The Rangers are Christmas shopping like the rest of us: broke, stressed, and pretending everything’s fine. Norm breaks down how Texas tries to rebuild a contender on a budget that shrank faster than your paycheck after holiday gifts… and spoiler: it’s not pretty.

Then we pivot into college football, where 61% of teams get bowl bids now—because apparently eligibility is just a cute suggestion. Coaches are fleeing, players are portal-hopping for NIL checks, bowl games are being declined like a bad Tinder date, and conferences are fining their own teams for saying “nah, we’re good.”

It’s festive chaos. And Norm is wondering—loudly—if the “good old days” are starting to look a lot better in the rearview mirror.

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Norm Wonders About Rangers Christmas Shopping & CFB Chaos

0:22 – Sponsor: Fluent Financial

1:26 – The Rangers’ Annual Holiday Tradition: Not Enough Money

2:01 – A Team Full of Holes & a Wallet Full of Nothing

2:22 – Budget Reality Check (Except for the Dodgers, of course)

3:25 – Attendance Drop = Big Ouch for Ray Davis

4:08 – $25 Million Gone… Like Hot Dogs at a Doubleheader

4:20 – The TV Revenue Problem That Keeps Revenuing Nothing

5:06 – The Rangers’ Budget Math: It’s Giving ‘Spreadsheet Panic’

5:54 – Shopping for a Catcher: Please Be Cheap

6:30 – Searching for a Quality Starter on a Clearance Rack

7:01 – Evan Carter’s Back & The Outfield Problem

7:47 – The Bullpen Needs… More of Everything

8:59 – Closers Cost HOW MUCH?!?

9:27 – Can You Cobble Together a Bullpen Twice?

9:51 – Rangers’ Christmas Shopping Deadline: Yesterday

10:32 – Sponsor: Bob’s Steak & Chop House

10:54 – Sponsor: Full Moon Healing Balm

11:47 – College Football: 84 Teams in Bowl Games (Yes… 84)

12:16 – 61% of Teams Make Bowls… Participation Trophy Season

12:51 – Some Bowl Games Are Absolutely Junk

13:00 – Five-Win Teams Are Bowl Teams Now. Sure. Why Not.

13:21 – Kansas State & Iowa State Say “No Thanks” to Bowls

13:39 – Why Coaches Leaving = Bowl Game Bailouts

14:11 – Transfer Portal Chaos & NIL Checks Everywhere

15:10 – Players Skipping Bowls: Protect the Bag

15:38 – Big 12 Fines Two Teams $500K for Saying No

16:25 – College Football’s Dysfunction in Full Holiday Bloom

17:38 – Notre Dame vs ACC Drama (Because Why Not?)

18:21 – Longing for the ‘Good Ol’ Days’ (Yes, Even the Cheating)

18:56 – Final Sponsor Message

19:18 – Norm’s Closing Thoughts

19:49 – Mary Signs Off

19:59 – Stolen Water Media Production