Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man,
I'm forty. Go ahead, make my day every single week. I
put my freaking heart and soul into this. I don't go out there and
laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't wanna go
out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football fun everybody. I think this
is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from yesterday.
Still the same person I was yesterday, and I got the same thing
for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You play
to win the game. You don't play to just play it. That's a
great thing about sports. You play to win, and I don't care if
you don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you start
telling me it doesn't matter, I can retire. Get out for the matter.
Hope you had a good weekend. Happy Monday to you and yours.
Welcome to Exus and Bros. Throughout the great state of Michigan. The Meyer
Hotlight is always open for you. Eight six six eight three eight forty eight
forty three. He can always text the show sports Radio to twenty one thousand.
A little bit later on at seven thirty five, we will welcome in
Jason Langwell. He is the executive director for the Rocket Mortgage Classic that will
be taking place in Detroit, and it is one of the cooler events that
you can attend. It's one of those golf courses that at the Detroit Golf
Club that people love to walk and players love to play. It's challenging for
me, but it's not as challenging for them. So we'll talk with Jason
Langwell a little bit later on here on Exus and Bros. If you missed
it, yesterday, the Yankees swept the Tigers behind a five to win.
It only lasted eight innings. Aaron Judge homeward in the first, Juan Soto
with a bases loaded clearing double in the seventh, and Shelby Miller takes the
loss. He's the one who loaded the bases. Look there, every at
bat, every inning. You could probably find a picture too that you're not
sure about, you're wondering a little bit about. It was pretty obvious that
Shelby Miller disagreed with a number of those calls. While he was on the
bump, the rain was falling and various Yankees were in the box, but
I'm sure lot of and I wasn't monitoring social media at the time, but
I'm sure there are a lot of people who were upset at that. But
in the end ended up blaming Shelby Miller and because he has struggled as of
late, and I think Tiger fans are going to put him on notice a
little bit. And I get it. It's too bad because Derek scoubl was
so good again. Now he gave up the home run to Judge Right,
he gave up a couple of runs. But you can't expect a pitcher to
go out there and be perfect every single night, can you know? I
hope not. I hope that's not your goal. I hope that's not your
expectation. I should say it's probably his goal, but it shouldn't be your
expectation. It's not going to be perfect. He's good enough to win,
though. He has gotten to the point where you truly believe every single time
he takes them Ount Detroit's going to win the baseball game. Overall, Scooble
gives up the two runs, strikes out twelve, scatters eight hits, and
six innings of work. He gets a no decision. Yankee Sweet. The
Tigers Detroit now on the year, eighteen up, sixteen down. At some
point, I say this on a regular basis, at some point we'll start
to notice and recognize what other teams are doing in the division. You're going
to think only about your team for now. They're four games back, No
big deal. They've still outscored the opponents, but their offense isn't very good.
Cleveland continues to play well. They're twenty two to twelve, and they're
in town for a series starting tonight. Minnesota had their twelve game win streak
snapped by Boston, yet yesterday they're in second place. And then it's the
Kansas City Royals who continue to surprise. And I'm waiting, just waiting for
the bottom to fall out. They lost a tight one to Texas yesterday,
three to two. So Tigers back in action again tonight. That's the beauty
of baseball. Well, football will sit there and lament an entire week of
what went wrong at the stadium, or perhaps praise for what went right at
the stadium. Baseball gets you back on track, and the Tigers and Guardians
square off tonight. Jack Flaherty goes against Tristan McKenzie, and then tomorrow it's
Kent Tomata against Logan Allen. Remember McKenzie's a guy who in his career dominates
Detroit. Not that should we not that we should necessarily expect that again tonight,
although the offense continues to sputter. Here's what I always think when I
watch the Tigers, And it's getting a little difficult now because of the whole
Ballely and Xcinity situation. But there are other ways you can watch this team
and follow it. The thing that I wonder about is when do we become
certain? When are we convinced about a certain player. I'll give you an
example. Earlier this year, people were calling me and saying, you know,
I'm really excited about certain players and their professional hitters. Mark Canna as
an example, and he's been fine. Is he number three hitter in a
lineup? Fine? To me? No? Not a two fifty four although
average, which can be very misleading. Five homers, sixteen runs driven in
an ops of eight twenty seven. Again, not three or four hitter.
Not in a good lineup. It's not the way it is. So many
of us, probably me included truly believed Cole Keith has to be on this
team this year, signed him to a long term deal. Let's go,
where's the future. Why can't he be playing second base for this team?
Well, it's been a struggle for him so far. One two Sure,
don't believe that's who he is. I don't care what he hits this year.
I don't believe that's who he is. I think he can hit.
I think he's going to be fine eventually. This year he's going to have
some pains. Who do you believe is who they are? You're not gonna
win many games. You're not gonna win divisions. When you have guys with
on base percentages below three hundred, and in the lineup yesterday all but three
had on base percentages below three hundred, You're not going to have many wins.
You're not gonna win games, you're not gonna win series. You ain't
gonna win divisions when you're slugging percentage is below three hundred and yesterday, going
into the game, you had all but four with slugging percentages below three hundred.
That's just the facts. It's not gonna happen. Phone number on the
Meyer Hotline eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty eight forty three.
The text line Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. We will get to Jason
Langwell seven thirty five, some basketball and hockey news on the other side.
We're just getting started. Not a Monday morning on ex'es and bros. Across
the great state of Michigan. Stay with us. Bill Simonson here from my
good friend Josh Garvey. Now he's a managing shareholder at Dorn may Who's Grand
Rapids office. Their world headquarters are in Troy, Michigan, on the east
side of the state, and they have locations all around the world. They
have over five hundred and fifty motivated accounting professionals ninety years in business, and
I mentioned the ten offices worldwide. So if you want to connect and partner
with one of the top CPA accounting and business firms in the world, they're
right here in Michigan, Dorn may Who's Troy office on the east side of
the state, and Josh Garvey is a managing shareholder for their Dorn Mayhew gr
office. Right there by the S Curve you'll see the new Dorn Mayhew sign.
You can find out more just google Dorn Mayhew. That's Doe ri E
N M A y Hgwordorn dot com. They're one of Americas and the world's
top CPA accounting and business firms. They're Dorn Mayhew. We're teeing off our
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All right, eighteen after the hour, Welcome back to a Monday morning.
Welcome back to Exodus and Bros. Throughout the Great state of Michigan. How
don't care where you may be listening, but you can give us a call
on the Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three.
You can always text the show too, because we know the time is valuable.
We know it's not always easy to wait, although we try not to
keep you too long. But wherever it is, you may be listening in
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WMAX ninety six point one FM, The Game. We're here for you.
Whatever is on your mind in the world of sports doesn't have to be something
we're necessarily talking about. We're here for you to get out your frustrations or
exalting your exuberation as well. From the weekend. Maybe you're pretty happy something
took place and then we're not talking about so feel free give us a call
when you want. On the wire Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty
eight forty three, we were talking about the Tigers and a loss to the
Yankees, the sweep at the hands of the Yankees, the fact that Detroit's
offense has been awful, and I get where people kind of narrow their focus.
The focus has been on Spencer Torkelsen. Unfortunately, just a great kid.
He really is, and he cares. I'm not sure how many people
care about that. I think they want production, and I understand it.
You know, he's a one to one that comes with a lot of pressure.
He went two for three yesterday, drove him one of Detroit's two runs
with an RBI double. But I understand where people are coming from. Here's
the thing I would tell you a lot of times. It's also about as
the athlete understanding what is wrong baseball as much as any other sport. I
think sometimes golf, perhaps basketball for shooters if they're struggling. But baseball can
be such a mental sport. It is so taxing on you mentally. It's
really hard to describe sometimes and it's frustrating. And there's an old cliche,
but cliches are cliches for a reason. People say it a lot because it's
true a lot. And it is you succeed thirty percent of the time in
your career, and chances are you'll be a Hall of Famer. Or you're
successful one out of every three at bats in your career, you're a hall
of famer. Now, he's not going to be that guy, but he
did say this the other day he said, going into an at bat,
you know what the guy's throwing, Okay, And he said, you want
to hit it, you want to hit it hard. I'm just trying to
make sure I'm squaring the ball up. Don't want to start too early on
a pitch, on a certain pitch. Want to find a gap somewhere.
It's such a game of small margins. You cannot let it eat it you.
I don't feel like it's anything besides the game on his recent struggles.
This is life. It's a full it's full of runs, and some runs
are moving forward and some a little less forward, like right now. It's
a process, and some things in the process are not working. Just because
someone is struggling doesn't mean you automatically change their entire approach and their entire swing.
Now, should you be concerned that he hasn't gone yard yet? Probably?
Yeah. Is thirty one homers in ninety four rbi from a year ago
enough to make you believe? Probably not? And I understand why. Here's
what you'll tell me. And it's a fair it's a fair argument. And
I had this debate with my friend the other day last year. Too small
of a sample size, Okay, You're right, it is. It's one
hundred and fifty nine games. It's over six hundred abs. But it is
a small sample size because it's only one year, right, I mean he's
only he's only got two years collectively under his belt, and the first year
wasn't a full season. It's one hundred and ten games in twenty twenty two.
If you think it's too small of a sample size, I would agree
with you. Is this year at what would it be thirty two games that
he's played thirty two games too small of a sample size. That's all I'm
asking. It's hard for us to be patient with a team, a situation,
and a player. It's really hard for me too. Have you ever
let me ask you this. Have you ever applied for a job and wanted
it so badly but they're not hiring on your timeline and you get a little
frustrated, you get a little antsy. Yeah, I understand it, totally
get it. That's what I liken it too. With a baseball player,
where you're like, when is this guy breaking out? Might be Vitrkolson,
now, might be col Keith. Perhaps you're waiting for Casey Miz and Matt
Manning. I totally understand that because you are tired of waiting for this team
to compete for a division title. You don't care that it finished second.
Last year, they were under five hundred and didn't give you a reason to
truly believe that that team was going to win the division. This year is
different. It's very different. I'm sure it's different for you, and it's
different for me because expectations are there number one, but number two, the
progress is expected. You know what clicked for me. I was listening to
Paulo Bankiro last night. He's the outstanding guard for Orlando. He had thirty
eight points in their Game seven loss, and he talked about the process and
how people should be excited about Orlando's future because of what they were able to
accomplish, reach a Game seven and get there this year and compete and really
do a nice job. In the first half, they led by ten.
At the break, they were d by his man. He is eighteen in
the first half on the road in Cleveland. He's looking at it from a
positive. He's expecting it to build for next year. He's expecting this learning
experience will have a great impact on him and other young teammates to reach the
ultimate goal. It's a step, right, It's a progression. Okay,
Well, if you believe in that progression with young cores who show promise like
I do. I saw promise in Torkolsen, I saw promise in Green,
saw promise in Schooble, So I promise in Carpenter. I'm sure you witnessed
it too. If you believe in that, then you think the following year
it should get even better. Fair Enough, you and I on the same
page. Absolutely, that's where it stems from. I believe, at least
it does for me. Am I overly concerned? No am I disappointed?
You bet? I am? No home runs, twelve RBIs thirty two games.
He's not the only one I'm disappointed in, though, because this team
offensively is not very gifted. And that's a problem. I said a year
ago, I truly believed you were gonna have to trade some pitching, which
is your depth. You've got good pitchers in the miners. I'm not saying
trade Jackson, job Ti Madden. I'm just saying that's part of your strength
within the system. Those are just two guys. They've got a lot of
them. To get a bat if you're not gonna sign one, I wanted
them to assign one. But if you're not gonna sign one, use that.
And Trade didn't do it, and I think it's going to come back
to haunt them. They gotta fix it. Meyer Hotline eight sixty six,
eight three, eight forty eight forty three. We're back with more right after
this on Exis and bro stay with us. Imagine this the day filled with
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five after the hour. Welcome in X's and Bros. Throughout the Great State
of Michigan Monday through Friday six until nine. Seen station affiliates same Monday through
Friday schedule, but different times. Slap the Huge Show three till six.
Make sure you join my friend Bill Simonson for his Huge Takes. Anything that's
on your mind. The Meyer Hotline is open for you eight six six,
eight three, eight forty eight forty three and you CONTECTU Sports ready to twenty
one thousand. Is there a sport that you now watch more intently that you
never have before. It's easy to get caught up in the baseball season,
basketball and hockey, and of course football and college football college basketball. Is
there another sport that you'll check it, even if it's occasionally that maybe you
never have before. And I don't mean like the Live Golf Tour. You
know, Brooks kept go winning there, closing things out, krting a three
under yesterday to win the event by three his fourth live title. And now
he'll use the next couple of weeks or this week to get ready for next
week and defend his PGA Championship Live is off for a month. By the
way, I don't mean that because I follow that a little bit. John
Rahm yesterday I think he finished tied for tenth. He's the only player on
tour to finish all seven events in the top ten. And he's the first
one to a one hundred birdies on the tour this year. He's got I
think he's got one hundred and five something like that. For me, it's
tennis, and I'm not going to say it's not that I would use tennis
as a jumping off point for a discussion, you know, on this show
with you folks at all. I mean, we could if you wanted to,
but it's not something that I would necessarily steer. I just over the
weekend. On Saturday was the finals of the Madrid Open for the women,
Elena Rebukina against Ega Sphia Tech Speia Tech, the number one player in the
world, Ribequina number two. They played for three sets, which is what's
required or of the best of three. The third set went to a tie
break and you got a win by two and it ended up nine sevens for
Via Tech. Unbelievable tennis. I just I was wrapped up in it.
I couldn't I couldn't stop watching it. I was like, holy crap,
this is great. It was awesome, fantastic shots, the emotion. You
could tell how spent they were. They gave it everything they possibly could.
It was a rematch of a year ago that also lasted three sets, didn't
go to a tie break, but lasted three sets. Ribikina waned a year
ago to be a tech one of this year. It was unbelievable. And
then yesterday the men's championship took place with Andrey Rublev winning in three sets after
losing the first set. It was really cool stuff and it made me wonder.
I can't say that it's going to be appointment viewing for me. I'm
not gonna sit there and tell you I am DV ring or sitting in front
of the guide hoping and waiting for the top of the hour to watch the
next tennis match. Nope, I'm not going to tennis channel or anything like
that in the near future. But those two events in that sport had me
thinking a little bit. I've always greatly appreciated tennis athletes. You've got to
be an unbelievable shape. I'd love to know what their workouts are because you
got to have great legs, So are you doing a leg day on a
regular basis? You know they're not big. I would say they are strong
from a standpoint of you know their legs and their endurance. You got to
have some strength if you're going to last that long. The women championship lasted
three hours and eleven minutes, the men's two hours and fifty seven. You're
not getting many breaks in a tennis match. We're not going to a commercial
timeout for thirty seconds, or I should say for two minutes and thirty seconds.
So I just wondering if if that's anything, or is there another sport
that maybe has caught your eye as of late. Feel free to join us
on that on the Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight
forty three. We share experiences on this show. That's kind of what we
do. So we're just talking about the Tigers and the loss to the Yankees
and the struggling offense yet again, no struggles for Shoho Tani, who seems
to have really fit in nicely with the Dodgers. Multi home run game again,
seventeenth multi homer game for Shoho Tani, which is a little surprising.
He's homered him back to back games. A Solio shot in the eighth inning
traveled four hundred and sixty four feet left his bat at over a one hundred
and ten miles an hour. He's only you know, going into Sunday's game,
he was only batting three forty five. That's all not a big deal,
right, Guy's unbelievable. Really is absolutely amazing how good he is now.
He's batting three sixty four. Just so you know, he's only got
ten homers, which is tied for the league lead with like Trout, who's
obviously heard, Marcelo Zuna who's gone a while without one, and Gunner Henderson,
the young phenom there in Baltimore. So no problem for Otani yesterday.
If you were watching a pretty good game seven in Cleveland between the Calves and
the Magic, and we alluded to it moments ago Calves beat them one O
six ninety four, Donovan Mitchell had thirty nine. Are you like me every
time you see Donovan Mitchell, anytime you watch Donovan Mitchell, what do you
think? Honestly, me too, me too. I know what you're thinking.
Could have been go ahead, It's okay, we can admit it to
each other. Yes, I feel the same way. Could have been a
Piston. He was the thirteenth pick in the twenty seventeen NBA draft. Markel
Foltz was number one, Ridiculous Lonzo Ball was number two, Jason Tatum was
three, Josh Jackson four, and Diaron Fox five. The Pistons, wisely
under a stan Van Gundy with the twelfth overall pick, took Lukennartan out of
Duke, who was a good shooter at Duke, and then Denver said,
thank you, I'll take Donovan Mitchell out of Louisville. Oh and by the
way, Bam out of Bayou went right after him. I think the Pistons
could use either one of those guys. O g Anna no a defense of
Stalwart, a guy many people thought the Pistons should try and go after,
was also in that draft. By the way, at twenty second overall.
Kyle Kuzma, who seems to torch the Pistons every time he plays them,
was in that draft and taken twenty seventh overall. Derek White, who's been
really important for Boston as the number one seed in the East, and the
favorite to win the NBA title, was taken twenty ninth in that draft.
Josh Hart, who made big shot after big shot for the Knicks in their
series against Philadelphia, including Game six where they beat the Sixers, played at
Villanova won a national championship, was taken thirtieth in that draft. It's good
scouting, man, It's good job, really good job. Every time I
see Donovan Mitchell and he scored thirty nine. He scored fifty in the Game
six loss. It's not a selfish sixty either or fifty, I should say.
It's not Kobe Bryant. And look, I love Kobe Bryant. He's
one of the greatest players I've ever seen play. Unbelievable, scorer, underrated.
I mean, people talk about Lebron James, Michael Jordan for good reason.
Kobe Bryant needs to be in that same conversation. So gifted, but
you could tell when he wanted his right Donovan Mitchell to me, it seems
like he lets the game come to him a little bit more. He scored
eighty nine in Game six and seven combined. That is the second most in
playoff history. Cleveland came from eighteen points down because min Caro had twenty four
in the first half. Cleveland came from eighteen points down, the largest comeback
in a game seven since nineteen ninety seven. And it's because of Mitchell.
Mitchell had fifteen in the first half, obviously, twenty four and a second
half went absolutely nuts, hitting from deep, hitting on the run, taking
it inside. And every time he did it, all I could think of
is, why isn't he wearing a Piston's uniform. Oh, that's right,
because stan Van Gundy chased need. See, the year before he went with
the athlete. The year before stan Van Gundy said, here's what I'm going
to do. I'm going to take care of business and I'm going to draft
for athleticism him or was it the year after? What am I thinking?
Oh? No, No, they needed shooting, That's what it was.
They needed shooting. So he decided to go for a shooter. That's what
everybody said they needed, right, Yeah, that was it. Got to
get a shooter. Let's get a shooter. Man, make sure make sure
we take care of that business since we lacked. Don't take the best player
available. You don't want to do that, God forbid, so you take
instead, you take a guy who can shoot, allegedly because in sixteen I
think they took Henry Ellenson, which turned out to be a really good pick.
Not so, Luke Canard is available, as is Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell
goes into the practice facility and has one of the best performances according to people
I spoke to. People who were at the workout said he had one of
the best workouts they have ever seen by any player. So what do they
do? They draft Lukennart. Now, all Donovan Mitchell does is buckets.
That's all he does. It's incredible, absolutely incredible, so good. It's
exactly what the Pistons could use. Right, Stanley Johnson was drafted in twenty
fifteen, Right, thank you, Ben. So that's what every time I
see him, that's what I think, like, well missed out there again.
You can always sit back and say armchair quarterback, should have taken this,
should have taken that guy. But that's what your scouts are supposed to
do. That's what your front off is supposed to be able to do that.
That's their job. They're supposed to know that more than anybody else.
I don't know if you watched a couple of days ago, Game one Western
Conference semis Minnesota and Denver. Anthony Edwards, who is incredibly talented, athleticism
beyond belief. He likes to talk, he backs it up. He got
a technical foul in the third quarter in their one h six ninety nine win
over Denver on Saturday, drove to the hoop, laid it up and in
and then stared at the Nuggets Reggie Jackson, former Piston, and then was
quickly whistled for a technical foul. I think it was Courtney Kirkland who did
it. All he did was stare at him. It's uh, it was
a little ridiculous. I think sometimes this celebration can be a little ridiculous for
NBA players. It could be, you know, I mean every single it's
not every single way. A lot of plays. All you're doing, you're
seeing you're seeing guys kind of blow up. You're seeing guys stare it down,
You're seeing guy's trash talk. It gets there has to be a difference
between playground stuff and truly the NBA. It gets a little old. But
all he did was he makes the nice layup. He went baseline off glass
and the only all he did was stare at him. For a little bit.
It's just it was too sensitive on the part of Kirkland. It's almost
I don't want to say that the referee becomes the story, but in that
moment he did. You can give him a warning, can't you? Should
you call taunting technicals in the postseason, I don't know you can, but
not for that anyway, the NBA rescinded the technical foul. They didn't agree
with it either, so there's a positive right, no harm, no foul,
no pun intended. Rangers take Game one against Carolina in the Eastern Conference
Semis four to three. Macas Avantajet had two goals in it assist and the
Stars and Golden Knights played last night. Did you watch this game at all?
I did? Stars went it to one. Peter de Boy, who
is the head coach of the Dallas Stars, is now eight in all time
coaching. In game sevens tied with Brad Richards for the best all the time,
whether it be playing or coaching. And then lastly, Canada scores three
goals in five minutes in the third and beat Team USA six to four in
the gold medal game in Finland. That was nuts. Third period was nuts.
It was three to one us going in and it's you don't know what
the hell happened. You're like, wait a minute, you guys were so
good defensively in the first two you were quickert of the puck. You guys
were winning all the battles, and then boom gone and Canada celebrates a gold
medal. There are not many professional rivalries anymore. We'd like to think there
are way better. Back in the day, when the Kansas City Chiefs and
Oakland Raiders played, they hated one another. It was great. Way back
in the day. When Chicago and Green Bay played, they hated each other.
That's great. Now all we get is this, we get Yankees Red
Sox constantly. That shoved down our throat Michigan Ohio State. Absolutely, there
are other great rivalries, but you noticed I mentioned one that was a collegiate
rivalry. There's not many professional rivalries anymore. They'll try to tell you they
are, but it's not the same feel Canada Team USA and the World Juniors,
especially U eighteen, it's definitely real. Really looking forward to the conversation
we're about to have at the bottom of the seven o'clock hour with Jason Langwell,
he's the executive director of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. We will do that
here on EXAs and Bros. Second hour of our program, right around the
corner with you on the Myra Hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty
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Together we can make a difference. Second hour of the program x'es and bros.
Throughout the Great State of Michigan. Here on the Michigan Sports Network.
Matt Shepard with you been as our producer. You can call him on the
Ad Myer hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You
can text the program Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. There was some really
good theater over the weekend. Awesome stuff. I don't care what sport you're
talking about. Phenomenal at one point or another, including hockey. The Game
seven between Boston and Toronto was sensational. Just absolutely adored it. Now,
you get a Boston team that is really good, really balanced against a Toronto
team that is offensively gifted, but seemed to figure it out when they were
down three games to one, seemed to figure out what they were going to
need to do. Just that and it got him back in the series.
Part of it was perhaps their head coach calling out one of his star players.
Jim Montgomery is the head coach of the Boston Bruits, and following the
loss in Game six, Boston's second straight loss in the series, here's what
he had to say about his two time All Star and ten year veteran David
Pasternak, or in general. He said, your best players need to be
your best players this time of the year. I think the effort is tremendous.
They need to come through with some big time plays in big time moments.
I think Marshan has done that in the series. That's a reference to
his captain, Brad Marshan. Pasta the nickname for David Pastronak needs to step
up personally. I hate that cliche. Who's going to step up, Who's
going to elevate their game is a better way to say it, because Pastornak
has stepped up up a number of times. Anyway, a lot of people,
a lot of athletes, and I think a lot of people. I'm
not just referring to hockey players or athletes in general. If you get called
out by your boss, there's a lot of people who just kind of wilt.
If your boss takes exception to what they're doing, you're doing, or
actually singles you out, you get pissed off, you might immediately start defending
yourself, and to a certain extent it might be human nature. David Pastronach
did not do that. This is what David Pastronach said following the game seven
win to one in overtime against Toronto, by the way in which Pastronach scored
the game winning goal. This is what he had to say. Listen with
Jimmy. You know he said the stuff he did after was it after the
game six? And you know I was. You know, I told him
like, if I'm the coach and you or me, I would say the
same thing. So I had no problem of him saying that, you know,
he's trying to bring the best out of every single player, you know,
and he expects UH more. And how I said, I just took
it, doesn't manally know? And UH tried to be better. I admitted
I need to be better, you know so, and I still have ways
to be better. How refreshing is that he's twenty seven, By the way,
he did have three goals in the series, probably not what he's used
to. But how refreshing is that he's trying to bring the best out in
every single player and he expects more. I took it as a man.
I tried to be better. I admit I need to be better, and
I still have a ways to go. That is awesome. There's no finger
pointing, there's no give me a tissue. I need some solace. I'm
feeling uncomfortable right now. Why are you pointing the finger at me? There's
twenty four other guys here. Why not bring none of that in a world
right now where it's almost dangerous to say. I took it as a man
and tried to be better. Pasternak went there. Good for him. We
got a day and age where if you say that, you're almost concerned because
you don't want to offend anybody. Got news for you, man, In
that sport especially, but in sports in general, it's just the way it
has to be. Meanwhile, other coaches are getting fired and their athletes are
nowhere to be found. Now full disclosure, all right, I'm gonna be
honest with you here. Darvin Ham, Michigan native. I like him.
What kind of coaches he He's been a head coach for two years. One
year he took his team to the conference finals. The other year his team
lost to the defending world champions in the first round, and did so despite
having double digit leads in the first three games. Is that coaching? I
don't know, man. I tell you, when a team wins, people
are talking about the players more oftentimes than not. In the NBA, when
a team wins, I mean after last year, honestly, anybody talking about
Mike Malone. Hell no, nope, you know who they're talking about,
Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, guys like that. That's who they're talking about.
Dallas wins in advances, Anybody talking about Jason Kidd, noop, they're
talking about Luka Doncic. They're talking about a lot of different players on the
Dallas Mavericks. They're not talking about the coach if they lose. Absolutely,
Now that comes with the territory. I think a lot of coaches know that,
they understand it, but I truly believe that's what it's about. If
the Lakers beat the Nuggets, you and I are probably talking more about Lebron
James, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell and the like. No, probably we
are. I've mentioned how good the Knicks have been numerous times on this show.
How many times you hear me talk about Tom Thibodeau. Maybe once,
I'm talking about Jalen Brunson, talking about Josh Hart, talking about Dante Devincenzo.
Hell, I've even mentioned Julius Randall, who's hurt. So I guarantee
you if they if the Lakers had pushed Denver or beaten Denver, nobody expected
them to had anyone, how many people? What would we be talking about?
The almighty Lebron James and Anthony Davis. And Lebron James was really good
in the series, but he sure wasn't going to protect Darvin? Was he?
A year ago? When they got to the Western Conference finals. He
was It's almost like a bit of a coach killer. You want to be
considered the greatest of all time. I mean, it's interesting again, Michael
Jordan. People know how I feel about it. Phil Jackson for a long
long time. Man. Now maybe Phil Jackson just massaged egos better. Darvin
Ham's have been there for two years. Lebron James seems to wear out coaches,
does he not? Accountability by David Pasternak? How much accountability were there
or was there by Lebron James? Probably not enough. Phone number on the
Meyer Hotline eighty six to SI three eight forty forty three. Bottom of the
hour. We will talk a little rocket mortgage golf. Yes, it's coming
up in June, and we'll do so with the executive director, Jason Langwell
on Exes and Bros. Across the Great State of Michigan. Bill Simonson here
from my good friend Josh Garvey. Now he's a managing shareholder at Dorn Mayhew's
Grand Rapids office. Their world headquarters are in Troy, Michigan, on the
east side of the state, and they have locations all around the world.
They have over five hundred and fifty motivated accounting professionals ninety years in business,
and I mentioned the ten offices worldwide. So if you want to connect and
partner with one of the top CPA accounting and business firms in the world,
they're right here in Michigan Dorn Mayhew's Troy office on the east side of the
state and Josh Garvey is a managing shareholder for their Dorn Mayhew gr Office.
Right there by the S Curve, you'll see the new Dorn Mayhew sign.
You can find out more just google Dorn Mayhew. That's d O E R
E N M A y h w Ordorn dot com. They're one of Americas
and the worlds top CPA accounting and business firms. They're Dorn Mayhew. We're
teeing off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply Give. Get
ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf,
food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield
Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite
women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your
tickets now at Meyer LPGA Classic dot Com. Really excited for the bottom of
the hour because we're going to get an opportunity to talk with Jason Langwell.
He's the executive director of the Rocket Mortgage Classic that is taking place in downtown
Detroit June twenty fifth through the thirtieth at Detroit Golf Club. Sixth straight year.
Ricky Fowler will be there. Colin Morikawa was there a year ago,
so that was always fun. Tom Kim will be there this year, so
will will Zalatres. So it's the start of a really good field of players.
And Fowler, in case you missed it, wanted a year ago in
a playoff hole on the first playoff hole he had a birdie eighteen and did
and then won the playoff hole for his first tour win in about four years.
So we will do that with Jason Langwell at the bottom of the Here
on X's and Bros. Nineteen after the hour, right now the Meyer hotline
eight six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could text the program
sports Radio to twenty one thousand. We've touched on a lot of different things
to start the day. Let's get to a couple of texts, Ben,
what do we got? Yeah, the tigers current eighteen and sixteen record projects
to a season ending eighty six and seventy eight, not likely to win the
division? What do you think it'll take to win the division? Before the
season began, what did you think it would take to win the AL Central?
Now? First thing you got to ask yourself? Is the AL Central
a little bit better than you thought? Right now? Yeah? I think
it is. It is, honestly. I mean, Cleveland's better than I
thought they would be. Minnesota winning twelve in a row, wouldn't have expected
that. For a reference point in case people were wondering, last year,
it took eighty seven wins to claim the division title eighty seven. The year
before it took ninety two, and the year before that it took ninety three.
So do you want to would you think ninety wins would win it?
Absolutely? I believe ninety can win it. I don't believe the wild card
is coming out of the division as of right now. It's just my opinion.
I don't think that's doable. Who were the wild cards a year ago?
How much do you have to get to get? Look, I wouldn't
even worry about that right now. I think the best case scenario is you
win your division. Period. Originally, like you, I thought it was
a very winnable division. I still believe it's a winnable division. I still
am not convinced that Kansas City can keep this up, although I like Bobby
Wood Junior a lot. But every time I say that, I saw like
Minnesota's going to go on another twelve game winning streak. I tied the franchise
record for crying out loud or tied second. It's second, I think their
second longest winning streak ever. When I say that, and when I say
the same thing about Cleveland, I need to remind myself that people in those
markets who are doing exactly what I'm doing and who feel like you feel,
aren't they looking at the Tigers and go that offense isn't good enough. Honestly,
that's what you have to consider. You can't we can't look at everything
just from our point of view, say wow, Kansas City's not good enough,
Minnesota's got flaws, SODA's Cleveland, Hey Mann, The turn that mirror
around a little bit and people will be going, I don't think the Tigers
are very good. I think their pitching is really good. I'd love to
have their pitching. But dot dot dot you could say what they're on pace
for that not good enough to win the division? Yeah, that's because look
at Cleveland's pace, look at Minnesota's pace, and as of right now,
look at Kansas City's pace. Any other texts? Yeah, how did Scott
Harris not get into the Marlins hitter trade talks? That's a Harris type of
player to lead off this lineup and push everyone down a spot. I mean,
I assume you're talking about Luis our eyes. Did you see, by
the way, what the Miami Marlins general manager said, I don't know.
Did you read that at all? Ben? How would you like to have
that situation? Now? Remember Kim ing Is was out. They did a
nice job of she did a nice job of putting a team together a year
ago. Peter Bendex is their new general manager. When asked about the trade
with Luis Rays to San Diego for minor leaguers, three minor leaguers and a
bullpen arm, he said, being that we're not going to make the playoffs
this year in all likelihood, in so many words, that's what he said.
I thought to myself, Wow. You you're giving up that easily,
that fast. You're not looking to improve your team. What you're looking to
do is to bleed your team and build for the future. Now they are
ten and twenty six. They have the worst run differential in the Division and
the second worst in the National League. Only Colorado is worse, and only
Colorado and the White Sox are worse than Miami. They are fourteen and a
half games back. They can't compete with Philadelphia and Atlanta and the Mets not
in the division, but on payroll. So I understand why you may think
that privately, you may say that behind closed doors. Why you would say
that in the media and to the public is beyond me. That's ridiculous.
Again, you may think that, you don't say it, do you honestly
would you say that? And if you're a fan, how about how would
you take that? That's incredible. You want people to buy tickets walk through
your ballpark, and that's the stuff you're saying. Amazing And at some point,
at some point you're going to say, what, what are you gonna
say? How come we're not drawing any fans? Well, here's why.
You just basically told fans you guys are not going to make the postseason,
so we have to get what we can right now for our best hitter and
one of the game's best hitters. How ridiculous is that? That's asinine,
Absolutely asenine to me. You're talking about You're talking about a business here,
they really are. You're talking about a business, and you've got a guy
coming out and saying we're not making the playoffs, so our business isn't good
enough. What an outrageous statement. Again, you may think that it may
be something that is in the back of your mind and the reason you did
the deal, but be careful his exact quote, we are unlikely to make
the playoffs this year. You may believe that to your core. You never
never say that out loud. Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight
forty eight forty three. But look, I don't think I went off on
a tangent there. I don't think the Tigers could have gotten in on that
because of what Miami was requesting. And you know what, I like Luis
Rays. Could they use him absolutely place second base? Then what do you
do with Cole Keith? Perhaps you move him to third. I don't know,
you need power. I don't needy power, Gotta get power. In
the middle of the lineup, Markani is hitting third, Jason Langwell on the
other side. We'll talk Rocket Mortgage Classic the sixth Annual when we come back
on Exis and Bros. After this huge chair for the Michigan High squad Letic
Association, you can stay up to date on the latest from Lansing twenty four
to seven at MHSAA dot com, at MHSA on Twitter and MHSA on Facebook.
The latest news, press releases and stories connected to every high school in
the state of Michigan available for you twenty four to seven from the Michigan High
School Athletic Association. Log onto MHSAA dot com, at MHSAA on Twitter and
MHSA on Facebook. And if you're looking for archive boys and Girls high School
Sports m h s A A dot tv. That's MHSAA dot tv twenty four
to seven everything you need to know about high school sports in Michigan. Log
on to MHSAA dot com. April Showers brought Mayflowers and so much more to
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Casino dot com for complete rules and details thirty five after the hour. Welcome
back Ex's and Bros. Monday through Friday six until nine throughout the great state
of Michigan. We're on in Flint and Cadillac. We're on a Grand Rapids
at Grayling and Gaylord. We're on up North Potoski and Charlottevoy and Traverse City.
The Tri City are at Midland, Saginaw and Bay City as well.
All of you welcome via the Meyer Hotline at eight six six eight three eight
forty eight forty three. And welcome, of course to the Rocket Mortgage Classic
that'll be taking place in June June twenty fifth through the thirtieth at the beautiful
Detroit Golf Club. The executive director of that fine event is Jason Langwell.
He joins us here on Exs and Bros. Jason, thanks for the time,
appreciate it very much. This will be the sixth straight year you guys
put on this fabulous event. What are you most proud of of what you
guys have been able to do so far? Hey Matt, good morning.
You know, yeah, it's hard to believe it's been six years. Well,
I'm proud of a lot of things. That's a tough question to answer,
but I'd say, ultimately it has to be the impact that we've made.
You know, when Dan Gilbert had the vision to bring the event to
Detroit, you know, he was like, look, let's shut a bright
spotlight in the city Detroit and find a way to impact the outcome and do
so in a significant way. You know, many people don't know that pj
TOR events are five to one c three organizations and all their net proceeds go
back to doing just that, impacting the outcome. And we you know,
we went on a mission in twenty twenty and that mission was in the Digital
Divide here in Detroit, which for us means how do we provide I had
access to the Internet and other supporting technologies to folks in the Detroit area within
a ten minute walk of their home. And we're proud to say that a
handful of years in maybe probably the most prob ful of is what we've been
able to do there. We've invested in technology hubs. We started this effort,
there was a handful of technology hubs throughout the city of Detroit. There's
over twenty two technology hubs today. We've enrolled over one hundred and fifty thousand
residents in the federal government's Affordable Connectivity Program help lower the cost of internet access.
And so I definitely think it has to be the impact when you can
come out. It's one thing to go out and through a great experience and
have people having a great time. It's another thing to make a lasting impact
in the community that's really making a difference. And we're really proud of that.
Yeah, you should be. It's amazing what you guys have been able
to accomplish. It's one of the crown jewels of this area. I've said
this for as long as I've lived here, in this my entire life.
Look, Detroit does things right. You guys have done it right. Tickets
are on sale right now, people can get them. How do they go
about getting them and how much is it going to cost them. Yeah,
thanks man. Like you said, we're really excited to have fans back to
the Trait Golf Club this year. Are to believe it's oar sixth playing June
twenty fifth to thirtieth. As you mentioned, tickets are available for purchase starting
today at ten am, so shortly they want to go to Rocket Mortgage Classic
dot Com. Tickets start at sixty five dollars and they go up from there.
As we get a little closer to the event, prices will go up,
so fans are wise to go now and get their tickets. You know,
the last time we were in this date window, which is the last
week in June, a full week before the fourth, was our inaugural year
back in twenty nineteen and lastly won and we sold out all of our hospitality
and sold out a couple of days on the weekends. So you know,
we're we're excited about that. Got a great list of offering for you know,
Mother's Day gift to Father's Day gift. If you're a fan of golf
and honest of your fan of some good summertime fun in the true we've got
something for you. You also don't have to pay for some of the days
we're really proud were the only PGA Tour event it's offering two consecutive days for
free. We call them our de Trade Community Days, and you can get
complementary parking and admission and not even going to your wall at all for those
two days and come out on Tuesday attend our youth clinic, but the first
tea sponsors we typically have some lions and celebrities at that and then make your
way over to the area three one three celebrities scramble which our top players play
in. We've had Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson, we'll have some mother.
I'm going to tease a little bit some other current lions that everyone's going to
want to come out and see that day for free, and then they'll be
able to come back on Wednesday for our Death and Dental Proram and get that
front row seat. Every seat of the golf tournament is a floor seat.
You can get right up along the rope line, and we'll be able to
do that for free on Wednesday, watch our top players play in the program.
We'll have some celebrities play in there as well. And making me of
that inclusive and accessible something is a real priority for us already for Rocket Mortgage,
and we got some great paid options. We've got some free options as
well on Tuesday Wednesday. But days should get to Rocket Mortgage Classic dot com
right now to get their tickets. Jason Langwell, the executive director of Rocket
Mortgage Classic, Joining is here on ex'es and bro sixty five dollars per day.
That's nothing to have a great time with your family. And then you've
got the Lending Tree lounge too, that's a little bit more, but well
worth it. And then when you look at the field a year ago,
what an exciting event it was with Ricky Fowler winning on the first playoff hole,
needed a birdie, eighteen wins on the first playoff hole. You had
big names like Colin Morricowell part of it a year ago. This year you've
got some big names too as Foller comes back to defend his title, don't
you. Yeah, we're really excited about our initial offering for our field.
Here. You mentioned that that Ricky you'll be back. He's excited to be
back. Spoke with him at RBC a couple of weeks ago. He's jack
to make the victory lap through and see if he can't do another. I
mean, he's expecting a second child now Knowlson is, you know, expecting
their second girl in the November time frame. But he, I think,
would love to host his second Rocket Mortgage Classic Trophy at the end of Junie.
At a heck of a season last year with eight top ten finishes.
But yeah, as you mentioned, we've got another couple of other great guys
committed early. Tom Kim is going to be at our field this year.
He's already won three times on tours, not even twenty two years old,
yet great player. Last time when he made his debut here in twenty two
he finished seventh, So he's got nine for this golf course. Feels like
he can win and we'd love to see him do it. And then Will
Zelatorus has committed top thirty player in the world. Has been battling some back
injuries last year. Flared up on him a few weeks ago, but he
feels like he's on the men. And someone who's just a great player,
but really strong in the majors. You know, he's only played in ten
majors in his career thus far, he's got seven top ten finishes in those.
And someone who really has fallen in love with the city in the area.
He's an honor remember out at Orchard Lake Country Club. You know,
he loves the staying at the Schinola downtown, loves being in the city.
So a really strong initial lineup and one that we think will only get better
as we make our way into the PGA and on the back end of the
US Open. What do players like most about not just the event, but
the course in general, because obviously the high scores. We love seeing birdies,
just like we do in any sports. You'd like to see runs in
baseball and points and all the others. What do players like most about playing
at Detroit Golf Club? Do you think? Yeah, you know the I
hear a few things on that, Matt. One is that many players grew
up playing, you know, either on or in and around the Donald Ross
golf Course. We got a classic Donald Ross track here takes players back a
lot to their youth when they were playing, you know, back home.
It's a classic style clubhouse, classic style golf course. Fits their eye.
They love the green complexes. We've got a Bent Poe mix that they really
like, and as you said, they get after it and they love doing
that too. They love coming here, playing this golf course and enjoying the
experience in the area. But I tell you too, you know, more
and more you're in out, the more players that come, the more players
that walk away feeling awesome about the experience away from the golf course. I
would I would tell you without any bias that the Sheinola Hotel is one of
it's not the most popular hotel on the PGA tour for players. We got
fireworks that are happening on Monday night of tournament week, and you know,
the fireworks showed out here is incredible that they throw in players, don't you
know. Keithan Bradley, you know, you know, we had a few.
Brendan Todd actually came in early last year, made it a point to
bring his family in to take take advantage of the fireworks celebration in town.
So it's a mix. They love the golf course, but they also love
what's happening in the city. How have you been able to change the perception
that people have outside of this area about Detroit and about your golf tournament,
Because, let's face it, when it was first announced, people outside this
area think, oh man, who wants to play in Detroit. That's not
how they feel any longer. There has to be a different vibe. Now
what is it and how did you get it? Well, I mean,
I'll started with Dan Gilbert and his vision for what he's done in the city
to build an incredible, incredible downtown area where it's fun to walk around,
fun to be around, and with the players. Honestly started with that narrative.
Look, these guys, they're going to play in the four majors,
They're going to play in the signature events. They're going to play a couple
of times out West, They're going to play a couple of times down in
Texas. They're gonna play a couple of times down of Florida. When you
get through all that, you're up to some twenty events, right, And
these guys are going to play twenty five ish events a year. So all
the remaining you know, twenty some events in the PGA Tour, they're only
going to select a handful, so they get a choice on where they're going
to call their home. And a lot of it comes down to not just
the golf course, but how what kind of trips are going to be with?
You know, do I have a convenient airport to come to do.
I have a community experience downtown. You know, where's my what's my caddy
experience going to be? Like? We leaned in heavy to the caddy experience.
We give some of the caddies courtesy cars. No other PGA Tour event
does that. We give caddies a locker inside of the tray golf clubs locker
room. Very few, if any other PGA Tour events don't do that.
So we took a first, best only mentality. We wanted to be the
first to do things. We wanted to be the best of what we did,
or we wanted to be the only ones doing certain things. And that
free pronged approach in the narrative and the reality that's come with it has really
widened people's eyes and I think given us, you know, the fields that
we've been able to enjoy and have and that we think will continue to have.
But it started with Dan and the vision for what he's built in Detroit.
And then we turned into the Chamber of Commerce and went out and told
that story and got enough people to come, and now the players are doing
it. We got Key and Bret, we got a lot of other players
out advocating for what an incredible experience they are going to have, you know,
during the week, you know, debating on whether you know London chop
house or private property is going to be the stake place they come and eat
at. And that's the kind of things you need to do to get people
to come a year in and year out. That's such a great perspective.
Jason Langwell, the executive director of Rocket Morhigs Classic Joiners here on Exis and
Bros. That's this is how it's done. This is how it's done right.
But you want to grow the game. You want to grow what you've
done in your contributions to the community, which you've done an excellent job at.
But you want to grow the game too. Kids fifteen and under receiving
complimentary grounds and mission when a company by a ticketed adult is really important.
Can you speak a little bit more You'd mentioned it briefly, but can you
speak a little bit more about what you're offering to young kids as you try
to grow the game of golf in Detroit in the metro area. Yeah,
it's ton of things. You mentioned the youth fifteen and under getting in for
free, you know, we're also you know, one of the things we've
launched and we're really really proud of would be the John Ship and which will
take place the weekend before the Rocket Mortgage Classic. We bring in the top
black men in the country that are competing for one exemption into the Rocket Mortgage
Classic. We're excited to have Chase Johnson win that event last year. He
was actually our first John Shippen player to make the cut last year at the
Rocket Mortgage Classic. And Sunday is actually a free day there too, so
a lot of Detroit youth are coming out. We're not just a great American
city, We're a great American Black city, and young Black men and women
are coming out watching you know, these great black competitors compete and earn exemptions
into the event for free on Sunday before our event, and then you know,
the Community Days is where we really offer great opportunities for youngsters to come
out and get familiar with the game and enjoy Our Youth Clinic is very fun
and interactive. We've got kids out there, you know, trying to knock
vignatas down and get candy. We've got celebrities out there, We've got lions
out there that are coming in to do that and then roll into our celebrity
scramble on the back end of it, and then we're doing a ton of
things. We have a lot of young standard Bears that are carrying those signs,
those scoring signs. Those are all youth, right, and it's a
really unique volunteer opportunity for them to come out and spend the day, have
their families following, and they're not just watching the players. The families are
all watching these kids that are carrying these scoring signs, having a once in
a lifetime experience that we offer on an annual basis. And so, you
know, it's a combination of those things. You know, we also do
a big bussing program when we go down to the YMCA. We have buses
show up there and bring youth that are part of programming within our city out
to the event for free. So a real inclusive, intentional approach to engage
youth and offer them a really, really amazing experience at the Detroit Golf Club.
You know what it feels like, Jason, It feels like a Midwest
event. It's because you have Midwest people putting it on just you know,
very friendly and welcoming. It's exactly what the area calls for needs and you
guys deliver. Thanks for the time, and thanks for doing what you guys
do. It's great stuff. Thanks, Matt, appreciate it. You bet.
That's Jason Langwell. He's the executive director of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
If you want more information, go to Rocket Mortgage Classic dot com. You
can follow them on Instagram, on Facebook, and on Twitter at Rocket Classic
take place June twenty fifth through June thirtieth at the Detroit Golf Club. I
have been there. I've been part of it. I've been fortunate to be
a celebrity starter there. It was exciting, it was fun. It was
awesome to meet so many people, not just golfers, but I mean fans
as well, and to follow certain golfers around the course. I think it's
one of those events too. I suppose golf in general is like this because
so many of us play it. And I use that word loosely. Loosely
by the way, because so many of us play it, we think we
can relate to what those guys do. I can't shape shots like Tom Kim,
I can't drive the ball like Wills Alatorres. I can't score like Ricky
Fowler. But when they line up from one hundred and seventy yards and they're
taking a wedge or a nine iron, I immediately think, what what club
would I use here? How in the world are they getting it one hundred
and seventy yards with an nine iron? How is that possible? Oh?
Amazing to me. They are simply amazing, And you get a chance to
watch them up front, right there in person. It's cool because it's one
of two big golf events in the month of June in the great state of
Michigan. Just prior to the Rocket Mortgage Classic is the tenth Aniel Meyer Classic
June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blackfield Country Club. So you've got that on
the thirteenth and sixteenth, and then not long after twenty fifth through the thirtieth
you get the Rocket Mortgage Classic. If you love golf, and I think
you and I both do. If you love golf, June's a pretty good
time to be around this state to gorgeous courses, to fantastic events that do
exactly what you would hope they would do giving back to the community. Look,
every golf event, every sporting event likes to claim that they do,
and I'm sure they do. I mean, I haven't done any investigative work
where we're trying to figure out whether or not they're exactly giving you. Teams
are giving what they're supposed to be giving to the community when they claim it.
Rocket Mortgage Classic does that. The tenth Daniel Meyer Classic will do that,
and it's because you've got Michigan based people handling it. You have Michigan
based companies making the promise and fulfilling it and giving back to michiganers. For
the Rocket Mortgage Classic, it is doing exactly what Jason just told us and
trying to get the Wi Fi to everybody, for example. I know it
doesn't seem like much, but it is. It's a big deal. And
for the Meyer Classic, it's about getting people the necessities from a food standpoint
in life. It's given back. God, I love that. It's so
cool, so important, so needed, and you should all be very proud
of it. It's fantastic stuff. Our phone number on the Meyer hotline eight
sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. Our text line is sports
Radio to twenty one thousand are thanks to Jason langwell for joining us, and
we wish them the very best. That's a good start to the It's a
really good start to the field, okay, because as he mentioned, everyone's
going to play in the majors or want to play in the majors, and
you've got to be good enough to qualify. But and then you've got certain
places because you're going to start the year in Hawaii and California and Florida,
and you're gonna go to Texas and Arizona and places like that. How do
the other areas that don't have that sunshine in eighty five degree weather just about
year round, how do they draw you? Well, this is one way.
And when you start with Ricky Fowler, big name will Zelatorus, big
name Tom Kim, eventually will be a big name, but a decent sized
name. Right now, that's a good jumping off point. So we hope
they get even more and more are taking a note of what this area has
to offer. Again, the Meyer Hotline eight six six eight three eight forty
eight forty three. You can text the program Sports Radio to twenty one thousand,
third and final hour coming up right after this on Axes and Bros.
Across the great state of shack it on the Michigan Sports out there's a new
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Ace Whiskey an American made whiskey taking a lot of pride in America. Look
short in stores and pubs all across Michigan. We're teeing off our tenth here
at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply Give. Get ready for the best who
are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun.
Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food,
discovery land for kids, and of course elite women golfers from around the
world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now at Meyer lpbassic
dot com. Roast Dumber is a farm direct coffee source from Central American farmers
and roasted in Grand Rapids and also the Nitro coldbrew coffee is a convenient and
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Get some facts and come back and seebe. Get some facts and come
back and seebee. Don't throw out salaries or other things. Get some facts
and come back and seev you can't handle the true Now told our players you
need a bit more like a dog. We don't need a bunch of cats
in here looking in the mirror. I look good. I got my extra
bands on, I got my other shoes. Be a doll. We don't
need no meals, we don't need no cats. We need more dolls.
Way out a detain. Oh you're not. At the time, we weren't
good. There's no sense of asking me things about the game. I'm telling
you we laid an egg. So I'm not gonna break it down for you.
He sucks. He sucked. He laid an egg. That's all i
have to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not going to break it
down for you. Nothing went well for us. It's on us. We
have to figure it out and we will. We need your dad. Why
final out of the program? Glad you're weatherus sought excess and bros throughout the
great state of Michigan. We're here Monday through Friday until nine. You want
to join the program. The Meyer hotline. Ben is waiting for your phone
call eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three, or you
can text him at sports Ready to twenty one thousand, and then then gives
us those texts and we talked about anything that might be on your mind.
I'm Matt Shepard. Yankee sweep the Tigers behind a five to two, eight
inning win. Aaron Judge homeward in the first Juan Soto with the bases loaded,
clearing double. In the seventh Shelby Miller takes the lost. He has
quickly becoming Tigers fans enemy's too strong. He's a guy that they're starting to
question a little bit. To try to get Cleveland in a series starting tonight,
Downtown Guardians get a four to one win over the Angels behind two two
run homers, one from Jose Ramirez, underrated player phenomenal and Josh Naylor.
If you're the Tigers and you could have one guy right now, who would
fix your power, fix your defense, fix a little bit of speed,
and play a position that you need, who would it be? Who would
it be? Something to think about. I've got a name for you.
Not that you're gonna do much about it, but I've got a name for
you. I want to hear who you might have eight six, six,
eight three eight forty eight forty three. All right Caves beat the Magic in
Game seven one O six ninety four Donovan Mitchell with thirty nine. Every time
you hear Donovan Mitchell, you go ah. Could have been a piston taken
right after Luke Kennard. Anyway, he scored fifty. In the game six
loss, he scored thirty nine. In the Game seven win. He had
eighty nine points in Game six and seven combined, the second most in NBA
playoff history too, Allen Iverson. Iverson had ninety in a game six game
seven situation when he was with the Sixers. It's the largest comeback in a
Game seven since nineteen ninety seven, being that Cleveland was down eighteen at one
point. Meanwhile, hopefully not lost In all this is Palo Bancaro on what
BNKO had did for Orlando in the loss with thirty eight points. He's a
phenomenal player. I think he's better now than he was a Duke, don't
you. I watched him at Duke and I thought, you know, people
are talking about this guy is number one. I watched him a lot.
I didn't I didn't see it. Now you see it. My goodness.
Rangers beat the Hurricanes four to three in Game one of their series because Avanajad
had two goals and assist, and the Vegas and Stars wrapped up their series
in Game seven last night in Dallas, the Stars winning two one. They
were down two ZIP in that series. Peter de Boor now eight to zero
all time coaching. In Game seven, Canada beat Team USA in the U
eighteen sixty four to win Gold Brooks Kopka wins the Live Golf Tournament in Singapore.
Taylor Pendrith wins the Byron Nelson, his first PGA win. Speaking of
golf, and we just got done talking about the Rocket Mortgage Classic with Jason
Longwell, the executive director. Did you see the article about Tiger Woods and
his new apparel? Have you seen how much it's going for We all like
to look good, no matter what. My dad used to have a saying,
you gotta look good if you want to play good, look good,
to play feel good, look good, play good, right, so look
sharp when you can't so in golf. I don't know about you, but
when I go into a golf shop, it's hard to leave without buying something.
And I don't mean golf balls. So many cool shirts, shorts,
belts. I want more golf shoes because you like to match, you like
to coordinate, you like to look good. You're not showing up at a
golf course, I hope with a hoodie and jeans, right, But there
is a limit. I played golf last week with my sons and I needed
a ballmarker or a green repair picked up a cool red, white and blue
buzz stars and stripes, and it cost me I think ten bucks something like
that wasn't bad. I look at certain shirts and I think, I think
part of it is I know the markup is astronomical and it bothers me that
people are going to make that much money off me. But certain things you
want to buy. Everybody has a limit. I would hope the Tiger Woods
new line since he's no longer with Nike. He signed with Nike in nineteen
ninety six when he turned pro right out of Stanford. He was with that
brand for twenty seven years, remember, and they had the tw logo.
A lot of people wore it. It was synonymous with golf. He and
Michael Jordan with those massive Nike deals. Now, Caitlin Clark's got a big
deal. Well since that time, or since he left Nike, he now
has his own luxury clothing line, if you will. I think it's called
sun Day Red, not Sunday but sun as u n then another word day
than red, and it's a play on from when he wore red on Sundays.
You know, well, he's got fifteen majors. So what it has
is if the logo, it's a tiger with fifteen stripes to signify his fifteen
major championships. I don't know who came up with it. Maybe it was
him. I'm not sure. What if he wins another then what happens?
But whatever, how much are you willing to pay his Polos Short sleep polos
started one hundred and twenty dollars and go up to one seventy five. Shorts
with that logo start at one hundred thirty five dollars. Ball markers with that
logo cost fifty bucks. Now, before I tell you, I would never
pay that for any of those, and I wouldn't. Let me remind you
this. The ballmarkers are sold out. Fifty bucks for a ball marker and
it's sold out. Why, I'm not saying you should get one of those
free plastic ones that have a little nub and stick in the ground, or
the one off your golf glove from foot Joy. I'm all for making a
statement, I'm all for looking the part. That's fine, it's cool,
But fifty bucks to me, that's pretty steep. Five bucks I could see
maybe ten. We're just talking about a ball marker. You're on the green.
I know we don't find it very often. But you're on the green
and you're marking your ball from behind, that's fifty bucks right there. A
lot of public courses and decent public courses. It costs a round. That's
a round of golf that you're paying for your ball marker. Man, that's
a lot that bothers me. Like Tiger Woods has got more, he'll ever
know what to do with his son Charlie and his daughter. I mean,
they're taking care for the rest of their lives. His grandkids, grandkids are
taking care for the rest of their lives. Do you really have to charge
that? And that's off his website. By the way, if you go
into a pro shop or you go into a golf store, it might be
even more. How about appealing to the people you really want to help young
kids grow the game and all that make something that's affordable for them. Give
them a chance to wear your stuff, but not break the bank and break
their entire paycheck for doing it. We've got texts on the other side.
You can text sports Radio to twenty one thousand. We're back with more on
Exes and Bros. On a Monday across the Great State of Michigan, after
this in the Jam with Dan Dickerson, Hey, Tiger's fans and baseball season
means a new season on Michigan's favorite island destination, Mackinaw Island, Baseball Spring
and Mackinaw Island things that return every year, reminding us what a great state
we live in. Shake off the winter blas, take in a game,
and plan your trip to America's top summer destination, Mackinaw Island dot org.
There really are a stunning number of very good, two great hitters who just
aren't hitting right now. The lowest ops had any regular belongs to the Tigers
Cold Key. Next lowest the ex Tiger, Nick Costianos. Then comes Randi
your Rose Arena. Last year's n OL Rookie of the Year, Corban Carol
had sixty five extra base hits last year. He has four so far this
year, and he's hitting one ninety Yondi Diaz has been argued to be one
of the top two hitters in the American League the last two years. He's
hitting two twenty with no power. The list goes on at Santra Bogart's Alex
Bregman, Paul Goltchman, and the sensational Julio Rodriguez all low average and shockingly
low power numbers. It's a reminder which we need every year. Hitting is
hard. We're seeing off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply
gives. Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in need
while enjoying golf, food and family fund Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth
at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland for kids, and of course
elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get
your tickets now. Admire LPGA Classics dot com. Roast Dumber is a farm
direct coffee source from Central American farmers and roasted in Grand Rapids and also the
nitro coldbrew coffee is a convenient and help the option for energy and no sugar
additives. Look forward at your local retailer at roast number dot com eighteen after
the hour. Welcome in exusen Bros. Pat Shepherd with you across a great
state of Michigan. The myerhotline eighty sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty
three. He put it on speed dials. Join us anytime you want.
I know we got some texts too, from sports Radio to twenty one thousand
Ben fire Away. Who do we got? Yeah? It says if it
was a Nicholas line, would you buy it? Just asking people generally buy
what and who they really like. I think Patrick Reid can charge those prices.
No, I would not buy it if it was a Nicholas line.
I wouldn't buy it if it was a Patrick Reid line, and I'm not
going to buy it if it's Tiger Woods. I like Tiger Woods. I
mean I think there's I think there's things that Tiger Woods does that I mean
kind of holds the that the media kind of cow too's too. But I've
said time and time again numerous times, one of the great athletes ever.
His run, what he was able to do just unbelievable. I happen to
think Jack Nicholas is the greatest golfer of all time. If it's one,
A, one B, it's right there. That's debatable. There's plenty of
people who probably disagree with me. That's okay, got no problem with that.
I like Tiger Woods. I think I've always said this about Tiger Woods,
have said it about Michael Jordan. I've said it about Wing Gretzky.
What I give them so much credit for doing is they face the media every
time the media wants them every single time. It doesn't matter whether the Tiger
Woods makes the cutter doesn't, whether he wins the tournament and finishes last,
which doesn't happen very often, whether or not he had the best round of
the day or the worst round of the day, the media wants to hear
from him. And for the most part, I don't know about every single
time, but for the most part he obliges Michael Jordan whether he was the
best player on the floor or not, and more oftentimes than not, he
was. And the same thing with Wayne Gretzky. Two goals or no goals,
to assists or no assists, win or a loss, people wanted to
hear from him. They faced the music every time that I could tell.
That's pretty damn good. That's impressive. But when it comes to something like
that, no, it's not happening. I'm just I wouldn't do it.
But that's just me. I'm not saying that you're foolish. If you do
go ahead. For me, it's I choose to spend the money on something
else. It just seems like a lot of money. That's all. For
a ball marker to cost fifty bucks, I think is outrageous. But we
all have a line that we don't want to cross, and for me that
would be that would be one of them. What else we got? Ben?
Yeah? It says when will kid elevate his team like Vincaro? Yeah?
I kind of figured that would that was coming. Can a player force
another player to shoot the ball better in a game? Who's got a better
roster? The magic or the pistons. It's pretty obvious, isn't it.
Now? Look in fairness, if you wanted to play that game, then
use this example. As good as Paula Bonkarral was yesterday and he had thirty
eight points, he had a double double, he was phenomenal, Franz Wagner
went one for fifteen. How come he didn't elevate him to win Game seven?
I'm not blaming Hollo ban Carl for Franz Wagner's struggles. That's not fair.
I think Kate Cunningham's a really good player. I think he's a guy
I would definitely keep a guy I would want a round. Can he elevate
other players. Maybe that's the question that remains to be seen because he has
not. It doesn't seem like he and Jaden Ivy work very well together in
the backcourt. I understood why they took Jade and Ivy. I'm just telling
you from from my perspective. Maybe you disagree, Maybe you share this belief
that it doesn't seem like they mesh very well. I don't think Kate Cuttingham's
Kate Cunningham has very good players around him. That's the simplistic way. In
sports, it's a little bit easier. I think this can be very kind
of complicated. This can be I mean, in football, for example,
can a quarterback make a receiver better? Yeah? I mean you throw them
in certain spots? Right, you make sure that you're throwing them to in
the certain routes, which is more the offensive coordator than the quarterback. But
putting it in a certain area, Yeah, that's that's making a player better.
Can a quarterback make an offensive line better? And you got to if
the offensive line isn't great at protecting, you probably have to do what make
quicker throws? Right? In all likelihood, I don't know if that's the
quarterback making the offensive line look better hockey player, I can't make you.
Last night Las Vegas, for example, Jack Eichel, who's a really good
player at his assistant captain for Las Vegas, a big reason why they won
the Stanley couple of years ago, he missed an open net, backhanded opportunity
that would have given them a two to one lead. He missed it in
the lighting later stages of the third Okay, is that Jonathan Marcissol's fault that
he or Mark Stone's fault? No, I don't think so. I think
Pan Carroll makes other players better on his team, but I think a lot
of those players are already better than members of the Pistons. If you follow
that now, you may not agree with that, because maybe we're too close,
way too close to the situation in Detroit. But if you look at
the Pistons and you see their team, and how many of those guys do
you look at and you say are really important to keep and other teams may
want, And then you look at the Magic I like Jalen Suggs. I
think he's a good player. He was two for thirteen yesterday. I think
Franz Wagner has had a really good season. He's still a young player.
He's only twenty two, and he averaged twenty points a game this year.
But he went one for fifteen. Is that Pallo Bonco's fault? See,
you're giving bon Carol credit for winning forty seven games, and he's a He's
the primary reason. Sonomeno love the upside. Thirty eight points, sixteen rebounds,
ten of twenty eight from the floor. Would you take it? You
bet? But it's not his fault that Wagner went one for fifteen, Suggs
went two for thirteen. I mean, who else would you want from that
team? You want Moe Wagner? He was Eh, he's kind of a
role player. Markel fully who was first overall back in his draft class.
No, they've got still a ways to go, but they're better than Detroit.
You would admit that for sure, and it's primarily because bon Carroll and
bon Carroll stayed healthy. I think he's a better player than Caid Cunningham,
and you would agree with that. Now maybe you're arguing this look at Donovan
Mitchell shop, is Cleveland really that good? Not Without Donovan Mitchell, they're
not. But they were missing Jared Allen yesterday, who averaged a double double
against Orlando this year but has missed the last three games with you know,
brused ribs or bad ribs anyway. They won't get into specifics. I do
think it's a fair question. I'm just thinking about it. Wonder what your
thoughts are, Caid Cunningham. Does he not make other players aroun him better?
Certain guys have gotten better. Are you going to give the credit to
him? Or are you going to give him the blame if they're not getting
better? Phone number on the Meyer Hotline is eight sixty six eight three,
eight forty eight forty three. We're back right after this on Exies and Bros.
On the Great Future for the Michigan High School Athletic Association. You can
stay up to date on the latest from Lansing twenty four to seven at MHSAA
dot com, at MHSA on Twitter, and MHSA on Facebook. The latest
news, press releases, and stories connected to every high school in the state
of Michigan available for you twenty four to seven from the Michigan High School Athletic
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m hsa A dot Tv. That's MHSAA dot tv twenty four to seven Everything
you need to know about high school sports in Michigan. Log on to MHSAA
dot com. Friday, July twenty sixth. That's Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort,
The off Spring Rudy Fly for same show, same night, Simple Plan
j plus special guest Whoma Stang, part of the Soaring Eagle Summer Out Or
Concert Series. Tickets as low as twenty six dollars and on sale now at
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The Offspring, Simple Plan in Hubasdang, July twenty sixth, showtime seven pm.
Details at Soaring Eaglecasino dot com. We're teaming off our tenth Heere at
the Meyer LPGA Classic for Simply Gives. Get ready for the best who are
yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying all food and family fun. Join
us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland
for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world,
competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now at mere LPGA Classics
dot com. Coming up later today at three on the Huge Show in the
Michigan Sports Network, I'll deliver huge opinions on everything you're talking about. All
right back with you on exus and Bros. Glad you're with us. Appreciate
all your techs so far here this morning on a Monday, including the last
one about Kate Cunningham trying to elevate his team or why doesn't he do it
like Pallo Bancaro of Orlando. I just don't think he has as good as
teammates as in players, players aren't as good. I know that sounds simplistic
and maybe it's not fair. Look, I've said this a lot over the
years. When you look at players, who makes the other better? Can
they help each other? My favorite is the Joe Montana Jerry Rice is either
one of those Hall of famers, and you can argue that Rice is the
best wide receiver of all time, and you can argue Montana's the greatest quarterback
of all time. They each helped each other, didn't they? And when
Montana moved on or when he was hurt Rice was equally effective with Steve Young
at quarterback. But Montana did lead Kansas City to an AAFC title game when
he left San Francisco, so it's not like he was chopped Liver Matthew Stafford,
Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford, Golden Tate, Matthew Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew,
all those things. We brought that up quite a bit. Who makes
who better? I mean, Chris Durham had over forty catches. You never
heard of him before or after. Matthew Stafford, a no name, had
a decent season, so obviously he made him better. Calvin Johnson made Matthew
Stafford better too, and vice versa. Ask him, they'll both tell you
that, and that's cool. Did Michael Jordan make Scottie Pippen and Bill Cartwright
and bj Armstrong and Will Purdue and Luke Longley all those guys? Did he
make them better? Cliff Livingston a great player like that would make anybody better,
wouldn't they? But he was? They weren't great right away. Jordan
was, but his team wasn't. John Paxson Was he better because of Michael
Jordan? Was Steve Kerr better? As a player because of Michael Jordan.
I would have to say yes, because Jordan draws a certain amount of tension
and is able to kick to those guys and they are a little bit more
wide open they would than they would have been had Jordan not been on the
floor. I think that's a fair assumption. I don't have all the logistics
and all the analytics and numbers with it, but I think it's a fair
assumption. How do we know that Kid Cunningham's not doing the same but guys
are missing shots, or Kid Cunningham is getting to the rim and laying it
off and a guy is fumbling it out of bounds. I guess I'm hesitant
to suggest that Kid Cunningham isn't making his players better when I haven't seen those
players collectively now make a great jump from one year to the next. Like
if you've listened to the show, you know I like Jalen Duran, and
I think Kate Cunningham is is good enough to be a leader on this team.
And I like Kate Cunningham. Everybody else I'm open to to moving on
now. There are certain guys I wouldn't mind coming off the bench, like
Simone Fontechio. That's I'm fine with that. Marcus Sasser coming off the bench.
Sure limit their mins minutes? Absolutely? Another text, Ben fire Away.
Yeah, last one I says, does Van Gundy get credit for taking
Dinwoodie in the second round when his first draft has no first rounder? Gore
screwed Van Gundy by resigning Drummond and making that Blake trade. Does Van Gundy
get credit for the great trade of Brandon Jennings from Milwaukee before he got hurt?
Okay, hold on a second, I need to take that a little
bit, yeah, a little bit more slowly. Does Van Gundy get credit
for drafting Spencer Dinwitty in the second round? Is that? Is that?
What that? The tech said? I'm sorry, yeah, that is okay,
Well, Spencer Dinwitty correct me if I'm wrong here. All right,
But Spencer Dinwiddy didn't stick with the Pistons, He didn't have his success with
the Pistons. Spencer DINWITTI success came after forty six games with Detroit. That's
when he got successful. Okay? Was that? I think that was Stan
van Gundy's first draft twenty fourteen, right, Why am I going to give
him credit for drafting Spencer Dinwiddie in the second round and then getting rid of
him when he turned out to be a good player. Why would I do
that? No way. I get the sense you think that I have it
in for stan Van Gundy a little bit. Damn right, I do.
I think he was horrible, horrible. Let me ask you this real quick.
Would you take Spencer Dinwiddie or Jeremy Grant or Nikola Jokic ranked those three
players in order? If he's that smart, if he's that good, why
didn't he take Jeremy Grant who went right after him. If he's that smart
and he's that good at recognizing talent, why didn't he take Nikola Jokic,
who has taken three picks after Spencer Dinwitty. The answer is no, I'm
not giving him credit for that. He screwed it up. Not only did
he not take the right guy. If you think he took the right guy,
he got rid of him, sent him to Brooklyn, and when he
did have him, didn't even play him. You don't want to play him
at age twenty one, even though you did thirty four games. That's fine,
go ahead, because it's not like your team was all that great.
Anyway, let's go to the phone lines and the Meyer hotline eight sixty six
eight three, eight forty eight forty three. Yeah, we got Danny and
Brighton. Hey Danny, how are you, Bud? Jeff goodbring my man?
How are we doing today? Good yourself? Hope you had a good
weekend. Every day, every day, my friend, is a holiday.
So you know, I'm listening to your talking and it's interesting the whole.
I mean, I am not a basketball NBA fan and all, but I
mean I follow it. But the thing I found interesting and you were just
talking about stan Van Gundy and I think obviously I think that spills over to
Troy Weaver as well. It's the whole idea of like you know, roster
construction. And I think that was like Juwan Howard's downfall at Michigan is like
I'm just getting this name. I'm getting this name, and you know Weaver
and and gonna do the same people, We're just gonna get this name.
Well, how does this guy fit on your team? What is this guy
gonna do? And you know, just as a comparison, I think that's
what Brad Holmes is amazing at. He's like, you know what you know
for three years he's picking people in there were people actually criticized getting you know,
Jamiir Gibbs or Jack Campbell or Sam Laporta and Kilms like they fit.
So now whatever Brad Holmes drafts. If Brad Holmes drafts Ben, I'm like,
you know what he's gonna need for Ben? But if Troy Weaver drafts
Ben, I'm like, what are you doing? Because of his record?
And and like, okay, I've got all these guys, what are they
doing? And one of my frustrations with trying to watch the Pistons as you
compare them to teams like Cleveland and Orlando who were in Oklahoma City, who
were in similar situations four or five years ago. All seams are so much
better than us now because they were able to identify the right players. It's
it's an underrated part of being a general manager. I don't think like I
don't think First of all, I don't think Sam Van Gundy's was a very
good coach, But I thought he was a worst general manager. I mean,
I think he's as bad as Matt Millen was at his job, all
right, so he in other words, he's not playing Spencer Dinwiddie, but
he's playing Jody Meeks. Okay, makes a lot of sense, Go right
ahead, and his team won what what were they? Twenty eight twenty nine
wins? You know that that first year under stan Van Gundy, recognizing how
pieces fit with the other key pieces is so vital. And then it's up
to your coach to be able to be A on the same page and B
make sure you're putting those players in a position to be successful. In other
words, you're not gonna play him too much. You're gonna play him the
right amount. You're not gonna play in hockey, not going to play certain
defensemen against certain lines because they're effective against these lines. Right Brad Holmes is
brilliant than that. And that's why I think I trust and I don't want
to speak for you, but that's why I trust that if he signs Jared
Goff, he knows the reason he brought in Jared Goff, He knows who
Jared Goff is. How does he protect him with a really good offensive line,
How does he protect him with good play action? Those are the things
that make Jared Goff successful and makes his team successful. I don't think stan
Van Gundy ever figured that out with the Detroit Pistons. Ever, No,
I agree, And like I said, he was like the start of the
demise that continues today. And when you think about roster, so you know,
I'll go my whole Detroit spiel from and I think I kind of still
you know, I'm still optimistic about the Tigers because I get this sense that
Scott Harrison knows this is the kind of player I want. Now, some
of the guys that are on the roster right now, they're not necessarily delivering,
but they have a history from their past, like the Miners College or
whatever that they can so like, Okay, well they're young, I'll give
them time. Eisen was the same way. You know, I'm going to
put these young guys in. The only criticism with Iresman is he was like,
I think Detroit could have had a couple of other young guys that were
in Grand Rapids, namely Jonathan Bergrian and Simon Editson all year. Those guys
should have been on the roster from day one. They would have benefited immensely
and I think the team would have as well. Yeah, I don't disagree
with that. Thanks Danny, have a great day. I appreciate the phone
call. The only thing I would say is I hope so I don't know.
I mean, whose place are they going to take? Were they ready
at that time? We don't know that. It sure seems like it.
But I've got no problem with especially hockey guys, you know, biding their
time a little bit and getting a little bit more nurtured, getting the amount
of time that they need on the ice in every situation, rather than coming
up playing on a third or fourth line, playing on a third or fourth
defensive pairing and getting twelve minutes a game. If you want to have one
of your young players who you think is going to be key to your success
in the coming seasons for his future and your team's future, and they're going
to have to play twenty two minutes a game, I would rather have them
do that down in the minors, getting twenty five to twenty six minutes a
game than getting twelve minutes on the parent club. That's my opinion now,
because they've proven, especially Edvonson, because he's proven that he has the ability
to do that and help this team as long as he stays in shape in
the offseason, gets to work and has a decent camp, He's sure as
hell should come. Well, in this case, it would be south from
Traverse City down to Detroit. He's sure as hell should come to Detroit and
be a fixture on that blue line. There's no doubt about that. And
I'm sure I speak the same language that a lot of you are too with
Bergeran. If he can have that type of success, how much more does
he have to prove? Right? Yes? Just the only thing I would
caution you is this, Guys get promoted because they either they've earned it or
you know, we're crying for it and we want to see it constantly.
It's a massive leap from Triple A to the NHL, or from the AHL,
I should say, to the NHL and Triple A to Major League Baseball.
It's a massive leap. Ask Cole Keith right now because it's struggling.
He's struggling right now. I'm not saying give up on him by any stretch,
no way. It doesn't shake my confidence in him whatsoever either. I
truly believe he is going to be a solid hitter. I like him a
lot. Think about it. Javey or Bias has been around a long time.
He struggles right now, what's he bat in Bucks seventy seven Cole Keith
is Bett in you know one f Hey, these are the tough lessons that
you're going to have to deal with Parker Meadows under one hundred A tough lesson
you're going to have to deal with. Do we have the patience for it?
Probably not not when you have as many of these guys struggling at the
same time. That's the frustrating part, isn't it the hard thing for especially
in baseball and hockey, since that's what you brought up, Danny. It's
not like it's not like football where we watch them for three or four years
at Michigan State or the University of Michigan or wherever they may be. Then
they come to your team and depending on their round they were drafted, boom
they're inserted. In hockey, we're drafting at eighteen. How many times you
know, are they going to college, are they playing in the juniors?
What exactly are they doing? Tool for us to monitor them, it's hard
for how much college hockey do we watch? You know, how much how
much hockey do you watch in the juniors? And then I know, the
folks in Grand Rapids listening on WMAX ninety six point one FM the game,
are watching the Griffins, But how many people in metro Detroit are watching them
and monitoring how they're doing. Not many. Same thing with the minor leagues.
We'll give you an update once in a while, but it's it's hard
to figure out sometimes who exactly is where and how well they're doing. Right.
Yeah, that's that's a challenge. Football it's a little different because their
minor leagues is college hockey, so we're sitting there watching them or college football.
I should say we're watching them on a regular basis. I mean,
Cole Keith came out of high school for crying out loud when he was drafted.
I mean, it's the same thing with Max Clark. He's drafted,
but he's drafted out of high school Indiana. I saw why at Langford play
at Florida. It's a big reason I wanted him. It was a known
entity for me, so I'm good with that. That's exactly what I was
hoping the Tigers would get. That's why I was disappointed when they didn't draft
him, because I watched him, so there was a I think there's a
massive difference there but it's a great conversation to have, absolutely perfect. Does
Scott Harris, I mean, how does he feel how does he feel about
certain guys fitting in? Look to his credit. You bring in Mark Canna,
you bring in Jill Orchella, Jack Flaherty kent to Maida. You feel
like you've put some veterans who've established something in the major leagues with some of
the young guys to help them along. It's not working out, but it's
early on all right. We're not at that forty game plateau just yet.
Hey, Our thanks to Jason Langwell for the conversation about the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Our thanks to Ben our producer, but most of all, thanks to
you for your texts on the text Line Sports Radio to twenty one thousand.
We'll be back with you tomorrow morning, six until nine on Axes and Bros.
Across the Great State of Michigan on the Michigan Sports Network. Have a
great Monday, everybody, and thanks for joining us. We played for the
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