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And in the new podcast, Rain of Error, you're going to see his rise from aspiring musician
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The Florida Panthers book their ticket to the Stanley Cup final with Matthew Kichuk once
again providing the exclamation point.
Trey Turner hears the booze from his mom and responds with a very timely homer.
And Michael Bloch's amazing PJ story is not over yet.
From Wondery, I'm Tiff Oscensky.
And I am Matt Stroupp.
It's Thursday, May 25th.
And this is starting five.
Five sports stories to start your day.
We are starting things off in the Stanley Cup playoffs where the Florida Panthers finished
off a sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes to book their ticket to the Stanley Cup final.
And they did it in dramatic fashion.
Matt, that they did.
Tiff Carolina tied it up at three with three minutes and changed remaining in the third
period.
And as time wound down in that third period, it certainly looked like we were headed to
overtime for the third time in four games in this series.
Who among us was not thinking about the epic four overtime game that these two teams played
in game one.
I know I was certainly gearing up for another extremely late night pouring a gigantic cup
of coffee.
But in the closing seconds with Florida on the power play, the guy who has come through
time and again for the Panthers, Matthew Kuchuk did it again.
Look like it had no pick.
Check it in front.
Score.
Four quick win to go.
Into series winner.
And again for Matthew Kuchuk.
Man, four point three to go.
That was Kuchuk's second goal of the night, his ninth of this postseason as he scored
the game winner in three out of four games in the series.
Quite a pickup for the Panthers who landed the 25 year old in a blockbuster deal last
summer.
And after the game, Panthers goalie Sergei Babrowski, who had a huge series himself by
the way and saved 36 out of 39 shots on Wednesday.
He talked about Kuchuk's impact.
We are lucky to have Jackie on our side, you know, and it's, he's always, he's been
great for us all season long and whole playoff.
He know how to score big goals.
And again, we just like, we just fortunate to have him.
Yeah, it's definitely.
So the remarkable run continues for Chucky as they call him and the Panthers, who you
will remember, knocked out the Bruins after their record setting season.
And now Florida is back in the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1996.
Amazing.
And the match for the Stanley Cup final could be set as early as tonight, Thursday as the
Golden Knights are trying to finish off a sweep themselves against the stars.
All right, let's move to the NFL where Lamar Jackson was at his first practice since
signing his massive five year, $260 million contract with the Ravens.
And along with a whole bunch of new money, we might repeat might see a new approach for
Jackson on the field.
Yeah, Matt, seems like we'll be seeing Lamar throwing the ball more and running less.
Okay.
So far in his career, Jackson has run for 4,437 yards, the most by any quarterback in the
first five seasons as just a point of comparison.
Kim Newton, who was known for his legs, ran for 1,230 less yards than Jackson through
his first five years.
Anyway, this new strategy is thanks to his new offensive coordinator, Todd Malkin, who
believes the team needed a change in philosophy.
And the 26 year old quarterback apparently agrees.
Here's what Jackson had to say to the media on Wednesday.
I mean, just being able to throw the ball down the field running out going running can
only take you so far, you know, and I feel like with this new era of teams and offenses
in the league, I feel like we need that and coach Todd Malkin, when I'm saying his office
so far is looking tremendous.
With all of this in mind, it is worth noting that in games where Jackson has run for 90
yards or more, the Ravens have gone 16 and one.
But there was a price to pay as the two time pro bowler has been hit 877 times during his
five years in the league.
Ouch.
Plus his last few seasons ended early due to injury.
So you have to think protecting him is part of the reason for a new approach.
And they've added some intriguing new receivers, including Odell Beckham Jr. and Nelson Agilor
and free agency in Zay Flowers, a first round pick in this year's draft.
Jackson seems excited about the change and added that monk in is giving him more freedom
at the line of scrimmage, but we'll have to wait to see how much Lamar's running really
gets scaled back.
A lot of things are said in May in the NFL that are totally ancient history by the time
the season rolls around.
Yeah.
And speaking of running, 38 year old Adrian Peterson told the Fort Worth star telegram
that mentally he hasn't officially retired, which is a cryptic message if I've ever heard
one, but it sounds like he's open to potentially playing this year.
If he gets a chance, we last saw AP in the NFL in 2021.
Now we're moving over to Major League Baseball where the Rangers beat the pirates three, two
on Wednesday and continue to look like one of the best teams in Major League Baseball so
far.
Yeah, they really do.
Tiff.
And as you may remember, Texas went on a spending spree before last season signing Corey
Seager and Marcus Simeon to contracts combining to add up to $500 million.
But even with that half a billion dollar middle infield last season, the Rangers finished
a dismal 68 and 94.
Now it's been a much different story this year.
As you said, Simeon has been a big reason why and he got Texas off to a fast start on
Wednesday and his one o to Marcus Simeon.
This one hit well out to left field.
Looks like Marcus was ready to it is gone.
The lead off home run by Marcus Simeon and the Rangers waste no time in striking first
today.
That jump started a three run first inning to account for all of Texas scoring and Simeon
is now hitting two ninety nine with eight home runs on the season.
While the aforementioned Corey Seager missed five weeks with a hamstring injury.
But when healthy is looking like the guy who earned a three hundred and twenty five million
dollar contract from Texas, our friend, you know, Sarah's from the athletic.
Hi, you know, you know, as you may have heard on our other podcast, we're going to
cast the lead.
Made the bold prediction that Seager would win AL MVP before the season.
And in his limited time, Seager is certainly hitting at an MVP caliber level with a three
forty eight average and an OPS over one thousand.
And as for the Rangers as a team, they're now thirty one and eighteen first in the AL
West and they just snuck past the Rays for the best run differential in baseball.
Last year right now is looking like a distant memory for Texas.
For sure as for the pirates who lost to Texas on Wednesday, they've been going in the wrong
direction lately after a great start to the season.
But on a positive note for Pittsburgh, their starting pitcher, Johan Ovieto, threw an immaculate
inning on Wednesday, nine pitches, three strikeouts in the fourth inning.
Love to see you.
Sticking with baseball, let's move over to the NL East where another three hundred million
dollar shortstop was off to a rough start came up big for his team on Wednesday.
Yeah, Matt Philly shortstop Trey Turner, who signed an eleven year three hundred million
dollar contract this off season has not been the player Philadelphia expected him to be.
Heading into Wednesday's game against the Diamondbacks, Turner was hitting only two
fifty one with four home runs and six stolen bases.
He even said on Monday, quote, I'm honest with myself.
I've sucked.
Now I'm not going to be that harsh and agree with him, but Phillies fans.
Well, and did as they booed him during an at bat Wednesday where he chased pitches out
of the zone.
But Turner had a chance to be a hero when he came up in the bottom of the ninth two outs
the Phillies trailing by two.
In the air to left field going back on his carol back toward the wall.
It is gone.
The Phillies have just tied this game up.
Trey Turner, a two run home run.
But he's flipped the booze into cheers.
Philadelphia would eventually go on to beat Arizona six five and avoid the series sweep
thanks to an Alec boom walk off hit in the tenth after the game.
The story of the Philly boob birds continued as the media ask Turner about them turns out
the booing got a little personal as one of those fans happened to be his mom.
She told me today she was a booing me.
She actually texted me and said, you know, good game except for your fourth of bat.
And I said, yeah, not a good one.
And she said, I was booing you.
So there's nothing like a mother's love.
Now despite the win yesterday, the NL champs have been struggling this season.
They're 23 and 26 and are seven games behind the first place Braves in the NL East.
Now they're about to head to Atlanta, New York and Washington for a 10 game divisional
road trip.
So we'll see if Turner and the Phillies can keep the momentum going or if the boob birds
will travel with them.
Yeah.
And speaking of those Braves, they beat the Dodgers for three on Wednesday to avoid a
sweep.
Atlanta now joins LA as the only teams in the NL with 30 wins so far this season.
We're closing out today's episode in golf as the PGA tour heads to Texas for the Charles
Schwab Challenge starting today, Thursday.
And one of the golfers who will be in action is Michael Block, the 46 year old club pro
who in a lot of ways stole the show at the PGA championship last week.
That's if just to quickly recap blocks last four days or so on Sunday, he drained a hole
in one on his way to a tie for 15th place at the PGA championship, bringing home more
than 283,000 in prize money and qualifying for the PGA championship next year.
Now as you can imagine, many people have been interested in talking to him after this improbable
performance and that included an appearance on ESPN on Wednesday where he talks about what
happened when he recently received a text from the most famous sports Michael of them
all.
My Nike rep, text, meaning he goes, Hey, did you get MJ's text?
I'm like, what?
I'm like, MJ, text me?
I know I had thousands upon thousands of texts.
So I had, so I literally spent a half an hour yesterday just going through all the texts
that I could until I found them.
And then I replied back.
I've had the same problem, Tiff, trying to find my texts from MJ.
They get lost in the shuffle.
I seriously, I can't imagine the stress of being told you received a text from Michael
Jordan and not being able to find it.
That is terrifying.
I'm glad he did.
In one other block related note in case he missed it on Tuesday, he told reporters that
he was offered $50,000 for the club he used to hit his hole in one.
Wow, you know, just going to put it out there that if anyone wants to buy my seven iron,
I will sell it for way less than 50,000.
Yeah.
I mean, we're not greedy.
20, 30 dollars.
Dollars.
Yeah.
Dollars.
Okay, that is it for us from Wondery.
I am Matt Strow.
And I'm Tiff Oshinsky.
Thanks for listening.
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Hey, there.
It's me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Yeah, yes, that redheaded actor from modern family from Broadway.
I'm here to share a little secret with you.
I have a podcast.
I know a celebrity interview podcast.
Who's doing that?
No one, which is why I needed to.
That's why for my first podcast, I thought I would take us out of the studio and in
to restaurants across Los Angeles and New York City.
So please join me as I dine with the biggest names in entertainment, the culinary world,
and even politics.
People like Julie Bowen, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen, Jesse Williams, and so many more.
Like, I don't know about you, but there's just something about breaking bread that makes
me feel more connected to someone.
Am I saying a chocolate souffle is going to get me to reveal all of my secrets?
Yeah, yeah, I am.
So join me.
There's on me.
Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.
♪♪♪