Speaker 1: All right, what's going on? Drivetime?
Speaker 2: Tuesday afternoon, about nine minutes past the hour two o'clock.
Speaker 1: It's about forty two degrees in sunny.
Speaker 2: Here in downtown saw Lake City, Utah, after a chill
Speaker 2: really cold overnight weather situation. Chilly morning as well, but
Speaker 2: it's settled in nicely. The skies are blue and you
Speaker 2: can get a little sunshine on.
Speaker 1: This Tuesday afternoon. Enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Come January because these days oftentimes do not come around
Speaker 2: during this month. A lot to do on a Tuesday,
Speaker 2: and as it is every day, it's good.
Speaker 3: To have you.
Speaker 1: Long for the ride.
Speaker 2: Spence check, it's beyond the mic. That's Porter Larson producing
Speaker 2: the show behind the Glass today with a lot to do,
Speaker 2: a lot to get to on the program. Just a
Speaker 2: couple of days away from the final few games of
Speaker 2: the college football slate, at least the semi finals, we'll
Speaker 2: learn who's going to be playing for that national championship.
Speaker 1: Don't forget. We are your home for.
Speaker 2: The College Football CFP semi final, so we will see
Speaker 2: who advances on on to the championship game. We'll also
Speaker 2: have the national championship game for you. We are your
Speaker 2: home for the biggest and best live football events in
Speaker 2: the market, including the NFL Wildcard weekend.
Speaker 1: That's a head to.
Speaker 2: The Black Monday effect is spilling over now into Black Tuesday.
Speaker 2: More people losing their jobs, and the latest is Antonio
Speaker 2: Pierce is out as the Raiders head coach after a
Speaker 2: couple of years at the home, leading a lot of
Speaker 2: people to wonder whether or not the Raiders will contact
Speaker 2: the current head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, whose name
Speaker 2: is Deon Sanders.
Speaker 1: We'll have to see how that goes down.
Speaker 2: But a lot of NFL on the show today is
Speaker 2: we'll get you ready for the wild Card weekend and
Speaker 2: talk about the job openings as of right now, weird
Speaker 2: thing happening in Dallas because of course Mike McCarthy potentially
Speaker 2: he's getting an interview with the Chicago Bears while still
Speaker 2: being under contract with the Dallas Cowboys, and Jerry Jones
Speaker 2: is too busy for I mean television series to take
Speaker 2: anything seriously, so we'll get their latest with the job
Speaker 2: circle and carousel in pro football, Daniel Jones has been
Speaker 2: signed to the fifty three man roster for the Vikings
Speaker 2: for the playoffs, so we'll get to the injury news
Speaker 2: and notes as well. Jalen Jalen Hurt still in concussion protogo.
Speaker 2: If you're an Eagles fan, of course you're kind of
Speaker 2: holding your bread there. Two games on Saturday and Pro Football,
Speaker 2: and then a full slate on Sunday culminating with what
Speaker 2: should be a really good Monday night game. The vikings
Speaker 2: in the Rams interesting to consider what's at stake for
Speaker 2: Sam Darnold should he have another stinker like he had
Speaker 2: last week, Because of course JJ McCarthy waiting.
Speaker 1: In the wings. So NFL Playoffs ride around the corner.
Speaker 1: Great time of year.
Speaker 2: College football semi finals ride around the corner, great time
Speaker 2: of year.
Speaker 1: A fun game last night we had on the station.
Speaker 2: As college football continues to be very topical.
Speaker 1: No real local news on.
Speaker 2: The college football landscape, guys. We talked about yesterday from
Speaker 2: the University of Utah side of things, just kind of
Speaker 2: looks like the roster for now is what it is,
Speaker 2: and other mechanisms potentially at coach wits disposal tad talent
Speaker 2: prior to the start of fall, of course, and fall
Speaker 2: is a long way away.
Speaker 1: But really no news.
Speaker 2: As far as the current state of the local scene
Speaker 2: in college football. We do have some college basketball tonight.
Speaker 2: Utah is that Iowa State. You can hear that game
Speaker 2: when we say good night at six o'clock.
Speaker 1: Iowa State is the number three team in the country.
Speaker 1: They're really good.
Speaker 2: They're in eighteen point five point favorite over the Utes.
Speaker 2: Bringing me on, welcomes in Texas Tech down in Provo,
Speaker 2: Utah State, a top twenty five team on the road.
Speaker 2: San Jose State and the Utah Jazz Welcome and an
Speaker 2: old friend tonight as Quentin Snyder and the Atlanta Hawks
Speaker 2: are in town.
Speaker 1: So a lot to do on the show.
Speaker 2: Good guest list, We'll start things off to learn a
Speaker 2: little bit more about the current state of the Utah
Speaker 2: men's basketball team prior to the game tonight. Sean Mooney,
Speaker 2: friend of the show, color analysts on the broadcast alongside
Speaker 2: the voice himself, Bill Riley. Shan stops by the day
Speaker 2: to hopefully give us a little bit of a little
Speaker 2: bit of good news, maybe a little bit.
Speaker 1: Of silver lining.
Speaker 2: The first two Big Twelve games have been how shall
Speaker 2: we say, not competitive or Utah basketball. Iowa States, like
Speaker 2: I said, really good. They never lose at home, and
Speaker 2: they're the number three team in the country. Iowa State
Speaker 2: right now is three and excuse me, twelve and one.
Speaker 2: Number three in the country is how I should say that,
Speaker 2: and the utopian to maybe take a couple of steps forward.
Speaker 2: Iowa States only lost this year is against Auburn, who
Speaker 2: at the time was the top five, top five team
Speaker 2: in the country. Iowa stated started off big twelve play
Speaker 2: with wins at Colorado and a absolute just demolishing a Baylor,
Speaker 2: a team that really handled Utah well. So Utah big
Speaker 2: on dog on the road. So we'll get the latest
Speaker 2: from Sean Mooney on the Utah Utes. Tim McMahon NBA
Speaker 2: Daily Assist Style Jazz has been playing a little bit better.
Speaker 2: The trade deadline is less than five weeks away. What
Speaker 2: does what does Tim have to say about the current
Speaker 2: state of the jazz as they continue to build the
Speaker 2: foundation for hopefully what they believe to be is a
Speaker 2: excellent finished product once upon a time. So bring in
Speaker 2: Tim today to talk some jazz, AND's NBA Scott Mitchell
Speaker 2: back on the show. Scott has been a world traveler.
Speaker 2: That's what you're allowed to do when you're basically part
Speaker 2: Time'm retired. I want to do a little NFL with
Speaker 2: Scott today. Played in Detroit. What would it mean for
Speaker 2: Detroit Lions fans if Dan Campbell is able to coach
Speaker 2: this team through the postseason and maybe win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: I mean, just to kind of get a sense of
Speaker 2: what that game on Sunday meant to them. And it
Speaker 2: wasn't even a playoff game. It was to lock in
Speaker 2: the number one seed, and Lions fans were going crazy.
Speaker 2: It was like the biggest football game in Detroit in
Speaker 2: like forty or fifty years. And then, of course we'll
Speaker 2: do some utes with Scott today. Belle Frasier, our friend
Speaker 2: from the Salt Lake Tribune, will stop by to do
Speaker 2: a little Utah Hockey Club on the program. It's been
Speaker 2: a rough stretch for the hockey club. They've got a
Speaker 2: grip of home games coming up. We'll see what Belle
Speaker 2: has to say about our local hockey team. So little basketball,
Speaker 2: little NBA, little college basketball, little NFL, little college football too.
Speaker 2: Some hockey on a Tuesday in January, Sean Mooney, Tom McMahon, Scott, Mitchell, Bell,
Speaker 2: Fraser and he spent check at all of you, the
Speaker 2: great listeners and producing the program today.
Speaker 1: Is Porter Larson.
Speaker 2: All right, give me if you can think of an example,
Speaker 2: give me one subconscious habit you seem to have that
Speaker 2: you know you shouldn't do, but for some reason you
Speaker 2: continue to do. I bring it up because, for some reason,
Speaker 2: every two or three weeks, I get ready to come
Speaker 2: into work, I fill up my water bottle, ready to roll,
Speaker 2: screw the top clearly not tight enough, throw the water
Speaker 2: bottle on the backpack, and by the time it to work,
Speaker 2: everything is soaking wet and the water bottle is empty.
Speaker 2: And I continue to do it, even though I know
Speaker 2: I should not do it, And it's like the dumbest thing.
Speaker 1: It should be the easiest thing to fix.
Speaker 2: Is there a dumb guy hobby you have that or
Speaker 2: a habit you have? I should say that you can't
Speaker 2: get out of your own.
Speaker 4: Way about That's a that's a good kind of random
Speaker 4: radio topic.
Speaker 1: First off, you're not alone in that regard.
Speaker 4: I have done the don't tighten your bottle tight enough
Speaker 4: and doubts everything that you own. Huh, you want to
Speaker 4: stew on it. I kind of put you out of
Speaker 4: the spot. I mean you did kind of put me
Speaker 4: on the spot. Like I chew on my nails way
Speaker 4: too much. I pick my nose all the time.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Okay, gross, a little less vulnerability, a little less honest day.
Speaker 1: That's gross. It's not how I roll. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: well let's get weird to start the show. Why don't
Speaker 1: you think about it.
Speaker 2: Let's come back to you a little bit later on,
Speaker 2: and we'll do something that doesn't make people want to
Speaker 2: throw out their lunch.
Speaker 4: I can, I can find some subconscious habits today I
Speaker 4: need to get rid of.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, get some tissues. There's some in the
Speaker 2: studio if you need some. Our first guest today, Sean Moody,
Speaker 2: tak a little college football before get to Sean, courtesy
Speaker 2: of our good friends. It's Standard Restaurant Supply, your one
Speaker 2: stop shop for all your Tailkate needs. Check them out
Speaker 2: online or they're convenient location here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
Speaker 2: On a Tuesday afternoon, It's time now for your opening tip.
Speaker 5: Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check. It's on Utah's
Speaker 5: number one Sports Talk. Now into the studio of ESPN
Speaker 5: seven hundred to set the scene for the show. The
Speaker 5: opening tip of the Drive is brought to you by
Speaker 5: Standard Restaurant Supply, your one stop shop to build the
Speaker 5: best tailgate in town. Standard Restaurant Supply, thirty five hundred
Speaker 5: south West Temple.
Speaker 2: All Right, a little bit of a random idea for
Speaker 2: opening tip today. You know, I've made it a point
Speaker 2: over the past month or so. Whenever the Cleveland Cavaliers
Speaker 2: are playing a really good team and if the time
Speaker 2: slot works, I mean, they're obviously an East Coast team,
Speaker 2: and I'm on air Intel six, which is a clock
Speaker 2: Eastern time. I try to dig in to see what
Speaker 2: Kenny Atkinson has done with his team and why they're
Speaker 2: off to this thirty one and four start. I mean,
Speaker 2: everybody believes Boston's the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2: They're five and a half full games behind the Calves
Speaker 2: and look lover hate Donovan Mitchell. I'll always cheer for
Speaker 2: Donovan because I'll never forget the five years he's spent here.
Speaker 2: And I covered Donovan right out of the gates after
Speaker 2: the Jazz drafted him. At the time, I was anchoring
Speaker 2: our Draft Died covers on the old radio station and
Speaker 2: our broadcast partner was the Jazz, so they put me
Speaker 2: on the phone with Donovan right after he was drafted
Speaker 2: to interview him. I was the first media member in
Speaker 2: Salt Lake City to interview Donovan Mitchell because we had
Speaker 2: the draft coverage and after the Jazz drafted him. I
Speaker 2: believe it was maybe Jonathan Bryan Hard at the time,
Speaker 2: maybe it was my guy. Dunio puts Donovan on the
Speaker 2: phone and I spent ten minutes with him interviewing him
Speaker 2: on our draft night coverage, and.
Speaker 1: I was blown away.
Speaker 2: I was unbelievably impressed that for a young man his age,
Speaker 2: he seems so polished, he seems so sharp, he seems
Speaker 2: so oh not articulate, but he knew exactly what to
Speaker 2: say to this fan base. And you know, we later
Speaker 2: learned that Donovan's father was raised in you know, Donovan,
Speaker 2: I should say, was raised in the world of professional
Speaker 2: sports because his father is an executive with the Mets,
Speaker 2: and Donovan once he started to kind of rise up
Speaker 2: the ranks. And we're not going to do a Donovan
Speaker 2: Mitchell history lesson. I'm going to land the plane, but
Speaker 2: just stick with me for a second. Donovan came up
Speaker 2: as a baseball prospect and then when he really started
Speaker 2: to grow, and by grow, I don't necessarily mean vertically,
Speaker 2: like next time Donovan's in town, if you go to
Speaker 2: a jazz game. Look at his wingspan, Look at his arms.
Speaker 2: Look at his hands. They're big, they're padded. He's got
Speaker 2: incredible length with both his legs and his arms.
Speaker 1: He moves really well.
Speaker 2: Laterally, and he started to excel in basketball as a teenager,
Speaker 2: but not until then, and ultimately was analyzed as a
Speaker 2: defensive stopper coming out of Louisville. Donovan himself didn't think
Speaker 2: that he was ready to go to the pros, and
Speaker 2: Tel Chris Paul said, look, you're ready, man, somebody's gonna
Speaker 2: give you a shot.
Speaker 1: Just go put the work in.
Speaker 2: And Donna did that here and so watching him burst
Speaker 2: on the scene as a rookie when he took over
Speaker 2: for Rodney Hood. Rodney Hood at the time was supposed
Speaker 2: to be the player who was going to step up
Speaker 2: and phill devoid left by Gordon Heyward.
Speaker 1: That lasted like five games.
Speaker 2: Quinn Snyder, who's in town tonight with a Hawk, said okay, Donovan, Okay, rookie,
Speaker 2: the car is yours, here are the keys, let's go.
Speaker 2: And he allowed Donovan to grow through some inevitable growing
Speaker 2: pains that most young players go through, but it didn't
Speaker 2: take too long. I think it was January, if I
Speaker 2: remember correctly, Donovan's rookie year, when the Pelicans rolled into
Speaker 2: town and I'm watching the game with Britton Johnson, my
Speaker 2: old partner for the Utah Jazz pre aff and post
Speaker 2: and of course youth basketball legend, and Donovan starts cooking
Speaker 2: early and Britain turns me said He's getting forty tonight.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no way, because I don't think he had
Speaker 2: scored thirty up to that point. And sure enough, Donovan
Speaker 2: dropped forty on the Pelicans, and that was kind of
Speaker 2: his welcome to the national narrative, the national NBA narrative.
Speaker 2: Not a lot of people thought the Jazz were going
Speaker 2: to be any good that year at all, because Heyward
Speaker 2: had left, no one knew anything about Mitchell, and Gobert
Speaker 2: still looked like a baby giraffe running up and down
Speaker 2: the floor, although he was showing signs. But it was
Speaker 2: Donovan's ascension his rookie year that really should have won
Speaker 2: him the award for Rookie of the Year, but that
Speaker 2: went to Ben Simmons, who was a second year player,
Speaker 2: even though he was injured and missed his first year.
Speaker 2: I've never liked that dynamic, different topic, different day. And
Speaker 2: then as the story goes, COVID changed that iteration of
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz forever. COVID changed a lot of the
Speaker 2: things forever that are more important than basketball. But for
Speaker 2: the sake of a sports socc radio show, COVID changed
Speaker 2: that team Gobert test positive. There was the false narrative
Speaker 2: that Rudy gave it to Donovan, and now we know
Speaker 2: in retrospect, nobody has any clue who gave it to
Speaker 2: Rudy or Donovan.
Speaker 1: Donovan could have given it to Rudy.
Speaker 2: But of course the CAAA circle comes together, they Bowlly Rudy.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, Adrian roj Narowski sends out a horrifically
Speaker 2: misguided tweet in Rudy's direction and clearly getting his CAAA
Speaker 2: buddy Donovan Mitchell's back, and suddenly Rudy became this punching
Speaker 2: bag and that team was fractured. And then of course
Speaker 2: that was the summer of Black Lives Matter and the
Speaker 2: murder of George Floyd, and Donovan started looking at things
Speaker 2: that quite frankly, he had never looked at before, by
Speaker 2: his own admission, and it changed the way that he
Speaker 2: was thinking about his role as a black man in
Speaker 2: the world and in the NBA, which is great. Good
Speaker 2: for him, there's nothing wrong with it, but it certainly
Speaker 2: changed the way that he felt about living here. And
Speaker 2: I think are some of our local legislators, mainly the
Speaker 2: ones who told Donovan to go learn about his own history,
Speaker 2: probably didn't do our market any favors to hold on
Speaker 2: to this really special generational player. And that's what he is, okay,
Speaker 2: And so the reason I bring it up in that
Speaker 2: direction is I'll always kind of cheer for the kid
Speaker 2: and hope that he figures it out in a way
Speaker 2: where he has better success in the spring. And nothing
Speaker 2: that Donovan does in the fall or the Calves do
Speaker 2: in the fall will change the narrative that Donovan so
Speaker 2: far has hit this playoff ceiling.
Speaker 1: It's not that he can't play in the playoff.
Speaker 2: I mean, we watched him go for a fifty piece
Speaker 2: in the bubble, and we've seen him have some of
Speaker 2: the most historic scoring postseason games in the history of
Speaker 2: this organization, the Jazz, and he's going to continue to
Speaker 2: do it for the Cavs. But I just wanted to
Speaker 2: present this because the athletic did this ranking of the
Speaker 2: best front offices in all of the major sports. And
Speaker 2: when I say all the major sports, I mean basketball, baseball, football,
Speaker 2: and they included hockey as well. And these lists have
Speaker 2: come out from time to time. It's not a new list,
Speaker 2: and you can go back and look at some of
Speaker 2: the lists of the best front offices in all of sports,
Speaker 2: or in the NBA, when Scott Layden was running the show,
Speaker 2: when Kevin O'Connor was running the show, when Dennis Lindsay
Speaker 2: was running the show, and when the Millers owned the team,
Speaker 2: the Jazz were always in the top three or five
Speaker 2: in the NBA and always in the top ten or
Speaker 2: twenty in all of sports. And with the latest list,
Speaker 2: the Jazz come in at number fifty one, just ahead
Speaker 2: of the Minnesota Wild the NHL team, And look, when
Speaker 2: you look at some of the NBA teams in their stratosphere,
Speaker 2: they're just behind Philadelphia the seventy six years their general manager,
Speaker 2: Daryl Morey is thought to be one of the more
Speaker 2: bright forward thinkers in all of pro basketball.
Speaker 1: And then Dallas is at fifty two.
Speaker 2: So Dallas is another front office that has a decent reputation.
Speaker 1: But this is a.
Speaker 2: Far far cry from where the Jazz front office once
Speaker 2: upon a time, used to be ranked year after year.
Speaker 1: Why did I bring up Donovan?
Speaker 2: Well, what will we say if Donovan Mitchell and the
Speaker 2: Cleveland Cavaliers go win the NBA Championship this year? Because
Speaker 2: through thirty four games played, Donovan has been really healthy
Speaker 2: this year. The numbers continue to be exactly what they've been. Okay,
Speaker 2: So it's twenty three points, it's five assists, it's four boards,
Speaker 2: the splits are pretty good. He's shooting forty one percent
Speaker 2: from three on nine attempts per game. He's not getting
Speaker 2: the free throw line as much, Okay, so he's not
Speaker 2: attacking the rim as much as he did when he
Speaker 2: was here. He's down to eighty one percent from the
Speaker 2: line on four free throw attempts. He shoots forty six
Speaker 2: percent from two, and so ultimately, this is a year
Speaker 2: that quantifiably, when you look at the data, it does
Speaker 2: not indicate that Donovan has taken this massive leap. But
Speaker 2: the way he is playing in Kenny Atkins Kenny Atkinson system,
Speaker 2: he has committed himself on the defensive side of the
Speaker 2: floor that even by his own admission, he never has
Speaker 2: in his career, which I'm sure fans around here like, thanks, dude,
Speaker 2: appreciate the effort while you were here. But he's playing
Speaker 2: winning basketball in the way he's never played winning basketball.
Speaker 2: He's a better playmate in the sandbox with his teammates
Speaker 2: than he ever was when he was here. And we
Speaker 2: had Tim Bond Tempts on the show last week, and
Speaker 2: Tim dropped the line that I just haven't been able
Speaker 2: to shake since he said it last week, and I
Speaker 2: asked him about whether or not we need to start
Speaker 2: talking about the Cavs as championship contenders. I mean, hell,
Speaker 2: they're thirty one to four. They're on pace to win
Speaker 2: more than seventy games, like that's not nothing. They've won
Speaker 2: ten straight, Like I said, they've separated themselves from the Celtics.
Speaker 2: And Tim said something that slapped me across the face.
Speaker 2: He said, well, come spring, we're going to find out
Speaker 2: if they're for real or if they're simply just Utah
Speaker 2: Jazz East. And that's because of the way the roster
Speaker 2: is constructed. They have a center in Jared Allen who's
Speaker 2: not as good as Rudy is on the glass or
Speaker 2: protecting the rim, but he's a very good defensive center.
Speaker 2: And he is a good rebounder, And then we could
Speaker 2: do the exercise of kind of comparing some of the
Speaker 2: other players. Did did Darius Garland a Mike Conley role?
Speaker 2: You know, we could go down the list as Kris Lavert,
Speaker 2: Joe Ingles, or whatever it is. The team actually is
Speaker 2: built somewhat similarly to the Jazz team.
Speaker 1: That Donovan played on while he was here.
Speaker 2: But what would happen if Donovan goes on and the
Speaker 2: Cleveland Cavaliers go on and win the championship? What would
Speaker 2: be fair to say about this front office right now
Speaker 2: with Utah Jazz in this organization where they did make
Speaker 2: the decision to trade Donovan Mitchell and Donovan's only twenty
Speaker 2: eight years old. And I think the thing that really
Speaker 2: stings is when you look at Donovan's per destination, there's.
Speaker 1: No room for him anywhere in New York.
Speaker 2: So it does lead me to wonder if the front
Speaker 2: office decided to tell Donovan, like, look, we know that
Speaker 2: maybe it's not as comfortable as you'd like it to
Speaker 2: be here, but give us a chance. You're on a
Speaker 2: contract for a couple of years. We have a really
Speaker 2: good team. Quinn's an awesome coach, because I think if
Speaker 2: that team stayed together. Remember Quinn left because he said
Speaker 2: there's no way forward. I don't see any way forward.
Speaker 2: I don't think he wanted to work with this ownership group.
Speaker 2: But that's a different story. But if the team came back,
Speaker 2: there would have been a way forward. Because Gobart has
Speaker 2: been great since he left here. Royce O'Neil has been
Speaker 2: much better than he was when he was here wherever
Speaker 2: he's been, and Donovan has now elevated himself to potentially
Speaker 2: a first team All League guy for maybe the favorite
Speaker 2: to win the NBA Championship through the first thirty five games,
Speaker 2: not according to Vegas, but they're thirty one and four.
Speaker 1: They've beaten a lot of really really good teams.
Speaker 2: And with the front office rankings and the reputation of
Speaker 2: this Jazz front office ownership group slash front office really
Speaker 2: lagging far behind what the front office was prior to
Speaker 2: and the ownership group was prior to, it'll be interesting
Speaker 2: to see what the conversation sounds like if Donovan, at
Speaker 2: the age of twenty eight, has really cracked this code
Speaker 2: and has taken a city in Cleveland that, according to
Speaker 2: market size, isn't a whole lot bigger than what Salt
Speaker 2: Lake is to the problemised land, and wonder if you
Speaker 2: could have done it here. And that's not necessarily fair
Speaker 2: because there's not enough time to unpack every single reason
Speaker 2: as far as why they traded him. It's a weird
Speaker 2: weather day because it's not warm, but the sun rolls
Speaker 2: in through the window and it fools you into thinking
Speaker 2: that you're warm. So I'm kind of alternating between beanie
Speaker 2: and sweatshirt and then no beanie and T shirt, although
Speaker 2: I like the beanie and T shirt look because.
Speaker 1: It makes me feel like I'm eminem.
Speaker 2: There you go, like eight mile walking down the streets
Speaker 2: of Salt Lake, blasting lose yourself, delusionally confident in my
Speaker 2: ability to attack anyone who comes my way.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 4: It's not warm. It's I don't know, well freezing though.
Speaker 4: I walk to work, so I know the walk home
Speaker 4: is going to be much cooler. You know where it's
Speaker 4: not warm? Ames, Iowa is our guy? Sean on the line?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Utah basketball in action and the line has moved, Okaks,
Speaker 2: So good news. Utah is no longer an eighteen point
Speaker 2: five point underdog. They're now a sixteen point five point underdog,
Speaker 2: so a massive ask for Craig's team on the road,
Speaker 2: and our guy Sean Mooney joins us on a Tuesday
Speaker 2: afternoon shot.
Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, Man, how are we doing?
Speaker 6: Thanks? Vince? How you do it?
Speaker 7: I can see you in that beani in the T shirt.
Speaker 7: I'm not going to get near you.
Speaker 1: Delusionally confident.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, I can throw these things if I
Speaker 2: need to, Sean, And when you have the beanie and
Speaker 2: the T shirt, look, you just have a level of confidence,
Speaker 2: and quite frankly, is probably unhealthy.
Speaker 6: It definitely is unhealthy.
Speaker 7: The last time we spoke, I think I was standing
Speaker 7: outside sinkle Field House, and our bet was something to
Speaker 7: the effect that if we won that game that would
Speaker 7: be against Indiana State, that Bill and I would dance.
Speaker 7: I want you to know, Spence, since then Bill and
Speaker 7: I had danced, and I do have it on video,
Speaker 7: but if the youth can pull off the win tonight,
Speaker 7: I'll send it to you.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Now I don't want to talk about
Speaker 2: anything else. You're tell me you have Bill Riley dancing
Speaker 2: on video.
Speaker 7: Technically he's not dancing. Technically he's singing and I'm dancing.
Speaker 7: But it's about as close as we're going to get.
Speaker 1: Okay, No, that is as close as you will get.
Speaker 2: Because a couple of times in studio I caught Bill
Speaker 2: like dancing to a bump and I shamed him because
Speaker 2: you don't want to see Bill dance for our listeners.
Speaker 1: You do not want to see him dance.
Speaker 2: So I immediately asked him to stop, and I think
Speaker 2: I probably justsuaded in from dancing.
Speaker 6: Ever again, we.
Speaker 7: Danced next to each other all the time with you know,
Speaker 7: little moves, not big moves, because we got headsets on, just.
Speaker 6: Like you do.
Speaker 2: Right now, for sure, for sure, all right, before we
Speaker 2: get to tonight, let's see Hilton Coliseum. Iowa Stayed is
Speaker 2: not lost for in forever. I think it's twenty six
Speaker 2: straight home wins for Iowa Stay. So but before before
Speaker 2: we get to tonight, I need you to tell me
Speaker 2: from your vantage point, simply, are you seeing improvement? I mean,
Speaker 2: I mean, let's start with baby steps, because the first
Speaker 2: couple of Big twelve games they have been housed. And
Speaker 2: I can't really spin it any other way, but you
Speaker 2: watch all these games up close, from the start of
Speaker 2: the season, the start of non con to where we're
Speaker 2: at today. Are you seeing this team incrementally get better.
Speaker 7: That's a really tough question. Yes, but we haven't. We
Speaker 7: haven't gotten.
Speaker 6: Over the hump.
Speaker 7: To me, the hump would have been getting one of
Speaker 7: those wins against a good team Mississippi State. We're really close,
Speaker 7: We're up eleven. Couldn't get it obviously, couldn't be Iowa,
Speaker 7: couldn't be Saint Mary's. And then, I mean, my goodness,
Speaker 7: we open with two of the most efficient teams, Baylor
Speaker 7: and TTU, and then you see what Iowa State does
Speaker 7: to Baylor. And now we're playing Iowa State, an ugly
Speaker 7: beginning to a conference that's as tough as it gets.
Speaker 7: I do think we're getting better, but I don't know
Speaker 7: that we're really sure who we are yet, Spence.
Speaker 2: And that's actually you read my mind, because that's where
Speaker 2: I want to go next. You know, and ultimately, if
Speaker 2: you've ever tried to play basketball against basketball players that
Speaker 2: are bigger, stronger, and more talented than you are, you
Speaker 2: know that the only way to compete is to find
Speaker 2: some sort of advantage in kind of a sneaky way,
Speaker 2: whether it's junking it up on defense. You know, the
Speaker 2: utes great national championship run majeris triangle in two against Arizona.
Speaker 1: Stuff like that. You know, box and one whatever it is.
Speaker 2: But if you don't match up man to man talent
Speaker 2: wise with the other team and Sean, let's just call
Speaker 2: it how it is so far, talent wise, Craig feels
Speaker 2: like he's marketing marching into a gym with a serious
Speaker 2: disadvantage simply with the players on his roster.
Speaker 1: I'll due respect. Hopefully that can change.
Speaker 2: But as far as who they are and the identity
Speaker 2: of the team and the culture, Craig is trying to build.
Speaker 2: What are some of your takeaways as far as what
Speaker 2: you're seeing that's tangible and what are some things you'd
Speaker 2: like to see implemented to indicate this thing is going
Speaker 2: in the right direction.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean a couple of things like so number
Speaker 7: one and Craig talked about it today and listeners will
Speaker 7: share this in our pregame. We do need to jump
Speaker 7: it up. You're exactly right, like we're mostly a man
Speaker 7: and man team and we definitely know what the other
Speaker 7: teams are bringing us, but right now we can't really
Speaker 7: take away option one or option two. One of Majaris's
Speaker 7: strengths was that they could take we our teams took
Speaker 7: away option one and you had to go to option two,
Speaker 7: and then we could take that away and you had
Speaker 7: to go to option three. We don't have that footprint
Speaker 7: right now. It's not like we don't have the ability,
Speaker 7: because I think defense is really so much about communication
Speaker 7: and understanding what you've got to take away. So to
Speaker 7: answer that question, we've got to be better, just like
Speaker 7: you said with that, and then as far as getting better,
Speaker 7: maybe the storn in our side this year is we
Speaker 7: have eleven players that can play and are playing, which
Speaker 7: is great, then maybe we don't have the defined roles
Speaker 7: at this point in the season that we need to have.
Speaker 7: So everyone that is playing knows exactly what they need
Speaker 7: to do and how they need to do it.
Speaker 6: And there are a lot of.
Speaker 7: Voices in these kids' heads nowadays, Spence, because of outside
Speaker 7: influence agents, you know, some of the traditional stuff, but
Speaker 7: there's a lot of voices and these kids has, in
Speaker 7: addition to that eleven player deep roster.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the rotation.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, we'll stick with the big twelve stuff because
Speaker 2: that's kind of where we're at now with conference play.
Speaker 2: First game against Baylor, you know, obviously it was over quick, unfortunately.
Speaker 2: And then Craig Mager made a couple of changes to
Speaker 2: the starting lineup, with Caleb Loner starting.
Speaker 1: He did not start Game one.
Speaker 2: And then as far as the rotation goes, yeah, against Baylor,
Speaker 2: I mean Craig played eleven guys really, and then against
Speaker 2: Texas Tech it was more nine guys and Mirror Little
Speaker 2: got eleven minutes. But just give me your thoughts on
Speaker 2: the rotation. You think we're settled on a starting five.
Speaker 2: Would you like to see the rotation trimmed a little
Speaker 2: bit from ten or eleven to maybe your best eight
Speaker 2: or nine?
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts?
Speaker 6: Yeah, this is good.
Speaker 7: I mean I of course was the twelfth guy or
Speaker 7: the thirteenth guy in a twelve men roster and didn't
Speaker 7: play much, so I'm always rooting for those guys. At
Speaker 7: the end of the roster, our guys are pretty even
Speaker 7: top to bottom. Caleb Belona started that game primarily not
Speaker 7: because Caleb didn't deserve it, but because as had a
Speaker 7: family member as or Ascer had a family matter he
Speaker 7: had to deal with. He's here today. Yeah, I do
Speaker 7: think that it does help to get to eight or
Speaker 7: nine and to come to the conclusion that you're going
Speaker 7: to have some starters. And then obviously the bench is
Speaker 7: always a powerful motivator for kids like Miro got really
Speaker 7: give to the bench in that last game, partly because
Speaker 7: he struggled so much. I thought Mike did a good
Speaker 7: job in that position. It's Mike and Miro, But I
Speaker 7: do think that it would help if you kind of got.
Speaker 6: Your minutes in order and you know what you're going
Speaker 6: to get.
Speaker 7: I think that's a difficult job, but that's the coach's job.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's interesting if you look at the Big twelve rankings,
Speaker 2: as far as the numbers go, Utah leads the conference
Speaker 2: and assists per game twenty point five assists per game.
Speaker 2: Is that a reflection? You know, it's kind of interesting,
Speaker 2: like watching the Jazz right now and watching the way
Speaker 2: that Will Hardy wants to to play, Like they don't
Speaker 2: have a Shay, they don't have a Luca, they don't
Speaker 2: have a ball dominant lead guard, or you could one
Speaker 2: four flat or Iso and say you go make a play.
Speaker 2: And so even marketing's not that dude. He just isn't
Speaker 2: an isolation guy. He's really good and so you want.
Speaker 2: If you're Will Hardy, you want to see everybody eat
Speaker 2: because you do not have that one ball dominant guy.
Speaker 2: It doesn't feel like Utah has that ball in hand
Speaker 2: playmaker either. Is the assist number per game simply the
Speaker 2: way that Craig wants to play based off the roster, like,
Speaker 2: we've got to share the basketball because we are not
Speaker 2: ISO nominate.
Speaker 6: Spencer.
Speaker 7: You're good, you've watched a lot of basketball.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 7: The difference between us and the teams that we've lost
Speaker 7: to you this year is they have two or three
Speaker 7: players that can get it done off the bounce, So
Speaker 7: they can either score at the rim off the bounce,
Speaker 7: or they can get two feet in the paint and
Speaker 7: draw and make a good pass where they're mid range.
Speaker 7: So they're like three level scores. We technically don't have
Speaker 7: any three level scores, and we don't get many easy buckets.
Speaker 6: That's one of the.
Speaker 7: Reasons why you see us kidding so many sists and
Speaker 7: we do change it. Well, that's our strength this year.
Speaker 7: We need kids that can get it off the bounce
Speaker 7: more than what we have right now.
Speaker 2: All right, So moving over to your impressions of just
Speaker 2: the Big twelve overall, before we land on Iowa State
Speaker 2: to finish our hit because you know, it's just been
Speaker 2: interesting to watch the different reactions of the different sports
Speaker 2: with the new challenge, and you know, Gavin, it's interesting,
Speaker 2: you know. Interestingly enough, the women had a tougher challenge
Speaker 2: in the Pac twelve than they do in the Big twelve,
Speaker 2: and so talking to coach Rob before Gavin took over, like,
Speaker 2: their challenge is a little bit different, and I think
Speaker 2: they have a chance to really compete at a high
Speaker 2: level in this conference. On the women's side, the football side,
Speaker 2: it feels the same, a bunch of like good teams
Speaker 2: to beat the crap out of each other. But on
Speaker 2: the men's basketball side, this is a massive jump up,
Speaker 2: a massive jump up in a way that I'm not
Speaker 2: sure most of our listeners fully understand, because I don't
Speaker 2: know how many of our listeners have paid much attention
Speaker 2: to the landscape of college basketball outside of the prism
Speaker 2: of the team they watch. So your early impressions not
Speaker 2: just the games that you've seen Utah play, but how
Speaker 2: would you articulate from a thirty thousand foot view shown
Speaker 2: just how tough this conference is for Craig to traverse.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's it's ridiculous. So with the SEC is
Speaker 7: the best conference right now, They're probably going to get
Speaker 7: eleven this year. The Big twelves right behind them with
Speaker 7: nine eleven game eleven teams in the NC Tournament, the
Speaker 7: Big Twelve probably with nine. I know it's early, but
Speaker 7: you've got three teams, maybe four teams in the Big
Speaker 7: twelve that could win it all. Those three definitely being
Speaker 7: Iowa State, Houston, Kansas, and I'm gonna throw my sleeper in.
Speaker 7: I know people are down on them, but Arizona now,
Speaker 7: they're not up there right now, but they're gonna be.
Speaker 7: That's a good team.
Speaker 6: It's just the.
Speaker 7: Thirty thousand foot view is fans are really engaged. The
Speaker 7: Baylor fans were engaged. Fantastic facility. We're gonna go into
Speaker 7: probably one of the toughest places to play in the country,
Speaker 7: third longest active winning streak, and other than a few teams,
Speaker 7: I think it's going to be like that for the
Speaker 7: entire twenty game schedule.
Speaker 2: Do you think Utah is going to be favored in
Speaker 2: any of the games in conference play?
Speaker 7: Bill and I were just talking about this over pizza.
Speaker 7: Maybe Oklahoma stayed at home, all.
Speaker 1: Right, and that's it.
Speaker 2: Probably goodness gracious, did Bill order a peach snapple or
Speaker 2: a peach iced.
Speaker 1: Tea with his pizza? You know him, so just wondering.
Speaker 2: Just make sure he gets his refills because he can
Speaker 2: get grumpy prior to the game. All right, let's move
Speaker 2: over now to this challenge. As you reference, they just
Speaker 2: don't lose it at home. They don't lose it. Hilton
Speaker 2: Coliseum as one of the longest active homes home streaks
Speaker 2: in the nation as you reference. And you know they've
Speaker 2: got I've got a roster with a lot of depth,
Speaker 2: like Craig. They you know, they played nine guys more
Speaker 2: than fourteen minutes. So what do you what have you
Speaker 2: learned about Iowa State throughout your your prep and what
Speaker 2: do you think Utah has to do to at least
Speaker 2: make it a fair fight down the stretch?
Speaker 1: I guess is how we'll ask it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I saw a couple of things.
Speaker 7: I think they have the best guard three guard tandem.
Speaker 6: In the country.
Speaker 7: And I know there's a really good guard at Marquette
Speaker 7: and are a lot of other good guards. But tam
Speaker 7: and Lipsey is a glue guy. He's a disruptor. He
Speaker 7: will not be denied getting over screens. Keishawn Gilbert Big
Speaker 7: twelve MVP Tournament last year, he's only gotten better. And
Speaker 7: Curtis Jones, number five, comes off the bench and he
Speaker 7: scored sixteen points a game. And that's not even talking
Speaker 7: about their inside guys, which they didn't really have last year.
Speaker 7: Now they have three inside guys that can get it done.
Speaker 7: Two that they run through, DeShawn Jackson and Joshua Jebson
Speaker 7: from Saint Mary's. And then the kid have me mentioned
Speaker 7: Monts Mom Sillovich low stay call him. That kid can
Speaker 7: shoot it from anywhere and we'll make them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, gonna be a tough ask on the Utah side.
Speaker 2: Just give me some give me some keys. How can
Speaker 2: they counter this?
Speaker 1: Is it? Simply? Is it shot making?
Speaker 8: Is it you?
Speaker 2: Are you looking for a different rotation? Are you looking
Speaker 2: for a different approach? As you're sitting there court side,
Speaker 2: Sean watching the game early, what do you want to
Speaker 2: see from the team?
Speaker 1: Early on?
Speaker 2: Indicate Okay, maybe this won't be the long night most
Speaker 2: of us anticipate.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 7: The number one thing is physicality. Our team has to
Speaker 7: play with a high level of physicality, and what that
Speaker 7: means basically is like say, Spence, I'm guarding you on
Speaker 7: the wing and you cut, I'm not going to just
Speaker 7: let you go wherever you want to go. If you're
Speaker 7: a shooter and you're going around a ball screen about
Speaker 7: the screen is coming to the ball, I've got to
Speaker 7: go over that screen. You got to see us tell
Speaker 7: them where to go. And we're going to rake off
Speaker 7: or raid off, or we're going to dig down. We're
Speaker 7: going to help off of two of their most important
Speaker 7: players and also drivers, which is Keishawn Gilbert and team
Speaker 7: on Lipsie. They can both hit threes. They'll hit big threes,
Speaker 7: but watch those positions. So when we rake down or
Speaker 7: raid down, let's see if we can't get back and
Speaker 7: stop or level off that drive because it's coming. So
Speaker 7: I think we also have to junk it up. Just
Speaker 7: like you said, we can't just show them man and man.
Speaker 7: We got to show him a little zone.
Speaker 2: With the physicality. I would imagine Caleb can have a
Speaker 2: role to play there. And of course he comes over
Speaker 2: from the football team and miss the start of the season,
Speaker 2: so he's still getting his feet wet. Did get a start,
Speaker 2: He's only played in six games. What have you seen
Speaker 2: so far since he's been cleared to play, you know,
Speaker 2: for Craig, and he's getting himself into basketball shape. But yes, yes,
Speaker 2: it is different than football shape. Okay, just is I'm
Speaker 2: and it will take a minute. And when he is
Speaker 2: fully acclimated, what do you think he can be for
Speaker 2: the team.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean he's a defensive stopper.
Speaker 6: There's no question.
Speaker 7: He's got a body and he's fast enough.
Speaker 6: He moves his feet well enough.
Speaker 7: Not only can he hedge out heart can get on
Speaker 7: a guard and defend a guard well. But he's going
Speaker 7: to defend the post extremely well.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 7: He can slip it, he can get off of the
Speaker 7: posting and get in front.
Speaker 6: He's a very good rebounder.
Speaker 7: He's a kid who knows his role pretty much. He's
Speaker 7: how to roll his whole life. He's not necessarily a shooter, right,
Speaker 7: but what he's trying to do is put pressure on
Speaker 7: the paint. When he gets to catch outside, he'll see
Speaker 7: him dribble in two for jumps up, make a pass
Speaker 7: and then he's an offensive rebounder. I mean, he could
Speaker 7: be our best sumptence rebounder. I think Countadaze is, but
Speaker 7: I think he's a very established role player at which
Speaker 7: every team needs.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you one more you question that I
Speaker 2: actually have a BYU question, and I'll set you loose
Speaker 2: so you can get back to it. But we were
Speaker 2: talking about the need to have a ball in hand
Speaker 2: guy who can make plays, just a lead guard, who
Speaker 2: can dribble, who can pass, who can get for himself
Speaker 2: and get for others. Are there any candidates on the
Speaker 2: roster as somebody who you think can grow into that role,
Speaker 2: because look, Gabe is great, but that it's just not
Speaker 2: Gabe's game and that's all right, it doesn't have to be.
Speaker 2: Gabe is awesome about what Gabe does. But is there
Speaker 2: a ball in hand guy potentially on the roster?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Absolutely, Both Mike Charvon's shar jumps and and Mero.
Speaker 6: They both are.
Speaker 7: Mew Ro is very much a confidence kid and this
Speaker 7: is really his freshman year. He didn't play much at
Speaker 7: Baylor last year. He's a sophomore. Mike's had more games
Speaker 7: under his belt. They're both the guys that have to
Speaker 7: be the ball in hand now. The question is are
Speaker 7: either of them going to blow by this level of athleticism.
Speaker 7: Probably not, So they got to play within their ability
Speaker 7: and do what they've got to do. But we really
Speaker 7: need them to be able to penetrate when they need
Speaker 7: to penetrate in two foot jump, stop being under control
Speaker 7: and make good passes out of those situations. Right now, Spince,
Speaker 7: we have no one really.
Speaker 6: That gets easy buckets for us, and we need that.
Speaker 7: And that's a ball in hand guy, like you say,
Speaker 7: that's what a ball in hand guy.
Speaker 1: Does for sure?
Speaker 2: All right, before I set you loose, you know, don't
Speaker 2: I don't watch a ton of high school basketball. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, for the job, you have to watch so
Speaker 2: many things, and then I would prefer to have a
Speaker 2: life at time, so I'm not like dialed in on
Speaker 2: high school hoops. And when I started hear the rumors
Speaker 2: about aj DEBANTSA potentially looking at BYU. When the rumors
Speaker 2: started like a year ago, when he transferred here to
Speaker 2: play for whatever that school is. There are a lot
Speaker 2: of questions about it, what exactly it is, But he
Speaker 2: played some high school ball here for a school that
Speaker 2: I don't know. But ut starting your rumors that BYU
Speaker 2: might lock this guy in. And then I was told
Speaker 2: by somebody down there that they had him about two
Speaker 2: weeks before he and his father went on first take
Speaker 2: and shocked the world. Like my favorite part about that
Speaker 2: was Stephen A. Smith essentially saying like, wait where is BYU?
Speaker 2: Like he couldn't wrap his mind around the decision. And
Speaker 2: so after that went down, I started watching tape on
Speaker 2: the kid and like he is everything that everybody says.
Speaker 2: You don't look at you don't see really any weaknesses.
Speaker 2: Maybe he just improves on every area where he's already awesome.
Speaker 2: I mean, he feels generational and this feels historic and BYU,
Speaker 2: whether it's intentional or not, where they whether or not
Speaker 2: they saw around corners is irrelevant because they've built the
Speaker 2: staff Sean that is different than every staff in college basketball,
Speaker 2: where the head coach was a high level NBA coach
Speaker 2: who interviewed for several NBA jobs. His bench has two
Speaker 2: former G League head coaches on it. Their strength and
Speaker 2: conditioning coach came from the NBA. Their nutritionists was with
Speaker 2: the Suns. It is a professional coaching staff, and obviously
Speaker 2: they're collectives in order because the reports are he got
Speaker 2: seven mil for five months of basketball And if you're
Speaker 2: a Utah fan, you're looking down at this and you're going, well,
Speaker 2: how do we compete with that? Which is tough to do.
Speaker 2: But just give me your thoughts on that dynamic before
Speaker 2: I say you lose.
Speaker 7: Yeah, a couple of things. Number one, you're right about
Speaker 7: all those things. And you heard him in that interview
Speaker 7: say exactly what you just said. They've got an NBA coach,
Speaker 7: They've got an NBA strength coast, they have an NBA nutritionsness.
Speaker 7: It's a good sell like no one else. I don't
Speaker 7: know of anyone else is doing that. My hope is
Speaker 7: this as a Utah fan. Calipari said it this year
Speaker 7: when he moved, he said, I can't win with freshman anymore.
Speaker 7: And that may be true because of COVID and you've
Speaker 7: got these super seniors. But my hope is that that
Speaker 7: continues to be a difficult task because they're going to
Speaker 7: bring in one and done. That's just all there is
Speaker 7: to it.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 7: The question is can you win with them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Now, Kevin's got a show you can coach. There's
Speaker 2: a little pressure, there's no doubt, all right, man, appreciate
Speaker 2: the time. A great call tonight, and I'll just say,
Speaker 2: let's hope it's a fair fight.
Speaker 1: How about that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, same, We're excited to be here. Thanks for having
Speaker 7: me on, Spence.
Speaker 6: Nice to talk to you minute.
Speaker 1: Sean Moody.
Speaker 2: What are the nicest guys out played basketball Utah in
Speaker 2: the nineties. Now you can hear them alongside Bill Riley
Speaker 2: on the call for Utah Ben hoops Utah men's basketball
Speaker 2: in Ames, Iowa tonight at a place where Iowa State
Speaker 2: does not lose, Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State has won currently
Speaker 2: twenty six straight home games. That's the fourth longest active
Speaker 2: home win streaking Division one. Utah is a sixteen point
Speaker 2: five point underdog, so we'll see if they can shock
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: When hour down, three hours to go.
Speaker 2: Scott Mitchell joins us a little bit later on, but
Speaker 2: come it up next we'll do some jazz and MBA
Speaker 2: with Tim McMahon.
Speaker 1: So keep it right here, all.
Speaker 2: Right, rolling along on the program today, My buddy brand
Speaker 2: In from my Hearing Centers is live in studio.
Speaker 1: Brandon. How are you doing man?
Speaker 9: And I'm doing great. Spence, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time. So let's start here.
Speaker 2: When's the best time to get hearing aids. I think
Speaker 2: people here like, oh, we're selling hearing aids, but I'm not.
Speaker 2: Ninety's the best time to actually get your hearing checked.
Speaker 10: You know, I'm almost fifty and I tell everybody once
Speaker 10: you hit about our age, it's it's a good idea
Speaker 10: to get your hearing testa just to find out where
Speaker 10: you're at and get a benchmark. The reality is, the
Speaker 10: cognitive decline that occurs for an individual with hearing loss
Speaker 10: usually starts when they don't even notice they have it.
Speaker 10: And so I always say, hey, the best time to
Speaker 10: get a hearing aid is anytime you recognize you're missing
Speaker 10: out on anything. And usually that comes from a family
Speaker 10: member on your spouse of hey, yeah, you're not paying attention.
Speaker 10: You're like, I heard you, I just didn't understand you.
Speaker 10: And that's kind of the key. It's not what we
Speaker 10: don't hear, it's maybe you didn't quite understand that.
Speaker 2: Okay, tell me about the Smart Rick. What's that technology
Speaker 2: were talking about today?
Speaker 10: Yeah, so white X is you know one of the
Speaker 10: big six manufacturers.
Speaker 9: They have a phenomenal hearing aid out it's called the
Speaker 9: smart Rick.
Speaker 10: And you know, in twenty years of fitting hearing aids,
Speaker 10: I've never come across to hearing aid that's so sleek,
Speaker 10: doesn't really look like.
Speaker 1: A hearing aid.
Speaker 10: It's very comfortable, has like the longest battery life of
Speaker 10: any hearing aid on the market right now.
Speaker 9: And so you know the fact that most of us
Speaker 9: put off.
Speaker 10: Getting help because if we don't want to be seen
Speaker 10: as old and with this clunky hearing aid that looks
Speaker 10: like a Beijes banana.
Speaker 9: You know, this doesn't look like it.
Speaker 10: It looks like a bluetooth, and so a lot of
Speaker 10: people want to wear it. But it streams the bluetooth
Speaker 10: that has a very long battery life, like thirty six hours.
Speaker 10: It has a little charger it goes in that'll charge
Speaker 10: them up five more times, you know, just like your
Speaker 10: air pods or something like that. But it probably sounds
Speaker 10: the most natural of any of the products we have
Speaker 10: access to, and so you know, we've been fitting a
Speaker 10: lot of people with that recently.
Speaker 2: Excellent Brandon, what's the special offer you have for our
Speaker 2: listeners who call you today?
Speaker 10: Yeah, so those who call in right now will be
Speaker 10: able to get in and get a free full diagnostic
Speaker 10: herring evaluation to find out if you even need help
Speaker 10: or not, and then from there, if it looks like
Speaker 10: you could use help, we're going to fit you with
Speaker 10: some hearing aids that you're going to try risk free
Speaker 10: for thirty days. At the end of thirty days, if
Speaker 10: you're not happy with it, we'll take it back. You know,
Speaker 10: we have every manufacturer out there. We'll fit you with
Speaker 10: something that works.
Speaker 7: Van McMahon Van McMahon.
Speaker 6: That is dud in old Land.
Speaker 11: Texas flood as sick as mud.
Speaker 7: He's man, Van McMahon, Van McMahon, these man, Man.
Speaker 2: Good day to have our guy on the show. Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: An old friend is in town. Quinn Snyder and the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Hawks are here to take on the Utah Jazz
Speaker 2: and Van McMahon himself, Tim McMahon the first hit in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Timmy, Happy Tuesday. Are you doing?
Speaker 12: Hodie Barterer?
Speaker 2: Misteriear great to have you on on a daylight today. First,
Speaker 2: I just want to know your deepest and darkest secrets.
Speaker 2: What are the New Year's resolutions? And are we still
Speaker 2: on track?
Speaker 8: They're the same old and I'm already off track, So
Speaker 8: we'll see what we can do to.
Speaker 12: Get back on track.
Speaker 1: Makes two of us? Makes two of us? All right, weird,
Speaker 1: weird question.
Speaker 2: You're used to it right out of the gates here,
Speaker 2: How should How should jazz fans remember Quinn Snyder as
Speaker 2: he's in town here coaching the Atlanta Hoks tonight.
Speaker 8: I mean, I think they should remember him fondly. He
Speaker 8: took over a total rebuild. You know, he helped build
Speaker 8: that franchise up to the point where we can debate
Speaker 8: the semantics of contender. But you know, a team that
Speaker 8: was at the number one seed, a perennial playoff team,
Speaker 8: you know, a very good team that just couldn't get.
Speaker 12: Over the hump.
Speaker 8: And then you know that inning wasn't the smoothest thing ever.
Speaker 8: But honestly, it was time. It was time for that
Speaker 8: chapter in jazz history to end, and it was going
Speaker 8: to end whether Quinn decided that he was leaving or not.
Speaker 8: So I think there should be nothing, but you know,
Speaker 8: but cheers for Quinn Snyder. I do have a confession.
Speaker 8: Have I told you the Quinn Snyder sounded Jesse Roff story? No?
Speaker 1: And now it's all I want to hear.
Speaker 8: Okay, So you know when I say Sally Jesse Rafael,
Speaker 8: do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 12: Okay?
Speaker 8: So Quinn did not know that people referred to the
Speaker 8: Red Frames as a Sally Jesse Rafael until my big
Speaker 8: mouth flapped it to him in Vegas and he was mortified.
Speaker 12: This is at the NBA Cup. I saw Quinn in
Speaker 12: Vegas at the NBA Cup. You know you know that Quinn, yes,
Speaker 12: just shoot up and like, oh my.
Speaker 8: He could not believe that it was something that was
Speaker 8: a discussion point. And he was like, he was like,
Speaker 8: you know, I don't want to do anything extra to
Speaker 8: bring attention to myself. I'm never going to wear those again.
Speaker 8: I was like, come on, Quinn, sure enough, he's been
Speaker 8: in the black frame since. I hope, I hope maybe
Speaker 8: he'll have he'll let it go. But some folks in
Speaker 8: the Hawks front office thought it was pretty hilarious of
Speaker 8: of their PR staff, their PR staff. Will we helped
Speaker 8: to decide the next day and said, yeah, we've kind
Speaker 8: of made a conscious decision not to fill him in.
Speaker 3: On that one.
Speaker 8: And sure sure enough, I opened my mouth and.
Speaker 12: So much for the salary Jesse Rafiel.
Speaker 1: And knowing Quinn he will not let that go.
Speaker 8: Okay, I think, yeah, when when he didn't wear them,
Speaker 8: when he didn't wear him the next name, I was like,
Speaker 8: all right, then, I you know, I check in and
Speaker 8: I you know, obviously when I turned the Hawks on
Speaker 8: league pass, It's one of the first things I try
Speaker 8: to see, Is.
Speaker 3: He in him?
Speaker 12: Is he in him?
Speaker 8: I hope it's been those boring old black frames. And
Speaker 8: I'd like to apologize to the UH to be super
Speaker 8: nerdy and be a fan who who notices that sort
Speaker 8: of thing, because I think I screwed it up for everybody.
Speaker 2: That is hilarious because I was honestly wondering why he
Speaker 2: stopped wearing them and I did not know is because
Speaker 2: you decided to openly mock him in front of people
Speaker 2: that he works with.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 8: I meant it as a as a you know, as
Speaker 8: a sar castic compliment, but I truly did enjoy.
Speaker 12: Besides Jesse Ropeel.
Speaker 2: And I know the look, and mostly I know the
Speaker 2: look because I saw that look every time Andy Larson asked.
Speaker 1: Him a question.
Speaker 8: Andy is definitely familiar with the look that although there
Speaker 8: wasn't scorn for me, everyone's why Andy would.
Speaker 12: Draw some scorn.
Speaker 8: There wasn't scorn for me, but there was definitely he
Speaker 8: was shocked and not thrilled.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I mean Will is pithy and sarcastic
Speaker 2: and dismissive. But Quinn will look through your soul, and
Speaker 2: yes he will. There were nights where I'd be like, Andy,
Speaker 2: you might want to leave early, dude, I don't know
Speaker 2: that you want to be walking on the street of
Speaker 2: Quinn's leaving. I wonder if you've noticed any because I've
Speaker 2: shared this anecdote several times and actually talked about it
Speaker 2: with frank Leyden a couple of weeks ago, who was
Speaker 2: on the show. When Quinn first took the job. I
Speaker 2: didn't know him well. And Hubie Brown, my guy. I
Speaker 2: was in town to call a game, and I knew
Speaker 2: Hubie a little bit, you know, for just kind of
Speaker 2: being the business or whatever, enough to say hello and
Speaker 2: ask him questions. And he's always very gracious. And I
Speaker 2: asked him about Quinn. I said, you know, I know
Speaker 2: it's early, it's his first year. Seems really sharp, really bright,
Speaker 2: really organized. You know, what do you think? And hub
Speaker 2: said to me, oh, he's great, but he'll probably burn
Speaker 2: himself out in six or seven years.
Speaker 1: And it took I think it took eight. I think
Speaker 1: it was eight full years on the bench.
Speaker 2: And look, there are several reasons why he elected to
Speaker 2: leave and take some time off. But you know, I'll
Speaker 2: exchange the text with him here or there, but I
Speaker 2: don't see him and talk to him the way I
Speaker 2: used to. Have you noticed any growth as he's taken
Speaker 2: on this new opportunity or do you feel like this
Speaker 2: is going to be another like Quinn's going to burn
Speaker 2: the candle on both ends and maybe find something else
Speaker 2: to do in seven or eight years.
Speaker 8: Yeah, honestly, man, I think that that Quinn only knows
Speaker 8: one way, and that way it does not a glued
Speaker 8: to a lot of sleep like he's going to work
Speaker 8: around in the clock. He's you know, Quinn's a maniac. Yeah,
Speaker 8: he's a maniac genius, and that's just the way that
Speaker 8: he's going to go about things. You know, Look, he
Speaker 8: took on a challenging job too. You know, if he
Speaker 8: had taken my advice, he probably would have waited and
Speaker 8: waited out that summer and kind of been the had
Speaker 8: a choice of some gigs, but he took really the
Speaker 8: first job that came open. Remember that was a mid
Speaker 8: season and hiring in Atlanta, and I didn't see a
Speaker 8: whole lot of promise. I didn't see a whole lot
Speaker 8: of potential to really the credit of the front office
Speaker 8: and to Quinn, they have put together a really nice
Speaker 8: young core, and you know, I think this is where
Speaker 8: Quinn is kind of like just in his element when
Speaker 8: he's developing. You know, he's putting something together, he's building
Speaker 8: something up. They still have challenges in terms of future
Speaker 8: picks are being you know, out the door, but I
Speaker 8: think he's invigorated by being able to work with you know,
Speaker 8: Dyson Daniels. I mean, he was absolutely out of it. Hey,
Speaker 8: if we're making this trend, we have to get Dyson Daniels.
Speaker 8: Jalen Johnson, who you know, people are starting to figure
Speaker 8: out is really one of the great young players in
Speaker 8: the league. You know, a couple other young guys on
Speaker 8: that roster. But you know, is Quinn going to be
Speaker 8: a guy who last one place forever and ever? I'm
Speaker 8: not sure about that, But I do think he's enjoined
Speaker 8: kind of the opportunity and the challenges that he has
Speaker 8: right now with the Hawks.
Speaker 2: Systematically, is it kind of the same deal that he
Speaker 2: ran while he was here. I mean, obviously a lot
Speaker 2: of it is catered towards the personnel you have, and
Speaker 2: Trey Young is a ball in hand guy, unlike I mean,
Speaker 2: Donovan is certainly a ball in hand guy, but they're
Speaker 2: different players. Is this team tonight, You're gonna be running
Speaker 2: a system that Jazz fans aren't familiar with because it's
Speaker 2: quinn system, or is a little bit different based off
Speaker 2: the personnel.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 8: I think that Quinn's system is like the great coaches
Speaker 8: don't fit players into their system. They fit a system
Speaker 8: around the talent that they have. Why were the Jazz
Speaker 8: such a heavy pick and roll team because that played
Speaker 8: to the strengths of the best players. You know, that
Speaker 8: played to the strength of not just Donovan Mitchell, but
Speaker 8: especially Rudy Gobert. You know, I think it is similar
Speaker 8: with the Hawks, just because Srey Young is one of
Speaker 8: the best pick and roll playmakers in the NBA. You know,
Speaker 8: the Capel is not the springy guy that he used
Speaker 8: to be, but you know, he's still a capable finisher
Speaker 8: of congou those sort of things. So I think there's similarities.
Speaker 8: But like I said, I don't think that Quinn would
Speaker 8: run the same system if he was coaching thirty different teams.
Speaker 8: I think that he would certainly adapt and tweak and
Speaker 8: maybe even bring in completely new chapters of.
Speaker 12: A playbook based on his circumstances.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now that's well said. Be interesting to kind of
Speaker 2: see how this rolls tonight. Now, the Jazz have been
Speaker 2: a little bit better as of late, and you know
Speaker 2: the name, and it's kind of really making the rounds
Speaker 2: because of a couple of games of just elite shot
Speaker 2: making his Brice Sensiba and you know, they're sitting a
Speaker 2: lot of guys like we knew they would, and Will
Speaker 2: tends to maximize whatever talent he has at his disposal.
Speaker 1: They go down to.
Speaker 2: Florida and they take care of a Heat team that's
Speaker 2: a little bit dysfunctional right now. And the Magic team, unfortunately,
Speaker 2: after that great start, just can't get healthy and it
Speaker 2: doesn't look like they'll be healthy.
Speaker 1: For a while. So no one's hanging banners.
Speaker 2: But Bryce is shot making over the past few games
Speaker 2: is something we haven't seen before.
Speaker 1: Is there a chance they may have found something?
Speaker 2: Because ultimately their walking line was to get back in
Speaker 2: to the end of the first round. Decide to make
Speaker 2: that pick was because Bryce was available, and most of
Speaker 2: that is because he was an elite shot maker and
Speaker 2: scorer at Ohio State, and it's taken some time to
Speaker 2: manifest could this be a player that maybe we haven't
Speaker 2: paid enough attention to.
Speaker 8: Well, first of all, you say, nobody's hanging banners, and
Speaker 8: if they take my encouragement, they will absolutely hang a
Speaker 8: Florida State championship banner tonight and halftime.
Speaker 1: Don't tempt us, don't tempt us to listen.
Speaker 8: You earn that, by the way, that magic team that's
Speaker 8: completely gonna buy injuries went up and won a Madison
Speaker 8: Square Garden. Yeah they did last night. But as far
Speaker 8: as since mug goes, look, these young guys, at some
Speaker 8: time or another, they're all going to have significant opportunity.
Speaker 8: And obviously the Jazz are looking for guys who take
Speaker 8: advantage of that, looking.
Speaker 12: For guys who pop.
Speaker 8: And you know, since a Bah clearly has been popping recently.
Speaker 8: And you know, as you mentioned like his hope to
Speaker 8: be a you know, to have a nice, long, productive
Speaker 8: NBA career, he's got to be a bucket like. He's
Speaker 8: not a super dynamic athlete. He's not, you know, going
Speaker 8: to be some kind of lockdown defender, you know, can
Speaker 8: he be a big time bucket getter And it's flashes,
Speaker 8: But that's what you want to see from these young guys,
Speaker 8: you want to see flashes, and then you want to
Speaker 8: see those flashes.
Speaker 12: Kind of forming a consistency.
Speaker 8: Uh So you know step one is the flashes. And
Speaker 8: he's had some big time scoring performances lately.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's a pure shooter when he can get
Speaker 2: a shot off if the defense isn't paying attention to him.
Speaker 2: I mean, he really does have a chance to get
Speaker 2: buckets and score points, which is he he has over
Speaker 2: the past couple of games. And we'll see who they
Speaker 2: play tonight. We'll see who the Jazz elect to play
Speaker 2: moving forward. But one of the things that we continue
Speaker 2: to monitor here. Anytime somebody over at your spot at
Speaker 2: ESPN or the Athletic or whatever decides to talk about
Speaker 2: the trade deadline, the Jazz are inevitably brought up. And
Speaker 2: one name Tim that I keep hearing, and maybe it's
Speaker 2: just I don't know. I feel like there's this thing
Speaker 2: where maybe media members and other markets see a player
Speaker 2: here playing.
Speaker 1: Well and they're like, oh, we could get him.
Speaker 2: I just keep hearing that Dandy and Justin are taking
Speaker 2: calls about Walker, and I just can't really wrap my
Speaker 2: mind around it.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Everybody's tradable Okay, I'm not saying there isn't an offer
Speaker 2: out there for Walker Kessler, but based off of what
Speaker 2: we've seen this year and his age and how much
Speaker 2: they like him, I don't know that I'd even take
Speaker 2: phone calls on him right now unless somebody's gonna blow
Speaker 2: my socks off.
Speaker 8: I mean, you take phone calls, but those phone calls
Speaker 8: in pretty quickly unless that unless somebody is making you
Speaker 8: with the type of offer that you can refuse. And look,
Speaker 8: the Jazz took a ton of phone calls on Walker
Speaker 8: Kessler over the summer, and obviously he did not get moved.
Speaker 8: There was a lot of interest in him. There was
Speaker 8: a lot of teams calling and trying to kind of
Speaker 8: buy low. He didn't get moved in and the stock
Speaker 8: has gone up, like you know, look, it's not a
Speaker 8: winning situation, but you have to be able to evaluate
Speaker 8: individual development and individual performance, you know, in those circumstances.
Speaker 8: And look, he's having a good year. I mean he
Speaker 8: came back. And I remember, I think I told you
Speaker 8: this when I saw the Jazz in pre season here
Speaker 8: in Dallas. The first thing Will Hardy said to me
Speaker 8: was wait until you see Kesler. He had a great summer,
Speaker 8: you know, and I was like, okay, that's interesting. Then
Speaker 8: you know, hashtag muscle watch. But the guy was clearly
Speaker 8: in the weight room all summer, you know, bulked up
Speaker 8: and it's good weight. I think he was able to
Speaker 8: kind of a summer away from it. You know, he
Speaker 8: went to Summer League, but you know, not Team USA
Speaker 8: and all that kind of stuff. With the World Cup,
Speaker 8: I was able for him to kind of refresh mentally.
Speaker 3: And he's done.
Speaker 8: Everything that they were hoping to see from him this season.
Speaker 8: I'm not saying there's no way that he's traded. I'm
Speaker 8: saying it's going to be awfully pricey to even tempt
Speaker 8: the Jazz's front office.
Speaker 2: At the risk of a Tim McMahon eye roll on
Speaker 2: the other end of the phone.
Speaker 1: And I know what that looks like.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna ask you this because we are in
Speaker 2: Salt Lake City, and we'll move over to other things.
Speaker 2: But the fact of the matter is marketing's numbers across
Speaker 2: the border all the way down. Now, that's not to
Speaker 2: me any indicator that he's not the player that he
Speaker 2: once was.
Speaker 1: His minutes are about the same at thirty two.
Speaker 2: He's been incrementally held out here or there, but nineteen
Speaker 2: points six boards, all of this splits are down. I mean,
Speaker 2: is there anything there there at all?
Speaker 8: I'll be honest with you, I have not inquired with
Speaker 8: anybody in UH in the organization recently about that. I
Speaker 8: would be surprised. There's a whole lot of concern. You know, honestly,
Speaker 8: he's a veteran guy. We understand what this season is
Speaker 8: for the Utah Jazz. I'm sure it's probably difficult for
Speaker 8: him to be dialed in on a day to day
Speaker 8: basis the way that you know, he probably would be
Speaker 8: in a more competitive situation. I personally don't think there's
Speaker 8: any massive reason for concern. And like I said, I
Speaker 8: I can I can speculate that the probably isn't within
Speaker 8: the organization, but I would be I would be misleading
Speaker 8: you if I had told you I'd been asked about
Speaker 8: him a lot lately.
Speaker 1: Fair Enough, we had at Haberstrow yesterday.
Speaker 2: We had bontemps last week, and they both had different
Speaker 2: answers about how this. Jimmy Butler Soger will and you
Speaker 2: just you don't mess with Pat. You just don't don't
Speaker 2: mess with Pat Riley. It's the wrong guy. To mess with.
Speaker 2: And the weird thing is that if you're Miami, there's
Speaker 2: not a ton of incentive to like move him. It
Speaker 2: actually might behoove them to hold on to him and
Speaker 2: let him hit free agency for cap flexibility, so like
Speaker 2: they don't have to do anything. But this feels untenable.
Speaker 2: He's been suspended, and there are a lot of rumors
Speaker 2: concerning some teams who you cover, like Memphis, and then
Speaker 2: other teams like maybe Golden State, Phoenix, potentially Milwaukee. Just
Speaker 2: give me your best guess, how do you think this
Speaker 2: thing ends with Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 8: I mean, it's intentionally untenable, Like Jimmy has accomplished his
Speaker 8: short term goal of making the situation as uncomfortable as
Speaker 8: it could possibly be.
Speaker 12: I don't think that pat.
Speaker 8: Ryley the Heats are going to be bullied in to
Speaker 8: make him what they would consider to be a bad
Speaker 8: deal at this point. Would they make a neutral deal,
Speaker 8: you know, would they make a deal where they're getting
Speaker 8: some sort of draft capital and no long term salary.
Speaker 8: I think they do that because I think it has
Speaker 8: reached a point where they're just think, hey, let's just
Speaker 8: let's just get rid of the headache, which again, that's
Speaker 8: that's Jimmy doing exactly what he set out to do.
Speaker 8: There's a long time till the trade deadline.
Speaker 3: I would lean.
Speaker 8: Towards then probably figuring something out. And look, if they
Speaker 8: figure something out, maybe it's a three team, maybe it's
Speaker 8: a four team. You know, certainly the Jazz I'm sure
Speaker 8: involved on the periphery of that where maybe there's a
Speaker 8: way for them to kind of wiggle in there and
Speaker 8: get some sort of value, you know, for for the future.
Speaker 8: It's not going to be easy though, for a lot
Speaker 8: of reasons. One his salary, to his personality. Three his age.
Speaker 8: You know, for all the talk of he's definitely going
Speaker 8: to turn down a player option, I will believe that
Speaker 8: he turns down fifty two million dollars for next season
Speaker 8: when it actually happens. It's a it's a complicated thing
Speaker 8: for many, many different reasons.
Speaker 1: Tell me what you think John Moran had.
Speaker 2: What questions you think Jaw has answered this year as
Speaker 2: Memphis is back to where we're accustomed to seeing them
Speaker 2: when John Moran is healthy. And look, I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's a real reclamation story, but as of now,
Speaker 2: nothing's hit the news and they're a good team and
Speaker 2: when he's in the lineup, he reminds us of who
Speaker 2: he is when all the noises kind of blocked out.
Speaker 1: But you cover this team, you know the situation.
Speaker 2: Well, what is there anything you think Ja has set
Speaker 2: up to this point that is encouraging if you're a Grizzlies.
Speaker 8: Fan, Listen, I think the biggest question that he's answered
Speaker 8: is Kim John Morant avoid, you know, just shooting himself
Speaker 8: in the foot metaphorically obviously indeed by.
Speaker 12: Doing dumb things.
Speaker 8: And it has been fortunately very quiet around him for
Speaker 8: over a year now. And you know that's including a
Speaker 8: lot of time where he had idle time. I mean,
Speaker 8: he was traveling with the team last year when he
Speaker 8: was hurt, and I was very intentional to keep him involved,
Speaker 8: him in that team environment and focus. But I'm not
Speaker 8: saying that that Joe is going to be getting his
Speaker 8: wee blow badges from the Voice Scouts or as a
Speaker 8: Cup Scouts, whatever it is, anytime soon. But there's not
Speaker 8: the rumblings that there were about him, you know, a
Speaker 8: year and a half ago, fifteen months ago, And so
Speaker 8: that's the biggest thing. If Josh stays out of his
Speaker 8: own way, he's going to have a chance to have
Speaker 8: a Hall of Fame type of career, you know. Unfortunately,
Speaker 8: the other big question with him is about durability. That's
Speaker 8: again been a challenge. You know, He's had a couple
Speaker 8: of pretty significant entries so far this season. He's already
Speaker 8: not going to be eligible for all NBA. But man,
Speaker 8: you know, that is a deep team that is difficult
Speaker 8: to prepare for. They do have a unique system among
Speaker 8: NBA teams these days, and if John and desen Bay
Speaker 8: and j Jackson Junior are all healthy going to the playoffs,
Speaker 8: I think they will have a chance to make some noise.
Speaker 1: What can you tell us?
Speaker 2: That's the most recent take on just how dominant okay
Speaker 2: See has been. They've ran fifteen straight off and it's
Speaker 2: not just who they are now, it's what that front
Speaker 2: office has.
Speaker 1: Built them to be moving forward.
Speaker 2: As Bobby Mark says, we've talked about released the draft
Speaker 2: capital rankings, the Jazz were four. OKAC has won and
Speaker 2: they've also won fifteen straight games and they're thirty and
Speaker 2: five everything in the case. They're a dominant team out
Speaker 2: this way. What's the latest Tim mcman take on this
Speaker 2: recent run from Okac.
Speaker 8: Well, first of all cannot wait to watch Kaz versus
Speaker 8: Thunder tomorrow and then I'll be live when they play
Speaker 8: again at OKC on the sixteenth. So, I mean, both
Speaker 8: these teams are on seventy win paces. It's the first
Speaker 8: time we've had teams on that kind of pace. Two
Speaker 8: teams at this point of the season says seventy one
Speaker 8: seventy two when it was the Bucks and Lakers, Kareem
Speaker 8: versus Willed, that's a pretty heavy company. So this is
Speaker 8: I know Cleveland, Oklahoma City might not be the maorrow
Speaker 8: because the NBA would have selected, but they these two
Speaker 8: teams are awfully good. You're talking about the number one
Speaker 8: offense of the Cavaliers versus the number one defense with
Speaker 8: the Thunder jego to Salazander. To me, it's a two
Speaker 8: horse race for MVP at this point, between him and Joker,
Speaker 8: he's Unbelievabley he's you know, does it just scores thirty
Speaker 8: plus officially and does everything else that you can possibly
Speaker 8: want out of a superstar. But how dominant has this
Speaker 8: Thunder team been. Here's a stat for you. I'll even
Speaker 8: throw in the NBA Cup Final, even though it doesn't
Speaker 8: officially count. They are twenty seven and three, when they've
Speaker 8: had a seven foot are.
Speaker 6: Available for the entire game.
Speaker 8: Three of their losses one came today to night to
Speaker 8: check out or which you got to hurt in the
Speaker 8: first half, and then two of those have a losses
Speaker 8: came during that brief little stretch when Chet was already
Speaker 8: out and Hart and Steinhatan recovers from his broken hand.
Speaker 8: They haven't had those guys playing together for a single second. Deal,
Speaker 8: let me think about that. And by the way, Caruso
Speaker 8: hasn't played a whole lot. He's been dealing to Hit
Speaker 8: for a while, so they haven't had Chet or you know,
Speaker 8: for whatever, it's been a couple of months. Now Caruso's
Speaker 8: playing a little bit. Those are two all defensive dudes,
Speaker 8: and they are the number one defense in the NBA
Speaker 8: by over three and a half points per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 8: Oh and then they've got an MVP, if not front runner,
Speaker 8: you know, big time candidate who scores thirty plus with
Speaker 8: remarkable efficiency on a not just remarkable efficiency, but day
Speaker 8: very rare.
Speaker 12: He has a done game.
Speaker 8: He had one in the NBA Cup Final.
Speaker 12: I'll give you that.
Speaker 8: And there, Matt, you can pretty much pencil in thirty
Speaker 8: on decent efficiency from him every single.
Speaker 1: Night, and they're so fun.
Speaker 2: Man, They're fun to watch, which is good for a
Speaker 2: league that's looking for teams that people want to latch
Speaker 2: onto that isn't their own team. Before I set you loose,
Speaker 2: since you brought up the Cavs, we started the show
Speaker 2: off with this.
Speaker 1: I mean, Donovan has shown some growth.
Speaker 2: He's playing winning basketball in a way that he has
Speaker 2: that he didn't hear. He admitted in a piece with
Speaker 2: The Athletic that he's trying on defense now and all
Speaker 2: of us were like, thanks, dude, but whatever, what are
Speaker 2: you willing to say about this?
Speaker 1: Thirty one and four start?
Speaker 2: Boston is still the clear favorite everywhere, But what are
Speaker 2: you willing to say about how real this is?
Speaker 1: With Cleveland?
Speaker 12: Listen, man, thirty one and four.
Speaker 8: I'm not going to sit there and tell you that's
Speaker 8: a fluke if they just came to Dallas and look,
Speaker 8: they were playing the mass without Luke and Kyriad. But
Speaker 8: there were times I was gasping watching that game, just
Speaker 8: the way that the Balls movie. I mean, Donvan made
Speaker 8: some passes, and their hockey is his type of passes,
Speaker 8: but he made some passes that I was like, whoa.
Speaker 8: And I had a good talk with Donovan afterward, sat
Speaker 8: down with him for about ten minutes or so before
Speaker 8: they left the arena, and like, you look at just
Speaker 8: his counting stats, they're down. That's not like a coincidence
Speaker 8: and it's not a bad thing. You know, he's gotten
Speaker 8: over needing to you know, really kind of establish himself
Speaker 8: as a superstar honestly, even worrying about Datus or this
Speaker 8: and that, the guys at a point in his career
Speaker 8: where he just wants to win. And he recognized that
Speaker 8: him doing a little bit less one puts him in
Speaker 8: a position hopefully to be much fresher come playoff time,
Speaker 8: to be able to finish strong, to be able to
Speaker 8: you know, to feel good physically for an entire playoff run.
Speaker 8: But it's letting Darius Starlin really have have some more
Speaker 8: rope and thrive. And you know, the thing that Donovan
Speaker 8: kept coming back to though, as he said, Evan e
Speaker 8: fan mobiley Like again, it might not show them necessarily
Speaker 8: the numbers, but they feel like Evan Mobley has made
Speaker 8: a leap this year and that has been just a
Speaker 8: massive development for a team that was a good team
Speaker 8: last year.
Speaker 12: You know it was a second round playoff.
Speaker 8: Team, but wasn't a contender. There's no question they're a continuer.
Speaker 8: Now K beat the Celtics in a playoff series. I
Speaker 8: don't know, but I think it's possible. I don't know
Speaker 8: if they will, but they better be taken seriously because again,
Speaker 8: we all go thirty one and four for a plus
Speaker 8: twelve net rating and have would be some sort of fluke.
Speaker 1: That was an unbelievable hit.
Speaker 2: And the only thing I can think about is how
Speaker 2: badly I wish I was there standing next to you
Speaker 2: when you asked Quinn about his Sally Jesse Raphael Glasses,
Speaker 2: because that must have been.
Speaker 1: A moment to remember.
Speaker 2: Man, But great stuff today, Be well, travel safe, chat soon.
Speaker 8: Okay, I do have great regrets now that we will
Speaker 8: never see the red frames again.
Speaker 12: I apologize to be an NBA fandom for that.
Speaker 1: There we go.
Speaker 2: There is Tim McMahon covers the NBA for ESPN, covers
Speaker 2: the Jazz for ESPN when the Jazz are worth covering
Speaker 2: respectfully At ESPN Underscore McMahon is where.
Speaker 1: You find him. Were you familiar with so? Oh? Man?
Speaker 1: I guess now Tim spilled the beans.
Speaker 2: This was not public knowledge prior to but Quinn Snyder,
Speaker 2: former coach of the jazz As in town with the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Hawks to start the year, broke out these red
Speaker 2: framed glasses because Quinn a couple of years ago started
Speaker 2: wearing glass He wore glasses while he was here, but
Speaker 2: only to like read box scores, didn't need them when
Speaker 2: he was coaching, And then I think it was last
Speaker 2: year that started this year started wearing the red framed glasses,
Speaker 2: and folks on the internet started referring to them as
Speaker 2: the Sally Jesse Raphael glasses. But Quinn didn't know that,
Speaker 2: and so Tim, in all of his tactful glory, runs
Speaker 2: into Quinn Snyder in Vegas and asks him about the
Speaker 2: Sally Jesse Raphael rims to his glasses.
Speaker 1: Quinn didn't know that people were saying that about him.
Speaker 2: Apparently he was so mortified that since that interaction he's
Speaker 2: only wearing black framed glasses.
Speaker 1: Were you aware of this dynamic? Are you just learning
Speaker 1: in real time?
Speaker 4: I had just heard about it, but I also am
Speaker 4: a little lost on it. That's like the only time
Speaker 4: I've seen those glasses. Is she the like tabloidy like
Speaker 4: Jerry Springery.
Speaker 1: Lady talk show host.
Speaker 2: I never liked, okay, I was never like cramming Sally
Speaker 2: Jesse Jesse Raphael episodes.
Speaker 1: I don't know much about.
Speaker 4: Her, but yeah, that's uh. I saw them as Quinn
Speaker 4: snyderglasses just as much as as that. But yeah, I
Speaker 4: don't put it past him to to make Quinn feel bad.
Speaker 1: That hit got a little loose.
Speaker 2: He made a gun metaphor reference when talking about John Moran.
Speaker 2: Then he brought up the Boy Scouts. Yeah, uh, boy
Speaker 2: Scouts canceled, right. I believe they've been, aren't.
Speaker 4: They, you know, in a large form. I mean, I
Speaker 4: think that got loose a little bit, so I.
Speaker 2: Think, yeah, I thought they did away. I thought that.
Speaker 2: I don't mean to be insensitive. I just thought the
Speaker 2: Boy Scouts were very clearly problematic and are no longer
Speaker 2: a thing.
Speaker 4: I think there might be like some sort of thing
Speaker 4: still going on. I had a good experience. I won
Speaker 4: the Pinewood Derby, even though I cheated.
Speaker 1: Who didn't cheat?
Speaker 2: Okay, if you didn't cheat in the pine Wood Pinewood
Speaker 2: Dirt Derby, you weren't trying exactly. Everyone cheated and I won,
Speaker 2: so good for you. I would have beat you. I
Speaker 2: don't know about that. It was that was the car
Speaker 2: right Pinewood, Derby's the car. What was the like the
Speaker 2: boat thing with the propeller on the string? Remember that
Speaker 2: one kind of I would say, I had a fine
Speaker 2: experience with boy Scouts.
Speaker 1: Not like that everyone at no what do you want
Speaker 1: to know?
Speaker 3: Why?
Speaker 2: My poor mother, Every time I talk about this, it
Speaker 2: just breaks your heart. I got every merit badge I
Speaker 2: needed by the time I was sixteen years old. All
Speaker 2: I had left was my Eagle project and I never
Speaker 2: did it. And my mom kept saying, all right, just
Speaker 2: your eagle because my parents did the thing where they're like, hey,
Speaker 2: you're not gonna be able to drive until you get
Speaker 2: your eagle Scout. But I knew, being the oldest of
Speaker 2: six kids, you need me to pick kids up from school.
Speaker 2: You're not keeping me, you know, from driving, So I
Speaker 2: slow played it. Turned sixteen, Mom's like, hey, what's to
Speaker 2: do with the eagle project? And my totally on it.
Speaker 2: Totally was not because I was so over Scouts at
Speaker 2: that point. I didn't like it. I didn't have any
Speaker 2: friends in Scouts. I thought it was weird and sorry.
Speaker 2: The leaders are just like a even the good ones.
Speaker 2: There's just this feel you know what, I'm gonna pivot
Speaker 2: out of this segment.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Bottom line is this, I got everything I needed and
Speaker 2: I didn't finish my Eagle Scout project, and so I finished.
Speaker 2: I believe that's life right underneath the eagle. So I'm
Speaker 2: a life scout.
Speaker 1: Okay, I I you know I think lesser of you
Speaker 1: a little bit. Now, Yeah, that's fair. You know I
Speaker 1: thought you were an eagle scout. That's fair. Are you
Speaker 1: an eagle scout?
Speaker 4: You're not an eagle are I'm not an eagle scout,
Speaker 4: But I mean, come on, I don't need to be.
Speaker 2: No, I mean conetiquette exactly, thank you. I don't need
Speaker 2: to I know how to tie two or three knots.
Speaker 1: I'm good. That's all I need. You can start a fire.
Speaker 2: I always felt like eagle Scouts they're like golfers. Have
Speaker 2: I told you my pro golfer theory. There's no such
Speaker 2: Every golfer is a nerd. Every single golfers golfer is
Speaker 2: a nerd, and most Eagle Scouts are goobs. Didn't have friends,
Speaker 2: didn't have social activities, or their parents just made them
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 1: So eagle scouts, golfers. They're all nerds. Give me one cool.
Speaker 2: Golfer exception, man, I would allow you Ricky Fowler. But
Speaker 2: he's even a little bit of a goob. If you've
Speaker 2: ever heard him interview, he tucks his ears into his hat. Dude,
Speaker 2: well said, and golf apologists to be like, Dude, Tiger's cool.
Speaker 1: I'm like, are you are you kidding? Tiger Nerd? Look nerd.
Speaker 2: I'm not using it as a bad connotation. No nerds
Speaker 2: run the world, Okay, they own companies. A lot of
Speaker 2: them are great golfers. It's not a it's not a knock,
Speaker 2: but they're like, no cool golfers. John Day maybe, but
Speaker 2: that's just because he's a lunatic.
Speaker 4: Right, That one's like an outlier extreme. I will say
Speaker 4: this only because I know him. Markomir is like the
Speaker 4: normalst most normal dude you'll ever run. Cool dad energy
Speaker 4: just like yeah, like a dad that fly fishes and
Speaker 4: snowboll bills and happens to have a green jacket.
Speaker 1: You would never know that that was his post past career.
Speaker 1: What a great life. Yeah, I want to come back
Speaker 1: as you know what.
Speaker 2: I actually watched a documentary because I couldn't fall asleep
Speaker 2: last night, because you know that's just the deal with
Speaker 2: your guy on the two thousand and eight Ryder Cup
Speaker 2: and Kenny Perry seems like a cool dad, energy like
Speaker 2: golfer guy from Kentucky. So I'll offer Kenny Perry, but
Speaker 2: golfers and nerds, Eagle Scouts nerds. It's like you may
Speaker 2: have played this bump intentionally based off of how loose
Speaker 2: last segment?
Speaker 1: God, is there anything there? Am I I'm not reading
Speaker 1: too much into it.
Speaker 4: I be guess I could have, but that wasn't It
Speaker 4: wasn't intention Some Almond Brothers which song I'm no angel.
Speaker 4: Yeah that's what I figured, but yeah, not enough Almond
Speaker 4: Brothers and this one is not listed. It's just listed
Speaker 4: as Greg Almonds, so I didn't know that we actually
Speaker 4: had it.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, Greg did some solo work, love me
Speaker 2: some Almond Brothers.
Speaker 1: As you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got a little loose last segment. Do we
Speaker 2: need to apologize to the boy Scouts of America after
Speaker 2: last segment?
Speaker 1: Or may do you think?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 1: Okay? All right, Yeah we traversed a little bit of
Speaker 1: a loose space.
Speaker 2: But I think I did a decent job of exiting
Speaker 2: states left gutting out that got out of the situation.
Speaker 2: Tim McMahon joined us last segment to talk a little
Speaker 2: jazz that little jazz Hawks. How will you remember the
Speaker 2: Quinn Snyder era here? I mean, you were at a
Speaker 2: lot of those media availabilities. And Tim told a really
Speaker 2: funny anecdote where he was in Vegas and made a
Speaker 2: crack about Quinn's new glasses. And ever since Quinn heard
Speaker 2: Tim's crack, he's worn different glasses because apparently he hurt
Speaker 2: his feelings. And when Tim described the look that Quinn
Speaker 2: gave him, all I could think about is how often
Speaker 2: Quinn looked through Andy Larson's soul. Andy would ask Quinn
Speaker 2: a question draped in the of course, I'm smarter than
Speaker 2: everybody else, Andy Larson snark, My guy love him. But
Speaker 2: and I would be in the room and I would
Speaker 2: You could feel the tension, And there were nights around
Speaker 2: like Andy, you got to get out of here, Dady,
Speaker 2: you got to go home before Quinn has the ability
Speaker 2: to find you. But whenever I had a chance to
Speaker 2: talk to him, and whenever he because it's crazy to
Speaker 2: think about this, Gordon and myself, we had Quinn Snyder
Speaker 2: and Dennis Lindsay on our show every single week during
Speaker 2: the Jazz season, and nobody gets access to players and
Speaker 2: coaches anymore ever. I mean, the Jazz make them available
Speaker 2: for everybody a couple of times a year, but as
Speaker 2: far as one off interviews, nobody gets them ever. So
Speaker 2: I was fortunate enough to get to know him, and
Speaker 2: he really is a good guy. He really is a
Speaker 2: nice man, but he is maniacal, and I think he
Speaker 2: brought that team to the precipice of something as special
Speaker 2: as anything we've seen since the nineties.
Speaker 1: But you covered Quinn. How do you remember the Quinn
Speaker 1: Snyder years here?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, as you kind of alluded to the one
Speaker 4: thing that you you really can't not look at with
Speaker 4: Quinn as he's intense. He is one of the more
Speaker 4: I don't know how else to explain it, but intensity
Speaker 4: is is how he addresses not just basketball, but like
Speaker 4: just looking at you in the eyes. Right, It's something
Speaker 4: that you can't really escape from with Quinn. But I
Speaker 4: don't think it's necessarily a negative thing. I think it
Speaker 4: may be snowballed at the end and added to negativity
Speaker 4: that was surrounding the Jazz, right, But I don't think
Speaker 4: Quinn was ever the source of that. I think he's
Speaker 4: a really, really good basketball coach. I think he is
Speaker 4: a phenomenal a phenomenal schematic mind, and in game I
Speaker 4: think he's really good as well, his out of bound stuff,
Speaker 4: his his his adjustments during games. I think Quinn Snyder
Speaker 4: is among the better coaches in the league. But there
Speaker 4: is that side of him that you talked about while
Speaker 4: he was here. We talked about before he hung it
Speaker 4: up here at Utah, and we kept it at the
Speaker 4: front of Jazz fan's mind because we kind of saw
Speaker 4: it coming. And that was the fact that he operates
Speaker 4: in such a direct, in like fervent way that you
Speaker 4: get tired of it yourself. Quinn does right and it
Speaker 4: seemed like he burned out in Utah, needed a reset,
Speaker 4: needed a little bit of a chain of scenery, and
Speaker 4: has got that in Atlanta. I think a tough job
Speaker 4: that he took is Tim alluded to, and is doing
Speaker 4: a think pretty good job there as well. But if
Speaker 4: you give Quinn Snyder the right roster, the right staff,
Speaker 4: the right everything around him, I think he's one of
Speaker 4: the best coaches in the league. But that's that's part
Speaker 4: of this game is that you could be a really
Speaker 4: good coach, and if you're not surrounded with the right pieces,
Speaker 4: or you're surrounded with chaos, you know, a couple off
Speaker 4: seasons ago here in Salt Lake City, it's just not
Speaker 4: gonna work. And that's kind of how I look at
Speaker 4: Quinn Snyder's.
Speaker 1: Stint here.
Speaker 4: Really good on the floor, really good coach, and it
Speaker 4: ended partly partly thanks to his intensity, but it really
Speaker 4: was more the stuff around him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, a lot of this stuff is anecdotal,
Speaker 2: and I'm always the guy that chuckles at the narratives
Speaker 2: we create around teams and coaches and players after they
Speaker 2: start winning. Oh, the culture, they're an extension of the
Speaker 2: head coach on the floor. No, they're really talented and
Speaker 2: they're working hard and they're finally getting results and they're
Speaker 2: just winning.
Speaker 1: But that's boring media fodder.
Speaker 2: You have to come up with superlatives and hyperbolic takes.
Speaker 2: But one of the things I always loved is the
Speaker 2: way that Quinn seemed to allow his players to be
Speaker 2: themselves and express themselves in a very free way. While
Speaker 2: he appeared to be kind of a rigid dude. The
Speaker 2: Clarkson stuff is the biggest example. Like Jordan Clarkson has
Speaker 2: always had tremendous talent as a pure bucket getter off
Speaker 2: the bench and other stops the Lakers, the Cavs, but
Speaker 2: his best years as a pro was the two or
Speaker 2: three years he spent playing for Quinn where he won
Speaker 2: Coach of the Year.
Speaker 1: And Jordan was playing.
Speaker 2: In a he always plays free, but he was playing
Speaker 2: in a way that I had never seen him play before,
Speaker 2: and playing within the team framework in a way that
Speaker 2: I'd never seen him play before. And it felt like
Speaker 2: Quinn really had a hand in that. And certainly Quinn
Speaker 2: was always good to sit down and take the time
Speaker 2: to kind of inform you what they were trying to
Speaker 2: do and the foundation they were trying to build early on,
Speaker 2: and how he hoped it looked when it was fully baked.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think the debate will always be
Speaker 2: best jazz team that was not John and Carl certainly
Speaker 2: in the mid to late nineties, but of course they
Speaker 2: laid the foundation all the way back to the eighties.
Speaker 2: I mean, John and Carl and that group worked to
Speaker 2: build something special for a number of years, something I
Speaker 2: think we forget when we talk about well, Donnov was
Speaker 2: here for five years.
Speaker 1: That's long enough. No, it's not like you have to
Speaker 1: build a foundation.
Speaker 2: You have to build something sustainable and something that lasts,
Speaker 2: and it takes a lot of time, and we have
Speaker 2: not seen it take very much time in this market,
Speaker 2: which has led us to being spoiled quite a bit
Speaker 2: with intelligent basketball decision makers and ownership that you know,
Speaker 2: the previous ownership who would hire good people, put them
Speaker 2: in place, and let's let them do their jobs. The
Speaker 2: basketball people do the basketball things, let the coaches coach
Speaker 2: the basketball team, and let the front office decide who
Speaker 2: the players are and the synergies. Mart than not worked
Speaker 2: at a really high level, never got to a championship.
Speaker 2: But you could watch, and I covered Quinn for the
Speaker 2: entire eight year stint. You could watch and see what
Speaker 2: they were building in a way that seemed a little
Speaker 2: bit more intentional and I would say further along than
Speaker 2: what this iteration and this Jazz group is trying to build. Remember,
Speaker 2: this is the third year of a rebuild. Okay, let's
Speaker 2: not get it twisted. This is year three of a rebuild,
Speaker 2: and I'm not sure the Jazz fans see anything extra
Speaker 2: exciting about what the future could hold. And year three
Speaker 2: of the rebuild with Quinn and Dennis and that group,
Speaker 2: you know, that's when Mitchell took off. That's when Gobert
Speaker 2: was legitimately Defensive Player of the Year Canada, and that's
Speaker 2: when you could see, Okay, they've been building and building
Speaker 2: and building, and yes, is there some luck involved, of course,
Speaker 2: And it would be nice if was better in year
Speaker 2: two the way Donovan was better in year two, and
Speaker 2: it would be nice if some of the younger players
Speaker 2: had taken better steps moving forward. But that hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean it won't happen, because again, this is
Speaker 2: a foundational build right down what the Jazz are doing
Speaker 2: simply building, you know, the studs, they're building the foundation.
Speaker 2: They're building the first portion of what hopefully turns into
Speaker 2: a great project once upon a time down the road.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many years is going to take.
Speaker 2: Again, they're already kind of behind the eight ball if
Speaker 2: you compare them with other rebuilds after two three years,
Speaker 2: you do want to see more progress. You do want
Speaker 2: to see things that are a little bit more tangible
Speaker 2: as opposed to a couple of games where Bryce Sensiba
Speaker 2: I hit some shots and it's like, okay, is Bryce
Speaker 2: now awesome? I mean it's hard to tell because of
Speaker 2: all of the players that have been held out the
Speaker 2: ups and downs of a long eighty two NBA season,
Speaker 2: But should be fun tonight. By the way, I have
Speaker 2: a new favorite college football player. Did you watch the
Speaker 2: FCS Championship game last night? Of course about that guy,
Speaker 2: Tommy Mollot. Now they lost, right, but he is fun. Look,
Speaker 2: I'm not going to do the thing. I'm not going
Speaker 2: to be the guy that's like bro. I was crushing
Speaker 2: Montana State film all year.
Speaker 1: I wasn't.
Speaker 2: I mean, North Dakota State wins it all the time,
Speaker 2: so everybody knows that that's the hell of a program.
Speaker 2: But Montana State, North Dakota State. Last night the game
Speaker 2: was on our station, went home, not a whole lot on,
Speaker 2: flipped through some NBA and then I flipped it over
Speaker 2: in time for Montana State to have who By the way,
Speaker 2: I had not lost the game to make that comeback.
Speaker 1: That little quarterback's fun to watch.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: He's built like a linebacker. He's built like a tailback.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's an NFL guy but he
Speaker 2: won the Walter Payton Award, so I was kind of
Speaker 2: reading up on him. He's a Butte, Montana kid, so
Speaker 2: he had all of these people from his hometown like
Speaker 2: showing up at bars and Butte to watch this sing
Speaker 2: a calm touchdown Tommy and I listened to some interviews,
Speaker 2: and you know, it reminded me of Porter. It reminded
Speaker 2: me of one of my favorite things about watching March
Speaker 2: Madness is seeing this potunk school come out of nowhere
Speaker 2: and learning about like their starting guardio averages like twenty eight.
Speaker 2: You'd never heard his name before and suddenly you're watching
Speaker 2: and was it Jack Golkie, the dude who looked like
Speaker 2: an insurance salesman who hit.
Speaker 1: Like a million threes last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like stories like that are cool, and I felt
Speaker 2: like that learning about this Tommy Malt kid, I mean,
Speaker 2: he exudes Montana, Montana State tough kid, has some fun personality,
Speaker 2: was celebrating a little bit. So I was introduced to
Speaker 2: my new favorite player in college football. It's Tommy Malt.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 1: Will you get him on the show? I can reach
Speaker 1: out to the Montana State folks. I'm serious. By the way,
Speaker 1: and I'm with you on that.
Speaker 4: It goes for both sides, right know, North Dakota State,
Speaker 4: although they've received a lot more attention because they win
Speaker 4: the national championship every year, those and especially the top
Speaker 4: I want to say three or four teams in FCS
Speaker 4: have almost found themselves in such an advantageous spot at
Speaker 4: the top of that specific classification that they are recruiting
Speaker 4: players that are Division one.
Speaker 1: Caliber, that are.
Speaker 4: In a lot of situations potential pros going on, right,
Speaker 4: And that's something you didn't used to see at the
Speaker 4: FCS level. So yeah, man, it's fun to learn about
Speaker 4: these guys and to get those kind of Cinderella ish stories.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, when you see North Dakota State,
Speaker 4: when you see Montana State, these teams that just run
Speaker 4: the table in the FCS, they got some real players,
Speaker 4: real football players who haven't shot at making money doing
Speaker 4: that thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that kid was fun to watch.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Of course, every time now we think of you know, Montana,
Speaker 2: it's got to be Yellowstone. And I know you're still
Speaker 2: bitter that you got cut after you auditioned to be
Speaker 2: an extra in Yellowstone, but I don't think have you
Speaker 2: did you finish the series nod you know you were
Speaker 2: you boycotting it because they cut you.
Speaker 4: I never really like watched it, to be quite honest
Speaker 4: with you, to be in it. I mean I I
Speaker 4: I did some stand in filming that wasn't used. This
Speaker 4: is correct, that's messed up. But yeah, I I never
Speaker 4: really got into the to the Yellowstone thing.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think I watched a little bit of the first season.
Speaker 2: You know it was I would say it's worth watching it.
Speaker 2: It got really dramatic as it went on. It did
Speaker 2: improve after they killed off Costner. Because Kevin Costner has
Speaker 2: been in some legendary movies, but he the overacting with
Speaker 2: him has always just rubbed me the wrong way. So
Speaker 2: after they killed him off spoiler alert if you don't
Speaker 2: know about now, sorry, the final season's coming gone.
Speaker 1: I actually thought it improved.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people wanted Coshner back because
Speaker 2: he does play that cheesy cowboy role pretty well.
Speaker 4: That's probably what you know gets me, not that I'm
Speaker 4: mister cowboy, but I grew up with those guys who.
Speaker 1: Were actually doing that, not cosplaying exactly.
Speaker 4: So when Kevin Costner is cosplaying cowboy, it just doesn't
Speaker 4: resonate with me.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, John, it's been too long. I haven't seen
Speaker 1: him for it. Not long enough.
Speaker 2: I'll have a bitch. His accent like too much was wild.
Speaker 2: He went to meet like a lady friend at a
Speaker 2: bar for a drink. She poured him a glass.
Speaker 1: Of wine and he just downed it. You're supposed to
Speaker 1: sip it. I don't drink it for the taste and
Speaker 1: like it's red wine.
Speaker 2: He like put a coin down on the bar and
Speaker 2: walk down like this is so cheesy.
Speaker 6: Good.
Speaker 2: But if you haven't seen it, and if you're looking
Speaker 2: for some mindless entertainment, you could do worse than Yellowstone.
Speaker 4: I would say I'll probably And that's how I do
Speaker 4: most series anyway, is I'll probably binge it at some point,
Speaker 4: just to give its it's credence. Here's the thing it has,
Speaker 4: and especially the first like half of it. It was
Speaker 4: literally filmed where I grew up, correct, so I have
Speaker 4: watched some of it, but it was mostly just like
Speaker 4: for the cinematic stuff. I'll catch up on the storyline
Speaker 4: at some point.
Speaker 2: His accents like did you ever see the movie Robinhood?
Speaker 2: He did when he tried the British accent the English
Speaker 2: accent thinks. Oh dude, it's like, how do you get
Speaker 2: green lip for these roles? Do people listen? You try
Speaker 2: these accents? Was in some great baseball movies.
Speaker 1: Though, hey, he's in some hits. He's in some real
Speaker 1: good ones.
Speaker 2: We make little moneym not hating on Kevin Costner. All right,
Speaker 2: two hours down, two hours to go. Scott and Mitchell
Speaker 2: coming up next. I want to do some NFL with Scott. Well,
Speaker 2: of course, we'll do some Utah football, but I want
Speaker 2: to ask him about the Lions he played in Detroit.
Speaker 2: What would it mean for that city if Detroit actually
Speaker 2: won the Super Bowl? Bel Fraser rolls by. Later on
Speaker 2: we'll do a little Utah Hockey Club and then we'll
Speaker 2: launch it in the five o'clock hour on a surprisingly
Speaker 2: sunny and beautiful Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 1: Keep it right here on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: Quick update on the topic that everybody's talking about today
Speaker 2: on the show. The Boy Scouts have changed their name
Speaker 2: to Scouting America. Okay, so they're no longer the Boy Scouts,
Speaker 2: but they are around and it's Scouting America.
Speaker 1: Oh all right, I think everything's good.
Speaker 2: Then I guess right, I guess but you know, inquiring
Speaker 2: minds want to know Scott Mitchell on a Tuesday afternoon, Scott,
Speaker 2: did you grow up in Boy Scouts?
Speaker 1: At are you and Eagle Scout?
Speaker 3: All right? Scout? I actually have done public service announcements
Speaker 3: in the past for the Boy Scouts. If you actually
Speaker 3: type in Google search Scott Mitchell Boy Scouts, you'll see
Speaker 3: an amazing commercial back when I was playing for the
Speaker 3: Detroit Lines.
Speaker 1: Porter.
Speaker 3: Please, it's a travesty actually to hear what you just said.
Speaker 3: Scouting was an amazing part of my life and I
Speaker 3: absolutely loved it, and it's not what it used to be.
Speaker 1: I didn't know any of that, Porter.
Speaker 2: All I want you to do is get this sound
Speaker 2: from Scott Mitchell's Boy Scout commercial before the end of
Speaker 2: the interview.
Speaker 3: Let's se if you can fire that out, so you
Speaker 3: better be careful, Spence, because you'll be in tears. It's
Speaker 3: an emotional, powerful message.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to hear it. Look, I need to
Speaker 2: be motivated in the new year, Scott. I'm just looking
Speaker 2: for somebody to motivate me. If that's you talking about
Speaker 2: Boy Scouts, I have no judgment.
Speaker 1: That's fine with me.
Speaker 3: Oh I could motivate you spence, give me, give me
Speaker 3: ten minutes. I'll have you run in through a brick wall.
Speaker 2: I need it, I want it. Have you been traveling
Speaker 2: during the holidays. Where you've been it's been a while.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been. I've been everywhere. Man. I actually was
Speaker 3: went to the German Christmas markets. I was in Florida.
Speaker 3: Where else I don't know, Just pick a place I've
Speaker 3: probably been there.
Speaker 2: Boy, well, Happy New Year, even though Larry David said,
Speaker 2: I'm not allowed to say that after you know, January
Speaker 2: the fourth, I haven't talked to you and quite some time,
Speaker 2: so I want to welcome you in and say Happy
Speaker 2: New Year. Do you have any exciting New Year's resolutions?
Speaker 2: You want to motivate with us? You motivate us away
Speaker 2: with uh?
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 3: I I'll tell you the best advice that I could
Speaker 3: give a person, and that is, see the end of
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five and who you want to be and
Speaker 3: where you want to be, and just see the vision
Speaker 3: of that, and that should push you through the whole year.
Speaker 3: You got to start with a vision, you know, That's
Speaker 3: that's the biggest thing. And the vision will actually push you, know,
Speaker 3: the tasks you know, so like you, you know, if
Speaker 3: you want to be healthy, it's like, well, I got
Speaker 3: to lose weight, and so you've got to see yourself
Speaker 3: as that like person now. And without that vision, there's
Speaker 3: you have no hope. You gotta it's got to you
Speaker 3: gotta have a clear vision of goal and you have
Speaker 3: to see yourself there already.
Speaker 2: Well said, no, I love it, I'm I'm ready, I'm
Speaker 2: ready to roll. I've been needing this in the new year.
Speaker 2: What what does your vision say Utah football will look
Speaker 2: like come fall?
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's kind of sad because I don't
Speaker 3: I don't think this team was really that far off.
Speaker 3: And uh it just you know, really not having a
Speaker 3: veteran quarterback hurt the team a lot. The defense played
Speaker 3: quite quite well, and there really wasn't a team on
Speaker 3: Utah schedule or in the conference that you go. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's a world beater, you know that. I Mean, who
Speaker 3: would have thought Arizona State would have would have represented
Speaker 3: the conference in the playoffs. I don't think anybody did,
Speaker 3: including Arizona State. I don't think they believe. I mean,
Speaker 3: it probably just went through the year and it just
Speaker 3: kind of unfolded. But so so you don't have to panic.
Speaker 3: You know, you're not that far out of it. And
Speaker 3: I think the one thing that Utah has done different
Speaker 3: from years past, and it's something that the pri have
Speaker 3: to do moving forward is get into the portal and
Speaker 3: and get get in the nil game. And you can
Speaker 3: see other teams have had huge turnarounds from this. You know,
Speaker 3: they they did a pretty good job of not losing
Speaker 3: too many guys because there are a lot of their guys.
Speaker 3: There are people people are going after, you know, Spencer
Speaker 3: Fono and some of those other offensive linemen. Uh, you know,
Speaker 3: Kanu Tuoni, Vosta was a loss. Cam Calhoun was a loss.
Speaker 3: But for the most part, you know, you get get
Speaker 3: a pretty good job. And so if if Utah can
Speaker 3: be a little bit more explosive on offense, uh uh,
Speaker 3: you know, okay, a lot more explosive on offense, they're
Speaker 3: going to be right in it again next year. And
Speaker 3: and what's going to be different is what the formula
Speaker 3: for Utah was, find these guys that fit our program,
Speaker 3: fit our profile, and we'll develop them. And they've done
Speaker 3: a tremendous job, probably the best in all of college football.
Speaker 3: But they don't get that luxury anymore. Those guys that
Speaker 3: they've kind of been mentoring and developing, those are all
Speaker 3: the guys that left. All the backups left, and so
Speaker 3: you've got to be able to have systems plug and
Speaker 3: play pretty simple. You're not going to be able to
Speaker 3: kind of create that building culture that you have in
Speaker 3: the past. But teams have proved. I mean, Arizona State's
Speaker 3: a great example. You know, you get the right combination
Speaker 3: of players in the transfer portal, you're going to do well.
Speaker 3: Even Colorado, who was a doormat in its entire existence
Speaker 3: in the Pac twelve, turned it around in a lot.
Speaker 3: You know, Okay, Dion's one thing, but but they went
Speaker 3: heavy into the transfer portal and it just gives you
Speaker 3: a chance to really find talent. Talent. You got to
Speaker 3: create the right chemistry with the talent you find, but
Speaker 3: you can turn around quickly.
Speaker 1: Some good stuff in there.
Speaker 2: And actually a couple of things about the question I
Speaker 2: was going to follow up with, and that is and
Speaker 2: there are a lot of programs like this. I was
Speaker 2: doing some I was doing the impossible task this morning
Speaker 2: of trying to figure out what the Big twelve will
Speaker 2: look like next year. And I was digging into some
Speaker 2: case state stuff. And you know, Utah football and Kansas
Speaker 2: State football in a way, scott are very similar because
Speaker 2: they are recruit and develop and the success in the
Speaker 2: past where both of these programs have come with second, third,
Speaker 2: fourth year players, these are not programs that turn things
Speaker 2: around one year at a time with transfer portal additions
Speaker 2: because both their coaches believing the same thing.
Speaker 1: So, if I'm.
Speaker 2: Understanding correctly, do you think it's time to look at
Speaker 2: a different approach because maybe the old school recruit develop,
Speaker 2: win with year two, three four guys is no longer
Speaker 2: a reality.
Speaker 3: Well you have to and you know that if you're
Speaker 3: a Utah fan, you probably should be excited about what's happened.
Speaker 3: The roster next year, I think is going to be
Speaker 3: like fifty three percent new players, more than they've ever
Speaker 3: ever had. And so, you know, Utah is just not
Speaker 3: sitting on it, you know, hands and digging, you know,
Speaker 3: digging a you know, a line in the sand and
Speaker 3: saying no, we're gonna you know, they're going, Okay, we
Speaker 3: understand the game, and we're going to play the game,
Speaker 3: and we're at least going to give ourselves a shot
Speaker 3: as far as the conference next year. I don't know
Speaker 3: that it's gonna change. I don't know that it's ever changed.
Speaker 3: I mean, the Big Twelve is always a craft shoot.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think your smart move is whoever
Speaker 3: they pick not to win, that's who you want to write, right,
Speaker 3: that's the team that's gonna gonna do well. But what
Speaker 3: you have is you have a lot of programs that
Speaker 3: are trying. And I like that and I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: You know, Texas Tech went out and got aggressive, and
Speaker 3: you see Arizona State really you know, trying to turn
Speaker 3: a corner. And and so there's a lot of competition
Speaker 3: in the conference. And I think the Big Twelve was
Speaker 3: massively underrated a year ago, and I think they'll continue to, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, get a little bit more more love with
Speaker 3: what's going on. But I think Utah's put itself in
Speaker 3: a position to do well. You know, I was saying
Speaker 3: about this today and it's kind of the question, but
Speaker 3: it's it's a little off topic.
Speaker 12: You know.
Speaker 3: They everyone's worried about the playoffs. You know, they get
Speaker 3: the formula, right, do they do? You know? Should they?
Speaker 3: Is there too much rust? Is there? You know? They
Speaker 3: pick these teams and they have these blowouts, and and
Speaker 3: I don't think I don't think you should change it
Speaker 3: at all. And where where you're going to have to
Speaker 3: change it is these conferences are so big. Now Utah's
Speaker 3: gonna there's gonna be four teams in the conference next year,
Speaker 3: Utah is not going to play and and they may
Speaker 3: be good teams, so they be bad teams. So you
Speaker 3: just get the luck of the draw every year, are
Speaker 3: you do you get the good teams you're gonna have
Speaker 3: to play or the bad teams Because you take a
Speaker 3: team like Indiana, and it's the same in the Big Ten,
Speaker 3: it's the same. And they ask all the conferences because
Speaker 3: they're so big. So Indiana probably played a bunch of
Speaker 3: garbage teams all year. Maybe they weren't really that good
Speaker 3: and and you know, they kind of just got the
Speaker 3: right draw for the better schedule and that helped them out.
Speaker 3: If you really want to fix it, you know, have
Speaker 3: all these teams they all have to play each other
Speaker 3: in their conferences, or you don't start ranking teams until
Speaker 3: maybe when the actual college football playoff ranking comes out,
Speaker 3: because it's a huge advantage if you get ranked high
Speaker 3: early and you have a crappy schedule like an Old Miss.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know how good Old Miss was,
Speaker 3: but man, they were sure ranked high, and they rode
Speaker 3: that ranking through most of the season, even though they
Speaker 3: really didn't play anyone all year, and some of the
Speaker 3: teams that were supposed to be good, like the Alabamas, weren't.
Speaker 3: So it's a little misleading to have these subjective preseason
Speaker 3: or early season polls, especially in these conferences where everyone
Speaker 3: doesn't play everyone all the time, and if you wait,
Speaker 3: you're going to have a better idea of who the
Speaker 3: really good teams the country are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean for sure.
Speaker 2: I've been using this line on the show the past
Speaker 2: couple of weeks because I'm just realizing really how new
Speaker 2: all of this is for anybody in the ecosystem of
Speaker 2: college sports. Whether you cover it and talk about it
Speaker 2: like you and I, or you're coaching and it let
Speaker 2: coach wit, or you're playing in it, or you're an
Speaker 2: administrator like Mark Carlin, we're all experiencing this for the
Speaker 2: first time, and because of that, it makes it really
Speaker 2: hard to predict what it's going to look like even tomorrow,
Speaker 2: let alone in a few months. So I keep saying,
Speaker 2: like I prefer to diagnose instead of prognosticate about what
Speaker 2: could be because it's impossible to tell.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to how Utah is.
Speaker 2: To your point, completely changing over the roster in one year,
Speaker 2: this is another new thing where we'll have to diagnose
Speaker 2: instead of prognosticate. But forty one new faces for a program,
Speaker 2: as we've already talked about, that's found its way through
Speaker 2: the world of college football with the ability to recruit
Speaker 2: and develop, recruit players that aren't as highly thought of
Speaker 2: elsewhere and make them the best possible players that they
Speaker 2: can be. So what's a realistic expectation to be able
Speaker 2: to change over fifty three percent of your roster, bring
Speaker 2: in forty one new players, and then have an expedited
Speaker 2: time frame to do the development because they've got to
Speaker 2: be ready to go game one in the fall.
Speaker 3: You know, it really falls so much on coaching and
Speaker 3: coaching and that you've got to bring in new players.
Speaker 3: You've got to have your systems that really are kind
Speaker 3: of a plug and play. You It's hard to because
Speaker 3: you go, you know, well, I hope this guy fits
Speaker 3: what we do, and you know, so recruiting to what
Speaker 3: your system is, I think that's part of what was
Speaker 3: appealing with Jason Beck and bringing the quarterback from you know,
Speaker 3: the Devin Dampier because he knows the system, you know,
Speaker 3: So that transition I think really helps with a new
Speaker 3: coach and with the with the new style of how
Speaker 3: how everything goes, because the quarterback really is the guy
Speaker 3: that drives all of it. And if you get a
Speaker 3: quarterback that can make plays for you and do well,
Speaker 3: you're going to have a shot. And that that's the
Speaker 3: biggest key. Like it's it's not even close to the
Speaker 3: impact the quarterback has on a game versus any other
Speaker 3: position on the field. It's not like, you know, the
Speaker 3: same as it's it's significantly higher the kind of impact
Speaker 3: the quarterback has. So it's all about coaching and getting
Speaker 3: that right quarterback. And I think Utah's headed in that
Speaker 3: right direction. And then that system really has to be
Speaker 3: and I hate to use the word dumbed down, but
Speaker 3: it has to be one where you know, you can
Speaker 3: pick it up relatively quick. Is the players don't have
Speaker 3: that many practices, they don't have that much time to
Speaker 3: actually work on you know, the NFL have OTAs they
Speaker 3: spend a whole season in the off season learning and perfecting,
Speaker 3: and you hear these teams that do well and they'll
Speaker 3: tell you that the OTAs are what makes their season
Speaker 3: of what makes them successful. Maybe that's one of the
Speaker 3: changes that has to happen from this is like, all right,
Speaker 3: if you Canna gives all these new players every year,
Speaker 3: we got to have more time with them. And that's
Speaker 3: hard too, because all these coaches are out recruiting, so
Speaker 3: it's it's a real burden on a team. But the
Speaker 3: statty teams will be the ones that find that right
Speaker 3: quarterback in the system to really give you at least
Speaker 3: a chance.
Speaker 1: You know, all right, let's see here.
Speaker 2: I want to move over and do some NFL Scott
Speaker 2: before we because actually, know what, I had one more
Speaker 2: Utah question for you, because I realized when I saw
Speaker 2: you on the rundown today I have not interviewed you
Speaker 2: since the news broke that Kyle is coming back the coach,
Speaker 2: but is coming back for year twenty one. And it
Speaker 2: was one of those things that we had all debated
Speaker 2: all year long, and one of the things we would
Speaker 2: debate is whether or not the outcome of the season
Speaker 2: would have any bearing on what Kyle decided to do.
Speaker 2: And part of me believe the answer to that was no,
Speaker 2: because the man does not need to prove anything to anybody.
Speaker 2: His resume speaks for itself, and what he's done for
Speaker 2: you top Ball speaks for itself. Now, there does appear
Speaker 2: to be a faction, whether you want to call it
Speaker 2: the vocal minority as opposed to the sylumn majority. I
Speaker 2: don't have a percentage on it, but I have heard
Speaker 2: from people and have talked to people that believe it's
Speaker 2: time now to implement the succession plan and it's Morgan's
Speaker 2: time to go.
Speaker 1: I can't speak to it.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I'll diagnose, I'm not prognosticate, but I
Speaker 2: haven't talked to you since Kyle decided to come back.
Speaker 2: Were you surprised, What was your reaction when you heard
Speaker 2: the news.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I was surprised completely. You know,
Speaker 3: you try to gauge people's answers, or their mode, or
Speaker 3: their their temperament, you know, because we interviewed him every
Speaker 3: week and talk to him, and you know you're trying
Speaker 3: to read are you just worn down because this has
Speaker 3: been such a crappy season or you just kind of
Speaker 3: worn down because Zilver and I didn't really sense from
Speaker 3: him like he didn't have that fire, that competitiveness, or
Speaker 3: that he was like, you know, I'm kind of done.
Speaker 3: And I think that was I don't you know, I
Speaker 3: don't even think maybe this would be the last year
Speaker 3: for him. I just I just don't. I still think
Speaker 3: they're scass in the tank. I still think they're spire
Speaker 3: in the tank. I think he's reading right what is
Speaker 3: going on with college football and where the program needs
Speaker 3: to go and what they have to do and and
Speaker 3: it and it feels like they're making that attempt to
Speaker 3: do it because you never know how things will turn out.
Speaker 3: But but at least they're they're reading the room right
Speaker 3: and they're they're making they're making those right moves and
Speaker 3: and I just get a sense that it's it's not
Speaker 3: about well, I want to end on a good note.
Speaker 3: It's man, I slow coaching, and I want to win
Speaker 3: and and I'm just still there. And that's where I think,
Speaker 3: that's where I think he.
Speaker 1: Is, all right.
Speaker 2: I was excited when I saw that you were going
Speaker 2: to be on today because I had to kick the
Speaker 2: tires with you, you know, watching that Sunday night Lions
Speaker 2: Vikings game and this wasn't even a playoff game. Okay,
Speaker 2: like it was a regular season game, but to watch
Speaker 2: and listen to some of the scenes around Ford Field,
Speaker 2: it felt like it was a super Bowl for that
Speaker 2: fan base, and it potentially was the biggest football game
Speaker 2: held in that city in a number of decades. And
Speaker 2: we know the deal. You know, they have never won
Speaker 2: the big thing. They've they've never won the big They've
Speaker 2: never been to the super Bowl. Of course, they've never
Speaker 2: won the super Bowl. And I just needed to know
Speaker 2: because your best years as a pro they were in
Speaker 2: Detroit and you had a love hate relationship with the
Speaker 2: fan base.
Speaker 1: I think that's fair to say.
Speaker 2: But you have a unique perspective on the city of Detroit,
Speaker 2: the football fans of Detroit.
Speaker 1: What would it mean to them if Dan.
Speaker 2: Campbell can traverse his way through the playoffs and actually
Speaker 2: win this thing?
Speaker 1: What would that city do?
Speaker 3: The city would petition in the NFL to be to
Speaker 3: change the Lombardi Trophy to the Dan Campbell Trophy. He
Speaker 3: has literally done a masterful job of mirroring and matching
Speaker 3: and engaging the fan and it's this blue collar mindset
Speaker 3: and it's you know, look, we don't you know we're
Speaker 3: just we're really three yards and a cloud of dust
Speaker 3: kind of thing. We're top, we're gritty, we're all these things.
Speaker 3: And I think what really helped Dan Campbell understand that
Speaker 3: is he played there. He played for the Lions, and
Speaker 3: he didn't play on some teams that were any good.
Speaker 3: But he's just done a masterful job of getting the
Speaker 3: city in the community to buy into him and his players.
Speaker 3: And he's got some great coaches around him, and they
Speaker 3: picked the right players who've done really well, and they've
Speaker 3: really done a great job of kind of fitting what
Speaker 3: they do into the player's strengths, especially Jared Goff, and
Speaker 3: he's just been like, I'll tell you, if there's anything
Speaker 3: that gives you any indication of how great Dan Campbell
Speaker 3: has done, is they are actually channing for and cheering
Speaker 3: Jared Goff. And that never, I don't care who the
Speaker 3: quarterback is, that never happens in Detroit. And so that
Speaker 3: city like literally it would be the most insane change
Speaker 3: or or celebration, or you know, it could it could
Speaker 3: literally you might have to bring in the military to
Speaker 3: calm that place down. Some of the most passionate, rabid,
Speaker 3: amazing fans and they've been there. I've been back to
Speaker 3: games since I retired, and they have alumni times or
Speaker 3: you know, you go back and visit and the team's
Speaker 3: terrible and the place is packed. There's a there's a
Speaker 3: badge of honor, and there's this a massive love for
Speaker 3: the Detroit Lions from Detroit Lionsman, I meet them everywhere,
Speaker 3: I mean everywhere in the country. It's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm a Lions fan. You know I live, you know whatever,
Speaker 3: and uh uh and and you know what, Honestly, I wouldn't.
Speaker 3: I would be so happy for those people. If there's
Speaker 3: ever there's ever a fan and a fan base that
Speaker 3: deserves to win a Super Bowl, it's the people into
Speaker 3: They literally need to have the support and everyone in
Speaker 3: the country pulling for the Detroit Lions to win a
Speaker 3: Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Vegas the up to date Vegas odds out of the
Speaker 2: FanDuel Sports book, as Detroit is the favorite currently heading
Speaker 2: into the wildcard weekend. Kansas City is two, Baltimore's three,
Speaker 2: Buffalo's four, and Philly is five. Then there's a massive
Speaker 2: drop off. Vegas essentially saying there are five teams they
Speaker 2: think can win it. So Vegas things they're the favorite,
Speaker 2: does Scott Mitchell.
Speaker 3: Agree, Well, you mentioned the craziness of the atmosphere and
Speaker 3: to have that home field advantage all the way through
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl. They really play into it and they
Speaker 3: feed on that hometown. It's a real thing. And I'm
Speaker 3: telling you there's nothing more electric than a really fired
Speaker 3: up Detroit Lione fan base at a home game. It's
Speaker 3: as good as it gets anywhere in any sports, at
Speaker 3: college or pros. And to have that and for this
Speaker 3: team to, you know, it's had a lot of injuries
Speaker 3: on their defense and to still be playing well and
Speaker 3: the quarterback has just been magnificent and he's got weapons.
Speaker 3: You know, this is a team that's capable. But they're
Speaker 3: capable in their brains too.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 3: They they've been to a championship game and they bounced
Speaker 3: back from that this year. Teams that kind of have
Speaker 3: the fatigue and they have a letdown from not getting
Speaker 3: to the Super Bowl or losing the Super Bowl. You
Speaker 3: can't of see that with San Francisco right now. But
Speaker 3: this team isn't. It's on the rise. Its belief level
Speaker 3: is as good as it gets. You know, Kansas City
Speaker 3: probably isn't as good as they've been in the past,
Speaker 3: but they understand how to win and the Lions have
Speaker 3: figured that out as well. And the beauty of it
Speaker 3: would be to have to call a fourth down play
Speaker 3: in the Super Bowl and they pull out the win
Speaker 3: on going for it on fourth down. That would just
Speaker 3: be the absolute irony of all ironies, just because of
Speaker 3: the Riverboat game type of mindset that Dan Campbell has.
Speaker 2: What about Baltimore Scott, I mean, it seems like Lamar
Speaker 2: takes a lot of criticism for not being able to
Speaker 2: get it done, and he's just he's so fun to
Speaker 2: watch and he's one of the most electric, dynamic players
Speaker 2: in pro football. What's fair to say about what he's
Speaker 2: failed to do in the postseason and do you think
Speaker 2: it could be different this time around?
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a really special player because you know, he's
Speaker 3: he's learned to do both things very well and it's
Speaker 3: almost indefensible. You know, he can throw the football very
Speaker 3: accurately and on time and he and he's got a
Speaker 3: real comfort level with it. His his mechanics have gotten cleaner,
Speaker 3: so so under pressure, you know, he can still make
Speaker 3: the throws and he's just just unbelievable running the football.
Speaker 3: Their team if I was in all the football and
Speaker 3: I was in in the AFT or the NFC, that
Speaker 3: would be the team I'd be really afraid of the other.
Speaker 3: One's buffalo. I mean, Josh Allen's playing great this year too,
Speaker 3: But Lamar Jackson is a very very special player. And
Speaker 3: when you have that man, it's so hard to defend
Speaker 3: and it's so hard to figure out. And he's proven that,
Speaker 3: you know, consistently throughout the years. But he kind of
Speaker 3: has to get to that next level of winning that
Speaker 3: really big game in the playoffs, and it just takes time.
Speaker 3: You know, Pete Manning lost five years straight in his
Speaker 3: first five playoffs season. It's hard, Like it's hard to
Speaker 3: win in the NFL period. It's really hard to win
Speaker 3: in the playoffs, and it takes a lot and sometimes
Speaker 3: it takes a lot of time. Now, I played with
Speaker 3: Dan Marino, who's he's just the best ever, Like nobody
Speaker 3: throws a ball like Dan Marino, unbelievable. And he went
Speaker 3: to one Super Bowl and it was early on in
Speaker 3: his career and he never went back again. So you know,
Speaker 3: great players can can have challenges winning in the postseason.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 2: Before I say you lose, can anyone get in Ohio
Speaker 2: State's way? Does it feel like they're going to march
Speaker 2: on and win the national championship?
Speaker 3: It kind of feels that way a little bit, But
Speaker 3: you know, you're I mean, I know people are kind
Speaker 3: of disappointed with the college football playoffs, but man, the
Speaker 3: bowl games were meaningful, you know, and now you have
Speaker 3: Oil State and Texas and you have Penn State and
Speaker 3: Notre Dame. I mean, that's that's some pretty good, you know,
Speaker 3: semifinal games. I don't know how good either Penn State
Speaker 3: or Notre Dame. I don't know how good Texas is.
Speaker 3: You know, they seem to find ways to win really
Speaker 3: good defensively. But Ohio State, they it seems to be
Speaker 3: kind of their year.
Speaker 2: All right, Scott, we have a very special treat before
Speaker 2: you hang up the phone, and for our listeners out there,
Speaker 2: we've had a kind of a loose show where Tim
Speaker 2: mcbahn referenced the Boy Scouts earlier, so we've been asking
Speaker 2: our listeners their level of Scouts. Scott is a proud
Speaker 2: of Eagle Scout and once upon a time he voiced
Speaker 2: this emotional spot for the Boy Scouts.
Speaker 13: What's it take to be a pro quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 13: It takes effort, it takes determination, it's practice em after
Speaker 13: practice is over. And for Scott Mitchell, it takes one
Speaker 13: really brave mascot. Scott Mitchell proving just how determined and
Speaker 13: Eagles scout can be.
Speaker 1: Oh was that it?
Speaker 2: We didn't hear from Scott. I thought Scott was going
Speaker 2: to tell like an emotional story.
Speaker 4: No, Scott is for the non YouTube listeners pelting the
Speaker 4: Detroit Lions mascot with fastballs.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, it's a video, right, and it's it's actually, uh,
Speaker 3: it's me. It's me throwing after practice. I'm sweating and
Speaker 3: I'm working hard and I keep throwing all these past
Speaker 3: is the only one who catch them with the mascot
Speaker 3: because everyone went home.
Speaker 2: So I see, I see, well, Scott, congrats are on
Speaker 2: the Eagle Scouts man Eagle Scout Award.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the time. Let's do it to you in soon.
Speaker 6: Okay, you got it?
Speaker 3: Thank you?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 2: Scott Mitchell, former ute quarterback played in the NFL for
Speaker 2: a number of years. Yeah, I wanted to get his
Speaker 2: take on what that's going to be like. Can Detroit
Speaker 2: get this done? So ultimately, Detroit has been installed as
Speaker 2: the favorite to win the Super Bowl. This is this
Speaker 2: is new. The odds are out now. Pride to wild
Speaker 2: Card weekend. Detroit right now is your favorite, followed by
Speaker 2: Kansas City, Baltimore, Buffalo, and in Philly and then there's
Speaker 2: a massive drop off between Philly and Minnesota that the
Speaker 2: vikings are at plus fourteen hundred. Essentially, Vegas is telling
Speaker 2: you five teams can win it. Detroit, Kansas City, Baltimore, Buffalo,
Speaker 2: and Philly. So interesting stuff there. Appreciate Scott's time. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a great bomb, but you can't. I can't bulldoze it.
Speaker 2: I can't come on air until it's fully unpacked. A breath, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it's a great bump, but you athletic breathe
Speaker 2: right the whole song? Yeah, Oh we should We should
Speaker 2: have at this point with this little radio show, we're
Speaker 2: getting it back to some football college football, Pro football
Speaker 2: five o'clock hour. Don't forget UTAP basketball tonight at Iowa State.
Speaker 2: They are sixteen point five point underdog. You'll hear that
Speaker 2: game when we Saga night at six. But let's talk
Speaker 2: a little hockey. It's been a minute. Our friend Belle
Speaker 2: Frasier from the Saltilid Tribune. Back on the drive, Bell,
Speaker 2: Happy Tuesday.
Speaker 1: How are you good?
Speaker 11: How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm great, I'm great.
Speaker 2: So did you guys have a New Year's gathering of
Speaker 2: the Salt Lake Tribune building?
Speaker 1: And who had too many furtives and embarrassed himself? Who
Speaker 1: it was?
Speaker 4: It?
Speaker 1: Andy? Or was an Aeron? It was either Andy Larson
Speaker 1: or Eron? Which one?
Speaker 8: You know?
Speaker 11: I don't know. I we didn't have a New Year's gathering,
Speaker 11: so I don't have an answer.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, Well look at you protecting my good friends
Speaker 2: over the Tribune.
Speaker 1: Okay, I like it. I like it. We'll just kind
Speaker 1: of let it go.
Speaker 2: So Bell, it's been a rough stretch as of late,
Speaker 2: but ironically enough, they haven't necessarily lost a ton of
Speaker 2: ground in the standings. But we're looking at what seven
Speaker 2: of the eight games on the wrong side of things
Speaker 2: over the past that.
Speaker 1: Little there for the hockey club.
Speaker 2: What what would you attribute most the struggles of the
Speaker 2: past stretch with the team so far?
Speaker 14: I think it's just the general theme of inconsistency that
Speaker 14: you really saw in the beginning of the year when
Speaker 14: they got off to that hot start, and then they
Speaker 14: are up and down, and that's kind of expected with
Speaker 14: a young team and the fourth year of a rebuild.
Speaker 11: And you know, we've talked about it, but Bill Armstrong
Speaker 11: olways echoes.
Speaker 14: You know, we're gonna look like a playoff team some
Speaker 14: nights and other nights we're going to look really young
Speaker 14: and really bad. And I think that's been true. But
Speaker 14: it's really unfortunate because to start December they were on
Speaker 14: a four game winning streak. They won six of seven
Speaker 14: games to start the month, I believe, and leading.
Speaker 11: Into late November. And then they go on and they
Speaker 11: lose five straight, two.
Speaker 14: Of which were against a visional opponents, which is basically
Speaker 14: a four point game when you're thinking about playoff implications.
Speaker 14: So that definitely put.
Speaker 11: Them behind the eight ball.
Speaker 14: And just you know, momentum wise, to it felt like
Speaker 14: things were really clicking. They scored four or more goals
Speaker 14: in six straight games, which you know when you're scoring
Speaker 14: that many goals to night in that NHL, and you
Speaker 14: have good goaltending like they have had in Carl Vimelka,
Speaker 14: and your defense is as stable as it has been
Speaker 14: recently for them, despite the injuries.
Speaker 11: That's usually going to come out with a win.
Speaker 14: But recently, they've really been held to you know, two
Speaker 14: three goals a night, even one at times. So I
Speaker 14: think obviously defensive production being down is a sign that
Speaker 14: kind of contributes to the losing streak as well.
Speaker 11: But I think they're coming in to this.
Speaker 14: They have a seven game home stand at the Delta
Speaker 14: Center right now, nine a season high nine games at.
Speaker 11: Delta Center this month.
Speaker 14: And although their record in Salt Lake hasn't been great
Speaker 14: this season, I think this is going to force them
Speaker 14: to learn how to make you know, home. It's a
Speaker 14: tough place to play in a.
Speaker 11: Place where they gain points.
Speaker 14: Some people call January February the dog days of the season,
Speaker 14: but it can't be that for Utah Hockey Club. You know,
Speaker 14: I think if they go five hundred this month, the
Speaker 14: playoff picture is going to be far far away from
Speaker 14: what it is right now. So this arguably is one
Speaker 14: of their most important months of hockey until the end
Speaker 14: stretch of the regular season. So I think they all
Speaker 14: know that, and they know they have to handle business
Speaker 14: in the next few weeks, if you know, they want
Speaker 14: to stay.
Speaker 11: In the conversation.
Speaker 2: As you reference Bell, they won six of seven prior
Speaker 2: to this. The streak on the other side where they've
Speaker 2: fallen six of the last seven. And this is kind
Speaker 2: of the theme as you referenced all year long. You know,
Speaker 2: a team that starts out hot, a team that goes
Speaker 2: ice cold, and god ebbs and flows when some loses some.
Speaker 1: So, but we should have enough sample size now that we're.
Speaker 2: In the new year and most teams have played over
Speaker 2: forty games around forty games or.
Speaker 1: So to really get a feel for who they are.
Speaker 2: So the question I'll post you is when they're winning
Speaker 2: and when they're playing well, what seems to be clicking
Speaker 2: And when the when they're on the wrong side of results,
Speaker 2: what are they not doing as well?
Speaker 14: Yeah, I mean I think when they're winning, they're playing simple,
Speaker 14: they're not overthinking or putting too much pressure on themselves.
Speaker 14: And you know, coach at they talked about that about
Speaker 14: the way his team plays at home. He feels like
Speaker 14: sometimes they get a little too emotional and they start,
Speaker 14: you know, they let the opponent get under their skin
Speaker 14: a bit, and then they overcomplicate what could be an
Speaker 14: easy play. You know, zone entries, angling on defense, just
Speaker 14: stuff that is bread and butter for hockey players that
Speaker 14: they know how to do and Nick Schmeltz said that
Speaker 14: sometimes on the road, because you're in a different building,
Speaker 14: you want to take the crowd out of it, so
Speaker 14: you just go play a simplified game and you're not
Speaker 14: gripping the stick too tight and things like that. But
Speaker 14: I think util when they're at their best, they're utilizing
Speaker 14: their speed. You know, I would argue they're one of
Speaker 14: the faster teams in the league right now just because
Speaker 14: of their youth and special teams are firing too. During
Speaker 14: that winning streak, they had nine power play goals in
Speaker 14: seven games, all from the first unit, and that's gone,
Speaker 14: you know, a little bit not fully quiet, but definitely
Speaker 14: not that consistency either. And then I think for them too,
Speaker 14: is just having three consecutive periods of the same I
Speaker 14: don't know if effort's the same word, the right word,
Speaker 14: but of just consistent play.
Speaker 11: You know, they'll come out and they.
Speaker 14: They are usually a pretty good first period team, and
Speaker 14: then for some reason the second period this season, they
Speaker 14: usually take a couple penalties, they give up a few goals,
Speaker 14: and then they put themselves behind heading into the third period.
Speaker 11: So I think in.
Speaker 14: The games that they have success, you see them kind
Speaker 14: of carrying their play and not letting up in any
Speaker 14: of those periods, and they've been a better third period team,
Speaker 14: I think in the last twenty games or so in
Speaker 14: terms of being able to come back. I think you
Speaker 14: saw that January second against Calgary.
Speaker 11: They had a good third period and kind of.
Speaker 14: Being able to close games out. So, you know what's
Speaker 14: in their arsenals, in their skill set, they've proven they've
Speaker 14: been able to kind of put those together. But it's just,
Speaker 14: you know, doing that on a nightly basis is what
Speaker 14: they need to do more often. We saw it for
Speaker 14: four or five games in a row, and now they
Speaker 14: really need it for the next you know fifteen.
Speaker 2: You reference the situation with the goaltending stuff, and I
Speaker 2: would imagine it feels like Romelka is locked in the
Speaker 2: starting spot for now.
Speaker 1: Is that your understanding.
Speaker 2: I mean, based off of what we're seeing, that appears
Speaker 2: to be the case, and it's I think that could
Speaker 2: change at some point where Connor gets the job back.
Speaker 14: So the Milka is one hundred percent the starter right now.
Speaker 14: I mean, his numbers speak for themselves, but I think
Speaker 14: just the calm confidence he gives his team, especially with
Speaker 14: you know, Utah's defense has done everything. It's canon and
Speaker 14: it's been good, but he does not have a healthy
Speaker 14: decre in front of him, you know, so he's probably
Speaker 14: making a few extra saves the night that maybe he
Speaker 14: wouldn't have to make if they had, you know, full
Speaker 14: power on the back end. So I think that's part
Speaker 14: of it. And he Jackson Stauber they called up from
Speaker 14: the AHL to be the backup. You know, he's he's
Speaker 14: stepped in when he needs too for load management, but
Speaker 14: he's nowhere close to the Milka's level. And then Connor Ingram,
Speaker 14: you know, he went out day to day in November
Speaker 14: and it's been months. The latest update with him is
Speaker 14: they sent him down to the HL on a conditioning loan,
Speaker 14: which means he has a maximum The loan is a
Speaker 14: maximum fourteen days where he goes down there and basically
Speaker 14: just gets back into NHL NHL shape. In terms of
Speaker 14: practice gains, you know, the HL practice is much more
Speaker 14: than the NHL because their schedule is a little bit looser.
Speaker 14: They practiced for.
Speaker 11: A longer time.
Speaker 14: Ingram hasn't played a game down there yet, but you
Speaker 14: know he's allowed to on the loans, so I think
Speaker 14: that's a good sign in terms of where he is
Speaker 14: in his recovery. It means that you know, he's probably
Speaker 14: on the ice on a daily basis. We don't have
Speaker 14: eyes on him because their AHL team is in Tucson.
Speaker 11: But yeah, I think it's that's the question.
Speaker 14: When he comes back. I don't think he's handed the
Speaker 14: net whatsoever. You know, he's been out of commission for
Speaker 14: two months and he didn't have a good start to
Speaker 14: the season and maybe he was dealing with something injury
Speaker 14: wise coming into it, but he really really struggled. And
Speaker 14: I don't think it's a coincidence that once the Melica
Speaker 14: came in and gave them consistent play and net come
Speaker 14: December late November, that's when they started playing their best hockey.
Speaker 14: So I think, especially now when every night is so
Speaker 14: important to them in terms of points, you're not going
Speaker 14: to mess with your starter that is confident and giving
Speaker 14: you wins. So we asked coach about it, of course,
Speaker 14: and he's focused on one game at a time. You know,
Speaker 14: Zamelka's starting tomorrow against the Florida Panthers and that's really
Speaker 14: all he's worried about. But I do think, you know,
Speaker 14: maybe Ingram's the backup they send Stauber back down, and
Speaker 14: it's good to have two veterans, but I just don't
Speaker 14: see them taking their net away from Vimeilica anytime soon
Speaker 14: if he's the one actively earning it.
Speaker 2: All right, Bell, let's get to some topics you've covered
Speaker 2: in your space for the trip, and anytime Spicy Tuna
Speaker 2: is in the news, we have to talk about it
Speaker 2: because he became the most popular player here instantly during
Speaker 2: their introductory press conference, and most people that didn't know
Speaker 2: hockey probably thought he was also the biggest star because
Speaker 2: he was the biggest name.
Speaker 1: He has not been able to get.
Speaker 2: A ton of ice time to start the year, but
Speaker 2: that's changing, isn't it tell us a little bit about
Speaker 2: this opportunity that our guy, Spicy Tuna has now in
Speaker 2: front of him.
Speaker 11: It is so.
Speaker 14: I mean, before their most recent road trips, Spicy Tuna
Speaker 14: lim O'Brien had only played three games, and that's coming
Speaker 14: off a season in Arizona where he played seventy five,
Speaker 14: so he was pretty used to being in the lineup
Speaker 14: on a nightly base. But Utah, luckily, their forward group
Speaker 14: has been extremely healthy this season, which is extremely rare.
Speaker 11: They haven't had one.
Speaker 14: Injury so far not to drinxit. I mean, Nick Duke
Speaker 14: sad was late coming into the season because he was
Speaker 14: recovering from injury, but nothing in season has happened to
Speaker 14: that group, So O'Brien was kind of just stuck as
Speaker 14: the thirteenth forward in a healthy scratch on.
Speaker 11: A nightly basis.
Speaker 14: And I think a lot of us, you know, media
Speaker 14: fans were talking about maybe wanting to see him in
Speaker 14: the lineup because the third line previously of Michelli's deep
Speaker 14: stating Krause, had not been producing as well, just offensively,
Speaker 14: so maybe switching it up to get.
Speaker 11: A spark there.
Speaker 14: And so be it. There was a stomach bug and
Speaker 14: illness going through the hockey club last week and Clayton
Speaker 14: Keller could not go for a game, so O'Brien got
Speaker 14: put in the lineup and he slotted in on that
Speaker 14: third line with Duke stading Krause and then has stayed
Speaker 14: in since then. He's played three games on that line
Speaker 14: with them, and Michelli was moved to the fourth line
Speaker 14: with Kevin Sellin and Alex Kirkfoot. But surprisingly or not surprisingly,
Speaker 14: I guess, if he brings a spark, Krause scored two
Speaker 14: goals in his second game with O'Brien.
Speaker 11: You know, he hadn't scored in fourteen.
Speaker 14: Games, and he gets that monkey off his back.
Speaker 11: And O'Brien didn't.
Speaker 14: Get the assist on the goal, but it was his
Speaker 14: physicality and four check that kind of set it up.
Speaker 14: And then Mitchelli the next night scored two goals and
Speaker 14: he hadn't scored since November seventh, So, you know, Krause
Speaker 14: and both Duke said said it the other day that
Speaker 14: O'Brien brought an energy and element and edge to the
Speaker 14: lineup that they think they were really missing and it's
Speaker 14: worked out so far. So coach said those combinations are
Speaker 14: going to stay the same this week because why you know,
Speaker 14: take him out if.
Speaker 11: It seems to be working.
Speaker 14: But his mindset all year, you know, Lim O'Brien, who's
Speaker 14: just said, I'm happy to be in the NHL, I'm
Speaker 14: going to stay ready, I'm going to be what this
Speaker 14: team needs for me to be. And he has definitely
Speaker 14: lived up to that.
Speaker 11: So who knows that this is a prolonged stint.
Speaker 14: I think they're just rolling with it because it got
Speaker 14: some of you know, the guys that they needed to
Speaker 14: keep going scoring.
Speaker 11: But yeah. I you know, we don't.
Speaker 14: Have a fish the lineups for tomorrow, but it seems
Speaker 14: like in this homestand Utah fans will get to see
Speaker 14: Liam O'Brien on Delta Center ice and he's fired up
Speaker 14: to be able to play in front of you know,
Speaker 14: fans that have shown him nothing but support since they.
Speaker 11: Got here in April.
Speaker 2: How healthy are we getting with the blue line? It
Speaker 2: just seems like there's two steps forward, one step back.
Speaker 2: And of course some of the like Jersey and Marino
Speaker 2: were thought to be two key contributors, are we getting
Speaker 2: are we close to getting them back?
Speaker 1: How healthy are we back there?
Speaker 2: And how close are we to getting some of the
Speaker 2: key contributors back to being on the ice.
Speaker 14: This week has actually been really productive with that.
Speaker 11: Jersey, Marino, and Maverick.
Speaker 14: Lamarou have all been on the ice, which you know,
Speaker 14: we haven't seen most of those guys for the past
Speaker 14: couple months.
Speaker 11: Marino previously was in.
Speaker 14: A non contact jersey, but is now in a full
Speaker 14: contact jersey, full participant, full participant in practice for the
Speaker 14: last week and a half. I want to say, so
Speaker 14: he's not getting ready. Pote said, it's not going to
Speaker 14: be this week but they're talking about it and it's coming.
Speaker 14: So I don't know if that means end of January,
Speaker 14: early February, but he's full contact, you know, he's practicing
Speaker 14: and getting back into NHL pace. So I think that's
Speaker 14: a really bright sign for Utah. You know, they never
Speaker 14: seen him play in Utah, Jersey yet, he wasn't even
Speaker 14: at training camp because he was injured. And then both
Speaker 14: Sean Jersey and Maverick Lameru, they're not full contact yet.
Speaker 14: They're kind of on for short skill sessions, getting a
Speaker 14: feel for the put getting some conditioning in and just
Speaker 14: being around the players on the ice before practice, and
Speaker 14: then they'll do go do some side work. But same
Speaker 14: thing with that. We hadn't seen them skate in a while,
Speaker 14: so they are weeks probably a month at least for
Speaker 14: Jersey away. But it's a really good sign. So it's
Speaker 14: not going to be this week, it might not be
Speaker 14: in this homestand but I think the fact that those
Speaker 14: players are integrating back into the team, integrating back into
Speaker 14: the routine of playing, is a really bright spot. But
Speaker 14: then Robert Bertuso was put on injured reserve with he's
Speaker 14: week to week with a lower body injury, so you know,
Speaker 14: that's another defenseman you lose. So in terms of who
Speaker 14: they have coming up, it's kind of the same bulk
Speaker 14: of guys that have been carrying the load all season,
Speaker 14: But it seems like in the next few weeks you'll
Speaker 14: get at least one healthy, two healthy bodies back, which
Speaker 14: you know is coming at the perfect time for this
Speaker 14: team as they try to make a push and could
Speaker 14: make a really big.
Speaker 11: Difference for them.
Speaker 2: All Right, Belle, before I said you loose, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of a continuing theme on the show is to
Speaker 2: kind of gauge the interest of our local community with
Speaker 2: this new project and this new sport and this new team.
Speaker 1: And I haven't been to every game.
Speaker 2: I've been to three, and I think opening night was
Speaker 2: probably not a level of passion that we could expect.
Speaker 1: To see night at a night out. That's not a surprise.
Speaker 2: But as you continue to make your way down to
Speaker 2: the Delta Center to watch the Utah Hockey Club, how
Speaker 2: do you feel like your community is supporting the team,
Speaker 2: and how many of the jerseys or sweaters from the
Speaker 2: other teams are you seeing And you know it's still early.
Speaker 2: If you know, one of two things will happen for
Speaker 2: them to get support. They're gonna be awesome, right which
Speaker 2: is tough to do like Vegas was, or it's just
Speaker 2: going to take some time and that's okay. But where
Speaker 2: are we at right now January sixth seventh, excuse me
Speaker 2: with this project? And how do you think the community
Speaker 2: is supporting the Utah Hockey Club.
Speaker 14: I mean, there are definitely away jerseys at basically every
Speaker 14: game for warm ups and things like that. I think
Speaker 14: for one reason is people want to see what's going
Speaker 14: on in Utah, they want to go to the Delta Center.
Speaker 14: They kind of want to be a part of the
Speaker 14: inaugural season. So I think people have you know, close
Speaker 14: teams that have been traveling in in terms of fan base.
Speaker 14: And also there's a lot of you know, Utah residents
Speaker 14: that were just stands of other NHL teams because they
Speaker 14: didn't have one. But that being said, I don't think
Speaker 14: they ever truly outnumber the amount of Hockey Club fans
Speaker 14: at Delta Center.
Speaker 6: And way I.
Speaker 14: Describe it, I think there's a core group of Utah
Speaker 14: fans that are you know, die hard, They care a lot,
Speaker 14: a lot a lot, and we see it, we interact
Speaker 14: with them and so maybe it's not quantity yet, but
Speaker 14: it's definitely quality.
Speaker 11: And the people that.
Speaker 14: Are there, they're loud, they're proud, and I think Brian Smith,
Speaker 14: you know, he did a really cool thing for the
Speaker 14: past few games. He's been opening up the the obstructive
Speaker 14: view seats that they usually don't sell, either for free
Speaker 14: or for ten dollars, and it's you know, basically sold
Speaker 14: out Delta Center. So that's been really cool, and it's
Speaker 14: usually a pretty past crowd, you know, no matter what.
Speaker 14: It's definitely not the level of atmosphere as you know,
Speaker 14: Opening Night or anything like that. But I think I know,
Speaker 14: you look back at last month the overtime win against
Speaker 14: the Vancouver Canucks that felt close to Opening Night, and
Speaker 14: I think fans are starting to understand the game more
Speaker 14: and the cadence of the cheers and that type of thing.
Speaker 14: So it definitely feels more like an NFL atmosphere. And
Speaker 14: like I said, the people are that are there doing
Speaker 14: you know, their very best to give these guys, you know,
Speaker 14: the love and support that maybe they didn't have previously.
Speaker 2: When do you think we're going to hear the name?
Speaker 2: The final decision on what the name of the team
Speaker 2: will be.
Speaker 14: What we have been told is they won't announce anything
Speaker 14: until the season's over. So I think the earliest, even
Speaker 14: if they have it decided right now, the earliest that
Speaker 14: we will know anything is.
Speaker 11: I don't know if it's once Utah season is over, once.
Speaker 14: The entire NHL season is over.
Speaker 11: Yeah, So that's that's what we know about that.
Speaker 14: It's kind of the same as they've said all year,
Speaker 14: but it doesn't seem like there will be any breaking
Speaker 14: news on that in the coming months.
Speaker 1: It's going to be the yettie, isn't it.
Speaker 14: I think that's what they're trying. I mean, I assume
Speaker 14: they said they want to go with what the fans
Speaker 14: want and that one the pull, So I mean, I
Speaker 14: think they're doing anything they can to please the fan base,
Speaker 14: and YETI is what people want. So that'd be my
Speaker 14: best guest, but that's, you know, based on limited information.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, Bell, I always appreciate the time, Keep up
Speaker 2: the great work and we'll chat soon.
Speaker 11: Happy New Year, Okay, awesome, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: All right, Belle Fraser salid Daria Man, she is good.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for Utah Hockey Club knowledge, you should
Speaker 2: definitely consume her work.
Speaker 1: She is a pro.
Speaker 2: She's at every practice, at every game. On Twitter at
Speaker 2: Belle Frase one is where you find her. Of course,
Speaker 2: support our good friends at The Tribune at sltrib dot com.
Speaker 1: All right, what's going on? Drive at five time?
Speaker 2: Your commute home on a Tuesday afternoon slash evening star
Speaker 2: tred Now, it's been a pretty lovely day.
Speaker 1: The sun has been shining.
Speaker 2: It got up to about forty two degrees and or
Speaker 2: a Tuesday in January, we will take it. Guys have
Speaker 2: been blue, so it's been a nice day. I hope
Speaker 2: you're off to a good start to your work week.
Speaker 2: And keep us here during the five o'clock hour. We'll
Speaker 2: take you home. We're gonna make space for Utah basketball
Speaker 2: coming up Bill Riley as well as Sean Mooney Utah
Speaker 2: Iowa State. Iowa State is not lost in ames Iowa
Speaker 2: for twenty six straight basketball games. It's the fourth longest
Speaker 2: home winning streak in college basketball, and Utah is badly
Speaker 2: in need of a good showing. I don't know what's
Speaker 2: reasonable to expect tonight. Utah's first two Big Twelve men's
Speaker 2: basketball games have been let's see, not awesome.
Speaker 1: Is I guess how we'll land there, So I.
Speaker 2: Don't think a win is very reasonable for the Utes tonight.
Speaker 2: Of course, anything could happen in the world of college basketball.
Speaker 2: But with a spread at sixteen point five, you know,
Speaker 2: can they make it interesting? Can they hang in down
Speaker 2: the stretch? So you're gonna hear the game coming up
Speaker 2: in just a little bit. As Craig is continuing to
Speaker 2: try to build this thing up to a place of
Speaker 2: respectability after a decent non con schedule, first two Big
Speaker 2: Twelve games have been rough, and of course this is
Speaker 2: an unbelievable conference. They went to Baylor, got smoked. They
Speaker 2: came home, played Texas Tech in Salt Lake, got smoke.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Texas Tech, they're gonna be down in Provo tonight,
Speaker 2: take on BYU, BYU locking their wounds after they got
Speaker 2: dump trucked by Houston in their building.
Speaker 1: This is a bear of a conference, man.
Speaker 2: So we'll have a little men's college basketball action for
Speaker 2: you tonight. The Utah Jazz are at action tonight as well.
Speaker 2: They welcome in a old friend. Quinn Snyder, former coach
Speaker 2: of the Jazz for eight seasons, is now here coaching
Speaker 2: the Atlanta Hawks. So of course, nothing but fond feelings
Speaker 2: and memories for Quinn Snyder. I covered his eight years
Speaker 2: here down at the old station, had him on my
Speaker 2: show every week and was able to get to know
Speaker 2: him and lucky enough to call him a friend and
Speaker 2: always will cheer for him. So we'll see if the
Speaker 2: Jazz can get a win tonight. They've won two straight
Speaker 2: games after going to Florida and sweeping both the Miami
Speaker 2: Heat and the Orlando Magic. We've got a little Duke
Speaker 2: Duke Pittsburgh tonight. Pitt is coached by Jeff Capele, who
Speaker 2: played his college ball for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. By
Speaker 2: the way, the ESPN seven hundred Cash Kickoff is here.
Speaker 2: It's time for your shot to win one thousand dollars
Speaker 2: cash to pay your bills. Text thrill to five oh
Speaker 2: eight seven seven seven one thousand. That's thrill to five
Speaker 2: oh eight seven seven seven seven seven one thousand for
Speaker 2: a chance to win one thousand dollars in cash in
Speaker 2: this nationwide contest. Good luck from those of us over
Speaker 2: here at ESPN. So a fun show today, Lively show today.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously one eye ahead to the college football
Speaker 2: semi finals. Don't forget we are your home of the
Speaker 2: best live football events in the market. You're gonna hear
Speaker 2: the Hot and Bowl Texas Ohio State here on the station.
Speaker 2: Then of course the Orange Bowl will be Penn State
Speaker 2: Notre Dame. Notre Dame is one point five point favorite.
Speaker 2: Ohio State is a five and a half point favorite,
Speaker 2: and I gotta be honest, that line feels really low.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of that is because they're going
Speaker 2: to be playing down in Texas. Of course, University of
Speaker 2: Texas will have a ton of fans there. Ohio State,
Speaker 2: to me, is the superior team. I think we've seen
Speaker 2: that Texas is gonna have to withhold the start from
Speaker 2: Ohio State in a way that Oregon or Tennessee just couldn't.
Speaker 2: Hoping for two good games then obviously the National Championship
Speaker 2: on January the twentieth, So college football kind of top
Speaker 2: of mind awareness done some Utah Jazz on the show
Speaker 2: tonight to get you this afternoon and tonight to get
Speaker 2: you ready for the game this evening as the Atlantaks
Speaker 2: are in town. And of course the NBA world right
Speaker 2: now curious to see what the situation will be with
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler and when he will be traded? You know,
Speaker 2: will he be traded? Where will that situation unfold? Only
Speaker 2: time will tell. Some good NBA action Tonight, Turner as
Speaker 2: the Lakers and the Mavericks on TNT, and then the
Speaker 2: late night game is from Ball Arena. The Nuggets have
Speaker 2: been better as of late, but the Celtics are in
Speaker 2: town to take on Denver. Then obviously wild Card weekend
Speaker 2: ahead in the NFL playoffs. Black Monday kind of turned
Speaker 2: into Black Tuesday the radio. The Raiders have fired Antonio Pierce,
Speaker 2: leading a lot of people to believe that Dion Sanders
Speaker 2: may be contacted by the Raiders to take over that job.
Speaker 1: And will they draft his son? Of course, only time
Speaker 1: will tell.
Speaker 2: But a lot of a lot of coaches losing their jobs,
Speaker 2: a lot of coordinators losing their jobs. There's no update
Speaker 2: on Jalen Hurts and his health. He is in concussion protocol.
Speaker 2: The Eagles, according to essentially Vegas and the odds, are
Speaker 2: one of four or five teams that actually have a
Speaker 2: legitimate shot of winning a Super Bowl this year.
Speaker 1: But of course they need their quarterback under center.
Speaker 2: Looks like Jordan Love is fine, He's gonna play, but
Speaker 2: Christian Watson has torn as afcl He's out for the
Speaker 2: rest of the playoffs and probably the bulk of next
Speaker 2: year as well. Two games on Saturday, Chargers, Texans, Steelers, Ravens,
Speaker 2: and then the Sunday slate is Broncos, Bills, Packers, Eagles, Commanders,
Speaker 2: and Bucks Monday. That game culminates with the Vikings and
Speaker 2: the Rams. Kind of a sneaky big one for Sam Darnold,
Speaker 2: who at this point has appears to have played his
Speaker 2: way into either a franchise tag or a long term
Speaker 2: contract with someone else. The Rams are actually an underdog
Speaker 2: at home Minnesota one point five point favorite.
Speaker 1: So the NFL playoffs rolling along, so busy show.
Speaker 2: We had Sean mooneyon earlier to preview the Utah basketball
Speaker 2: game tonight. All right, Porter, I'm gonna pose the question
Speaker 2: to you. As I referenced Utah on the road tonight.
Speaker 2: Iowa State is a sixteen point five point favorite. The
Speaker 2: arena where Iowa State plays. I believe it's the Hilton
Speaker 2: Arena that is a fortress. They have not lost there
Speaker 2: in twenty six games. I don't think anybody's expecting a
Speaker 2: Utah basketball win tonight. But what should what's best case
Speaker 2: scenario is it close down the stretch. I mean, at
Speaker 2: this point, as we talked to Sean about earlier, I
Speaker 2: think all you fans are hoping for is to just
Speaker 2: see some sort of tangible proof that this thing is
Speaker 2: moving in the right direction. And the cruel honesty, I
Speaker 2: don't know how we else to put it is there
Speaker 2: really isn't a whole lot right now. They've had some injuries,
Speaker 2: they've had some sickness, they've had some players leave for
Speaker 2: personal reasons. I believe they're fully stocked tonight with the
Speaker 2: entire group. So best case scenario, outside of a win,
Speaker 2: which feels like really hard, you're essentially a seventeen point dog.
Speaker 2: What would you fans see tonight that could lead them
Speaker 2: feeling into the night and then tomorrow that Okay, maybe
Speaker 2: some good things are happening with this team.
Speaker 1: Ah cover that spread maybe, I mean, don't lose by eighteen.
Speaker 4: They've lost their two big twelve games Spence by a
Speaker 4: combined margin of I think sixty or so. Whatever it is,
Speaker 4: it's between twenty five and thirty. And this is an
Speaker 4: Iowa State team. There's not only twelve and one. They're
Speaker 4: twelve and one. With their one law coming to one
Speaker 4: of the better teams in the country in my opinion,
Speaker 4: in Auburn.
Speaker 1: It's a really really good basketball team.
Speaker 4: And for you taw to go into specifically that arena
Speaker 4: on the road, I mean, it's just really really tall
Speaker 4: task to ask them to be in that game or
Speaker 4: or you know, to win that game. But if you
Speaker 4: cover the spread and if it's competitive into the second half,
Speaker 4: I think you feel better than you did last week
Speaker 4: right against Baylor and the other matchups you've had, it's
Speaker 4: just it just hasn't been anywhere close to good enough.
Speaker 4: So based on what we've seen so far, cover the spread,
Speaker 4: make it somewhat competitive, and I think you leave with
Speaker 4: a better feeling. Saying that out loud seems like a
Speaker 4: pretty unfortunate place for U Tough fans to be though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I know there's you know, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of noise around Craig when it comes to you fans
Speaker 2: wondering why this basketball program, and you know what, if
Speaker 2: you really call it how it is, it's been twenty years,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe even a little bit more than that,
Speaker 2: since Utah basketball had like a consistent run, not a
Speaker 2: one or two year spike period when Yakub was here,
Speaker 2: Delon was here, Kuzma had a minute. You know, coach coach,
Speaker 2: coach Kroskoviak did have a couple of really good teams
Speaker 2: Luka Dertca, you know that team with Neville they went
Speaker 2: to the I think that was a boiling team where
Speaker 2: they went to the NAA NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 1: It's a five seed. I want to say they lost
Speaker 1: to Arizona round one.
Speaker 2: Nobody gives a rip, but we have had these moments
Speaker 2: where it feels like maybe the basketball program is backheaded
Speaker 2: in the right direction.
Speaker 1: And look, it's I've talked about this for years.
Speaker 2: It's unequivocently unfair to talk about the Majeris years as
Speaker 2: something that we could potentially see again. That feels like,
Speaker 2: you know, one of those golden times of Utah basketball
Speaker 2: that was certainly enjoyable. I was in the school at
Speaker 2: the University of Utah when Rick was the coach, and
Speaker 2: you know, was friendly with a lot of those players,
Speaker 2: played with them, played against a lot of them, coluding
Speaker 2: Britton Johnson. They were a fun team to watching. It
Speaker 2: was a fun time for Utah basketball. And you know,
Speaker 2: it's unfair to hold the program to a standard like that,
Speaker 2: but it's got to be better than it's been. And
Speaker 2: there is an element of this conversation to the chicken
Speaker 2: or the egg, because look, if you're a highly sought
Speaker 2: after high school basketball player or a transfer that is
Speaker 2: looking for a new place to play, which of course
Speaker 2: is the reality of building a modern day program, whether
Speaker 2: it's basketball or football, breaking news, you want to play
Speaker 2: in front of fans. I know that sounds old fashion,
Speaker 2: but I don't care whatever level you played at play.
Speaker 2: You know, whatever level you played, it was always way
Speaker 2: more exciting. If you're playing in front of people, it's
Speaker 2: a different energy. And that building is not how juice
Speaker 2: in it for years consistently. Like I said, there's always
Speaker 2: been moments here or there. And I'm not one to
Speaker 2: tell anybody what to do with your money, what to
Speaker 2: do with your budget, and I guess you can't go
Speaker 2: to every right, You've got to pick and choose. So
Speaker 2: would what a healthy investment from the community change the
Speaker 2: trajectory of the basketball program If everybody listening right now
Speaker 2: and everybody who loves youth athletics just said screw it,
Speaker 2: I'm going to every basketball game and these young high
Speaker 2: school recruits are potential transfers. They visit campus and they
Speaker 2: go see, you know, UTA's got some really fun home
Speaker 2: games this year.
Speaker 1: Of course, BYU they'll have Baylor.
Speaker 2: You know, They've got Kansas, They've got k State, They've
Speaker 2: got ASU, West Virginia. Some really good teams are going
Speaker 2: to be the Huntsman Center this year. And if there's
Speaker 2: a high school recruit that comes to the BYU game
Speaker 2: and it's BYU Utah and there are a ton of
Speaker 2: fans there and sixty percent of the building is not blue,
Speaker 2: and Utah pulls off an upset, is that a shot
Speaker 2: of adrenaline for a program that badly needs it.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just know that if you're Craig, it's got to
Speaker 2: be really difficult to inspire kids to come play at
Speaker 2: Utah When they come to visit and they go see
Speaker 2: a home game and there are there's a handful of
Speaker 2: people there. I mean, I've been a plenty of them,
Speaker 2: nobody goes. I wonder if that changes for the big games,
Speaker 2: And maybe this Big twelve inclusion can get Craig a
Speaker 2: little bit more exposure as a result of the opponents,
Speaker 2: and maybe you can parlay that into something. I have
Speaker 2: no idea, but I think it would help a lot.
Speaker 2: And I chuckle as I say this, because if you
Speaker 2: show up and pack the building and you're loud and proud,
Speaker 2: and you're supportive and there's juice, that would help the program.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, the team has to provide
Speaker 2: something for you to cheer for consistently and tangibly. And
Speaker 2: it's just been a while since the product has been
Speaker 2: good enough, consistently enough for the community to be overly invested,
Speaker 2: you know. And I know there are conversations about whether
Speaker 2: or not the team gets the support they need. I
Speaker 2: don't know, man, I think that building probably needs a
Speaker 2: fing lift. The concessions are not awesome, and certainly there
Speaker 2: are ancillary things you could do to improve the game
Speaker 2: day experience. But when the product you're watching on the
Speaker 2: floor is subpar and has been for quite some time,
Speaker 2: and then it's not used to you know, it's not
Speaker 2: what we're accustomed to seeing. If you've been watching Utah
Speaker 2: basketball for longer than a few years, you remember when
Speaker 2: the Huntsman Center was packed, and you remember when the
Speaker 2: quality of basketball was high on the Utah side of things,
Speaker 2: And yeah, it's different. In the Big Twelve and the
Speaker 2: competition gaming in game out is something that Utah basketball
Speaker 2: has never seen before in the history of the program.
Speaker 2: But hopefully that's a rising tide effect. And I don't
Speaker 2: know what comes first, the chicken or the egg. Do
Speaker 2: you give them the great product consistently to come cheer
Speaker 2: and then do the whole field of dreams?
Speaker 1: If you build it, they will come. Thing in the community.
Speaker 2: Do the basketball program a favor by packing that building
Speaker 2: to give Craig something else to sell. There's probably a
Speaker 2: bit of truth in all of it, right, And I'm look,
Speaker 2: I don't blame you for not necessarily packing the building,
Speaker 2: But if we ever want to see this basketball program
Speaker 2: get back to even respectability, I mean, most people believe
Speaker 2: they're gonna finish close to the last in the Big twelve,
Speaker 2: certainly something needs to change. B Hyu welcomes in Texas
Speaker 2: Tech to Provo tonight. Texas Tech got Utah good by
Speaker 2: you got undressed against Houston and Utah State top twenty
Speaker 2: five team. Now Utah State Jered Calhoun fourteen and one,
Speaker 2: four to zero. Conference play there at San Jose State tonight.
Speaker 2: So there you go. Some college some college football supporter
Speaker 2: before we send it over to Bill and Sean. We
Speaker 2: have a simmering beef in the market. Oh a beef
Speaker 2: Bill's involved. Oh no, I don't know if you heard,
Speaker 2: but Craig Bolerjack was named Utah Broadcaster of the Year today.
Speaker 1: I did hear about that. You know how many awards
Speaker 1: that is for Bowler? Sixteen three? That's one more than Bill. No,
Speaker 1: they both have three. Oh they have three. Oh, Bill's
Speaker 1: three times. Okay, but yeah, you didn't hear any the
Speaker 1: ads of the liners. Are you kidding? You're right? So
Speaker 1: we have Bill and we have Bowler three times.
Speaker 2: Sarah's two time. Now Sarah is Sarah TI. Congrats to
Speaker 2: Sarah Todd our Queen DEAs Red News. She won Utah
Speaker 2: Sports Rider. You're today for the second time. But I
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know when this award was. You
Speaker 2: know where you had to like Venmo west Russ wef
Speaker 2: you know what's his name, Wes Ruff twenty bucks to
Speaker 2: like win it or whatever. I don't know when this
Speaker 2: whole thing started. What you have to like join to
Speaker 2: get it or whatever. But Bill and Bowler are now
Speaker 2: the only three time winners.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 2: So there are several this is a topic tree, right,
Speaker 2: This is a topic tree because there are several branches.
Speaker 1: Here, namely, how do you feel if you're Greg Rubel.
Speaker 4: Completely and completely forgotten about that?
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: I bet Rubel. I don't know, but I bet Rubell
Speaker 2: has pissed today. If Bowler's wanted twice, or excuse me,
Speaker 2: if Bowler's now wanted three times and the voice of
Speaker 2: the Utes, Bill Ridley, has wanted three times, Gobel passed
Speaker 2: to feel slided?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's just a matter of time though, right,
Speaker 1: I don't have a list in front of me.
Speaker 2: As far as who are the multi time winners, I
Speaker 2: would imagine Greg has won it once because what has
Speaker 2: revealed itself is they simply just circulate through the same
Speaker 2: like five people. So maybe Rubel is due. But I
Speaker 2: want to know how Bill feels about Bowler winning his
Speaker 2: third Utah Sports Broadcaster of the Year award, and they're
Speaker 2: therefore putting Bowler on the same level as Bill.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll get them in studio together.
Speaker 2: Ooh, YouTube, let's create a beef because I just have
Speaker 2: to wonder if if there's jealousy, if there's outright hatred,
Speaker 2: is there mutual respects.
Speaker 4: Why don't we just tell Bill there's some beef. Tell
Speaker 4: Bowler there's some beef.
Speaker 8: There.
Speaker 2: You tell Bill, I'll tell Bowler and we'll get them
Speaker 2: at odds when they're in studio. I like it all
Speaker 2: right before we Saga night to get you over to
Speaker 2: some Mutah men's basketball shout out to Bowler.
Speaker 1: Congrats to Bowler.
Speaker 2: By the way, Utah Sports broadcast over the year in
Speaker 2: Sarah Todd for her Utah Sports Rider of the Year,
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Speaker 2: Your game all season long, All right, Porter, before we
Speaker 2: throw it over to Bill and Sean for some Utah basketball,
Speaker 2: What comes our way?
Speaker 1: To Wednesday edition of the show.
Speaker 4: The aforementioned sports writer of the Year, Sarah Todt comes
Speaker 4: your way on a Wednesday, Talk Very Nice Jazz, Chris
Speaker 4: com Ronnie Hour. On a Wednesday, Neil Smith drops by
Speaker 4: talking to Utah Hockey Club and the former former Utah
Speaker 4: Sports Broadcaster of the Year Bill Riley.
Speaker 1: Oh no, so Ryles is on the show tomorrow, Yes,
Speaker 1: and then Bowler on Thursday. So we're okay, we got
Speaker 1: to going.
Speaker 2: I just want to make sure that he's not hurt,
Speaker 2: so we'll check in on the Once upon a Time
Speaker 2: Utah Sports Broadcaster of the Year tomorrow and then the actual.
Speaker 1: Utah sports broadcaster the You're on Thursday. That is ah,
Speaker 1: that's the plan.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: Well that was saying night.
Speaker 2: Especially thank you Sean Moody, Tim McMahon, Scott Mitchell, Bell Fraser.
Speaker 2: If you of the sounding miss go to the website
Speaker 2: ESPN seven hundred sports dot com. Check out our podcast
Speaker 2: pages called The Drive with Spence. Check its available wherever
Speaker 2: you get your show. Subscribe, rate rate reviews, say nice things,
Speaker 2: give us all the stars.