Transcript 0:02 The numbers told the story. They always do. He's one of those idiots who believe in analytics. This is a numbers game with Gil Alexander on VSiN. 0:10 Hour number two of a numbers game at VSiN, the sports betting network, vsin.com, Game Plus, iHeartRadio, YouTube TV, and of course, SiriusXM channel 158. 0:18 It's Gil Alexander, Wyatt Tomchek in for, uh, the vacationing Kelly Billin. One more hour of vacation for Kelly, and he's, he'll be back tomorrow. Wyatt did a bang-up job, everybody. 0:27 Everybody should give a r- round of applause for Wyatt "Wyland" Tomchek before he leaves here. That's what the kids are calling him these days. Uh, still to come this hour, Adam Burke will join us here momentarily. 0:37 Uh, we get tweets at Beating The Book, Brandon Kyles, "Can I interest you in a little Sanders for Offensive Rookie of the Year?" 0:43 Of the quarterbacks you have at FanDuel, Cam Ward four to one, Shuck 20 to one, Dart 22 to one, then Sanders at 25 to one. We'll get Wes Reynolds' thoughts on that momentarily. Uh, this is from, let's see. 0:56 Oh, this is from, uh, Judd O'Connor, "100 Men versus the Gorilla." The fir- oh, that's the first guy. Better have a heart of a warrior. Donnie Miller also chiming in on that. "So too, though, did three Jack H. 1:07 Three one three one. Gil, what if the gorilla's considered, quote, 'not that special?'" [laughs] That's like the M- the Meryl Hodge comment about, uh, Caleb. 1:15 "Shador having a fraction of Caleb's ability means he should go to play in the CFL." Stringfellow chimed in again. 1:20 He says, "How about 100 Laker Shaqs, 100 Ernie Shavers, or 100 Scandinavian strongmen for a combination, for, or a combination thereof?" Eh, still go with the gorilla. Gorilla's still a, a big favorite. 1:31 Jamie Levi, "I was half expecting to see Kelly recovering on Spor's couch. Have a fantastic day, gentlemen." That is one of his dreams, to be on the Spor's couch, just chilling. 1:39 Kevin Ryan, "Gil, I have never rooted for a kid coming out of the draft to fail. But with the entitlement and arrogance of Shador and simply not an ounce of humility, I hope he is a complete bust. 1:49 I am sure I am not alone with this sentiment." Kevin, you are not alone with this sentiment, but I think there's a lot of people who also feel the opposite as well. So, uh, but you are certainly not alone. 1:58 That's for sure. Uh, a lot of people feel that way. And, uh, Jay Califano, Califano, thanks for this, Jay, at, at Canots. 2:04 He says, "Gil, the reason you didn't see Coach Dable running quarterbacks through that test this year was because that was on last year's Hard Knocks." You're absolutely right. 2:12 And let me just say this, the greatest Hard Knocks of all time were the Cleveland Browns preseason one years ago with Baker Mayfield and Hugh Jackson, and that Giants preseason one with, uh, with Joe Shane just ruining the whole thing with Saquon and Dable taking those quarterbacks through the, through the motions, uh, with his, uh, hypothetical situations. 2:33 It was just awesome. The numbers guys, "Thought I made a pretty slick bet last week when the Shador talk was that he could fall out of the first round. 2:39 I made 19 bets at 150 to one on teams with the longest odds to draft Shador, only to watch Cleveland draft a second quarterback." 2:47 And Matthew Mayberry, "Somehow I had a very profitable weekend, and I had three brutal losses. Clippers money line," ugh. "Pistons money line," ugh. 2:56 "And the Kings last night to top it off, give up a goal with 27 seconds left and lose in overtime." That's brutality times three. 3:03 Uh, and then finally, and I, and I don't want to take more of Wes' segment, but I do have to chime in on this 'cause I, I promised I would, and I realize this is something that, uh, there's only a handful of us in a certain little corner of the nation that are thrilled about this, and it may not apply to everybody, but maybe you can take some, uh, relatability to this. 3:19 Las Vegas 514, "Yo, my fellow skin football team commanders," or as you say, Commodes or Commodores, "we are coming home back to RFK. Let's go." 3:28 Uh, Washington's new ownership group has made a deal with the District of Columbia, a $3 billion deal to bring, uh, the Washington football team, known currently as the Commanders, uh, back to the part of the city that, uh, RFK Stadium existed now. 3:43 RFK Stadium is the stadium that so many of us who grew up in the, uh, District, Maryland, Virginia grew up in. It was just... 3:51 I, I, I've talked about me and my dad being there as, when I was a kid, how much it means to me, uh, how many great moments we spent, or I spent as a child, and so many Washingtonians spent in that stadium through the Joe Gibbs years, winning three Super Bowls, every little thing you can imagine, um, with the stadium shaking all along because it was an old converted baseball stadium for the Senators. 4:15 And so it was just... It wasn't built for football. That was part of its charm. Uh, Joe Theismann's injury, Super Bowls in '82, '87, and '91. Um, Darrell Green sprinting across the field. 4:26 In fact, Darrell Green just did a TikTok or a, or an Instagram video parked outside of a chain link fence outside of current RFK Stadium with the vegetation overgrowing, just, uh, just, oh, getting emotional about all the times, the great moments he spent as a gladiator on that field. 4:42 And now finally, with the new ownership, after the nightmare that was Daniel Snyder, um, the Skins are coming back to where they belong. And I, I just... 4:51 It, it means so much to so many of us, and if you're a, a, a fan of any team in, in your city, and this moment, you can dream of these moments happening to you. It's finally happening for us. 5:01 And, uh, I just want to say this in conclusion also, which is just a stupid thing, which is, you know, there's an overhead shot of, of DC, which is known to every American, which is, you know, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument right behind that. 5:12 I don't know that you can see the Capitol 'cause the monument kind of obstructs it. But in the very, very background, you can see the curved top of RFK. And as a kid, I used to drive my mother crazy and stuff. 5:23 I'd be like, "Look, RFK." And she'd be like, "What are you talking about?" I was like, "Look back there." And she'd be like, "Oh, what is wrong with you?" Um, but that's the kind of joy we took. 5:30 Like here are the monuments of this great nation, but just the fact that that was the place, right? If you, if you look due east in the District of Columbia, that was the place that gave us such joy. 5:40 To think what kind of modern stadium they're gonna put there now, and that image juxtaposed against our great monuments is gonna be one of the most, uh, most interesting, uh, paradoxes that you will see in terms of a visual overhead shot. 5:54 Can't wait for it to happen as, uh, our beloved team comes home. And it will be the first time in history, by the way, that all four major sports franchises are within the confines of the District of Columbia. 6:06 Football, basketball, hockey, after the Bullets, and then the Wizards and the Capitals used to play in Landover. And baseball, which didn't really exist when I was a kid, we had to... 6:15 We were Baltimore Orioles fans, uh, post Senators, pre Nationals, all four now within the confines of the District of Columbia. So congratulations to everybody, uh, in the DMV. Wes Reynolds joins us now. 6:25 He was a guy who went home to, uh, Bloomington this past weekend, so he knows all about, uh, loving things from back home, courtesy of the Progressive Guest Line, part of the glue that holds this whole operation together. 6:35 How you doing, Wes? I'm well, Gil. How are you? Good. I wanna ask you about that question real quick that, that someone just asked on Twitter. 6:42 Um, I believe it was, was it Brandon Lyles was the gentleman's name who just asked that? Sorry if I messed the, uh, the name up, but he asked about Offensive Rookie of the Year. Shedeur at 25 to one. 25 to one. 6:54 Brandon Kyles, pardon me. Uh, any interest in something like that? Was there another name on that list you might take a flyer on? 7:00 Not necessarily for Shedeur, because, uh, look, he's got to battle another rookie apparently for playing time, uh, there in Cleveland, but you never know. He could be starting by week four. It's the Browns- Yeah... 7:10 for God's sake, so. You never know. Uh, uh, Jeanty and Ward, the rightful favorites. The kind of the guy that interests me a little bit down the board is, uh, is McMillan, the receiver from Arizona. 7:20 McMillan and wife, uh, Chris Berman is gonna be dropping that- [laughs]... 7:23 very, very soon as we get into, uh, football season, but, you know, he goes to a team where he's gonna get a chance to catch the football, I think, uh, uh, in, uh, Carolina. You know, looks like Bryce Young 7:36 is, they're gonna stick with him at least for a while, and I thought he showed some development in the second half of the season. 7:42 This is, uh, Dave Canales in his second year as coach at Carolina, who did a great job in Tampa Bay. Now, we found out last year it wasn't all Dave Canales. 7:50 It was some of Baker Mayfield too, as they got back into the playoffs in back to back years. 7:54 But I think McMillan, Carolina needs kind of a big play receiver, and McMillan looks like he fits the bill, so he at about 14 to one would be at least of some interest to me on the offensive side. 8:05 Tedarrell McMillan 14 to one. 8:07 Ashton Jeanty, the short shot in the Offensive Rookie of the Year market here, days after the draft at two to one, followed by Cam Ward at plus 230, and then Travis Hunter, the only other person in single digits at plus 750. 8:19 And remember with all of these, if you can figure out a quarterback's path to this, that's usually the way you should lean first. 8:27 So in other words, if you think there's a path for a guy to start all year, I, you know, for example, Cam Ward in Tennessee, but to also be super successful in that role, a la Jayden Daniels in Washington last year, that's the first instinct you should have in such a market. 8:41 But if you don't see that path, if you don't see both of those things gelling, a guy who's going to get enough playing time and not be successful, let's say, if those two things don't happen together, then you go to, like, the Ted McMillans of the world, and Tedarrell McMillan, what a, what a player he ought to be with the Carolina Panthers. 8:57 Um, to the Zurich Classic for a second here. Did you have any Defensive Player of the Year thoughts about, I mean, Defensive Rookie of the Year thoughts, by the way? I don't wanna skim over that. 9:05 Yeah, I, I, I th- I think it's probably you're looking at chalk there with, with Carter and Hunter being, uh, the, the right two guys. 9:12 I, I think the kid Walker is gonna get a lot of playing time, and he slipped a little bit. 9:16 The, uh, linebacker out of Georgia who people thought might go in the top 10, uh, gets picked 15th, uh, by the Atlanta Falcons, so he stays right there in, in, in Georgia. 9:26 So he could be maybe a dark horse, but, uh, uh, Car- Carter, I think, look, a lot of people thought he was the best overall player in the draft, so you would expect he's gonna be another good edge rusher for the New York Giants. 9:38 They haven't had a lot to really scream about over the last couple years, but they've always had edge rushers. Uh, that Strahan guy was pretty good. Mm-hmm. Justin Tuck was pretty good. Pretty good. 9:47 Kiwanuka was pretty good. Uh, uh, Thibodeaux from, uh, Oregon, very good. So Giants have always had really good edge rushers, and now they got one more here with Carter. 9:55 Yeah, Carter is the short shot for Defensive Rookie of the Year plus 250, followed by Travis Hunter plus 750, and then Mykel Williams, Jaylen Walker, nine to one. 10:03 This, it, it does, you know, obviously you have to bring this up. 10:07 It does bring up the possibility, however remote you think it is, that with Travis Hunter as, what, the second or third shot in both of these markets, this is the first time ever, right? 10:19 Where somebody could conceivably end up being the short shot in both, and who knows the winner of both. I'm just saying. I'm, that's not saying it's likely. 10:27 I'm just saying we have that possibility, and that makes that interesting. Yeah, no question about it. So, uh, looking forward to that. Looking forward to see Hunter be maybe the Ohtani of the National Football League. 10:39 Yeah. Zurich Classic, how'd you do this week? W- Wes, anything? Uh, won on, uh, placement markets. Did not have the winner. 10:45 Had the winner actually in a placement market, but Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin had been both perilously close over the last couple years to get their maiden win. 10:53 Actually, Novak last week had a chance to win it in regulation before he lost that playoff to Justin Thomas, so two guys that get their first win. 11:01 It's always kind of a crap shoot event, but Ben Griffin put that away with a bomb on 17, so they held off, uh, the Hojgard twins, uh, to get their first win last week. 11:11 And now off to the Byron Nelson, where, uh, we got, uh, local Scottie Scheffler at three to one here in the Byron Nelson a couple weeks before the PGA. Yeah, and you will have your plays for it on Long Shots. 11:23 Obviously, Wes, the co-host of Long Shots, the podcast- Yeah... which he does with, uh, Matt Brown and Kelly Bibler. You were saying? Yeah, we'll have a f- we'll have a full card tomorrow. 11:30 CJ Cup, Byron Nelson in Dallas this week. All right, and the PGA is what, two weeks off? Two weeks away? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Two weeks away. Wells Fargo and then PGA. All right, more with Wes on the other side. 11:40 His thoughts on the NBA, what he's betting. That and more, a Numbers Game right here at VSAN, the Sports Betting Network. 11:45 [upbeat music] A Numbers Game on VSAN, the Sports Betting Network. 12:08 Don't forget about the VSAN Pro Summer Special. Get VSAN's exclusive betting splits until August 1st for only $59. $59. Get started now at vsin.com/subscribe. That's vsin.com/subscribe. 12:24 And, uh, once again with this, don't forget, uh, Circa known for taking big bets from pro bettors. DraftKings providing a broader market perspective. 12:30 That means you're getting the real action, not just public money, but the kind of wagers that move lines. Again, the VSAN Summer Special right now for only $59 until August 1st at vsin.com/subscribe. Check it out. 12:43 Uh, we got tweets at, uh, Beating The Book. Always appreciate, uh, everybody chiming in on the show. Uh, y'all are the best. 12:49 Shrek McPhee, "You could give 25% of the 100 men a wooden baseball bat and the gorilla would still win." I'm telling you. And, and there are no weapons allowed in this exercise. [laughs] This exercise. 13:01 Am I going too far calling it an exercise? 13:03 James Sott, um, oh, uh, he brings up the Iberian power grid 'cause apparently, uh, apparently our video cut out, and he's wondering, "Hey, is, uh, Vesan part of the Iberian power grid?" Uh, I had a tennis play today. 13:15 Um, Matteo Berrettini is a plus 140 dog to beat Jack Draper in Madrid. But I don't know if y'all have heard this, but the, uh, the entire Iberian Peninsula, so we're talking Spain and Portugal, the power grid is off. 13:26 So the entire country, like, trains are stopped in the middle of tracks. Apparently, it was, it was Wyatt was in the middle of a Coco golf match. The, the mic cut out. 13:34 There's no power at all in the entire Iberian Peninsula, so there's no tennis right now to speak of. And, uh, was it, uh... I guess we have Jason Stark who's saying, "Get, uh... 13:45 with the Vesan watch app that, that we're not on." So he's like, "Get me back on. [laughs] Get me back on there." We are not part of the Iberian power grid. I'm sorry, but we'll work on that other stuff. 13:52 Uh, DMIL3219, "They didn't get their name back, so we the same old Commodes." Yeah, I think it's gonna be Commanders, man. I think that's the one thing that new owner Josh Harris... Can we still call him new owner? 14:02 Uh, I think he's, I think he's leaning into Commanders, and part of that is, is because they won last year. They got to the NFC Championship as the Commanders. So winning is kind of the, the tonic, right? 14:15 It, uh, uh, it cures all. 14:17 And so, yeah, while they are coming back, by the way, thank you, John Balducci, as the overhead shot of just what I was talking about on the Mall, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Capitol, and there you see RFK in the background. 14:27 As monumental as the Mall, as I like to say. And then Martin Bernstein, "Gil, I had the same feeling when the Jets played in Shea Stadium. Please bring the Jets back to New York City. 14:35 Woody Johnson is now the worst owner in the NFL," he says. Um, okay, more with Wes Reynolds. Wes kind enough to join us courtesy of the Progressive Guest Line, part of the glue that holds this whole operation together. 14:47 Um, Wes, I wanna ask you one more. Part of the beauty of having you on is we don't always talk complete sports, because I have one other question. You tweeted this, uh, I think it was yesterday. 14:56 You'll correct me if it was yesterday or not. You said, "And the, uh," You said, "The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been..." You said, "Not sure if you saw, but the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announcement was tonight. 15:08 I really thought Joy Division/New Order should have been in, and the Hall has been putting others in at least adjacent genres in seemingly most recent years, like Depeche Mode and Duran Duran and The Cure. 15:19 They're highly influential on multiple music genres, but it's held against them not having big US hits." A very strong nuanced take on New Order. Good for you. Yeah. Yeah, I, I had to do that. 15:31 Uh, shout out to our buddy Patrick Everson, who's the, uh, new wave music, uh, connoisseur. Uh, he was saying they should have been in. 15:38 But the seven that did get voted in, Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes. And then Warren Zevon got in for the Musical Influence Award. 15:51 Uh, a lot of people have been wanting Zevon in. And Salt-N-Pepa get in, the first female hip-hop act- There you go... uh, in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 15:58 They, they were not even on the ballot, so they were not voted in, but they were selected. But they were the first of that group to really cross over. I mean, we remember JJ Fad and the Mercedes Ladies- [laughs]... 16:09 and the Sequence, but- How do you know- You know these names, Gil... how do you know JJ Fad? You- Wow. Super- Supersonic, man. Supersonic. Yeah. 16:16 They, they actually, by the way, a story about them, that success of that record paid for Ruthless Records, which was Eazy-E's label. Hmm. His record label. That song, "Supersonic," paid for that. 16:28 But Salt-N-Pepa, the first female group to really kind of cross over into the mainstream, so congratulations to them. Hopefully Spinderella gets her flowers as part of that induction as well. That's right. 16:39 I hope, I hope she's up on stage as well. By the way, JJ Fad couldn't have been nicer. Uh, Juanita was one of the two girls' names. She was, she was awesome. 16:46 Um, but yes, good for Salt-N-Pepa and, uh, good for OutKast, by the way. Shout out to OutKast. They deserve it as well. 16:53 Uh, okay, to the National Basketball Association, um, what is the thing that has flummoxed you the most? What's the team that you've gotten the most incorrect here so far? Probably the Pistons. 17:05 I, I feel like they should be up 3-1, and now they're trying to stave off elimination tomorrow night, and the market's coming in on the Knicks. This is up to about five and a half, pretty much across the board. 17:14 Pistons absolutely blew that game yesterday. Too many turnovers and, and maybe that's gonna happen, and we shouldn't be surprised that that happens with such a young team. 17:22 Uh, and, and they just made a lot of mistakes yesterday and, uh, I think probably got a little three happy and allowed the Knicks to get back in the game, and the Knicks had the guys to make the big shots down the stretch. 17:33 So that's the only result that really kind of surprises me, at least right now. Because you feel like it should be 3-1. 17:41 Like, all the series I think have m- for the most part played out like we thought that they were gonna play out. Like, we thought that the Clippers and the Nuggets were gonna be the most intriguing series. Yep. 17:51 Absolutely. And it's the most likely to go seven. It's two to two right now, game number five. 17:56 So game five, an angle I kind of like to play, I usually like to play those unders in game number five because it is the pivotal game at the risk of being like Magic Johnson, Mr. Obvious tweet. 18:07 "This is a crucial game in this series." [laughs] Like, like, thank, thanks for, thanks for the, uh, cutting edge analysis there, Magic. 18:13 But, but in this regard he'd be right because you would think, okay, it's two to two. You're gonna see this slow down late, so I would lean a little bit to the under at 208 and a half. I have the Clippers for the series. 18:25 But other series bets I've made are playing out well. I fully expect that the Pacers are gonna close out the Bucks. Even if Dame was healthy, I still thought the Pacers were the better team. 18:35 They are a much deeper team, and they've just got... They got these guys getting all upset and Bobby Portis with his antics. They're arguing with the refs and, you know, getting, um, getting very upset. 18:46 And the Pacers I thought were super impressive last night, uh, rebounding from the game three loss. So I think the Pacers are gonna close them out. 18:53 And then, uh, uh, we talked about this last week, I think it was either on this show or on, uh, Follow the Money with Mitch and Paul. Thought the Lakers were looking like they were in trouble- Yeah... 19:01 in this series, and they are in absolute trouble because this is the type of series I really do think they miss AD. 19:07 Because you need a long guy underneath That can stop these athletic wings from, from driving to the basket and can close out on those corner threes, and they just don't have that. 19:18 JJ Redick didn't even play the bench yesterday. He's like, "I, I can't, I can't play these guys. You know, I can't play Rui. I, I don't really wanna play Jackson Hayes, but I have to." 19:27 And you saw Ant-Man just take control once again, Mr. Clutch, in the fourth quarter, and, uh, uh, Lakers may get game five, but I don't think they're coming back in this series. 19:36 Yeah, I said it on Will's, uh, Should've Bet More podcast the other night. I, I really felt like... And it was one to one at the time. I felt like the Lakers were in trouble also. It's just, you can't... It... 19:45 And maybe, look, maybe it's, it's ridiculous of us to even expect it to be this year because they, look, they made the massive, unbelievable, most lopsided trade and the most per- perplexing trade in NBA history to get Luka, and, you know, 19:59 th- they'll be more prepared for that next year. This is kind of like, "Okay, well, rest of the year, what are we gonna do here?" 20:04 And that really successful stretch they had towards the end of the regular season was a lot of opponent field goal percentage luck involved. It's not like the Lakers are great defenders. 20:13 And, and I mentioned to Carl Sack earlier, also the, the recipe of having four guys basically score all your points, that's never gonna get you to the promised land. Never. So. N- no, no, it's not. 20:24 It's sim- a similar thing to Milwaukee too, when they had won, like, nine in a row to end the season. 20:29 They were beating, like, the Pelicans and, and all these teams that were pretty much mailing it in, the Sixers at that point. 20:35 So that was a little bit of a mirage, and I think it's, uh, bearing fruit now as they're down 3-1. Any plays on either of tonight's games? The Cavs trying to close out their series with a sweep. 20:45 Obviously Oklahoma City, um, the only other team to, uh, perfect or to, to close out in a sweep, the number one seed out west. The number one seed in the east trying to do that against the Heat tonight. 20:57 And then you have the Warriors trying to extend their best of seven series against the number two seed Rockets to a 3-1 lead. Jimmy Butler, we presume, you know what they say about assuming, Wes. Yes. 21:10 We think he's playing. Uh, any thoughts on either of these t- two games? Any bets? Yeah, they, they, they need playoff Jimmy, I, I think. 21:17 Uh, this is a series I haven't really bet a lot because I haven't really been sure who was gonna show up, even though I did have the Rockets for game two. But I would look a little bit at Cleveland, Miami over tonight. 21:28 A lot of people in elimination games, they immediately wanna go under. Well, I wanna do that maybe when it's game seven [laughs] and the series obviously would be tied at three to three. 21:36 But I, you know, Miami, this is like, "Okay, we don't wanna get swept," so there could be the fouling at the end. You usually don't get a lot of fouling in the NBA endgame like you do in college basketball. 21:46 But I think you might here if Miami can just keep it within, like, you know, six to eight points, they're gonna be fouling. 21:53 So I would look at the over here with Cleveland and Miami, but Cleveland certainly impressive on Saturday. All right, back to your Pacers just to close it out. How far can they actually get? 22:03 I think they could get to the East Finals. 22:05 I've always kind of thought, you know, maybe their ceiling is just winning a series, but I think there's vulnerabilities with all of these teams, e- even with Cleveland and Boston. 22:14 So I think they could get to the East Finals here. I, I think the Pacers maybe were a little bit discounted coming in. This is a pretty deep roster. 22:21 Rick Carlisle's guys do go 10 deep, and Halliburton is finally healthy now. Yeah. And there's a reason why this team has had the fourth best record in the NBA since January 1st. 22:31 So don't sleep on the blue and gold from the city of Indianapolis. Lost with the, uh, Dame Lillard Achilles injury yesterday. 22:37 There was that one sequence where Halliburton blocked a shot and laughed back up court, dribbling the ball. I was like, oh my God. They are feeling very confident in this series. Thank you, Wes. Appreciate it, man. 22:48 You got it, guys. Thank you. Wes Reynolds, everybody, @wesreynolds1, that's the number one, on Twitter. Adam Burke joining us next. Little MLB and beyond right here on The Numbers Game. 22:57 [upbeat music] A Numbers Game on VSiN, the sports betting network. This summer, go all in at Circa Las Vegas with the ultimate getaway package, just $400 all in. 23:13 You'll get a two-night stay at Circa, a $100 dining credit, a $100 beverage credit, and your very own daybed at Stadium Swim where the party never stops, all for just $400, resort fees and taxes included. How about that? 23:28 This limited time offer is valid for stays between May 26th and September 4th. Don't miss out. Lock in your all-in summer package now at circalasvegas.com. How about that? 23:39 I believe Mel Allen was talking about this when he w- when he had that catchphrase. Uh, we get tweets that beat the book. Always appreciate the, uh, feedback. This is from, uh, [laughs] this is from Rocky B. 23:49 "Magic Johnson catching a random stray from Wes this morning on the show." [laughs] Yes, uh, the, the, the m- most ridiculous Magic Johnson t- tweet of, of recent days. This was right before the NBA playoffs. 24:02 Jeff Parleh sent this to me. "Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers will be discussed when their opponents are determined." [laughs] He felt the need to tweet that. I don't really know why. 24:11 Uh, this is from, let's see, uh, losvegas514, "Yo, is it me or does Wes Reynolds know his R&B and hip-hop history? Amazing. With the JJ Fad reference, you think he could have did a TJ... a DJ stint back in the day?" 24:24 Wes Reynolds could have done anything he wanted to. That man is a pop culture encyclopedia. The fact that he knows who JJ Fad is, is unbelievable to me. And jasonh11 has a different opinion. 24:34 He says, "There's nothing funnier than two old white guys waxing poetic about obscure '90s hip-hop." 24:39 Well, you know, when, uh, Tupac calls you brave, or when Toni Braxton asks you if you're going to the party, eh, maybe you get back to me. But, you know, if the, when those things happen to you. So it's not exactly that. 24:50 Uh, ladies and gentlemen, Adam Burke knows a thing or two about hip-hop. 24:52 He also knows a thing or two about being a diehard Cleveland sports fan, and there's nothing like having a diehard Cleveland sports fan on the radio with you the morning after, if you will. 25:03 It's Adam Burke now, courtesy of the Progressive Guest Line. How you doing, Adam? I'm good, I'm good. I feel like I should just throw out Bone Thugs-N-Harmony just because- [laughs]... 25:12 they're Cleveland based- There you go... just to kind of fit in here on the program. Mike Palm was once on a Numbers Game and threw out a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, uh, reference, and we all lost our minds. 25:20 So yes, we appreciate that. Skating Tripods, by the way, is where you can find Adam on Twitter, plus all of his great work across multiple sports, all of our guides, uh, but all of his work at vsin.com on a daily basis. 25:32 I wanna ask you about the, the Browns, your Browns this weekend. Obviously first team ever, two quarterbacks, two running backs first five rounds. 25:40 But you have a quarterback room, we'll, we'll take Deshaun out of it, 'cause he re-ruptured his Achilles, so he'll probably not be around. But Joe Flacco, right? 25:47 Uh, who they had two years ago and is Comeback Player of the Year, I won't even call it a season, but a five-game run. Uh, they've obviously got Kenny Pickett, who's already declared himself, "I'll be the starter." 25:57 And then they went and drafted, as part of that two quarterback, two running back thing, they drafted Dillon Gabriel, and then in the fifth round they traded up to draft Shedeur sixth in that round. 26:07 What say you about all of this? Um- [laughs] You know, I, I, I can't really say what I told you off air before the start of this segment, but, I mean, this is just mystifying what, what they did here over the weekend. 26:21 And, and the thing that really upsets me is I love their first four picks. 26:26 I, I love that they traded down, didn't take Travis Hunter, because, you know, Travis Hunter may be an elite player, he may truly be a unicorn, but you're wasting his first year as a wide receiver because of what you've got going on at the quarterback position. 26:39 So I'm okay with not doing that. I'm okay with trading down, getting Jacksonville's pick. I really like that, 'cause the Jags probably won't be very good again this upcoming season. So you get Mason Graham, I like it. 26:49 Carson Schwesinger may be a bad sign for Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah's availability going forward. I don't know. They still had needs at the linebacker position anyway. Quinshon Judkins, loved him at Ohio State. 26:59 Little biased, but great running back. And Harold Fannin Jr. is basically a tight end playing wide, or, you know, a wide receiver playing tight end, kind of like David Njoku. Love it. Love their first four picks. 27:10 Then they take Dillon Gabriel, and I'm like, "What, what the hell are we doing here?" [laughs] And then they take Dillon Samson, where, you know, they had already taken Judkins. Jimmy Haslam is a big... 27:21 He's got significant involvement with the University of Tennessee. I don't know if that's why they took Samson or not. Good player, doesn't really seem to fit here. And then Shedeur, I... 27:31 Jimmy Haslam probably stepped in with that one too, so- Yeah... I don't know. I mean, I, I think Kenny Pickett winds up starting week one. 27:37 I think it's reasonable that he's the favorite out there in the markets that have that prop up. Um, Flacco's probably your backup, but it's just so on brand for the Browns to start out pretty impressively. 27:49 You like what they're doing, and then you see the dysfunction that has made this organization inept for the last 30 plus years. We should have, I wish we had had... 27:58 There's no way to have anticipated the Browns taking Shedeur [laughs], but I wish we would've had, in retrospect, the Adam Burke cam. 28:04 You know how they had the Jets fans through the years, where every, every pick they make and then just losing their minds. You, when they picked Dillon Gabriel [laughs] and then Shedeur, would've been so funny to watch. 28:14 Well, so I, I was out in the arts district with our old pal John Goulet. Yes. And, um, we, we were a couple beverages in, but we, we both looked at each other with the Gabriel pick and we were like, "Huh?" 28:26 [laughs] Like, I mean, the guy's probably not even a backup quarterback in the NFL. Like, I have no idea where that pick came from. 28:34 And then to get Shedeur in the fifth round, trade up for him, like, you wasted a third round pick when you have big time needs at wide receiver and offensive tackle. And look, I mean, this is a team that I don't think... 28:45 I think their valuation of wide receivers is very different, right? They brought in Jerry Jeudy, Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, all via trade, all trading draft picks or swapping picks, stuff like that. 28:55 I don't think that they were ever fully believing that they were gonna take Travis Hunter that early if they view him as a wide receiver, 'cause they just don't value wide receivers that way. 29:03 So I, I get them not taking one early, but not taking one at all is just mind boggling. Yeah, I agree with you about the Travis Hunter trade. I think the Browns fleeced them. 29:12 Obviously Travis Hunter could prove me terribly wrong in the years to come, but I think the Browns, any, anytime you give away a first round pick for someone who is trying to play both sides, you never know if he's gonna be great at either, I mean, I think that's a great move. 29:24 I, I will say this and, and we'll, we, we move on to your baseball plays. 29:27 But there really is, I mean, I started by saying this, your Jimmy Haslam point is interesting too, 'cause who knows, maybe there was some owner intervention there. Um, but there is a scenario, right? 29:36 Like, it is not outlandish to think that Shedeur actually gets some real live playing time this year, right? 29:41 He kind of ended up on a, for him, from his perspective, in the end, with all of that drama, he kinda ended up in a good place for him, didn't he? Oh, yeah, absolutely. 29:51 And, and not only that, I mean, Kevin Stefanski is a really good head coach/offensive mind who's done a pretty good job working with quarterbacks in the past. 29:58 So, I mean, it's, it's a pretty good spot for Shedeur to land. I mean, and again, it's, it's not like anyone who's currently, you know, the... 30:05 It's not like the two guys in the quarterback room in Pickett and Flacco are long-term guys. I mean, they're stopgaps. And the question is going to be, what does the evaluation process look like for Shedeur? 30:16 And again, I'm throwing Gabriel out, 'cause, uh, he may not even make it through the, the pre-season and training camp on this roster. Maybe he goes to the practice squad, I don't know. 30:23 But, like, now you've c- you've painted yourself into a corner, right? At some point, do you have to play Shedeur and figure out if he's a guy? 30:32 [laughs] I know you only used a fifth round pick on him, but, like, if your plan was to use one of potentially two top 10 picks next year on a quarterback, like, what, is Shedeur just your backup? 30:42 'Cause that's gonna work out really well. I, it's, it's just, it's mind-boggling, man. This, this franchise, I... 30:50 Honestly, like, if Haslam is intervening again, and, like, you had all the Watson stuff already, Art Modell moved the team, and may not be the worst owner in franchise history. [laughs] Uh, that, that's true. 31:02 For a, for a, a recent history that includes, sure, Kareem Hunt, we'll take you. Sure, Deshaun, uh, Watson. What could go wrong? And, and now Shedeur. We'll see. 31:12 Obviously, those three things are all different, but they, the, the Browns are not shy about taking on a controversy. Uh, let's put it that way. Obviously, uh, one of those they couldn't have anticipated. 31:20 Okay, uh, to baseball. Major league baseball. By the way, congratulations Guardians, off to a nice start. Three games above 500. You and I are oppo on that season long. I have the under, you have the over. 31:31 So far so good for you. Um, I'm curious how you feel about them generally speaking, and what did you play today in baseball? 31:38 Well, I mean, they're, they're in trouble right now because, you know, they're beating kind of the, the lesser teams. I know they took a series against the Yankees, but yeah, that was a little bit fluky. 31:47 And then, you know, they, they wind up losing two or three to the Red Sox there. 31:50 Um, they're, they're gonna probably end up beating teams in the central division at least, the, the bottom feeders, like the Twins, like the White Sox and, and they'll play well against teams comparable. 31:58 They'll struggle with teams better than them, and it's just the way that it's gonna be. But Ben Lively is not a major league pitcher. Um, Gavin Williams is all over the place. 32:06 Tanner Bibee does not look good here so far this season for the most part. They have major problems in the starting rotation, and I mean, they knew that coming into the season, and they opted not to do anything about it. 32:16 At least Shane Bieber is gonna be throwing here in the month of May, uh, out there at the complex league in Arizona, so maybe he'll be back by the All-Star break, something like that. 32:25 Uh, but they gotta figure some things out, man. I mean, they can't ride the bullpen the way that they did last year, and the bottom half of this offense is a joke. 32:31 So, you know, I mean, I, I, I'm happy with where they are here so far, but you see on a nightly basis their margin for error is so thin. 32:40 If they give up extra outs, if they make outs on the base paths, they're probably losing the game because they just can't overcome stuff like that. 32:47 They gotta play really, really clean, and that's hard to do over 162 games. You play anything yet today, or you looking to play something? Yeah, there's a few things I'm looking at here. 32:56 Um, look, I'm gonna take the Cardinals today, uh, over the Reds. I mean, this is just kind of... 33:01 Y- you don't get a whole lot of situational spots in Major League baseball, but the Reds coming off of a three city nine-game road trip that finished in Denver. They got home at, like, 11:00 o'clock last night. 33:11 You gotta say hi to your family, kiss the kids, all that kind of thing, and then try to play baseball the next day. 33:16 And Nick Martinez is a guy, he's a, you know, kind of a, kind of a kitchen sink type of guy, but loves to throw changeups. The Cardinals are the best offense in baseball against changeups here so far this season. 33:25 Top five against four seam fastballs. Not a big Andre Pallant guy, but I think it's a good situational spot to take the Cardinals here. Okay. Uh, Adam, always a pleasure, man. We'll see how it plays out with your Browns. 33:38 I, uh- Thanks, man... I, I wish you f- I wish the best for you. Adam Burke. I, I appreciate that. Have a good one. You too. Long suffering, uh, Cleveland Browns fan. Always a pleasure to have him on the show. 33:47 We'll come back, we'll recap, uh, the bets that we've made on the show today, guests and otherwise. Coming back on The Numbers Game at VSiN, the sports betting network. 33:55 [upbeat music] A Numbers Game on VSiN, the sports betting network. 34:10 Let us recap all the best bets today on the program. Let's go Alexander, by the way. Look, everybody, it's Wyatt Tomchek back in his seat for the final time here, uh, with Kelly on vacation. What up? 34:19 What do you have to say for yourself? This has been the longest stretch of shows that I've done in a row with you. Usually Kelly takes- Seven in a row... seven in a row. 34:26 Now what, what is the, uh, prerequisite to become producer or whatever? An excellent question. Three months. Three months? Three months you are one of the numbers. And it's not accumulated, right? 34:35 You don't let me, uh, accumulate time? No, you have to do them consecutively. 'Cause I, I definitely have accum- If, if Kelly was gone for three months and then came back, you would be known as producer nine and a half. 34:45 That would be... Kelly would have the greatest vacation of all time- If he had... if he went three months. I don't know. Kid goes to Turks and Caicos whenever he wants to, middle of the NBA playoffs. 34:52 Isn't this his sport? 10 and five in the VSiN bracket challenge. Not bracket challenge, pardon me, the VSiN, uh, Killer Sports NBA Playoff Challenge. What did you... 34:59 You were, you said you're about, what, eight and eight? Eight and eight. I've had three Plinkos go against me. I had the, uh, the Pistons, which could've been a push yesterday. Mm-hmm. I had the, uh... 35:09 Was it the Nuggets in game one when Norm Powell hit that th- that meaningless three with one second left to ruin that one. 35:15 And what was the third one that I, that I had also, which was a, a terrible outco- oh, it was, you know, I had the Warriors, um, over in the game where they ran out the clock for the last 45 seconds, both teams, so no one took a shot. 35:27 So I mean, again, it's basketball, right? So Plinko happens, I'm not complaining, but you hope to get some of the Plinkos go your way, and I just haven't. So eight and eight, just flipping coins. Eight and eight. 35:37 Um, but you gotta, you gotta stay within contact because the second round of this and the, and the, uh, then the conference finals and the finals, we don't add points to the value of the games. 35:49 They all still count just as one point. So like Doug Kazarian's 14 and three. If he's 17 and three and I'm 10 and 10, just to use me and him, uh, the chances of me catching him are slim, right? 36:01 So you gotta, you just gotta- 'Cause that, 'cause, yeah, 'cause towards the end you al- you guys are both picking the same game, and there's a high chance you're picking the same play. 36:08 Oh, if you, if you're not within, I don't know, I'm just using him as an example, but let's say Kazarian and Fezzik and, and Kelly, who are one, two, three. 36:14 Even if Fezzik or Kelly are, you know, whoever's two or three back, uh, not so much in, in the second round, but if you go into the conference finals and you're two or three back, you got, like, you gotta really start to employ some game theory at that point. 36:28 Now, correct me if I'm wrong, uh, I haven't noticed it, can you do player props in this? No, no, no. No? It's just, it's just sides, full game sides, full game totals. That's what... Okay. Okay. Go on, Wyatt Tomchek. 36:38 Um- Been a lot going on this week. A lot going on, I understand. Here are your, uh, VSiN best bets of the day, by the way, courtesy of G Bank, the official bank of VSiN. 36:46 Actually, the Numbers Game Best Bets of the Day, courtesy of G Bank. Uh, I'm on Matteo Berrettini plus 149 over Jack Draper in Madrid on clay. 36:53 But again, uh, they had a power grid complete power outage on the entire Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal. So they're not playing tennis. 37:05 They're not doing nothing In, in either of those two countries for what is supposed to last, like 10 hours you said, maybe? Something like that, that, that was the fear. This is, I mean, think about it. 37:14 This, if this happened in like, you know, a major, uh, grid in our country, we'd lose our minds, right? Could you imagine if that happened in Vegas during the summertime? Oh. Oh [laughs]. Don't even- [laughs] 37:25 Gill is on the next flight to San Francisco. Flight? There won't be, we'll, we'll have flights? We'll be able to fly out if that, that happens? I don't know that we will. Actually, we probably in the car. Driving. 37:33 Uh, okay. There's, so mine is Matteo Berrettini, but it's not today anymore. Plus 149 over Jack Draper. Jake Hohn with his NHL plays today. He's got an over two and a half shots on goal prop, uh, in game one tonight. 37:46 Uh, game one tonight is the Lightning-Panthers series. Again, Lightning down two to one. That's the series where nobody's won on their home ice. 37:54 Jake Guentzel, uh, over two and a half shots on goal, and then he is on the under in the Stars-Avalanche game, the first of the game fives. So the, uh, the Lightning game is the last of the game fours tonight. 38:04 The only other game is the Stars-Avalanche. That's the first game five. That series knotted up at two games a piece. He's on the under six and a half goals in that game back in Dallas tonight. 38:13 Uh, then we had, uh, Carl Sack on. Only two NBA games tonight. Cavaliers try to close out the Heat. He's on the Heat team total under 101 and a half. So it feels like Carl thinks that it will be a sweep tonight. 38:26 Heat to- team total under 101 and a half. He is waiting to find out about Jimmy Butler's status for any plays on the Warriors-Rockets game four. Uh, Wes Reynolds. No, we didn't, Wes Reynolds didn't have a play, did he? 38:38 Adam Burke did. He, yeah, Wes, Wes was just kind of saying l- like he was interested in some. He never really gave- Interested, but he didn't, didn't commit. Adam Burke did, though. 38:44 Cardinals, uh, plus 104 in baseball today. He is on the St. 38:49 Louis Cardinals, largely because they are the best offense in baseball against changeups, which is the, uh, the big profile of their opposing pitcher here tonight. 38:57 All of that, uh, G Bank, courtesy of G Bank, the official bank of VSiN. 39:01 Once again, uh, every show, every host, every guest, every sport recapped at the end, uh, courtesy of G Bank, the official bank, upping the ante once again, as they do every day, uh, on the show, with, uh, s- up to a $750 bonus. 39:15 That's up to a $750 bonus for new G Bank Visa Signature Card customers. First new customers who spend $1,000 on eligible purchases within 90 days from account opening receive a $250 bonus. 39:26 In addition, if you spend $50,000 on gaming and sports app loads within the 30 days of account opening, you'll receive another $500 bonus. That's potentially a $750 bonus. Apply now at vsin.com/gbank. 39:38 That's vsin.com/gbank. Subject to credit approval. Terms and conditions apply. Uh, we updated the March, April stats, uh, for the teams in Major League Baseball, uh, April as well. 39:49 Uh, the Mets might gak both of them here in the closing three days. We shall see. Did you, speaking of the Mets, did you see how they lost yesterday? Oh, yeah. Oh, Pete Alonso with a great throw. 39:58 Wait, did you see how the Giants won yesterday? Oh my God, that was awful. I, I have Luke Jackson on my fantasy team, but thankfully he was on the bench. 40:06 I would've been just so sick to lose out on a fantasy matchup because of a- All, all you did, if you just looked at the play-by-play, all you saw was, "Eliot Ramos singles to shallow, to shallow, uh, whatever. Ballgame." 40:18 And you're like, "What?" If you just read the play-by-play. So Eliot Ramos, uh, it was a, they overthrew first base. They, they tried to make a, he, it wasn't really a sh- even shallow anything. 40:28 It was like they made, they tried to throw him out at first, threw it away, threw it into right field. He goes to, he goes around second base. He's going to third. He kind of hesitated the whole- He hesitated. Yeah. 40:39 They throw it past third base. He scores. Giants win. Giants magic. Um, it was like the Bad News Bears in breaking training against the Rangers yesterday. 40:48 That was like when you're a kid, you, you, you say you got a home run. "How'd you get the home run?" "Well, they threw it away like five times." [laughs] Five times. [laughs] It was- Stat sheet, Mom. 40:55 This was- That one is a home run, right? And Duane Kuiper lost his mind on the Giants broadcast, which was- That was, have you ever seen, oh gosh, it was like maybe 20 years ago. I'll have to show you the clip. 41:04 Uh, I can't remember who the player was, but it, it was, who's the other announcer for, uh, the Giants? He also did ESPN. John Miller. 41:11 He, he gave the great quote of, "And that was the worst base running in the history of the game." Oh, that was Rubén Rivera. Yes. 41:17 [laughs] Rubén Rivera when he played for the Giants, "And that was the worst base running in the history," was the opposite of what happened yesterday to the Giants. 41:24 It was the Giants base running that, that caused them, uh, just a horrible blooper for all time. If you ever wanted to Google, uh, YouTube that, Rubén Rivera, Giants, John Miller. It'd be fabulous. 41:34 Uh, the, we only got a couple more tweets here, uh, that I want to address here. Cspackler, "Ooh, a DJ Slam. Coolness meter checking." John Balduzzi, "Wait, you met Tupac? You gotta tell this story." 41:44 Nemesis Enforcer, "Bruh, do tell the Pac story. Love to hear your thoughts on where he would be now, first impressions." Yeah, you know, uh, guys, uh, this, this comes up because, uh, who was it? 41:54 Was it JasonH11 who was, uh, making fun of me and Wes for talking about this, and I quipped back. I'm like, "Well, you know, when, uh, when this stuff happens to you, get back to me." 42:03 I sit around here wide, and I don't necessarily, uh, bring up things from yesteryear because, you know, and, you know, just not something I, I do. But, you know, if you make me, I will. 42:13 And, uh, you know, Tupac called me brave because it was the, uh, Howard University Hip Hop Conference in 1990, and I was going around with Chubb Rock, who was a one hit wonder back there. 42:22 And, uh, Tupac, just because of my mere presence, and I believe in it, from his perspective, lack of melanin, he thought I was brave for being there. 42:29 I didn't really see it that way, but that was his, uh, that was his comment to me. So we had a very brief exchange, and that was the end of that. [laughs] You know, that- Yeah. 42:35 In all the years I've known you, I've never heard that story before. Yeah. Now was this... No, obv- this is before I was born. What level was Tupac in the star world? Oh, he was, he was pretty massive back then. Okay. 42:43 Yeah. Um, what do I think he would've been today? I don't know. I really don't know. 42:47 He would've been, uh, you know, you think about what would, uh, if Public Enemy had disappeared at its height, what would they have been? 42:53 We would've had a different opinion then as to what, you know, do, do, uh, I think it's the greatest group of all time, hip hop group of all time. Do, does, but do most people think that now in retrospect? 43:02 I don't know that they do. So y- there's never a way to know that. But, so there were all kinds of stories like that back in the day. And, um, uh, yeah, that's your, that's your whole story. It wasn't much of a story. 43:10 It was just a brief one. Who, who was the other one that you mentioned? Uh- Oh, Toni Braxton asked me if I was going to this party. [laughs] I was like, "Sure am, Toni. Um, are you going?" 43:19 And so there was, anyway, there was, there's, there's 100,000 of those stories. 43:23 But I never bring them up here 'cause y- y'all think I'm just some mild-mannered, metrics-loving, sabermetrics-loving baseball handicapper or tennis or something. 43:28 I will, I will say, you know how we were talking about my, my love for wrestling, one thing with Gill, if it's not sports, Gill is very passionate about music. That's correct. That's correct. 43:37 There's something, there's some things I don't know about, and he gets very offended if I don't know them. Wyatt Tomchek, everybody, uh, seven days filling in for Kelly. Thank you, sir. You were awesome. Thank you. 43:46 Appreciate it. It was a lot of fun. WrestleMania 41, I hope you've recovered. Yes. Uh, I can't wait for next year. All right. Good. I'm glad. We, we enjoyed having you. 43:53 Everybody enjoys having you, and, and we're all looking forward, obviously, as you are as well, for Kelly to come back tomorrow and, uh, hear all about his Turks and Caicos trip. But thank you, sir. 44:00 Yeah, we, we told, uh, I texted Kelly. It's like, "Hey, we got Daniel Jeremiah. We might get Barack Obama on the show," so. [laughs] You got their numbers, right? Just so. [laughs] Yeah. 44:07 You got that hooked up, Kelly, don't you? 44:08 Uh, coming up, uh, it is not only your standard garden variety Money Moves, but Stormy welcomes in her, uh, her new co-host in perpetuity here, her new, brand new co-host, which we've already announced, right? 44:20 I'm not, it's not a secret? Yeah, it's been announced. I can announce it again? Yes. Yeah. 44:23 Jonathan Von Tobel alongside the great Stormy Bonatony here momentarily on Money Moves, followed by Prop Points, of course, and Make It Rain, the standard VSiN schedule. Enjoy. From VSiN, the sports betting network. 44:36 [upbeat music]
