We're gonna go out to the KWA common Sparrel hotline though, bring on a
good friend, romy Bean from CBS four Rome. How you doing this evening?
I doing great? How about you guys? Doing pretty well? You
were out there at the Super Bowl. I think I was like the only
guy who didn't go to and then the one person didn't go to super Bowl
everybody got to go. Yep. How did you enjoy Las Vegas as a
first time Super Bowl host? You know what the funny thing with Vegas is
like, even if you're not out there like partying all night and gambling,
like because I wasn't, I was pretty much working the whole time. It's
like Vegas is so much overstimulation. Like two days is enough, even if
you're like not going out, you know, and staying up till four in
the morning, even if you're just going there and as like a working person,
It's just this is so much. But I felt like it was a
great spot for the NFL to host a super Bowl because they know how to
throw a party, they know how to throw an event, and there's a
million things going on. I mean, it was you know, super Bowls
come to some cities, you got to do all this planning. Obviously Vegas
did, but they're like, no, we're ready for this. So I
thought it was great. It was a great experience, great venue, it's
a good time. Oh so we had. This is a great thing by
this time of year, Romi, because you get the super Bowl and then
the following week is NBA All Star which took place two days ago. And
I don't know how you feel about. Ben and I were discussing it,
but watching the NBA All Star it has changed from what I grew up watching.
And no one plays defense anymore. I mean, in your mind,
do you like it? And is it entertaining? You know what? It's
so funny because and the Nuggets were just talking about this. We were just
over there. Michael Mulum was talking about it and he said the same thing.
You know, it's not the All Star game I grew up with,
you know where you see these videos of Kobe going around talking about like you
know, he was never about to lose an All Star Game. But it's
just changed, and it's changed in terms of you know, today's NBA where
guys are worried, you know, they don't want to get hurt, they
don't want to get injured. You know, a lot of these guys are
probably playing for something, and so you know, I'm conflicted because I would
love to see, Yeah, you see best on best. You want to
see them go at it. Boy, would that be fantastic. But I
think from a realistic approach, these guys are gonna do it. They're not
gonna risk injury in the middle of the season when they've got playoffs, they've
got championship hopes. There's just I think Michael Malone put it perfectly tonight.
He just said, you know, there's a problem with it, and I
feel bad about it, but I don't think there's a fix, and I
don't think anyone knows what kind of a fix it is. You know.
He even said, you could make it like the Pro Bowl and everyone messes
around and screws around and have fun and put it at the end of the
season, but even then not fixing it right because inherently there's the problem.
I just don't know how you put it any sort of an all star game
in season and expect guys to really put their bodies on the line. I
wish there was more defense, but I just don't see I know they talk
about incentivizing it, but I don't think big picture, a lot of those
guys are going to go for that. I really don't. What do you
think about some of the other solutions that have proposed three on three tournaments,
you know, dividing them up instead of East West by division and doing it.
Does that add anything for you or is that just over complicating and already
kind of odd process. I mean, I like that they went back to
East West because you know, a couple of years ago they had like Team
Lebron and Team whomever, and I didn't like that. I liked that they
went back to East West. You know, the MLB for the longest time
winner got home field and that was a huge, huge deal, but they
took it away for a reason. And I think that that feels like the
obvious one. But the MLB took it away, and there's a reason why
why they're not doing it. I love the idea, though, like three
on threes or honestly, like like one v one. If you look at
one v one, these guys are so inherently competitive. I think you're going
to see good stuff and good stuff come out of that. Is you could
do stuff more like that but if you're going to play a forty eight minute
game or whatever, guys are not it's just they're having They're just gonna mess
around and have fun. I think you have to try other things, because,
let's be honest, even with the NFL, or even MLB, which
is arguably the most watchable, even with that, one the best parts of
All Star Weekend is the skills competitions, any type of skill competition, the
home run derby, the skills competitions, even that, the quarterback accuracy thing
we were throwing, the dunk contest obviously, which you can argue the dunk
contest has not been the same, but about a decade either, and it
really hasn't. I can't remember one that's like, oh gosh, right from
the last I don't know, senator few years. I feel like Aaron Gordon
was the last great one. But I don't know. I don't know how
the game itself you can make it any more competitive. I wish there was
a solution, but I just think the skills part is really the best part
of any All Star Weekend. Well, what did you think of the whole
kind of like brotherly love that was being shared between Luka Donzig and Nikola Yokis
because as a basketball fan, I really liked it, And to be totally
honest, I would love to see Luca and the Nuggets Jersey. Honestly,
that would be unfair in the best way. Pop. I mean, we're
all, are you kidding me? If to get Luca, I mean you
probably have to trade small Murray, maybe Murray and MPJ. You're not saying
no to Luca and Yolk together. I mean that would be That would rival
some of the best duos you know of all time, right when you go
back to MJ and Pippin, maybe even Kobe and Shag like that, then
you're that's what you're talking about in that tier. If you get those two
together for a significant amount of time, I don't know who in their right
mind would say no to that one hundred percent. And you also love the
way Yo could phrase it, right, He's like, I don't want to
leave Denver, so if Wivan gets pissed off from Dallas, he can come
over here, like let's go. That would be That would be incredible.
That would make the Nuggets even more of a powerhouse than they are. And
the two of them together are just are so much fun to watch enough.
Yeah, I don't know how you pull that trade off. I mean it's
you know, it's fascinating concept to kind of think about. You probably have
to send you know, MPJ and Murray and draft picks, you know,
to make that work. But you know, I mean, I'm for it.
I think those two watching those two guys do the weave down the court
was was probably the highlight of the weekend, outside of maybe mac McClung's original
dunk, which only got a forty six. I'm still complaining about up for
it. I mean, if they could pull it off, I just can't
see more Cuban and Dallas doing that. Oh. I mean I couldn't either.
And I think that that's the big thing is he would have to Luca
would have to demand a trade. He would demand that he would want to
leave. It's not they certainly. I don't think we just let him go,
not even for that big deal that you talked about, like they're not,
you know, they're not going to just let him walk. It would
have to be one of those things where he demanded out and then this this
scenario happened. But it does feel more like a pipe tream than something that
would actually happened, but you know we still dream about it. Well,
yeah, we we all can dream, but I guess Nuggets fans don't really
have the dream that much. Based on what Nicole Yoki said during an All
Star break was that he wants to stay here in Denver. He's not.
He doesn't see a scenario where he leaves. And we know that in the
sports coaches changes and things happen when players leave. What does that mean to
the city of Denver and the Nuggets for that matter. Known as though your
Star your two time MVP could be a third time MVP, said that he
wants to make sure that he is a Denver Nugget for life. Yeah,
no, it's pretty unreal. I mean, you hear players say it sometime,
and you know, Nick, that's hip's service sometime. I'm sure I
want to stay here, but jokis it and he does, and anybody you
talk to outside can validate that his family really likes it here. He likes
and he's kind of raising. I've heard a lot that you know, he
likes, you know, raise his daughter here obviously until at at some point
they go back to Serbia. But they love it here. They've made it
a home here and Jokich's, as we know, what makes him just so
much anomaly in the world of superstars. And he's like the anti superstar and
he's not out for you know, he hates the start, like the Spotlight.
He would hate a place right like La He or New York. That's
so the opposite of him. But he genuinely likes being here, and he
likes the franchise. He likes the people he's around. There was conversations a
couple of years ago, right when the Nuggets couldn't break that plateau where they
were getting, you know, in the playoffs of will Michael Malone be back?
And I heard from a lot of people Yolkish likes Malone. Malone's not
going anywhere as long as Yokish likes him. Right, He's got that power
here as well. Right, ownership is going to talk to him about things.
But he's just he's the kind of superstar that he would love to be
in the same place as his entire career. He likes the stability. His
family's out here, his brothers are you know here with him. He really
means that, and you it's kind of one of those things where you have
to just kind of pinch yourself because in this day and age where guys are
always asking for trades and always asking for more money, and let's still give
him all the money. He's making all the money already. But it's pretty
surreal to have a superstars say that and you're like, yeah, and that
also means that everybody's going to continue to want to come to be here in
free agency, right, and people might take a little less money to come
play for you, o Kich. We know how all of that goes too,
so you get all the positive fallout of that as well. Yeah,
I'm interested to see the way the thing goes. And obviously health's going to
be a big factor for the Nuggets down stretch in their quest to repeat the
NFL's got the combine going on here. Next week, I'm gonna be out
there, Ryan Edwards, Breader, Crystal, myself, all gonna be out
there for Kay You're coming out there as well. We are, but I
think we're actually gonna come out a little later in the week. Might this
skip the you know, the coach Jim deal and try and kind of jump
into some more of the players and stuff as well. Well. That'd be
fun. Look forward to to seeing you out there. As far as the
Combine goes, they've really turned this thing into a largely fan event, you
know, putting it at prime time now, allowing people over the last couple
of years to go in and actually observe the event. Says they have.
But do you think this is a positive direction for the NFL? Comment,
Yeah, I just think everything about the NFL, there are times that they
make me make me chuckle a little bit because how the Underware Olympics gets better
ratings than some of the NBA playoffs, right, the Combine will get higher
ratings than some of the early rounds of the NBA and NFL playoffs, like
routine ly, like the NFL is just this is why the NFL is king.
They have mastered the marketing and the excitement of things that maybe shouldn't even
be all that exciting, and they continue to just find new ways to bring
in a new audience. So yeah, I think it's good. I think
that. You know, the Combine is one of those things that I always
thought was funny because I remember when I went to my first combine, I
thought we would be in there right in Lucas well the whole time observing everything,
and then I found out, no, you're basically just talking to guys
at podium all the time. Okay, So I think a way to make
it more interactive for fans and exciting as well. And the NFL does an
incredible job of whether that be because you know teams, your team is suffering,
or this that or whatever. People get very invested in the next generation
of stars, and so it's I think that they do a great job of
that. And it's but it is it's always commical to me that the combine
brings such high ratings when it's it's a test, right, it's a graduation
test of sorts, it's a job interview of sorts, and people are eating
it up. NFL is king. That's why, guys, well we know
NFL it's king, and everyone's eyes will be glued to the television trying to
figure out, you know, who's going to become the next star. And
the Broncos once again list to they at number twelve. So they have to
make some moves before free agency starts. We know that, But is there
particular drill or player that you are looking forward to see to see if what
we saw earlier this season actually match some of the stats. I mean,
I think, obviously, right we're gonna be glued for quarterbacks, and there's
no reason why we shouldn't be kind of watching all these guys. But I'm
really interested in tight ends. I think that you know, the Bronxs have
had a tight end problem for a really long time. Can we trust Greg
Dolsach at the point we can't. It would be great if you panned out.
But but tight ends, I think is an important position to watch.
And there's certainly a lot of talent there in in the tight end room.
And really, when you look at the Broncos roster, and you hate to
do this, but you could say, oh, they need to have any
here, have an eat here, ed drusher, be watching a lot of
those guys closely. You know, I always take half these drills with a
great assault because they're without pad, they're without resistant, there's not another player
chasing him down, so all of those things are throwing against air. You
know, should I keep going? But to watch the general field set,
I think you want to watch and I will be looking a lot, I
think for the tight ends and the past catching tight ends, and they're a
good tight end threat. Because as much as we talk about at twelve,
Bronco's got to take a quarterback. I don't know. I mean, look
at the quarterback Sean Page is drafted in the path Ian Book and Garrett Grayson
like, there's not this list of guys that makes you feel like he's definitely
going to go for one. Obviously, this team is in a different situation.
But I think it's important that we look at a lot of other skill
positions because the Broncos I thing did a lot of directions that they could go
outside of quarterback with that first round pick. Yeah, and it remains to
be seen whether the Broncos, you know, hitch the wagon to a rookie,
go ahead and get another veteran what they do, or are they bring
Russ back. I think he'll wind up in Pittsburgh. We'll see, We'll
see how that shakes out. We do have a listener question romy that.
Brian, a longtime listener here, has said several questions and he's not a
big fan of coach Prime and he he had a couple of questions here about
why we should celebrate see you when they lost eight of their last nine and
and he's not optimistic about the future of the program. How do you feel
about the directions so you took this offseason, and what do you feel about
the impact that he's making there at Colorado. Well, you know, I
think there's there's a couple angles to this if we're going to talk football specifically.
I'm really excited and curious to see what this new version of CU looks
like because last year it was like this complete overhaul, and I think that
the expectation was set very high. They were going to do things, and
they were going to do big things and make playoffs and this, that and
the other. But when you realistically look at any school that's overhauled the program,
so so many of them so rarely have massive success in the first year.
It's just that that hype with set Now this year they got to actually
go out and get positions of meat and really fill up the trenches areas.
They need to get a defensive coordinator that everybody's really excited about. I asked
the neat Rap Report about it at NFL Honors and he was just raving about
how much he thinks he can bring to the program. I'm not going to
talk about Pat sumer. But I think that now they filled in a lot
of the beaten potato roles, if you will. The scale positions were so
easy to get. They got a million wide receivers. But now you've actually
got offensive lineman, defensive lineman. You still got to put it all together.
But I think that this program or this team this year is absolutely going
to build on what they had last year. I think the expectations were set
too high last year. So I'm excited, And you know, I don't
know what my expectations necessarily are for this team, but I do think they're
going to be better. I think they're gonna be more competitive, and I'm
eager to see how they level up. I think in this world of instant
gratification, to expect the team to just go from zero to one hundred right
away is stilly, even though we all get caught up in it. So
as someone who's got more into let's see where this program builds. Because I
followed to you for a long time and they had no sign of building for
the longest time. That's really exciting. And then of course you look at
the popularity, like I was walking around, you know, Radio row,
and you see someone and to see you at and people are strugging up conversations
with them, and I can understand. I guess how what prime does rubs
pupl the wrong way, But I think that's fantastic people across the country are
talking about the University of Colorado because when is the last time you can say
people were doing that all the time with excitement and so to have see you
as someone who's an alumni. So I'm a little biased, but who went
there to see how much people want to talk about CEU across the country When
CU football was quite literally not just irrelevant but a laughing stock two seasons ago.
That's a lot of fun. I don't know why you wouldn't want to
be on that train and enjoy that ride. Yeah, certainly made him a
cultural destination, put them back on the map in terms of relevancy. We'll
see if that translates on the field. Roll me good stuff as always look
forward to seeing out there at the combine and obviously on CBS News every evening
ah Indianapolis in February. What a destination. It's a vacation destination, you
are correct, Rubby be and CBS four always love having her on the show.