Hour 2: NFL Power Rankings, plus ESPN Boog Sciambi Talks World Series

0:01Rich Eisen:This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18+.

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0:44Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Ladies and gentlemen. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here they are. The Rich Eisen Show. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. puts them in the lead with a two-run shot. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kirk Warner.

1:31Coming up, ESPN MLB announcer, Boog Shambi. Actor, Keegan-Michael Key. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:46Rich Eisen:Our number two of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. Boog Shambi has successfully navigated the traffic to get here as he is calling the World Series on ESPN Radio, which we're on right now, presented by Progressive Insurance. So he's going to join us in about 10, 15 minutes time, but he is in the building. He just told me something that blew my mind. Uh-oh. But I will not fill you guys in on it just yet because I would like your unvarnished reaction. Thank you. Also, Chris, he's probably in that taller than you thought he was category. Oh, interesting. But I'm excited. Cool dad points here. The voice of MLB The Show is in my green room right now.

2:27As soon as he walked in and you guys were talking, we could hear his booming voice out here. It's so great.

2:32Rich Eisen:It's so great. We're all fans. And all three of my children who play MLB The Show are all fans. And it's pretty cool. Yeah. Xander may be the only guy who's excited to meet one day both Taylor Swift and Boo Shambi. Well, he has versatility. He is. You know what I'm saying? versatile maybe okay we'll look forward to having him out here uh my power rankings in just a moment but lamar jackson is back everybody he's certainly back at a podium okay because you know there was an issue last week about that huh about him being back he's he's back at he's back at a podium um and um talking about his hamstring is that we've got up first right here okay hit it hamstrings can be tricky this is my first time having it and i thought i was able to move sometimes and you know it'll still feel like a little tugging part or early on when I was rehabbing and stuff like that so yeah I didn't want to end my season in my career on a hamstring injury though.

3:31Rich Eisen:Okay and his career that was very dramatic. Okay that went to an extreme there. I mean you know how bad it could have been. Okay I like it. Remember Ricky Williams used to do interviews in his helmet? Yeah I mean Lamar showing up in his balaclava right? Is it that cold right now in Baltimore? Is it? I don't know. We're out here in Southern California. It's like a 90 degree heat wave right now. Ricky had like a public speaking shyness issue. I mean, Lamar, he's back, man. It's great. And the I guess the big story when the Ravens were playing like Cam Ward's Titans Like a donkey? And you know, Then you drill down on all the details, right?

4:19Rich Eisen:And the media makes things, mountains, molehills, and whatever. We will do that on occasion. The news, and that John Harbaugh has downplayed, said this meant nothing, folks, is that all the fun and game stuff in their locker room was removed, like ping pong tables removed. I got one if they need the replacement. Sir, we're just asking you for yours for years. We want it here. Listen, certainly if you got it as a parting gift from The Price is Right. which i did after your double over listen hey i got there joe that's true you just refer to me as joe yeah i got a lot of joe eisen show everybody that's a new one but apparently it was lamar who said get that stuff out of here and uh lamar um spoke about that as well i appreciate mr steve for putting that in there for us you know but um yeah we had to focus i would say people don't take the job seriously don't get me wrong but like i didn't feel like it was the time for that you We got a lot of work to do.

5:16What's it going to take to get the back in? Keep winning. Keep winning. Keep winning. Because we're not going to have him the rest of the year, so keep winning.

5:25Rich Eisen:I like it. I think it's Mr. Steve Bishotti. Is that who he's referring to? Yes, I would imagine so. Was he the one who personally put the credit card down for the ping pong table? I don't know about that. Who else would? At some point. Might have been a proxy. But how about that? I love this. Don't forget. Remember everything was going sideways with Lamar? is he a pro? Is he showing up on time? Is he eating right? Is he working out? And now he's just like scrolling through saying what's with the ping pong stuff? We've lost a few games in a row. What's going on here? Lamar took the NFL no fun league to the extreme.

5:55Rich Eisen:You don't want them having no fun in there. You know how they're going to have fun? Winning? Yeah. And making me look like I know what I'm talking about. In what way, Rich? I told you when they were one and five, don't give up on them. You did say that. That's what I told you. I'm like, there's a path. There's a path to get those ping pong tables back. Whatever else that's in there. Same could be said for us. You know what? If we ever have a bad show, that pool table's gone. You understand? It's really heavy. If we have a few bad shows in a row, I mean, it'd be tough to take all the fun stuff out of here since this entire thing is fun.

6:34Rich Eisen:It's like a fun house without the air holding us up for us to bounce around. The putting surface is gone. You guys putting before the show? Come on, man. You know, I got to work on my short game. You playing pool. Can I keep my kendo stick? Come on. Your kendo stick? Sure. Okay. But if we have a full week of bad shows, that thing is gone. Oh, no. He's a kendo stick. Whatever works, guys. Whatever. I just love the leadership from Lamar. I love it. He's just strolling through the locker room, shaking his head at the young 'uns. He's the OG strolling around, shaking his head at the ping pong and all that other stuff.

7:09Rich Eisen:He's, like, gone. everybody thought it was John Harbaugh coming in and saying I'm lowering the boom everybody. Well it has to be Lamar right? He said it it has to be him I don't know before everyone's just like wondering if he's you know going to be the leader and the lead dog is he going to be the first in and the last out. Look at him now man and this is after he got the bag when I said all the way around. When I said it has to be him I meant like it had to come from him Sure. Don't lose to Miami. There he goes. That, by the way, is 100 % right, though. Because you look at their schedule, it's all set up.

7:51Rich Eisen:The two against Cincinnati, the two against Pittsburgh are still on the docket. Their last one against Cleveland. They've got Miami on a short week. Miami just played their best game of the year. It's best game of the year. At Minnesota, make life miserable for J.J. McCarthy. Jets man a New England game that one's sticking out big time old school Baltimore New England Vrabel in the mix at Green Bay that's a big one at Pittsburgh you win the division games it's over same thing like I said about well I said when your division games it's over for the Steelers because they're 4-3 when your division games and the other ones that you're supposed to win for the Ravens and then it's over they're focused I swear you know one bad segment and I gotta take something away we can't have it that's a shame thank you very much but the one thing that's absolutely staying Mike is in front of you that brick phone from Wall Street signed by both Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen now that is so dope that's the last thing to go that might be the black box indestructible item that's in this studio right now No matter how bad the shows are, that thing stays.

9:08Rich Eisen:That's my thing to leave that to me as well. I want the Feli Del Tufo bobbleheads aren't going either. Look at that thing. The bobbleheads are going. Charlie signed it, Money Does Sleep, right? I love it. 844-204-RICH, number to dial before we bring out Boog Shambi of ESPN Radio, calling the World Series here in Los Angeles. It's a Wednesday. You know what that means. It's a Wednesday, and these are the most powerful rankings you can possibly imagine. Let's get the pen out. It's my power rankings presented by Sonos.

9:45This is power rankings. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Power rankings.

9:51Rich Eisen:All right, I got to tell you, there's a lot of teams that were on my power rankings already from last week. We're on buys, and a lot of other teams won. So there's going to be a couple that won and dropped, which doesn't normally make sense. Sounds like excuses, Rich. No, it's not excuses. It's just giving you a heads up. You know what? I'm front loading your complaints with my response. That takes the fun away. I don't think it takes any fun away at all. But you know what? I'm just let's just put it this way. I'm giving you a plus one seat to root against me right now. So it's not that hard, is it?

10:29Rich Eisen:Yeah, it is. Number 10 on the list are the Bucs down one spot. One spot. I'm a little concerned, a little concerned about the injuries mounting. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit. But it's a division game. Those can get ugly. The waters can get muddy. And defensive victories usually don't play as well in power rankings as offensive-led attacks, like, say, the Bucs a couple weeks ago in Seattle, where Baker basically won a Big 12 Pac-10 battle against Sam Darnold. You know what I mean? So they're down one spot, but they're still on my list. And then up one spot because they just boat raced the Carolina Panthers.

11:13Rich Eisen:The Bills once upon a time at 10. They're now at 9 on my power rankings list. And I can't pop them over the Patriots. So I'm keeping the Patriots. Oh. Tastes like a buffalo. At 8. At eight. Because I think if the Patriots played the Rams, I think the Rams win the game. You're wrong about that. So does that mean? All right. Number seven is? The Rams. They're down one spot on a bye. I take Brock in that game. They're down one spot. And the only reason why I didn't keep them right before is because I downgraded the Eagles one spot as well. That's a shame. Down to six. And the Eagles beat the Rams.

11:54Rich Eisen:So I'm kind of trying to be as consistent in that respect as well. I do love the fact that the Eagles have started. I mean, they found Saquon. I guess it all took was one other game against the Giants. And put Jalen Hurts under center. If the guy's comfortable, just take that shotgun stuff. I'm not going to throw it out, but put him under center. And let's just see what's going on here. Up two spots. Cracking my top five. What's cracking? Are the Denver Broncos. they are they're playing lights out um you just heard kurt warner say bo nicks had the best game on tape along with jordan love of the week and they finally started fast i am concerned that patrick sertan is going to be out for a couple weeks it's joddy baron now having you step up with riley moss uh a a much maligned uh denver bronco he's got a fill in the slack they're in houston which had its best game of the year i think against the niners last week so we'll see if the texans and the broncos can be as entertaining as i think they will be but denver is now um top five and then uh a lot of godfather part two drops man i kept the chiefs right where they are at four um i kept the packers right where they are at three i kept the colts right where they are at two despite the Chiefs, Packers, and Colts coming up with highly impressive wins.

13:21Say what you will about the Tennessee Titans, but the Colts usually, listen, in a division game,

13:28Rich Eisen:you throw records out and what they did was throw the Titans out of the building and Jonathan Taylor is just lighting it up, but I still believe at the end of the day, the team that is the best in the NFL roster wise coaching wise quarterback running back receiver defense wise I I still I still can't quit the Lions right now even though they were on a buy and I downgraded some other teams on a buy this past week like the Rams um I I still think the Lions are the best team in football I still think they are going to win the NFC I know the Packers are in front of them i know the packers have already beaten them and i already said earlier in these power rankings you know this team i can't put them above this one because they lost to that one um i i'm just there i just can't be pushed off it i kind of dig the lines and what they did before they're by they're going to come back healthier brian branches back from his suspension they're going to take on the minnesota vikings this week and now that adan hutchinson is paid like hey adan first up go hunt your other wolverine and jj mccarthy who's coming back from an ankle injury and test that one out right away the lions lead my power rankings entering week number nine my power rankings are brought to you by sonos explore soundbars speakers and more at sonos.com sonos products look as good as they sound and i should know because i use sonos gents comments questions you are my plus ones sitting with me right now even though you're you're rooting against me these are probably the 10 best teams you know i i might have had indy one green bay two just because they did play last week and we saw them recently yeah i don't want to i don't want to penalize for a buy but you know the week one win and i like what green bay is doing right now so do i and christian watson coming back only adds to that mix emmanuel wilson might maybe spelling josh jacobs a little bit more he's he looked pretty darn good right yeah christian Watson, like he's just said, being back.

15:30Rich Eisen:I think that's huge for that. I agree with you, and Love just played the game of his life in the situation of his life, you know, which is outside of the playoffs, obviously, in which he's performed, which is that's Rodgers, this is me, that's Green Bay, that's Rodgers' routine. He just lit it up. Feels like these are the 10 best teams. Alright, I appreciate that. I'll take it. Maybe Seattle over Tampa. You gave the reasons why they might not be one, because they lost to the Packers and the Packers. I have no issue. And Seattle was on a bye. The Bucs did win. The Bucs have beaten Seattle. I'm not going to take the Bucs completely off the list because they didn't boat race the Saints.

16:09Rich Eisen:I think the Colts should be one. Injuries are mounting. You think the Colts should be one? I don't blame you. But I don't know. Lions play the Colts right now. I think they could stop. They could win it. Yeah, that'd be a great game. Were you about to say they could stop John Taylor? I did just say that. I said that they could basically say, all right. How about that? Contain him. So he has... You can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him. Maybe. I don't know. I'd love to see that. That'd be an interesting Super Bowl. I think it would, too, sir. Would it captivate the masses, though? Probably not.

16:41Rich Eisen:But everybody says that. The football heads would. Guys, Arizona versus Pittsburgh. I ran into an NBC executive of note, whose name I won't say publicly, who was lamenting. Ruth Arledge? Well, I mean, no, he was lamenting. Because Arizona, as you know, it could have been Philadelphia versus Pittsburgh, right? And it could have been anybody but Arizona. And that turned out to be one of the highest-rated Super Bowls that was as exhilarating as possible with a play that we see over and over and over again. Many of them, from James Harrison to Antonio Holmes to all of it. So you never know. You can't just sit here and say it would be of no interest because it's Indianapolis.

17:20Rich Eisen:I disagree. By the way, also right now, it could have been Los Angeles versus Boston or the Yankees or anything like that. Instead, it's the Blue Jays. And I think this is an outstanding World Series. Excellent baseball. It truly is. Speaking of which, Bootshambi's calling it for ESPN Radio. Let's bring him out here on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance and Disney Plus and the ESPN app everywhere. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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19:15Rich Eisen:com slash debt play loans originated by sofi bank na member fdic terms and conditions apply nm ls 696891 fast funds terms apply at sofi.com slash debt play you are doing it in my own my household with my kids boot shambi uh the voice of the world series on espn radio presented by progressive insurance is here in studio uh what an epic game three that was i know game four is more recent and obviously it tied the series up but i would be remiss if i did not ask you where that ranks in terms of the games that you have called yeah it's for anything so i think you know what's funny is that showman was the voice of the world series on the radio dan shulman is now the voice of the blue jays and isn't he calling it on cbc right now okay so they're so they're they're still doing it they're the one team that gets to still do their local which is pretty cool yes on television with buck martinez but in 2018 he called the 18 inning game and then i believe the next night he was still battling some laryngitis i ended up being flown in from new york to call game five the clincher because he got kind of worn out at least in part yeah due to that 18 inning game but that one the other night was incredible there was a part of me that was curious to see how far it would go i had a pretty good idea it was going to end on something going over the wall that's right um right but it was surprising to me a couple of the balls that didn't get out because will smith i thought had one and i thought freeman had one before freeman got one yeah it's one of the things you know to go dorky but you know back in the day people used to talk about dodger stadium and that the ball doesn't carry at night that is not the case anymore this has played the last three years as the top home run hitters park in all of baseball um but the marine layer kind of showed up the other night and we saw some balls you know freddie said i didn't know if it was gonna go so it was it was memorable we were exhausted at the end of the night it was uh it was really cool yeah and uh so you have like a lozenge what do we do a little tea with honey so to me it's more i'm already as soon as you say that i'm thinking of luduba coming in and saying don't be a lollipop i uh so so my my my main thing that i tell people is that it is not about my voice yes my voice gets a little tired and i feel it a little bit the next day it's your brain it's the concentration i probably shouldn't out myself on this but yes um the call if you listen to my call yes i say var show back at the wall at the track it goes the track the wall yes in terms of yes the you kids out there it goes the track and the walls the warning track then the wall but you're a little tired so you might miss but look you know from doing this from doing play by play oh gosh one part though is just there's the concentration is just because it's in here doesn't mean it's going to come out there and there are times when you know the information just sometimes this isn't going to cooperate and it just it it's going to happen you know if you call mike trout steve trout because i remember the left-handed pitcher when i was growing up it's not because i don't know that it's mike trout it's just sometimes mechanically it's not going to happen and if you know we followed all of you around for three straight hours you'd say dumb stuff too i love it yes thank you for coming from everybody because i i've i've done that yeah and and nothing like i'll do this show but i get i'm fortunate to be able to do it every day in a cadence yep so if something doesn't go right out of my my pie hole i'll be able to just bury it and move on if i do that with play by play it sticks with me for a long time no doubt i really beat myself up significantly because there's a responsibility to meet the moment be accurate get it right and and also um you know avoid a moment like this one i'll i'll you know share with you i've i've shared it here before um so i had a game bucks texans on nfl network jamis winston versus deshaun watson first quarter and i'm thinking all right I'm doing pretty well.

23:41Rich Eisen:I'm calling this game. And I look down at my phone, and it's my wife, Susie, calling. And I'm like, uh-oh, because, you know, there's got to be an emergency if she's calling me during the game. I pick up the phone, and she says literally, what the F is wrong with you is what she said. And I'm like, what do you mean? And she goes, you don't know? And I'm like, no. She goes, you've been calling Watson Winston and Winston Watson the entire quarter. and I had no earthly idea. And if you had asked me, what are you doing? I would have sworn I got it right. It's crazy, man. So I've been there and I've been in that Mike Trout, Steve Trout thing.

24:22Rich Eisen:But you do it once. I did it for an entire football quarter. How you doing? I mean, look, I have empathy. I do. I'm right there with you. Well, let's talk about this World Series. Boog Shambi here on the Rich Eisen Show. So now what do you think it comes down to here? It's just going to be boiled down to a certain sequence and the ball's got to bounce right? Or do you think one team does in fact have an advantage over another right now? Look, asking me to predict what's going to happen over a three-game span is a fool's errand. That said, all you can do is look at it on paper. And to me, on paper, the fact that the Dodgers have Snell and Yamamoto going in two of the next three gives them the advantage.

25:10But if you're telling me that the Blue Jays win the World Series, I'm not anywhere near shocked. Right. So I have to go to the starting pitching advantage that the Blue Jays have. If there's one element of this series that surprised me at least a bit, it would be the Dodgers had a monster offense this year. They scored, and their offense has not gotten clicking, and the Blue Jays have good pitching. I'm surprised that this entire postseason that the Dodger lineup hasn't really rolled.

25:41Rich Eisen:What's your favorite Otani story that you've heard from somebody? Anybody. Dodgers, organization, somebody that you've come across around a batting cage? Gosh, that's a great question. I have Otani things that ramble around in my head. So the first thing is they list him at 6 '3", 210. If he's 6 '3", I'm 210. Like he's 6 '4 and a half and he's probably 235. The other part that I'm dying to ask him to do, I don't believe he's done it, but it's hard with the translator to get at it. So there's a machine called Traject that almost all these teams have now. And what it is is a pitching machine for the hitters.

26:25and it will take basically a video of the guy. So he's throwing from the slot that he throws from. So you're taking Blake Snell. Now, it doesn't just show you Blake Snell and have him release from where he releases from. The spin rate on the changeup is the same. The spin rate on the fastball is the same. The shape of the slider is the same. What I want is Otani the hitter to face Otani the pitcher and say, what do you see? I think that would be amazing. I don't know about that. And I don't believe he's done it. And then I asked a couple of guys on his team and they said they didn't think he would.

27:05Why?

27:06Rich Eisen:Because he doesn't want to know the answer. No, because as funny as it sounds, with all this high tech equipment, he basically does like flips and soft toss. He doesn't hit off of like the high velo machines or anything like that is what I'm told. So, look, he's incredible. The one part about it with last night, the night before, he's cramping on the bases. He's on the base nine times, and everybody's sitting there saying, man, I don't know. And, yes, I understand. We have expectations. But at a certain point, when we're surprised by what he does, it's on us. Gosh, it really surprised me he was able to go out and throw six shot at innings and hit three homers.

27:46At what point are we, it's kind of our fault that we're like, God, this guy's different, you think? You know what I mean? So I just, it's stunning. It's Little League type stuff what he's able to do.

28:00Rich Eisen:And the Little League type stuff is also the fun that he's having as well. I love the smile. It's not just that. It's not just the smile, too. It's the living in the moment and having fun. There was a moment last night, again, he gets the leadoff walk, the intentional, unintentional, whatever you want to call it, and there's a fielder's choice at second. I don't know if it was the shortstop or the second baseman who fielded the throw for the out, but Otani slides in, and his foot, his cleat, lands on top of the foot of the fielder. I don't know if you saw this moment. He took, I guess, the back of his glove or something and he wiped off the fielder's top of his foot because he left a dirt smudge or whatever and then just kind of looked up at him.

28:47Rich Eisen:I don't know if he winked at him or whatever and ran off the field. I've never seen anything like that. Like he has those moments with his opponents or just being able to live and saying, I'm having fun at this. I could not agree more that it's a rarity that we get to see the competitiveness and the joy at the same time. You know, for the most part, with Michael Jordan, you would see the competitiveness. You wouldn't see the joy until it was over. To see guys have the joy, you know, with the Cubs on television, we have a pitcher named Shota Imanaga, who is the epitome of that. You get to see the joy and how hard he's competing, and I love that so much.