The Last Shot Podcast

I can’t say it any better than Matt but if I’ve learned one thing from him it is no matter what…get your opinion in!

It is hard to believe it has been three years since the debut episode of The Last Shot Podcast. However, at the time of the first episode, it was simply referred to as “The Matt and Tony Show.” Shortly after that it was the “No Name Sports Guys Show.” Soon there after, we needed a real name. “The Last Shot Podcast” was born. Just recording the show wasn’t enough of an outlet and along came our blog. We did that for a while and then quickly realized we needed to move onto bigger and better things. That’s when our official home on the Internet became www.thelastshotpodcast.com Its been gravy ever since.

The show was started as an outlet to express all the things we did in a normal conversation, in a format that anyone could listen to. Matt and I were sick of ESPN and the non-stop sports news cycle of whatever they wanted to talk about. We wanted to be the guys and the conversation you could find at your local pub. Hopefully we would be a little entertaining along the way. I think we’ve done that and we’re still going strong.

Numerous guests have appeared on our show and yet we’ve still never talked to a single athlete. That’s just how we roll. iJustine is as close as we get to a celebrity on our show and it definitely brought us some attention. The most attention we’ve ever garnered was when we were mentioned on Sioux Sports (www.siouxsports.com). A Special Edition episode was in order and we did it right and gave out a lot of thanks. It remains one of our most downloaded episodes. From time to time Matt and I would lend our talents to other podcasts. More than I ever thought possible. Pretty amazing stuff for two no name sports guys.

Steroids, National Championship chases, opinions, legends, technology, high rollers, elevators, UND guys, TV shows, movies, nicknames, NDSU, music, Fighting Sioux athletics, drafts and all the sports stuff anyone could ever imagine has been covered at least once or twice on our show. Friends, family, life and everything in between. It’s all there, just go listen.

Matt’s right…our sound has certainly come a long way since episode 1. I’m not even sure I want to link to that episode right now, maybe later. Haha: (http://ourmedia.org/node/416002). One thing has never changed though and that’s the on air chemistry Matt and I have. Matt wrote me one of the nicest paragraphs of appreciation I’ve ever read and gave me way too much credit. Without him there’s no show to edit. I couldn’t do this show alone nor could I do it with anyone else. He’s family, he’s my boy, he is The Last Shot Podcast.

Thank you to everyone who reads our blog, listens to our show or ever has in the past. Thank you to all the guest appearances on the show and all the guest writers on our blog. Especially William from Pulling a Blyleven and of course Coach Uncle Burnsie from Stupid Island. We love you guys!

A sincere and heart felt thank you to Matt. It’s been a hell of a lot of fun and the best part is…we aren’t even close to being done!

I’m Tony…peace out!

A small list of thank you’s in no particular order: Our families, our friends, William, Burnsie, Ellerbe, Bill, Desiree, Heather, Justine, Plow, Daniel, Fanless, Tommy, Natasha, Joe, Pauric, Don, Eli, Chris, Ost, MVN. To anyone who has linked to our show or our website, participated on the show or left a comment. Thank you to our web host Lunarpages. Thank you to all the great developers of Wordpress and Podpress. Thank you to TalkShoe.Thank you all!

Honestly it’s not hard to believe its been three years it actually seems like we’ve been doing it even longer for some reason. Starting from writing on a blog to having our own website has been maybe the biggest upgrade in the three years but I could be wrong.(Tony’s the expert on that) I think the sound has improved drastically from the first time tell now going from a playstation head set which was like $20, to another head set that was $50, to my newest producer mic that cost around $100. I’m pretty set on this will be my final mic hopefully Tony can get into the 21st century of podcasting technology soon.

Sports wise in the past three years who was the first topic of the last shot podcast was the great Terrell Owens. Tiger Woods had 10 major championships and as of right now he has 14 majors to date. We also talked about Brian Freaking Lee and freaking Joe Freaking Finley and Tony said he was gonna knock some heads HAHAHA priceless. Ahh yes we got are buddy and pot smoking buddy Ricky Williams on the show I think I was smoking pot when I made the prediction in fantasy football on him. If you wanna know that prediction you’ll have to listen to the show. Just going through the first episode and brings back great memories now. Maybe at some point all have a top five shows or clips we’ve done in the past. So look for that.

Lastly I’d like to thank Tony for everything he’s done the last three years with the show. He puts in a lot of work editing and making this show the best it possibly can and has been. I have it way to easy in just making sure I have an opinion and make off the wall comments. Its been great doing this show with him the last three years and hopefully we can make it many more in the future. Also gotta thank Burnsie for his laughable kool aid drinking analyst and topics on the website. I’d also like to thank anybody else who has been part of the show and those who have been listeners at any point.

July 21st, 2008 Episode 94: “Legends and high rollers”

- Intros
- Money
- High rollers (Burnsie)
- UND hockey story
- Burnsie again
- Workin hard
- Burnsie again
- British Open
- Padraig Harrington
- ESPYs
- NFL, updates
- Matt’s guarantee
- Vikings
- Danica Patrick
- Michelle Wie
- Marion Jones
- Mike Vick
- Outros
- The end

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=alipour/080720

Padraig Harrington successfully defended his British Open Championship holding off the old man of the Open Greg Norman. Actually saying holding off is the wrong way to put it, watching Norman choke it away once again is better. Congrats to Patty on his win it couldn’t have been easy in those conditions.

Jason Taylor has just been traded to the Washington Redskins for a 2nd and 6th round pick. I think everyone had an idea that Bill Parcells wasn’t gonna keep Taylor around if he could get some kind of value for him. The Redskins were a playoff team last year and I think this move keeps them in the playoff hunt again this season. This team is playoff capable in my book right now and they saw what the Giants did with there defensive line come playoff time. The NFC East is gonna be tough again this season.

Packers think the Vikings have been tampering with Brett Favre, It’s tough to say right now whether or not they did. Daryl Bevill is a close friend I guess and they’ve talked, what they have talked about I don’t know and I don’t know who does. But maybe they have other evidence of it happening it will be interesting to see what comes out of it.

Then Finally my least favorite golfer in the world Michelle Wie was finally playing up to her potential and actually getting deserved attention for being in the running of the State Farm Classic. She actually had a great shot of winning this tournament but I guess will never know. Why? She didn’t sign her score card after her round Friday night, which didn’t get found out tell the next day and she was disqualified. Has to be a pretty crappy feeling knowing you could have won a tournament and got that monkey off your back but instead you get more criticism for doing a stupid thing like that. Come on now thats all you gotta do when you walk in that tent is sign your card thats what your there to do right?? Did she see something she hadn’t seen before that could have gotten her mind off course?? But I guess she learned the hard way and hopefully that won’t happen to her again.

July 15th, 2008 Episode 93: “To retire or not”

- Intros
- Long time
- Issues
- 100 g’s
- MLB All-Star game
- Home Run Derby
- Twinkies
- NBA
- NFL
- Brett Favre
- Vikings
- Manning
- Tour de France
- A Rod
- Toews
- Sioux players in the NHL
- Foreign pro vs college
- Burnsie
- The end

Well when I look at the field for this years home run derby I think of the FUTURE of Majory League Baseball. No it doesn’t have the the HUGE All Star Names like A-Rod, Griffey Jr., Manny Rameriez. But hey they didn’t wanna do it for whatever there reasons are thats great I have no problem with it. But I’m gonna enjoy watching this one tomorrow night because I’m gonna get to see the young talent MLB has to offer. The people who are gonna say this is a terrible field and isn’t worth watching are going to be the Yankee and Red Sox fans because they don’t have anybody on there teams representing them and just because they don’t know any of these guys in the derby its supposedly a bad derby field. All agree this probably won’t be the greatest derby ever, but I think it has a chance to be. Who is this talent I speak of you may ask??

Lets start with the National League first who has Marlins 2nd basemen Dan Uggla, Astros 1st basemen Lance Berkman, Brewers Outfielder Ryan Braun and Phillies 2nd basemen Chase Utley.

Dan Uggla: The guy has 23 home runs this year tied for 4th in the entire league, 2nd among 2nd basemen in the league. This is his third year in the league with the Marlins with him last year hitting his career high 31 home runs in 159 games played which he should break as long as he stays healthy. He maybe a 2nd basemen but this guy definitely has power.

Chase Utley: The other second basemen in the home run derby is third in the league in home runs with 25 home runs, first among second basemen in home runs in the league. This is his sixth season with the Phillies his best year home run wise was 2006 when he had 32 in a 160 games which he should also pass if he stays healthy. I like him to be the big hitter for the National league tomorrow night in the derby.

Lance Berkman: The old man of the group is tied for 9th in the league with 22 home runs and second among first basemen in the league. This his 10th season with the Astros his best season home run wise was 45 in 2006 which he could come close to breaking if all goes well for him.

Ryan Braun: He also is tied for fourth in the league with 23 home runs and tied for second among all outfielders in the league. This is his second season with the Brewers where last year he hit 34 home runs but only played in 113 games last season. I think he could get close to 50 home runs this season.

The American League will bring in 2006 A.L. MVP Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins, Indians Outfielder, Grady Sizemore, Rays Third Basemen Evan Longoria, and Rangers Outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Josh Hamilton: He has 21 home runs on the season tied for twelfth in the league and tied for sixth with all outfielders. This is his second year in the league and first with the Rangers where last year in 90 games he had 19 home runs so he has already surpassed that in 93 games played this year.

Justin Morneau: The man with the least amount of home runs this season with fourteen home runs and tied for 13th among all first basemen. In his sixth season with the Twins where in 2006 he had 34 home runs. As of right now it doesn’t look like he will pass it but the thing Justin is he’s big and has power which could make him a factor in the derby.

Grady Sizemore: Also tied for fourth in the league with 23 home runs and tied for second among outfielders in the league. His fifth season with the Indians, his best year home run wise was 2006 when he had 28 home runs in 162 games. He will easily pass that in no time when the second half of the season starts up.

Evan Longoria: Has 16 home runs on the season which makes him tied for 39th in the league and tied for 7th among third basemen. This is Longoria’s first season in the big Leagues with the Ray’s and there is tons of hype around this kid so it’s just gonna be fun to watch and hopefully he can put on a show.

Two days ago, I visited Glacier National Park in Montana.  It is a beautiful park, and I heartily recommend that everyone visit at least once.  The highlight of my time there was the “Going to the Sun Road,” a 50 mile drive through and around the Northern Rockies.  The road culminates at Logan Pass, which sits atop the Continental Divide.  While at the Logan Pass visitor center, I had the following conversation:

Me, wearing the Adrian Peterson “All Day” t-shirt which I received as a Christmas gift from Tony

Packer Fan, wearing an old and faded Packer Super Bowl Championship sweatshirt

Me:  “Hey Packer fan, is Favre coming back?”

Packer Fan:  “Absolutely!” (spoken enthusiastically, with a very large grin)

Me (wanting to rain on his parade, as any good Viking fan would do to a Packer fan):  “Yeah, in purple!   Skol Vikings!”

Packer Fan:  “That would be my worst nightmare.”

Me:  Laughing hysterically

I’m just sitting hear listening to some of my favorite country music stars right now and was like I’m gonna give ya’ll my TOP FIVE ARTIST I’d love to see in concert right now. I’ve only been to one Country Music Concert so far and It was Emerson Drive and they were great so If ya ever get a chance to see them do so, great young talent. But they didn’t make my top 5, but here’s who did. Enjoy!!

1. Garth Brooks - Nobody comes even close to this guy for song after song after song that he could play in concert. I don’t know many bad Garth Songs that I can’t listen to.

2. Brad Paisley - I love this guys songs like “I’m still a guy”, “Letters To Me”, “Little Moments”, “Ticks”, “She’s Everything” to name a few. I love how he can have a sense of humor in some of his songs and then be so serious.

3. Keith Urban - I love the way he plays the Guitar and have heard he put on one hell of a show which makes me wanna see him even more. Songs i’d love to hear live “You look good in my shirt”, “Somebody Like You”, “Who wouldn’t wanna be me”, “Everybody”, “I told you so”.

4. Kenny Chesney - This guy Is no doubt one of the Best country singers if not the best going right now but i just think the other guys would give a better all around show but hopefully someday maybe he can prove me wrong. Some of my favorites of his are “Don’t Happen Twice”, “You Had Me From Hello”, “She Thinks My Tractors Sexy”, “What I Need To Do”, “Don’t Blink”, “Better As A Memory”, “Never Wanted Anything More”, “The Good Stuff”, “There Goes My Life”.

5. Rascal Flatts - I love this group to they have plenty of songs that I could listen to over and over all day long, here’s a few of them: “My Worst Fear”, “Mayberry”, “These Days”, “I Melt”, “Love You Out Loud”, “Yes I Do”, “Every Day”.

Ok I’ve got no problem with Brett Favre he seems to be a great guy off and on the field and he’s one of the greats to ever play the game no doubt about that either. But for GOD’S sake and MINE please just stay retired or keep playing!!! Make up your freaking mind, yes I’m sure it’s tough to make a decision like this but other great men in the NFL have made this decision and STUCK with it. It’s fine if you still wanna play, play tell your freaking green in the face!!! I’m sick and tired of reading PFT and ESPN and watching ESPN and them talking about whether not your going to freaking play or not it’s SICKENING!!!! All your doing Brett right now is hurting your team by pulling crap like this, how Is Aaron Rodgers suppose to get in respect from his teammates and fans when he and the rest of them have to deal with your old ass not being able to make a decision and stick with it!!! So all I’m asking as of right now is make up your mind and let the world know once and for all what your gonna do, it’s simple as that!!! But Brett come on back take the Pack back to another North Division championship and stick it to the Viqueen fans a couple more times, but just make sure you do it soon or I’m gonna hate you more then Brady Quinn!!!!!