The Pickup Game with Tim Williams

After the regular season in the NFL concluded, two teams announced their intentions to move. The San Diego Chargers have become the Los Angeles Chargers effective immediately, while the Oakland Raiders are planning for a future move to Las Vegas. This all just one year after the St. Louis Rams moved to Los Angeles. Teams moving have become a part of life as an NFL fan. Sports business expert Evan Weiner sits down on this week's Pickup Game to discuss these moves and what they mean. We talk about the history behind the Chargers' move, and how Evan found himself in the middle of the controversy very early in the process. Los Angeles went 21 years without an NFL franchise. We discuss why the Raiders left when they did, and the various attempts since the mid 1990s to bring the NFL back to LA. Some of them, most notably a proposal the Raiders had before they left, had a major impact on the end result for the Rams and Chargers. Speaking of the Raiders, their proposed move just a year after being rejected for a return to Los Angeles has grabbed a lot of attention. We discuss why LA fell through for the Raiders, and what the process will be for Mark Davis' franchise as it goes through a long relocation. Finally, Evan breaks down for us the difference between a fan and a customer in the eyes of the NFL. While every NFL fan is in some way a paying customer of the league, the real relationship between the NFL and the things that drive its revenue are far more complicated than that. All that and more on the 2017 return of The Pickup Game.

As MLB's second half begins, Sports Talk Florida's Steve Kinsella joins the show to talk about the Rays. How does the first half surge change the team's trade deadline outlook? Does their pitching rotation put them in position to make a playoff run? Can this season help solidify rivalries for Rays fans? Steve follows the team professionally, and he sounds bullish on the Rays both now and in the future.

Boston is unlike any other American sports city. Often, we in New England wear that as a point of pride, but sometimes it rubs athletes the wrong way. David Price, for example, has had a loud encounter with local media that began with a tirade Wednesday night and included a mound meltdown on Thursday evening. To that end, The Pickup Game welcomes Chris Smith of MassLive.com to discuss the incident on Wednesday, Price and his issues with Boston, and what makes Boston such a tough place to play for somebody like David Price. This includes some talk about the difference between radio hosts, opinion columnists, and credentialed beat writers like Smith and his colleagues, the volume of sports discussion in the Olde Towne, and a longstanding tradition of Boston sportswriters feeling no obligation to tell fans what they want to hear.

One of the greatest games in Super Bowl history is in the books, Tom Brady has his fifth ring, and the Patriots are champions once again. A set of Sports Talk Florida writers joins The Pickup Game with Tim Williams this week to break it all down and put everything in its proper historical place. We talk about the Patriots' comeback. When did you realize what was going on? Is it a case of Atlanta blowing it or New England winning it? Allison Leslie offers a perspective on exactly where the Falcons let the Patriots back in it. How did Julio Jones catch that fourth quarter pass? How did Julian Edelman even imagine making his great catch? There is a lot to process and we try to take it piece by piece. What does this do to Tom Brady's role in history? We try and compare Brady to some of the more transcendant figures in other sports, where Gabi Reina has a historical comparison that might be a little more apt than the Michael Jordan comparison I invoked. Jim Williams inspires a more Boston-centric perspective, bringing up a New England legend to compare to the Super Bowl MVP. This plus a little bit of talk about the ads played during the big game. Where has the humor gone? How does the tone of the ads reflect the attitude around us these days? The panel wraps up by sharing their other big sports moments of a busy weekend, including Gabi Reina's quick Phoenix Open thoughts, a clash of Super Bowl Halftime titans, and my favorite cure for the post-Big-Game blues. It's About Last Night on The Pickup Game, on Sports Talk Florida and Blog Talk Radio! (Tim's latest column: The Next Jordan)