He was intentionally walked a Major League Baseball record 120 times in 2004. He had more intentional walks that year than the White Sox, Blue Jays, Royals, and Tigers combined. They had 110. They still had 10 less. 10 less.

And this last one, it's not. This one's like a bit of a stretch. From 2001 to 2005, Bonds hit 214 home runs and grounded into 21 double plays. To put that 10.2 home run to ground into double play ratio in perspective, it would be like Jim Rice hit 1,335 home runs from 1982 to 1985. That's insane. That's unbelievable. So why would this make about it about it? Yeah.

Pretty good player. From 20 years ago. The greatest. The greatest Bouty Bouty. That's what's so disappointing. Like, how is that guy not in the Hall of Fame? I understand he took juice. I get it. And finally, seven-year-olds he turned down for autographs at Rickwood Field won. There's Bouty. There you go. Sorry.

I'd say that's good numbers. True story, though. Real good numbers. Very true story. I watched it. You sink the tape. All right. Appreciate Cale Gundy joining the show today. Ian Fitzsimmons joining the show today. Jeff Schwartz on with us today. All great interviews. Get those podcasts at joxfm.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get yours.

We're back tomorrow talking more media days. Matt Stewart, he was at Sunbelt Media Days. We'll talk Troy South Alabama with him. Mark Packer as well on ACC Media Days. Three-man front is next. This is McElroy and Cubelik in the morning.

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