9-7-22 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

Now that we see two legendary athletes in their 40s bid farewell to their sport.

In the span of a week, but that's exactly what's happening out on the women's side, Serena Williams, I mentioned these numbers earlier most watched tennis broadcasts in the history of ESPN networks when she bowed out in the third round at one point there were nearly 7 million people tuned in being this is the U.S. Open in which its a little over a million people on average watching matches and edits, height nearly 7 million people are watching Serena in the third round.

In the third set against Ila Tommy Amish.

It averaged better than 4 1/2 million viewers. Again, most watched tennis broadcast in ESPN's 40+ year history. More than Roger Fetter more than Raffaella doll more than no Bechtold events more than Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras or any of the other great and understanding. Recognizing that the sports world was only known Serena, regardless of gender, regardless of sport Serena transcends tennis and now we say farewell to another athlete who transcends her sport and that only has represented the red white and blue and been highly decorated but is also in her 40s. It's amazing right. The longevity of athletes who commit over to Cades and Serena mentioned decades of status she still would you say relatively young by normal standards, but she's given half her life roughly the sport of tennis and it's been and what I say half her life. I mean ultimately her entire life, but that goes into her 80s. Let's let's say she gets into her 90s. She's given this first half of her life to tennis and Hubert is done the same thing with basketball and in both cases these athletes have redefined their sport. In the case of Sue Byrd has redefined what it means to be a point guard what it means to be a quarterback on the vast bulk or a leader is when people list the number of titles that she's been part of it because of her leadership is because of her tenacity. It's because of not only her ability to set up her teammate certainly ability to score.

She's the she's the athletic point guard. She's a point guard that can do it all in on the women's side where she's had to play not just in the United States but in Europe as well for a good portion of her career as many of these women do that longevity is even more astounding. Not much down time for Sue Byrd over the last couple decades so we hear from her coming out, but yes, in the span of a week Serena Williams and Sue Byrd both riding off into the sunset. Moving on to the next phase of their lives and their careers. Pretty amazing to see the respect, not only from her opponents. The Las Vegas aces will limited the Seattle storm in the playoffs last night, but also to hear the respect from them. Opposing coaches and players, not to mention her own and eventually destroyed other words, again, a phenomenon were experiencing with two different women into very different sports. In the span of a week is after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio. Yes, I'm back. If you're just waking up on your Wednesday morning Holcomb I get after it. It's just a couple of days and we have football we have football we can see now that were staring downhill toward the weekend. We can see football common on Thursday night were live from the rocket mortgage Studios you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family.

Rockets can Serena Williams two matches on Wednesday and Friday. The second and third rounds at the U.S. Open. Those were really the only sporting events. I was tuned into while I was going on vacation I was monitoring counsel, but was on the tube but it was my last chance to take off and did not have to be immersed in sports and so I did take advantage of that by all standards my vacation was the most boring that you could possibly imagine. It was bull time it was. A little cooking little baking with mom. It was reading a book. Mom loves to read that we do. But your reading and into chairs in the living room. We went out to dinner.

I took lunch to her school in and saw that her teacher friend who at the church. It was as boring as as the life can possibly be. And yet I treasure those times of my mom because I don't get very often.

It was the first time that I saw her since Christmas and having lost my grandmother just a couple months ago. It really does underscore how valuable the times are especially since for 20+ years I've lived away from my family got a funny as I was just I was thinking about it really about Labor Day and how much I love my career but also how many years I've invested in this career now more than 25 and then I was thinking about that along. I've lived away from my family. Once I moved out and went to grad school in Syracuse and then started my professional career I I've never lived here my family again. I've followed the career wherever it's required me to go and that's been all over the country in different parts of this grand USA but I it's taken me away from my family and so as boring ends completely undesirable. My vacation for the majority of human beings. It was exactly what I needed and I really enjoyed it and did finally put the selfies up on Facebook you can check it out there after hours with Amy Lawrence and also on my twitter a law radio and thank you for your kind words about how is Ms. those are those are always nice to read.

I appreciate that. In addition, if you have not yet joined us on survivor island. That's partly my fault because it wasn't set up the right way and I know how to fix that. So I had to wait on producer J but I was on vacation so you know, just you can do the math. So it's now fixed. We have an island. For those of you who have played with us in the past and we have an odd separate island because you know someone call me a multimillionaire on Twitter on Tuesday with all my millions I can buy separate island so we got a separate island.

For those of you have never played before.

What you need is a CBSSports login and the link on our twitter and Facebook pages. That's all you need Facebook Twitter one the other find the link. It's there after our CBS or on our Facebook page and then you create a CBSSports login and boom your and now I'm not can remind you to pick. Maybe I'll remind you week number one only because I I haven't yet made my picks backside to survivor pools and enjoying one with producer J without a refund will do an after hours survivor entry and then survivor island. I have it be my pick it either. And so I've done it all remind you to remind me.

But once you login and you join us on survivor island you are on your own and then it becomes cutthroat. And if you're not watching your back, I will shove you into the water and feed you to the sharks by the way to my mom's teacher friends in Texas in the last three days had gigantic snakes in our houses okay no thanks. I love Texas you're always good to me and I fit in Texas more than I fit in New York City just based on my personality, my background, but I cannot deal with year-round spiders and year-round snakes and year-round bugs can do it. My mom doesn't. Without doing he was burning to burn petty without burning some some brush and some boxes and he comes back with his photo of a spider that had yellow yellow with black polkadots.

Are you kidding me. I do not ever ever ever need to spider see a spider that gigantic legs had to be 3 inches long gigantic spider with black polkadots on its yellow body know you will know you want to show you the picture and tell me how it's not venomous to humans. Oh, okay great I said what did you do with it, expecting that he killed it, or that he threw the burn petty thing that is left alone what it could hurt me if not venomous to humans.

Oh well. In that case mentally. Anyway, I love you Texas and thank you for being so good to me and thank you to Spirit Airlines had zero travel problems. I was a little bit nervous because everyone I know that travel problems the summer for the most part except producer J. He also lives a very charmed life.

But, well, that in fact I pray for your travel, your travels, you don't have to worry about but anyway I did not in any travel problems at all and so I was very grateful for that. It was an it was a low-key, laid-back and yet wonderful visit with mom so thanks for all of your kind words as I say, we watched Serena Williams and we enjoyed seeing the emotion and feeling the buzz. The excitement emanating from Arthur Ashe Stadium when she started talking about her family. I got teary when she mentioned her sister. I started crying like a total dork.

Besides I do appreciate that Serena is authentic and she's real and she's genuine and she turned this moment is all my guys are amazing and I tried everything you wish your mom of course, that really gets me because I was sitting there with my mom and my mom means the world to me and then she mentions her sister. I viewed amazing but good for Serena Williams. She goes out with class and grace.

And she called them happy tears and she talks about what she has coming up next in her life after sleep. By the way, she posted a photo on Instagram of her sleeping blanket. She was using.

Oh gosh go find the picture she was using some funny blanket but yeah, she's probably mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. Maybe love you mom and explore different version of Serena and technically in the world. I'm still super sore one.

I like have a little bit of a life form still walking the board and write important Tiger Woods talked about that, who by the way, was there in her second round victory. He talked about wanting to be able to play with his kids and be able to walk and reline and hang out with his kids without having to without having to know to be in pain all the time. It was no one a suitable one out blanket. I don't. I'm assuming that the hotel that she was sleeping in a New Yorker wherever she happened to be going, but that's what she did after losing in the third round and that emotional scene there in center court and even she and Venus playing doubles one more time.

Also on center court. So she went second round match doubles and then back to her third round match and they were marathon matches, especially the one against Ila in the third round and so just took everything that she had to give, and she took a nap with her will want a blanket to keep in mind those are happy tears. Keeping in mind that as she's about to turn 41.

She has sold many years ahead of her in which she gets to finally be something other than a champion in tennis should always be that, but she deserves the opportunity to explore some other part of her life. She's earned that still super young, as has Sue Bird and there is the transition in a week. Both Serena and Sue compete in their final serious competitions, we may see serene exhibitions. Lightly tennis players do and maybe we'll see Sue with some other capacity around basketball maybe not, but she got to hear the fans not only chant her name but serenade her as she walked off the court in her final WNBA moments he feels sad about the season and the game. I felt sad about the season in the game and I then think as the emotions started to come to the surface. That's also what I know deep down in and that that was my last game so is a combination of those two things, but overall just feels kind of weird didn't really want to leave the court if I like that's what he was going, so I just followed. At first, but I also wanted to kind of have one last moment to say thank you to soak it all in because in some ways it is a happy thing and am proud of everything we've accomplished here and of course I'm sad but there's happiness to both of them saying the same thing I was struck by that happy tears for Serena. There's happiness for Sue and everything that she's accomplished as the ultimate team player, a leader at the end your quarterback when you're out there as a point guard. The ones who do it right, you are essentially the same as a quarterback, and in many cases, are an extension of the coach as well and she always was that you can't write an extension of Jean Auriemma where she won a pair of national championships with the Huskies. Then she gets into the WNBA and she in the Seattle storm win for WNBA crowns. She's one of the most decorated Olympians in team sports ever. Five gold medals with team USA. She's also got European championships and the reason I say I list all of these and talk about the team titles the team accomplishments is because she's the common denominator she's running them. She's the engine she's the brain in many cases, so she redefined the position and shall redefine it for generations and and I talked about this before with younger athletes who play with Tom Brady against Tom Brady.

Younger quarterbacks i.e. said the same thing about young golfers of the next generation of golfers with Tiger Woods. We know Coco Goff and Naomi Osaka and other young tennis players grew up emulating and idolizing Serena Williams and it's the same thing with Sue Bird. There is now a generation of young girls and young women who have been watching Sue Bird play four years. That's who they wanted to be. That's why they play the sport that legacy matters as much as championships, especially in women's sports, especially in women's sports for a bazillion reasons and so congratulations to Sue congratulations to Serena Tom Brady decided to un-retired soldier to congratulate him again at some other point of the what pretty astounding.

In the span of a week to see these two women in our final serious competitions you can find me on Twitter a lot radio if you want to join us on survivor island without a brand-new link with a brand-new eyelid for those of you who are newbies you don't want to wait though because time is running out. We are nearly staring down the barrel of the NFL season.

I'm so excited Facebook as well. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio you are listening to the after-hours podcast the other week that we will go to our proper professional procedure will evaluate will have discussions will talk internally.

We'll talk oldies will go through our normal procedure to start your will disclose it to your report on after-hours Lawrence like, we share never gives you this distinctive version will very rarely. Every now and then will get a very cryptic answer or a current answer from Mike Tomlin but it's not often. Usually when he answers a question he trots out the vocabulary that no other NFL head units has or employs. They definitely moved their units and now, after watching them all move their units. Tomlin has finally let the rest of the world in on the secret. Not a very well-kept secret. Mitch Stravinsky is the starting QB it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio, but if you missed it, the depth chart was was revealed even before Tomlin made the announcement. It was Stravinsky one. It was Mason Rudolph to. It was his rookie Kenny picking at number three clerical or no is listed at start of training camp, so cut and paste component open for little bit more colorful! It is what it is this what happened. One other coach. This is a legit question not not rhetorical. Name one other NFL hot coach you've ever taught you better. Her talk about cutting and pasting just what does one auditing, one anyone in any and read about coach about clerical anything.

The only other example of anything clerical that I can remember is going back to 2014, maybe 2000 1415 when the Denver Broncos missed the deadline in the NFL office because something happened with their fax machine and their fax didn't get there when it was supposed to end because the Elvis Dewar bill did not re-sign with them. He became a free agent. I think that was the case I remember correctly, but they be able to fax machine error. It was a cut and paste component that no talked about cutting and pasting or a clerical error that it was a fax machine that screwed up so the Broncos brought all but was trying to get do rebuild agent to to send in the offeror. Yeah, I'd so this is the only time ever heard of a clerical error.

In fact, I feel like in most most places in 2022 clerical errors don't happen anymore.Errors happened because people refuse to use spellcheck but but clerical errors. It's easy to blame someone hacked them just said that I would've laughed my hours off. I got hacked that after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio. So yes, in fact, Mitch Stravinsky.

He was the one who moved his unit. The best Stravinsky's starting quarterback in our captain that we just really comfortable with Mitch's Sonos is a got it came to us with with franchise quarterback experience.

If you will, is comfortable in those shoes is been the focal point of a football team and organization before I am so so excited for multiple press conferences per week with one Mike Tomlin and glop. I suppose I suppose Mitch Stravinsky to but really to me he'd play second fiddle to Mike Tomlin's first fatal first chair is one quarterback storyline that we will watch were obsessed with our quarterbacks. Of course, which means that as we get into this first week everywhere we look, there will be quarterback storylines who got rookies brand-new guys. We've got guys were no longer rookies but who are trying to take what they learned last year and spin it forward into something that looks more like a believable NFL starter. For instance, Trevor Lawrence well I shouldn't say this, I shouldn't say no one and I caught myself before even said what I didn't want to say Braden mouth not in think is just right now it's not happening just I apologize but I been up now for more than 24 hours. Essentially, so the Trevor Lawrence debate fascinates me because even before he was a sophomore in college for heaven sakes he was considered the overall number one draft pick at whatever point he left Clemson and we been crowding him this incredible NFL starter for years without seeing him take snap in the pros, and I still think he has all of the tools and all of the potential, but he had a brutal first season he would say part of that was on him. Let's be honest.

Part of that was on the coaching and urban Meyer and the fact that urban Meyer and really anybody else in the jags organization were not on the same page and did not speak the same language when he even bothered to get on the team plane to speak to them at all. Now we've got Doug Peterson, who not only is a former NFL QB himself, but is been a quarterback coach on offense of coordinator at a head coach who one Super Bowl in large part due to the fact that he could take an offense that was led by an MVP candidate and Carson went that year and could more fit to fit the guy who stepped in, who was really nothing like Carson went and that was nipples. This guy speaks the language you could hear it when Trevor Lawrence talks about him and you could hear it when Doug Peterson speaks about Trevor Lawrence on this one we stole from a conversation with his former QB in Green Bay on Sirius XM NFL radio that would be Brett Favre mature young individual. All you know all ready to remind you that what you really weird when things got a little sideways. You were always in Trevor's drivers. Trevor doesn't get too hard to get too low and I think that's a great quality to have a quarterback in always got so much talent you do feel like you're start over just a little bit but what you understand to that he played last year as a rookie he played in a fill game meaningful games and you know how he is really bad and with with all the adversity that the pain went through last year. He is such a mature individual, but from a football fan for you. All you know we we could explode all season making sure he understood everything that we are trying to get done or philosophy here in Jacksonville that week weekly, sped it up and training Capt. and through as much. Adam, is that we could extremely well Doug Peterson talk about that quality which are Lawrence and to recognize that there is no pain at around Trevor.

Whether this new coaching staff for his teammates.

Even though the interceptions word in in Trevor Lawrence terms were brutal were astronomical that that's that's along the lines of what Peyton Manning did his rookie right which Peyton likes to remind us it's it was a low bar to start and certainly wasn't meeting the lofty expectations. The people had for him when he was at Clemson and when he was getting ready to come out and you know what same thing was say for thinking about happens a lot right the, the expectations are so skyhigh the regardless of what an athlete does, he could come out and have an incredible rookie season and not when title and somehow all of that is lost all the learning all of the wisdom experience that was gleaned all of that becomes really just a waste. It's it's such I hate that storyline. I hate that narrative there is value in losing Yoda tells me that all the time that failure best the best teacher is no failure. The best teacher is there. We got the best teacher is, but it's not just the fact of life. Lest you think I take all my wisdom from contrived movie characters, even great, it's true, we learn the most in failure and I feel like the idea that he even got to get better or that what he did last year was such an unmitigated disaster. It wasn't a winning team. To be sure, and it was painful at times, but the team kept going kept working. Despite all of the curveballs that were thrown at them with the with the coach that didn't know what he was doing. Maybe didn't care what he was doing until he can be able to wrap all of that into what he does this season with a coach who speaks his language, and I love that the idea that it's all a failure or that he's not going to be an elite, potentially delete quarterback. I hope that he puts all of that to rest of the season because ice drew. I do believe maybe not. The Jaguars is a playoff team this year but I do believe it or push teams and I believe in Trevor Lawrence as a quarterback as a starting quarterback who will eventually be one of those that we go gaga over again.

You can buy me on Twitter a lot ready if you want to join us on Survivor island whether you're new or the returning year. Wind were glad to have you. We've got just hours to go before the NFL season kicks off. How is that possible do you think we can all be as excited as Bill Belichick because I'm telling you what. When he gets excited. Watch out. You'll hear that.

Next, you may never hear anything like it again as long as you live so on. Later on our Facebook page to join us on survivor island.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the after-hours podcast here is my is use after-hours Lawrence real New York, but be for them either on Tuesday nights in the bay area there best picture, right aloud run in high for him. My career, I actually ate runs for him, but late at school 10 runs on 13 hits and so breaking the tie in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly and then hanging on for that victory in the bay area on Braves radio that Jim Powell 147 days and they finally catch up with the Mets now is it over to the no impact.

I hope it goes all the way to the last in the regular season like Giants and Dodgers did last year but still some Sumit storyline coming out of this one because Matt Olson had his return to the Oakland Coliseum is the courseware. He did the bulk of his damage.

He's been a really good addition to the Braves but more people know him from his time with the Oakland A's in a three run home run for the fan said the five fans who showed up to see him. There is this is a race that last year turned out to be no contest right so once the Mets said been caught. They did not have all the didn't have enough firepower to make it a race. They had used up everything they had just to stay on top of the NL East into August 2021. By the time the Braves and Phillies caught them pass them was done they were out of gas. That's not the case this year. The Mets and Braves right now.

Identical records 8551. Yes, the Mets of drop three to row the Braves of 16 straight and seven of their last 10 but I do not believe this race is over.

We wait to see what happens with Baxter's but it sounds like he's going to go ahead and make his next scheduled start though listed it day-to-day with side fatigue. They come up with all kinds of new injuries for baseball players side fatigue every afternoon when I wake up side with neck impingement. I've been dealing with this in neck impingement for the last two months. Although man alive. It was not nearly impact almost none.

Not even noticeable negligible over the last five days because I slept and there was no stress, no stress. That's the beauty of a boring vacation.

No stress spent time in the pool. It's almost like it's healed completely.

So I guess it's not a tumor. My mom gets so mad at me. I keep that mom would've at the tumor and she hears me that she yells me not to like Arnold Schwarzenegger. For those of you who know that reference thank you.

And so anyway I gone that my point is only that JA and I have these types of side fatigue that neck impingement. Every day we wake up many of you do as well get them out. We still managed to do our jobs. Baseball players are so soft. Many of them are creampuff.

Let's be honest, not all of them, but many of them are creampuff and some that I think they just decide they don't need to work hundred 62 days and so they they come up with some reason why we gotta be super cautious sometimes.

So anyway, Mets and Braves now tied the wildcard races will be go rate in both the AL and the NL. I am sure Yankees were rained out last night, so the raise and the Blue Jays both have an opportunity to pick up some some grounds of territory try to relaying the New York Yankees for you right away to his left Fernando a warning to all five runs on nine against Ridge Hill with the raise hosting the Red Sox and that's exactly what Kevin Cass wanted he wanted his guys come out with a hot bath early so it was contagious tried to write ourselves not let rich so we saw how good it can be when he gets on a roll, but we have made some adjustments. We are ready and scriptable so that the raise now within 4 1/2 games of the New York Yankees for 1/2 games is been steadily shrinking and I still say it's the Yankees division to lose over the weekend just because there are a few articles or different links that I wanted to make tried. I didn't MedSurg share with producer J when I got back I was reading a little bit about the numbers with the raise and the Yankees the Yankees were ahead by 10 games in this division. Not even a month ago 10 games, not even a month ago. August they were up by 10 games and is now down to four to half in July pre-All-Star break the Yankees led the AL East by 15 games. It's just okay.

Think about it in the in the span of say a basketball game when he was down by 20 you know much energy they expend just try to climb back into it so that there within striking distance and then maybe ultimately fall short of come up short because they used everything that the tank just to pull even that's kind of the idea here with the Yankees. The raise the Blue Jays will see what happens. Moving forward, there's still plenty of time and maybe the Yankees don't ever reignite their offense. Maybe that's the case, and the raise are able to not just real amendment bypass them, which should be studying your talk about the story of the decade baseball away, but it's not just the raise. It's also the Blue Jays and Blue Jays. By the way are battling another AL East opponent Baltimore strike you as well. We got back and forth Baker snapback of the pictures clear coaches separating the players out the bone that ever escalate quickly what of your growth Junior being restrained over towards the third base line really meets white in the middle of the diamond Guerrero and Hernandez since there is are two clubs that are in the thick of it, feeling the pressure of the playoff race all things very quickly.

It was a lot of drawing.

It was spread by both benches right in the middle of the diamond.

I'm not laughing at men behaving badly. It's it's just benches clearing conversation the baseball or can attain. So all that to point out the sense of urgency is much higher. The tensions are a lot higher and you get the seventh-inning chirping and then you end up seeing Baltimore score 5 runs in the third to get the victory and so that the this race is more about what for Baltimore anyway.

It's more about wildcard right it's more about them continuing to measure themselves against teams in the American League East were better than they are, but also trying to to reel in the Blue Jays and Philly have been using fishing analogy all night to catch the Blue Jays who right now are sitting in the number three spot in the AL wildcard race of its Tampa Bay at Seattle and then it's Toronto and Baltimore is three and half out so this is huge. It's huge for them to go toe to toe with the other teams in the AL East where for so long they've been the team that was in the bottom of that division and other teams would cut chalk up wins against them like the Yankees. It's after hours here on CBS sports radio promised you two things. The other sporting event that my mom and I watched the wall I was on vacation. Our pool halls as a bat is 695th home run amazing were now in Albert watch and I promised you that you could hear how excited Bill Belichick is the start of the NFL season. Are you ready I'll get you made.

I believe this drive ever hurt him.

This excited the question was about whether he still after all these years as the head coach gets excited for the start of football season. Also when he dared again. I'm not sure I can. I got lost his words and all of the above is in the anticipation that you can feel emanating from Belichick football seasonals member would your kindergarten teacher told you there was no such thing as a stupid question. Belichick is the antithesis of that he thinks all of your questions are stupid, unlikable layer than the comfortable life of all season dummy okay. Bill Belichick also in midseason.

Enjoy your Wednesday were back tonight. I'm never going on vacation again. It's after hours on CBS sports radio