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- This is One-On-One.

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(upbeat music) - Hey everyone, Steve Adubato, everything you wanted to, needed to know about sports in the New Jersey metropolitan area.

Find out right now, Steve Politi, our good friend, media colleague, sports columnist at NJ Advance Media.

Check out his stuff on NJ.com.

Good to see you, my man.

- As always, Steve, thanks for having me.

- You got it.

Hey, listen, can we start with this?

We are taping this, this is gonna be dated, but I have a feeling it's gonna be evergreen no matter what.

And you know where I'm going, right?

- I'm guessing the New York Football Giants.

- Okay, help me on this.

This will be seen season, after the season, doesn't matter.

The Giants being up with five minutes left.

What was the score, Steve?

- it was 19 nothing at the start of the fourth quarter, which is significant.

- And I was there as a little kid in 1977 or '78 when Herm Edwards picked up the ball when Joe Pisarcik in the Meadowlands fumbled it, and Herm Edwards, Philadelphia Eagle quarterback picked it up and ran into the end zone.

We were on our way out of the stadium with my father and my uncle.

So I know the worst losses of all time.

Will that loss go down in New York Football Giant's history as the most painful loss of all time?

- Man, most painful of all, it's tough.

It's gotta be on the list, though.

Certainly one of the more improbable losses of all time.

If they hadn't done the same thing almost in the first game of the season against the Cowboys.

I mean, they blew a lead just like that.

It's just incredible to see it happen.

- Well, Steve, what is it about the Giants, A, and what is it about those of us who are obsessed with the Giants?

Forget about the Jets, I can't talk about them right now.

What is it about those of us who are longtime lifetime Giants fans, even as a kid went to the Yale Bowl, that's how old I am in Connecticut, right?

That we still think there's a chance.

Yes, there've been some Super Bowls, but we think they're always gonna come back and win.

- Hope is the last thing you've got in sports.

If you lose that, you're no longer a fan.

And at least, I will say this about that game, at least Jaxson Dart, you're seeing your future there.

You've got a chance in, that's the one bright spot from losing the game like that.

He played great.

- He did, and let's do this, 'cause Steve, I wanna plug the series that you, what's the name of the series that you and your colleague have done on all the sports teams?

Excuse me, every town in the state of New Jersey, every municipality, and a great sports star that came out of it.

What's the name of the series, where can people find it?

- We're calling it "Every Town in Jersey Sports Claim to Fame."

If you search that, you'll find it.

Sports, what exit?

every exit.

And we went through all 564 New Jersey municipalities searching for the sports claim of fame with Pat Lanni, my partner in that one, and nearly killed us because as you know, Steve, if there's one thing we have in New Jersey, it's a lot of towns.

- Why did you even do it in the first place?

- It just was an idea that we had, we thought it would be fun to sort of drill down in sports traditions in the state.

And you know, obviously people know the big athletes, right?

You know, Mike Trout from Millville, you know Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the great hurdlers from Dunellen.

But just looking for the towns, the traditions in smaller places you wouldn't have guessed was just a lot of fun to do.

It took us forever, but we found some stuff.

And I mean, every time we went to a new town, I learned something new.

- Is it one person per town?

- It's just one person, one tradition, one venue.

I mean, some places didn't have much, so we picked lakes.

You know, we had some fun ones like, you know, a town called Northfield in South Jersey outside of Atlantic City came up with this, the term birdie in golf, which is something I didn't know.

Medford, New Jersey- - That's where birdie came from.

- Bed races in town.

I mean, there's just some crazy ones.

French town has a skating rink where Winter Olympics speed skaters were, were the pipeline to the Olympics.

It's just some stuff you would never have guessed.

- Hey Steve, let me ask you this.

As a Jersey sports guy my entire life, and by the way, I was peeved that I did not get on the list either growing up in Newark 'cause there are many great athletes out of Newark, but also live in Montclair.

Not even, no honorable mention, nothing.

- You were right there.

You were right, you were in the running.

Just a couple notches below the great Aubrey Lewis from Montclair, one of the greatest football players of the 20th century in New Jersey history, right below, one notch below.

- And by the way, Larry Doby, who came from Paterson, passed away living in Montclair, the first African American play in the American League in baseball.

I think a year or two after Jackie Robinson broke the color line.

By the way, I joke, I was a place kicker at Montclair State University.

And then they folded the team after that.

No, actually that happened.

That's another story, but let's do this.

New Jersey sports overpowered by the two behemoths.

In New York, we don't even have a football team or our teams that are in the Meadowlands, aren't even named New Jersey, okay.

And Philadelphia.

Is New Jersey really a sports state, Steve Politi, or are we in fact Eagles, Phillies, Flyers fans, Yankees, Giants, Jets, and where do the Devils fit in?

Because they have New Jersey in their name.

And by the way, Mary Gamba, one of our executive producers, my great friend and colleague, obsessed with the Devils, I'm thinking, okay, they're a professional team, they're in New Jersey, they have the name, but are we mostly Philadelphia and New York?

- No, I think we are 100% a sports identity.

And it comes from things you wouldn't have guessed.

I mean, we've got some of the greatest boxers in history are from New Jersey.

Some of the greatest track and field.

When you've got Carl Lewis and the Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, two of the greatest American Olympians of all time are from New Jersey, one of the greatest baseball, some of the, Mike Trout, Shaquille O'Neal.

I think our tradition goes well beyond than I would put- - Do you know what hospital Shaquille O'Neal was born in?

- I do not.

- Columbus Hospital.

- Okay.

- On 13th Street in Newark.

It's just something I know.

Yeah, 'cause it's from the neighborhood, that's all.

So I'm gonna jump around here because there are so many things I'm interested in.

So I'm gonna name a team and a situation 'cause you've written about the Yankees, right?

- Mm-hmm, I have, certainly.

- Okay.

Anthony Volpe.

Got the honor of seeing Anthony Volpe play for the great Somerset Patriots right before he came up.

We don't know what's gonna happen.

Anthony Volpe, as we do this program, he's having surgery I believe on his shoulder.

We wish him all the best.

He's a Jersey guy.

Played at Del Barton High School, right?

He's our guy, we're rooting for him.

- The pride of Watchung, New Jersey, yep.

- Question.

How challenging do you think it is for Anthony Volpe to be a shortstop for the New York Yankees coming up so young with all the pressure on him in the post Derek Jeter age?

- I mean, it's one of the hardest athletes in sports to replace, no question.

And the fact he's done it pretty well to this point, obviously had some second year struggles.

I think we're learning that it wasn't just a mental struggle, it was a physical struggle.

He was hurt this year.

So I think you have to look at that from the standpoint of what Anthony Volpe did this year.

And remember that, you know, when your body's not right, you're not gonna play at the highest level.

So I would give him a pass on a lot of what happened late in the year certainly.

- What about the Yankees and New Jersey?

Is it fair to say, Steve Politi, by the way, Steve Politi knows more about sports than anybody I know.

He's the best, but I'm curious about this.

Our camera operator, Scarlyn, yeah, I know you there.

Scarlyn is from Jersey, but he's one of the few Jerseyites, Jerseyans who root for the Mets.

Are most new Jerseyans inclined to be Yankee fans versus Met fans?

And what's the deal with the Yankees and the Mets in New Jersey?

- You know, I'm willing to bet it's probably 80% or 75, 80% Yankees, yeah, that's my guess.

It's just very unofficial.

But I think there are more Yankees fans- - By the way, I've just got this word, Scarlyn's originally from Yonkers.

- There you go, see?

- There you go, explains, okay, pick it up.

- I just think there's more Yankees fans here in this side of the river.

More Mets fans on the other side- - What are Yankees and Jersey, what is it?

- I mean, it's just convenient.

It's right there.

You don't have to go more than, what, is a mile across George Washington Bridge?

Most people grow up watching WPIX, watching Scooter and Bill White tell you about the Yankees back in the day.

Yeah, I think it's just part of the upbringing here for the Yankees in New Jersey, absolutely.

- If the Yankees don't win the World Series every year, is it a disappointment?

- I don't think every year's fair, but I think the stretch right now that they're going through, 16 years without winning one is definitely a disappointment.

And you have to wonder about the way this team is constructed, if it's gonna break through.

- Okay.

I'm doing another one.

The New Jersey Devils.

Now I'm gonna admit, I root, I'm happy for the Devils.

Kenny Daneyko, great Jersey guy.

Number three, retired for the, they retired his number.

The Devils, Kenny's a personal friend, great friend.

But I'm a Rangers fan.

Question, question.

The New Jersey Devils as a franchise and its connection to the state.

Talk about it, Steve.

- Yeah, I mean, certainly you're of a certain age where you grew up when there were no Devils.

So there weren't, I'm the same way.

You know, I grew up, my brother was a big Rangers fan as a kid.

I remember watching it with him.

Devils came in the early '80s.

Yeah, yeah, early '80s.

And it took 'em a while.

They were a bad, the Mickey Mouse franchise Wayne Gretzky called them in the '80s, you know, finally broke through with that first Stanley Cup in 1995.

If you're a fan of that age, you picked the right time to join the team because they were a dominant dynasty from '95 to, you know, the Martin Brodeur years in 2010.

- Strong franchise right now?

- I think they are our best bet as a franchise in New Jersey or New York to win the next championship right now.

Absolutely, yep.

- Okay, the World Series is going on right now as we tape this conversation with Steve.

I'm not watching because once, I don't think I'm alone in this, once the Yankees were out, I don't really care that much.

So I realize I'm not that big a baseball fan versus a Yankees fan.

But some of our team, you want me to ask that question, Scarlyn?

Okay.

Ohtani, greater than Babe Ruth?

- Yeah, he might very well be, absolutely.

- How could you say that?

- I think by the time he's done, I mean, by the time he's done, you're gonna look at his accomplishments, you know, as great as Babe was and the numbers he put up, when you look at what Ohtani's doing at this generation at this time in baseball history, it is basically unprecedented.

The game he had in game four of that NLCS, three home runs.

Yeah, I mean, it's just an incredible, incredible accomplishment.

I think they're, you can go 1A and 1B if you want in that of those two right now.

- All right, but I gotta do this since we mentioned Ohtani.

Once in a lifetime, listen, and I have a Yankee.

My wife is like, "Do you actually think you're part of the Yankees?"

I have a Yankee room where nothing, old school, all black and white pictures.

Who do you think the black and white pictures are of?

- Don Mattingly, one.

- Go back a little bit.

- Even further than that, we got Ron Guidry, you're going further back, Yogi Berra.

Montclair, is that what it is?

- Yogi Berra, Montclair, Mickey Mantle as a little boy.

- There you go.

- Everything.

Roger Marris, 1961, the M&M boys, Roger Maris and Mantle, Whitey Ford.

It goes all the way back.

But are we in a once in a lifetime situation in this area, in this country as people who watch baseball with Aaron Judge?

- I mean, he is a kind of level player as well.

Yeah, I certainly think so.

We have not had a player of his stature and he's just an amazing physical specimen too.

I mean, as a baseball player, 6'8, the way he hits with power.

You know, I don't think we should take for granted his greatness.

And we've seen it, you know, the playoffs didn't work out that way this year, but he has been one of the best players in recent baseball history.

- Okay, we're gonna one more on baseball and then I'm gonna switch to college sports, which you know well.

As a Rutgers alum and the Big 10, it's painful, but just, we'll get to that in a second.

Technology and baseball.

I believe next season, help me on this, Steve, you live this every day.

There's gonna be, are we not even gonna have umpires calling balls and strikes?

What are we going to do with balls and strikes and has it involved technology?

- Yeah, I mean, certainly right now, the moment a pitch is thrown, you know, after the ball strike call is made, you can look in line and see if the ump's right, because they'll show it on television.

So I think that the technology, we have the technology, we might as well use it.

Why should we let games be decided by, you know, a faulty call like that?

And I think this is the right decision, you know.

For me, when technology becomes a problem in sports, it's when it delays the game.

And I think they can make these decisions relatively quickly and seamlessly, then absolutely.

You should use it to get the call right, totally.

- Okay.

All right, college sports.

I'm a Seton Hall University basketball fan.

Season ticket holders for years.

They're one of our longtime partners.

Even though I'm a Rutgers guy, went to Rutgers, blah, blah, blah, I'm alum, I still root in basketball for Seton Hall against Rutgers.

I've said that on the air, I'll say it again.

How much of a rivalry do you think it is?

I'll get to Rutgers football in a second and money and big time and all the NIL, name, image, and likeness, transfer portal, we'll do that in a second.

Is there a legitimate, impactful, exciting rivalry in college basketball between Rutgers and Seton Hall?

- I think so.

You know, right now though, the way the game is with transient and players moving from different teams, I think Rutgers and Seton Hall played last year.

There wasn't more than a couple players who had ever faced each other.

Like you're introducing each other to each other at the handshake line.

But still, the game was great.

It came down to a Dylan Harper three-pointer at the end.

Certainly the fans, I think that's where the rivalry carries on now.

It means a lot more to a Rutgers fan and the Seton Hall fan than maybe the players do.

But man, the atmosphere in the rack, that was a real big, that was a big deal, that game.

- Go back to explain to folks what, A, the transfer portal is, and why is it that some college athletes, student athletes allegedly, go from team to team to team to team because of the transfer portal, A and B, then how the heck are you supposed to be loyal to a team if the player that, your favorite player leaves to go to another school, another school?

Talk about that and then we'll talk about name, image, likeness.

- Yeah, I mean, the transfer portal, they go in hand in hand, right?

I mean, the transfer portal now has become where teams are built.

Look at the St.

John's basketball team right now.

Rick Pitino doesn't even recruit high school players anymore.

He just plucks 'em off other teams.

And to do that, you have to have the resources.

And that's the generation we are in here with college sports.

It's the name, image, and likeness time of sports history.

- Hey Steve, explain that.

So a college athlete who gets the scholarship, which means they go to school for free, right?

But the name, image, and likeness that the NCAA approved allows for an college athlete to do what to make money?

Explain that.

- Well, there's two things going on.

First, they can use their name and image and likeness to sponsor a company, to endorse a company to make videos online, look at Olivia Dunne.

Livvy Dunne is the famous gymnast from New Jersey, Hillsdale, New Jersey on our list, who made millions using her name, image, and likeness to sponsor products and to endorse different companies.

That's part of it.

But also we're seeing revenue sharing for the first time in college sports, where colleges can give up to 20% of, to $20 million, excuse me, to the athlete pool, to, essentially, it's a payroll.

So I mean, and all the Big 10 schools, all the ACC schools, they are giving that much money to their athletes right now.

And that's created, you know, basically another professional league.

- So is it fair to say that we're really not talking about college sports anymore?

- We're talking about college sports, but we're not talking about amateur athletics anymore certainly, you know.

The highest level athletes are very much professionals.

Some of them making millions of dollars.

That's just, and that's not changing.

That is now the way it's gonna be at the highest levels of college sports for now on.

- And where does that leave that college athlete making money through legitimately, legally, name, image, and likeness as it relates to his or her education?

- Well, I mean, I think that there's still an opportunity for them to get the education, but I mean, if you're already making a seven-figure salary, some of these schools are six-figure salary.

Yeah, it's a very good question.

I think the thing that the NCAA will tell you is that the vast majority of athletes who are going to college on all of these teams are not making that money.

They're still there for the education.

Soccer players, field hockey players, but at the highest level of college football and college basketball, very much so.

It's a changed game.

- Okay.

Rutgers football.

We're taping this on, what day is today, folks?

Oh, the 21st of October, we're taping this.

Last week, I watched Rutgers on the Big 10 network get crushed.

I don't know how the rest of the season's gonna play out.

I wish them all the best.

And we're fans of Greg Schiano, and he's a great coach.

He's done great things for Rutgers.

How realistic do you think it is, Steve Politi, that Rutgers University and its football team and the amount of money that it spends and is required to compete, even compete in the Big 10, which is a big time.

Ohio State, Michigan, the rest.

Is it realistic, and how long are we going to suffer like this, getting destroyed and embarrassed?

Not beat, but embarrassed.

- Yeah, it's tough.

And this year has been tough especially.

I think last year I thought Rutgers was closing the gap under Greg Schiano, you know, give up 750 yards to Oregon last week is what happened.

They still have to play Ohio State.

They still have to play Penn State.

There's programs that are just much more well-funded.

And I think what you're seeing- - And by the way, after doing this program, they could win, the Rutgers could win those games theoretically.

Go ahead, Steve.

- Yeah, I think what you're seeing in college sports now is the programs that are giving money.

Look at Indiana.

10 years ago, Indiana and Rutgers were on the same level of college sports, but they have- - What happened?

Where did Indiana get the, as they say in my old neighborhood, the (italian slang) where'd they get the money to pay- - His name is Mark Cuban.

He's the former owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

He's given a ton of money.

They've just gotta live, just invested a lot of money in the NIL pool.

So they hired a good coach.

He brought a lot of players in.

And look, they're in the top five in the country.

They might compete for a national championship.

So, you know, and this has not happened at Rutgers where they do not have that level of donor.

They don't have people who are willing to shell out the bucks for players.

And, you know, that's what the name of the game is right now.

- So St.

John's has a very wealthy solo donor supporting that team.

Drawing a blank on his name right now.

- The Vitaminwater guy, yeah.

I don't know his name.

- He's Vitaminwater guy.

Mark Cuban, the Mark Cuban, "Shark Tank," you know, professional sports team, basketball team, et cetera, et cetera.

He's helping to finance Indiana football.

Are you saying Rutgers University or any university that wants to compete in big-time college sports, not, as you said, amateur sports, but college sports, needs a massive big-time guy or woman who's somehow connected to that school and turns over tens of millions of dollars?

- Yes, perhaps a successful PBS TV anchor, Steve, like yourself.

I don't know.

That's a pretty nice suit you got there.

- Remember the three letters.

PBS is not associated with making massive amounts of money.

Let me just say this.

And let me just say, here's the irony.

I might give it to Seton Hall when it comes down to it, but that being- - That would help more at Seton Hall.

They probably cost less to get, you know, a good basketball team.

- Are you saying that people involved in college sports, which includes the administration of the school, that they just basically need to be looking for a big whale, as they like to say, in the fundraising biz?

Like it's a big fat whale who says, "Here's 10 million."

- That would certainly be the easiest path to success in college sports right now.

Short of that, you better find 10 companies who are willing to invest, 10 Johnson & Johnsons or RWJBarnabases who are willing to invest in the athletes.

Yeah, that's the harder path.

But right now, Rutgers is trying to do it like 10 grand at a time, $500 here, you know, $1,000 there.

And it's very hard to do that.

- But so, and by the way, since you mentioned our partners and friends at RWJBarnabas Health, an underwriter of ours, an underwriter of public television, very much involved in Rutgers sports.

But the amount of money you're talking about is not realistic for a, quote, not-for-profit hospital.

I'm not here to flack for them or explain in a way, but you're not talking, you're talking about wealthy gazillionaires.

- Right.

- Mark Cuban being one of them who says, "Yeah, that's my alma mater, I'm going all in."

- Yeah, I mean, look, yeah, look at Texas Tech.

Look at Texas, look at some of these places.

Universities who have oil money, who've got people down there.

- Sorry, we don't have oil money, Steve.

- We don't have it up here in New Jersey.

We're not oil barons in the Garden State.

- Before I let you go, I gotta do this.

Got a couple minutes left.

Those of us involved in public media, let's just say it's an interesting time for us, fair to say?

- I think that.

- Okay, fair to say.

So I'm involved in traditional media, mainstream media, but we also are in digital platforms.

We're partners, I should have disclosed, with NJ.com, Advance Media.

We're partners with them.

Our content's there as well.

Do you believe that this phone, not just my phone, any phone, will ultimately be where the vast, vast majority of people find you or me or anyone doing content and not on a television?

- Absolutely, yeah.

I don't know if they're gonna find the two of us, to be honest, Steve.

They're gonna find- - Are we the dinosaurs?

- Much younger people.

If I look at where, you know, my kids are looking at, they're looking at TikTok, they're looking at Instagram.

You know, they're not logging on- - Okay, so this isn't, hold on, Steve, are you saying that long form, this is, by the way, it was supposed to be a 10-minute interview.

We did the whole show.

Are you saying it's too long for most people?

- I don't know.

I think people will still seek out good stories.

And they want to read good stories, they wanna watch good stories, documentaries, sports documentaries has never been more popular.

I think they want to see, they will pay for long form too, we've discovered on our website.

It's just that, you know, what we're seeing now in a lot of ways is that people are finding news in different places.

They're not finding it in the same spots that we were accustomed to finding it, you know, when we were younger.

And it just, we have to go to where the audience is.

That's kind of the challenge.

- And by the way, tell folks how they can find and what they can find on NJ.com as it relates to your work, Steve.

- Absolutely, just go to NJ.com/politi.

All of my columns, podcasts, videos, everything else is right there.

I'm on X and Twitter or whatever it's called now @StevePoliti.

- How long you been doing this?

- This is my 28th year.

So I've been up here for a long time.

- Before I let you go.

One to 10, your level of passion for what you do every day is... - It depends, right now it's tough with some of the football teams being what they are.

I'd like to say it's a nine.

My level of passion is 10 for finding good stories.

I will say that.

And the best stories right now in New Jersey are in our communities, high school teams, things like that.

I just love writing about New Jersey athletes and coaches at the highest level.

- Steve Politi, sports columnist at NJ Advance Media.

He is simply the best.

Steve, I wish you all the best to you and your team and our partners at New Jersey Advance Media.

Thanks, Steve.

- Thank you for having me, Steve, I appreciate it.

- I'm Steve Adubato, and New Jersey sports, an amazing history and culture.

Check it out.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by PSE&G.

Johnson & Johnson.

The New Jersey Education Association.

The Fund for New Jersey.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Fidelco Group.

Valley Bank.

And by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Promotional support provided by Meadowlands Media.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

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