Speaker 1: All right, what is going on?
Speaker 2: It's Drive Times on a Thursday afternoon, about six minutes
Speaker 2: past the hour of two o'clock. Mary, post Christmas to you.
Speaker 2: Hope you had a great holiday yesterday. Hope you had
Speaker 2: a great time with friends and family, maybe getting some
Speaker 2: time off of work, or if you did not and
Speaker 2: you stayed on the grind, shout out to you. But
Speaker 2: it is Christmas Week and we are back live on
Speaker 2: air for the first time since Monday. Had a best
Speaker 2: of show on Tuesday. We were off yesterday for Christmas,
Speaker 2: and now back today and tomorrow to close out Christmas Week.
Speaker 2: So great to have you along for the ride, as
Speaker 2: it is every single day. Spence check. It's behind the Mike.
Speaker 2: Olivia is filling in for Porter today, who is off
Speaker 2: once again for a couple of days. Porter will be
Speaker 2: back on Monday. So Olivia filling in, doing a great
Speaker 2: job today and tomorrow. We've got a lot to get
Speaker 2: to since you and I last spoke, A lot has happened.
Speaker 2: Christmas Day NFL action not awesome, NBA Christmas Day action
Speaker 2: very much awesome. Lebron James after the game, looking into
Speaker 2: the camera and saying, I love the NFL, but Christmas
Speaker 2: is our day, and for one day it was now
Speaker 2: the Dwarfs that of the NBA, so that will not change.
Speaker 1: But I thought it was a.
Speaker 2: Fun day for people to maybe be reintroduced to NBA
Speaker 2: basketball if you've not been watching A friend of the show.
Speaker 2: Chris Harring wrote a piece for ESPN dot com today
Speaker 2: outlining some of the great storylines that are happening in
Speaker 2: pro basketball. So we'll get to some of those on
Speaker 2: the program today. The Utah Jazz are in action tonight.
Speaker 2: It is a late tip. It's an eight o'clock tip,
Speaker 2: as they're up in the Great Pacific Northwest to take
Speaker 2: on the Portland Trailblazers. Both these teams are not very
Speaker 2: good at basketball this year. But I'm gonna be nice
Speaker 2: to the Jazz. I was scolded by somebody who I respect,
Speaker 2: who works over there, who says I'm being too negative.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to be negative. Nobody wants the Jazz
Speaker 2: to win more than I do. I can tell you
Speaker 2: that much. So we'll talk to some Jazz basketball, some
Speaker 2: NBA basketball. We will get you ready for the final
Speaker 2: tilt of Week sixteen in Pro football, little Thursday Night action,
Speaker 2: and then we'll get to the week seventeen storylines. It
Speaker 2: should be a lot of fun. So Seahawks Bears tonight
Speaker 2: Soldier Field, Seattle is a five point favorite on the road.
Speaker 2: And then we've just got a bevy of action coming
Speaker 2: up as pro football is really starting to get very interesting.
Speaker 2: A good Sunday slate coming up with a lot on
Speaker 2: the line. Quite frankly, did you enjoy the Netflix presentation
Speaker 2: our good friend? Well, good friends? I should say the
Speaker 2: Eagles father and son duo. I an Eagle calling the
Speaker 2: morning game and then no Eagle call in the afternoon game.
Speaker 1: No one's gonna hop on the show tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I want to see what his experience was like calling
Speaker 2: NFL football on Netflix. So we'll get to some storylines
Speaker 2: in that direction. There are some breaking news as pat
Speaker 2: Riley has come out and said they're not going to
Speaker 2: trade Jimmy Butler. Now we'll see if that changes, because
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler is the one name on the pro basketball
Speaker 2: trading block right now that, if moved, could certainly change
Speaker 2: the landscape of a team and maybe the landscape of
Speaker 2: the league. So the latest on the NBA trade deadline.
Speaker 2: Every time a trade deadline primer or preview is really
Speaker 2: whether it's a story that you read or somebody you
Speaker 2: listen to. The Jazz are mentioned and will the Jazz
Speaker 2: be active prior to that trade deadline.
Speaker 1: We'll get to it.
Speaker 2: The latest on the transfer portal, I know what you
Speaker 2: guys want. Latest on the transfer portal for Utah football.
Speaker 2: Latest on the transfer portal for BYU football. Had a
Speaker 2: couple of interesting conversations while we were off. Shed a
Speaker 2: little light on just exactly how BYU was able to
Speaker 2: land aj Debanta and where they're at kind of with
Speaker 2: their collective efforts and their nil efforts and the people
Speaker 2: that have stepped up the much needed people that have
Speaker 2: stepped up in provo. Is the same thing happening here
Speaker 2: in Salt Lake. We'll get to that on the show.
Speaker 2: As far as the latest with both BYU and Utah
Speaker 2: as college football, plenty of games left, including BYU Colorado
Speaker 2: should be a really fun one. Excited for that one
Speaker 2: and then hopefully the second round the quarterfinals of the
Speaker 2: CFP look a little more exciting than the first round did.
Speaker 2: We got the Peach Bowl with Texas Arizona State. We
Speaker 2: have the Rose Bowl with Ohio State and Oregon, Penn
Speaker 2: State Boys State is the Fiesta Bowl, then Notre Dame
Speaker 2: Georgia is the Sugar Bowl.
Speaker 1: Eight teams left standing, and.
Speaker 2: Of course BYU and Colorado to play what, in my estimation,
Speaker 2: should be one of the most exciting non CFP Bowl games.
Speaker 2: Excited to see how BYU stacks up to Colorado and
Speaker 2: excited to see how that game plays out. So a
Speaker 2: lot to get to on the program today. The Utah
Speaker 2: Hockey Club back in action tomorrow, They're off tonight. College
Speaker 2: basketball starting to get interesting. University of Utah men's hoops
Speaker 2: will get rolling with their Big twelve slate coming up
Speaker 2: next week against Baylor. So a ton going on today
Speaker 2: and a good guest list too. We're going to catch
Speaker 2: up with Jim Herman, who played college ball at BYU
Speaker 2: and I was able to catch up with Jim and
Speaker 2: spend some time with him at Steve Young's charity golf
Speaker 2: tournament a couple months back, and Jim's been on the
Speaker 2: show before. So we're going to talk to the latest
Speaker 2: with BYU, and the latest with the college football current
Speaker 2: slate and the situation at il Transfer Portal and such
Speaker 2: with Jim Herman, get his thoughts on Klonia satake his
Speaker 2: contract extension of the future of college football here in
Speaker 2: the state.
Speaker 1: The TV voice of the.
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz, Craig Bowler, Jack will stop by prior to
Speaker 2: him calling the game tonight with the Jazz and the Blazers.
Speaker 2: Then we'll visit with Gordon Monson. It's the big Show,
Speaker 2: Big hour. We do it here on the Drive every
Speaker 2: Thursday afternoon. We'll bring an Eric Weddle former Ute stops
Speaker 2: by today as well, and then Zach Harper NBA Daily
Speaker 2: Assist style. So busy guest list, a lot of college football,
Speaker 2: a little NFL and of course some NBA and some
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz on the show today. So Jim Herman, Craig Bowler, Jack,
Speaker 2: Gordon Monts and Eric Weddel and Zach Harper. Jim's going
Speaker 2: to join us right out of the gates as our
Speaker 2: first guest. But before we get to Jim Herman, courtesy
Speaker 2: of our friends at Standard Restaurant Supply, it's your one
Speaker 2: stop shop for all your tailgate needs on a Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 1: It's time now for your opening tip.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check. It's on Utah's
Speaker 3: number one Sports Talk. Now into the studio of ESPN
Speaker 3: seven hundred to set the scene for the show. The
Speaker 3: opening tip of the drive is brought to you by
Speaker 3: Standard Restaurants Supply, your one stop shop to build the
Speaker 3: best tailgate in town. Restaurants Supply thirty five hundred Southwest Temple.
Speaker 2: So this time of year, when it comes to the
Speaker 2: college football, the current state of the game, current state
Speaker 2: of college football locally and nationally, it's kind of an
Speaker 2: interesting media cycle to consume, and certainly as part of
Speaker 2: this job, to do the best I can to keep
Speaker 2: up with all of the pieces of news that come
Speaker 2: in fast and furious, and then listen to what other
Speaker 2: people have to say and try to understand exactly what's
Speaker 2: most interesting right now to college football fans. And it's
Speaker 2: odd and maybe this would be different if Utah football
Speaker 2: was in I don't know, even just a marginal bowl game,
Speaker 2: let alone the CFP, but it does seem like right
Speaker 2: now in college football, the most popular topics and the
Speaker 2: most popular content has to do with the transfer portal
Speaker 2: and what your team is going to look like next year.
Speaker 2: And look, there's plenty of time left, so ultimately we're
Speaker 2: not dismissing or anointing any teams on the show today.
Speaker 2: You know that would be silly to do because they're
Speaker 2: plenty of players that are in the portal that have
Speaker 2: not elected where they're going to play. And the most
Speaker 2: maddening part of all of this, and the most idiotic
Speaker 2: dynamic of all of this right now, is that college
Speaker 2: football finds itself in free agency during the season. It's
Speaker 2: beyond stupid, and that will change, And I'm convinced that's
Speaker 2: going to change even as quickly as next year, because
Speaker 2: anybody who's been asked about it, like nobody has made
Speaker 2: the case for it. Nobody, and typically with the debate
Speaker 2: with how many talking heads there are these days, not
Speaker 2: just radio and television, but podcasts and YouTube channels, there
Speaker 2: are a couple of dudes that will zig when everyone
Speaker 2: else zags. There are a couple of dudes that will
Speaker 2: try to take the contrarian viewpoint.
Speaker 1: Nobody has done that with this.
Speaker 2: It has been summarily dismissed, and it feels like it's
Speaker 2: a consensus of how stupid that it is that a
Speaker 2: sport has free agency while games are still being played.
Speaker 2: You save free agency for the offseason, because, of course
Speaker 2: you do to be analogous, can you imagine in football
Speaker 2: or basketball when the biggest games are left, because that's
Speaker 2: what's left in college football. The college football Playoff is
Speaker 2: going on, and these players are getting called by agents
Speaker 2: to ask if they want to enter the transfer port
Speaker 2: because you have to do it if you want to
Speaker 2: sort of find out what hand you've been dealt and
Speaker 2: what your worth is on the open market, which I'm
Speaker 2: all for. If you listen to the show, first of all,
Speaker 2: thank you. Second of all, you know that I'm for that.
Speaker 2: I've been for that for a long time. Yes, college
Speaker 2: athletes should have always had the same basic economic rights
Speaker 2: that you and I have, Okay, But now that we're
Speaker 2: in that reality, it really is time to frame it
Speaker 2: with some guardrails that just make it more sensible and
Speaker 2: easier to kind of traverse for mostly coaches quite frankly,
Speaker 2: and yes, players too. But the players aren't necessarily the
Speaker 2: ones that are being stung by the new reality of
Speaker 2: college football. The players are the ones that are being
Speaker 2: taken care of because they can now make money. And
Speaker 2: like I said, they should have always been in this space.
Speaker 2: But there's a reason why in the pros I can't
Speaker 2: believe I'm going to say it out loud. There's a
Speaker 2: reason why in the pros free agency is during the
Speaker 2: off season. It's like, it's the most basic thing we
Speaker 2: can possibly talk about. There's a reason why in the
Speaker 2: pros they wait until the offseason to allow players to
Speaker 2: change teams via free agency.
Speaker 1: Now you can make trades during the year, right And.
Speaker 2: Ultimately, I always kind of scoff at the whole loyalty
Speaker 2: conversation with players who do leave via free agency.
Speaker 1: As fans, you get stung.
Speaker 2: You know, you're bummed when your Fourth of July is
Speaker 2: ruined when Gordon Hayward decides he's going to Boston.
Speaker 1: And I get that.
Speaker 2: But if you work in an industry where essentially, if
Speaker 2: your boss decides you're somewhat disposable, he can just trade
Speaker 2: you tomorrow and give you a call in the am
Speaker 2: and say, hey, you live in Cleveland now, then you
Speaker 2: should have an avenue and the ability to decide where
Speaker 2: you do, what you do, and where you're gonna play basketball.
Speaker 2: I've always found it interesting that these basketball players, these
Speaker 2: football players, these baseball players, soccer players in the world
Speaker 2: at what they do, yet they are told where they
Speaker 2: have to do that. I'm not completely comfortable with it entirely.
Speaker 2: Now there's a side non sequitor conversation about what it
Speaker 2: means for a city like Salt Lake to try to
Speaker 2: build a pro basketball franchise. And that's why the NBA
Speaker 2: does have guardrails in place to ensure that if you
Speaker 2: draft and develop a player, you at least have seven
Speaker 2: eight years with them. Now, unfortunately that doesn't guarantee anything
Speaker 2: beyond that. But that's when the conversation gets interesting, because
Speaker 2: should a free agent.
Speaker 1: I always go back to the Kevin Garnett thing.
Speaker 2: You know, Garnett gave Minnesota basically a decade, and they
Speaker 2: had a couple of good teams when they had Sam
Speaker 2: Cassel and the Treil Spree. Well, they went to the
Speaker 2: Western Conference finals, but they were never close to winning
Speaker 2: an NBA championship and quite frankly, never that close to
Speaker 2: winning the West, even though that had a couple of
Speaker 2: decent teams. And so after a decade, I had no
Speaker 2: issue with Garnett looking around and saying, hey, I gave
Speaker 2: you ten years and I was one of the best
Speaker 2: players of this generation.
Speaker 1: I want to go win a championship and.
Speaker 2: Minnesota and Kevin McHale at the time did right by
Speaker 2: him by trading him to Boston and their executive Danny
Speaker 2: Ainge built a championship team around Garnett and Paul Pierce
Speaker 2: and Ray Allen and I had no problem with that. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're a Timberwolves fan, it sucks. And if you're
Speaker 2: a Jazz fan, you're watching Donovan Mitchell have a career
Speaker 2: year for a team in Cleveland that is just nasty.
Speaker 2: And Donovan didn't leave in free agency. He was traded,
Speaker 2: but if you followed that story, Donovan had one foot
Speaker 2: out the door basically the entire final year he was here,
Speaker 2: leaving a lot of fans to fill the trade. So
Speaker 2: there isn't a perfect solution that will make everybody happy,
Speaker 2: but there has to be guardrails in plays for college
Speaker 2: football that at least allow coaches who really are the
Speaker 2: ones against The coaches and the fans are the ones
Speaker 2: that currently are losing out as a result of the
Speaker 2: new format and model of collegiate athletics. It's not the players,
Speaker 2: it's administrators, coaches, and fans. But in order for these
Speaker 2: coaches have a fair shot at putting a good product
Speaker 2: on the field, free agency can't be while you're still
Speaker 2: playing games. Okay, because from a coaching perspective, you're running practice. Okay,
Speaker 2: you're Kalani Satake, You're running practice down in Provo. You're
Speaker 2: getting ready for what should be a really fun bowl
Speaker 2: game against Colorado, a game that will bring a lot
Speaker 2: of eyes because Dion does that in the Alamo Bowl
Speaker 2: seven point thirty by the way, ABC, and ironically enough,
Speaker 2: you can hear the BYU game on our radio station,
Speaker 2: so stay tuned for that.
Speaker 1: But Dion brings a lot of eyes. BYU is a
Speaker 1: big brand.
Speaker 2: There will be I don't know, I would guess four
Speaker 2: or five six million people watching that game. BYU getting
Speaker 2: like a six million dollar payoff. This is a good
Speaker 2: bowl game, and BYU's earned it because of their ten
Speaker 2: win season. But if you're Kialani, if you're Jay Hill,
Speaker 2: if you're a rod, if you're that coaching staff, you're
Speaker 2: running practice to prepare for Colorado, and then you say
Speaker 2: good night after practice is done, and then you have
Speaker 2: to wonder whether or not any of your players are
Speaker 2: going to be entering the transfer portal because b Yu,
Speaker 2: I think at last check as six guys did have
Speaker 2: entered the transfer portal. It makes it really hard to
Speaker 2: prepare for a game, and after all, the games are
Speaker 2: what all of this should be about, you know, And
Speaker 2: that's why I kind of started the segment off with
Speaker 2: some interesting, I don't know, observations from my standpoint that
Speaker 2: the most popular topic for college football fans right now,
Speaker 2: it does seem to be the transfer portal as opposed
Speaker 2: to the games. Now first round of the CFP not awesome.
Speaker 2: And we'll get to the latest with the University of Utah.
Speaker 2: You know, it was tough. Right before we said good
Speaker 2: night on Monday afternoon, it was announced that Kiana Tanavasa
Speaker 2: was in the transfer portal.
Speaker 1: That one stings.
Speaker 2: So does Cameron Calhoun Keanu unless I missed it because
Speaker 2: I'm not one who lives online. I don't record TikTok
Speaker 2: videos or coming Twitter for information. If he announced something,
Speaker 2: I just haven't seen it. And so that of course
Speaker 2: continues to open up the possibility that maybe thought of
Speaker 2: us that lands back here, and that should be your hope,
Speaker 2: because man, he's good. A lot of these players, all
Speaker 2: due respect, you know, from Utah that have entered the
Speaker 2: transfer portal. You know, Djon Stanley, for instance, nice kid
Speaker 2: had an insanely good game right out of the Gates
Speaker 2: to start the year off for the University of Utah,
Speaker 2: but never really broke into rotation, and outside of catching
Speaker 2: a couple of swing passes that you or I probably
Speaker 2: could have caught, didn't do much. So you know, you
Speaker 2: wish Djon well and you said him on his way.
Speaker 2: Same thing with like Damien Alford or even Brandon Rose.
Speaker 1: You know, Isaac Wilson has elected to come back, so
Speaker 1: that's good.
Speaker 2: But a lot of the players you just kind of say,
Speaker 2: all right, best of luck, congrats on whatever you were
Speaker 2: able to get in the open market. But a ton
Speaker 2: of us and Calhoun, those two specifically, they hurt, they do.
Speaker 2: And you know it's not just Utah, of course, it's
Speaker 2: every program across the landscape of the state, every program
Speaker 2: across the landscape of college football that ultimately are trying
Speaker 2: to figure out how to traverse this. I mean, the
Speaker 2: latest BYU list as far as and I have this up,
Speaker 2: this is current as of an hour ago. You got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Speaker 2: You have fourteen BYU players in the transfer portal. BYU
Speaker 2: has locked in five players from the transfer portal, and
Speaker 2: of course plenty is left to analyze here but that's
Speaker 2: a good portion of your roster that you're trying to
Speaker 2: utilize at your disposal to prepare for games.
Speaker 1: And it's almost just unfair, it's almost impossible.
Speaker 2: And some of these programs will be rebuilding every year.
Speaker 2: In pro sports, you run into a rebuild situation. And
Speaker 2: by the way, it's no matter where you are. It's
Speaker 2: New York. The Knicks felt like they were rebuilding for
Speaker 2: twenty years. Nobody talks about the Nick van Exel, Elden
Speaker 2: Campbell Laker years, but the Lakers were rebuilding for years.
Speaker 2: The heat were horrible for a long time before they
Speaker 2: kind of got things figured out. In pro sports, every
Speaker 2: I don't know, depending on your circumstances, depending on your
Speaker 2: front office, your ownership, how savvy you've been in roster construction,
Speaker 2: you're going to run into a rebuild every seven, eight,
Speaker 2: nine years, and hopefully you don't run into a rebuild
Speaker 2: that takes very long. And that's what the Jazz have
Speaker 2: been really good at historically speaking. Present day excluded because
Speaker 2: the jury is very much still out, but you hope
Speaker 2: you can get it turned around within a couple of
Speaker 2: years and then you have another generation of at least
Speaker 2: competitive basketball or football, and most good front offices are
Speaker 2: able to do that see Oklahoma City. But the reality
Speaker 2: for a lot of teams in college football, if the
Speaker 2: guardrails are not added and the rules are not executed,
Speaker 2: there are gonna be a lot of college football programs
Speaker 2: that will be rebuilding every year. That's not sustainable. You'll
Speaker 2: have plenty of smart college football coaches and administrators choosing
Speaker 2: to do something else with their lives because this is impossible.
Speaker 2: And it's too bad, because it really is such a
Speaker 2: great product and such a great sport and the fact
Speaker 2: that the ratings have not taken a hit, attendance has
Speaker 2: a little bit, and the secondary market for the first
Speaker 2: round of the CFP, there were Penn State Oregon tickets
Speaker 2: that you could find in the secondary market for ten bucks,
Speaker 2: for ten dollars for those two teams that are playing
Speaker 2: for a national championship. So there are some situations, ancillary
Speaker 2: situations that have been adversely affected, but not a ton.
Speaker 2: And the reason is the sport is awesome, and the
Speaker 2: product is great, and it's really fun to watch, it's really.
Speaker 1: Fun to consume.
Speaker 2: And that's why even though the current situation is untenable,
Speaker 2: and I believe that it is, we still sit down
Speaker 2: and watch. So can you imagine what this product will
Speaker 2: look like when all of the ducks are actually in
Speaker 2: a row? And when will that happen? Hopefully it's sooner
Speaker 2: rather than later. Hopefully we don't have to wait four
Speaker 2: or five years. And hopefully when the dust settles and
Speaker 2: there is a new reality where college football looks very
Speaker 2: much like pro football, both Utah and BYU get that
Speaker 2: invice because that's the crew to be in. And if Utah.
Speaker 1: And BYU before we catch a break.
Speaker 2: Okay, So if this pro model comes to fruition and
Speaker 2: there are forty teams that are in sitting at the
Speaker 2: right lunch table, that are in this new college football
Speaker 2: reality that very much looks like pro football, you know,
Speaker 2: is it the ACC versus excuse me? Is it the
Speaker 2: SEC versus the Big Ten? Do they come up with
Speaker 2: new names just for reference? Think AFCNFC. It's going to
Speaker 2: look like a lot like the NFL. And if Utah
Speaker 2: and BYU get invites to join this group, it will
Speaker 2: be the closest thing, quite frankly, that we'll ever probably
Speaker 2: have to pro football in our market. But it will
Speaker 2: be a lot like the NFL model. And it will
Speaker 2: eliminate a lot of the FCSFBS games, a lot of
Speaker 2: the big dogs taking on the little dudes that most
Speaker 2: people don't watch week in and week out.
Speaker 1: It will be blue.
Speaker 2: Bloods playing blue bloods almost every single week, and brands
Speaker 2: playing brands every single week, and that'll be really exciting.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, there's just a lot to figure out
Speaker 2: for these people that are in charge of this great
Speaker 2: sport that we all love it. We're gonna bring in
Speaker 2: Jim Herman coming up next, continue the conversation about the
Speaker 2: current landscape of college football. Bowler will stop by, so
Speaker 2: will Gordon Mont and Eric Weddell and Zach Harper. Busy
Speaker 2: Thursday show, keep it right here on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: We got Pittsburgh and Toledo going on right now. The
Speaker 2: game above Sports Bowl Bowl season b YU is gonna
Speaker 2: take on Colorado coming up on Saturday, should be one
Speaker 2: of the best non CFP Bowl games. That's gonna be
Speaker 2: a five to thirty kick time on ABC and the
Speaker 2: Alamo Bowl right now, Colorado is a four point favorite.
Speaker 2: Excited to catch up with our next guest. He joined
Speaker 2: the show a few times back in the day when
Speaker 2: I was doing with Gordo. He is a legend, played
Speaker 2: at Brigham Young, played a little NFL football. Great to
Speaker 2: have Jim Herm on the drive on a Thursday. Jim,
Speaker 2: Merry Christmas season.
Speaker 1: How are you, sir?
Speaker 4: Merry Christmas to you, Spence, Thank you. Yeah, good for
Speaker 4: having me. Good things are good. Got through Christmas, survived
Speaker 4: and enjoying it and excited for the new year. I
Speaker 4: can't believe it's twenty twenty five already.
Speaker 2: I know, man, I know what does Christmas look like
Speaker 2: in the Herman household?
Speaker 4: Man, it's great. I got three boys, they're all married.
Speaker 4: I actually hard to believe I actually have grandkids, as
Speaker 4: crazy as that is. Wow, So I get to see them.
Speaker 4: I got a couple kids living in LA right now,
Speaker 4: building a business and everyone's home and so we're having
Speaker 4: a great time, family and fun and all sorts of
Speaker 4: great things. And I grew up in Wisconsin, so I
Speaker 4: actually have some Wisconsin family that owns a place up
Speaker 4: in Deer Valley and they're coming out. My mother in
Speaker 4: law's coming. So yeah, good things.
Speaker 1: Very nice, great to hear, great to hear.
Speaker 2: So I started the show off today Jim with just
Speaker 2: what I perceive to be a broken sport, albeit a
Speaker 2: great product in college football, and you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: insane to me that essentially what we're dealing with is
Speaker 2: free agency during the year, right, So you have coaches
Speaker 2: that are trying to coach their team up for bowl
Speaker 2: games or CFP games to try to win national championships,
Speaker 2: and then after practice they've got to run collateral damage
Speaker 2: to make sure their players aren't being contacted by agents.
Speaker 2: And so many teams that are still playing, including Brigham Young,
Speaker 2: have several players that are in the portal while the
Speaker 2: season is still going on. What are your thoughts on
Speaker 2: this dynamic specifically, the college football essentially has free agency
Speaker 2: wall games are being played.
Speaker 4: It's crazy, Actually, I agree with you Spence. I actually
Speaker 4: think it's worse than free agency because free agency has
Speaker 4: some rules and some guardrails, and there's actually seems to
Speaker 4: be a method to the manus. Certainly at the NFL level,
Speaker 4: people change teams. At that level, it's a job, and
Speaker 4: they're looking out for opportunities and places to go enhance
Speaker 4: their careers. Weirdly that's trickled down to college football. But
Speaker 4: the there just seems to be no rules for sport
Speaker 4: that I grew up in and was around for years,
Speaker 4: and my brother played college football, obviously, lots of friends
Speaker 4: of mine, and you know, as long as I can remember,
Speaker 4: until the you know, real, not too distant future, was
Speaker 4: the strict guidelines of the NCAAA. My gosh. You couldn't
Speaker 4: get an ice cream cone, You couldn't you couldn't even
Speaker 4: think about transferring unless you've sat out a year, and
Speaker 4: there are all these rules and restrictions, and now it
Speaker 4: just seems to be a total free for all, which
Speaker 4: I don't really understand. I don't know why someone hasn't
Speaker 4: stepped in there. There used to seem to be a
Speaker 4: governing body that would try to curtail some of these things,
Speaker 4: but now it just seems to every year the rules change,
Speaker 4: and you know, maybe there's there's the Wizard of Oz
Speaker 4: out there that's making it all work in some chaotic
Speaker 4: form or fashion, but I'm with you, it seems to
Speaker 4: absolutely be crazy. I mean, Crew Wakeley, who I think
Speaker 4: is you know, one of DA's best defensive backs is
Speaker 4: in the portal, not going to play in the game
Speaker 4: that hurts against an unbelievable Colorado team that throws the
Speaker 4: ball and has crazy skilled positions and and is really
Speaker 4: apt at testing defensive backfields all around the country, and
Speaker 4: now vas at a disadvantage, and it seems weirdly, it
Speaker 4: seems to Colorado's kind of kept it all together. I'm
Speaker 4: not as informed as to the comings and goings over
Speaker 4: there on their team, but from the from the macro
Speaker 4: landscape of college football, it seems to be a mess.
Speaker 4: And I keep hoping. I really defer to you know,
Speaker 4: certainly I'm influenced by the NFL model one because I
Speaker 4: think it works. I grew up in a state where
Speaker 4: the Green Bay Packers are in a tiny little town
Speaker 4: smaller than Logan, Utah, and they fill a stadium of
Speaker 4: ninety thousand people, and there's they're the only way that
Speaker 4: can survive is because their central leadership with a game
Speaker 4: plan to make sure that all the teams within the
Speaker 4: league played by the same rules and have the opportunity
Speaker 4: to compete whether you're in a big market, small market,
Speaker 4: big school, small school. And they've done a really good
Speaker 4: job of putting what I think is a framework that,
Speaker 4: based on where college football is going, could could work
Speaker 4: at the college football level. But until their central leadership
Speaker 4: in college football, you know, getting back to the free
Speaker 4: agency question, I don't know how. I don't know how
Speaker 4: it changes because the Big twelve kills about the Big twelve,
Speaker 4: the Pac Ten. I'm sorry, the the SEC cares about
Speaker 4: the SEC. The Big ten cares about the Big ten.
Speaker 4: And someone's supposed to be caring about you know, college
Speaker 4: football as a whole, and I don't know who that is,
Speaker 4: because it just seems to be running crazy, crazy wild.
Speaker 2: I wonder what your thoughts are, Jim, on what could
Speaker 2: be next, because I wholeheardly agree and I've talked on
Speaker 2: the show a lot about rip the band aid off
Speaker 2: and just use the pro model. Okay, allow the players
Speaker 2: unionize collectively, bargain with the people in charge, and that way,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not saying they sign four or five
Speaker 2: year contracts, but sign contracts that you're gonna be with
Speaker 2: the program for a couple of years, maybe with an
Speaker 2: option after that, and that way you don't have to
Speaker 2: rebuild your program every single year if you know you
Speaker 2: have a player for two or three years or something
Speaker 2: like it. It seems like coaches are for it. It
Speaker 2: seems like players would be for it because then the
Speaker 2: contracts could be legal and above board with Right now,
Speaker 2: there's no regulation. If you want to pay a quarterback
Speaker 2: a billion dollars to play at BYU, you can pay
Speaker 2: them eight billion dollars.
Speaker 1: So move to the pro model.
Speaker 2: I know there will be unfortunate collateral damage of athletic
Speaker 2: departments that don't have the same amount of revenue.
Speaker 1: Because football is the cash cow.
Speaker 2: But I also believe Jim, at some point and you
Speaker 2: exist in some of these spaces right now as well,
Speaker 2: private equity guys are going to get involved here and
Speaker 2: they're gonna start buying college football teams, buying stakes and
Speaker 2: college football teams infusing the programs with money up front
Speaker 2: with the promise that their investment will pay incredible dividends
Speaker 2: once this pro model becomes a reality.
Speaker 1: But in your opinion, you're a smart guy. What do
Speaker 1: you think is.
Speaker 2: Standing in the way now of college football just getting
Speaker 2: this done? Because I believe it would solve the majority
Speaker 2: of the issues that face the sport right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, couldn't agree more Spence. I mean you and I
Speaker 4: are fully aligned. What I think standing in place is
Speaker 4: just to echo what I said, it's central leadership. I
Speaker 4: you know, lover hate Roger Goodell he represents the owners right.
Speaker 4: And I was a union member when I was in
Speaker 4: the NFL. I paid my union dues. We had representatives,
Speaker 4: We talked, we met, we discussed issues that were relevant
Speaker 4: to us as players, and we relied on our representatives
Speaker 4: to be union to you know, speak for us as
Speaker 4: a union voice to the owners when they got together
Speaker 4: and collectively bargained. I was injured right before the strike here,
Speaker 4: way back in eyighty seven eighty eight. So I played
Speaker 4: eighty five eighty six, then got injured. Then there was
Speaker 4: a strike here, and then I actually got a couple
Speaker 4: surgeries and then actually signed after the second collective bargaining
Speaker 4: agreement with the LA Raiders, And so I saw it
Speaker 4: and I live it now. We started an NFL alumni
Speaker 4: chapter here, and it's amazing what's changed and what's transpired
Speaker 4: for as players. But certainly from a current player standpoint
Speaker 4: and someone who's in the league, there's rules, there's representation,
Speaker 4: there's a there's a plan, but it only comes with
Speaker 4: central leadership. In my opinion, I just don't as of
Speaker 4: right now, the SEC is so powerful and the Big
Speaker 4: Pens not far behind, or vice versa. I'm not actually
Speaker 4: sure who generates more on a perching basis, but weirdly,
Speaker 4: as a conference, they kind of collectively bargain. So the
Speaker 4: way I understand that the Big Ten goes out and
Speaker 4: negotiates rights, media rights and creates content, and that content's
Speaker 4: distributed and they're paid by the distributors of the content,
Speaker 4: and then that is equally divided amongst the schools in
Speaker 4: the Big Ten and the SEC. So they're doing it
Speaker 4: on a conference basis. But people need to understand. And
Speaker 4: I wasn't a member of the PAC twelve or part
Speaker 4: of the school that was a member of the PAC twelve,
Speaker 4: but this is the nation's favorite sport. It spans from
Speaker 4: coast to coast, and I think it's a travesty what
Speaker 4: happened on the pack to the PAC twelve and on
Speaker 4: the West coast. But someone needs to look out for that.
Speaker 4: There should not be two teams in LA that get
Speaker 4: on a plane on a weekly basis and fly to
Speaker 4: Maryland or Happy Valley, Pennsylvania to participate. And it sounds
Speaker 4: great for football because you're on a chartered flight, but
Speaker 4: there's some volleyball player, female volleyball player who's a scholar
Speaker 4: athlete who has to take a psyche test on Thursday,
Speaker 4: and she traveled to Rutgers on Tuesday, and she took
Speaker 4: the red Eye back with three connections on the way
Speaker 4: back to use La studied, took her test on Thursday,
Speaker 4: and then got on a plane and flew to Minnesota.
Speaker 4: It's just nuts. And until someone gets their act together
Speaker 4: and figures out that college football specifically, and I think
Speaker 4: maybe college football needs to be its own thing. Not
Speaker 4: own thing in the sense that it's not a sport
Speaker 4: tied to college at you know, college and universities, but
Speaker 4: it might need to be its own revenue model and
Speaker 4: have its own representation, both from an ownership standpoint all
Speaker 4: of the university and or private equity who has the
Speaker 4: opportunity to buy into some of these programs and then
Speaker 4: collectively bargained for the players, because it definitely is the
Speaker 4: goose that's laying the golden egg, and it helps funds
Speaker 4: lots of other sports. And until this is all figured out, sadly,
Speaker 4: what it's made college football so great in America is
Speaker 4: just starting to disintegrate before our very own eyes. We
Speaker 4: certainly love it, I'm tuning in, I'm watching it, but
Speaker 4: it's it's hard as a fan. It's hard as a
Speaker 4: fan to feel something strongly about a team that there
Speaker 4: was a young man who represented your school and next
Speaker 4: year is going to represent another school, and next year
Speaker 4: is going to represent another school, which, by the way,
Speaker 4: I thought you could only transfer once, and it seems
Speaker 4: guys now are transferring two, three, four times. It's just
Speaker 4: it just is absolutely crazy. But to answers question specifically,
Speaker 4: I think what's standing in its way is we need
Speaker 4: we need a Roger Goodell of college football to represent uh.
Speaker 4: I guess really the media or and or the universities collectively.
Speaker 4: And then we need to, you know, figure out a
Speaker 4: way to make sure the athletes are representative and representative.
Speaker 4: And I don't know if it has to be at
Speaker 4: quite the level that the NFL is, and maybe I'm
Speaker 4: being naive on that, but players, look, you know, there's
Speaker 4: lots of coaches and universities making tons of money, and
Speaker 4: certainly with a matter of time before some of those
Speaker 4: resources need to be directed to players because some of
Speaker 4: them are maimed for life. Some of them get great
Speaker 4: educations and they move on and it was an unbelievable experience,
Speaker 4: and some of them are generating huge amounts of revenue
Speaker 4: for schools and coaches that are making millions and millions
Speaker 4: of dollars. So to get those guys a share of
Speaker 4: the pot, I don't think is necessarily a negative thing.
Speaker 4: But it's just now seems to be the wild wild
Speaker 4: West with a system with no rules.
Speaker 2: I wonder, And let's just one one more thing here,
Speaker 2: then we can move on, because I want to ask
Speaker 2: you about the Bowl game and colonial all.
Speaker 1: That good stuff.
Speaker 2: But let's let's talk through this real quick to see
Speaker 2: if there's anything there, because I do think a game
Speaker 2: changer will be private equity money. You know, venture capitalists
Speaker 2: coming in to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in
Speaker 2: the sport. Is there a way that you could get enough?
Speaker 2: You know, private equity venture capitalists in a room that
Speaker 2: all want to invest in this, and then because of
Speaker 2: the money, they're willing to really give up front to
Speaker 2: programs and then say you can use this with nil,
Speaker 2: you can use this to upgrade facilities or pay or
Speaker 2: cut or whatever.
Speaker 1: And you know, these guys you're in the space.
Speaker 2: The one thing that they will not do is invest
Speaker 2: the money unless they think they can get great dividends
Speaker 2: on the back end.
Speaker 4: Exactly right.
Speaker 2: So if they're willing to step up and write these
Speaker 2: big checks, could they as a group gardner enough power
Speaker 2: to pick a Roger Goodell of college football and say
Speaker 2: this is the guy that's going to run this thing
Speaker 2: for us.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it does. I mean certainly being in the space.
Speaker 4: For those of you who don't know, and not that
Speaker 4: I work for private equity firm. Actually, my partners in
Speaker 4: the Hall of Fame in the NFL and in the
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame football, Steve Young and our partners in
Speaker 4: a private equity firm, Hunting Gay Global capitalis GGC, and
Speaker 4: we have lots of money under management. We are looking
Speaker 4: we have a thematic sourcing initiative within our firm to
Speaker 4: look for sports athletic, sports centric businesses to invest in. Right,
Speaker 4: It's something that is important to us as individuals and
Speaker 4: as a firm, and so we're trying to find ways
Speaker 4: to put money to work in professional athletics. All that
Speaker 4: being said, the model in college athletics is unique. I'm
Speaker 4: with you kind of from a macro viewpoint, But how
Speaker 4: do you make that work when some of these teams
Speaker 4: are owned by states, either owned by state institutions, they
Speaker 4: owned by the University of Utah. Takes a lot of
Speaker 4: state money. And I don't know how what the ownership
Speaker 4: looks like in the University of Utah, how that was
Speaker 4: set up, what the charter was when the University of
Speaker 4: Utah was established, And I don't know what hurdles that
Speaker 4: impose on private equity, right, I mean, like you said,
Speaker 4: private equity is kind of is what it says. It is.
Speaker 4: It's taking private dollars, investing it in an asset, figuring
Speaker 4: out a way to create value in that asset and
Speaker 4: get a return for the shareholders. And that, to me,
Speaker 4: I think is going to be complicated based on the
Speaker 4: landscape of college football. But concessfully, what you're saying do
Speaker 4: I agree with absolutely, And I'm not sure. I don't
Speaker 4: know if it's private equity. I hate to say it.
Speaker 4: I'm a capitalist. I believe in the free enterprise and
Speaker 4: free market system. I don't I believe less governments better.
Speaker 4: I do think potentially one way to get control of
Speaker 4: this crazy monster is to have the federal government step
Speaker 4: in in one way, shape or form or the other
Speaker 4: and then act laws because some of these school like
Speaker 4: I said, these schools are federally owned, state owned. Some
Speaker 4: of them are one hundred years old, one hundred and
Speaker 4: fifty two hundred years old institutions that I'm not sure
Speaker 4: they would be willing to take private equity money. Although
Speaker 4: they take lots of private equity money and to fund endowments,
Speaker 4: I don't know if they're going to take private equity
Speaker 4: money to give up ownership in an asset that's some
Speaker 4: two hundred year old educational institution is owns. So I
Speaker 4: don't know, Spence, I don't know how to divvy it up.
Speaker 4: But I do think what you're saying resonates and it
Speaker 4: has to happen. And whether d I saw Dion on
Speaker 4: a clip the other day on TikTok or Instagram or
Speaker 4: Facebook or somewhere on a reel, I saw Nick Saban,
Speaker 4: everyone's saying the same chip, same thing, Chip Kelly said
Speaker 4: the same thing. Right, It's like, look, guys, we're generating
Speaker 4: a lot of money. Let's figure out how much money
Speaker 4: goes to the school. Let's figure out how much money
Speaker 4: goes to the players. Let's divvy that up. Let's have
Speaker 4: some guardrails this money. You know, and I'm a believer
Speaker 4: that you know, Green Bay gets the same amount of Dallas,
Speaker 4: and Dallas gets the same amount as the New York Giants,
Speaker 4: and the New York Giants get the same amount as
Speaker 4: the LA Rams And that makes it work, right. Any
Speaker 4: given Sunday wasn't some crazy marketing you know slogan. It
Speaker 4: was to create an even system. It was to create parody.
Speaker 4: And I think that's what we want in college football.
Speaker 4: We certainly want it regionally. I don't think anyone at
Speaker 4: the at Oregon State wakes up on a Saturday and says,
Speaker 4: I wonder what's happening in a Georgia Tech today. I
Speaker 4: sure hope they win, or I sure hope they lose, right,
Speaker 4: I mean, what's made college football so great are regional
Speaker 4: and conference rivalries that are part of this global, you know,
Speaker 4: American landscape of college football. I mean, it's kind of
Speaker 4: all part of this giant quilt. But there's patches that
Speaker 4: are more relevant to certain people. And Oregon State cares
Speaker 4: about Oregon and Washington and and you know, cal down
Speaker 4: the road, at least they used to. And Michigan is
Speaker 4: always going to care about Ohio State, and no, SiO
Speaker 4: State's always gonna care about Michigan because they border each other,
Speaker 4: and b what's always gonna care about Utah? And Utah
Speaker 4: is always gonna care about BYU and the See schools
Speaker 4: are the same, and so let's figure out a way
Speaker 4: to get the University of Tennessee the same amount of
Speaker 4: money as Oregon State. And some people will their eyes
Speaker 4: at that, but I think that's what makes it work.
Speaker 4: I mean, right now, the big ten schools, they all
Speaker 4: make the same. No one seems to roll their eyes
Speaker 4: at Rutgers, who is not great at anything, is getting
Speaker 4: the same cash payout that Ohio State's getting. Right, I mean,
Speaker 4: they make that work because they all need each other.
Speaker 4: They need each other in that conference. And it's the
Speaker 4: same with the SEC. Vanderbilt has been getting their share,
Speaker 4: the same share that Alabama and George has been getting
Speaker 4: in the SEC since they've been divving up those cash
Speaker 4: those funds for media rightes. And so I just don't
Speaker 4: understand why we can't do that on a global landscape.
Speaker 4: And maybe it's shrinks. Maybe it's instead of one hundred
Speaker 4: and thirty teams or one hundred and thirty five teams
Speaker 4: or whatever it is, maybe there's a group of five
Speaker 4: and there's a different group and whether that's eighty or ninety,
Speaker 4: or sixty or or one hundred, I don't know what
Speaker 4: the number is. But right now, there's a lot of
Speaker 4: money generated for the schools in the Big ten. There's
Speaker 4: a lot of money generated for the schools in the SEC.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of money generated for the schools in
Speaker 4: the Big twelve. And there used to be a lot
Speaker 4: of money gener for the Pack twelve and the PAC
Speaker 4: twelve just had horrible leadership and people lost their minds
Speaker 4: and they said, look for an extra ten million dollars.
Speaker 4: I'm willing to forego our unbelievable history as a conference
Speaker 4: and I'm going to join a conference that that means
Speaker 4: nothing to us, and then we have to travel all
Speaker 4: across the country for a few extra dollars. So why
Speaker 4: not find a way to make the pie bigger? And
Speaker 4: that's what that's what the NFL has done. Everyone gets
Speaker 4: their slice and and they're unified. They want to put
Speaker 4: the best product forward. I mean, there's a great acquired
Speaker 4: podcast that if you're a podquest cast or spence about
Speaker 4: how they did it and why they did it, and
Speaker 4: it was entertainment and it was it was a way
Speaker 4: to create a product and the product was the NFL,
Speaker 4: and our product is college football and people love it
Speaker 4: and let's not kill it. And we're freaking killing it
Speaker 4: because we don't have someone driving the bus. And it
Speaker 4: just bums me out a.
Speaker 1: Lot of good stuff there.
Speaker 2: It feels like you guys need to get involved because
Speaker 2: I know life is really good for Steve, but you
Speaker 2: could do worse as a college football commissioner.
Speaker 1: The Steve Young.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, life is good for Steven. Steve. Steve is
Speaker 4: very smart, he said. I mean, I mean, I'm certainly biased,
Speaker 4: but I mean I studied my a off for the
Speaker 4: l SAT and got eighty four percent, and I don't
Speaker 4: think he's studied once, and he was in the ninety
Speaker 4: nine percent. He's he's a smart guy. He's connected, he's
Speaker 4: he's respected, and he sees the he sees what the
Speaker 4: opportunity is and he's cold pete at the highest level
Speaker 4: of both and and you know, and maybe it's him,
Speaker 4: and maybe it's a panel. Maybe it's him and Nick
Speaker 4: Saban and a few other players. I mean people that
Speaker 4: have been around and experienced what they needed to experience
Speaker 4: to understand how to protect a really strong American asset
Speaker 4: that the that you know, a lot of people that
Speaker 4: live in this country care about and before we go
Speaker 4: too far down the path, we we get it back
Speaker 4: and headed in the right direction. And I'm hopeful that's
Speaker 4: going to happen. I mean, I just heared Nick Saban
Speaker 4: now on Game Day and and he's a voice, he's
Speaker 4: got a platform now and he talks about it. Then.
Speaker 4: You know, social media, if anything, has created a platform
Speaker 4: and an opportunity for people to share their opinions. And
Speaker 4: most of the people that I see share their opinions
Speaker 4: kind of are saying the same thing you're saying, Sence.
Speaker 4: You know, they want to fix this before it gets
Speaker 4: too late.
Speaker 2: Let's move over now to what's going on to your
Speaker 2: alma mater. And you know, as soon as the NIO,
Speaker 2: as soon as it became a reality, when the NCAA
Speaker 2: was basically thrown out of court and told that you're
Speaker 2: a serial anti trust violator, get out of my courtroom
Speaker 2: and go figure it out, and suddenly the landscape started
Speaker 2: to shift. On the show, I said that day, this
Speaker 2: feels like it could be really good news for Buyu,
Speaker 2: who you know at the time independence you know, they
Speaker 2: were kind of looking for a home then the Big
Speaker 2: Twelve invite happens, and you know, Killani year two in
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve wins ten games and nearly wins the
Speaker 2: whole thing. And you know, down at Steve's golf tournament,
Speaker 2: I caught up with Brian Santiago. We talked about all
Speaker 2: of the really cool initiatives they have in place, and
Speaker 2: right now now it feels like BYU's Collective or whatever
Speaker 2: they're calling it, is in a really healthy spot in
Speaker 2: a way that Utah's isn't. As of now, they lock
Speaker 2: in AJ DEBANTSA and Jim. I don't know if you've
Speaker 2: seen this kid play my Goodness like he is for real.
Speaker 1: So it feels like BYU.
Speaker 2: Right now, with their collective and their NIL initiatives, have
Speaker 2: figured some things out and it's going in the right direction.
Speaker 2: Can you shed some light on the mechanisms about how
Speaker 2: they've been able to kind of make this work?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, and you know, it's interesting to hear
Speaker 4: your perspective, and I totally agree. One is, I think
Speaker 4: what Bery has figured a bunch of things out right.
Speaker 4: One is, you know, it's it's good to be liked,
Speaker 4: and it's good to like other people, And I think
Speaker 4: BAU has figured out that. Look, you know, I went
Speaker 4: to BAU is a non member kid from Wisconsin. I
Speaker 4: didn't know any LDS people back where I grew up.
Speaker 4: I'd never heard of THEYU. I went there, I had
Speaker 4: an unbelievable experience. I was part of a fraternity that
Speaker 4: was pretty diverse and and so you know, it was
Speaker 4: I mean, it was still part of the great BYU community,
Speaker 4: which which actually I embraced and figured out, this is
Speaker 4: gonna be really cool. Like It's something I don't know about,
Speaker 4: and I'm willing to learn and I'm excited to kind of,
Speaker 4: you know, expand my horizons and be part of a
Speaker 4: community that I didn't grow up in. And I think
Speaker 4: BA is doing the same thing kind of on a
Speaker 4: broader landscape, which is college athletics.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: They're they're looking to bring people in from other universities
Speaker 4: and other places. I mean, my goodness, they have a
Speaker 4: you know, they're starting quarterbacks, a Jewish young man who's
Speaker 4: embraced being a Jew at BYU. And what that means
Speaker 4: all the positives around that whole scenario. And I think
Speaker 4: I have not had a chance to see an age
Speaker 4: of but my goodness, I just heer unbelievable things. I
Speaker 4: have a lot of friends certainly involved at BYU and
Speaker 4: the basketball community, both collegiately and otherwise that just just
Speaker 4: tell me this kid is just unbelievable. And I think
Speaker 4: this is where NIL really paid off. And I'm not
Speaker 4: talking about by U Nil because the way I understand it,
Speaker 4: and I could be mistaken, but I've got some pretty
Speaker 4: deep sources and I got it, got some pretty good information.
Speaker 4: Is he was going to get a vast majority of
Speaker 4: the money that everyone sees that dollar figure, whether it's
Speaker 4: seven million or eight million, or six and a half
Speaker 4: or eight and a half or whatever the number is,
Speaker 4: the vast majority of that is coming from true Nil, right,
Speaker 4: which is what it was supposed to be, right, A
Speaker 4: big chunk coming from Nike. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 4: you know when he was on HISPN and he made
Speaker 4: the announcement, he had a little Red Bull logo on
Speaker 4: the side of his bou had a big chunk is
Speaker 4: coming from red Bull. Now he's got a big water
Speaker 4: pop money in his pocket, right, And so now he's
Speaker 4: gonna go get a chunk of money from other schools,
Speaker 4: whether it be Kentucky or Duke or Kansas or BYU,
Speaker 4: and he got a chunk of money from BYU. But
Speaker 4: that chunk of money from BYU, I don't think necessarily
Speaker 4: carried the day. It just made it competitive, right. They
Speaker 4: didn't have to that whole number. They could write a
Speaker 4: percentage of that number coupled with true nil money. And
Speaker 4: he's like, you know what, I'm gonna make the same
Speaker 4: money here if I make it at Kansas, I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna make a whole lot more there. I'm not gonna
Speaker 4: make a whole lot more at North Carolina. And by
Speaker 4: the way, I went to high school here and my
Speaker 4: parents really liked the environment at BUYU, and I've made
Speaker 4: some friends in the community in Utah, and I liked
Speaker 4: their coaching staff, and so it gave BYU a chance.
Speaker 4: And I think that's where nil can be And you know,
Speaker 4: it can level the playing field to a certain extent.
Speaker 4: And it's not really just outbidding someone like by You
Speaker 4: didn't go and outbid other people. They just were competitive
Speaker 4: and they offered things that were important to him and
Speaker 4: his family. So I think that's the positive side of it.
Speaker 4: And you're right when they said, you know, let's and
Speaker 4: I hate to even say nil because look, there's a
Speaker 4: professional sports team to tea they canna very well. You
Speaker 4: know the Utah Jazz, And I don't know about you.
Speaker 4: I don't see a ton of Utah Jazz guys getting
Speaker 4: nil money in the local market. And usually they the
Speaker 4: non starters. They're the guys that are doing the used
Speaker 4: car dealership for Larry Miller, so they get the use
Speaker 4: of a car and they get an extra fifty K,
Speaker 4: or they're on a credit Union commercial. But people that
Speaker 4: are in the business world, like myself and other people,
Speaker 4: you need an ROI on those dollars. And people just
Speaker 4: aren't scratching checks to both collegiate players or NBA players
Speaker 4: in the market unless somehow they feel it's going to
Speaker 4: make their business thrive and there's going to be a
Speaker 4: return on that dollar investment, and Nike certainly can do that. Right,
Speaker 4: they're betting on this kid being the next Michael Jordan
Speaker 4: or the likes thereof right and Red Bull is you're
Speaker 4: wanting to affiliate with this guy because he's just an
Speaker 4: unbelievable talent. And then you've got a university that can
Speaker 4: throw in some dollars to say, hey, oh and by
Speaker 4: the way, we really like you too, and we want
Speaker 4: you to come and we use them. And I had
Speaker 4: NL dollars and we have a collective. I shouldn't say naal.
Speaker 4: You know, I get a little miffed sometimes when people
Speaker 4: throw nil around and it's really not nil. It's just
Speaker 4: pay to play. But we've got a pool of funds
Speaker 4: that we can pay you to come play for us,
Speaker 4: and it's all going to work out. And to kudles
Speaker 4: to BYU because I think, you know, obviously the ownership
Speaker 4: of BYU is unique, and they care about what people
Speaker 4: think about that institution and then as a as a
Speaker 4: as a culture, and I think they said, you know what, hey,
Speaker 4: look we can do a lot of good by being
Speaker 4: competitive on the field, and yes, we're willing to back
Speaker 4: this to a certain extent. I think if it gets crazy,
Speaker 4: you know, you might feel that change. But right now
Speaker 4: they're like saying, yeah, let's go along, let's be really mindful.
Speaker 4: They hired a GM, which you know basically is a
Speaker 4: lawyer to come make sure they're doing everything dot in
Speaker 4: the eyes and crossing the t's and doing everything by
Speaker 4: the book, and it seems to be working. So I'm
Speaker 4: grateful that, you know, my school that I went to
Speaker 4: school and played at with. By the way, call Whittingham
Speaker 4: was my teammates. So I get the same thing at
Speaker 4: Buy at b U. And I'm friends with Kyle and
Speaker 4: I'm friends with Freddie, and I talked to these guys,
Speaker 4: those guys about these same issues, and you know, they're
Speaker 4: they're important to their program, just like it's important to
Speaker 4: BUYU and it's important to them as fans of the
Speaker 4: of the sport. So I don't know if I answered
Speaker 4: the question, but yes, it's it's it's crazy what's happening
Speaker 4: down there. And I think it's really good, you know,
Speaker 4: I think the portal has been a real benefit for him.
Speaker 4: They're just in this last week a couple of kids
Speaker 4: that I coached in high school that you know, I
Speaker 4: coached Tsilia Kanna, who was a you know, top forty
Speaker 4: recruit in the country. I mean, he had one hundred offers.
Speaker 4: Then he went to Texas and you know, some good,
Speaker 4: some not ideal, and thought it might be good to
Speaker 4: come closer to where he went, you know, grew up
Speaker 4: and from from a high school standpoint, and came back
Speaker 4: here and made the rounds and and he's going to
Speaker 4: go to Buyu. I'm because I coached him in high
Speaker 4: school and now I can to see him playing in person.
Speaker 4: He's an awesome human being and he's a phenomenal talent,
Speaker 4: and so I you know, I see some of those
Speaker 4: things kind of work out in our favor, just like
Speaker 4: it's working out at Utah. You know, it's sad to
Speaker 4: see some guys go, but it's also exciting to get
Speaker 4: some talent. But it can't be a revolving door. It's like,
Speaker 4: my goodness, come and play for us. And like you
Speaker 4: said earlier, if you're gonna sign a contract, a contract
Speaker 4: means something usually has a term. It's usually not you know,
Speaker 4: three months, it's usually a year or two years, or
Speaker 4: there's gonna be something that triggers another opportunity for you
Speaker 4: to leave. But if you're gonna take cash and you're
Speaker 4: gonna play for my school, I'm gonna say you're gonna
Speaker 4: play in all the games, including the Bowl game. That's
Speaker 4: where I give Dion a ton of credit, and you're
Speaker 4: gonna stick around because we're gonna we're gonna come up
Speaker 4: with some resources, and that's you know, quid pro quo.
Speaker 4: You play for us, you get cash and it's it's
Speaker 4: got to be some sort of commitment. So yeah, all
Speaker 4: those things, all those things, Spence, you and I could
Speaker 4: talk about for hours because I'm passionate about it. It
Speaker 4: sounds like you care as well, and so yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2: Great stuff, Jim. I appreciate your time today. I knew
Speaker 2: it would be good, and I'm glad you had a
Speaker 2: great Christmas. I wish you a happy New Year's and
Speaker 2: love to have you on again at some point.
Speaker 4: Okay, appreciate it. Hey, come to our next golf tournament.
Speaker 4: Was great to see you.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 4: It's going to be the same fours now.
Speaker 1: I'd love to Jim.
Speaker 4: Thank you, sir, Okay, thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Jim Herman played college ball at b YU, was the
Speaker 2: captain of that nineteen eighty four National Championship game, played
Speaker 2: in the NFL for Dallas and Cincinnati, and now working
Speaker 2: with Steve young Over in the eventual venture capitalist Space
Speaker 2: Private Equity Money.
Speaker 1: Good dude, sharp guy.
Speaker 2: Thought he would have a good perspective on the current
Speaker 2: landscape of college football, which you did. So if you
Speaker 2: missed that, it'll be up on the website of the
Speaker 2: podcast page momentarily. All right, we'll shift gears. Craig Bowler
Speaker 2: Jack joins us. Coming up next, the TV Voice the
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz on a Thursday Drive. So keep it right
Speaker 2: here on ESPN seven.
Speaker 6: Hundred line the new Swimm size with a single pill underneath.
Speaker 6: Sing the seasons of the Battle Queen Space.
Speaker 2: And the Bears, Seahawks and the Bears. Today Thursday Night Football.
Speaker 2: Right after we say good night, it'll wrap up the
Speaker 2: week seventeen slate. Hard to believe that we're almost done
Speaker 2: now with the NFL.
Speaker 1: Great stuff.
Speaker 2: Jim Herman today, former b YU Cougar, former NFL player
Speaker 2: for a number of years, and now doing some work
Speaker 2: with Steve Young in the venture capitalist private equity space,
Speaker 2: So appreciate his time. Today we are efforting Craig Bowler Jack,
Speaker 2: the TV voice of the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 1: Jazz aren't action tonight.
Speaker 2: They're taking on the Portland trail Blazers, and so we'll
Speaker 2: get to some stuff here.
Speaker 1: They've been better as of late.
Speaker 2: My fear is that they're going to accidentally win twenty
Speaker 2: five or thirty games and draft eighth or ninth again,
Speaker 2: which we'll just put this thing in a perpetual rebuild,
Speaker 2: which is of course what nobody wants, so we'll see
Speaker 2: how it plays out.
Speaker 1: But they have been better. So it's a late tip tonight.
Speaker 2: It's eight o'clock because they're up in Portland and let's
Speaker 2: bring him in now, the legend himself, the TV voice
Speaker 2: of Utah Jazz on a Thursday afternoon, Craig Bowler, Jack Bowler.
Speaker 1: Happy post Christmas, sir, how are you?
Speaker 7: I'm good, Spence, Happy post Christmas and happy almost New Year.
Speaker 4: How about that?
Speaker 1: I love it? I love it.
Speaker 2: Were you able to spend the holidays with that great
Speaker 2: family of yours?
Speaker 7: You know it was we got in late late, I
Speaker 7: had you know, I love Christmas Eve. I enjoyed that,
Speaker 7: had a little Christmas morning and then on a plane
Speaker 7: and we got a hit for your last night around
Speaker 7: six thirty. So yeah, quick, a quick turnaround. But that's
Speaker 7: that's the life of the NBA.
Speaker 1: Yes it is, Yes, it is.
Speaker 2: So before we get to tonight specifically, you know, I
Speaker 2: think it's fair to say the play has been improved
Speaker 2: over the past ittle did.
Speaker 1: Of course, wins always help.
Speaker 2: Back to back wins against a couple of teams that
Speaker 2: are kind of in the same spot.
Speaker 1: The Jazz are and then they played the Cavs pretty tough.
Speaker 2: Gives I know, nobody gives a rip about that, but
Speaker 2: over the past i'd say three games or so, Craig,
Speaker 2: it feels like they've been playing a little bit better.
Speaker 1: They're a little bit more competitive. What are you see
Speaker 1: in from your seat?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think you see the younger players, and I'm
Speaker 7: talking about the second year players and even the third
Speaker 7: year player and mister Walker Kessler seems to be a
Speaker 7: much more confident big in this league right now. Sends
Speaker 7: the ball has had a moment or two. Jusang has
Speaker 7: had his moments as well. It's all about consistency, Spence.
Speaker 7: You and I've talked a lot about that with Gordo,
Speaker 7: and you know that's probably the biggest issue that will
Speaker 7: faces every night is can you be consistent? Can you
Speaker 7: play and allow your miscues to two minutes instead of six?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 7: And I thought against even Cleveland team in the NBA, look,
Speaker 7: they were full, they weren't. They brought everybody, and you
Speaker 7: know the Jazz, you know hit a three point shot
Speaker 7: nineteen and forty four, Walker had a huge rebound game
Speaker 7: and you know, five players again in double figures. The
Speaker 7: Vets have played a role. But I think also some
Speaker 7: of the some of the younger guys are beginning to
Speaker 7: be I hate to keep using the word but connected,
Speaker 7: you know, more cohesive. They understand who they are, they
Speaker 7: understand their teammates. The turnovers are still high, but yet
Speaker 7: not as suffocating, and at least they're more competitive. And
Speaker 7: I think that's what the Jazz are looking for right now,
Speaker 7: is growth and be competitive. If you lose, that's part
Speaker 7: of the game plan, but still learning the process and
Speaker 7: hopefully that's what the Jazz are doing.
Speaker 2: You know, we've talked about the dynamic Craig and you
Speaker 2: know this as well, if not better than anybody. Oftentimes,
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, and the reasons vary, a lot of
Speaker 2: really good players for the Jazz end up going elsewhere
Speaker 2: and never fully recapturing what they were when they were here.
Speaker 2: You know the examples of Gordon Hayward, who of course
Speaker 2: got hurt, so that's different, and then d Will Darren himself,
Speaker 2: who has admitted he probably should have stuck around, but
Speaker 2: you know, he decided and he was traded, but obviously
Speaker 2: he went elsewhere with the New Jersey nets, not the
Speaker 2: Brooklyn nets, and never fully recaptured who he was here,
Speaker 2: which was one of the best lead guards in pro
Speaker 2: basketball for like four years. But the Donovan stuff, I
Speaker 2: think will always sting a little bit because he's still
Speaker 2: smack dab in the middle of his prime and he's
Speaker 2: just he's awesome. He just is. You've seen it up
Speaker 2: close for years. I don't know, did you have a
Speaker 2: chance to say hello? How does it seem to be going?
Speaker 2: He's having The numbers are pretty similar to what they
Speaker 2: have been, but his efficiency is better. He seems to
Speaker 2: be a little bit more engaged defensively, and maybe, you know,
Speaker 2: year six or seven for him, he finally realizes if
Speaker 2: he's going to answer questions come playoff time, he's got
Speaker 2: to change a little bit. Kenny Atkinson has done a
Speaker 2: great odd. That team is really good. What was it
Speaker 2: like seeing Donovan and watching what he's doing for the Cavs.
Speaker 5: It was great.
Speaker 7: Honestly, it's hard not to just embrace the guy the smile.
Speaker 7: Five years in Salt Lake, you know, with the Jazz,
Speaker 7: I think the pressure is off a bit. I mean,
Speaker 7: Darius Garland is having a tremendous year. Evan Mobley, that's
Speaker 7: a tough threesome with the big guy Jared Allen, you know,
Speaker 7: two in the middle, and their bench with LeVert and
Speaker 7: even George Nyang former jazz man. It's weird when you
Speaker 7: go around and see the guys the Minivan, you know,
Speaker 7: one of the fan favorites during his tenure, and even
Speaker 7: Joe Joe Ingles still hanging around up in Minnesota and
Speaker 7: will Go Gobert and Conley. The names just are all
Speaker 7: over the NBA and they're still producing at a pretty
Speaker 7: high rate. But yeah, I think Donovan has found a
Speaker 7: real good home. I think they're on the cusp of
Speaker 7: being obviously competitive once again. Can they beat Boston That's
Speaker 7: yet to be seen. But at the moment, best best
Speaker 7: record in the NBA. And they're solid, they're built to win,
Speaker 7: They're fast, they hit shots. Uh, they're will cook excuse
Speaker 7: me there will coach as you said by Kenny uh
Speaker 7: and Uh it was I think you know what Spence.
Speaker 7: Even though things happened the way they did, I think
Speaker 7: Donovan still, you know, always will have a soft soft
Speaker 7: spot for the Jazz. Not not sure about jazz fans
Speaker 7: will feel about it, but there was some good times there.
Speaker 5: I mean the go Bear combo. Uh.
Speaker 7: It's sad that COVID hit and the issues from the
Speaker 7: bubble began to bubble over or not to play on words,
Speaker 7: but in reality, that's what it was.
Speaker 4: Time to move on.
Speaker 7: And it is interesting that I've talked to Booze. We
Speaker 7: got to put him in the conversation along with you
Speaker 7: Will and Heyward. There's a lot of players around the
Speaker 7: league that have great memories here and think, boy, I
Speaker 7: shouldn't have listened to, whether it's family, whether it's friends,
Speaker 7: whether it's your agent, that they had a good deal going.
Speaker 7: Boozer and d Will had a pick and roll going
Speaker 7: like Carl and John in a lot of ways. That
Speaker 7: was a very good team with a lot of good pieces.
Speaker 7: But then Slowan and d Will and we all know
Speaker 7: the story and how it went from there and was
Speaker 7: traded to New Jersey. But yeah, there's a lot of
Speaker 7: players who've come back and have mentioned that to me,
Speaker 7: that man, it was a good deal here, had a
Speaker 7: good time and I was playing some of their best
Speaker 7: basketball of their career. In fact, it never was the
Speaker 7: same after they left the Jazz. So we'll see. Donovan
Speaker 7: has proven that wrong. He's still at a very high level.
Speaker 7: Eighth year hard to believe, right, in the NBA and
Speaker 7: a five time All Star, and I don't see him
Speaker 7: slowing down anytime soon.
Speaker 2: So I wonder I referenced a couple of wins the
Speaker 2: team was able to snag on the road, and yes,
Speaker 2: neither Detroit or Brooklyn are very good. But it has
Speaker 2: been tough sledding. It will be tough sledding. Did you
Speaker 2: notice a little bit of a lighter atmosphere after a
Speaker 2: couple of wins on you know, around the team as
Speaker 2: you're kind of traveling on the road with them, did
Speaker 2: it feel like, you know, after three straight l's in
Speaker 2: a season where you haven't won a ton, just getting
Speaker 2: a couple of back to back wins on the road
Speaker 2: kind of eased the burden a little bit, I guess
Speaker 2: is what I say.
Speaker 7: You know, when your seven wins Spence and yes and
Speaker 7: at the time five and you get two on the road,
Speaker 7: I think it had to rejuvenate just the whole way
Speaker 7: you work out, the way you react to your teammates.
Speaker 7: And you know, I've talked to Will about it. Players
Speaker 7: you know have to win. I mean that's part of it. Look,
Speaker 7: they know the score too, young developments, you got the
Speaker 7: vets in here, try to help, and then you have
Speaker 7: the Vets play it. They're playing pretty well by the
Speaker 7: way Sexton Collins, you know, and Marketing's had a little
Speaker 7: more of a breakout game of those two games because
Speaker 7: some other other players were scoring. But you know, it
Speaker 7: is what it is. But to win it gives you
Speaker 7: the the pri back the hard work says, Okay, that
Speaker 7: paid off tonight because they didn't make as many mistakes
Speaker 7: or they hit free throws, they hit threes, they played
Speaker 7: really good defense. Mind you, team defense, and that's the key.
Speaker 7: And so you're starting to see sometimes that they all
Speaker 7: come together, but they still have work to do. How
Speaker 7: do you overcome twenty eight turnovers and thirty five points
Speaker 7: in a win? You hit threes and you hit a
Speaker 7: ton of free throws. That's how you do it, and
Speaker 7: play some good d at times, not all the time,
Speaker 7: but sometimes. And that's kind of what they were able
Speaker 7: to find on the road against teams that are also
Speaker 7: trying to find their way back. You just made that point.
Speaker 7: You know, these are teams that are all talking lottery, right,
Speaker 7: and so one win could either disrupt that run to
Speaker 7: the top one of the top three picks or the
Speaker 7: number one pick along the way, and it's just going
Speaker 7: to be intriguing once we get to the trade deadline
Speaker 7: and after the All Star break. You know what direction
Speaker 7: all these teams decided to go and how it all
Speaker 7: falls into place. That's really kind of the other underline
Speaker 7: storyline that's going to continue to play out, you know,
Speaker 7: through the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: All Right, Craig, I don't really fully know how to
Speaker 2: ask this, so we're just going to give it a try,
Speaker 2: because I'll say, like when they have when Lowry's healthy,
Speaker 2: first and foremost, when Clarkson's kind of doing his thing,
Speaker 2: and obviously he's a little bit older, but there have
Speaker 2: been some pretty vintage Jordan moments over the past few games,
Speaker 2: including a nice night against the Calves and Collins got
Speaker 2: it going a little bit, and Walker, who you reference
Speaker 2: earlier to me, continues to be the feel good success
Speaker 2: story of the Jazz season period, like when they have
Speaker 2: all of their players and when they are kind of
Speaker 2: playing the style of basketball that Will wants them to play,
Speaker 2: and also when they're engaged offensively, because there's so many
Speaker 2: moments that just are not good enough at that's at
Speaker 2: that end of the floor. There's still a part of me.
Speaker 2: That's like, are they going to do the thing where
Speaker 2: they win thirty games again and draft eight or ninth?
Speaker 2: Because I watch a lot of NBA basketball, and the
Speaker 2: teams that are front facing about tanking don't necessarily have
Speaker 2: the talent on paper the Jazz do. Like watch Washington
Speaker 2: or Toronto. You know, there are some horrible, horrible teams
Speaker 2: in the league, and the Jazz at seven and twenty
Speaker 2: one are certainly near the bottom. And I know that
Speaker 2: incrementally we have seen and probably will continue to see
Speaker 2: players sit. But when they are playing at their peak,
Speaker 2: how good is your good? The old saying, do you
Speaker 2: feel like there's a chance they might be too good
Speaker 2: to essentially be back in the lottery with a great
Speaker 2: chance to get the number one pick and maybe win
Speaker 2: thirty thirty two games a draft eight or ninth because
Speaker 2: part of me is scared we might be headed for
Speaker 2: that again.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Spence, It's the hottest topic of conversation is that
Speaker 7: there are talented players on this Jazz team, Okay, and
Speaker 7: there are the veterans and Walker, as you just said,
Speaker 7: it's been rumored to be in multiple conversations, and a
Speaker 7: lot of people like what Walker can and.
Speaker 4: His defense has improved.
Speaker 7: His free throw shooting has not, and that's going to
Speaker 7: be the biggest issue for him moving forward in my opinion.
Speaker 7: But he put together the players you just mentioned, and
Speaker 7: you let them run free, I think, and let them
Speaker 7: play an intermix with some of the younger guys that
Speaker 7: the Jazz have drafted. Yeah, I could see thirty wins
Speaker 7: and flirting with in or out once again of the
Speaker 7: playoffs or the play in I should say that's not
Speaker 7: what the Jazz want to do. And I would say
Speaker 7: that prior to the trade deadline, one of those veterans
Speaker 7: we just spoke of or two most likely won't be
Speaker 7: here and that will be the deciding factor again like
Speaker 7: it has been the last two seasons, of helping a
Speaker 7: career along and also Spence potentially and this is just
Speaker 7: me right talking potentially allowing them to improve their trade
Speaker 7: status to help the Jazz, if that makes sense. John
Speaker 7: Collins has had a fantastic year. I thought it was
Speaker 7: the MVP through the first twenty or so games. Now
Speaker 7: Walker has made a step up. And we know what
Speaker 7: Sexton is and we know what jay c is all about.
Speaker 7: Do they stay do they go? But I think they've
Speaker 7: improved their trade status. That would only help the Jazz
Speaker 7: if that's the direction that Danny and Justin decided to go,
Speaker 7: and I think you would agree that then, like with
Speaker 7: Olenik and Fontechio last year, just put the Jazz to
Speaker 7: who they were and they put the guys on the
Speaker 7: floor to finish out the season. I can't remember because
Speaker 7: I try to forget. I think the Jazz lost twenty
Speaker 7: four to the last twenty seven. Am I closest I
Speaker 7: believe that.
Speaker 4: I think it's the way it.
Speaker 7: Went, and I think it's kind of probably the same
Speaker 7: game plan to see what draft, you know, more picks
Speaker 7: that may come Danny's way if they do decide to
Speaker 7: move the Vets, who I think have helped themselves with
Speaker 7: another contract or potentially a team that needs them to
Speaker 7: push them further deeper into the playoffs. But again that's
Speaker 7: going to play itself out. But I don't think Sexton
Speaker 7: has hurt himself. I don't think Jac's hurt himself. I
Speaker 7: think John has really improved after his first year with
Speaker 7: the Jazz to help himself. If they do decide to
Speaker 7: move him to another spot, He's only helped himself become
Speaker 7: a better player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and none of these decisions are are
Speaker 2: easy to make. It just it just makes you curious
Speaker 2: as to, you know, how long it's going to take
Speaker 2: to get this thing on track, because it just feels
Speaker 2: like there's so many people around the community that are
Speaker 2: just bummed out that there has not been a tremendous
Speaker 2: amount of tangible progress over the three years now almost
Speaker 2: three years since they traded go Baron Mitchell. But it's
Speaker 2: hard to do in the modern day NBA, Craig, because
Speaker 2: it's a different landscape now. And you know, I've just
Speaker 2: kind of been considering what the direction could look like
Speaker 2: for the Jazz to get back to where we're accustomed
Speaker 2: to seeing them get back to, and certainly it feels
Speaker 2: like the draft has to be that avenue. But the
Speaker 2: draft picks the Jazz have hit on recently have turned
Speaker 2: out to only be temporary residents of this community.
Speaker 1: They leave after a few years.
Speaker 2: So as far as as far as the macro view
Speaker 2: long term, I guess what I'll say is what gives
Speaker 2: you the most confidence that you're going to be calling
Speaker 2: winning basketball sooner.
Speaker 1: Rather than later.
Speaker 7: Well, that's another question, you know, I asked myself, I'll
Speaker 7: be totally transparent. It's difficult t and I talked about
Speaker 7: it all the time. Look, I'm into business because.
Speaker 4: I love the game.
Speaker 7: I like, you know, I love football as well. Anything
Speaker 7: they've given me a chance to do during my career.
Speaker 7: I jump in the booth and I want competitive, competitive game.
Speaker 7: I love winning. Of course it makes my job easier.
Speaker 7: But you get to know these guys, especially on the
Speaker 7: Jazz side, and you go, wow, they're good guys on
Speaker 7: top of it. You know, it's hard not to like sex,
Speaker 7: and it's hard not to like JC. And I've got
Speaker 7: to know John Collins.
Speaker 4: You know, good guy.
Speaker 7: But it may be a while.
Speaker 5: Honestly.
Speaker 7: You make a great point that the Jazz have developed
Speaker 7: players in the past, but yet they choose to leave,
Speaker 7: and it does happen in other cities as well. Salt
Speaker 7: Lake is not by itself, but it's still is probably
Speaker 7: the biggest concern the franchise has. And I've watched it myself,
Speaker 7: as have you over the years, and Donovan would be
Speaker 7: one of those. The Jazz decided to move Rudy and
Speaker 7: got assets back, but he liked it here. And I
Speaker 7: think the foreign the uptick and foreign play and talent.
Speaker 7: I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of the equation
Speaker 7: for more than just the Jazz, many several other franchises
Speaker 7: that may have to depend on a lowry market. And
Speaker 7: per Se who actually do like the slower pace, who
Speaker 7: loves the mountains because he's from Finland reminds him of
Speaker 7: a bit of home, does play a part of his
Speaker 7: decision making. He actually liked it in salt Lake, and
Speaker 7: you know a lot of players do when they come
Speaker 7: back and visit. That's interesting, right, But it's you know,
Speaker 7: Boo's likes it here, Dee Will decided to stick around here,
Speaker 7: and Hayward wanted to maybe come back at one point
Speaker 7: in time. So it's interesting that the dynamics of Salt
Speaker 7: Lake growing at a rapid rate, by the way, and
Speaker 7: will that change that may be down the road a
Speaker 7: discussion we'll all get into is how much is salt
Speaker 7: Lake changing? What will down to the town look like?
Speaker 7: What did the Olympics in thirty four bring again? And
Speaker 7: maybe it's you know, it turns and maybe players find
Speaker 7: themselves more intrigued to stay and work a career. But
Speaker 7: what happens Spence as I ramble, But it's true, you win,
Speaker 7: and things good things usually happen. Cleveland not the best
Speaker 7: destination point in my opinion as a traveler and as
Speaker 7: I jump in, but they find ways to keep players
Speaker 7: there because they win and they have chances to win titles.
Speaker 7: And that's what it becomes. If you have if you
Speaker 7: have the title or the chance to win a title,
Speaker 7: they will come for how long not probably too long,
Speaker 7: but enough of that window to give you the opportunity.
Speaker 1: Before I saw you lose Craig some good stuff there.
Speaker 2: I want to bring you into really what's become the
Speaker 2: national conversation surrounding pro basketball about lack of interest and
Speaker 2: lack of ratings, and the conversation at this point has
Speaker 2: become exhausting because I think there have been a number
Speaker 2: of different theories thrown out there that are just basically
Speaker 2: noise and garbage. But one of the consistent themes I
Speaker 2: hear not just from media members who cover the league,
Speaker 2: not just people who are kind of in the league,
Speaker 2: but fans who have been watching pro basketball from a
Speaker 2: macro viewpoint, not just Jazz basketball. They don't like the
Speaker 2: product as much. It's three point heavy and Kevin Durant,
Speaker 2: if you miss Durant's like diatribe on the lead right now.
Speaker 2: I thought it was really good, and he's right, like,
Speaker 2: there are plenty of guys taking threes that have no
Speaker 2: business taking threes. It's just the analytics tell you that,
Speaker 2: you know, thirty eight percent from three is better than
Speaker 2: a contested eighteen foot mid range shot, So let's not
Speaker 2: take those anymore. And ultimately, it seems like all these
Speaker 2: coaches have leaned into relying a lot on the three
Speaker 2: point shot.
Speaker 1: Now, I don't agree with the statement.
Speaker 2: That I've heard a couple of times all the teams
Speaker 2: play the same because teams go about trying to get
Speaker 2: their looks differently, and when you have Steph Curry, it's
Speaker 2: a little different thing than if you have Colin Sexton.
Speaker 2: I'll due respect, but you travel and you go on
Speaker 2: the road, you call all these games.
Speaker 1: Do you think the product is down?
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like there's more talented players in
Speaker 2: pro basketball now than there ever has been, and that's
Speaker 2: just evolution and growth of the modern athlete. But do
Speaker 2: you feel like the product has suffered what a lot
Speaker 2: of people believe to be the reason for these declining
Speaker 2: ratings this year?
Speaker 7: Yeah, these conversations are everywhere and Spence talk about it
Speaker 7: on the road in the press room, and there's concern
Speaker 7: there absolutely what's wrong with a mid range jumper because
Speaker 7: analytics have started to come into play more and more,
Speaker 7: and that's something I think the league has to step
Speaker 7: back and ask. You know, basketball has three levels of scoring,
Speaker 7: not one. You know, you can go play low in
Speaker 7: the post, and the old big man day came and gone,
Speaker 7: and the mid range game has come and now it's
Speaker 7: taken out to the three point line. And also I
Speaker 7: think the All Star Game became part of the issue
Speaker 7: where it was just a playground. Look, I think people
Speaker 7: like competition, they like the entertainment part, but you know what,
Speaker 7: when we become so open where a guy throws a
Speaker 7: half court pass, guy catches it and nobody even comes
Speaker 7: into defend, these guys are just having a great time
Speaker 7: and they still want competition, and I think that's what
Speaker 7: the league has to be very careful about. I'm glad
Speaker 7: to see Adam Silver actually try something new with the
Speaker 7: All Star weekend that there is still competitive to bring
Speaker 7: back competitive play. I don't know how it's gonna work,
Speaker 7: but at least they're trying. But I am concerned that
Speaker 7: it's that it's only a three point league, and maybe
Speaker 7: this happens down the ranks. Suspence, this happens with aau
Speaker 7: that it's just a three point game. Kids watch Sports
Speaker 7: Center or whatever, you know, whatever you choose, and they
Speaker 7: only see the highlight of the day, which is what
Speaker 7: it's a game winning three, or it's a three point
Speaker 7: barrage by Sam Merrill, let's say, from Utah State Bountiful
Speaker 7: High who has that one thing the big t always
Speaker 7: talks about it.
Speaker 5: You can do.
Speaker 7: You can knock down eight threes against us, which he
Speaker 7: did the last time out before we saw him in
Speaker 7: Cleveland a few days ago, but then he warmed up again.
Speaker 7: So it's it's how we all absorbed the game and
Speaker 7: what we see. And I think in network television the
Speaker 7: three ball is celebrated quite a bit. Steph Curry obviously
Speaker 7: is a master at hitting the three, and we lose
Speaker 7: our focus on what Durant actually and Booker do in Phoenix,
Speaker 7: two of the best mid range shooters in the NBA.
Speaker 7: But that doesn't really stir the pot. That doesn't that doesn't,
Speaker 7: you know, really feed the beast of highlights or the
Speaker 7: three point shot is keen and I think it's something
Speaker 7: the league has got to take a look at and
Speaker 7: be careful with. We talked about this recently and again,
Speaker 7: tell me I'm crazy, but should the league limit how
Speaker 7: many three point shot attempts that a team can take?
Speaker 7: It's something to think about, right, is it forty? And
Speaker 7: then after that you've got to make sure you have
Speaker 7: a few left in your belt in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 7: It's something to think about. But I you know, as
Speaker 7: more and more fans get a little bit more turned
Speaker 7: off by this, I think the league has to really
Speaker 7: take a long, hard look and decide what direction they
Speaker 7: want to go. It has its purpose, But you know what,
Speaker 7: I don't mind some low post play. I like to
Speaker 7: see some good hard, you know, defense down low in
Speaker 7: the post, like quote the old days. But also I
Speaker 7: like the mid range game. It's a three three level league,
Speaker 7: but not much lately. I'm talking about scoring three level scoring.
Speaker 7: But there's concerns out there. I hear it all the time.
Speaker 2: All right, bowler, Well, I appreciate your time. On a
Speaker 2: game day, I'll be hoping for a good game tonight,
Speaker 2: if for no other reason, so you can call some
Speaker 2: good basketball jazz Blazers, So have a great call. Travel
Speaker 2: safle chat soon.
Speaker 7: Okay, thank you, thank you, since that's the key, be competitive, man,
Speaker 7: so that that impacts the fans. Right the TV sets
Speaker 7: stay on and you'll like to see good competition. So
Speaker 7: that's all I pray for every night, man. That's what
Speaker 7: I'm hoping for.
Speaker 2: Tonight, no doubt, Thank you, sir. Be well, okay, all right,
Speaker 2: take care, all right. Coming up on the other side,
Speaker 2: Gordon Monson stops, but I will get back to some
Speaker 2: college football at Gordon as BYU is in action on
Speaker 2: Saturday against Colorado. The latest on the transfer portal for
Speaker 2: the Utes, and we'll do at a little NFL if
Speaker 2: time allows.
Speaker 1: With Gordon. We also have Eric Weddle on the show today.
Speaker 2: Former Ute, you can called out about a half hour
Speaker 2: from right now, move over to Zach Harper later on.
Speaker 2: We'll say goodnight at six o'clock in time for some
Speaker 2: Thursday night football to drive on a Thursday, So keep
Speaker 2: it right here on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 1: We're Bullhos on the road tonight.
Speaker 2: God Garret Weddle, he's gonna stop by just in about
Speaker 2: twenty five minutes from right now. Former Youths always appreciate
Speaker 2: his time. Zach Harper for a little NBA later on
Speaker 2: as well, but joining us now the day after Christmas,
Speaker 2: My guy, my old radio partner, still over at the
Speaker 2: Salt Lake Tribune doing great work. Gordon Monson on a
Speaker 2: Thursday afternoon, Gordo, happy post Christmas, sir.
Speaker 4: How are you?
Speaker 5: I'm doing just fine, Thanks Spence, and same to you.
Speaker 5: I hope you have a good one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it was fun, just real quick.
Speaker 2: Are you still participating with the crew diss festivities by
Speaker 2: making that little bean cast role while least asked to
Speaker 2: make everything else?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 5: I do that for Thanksgiving, but for Christmas she does.
Speaker 5: She does an old family tradition Italian dinner that I
Speaker 5: try not to mess up. So in fact, one time
Speaker 5: I tried to help, she kicked me out of the kitchen.
Speaker 5: Oh dear, yeah, she kicks me out. So no, but
Speaker 5: we have a really good day. And I got to
Speaker 5: tell you something. Do you have a turntable?
Speaker 1: I have a record player?
Speaker 5: Record play well whatever?
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: My daughters gave me that yesterday along with four Beatles
Speaker 5: albums nice And I can't tell you the last time
Speaker 5: I actually took a needle and put it down on
Speaker 5: some vinyl. Man, it was it's been fun. Let's hear
Speaker 5: it for the old style.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. It's a great way to listen.
Speaker 2: And also I still like listening to albums, and these days,
Speaker 2: you know, these days it's like they released a single,
Speaker 2: you call up Spotify and you can listen to albums.
Speaker 2: But what I like about my record players, I just
Speaker 2: turned to put a record on and listen to the
Speaker 2: entire album.
Speaker 1: So I still very much enjoy that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's and there's something about the sound, even you know,
Speaker 5: the little imperfections at times.
Speaker 4: It just makes it.
Speaker 5: It makes it feel real. And so I just listened
Speaker 5: to the White album and it was it was fantastic.
Speaker 5: And by the way, you know a lot of people
Speaker 5: say different things they like about John Lennon, but that
Speaker 5: song he wrote to his mom Julia, is that not
Speaker 5: just the sweetest thing you ever heard? I mean, it's
Speaker 5: just fantastic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, tremendous songwriter, one of the best of all time.
Speaker 2: You know that I'm a Lennon over McCartney guy, But
Speaker 2: McCartney's awesome too.
Speaker 1: You can you can like both, Gordon. You're allowed to.
Speaker 5: Write, Yes, indeed, mcclemen.
Speaker 2: I love it, love it all right, really illuminating conversation
Speaker 2: with Jim Herman earlier. Jim used to join you and
Speaker 2: I on our old show from time to time, and
Speaker 2: he's a smart guy. He's a former Cougar, played in
Speaker 2: the NFL, and now he's working with Steve Young and
Speaker 2: you know, in the private equity VC space and they've
Speaker 2: been very successful, very smart guys. We were talking about
Speaker 2: just the current chaos in college football and Gordon they
Speaker 2: have free agency while the season is still being played.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's like beyond insane.
Speaker 2: This can't continue, yes, I mean you have coaches preparing
Speaker 2: teams to try to win a national championship and then
Speaker 2: they wrap up practice and they've got to run, you know,
Speaker 2: the interference to make sure their players aren't transferring. DYU
Speaker 2: has players in the transfer portal that will not play
Speaker 2: on Saturday, and they're even teams in the CFP that
Speaker 2: have had players enter the tand like, this can't continue. Yes,
Speaker 2: this has to change.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I agree with you one percent. They've got
Speaker 5: to do something. There's a lot of things. It's amazing
Speaker 5: to me that something that's as popular as college football
Speaker 5: can have the numerous problems or issues that it needs
Speaker 5: to have solved, and this is one of them. And
Speaker 5: it seems like it would be fairly easy at least
Speaker 5: to make it look like it's done without the chaos.
Speaker 5: Now it actually preventing the chaos maybe a different matter,
Speaker 5: but at least make it seem like it a little
Speaker 5: more difficult for this to happen the way it is.
Speaker 5: And there's other problems to Spence. And I hate to
Speaker 5: say it because you and I both love college football,
Speaker 5: but you know, the SEC is trying to run college football.
Speaker 5: You know, you heard all the complaints about the first
Speaker 5: round games in the playoff, and you know, I thought
Speaker 5: it was interesting that the SEC and the Big Ten
Speaker 5: were actually kind of sniping at each other over you know,
Speaker 5: Indiana shouldn't have been in there. They got crossed by
Speaker 5: Notre Dame. And then other people say, well, wait a minute,
Speaker 5: look at Tennessee, look what happened there. I mean, it's
Speaker 5: just there's all this stuff going on, and maybe it's
Speaker 5: always been that way, but this is the first batch
Speaker 5: that we're all sort of looking at right now.
Speaker 2: So I mean, ultimately, and I talked about this with Jim.
Speaker 2: You and I have kind of kicked the tires on it.
Speaker 2: I just Gordon, I feel like they've got to rip
Speaker 2: the band aid off and they've got to lean into
Speaker 2: the pro model. And that's not a super popular take
Speaker 2: because from what I've read and from what I understand,
Speaker 2: coaches want that.
Speaker 1: I think it would be better for the players.
Speaker 2: The players aren't necessarily being adversely affected right now because
Speaker 2: they're finally making money, which they always should have been
Speaker 2: able to do in a free market system. They now
Speaker 2: just have the same basic economic rights you and I have,
Speaker 2: So I'm for that, But there really isn't any issue
Speaker 2: the teems to be plaguing college football right now that
Speaker 2: can't be solved by simply leaning into the pro model
Speaker 2: and allowing players to collectively bargain and unionize. And the
Speaker 2: question is where's the central leadership? What does the college
Speaker 2: football equivalent of the Commissioner's office in the NFL look like?
Speaker 1: And it feels like a lot of.
Speaker 2: These private equity guys are going to get involved and
Speaker 2: buy stakes and teams, and maybe there's something there, but
Speaker 2: there's a lot of red tape you have to traverse.
Speaker 2: I know administrators don't love this idea. They don't want there.
Speaker 2: I'll just use the term even though I'm gonna puke
Speaker 2: in my mouth. Student athletes to be employees, you know
Speaker 2: they don't. And schools are owned in no small part
Speaker 2: by states, and private institutions have different challenges. Public institutions,
Speaker 2: you probably have to include the governor and you probably
Speaker 2: have to include our local legislators to figure out something
Speaker 2: to be done if you want to buy forty eight
Speaker 2: percent of Utah football. But I can tell you and
Speaker 2: you know, if the venture capitalists, private equity guys get
Speaker 2: involved with this, they will make sure it's ran the
Speaker 2: right way because one thing rich people don't like to
Speaker 2: do is lose money on investments.
Speaker 1: They want to make sure their money's taken care of.
Speaker 2: This feels like an angle where maybe the guys in
Speaker 2: charge the money and the golden rule is you know,
Speaker 2: we know the golden rule.
Speaker 1: The man who has the gold makes the rules.
Speaker 2: Maybe they can come up with a governing body with
Speaker 2: central leadership to get this thing going in the right direction.
Speaker 2: So give me your thoughts on that type of approach,
Speaker 2: because something it needs to be done.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree, however that will be formed. Please don't
Speaker 5: let the government get involved in it because I mean,
Speaker 5: legislature screw everything up. They screw up a lot of things, right.
Speaker 5: I don't want to get political or but it's just
Speaker 5: there's got to be a way. But it just takes
Speaker 5: college football. It just takes them forever. It's glacial the
Speaker 5: way they move. And what's happened is we saw how
Speaker 5: long it took them to expand the playoff, right, I
Speaker 5: mean we had all that run up to it, and
Speaker 5: all those arguments and discussion leading up to what seems
Speaker 5: like it should have been in place a long time ago.
Speaker 5: And I don't care if they expand it, but it
Speaker 5: just takes forever to get it to go. And now
Speaker 5: all these issues come about relatively quickly, and it's so cumbersome.
Speaker 5: It's like turning an aircraft carrier. It's difficult to get
Speaker 5: these guys to come together to do what's best for
Speaker 5: the game and maybe for the student athlete. If you
Speaker 5: use that term again, I agree with you. Private equity
Speaker 5: firms will get involved, it will be professionalized, and when
Speaker 5: that happens, then those people are going to insist upon
Speaker 5: having a little more organization, a better form to what
Speaker 5: they're dealing with, because they will make money when they
Speaker 5: get involved in it, and the colleges will accept their
Speaker 5: influence and their money because they love money. That's why
Speaker 5: that's what they'll do. And I think it will be fixed.
Speaker 5: It's just a matter of how long it's going on.
Speaker 2: Page probably excuse me strictly from a BYU standpoint. You know,
Speaker 2: it's interesting when the Aj Debanson news was announced and
Speaker 2: then the nil figure of seven million dollars to play
Speaker 2: basketball at brigab Young for five months was floated out there,
Speaker 2: automatically folks pointed to Ryan and Danny, Ryan Smith and
Speaker 2: Danny Ainge. Danny, of course, was in Massachusetts when Aj
Speaker 2: was growing up, and my understanding is he met with
Speaker 2: a family a couple of times Ryan sent out on
Speaker 2: social media, did not know essentially pay Aj. You can
Speaker 2: color me unconvinced that that's the case, but ultimately I
Speaker 2: do believe that BYU's collective with money from Ryan and others.
Speaker 2: I've been told they have nine seven figure donors right now,
Speaker 2: and Utah's number isn't that high. I think it's three
Speaker 2: or four for Utah, and there is a bit of
Speaker 2: an arms race. But what do you attribute most to
Speaker 2: what appears to be a pretty successful traversing of the
Speaker 2: space with the early data size from Brigham Young.
Speaker 1: At this point, because.
Speaker 5: They do have the money, they have access to the money.
Speaker 5: It's funny because in the past and by years gone by,
Speaker 5: they've always had certain people in place to help them.
Speaker 5: It was a matter whether the institution itself, by institutions,
Speaker 5: they take it all the way up to the church,
Speaker 5: whether they would be willing to accept that and set
Speaker 5: that model in place. And so the money has been there,
Speaker 5: and contrary to what a lot of people think, I
Speaker 5: don't think it's necessarily church money pouring into these things. However,
Speaker 5: you can figure out whichever category you want the way
Speaker 5: you know, the stacks, the piles are on the table
Speaker 5: he or there, and maybe they get mixed up sometimes.
Speaker 5: But I think it's just coming from very motivated boosters
Speaker 5: who want to be involved with what's happened. And I've
Speaker 5: always wanted to be involved, and now they've been given
Speaker 5: the green light to do exactly that. So that's what
Speaker 5: BYU has done and Utah. I don't know where the
Speaker 5: line is between Utah catching up and where BYU is,
Speaker 5: but Utah will close the gap. I'm relatively certain of that.
Speaker 5: Because their folks are going to rally too, And.
Speaker 2: That's where I wanted to go next, because we both
Speaker 2: have sort of teased this potential good news coming down
Speaker 2: the pipeline for Utah football, and I continue to try
Speaker 2: to gently walk around the subject a little bit without
Speaker 2: betraying the trust of people that have informed you of
Speaker 2: certain things. But I know you've been informed of similar things,
Speaker 2: and I've been told the timeline hopefully you know, end
Speaker 2: of January, maybe February ish. But the type of transaction
Speaker 2: that is in the works right now regarding Utah and
Speaker 2: what this could look like for the athletic department and
Speaker 2: the football team specifically, let's call it how it is,
Speaker 2: should really excite you fans.
Speaker 1: And I don't know that I can say anymore.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you have anything else to add,
Speaker 2: but right now, the narrative around town is that in
Speaker 2: this arms race, BYU is lapping Utah. And certainly from
Speaker 2: a basketball standpoint, when you lock in a generational talent
Speaker 2: and then a football standpoint, when you just come off
Speaker 2: a ten win season and have an allible bowl matchup
Speaker 2: against an intriguing team, it's easy to connect the dots
Speaker 2: and say, right now BYU appears to be in the lead.
Speaker 1: But any anything.
Speaker 2: Else you'd like to add about this potential really exciting
Speaker 2: news for Utah Athletics that is coming down the pipeline
Speaker 2: within the next few months.
Speaker 5: I think, yeah, you and I whispered back and forth
Speaker 5: about it, and I know you have your sources, I
Speaker 5: have mine. I think Utah well is in a good
Speaker 5: position to uh, to get a little deeper pockets and
Speaker 5: to close that gap that you were speaking of. As
Speaker 5: far as the way it's gonna pertain to basketball, that
Speaker 5: I don't know, because it just seems like utall basketball
Speaker 5: right now. I don't even know how to really describe it.
Speaker 5: As far as the program itself, and as far as
Speaker 5: the ability to draw fans put fans in the seats,
Speaker 5: that's where BYU is really out doing the utes right now.
Speaker 5: But football, you wouldn't expect football to be relatively even
Speaker 5: in this regard because of the success the youths have
Speaker 5: had in recent years or recent decades. I guess and
Speaker 5: I think it's it's going to come. It's going to happen,
Speaker 5: and youth fans don't fret too much because it's going
Speaker 5: to be put in place in a way that I think,
Speaker 5: as far as the money goes, will be extremely competitive.
Speaker 5: And if there's money there and it's properly utilized, then
Speaker 5: guess what follows wins success and that will be in
Speaker 5: place for both Utah and BYU.
Speaker 4: I believe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I concur there with that last point. So
Speaker 2: as of now, according to twenty four to seven Sports,
Speaker 2: University of Utah has the number twenty two ranked transfer
Speaker 2: portal class.
Speaker 1: They have twelve commits.
Speaker 2: BYU is down at this point fifty seven with four commits.
Speaker 2: There have been a few BYU players who announced that
Speaker 2: they're in the portal that will not be playing on Saturday,
Speaker 2: which is wild as we talked about, namely Crew Wakeley,
Speaker 2: one of their really good defensive backs. But from a
Speaker 2: Utah perspective, they've had to rely on transfers. Twelve in
Speaker 2: coming thirteen actually with some news that came down with
Speaker 2: the Utah state wide receiver. But they're losing twenty two players. Well,
Speaker 2: they're twenty two players in the portal. You gotta be careful.
Speaker 2: But at this point, Cameron Calhoun has already committed to
Speaker 2: Alabama and then right before we signed off air on Monday,
Speaker 2: was announced that Keyato Tnavasa, which hurt badly, is also
Speaker 2: in the portal. Now he hasn't announced his intention. Maybe
Speaker 2: he comes back. But Utah football is essentially rebuilding. It's
Speaker 2: like a one year rebuild. I mean it's going to
Speaker 2: be a new quarterback, a new running back, new defensive lineman,
Speaker 2: new defensive backs, and BYU seems to be relying more
Speaker 2: on continuity and growth in house that worked for them
Speaker 2: a year ago.
Speaker 1: Two different models. Are you confident that both can work?
Speaker 2: I mean, Arizona State just showed us and Kenny Dillingham
Speaker 2: just showed us that you can get this thing going quickly.
Speaker 2: I mean Arizona State was a program left for dead
Speaker 2: after Herm Edwards left it in in shambles, and they're
Speaker 2: winning their champs of the Big Twelve. They're in the
Speaker 2: CFP with a first round by So if you're a
Speaker 2: BYU fan or a youth fan, I guess right now
Speaker 2: mostly just.
Speaker 1: A youth fan because BYU had a good year.
Speaker 2: There are models to look at that indicate that you
Speaker 2: can get this thing going in the right direction in
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve quickly.
Speaker 1: But if you're a.
Speaker 2: Rebuilding like Utah is, how realistic is that next year.
Speaker 5: Well, what is contrasting to this idea of what Utah
Speaker 5: will need to do is what they've done in the past.
Speaker 5: Think about how they've developed players in the past. Well,
Speaker 5: the past isn't the present. I mean, if BYU wants
Speaker 5: to try and follow that model because they had a
Speaker 5: successful year this year and they think they can develop
Speaker 5: by recruiting high school athletes and then maybe filling in
Speaker 5: a few transfers here and there, then if they think
Speaker 5: they can do that, then.
Speaker 4: They did it.
Speaker 5: They did it this year. But you know a lot
Speaker 5: of BYU's games were pretty tight, and so for I've
Speaker 5: heard that said by some of the folks down at
Speaker 5: BYU that hey, we had a really good year. We
Speaker 5: don't need to change a whole lot of things. Well,
Speaker 5: you got to keep progressing because if you just sit
Speaker 5: where you were, I'm not sure that's going to get
Speaker 5: it done. And maybe some of those games that were
Speaker 5: so close this last year, you know, it just it
Speaker 5: may not work out in your favor moving forward.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 5: I understand that all the teams are whittling down to
Speaker 5: that one oh five number, and so they've got to
Speaker 5: unload some players. But you heard Kyle Whittingham say as
Speaker 5: the season ended that they were going to go out
Speaker 5: and get forty new players, half of them via the
Speaker 5: transfer portal, and that that's right on schedule, and the
Speaker 5: others are other recruits. And I just don't think the
Speaker 5: difference between the programs this last year were that great. Yeah,
Speaker 5: BYU had the upper hand and they had the far
Speaker 5: better season, but man, I'll tell you, that line is
Speaker 5: pretty thin, and you you always got to progress forward
Speaker 5: or else someone's going to catch you or lap you
Speaker 5: or beat you. And so I think BYU is they
Speaker 5: don't want to disrupt the chemistry they have down there,
Speaker 5: and I guess I understand that, and they feel like
Speaker 5: the culture is pretty good. So you know the old saying,
Speaker 5: if he broke and by fix it, but you got
Speaker 5: to continually add talent. But Utah is doing exactly that
Speaker 5: out of sheer necessity. Man, last year, that just isn't
Speaker 5: going to sit well with Utah fans, nor with the
Speaker 5: coaches that are on hand, or the players for.
Speaker 1: That matter, Utah State.
Speaker 2: You know, Bronco's got work to do, And I'm just
Speaker 2: curious as to get your take on how long you
Speaker 2: think this will take Bronco to kind of get on
Speaker 2: the right direction.
Speaker 1: They have two incoming transfers.
Speaker 2: Miles Davis, who was at BYU last year, is going
Speaker 2: to go up and play at Utah State. Kidnamed Brevin Hamblin,
Speaker 2: who I don't know much about, is also going to
Speaker 2: play up in Logan Auto Tea, a really good wide
Speaker 2: receiver up there just announce his intent to come to
Speaker 2: Salt Lake to play for the youth.
Speaker 1: So he was in the transfer portal and now he
Speaker 1: is not coming back.
Speaker 2: They currently have twenty seven players in the transfer portal.
Speaker 2: And we talked last week about Broncos pedigree of really
Speaker 2: being able to He's been tasked with turnarounds at at
Speaker 2: least two different spots, if not three, and has shown
Speaker 2: that he is up for this challenge. But for our
Speaker 2: Aggie fans, Gordon, how long do you think it's going
Speaker 2: to take Bronco to get this thing back where it
Speaker 2: needs to.
Speaker 5: Be a little while it won't be immediate, but you
Speaker 5: will see immediate improvement. Why Because bronkleman and holds a
Speaker 5: good coach, and he knows how to motivate players, and
Speaker 5: I think in some cases recognize what needs to be
Speaker 5: plugged in where I mean the first year he was
Speaker 5: the head coach at BYU. The fact that BYU went
Speaker 5: to a bowl game that year unbelievable with the talent
Speaker 5: they had at that particular time. What were they I
Speaker 5: was six and six. I can't remember the exact numbers.
Speaker 5: But he really turned it there. He turned it at Virginia,
Speaker 5: and he'll turn it at Utah State, and he turned
Speaker 5: it into New Mexico too, in a positive direction. So
Speaker 5: you can mark this down now. And I'm a little
Speaker 5: hesitant to say this since I also predicted that the
Speaker 5: youths were to win the conference and go to a
Speaker 5: college football playoff this last year. So take this for
Speaker 5: what it's worth. But I think Bronkleman in the hall
Speaker 5: will turn that program around. And if I had to
Speaker 5: give you a timeframe, I think I would say within
Speaker 5: two years.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, I like that, but it is going to
Speaker 1: take a minute, for sure.
Speaker 2: But his pedigree is a program kind of rebuilder, is undeniable.
Speaker 2: All right, before we set you loose, I don't know
Speaker 2: what to ask you about the jazz, but we had
Speaker 2: Bowler on last segment, and so what I'll ask is
Speaker 2: the same question asked him. If you looked in the
Speaker 2: Gordon Motts and Godfather Crystal Ball. When will Craig Bowlerjack
Speaker 2: be calling high level winning basketball.
Speaker 5: Again, I would Well, I'll say it this way. At first,
Speaker 5: all the Jazz fans out there are the root.
Speaker 4: For the Jazz to lose.
Speaker 5: That's just what has to happen. You and I have
Speaker 5: talked about this before. Root for the Jazz to lose
Speaker 5: and celebrate every time they do. That's a good news
Speaker 5: bad news thing, because yeah, you want to develop a
Speaker 5: few of the players that you have, but I think
Speaker 5: some of the few useful pieces of the Jazz can
Speaker 5: improve greatly as talent is added to them. And the
Speaker 5: only way they could really do that unless Danny Inge
Speaker 5: is going to outsmart somebody in some kind of big
Speaker 5: deal that nobody sees right now. It's going to take
Speaker 5: some time, but they have to have fortuitous draft picks,
Speaker 5: and if they do that, then a time frame there. Spence,
Speaker 5: I really wonder whether it will happen within Bowler's time frame.
Speaker 5: And what I mean, what Bowler's going to work until
Speaker 5: he's ninety five, right, I mean, so I guess it
Speaker 5: might happen within his career, but it's not going to
Speaker 5: happen for a number of years.
Speaker 2: If I asked you to send me a picture of
Speaker 2: the bean cast role next Thanksgiving, is that something that
Speaker 2: you're willing to do, Because I'm not convinced that you
Speaker 2: actually do this.
Speaker 5: I will send you a picture. You know, I'm surprised
Speaker 5: nobody has asked me for that in the past. But
Speaker 5: I do have testimonials if you're willing to accept those,
Speaker 5: but I will take a picture and send it along.
Speaker 5: I do that. I mean I made when Quinn Steinder
Speaker 5: was here, he came up with that chocolate dessert pie thing,
Speaker 5: ice cream pie thing, and I replicated that I took
Speaker 5: a picture of it and sent it to him, and
Speaker 5: he was impressed. And I've been bragging for forty three
Speaker 5: years about my great spaghetti, and my kids never believed me.
Speaker 5: And I whipped up a batch earlier, a couple of
Speaker 5: months ago, took a picture of it. They all were
Speaker 5: I'd say, well, let me say it this way. There
Speaker 5: used to be a show called The Galloping Gourmet. It
Speaker 5: was a cooking show. And I will confess that this
Speaker 5: particular jockey in the kitchen is at a slow trot
Speaker 5: right now.
Speaker 2: The Galloping Gourmet let's see when when was this? This
Speaker 2: was like nineteen sixty eight. Gordon, what do you do
Speaker 2: referencing a show that was on in the sixties.
Speaker 5: Well, look my favorite music. When I talk to you
Speaker 5: about the Beatles, you know, I'm maybe I'm then just
Speaker 5: stuck in that time war from some sport. I don't know,
Speaker 5: but I do remember that show. And like I said,
Speaker 5: I'm just trotting along. It's trotting, not galloping. Trotting.
Speaker 1: Hey, well, it's better than standing still.
Speaker 2: As long as you keeping you keep moving forward, Gordon,
Speaker 2: that's all we ask. All right, my friend. If I
Speaker 2: don't see her, talk to you. Happy New Year to
Speaker 2: you and yours. Thanks for the time, and we'll get
Speaker 2: you on soon.
Speaker 5: Okay, all right, Bence, thanks a lot.
Speaker 2: All right, the great Gordon Monson from the Salt Lake Tribune,
Speaker 2: my longtime radio partner back in the old days, brought
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Speaker 2: and Utah County open on Sundays. With the holidays around
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Speaker 2: All right, about two hours down. We got about two
Speaker 2: hours to go. Eric Weddell and Zach Harper are your
Speaker 2: four o'clock hour. Some college football and some NBA, So
Speaker 2: keep it right here on ESPN seven hundred silk tampty,
Speaker 2: silk trampty coaches, let me check it out to you.
Speaker 2: Zach Barber is gonna roll by.
Speaker 1: NBA daily assist style.
Speaker 2: Good NBA games yesterday, a couple of NFL games that
Speaker 2: were just blowouts. The week of pro football wraps up tonight.
Speaker 2: We have the Thursday night game. It's the Bears in
Speaker 2: the Seahawks. You'll hear that right after we say it
Speaker 2: out at six o'clock. But let's do some more college football.
Speaker 2: One of our favorites, the legend himself, Eric Weddle, on
Speaker 2: a Thursday, he went, happy post Christmas, buddy, how are
Speaker 2: we doing.
Speaker 8: I'm doing fantastic merk Christmas to you and the fam.
Speaker 8: I hope everyone had a great one. Good to be on.
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time as always.
Speaker 2: And you know, we find ourselves in such an interesting
Speaker 2: landscape Eric, as you know, and I've been talking about
Speaker 2: it all show with college football guests, excited to get.
Speaker 1: Your take on it.
Speaker 2: We have free agency while the season is still going on,
Speaker 2: you know, like coaches are trying to coach, like Kalonie's
Speaker 2: getting ready for a good game Alible Bowl against Colorado.
Speaker 2: He's got like ten kids that are in the portal
Speaker 2: that aren't going to play in the game.
Speaker 1: And then there are teams.
Speaker 2: That are trying to win a national championship and coaches
Speaker 2: are trying to prepare for the biggest games of the
Speaker 2: season and their players are into the transfer port Like,
Speaker 2: help me fix the sport that you and I both love.
Speaker 8: Gosh, I mean, that's gone a whole hour about this,
Speaker 8: the way the state of college football is and how
Speaker 8: it's affecting the high school kids the most. I mean,
Speaker 8: of all the kids that are getting the shafts and
Speaker 8: all this, it's the high school kids. And now it's
Speaker 8: a JC rule going through. If it stands, why would
Speaker 8: any coach recruit high school kids when you can recruit
Speaker 8: JC kids that have two years that won't count against
Speaker 8: their eligibility for the four year schools. So there's a
Speaker 8: lot of craziness, a lot of things that I don't
Speaker 8: agree with. And it's pay to play. It's not name,
Speaker 8: image and likeness. Where can I go to make the
Speaker 8: most money. And it's not culture building. It's not what
Speaker 8: university could help me become a great man. And it's
Speaker 8: none of that. And it's hard to watch can fault
Speaker 8: the kids. The system is what it is. How I
Speaker 8: fixed it, I get rid of the portal. I would
Speaker 8: put some regulations on what you can earn or your name,
Speaker 8: image and like. And it's not hey give you a
Speaker 8: million dollars here to come play for me. That's not
Speaker 8: what it was designed for. So so many issues with it.
Speaker 8: It's just hard to be involved with.
Speaker 2: Tell me from your end, because you referenced how it's
Speaker 2: affecting the high school kids, and that's your space. Now
Speaker 2: you're doing some coaching, I would be genuinely curious, is
Speaker 2: somebody like you who knows how to lead? You did
Speaker 2: it as a player, both in college and the pros.
Speaker 2: What do you say to your kids as they're getting
Speaker 2: ready to enter this space where they're going to hear
Speaker 2: from colleges and potentially agents, Like how does a high
Speaker 2: school coach handle the modern landscape of college football?
Speaker 8: Right now? Eric, you got to have a good head
Speaker 8: on your shoulders, and you got to what's most important
Speaker 8: to you? Is is it to make a quick buck
Speaker 8: or is it to make relationships that I last the lifetime?
Speaker 8: Is it somewhere where you can build the right attributes
Speaker 8: to be a great man someday and to learn how
Speaker 8: to handle adversity, learn how to be a good teammate,
Speaker 8: learn how to lead. Those things happen to being part
Speaker 8: of a program, not jumping program to program every six months,
Speaker 8: trying to learn new system, try to learn your teammates,
Speaker 8: trying to learn the head coach like that stuff doesn't
Speaker 8: lead to success in my opinion. So reality is is
Speaker 8: this is what it is. I would hope for programs
Speaker 8: to start emphasizing development and building from the youth with
Speaker 8: high school kids and pouring into the younger guys that
Speaker 8: cherish and value the culture and value the program, value
Speaker 8: the team. Are we not meet type attitude? That's what
Speaker 8: I would focus in instead of trying to get the
Speaker 8: quick takes of a portal kid to just build some
Speaker 8: holes on your roster.
Speaker 2: It's it's difficult because you also have a situation here
Speaker 2: in Saul Lake Eric as we move over to the
Speaker 2: University of Utah. I mean, coach with referenced the number
Speaker 2: of forty players that they want to bring in. And
Speaker 2: that's both with high school recruits in coming to campus
Speaker 2: and then the transfer portal as well. And that essentially
Speaker 2: means that Utah football will be entirely rebuilt in one year.
Speaker 2: And in pro football or pro basketball or pro sports,
Speaker 2: you run into rebuilds every I don't know, six seven,
Speaker 2: eight years. It depends on how smart your front office is,
Speaker 2: It depends on how good your ownership is. But right now,
Speaker 2: a lot of programs, namely the University of Utah, are
Speaker 2: going to be marching out a team next year that's
Speaker 2: totally rebuilt. Like what's what's what's reasonable to expect from
Speaker 2: Utah football when they're really can have a brand new
Speaker 2: coaching staff a lot of ways in a brand new roster.
Speaker 8: Sure, yeah, I mean I don't. I don't have the
Speaker 8: answers to that. I just know turning over your roster
Speaker 8: isn't in my opinion, Kay, I'm not in it, So
Speaker 8: take my take my opinion with a grand assault, right.
Speaker 8: But I think that if you build, you know, maybe
Speaker 8: the number is fifty to fifty high school support of kids,
Speaker 8: maybe it's seventy thirty. You pick holes that you need
Speaker 8: an immediate starter right now, but you develop from within you.
Speaker 8: You almost like in the NFL, you reward a guy
Speaker 8: that you drafted with a new contract because he earned
Speaker 8: it and he's a great ambassador of your organization for
Speaker 8: the city. Like it's no different now it's a college landscape.
Speaker 8: So why do you want someone else that leaving the
Speaker 8: program for whatever reason as a stop apps. Well, if
Speaker 8: you pour into the young guys in your program, they're
Speaker 8: going to be loyal to you, Hugh Hope at the
Speaker 8: end of the day, I just don't understand for the
Speaker 8: life of me, how even gets to the point where
Speaker 8: you're entering the portal as a returning starter, Like they
Speaker 8: need to crack down on the guardrails of who's communicating
Speaker 8: with these kids, Who's who's the ones that are inside
Speaker 8: these universities knowing what they can offer these kids if
Speaker 8: they hit the portal, Like that needs to be relled in.
Speaker 8: That should be non existing. Like these kids are returning
Speaker 8: starters going to the portal for note, how do they
Speaker 8: even know that they're going to get that? Like that's
Speaker 8: it's just slimy and wrong on so many ways, and
Speaker 8: everyone's doing it. But how is that not how does
Speaker 8: that not putin so in that if you communicate with
Speaker 8: a kid, then that should be illegal and should the
Speaker 8: school should get reprimanded for it, Like it's it's just
Speaker 8: it's just, oh, this is hard.
Speaker 2: It's hard, and it's unfortunate. You know, it really is
Speaker 2: too bad. But I will say, what does it say
Speaker 2: to you about the product of college football and the
Speaker 2: sport of college football that even with the chaos off
Speaker 2: the field, the ratings keep rising and people still watch.
Speaker 2: I mean, it has to speak to the power of
Speaker 2: what this sport is that regardless of how bad the
Speaker 2: business is run, consumers still consume it.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say it's a great product.
Speaker 8: The product is less than a year in a year
Speaker 8: out with the rule changes with the amount of turnover
Speaker 8: on your roster every year. That limits what you can
Speaker 8: do offen defensive festivals. Okay, so that means you're limiting
Speaker 8: what you can do, limiting what you can put out
Speaker 8: there on the field. You can't stress them enough. If
Speaker 8: they were in the system for one year, two year,
Speaker 8: three years, will they know it? That means you could
Speaker 8: expand it. That means you could push them harder. It's
Speaker 8: sign you dummy it down. So these guys can learn
Speaker 8: in a quick time. It means everyone's running the same crap.
Speaker 8: The team spread them out, you got RPOs, you got
Speaker 8: inside zone, a little sprint out action and they all
Speaker 8: line up on the side. They don't huddle out of
Speaker 8: the huddle, and I mean they don't break the huddle
Speaker 8: and they look at the silent for the route. Take
Speaker 8: What are we really teaching and developing these kids? Right?
Speaker 8: They don't know formations, they don't know motions, they don't
Speaker 8: know shifts, they don't know check with me, they don't
Speaker 8: know audible. It's type. And you get into the NFL,
Speaker 8: and that's why you see some struggle and some has
Speaker 8: a easy transition, but you know, that's what the NFL
Speaker 8: is becoming a lot of basic, generic offenses out there
Speaker 8: that are easy to translate. So I don't I don't
Speaker 8: know the landscape. It is what it is like. Basketball
Speaker 8: is horrendous to watch. Nobody watches that. Baseball is born
Speaker 8: to watch unless you're in persons. Hockey the same thing.
Speaker 8: So I think society is the only thing really exciting
Speaker 8: to watch is the NFL and college football. So it
Speaker 8: doesn't surprise me that the ratings are so high. It
Speaker 8: does know if people play the game. No, the product
Speaker 8: is not a very good product that we're watching.
Speaker 1: See that's really interesting.
Speaker 2: So let me follow up because I've not heard very
Speaker 2: many people offer the opinion that the product is suffering
Speaker 2: on the college football landscape, and you kind of outlined
Speaker 2: reasons as to why. So I guess what I'll ask
Speaker 2: you is, do you is there like this permeating fear that,
Speaker 2: in your opinion, the product will continue to suffer unless
Speaker 2: we get things figured out where there's a little more continuity.
Speaker 2: And are you concerned about the future of the sport?
Speaker 8: Well, I think I think a lot of it. I'm
Speaker 8: speaking more of the NFL compared to the CAUSE. A
Speaker 8: lot of how the NFL is run is you're limited
Speaker 8: on added practices. You're limited on how much tackling you're doing.
Speaker 8: Most cases, second of the year, you're not even intact
Speaker 8: at that moment. So it trickles down to college, like
Speaker 8: how much are you really practicing blocking and tackling? That
Speaker 8: is football? Okay? The great teams that win block the
Speaker 8: best and tackle the Bestay, it's not seven on seven,
Speaker 8: it's not. Hey, we throw the ball fifty sixty times
Speaker 8: a game, and what you're seeing is less time dedicated
Speaker 8: to that and more time to making it simplified so
Speaker 8: the guys can transition from a new school, get on
Speaker 8: the field and do what they do best.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 8: So I don't know. In my mind, I'm never gonna
Speaker 8: sacrifice steam and scheme because that gives us an advantage
Speaker 8: every time we cross the field, right, that is our advantage.
Speaker 8: We're not just gonna sacrifice that so other guys can
Speaker 8: just quickly if they can't adjust, it shouldn't be a
Speaker 8: part of our program, and maybe you should developed within.
Speaker 8: Like that's my opinion on that.
Speaker 1: Some really interesting stuff.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I feel like the narrative is a
Speaker 2: lot of folks continue to watch and really love college
Speaker 2: football despite.
Speaker 5: The kids watch.
Speaker 8: Ye, the ones that played know, the type of football
Speaker 8: that we're watching is not high level football. You could
Speaker 8: ask any old player that's played NFL or college, and
Speaker 8: when you watch it, it's not sophisticated. It's not high level
Speaker 8: x'es and o's. You're not seeing in timing, you're not
Speaker 8: seeing you know, multiple things offense, defense, Schematically, it's very vanilla,
Speaker 8: basic line up and play.
Speaker 2: Are there exceptions to that? Are there coaching staff? You like,
Speaker 2: who do you like to watch?
Speaker 8: Shoot, you're talking collegia or NFL.
Speaker 1: Either way, either level.
Speaker 8: Well, the top organizations in the league have a standard
Speaker 8: and they do what they do, you know, offensively, I
Speaker 8: think Detroit Ben Johnson, I mean, he's on he's on
Speaker 8: another level, uh, dramatically and how he draws up plays
Speaker 8: and gives the team advantage. I think Sean LeVay obviously
Speaker 8: have a close relationship with him. And you know, when
Speaker 8: you're talking collegiate uh, you know, you could say the
Speaker 8: history and how they developed their skill guys and quarterbacks
Speaker 8: for the last three years of Ohio State, But man,
Speaker 8: have they winner the last time they be one in
Speaker 8: a big game, you know, so, uh, it goes back.
Speaker 8: They beat who they're supposed to be, they get in
Speaker 8: the big game, We'll see how they do against Oregon.
Speaker 8: But you know it's, uh, you only can do with
Speaker 8: with what you have. Kay, I'm not naive. You know
Speaker 8: you have players you're coaching. If you don't win, you're
Speaker 8: probably gonna get fired. But I get that, and you
Speaker 8: got to adapt. I'm not saying don't adapt, but I'm saying, structurally,
Speaker 8: as a program, what are we laying our hat on.
Speaker 8: Are we laying our hat on you know, Bill turn
Speaker 8: out forty to fifty guys a year, or are we
Speaker 8: hanging our hat on development, culture, program building? And for
Speaker 8: me and as a lum, that's what I wish or
Speaker 8: hope that we continue to do or try to do
Speaker 8: instead of just trying to find the next plug and
Speaker 8: play player.
Speaker 2: So tell me what the confidence level is Eric with
Speaker 2: you and you know your friends that played up at
Speaker 2: the University of Utah, Because what you just described, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, describes a Kyle Whittingham program. Player development always
Speaker 2: has been and it's a new different era in college football.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like Utah and the coaching staff have adjusted,
Speaker 2: and will they still be able to use the old
Speaker 2: approach that works so well in the new day and
Speaker 2: age of college football.
Speaker 8: I think it can work, but again I'm I'm not
Speaker 8: in there. I don't know what's going on. How those
Speaker 8: conversations happened for a guy like Kyle hun Did they
Speaker 8: have a meeting with them? Did they talk about what
Speaker 8: he's getting paid? Does it need to be up for
Speaker 8: a high level starter in the Big twelve?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 8: I don't know those questions, right, And I don't know
Speaker 8: what he got at Alabama. My point is, why is
Speaker 8: even in the portal? Right?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 8: How does that even happen where they think I can
Speaker 8: get more? I'm not happy here? Like what is when
Speaker 8: is enough enough?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 8: And so I don't know. I think they're going too
Speaker 8: much portal kids and not enough younger guys and keeping them.
Speaker 8: But I don't know the situation. Are they being told
Speaker 8: to leave right?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 8: Do they not want to be there because they're back?
Speaker 8: Und I don't know those questions. So it's hard for
Speaker 8: me to say what I wish we would do because
Speaker 8: I'm not intimate in those conversations in the roster buildings
Speaker 8: and what they have compared to what they need. So
Speaker 8: I just would say what I would do, and I
Speaker 8: would try to do it like sixty forty seventy thirty
Speaker 8: of high school development and then those two to four
Speaker 8: players you need to plug and play because you have
Speaker 8: a hole. You go find those guys and get them.
Speaker 2: When we last had you on and Eric weddles with
Speaker 2: us to the former Youth Legend Super Bowl CHAMPI when
Speaker 2: we last had you on, Eric, we weren't sure if
Speaker 2: coach wit was coming back and there was not an
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator. Well in the time that's past. Kyle whittied
Speaker 2: Ham is elected to come back for year twenty one
Speaker 2: and Jason Beck is the new OC. Just wanted to
Speaker 2: get your reaction when you heard those two pieces of news.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I expected coach with to come back.
Speaker 8: I mean if I doesn't want to go out like that,
Speaker 8: you know, with the situation with Morgan hanging in the balance,
Speaker 8: and was it this year? Is it next year? Like,
Speaker 8: I think that needs to be communicated with everyone, right,
Speaker 8: Like we're not hanging at the NFC for the recruits
Speaker 8: for the program, but I'm guys coming back. He's the legend.
Speaker 8: You know, I wouldn't be here today I'll coach with
Speaker 8: so I think it's better that he's around and moving forward,
Speaker 8: you know. With the offensive coordinator, I don't know, you know,
Speaker 8: like I hope, I hope they hired a great guy
Speaker 8: and he's innovative and he pushes the limit and he
Speaker 8: makes our offense better than one it's been because we've
Speaker 8: struggled at times and we've been really good at times.
Speaker 8: And then I think a lot of times it comes
Speaker 8: back to players, and you can only do so much
Speaker 8: as a coach, right, Players win games. Coaches most times
Speaker 8: find ways to lose.
Speaker 4: It.
Speaker 2: H interesting perspective, all right, Before I say you loose,
Speaker 2: I just want to get I know you're in a
Speaker 2: lum and I know you love the staff, and I
Speaker 2: know you love the team, and I know you're always
Speaker 2: going to look at it through a ute positive lens.
Speaker 1: But there is a there's a feel around here.
Speaker 2: There's a nervous feel from the fan base that after
Speaker 2: a rough, rough year and you know, a new coaching
Speaker 2: staff and talented players leaving either via graduation or transfer portal,
Speaker 2: that this next season might feel like the last. I'm
Speaker 2: going to ask you Eric, before I show you loose,
Speaker 2: what gives you the most confidence that year two in
Speaker 2: the Big twelve will look better than your one did well?
Speaker 8: I mean, we have a standard, and the standard is
Speaker 8: that we're a top knots program on and off the fields. Okay,
Speaker 8: that didn't happen last year for a number of reasons.
Speaker 8: Reality is, we didn't get it done, So changes were made.
Speaker 8: You got to hope and believe that the higher end
Speaker 8: on the offensive side and the system that he's going
Speaker 8: to bring in place is going to be a good
Speaker 8: one that to maximize our potential offensively defense, we're always
Speaker 8: going to have a top Knox defense. So if we
Speaker 8: could couple our offensive productions, then we'll be one of
Speaker 8: the best things of the Big twelve in the country.
Speaker 8: And that's been the case for the last fifteen years,
Speaker 8: so that doesn't change. I will always have confidence that
Speaker 8: we play our style of football offensive and sust things
Speaker 8: we could be anybody on the field. Now we couple
Speaker 8: it with people counts that football players play together. Players one,
Speaker 8: you got a special team. If you can't have that
Speaker 8: dynamic with the team and how close they are playing
Speaker 8: together and playing complmer a football, then you're gonna struggle.
Speaker 8: That's whether you have new coaches or not.
Speaker 2: Well, all right, Eric, I appreciate the time, man. I
Speaker 2: always appreciate the truth telling. So I'll wish you a
Speaker 2: happy New Year. Thank you for your time. I'll love
Speaker 2: to have you back on soon.
Speaker 8: Okay, you got it, but anytime.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 2: The great Eric Weddle legendary career here and then killed
Speaker 2: it in pro football, won a Super Bowl probably high
Speaker 2: speed out of the Hall of Fame. Certainly should be
Speaker 2: appreciate Eric's time. On this Thursday afternoon, we're gonna shift
Speaker 2: gears and do a little NBA and some jazz. Coming up,
Speaker 2: we're back to college football in the five o'clock hour.
Speaker 2: Zach Harper will join us on the other side of
Speaker 2: a quick break. But let's welcome in Ryan from the
Speaker 2: dish professionals. During the holiday season, you probably spend a
Speaker 2: lot of time at home. Well, how's your Internet? Are
Speaker 2: you paying too much for it? How's your television watching experience?
Speaker 2: Do you look at your streaming and cable bill and
Speaker 2: bemoan how much you're paying for it? How about your
Speaker 2: wireless situation? You and your family affordable options for all
Speaker 2: three of those with Ryan from the Dish pros if
Speaker 2: you dial eight oh one, four to two four Dish,
Speaker 2: what's going on?
Speaker 5: Ryan?
Speaker 2: All right, we'll try to get Ryan back on. He dropped.
Speaker 2: My guess is he's driving around town running Samarons. So
Speaker 2: we're gonna bring in Zach Harper. Coming up, we'll get
Speaker 2: back to college football in the five o'clock hour. Want
Speaker 2: to remind you that you can hear the final game
Speaker 2: of the Pro Football Weeks last weekend coming up tonight
Speaker 2: on the station. It is going to be the Seahawks
Speaker 2: and the Bears live at Soldier Field in Chicago. It's
Speaker 2: a must win for Seattle if they want to stay
Speaker 2: alive in the playoff race. Chicago. At this point, you
Speaker 2: might as well just lose to get better draft capital,
Speaker 2: surround your young quarterback with better pieces. Seattle five point
Speaker 2: favorite over Unders forty one point five. It looks like
Speaker 2: it'll be a decent forecast in Chicago for this time
Speaker 2: of year, about forty six degrees, so that'll come your
Speaker 2: way coming up after we say goodnight. The Jazz are
Speaker 2: in action tonight taking on the Portland Trailblazers. That is
Speaker 2: going to be an eight o'clock kicktime excuse me. Football
Speaker 2: on the mind eight o'clock tiptime, Jazz and the Blazers
Speaker 2: in action tonight, and then obviously College Football Bowl Season
Speaker 2: rolling along a couple of days away from BYU Colorado
Speaker 2: coming up on Saturday. Then hopefully the quarterfinals of the
Speaker 2: CFP are a little bit better than the first round.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of the bulk of the show today.
Speaker 2: Pat Riley came out today and said the Miami Heat
Speaker 2: are not trading Jimmy Butler. So for all the teams
Speaker 2: that were hoping to grab Jimmy Butler, apparently he's off
Speaker 2: the table. I'll just tell you to give Ryan from
Speaker 2: the Dispros a call numbers eight oh one, four to
Speaker 2: two four dish.
Speaker 1: That's eight oh one four too four dish.
Speaker 2: You gonna bring in Zach Harper coming up next right
Speaker 2: here on ESPN seven hundred. The Red Hot Utah Jazz
Speaker 2: are in action tonight, taking on the Portland Trail Blazers.
Speaker 2: The Jazz have won two of three two teams in
Speaker 2: an't graded basketball we'll do battle. We had a fun
Speaker 2: Christmas Day slate of games. Porter is out of town,
Speaker 2: which means I'm picking the music today, so you might
Speaker 2: not know that it's Zach Harper, no pit bull, but
Speaker 2: Zach I figured a little roundball round round ball rock
Speaker 2: would be good this this Thursday.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's the only acceptable substitution.
Speaker 2: Okay, good, I'm glad I knock that out of the park.
Speaker 2: What did Christmas Day look like at the Harper household
Speaker 2: this year?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 4: Man, it was great.
Speaker 9: We cooked, we opened presents, we we watched basketball, We
Speaker 9: played Clue, we played that.
Speaker 2: We did everything you played Clue, the old school board game.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, that's a big battle with with my with
Speaker 9: my nieces and my sister and my brother in law.
Speaker 9: Like it's a it's a big battle we do every
Speaker 9: time they're here.
Speaker 1: Gotta love it.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, man, The Christmas Day NBA slate
Speaker 2: was great.
Speaker 1: Football games were a blowout.
Speaker 2: But what were some of the more enjoyable moments of
Speaker 2: watching NBA basketball on Christmas Day?
Speaker 9: I mean, I think, like we could start with Wemby right,
Speaker 9: Like Wemby forty two points eighteen rebounds, Like he was
Speaker 9: just remarkable. And I think, you know, while he's been
Speaker 9: good for a while and we've obviously known that he's
Speaker 9: great and everything, and we've seen some incredible stat lines
Speaker 9: out of him. He had a bad game at Madison
Speaker 9: Square Garden last year as a rookie. I was very
Speaker 9: early on in his rookie season. He hadn't really found
Speaker 9: his footing yet.
Speaker 4: But to follow that up, I.
Speaker 9: Think he had like fourteen points on fourteen shots in
Speaker 9: that one. To follow that up with forty two eighteen
Speaker 9: four and four hitting six three is like, he's just unreal.
Speaker 4: And then and then that whole moment.
Speaker 9: With you know, Steph leaving that comeback against the Lakers,
Speaker 9: and and and then Austin Reeves getting that lay up
Speaker 9: at the end. I mean, it's just that was That's
Speaker 9: the kind of action the NBA needs. When the NFL
Speaker 9: starts encroaching on everything that they're doing on Christmas Day, do.
Speaker 2: You feel like it's intentional? Do you feel like it's
Speaker 2: an and I thought Lebron after the game, I love
Speaker 2: the NFL, but this is our day.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Is it?
Speaker 2: Is it calculated by the NFL to do this or
Speaker 2: do they just exist in a different stratosphere where the
Speaker 2: rules don't really apply to them.
Speaker 9: I mean, I think I think it's both. Like, I
Speaker 9: think it's intentional and I think the rules don't apply
Speaker 9: to the NFL because they're the NFL. But they I mean,
Speaker 9: they've played, they played two football games on a Wednesday. Like,
Speaker 9: you can't tell me that's not intentional. If it falls
Speaker 9: on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. For them to throw games
Speaker 9: out on those days on a Wednesday, it doesn't even
Speaker 9: make sense with their scheduling in the slightest and so
Speaker 9: it's definitely intentional. But also, you know, I don't think
Speaker 9: they care if the NBA is upset. They don't have
Speaker 9: to be friends with the NBA. But none of that
Speaker 9: has to be the case. That's kind of like, you know,
Speaker 9: not to I'm gonna here's what I'm gonna do. I'm
Speaker 9: gonna be a blogger from twenty eleven and make a
Speaker 9: comparison to the wire. It's like when you know, Marlow
Speaker 9: starts trying to go for everybody's corners, Like that's what
Speaker 9: it is like. The NFL is going for the NBA's corners.
Speaker 2: Welcome into the Bill Simmons Podcast with Zachar I just playing, kids,
Speaker 2: I just playing, and I you know, I thought I
Speaker 2: thought it was a good day for the league.
Speaker 1: It's interesting.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you heard this but Bob Myers
Speaker 2: before before the Laker Warrior game, he said there are
Speaker 2: only three superstars in the league right now, Lebron James,
Speaker 2: Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. Well, what's your take on that?
Speaker 2: What your and why do you think he made that statement?
Speaker 9: I think those are the three stars the NBA knows
Speaker 9: how to market right now. I mean, you know, like
Speaker 9: even I don't know how real these numbers are what
Speaker 9: they mean. But you know, there was some top ten
Speaker 9: list of like the NBA put out of like the
Speaker 9: most viewed players on on social media, and seven of
Speaker 9: those players ended up ended up playing on Christmas Day.
Speaker 9: But like you know, John Morant was number two for
Speaker 9: most viewed on on social media. LaMelo Ball was in there,
Speaker 9: like you know, there there are stars. Wenby was in there,
Speaker 9: like there are other stars in the league. Now not
Speaker 9: every network talks about those other stars in the league.
Speaker 9: But like Yo gets is a superstar, Giannis is a superstar.
Speaker 9: Like I thought Giannis's comments, while it was kind of
Speaker 9: sour grapes about not being on Christmas Day, I altill
Speaker 9: think there's something to it, Like if you can't figure
Speaker 9: out how to market the uh, you know, the the
Speaker 9: Bucks with Jannis and Dame and put them in a
Speaker 9: a in a big time game. Like, yeah, I think
Speaker 9: that's a bit of an issue, you know, with Shae
Speaker 9: Yild's dobsanner, I've been I mean, you know, I've been
Speaker 9: lying about this for two weeks now, Like it's not
Speaker 9: just it's thunder or a small market, or that Shay
Speaker 9: is an unknown superstar. It's just the NBA's bad at
Speaker 9: marketing them.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that is?
Speaker 2: Because it seems to be something that if it's not
Speaker 2: going to affect you now, like Lebron's forty and Steph's
Speaker 2: thirty six, and you know KD hasn't been able to
Speaker 2: stay healthy for a full season for.
Speaker 1: A long long time.
Speaker 2: Like what do you think the deal is with the
Speaker 2: NBA's either inability or unwillingness to lean into what will
Speaker 2: come next after these players decide they're done, which is
Speaker 2: not going to be very long.
Speaker 9: Now, Yeah, I mean I think it's you know, I'm
Speaker 9: not equating them to this quality of whatever, but I
Speaker 9: think marketing Lebron and Steph and KD, it's it's like
Speaker 9: deciding to have fast food for dinner, right, It's easy,
Speaker 9: Like you know what it is. You know what it's
Speaker 9: gonna be, and it's easy and you don't have to
Speaker 9: do much to prepare for it. Whereas oh, I got
Speaker 9: to figure out how to make Memphis and job Morant exciting.
Speaker 9: It shouldn't be hard. Just show clips of job Moran
Speaker 9: playing basketball. We all watch it, and we all marvel
Speaker 9: at it. But for some reason, you know, I think
Speaker 9: part of this is a is the landscape of media
Speaker 9: and the platforms and everything and everything being so spread out.
Speaker 9: I think part of it is that. I think part
Speaker 9: of it is Adam Silver is just not as good
Speaker 9: at that stuff.
Speaker 4: As David Stern was.
Speaker 9: And I think David Stern could make stars out of
Speaker 9: just about anybody. I think Adam Silver struggled to do that.
Speaker 9: But you know, to your point, they've only got a
Speaker 9: couple more years until they got to force these other guys,
Speaker 9: and maybe Wenby will be so good by then that
Speaker 9: it won't matter, and that will be the goliath to topple.
Speaker 9: But you know, it's it's just something of them he
Speaker 9: struggles with. And I don't understand why, because we watch
Speaker 9: all that, all those other stars, and if you can't
Speaker 9: make them interesting, I don't I don't think you're good.
Speaker 4: At marketing well.
Speaker 2: And also they really I mean, say what you want
Speaker 2: about the tired discourse of ratings going down, but the
Speaker 2: NBA has not done a very good job of telling
Speaker 2: their story as to what the context is with those
Speaker 2: And Kevin Durant came out with some interesting comments and
Speaker 2: when when when Durant gets insightful and honest and he
Speaker 2: actually wants to give people time. He's pretty good at
Speaker 2: this stuff, always has been. It's just these moments are
Speaker 2: few and far between. But the context is how many
Speaker 2: people have cut the cord and the fact that ratings
Speaker 2: are down everywhere, including the NFL. Now, the NFL is
Speaker 2: only down four percent, but you know, you have now
Speaker 2: Netflix in the game, You've got Amazon Prime in the game,
Speaker 2: You've got Peacock in the game, and you still have
Speaker 2: linear television. But the linear ratings that everybody continues to uh,
Speaker 2: you know reference when it comes to the NBA's fall
Speaker 2: and interest are affecting everybody. But I just don't think
Speaker 2: the league is like told that story very well.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and I don't think they want to tell that
Speaker 9: story right because it's probably a harsh reality in some sense.
Speaker 9: I also don't think it's a big deal in the
Speaker 9: grand scheme of things because of that media rights deal
Speaker 9: that came through and everything. But I think it'll be
Speaker 9: very interesting to see how the NBA operates and presents
Speaker 9: viewership numbers and viewership results of the streaming services in
Speaker 9: the next once that next deal kicks in, which is
Speaker 9: which is next season, with things being on Peacock, with
Speaker 9: things being on Amazon Prime, with you know, more stuff
Speaker 9: being streaming. You know, then at that point, you know,
Speaker 9: we've never really know what stuff does on Netflix, right,
Speaker 9: there's no like check and balance for for what their
Speaker 9: viewership is. We know a lot of people have Netflix,
Speaker 9: we know they have a lot of money, but we
Speaker 9: never know how many people are actually watching. So you
Speaker 9: can kind of promoted and massage it however you want.
Speaker 9: I'm curious how the NBA will do that in the
Speaker 9: streaming era. What's this next deal kicks in next season?
Speaker 2: One of the consistent things that I've either read or
Speaker 2: heard or the you know, we've got a lot of
Speaker 2: good NBA guests on the show, and it's not everybody,
Speaker 2: but a lot of people have indicated they do believe
Speaker 2: the product has suffered. Now I feel like there's more
Speaker 2: talent in the league than there ever has been. And
Speaker 2: I've never been the whole like let's go back to
Speaker 2: the nineties guy. But I do think at times the
Speaker 2: lack of effort is pretty obvious, you know, if some
Speaker 2: of the All Star game stuff is spilled into some
Speaker 2: of the regular season stuff. But in your opinion, the
Speaker 2: product itself, the game itself, the product of NBA basketball,
Speaker 2: Does it feel different or compromise to you at all
Speaker 2: when you sit down and watch a game, man.
Speaker 9: Like I would have said yes a year ago, But
Speaker 9: I like the start of the season, the basketball is
Speaker 9: in awesome, Like it's it's really been incredible, and so
Speaker 9: I kind of think it's a it's a lazy criticism
Speaker 9: of the product on the floor, Like people just look
Speaker 9: at three point now and say, oh, it's too many threes. Yeah,
Speaker 9: it might be too many threes. But for the most part,
Speaker 9: the game so far this season, the product on the
Speaker 9: floor so far this season has been excellent. It can improve.
Speaker 9: I think they should bring back hand checking. With the
Speaker 9: way that you know, skill sets and athleticism and everything
Speaker 9: is now, I think you can compromise a little bit
Speaker 9: of offense to create more competition, and I think it
Speaker 9: would be a benefit to the league, But I don't.
Speaker 9: I don't feel the way about the product I did
Speaker 9: a year ago. I actually think it's improved quite a bit.
Speaker 2: Is that mainly in your estimation a result of influx
Speaker 2: of talent younger talented players growing, Like when Minyama just
Speaker 2: looks different this year than he did a year ago,
Speaker 2: and he looked awesome a year ago. And you've got
Speaker 2: a lot of young players that are kind of growing
Speaker 2: them you know, growing into themselves a little bit. And
Speaker 2: also it should be doted like I referenced earlier, you know,
Speaker 2: Lebron and Stephen kd and these guys are probably retiring
Speaker 2: sometime soon. They're still playing at a really high level
Speaker 2: at advanced age. Do you think it's just like the
Speaker 2: old guard continues to do what it does and young
Speaker 2: players understanding how to be pros. What do you attribute
Speaker 2: to what you call an improved product year over year?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean I think everything you just said is
Speaker 9: part of it. Like I do think it has become
Speaker 9: such a young league, and as we know, like it's
Speaker 9: really hard to win and play consistent basketball even when
Speaker 9: guys have good numbers. But with such young talent, it's
Speaker 9: really hard to create the winning culture in a lot
Speaker 9: of places, so that's definitely part of it. How does
Speaker 9: it think the change the league made with allowing more physicality, Yes,
Speaker 9: it still needs to be called consistently and that's still
Speaker 9: an issue. But the way that the league changed things
Speaker 9: after last year's debacle of an All Star Game, I
Speaker 9: think it greatly improved the product. I think it's mostly
Speaker 9: held into the action this season. It's not quite as
Speaker 9: good as what we saw at the end of last season,
Speaker 9: but I do think I do think that change after
Speaker 9: the All Star weekend has created a big sense of
Speaker 9: competition that's allowed.
Speaker 2: Now do you think either you know, I'll just say
Speaker 2: all three if we're continuing with this theme of you know, Lebron,
Speaker 2: Durant staph As the most marketable players and the biggest
Speaker 2: celebrities or whatever superstars according to Bob Myers in the league,
Speaker 2: do you think any of the three teams Lakers, Warriors,
Speaker 2: Suns has a legitimate chance to represent the West and
Speaker 2: maybe win a championship this year?
Speaker 4: I don't see it. With the Lakers.
Speaker 9: I do think they're not as bad as everyone says,
Speaker 9: but I don't think we've seen a championship level from them.
Speaker 9: I do think the Warriors can get there, but they
Speaker 9: need to find a little bit of help. But we've
Speaker 9: seen through flashes here and there. We've seen them look like,
Speaker 9: you know, kind of that twenty twenty two team that
Speaker 9: won it all, and then before Katie got hurt this season,
Speaker 9: it was I mean, the Suns looked legit, you know, like,
Speaker 9: I don't know if they can get back to that.
Speaker 9: I don't know if that was a little bit of
Speaker 9: a fluke early on the season, but they're kind of
Speaker 9: borderline for me. I do think the Warriors at their
Speaker 9: best is better than any of those other teams at
Speaker 9: their best.
Speaker 2: The deal with Phoenix, man, then you know this, Zach, like,
Speaker 2: tell me that they're fully healthy for four rounds and
Speaker 2: we can talk.
Speaker 1: I just don't think they're building in one round right right,
Speaker 1: right round?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Do you do you really think they can stay healthy
Speaker 2: to make a long run.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen it.
Speaker 9: No, I think, you know, they haven't been together that long,
Speaker 9: but but no, I mean, this team made the finals
Speaker 9: in twenty twenty one. They made big changes, which anybody
Speaker 9: would do. Getting Durant, you know, you can argue about
Speaker 9: the bradley Field deal, uh and whether or not that
Speaker 9: was a good idea in this era. But but no,
Speaker 9: like that team is legitimate. That team has been good
Speaker 9: for a few years now. And yeah, if they're healthy,
Speaker 9: like sign me up. But there, why would we believe
Speaker 9: like they They're kind of in.
Speaker 4: That zone of all right, I got to see it.
Speaker 9: I got to see you be healthy to believe it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, So back to yesterday, A couple of
Speaker 2: different things. When when the seventy six ers are fully
Speaker 2: healthy and back to the health thing, but when they
Speaker 2: have all their players and when they're playing like their
Speaker 2: best basketball, because there are moments yesterday obviously it's the
Speaker 2: Celtics and everyone else in the East.
Speaker 1: Maybe the Cavs have something to say about it.
Speaker 2: What is the best What's what's the Zach Carper best
Speaker 2: case scenario for Philly this year? If everything kind of
Speaker 2: falls into play.
Speaker 9: Man, I don't know, like I think, I don't see
Speaker 9: anything pass the second round.
Speaker 4: I want to be optimist.
Speaker 9: I have been more impressed with them over the last
Speaker 9: you know, eleven games or so. They they look better there.
Speaker 9: It's been nothing dominant, but it's not incompetent, right, which
Speaker 9: is what we saw in the first you know, nineteen
Speaker 9: games or whatever whatever it was, seventeen games, and so
Speaker 9: they're obviously much better when those three guys are healthy.
Speaker 9: We saw great stuff out of Caleb Martin yesterday, but
Speaker 9: I'm still I'm still waiting to see with them, Like,
Speaker 9: I mean, how many times has indeed had different things.
Speaker 4: So far this season?
Speaker 9: How many times is Paul George of different things so
Speaker 9: far this season? Like, there's just no reason to believe
Speaker 9: in their health.
Speaker 2: Who's the one Eastern Conference team that you think keeps
Speaker 2: Joe Miszoola up at night?
Speaker 4: Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker 9: It might be Cleveland. I still haven't completely bought in
Speaker 9: with Cleveland, but decide the three point shooting, the wrinkles
Speaker 9: to Kenny Atkinson's offense that he's implemented from what they
Speaker 9: were doing last year. There is something there. I don't
Speaker 9: know if it's enough to take down Boston, but that's
Speaker 9: there's a lot of talent on that Cleveland team.
Speaker 2: All Right, before I say you lose, contractually obligated to
Speaker 2: ask you a question about the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 1: So here's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 4: Well, how about this.
Speaker 9: I'm going to the game tonight.
Speaker 4: Oh you are Jazz Blazers.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm going so ask.
Speaker 4: Me whatever you want.
Speaker 1: You're from Sacramento. What's the Portland tie?
Speaker 4: My parents?
Speaker 9: My parents live in Oregon. So we're all going up,
Speaker 9: niece's and nephew. We're all going up and checking out
Speaker 9: the game.
Speaker 2: Do they know anything about basketball or do they ask
Speaker 2: you all the questions?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 9: No, they like they play basketball.
Speaker 4: That's with basketball.
Speaker 9: Yeah, no, they're into it all right.
Speaker 2: I guess what are you most excited about as the
Speaker 2: seven and twenty one Utah Jazz take on the nine
Speaker 2: and twenty Blazers tonight.
Speaker 4: Ooh, that's a good question.
Speaker 9: I think hmm, I think I'm most excit. I had
Speaker 9: to see if we can get a great offensive game.
Speaker 9: Like I don't know, like neither of these teams offensively
Speaker 9: are very good, but I do think, like, yeah, Anthony
Speaker 9: Simons could go for forty, Lowry could go for forty,
Speaker 9: like you could get you could get a good game
Speaker 9: out of this. I just don't know that we that
Speaker 9: we should expect it. But I do think when you
Speaker 9: have two teams in this zone, there's a chance you
Speaker 9: get a good game.
Speaker 2: And you know, I was actually talking about this earlier.
Speaker 2: We had we had boller On. He's calling the game tonight.
Speaker 2: And there are moments when the Jazz are fully healthy.
Speaker 2: First of all, when marketing's on the floor and we've
Speaker 2: seen a couple of vintage Clarkson games, he's not that
Speaker 2: guy consistently anymore. But then Colin kind of gets going
Speaker 2: and Keyante just doesn't screw it all up and Walker
Speaker 2: is playing really well. There there are still moments where
Speaker 2: I look at this team and I say they better
Speaker 2: not win thirty games in Draft ninth because there's actually
Speaker 2: some talent on on the floor.
Speaker 9: Yeah, agreed, I think I think that's again. I mean, look,
Speaker 9: it was one moment. But that game against Detroit, what
Speaker 9: was that a week or two ago? Whenever, that was
Speaker 9: a fun game you had, you had Kiante George with
Speaker 9: that big dunk on Jalen Durham.
Speaker 4: Like stuff can happen in these Jazz games.
Speaker 1: They can be fun.
Speaker 4: They're not, but they can be right.
Speaker 2: And hope this time of year is a good thing, Zach.
Speaker 2: So we'll end it there.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the game, Happy new your brother, Thanks for the.
Speaker 4: Time, appreciate it. Happy to you. Thanks.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll catch a quick break in and do a
Speaker 2: quick sports court with our friends from Handy and Handy.
Speaker 2: Then we'll get into the five o'clock hour, which will
Speaker 2: be college football. Jim Herman joins us. So a lot
Speaker 2: to do before we say a United six and time
Speaker 2: for some Thursday night football right here on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 10: All right, it's time to check in with Preston Handy
Speaker 10: and Garrett Handy of Handy and Handy for sports court.
Speaker 10: Handy and Handy are your accident and personal injury attorneys
Speaker 10: ready to assist with any related questions. You may have
Speaker 10: visit them online at Handy Law Utah dot com. Big
Speaker 10: firm experience, small firm attention. Now let's get out to
Speaker 10: sports court on the drive with Spendle check. It's on
Speaker 10: jutus number one Sports Talk, ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: It is sports court time. We do it every Thursday
Speaker 2: right about now. We're they're good friends over at Handy
Speaker 2: and Handy. It is Christmas time, so Preston is playing
Speaker 2: Scrooge and Grinch somewhere and you know, dampening the Christmas spirit.
Speaker 2: So we want to keep things positive. We're bringing in
Speaker 2: the more positive of the duo. It's just me and
Speaker 2: Garrett today, Garrett Handy, Happy Christmas season. How you doing, Buddy?
Speaker 11: Hey, Happy Christmas to you.
Speaker 4: How are you?
Speaker 2: And Preston, if you're listening, we love you. I'm just teasing.
Speaker 2: I don't want to hurt our guys feelings.
Speaker 11: We do love Preston, We do all right.
Speaker 2: So we're going to do something a little different today.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do like a little year in review of
Speaker 2: some of the biggest and best stories we've covered on
Speaker 2: throughout the course of this really fun segment that I
Speaker 2: look forward to every week with you guys over in
Speaker 2: Handy and Handy on Sports Court. So there has been
Speaker 2: very few editions of Sports Court without talking about the
Speaker 2: NCAA and how they are facing multiple anti trust lawsuits
Speaker 2: they're trying to traverse their way through the nil and
Speaker 2: the number one settlement that we've covered that really affects
Speaker 2: a lot of people to love college football in the sport,
Speaker 2: of course, is the house first, the NC DOUBLEA. So
Speaker 2: let's kind of dig into these storylines regarding the NC
Speaker 2: DOUBLEA and their antitrust lawsuits and what our listeners should
Speaker 2: know about where the NCAA finds themselves.
Speaker 4: Now, yeah, and you're.
Speaker 11: Right, Spence. I mean, that's definitely. I think the biggest
Speaker 11: story of the year is just week after week it
Speaker 11: seems like the NCAA getting hit with some new lawsuit
Speaker 11: and most of it revolving around nil right and the
Speaker 11: rights of athletes versus the NCAA and their ability to participate.
Speaker 11: And so the big lawsuit, of course was the House
Speaker 11: versus NCAA case. You know, this case was filed. It
Speaker 11: was a class action lawsuit and it covers any student
Speaker 11: athletes back to twenty sixteen, and so it's going to
Speaker 11: allow nil money, allow them to be paid, and revenue
Speaker 11: sharing from broadcast rights. This was settled back in May
Speaker 11: for two point seventy five billion dollars and it you know,
Speaker 11: I think we kind of saw this coming, and we've
Speaker 11: seen the trend for years now. There was the Obannon
Speaker 11: case and then the Austin decision, and so it seems
Speaker 11: like the House case is kind of the natural progression
Speaker 11: in this and but I mean, really, I mean, in
Speaker 11: twenty twenty four, it seems like the ground sort of
Speaker 11: shifted beneath us with this this decision.
Speaker 2: I think I also want to touch on the NCAA
Speaker 2: transfer rule situation because it is such a hot button
Speaker 2: topic right now with the University of Utah essentially rebuilding
Speaker 2: their team from the ground up in one year, it's
Speaker 2: such a tough thing to do. So let's review that
Speaker 2: a little bit, and then I'm going to ask you,
Speaker 2: from your vantage point with your legal expertise, whether or
Speaker 2: not you think there will be more changes moving forward
Speaker 2: so they you know, don't have free agency while this
Speaker 2: season is still going.
Speaker 11: Yeah, right, So I mean this this started out at
Speaker 11: the beginning of twenty twenty four. I mean there was
Speaker 11: a you know, preliminary injunction was granted and the and
Speaker 11: Justice joined this lawsuit as well.
Speaker 4: But it allowed players.
Speaker 11: To transfer and play immediately, where you know, you used
Speaker 11: to have to sit out of here or whatever, and
Speaker 11: you know, athletes would think twice about, well do I
Speaker 11: really want to transfer? But now it's hey, transfer and
Speaker 11: play right, We've got the transfer portal and twice a year,
Speaker 11: and so it's it's been a felt like kind of
Speaker 11: a moving target. And you know, I think another issue
Speaker 11: to kind of talk about and think about is really
Speaker 11: does a college degree really you know, how's that going
Speaker 11: to look? Does that matter, right. I mean, this is
Speaker 11: changing so much. And then especially you know, the other
Speaker 11: one I was going to touch on with dispense is
Speaker 11: this you know Diego Pavia rule that just came out
Speaker 11: and we just talked about this a couple of weeks
Speaker 11: ago on sports Court. But now you're not counting junior
Speaker 11: college those years that you played towards your eligibility. And
Speaker 11: again the idea is, hey, there's more years you can play,
Speaker 11: more years to earn nil money. And so yeah, it's
Speaker 11: really changing the landscape of of college sports.
Speaker 2: Any thought on what they may look to do, and
Speaker 2: we can move off if you don't have a take
Speaker 2: on it. But I'm just curious from your vantage point
Speaker 2: if you think they're going to actually try to corral
Speaker 2: this thing a little bit, because it's not it's not sustainable, Garrett,
Speaker 2: not as of now. Do you think they're going to
Speaker 2: try to do something different between now and the next
Speaker 2: college football season.
Speaker 11: I No, I agree with you. I don't think it's sustainable.
Speaker 11: I mean something's going to have to change, and I
Speaker 11: you know, we've talked about it before on sports Court.
Speaker 11: You know, there's been been discussion about like federal legislation.
Speaker 11: You know, or does each state try to tackle this.
Speaker 11: But there's this it's an arms race right between all
Speaker 11: the universities that you know in the states are included
Speaker 11: in that. They want their schools and their states to
Speaker 11: be competitive, and so nobody's really willing to tamp down
Speaker 11: on this quite yet. I think it's going to have
Speaker 11: to be a federal response, and with the how slow
Speaker 11: our federal government moves to get anything done, I don't
Speaker 11: see anything happening for a while. I just I kind
Speaker 11: of think twenty twenty five is going to be a
Speaker 11: little more of the same, where we're just figuring this out.
Speaker 4: As we go.
Speaker 2: In addition to constant stories about the NCAA being labeled
Speaker 2: as you know, serial anti trust violators and having to
Speaker 2: go to this court. In that court, a lot of
Speaker 2: coaches brought lawsuits against their former employers throughout the course
Speaker 2: of the season. So let's start with a review of
Speaker 2: Blake Anderson. It's a local angle who of course was
Speaker 2: up at Utah State and then let go along with
Speaker 2: some other folks up there in Bronco. Mendenhall hired to
Speaker 2: kind of recapture the Utah State days of old like
Speaker 2: you did at BYU But as you look back on
Speaker 2: the Blake Anderson Utah State situation, Garrett, what comes to mind?
Speaker 11: Well, for sure, I think this was a really big
Speaker 11: story locally for us. I mean, he just filed it
Speaker 11: and it was it was finally filed in November, but
Speaker 11: a fifteen million dollar lawsuit against Utah State, and he
Speaker 11: also named I think the athletic director and a few
Speaker 11: other people. But of course he was fired for cause
Speaker 11: over some employ reporting requirements. I mean, that's kind of
Speaker 11: the technicality, right of how a situation was handled and
Speaker 11: whether or not he reported that correctly. And so there's been,
Speaker 11: of course a ton of fallout. We've talked about it
Speaker 11: a lot on Sports Court over the last many months,
Speaker 11: but that case really is kind of just getting going
Speaker 11: with the lawsuit having been foiled that I think just
Speaker 11: about a month ago, and so we'll see. But I mean,
Speaker 11: it's you know, Utah State and you know, and I
Speaker 11: was gonna talk about this a little bit later too,
Speaker 11: but they're they're involved in several legal issues that we've
Speaker 11: talked about, you know. I mean, they're they're looking at
Speaker 11: some potentially big, big money, big fees, whether you're paying
Speaker 11: Blake Anderson or you know, you're paying the you know,
Speaker 11: Mount West exit fees, but being fired for cause, you know,
Speaker 11: and and getting out of that contract. I think anytime
Speaker 11: we see that where a coach is fired for cause,
Speaker 11: I think you can expect that there's going to be
Speaker 11: a lawsuit.
Speaker 2: I also wanted to revisit the John grudens that you
Speaker 2: because he's now Barstool sports newest employee and he continues
Speaker 2: to be in the news. And you know, once upon
Speaker 2: a time, John Gruden was thought to be like a
Speaker 2: wonder Kins head coach and then a wonder Kins broadcaster.
Speaker 2: Didn't take a lot of time to settle in as
Speaker 2: a great voice on Monday Night football gets back in
Speaker 2: the league and everything goes south. So let's review the
Speaker 2: John Gruden stuff before we move on to the other stories.
Speaker 11: Yeah, and John Gruden, just like Mel Tucker and Brian Flores.
Speaker 11: I mean, you've got these NFL coaches with lawsuits, but
Speaker 11: Gruden in particular, these cases are just they're going on forever, right,
Speaker 11: And his firing was over these old emails that were
Speaker 11: leaked to the media and he felt that those you know,
Speaker 11: his allegation has been that the NFL used these emails
Speaker 11: and that Roger Goodell did to kind of weaponize those
Speaker 11: to pressure the Raiders to fire him. And so that's
Speaker 11: there's been this whole dispute. Of course, anytime we're talking
Speaker 11: about an NFL coach being fired, there's this issue of arbitration, right,
Speaker 11: and how is the case going to get handled? Is
Speaker 11: Roger going to be the one to decide?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 11: He ends up being judge, jury, and executioner, and so
Speaker 11: right now his case, I think the latest on it's
Speaker 11: it's headed to the Nevada Supreme Court. They're going to
Speaker 11: review that issue. So again still going on, but you know,
Speaker 11: it's provided a lot of stuff to talk about, for sure.
Speaker 1: All right, your reference Utah state.
Speaker 2: They're among the topics in our next kind of a
Speaker 2: little silo, which is conference realignment.
Speaker 1: Lawsuits also seem to be a very consistent theme.
Speaker 2: Fsu clemsed in against the ACC, the Mountain West against
Speaker 2: the PAC twelve for poaching schools. Then you toss the
Speaker 2: end against the Mountain West for exit fees. Another kind
Speaker 2: of gift that kept on giving for content for this segment.
Speaker 2: But as you look back on the and they're also continuing,
Speaker 2: you know, the latest on the conference re alignment lawsuits.
Speaker 11: Yeah, no, they are, so, I mean, yeah, I think
Speaker 11: the trend is whether it's a school or a player, right,
Speaker 11: they're looking for, Hey, where can I get the best deal? Right,
Speaker 11: whether it's at a certain school or for these schools,
Speaker 11: what conference can it be in? So yeah, Utah State,
Speaker 11: of course. I mean, you know, bolting for the PAC
Speaker 11: twelve and the you know Mount West and there's these
Speaker 11: exit fees and I mean so there's been lawsuits back
Speaker 11: and forth right between the MOUNTA and West and the
Speaker 11: PAC twelve, and again Utah States gotten in on that,
Speaker 11: you know, to kind of go on the offensive a
Speaker 11: little bit. I think what's difficult for these schools is
Speaker 11: these are large, sophisticated institutions that got into these agreements
Speaker 11: with these conferences knowingly, knowing what they're doing. And I'm
Speaker 11: gonna have to go into it a lot. But I
Speaker 11: mean that's the same thing with Florida State and Clemson
Speaker 11: trying to get out of the ACC.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 11: That's the argument is these guys know what they're doing,
Speaker 11: what they're getting into. They benefit from these conference relationships
Speaker 11: and the revenue sharing with broadcast deals. But as soon
Speaker 11: as there's a better deal to come along, they want out,
Speaker 11: and they want out of the contract, and so I
Speaker 11: think these cases are going to go on for a
Speaker 11: long time as well. I mean, there's just a lot
Speaker 11: of money at stake. These penalties are pretty huge. I mean,
Speaker 11: luckily Utah States not looking at anything as steep as
Speaker 11: what you know Florida State and Clemson they have a
Speaker 11: one hundred and forty million dollars with draw penalty from
Speaker 11: the acc that they're fighting all.
Speaker 1: Right over to actual nil lawsuits.
Speaker 2: And once that door was open, I figured, you know,
Speaker 2: thousands of players would walk through it. And of course
Speaker 2: time will tell if other players add them themselves to
Speaker 2: this list. But former players include the eighty three wolf
Speaker 2: Pack team shout out Thorough Bailey, National champ Center, Jim Valvano,
Speaker 2: they're not Robinson, Broylan Edwards, who were really good for Michigan,
Speaker 2: and then Terrell pryor Ohio State.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the headline names.
Speaker 2: Some others will follow suit, and then they're the current
Speaker 2: situations as well. Let's start with the former players who've
Speaker 2: elected to try their hand with the nil lawsuits.
Speaker 11: Right, So again, the House settlement really just covers back
Speaker 11: to twenty sixteen, So you've got these former player players saying, hey,
Speaker 11: well wait a minute, my school or my conference, you know,
Speaker 11: for years has been profiting off of my name, image
Speaker 11: and likeness. And so you know you brought up to
Speaker 11: the eighty three wolf Pack team. And that's true, right,
Speaker 11: I mean, whether you know, every time you turn on
Speaker 11: March Madness, you're going to see the highlight of that
Speaker 11: famous team and they're Cinderella Run. And so you know,
Speaker 11: you've got these former players they're saying, hey, well wait
Speaker 11: a minute, I should have been entitled to something and
Speaker 11: looking for their piece. I mean, I think it's really interesting.
Speaker 11: Like you said, the floodgates are open. We've just seen
Speaker 11: kind of these big names of filing lawsuits. But you know,
Speaker 11: it'll be interesting to see what kind of president gets
Speaker 11: set as those cases get resolved in one way or another.
Speaker 2: The current player situation is also fascinating because again we're
Speaker 2: so early in our understanding of what this landscape is.
Speaker 2: Precedents will be set and others will follow suit. That's
Speaker 2: how it works. So it's Jaden Rashada who's suing Florida
Speaker 2: over a fourteen million dollar nil deal. Then the situation
Speaker 2: with Matt s Luca, the NLV quarterback who just left
Speaker 2: the team. Get it in writing, always get it in writing.
Speaker 2: But do you think this is the big getting of
Speaker 2: a trend? Is this an early preston that you think
Speaker 2: a lot of players are going to follow?
Speaker 1: Sue with.
Speaker 11: I think it is the beginning of a trend. I mean,
Speaker 11: and I, like you said, what we'll probably see is
Speaker 11: just there needs to be some more sophistication from the
Speaker 11: players and the schools in negotiating the terms of these
Speaker 11: nil deals, right. I mean it's in writing, right, You've
Speaker 11: got these recruiters from different schools going out and making
Speaker 11: big promises to players, whether it's money, and you know, A,
Speaker 11: do they have the authority to do that? And B
Speaker 11: is it going to be binding? And so I think
Speaker 11: we'll have to see schools, you know, can start kind
Speaker 11: of putting together their own policies and procedures on how
Speaker 11: they want to do this. But they got to be
Speaker 11: careful because you know, these are agreements being made, and
Speaker 11: even if it's not in writing, right, there can still
Speaker 11: be an oral contract. And so yeah, I think we're
Speaker 11: going to continue to see these things where I mean,
Speaker 11: there's just a lot of money at stake, So it's
Speaker 11: going to end up in lawsuits.
Speaker 1: The final little silo we're going to attack.
Speaker 2: And I don't mean to laugh, because legal problems are
Speaker 2: not laughing matter. But I've just reas remembering, like waking
Speaker 2: up to a text like, Hey, did you hear Scotty
Speaker 2: Scheffler got arrested trying to go into the tournament.
Speaker 1: I was like, no, he didn't.
Speaker 2: He as a choir boy. The Scotty Scheffler did not
Speaker 2: get arrested. And then the Tyreek Hill situation of bad luck,
Speaker 2: and of course Joey oh Tonnie, his translator, was found
Speaker 2: guilty and he's going to go to jail for a
Speaker 2: long long time. So let's hit on these individual legal issues,
Speaker 2: some a little bit comic and others pretty sad.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I.
Speaker 11: Thought these were kind of the big ones from the year.
Speaker 11: I mean, the Scheffler and Tyreek Hill. I mean, it
Speaker 11: is kind of funny, right, You've got these two high
Speaker 11: profile professional athletes on either you know, Tyreek's on his
Speaker 11: way to the Dolphin Stadium and Scheffler's on the way
Speaker 11: to PGA Championship and they're both getting pulled over what
Speaker 11: kind of start out as kind of traffic violations. I
Speaker 11: mean Scotty Scheffler. I mean, if you remember that video,
Speaker 11: you know, in the allegation that you know, he it
Speaker 11: was a felony and three misdemeanors for assolding a police
Speaker 11: officer with his vehicle, and I mean those that he
Speaker 11: ends up. He was a choir boy. I guess the
Speaker 11: charge has got dropped pretty quickly for him. And then
Speaker 11: we had the Tyreek kill video, right, I mean that
Speaker 11: was pretty wild as well. But so anyway, just this
Speaker 11: issue right of these athletes and whether they think, you know,
Speaker 11: in those moments, hey, these traffic rules may not apply
Speaker 11: to me. You know, I'm important on my way to
Speaker 11: you know, people want to see me. The Otani case again,
Speaker 11: and I kind of included this one spence just because
Speaker 11: I think this issue, which might be something we talk
Speaker 11: about more in twenty twenty five, but it is the
Speaker 11: issue of sports betting, right, And of course Sotani, this
Speaker 11: is a case where his interpreter pled guilty to bank
Speaker 11: fraud and taking seventeen million dollars from Otani. And you know,
Speaker 11: we could speculate forever about whether or not Otani knew
Speaker 11: about that or you know, was a part of that
Speaker 11: or whether the interpreter just took.
Speaker 4: The fall for it.
Speaker 11: But we have had a few cases we've talked about
Speaker 11: on sports courts where you know players are betting, right.
Speaker 11: I mean, it's just it's easy to do and I
Speaker 11: think we'll see more candles regarding sports betting in the
Speaker 11: year to come.
Speaker 2: All right, Garrett, before I set you loose, For any
Speaker 2: of our listeners who have legal questions, how can they
Speaker 2: get ahold of you?
Speaker 1: Over at Handy and Handy.
Speaker 11: Yeah, be happy to talk to about any legal questions
Speaker 11: you have as social innaria personal injury, which is what
Speaker 11: we do. But you can reach us at eight zero
Speaker 11: one two six four sixty six seven seven or go
Speaker 11: to our website Handy Law Utah dot com.
Speaker 2: Thank you, my friend. I hope you had a great
Speaker 2: holiday and we will catch up next week.
Speaker 11: Thanks you too, Spence, ce Ali.
Speaker 2: Garrett, Handy, get ahold of them if you have any
Speaker 2: legal questions. Really good people that are willing to help.
Speaker 2: We'll catch a quick break Drive at five comes Away
Speaker 2: coming up next than Jim Herman College Football the rest
Speaker 2: of the hour, and then we'll turn it over to
Speaker 2: Thursday Night football in the Pros. Little Bear Seahawks, and
Speaker 2: you can listen to it right here. AUDIESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 3: The five o'clock hour is here, and your commute home
Speaker 3: is begun. Let us keep you company during a rush
Speaker 3: hour on the drive with Spence Check it's it's time
Speaker 3: for the drive at five, all right.
Speaker 2: We were talking earlier about the potential of We had
Speaker 2: Eric Weddle on the show Fun Conversation with Eric. We're
Speaker 2: talking about the quality of the NFL games juxtaposed to
Speaker 2: the NBA action we saw yesterday. NBA had a good day.
Speaker 2: NFL the two games were a blowout. However, we have
Speaker 2: the data now. The doubleheader on Netflix resulted in the
Speaker 2: two most streamed games in NFL history. The Ravens and
Speaker 2: the Texans peaked at twenty four point three mil and
Speaker 2: the Chiefs and the Steelers twenty four point one, but
Speaker 2: the stream peaked at twenty seven million people during Beyonce's
Speaker 2: Time show. That further underscores my point that the NFL
Speaker 2: has done such a phenomenal job at creating a television
Speaker 2: product that is far.
Speaker 1: Superior to any other league.
Speaker 2: Even if you're not a football fan, even if you're
Speaker 2: not necessarily huge NFL fan, people are going to tune in,
Speaker 2: like your relatives want to watch it, maybe your sister
Speaker 2: wants to watch Beyonce or whatever it is. Like their
Speaker 2: television product with their primetime marquee events, really dwarfs anything
Speaker 2: that any other league does. And now we have the data.
Speaker 2: Have not seen how many people watched the NBA games yesterday.
Speaker 2: My guess is it's going to be a healthy number,
Speaker 2: but not close to what has turned out to be
Speaker 2: twenty seven million. That's your peak when Beyonce was performed
Speaker 2: at halftime, So that is pretty wild. The Christmas Day
Speaker 2: games for the NBA, this is just spilling in now.
Speaker 2: Most watched Christmas Days in five years, with viewership up
Speaker 2: eighty four percent last year across ABCESPN, ESPN two, and
Speaker 2: Disney Plus.
Speaker 1: So the Christmas Day games.
Speaker 2: Average seven point seven million and peaked with eight point
Speaker 2: three to two million when the Warriors and.
Speaker 1: The Lakers were playing. So that's a good day for
Speaker 1: the NBA.
Speaker 2: But a good day for the NBA is essentially one
Speaker 2: third of what it is for the NFL. And it
Speaker 2: was two games that were blowouts. I mean, how many
Speaker 2: of you watched all the NFL games unless you had
Speaker 2: some side situations manifesting themselves.
Speaker 1: My guess as you turn them off.
Speaker 2: All right, Jim Herman's going to join us, coming up back,
Speaker 2: We're going to do some college football. I want to
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Speaker 1: All right, wrapping up the show on a Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Hopefully you guys had a fantastic Christmas, and we'll wish
Speaker 2: you a happy holiday season, happy New Year as well.
Speaker 2: Although we'll be back on air tomorrow and back on
Speaker 2: air next week. Tomorrow we're going to be out and
Speaker 2: about Tim Dolly Nissan on remote, so come by and
Speaker 2: say hello. But hopefully you had a great holiday, spends
Speaker 2: the time with friends and family, ate some good food,
Speaker 2: took some time off work, all that good stuff. It's
Speaker 2: a busy night tonight, busy sports night tonight. We've got
Speaker 2: a little NBA action where the Jazz are taking on
Speaker 2: the Blazers. Blazers is a two point five point favorite
Speaker 2: in that game. On this radio station, you'll hear the
Speaker 2: final NFL game of the week seventeen. Slay cannot believe
Speaker 2: that we're here, but yes, it is the Seahawks and
Speaker 2: it is the Bears live from Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.
Speaker 2: Right now, Seattle is a four point five point favorite.
Speaker 2: The over under is forty two point five. Some bull
Speaker 2: action too in college football, of course, a lot of
Speaker 2: attention around here on the Alamo Bull coming up on Saturday.
Speaker 2: That is BYU and Colorado BYU a slight underdog, Colorado
Speaker 2: a four point favorite in that one.
Speaker 1: Got little Rutgers kse State.
Speaker 2: If you want to watch a little big twelve football
Speaker 2: that's going on right now, Arkansas State bowling Green That
Speaker 2: is the Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama for the
Speaker 2: sixty eight Ventures Bowl. And then earlier today at the
Speaker 2: game above Sports Bowl, saw Toledo beat pitt in six overtimes.
Speaker 2: So you got a little college football action tonight, little
Speaker 2: NBA action tonight, and hopefully you enjoy your Thursday. And
Speaker 2: we have a very fun jam Pat Friday show for
Speaker 2: you guys, so make sure to join us for that.
Speaker 2: I want to say a very special thank you today too.
Speaker 2: Jim Herman, Craig Bowler, Jack Gordon Monson Eric Weddell and
Speaker 2: Zach Harper, very busy show, a lot of college football,
Speaker 2: some NFL of course, some NBA, and some Utah jazz.
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