Welcome back to the Brian Lair show.

I'm Matt Katz, filling in for Brian today.

He's off this week, but for a very special reason.

And he actually joins us now to tell us what that reason is.

Hey, Brian. How are you? I'm great, Matt. Are you enjoying hosting the show? Yes, of course.

We miss you, but as you know, no shortage of news to talk about these days. So do you want to tell

everyone why you're off this week? Yes, Matt. And yes, it does have to do with a breaking news story from the last few weeks.

Oh, that sounds juicy.

What story is that?

Well, Matt, you know this is opening week of the baseball season.

And you may have heard the big news, as Michael Hill reported on the show, that for the first time in around 50 years, the Yankees have changed their policy

and have decided to allow players to wear beards.

Oh, yeah, I heard about that. No beards and no long hair, right?

Right, Matt. It was a relic of the 1970s because George Steinbrenner was an Air Force veteran.

That was like his vibe. And he didn't want anybody looking like a hippie. Well, they finally did away with it just a few weeks ago and I thought, wow, this is my big chance. You know I have a beard bat, right? Yeah, a goatee, a very Boston Red Sox kind of beard, right? Well, it used to be now a lot of guys wear. Anyway, I thought this is my big chance to live my dream

and play for the Yankees because they're taking guys with beards. Yeah, I heard you mention this

plan with Michael Hill last week. I thought you were kidding. Yeah, I was kidding then, Matt,

but then I gave it some thought and I decided, let's really go for it. You only live once.

What have I got to lose?

Brian, with all due respect, aren't you a little old to be trying out for Major League Baseball?

Matt, that is the worst example of ageism I've heard since the people who said Joe Biden was in no shape to debate Donald Trump. And Biden showed them, didn't he?

Brian, I don't exactly think that's a helpful analogy. Anyway, forget Biden. In pro sports, age is now of virtue. Don't you know about Aaron Rogers? 40 years old and he was rocking it with the Jets? I mean, he played just three plays in his first game of the season, ruptured his Achilles and was out for the whole year, and then was slow to come back the next year.

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