00:00The bottom line is, we have five captains.
00:04Go to Philadelphia, right?
00:06Like, every player on their offense last year was a captain.
00:08Dillon Hurts is a captain.
00:09Dillon Hurts is a captain.
00:10AJ Brown.
00:11I mean, go up all, my lot of, go all up and down the offensive line.
00:15They're all captains.
00:15And so, we have five here.
00:17And that's what happens.
00:18Like, guys that you know and love.
00:19I mean, you could make the argument for me and Chris Lindstrom,
00:23we've seen, step in that role.
00:24But Jake Matthews, been here a long time.
00:26Like, he's the elder statesman, not a captain.
00:28Matthew Bergeron, to me, really the heartbeat of the offensive line.
00:31Not a captain.
00:32So, that's just the way that this team chooses to go about it.
00:35And I kind of like it.
00:36I don't think the captaincy should be just handed out to players that are important.
00:39Like, yeah, be a leader.
00:41You were a captain at Alabama.
00:44What, like, what changed for you when you became a captain
00:49as opposed to just a guy without that C?
00:51And I ask that because it's intriguing for me is just how different of a role that is
00:59or if anything changes.
01:01If you just went about your business doing this.
01:03I think, for me, I've always thought that guys just go about their business
01:06doing the same thing.
01:07Like, what changes?
01:09Well, for me, it was a couple of things.
01:11First and foremost, we didn't name official captains until the season was over.
01:15That's how Saban always did it because he didn't want anybody to feel like
01:18they couldn't be a leader if they weren't a captain, i.e. Drake Lennon at this point.
01:24Like, now you have a situation and you deal with it much more in college
01:28than you do in the pros.
01:29Like, this is not going to be a Drake Lennon thing.
01:30But if you name a captain before the season, if something goes sideways,
01:34there's a tendency to kind of be like, all right, well, that's the captain's problem.
01:37You know, we should all look at the captain instead of other guys stepping
01:39into leadership roles.
01:40Instead of everybody saying, all right, let's come together and kind of have –
01:43we had a leadership council throughout the season.
01:45And then at the end of the year, we selected three captains.
01:47And that's just how we went about our business in college.
01:50When I was with the Falcons and Mike Smith, like you voted on the captains
01:53before the season just like they just did.
01:55But I think for me, stepping into that role where everybody around you
02:00that you've looked up to throughout your career is all of a sudden gone
02:03and you're like, man, who's the leader in this room?
02:06Oh, God, I think it's me.
02:08You know, and all of a sudden you're having to instruct other guys
02:11and making sure that the film work is getting done,
02:13making sure the extra reps are happening after practice.
02:16But you know it has to get done because the guys before you did it.
02:19And then you look around and you go, oh, wait, I guess this is on me.
02:22Like now it's my turn.
02:23I want to make sure I'm understanding.
02:25So that you were named after the season was over.
02:27Correct.
02:28And then it would lead into the next season?
02:30No, no, no, no, no.
02:31No.
02:31So what happened is – so we would have captains that were like weekly captains.
02:35We had a leadership council of like 10 different guys.
02:37And you were on it.
02:38And I was on it.
02:40And every week like you would select like gang captains.
02:43Like say one would come in and go, hey, the captains today are going to be
02:45this guy, this guy, this guy.
02:47And he did it based on who he thought had a good week of work,
02:50who he thought was doing all the right things in the classroom.
02:52And like you would have four captains go out for the coin toss.
02:57That list was dwindled down by the end of the season.
03:00And then after – or right before we played in the SEC title game,
03:04you voted on those captains as a team.
03:07And you would say, all right, you can vote on anybody.
03:10But you kind of got a sense of who stepped into those roles throughout the year.
03:14Like it went from like I have no idea in week one who's going to go out for the
03:18coin toss to by like week five, week six, week seven when game day is in town
03:22and you have a huge matchup against like LSU, you're like, oh, no,
03:25that's going to be.
03:26Like that's how you felt about it.
03:28Who was the captain when you got here offensive line-wise?
03:33Was it Mudduck?
03:34It had to have been Mudduck, yeah.
03:35Did you ever like look at him and be like attitude?
03:37It could have been Claybo, but.
03:38Did you ever get an attitude before like leadership, captain?
03:41No.
03:41Because I always go back to remember the Titans thing where they –
03:43dude, that's a great line.
03:45Come on, man.
03:46No, but all seriousness, I just – I've never –
03:49I've never thought that it really changes those guys.
03:54Like to me, if someone changed how they acted in the locker room
04:00because they got a C on their chest all of a sudden,
04:03then maybe they weren't the right pick for it.
04:05Yeah.
04:06Like I've always thought you picked those –
04:07and that's – and I have a feeling that's probably why I say it's somewhat of –
04:11that's part of Saban's thought process that, you know,
04:15if you name someone it shouldn't –
04:16I just don't think that – if I walk up to you and tell you –
04:20I mean, you're the – like you're the captain, Allie.
04:22You're the captain of the morning shift.
04:23Like, are you all of a sudden going to start walking?
04:25I'm like, you've got to do what I say.
04:26Oh, yeah, I'm your boss.
04:27I'm yelling at you.
04:28I mean, you – those – these roles are picked
04:31because those guys naturally do those things.
04:34It's – and to go back to that for just one second,
04:37and this is a huge praise for Drake London,
04:40this is very similar to like Roddy White not being a captain like when I was –
04:44and it's not – you know, look back and you go,
04:47it's not shocking, but they were similar players
04:50where they were kind of the heartbeat of the team at the time,
04:52and you could have made that argument.
04:54Yeah, when you walk in that wide –
04:55if you walk in the meeting room with all the wide receivers right now
05:01and you know who the leader in that room is,
05:03you know who the captain of that room is,
05:05and that is – and that's something that I'm sure –
05:09if Drake went into Stefanski's office like,
05:11why not a captain, I bet you he would hear that.
05:13We don't know how it was picked.
05:15Like, the players might have picked this.
05:20And that's okay, too.
05:22A lot of people would say that your best player should be a captain,
05:24and that is the case with Bajon being in it.
05:27Well, and Drake is locked in for a few years,
05:29so there's always next season for Drake London to get that C on his chest.
05:32Now, tonight, Braves start a massive series in Philly,
05:36four-game series that wraps through Monday.
05:38Right now, the Phillies are four games back.
05:40They did have a 16-win streak snap by the Diamondbacks,
05:42but that loss was an anomaly.
05:45They really can't lose right now.
05:46Philadelphia has won 15 of 18.
05:49Here's Walt Weiss, though, talking about being excited about this series.
05:52Oh, it's great, man.
05:53I love it.
05:53Going into hostile environments and testing yourself,
05:56that's what Sporting is all about.
05:57Get your juices flowing.
05:59Sporting.
06:00He said Sporting.
06:01That's funny.
06:03I'm pumped for this series, especially tonight.
06:06I know everybody, you know, with – because I believe Sanchez is set to go,
06:11and that's going to be a heck of a pitching matchup.
06:13I don't know if we'll get another 1-0 complete game from Chris Sell.
06:17But, you know, the other thing about that real quick is, you know,
06:18Sell's – he's had more than full rest.
06:22Last time we saw him was that Thursday – last Thursday, right?
06:27So, it's been – he's on base on a full six days rest,
06:31seven if you want to go treat it like that.
06:33Yeah, it's going to be interesting the way the Braves approach this series
06:37in terms of the offense going against the Pigeon Sav of the Phillies.
06:40And I looked this up just to double check because I wanted to see what the ranking was.
06:44I was like, man, the Braves didn't walk at all in August.
06:46Like, no walks.
06:47I want to guess where they ranked in August in Major League Baseball.
06:50Dead last.
06:51Dead last in walks in Major League Baseball in the month of August.
06:55And that's frustrating because I think when you look at Sanchez tonight,
06:59he is going to challenge you to swing early.
07:03And with the pitch mix that he has, I think it's sinker changeup
07:08that he goes to early in the count, he's going to hope you swing early.
07:11And he's going to try to talk you into it.
07:13So, getting ahead in the count, working the count for the Braves tonight,
07:15which is not something that's part of their identity,
07:18is going to be something they have to do.
07:19And that's what playoff baseball is, man.
07:22Well, and it is Chris Sale, Sanchez tonight.
07:24And then tomorrow it's Martin Perez versus Zach Wheeler.
07:26Sunday, Tyler Malley versus Aaron Nola.
07:29And then there's been a change on Monday.
07:30We are skipping Bryce Elder.
07:32We are moving straight to Grant Holmes against Jesus.
07:35Congratulations, Allie.
07:35I'm just saying!
07:37I'm just saying!
07:38He's bumping up!
07:39Congratulations.
07:39You put it out.
07:40You put it out there in the ethos.
07:42And there you go.
07:44Yep.
07:44You have moved it.
07:45For Grant Holmes, though.
07:46He had a great game the other night.
07:48And who knows what would have happened if that rain delay hadn't happened.
07:51Yeah.
07:51I agree.
07:52Yeah.
07:53I mean, you go no-hit ball, you get moved up in the rotation.
07:57It's the Allie Mack effect.
07:59Is this the biggest series of the Braves season so far?
08:03Or is it the Dodgers?
08:04Well, this one's bigger than the Dodgers in my eyes because this is for the division.
08:10You look at the way the pendulum could swing, you could leave here seven or eight games up.
08:14You could also leave in a dead heat, in a dead tie for first place.
08:20So, you need to see the baseball you played Wednesday instead of Monday and Tuesday.
08:26That's for sure.
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