Hey folks, it’s that time again. Fred and the Fantastics with Laura, with Art, with Mark, and with you. You can email us at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com. Heard of course on BLEAV and on PodClips, and anything and everything in the wonderful and wacky world of sports. And we’re taping this Friday afternoon and this week, of course, we found out that, shockingly, I think, that the Lakers were sold by the Buss family to Mark Walter of the Guggenheim family for $10 billion, not including the arena. Laura. You have any comments? How high are they going to charge for hot dogs, almost assuredly, next season? Take it away, Laura.

You know, it’s pretty expensive already, so I’m sure the prices will increase. But, you know, I grew up with the Lakers and with the Buss family, and it’s kind of sad to see that it’s being taken over by the corporate. But on the other hand, you know, they’ve done a great job with the Dodgers, and they’ve certainly invested what they need to invest to build the team and renovate the stadium. And as a Laker fan, you can’t help but be excited as to what that might, because they’re looking, nobody’s, it’s no secret they’re looking for a center or two. And I think it makes it more attractive for potential centers to come to L.A. and play for the Lakers. So I don’t know, I’m excited about it, kind of a little nostalgic too, but we’ll see, I’m excited.

Mark, let me ask you a question. If the Lakers are worth $10 billion, how about the Dallas Cowboys? If they were going to be sold right away?

I think they just went exponentially, a little bit higher. I think they’re going to be up around $13B. You look at the New York Giants, you look at the L.A. Rams, you know? I mean to me, an NBA franchise worth $10 billion, and I do realize it’s one of the two preeminent franchises in the sport. That just seems crazy when you think that Bob Short in the 60s brought the Lakers to Minneapolis, from Minneapolis, and sold it to Jack Kent Cooke for $5 million. And then Jerry bought that and The Fabulous Forum for $67.5 million, and now we’re at $10 billion. I mean, it’s just, it’s amazing, the price of sports, but you know what that means? That means the average sports fan is just getting further and further away from being able to go to a game. And that’s what kind of scares me in the long run, you guys.

Mark, what do you think your Pittsburgh Pirates are worth, if anything?

And you’ve known me for years, you guys. And I don’t waver away from being consistent.

Answer the question.

I’m going to answer the question, I don’t waver away from consistency. But this guy just showed me that there’s no strikes in any major sports coming soon. Because these guys got money and the players know they have money, and you can’t tell me, well, we got a salary cap in basketball now because Walter has figured out in L.A. that you can defer the money 25, 30 years.

So what are they worth? What are the Pirates worth?

Uh, just below the Dodgers.

They’re worth whatever Bob Nutting will do to sell them.

Hey, the sports franchises are worth a lot of money across the board in all these major sports.

It’s a beautiful ballpark.

Yeah,

I mean, they bring up good players every year, then let them go play for somebody else.

Got voted number one ballpark in all the Major League Baseball.

It’s right there with Dodger Stadium.

Eleven. Come on, PNC Park is better than Dodger Stadium. Are you kidding me?

Better view. Better view. But, you know, I get tired of all these ICE agents.

I miss the old-fashioned stadiums where it’s not, yeah, I used to go to our old,

Fenway Park, Wrigley Field,

Yeah, the Coliseum. I used to go to the Coliseum when the Raiders were here and up to Oakland Stadium. And I know it was decrepit and all, but it was a real football stadium.

Don’t kill Mario, Dad.

We didn’t have any artwork, we didn’t have any fancy escalators. Like, it’s so funny.

Hey, my dad took me to Soldier Field in 1970, and I got to tell you, Soldier Field was awesome. Then I got to go to RFK Stadium and watch the Redskins. The upper deck was bouncing around. These are old stadiums. I mean, I was thinking, you know, people don’t even remember John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, 110 miles for Army and Navy. You know, Franklin Field, there’s some great old ballparks that they’ve just, they washed away. Even Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Forbes Field, I mean, people need to. That would be a great book to go back and look at the old stadiums in sports, you know, even the old Polo Grounds in New York.

Well, Dodger Stadium got number 22.

I’m sorry, say it again,

When they rated the ballparks, I think it was Pittsburgh. San Francisco was number two, Anaheim Stadium, Fenway Park,

But Dodger Stadium was built 60-plus years ago.

I know, but they got to do something. They got to get more paint during the offseason on that place.

You know what, you know what. I don’t know of any stadium that can rival the setting of Dodger Stadium.

Thank you, Chavez Ravine.

I mean, you go out of game and you see that sunset over the mountains. I mean, it is just gorgeous.

Little Joe’s after the game,

What?

You know, the Dodgers finally did something, I think ethically correct, they didn’t let the ICE people into the stadium. Laura, you have any comments about that?

Oh, I thought it was great. Yeah, I hope they keep it up. I went to the demonstrations over the weekend that were incredibly peaceful, by the way.

By the way, you know what’s bizarre about that, you guys? Chavez Ravine is where they are, and that used to be a place where all the immigrants lived for many, many years. And nobody’s brought that up. But that’s an important part of this,

No, but it’s still, the surrounding area is still primarily Latino and immigrant. I mean, if you live in L.A., immigrants are just a complete fabric of our city. I mean, you cannot walk out of your house without hearing Spanish.

I still love the Mexican food in East L.A. There’s no better Mexican food on the planet, unless that’s in Mexico already.

By the way, last weekend, a singer named Nezza,

Yeah, I saw that,

Sang the national anthem in Spanish. And she’s getting death threats. Laura, You have any comments?

That’s ridiculous.

Thank you, thank you. I agree.

The statement, I think it was. I mean, I have a lot of opinions about this politically, but this is a sports show, so I applaud the Dodgers. I was surprised they didn’t say anything yet. Kike Hernandez, I think, came out with a really good statement. Another player, I forget who also on the squad, but everybody, they’ve been kind of quiet, and they have a huge Latino fan base.

Yeah, I’m surprised.

You know, and like I said, every, I mean, you know, this whole uproar about flying Mexican flags as if it represented some sort of foreign invasion. You know, people fly Mexican flags all the time in L.A. It’s like a matter of pride, nobody ever worried about it. It never was seen as being unpatriotic or some kind of invasion.

I fly my Italian flag all the time.

There you go, all right? Why don’t we take a break?

I flew an Israeli flag after the October 6th, October 7th,

Why don’t we take a break?

Hold your coffee cup up, go ahead,

BLEAV and PodClips. We’ll take a break and come back with more right after this.

Welcome back, everybody. Sports Overnight America. You can email us sportsfred@aol.com.

The Jack Cake Cooks on Live at One Fred.

Who says people get more conservative when they get older?

Mario’s going to cut that out, definitely. Okay. Pitching in the major league, Dodgers bring back Ohtani. The only question is, when does he get injured again? Pirates might trade Skenes, So, Mark. How soon do the Pirates trade maybe one of the top two or three pitchers in baseball? When do they trade him away?

Well, why would they trade him away? First of all, he’s going to win the Cy Young with a losing record. He feels like Nolan Ryan. The guy goes seven innings, gives a run-up or nothing, turns it over to the bullpen, and they lose. Hey, if you’ve noticed these Pirates the last few weeks,

They’re playing 500 baseball.

Well, up until the Detroit game, where they got blown out of the opener, they’ve been playing two-to-one, one, nothing, three-to-two, to two games, so you know.

Well, I like Don Kelly, the manager, I think he’s done a great job, the new manager. But I’ll tell you one thing that’s amazing. There’s going to be a lot of pitchers available to the Dodgers. You got Arizona, if they start to falter, you got Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly, the Marlins talking about Sandy Alcantara. He’s coming on strong again. They want to package him up for a bunch of players. And, see, what everybody wants is that Dodger farm system. So the Dodgers are going to get a chance to get a good arm, Fred, once we approach that trading deadline.

You know, what if I’m Arizona, though, I don’t trade Gallen. I think he’ll have a better second half. His ERA now is over five, but I think he’ll have a better second half. And I think they’re in it, they’ve won games this year, we’ve talked about this. They were down by six in the top of the ninth, and they scored seven and beat Cincinnati. And this week, they were down by four and they scored five to win it in the bottom of the ninth. So, I mean, I think Arizona’s got enough hitting that if Gallen and Kelly pitch well in the second half, they can be right there. I do believe that, and also something. I’m listening to WFAN, and they’re talking about the Mets losing to the Braves. Well, I want to tell you something, when you’re facing Chris Sayle and a 90% healthy Spencer Strider, who can hit these guys/

That’s what I mean, yeah.

I mean, it’s like, Strider did not have a great game this week against the Mets. He only struck out eight in six innings, gave up a run. Sayle, of course, went eight and two-thirds, and I don’t know how many he struck out. But I mean, he was dominant, too. Laura. What do you think about the Braves in the playoffs? Because I got to believe that those two and Schellenbeck, they got a shot if they make the playoffs because they have the pitching that, right now, the Dodgers do not have. And Yamamoto again got hit pretty hard by the Padres on Thursday night. Laura, take it away.

Well, Yamamoto almost had an immaculate inning, and he would have if the plate umpire hadn’t missed a ball.

What?

He got squeezed, he got squeezed.

Basically, in the middle of the strike zone.

Yeah, right down. I think it fooled the umpire.

I don’t understand why nobody reacted, like Yamamoto didn’t react, Smith didn’t react. Roberts didn’t. Nobody in the dugout reacted. I mean, it was such a, and maybe everybody was shocked because it was so,

A three-game series with eight plunkings.

Yeah,

I mean, there’s some definite bad blood between the Padres and the Dodgers. And I got to tell you, it’s scary to me.

Are you saying the umpire was biased?

Or he missed the call? He just completely,

Did you hear the game?

What, were his eyes closed?

I didn’t hear the call, Art, I mean, it was so,

Laura. Eric Karros is biased to the hilt. Did you hear the game yesterday?

I watched it.

Yeah, and Eric Karros, I mean, I didn’t really think of him too much as a player. And now,

So you’re saying that the broadcasters in baseball, the home team broadcasters, have a tendency to be a little bit like, jaded to the home teams. You’re kidding me, you’re kidding me.

I’m going to run a power line up to heaven to see if Vin Scully can come rebroadcast these games.

But you’re talking about the greatest broadcaster of all time, and I mean, you know, come on,

Let me state this, I was listening, watching both broadcasts. I was able to catch some of the Padre television. And again, I think based on what I saw, both teams were guilty of throwing at the opponents. And I think both sides said it. And there’s no excuse for it. Somebody’s going to get killed. And again, we talk about 1922, Ray Chapman getting murdered on a major league game, in a major league game, and it’s going to happen again. If you allow this to happen,

You can go back to. I mean, Tony Conigliero and Jack Fisher.

I don’t think that Dodger pitcher was, that it was intentional. When he hit,

I saw his reaction and I have to agree with you, Laura, he felt bad about what happened.

I mean, he swore he wasn’t throwing intentional, just got away from him and hit Ohtani.

No, I thought that was intentional, that looked,

I’ll tell you, Ohtani showed a lot of class, though. I mean, that was,

That looked intentional.

Ohtani showed a lot of class. Ran down to first base, didn’t say nothing to nobody. That was, yeah, I just don’t like that.

Ohtani basically,

So the big debate is, Pages is just as good as Jackson Merrill, and I’m saying, no, I got to see more of Pages. I like Jackson Merrill.

Center fielder?

Yeah,

For the Dodgers?

The Padres.

He’s hurt now, he’s hurt now.

Yeah, he’s got a concussion.

It’s spelled p -a -g -e -s, and it’s pronounced pajes?

PAJES,

Pajes. Okay, very good.

You know, he’s awfully good, but Merrill’s a left-handed hitter. I’ll go with the left-handed hitter. And I think that’s always,

Me too.

But Pajes is playing well.

So, are you guys sold on Tarik Skubal and A.J. Hinch and the Detroit Tigers so far? Are they, they’re a good ball club, are they not?

Well, they got everything at this point, of course, the Dodgers gave them back Flaherty. And he’s not pitching as well as some of the other Tigers, but he’s certainly in that rotation. And they’ve got enough hitting from the left side that can make a difference. Torkelson from the right side,

They held him in check pretty good, only gave up two runs,

You know,

The World Series matchup, right? Dodgers,

All right.

Oh, that would be Dodgers-Tigers, would be a fun matchup.

As we take this Friday afternoon, I’m going to ask the three of you. It’s the first day of summer, it’s the longest day of the year. Who wins the World Series? Putting you on the spot. We will keep this in mind as we get to September and October. Laura. Who wins the World Series?

Dodgers.

Now you’re not saying that because you’re,

But I’m not biased.

No, never. Mark, who wins the world? Don’t tell me the Pirates.

I know I don’t change. And you knew when I said this at the start of the season. And tomorrow is my 39th anniversary, so my wife knows I won’t lie on it. But I said from the start, it would be the shades of ’93, the Phillies would be playing the Blue Jays, and the Phillies are going to win it.

Okay. Phillies certainly have the hitting and top two pitchers, awfully solid. Art. Who wins the World Series in 2025?

He’s going to tell me the Reds,

I’m going to go with the Detroit Tigers to beat the Dodgers in seven. Tarik Skubal throws a shutout in the last inning.

Hey, you guys might remember, you guys might remember speaking of NBA Finals, that in the beginning, when the playoffs first started, I said Indiana was a sleeper team.

Yep, you sure did.

Where did Oklahoma City disappear to last night? I want to know. I looked at the numbers on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he was eight for 30 with eight turnovers.

The whole team played a horrible game.

All right, okay, final question. Sunday night. So you’re going to stick with your pacers on the road at Oklahoma City?

I am, yeah, I am, yeah,

I’m with Laura, Laura, I’m with you.

I’m going to take the eight and a half, but I think Oklahoma City’s going to win the title.

No, I’m with you, Laura.

You know, I was sort of going back and forth. Not really. I think Oklahoma City’s going to win. But as soon as Mark, of course, indicated that he likes Indiana. Folks, if you’re listening right now on the BLEAV or PodClips, you have your number of the bookie, right? Okay, call him up immediately. You heard Mark say that, although I got to give Mark credit, he did have the Florida Panthers winning the playoffs. Congratulations, Mark, you got one right. Folks. That means he misses the next two or three, guaranteed.

By the way, Fred, I want to throw out a shout to C.J. Mosley, retired from the Jets after 11 seasons. Four-time Pro Bowler right when the Jets get themselves set up to possibly have a good season, their best linebacker, hey, he says, I’m done.

Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh.

Laura, final thought,

Uh, Aaron Rodgers.

What, the team? The players in Pittsburgh are speaking really highly of Aaron Rodgers.

Yeah, he likes this.

He might have a resurgence.

Cal Raleigh just hit his 29th home run in Wrigley Field, 6-4 Seattle. Because we’re live!

A switch-hitting catcher who is also a very fine defensive guy, not bad at all. All right, for Art, for Laura, for Mark, I’m Fred. Mario, thank you for putting the show together. BLEAV, PodClips, and Fred and the Fantastics. Join us soon for another edition. Bye, everybody.