Dreamy Live. I mean, I heart Radio WI. This is High on
the Ball with Steve Barbara and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey,
welcome back to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Yeah, we're paying the neck. Chris here with Chris got me talking that
Chris got me talking the immaculate grid and I didn't. I couldn't peel away.
You have breaking news. I think we do. Let's see if we
do this High on the Ball breaking News on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All
right, we're gonna we're gonna start with the bad stuff first because we always
do. And there's some there's some cool stuff. But another Northwestern football lawsuit
a quarterback who played for them back in the twenty fifteen to twenty seventeen timeframe.
This is the fourth lawsuit. Now. The other three lawsuits are filed
by have been filed by players who are twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two.
So now we've got lawsuits involving players from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty two.
Then there's another pending lawsuits where there's like a dozen guys have signed on to
that one with that famous civil rights attorney Ben Crump. So this is this
thing's just exploding. This one's bad. I've read an athletics story and all
the details said the assistant coaches were involved in it. It doesn't name any
of them, but it specifically says that you know, there were these coaches,
and I know they'll get to their names. They've got corroboration from a
couple of other players, a couple of new details about other hazing. So
new types of hazing have gotten very creative, and so it's, uh,
it just it just keeps going. I mean, details of players running around
with masks on going room to room to haze guys and stuff like that.
Just and this is a reputable university allegedly some smart people going at the smart
school. Smart school. Yeah, not surprising. The thing that I was
surprised about Jay was over the weekend, we have all these conferences doing their
media days, and it didn't really come up at other places. And then
I read a story today or last night on the in the La Times about
this because I guess some people that I asked some coaches about it, because
UCLA kind of went through this under the Mora regime, and how they settled
it out of court or whatever. And so so, like I said,
before, you know what happens, you just know it does. It just
didn't pop up at Northwestern. You have bullies being bullies wherever and acting stupid
wherever, and so so there we are. But again to your point from
last week or the week before, they said that didn't happen. Yeah,
but the entire football team said it didn't happen. A really interesting take by
the by this player, this quarterback. He said, there's a quote in
the Athletic and I think he had a press conference something like that. He
said, we were all victims. I want to make that clear, no
matter what role, if you were being hazed or on the perpetrating side,
it was a culture that you had to find a position within. And for
some guys that's where their identity was. But they are just as much victims
as us talking about them. How do you how do you get away from
that when you're in the middle of it and you don't want to be a
part of it, right, Well, you're you're gonna be the You're either
gonna be hazed or do the hazing, right And that it was just that
was the culture and you were, you were in it, or just get
the hell out. And you don't want that because you're going to school out
of stallship and you can't and you can't get out of it. So um
so man, crazy crazy stuff. So that that you know, more to
come. I'm sure on that one. All right, some fun stuff.
First of all, college basketball Kansas and North Carolina home and home series signs
for the twenty four, twenty five, twenty six seasons. Blue bloods.
Did they take Arizona and Duke's que I mean, did they know they Well,
it's good to see that. I love good to see that because you
Arizona Duke are gonna do it this year. I might go to the game.
I'm trying to try to go. I hadn't. I may been there.
I've been to the building and inside because Arizona played in Raleigh. I
went to see it. So I want to be before I die. I
probably try to do that. Um, but I'll try. I'm trying.
I didn't. I you know, when my daughter was you know, at
Duke, I did go visitor and we went to the building, didn't go
inside. I'm like that's very no, no, no, exactly, it's
very cozy small ash Uh. It's like, but you know, I'm sure
it's crazy and crazy, but to me still and you've been there, back
court to me is the best. Yeah, because it's gonna collapse on you
at the moment, it's gonna start on fire with you in the building.
But it's like, it's like after all those years of going to Dodger Stadium,
and then I went to Camden Yards and it was the first. It
was one of the first of those little yeah, you know, footprints st
I was like, dang, daddy, that's a little that's a little place
that I got the same feeling about. Uh, fenway, I felt that
way. I don't I'm not a big I was back, but I went
to Chicago, went to Wrigley and I'm thinking this is the magic. Maybe
see this is me being me. But I don't know. Maybe I just
didn't get involved enough. So anyways, Kansas and North Carolina, i'd like
to I'm gonna say, I'm I don't know if it's true. I'm gonna
say, you're taking a queue from Duke in Arizona play Home and Home among
quote unquote blue bloods. It is, well, that's true. It's gonna
be bloods all right, um uh. ESPN is announced that the first college
game Day it's gonna be at the North Carolina South Carolina game on September two,
on Saturday. It'll be at South Carolina. No, you can tell
that the oh no, the game, no, I take back. The
game is in Charlotte. So it's not in either campus, but it's in
Charlotte. It's a neutral site game between North Carolina South Carolina. And that's
what game day will be. And in a big game on Fox, the
Big Game they call it Big Game. Yeah, Big Neon Big New is
gonna be Colorado and TCU. H so you know that the first week is
not two glamorous in terms of matchups, but but it should be fun.
TCU and TCU last year's runner up, right, and this is a good
this is a good rivalry game Ruth Carolina, South Carolina. So yeah,
it'll be from But you know we're talking football, Steve, We're talking freaking
football, which I'm excited about. Um, here's a kind of a goofy
once the Louisville and Miami who will who are both in the in the ACC
and so they play each other and come up with a trophy, a new
trophy, the the Schnellenberger Trophy. After after a Norm Schnellenberger, it's a
pair of his boots that have been made into a bronze. Then in control.
That's cool that they're gonna that's gonna exchange for uh for the for the
game. Schnellenberger on the trophy. Sow the Schnellenberger coach in Miami from nineteen
seventy nine to nineteen eighty three when they won the national championship. Then he's
coach from nineteen eighty five to nineteen ninety four. At there's a whole new
trophy out there. Um, A couple of a couple of tough things going
on. Well, first, I know I haven't seen the video of this,
but UH an ESPN UH analyst who was on the field of doing soccer
Shota Hislop. I guess he passed out right there on yeah side. Apparently
he's doing okay. I haven't I've been able to go deep into it to
find out if they said what it was, but scary, it was scary,
and and he's okay, yeah, he was just just through a little
second start wabbly and then fails on his face, right. Um a tough
thing on Naheim Hines, running back for Boston Boston Buffalo. Um had had
a season INDI knee injury. Off the field. He was and if you
read this, he was on a jet ski and somebody rammed him. Well
I didn't. He busted up his knee and he's out for the year.
I just wonder if a jet ski is kind of like you shouldn't be.
I mean, jet skis you got just really screw it up to get into
anticipate anybody bumping into you, right right. And they said he was still,
he wasn't, he wasn't moving, and some guy just rammed him and
he apparently it was not a dolphin guy. Was it dophin Pictriots guy?
Um but rammed him and uh, and he's out for the year. And
you know, and then that goes to that whole conversation, the thing going
on about running backs and you know, okay, well we'll just go get
another one. You said that they you saw that they had a meeting,
they had a meeting. Anything, what's it gonna solve? Right? You
know, there's nothing. There's nothing in you know, the collective bargaining or
anything like that that they can say, well, you're a running back,
we'll do this right. Look, you know, unfortunately the position is what
it is. Those sixteen million dollars chicks are still gonna catch. Right.
Saw that Josh Jacobs, the running back from uh from the Raiders, who
got got a franchise tag but hasn't signed his tag. He left, he
left. They said he was seeing gay in Vegas, getting on a plane
and leaving Vegas instead of going to camp. And so, uh so there's
a you know, and then the uh sae Quon Barkley's you know, he
has talked about whether or not he hold out, and it's like, how
did that go for Leveon Bell? Right, there's no other profession, no
other profession that they'll come across. Well, they'll make this kind of money,
right, and good luck with that. You know. Se Quon Bartley's
franchise tag contract is ten million dollars. You hold out, you're never getting
the ten million dollars. You're not going to make that up in a later
contract. No, you're not. In fact, you know again, ask
Levion Bell how it went for him. He was apologizing to Pittsburgh fans a
couple of weeks ago. Staying I never should have I never should have laughed.
You know his career. You know what it's going right in the No,
it is, it is what it is that I think everyone has to
deal with that. It's like it's like, uh, you should say this.
I don't know if you do, but um, It's like when I
worked for Gannette for years and people, you know, they shut down the
door doors after twenty three years from me. I never pooh pooed him.
They took care of me for twenty three years. I mean, I have
to move on because guess what, I had no choice, no choice.
I'm not gonna do nothing. They took care of me. Blah blah blah.
And people just kind of like you say, blah blah blah. Well,
it is what it is. You have to you have to move on,
right, you do you do? You know? Look, I'm signing
a ten million dollar contract. I'm signing it. I'm gonna play. And
if if I got another contract next you, I'm signing them. Sure,
you make the best to make the best of it as money as much as
you can. I did see a somebody did a pole and had um uh
Jehan Robinson as the best odds to win Lookie of the Year. Probably yeah,
yeah, probably all right. We talked last week about the Vikings wide
receiver Jordan Addison, who got busted going on forty miles an hour. He
was saying, he said, we got a call. Go go, let's
take this call. H you're on the air and eye on the ball.
Hey, this is John Show calling and say hey to Steve Riverat how you
guys, did you hear from you? How are you doing? Good?
Man? Listen, you know, just listening to a little bit of I'd
kind of been popping in and out. I got you know, my work
hours changed. But listening to you guys talk, I mean, Dave Hkey
sure doesn't deserve a lot of credit. And I don't think a lot of
people have talked about the hires that he's made, the job that they've done.
But listening to jet Fish, listen to how he talks, like,
you can tell he gets it. You look at who they're bringing in like
for speaking purposes, right, he has the NFL with the connections to sell
of these kids, and that makes a big difference, I think you because
he's got the right coaching staff actually, and then I'll take it a step
further. The strength and conditioning folks that we got from Alabama seems to be,
uh, you know, as good as it kids or just what we're
getting out of kids and the buying that we seem to be getting from these
kids. And what I'm watching social media was yeah, you know, we
uh, we've been we've been talking about how you know, he's he's come
in as the he's the he's offensive play caller. We're not gonna, you
know, dance around that, but he's he's become he had taken on more
of the CEO world than really any coach since all the way back to maybe
Dick Tomy, right, maybe Macavic because he was just be controlling, but
you know, the ceo aspect of being a football around here. I know
that word. I hear you, I hear I didn't mean to say it,
but I I'll bleep it out of the podcast right up there. We
got we got one of our colors colors last week because bumbling, So I
guess we might have to go and go that way with it. Yeah,
it is what it is. But like you got a guy that actually but
see the thing is is they to bring back the alumni but to invest in
talking and like keeping the community involved. You know, I don't think the
Tucson realizes what they have yet because he year two and he's gonna leave if
we don't support the program. Yeah, now, because people are seeing we've
got now we've got NFL caliber players on our roster, we've got the best
somebody Area said that we've got the best lineman in the conference in on our
roster. Win was the last time anybody said that about it I was on
a football on any level. Yeah, I don't remember in a while.
Now, Well, we'll see how We'll see how much support if they if
there's a nice attendance bump this year, right because it started to you know,
they got a few good crowds last year, but now you got to
get a consistent least. We'll see what happens with that this year. It's
fair, you know, it's kind of the same prime yours have though you
only have thirty five thousand diehard, right if everybody else comes from somewhere else,
and you know, there's always a complaint either the games are too late,
these games are too hot, a complaint, you know, instead of
people just showing up and shown out and buying in knowing that that's actually how
you help to build a winner. Yeah, you know, it's a proved
me the prowly fan base allow at least for not for the fan base,
but for the extras that live here that have other things that they want to
do at their time, like go for a bike ride. You know what
I mean? Exactly exactly, Thanks John, We appreciate it. We gotta
go. Thanks. Hey, before, do you have you more? I
have a quick thing. We'll just real quick. This is Jordan Addison.
He said his dog was having an emergency. That's why he was going four
hundred forty. And there's a dog with him, the dog Collins from sumwhere.
But dogs breaking it. I gotta go to the hospital. All right,
I'll bring it out. Money up later. Okay, let's let's take
our next break. We're gonna be back. James Prepia of the of the
Oregonian Well talk to him about his conversation with George Clappoff during the press conference
at pack Love Media Day last week. So we'll be right back. More
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the work in for you. Breaking down all the ex is at Alls.
It's Steve Rivera and Jakins Summings. This isn't I Am the Ball On Fox
Sports fourteen. Vie, Hey, welcome back to one about here on Fox
Sports fourteen. Cupie on Steve Rivera. He's Jackins. Also now on the
phone, we have the intrepid James Crepia from your Oregonian. He did a
fantastic job last week. Change. I do appreciate it, guys. Uh,
what do you think? Honestly it really was that I wasn't planning for
the response that was generated. What do you not how I entered the day?
What do you think he means by intrepid, they're James not even I
don't think he knows what that means. What do you think it means?
Oh? I just think that, Uh, folks have I think if if
there's a silver lining too conference realignment and they got the seemingly endless discussion that
it is, Yeah, I think that uh, whatever whatever attention that that
has brought that reporters like myself who just happened to uh uh not just do
a whole lot of talking, but do some listening and just do our jobs.
You know, the whole idea of listening and following up. You are
silver aligning to all this. But uh, if people doing their jobs and
and uh doing them doing them well, uh it generates a little bit of
appreciation, Well, then hey, I'll take it. Well, It's funny
when when Kliakoff talked about, well, we're gonna do this and and go
away from the announcement, and I'm thinking, oh, and then I'm thinking
you're probably I think that Mike Back, give me that Mike Back is I
got to ask another question? Yeah, I just say I was. I
mean, as far as I was concerned, Um, I was entering the
day quite honestly, with a lot of major questions for George in that setting,
because without an announcement and without details, it wasn't like what what level
of specificity was anyone going to ask that he was going to suddenly provide some
unbelievable depth of response. And I don't mean that for anybody. I don't
mean just because oh it's George or something like that. It's not personal.
I'm saying like they didn't have a deal to announce, and you knew that
going in, so any question you were going to ask about it, about
specifics of it, about money, about expansion, about anything with it.
It wasn't going to be like, oh, well, funny should ask.
Now that we're in the room and there's several hundred people here and we're a
broadcasting this live I'm back to old network. Thank thanks for asking allow me
to wait into the weed. Yeah, exactly, so you knew that it
wasn't part of it, So I said, I really wasn't planning to ask
much. The one thing I did was about in general about expansion candidates,
and that's because I'm working on a story to that effect. Right. But
then when yeah, he provided the response that he did to I believe it
was Richard Johnson of the Sports Illustrative we pursus question regarding a deal and whatnot
and and said, yeah, we're not announcing something today on purpose in order
to focus on football. Yeah. I don't think I was alone by any
stretch of the imagination among people in the room or people watching at home.
It's that wait on purpose? What um? So you know, I I
say, if it weren't me, I hope whoever would have gotten the last
question at that point naturally would have followed up on that point. So,
yeah, it happened to be me in that moment. And okay, but
again, I hope whoever would have would have gotten that they put it on
set because I think it captured a lot of people's attention and naturally was the
topic that everyone was paying attention to for the better part of the last year.
So I to me, I just did my job and asked the question
that everybody wanted an answer to. So a couple of days removed from that
now in that little change, as you said, where he said, you
know, we didn't we didn't announce it on purpose because when I'm focused on
football. He said, well, does that mean the deal is done?
And you're just not telling us what's the deal? So what do you think
of that whole exchange? A few days later? Now, did it mean
anything? What do you think about it? I don't. I don't think
they had some I don't believe they had something done that they're just holding off
on. Uh, because rightly they could have done it today, right if
that were the case. And then I think that something probably would have leaked
by now if they were doing it tomorrow. So I don't think something is
completely done. That said, let's call it like I think people's reaction,
particularly at the time on Friday, wash, I haven't said the people there
at the time, you know, the hour. So thereafter I went,
look, told us what this is a little bit like He didn't deny that
something might be done. I know, I don't think that it was,
and I think it just happened to me speak and that's okay. But let's
also be like totally cards on the table here. If if an analogous situation,
maybe not specific to a media deal and the existential kind of nature of
it that it is, but if a similar situation played out in almost any
other league in college sports, if a commissioner had said such a thing,
I don't believe the initial reaction would have been the same that it was of
towards staying it on Friday. I think if a different commissioner said it regarding
virtually anything else and it became like, well, you know, I think
you're reading a little too much into it, you know, and it's you
know, I think that some people's reaction would have been of any other almost
any other commissioner would have been like, oh boy, what a what a
sly move there to kind of just like plant that seed, you know,
say without saying it, you know, what have you. But because of
the fervor, both the natural and artificially manufactured, to be quite honest,
that this media deal conversation has generated over the last year, I think that
that is you know, people's preconceived notions one way or the other, if
one's going to get down, the one's not going to get done, that
someone's going to leave, that no one's gonna leave, that it's going to
be ahead or behind of other leagues or whatever. I think that is what
drove a lot of the response. So in terms of your question though,
of like what do I think now a couple of days later, No,
I don't think a deal was absolutely done and that it was some sly move.
That's that. I don't think it was like a crime against humanity for
the commissioner possibly misspeak insofar as possibly saying something that could be like an implication
that you may not have necessarily entered the day intending to make right. You
know, like I do think a deal is going to get done. I
don't think it was already done, but I do think a deal is going
to get done. And in terms of where it ranks relatives everyone else,
I have no idea. But if it was that awful, it was that
bad. I think that schools who are a school in particular who still could
leave, may very well left already that plain and obvious that a deal was
that a forthcoming deal is going to be that below value. So time will
tell. But no, and in terms of that exchange, and yes,
it just happened to be you know, me asking the follow up question.
Again, it wasn't personal. Yeah, I don't think it. I don't
think it was being sly with it. I think you may have just happened
to say something that a lot of people, uh, you know, their
ears worked up very quickly in terms of what that implied. So so I
have a friend we both have with this friend who listens to us uh daily
and he says that he travels a lot, so he's on the East coast
a lot. He says, people think that the PAC twelve is gonna is
going to disband and it's just kind of an only a matter of time blah
blah blah, and it's and it says, well, that's not the feeling
in the house. Do you think that the national side of it has this
different perception that are people who are in the house, like guys like you
who report on the day to day of the PAC twelve. Yeah, And
to be fair, I don't think it's merely a national perception versus regional perception
issue. I don't. I mean, look, six six eight months ago,
I think there are a lot of people in this league who felt a
lot less optimistic than they do today. So I don't think it's merely that
way. But I think even to this day, I think there are plenty
of folks locally within the PAC twelve. Maybe not you know, on the
confert office per se, but locally in terms of the campus level, and
multiple campuses, by the way, one campus thing, who firmly believe in
college athletics. Again, not just in this league even for that matter,
that further consolidation is going to happen in the FPS right now. Whether or
not that happens in the next two years, or whether that happens ten or
twelve or fifteen years from now, again I mean a long enough timeline,
we'll see. But I do think further consolidation will happen, and I think
a lot of the I not just think, I know there are people on
local campuses, let alone in conference offices who believe that that will continue.
What slows the rate of that consolidation is grants of rights and contract law,
long term contracts, and by long term, I mean you know, more
than the day today you know, the things that prevent freedom of movement by
grants of rights is what prevents that. That's what you're seeing play out right
now in real time with the ACC. If it weren't for that, how
many teams be ACC. You have the split, the implied split out there
the report, it's split out there where it's nearly half and a half.
Yeah, and it seems like there's an awfully, awfully iron clad grant of
rights prevents the half that's a little uneasy these days from exploring other options for
the next decade or so. And yes, those are the things that prevent
consolidation, is grants of rights and long term contracts. So, James,
are four schools that, in my mind get are getting talked about the most
in terms of something happening with them. Arizona, Colorado down here, and
then Washington and Oregon up there. What's the general Do you have a sense
of the general mood around Oregon, the fan base, the administration, just
people around the program about what they ultimately want to see happen, first in
the short term with currently what's going on in the back twelve and then as
you say, long term when we I'm like you, I fully expect,
I know, the round of realignment probably in five years, after all these
new TV deals and random rights have been signed start to come to start to
end. I think it's at that time. But what do you have a
sense of what people want to happen around Oregon. I think for the portion
of fans and fan base that it certainly seems to express itself on social media
and the like, and I don't think that that's even all that representative,
but such as it is, I think in the long term, a lot
of folks do want to see them go to the Big ten. I think
in the long run and the long term, I think there are folks probably
within the institution who wouldn't mind that reality eventually. In the short term,
I don't. I really can't start again. I really can't speak for fans
and whatnot, but I think there's probably a little bit more of a split
there in terms of probably a little bit of an old guard and older generation.
A fan yearns for the way things have been and were, and that
you know, doesn't like to see the LA schools leave, doesn't like to
see Texas and Oklahoma leave the big twelve m But that's kind of amusing just
in that as if the Big Twelve has been this one hundred year institution,
it's like not for nothing, the Big Twelve was was a marriage of two
conferences. Like I, you know, like to remind I'd like to ask
the people who yearn for the way things were if they can remind me what
the origins the Big Twelve were. Um, we can go down that rabbit
hole. But as it may, it's always been part of the ecosystem college
sport. So in the short term, I think people are just want this
to be done whichever way it happens to go. If their preferences for it
to the Big ten, then I think they want it to be done and
for you know, thousand of cards to fall so that it allows that to
happen. If there's somebody who's okay and content with for you know, staying
in the Pac ten, Pac twelve, whatever it'll be going forward, then
for the deal to get done and to procure as much money as possible out
of that deal for as long as it'll go, and then revisit it again
at a later date. So that seems to be from the masses and institutionally
and needless to say, with a new president who has only been on the
job for about three weeks, don't have much by way of insight in terms
of evolved to shit on the on the spectrum on this particular subject matter.
And we really haven't heard much from Rob Mullins over the last year but from
media day to the next, other than for myself a brief conversation with him
back at spring meetings in Arizona in Scottsdale, back at the beginning of May.
So we don't have a couple of minutes here, James, at the
end of the day, in a few months from now, are we going
to see a team from the Pack twelve in the hunt for a national title?
I think that there will be at least one Pack twelve team into the
month of November, firmly in the conversation, I think when not just the
initial playoff rankings. I think when you know the people, whatever week of
playoff rankings carries us at that point into the first or second week in November,
that they'll be a Packtwell team, a lot at least one Pactwell team,
a lot maybe two. Whether or not they'll ultimately get in the playoff,
I'm not sure. In part because the quarterbacks in this league are really
good, including on teams who may not be very good, and when the
most important position on the field is really good and has that level of parity
and that level of ability, even some bad teams might be able to pay
off some upsets. Let alone cannibalization of the top. And if anything,
if any Pack twelve fan needs a reminder, you know, last ten plus
years, this league cannibalizes itself like none other. That has probably been one
of its biggest problems. So even in a year where they have some tremendous
quarterbacks top the bottom and definitely the strongest I think in the country, top
the bottom in the league, that means that there could be some live bullets,
you know, lower in the conference standings just because of quarterback play alone.
And then you talk about some premier quarterbacks at the top and some of
the better teams at the top that could also do some damage to each other.
Yeah, I think there'll be at least one, maybe two teams alive
entering November. I'm just not sure if the league will be able to have
one alive by the end of its championship game because quite frankly, I think
we all have to pretty feel pretty confident about penciling in Georgia for one of
those four spots. There are two time champions with a comparatively easier schedule than
they've had the past couple of years, and so that means there's there's three
spots left available, and you've got to think the Big Ten champion, whoever
it may be, whoever your choice, is probably getting one of them.
So there's there's going to be finite ability for the Patrol Champion, whoever it
is, to be one of those other teams. Did you agree with the
order of because we all know there's four teams that kind of stick out the
USC Washington, Utah, organ Did you kind of agree with the order that
the media had those in the poll last week? Or how where do you
have those? Oregon coming in fourth among those four? Um, I could
kind of go either way with it, honestly, I did. I gotta
go back to my ballot, to be honest, because I filled it out
in about five minutes. And I'm not kidding, because I think I did
my entire ballot like thirty minutes before the deadline, So I got to I
had to pull it up again myself but I'm pretty sure I had SC one.
I may have had Oregon two, and I was just doing that on
an accurcate talent that that was all. Honestly, I don't look past the
concerns that Oregon has defensively, No, nor do I dismiss them. You
know, they were not a very good defense last year, and some of
their better defensive players they lost. Now, they did add a lot.
They added a lot both via the high school ranks, and they added a
lot be the portal, particularly on defense, and they had a lot of
roster turn on that side. You know, they had some issues and they
tried to address them as best they could. So again, time will tell.
But do I think I'm a little bit lower on Utah? I think
than some of my peers, and that's only in part because they lost some
really good players too. Yeah, And frankly, when some teams at the
top as strong as they are, and I think for Oregon and USC,
who both had suspect defenses last year, USC to an extreme, I think
they both got a lot better there at their weaknesses. I'm not sure Utah
has raised its relative bar if if if there's a proverbial rising tide at the
top. For those four teams in particular, I think a couple of them
rose a lot faster than one of the others. I think Oregon and USC
in particular addressed some of their most glaring weakness is strongest and raised their caliber
of talent more so than Washington next and then Utah, who again, I
think it's very good and superbly well coached, but I don't believe that I'm
not as high on them entering the seasons as they all be a two time
Raining Conference champions relative to us the Oregon and Washington, I don't. But
that said, I don't think having them fourth or even fifth in terms of
order of finish because u CELA, thanks to its schedule, I think could
find itself in a very fortuitous position at the end of the season, and
that I don't. If you asked me who is the more talented team,
maybe even the better coach team, I'm probably picking Utah, But based on
schedule, if you ask me who do I think will finish ahead of who,
I think there's a chance that UCLA could finish ahead of Utah because I
think they have the easier schedule both in the league and my conference for that
matter. James. Always good to talk to you. We'll talk to you
again later this year. Man, appreciate it, James, thanks bunch.
The intrepid, the intrepid James. Fearless, That's what I mean. That's
what it means. Furious. You looked it up, didn't you. Sure?
I knew it was it was tenacious. I thought it was more tenacious.
But yeah, I would say, you didn't know what it meant.
When you said I don't know, I said, I thought it was more
fearless, like like the fearless, like tenacious. All right, let's take
our last let's think our last break. We'll come back. We'll take their
cause. Five two zero, four, one, six, seventy four,
forty We'll be right back. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you
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I mean, I heart radio. This is I on the Ball with
Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Box Sports fourteen fifth Day. They welcome back
to All and about here on Fox Sports fourteen. Cuffy, I'm Steve Rivera,
he's Jay Gonzons gonna talk to James Kreftia. Yea. He even sends
things like, well, you know, very very intelligently, he wouldn't he
wouldn't do well on this show, spart but a great information. Yeah,
well you know, and again he you know, he wasn't anticipating that conversation,
right and and I thought there was going to have to be a conversation
about it. Sure and um true. I like that they you know,
they went after you know, the Lafcoff came out with it, you know,
right away. But I agree to it also went a little deeper than
I think a lot of people thought. Sure true, because as he said,
there's there's no deal done. They weren't announcing the deal. So what
are we talking about? You know, this pregnancy has gone way along.
So can I make you feel old? You already made yourself already do because
I look at you and I and I'm like, I'm older than you,
so yes, go ahead, make you feel a little older than you already
said during the commercial. Oh no, I feel a bad one comes No,
no, no, this is not involved in us, I know,
but I feel a bad one. That's going to make forty years ago today
George Brett was forty years ago. Forty years ago, Holy crap, seemed
like thirty years ago. You know. I told you we're gonna have Jim
Young on the show tomorrow. And he got here fifty years ago. Yeah,
way before me. And I was in high school when he got here,
and I'm like, fifty years We're gonna go back through some serious memory
lanes. Yeah, way back, way back. Yeah, so that forty
years ago, you remember that time? I do remember, why, you
know, seeing the highlight of that. Now we didn't we didn't have YESP
at that time. Three yeah you did seven Yeah, okay, but uh
but it was on everything. It was on everything, all the highlights.
You never even heard the rule, right right right, yeah, yeah,
I didn't know that was a rule. And apparently during the com I saw
the show today and they went back and blah blah blah. It says Oh.
The announcers back there says, Oh, they're gonna they're gonna cancel it
because I've seen it happen before. And I'm thinking, you've seen it happen
before when and they did? But do you know the rest of the story.
I guess there was an appeal, right, an appeal of the game.
They won the appeal, so they had to go back and replay the
game from a certain point, and they kicked the guys off. They threw
them out obviously because it was the bottom of the nineteen won the game.
They brought them back and they unsuspended the guys so they played again. Wow,
it was really strang won the game. I think Kansas City won eventually.
I have to look at I believe you, and the count and they
counted the kind of the home run it's coming back. It was like,
yeah, that's a bunch of crap. I'll be a better word thing um,
And they kend of reinstated everything. Wow, all right, well,
and apparently that's a piece that doesn't get every parted. And apparently two weeks
before they had played each other. You know, by the time Kansas City
and New York hated each other and who didn't hate in New York, right
that they had known about the bat for a long time. They just wanted
that. I knew. They just wanted to bring it out, waiting for
the right time, and that was the right time. I didn't know about
that, that part, that part I knew. Yeah, I have a
vaguat collection of Yeah, that they ended up having to come back and pick
up the game because because Kansas City was the home team, so I mean
the visit became so they play the bottom of the right. Okay, that's
interesting stuff, really interesting stuff. Um A couple of things that I left
over from from breaking news. Another another player uh suspended for the for the
season for gambling on NFL who's a e E e Oma? Who was Urique
of the Broncos, the defense event for the Broncos, suspended for the year,
spend it in death at least for at least the twenty twenty three season,
for betting on the NFL games last last season. Which guys, guys,
guys, guys, guys, guys, Hey, are you somebody who
likes the you know, the throwbacks and all that kind of stuff. You
saw that they're they're gonna they're gonna do the cream circle. Uh, Camp
of Bay uniforms, you know the orange uniforms this year Seahawk uniforms. Yeah,
the similar uniforms got announced. It any created a bit of an argument
over this because if you're a call the the old Cleveland Browns are are really
the Baltimore Ravens, right? All their records you know, went with the
Ravens. The Ravens aren't gonna run throw up a throwback uniform of the Cleveland
Trown because the Cleveland Browns are now in the league and they've got But the
Tennessee Titans announced they're gonna have a throwback uniform and it's gonna be the Houston
Oilers, the light blue, the powder blue jersey with the white helmet and
all of that. See, if you we'll talk about the Tams agree with
it. Run there and I on the ball. How you guys, This
is a Gabriel calling from California. Hey, or how are you guys?
You're doing well? Gabriel kind of moved you in today. Um i'm uh,
I'm okay. Um. I just wanted to talk about more of um
of the patrol. Uh the patrol, um? Uh what happened on Friday
and so obviously I think one obviously, I think uh he George klea coop
basically, um didn't announce that there was a Patrol media Patrol Media deal,
and I think or going in a reporter basically says, so there is a
TV deal or any he said no, no, no, no no no
no no, uh stop talking, don't don't worry about it. So I
just I still things that had cough is' is not way in two over his
head. Just a village idiot. Oh some letters to you that to us?
All right? Well? Also um, also, uh, let's talk
to Arizona football. Um so um, I like how Jaden Delora and Jetfish
basically U set a statement about the whole several suits and so I really I
really liked your statement. And so let's just move on and just focused on
focus forcus seeing on the this season coming up. Okay, sounds good.
I agree with that. You know, I think people want to want to
move on kind of like they want to get the TV deal, so we
can move on from that as well. So agree with you on all that,
Gabriel. Yeah, all right, man, thanks so much, keep
listening. To talk to you later this week. Okay, thank you.
Gabriel's pretty passionate about it. Yeah, yes, and he's kind of right
on lot of and a lot of people are right. They want they want
all these things settled. What do you think about the about the Titans wearing
an Oilers uniform? Right? Wrong? Yeah, I don't, I don't
know, I don't don't care, but I think the coolness of it.
I do like the powder blue stuff. But how how tough can you be
in a powder blue beltfit? Right? U think? Gregory? We were,
well, we called it Carolina blue. Well, like I stand corrected,
Gregor, we did. We didn't call it powder, we call it.
But no, I you know what I'm meaning. Uniform if you like
cool, they look cool, don't I like it? But there's a lot
of you know, you got former Houston fans that that that you know that
Tennessee has claimed this uniform. You got tennifee Tennessee fans saying this is really
cool, we love this, And then you got other fans saying that the
Houston Texans should be the one that should be able to wear the old Houston
Oilers. And they'll still sell the heck out of them where either way,
they they're doing that. They do look good. They do good like him.
I like pretty cool. All right, big game, big game.
Boomer clutched up for us today. He's got it, He's got it.
He had an interesting Uh oh god it this is the running back quarterbacks.
No, no, it was the ten most um Barnet, I lost it.
I had it. I had it up. The ten most um,
not the I think delusional fan bases or what sport in any sport um,
I think, you know, the fan base is with the most unrealistic expectations.
Oh well, it just that's it doesn't say football, basketball, baseball,
anything said ten said the ten fan bases. Fan bases with unreal Oh
it must be football with unrealistic expectation. Arizona is not under this season.
Arizona is not no unrealistic Texas. Texas is in there. Number four four,
Uh, Tessa, you know you Kansas. I don't know. Florida,
Colorado. Oh yeah, number six, there are number six? Yeah,
oh they should be number one. Florida is in there. Okay,
Florida. Um, somebody was in the National Championship Game last year. Shouldn't
have been Oh no, oh yeah, that's that's kind of like you know,
hey, you enjoy your time there and thanks for coming. Ye um.
The number one is Auburn, yeah yeah, they're always okay. Number
two is Miami, Okay, Florida not Ohio. Yeah, you know there.
Miami's a lot of Arizona basketball. It's fantastic bath. They were good
for a really for a while, a long time ago. Yeah, a
long time ago, and people are still holding the hands on it. Okay.
So one through ten Auburn, Miami, Florida, Texas Big ten team,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Okay, Colorado, another SEC team no
Texas am oh yeah yeah, another packed golf team, you silly? Oregon?
Yeah, no, Oregon too, Organs. Look at paper Tiger,
right, they're a paper tiger. Yeah, TCU. And then a big
twelve team Oklahoma State. You know yeah, they think they want in Oklahoma
State is like yeah, Oklahoma State, yea. They think they're they want
to be Oklahoma, but they're not. Yeah. Well we had a we
had all. We gotta get out of here tomorrow top there, whoever called
us, please call us tomorrow. We're out of time. We'll be back
tomorrow. We got Jim Young, we'll join us. We'll talk about some
of that group in the seventies. But he's on he's on a bit of
a mission to get um. You get Bruce Hillton, quarterback number one War
number one during that time, to get him in the you have a ring
of honor. He was part of a great team, a couple of great
teams, some great offenses. You can just tell him, hey, point
to the basketball. Loo can tell him to the basketball. I'm those guys
get in. He should be in there exactly all right. So we hope
you join us tomorrow and we'll be back with more great guests. See you
tomorrow. I'm running the people money