Episode 103 - MLB Review and Batsu Game

Mike, Tim and Ray discuss the just completed MLB season and their picks.

Since Mike's original picks turned out to be a total dud, he gets the batsu game.

As punishment, for showing non-love to the hometown Kansas City Royals, Mike had to wear Royals temporary tattoos, starting right after the podcast and throughout the evening, including the hockey game the group attended.

Fair use: to close today's episode, we included "Royals" by Lorde, a song inspired by an old photo of Royals HOF'er George Brett, who was on the team when they made their last playoff appearance in 1985 (when KC won the World Series 4 games to 3 over St. Louis).



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MLB Prediction Check

So, those MLB picks Mike and Tim made?  Here's how they did:

Division	Mike's Original	Mike's Adjusted	Tim's Original	Tim's Adjusted	Actual
NL East	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington
NL Central	St. Louis	St. Louis	St. Louis	Milwaukee	St. Louis
NL West	San Francisco	San Francisco	LA Dodgers	LA Dodgers	LA Dodgers
NL Wild Cards	Atlanta Cincinnati	Atlanta Cincinnati	Colorado San Francisco	Atlanta San Francisco	Pittsburgh San Francisco
AL East	Boston	Toronto	Tampa Bay	Baltimore	Baltimore
AL Central	Detroit	Detroit	Kansas City	Detroit	Detroit
AL West	Oakland	Oakland	Texas	Oakland	LA Angels
AL Wild Cards	Cleveland Tampa Bay	Cleveland LA Angels	Boston Detroit	LA Angels Kansas City	Oakland Kansas City

Mike's Original Picks: 5/10
Mike's Adjusted Picks: 6/10
Tim's Original Picks: 6/10
Tim's Adjusted Picks: 8/10

MIKE, BATSU GAME!!!

Mike's batsu game will be formally announced and executed in our next episode of the podcast.

Episode 102 - Know Your Football Clubs: Scotland

Know Your Football Clubs today turns to the part of the UK that's trying to declare independence, yet is already independent in terms of its football: Scotland.

When most people think Scottish football, they normally think the Old Firm: Glasgow's often sectarian local derby between Celtic (Catholics) and Rangers (Protestants).  There's more than these two historic clubs, of course, but Scotland lacks the plethora of notable clubs that their neighbors to the south boast.

Primary discussion involved the following clubs (listed alphabetically):

Aberdeen	Celtic	Heart of Midlothian	Hibernian
Queen's Park	Rangers

We also mention the following clubs in our discussion (also alphabetically):

Alloa Athletic	Cowdenbeath	Clyde	Dumbarton
Dundee	Dundee United	Dunfermline Athletic	East Fife
Falkirk	Hamilton Academical	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Kilmarnock
Livingston	Motherwell	Partick Thistle	Queen of the South
Raith Rovers	Ross County	St. Johnstone	St. Mirren

Learn more about Scottish football and its clubs at the BBC website.

One fun fact: just how close are the two Dundee clubs?  This close:

Fair use: The fact that there is a football club called Clyde in the Scottish football system has Mike thinking of the South Park: The Stick of Truth video game, which features Cartman giving the order: "Ready!  And... Let's beat up Clyde."

Next time: Spain



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Episode 101 - NFL GM's Treatment of Michael Sam

Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team (St. Louis Rams, in the 7th round of the 2014 Draft), had a very solid preseason with the Rams before being cut (a function of the Rams being loaded at his position of defensive end).  A couple of days later, Sam was signed to the practice squad of the Dallas Cowboys.

Why was Sam not picked up earlier?  One NFL GM claimed it was because Sam would be a distraction.  He wasn't a distraction at all during Rams' training camp.  In fact, the only controversy during camp came with a week to go in preseason - and was brought upon entirely by ESPN.

Are NFL GM's right about Sam being a distraction?  Or are they, for the most part, being a bit homophobic?

Mike and Tim discuss.



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EPISODE 100!!!

Happy 100th episode to us at the Winning Side Coaches!!

Today's discussion: Is fantasy football illegal in Kansas?  If so, under what circumstances?



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Episode 99 - NHL Expanding by 4?

Is the National Hockey League expanding by 4 teams?  Where are these teams (assuming they're for real) going to play?  Does Toronto need a second team?  Will KC get a team?  Will we see the return of the Quebec Nordiques?  Mike and Tim discuss.

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Episode 98 - USSF/MLS Rant/Discussion

The recent World Cup performance of the US national team coupled with the overt hostility toward real reform in North American soccer by the powers-that-be have Mike upset enough to warrant a rant on the subject.

Fair use: Since this is a rant, we revisit the famous Ned Beatty quote from the 1976 film Network.

Mike also gives props to two of his fellow soccer reform advocates on Twitter.  You can follow them at:

• Deacon Joseph Suaiden: @TheSoccerDcn
• Ted Westervelt: @soccerreform 

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Episode 97 - 2014-15 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Preview

Mike and Tim preview the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League group stage. Here are their orders of finish:

Group	Mike's Order of Finish	Tim's Order of Finish
Group A	Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiacos Malmo	Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiacos Malmo
Group B	Real Madrid Liverpool Basel Ludogorets Razgrad	Real Madrid Liverpool Basel Ludogorets Razgrad
Group C	Bayer Leverkusen Benfica Zenit St. Petersburg Monaco	Bayer Leverkusen Benfica Monaco Zenit St. Petersburg
Group D	Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Galatasaray Anderlecht	Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Galatasaray Anderlecht
Group E	Bayern Munich Manchester City Roma CSKA Moscow	Manchester City Bayern Munich Roma CSKA Moscow
Group F	Barcelona Ajax APOEL Paris St. Germain	Barcelona Ajax Paris St. Germain APOEL
Group G	Schalke 04 Sporting Portugal Chelsea Maribor	Chelsea Sporting Portugal Schalke 04 Maribor
Group H	Porto Shakhtar Donetsk Athletic Bilbao BATE Borisov	Athletic Bilbao Porto Shakhtar Donetsk BATE Borisov

In our knockout stage (top 2 per group), there is disagreement with only two teams:

Group	Mike's Pick	Tim's Pick
Group G	Schalke 04	Chelsea
Group H	Shakhtar Donetsk	Athletic Bilbao

As for our UEFA Champions League winners:

Mike's Pick	Tim's Pick
Barcelona	Liverpool

These picks are subject to batsu game.

Fair use: Because we mention "Bulgarian hate mail" (thanks to Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad being in the group stage), this episode includes parts of the Young Turks receiving "Bulgarian hate mail."



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Episode 96 - Batsu Game 11

Mike's batsu game for picking the Boston Red Sox to win a second-straight World Series has been decided:

He had to pose for a photo holding a signed photo of Jerry Rice while Rice was playing for a certain team that will not be mentioned.

Here's the photo:

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