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The State News sports reporters discuss all MSU sports.
(Anthony) Man, I wish I heard the behind the scenes of what we was just talking about, but we got to make sure we repeat it all on a mic. Welcome everybody to the sports roundtable with a new cast here. All of us are going to be new here from this opportunity and hosting sports roundtable. And I'm gonna introduce myself first. My name is Anthony Brinson, the third, I am the podcast Coordinator here at the State News. And you guys are probably familiar with me, I've been a host of all shades of chocolate, the new all black podcast from the state news. I've made appearances on Houselights. And you hear my name here and there. I've wrote an article here at the State news before and then I've been doing my second semester as the podcast coordinator. And it was weird when I got the opportunity to host sports roundtable because it wasn't even on my radar. Like I had listened to the sports roundtable, obviously, because I edited it and also just being a big sports fan. And our new editor in chief Morgan had messaged me and said, we actually were on the phone, actually. And she called me and said, Hey, so what I want to bring you back as podcast coordinator, and I was like, thank you for that, because I had only had the experience for a couple of months when I got hired to begin to this year. And then she said, Hey, also, would you be interested in hosting sports roundtable? Or the way she presented to me? She said, be a part of like, Would you be interested being a part of sports roundtable, I ended up finding out days later, she would want me to be like one of the main hosts. And I'm like, okay, definitely excited for the opportunity. Just the only concern I had was that I didn't I'm not that knowledgeable at college sports or like MSU sports. So I didn't want to be like a liability. But she told me like, more. So the reason why she got the idea was just from seeing my Twitter platform and be just being like, everywhere, because even though I do have the state news tab, and like I am like pockets coordinated to state news, I tried to be in different avenues just connect with different people online and have like, just different people to interact with. And she saw she said she saw me under some sports posts, and I wonder what posts he saw me under. But she said that I would bring a certain energy to sports roundtable that was needed. And I feel like I appreciated that and I took that opportunity headfirst and made sure I was here. But I knew it wouldn't be right if I did it by myself. So I'm gonna let my other two co hosts introduce themselves. I'll let probably Deshawn first just because I'll let him talk about how his perspective was when I proposed the idea to him and then we'll go to Thomas and it off from there.
(DeShawn) Yeah, so I mean, yeah, my name is Sean Johnson. I'm a senior here. My main focus is in journalism with a double minor in broadcast and sports journalism. Sports is kind of the the market that I want to get into. When Anthony first approached me about doing this podcast. You know, I've known Anthony since I switched into journalism here at MSU, my sophomore year. And you know, we've had a couple of classes together connected over many different things. And one thing that we always kind of do is debate different sports topics. And it's a range of things from obviously some MSU sports that go on here. But we talk a lot about professional sports, the NBA, the NFL MMA fight. So when he first approached me to do this, I mean, like I was super excited I am I do different things for MSU Sports Media, I'm a part of the Spartan sport, sport, and a couple other different media things like big 10 you so I'm definitely like, I'm locked in as far as MSU sports go. And then I'm just a big sports fan in general, I was a three sport, three sport athlete in high school. And so I've never been able to let the game go. Football, basketball, baseball, I mean, I watch them all. So I think that I'll be able to add a couple of different angles as far as college sports go MSU sports and professional sports.
(Anthony) And that's the main reason why I thought of you instantly when we were talking about me and Morgan talking about the direction of sports roundtable because one I didn't even know you worked here at first and I saw your name under like the new hires. I'm like, Oh, the state news. But to get a huge person in this newsroom. Like just from the work you do, just in general, it inspired me and always felt proud to have like a friend like that who did so much and is also like upperclassmen from me being a junior you being a senior now. And just knowing the knowledge you have it felt perfect to have you on the show. And then we're talking to Morgan as well. She's the one who recommended you Thomas to be on the show. She was telling me like, hey, Thomas is really passionate about this, and he wouldn't want the opportunity. And once I talked to Deshawn I message you like I feel like us three we have a good connection. And once you mentioned your name, I end on Messenger on Slack. I'm like, This guy be perfect. So just from your perspective, talk about just want to do the opportunity. I love sports and anything about that.
(Thomas) Yeah, I mean, I'll keep it short and sweet because got a lot to talk about today. But I'm Thomas Cobb, sophomore at Michigan State University reporter for the state news covering all things sports and breaking news. It's my second year the state news was lucky enough to get on boarded as a freshman last year I focused on a lot of just regional things, whether it was you know, city council, labor unions, just a lot of things that were going on in East Lansing and this year, and lucky enough to get assigned to the sports desk and Get cracking on that. I was less of a less of an athlete in high school. played basketball, baseball, football. You know, they didn't exactly pan out in high school, so switched to sports writing. And here we aren't was the editor of our high school sports section. And funnily enough, we did a podcast called The Breslin bros. Real Robert all things Michigan State basketball. So, you know, everyone's got a podcast nowadays. Let's try it. Yeah, just was super stoked to get that text from you, Anthony, and, you know, really grateful for this opportunity.
(Anthony) I really appreciate y'all taking the opportunity. Because obviously, y'all aren't just host here at the State News. I have other responsibilities and then just as students in general. So I really appreciate both of you for being here. And I will tell me a little bit more about the president bros. I didn't even know that.
(Thomas) So yeah, me, my friend who was actually my co Editor in Chief, Tate was about as big of a Michigan State basketball fan as I was. And you know, we had the we had the materials, the resources to do podcasts out of my high school, you know, we had like a little podcast room. The sports report didn't really utilize it as much as we should have. But that was one of the things that we did do. My buddy Tate and I Roseland bros just kind of talked about all things Michigan State basketball, it was a little bit awkward, because it was during COVID season on top of not being a very good one for Michigan State was all around a really weird lot of cancel the game. So I think we're gonna have some pretty good structure in this, which is something that the Brisbane bros lacked.
(Anthony) And DeShawn know, we've talked off camera about the sports you played as well. I just wanted to ask what was your favorite sport when you played in high school.
(DeShawn) So I didn't start football into high school. I played basketball for a long time. So all the way up until that point, basketball is my favorite sport, but it still is watching. As far as playing though. I don't think there's another type of feeling than football, the intensity that comes with it, the focus that you have to have and then everything that happens under the lights. It was definitely my favorite sport to play, but you play I was a corner and I was a third string quarterback. I'm a lefty. So I played baseball my entire life baseball is my longtime sport. So um, I was third string quarterback. I've never actually panned out in the games, but in 717 I could throw a ball emergency quarterback. Yeah, no, yeah, but yeah, mostly played corner. It was definitely one of the greatest experiences I've ever had as far as high school sports.
(Thomas) So is it true what they say? corners have a harder position on the field. Oh, man.
(DeShawn) So I'm totally rockin with Richard Sherman on this one man like you know I played slot receiver for a couple games my junior year and I mean like I love playing receiver you know it's it's it's it's obviously a different feeling there too. But dude, you got to cover people running as fast as they can while you're going backwards. Alright, it's different. It's totally different. Yeah, you playing corner is extremely difficult.
(Anthony) So mentioned that we can go a little bit off track here. I know what we'll tackle MSU football to our win eventually. But you mentioned the Richard Sherman take and we were talking about one of the things we wanted to talk about in this episode was just Shannon Sharpe, great analyst one of the analysts I looked up to and he's a great entertainer as well and unfortunate to see the legacy of him and Skip Bayless be torn apart but with every closed door there's a new open chapter and a new open door. So now we have Shannon and Steven a duo I'd never thought would be together and then on undisputed this Skip Bayless, Richard Sherman, Michael Irvin, and then how do you say the last guy named John Keyshawn? Johnson Yeah, made sure I didn't want to butcher how we feel about that just both shows the general with the chemistry of Steven A and Shannon and then with undisputed are some clips going around like skip could really couldn't get a word in and just how we feel and just overall in general.
(DeShawn) So I mean, undisputed. It was kind of one of the first major like sports shows that got me into like actually trying to do broadcast journalism, it wouldn't mix with sports journalism. I'd watched so many different shows, but like there was something about the debate aspect of undisputed that I had always loved about it. Like I mean, like the intensity that they had. So I mean, undisputed Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless are kind of all like icons to me as far as something that I wanted to do in sports journalism. And you know, it was super unfortunate watching the last couple of things that happened on undisputed or whatever, but I mean, I think that new chapters have to come so I'm happy for both shows. As far as Steven and Shannon goes, I never thought I would see that combo I totally agree with you. And I mean, I love it. You know like Steven A always has some hot takes a I will always say that great. I will always say they're not great, but they're hot takes and I think Shannon gives a great aspect of the game not just for football, I think that he does his he studies hard when it comes to other sports as well. So I think that's going to be exciting. And as far as undisputed goes, I mean, they got a lot of different personalities on there. I've watched the first couple episodes it's been I've been enjoying it but I do think skip hasn't got as much as he used to get but I mean things change. So
(Thomas) I was actually really excited for skip and Richard sermon because if you remember back, I think it was like right in sermons prime of his career, he was in the middle of, you know, talking all that trash to everybody he lined up across from and he went on on his feet and I think he was just ripping, ripping skip apart and something that intrigued me was that they ended up bringing him back to be the host. Yeah, so I really liked that dude. up. I'm actually not a huge fan of Stephen A and Shannon Sharpe snugly. I think it's a great deal overall. But I think that they're too much of the same person. And that's why that's why I really liked, for example, like skip and Shannon, you know, you have Shannon who's always on the attack, it feels like and then skip is defending, but he's very snarky. He's very passive aggressive, and that's sort of how he makes his point. And then similarly with Steven A, and like Max Kellerman, and Skip Bayless back when they used to do it together. You know, those personalities were great together, because ultimately, it's a show about confrontation about debate. Yes. And so when you bring in Shannon and Stephenie on the same duo, like the head boning each other, you know, I feel like it's a little bit too, buddy, buddy. I feel like you know, they have their on camera beef. And then once the cameras turned off, they just kind of go back to being buddies. I didn't get that sense with skip and Steven a skip and Shannon, like I genuinely I genuinely felt that there was hostility. You know, granted, the fact that they were so successful. Yeah,
(Anthony) I do agree with the points you may have. I feel like those points as to why are why I love it. So with skipping Stan and I really loved it as well. But as it got closer to the end, you could feel it was more animosity, and it was just healthy debate. And it came off as though it wasn't enjoyable for them anymore. And it sucked because they if I'm not mistaken, they had a relationship outside of undisputed as well. And with Steven A. I wasn't I wasn't he was not a huge fan at all of them dropping Max Kellerman from first take. And I felt like ever since that happened first tape was kind of on the download, and it didn't really hit the same anymore. So I feel like brainy and Shana sharp, even though they're both really similar. I feel like Stephen A plays the antagonists role very well like pushing those buttons and getting the reactions out of Shannon. So I feel like they have enough in common for them to have chemistry, but they have enough of a different personality to make entertainment because at the end of the day, I would want them to be knowledgeable of sports, but it's entertainment, at least from my perspective. So I feel like if they ever bring Shannon on Premier League, I don't know. It's like only like once or twice a week at the moment, and it's only on Tuesdays. Yeah. So once they make it a permanent thing if they make it a permanent thing. I feel like it'll take first taking a good direction. And we'll just have to see from there because Stephen A has had the ability to be very versatile with partners. I mean, Skip Bayless Max Kellerman. Shana sharp, Michael remains to be on there and fortnight is on undisputed so it really, it shows that he's wanting to give the opportunities to anyone just like he said, he's always mentioned skip as good opportunity to him. So I'm excited for it. And I like the pairing because right now and I saw some clips where Shannon kept calling and Steven a skip and then it just I was like, dang. Like, like, I can understand that.
(Thomas) I just feel like it was a it was a hire mostly just for the fans like for the approval rating.
(Anthony) Yeah. I can also group
(DeShawn) Yeah, I would agree. Because I mean, like going off what you said, Tom, like, I mean, the different personalities on debate shows, it's a huge part of it. And I would say that Steven and Shannon are a little bit similar, like as far as like, the way they do their tics and everything. And that was one thing that I loved arguing with and too, like, I thought that the debate, like animosity that was there started to become much more than that was needed. But I mean, like, you know, I don't want to like put too much blame on neither one of them. I think they've been together for 767 years at that point. So it's a long time to be doing a show with just one person. So I mean, new chapters, like I said, it's probably time
(Thomas) and people have, you know, come out and said that, hey, Skip Bayless, like he's kind of a loner, like, he's, he's not exactly the outgoing guy that Stephen A Smith is. And I got the sense that, you know, as Shannon became more on the attack year by year, skip didn't rise to that he kind of shrunk to it. And it got to the point where, you know, it just wasn't there was wasn't enough chemistry because they were so disconnected from each other.
(Anthony) that's one way to look at it. And I know you mentioned like, just now with skip, being more of a loner, and he I met just some it was one of his solo podcast or episodes, things he doing, he was telling the story of him his wife, he met his wife, and I don't know if you guys familiar with the story where he said, he told her like, the first day like, my career is going to come first, regardless, like over you, or kids or anything. And that blew my mind. Because I've always been very family oriented. Like I want kids when I get older, I specifically a daughter, just having that relationship of a male and a young girl raised her for like, it'll keep that part of like that kindness and a man I feel like you know, develop it more and keep it like and you and just for him to take his career. So seriously, it blew my mind. But it shows that if you're really passionate about something that you really want it to be the forefront like you're gonna make it successful. So just being in this field as journalist, do you guys have any opinions as far as like career relationships and just balancing that or maybe not balancing if you ever get the right opportunity? Do you guys have any thing to say about that?
(Thomas) Well, I'll just say it's one thing to like be career oriented. It's another thing to say that Hmm, you know if that's true on the first day with with someone, yeah, no, yeah, that's definitely and that just kind of goes to prove my point that he's just an odd guy. I think that, you know, Shannon, kind of going back to what you're saying, but Shannon's not really that much of a, of a introvert, you know, attack your flaws outwardly. And as a result, skip just kind of shrunk. But more to what you said, I think that family comes before everything. And personally, my life becomes comes before everything. Yeah. So you know, as far as you know, being a student journalist, I have always said, I want my college experience, I guess, to come before my career, because I'm 19 years old, I have no idea what I want to do with my life with anything. Whether it's print, all I know is I want to be in sports journalism. And so in the process of feeling things out, I don't want to lose those four years of college that you only get once. And that's kind of my take on it. When it comes to work. Families First, my life is first.
(Anthony) So great way to look at it. I definitely agree. You got any additional thoughts? Deshawn
(DeShawn) Yeah, I mean, you know, I understand the mindset of like, if you want to be the best, you know, you're gonna have to give like everything you got for it. And like I going back on that tangent real quick. I think it's very hilarious. I think skip says that he it's either one way or the other. But he either calls his wife Ernestine one A and sports one, B or it's the other way around. But I do think that's a little bit extreme. Like, I agree with you, Thomas. I'm a Family dude. Like, I mean, like, not to get on like too much of my personal life. But like, I just think that my relationships that I have with significant others friends, families are like, super important, and are part of the reason why I'm here right now in the first place. So like, I don't think that I could be one of those people that just like turned it all off to try and like strictly focus on my career, I get working hard, I get like having to make opportunity costs when the time comes. But I don't think that you have to, especially on the first date, or like live this lifestyle entirely. of, you know, my career's one A, and there's no close too
(Thomas) many hours journalists, it's not like we have a nine to five, right? Like, yeah, even as a journalist, if you say you want to prioritize your family, you know, you're gonna have to give that up at some point.
(Anthony) It's an interesting field, because very flexible, and it's very broad. You can do many things in journalism. But eventually, it may take you on a path to where at the very least, you'll have to find someone understanding of that. And just like you to say it, I'm a huge family guy. And I would hope that as my career goes on, no matter where I go, I wouldn't want my partner to be by my side, whether that would be making sacrifices for their career that make a sacrifice for my career, and the day the family comes first. But speaking of family, I know a lot of people are here for the MSU side of things. And we're all family here at Michigan State. Like we were just talking earlier, just bringing us together and hosting this show. So Michigan State their season started not too long ago, I think that was last week, if I'm not mistaken. Correct. And we won in pretty convincing fashion. And I know people were saying last year, like, oh, we played central last year. And last I wasn't too familiar with it. But one of the best highlights I saw was the catch the one handed grab, we was talking off camera about it. And I know YouTube, I'm assuming you guys either went to the game or watch the game. So I know you'll have more knowledge about that. Whichever one you want to start about that. Just seeing that and having the vibes of winning the opening game, I can only imagine how exciting it is.
(Thomas) You know, first of all, it was great to be back to being in that in the woodshed Smart Stadium. Definitely. It was a packed house, I was very very pleased with the attendance. You know, I thought there was gonna be some holes based on how we did last year. But that was not the case. I ended up in the nosebleeds couldn't even get in the student section because it was so packed out. But that was my initial vibes were how awesome it was to be back. And then it was, you know, worry because I think what, like six is gonna say that six passing yards, like almost at halftime, I think was before the drop the touchdown drive at the end of the first half, six passing yards. And, you know, I wasn't even disappointed. I was just kind of, that's how I felt all last year watching those games. And we turned it up. Thankfully, I think that that touchdown drive, save not just the game, but maybe like this first entire half of the season. Because if we go down seven, three, Central Michigan at home at halftime, I mean, the Boos are, are coursing down, players are getting absolutely showered. And you know, no one wants that. And I personally don't boo but I don't disagree with fans who do. But overall, I actually liked what I saw from a lot of the young guys, Noah Kim. I liked what I saw from him after a shaky start. I think he has a higher ceiling than pain. Thorne is more accurate, smarter, he's a better runner. He looks really good throwing on the run. And I think that that's something that Payne Thorne lacked was his ability to make plays out of the pocket and no one can looked really good doing that he was a few drops away from making some really, really good looking plays outside of the pocket. The defense looks improved, and a lot of ways especially open field tackling last year, we couldn't tackle anybody in the open and felt like we were getting guys down Grand At Central Michigan. But it was encouraging to see you know, guys making open field tackles. And I still think coaching is holding the team back when it comes to play calling, especially on the fourth and ones. Yes. Lining up and shocking on fourth and one I'll never understand playing, you know, a mid Atlantic Conference team lineup under center, move bodies push the pile forward to get a first down.
(DeShawn) Yeah, so I mean, like, my thoughts are somewhat similar. First off, you know, I was at the game, I was lucky enough to get into a student section. I heard that there were some issues going on with that. Yeah, but I mean, I think that things definitely kind of shaking the first, you know, like you mentioned being numb and like, just like being there. While things are happening. They're not going great for MSU. But like, watching the first half, seeing the first if seeing MSU, get the first score. We had Glover with those two back to back through to your catches. I mean, like, I think, as you mentioned, it was only six yards up into, I think two minutes in less than the first half. It was It wasn't great. But those two minutes right there. I think that's when like everything kind of turned around. I mean, up and up into that point, things have been kind of quiet, like when on the student section, like everywhere, everybody was very live at first, but things started to die down. But then Glover got those two back to back catches and everyone just we're standing at that point, you know, like I mean, and then moving moving into the second half, the defense really stepped it up. I think in the second half. Things started off when we got that we got the interception on the very first drive that's centered very first drive. And I mean, I think that like it was it was definitely the end of the first half. But really just the beginning of the second half that got us going. I think the defense really stepped it up, which allowed the offense to kind of loosen up a little bit. No, Kim, he looked a little rocky at first, you know, there was a couple of miscues a couple of Miss throws, stuff like that. But I think in the second half, he really got comfortable. He looked like the chemistry between him and the receivers are up, he was making great connections with Henry and with Glover. Henry had that amazing catch, you know, to get him I was 24 It was insane watching that catch. That's his first catch in the end his college career and it was a one handed stack. So I think overall, you know, there's definitely some things we still have to work on. I think coaching is a part of the issue. And I think we really start looking into that to the season as far as what happens and what we can do going forward further with that, but I mean, obviously we've got some knocks that are already tied anyway. But I think I know I think no cam played a really good have played a really good game for not being announced to starter to the very beginning of the game, I'm sure that put a lot of different pressure on him, you know, so he said he found out about a week before Oh, okay, so that definitely probably loosened the pressure on him a little bit. But I mean, either way, you know, like, this is his he's gonna be his first game starting everyone's waiting to see who's gonna come out there and perform. So. But, uh, yeah, I mean, overall, I think a bunch of rookies are not rookies. But like new players stepped up for us. And, and John Glover, Carter, and Tyra Henry. So I think overall, we have a great looking season ahead of us, but there's going to be some kinks we got to put out.
(Anthony) Okay. And I know you guys both touched on it a little bit. But what do you guys expectations for MSU? This year, as far as record, achievements, hopes,
(Thomas) so the record is a tough one for me. But if I were to quantify what is a successful season and what's not, I would probably say that seven wins is a success, which you know, says something about the state of the program, you go see go seven and five and the seasons of success. And that's purely based on our opponents and how we looked against certain teams last year. Like, I think that the biggest games are Maryland, which is at home, like if Michigan State wants to compete in the big 10 in coming years, they have to at least look good in that game. That didn't look good against Maryland last year looked awfully at the Minnesota last year. That's a big game, just sort of these middle of the pack big 10 teams, you know, we're definitely, I guess I should say, we're probably not going to see wins against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State or Washington, however, wins against those teams or program changers. You know, that might be enough to get a four star or five star recruit to come to your school. Definitely. And but like I said, I think that our season will be defined by the Maryland game, the Minnesota game and the Indiana game because these are all sort of middle of the line, big 10 teams that if we want to compete we have to beat
(DeShawn) Yeah, I mean, I mean, I want to agree that I think that a successful season firstly is just being better than last year. I think that's got to be like a basis for what we look at a successful season. But I mean, yeah, seven, eight games, I think it's kind of like, not a ceiling. But like where we would really start to think that things are changing at least like just even if it's just slightly things are going to be on the up and up. I agree with you. I don't think that we shouldn't be having crazy expectations for games against Ohio State Michigan and Washington even like I mean, I think that we're gonna have some very tough games. I know we're trying to turn things around this season, but our schedule is not easy whatsoever. It's So, I do think that, you know, I think the Rutgers game would be interesting as far as the game that would be close, but like in like, in somewhere in the range for us to like really get a nice win out there I do think the Indiana game, and then obviously just, this isn't really an expectation, but I'm really excited for the Penn State game, I think that what they're doing with the Ford Field thing is just amazing. But seven, eight games, I think that's going to be a realistically successful season for the Spartans this year.
(Anthony) Definitely understandable. And as someone who's not really into college football or MSU, sports like that, the main thing I would expect tech is expect is to just have that moment that pulls people like me, who don't really watch college sports like that. I remember freshman year, there was his running back by the name of Kenny Walker kind of walking to third and he was so electrifying for MSU sports because he was a big part of the program and a big part of why we won the U of M game that year. And it was just pulled me in and someone was on not really of someone who's knowledgeable about it's like, wow, like that guy when he's going to the NFL, but also seeing the excited chaos of fans being happy of like a good MSU star player. It was exciting. So just seeing things like the one handed grab and seeing the impact imagery sports do I have even with the things that have happened in the past few years of maybe being let down? In some ways, it's really exciting. And I want to ask you guys being at the game, because I've never funfact I've never been to MSU college football game before. So just to go. Yeah, I've heard I gotta get that experience at least once before I leave MSU. So being people who's been at MSU game, what's the main difference between watching on TV and then being their life? I know if you can go first the shots that you said you were lucky enough to get the students actually,
(DeShawn) I mean, it's just simply that atmosphere. So I work a lot of the football games. So this is like my first time ever actually being in a student section. It's my senior year, and I missed out on a lot of stuff my first couple years. But I mean, from the moment you walk into the stadium, it's just like nothing. It's before you walk in the stadium. It's a feeling that you've never felt before. Like, I mean, like it's it's our very first game. And I think that, like you mentioned the non feeling earlier, a lot of us although we're like don't have the biggest expectations, I think there was a strong expectation that we had a good chance to win this game. So like, the energy going into the stadium was just immaculate. I mean, you got no breathing room once you get into the students. I mean, anytime anytime we're paying a coach $100 million. Yeah, yeah, that was some W's Definitely. Definitely. So I mean, like I like obviously, the the confidence level in the football team has not been of the highest level this year, you know, around campus, but it doesn't matter. The love stood there for the team, you know, like the like the we appreciate them and the excitement that they bring to campus around this time of the year. So being in the student section was nothing that I've ever seen before the no leg room, no breathing room, but you're still having the grandest of time.
(Thomas) Yeah, everything's different. I mean, when it comes to the atmosphere, it comes to the overall game experience. I love watching it in real time, like you see, these guys like some of these guys are younger than me, just hard to believe, because I'm 19 years old. And these kids are out here at 18. Making guys miss in Spartan Stadium, pack Spartan Stadium. And I think that that kind of just sums up what's so special about college football, is you have these amazing athletes, but it's also kind of a coming of age thing. And you get to watch these kids go from point A to point B. You know, Tom Izzo has talked about it all the time. But that's, that's the most rewarding part of being a coach for him is, you know, watching Kenneth Walker, who sat on the bench at Wake Forest go from Kenneth Walker, who's a second round draft pick, and the offensive rookie of the year in the NFL, like that probably is the most rewarding part of it. For the coaches. And as a fan, it's, you know, similarly rewarding, probably not as much because you're not hands on guiding the kid. But you can just get to see that, that growth and development and that coming of age. And that's, I would say my favorite part about one of those games and watching the team through the years.
(Anthony) Yeah, that's definitely I can imagine it's a remarkable experience to see somebody go from a young kid just coming out of high school and not really knowing what to do with life to accomplish their dreams and become an athlete that they strive to be since they were young. And just from a fan's perspective, seeing people your age, even younger than you go out and do the things that you see on TV and seeing them right there live. It's it's a crazy feeling. And I remember one time, so Chris, a part of the state news, one of the managers here, he does a lot of the things with the football team. And I remember one time I was editing a podcast one day and one of the football team members just walked in the office and he was like, Yeah, I'm looking for Chris. I'm looking like, you look like an athlete. Like I didn't know exactly who he was. I'm like you like first of all, you're six five. But look, so I have no idea what it was like. I don't remember just because I was pretty starstruck that like just a college football player was in there. And I remember some of the basketball team from MSU was team last year they did a event at Detroit one company and the state news we on appreciate we owned the Detroit company down there. So we literally I will walked in, and I saw them they had like a section cut off. So I couldn't like talk to him. But I just saw him like, pretty much up close. I'm like, wow, like these people just go to class like we do every day. And they're also on TV just, I wonder how that balance is of being like a 1920 year old trying to balance somewhat fame and like and I LDS, if they have them and just going to college every day and trying to balance that lifestyle. It's pretty unique. And it's pretty dope that we get that experience here at Michigan State. Because I forget just how big of a school we are. Because I've gotten used to it like, oh, yeah, I'm just going to school but like, I work a second job at the president center. And people were coming to me and I oh my gosh, like you work at the President's center, you go to Michigan State University, like how does it feel? I'm thinking like, I'm just, I'm just going to school. But it's so cool to be a part of one of the biggest colleges in the world. And I think we're the biggest campus in Michigan period even bigger than you Mmm. So it's just, it's one of those things that you sometimes take for granted. And I really hope I get that experience before I leave MSU just being a part of that atmosphere being that one of the games and yeah, and luckily even though I haven't got that experience, we're here talking about it. We're talking about things we love, such as sports and I talked to Morgan the editor in chief before we record this episode of like, Would it be okay to talk about like different sports or different things rather than just college sports to say like, Yeah, go for it. So we were talking off camera about the NFL season, so keep it on football and tonight at the time it is recording it will be posted after but we recording this on Thursday, September 7, and the NFL season is having its opener with the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Detroit Lions and we have someone like Deshawn here with you guys can't see it but Detroit Lions Head on pretty sure that it loses everybody's driver's everybody's sweatshirt making sure like the trigger, pull it off. And you got people like me and Tom, it's not really Detroit fan. I'm from Detroit, but I'm not really huge Detroit team fan in general. I like some of the all time things this hold on the conversation. But I've been let down time and time again from the lions. And I really can't have that faith of them pulling it off tonight, especially since the quarterback they're going against arguably I know you guys were talking probably the most talented quarterback of all time have Patrick mahomes. So just to get my prediction out the way before I ask you all this, I definitely think the chiefs are going to handle business tonight. Patrick mahomes is he's he's that guy. He's the reason why the chiefs are who they are. And he's changed that program ever since he stepped foot on the field NFL. And when does make an interesting and a closer game is Travis Kelce was reporting out due to his knee injury. So that's gonna make it probably a bit close. And I've talked to my dad who's been a huge lion fan in the past like this type of game. They just randomly when like if the cheese was healthy to just randomly pull this off, and then go on like a three game losing streak. But my x you guys opinion, I know. Probably we all know what you're about to say, especially since describing Shawn's the bit he learned today. But how do you guys think this game is gonna play out? And what score what key takeaways you got from this matchup?
(DeShawn) Yeah, so I mean, I want to start by saying, you know, like, Yeah, I'm a huge Detroit sports fan. You know, like, obviously, Anthony mentioned being let down from time and time again. But I mean, I can't give up on them. You know, I've been here my entire life. It's a part of who I am, you know, even if I disagree with some of the things that are going on within our teams. But I mean, I think the Lions have a great chance tonight. And it's not just I mean, obviously, if you guys haven't heard, Travis Kelce will not be playing in their game tonight. And then obviously, Chris Jones won't be there either. I think the lions coming into this, there's the biggest enemy that we're going to have. It really doesn't even have anything to do with the chiefs. Besides Patrick mahomes. It's the pressure that's going to be on this first game, the Lions have never been great with dealing with the pressure, like, like to mention last year, you know, trying to get into the playoffs. We had that game against Carolina. And it was just it was a game that many of us went into experience thinking that it was going to be an easy, not an easy win, but something that we were very capable of doing. And we end up getting washed. And then you see us go against Green Bay when we're out of contention at this point. And we just steal a game from right now. And part of that is obviously the love hate relationship that we have with the hate side for the Green Bay Packers. But coming into this year, I think that there's a lot of good things that the lions got playing out for them. I mean, like Aiden Hutchinson has just been an absolute beast for us. I think Jameer Gibbs is going to have a lot to show for the Lions this year. I know that he got drafted really high. And that means there's going to be like a huge amount of pressure on him. But I don't think that running backs usually get drafted high without at least meeting most of their expectations. Like I mean, like you don't usually go and get someone unless you know that they're going to be there. And I think that Jameer Gibbs has the skill, the speed to be a really good running back. And I think the Lions have robbed a really good chance. But I want to mention that I'm also a huge Pat mahomes fan. I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm a chiefs fan. But Patrick mahomes has some of the best skill that I've ever seen anybody play at quarterback. So I mean, I just I don't want to I don't want to doubt them. I don't want to put them out. However, I do get the lions winning and I think it's going to be somewhere in the in the realm of like 2731 or something and that it's going to be a one score game and might be within a field goal and the lions would win off a field goal. Exactly, I would say Same thing for the chiefs. They could win right off a field goal. I mean, so, but I got the I got the lions tonight. You know, we're hoping but I'm not kind of a CISO at all. Okay.
(Thomas) Yeah, I think that if this game was played in Detroit, I would pick lunch to win. But it's other ahead. notoriously tough place to play. Yes. And then you factor in the fact that Patrick mahomes is statistically the greatest one starting quarterback in NFL history. And look at this guy's numbers. His first starter errs, I guess it would be a second game as a starter, his first opening day as a starter 2018 versus the Jags he threw for 215 four touchdowns. And you know, in his five opening days, he's thrown for 1500 passing yards, 18 touchdowns, zero interceptions, and 140 passer rating. And so to me, you know, last year, everyone was saying, Oh, they have no Tyree kill. There's no this. There's no that this year, it's Travis Kelce. You know, Chris Jones doesn't matter. patrimonies Patrick mahomes is at arrowhead. I don't see the lions coming away with it. But you know, I think they're gonna show some promise. I think maybe they don't come away with the win. But they show that they're going to meet expectations for this year. I think they lose 3430 Garbage Time. Touchdown.
(Anthony) Okay, definitely understandable. I mean, I was talking to the shot off camera, I don't see the lions putting up 30 points. But then again, I could be wrong, it could just be the blinds of just being disappointed by lions. But I think it's gonna be a good metric, regardless, especially opening night, you know, football is back, whether it's college NFL, we get that feeling of getting sports back. And then next month, we got the NBA and it's just, it has like a rejuvenating feeling of just preparing for the school year starting off, you know, summer and getting off of sports, you got the NBA Finals, and then that Super Bowl in the beginning of the year, and just you get a pretty big gap of not getting these sports. And so when it all just comes full circle, it's like, it gets you excited. And I know we'll probably have to wrap up here soon, even though I'm very interested just from people listening. Are you guys interested in more longer podcasts more long talks about sports roundtable? How do we do as host for our first episode and incorporating different things with sports roundtable? Just let us know. And I'll try and report back to the Shawn and Thomas. Once I get that type of feedback back, however, I get that back. But just to end it off here I want to ask so I know we were talking off camera about fantasy football to keep it on football. Do you play fantasy football at all the time?
(Thomas) So? Yes, yes. I told myself coming into the year that I would have one team. I have three
(DeShawn) I got three also has three.
(Thomas) Three. You're in the sports desk. Lee. Yes, yes. Together with the sports desk here at the State News. And then I'm in two with my friends from back home. Okay, okay. And I always oversell myself, sell myself, I'm gonna do one or two, and I'm doing three or four. But I think that's just kind of the beauty of it. It gets you every time and somehow you ended up happier.
(DeShawn) Yeah, definitely. No, yeah, I said the same thing. I I, the drafting process, you know, like, once you sign up for all these leaves, and you're like, Oh, I'm ready. And then you get into these on these drafts. And it just, I'm not ready for this season at all. So yeah, I mean, I love fantasy, there's there's a certain part of it that makes football even funner than it already is. It's it's a competitive bragging rights thing with you and your friends or whoever you're doing it with. So, ya know, I'm excited for fantasy this year, for sure.
(Anthony) And if I could ask, I'll go first since I haven't pulled up but just you guys can read off on your fantasy teams and just talk about what was the thought process going into the draft and why did you draft certain players and I'll definitely go first. So I'm in only one league this year and it's a man leaves on my friends and I had the third overall pick and going into it. I was actually unwell were that Justin Jefferson was the consensus number one my dad was talk he also plays fantasy and he was saying like Ella just Jefferson system. Number one. No, Mike. That's pretty interesting. But Justin Jefferson is one of the best receivers in the league. But I wasn't too lucky to get him because they scooped him up first overall pick. There's a running joke in my league when my friends that one of our friends name's Eric, who runs the league and every single year either hammer his bag, the number one pick, and we always look like like burl, there's just no shot that none of us go get the one number or pick at all. And then this year, he got it again and scooped us to Jefferson. And then I think one of the people were new to our fantasy league. I think they took Patrick mahomes And number two, which I'm not familiar I can check and see if that was like that's accurate. I'll do a live check and see when to he picked back from my homes. But I took Austin Eckler three that was my first pick since he failed to me at the draft and the
(DeShawn) homeschool. He went I went to me and number two in our summers and our sparseness drive. Really I dropped the number two and Okay, so um, first I took him first round, okay, but hear me out. Okay. I know I know what's recommended against what's wrong with you. I just want to reiterate that, like I said, I'm a huge Patrick mahomes fan and I drafted six In my two previous league so the week that me and Thomas are part of we drafted we drafted last night and I was picked. That was where I had number two pick. Previous to that I did two drafts at number six both and I got Lamar at quarterback for both those teams and I was happy with that pick. But every single thing everybody was picking Pat mahomes early and it just something made me feel so greedy that I had to take him in this new and this new sports desk so I went with them. I know it's not the most knowledgeable pick as far as fancy goes. But I think I just needed to have him on. I know someone else in our on our on our own. And our own fantasy had something about my homes and their name. I'm not sure who it is. But I there was something that told me I needed to draft a pat mahomes I was it was first round second pick. I'm totally willing to admit that I did it this year. And it honestly candidly, it may not have worked out the way I wanted it to though.
(Thomas) I hate to know who in the league let me get this good of a team because I'm productive to win the league and it's like not even close. Yeah. Josh Allen Josh Jacobs. How many games is commercial standard for
(Anthony) four I think is your
(Thomas) I reached there. Definitely reach there for sure. We have some good backup running backs. We have Jonathan Williams, my boy. Okay, but Josh Allen Josh Jacobs Kamera Jamar Chase Jalen model. Dallas Goddard, Deontay Johnson Bill's defense Jake moody.
(DeShawn) Yeah, I mean, definitely a team. Like Like, like I said, I think I think for I drafted six and both my other drafts, I have some really good drafts there. And I don't think this is a bad draft. But for the same league that Thomas was talking about, I got Patrick mahomes I got Derrick Henry's my first running back I got from Andre Stephenson as my second running back and I got Garrett Wilson, Amari Cooper and Kyle Pitts. I'm a little worried about that conference pick though. I think that Atlanta is like what's it like to go all out on Bijon? So I don't know about that one. I just got by Gavin's I got the 40 Niners defense and J tuck. So I think I got some assets to maybe add some moves. Yeah, for sure. The solid team,
(Anthony) and what, um, how many peoples in your league that your teams you're just talking about?
(DeShawn) There's a 10 This one's 10. And then the other two, I'm in our eight man leagues,
(Anthony) okay. For my team. Like I said, it was a man League, by the way, just to confirm he did take Patrick mahomes second overall. So it went Justin Jefferson, Patrick mahomes. And then there was my pick, I scooped up Austin Eckler as my first pick. And then the way I tried to draft I do feel drafting a quarterback as your first pick is crazy, but I'm also crazy enough to do it like my third pick. So I'm gonna try and go off memory and then check myself as I'm looking at it. I'm on my screen by the Austin Eckler first, and then say Quan Barkley failed me all the way in the second round. And I was telling Sean, we were on the right here I have a weird relationship with say, Quan Barkley, because every year I draft him he got hurt or he underperformed in the one year I didn't draft him which I think was last year he performed really well. So I'm like man, if he got dropped to me second pick, I'm gonna take them and then after that, I think Davante Adams was my third pick. He fell to me as my third pick and then going from there I'm like, Okay, I need a good quarterback because people will try and say like, Jeff your quarterback late, which team building was probably better but I didn't want to get like a mediocre quarterback. So since Patrick mahomes was taken. I had my eyes on Josh Allen and Jalen hertz and the pic right before me they took Josh Allen I'm like, Hey, I really want to Josh Allen so I took dental hurts is my quarterback. And then at that point, I met looking at Austin Eckler say Quan, Barkley Davante Adams general hurts I'm like that's a solid four. So after that Aaron Jones ended up following me as well so I'll play him at the flex spot. And then after that, the only bad part about how I chose to draft is people took tight ends earlier than I expected I planned on getting TJ hockenson Is my tight end but somebody took him like a few pics before me so I ended up settling with Mr. Ingram which I still think he's pretty good year. Not bad. Not a bad pick at all. And then Jacksonville Jacksonville squad if you're lucky, I didn't know Kevin really went to the Jacksonville Jaguars and then Trevor Lawrence come into his office so I wasn't too mad about the FN group pic. And then to round off the rest of my team. I got Mike Evans as my second receiver and then I got the bills defense and Carlson from Las Vegas. Raiders and then as my bench so Justin Herbert as my backup quarterback have been a big Justin Herbert fan since he's gotten into league especially fantasy wise he's been pretty solid pick. And then after that took a few risks. And Jonathan Taylor and Phil almost to the end of the draft, and I felt like even though he is out he still has been pretty solid for faster years. So I scooped up Jonathan Taylor and then also picked up ODell and Michael Thomas, because with Odell being with Lamar Jackson I'm like that gotta be like I got a lot of faith in that yeah, and with Michael Thomas he's had a few years being injured but he's never really had a bad year if he played so I took those risks and then
(Thomas) You just gonna remember that he was so good with Drew Brees and yeah, he hasn't played since Drew Brees
(Anthony) so it's gonna be very interesting to see how him and Derek Carr pan out and after that I end up picking cam Akers for last pretty good backup running back to the case one of my running backs is having a bye week or something and then And after that I got David Montgomery from the lion's den Jamal Williams from the saints. So feel like I got a pretty solid team I always brag on my boys and say I got the best team in the league every year but I feel like that's a pretty solid enough team to get me far in playoff so wish everybody the best to play fantasy football. You guys both got solid teams working on multiple
(Thomas) me into Shawn Rhoden to to win the league. So that's gonna be interesting. We'll get bad
That's crazy. That's nothing yeah as of right now. Right now we can bask in it and we can We sure can. The champions
(Anthony) will give an update at the end of the year and see how things panned out with all our leagues but are you guys plan just for fun or is any money wagers involve fun money? Okay, that makes fun money. So with that being said we're going to approach the end of our episode here I'm going to ask you guys one more question and then I'll let y'all go but just Where did your love sports began? Is there a specific memory that pulled you when to where it really major fan of sports just in general mind personally, I'll start off as there as I see the faces of them saying like, Okay, this is my moment. Favorite basketball player used to be Derrick Rose. When I saw him high flying and Duncan and just doing the things he did on the basketball court. It instantly drew me into basketball and unfortunately, as he got injured and with me being young, he kind of like erased from my mind as I didn't see him on the court no more. And it was this guy number six for the Miami Heat. Some of you may be familiar with him. His name is LeBron James and ever since I saw him he's been my favorite basketball player ever since and I've been someone who's since I saw people like switch teams a lot and like grownup in sports always made sure I was a fan of players and not teams because sometimes people call you a bandwagon if your favorite player go to one team because I want the Caspian aroma. He found her like his fan. So I've always just been a fan of players and just my sports life and then just seeing Derrick Rose always give him props for introducing me to the game of basketball as far as my memory goes, but I'll let you to take the floor and and I'll end it after that.
(Thomas) What do you think about me is I was never destined to be a sports guy. Really? I think I think I was like six or seven when I got into sports. But before that it was all Star Wars. And Kung Fu Panda. Classic. Yeah, I was definitely more of an artist still am but got into sports, I guess later than a lot of people do around first second grade. My first major sports memory was Denver versus Pittsburgh. 2011 playoffs. Tim Tebow was the Broncos quarterback. It was like it's only good year in the NFL. And he threw a dime to the Marius Thomas rest in peace. And the rest is history. Caught it stiff arms like Taylor ran 60 yards with a touchdown. Pull off probably the biggest upset in Broncos Broncos playoff history and got smashed by Brady in the next round. But it was all worth it because that's when I really fell in love with sports.
(Anthony) It's crazy. You mentioned that because I was watching Shannon clips che che episode Steven Naismith. And he mentioned that specific moment is one of the huge heartbreaks of his fan fan life because he's a huge Pittsburgh fan. And he was heavy on Tim Tebow when he was in the league. So he mentioned that specific moment as just something that antagonized him. So it's crazy to see the flip side of that as a Denver fan. It's also crazy I forgot about the mayor's Thomas definitely rest in peace are one of the greatest Bronco receivers of all time, and we'll go funds from Deshawn and then I'll try it ended off after that.
(DeShawn) So I mean, there's a lot of different moments that I could probably go towards. I mean, like I watched a lot of football when I was younger, but I think that it's gonna have to be in the basketball category. For me. There's two players really in mind and one that I want to obviously give my condolences to was Kobe Bryant Rest in peace, I'll let you as as a child, you know, I didn't watch too much Lakers success, but I watched Kobe Bryant do give everything every night to that Lakers team and to his fans. Like I think that's like, at some point, like obviously Kobe was all about winning, but at some point, I knew that he also took into the fact that the fans were very important in part of the game of basketball. You know, I think I've seen a quote something about like, why Kobe like this is obviously before like, I'm resting players on the on the average. But he mentioned that, you know, some of these people might never come and see a Laker game again or some of these people may never ever be able to watch me play on nothing more than TV so he gave it his all every single night you know and Kobe was a winner that's that's exactly what he was. And then another person that obviously you mentioned LeBron James easily he's been a big icon for me, but like Miami number six I didn't know too much about LeBron being that young when he was in Cleveland, you know, I was still pretty young. But I have like I still got like little tater tots jerseys of Miami Heat, you know, the blackout jerseys in the white out jersey. So both those guys are huge icons. And so I'm not sure that there's an exact moment, but just I mean, like as a kid watching Kobe was everything to me, you know, like, and, you know, hearing about the unfortunate news later as I got older was like it was hard crushing. But what do you do for the game was something that I'd never you'll never see again, even even as being as close as someone like Michael Jordan playstyle. It was a totally different impact, a completely different impact.
(Anthony) Yeah, I mean, you hear it all. All throughout the world Mamba mentality 24 A is just, Kobe Bryant was one of those players to where he was unique enough to know that there may not be no one like this ever again. Because you have like you mentioned Michael Jordan and just talking about how bigger than life he seemed and then LeBron James with being who he is being scrutinized. He's 18 years old and exceeding expectations. But you look at Kobe Bryant and it was more than just basketball culture. It was like he said a Mamba mentality and definitely rest in peace to one of the greatest athletes of all time, let alone just NBA players. And with that being said, this was a phenomenal conversation I want thank you guys one more time, just because growing up watching shows like first taking on disputed part of me always wanted to be in that position to have those debates with people you're close to about sports and things you love. So in a way, you too are making part of my dreams come true. And I really want to thank both of y'all for that. And in my opinion, y'all did a really great for your first time being a part of a podcast as being someone who has on podcast and some of the parts some of the podcast here. So what do you guys think of people listening at home wherever you guys are listening? We could have went longer. I had a few ideas that I still had in my notes that we definitely got to talk about. We probably got to talk about it off camera, but what do you guys want shorter episodes, longer episodes, let somebody know and then we'll get back to us eventually. But this has been the sports Roundtable. I'm your host, Anthony Brinson.
(DeShawn) I'm DeShawn) Johnson. I just wanna say thank you again, Anthony for the opportunity.
(Anthony) No problem at all. I appreciate you taking the opportunity in
(Thomas) Thomas Cobb. Thanks, Anthony. This has been awesome. And I got it next week. Back
(Anthony) at it next week. I'm excited. See y'all later