WEBVTT

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Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man,

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I'm forty. Go ahead, make
my day every single week. I

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put my freaking heart and soul into
this. I don't go out there and

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laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's
funny to me. I don't want to

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go out there and get embarrassed on
Monday night football for everybody. I think

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that at the beginning of a beautiful
friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from

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yesterday. Still the same person I
was yesterday, and I got the same

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thing for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You

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play to win the day. You
don't play to just play it. That's

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a great thing about sports. You
play to win, and I don't care

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if you don't have any wins.
You go play to win. When you

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start telling me it doesn't matter,
per retire, get out for the mat

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Hey good way to start this Thursday. Welcome everyone, Bexes and bros.

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Monday through Friday, six until nine
throughout the great state of Michigan. Matt

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Shephard, that's our producer. You
can call him on the Meyer Hotline eight

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sixty six eight three eight forty eight
forty three Tigers, who winning yesterday four

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to one. They win this series
for the Cardinals. That is four straight

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series wins for Detroit. Now,
we focus a lot of people focus a

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lot on the negative, unfortunately bothersome
sometimes for me too. But that's what

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it's about. Baseball is about gonna
win every game. You should know that.

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You do know that. There are
just certain times where you look back

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and you're like, that's the one
game you let get away, first game

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at the doubleheader two days ago.
Right, okay, But it's about winning

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series. If you can win series, you're in great shape. You're gonna

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win your divisions as simple as that. You're gonna win the more series wins

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you have. I'm not talking games, I'm talking about series wins. That's

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the goal. You beat Cardinals in
a series, you beat the Royals in

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a series, you beat the Rays
in a series, and you feel pretty

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good about yourself, and you should. You also beat the Twins in a

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series. So the last series loss
was to the Rangers. Now, the

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Twins have played really good ball as
of late. They've won ten in a

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row. Detroit's seventeen wins entering May
is the second most in franchise history.

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Only the eventual World Series champions.
Nineteen eighty four World Series Tigers were better.

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They were eighteen and two. What, yeah, I know, eighteen

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and two. Yes, that's the
famous thirty five and five. Remember though,

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that team won its first seventeen road
games. Those are a couple of

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things. I don't think we'll be
duplicated last year to give you, to

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give you a perspective, last year, Detroit was ten and seventeen entering May.

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Now. Granted, I mean it's
May second, so yesterday was May

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first. But I'm just you know, we haven't really been able to dive

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into May just yet. So there's
your situation right there. Kentamaieta got his

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first win as a Tiger. Four
hits over six innings, pretty solid.

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Veerling had three RBIs. Detroit has
kind of owned Saint Louis in Inner League

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play. I told you yesterday anytime
the Tigers take on the Cardinals, or

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maybe it was two days ago,
I think it was yesterday. I think

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of World Series because they've met in
the World Series three times, with Saint

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Louis winning too out of the three, but Detroit has owned them. They're

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thirty one and sixteen against Saint Louis
all time in interleague play. Now they're

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off to New York to take on
the Yankees, and looks it's a Yankees

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team that is has shown to be
somewhat vulnerable at times eight and five at

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home. They've come back down to
earth a little bit. They split their

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last ten games. They're twenty and
twelve on the year. After winning Baltimore

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yesterday, We'll see what happens with
that. I don't know if that's the

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measuring stick, but I will tell
you this, we're thirty one games deep.

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You're getting a little bit closer to
recognizing who your team truly is.

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Detroit will have today off while the
Yankees play in Baltimore. Carlos Rodan throws

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for the Yankees here today. Game
one tomorrow against New York. Resolson against

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Marcus Stroman. That's the scheduled starter
anyway on Saturday, So it's a good

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weekend to be in the Big Apple. On Saturday, Casey Mize against Clark

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Schmidt, and then the wrap up
has Trek Scoubel against Nestor Cortes. Then

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it's off to Cleveland, who is
lead the division. And again it's early,

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but at some point and I say
that quite a bit. I used

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to say it. We'll call in
games, and I think a lot of

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people say that it is early.
You play one hundred and sixty two games

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and you're only thirty one games deep. It is early. However, at

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some point you and I are going
to stop saying it's early. When that

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is is up to the individual.
What did Sparky Anderson used to say?

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Give me forty games and then you
got a better idea. Now there are

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exceptions to the rule, right,
Houston two thousand and six, I think,

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struggled and then reach the World Series. But the point is you're starting

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to see this team and it looks
pretty good at times. Right. The

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pitching is definitely keeping them in it. And it's funny how a series win

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can kind of change your mood a
little bit, because yesterday we're talking about

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missing an opportunity in Game one.
Then you score eleven runs, you feel

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like, oh, okay, not
bad. Don't let victories or even losses.

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Don't let either one cloud your judgment
on what you think is happening or

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question certain things. It's all right, Still, eight hits isn't a ton,

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Okay, you got to give some
credit work where credit is due.

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Saint Louis played halfway decent two.
How good are the card I don't know.

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We don't know yet. We know
there are three games under five hundred,

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but we're just not sure. And
I would guess people in Saint Louis

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are saying the same thing about Detroit. Now you lost to a pretty good

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team, are they? We don't
know yet. We do think, and

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I think it's important here. We
do think that we've got some some off

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issues that need to be figured out. But it's a pretty cool moment for

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Matt Vierlin, who picked up his
third home run of the season, a

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two run blast of the third off
Miles Michelis, to do it against his

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hometown team. He was a fifth
round draft pick out of Notre Dame but

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grew up in Missouri and Saint Louis
was his hometown team. So it's a

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it's that's kind of a neat moment. A couple of days ago we had

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win Silperez had his first two home
run game. That was a neat moment.

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There are certain things that take place
during the season you're like, oh,

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this is really cool. I like
it. Memorable stuff in the NHL

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last night, Stars beat the Vegas
Knights three too. It's the first time

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the home team has won a game
in the series and they lead the series

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by that three to two score.
Oilers over the Kings. Edmonton win the

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series and eliminates LA for a third
straight year. Leon Drivesidel had two goals.

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Connor McDavid had a couple of assists
eleven in the series for McDavid,

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most in franchise history, which surprised
me. And then Boston is in Toronto

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tonight. The lease Leafs get this. They have lost six straight home playoff

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games. The Bruins, in the
meantime, have lost five consecutive series clinching

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games, which tells you what the
Oak cliche. Go ahead, something's got

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to give. NBA Finals from last
night, and don't forget speaking to the

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NBA. James Edwards of the Athletic
is going to join us. We'll talk

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Pistons and the NBA coming up here
on a Thursday morning edition of Exus and

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Bros. Stay with us. We're
back with more after this across the great

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state of Michigan. He and sure
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hour. Welcome Back Acts Bros.
Monday to Friday six and till nine Here

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on the Michigan Sports dot work across
the Greek state of Michigan. We are

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on in Flint on WTRX Sports Extra
thirteen thirty am. We're on a Cadillac

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Northern Michigan and The Ticket Up in
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seven NBA from last night. Celtics
led wire to wire. They post a

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one to eighteen eighty four win to
eliminate the Heat. Jaylen Brown Derek White

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each had twenty five Boston that can
play either Cleveland or Orlando. And then

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this is a little bit of a
surprise. Maybe it's because in basketball,

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probably more than any other sport,
home court. I don't know. It

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just seems like more home court advantage
than home ice, more home court advantage

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than home field in baseball or football. That's that would be my guess without

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really looking up the percentages, and
sometimes those can be skewed. But Dallas

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a one twenty three ninety three winner
over the Clippers, largest loss in playoff

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history for La Luka Doncic and he's
been hurt with a bad right knee thirty

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five points, ten rebounds, twenty
of his thirty five game in the second

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half. mAbs lead that series three
games to do. You would expect them

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to go home and wrap things up. How you do that is similar to

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you if you had a chance to
watch Boston at all. Boston just dominated

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Miami from the very get go.
Look, they're a better team than Miami,

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There's no question about that. Miami
with a couple of big pieces,

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really big pieces, and Rosier and
obviously Jimmy Butler. So Celtics should get

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that done right. But that doesn't
mean it always happens. I mean,

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look what Milwaukee did the Indiana the
other day, and they did it without

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Ante Tekumpo, and they did it
without Lillard. So you just never know.

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I think you know this, this
happened yesterday. Mike Trout is out

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for a good part of this season. He'd be lucky to play I don't

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know, ninety five games or so. He's got to have surgery. We

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mentioned this yesterday. I think there
are some people starting that they're not questioning

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whether or not he's a Hall of
Fame player. There's no doubt he is.

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There's no doubt, all right,
he's the best player of his generation.

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And if you can't give him that, one of them. The injuries

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are troublesome. Thirty six games in
twenty twenty one one and nineteen games the

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year next, eighty two games last
year. Let's say he plays ninety five

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this year. For as durable as
he was early on in his career,

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playing at least one hundred and fifty
seven games in each of his first four

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seasons. He has struggled since with
injuries. Why that is, I don't

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know. People speculate. I'm not
going to go there. We do know

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this in his career, he's a
three hundred hitter two ninety nine. If

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you'll allow me to round up,
he's gotten much better defensive lane wins above

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replacement is really big for a lot
of people. And he's fifth all time

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amongst center fielders. You know who's
better Willie Mays, the Tigers, Ty

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Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Mickey
Mantle. Mays's war, just so you

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know, one hundred and fifty six
point two. That's nuts. It's absolutely

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crazy. Speakers at one thirty five
point two, cob Is at one point

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fifty one point four. You're not
there's no way you're you're surpassing that,

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all right. Trout's War is about
fourteen over the last few years. It's

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pretty damn good. I don't know
if you've ever done this. Go to

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Baseball Reference dot com and it's easy
to access, and they have a baseball

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grid that you can play. I've
played it quite a bit and my son

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and I, my oldest son and
I play it quite a bit and then

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we kind of compare, and we
played it yesterday and it's just a cool

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little grid where you'll say it.
You'll say like the Times at the top

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and then on the left it will
be Saint Louis. So they want you

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to fill in. Give you a
player who's played for the Tigers and the

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Cardinals. Every actually, basketball does
this, football does this, hockey does

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it? They all have this grid, Ben, have you ever? Have

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you ever played that? By chance? No, it's really cool. It

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really tests you, okay, and
what you try to do. The easy

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thing to do, you know,
it would be like Jack Flaherty for Tigers

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and Cardinals. You don't want to
do that because the percentage is probably very

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high. So you want to find
somebody who has played for both. But

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it's a rare combination. It's not
someone most people would think of. Okay.

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So for example, you know,
my son put in Edgar Renteria that

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was his for the Cardinals and the
Tigers. That's a good one. Or

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a Cardinal or Tigers and White Sox
was next. So down the left side

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you had Cardinals and you had White
Sox and you had another category, and

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then you have something along the top
three. All right, So for example,

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Tigers, White Sox, who would
you put? So A lot of

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people immediately go, oh, chet
Lemon. I put Steve Kemp, And

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the percentage for Steve Kemp was point
three percent. In other words, point

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three percent of the people got Steve
Kemp. Another one was three hundred home

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runs for a White Sox player.
I put Frank Thomas my Son, put

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Paul Konerko. Those are the only
two of hit three hundred homers. You

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don't want to go look it up. That's kind of cheating, but you

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want to figure it out. You
put a MVP, all right, who

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was a Tiger's MVP? They had
that down left side? Was most Valuable

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Player? And then the category is
MVP. So I had Hank Greenberg because

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I figured a lot of people put
Miguel Cabrera, right, I put Hank

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Greenberg. Anyway, the rarity I
got was sixty six, which is pretty

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I was pretty happy with. Mike
Trout will be in that discussion down the

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road. But one of them was
a six war. Did you have a

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who had a six war and an
MVP season? Because six Wars was pretty

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good, I put Carl Yastrimsky.
But just to give you an idea,

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what made me think of it was, you know, the wins above replacement,

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Trout posting about fourteen war since the
start of twenty twenty. So he's

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not catching any of those guys.
He's not catching Cob, he's not catching

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May's, he's not catching Speed.
Probably won't catch Mickey Mantle, who's at

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one hundred and ten point two.
And then people wonder about the homers and

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the RBIs and the hits and so
and so. I don't think Mike Trout's

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getting three thousand hits, He's sure. I don't think he's getting five hundred

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homers. You'll get four hundred easies. He's the three hundred and seventy eight

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right now. The RBIs, you
know, okay, and runs those are

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those to me, the RBIs I
think are important. But look, this

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is a good excuse me. This
is a guy who drives in what can

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easily he'll easily average eighty five RBIs, ninety RBIs, but he hasn't had

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more than eighty since twenty nineteen.
You know, MVPs all that stuff.

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No doubt he's the first ballot Hall
of Famer. It just here's the thing

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that differentiates them. Will he be
can Sittered one of the greatest of all

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time in center field if the injuries
continue, if he does, if he's

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not playing games, it's hard to
do that. It's hard to think that

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now when you've got so many others. Our phone number, by the way,

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00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:19.880
on the Meyer Hotline eighty sixty six, eight three eight forty eight forty

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three. James Edwards of the Athletic
We'll join us at eight thirty five.

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00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:29.920
It's a little bit later on here
on Exis and Bros. On a Thursday

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five after the hour. A couple
hours from now, we'll talk with James

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00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:32.240
Edwards of The Athletic. If you
missed any of our conversation yesterday, remember

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the conversation with Ben Raven from Mlive. We'll play that about an hour from

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now. Okay, we'll do that
because it was an informative one. So

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seven thirty five Ben Raven from Mlive
a replay and then eight thirty five James

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Edwards from the Athletic. I wanted
to ask people about covering games. I've

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read some things recently. We're more
and more broadcasters are calling out umpires.

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It happened the other day in the
Twins broadcast Byron Buxton was injured and one

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of the umpires was telling telling him, in so many words, let's hustle

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it up, okay, to get
off the field. He wasn't feeling really

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good all right. So Rob Drake
was the first base umpire and kind of

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was a little upset with Buxton's pace
and wanted him to hurry to get off

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the field. And well, the
Bally Sports North crew didn't like it too

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much, La Troy Hawkins, Corey
provis So they were critical of him,

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which is, you know, that's
fine. Same thing happened in the Baltimore

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game Baltimore Orioles, I forget who. I don't know if it was Gunner

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Henderson at the plate, but of
course, who do you have behind the

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dish? Cebe Buckner, who's you
shouldn't know? Umpires names, you shouldn't

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know, referees names you were.
I mean, those are the people who

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are supposed to be silent but help
the game along. It's not a good

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thing if you're recognizing umpires on a
regular basis. Oh boy, we got

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Angel Hernandez. Oh boy, we
got Cebe Buckner. Uh oh, we've

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got Teddy Valentine. Those are not
good things. TV ted is what they

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call them. He embraced that stuff
in college basketball. Cebee Buckner behind the

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plate calls a strike three that was
clearly low. It was gunner head,

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Yeah, thank you. And Jim
Palmer just says, you know what,

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he shouldn't be umpiring, and he
is and they know it. There's two

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different situations where they are calling out
the people who are policing their game.

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Do you remember, before the playoffs
began in the NBA, Anthony Davis called

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out the league itself. Do you
remember this at all? Anthony Davis said,

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Remember the three players announced for Defensive
Player of the Year, Anthony Davis

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is not one of them. It
was Rudy Gobert. It was Bam Autebayo

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from Miami, and it was of
course Victor Webbin Yama. And it won't

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surprise me if Weben Yanama women wins
it. Even though he's a rookie.

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There is no Anthony Davis, and
Anthony Davis came out and said, quote,

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I'll never get Defensive Player of the
Year. They're not giving it to

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me. The league doesn't like me. I'm the best defensive player in the

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league. I can switch one through
five, I can guard the pick and

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roll the best in the league.
From a big standpoint, I block shots,

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I rebound. I don't know what
else to do. I'm over it.

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I'm done with accolades and individual awards, done with winning a championship too,

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because the team was eliminated. But
yeah, that's more and more teams

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or players, I should say,
And more and more announcers are feeling comfortable

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about calling out either players or leagues. Charles Barkley did it. Charles Barkley

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said, for all you punks and
idiots and jackasses on other networks who want

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to be who want to be media
and want all the players to like y'all,

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do your damn job. The Lakers
suck and the sun suck because of

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the players. This goes back to
what I was saying earlier on the show.

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Not this morning, but in the
past. We want to criticize coaches,

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and for good reason. I'm not
saying there they don't deserve any blame.

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But you and I both know.
You and I both know the NBA,

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for example, is a players league. We see these great shots of

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00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:44.400
team huddles. Let's go full sound
up with the players listening to the coach

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and the coaches miked up. Let's
go inside the huddle and hear what Manty

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Williams has to say. Give me
the dry erase board and drop up a

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play. That's great stuff, and
it is. It's good access. I

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love it. You should love it
too. But for the most part,

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for the most part, that is
it's a player's league. We say it

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all the time. The only time
we criticize coaches is in losses wins we

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00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:21.240
credit the player. Look, I
did it too, I said it this

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00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:25.319
morning. Luka donciz thirty five and
ten. How come we're not getting any

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00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:33.240
throwing any flowers at Jason kids feet? Charles Barkley said last night in the

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00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:37.839
postgame Boston in Miami, they're raving
about what the Celtics did. He goes,

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00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:41.039
I'm not going to give them any
flowers. I'm not giving them any

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candy. They should have blown them
out. He's right, He's absolutely right.

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This is what's become though I don't
know where it started, or when

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it started, or who it started
with, but there is the fear that

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you're not going to get your exclusive
You're not going to be able to sit

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a guy down, You're not gonna
be able to talk to him in an

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extended interview because he holds the power
Tiger Woods, Lebron James whatever. Have

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you ever noticed that if you criticize
certain individuals, they hold it against you,

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And that's what's happened. But those
are good examples right there of broadcasters

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Bill and willing to say, you
know what, this guy's he's not very

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good. He hasn't done a good
job. I've done that in the past.

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I think you have to pick your
spots, and I think you have

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to be careful with it. Charles
Sparkley doesn't have to worry about it.

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He doesn't have to face the same
team every single day, he doesn't have

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to travel with that team. He's
being honest, he should be. He

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00:30:56.119 --> 00:31:02.799
doesn't take friendships into his job.
It's part of the reason he is so

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00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:07.640
effective at what he does. I
don't think he's I don't think he's a

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great analyst. I don't think he'd
be a really good court side analyst.

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Of course, they do have stan
Van Gundy for crying out loud DNT.

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Why doesn't that ever get brought up
just out of curiosity? Remember when Matt

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00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:29.160
Millan was the second analyst on Fox. It was John Madden and then it

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00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:33.680
was Matt Millan. Matt Millan was
really good. He becomes the general manager

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00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:41.920
of the Detroit Lions and proceeds to
stink just awful, goes back to the

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00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:48.039
booth and it's primarily Big ten network
now and people just don't want to hear

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00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:48.920
it. People are like, give
me a break, this guy was so

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bad, so on and so forth. Okay, hurt the reputation, I

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00:31:52.960 --> 00:32:00.720
understand it. How come I done? Happened with stan Van Gundy? Like

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people go to seek out his advice. I mean he literally said not too

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long ago. The problem I think
for Detroit is what are you going to

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00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:15.559
do with your cap space? Where
are you going to try and win.

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00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:21.680
My guess Tom Gores wants to get
this thing done quickly, not sit around

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and wait on a young core.
I think that's probably the right approach.

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You screwed this franchise and you've got
members of the media seeking your advice.

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00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:39.880
What would you do now for the
Pistons when he was in charge of the

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00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:50.799
Pistons? How absurd is that we
blame so many people we blame This is

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00:32:50.839 --> 00:32:55.759
so hypocritical in the media. We
blame so many people for so many different

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00:32:55.759 --> 00:33:00.799
things, different walks of life,
avenues. Doesn't have to be the sports

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00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:05.680
while they're doing it. Then when
they're done, we all, hey,

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00:33:05.799 --> 00:33:07.480
let's let's get their advice. What
do you think you'd do. Man,

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here's a guy who says, you're
gonna have to supplement as you go along.

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00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:22.000
They've got good pieces. Durren Thompson, Sasser Ivy, he's naming Kid

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00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:25.920
Cunningham. He's name in five six
guys for a team that won thirteen fourteen

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00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:36.640
games this year. Thanks Stan,
who in their right mind goes to him

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00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:40.480
and says, I got an idea. I want to do an interview.

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00:33:42.039 --> 00:33:45.160
Let's bring on Stan van Gundhy and
ask him, what would you do with

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00:33:45.240 --> 00:33:53.319
the Pistons. Are you flipping kidding
me? That's ridiculous. But those same

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00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:57.079
people who do that, what do
they do. They'll go out and they'll

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00:33:57.319 --> 00:34:00.240
criticize this and criticize that. But
they were good friends with stan Van Gundy

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00:34:00.279 --> 00:34:06.519
while he was here in Detroit.
So let's ask him what he would do

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00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:12.280
in free agency or to rebuild this
team. Didn't you already ask him what

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00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:15.679
you would do to rebuild this team? And all he did was sink it

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00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:23.239
further into the toilet. Well that's
James Edwards at eight thirty five. See

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00:34:23.239 --> 00:34:27.840
if he's got a thought on that. I do want to ask him because

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00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:32.079
there was a podcast out there.
I didn't listen to it, but they

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actually had stan van Gundy on and
asked them asked him his opinion of what

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00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:44.679
he would do with the Pistons.
It's laughable. But the same person who

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00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:46.280
had that podcast, what are they
gonna do. They're gonna go out there

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00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:50.440
and they're going to criticize this person
and that person and so on and so

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00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:52.719
forth. I mean, oh my
god, the hypocrisies. But we don't

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00:34:52.719 --> 00:35:00.960
say anything about it. Nobody says
a thing about it. It's maddening,

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00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:06.760
absolutely maddening. Meyer hotline is eight
sixty six eight three, eight forty eight

379
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:10.880
forty three. The text line is
Sports Radio twenty one thousand. That's how

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00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:20.039
you can jump on board. Speaking
of getting something together and being an architect,

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00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:28.239
whether it's Matt Millan and stan Van
Gundy blowing up their franchises, or

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00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:35.039
is it Brad Holmes who has had
an unbelievable run with the Detroit Lions.

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00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:44.719
Who's the best architect in Detroit?
Slash the state of Michigan history. Brad

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00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:46.400
Holmes is getting all kinds of flowers
right now, and for good reason.

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00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:55.000
It's been incredible. His moves for
the most part a right, not just

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00:35:55.079 --> 00:36:00.800
the drafts. I'm talking about his
moves overall. I think really good general

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00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:07.159
managers they have to decide, they
have to recognize when things go awry,

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00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:16.119
what's working and what's not working.
Cut bait if you will. I can

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00:36:16.199 --> 00:36:21.000
think of probably two others. Look, Scott Harris is trying to do this.

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00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:27.360
Troy Weaver is trying to do this
to no avail. Steve Eisaman is

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00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:34.760
trying to do this. Who are
the best architects that Detroit has ever had?

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00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:43.159
Jack McCloskey of the Pistons. I
mean, he's the one who drafted

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00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:47.639
Isaiah Thomas. He's the one who
drafted Joe Dumars and John Sally and Dennis

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00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:53.159
Rodman. He's the one who traded
for Vinnie Johnson and Bill Lambier and Mark

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00:36:53.159 --> 00:37:00.599
Aguire and Rick Mahorn and Adrian Danley. You can't you can't deny that he

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00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:07.920
got championships out of it. Bill
Lejoy, he's the one who built the

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00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:15.000
eighty four Tigers. And look,
I don't think it's just an architect of

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00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:21.639
a championship team. Dave Dombrowski was
pretty damn good. Did he set the

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00:37:21.719 --> 00:37:27.480
organization back to quote unquote go for
it by trading a lot of young talent.

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00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:31.559
A lot of that young talent wasn't
very good, So that's the downside

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00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:37.239
of his tenure in Detroit. But
he did make them extremely competitive. If

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00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:40.159
you don't think Joe Dumars was a
really good architect, you haven't paid attention.

403
00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:45.880
Look at how good the Pistons were, not just with the one championship,

404
00:37:46.039 --> 00:37:54.280
but contending regularly in the Eastern Conference
finals, regularly in the postseason,

405
00:37:57.039 --> 00:38:04.159
and of course Jimmy Devellano. Jimmy
Devellano is probably the best architect. How

406
00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:07.679
do you deny that? And I'm
not picking just one guy from each team

407
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:14.559
because I said Bill Joy and Dave
Dombrowski. You don't have to go to

408
00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:20.480
from just one team. I said
Joe Dumars and Jack McCloskey. Now,

409
00:38:20.519 --> 00:38:25.519
granted, except for Dombrowski, it
ended up in a World championship. Tigers

410
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:32.760
should have had I think two World
Series championships under Dombrowski. I think they

411
00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:37.599
should have won in two thousand and
six when losing to the Cardinals, and

412
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:40.280
I think two thousand, what was
it thirteen when they lost to the Orioles

413
00:38:40.599 --> 00:38:46.679
his mistake bringing in Brad Ostmas or
twenty sixteen? Is that what it was?

414
00:38:47.400 --> 00:38:51.840
I forget which was here? That
was because they lost to Boston in

415
00:38:51.840 --> 00:38:55.840
one of those years? Was that
twenty thirteen? Okay, either way should

416
00:38:55.840 --> 00:39:00.880
have had it right, the Joaquing
Ben Wah giving up the Grand Slam to

417
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:06.639
David Ortiz, losing to Baltimore.
I'm not counting the San Francisco. The

418
00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:13.639
Giants were just better that year period
twenty twelve. Anyway, those architects,

419
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:15.679
these are the art that's who Brad
Holmes is trying to be. Brad Holmes

420
00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:22.039
will probably if if the Lions ever
win that Super Bowl. And Ben Raven

421
00:39:22.119 --> 00:39:24.920
is a guy we talked to yesterday. Well replayed that at seven thirty five.

422
00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:29.840
He covers the Lionsfranlive dot com.
We asked him about Brad Holmes.

423
00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:36.199
If he does, he'll probably viewed
as the greatest architect this city has ever

424
00:39:36.280 --> 00:39:43.280
had because the Lions have never done
it. Because the Lions were so bad,

425
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:52.239
the other guys inherited just as bad
situations. When Jimmy Devellano took over

426
00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:55.719
the Red Wings, they were horrid, you know the stories. They were

427
00:39:55.719 --> 00:39:59.880
called the Dead Wings. They were
giving away cars once in a while just

428
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:07.199
to get people into the building.
And it started with what the key piece

429
00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:12.239
for Devil Lano, It was drafting
Steve Eisman, It was the start.

430
00:40:13.039 --> 00:40:16.519
Took a while to get there,
but it was the start. For McCloskey,

431
00:40:16.599 --> 00:40:21.320
was drafting Isaiah Thomas. Took a
while to get there, but it

432
00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:27.719
was a start. For l Joy, it was multiple players. It was

433
00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:32.440
the drafting of Trammel and Whittaker,
first round pick of Kirk Gibson, so

434
00:40:32.559 --> 00:40:36.280
on and so forth. You know, the stories. I don't need to

435
00:40:36.320 --> 00:40:44.719
rehash it for you. For Dumars, it was overcoming some of his mistakes,

436
00:40:45.559 --> 00:40:51.079
but bringing in guys. His wasn't
as much drafting. I don't think

437
00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:59.519
his was more about trading for Ben
Wallace, trading for Richard Hamilton, acquiring

438
00:40:59.639 --> 00:41:07.320
Rashid Wallace, bringing in Chauncey Billups. That wasn't a home grown team.

439
00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:12.840
Phone number on the Meyer hotline eight
sixty six eight three, eight forty eight

440
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forty three. We'd text to the
show sports Radio to twenty one thousand or

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exes and bros throughout the great state
of Michigan. The Huge Show a little

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bit later on today from three until
six, right here on the Michigan Sports

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People are upset about the Old Valley
situation with Exfinity, aren't they. Somebody

469
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tweeted the other day they said,
it's time to do right by your fans,

470
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especially those depending on DEALI Sports lift
the blackouts already. It's a blackout

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with Exfinity. The contract is with
Exfinity. That's part of the issue.

472
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And then there's others who just think, well, I'm not in TV,

473
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I know how to handle this.
Here's what you do. Just put them

474
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on regular television. That's not the
way it works. Man. Sounds just

475
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simple as just well, let's just
flick a switch. They can't put put

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on there, so let's go broadcast
on Channel four in Detroit or Channel eight

477
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and Grand Rapids Nope, it's not
the way it works. Man. It's

478
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surprising to me that people are in
this business and they just don't get it.

479
00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:04.079
Welcome to the second hour of Exus
and Bros. Here on the Michigan

480
00:45:04.079 --> 00:45:07.159
Sports Network throughout the great state of
Michigan. Bottom of the hour, we

481
00:45:07.239 --> 00:45:12.079
will replay our interview with Ben Raven
from m Live. In case you missed

482
00:45:12.079 --> 00:45:15.039
it, he joined us yesterday.
We'll play it again today for those of

483
00:45:15.039 --> 00:45:19.840
you who didn't get a chance to
listen in and at eight thirty five,

484
00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:23.599
James Edwards of the Athletic will join
us as well. In case you missed

485
00:45:23.639 --> 00:45:29.119
it. Last night, Dallas beat
Vegas on ice three to two. They

486
00:45:29.199 --> 00:45:34.880
lead that series, and Edmonton eliminated
the Kings for a third consecutive season four

487
00:45:34.920 --> 00:45:38.599
to three, the final there in
favor of the Oilers. We know already

488
00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:45.639
that Tampa has been eliminated from the
Stanley Cup playoffs. The question is down

489
00:45:45.639 --> 00:45:52.280
in Tampa, at least while they're
talking hockey anyway, what do you do

490
00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:59.440
with Captain Stephen stamcos he has spent
sixteen years in Tampa. He will be

491
00:45:59.480 --> 00:46:06.880
a free agent right now this summer
and will get no doubt a ton of

492
00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:15.880
interest from other teams. How would
he fit with the Red Wings? I

493
00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:21.960
think it's a fair discussion. Not
sure how many people want a thirty four

494
00:46:22.039 --> 00:46:29.679
year old he can still play,
man, he can still play. Where

495
00:46:29.719 --> 00:46:38.519
would he fit well? Toronto May
believes are a team for sure Florida.

496
00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:45.039
If he wants to stay in Florida
and not and Tampa isn't the right fit

497
00:46:45.119 --> 00:46:52.000
for him, then that's a possibility. And people have speculated Detroit and for

498
00:46:52.119 --> 00:46:57.440
good reason. See others have said, well, maybe Utah is a good

499
00:46:57.480 --> 00:47:04.480
fit. I don't know. Man, he wants to win. Who gives

500
00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:07.920
them a chance to win? Maybe
this is home cooking on my part,

501
00:47:07.760 --> 00:47:14.800
Completely open to that criticism because I
think the Red Wings should have made the

502
00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:19.039
playoffs this year, and I think
they're on that bend if they stay healthy

503
00:47:19.440 --> 00:47:22.400
to do just that. Do they
need certain pieces? Yes? Is Steven

504
00:47:22.480 --> 00:47:28.519
Stamcos one of those pieces. You
could always use more scoring, But you'd

505
00:47:28.639 --> 00:47:31.920
rather them focus on the blue line
or in net, wouldn't you. Absolutely.

506
00:47:32.239 --> 00:47:35.400
I'm not saying they're going to go
out and get Connor Hollibuck, but

507
00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:40.360
they need somebody who can stop the
puck a little bit more consistently. Anyway,

508
00:47:40.360 --> 00:47:45.159
I read an article the other day
about this, and here's what they

509
00:47:45.239 --> 00:47:50.920
had to say about the Red Wings
chances. It said projected cap space twenty

510
00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:53.920
nine million, which surprised me because
I didn't think it was quite that high.

511
00:47:53.960 --> 00:47:59.400
Anyway, they said, Steve Eisaman's
team just narrowly missed the playoffs,

512
00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:05.440
and this upcoming offseason seems like a
pivotal moment for the Red Wings rebuild.

513
00:48:06.440 --> 00:48:13.039
Bringing in Stamcos would help infuse a
championship culture into a locker room that hasn't

514
00:48:13.039 --> 00:48:15.679
seen the postseason since twenty sixteen.
So let me just stop right there for

515
00:48:15.679 --> 00:48:28.880
a moment. Infuse a championship culture. I've talked about this before. There

516
00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:34.960
are guys who have played on championships
Olimana, Patrick Kane this past year,

517
00:48:36.559 --> 00:48:43.400
and guys who've made the playoffs plenty. It's not a championship culture necessary.

518
00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:50.760
That's missing. It's talent on the
blue line and defensive talent up front too,

519
00:48:50.840 --> 00:48:55.480
because, as we all know,
it's defense isn't only by the two

520
00:48:55.559 --> 00:49:01.840
defensemen who are on the ice at
the time. It continued and said stamp

521
00:49:01.880 --> 00:49:07.360
Coos could also add some offensive pop
that was lacking at the top of Detroit's

522
00:49:07.400 --> 00:49:10.280
lineup in twenty twenty three to twenty
four, with the exception of a few

523
00:49:10.360 --> 00:49:17.440
key players. Fair enough. I
think that's an excellent point. They still

524
00:49:17.480 --> 00:49:23.719
need to score goals, we think, not necessarily you. I'm just I

525
00:49:23.800 --> 00:49:30.280
use we as a generality here.
Okay, First of all, can Steven

526
00:49:30.360 --> 00:49:34.760
Stamkos let's address you know, one
thing at a time? Here? Can

527
00:49:34.800 --> 00:49:40.000
Steven Stamkos still score you? Damn
right? He can't without a doubt.

528
00:49:40.159 --> 00:49:45.960
He's still especially on the power play. Now. Is he Nikita Kutcherov on

529
00:49:46.039 --> 00:49:52.239
his team? No, but Kutcheroff
won the scoring title. Is he bredon

530
00:49:52.320 --> 00:49:55.840
point? Not quite. He's still
pretty damn good. He still had eighty

531
00:49:55.880 --> 00:50:04.039
one points. He still had forty
goals year. Forty goals would have led

532
00:50:04.079 --> 00:50:09.920
the Red Wings, for crying out
loud. So he can still play now

533
00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:15.320
the ice time. Yeah, that's
up to coach Laan to figure that out.

534
00:50:15.360 --> 00:50:20.719
And he's familiar with him, so
that's a plus. Right. So

535
00:50:21.400 --> 00:50:24.679
the question is, look at age
thirty four, you guy's got to be

536
00:50:24.679 --> 00:50:30.239
committed, and he sure seems like
he would be committed. Absolutely, So

537
00:50:30.280 --> 00:50:34.599
it makes a ton of sense.
I think can he still get goals,

538
00:50:34.920 --> 00:50:40.480
no question about it. Does this
team need goals, no question about that

539
00:50:40.599 --> 00:50:49.480
either. We think, based on
the regular season numbers from based from up

540
00:50:49.519 --> 00:50:52.480
from a year ago, that this
team is a really good offensive team.

541
00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:58.360
And they are they finished what top
half? They're not Colorado, They're not

542
00:50:58.400 --> 00:51:06.400
Toronto. Toronto could be a eleminated
tonight. Colorado's advanced. Dallas is leading

543
00:51:06.960 --> 00:51:10.679
Edmonton, is there? Tampa,
Vancouver, New York, Carolina, All

544
00:51:10.760 --> 00:51:16.400
those teams better in goals four during
the regular season than the Red Wings all

545
00:51:16.440 --> 00:51:20.840
in the playoffs. Now here's what
you might say, Well, wait a

546
00:51:20.840 --> 00:51:25.880
minute, shot, Nashville, Florida, Boston, Vegas, Jets, Kings

547
00:51:27.159 --> 00:51:36.519
all right behind Detroit, and they
didn't make the playoffs fair enough defensively or

548
00:51:36.559 --> 00:51:39.800
maybe special teams wise, Like,
what do you think the difference between the

549
00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:44.760
Oilers and Kings series was. I'll
tell you what it was. It was

550
00:51:44.800 --> 00:51:49.159
special teams. And Edmonton had another
power play goal last night. They had

551
00:51:49.239 --> 00:51:52.800
nine overall in the series. But
when I bring up those teams Winnipeg,

552
00:51:52.000 --> 00:52:00.239
La, Florida, Boston, know
this, All those teams led by Florida

553
00:52:01.320 --> 00:52:15.559
best in goals against Detroit's bottom half. There no team below Detroit in goals

554
00:52:15.599 --> 00:52:23.079
against made the postseason. Tampa was
barely above them and they made the playoffs.

555
00:52:27.119 --> 00:52:30.519
So does Detroit need it? Yeah, you can always use Like I

556
00:52:30.559 --> 00:52:35.280
said, you can always use more
scoring. But defensively, that's where they

557
00:52:35.320 --> 00:52:38.920
have to get better. Is Steven
Stamco's viewed as a better defensive forward than

558
00:52:38.960 --> 00:52:45.920
a lot of guys that they have
not really anyway, So the article continued

559
00:52:45.960 --> 00:52:50.280
and said, this potential marriage may
come down to the length of the contract.

560
00:52:51.719 --> 00:52:55.719
That's always key. How much you're
willing to give him and over how

561
00:52:55.719 --> 00:53:02.480
many years. That's the hard with
teams who haven't made the playoffs for eight

562
00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:07.800
years and many who feel like they're
not ready to turn the corner yet attracting

563
00:53:07.800 --> 00:53:12.639
a guy like that. That's what
they mean by overpaying. It's not always

564
00:53:12.639 --> 00:53:17.519
in money, it's in years.
Two. What would you give a guy

565
00:53:17.559 --> 00:53:22.519
like Steven Stamkos number one, number
two? If you're willing to give it

566
00:53:22.519 --> 00:53:30.400
to him? Why not? Why
not? Patrick Kine? Those guys want

567
00:53:30.480 --> 00:53:36.159
multi year deals, and I don't
blame him. Are you willing to commit

568
00:53:36.199 --> 00:53:42.880
a long term deal to a thirty
four year old forward or a short term

569
00:53:42.920 --> 00:53:47.239
deal? What do you consider a
short term deal two years, three years.

570
00:53:49.639 --> 00:53:52.440
Guys in hockey can play a long
time if they can stay healthy.

571
00:53:52.480 --> 00:53:59.400
And stam Cooast has had some injuries, what would be the max that you

572
00:53:59.400 --> 00:54:04.119
would give him? Meyer hotlines open
for you eight sixty six, eight three

573
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eight forty eight forty three. You
could TECHT Sports Radio to twenty one thousand.

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Bottom of the hour, we'll replay
our interview from yesterday with Ben Raven

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eight thirty five. James Edwards from
the Athletic joins us to talk Pistons and

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NBA, on x'es and bros.
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At seven eighteen on this Thursday,
bottom of the hour, venravenplive dot com,

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who joined us yesterday, will replay
that interview from yesterday in case you

586
00:55:28.440 --> 00:55:32.880
missed it. Meanwhile, at eight
thirty five, James Edwards of the Athletic

587
00:55:32.920 --> 00:55:37.440
will join us. We'll talk Pistons
and NBA here on ex'es and bros.

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We're open to any conversation you'd like
on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight

589
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three, eight forty eight forty three
to the phone lines. Ben, who's

590
00:55:46.840 --> 00:55:50.920
waiting for us? Yeah? We
got Kenan Burton, Hi, Ken,

591
00:55:51.039 --> 00:55:54.039
how are you today? Happy Thursday
to you? Happy Thursday to you?

592
00:55:54.199 --> 00:56:00.000
Shep now, shep. When you
were a basketball announcer for University of Michigan,

593
00:56:00.840 --> 00:56:06.679
was Dave Brandon The Athletic directors in
it started with Bill Martin, and

594
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then it went to David Brandon,
Yes, which one hired John Beeline Bill

595
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Martin. Bill Martin did, Okay. The reason I'm calling is and I

596
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hope I'll try to talk as fast
as I can so I can quicker than

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I can take your time my friend, my lifetime best friend passed away of

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cancer in two thousand and thirteen,
and we were I was a Michigan season

599
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ticket holder and my friend was a
Michigan fan. And I wrote Dave Brandon

600
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a long letter on email and asked
we were having an outing form to raise

601
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money because he was a self business
owner and he was hiring a hard time

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making a living. And Dave was
nice enough to send a hat signed by

603
00:57:00.840 --> 00:57:04.559
him he sent. I asked him
if he could send the picture, and

604
00:57:04.639 --> 00:57:09.199
he sent the picture with his signature
on, and we had a frame and

605
00:57:09.280 --> 00:57:14.000
a couple other things like a T
shirt and stuff, and I of course

606
00:57:14.000 --> 00:57:19.119
sent them back and thanked them for
everything well. And then I sent him

607
00:57:19.119 --> 00:57:22.119
also back after the outing was over
was and thanked them again an email.

608
00:57:22.119 --> 00:57:25.719
And I could tell these were his
emails because he wasn't been like me.

609
00:57:25.800 --> 00:57:29.199
He had a hard time sleep in
the middle night. They were like two

610
00:57:29.239 --> 00:57:36.719
thirty three thirty at night. And
so when my friend passed away in twenty

611
00:57:36.840 --> 00:57:40.840
thirteen, two years later, I
wrote again to Dave and thanked him for

612
00:57:40.920 --> 00:57:49.079
all he did and sent him a
nice card thanking him and told him my

613
00:57:49.119 --> 00:57:52.320
friend had passed away. And he
wrote me two or three more times on

614
00:57:52.440 --> 00:57:58.920
email and told me he was a
cancer survivor. And I knew that because

615
00:57:59.480 --> 00:58:02.519
he's about three or four years younger
than me, and I remember him when

616
00:58:02.519 --> 00:58:07.599
he played foot Bowl because I could
back in them days when I had more

617
00:58:07.599 --> 00:58:09.239
of a mind than I do now, I could remember every player on the

618
00:58:09.280 --> 00:58:15.760
team. And what I'm trying to
say that he got such a bad rap,

619
00:58:15.199 --> 00:58:20.719
especially from the guys at WTKA,
and I won't mention the names.

620
00:58:20.719 --> 00:58:23.840
Everybody knows who they are. And
I wrote them with a letter to saying

621
00:58:23.880 --> 00:58:30.880
what he did for my friend and
myself as a friend. And they're trying

622
00:58:30.880 --> 00:58:34.119
to tell me that I didn't know
the whole story, and I probably don't

623
00:58:34.159 --> 00:58:36.440
know the whole So all I know
is the man was nice to me,

624
00:58:36.519 --> 00:58:38.679
and I would I would speak good
about him the rest of my life.

625
00:58:38.760 --> 00:58:42.639
And I know you probably know him. I don't really know him personally.

626
00:58:42.719 --> 00:58:45.480
I just know him as somebody that
wrote me back at two three thirty in

627
00:58:45.519 --> 00:58:51.199
the morning and made a way out
of it being friendly to me. Yeah,

628
00:58:51.320 --> 00:58:54.320
well forgive that from him. Yeah, Well that's Look, this is

629
00:58:54.360 --> 00:58:59.039
what happens anytime you come in contact
with person. That's why I was just

630
00:58:59.079 --> 00:59:05.320
talking about this with somebody yesterday.
They were talking about certain race car drivers.

631
00:59:05.360 --> 00:59:08.400
They were asking you about athletes and
who athletes make an impression on you

632
00:59:08.519 --> 00:59:13.559
and how do you form those impressions. And we have had a pretty deep

633
00:59:13.599 --> 00:59:17.280
conversation. We have to remember sometimes
when we run into athletes or general managers

634
00:59:17.360 --> 00:59:24.119
or coaches or managers whomever, sometimes
celebrities, we may be catching them at

635
00:59:24.159 --> 00:59:28.119
an off day. It's tough to
be on all the time. You know,

636
00:59:28.480 --> 00:59:31.679
it's tough to be the person you
want to be all the time because

637
00:59:31.719 --> 00:59:36.400
things happen in people's lives that we're
just not always familiar with. Obviously,

638
00:59:36.440 --> 00:59:40.880
he's made an impression on you because
more than once, so that tells you

639
00:59:40.960 --> 00:59:46.079
something about the man, at least
when it comes to your situation. I

640
00:59:46.079 --> 00:59:50.199
don't blame you. I'm not going
to try and change your opinion, even

641
00:59:50.239 --> 00:59:53.440
if I had a different opinion about
David Brandon to you, because first of

642
00:59:53.480 --> 00:59:59.840
all, it's not fair. Second
of all, you have this impression,

643
01:00:00.079 --> 01:00:05.800
and it's a rightful impression because of
what he would the time he took for

644
01:00:05.840 --> 01:00:08.559
you, and I would say this
and thanks for the phone call. I'm

645
01:00:08.559 --> 01:00:14.719
sorry you lost your best friend.
That's heartbreaking. I would say this to

646
01:00:15.039 --> 01:00:21.320
anybody. I say this to my
kids all the time too. Time is

647
01:00:22.239 --> 01:00:28.719
very valuable in anybody's life. You
take that. This is why it's important

648
01:00:28.760 --> 01:00:31.599
for us. This is much smaller
scale. I get it, it's just

649
01:00:32.280 --> 01:00:37.440
a talk show. But you take
the time to call. That's taking time

650
01:00:37.559 --> 01:00:44.679
out of your day to listen to
us and have the guts to call in

651
01:00:44.719 --> 01:00:49.719
and express your opinions. You deserve
to be heard. I'm not going to

652
01:00:49.840 --> 01:00:54.800
rush you off the phone. It's
not fair, it's not right. Dave

653
01:00:54.880 --> 01:01:00.760
Brandon took the time to email you
more than once, the time to actually

654
01:01:01.920 --> 01:01:09.320
heed to what you had requested for
your friend. I would never forget that

655
01:01:09.440 --> 01:01:14.360
either, And to me, if
I were in your shoes, I would

656
01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:22.440
always feel obligated and honored in that
situation, because not everybody does that.

657
01:01:22.159 --> 01:01:28.760
Do you remember when you were a
kid, Well, this is dating myself.

658
01:01:28.840 --> 01:01:30.920
When I was a kid, I
used to write letters to certain players

659
01:01:32.360 --> 01:01:38.400
because they were my favorite players and
I wanted something from them. I didn't

660
01:01:38.440 --> 01:01:45.639
care what it was, whoever that
player may have been. If they sent

661
01:01:45.800 --> 01:01:51.440
something back, all that does is
endear you. More to the person who's

662
01:01:51.480 --> 01:01:55.920
making the request. It's not that
hard, you know. I've been fortunate.

663
01:01:55.920 --> 01:02:00.719
There's a lot of people who have
sent me letters and send it to

664
01:02:00.039 --> 01:02:08.280
Komerica Park always wrote him back.
Have to really important. It's just the

665
01:02:08.360 --> 01:02:12.679
right thing to do. Sometimes there's
just the right thing to do. Sometimes

666
01:02:12.719 --> 01:02:15.320
I think we've lost that in our
society. It's just a nice and the

667
01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:21.800
right thing to do. You can't
I get guys like guys who are superstars,

668
01:02:22.480 --> 01:02:24.719
guys like Mike Trout for example,
Guys like Show ayo time they get

669
01:02:24.760 --> 01:02:28.039
it all the time. It's almost
impossible. You've got to have somebody to

670
01:02:28.079 --> 01:02:31.480
actually do that for you because you're
trying to, you know, play a

671
01:02:31.519 --> 01:02:36.239
baseball game every single day. It's
impossible to do that, it really is.

672
01:02:37.280 --> 01:02:40.400
But a guy like David Brandon in
your situation, yeah, I mean,

673
01:02:40.840 --> 01:02:45.760
that was the right thing to do, and kudos to him. Not

674
01:02:45.880 --> 01:02:52.719
everybody has the same experience, Not
everybody knows him the same way. That

675
01:02:52.800 --> 01:03:00.159
doesn't make him a bad guy if
it comes in a different form of a

676
01:03:00.239 --> 01:03:07.519
relationship. I can't say that I
had that same experience, that same relationship

677
01:03:07.559 --> 01:03:17.039
with David Brandon. We knew each
other obviously, but I enjoyed my time.

678
01:03:17.280 --> 01:03:25.320
There are certain certain things that happen
with athletic directors that kind of stick

679
01:03:25.360 --> 01:03:30.360
out with you, as you know, a representative of a university. So

680
01:03:30.639 --> 01:03:35.400
I'll just give you a quick thought. We were at the Big Ten Tournament

681
01:03:36.320 --> 01:03:42.079
and we're getting ready to do a
broadcast. Usually, I mean Bill Martin

682
01:03:42.119 --> 01:03:45.880
would always come up, how you
guys doing, always always say hello,

683
01:03:45.840 --> 01:03:51.800
right or manually did the same thing
when he was when I was calling games

684
01:03:51.800 --> 01:03:55.760
at Michigan and he was in charge, David Brandon didn't do that. We're

685
01:03:55.760 --> 01:04:00.239
at the Big Ten Tournament and you're
going, wait a minute, you're talking

686
01:04:00.239 --> 01:04:08.320
to everybody butt your home broadcasting team, which was a little surprising. And

687
01:04:08.440 --> 01:04:12.159
Mark Hollis and Michigan State, who
was actually at the tournament. He's the

688
01:04:12.159 --> 01:04:15.960
one who came over and said hello
to us, Michigan State eighty, which

689
01:04:15.039 --> 01:04:18.760
was a little surprising to us.
When we come back, Ben Raven of

690
01:04:18.920 --> 01:04:25.199
m Life joined us yesterday to talk
Lions at NFL. We'll replay that conversation

691
01:04:25.360 --> 01:04:28.280
for you in case you missed it, and then bottom of the eight o'clock

692
01:04:28.320 --> 01:04:31.159
hour, James Edwards from the Athletic
joins us here on Exis and bros across

693
01:04:31.159 --> 01:04:34.360
the great state of Michigan. Stay
with us Huge here for my good friend

694
01:04:34.440 --> 01:04:39.559
Drew and the crew at Impact Power
Sports Now. They're located on fourteen Mile

695
01:04:39.639 --> 01:04:43.159
Road in Rockford, just north of
Grand Rapids here on the west side of

696
01:04:43.239 --> 01:04:47.800
the state. They are Michigan's newest
Yamaha go to golf cart dealer Now.

697
01:04:47.800 --> 01:04:51.199
If you're looking for a golf cart
for the neighborhood, the business, the

698
01:04:51.239 --> 01:04:56.480
golf club, maybe that second home
or the lake, stop buying. See

699
01:04:56.559 --> 01:04:59.559
Drew and the crew. They can
hook you up today. At Impact Power

700
01:04:59.599 --> 01:05:03.000
Sports. We also have e bikes, quads, side by side, yard

701
01:05:03.079 --> 01:05:10.320
toys for the big boys and the
big girls. Anything you need when it

702
01:05:10.360 --> 01:05:15.000
comes to power they have it at
Impact Power Sports on fourteen Mile Road in

703
01:05:15.079 --> 01:05:18.480
Rockford. Also, if you want
a shot at winning Lomas Brown's Lions golf

704
01:05:18.519 --> 01:05:24.960
cart, a custom build Lions golf
cart, text impact to two one zero

705
01:05:25.159 --> 01:05:29.559
zero zero. That's impact to two
one zero zero zero and you could win

706
01:05:29.639 --> 01:05:33.440
Lomas Browns Lions golf cart. This
summer from Impact Power Sports and the Huge

707
01:05:33.480 --> 01:05:41.119
Show, we're teeing off our tenth
year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply

708
01:05:41.159 --> 01:05:44.880
gives. Get ready for the best
who are yet to help neighbors in need

709
01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:48.639
while enjoying golf, food and family
fun. Join us June thirteenth through the

710
01:05:48.719 --> 01:05:54.519
sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous
food, discovery land for kids, and

711
01:05:54.599 --> 01:05:58.960
of course, elite women golfers from
around the world competing to help feed our

712
01:05:59.000 --> 01:06:17.440
neighbors. Your tickets now admire LPGA
Classics dot com. Get some facts and

713
01:06:17.519 --> 01:06:21.639
come back and seebe. Get some
facts and come back and cev. Don't

714
01:06:21.639 --> 01:06:27.000
throw out salaries or other things.
Get some facts and come back and Seebee.

715
01:06:27.199 --> 01:06:30.960
You can't handle the true now told
our players you need a bit more

716
01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:33.320
like a dog. We don't need
a bunch of cats in here. Looking

717
01:06:33.320 --> 01:06:36.519
in the mirror, I look good. I got my extra bands on,

718
01:06:36.800 --> 01:06:41.880
I got my other shoes. Be
a doll. We don't need no meals.

719
01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:45.079
We don't need no cats. We
need more dogs. How you wanted

720
01:06:45.199 --> 01:06:48.920
to train? Are you not at
ocay? We weren't good. There's no

721
01:06:48.960 --> 01:06:51.559
sense of asking me things about the
game. I'm telling you we laid an

722
01:06:51.559 --> 01:06:55.159
egg, so I'm not gonna break
it down for you. He sucks,

723
01:06:56.199 --> 01:06:59.760
He sucked. He laid an egg. That's all I have to say.

724
01:06:59.800 --> 01:07:00.880
Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not
going to break it down for you.

725
01:07:01.000 --> 01:07:04.199
Nothing went well for us. It's
on us. We have to figure it

726
01:07:04.199 --> 01:07:12.880
out. And we went eighth.
Dad Platalauer of the show here on XIS

727
01:07:12.880 --> 01:07:15.920
and Bros. Throughout the Great State
of Michigan. Matt Shepard, we'd have

728
01:07:15.920 --> 01:07:19.599
been our producer. You can call
him on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six

729
01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:23.719
eight three, eight forty eight forty
three. You can always text the show

730
01:07:23.760 --> 01:07:28.800
as well. Sports ready to twenty
one thousand James Edwards from the Athletic joints

731
01:07:28.840 --> 01:07:31.159
us at the bottom of the hour
if you missed it. Tiger is a

732
01:07:31.199 --> 01:07:35.079
four to one winner yesterday over Saint
Louis. They win two out of the

733
01:07:35.079 --> 01:07:41.039
three games. Yes, most of
us feel like they should have swept them,

734
01:07:41.119 --> 01:07:44.519
but let's be careful. There four
straight series win for Detroit and there's

735
01:07:44.559 --> 01:07:48.119
seventeen wins entering this month of May. The eighteen wins overall second most in

736
01:07:48.199 --> 01:07:53.559
franchise history. Only the eighty four
eventual World Series champions were better at eighteen

737
01:07:53.639 --> 01:07:58.119
and two. Remember they won seventeen
straight road games to start the year.

738
01:07:58.159 --> 01:08:01.719
That's unheard of. Last year,
this team was ten and seventeen entering the

739
01:08:01.760 --> 01:08:06.280
month of May. They had a
decent month of May and a good September.

740
01:08:06.360 --> 01:08:10.760
That's about all they had a year
ago, But there's optimism there.

741
01:08:10.920 --> 01:08:14.960
Matt Verling, with a two run
homer yesterday propelled Detroit to the four to

742
01:08:14.960 --> 01:08:17.039
one win. They have today off. They are in New York for a

743
01:08:17.119 --> 01:08:21.920
weekend series against the Yankees, and
then they go to Cleveland. Cleveland atop

744
01:08:23.000 --> 01:08:27.239
the division, Minnesota charging hard.
The Twins won their tenth in a row

745
01:08:27.560 --> 01:08:33.199
yesterday. Byron Buxton was hurt or
is hurt? I should say? And

746
01:08:33.239 --> 01:08:43.399
I think he's a really good example
of a really talented player who just can't

747
01:08:43.439 --> 01:08:46.239
seem to stay healthy. I don't
know what it is. I really don't.

748
01:08:46.279 --> 01:08:50.399
I mean, this is a guy
who you talk about talent. He's

749
01:08:50.439 --> 01:08:56.920
got a ton of it. He
was recruited as a wide receiver to Georgia.

750
01:08:58.760 --> 01:09:01.319
I like him a lot. I've
had the opportunity to talk to him

751
01:09:01.319 --> 01:09:06.680
a number of times, do interviews
at his doll He's a really welcoming and

752
01:09:06.720 --> 01:09:12.960
a really easy dude to like.
The problem is, you know, he

753
01:09:13.279 --> 01:09:16.960
just can't stay healthy, right knee
injury a year ago, limited to eighty

754
01:09:17.039 --> 01:09:25.399
five games. When he's in the
lineup, Minnesota's numbers are incredible compared to

755
01:09:25.439 --> 01:09:28.760
when he's not in the lineup.
He's that much of a difference maker.

756
01:09:29.840 --> 01:09:33.920
But it's interesting there's a national broadcaster
who has a talk show host on a

757
01:09:33.920 --> 01:09:39.840
four letter network who came out and
was just criticizing Mike Trout, why can't

758
01:09:39.840 --> 01:09:45.560
you stay healthy? He doesn't say
that about, you know, Zion Williamson

759
01:09:45.680 --> 01:09:49.279
for some reason. He doesn't say
that about Byron Buxton. Byron Bucksin is

760
01:09:49.279 --> 01:09:53.640
one of those guys who as a
center fielder, just like Mike Trout,

761
01:09:53.760 --> 01:09:57.439
although Minnesota wanted him use him as
more as a designated here a year ago.

762
01:09:58.279 --> 01:10:00.920
Those are two guys. They put
a lot of force on their body

763
01:10:00.960 --> 01:10:08.439
with how they play the game.
It's always a really tough discussion when you're

764
01:10:08.479 --> 01:10:14.199
talking with players or coaches or managers
on how to reel a guy in,

765
01:10:14.319 --> 01:10:16.720
Like I think it was Jim Leland
who wants it. You don't want to

766
01:10:16.760 --> 01:10:23.159
take the mustang out of the horse. If he's if that's who he is,

767
01:10:23.840 --> 01:10:30.119
let him be that player. When
a guy goes diving for a ball,

768
01:10:31.039 --> 01:10:38.199
in left center field and lays out
to make the catch in early May.

769
01:10:40.079 --> 01:10:42.000
People will say, Oh, you
can't make that play, and you

770
01:10:42.000 --> 01:10:45.039
can't. You can't do that in
May. You do that later in the

771
01:10:45.039 --> 01:10:46.680
season. What do you mean do
it later in the season. Those games

772
01:10:46.800 --> 01:10:49.560
later in the season might not be
worth it. Damn if you're not making

773
01:10:49.600 --> 01:10:55.479
those plays innerly May. I don't
want a player to be different and play

774
01:10:55.720 --> 01:11:00.760
timid. Don't go crashing into the
wall. You don't want him to make

775
01:11:00.800 --> 01:11:03.159
the catch. He doesn't do that. You know what you're going to say.

776
01:11:03.600 --> 01:11:08.319
You got to go all out to
make that catch. How do you

777
01:11:08.439 --> 01:11:11.840
let that fall? How do you
let that hit off the wall? Why

778
01:11:11.880 --> 01:11:16.720
don't you try? Why don't you
give your a effort. I'm not making

779
01:11:16.800 --> 01:11:21.079
I'm not trying to change players.
Man. The reason you got to where

780
01:11:21.119 --> 01:11:29.199
you are is because of who you
are and how you play. I want

781
01:11:29.239 --> 01:11:33.800
that in them. It comes with
the price sometimes, and for Buxton and

782
01:11:33.840 --> 01:11:39.439
Minnesota it's absolutely come with the price. It's the hell of a player.

783
01:11:39.760 --> 01:11:45.079
You just wish he could stay healthy. And that's where not load management in

784
01:11:45.119 --> 01:11:47.439
baseball. You're playing, but you
can do other things instead of being out

785
01:11:47.439 --> 01:11:51.439
there in center field every day you
can be the DH. So maybe early

786
01:11:51.479 --> 01:11:56.359
in the season this is simplicity,
I know, but early in the season

787
01:11:56.399 --> 01:12:00.119
maybe you're playing him defensively once in
a series and he's DH and two other

788
01:12:00.159 --> 01:12:05.359
times. A lot of guys don't
like that. Buxton hated it. He

789
01:12:05.560 --> 01:12:10.159
wanted to be out there every day
because you feel like you can be a

790
01:12:10.199 --> 01:12:15.079
difference maker even if you're not hitting
the ball. But Minnesota charging hard.

791
01:12:15.079 --> 01:12:18.880
They've won ten in a row.
NHL Stars beat Vegas three to two.

792
01:12:18.880 --> 01:12:21.239
That's the first time the home team
has won a game in the series.

793
01:12:21.640 --> 01:12:25.239
They leave that series three too.
Is a really good game. Last night

794
01:12:25.760 --> 01:12:28.760
watch that and then I watch a
little bit of the start of the Oilers

795
01:12:28.880 --> 01:12:31.640
Kings game. Edmonton wins at four
to three. They eliminate LA for a

796
01:12:31.680 --> 01:12:38.439
third straight yearly On Recitle had two
goals. Connor McDavid had a couple of

797
01:12:38.479 --> 01:12:43.319
assists eleven assists in the series overall. They move on to the second round.

798
01:12:43.319 --> 01:12:45.800
Will play either Nashville or Vancouver,
who play tonight. Boston will play

799
01:12:45.840 --> 01:12:51.640
in Toronto tonight. Celtics led wire
to wire they eliminate the Heat one eighteen

800
01:12:51.760 --> 01:12:56.640
eighty four. Jaylen Brown Derek White
each with twenty five. Boston's going to

801
01:12:56.680 --> 01:13:01.840
play either Cleveland or Orlando. They
played an and Dallas went into LA and

802
01:13:01.880 --> 01:13:06.159
handed the Clippers their worst playoff loss
in history, one twenty three to ninety

803
01:13:06.199 --> 01:13:12.560
three. Luka Doncicz had thirty five
points ten boards. Twenty of his points

804
01:13:12.560 --> 01:13:16.039
came in the second half. The
MAVs lead that series three games to two.

805
01:13:16.159 --> 01:13:20.439
Speaking to the NBA, we will
talk with James Edwards of the Athletic

806
01:13:20.800 --> 01:13:25.119
at eight thirty five, so hope
you can stick around and join us for

807
01:13:25.239 --> 01:13:29.760
that. Yesterday and we just played
the interview with Ben Raven from m Live.

808
01:13:30.119 --> 01:13:32.800
We were talking about the Lions obviously
in the draft and so on and

809
01:13:32.840 --> 01:13:35.399
so forth. This is what the
NFL does so very well, right,

810
01:13:35.439 --> 01:13:40.399
I mean, it's it's amazing how
they can go draft and then you got

811
01:13:40.760 --> 01:13:43.239
or you have the combine before the
draft, and you get the draft,

812
01:13:43.279 --> 01:13:45.520
then you got OTA's and then you
got you know, rookie camps, and

813
01:13:45.560 --> 01:13:48.800
then you've got training camp, and
then you've got the season, and after

814
01:13:48.840 --> 01:13:53.279
the season and after the Super Bowl. Nobody cares about the Pro Bowl,

815
01:13:53.399 --> 01:13:57.039
but then you've got the combine.
I mean, they just keep you engaged

816
01:13:57.079 --> 01:14:02.680
all the time, and writers are
instantly giving you something to think about as

817
01:14:02.680 --> 01:14:12.239
well, like Jeff kerrvcbssports dot com
ranking the NFC teams following the draft.

818
01:14:14.680 --> 01:14:18.920
You and I both know this is
just filling up space. And I'm hypocritical

819
01:14:19.000 --> 01:14:21.960
right now because I'm sitting here talking
about it, but it does peak your

820
01:14:21.960 --> 01:14:27.319
interest. I'm just wondering what they
think of my team filling the blank.

821
01:14:27.920 --> 01:14:31.520
San Francisco reached the Super Bowl a
year ago? Would they be the favorite?

822
01:14:31.520 --> 01:14:34.359
According to him, they are,
but the Lions are right behind him.

823
01:14:34.520 --> 01:14:38.399
Here's what he writes about the Lions. The draft is where the Lions

824
01:14:38.399 --> 01:14:42.880
shine. They hit a home run
by selecting Terry on Arnold in the first

825
01:14:42.920 --> 01:14:47.680
round. Should be a Week one
starter and a playmaker in this Rake Straw

826
01:14:48.039 --> 01:14:51.239
fell to number sixty one in the
second round, giving the Lions needed depth

827
01:14:51.239 --> 01:14:56.840
at the corner position as well.
Cione Vaki, who can play running backers

828
01:14:56.920 --> 01:15:02.079
safety which again that to me is
irrelevant, appears to be playing the former

829
01:15:02.199 --> 01:15:06.399
for Detroit, giving the lines more
depth behind David Montgomery and Jamier Gibbs.

830
01:15:06.720 --> 01:15:11.800
Detroit Eddi Kevin Zeitler. Then he
goes into you know, for Jonah Jackson,

831
01:15:12.800 --> 01:15:15.720
a'man Ross Saint Brown with a massive
extension Jamie Wims. They don't mention

832
01:15:15.760 --> 01:15:20.960
anything about Penney Seool. He just
basically tells you why he thinks they're the

833
01:15:21.039 --> 01:15:26.159
number two seed. And in the
words of Bob Seeger Blank, I've known

834
01:15:26.199 --> 01:15:29.920
that for a long time. He's
got the Eagles three, Packers, four,

835
01:15:30.239 --> 01:15:38.600
Cowboys five, Rams six, Tampa
seven, and Chicago eight. Interesting

836
01:15:39.880 --> 01:15:45.239
that three of the top teams in
the conference, three of the top sixteen

837
01:15:45.279 --> 01:15:51.319
teams in the conference are in the
NFC North A Bottom of the hour,

838
01:15:51.399 --> 01:15:56.640
James Edwards joins us from the Athletic
will talk NBA and more, your phone

839
01:15:56.680 --> 01:16:00.600
calls and your texts. On the
other side on Exis and Bros. On

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the Michigan Court tell with Dan Dickerson, step up to the play that Eagle.

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846
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minor leagues and make an impact,
especially one who assigned seven years ago,

847
01:16:30.920 --> 01:16:33.279
was once a top prospect, lost
the prospect status, then regained it a

848
01:16:33.279 --> 01:16:38.000
couple of years ago. Wincil Perez
is that player, and he's doing something

849
01:16:38.079 --> 01:16:42.159
every game to impact this Tiger's team. He's arguably the Tiger's best base runner

850
01:16:42.399 --> 01:16:45.520
and infielder by trade. He's learning
to play the outfield and he's getting better

851
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in better. He's already made some
fine running catchers to the gaps, and

852
01:16:47.920 --> 01:16:51.119
oh yeah, he can hit a
little. Parah has only got the call

853
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to Detroit because of some injuries,
but it sure looks like he's here to

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throughout the Great State of Vision in
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in Midland, Sagota, on Bay
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Cadillac and Flint and Grand Rapids.
Of course, we're glad you've taken time

863
01:18:12.720 --> 01:18:15.920
out of your Thursday to spend some
time with us here on Axes and Bros.

864
01:18:16.720 --> 01:18:19.880
The Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight
three eight forty eight forty three.

865
01:18:19.960 --> 01:18:25.319
A reminder, if you want to
call it, it doesn't require what we're

866
01:18:25.359 --> 01:18:29.520
talking about. If there's something you
have had on your mind, something you

867
01:18:29.600 --> 01:18:33.760
noticed last night that we may have
missed, something that took place during the

868
01:18:33.800 --> 01:18:38.000
day, a story you want to
share. That's what we're here for The

869
01:18:38.000 --> 01:18:41.960
Meyer Hotline eight six eight three eight
forty forty three. Or you could text

870
01:18:42.000 --> 01:18:45.800
us Tech Sports Radio to twenty one
thousand. Ben. I know we had

871
01:18:45.840 --> 01:18:48.199
a caller earlier couldn't hold through the
breaks, right, what's on their mind?

872
01:18:48.680 --> 01:18:53.319
Are people complaining about Trout because of
him getting hurt or because of his

873
01:18:53.439 --> 01:18:58.840
contract and that's Breton Grand Rapids.
That's a great question. That is a

874
01:18:58.880 --> 01:19:05.039
great question. The bigger contract you
have the more is expected, So are

875
01:19:05.079 --> 01:19:11.439
you getting your money's worth? Excellent
question, don't know the answer to it

876
01:19:11.479 --> 01:19:17.079
really is up to you to decide
on whether or not that place a factor.

877
01:19:17.960 --> 01:19:20.760
I think you'd be lying to yourself. And I like Mike Trout a

878
01:19:20.760 --> 01:19:27.960
lot. I think he's an incredible
player. I think, look, the

879
01:19:28.039 --> 01:19:32.239
numbers speak for itself. Sometimes I
don't even get involved in the All Star

880
01:19:32.279 --> 01:19:39.520
stuff because it's oftentimes a popularity contract
contest. But if you're a three time

881
01:19:39.600 --> 01:19:43.199
MVP, you're a nine time Silver
Slugger, you're a two time All Star

882
01:19:43.279 --> 01:19:45.000
Game MVP, you're a Rookie of
the Year, you're the Player of the

883
01:19:45.079 --> 01:19:49.920
year, you lead the league in
all those categories, and so on and

884
01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:54.439
so forth, you're a hell of
a player. I bet you. Bret

885
01:19:54.439 --> 01:19:58.640
will say that too. He brings
up a very valid point, though.

886
01:19:58.960 --> 01:20:03.479
When you're making thirty seven million dollars, I think is what he's making a

887
01:20:03.560 --> 01:20:13.560
year, right, and he's going
to make that until twenty thirty. Yeah,

888
01:20:13.600 --> 01:20:15.359
I know I feel the same way. I'm shaking my head too,

889
01:20:15.560 --> 01:20:20.880
right along there with you. He's
thirty two right now, They've got him

890
01:20:20.920 --> 01:20:29.439
until he's thirty eight. It's Miguel
Cabrera type situation, and remember it can

891
01:20:29.479 --> 01:20:35.359
go, it can go quickly.
You see what happens with jose A Brahu.

892
01:20:35.520 --> 01:20:40.079
Did you see what they did?
They pulled with him? What they

893
01:20:40.159 --> 01:20:44.119
what Toronto did with Alec Manoa.
Manoa started the All Star Game a couple

894
01:20:44.159 --> 01:20:50.800
of years ago, and then what
happened he was he was sent down,

895
01:20:51.119 --> 01:21:00.920
and you're sent down because you're struggling
to the Complex League. That's what happens

896
01:21:00.920 --> 01:21:08.600
to Josea brew They optioned him to
the Florida Complex League after an April that

897
01:21:08.800 --> 01:21:16.720
saw him hit below one hundred and
he's thirty seven. I'm not saying that's

898
01:21:16.880 --> 01:21:23.920
going quickly. I'm just telling you
things. Those things happen, and when

899
01:21:23.960 --> 01:21:27.039
it comes and it comes quickly,
you're just like, oh man, that's

900
01:21:27.039 --> 01:21:30.079
not how I want to see him
end his career. Jose bra you third

901
01:21:30.119 --> 01:21:32.760
all time in Chicago White Sox history
in home runs. This is a guy

902
01:21:32.760 --> 01:21:35.880
who is He's an absolute hell of
a player. He's been a hell of

903
01:21:35.920 --> 01:21:44.279
a pro. But it's gone,
at least for now it is. I

904
01:21:44.319 --> 01:21:48.199
don't think that's Mike Trout yet,
but I love that perspective from Brent Yeah,

905
01:21:48.359 --> 01:21:50.600
thirty seven million bucks. You expect
him to be out there more often

906
01:21:50.640 --> 01:21:57.319
than he is. I think that's
fair. Got another caller, Yeah,

907
01:21:57.359 --> 01:22:00.239
we got a Paul and gr All
right, Hey Paul, how are you

908
01:22:00.279 --> 01:22:04.319
today? Hey? What's up?
Chap? How are you? Good man?

909
01:22:04.399 --> 01:22:09.119
Hope your Thursday goes well? What's
up? Oh? You you as

910
01:22:09.159 --> 01:22:11.279
well. First of all, I
want to give a big shout out to

911
01:22:12.239 --> 01:22:15.640
Friday the Pizza Man three one three
on Twitter. I went to his pizza

912
01:22:15.720 --> 01:22:19.560
joint yesterday and man, it is
the best pizza I've had my ever had

913
01:22:19.560 --> 01:22:23.840
in my life. And I've been
to Italy. So I just want to

914
01:22:23.840 --> 01:22:26.560
give a big shot out of that
guy. He I know he's a fan

915
01:22:26.600 --> 01:22:28.479
of the show. I know he
calls in all the time. I want

916
01:22:28.520 --> 01:22:31.199
him to know I appreciate it.
That's really cool, that's really cool of

917
01:22:31.239 --> 01:22:34.359
you. He's got great I mean, I think his food is outstanding.

918
01:22:35.199 --> 01:22:40.119
I just got back from Italy in
the fall. I just got back from

919
01:22:40.119 --> 01:22:44.760
Italy in the fall. The food
there in Italy best food I've ever had

920
01:22:44.760 --> 01:22:47.800
in my life. But I love
going to Freddy's place because he's got great

921
01:22:47.840 --> 01:22:50.159
stuff. You're right, good for
you, Thank you for that go ahead.

922
01:22:50.960 --> 01:22:54.840
I still think his pizza is better
than the stuff in Italy, But

923
01:22:54.920 --> 01:22:58.920
I digress. So, yeah,
I just want to talk a little Tigers

924
01:22:58.960 --> 01:23:02.399
man. I think they they look
a lot better than what I expected this

925
01:23:02.479 --> 01:23:06.159
year. You know, I figured
we'd be pretty good. I figured.

926
01:23:06.279 --> 01:23:09.880
I think I still think we're gonna
win the Central. But I mean,

927
01:23:09.920 --> 01:23:13.520
it's so exciting and it's so nice
to finally just see it come together,

928
01:23:14.680 --> 01:23:16.079
you know, And yeah, well
why they why are they better than you

929
01:23:16.199 --> 01:23:20.439
thought? What I mean, I'm
interested to know what you're what you thought

930
01:23:20.439 --> 01:23:26.079
they were going to be number one
and number two? Where are they better?

931
01:23:26.119 --> 01:23:31.319
In what regard? Uh? The
bullpen is is so good, and

932
01:23:32.079 --> 01:23:35.319
you know, Riley Green up to
this point is doing much better than I

933
01:23:35.359 --> 01:23:38.800
actually thought he would. I mean, dude, he's already got seven home

934
01:23:38.880 --> 01:23:42.800
runs. And you know, we're
seeing guys like once Gio Orchella comes back.

935
01:23:42.840 --> 01:23:45.039
He was a nice addition by Scott
Harris. I really love Mark Canna,

936
01:23:45.760 --> 01:23:49.399
and not only like you know he
has He's just a professional hitter.

937
01:23:49.640 --> 01:23:55.199
You know. He every single at
bat from Mark Canna seems like a professional

938
01:23:55.239 --> 01:23:58.159
at bat. And it seems like
the younger guys are learning from that.

939
01:23:59.000 --> 01:24:03.199
Karen Scoogle, I mean, man, he is good. He's I figured

940
01:24:03.239 --> 01:24:05.920
he would be in the running for
the cy Young this year, but man,

941
01:24:06.520 --> 01:24:10.239
I didn't know he was going to
be this good, Like he is

942
01:24:10.560 --> 01:24:14.439
best in the MLD good right now. And you know, we got we

943
01:24:14.520 --> 01:24:17.880
just got a dominant Moulten and I
figured we'd be around five hundred you know

944
01:24:17.960 --> 01:24:20.960
the rest, you know, for
April and May. But you know,

945
01:24:21.119 --> 01:24:26.439
five games over five hundred is awesome. So, you know, I think

946
01:24:26.439 --> 01:24:30.319
they're I don't think they're overperforming.
I think they're They're right where they should

947
01:24:30.319 --> 01:24:32.520
be. Yeah, you think this
is who they are, This is who

948
01:24:32.520 --> 01:24:36.399
they are right now. Interesting.
Okay, that's great, love it,

949
01:24:40.880 --> 01:24:44.720
go ahead? Oh yeah, sorry
man, Sorry, so yeah, I

950
01:24:44.760 --> 01:24:46.600
know right now. I still think
they're going to win the Central this year.

951
01:24:47.239 --> 01:24:49.600
Yeah, I agree with you,
you know, and thank thanks for

952
01:24:49.640 --> 01:24:53.399
the phone call. Sorry, we're
almost up against it and James Edward's going

953
01:24:53.479 --> 01:24:57.800
to join us. I'm with you
on that. I said when I started

954
01:24:57.840 --> 01:25:00.600
doing this show, I said before
the season, they should win the Central

955
01:25:02.439 --> 01:25:10.199
period and that was my expectation.
So I'm sure not surprised at the back

956
01:25:10.319 --> 01:25:14.039
end of the Bullpen or the bullpen
in general. It was really good a

957
01:25:14.119 --> 01:25:19.119
year ago. I am still worried
about the offense. They still don't score

958
01:25:19.239 --> 01:25:25.960
enough runs for me anyway, but
it'll come as the weather heats up.

959
01:25:26.079 --> 01:25:29.880
I'm sure that will come all right, because I think Spencer Torkolsen is not

960
01:25:29.920 --> 01:25:32.760
going to be this kind of hitter
right now at June nineteen or whatever.

961
01:25:33.119 --> 01:25:36.920
I think Cole Keith will get adjusted
a little bit, so I'm with you

962
01:25:38.000 --> 01:25:41.319
on that. I think they could
use another stick. Quite honestly, I

963
01:25:41.359 --> 01:25:45.319
still don't think they have the home
run power that I would like to see,

964
01:25:46.560 --> 01:25:51.800
and I am slightly concerned about the
defense. But I do like their

965
01:25:51.840 --> 01:25:58.039
pitching an awful lot, and I
love their bullpen. Despite what happened with

966
01:25:58.079 --> 01:26:01.720
Shelby Miller the other day, I
think they're the best team in the division,

967
01:26:02.319 --> 01:26:08.439
and I think Tigers fans should be
have that expectation. And I don't

968
01:26:08.479 --> 01:26:11.319
think there's anything wrong with that.
Ben. We got a text or two,

969
01:26:12.359 --> 01:26:15.600
I believe, before we get to
James Edwards from the Athletic Yeah,

970
01:26:15.720 --> 01:26:18.720
Ken Griffy Junior is a better center
fielder than Mike Trout in my opinion,

971
01:26:19.159 --> 01:26:23.520
it's not even close. Get rid
of both players' injuries and if they never

972
01:26:23.520 --> 01:26:28.000
missed a game, it still wouldn't
be close. And Trammell got robbed of

973
01:26:28.039 --> 01:26:32.720
the MVP in nineteen eighty seven,
right George Bell was the MVP that year.

974
01:26:34.000 --> 01:26:39.520
That was super frustrating. Never said
that Mike Trout was better than Ken

975
01:26:39.560 --> 01:26:43.680
Griffy Junior ever, Nope, Ken
Griffy Junior is one of the greatest players

976
01:26:43.720 --> 01:26:50.039
of all time. Smooth, fluid, phenomenal player. Ten gold gloves.

977
01:26:50.640 --> 01:26:56.840
You know you have as many gold
gloves as al Kline. You know you're

978
01:26:56.880 --> 01:27:02.880
saying something there because that's incredible.
Yeah, I didn't think so. I

979
01:27:03.199 --> 01:27:08.640
was just using that as a perspective, So I hope that wasn't misleading in

980
01:27:08.680 --> 01:27:14.600
any way. I was just bringing
up certain names that Mike Trout was on

981
01:27:14.760 --> 01:27:21.439
track for with war wins above replacement, because that is a that is a

982
01:27:25.079 --> 01:27:30.680
I really believe that is it's a
statistic that more and more people are especially

983
01:27:30.800 --> 01:27:35.520
voters for the Hall of Fame.
Look at now they if they did,

984
01:27:35.640 --> 01:27:43.439
they would they would pay more closer
attention to to Lew Whittaker because he should

985
01:27:43.479 --> 01:27:46.800
be there. But Ken Griffy Jr. Like I said, is to me

986
01:27:47.159 --> 01:27:51.000
one of the greatest players of all
time. His war wins above replacement is

987
01:27:51.079 --> 01:27:56.439
right around eighty four. All right, it's at eighty three point eight.

988
01:27:58.399 --> 01:28:01.600
Mike Trout's got a higher WAR.
That doesn't make him a better player.

989
01:28:01.760 --> 01:28:05.960
I'm giving you a perspective there,
so when you say it's not even close.

990
01:28:06.039 --> 01:28:16.319
Mike Trout led the league in war
for five consecutive years. He led

991
01:28:16.359 --> 01:28:24.560
the league in offensive war five consecutive
years, and seven out of eight he

992
01:28:24.640 --> 01:28:30.239
had some of the more dominating seasons
in history. Quick time out and when

993
01:28:30.239 --> 01:28:33.920
we come back. James Edwards from
the Athletic joins us on Exus and Bros.

994
01:28:33.920 --> 01:28:41.239
After this, we're teaming off our
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01:29:18.119 --> 01:29:23.439
the hour he's as good as it
gets and what he does, James Edwards

1001
01:29:23.479 --> 01:29:27.279
writes for The Athletic you can fall
him on x at J L. Edwards

1002
01:29:27.319 --> 01:29:30.159
the third he writes about the Pistons, about the NBA and there's a lot

1003
01:29:30.199 --> 01:29:35.520
to write about going on right now
after some finals in the NBA Playoffs that

1004
01:29:35.560 --> 01:29:39.880
we'll get to coming up at.
James Edwards joins us here on Xes and

1005
01:29:39.920 --> 01:29:43.239
Bros. Across the great state of
Michigan, throughout the state of Michigan and

1006
01:29:43.279 --> 01:29:46.439
the various markets Flint and Cadillac,
Grand Rapids, Grayling, Gaylord, Midland,

1007
01:29:46.439 --> 01:29:50.039
Saginaw, Bay City, Pataski,
Charlevoy, Traverse City. That's where

1008
01:29:50.079 --> 01:29:55.960
we are and that's where we can
bring you this coverage of a little NBA

1009
01:29:56.039 --> 01:29:58.560
talk with James Edwards. James,
good to have you, buddy. Glad

1010
01:29:58.560 --> 01:30:02.560
that we're back talking again about the
Pistons a little bit and as we look

1011
01:30:02.640 --> 01:30:06.159
forward to the NBA Draft, it
seems like we say this an awful lot.

1012
01:30:06.359 --> 01:30:11.199
Tell me where you think this franchise
is in. If you want to

1013
01:30:11.239 --> 01:30:14.560
call it a rebuild, go ahead, But where are they in the process

1014
01:30:14.880 --> 01:30:17.760
of trying to get better in your
mind? Good to hear from you too,

1015
01:30:17.760 --> 01:30:20.920
Matt, appreciate you having me on. I think they're in a vulnerable

1016
01:30:20.960 --> 01:30:30.119
state. It's a situation that I
don't think anybody could have imagined. Whether

1017
01:30:30.199 --> 01:30:34.199
that's the fans, whether that's the
players, the front office, the ownership,

1018
01:30:34.279 --> 01:30:39.880
the coaches. It is a very
vulnerable state, and usually out of

1019
01:30:39.960 --> 01:30:46.640
vulnerability, big decisions are made.
And I think this team has to do

1020
01:30:46.840 --> 01:30:54.439
something of great significance. They cannot
afford to allow all of these young guys

1021
01:30:54.439 --> 01:30:58.600
to continue to develop and hope that
they get better. They tried that last

1022
01:30:58.680 --> 01:31:03.279
year. It very clearly presented the
worst season in franchise history. So I

1023
01:31:03.319 --> 01:31:09.640
think they're at a very vulnerable and
almost franchise altar in summer, and I

1024
01:31:09.640 --> 01:31:14.119
think they're going to have to shake
things up across the board in order to

1025
01:31:14.119 --> 01:31:18.479
try to one try to build back
optimism within the fan base, and two

1026
01:31:19.520 --> 01:31:25.600
to get back on track in this
rebuild and show that there is progress and

1027
01:31:25.640 --> 01:31:30.000
that these things aren't always linear.
What's an example of shaking things up?

1028
01:31:30.880 --> 01:31:34.319
Yeah, I mean, I don't
think they can afford kind of as I

1029
01:31:34.359 --> 01:31:36.479
mentioned, like, I don't think
they can afford to have as many young

1030
01:31:36.479 --> 01:31:42.680
guys as they have you look across
the NBA, and you look across you

1031
01:31:42.680 --> 01:31:46.079
look at these teams that are contending
and in the second round or still fighting

1032
01:31:46.079 --> 01:31:50.119
in the first round. The majority
of them have made moves that made a

1033
01:31:50.159 --> 01:31:55.000
trade or two that gave up young
players to get better players. You look

1034
01:31:55.039 --> 01:32:00.399
at Minnesota with Rudy Gobert, you
look at somebody like Denver gave up picks

1035
01:32:00.079 --> 01:32:03.960
and Gary Harris to get Aaron Gordon
a few years ago. You look at

1036
01:32:03.960 --> 01:32:09.199
Boston and the moves that they've made
throughout the years to try to build this

1037
01:32:09.319 --> 01:32:13.279
roster. Obviously, all that stuff
starts with drafting well and getting a guy

1038
01:32:13.359 --> 01:32:16.439
or two that you can build around. I think credit to Detroit, like

1039
01:32:17.199 --> 01:32:20.920
I think Kate is that guy,
and the hard part is done. You've

1040
01:32:20.960 --> 01:32:27.920
got a guy that got better in
the midst of the worst season ever while

1041
01:32:28.000 --> 01:32:31.960
coming off season ending injury with a
metal rodney his leg, and he walked

1042
01:32:32.000 --> 01:32:36.960
away. I think if you didn't
believe that Kate was the guy, I

1043
01:32:38.000 --> 01:32:40.680
don't see how you don't walk away
from that. Now, despite the records,

1044
01:32:40.760 --> 01:32:44.079
I don't think a lot of it
was his fault. So they got

1045
01:32:44.079 --> 01:32:45.439
the hard part done. They got
the guy to build around and how it's

1046
01:32:45.479 --> 01:32:49.239
time to go build around him.
I just think that they should highly consider

1047
01:32:49.319 --> 01:33:00.760
moving on from one or two young
guys. Joins us here on Exis and

1048
01:33:00.840 --> 01:33:04.479
Bros. You can fall him on
Twitter on x JL Edwards the third.

1049
01:33:04.479 --> 01:33:09.359
I'm with you on that, especially
with the young guys you've mentioned teams getting

1050
01:33:09.359 --> 01:33:12.439
better. Og On and ob going
to New York is a really good example

1051
01:33:12.479 --> 01:33:15.960
of that too. I continue to
be amazed by a guy like Jalen Brunson.

1052
01:33:16.000 --> 01:33:18.000
I could talk to you all day
about this, but I mean a

1053
01:33:18.079 --> 01:33:21.720
second round pick and how good he
has been. When you say shake things

1054
01:33:21.800 --> 01:33:24.920
up, I'm with you on that. Does that mean I don't want to

1055
01:33:24.960 --> 01:33:28.600
read too much into it? So
I want clarification. Would you not take

1056
01:33:28.640 --> 01:33:32.159
advantage of the top five pick your
due in the upcoming draft? What if

1057
01:33:32.199 --> 01:33:35.680
you got number one overall? Or
would you trade that to try and get

1058
01:33:35.680 --> 01:33:42.159
a stabilized veteran force that might help
some of these young guys along. I'd

1059
01:33:42.199 --> 01:33:45.359
trade it. I would trade it
if it's one, two, three,

1060
01:33:45.479 --> 01:33:46.880
four or five, whatever it ends
up being, I would trade it.

1061
01:33:46.880 --> 01:33:54.239
You talk to people around the league, this draft is not a desirable draft

1062
01:33:54.359 --> 01:33:58.640
at the top Obviously, every year
there are Hall of Famers or as soon

1063
01:33:58.680 --> 01:34:01.359
to be Hall of Famers selected drafts, So there will be one in this

1064
01:34:01.439 --> 01:34:04.600
draft. Don't get me wrong,
like that's just the way things shake out.

1065
01:34:04.720 --> 01:34:10.319
But talk to everybody across the league, and they don't know where that

1066
01:34:10.359 --> 01:34:14.600
player will be picked. That player
could likely be picked at seventeen like he's

1067
01:34:14.600 --> 01:34:18.399
picked at one. I've been told
that there are executives in the league that

1068
01:34:18.479 --> 01:34:25.159
think picks one through three could have
some value in a trade. But I

1069
01:34:25.159 --> 01:34:28.039
think a lot of teams would probably
be afraid to have the number one or

1070
01:34:28.079 --> 01:34:30.880
two pick in this draft because there
is a little bit more margin for error

1071
01:34:30.880 --> 01:34:36.279
in comparison to previous years in previous
prospects. So I think there is value.

1072
01:34:36.520 --> 01:34:41.239
I think, and I had a
piece of scuz last week or earlier

1073
01:34:41.279 --> 01:34:45.800
this week where talk to my colleague
Sambasini, who is massive in draft coverage

1074
01:34:45.800 --> 01:34:49.560
and one of the best, And
a lot of teams also see the number

1075
01:34:49.560 --> 01:34:53.960
one pick this year as like four
or five, six in a normal draft.

1076
01:34:54.039 --> 01:34:58.239
So I caution fans that if the
Pistans gets the number one pick,

1077
01:34:58.840 --> 01:35:02.880
don't think that this is like Lebron
or Victor Winbinyamo or even Kid. This

1078
01:35:03.039 --> 01:35:10.239
is more like I would say,
like Anthony Bennett type stuff. So I

1079
01:35:10.239 --> 01:35:13.359
would one hundred percent tury to pick, and I'd even package it with a

1080
01:35:13.399 --> 01:35:17.000
young player or two to try to
get because I don't know how much value.

1081
01:35:17.079 --> 01:35:19.720
I don't know if those a couple
of young guys like an Ivy or

1082
01:35:19.800 --> 01:35:23.520
during if they're peak value right now
after this season. But if you have

1083
01:35:23.600 --> 01:35:27.880
the number one pick to that,
it can kind of enhance that and you

1084
01:35:27.880 --> 01:35:31.760
could probably get a good piece or
two or three from a team that's maybe

1085
01:35:31.840 --> 01:35:36.079
looking to get a little bit younger. One hundred percent agree, one hundred

1086
01:35:36.119 --> 01:35:39.920
percent with you. I'm so glad
you said that. But a couple of

1087
01:35:39.960 --> 01:35:44.279
other things you bring up Kid Cunningham, and for good reason. I think

1088
01:35:44.319 --> 01:35:47.279
he's a solid ball player, I
really do. What kind of leader do

1089
01:35:47.359 --> 01:35:51.039
you think he is? Because I
think sometimes we get that thrown around an

1090
01:35:51.079 --> 01:35:55.960
awful lot. It can be challenging
for a young guy to lead a team,

1091
01:35:56.079 --> 01:36:00.720
especially through navigating these difficult waters like
he's had to you, what kind

1092
01:36:00.720 --> 01:36:03.239
of leader? How would you describe
him as such? Yeah, I think

1093
01:36:03.640 --> 01:36:09.000
is a legitimate leader. I know
it's probably hard for people to see that

1094
01:36:09.159 --> 01:36:13.880
just giving their record. But you
know, I hear stories about him talking

1095
01:36:13.880 --> 01:36:18.000
to halftime, stepping up and speaking. I hear stories about him at practice.

1096
01:36:18.319 --> 01:36:21.239
I hear stories about him sitting with
guys on the plane to talk.

1097
01:36:23.439 --> 01:36:27.079
This guy is somebody that all of
his teammates respect. I think one thing

1098
01:36:27.079 --> 01:36:31.159
that's important to remember is Cade was
that guy coming up through the high school

1099
01:36:31.239 --> 01:36:35.399
and college ranks. So all of
his teammates who are similar in age are

1100
01:36:35.520 --> 01:36:40.600
very very familiar with him, and
they all saw him as the guy as

1101
01:36:40.640 --> 01:36:45.239
such, and there's a big respect
for what he did and who he is

1102
01:36:45.279 --> 01:36:46.680
as a player, and even more
so now as their teammates, for him

1103
01:36:46.720 --> 01:36:48.960
as a person. I think people
who haven't been around Kate, I think

1104
01:36:49.039 --> 01:36:53.399
the best way to describe him is
like you could just tell he was raised

1105
01:36:53.479 --> 01:36:57.560
right, like his parents did a
great job. He's very polite, he's

1106
01:36:57.720 --> 01:37:01.560
very just aware, he's not there's
no diva to him. I think he's

1107
01:37:01.640 --> 01:37:05.000
very real, and I think it
comes across with his teammates. I think

1108
01:37:05.039 --> 01:37:10.920
they genuinely appreciate that. I also
think that you hear stories like for somebody

1109
01:37:10.960 --> 01:37:15.199
like Simone Fantechio as soon as he
got to Detroit there in the middle of

1110
01:37:15.239 --> 01:37:18.439
a West coast trip and we're out
there and he tells the story of Kate

1111
01:37:18.560 --> 01:37:20.439
comes up to him. They've never
met, and he's like, where do

1112
01:37:20.479 --> 01:37:24.239
you like the ball? Where can
I get you the ball? And Simona,

1113
01:37:24.239 --> 01:37:27.840
He's like, nobody's ever asked me
that before. And you hear anytime

1114
01:37:27.880 --> 01:37:30.239
Simone talks about him, it's as
glilling as it gets. So I think

1115
01:37:30.239 --> 01:37:33.039
he just handles people the right way. I think he speaks up in an

1116
01:37:33.520 --> 01:37:38.199
aggressive way when he needs to,
but I think he also just leads by

1117
01:37:38.199 --> 01:37:41.319
example, and I think he has
great respect in that locker room, and

1118
01:37:41.399 --> 01:37:44.079
I think he also has great respect
from some of the star players in this

1119
01:37:44.159 --> 01:37:46.680
league. Yeah, thanks for sharing
that. I think those are important anecdotes.

1120
01:37:46.720 --> 01:37:49.880
I know you've written it before,
but it's still worth mentioning because not

1121
01:37:50.000 --> 01:37:54.760
everybody knows that. It's a great
example of what kind of person, not

1122
01:37:54.840 --> 01:37:59.199
just a player, but kind of
person. Kid Cunningham truly is you mentioned

1123
01:37:59.239 --> 01:38:03.439
the draft now. I was talking
about this yesterday because Tyres Maxie went off

1124
01:38:03.479 --> 01:38:09.239
for forty six the other day.
You saw it the most points by as

1125
01:38:09.359 --> 01:38:13.600
tied for the most points by an
opposing player in a playoff game at Madison

1126
01:38:13.640 --> 01:38:16.039
Square Garden. Ever with Michael Jordan. That says something. He was in

1127
01:38:16.079 --> 01:38:20.680
the same damn draft as Killian Hayes. Everyone talks about Tyreus Haliburton and I

1128
01:38:20.800 --> 01:38:26.800
loved Haliburton coming out of Iowa State, but MAXI was taking twenty first overall.

1129
01:38:26.960 --> 01:38:31.479
Another miss by stan Van Gundy and
the Pistons. So many foreign players,

1130
01:38:31.720 --> 01:38:35.479
James, that one that are mentioned, right, what's that? That

1131
01:38:35.560 --> 01:38:39.520
one was actually Troy? That was
Troy's first draft? Well was that Troy's

1132
01:38:39.560 --> 01:38:43.800
I'm sorry, you're right, Troy, but there are so many foreign players

1133
01:38:43.800 --> 01:38:46.239
who are viewed near the top and
not as many college players. And this

1134
01:38:46.359 --> 01:38:49.680
is tough for you because you see
all these guys and you write it,

1135
01:38:49.960 --> 01:38:55.640
but so many fans and usual members
of the media. We don't watch guys

1136
01:38:55.640 --> 01:38:58.119
play in France. Okay, we
don't know who a lot of these guys

1137
01:38:58.119 --> 01:39:01.760
are. Why do you think I
think the league shift might be the run

1138
01:39:01.800 --> 01:39:10.520
word, but has seen so much
of an influx on young players from foreign

1139
01:39:10.600 --> 01:39:14.960
lands rather than college players. Are
the college players just not as good as

1140
01:39:15.000 --> 01:39:17.079
we think when we watch them in
the NC Douale League tournament. What's your

1141
01:39:17.079 --> 01:39:23.520
belief on that. It's a good
question. I think that some of it

1142
01:39:23.640 --> 01:39:30.199
is intrigued, right, Like it's
hard to equate their leagues to the NBA,

1143
01:39:30.359 --> 01:39:33.640
while I think historically the natural comparison
for the NBA has always been the

1144
01:39:33.640 --> 01:39:40.560
college game, so there's some of
that. I also think that the Spurs

1145
01:39:40.600 --> 01:39:44.039
and what they did early in the
late nineties and early two thousands, with

1146
01:39:44.079 --> 01:39:48.560
the likes of Tony Parker and Montagnobili, started to have teams look more European.

1147
01:39:48.600 --> 01:39:50.520
And I mean, if we're being
honest, the best players in the

1148
01:39:50.600 --> 01:39:57.319
league are not from here right now, Jokic, Luca Jannis. I mean,

1149
01:39:57.359 --> 01:40:00.199
you make a top seven list,
those three are in there, embeed,

1150
01:40:00.520 --> 01:40:04.720
so there's four. I think there
is a it's just been an untapped

1151
01:40:05.119 --> 01:40:10.560
historically, hasn't been as tapped dating
back like twenty ish years as it is

1152
01:40:10.640 --> 01:40:13.800
now. And I think they're just
trying to find diamonds in the rough and

1153
01:40:13.800 --> 01:40:17.439
they're trying to the game has just
expanded so much globally. And I also

1154
01:40:17.479 --> 01:40:20.920
think, like I said, there's
intrigue, like we're so able to watch

1155
01:40:23.199 --> 01:40:29.880
available college games that I think even
scouts are like Okay, well, I've

1156
01:40:29.920 --> 01:40:32.520
watched this guy since he was twelve
years old. Let me let me see

1157
01:40:32.520 --> 01:40:36.720
what I can see over here in
these in these European state air countries,

1158
01:40:36.760 --> 01:40:43.039
and see how I feel that this
equates to our game. So I think

1159
01:40:43.079 --> 01:40:45.079
there's a little bit of it.
I also think, like I said,

1160
01:40:45.119 --> 01:40:49.960
there's been a lot of talented players
coming from overseas and it. But I

1161
01:40:49.960 --> 01:40:58.880
think primarily it's the intrigue in the
ability to not necessarily know how it will

1162
01:40:58.880 --> 01:41:01.439
translate. But you see these sets, and I also do think European players

1163
01:41:01.479 --> 01:41:06.439
are more fundamentally sound in most cases, but that is that is something that

1164
01:41:06.479 --> 01:41:12.039
plays into it, for sure.
That's interesting. You talk You've been in

1165
01:41:12.079 --> 01:41:15.079
every NBA arena, every NBA city, talk to just about every NBA player,

1166
01:41:15.079 --> 01:41:20.319
I would guess. Do you think
there is a growing concern from American

1167
01:41:21.119 --> 01:41:26.840
based basketball players and who want to
play in the NBA and realize that they're

1168
01:41:27.039 --> 01:41:30.640
you know, there's only sixty four
times sugar sixty four spots to get drafted.

1169
01:41:30.039 --> 01:41:35.399
Do you think in general they're worried
about the security that America has in

1170
01:41:35.640 --> 01:41:41.800
that regard with more Americans playing in
the NBA. I've never heard that personally.

1171
01:41:42.680 --> 01:41:45.640
I've never posed the question either,
But I mean, you hear a

1172
01:41:45.640 --> 01:41:48.279
lot of players talk about players like
you don't find too many that don't love

1173
01:41:48.359 --> 01:41:53.319
Jokic, that don't love Giannis and
Lucas. So I mean maybe guys that

1174
01:41:53.359 --> 01:41:58.079
are fringe roster guys maybe have concerns. They probably also have concerns about the

1175
01:41:58.079 --> 01:42:00.000
the age limit in the NBA.
But yeah, I haven't heard that directly.

1176
01:42:00.479 --> 01:42:03.359
Yeah, fair enough. James Edwards
joined to share on Exus and Bros

1177
01:42:03.399 --> 01:42:09.920
fall him on Twitter. J L. Edwards third team president. Why is

1178
01:42:09.960 --> 01:42:15.800
it needed and what type of criteria
does that person need to possess in order

1179
01:42:15.840 --> 01:42:18.319
to get the job. I think
there's a couple of things. I think

1180
01:42:18.359 --> 01:42:23.960
one that they just need a funneling
of leadership. It needs to be one

1181
01:42:24.000 --> 01:42:29.279
person who is everybody knows who they
report to, everybody who knows that they

1182
01:42:29.319 --> 01:42:32.800
are directed to, everybody, somebody
that can make the right play or the

1183
01:42:32.880 --> 01:42:40.079
right call, the right shot.
It's all about having one voice be the

1184
01:42:40.359 --> 01:42:44.800
final say. It's a position that
the Pistons ever had since twenty eighteen.

1185
01:42:45.920 --> 01:42:50.079
It is a common position an NBA
franchise. I know a lot of people

1186
01:42:50.199 --> 01:42:54.079
like to say that there's too many
cooks in the kitchen. I understand that

1187
01:42:55.000 --> 01:42:59.039
that critique and what it is.
But if you look around most NBA front

1188
01:42:59.039 --> 01:43:03.119
offices, there's owner, there's a
team president, there's maybe a vice president,

1189
01:43:03.159 --> 01:43:06.720
there's a GM, and then a
coach. So there's usually three or

1190
01:43:06.720 --> 01:43:12.119
four solid voices in an organization.
It's just a matter of making sure that

1191
01:43:12.199 --> 01:43:17.199
everybody knows who's getting the final say, and who everybody is, who everybody's

1192
01:43:17.239 --> 01:43:25.039
direct what's the sort of looking for
direct talk, who they're directly talking to,

1193
01:43:25.079 --> 01:43:28.439
and who they're directly reporting to.
I think that's of great importance.

1194
01:43:28.439 --> 01:43:30.119
And then also I think, yeah, there just needs to be a little

1195
01:43:30.159 --> 01:43:33.439
bit more structure. I think there
needs to just be a different voice and

1196
01:43:33.880 --> 01:43:39.319
team building. I think those are
the big things that they're looking for,

1197
01:43:39.399 --> 01:43:43.680
and I think there's some big names
that they're going to go after. Some

1198
01:43:43.760 --> 01:43:45.399
of those guys are in the postseason
now, which is why if there are

1199
01:43:45.439 --> 01:43:49.399
people who think that this hobo search
has gone on too long, it's really

1200
01:43:49.399 --> 01:43:55.079
only been two weeks. But there
are protocols in place where if they want

1201
01:43:55.119 --> 01:43:57.640
to go get one of the best
guys, and one of those best guys

1202
01:43:57.640 --> 01:44:00.319
are they have a team still playing. They got to kind of wait out

1203
01:44:00.439 --> 01:44:06.479
that process. So it's certainly it's
a moving target. Currently, you're not

1204
01:44:06.640 --> 01:44:12.279
just a basketball fan and a basketball
writer who covers the Piston that you're also

1205
01:44:12.279 --> 01:44:16.239
a Detroit sports fan. You see
the symmetry that the Lions have built that

1206
01:44:16.319 --> 01:44:23.680
has made them so successful under Brad
Holmes. Compare that symmetry to the symmetry

1207
01:44:23.680 --> 01:44:26.920
in the Pistons front office, if
there is one, and how far they

1208
01:44:26.960 --> 01:44:31.960
need to go? Can you?
I think that there, I think it

1209
01:44:32.000 --> 01:44:36.439
seems like Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes
are more on the same page then I'd

1210
01:44:36.479 --> 01:44:43.239
say even a lot of president and
head coaches, not even in the city,

1211
01:44:43.239 --> 01:44:46.600
but in the league. I think
that's a big thing. I think

1212
01:44:46.680 --> 01:44:51.319
that I think that's the big thing. I think that those two really seem

1213
01:44:51.359 --> 01:44:55.439
to value the same type of players, the same type of the character.

1214
01:44:55.960 --> 01:44:59.000
It's the one thing that sticks out
to me about them. And while I

1215
01:44:59.000 --> 01:45:03.319
think in the NBA you can have
different visions of how NBA you can play

1216
01:45:03.439 --> 01:45:06.640
different styles in basketball football you can, but at the end of the day,

1217
01:45:06.680 --> 01:45:11.279
it's still quarterback, drop back,
handoff, Like it's still this it's

1218
01:45:11.319 --> 01:45:15.600
pretty universal, but basketball there can
be different styles. Whether or not a

1219
01:45:15.720 --> 01:45:18.840
style is outdated or not, that's
another conversation. But I do think that

1220
01:45:19.439 --> 01:45:21.680
in terms of how a team should
be built, there seems to be a

1221
01:45:21.720 --> 01:45:27.960
little bit of a disconnect there with
the Pistons and maybe Steven Alliance. All

1222
01:45:28.039 --> 01:45:30.760
Right, lastly, before I let
you go, and I appreciate the time

1223
01:45:30.399 --> 01:45:36.000
Monty Williams, how can he be
better in year two along the Pistons bench

1224
01:45:36.119 --> 01:45:41.640
and how much, say, will
he have in personnel with this team moving

1225
01:45:41.680 --> 01:45:47.000
forward? Yeah, if he's back
next year, I think one way you

1226
01:45:47.000 --> 01:45:53.920
can get better is is I think
shortening the rotation, depending on what they

1227
01:45:53.960 --> 01:45:59.199
do this offseason, if they're able
to add two or three legitimate NBA players,

1228
01:45:59.239 --> 01:46:02.039
maybe keep that tation down to nine
to eight. I think that's one

1229
01:46:02.079 --> 01:46:10.000
way. I think maybe being a
little bit more emphasizing the development. Obviously,

1230
01:46:10.039 --> 01:46:14.640
he comes from a program where he
was coaching veteran players and and and

1231
01:46:15.039 --> 01:46:17.800
maybe had a different type of emphasis. I think obviously this team is young

1232
01:46:17.840 --> 01:46:20.840
and has some young players, and
that needs to be the focal point.

1233
01:46:23.000 --> 01:46:26.960
But yeah, I think just certainly
like how many players he plays, trying

1234
01:46:26.960 --> 01:46:30.880
to understand who he has as a
as a rotation and if he needs has

1235
01:46:30.920 --> 01:46:33.560
to whittle it down to try to
give this team the best chance to win.

1236
01:46:33.560 --> 01:46:35.359
I think that should be the case. But yeah, if he is

1237
01:46:35.359 --> 01:46:40.399
back next year, he'll have some
things to clean up himself. All right,

1238
01:46:40.399 --> 01:46:43.119
you said that twice. Then if
he's back next year, why wouldn't

1239
01:46:43.119 --> 01:46:47.399
he be Why wouldn't he be?
Yeah, they just won fourteen games.

1240
01:46:48.560 --> 01:46:56.159
There's a change. Definitely a chance. I think I think it'll be interesting

1241
01:46:56.199 --> 01:47:00.000
to see. I don't I don't
think it's as likely as people also,

1242
01:47:00.079 --> 01:47:04.840
that's people think very interesting. We'll
be watching and we'll be reading The Athletic

1243
01:47:04.880 --> 01:47:08.880
with James Edwards. Thank you,
my friend, great stuff as always,

1244
01:47:08.920 --> 01:47:12.279
appreciate your time very much and your
friendship. Take care of Thank you.

1245
01:47:12.279 --> 01:47:15.319
You got all right, James Edwards. Follow him on Twitter. Jay Edwards,

1246
01:47:15.800 --> 01:47:20.199
the third rights for the Athletic.
Fantastic stuff. If you missed any

1247
01:47:20.199 --> 01:47:25.359
of that, We'll play tomorrow six
thirty five. Really enjoyed that conversation.

1248
01:47:25.479 --> 01:47:28.239
Could have gone on a lot longer
because there's a lot of different things that

1249
01:47:28.279 --> 01:47:30.520
we wanted to hit on. But
maybe we'll do it at another time with

1250
01:47:30.640 --> 01:47:36.359
James and Talking Pistons and the NBA
thanks to Ben our producer, are thanks

1251
01:47:36.399 --> 01:47:40.600
to you for your text your phone
calls and James Edwards for his time.

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01:47:40.760 --> 01:47:44.119
Hope you can join us again tomorrow
here on exes and bros. Have a

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