WDHA’s 2-Minute Drill – NFL Playoffs, the Kelce Boys, and Baseball Hall of Fame

Good news! Chris Swendeman isn't as miserable this morning as he was last week after his Dallas Cowboys were bounced from the playoffs!

This morning, Jim Monaghan and Chris talk this Sunday's NFL Conference Championship games, plus what this year's National Baseball Hall of Fame choices mean for players going forward.

JIM MONAGHAN - Friday morning on the DHA. Morning, Jolt. Two minute drill time. Jim Monaghan along with Chris Swendeman.

Swendeman, we've got the AFC and NFC Conference Championship games. My thoughts - San Francisco, and yep, we're going to have another week of the Kelce boys and Taylor Swift.

CHRIS SWENDEMAN - Well, I am going to half agree with you. I agree with Kansas City. I think until somebody beats them, they are going to keep rolling and they just know how to win. And I like Lamar, but Kansas City, just between Kelce, Andy Reed, Mahomes and all the momentum they have, they are going to go back to the game (Super Bowl).

Now in the NFC. I couldn't disagree with you more. I would run through a wall myself for Dan Campbell at this point. Detroit is going to make their first Super Bowl appearance. It is going to be one of the biggest stories of the NFL playoffs, and I think you're going to see a really pumped up Detroit team go into San Fran and take the NFC championship game.

JM - If indeed the Lions win, and that will be a huge story, obviously, I still think they'll be overshadowed by the Kelces and the Swifties.

CS - I mean, when you have that much star power in the stands alone, it's hard to not get overshadowed, especially when you now have Jason Kelce, who is a fan favorite and only just amplified that by picking up kids out of the crowd so they could say hi to Taylor Swift, who, by the way, also in the same skybox with them.

I mean, the story just gets better every week. But for all the people complaining about it, you want to see fan reactions when the team scores a touchdown. And it just so happens you have a lot of star power sitting on the sidelines that are rooting for Kansas City. Deal with it, folks. It's not going anywhere.

JM - What a time to be alive. Meanwhile, we just had the Cooperstown Hall of Fame selections and three names coming through. I think all three were deserving. But I also think that they're opening the door to a lot of questions, specifically Todd Helton, who I think now you have to go back and look at Don Mattingly, and Joe Mauer.

And while I think Mauer belongs, I think Helton belongs. I think we're going to end up starting to go back and look in history at some other guys and go, well, if Mauer's in, if Helton's in, why isn't that guy in? And Mattingly is one of the guys who I think is going to come up in that case.

CS - Absolutely. I'm a huge Yankee fan and I always questioned whether Mattingly had the longevity to make it to the Hall. And while I think his numbers were good for the amount of time he played, I always considered him marginal.

Now, with Mauer, Mauer only made it by like 1%, I think. And you look at the other catchers that are in, it took them a while. So Mauer being a first ballot Hall of Famer, we raised some eyebrows. Yet somebody who's been on the ballot for so many years, like Billy Wagner, missed it by five votes. Why?

JM - Yeah, very strange. Very strange.

CS - The whole thing to me is very sanctimonious when it comes to that. This guy gets in, this guy doesn't deserve it yet. Well, he's only been on for three years. Come on. Stop. Guys, what game are we playing? You're going to like him more next year than you did this year? I just think it's silly.

JM - The other one that surprised me not getting in was Andruw Jones, who was during his playing days, I mean, he played every game and he was the best defensive center fielder in baseball. Maybe the offensive numbers are what kept him out. But, Chris, he was a dominant player at his position.

CS - No argument from me. I think he should be in. And at some point his numbers are rising and they expect within the next, maybe one to two years he would get the 75% votes needed. And when he does, that's going to open another door, because now, if it's Andruw Jones, well, let's look at other players that have been so great defensively that aren't in yet, and that might open the opportunity for other players.

JM - And with that, we wrap up the Two-Minute Drill here at 105.5 WDHA on the Morning Jolt. Good luck to your Lions this week, Swendeman, and we both think the Chiefs are going to win.

CS - Absolutely. I'm going to keep my shirt on this weekend and I'll let Jason Kelce do all the heavy lifting for the Kansas City fans.

MORE EPISODES OF WDHA'S TWO-MINUTE DRILL WITH JIM MONAGHAN AND CHRIS SWENDEMAN

It's not enough for me to play music on the radio on WDHA - I also get the urge to grab one of my guitars and play live on a local stage.

For the second consecutive year, my band Dead Äire was invited to open the Light of Day Foundation's Silverball Night of Covers at the legendary Silverball Retro Arcade in Asbury Park.

To kick of the 2024 festivities, we were joined by Joe D'Urso who is the president of the Light of Day Foundation, performing Willie Nile's "One Guitar."

Dead Äire is Tom Kaminski from WCBS 880 on drums, two-time Emmy Award-winning Mike Trinker on bass, and Chris Flynn, Sean Seymour and me on guitars.

Chris and Sean have serious music cred - Chris is part of a duo with Deni Bonet (I've been playing their music a lot on All Mixed Up lately).

Meanwhile, Sean is currently touring with the Richard Lloyd Group (Lloyd, along with the late Tom Verlaine was a founding member of the legendary New York City band Television).

In addition, Chris and Sean also play regularly with the Crash Combo.

Dead Äire has been together since October 2022 when they got together for Cranford's annual Porchfest, an annual family-oriented music festival in town.

Since then, we have gone on to play at the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, and the Stone Pony in Asbury Park where they opened for the legendary Smithereens.