Speaker 1: All right, what is going on? It is drive time
Speaker 1: for Wednesday. It's about eight minutes past the hour, two
Speaker 1: o'clock typical February day. Outside, it's about forty two degrees
Speaker 1: in cloudy here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Looks
Speaker 1: like we're gonna get some warm and sunny conditions coming
Speaker 1: up this weekend. But as it is every single day,
Speaker 1: it's going to have you along for the ride. Spence check,
Speaker 1: it's behind the mic. That's Porter Larson behind the glass,
Speaker 1: jam packed four hour radio show for you guys today
Speaker 1: on this Wednesday afternoon, as we get you halfway through
Speaker 1: that work week and one day closer to the weekend,
Speaker 1: and we got a lot to do on the show.
Speaker 1: The second half quote unquote of the NBA season begins tonight.
Speaker 1: The Jazz are at action tomorrow taking on Okay, see
Speaker 1: the Jazz are in the middle of a nine game
Speaker 1: home stand and they've got seven games left at home,
Speaker 1: so your chance to see the Jazz before they hit
Speaker 1: the road.
Speaker 2: Tonight, it's gonna be the Lakers and the Hornets. They'll
Speaker 2: get the.
Speaker 1: Second half of the NBA season going. So we'll do
Speaker 1: some pro basketball on the show today, some jazz basketball
Speaker 1: on the show today, get your for the final portion
Speaker 1: of the NBA season. We'll also do some college basketball.
Speaker 1: BYU just dog walked Kansas last night. They undressed them
Speaker 1: on national television. It was embarrassing for Kansas and for
Speaker 1: Bill self. A thirty four point win that honestly could
Speaker 1: have been worse because Kansas and we're gonna talk about this,
Speaker 1: this is gonna sound like a slight to both Utah
Speaker 1: and BYU. I've watched Kansas a bunch this year and
Speaker 1: watched every minute of both the BYU and Utah game
Speaker 1: games and the wins that both those teams had over Kansas.
Speaker 1: I am wildly unimpressed with the Jayhawks this year. Like
Speaker 1: that defense last night BYU. Those were practice jumpers, step in,
Speaker 1: walk in, wide open corner three.
Speaker 2: So we'll get to it on the show.
Speaker 1: We'll do some college basketball on the show today and
Speaker 1: BYU as a result of a dominant win last night
Speaker 1: in Provo in front of a great crowd at the
Speaker 1: Marriott Center. A lot of love today. Up to number
Speaker 1: thirty one in the NET. Up to number thirty one
Speaker 1: in the Ken Palm rankings. Our good buddy Ken Palmroyestas
Speaker 1: by the show from time to time and BYU. Now
Speaker 1: with five games left at Arizona at Arizona State, home
Speaker 1: against West Virginia, on the road at Iowa Stay, then
Speaker 1: home against Utah, there's a chance that Brigham Young is
Speaker 1: a team that could win eleven or twelve conference games
Speaker 1: in this Big twelve landscape, which is really hard to do.
Speaker 1: They have the inside track now to be the number
Speaker 1: five seed in the Big Twelve tournament, and you got
Speaker 1: to give a lot of credit, man, when that team
Speaker 1: knocks out shots today are really really tough. University of
Speaker 1: Utah after beating both Kansas and k State, five games
Speaker 1: left for the Utes at UCF, at Arizona, home against
Speaker 1: Arizona State in West Virginia, then on the road against BYU.
Speaker 1: Utah has seven conference wins. Can they go three and
Speaker 1: two down the stretch. It's a tough ass. They'll probably
Speaker 1: have to get it well. They definitely will have to
Speaker 1: at least get one road win. Probably at UCF is
Speaker 1: going to be your best chance. But UCF is a solid,
Speaker 1: not great team this year. They're around five hundred. Then
Speaker 1: at Arizona's going to be a tough task for anybody.
Speaker 1: Home against ASU in West Virginia and then on the
Speaker 1: road against BYU, and of course BYU is gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot of revenge on the mind. And they're a
Speaker 1: different team now than they were back when they rolled
Speaker 1: up here to Salt Lake City and took an l
Speaker 1: with them down to Provo. So five games left for
Speaker 1: the Utes, a three to two finish would allow them
Speaker 1: to win ten games in conference and that is a really,
Speaker 1: really good sign for the direction of Utah men's basketball.
Speaker 1: So we'll get to some college hoops on the show today,
Speaker 1: of course, in addition to the landscape of the NBA,
Speaker 1: the latest with the NFL offseason franchise tag Day was
Speaker 1: yesterday and now a lot of NFL decisions to be made.
Speaker 1: The NFL salary cap is going to increase at least
Speaker 1: twenty two million dollars in twenty twenty five, So the
Speaker 1: latest on the world of pro football. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a quiet time in college football outside of the meeting's
Speaker 1: going on right now in New Orleans with the power
Speaker 1: brokers from the Big Big Ten. Wish it was the
Speaker 1: Big twelve, but the Big Ten of the SEC. The
Speaker 1: latest was some of those meetings. The latest on the
Speaker 1: potential change to the CFP format. A lot of things
Speaker 1: were rolled back this week by the Trump administration Department
Speaker 1: of Education, causing a lot of chaos and ultimately a
Speaker 1: lot of people not knowing what the future of the
Speaker 1: business of the college athletics.
Speaker 2: Landscape is going to be.
Speaker 1: And a lot of those things are being discussed in
Speaker 1: New Orleans this week. But it's just two conferences and
Speaker 1: they're basically telling people what's what, and that's just kind
Speaker 1: of how it is. So we'll keep you up to
Speaker 1: date now on these meetings that that are going on
Speaker 1: in New Orleans, because I know you all love some
Speaker 1: college football. If anything comes out while we are on air,
Speaker 1: we will bring it to you. Rayl saw Lake is
Speaker 1: starting their season kind of at four thirty Mountain time, RSL. Eradiano.
Speaker 1: I think that's how you say it. Don't tweet at me.
Speaker 1: Soccer fans are the worst, man. They get mad when
Speaker 1: you don't talk about it. Then when you talk about it,
Speaker 1: you're not good enough at okay, whatever, But that's gonna
Speaker 1: be four thirty start.
Speaker 2: RSL is an action and then they're gonna be an
Speaker 2: action coming up.
Speaker 1: MLS play. They'll open it up against San Jose San
Speaker 1: Jose's new striker is named Chicho Rongo, and that's gonna
Speaker 1: cover yourway this weekend. So soccer season is also here
Speaker 1: a lot to do. Wednesday show, We'll start with Zach Harper,
Speaker 1: NBA Daily Assist. We'll look back a little bit on
Speaker 1: All Star weekend. I'm already over the topic of how
Speaker 1: to fix it because you can't. But mostly we'll look
Speaker 1: out of the second half of the NBA season, do
Speaker 1: a little jazz basketball as well with Zach Harper. Today
Speaker 1: Chris Camrodnie typically stops beyond Fridays. He'll roll in studio
Speaker 1: today at three o'clock. Neil Smith, former general manager of
Speaker 1: the New York Rangers New York Islanders, one of the
Speaker 1: leads scouts for the Detroit Red Wings for a long
Speaker 1: long time. Neil's gonna stop by today because tomorrow is
Speaker 1: the final of the four Nations face off and if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, Neil was not all that pumped about
Speaker 1: the potential of what this could be and our guys
Speaker 1: gonna have to lead eat a little crow today. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you've been watching the news cycle, if you're consuming
Speaker 1: I don't know, daily shows like the ESPN or the
Speaker 1: Fox shows or you're watching Sports Center.
Speaker 2: It is leading shows and leading coverage.
Speaker 1: As a lot of people, over five million people watched
Speaker 1: the semi final between Canada and the US up in Montreal.
Speaker 1: Now Montreal with one hundred plus years of hockey history. Well,
Speaker 1: the city of Boston step up the way Montreal did.
Speaker 1: We'll see Boston's a great hockey city. And we've got
Speaker 1: Matthew Kachuck and Brandon Hegel going head to head as
Speaker 1: far as a lot of trash talking, going back and
Speaker 1: forth with their words after they went back and forth
Speaker 1: with their fists during the semi finals. The first fight
Speaker 1: of the three in the nine minutes was Matthew Kachuk
Speaker 1: and Brandon Hegel, who are rivals in the NHL. Both
Speaker 1: play in Florida, but Matthew is with Florida and then
Speaker 1: Brandon is with Tampa Bay. So we'll see this is
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. Already excited about it even though it
Speaker 1: is tomorrow. So we'll bringing Neil Smith, and then after Neil,
Speaker 1: we bring in the voice that's right, the voice of
Speaker 1: the Utes, Bill Riley, who called that game over the
Speaker 1: weekend as Utah beat Kansas, and Bill is a Kansas
Speaker 1: alump so we'll do some college basketball and some college
Speaker 1: football with Ryle's coming up on a Wednesday. We've got
Speaker 1: Zach Harper, We've got Chris Comroddi, Neil Smith, Bill Riley,
Speaker 1: Me Spence Jackets, all of you the great listeners on
Speaker 1: this Wednesday afternoon. And that young fella his name Porter
Speaker 1: Larson on a Wednesday. Did you catch much of that
Speaker 1: massacre BYU just they wiped the floor with the Jayhawks
Speaker 1: and Provo last night.
Speaker 3: They did, And I did see some of that game,
Speaker 3: and you mentioned it right.
Speaker 4: There were.
Speaker 3: A lot of really really uncontested shots. And that's not
Speaker 3: a discredit to BYU. When you're shooting the way BYU
Speaker 3: was last night, and you're you're grooving the way that
Speaker 3: they were, you're gonna you're gonna win most times than not.
Speaker 3: That's the difference between basketball and some other sports is
Speaker 3: that if you're hot, or a particular couple of players
Speaker 3: are hot, there's just no beating that particular team on
Speaker 3: that night. But Kansas didn't help themselves and they lost
Speaker 3: to both of the local teams, the Utes and BYU
Speaker 3: over over the weekend, and now the Big twelve standings
Speaker 3: are they're getting ptty interesting as the home stretch gets here.
Speaker 1: Yes they are, and we'll see what the final four
Speaker 1: or five games left in conference means for both Utah
Speaker 1: and BYU. Stoc Harper is our first guest out of
Speaker 1: the gates on this Wednesday afternoon. But before we get
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Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: So, as we've talked about, I talked about this this
Speaker 1: during Crosstock with Sean and Porter and I were just
Speaker 1: kind of bantering back and forth.
Speaker 2: You know, the Kansas Jayhawks are.
Speaker 1: The winningness program in the history of college basketball. They
Speaker 1: are the bluest still blue bloods in this conference. And
Speaker 1: there's no argument, there's no debate. Bill Self has been
Speaker 1: coaching at Kansas for twenty two years. For the first
Speaker 1: twenty years, Bill Self never lost more than six conference games.
Speaker 1: Last year they lost eight. This year they've already lost seven.
Speaker 1: They're going to drop out of the top twenty five.
Speaker 1: They found themselves in a buzz saw last night down
Speaker 1: to the Marriot Center in front of a crowd that
Speaker 1: looked awesome on television. The Rock student section certainly has
Speaker 1: evolved over the past seven eight years. That's a tough
Speaker 1: place to play, it always has been, but it feels
Speaker 1: a little bit more intense and different. Now, shout out
Speaker 1: to the game ops department down in Provo. They're doing
Speaker 1: a great job. And BYU came out early, they threw
Speaker 1: the first few haymakers and they never stopped. It was
Speaker 1: eight to zero after ninety seconds. Bill self took a
Speaker 1: time out and Kansas never even threatened. You know, in
Speaker 1: the two games Kansas played here in the state, up
Speaker 1: here in Salt Lake City over the weekend against the
Speaker 1: Utes and then down in Provo last night against BYU,
Speaker 1: they did not lead either game for one second.
Speaker 2: That is wild. This was the.
Speaker 1: Preseason AP number one basketball team for the second year
Speaker 1: in a row.
Speaker 2: Now, last year was a little easier to explain.
Speaker 1: They lost their best player, got hurt than everything fell
Speaker 1: apart from there, but everybody applauded their transfer class, their
Speaker 1: returning class. Hunter Dickinson came back and a lot of
Speaker 1: people think he's going well, I don't know anymore. A
Speaker 1: lot of people predicted he would be the big twelve
Speaker 1: of the year, and last night certainly wasn't on Hunter Dickinson.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to say this, and it's not a
Speaker 1: slight on either by U or Utah. I'm not taking
Speaker 1: anything away from a great win for the Utes at
Speaker 1: the Huntsman Center in front of a fun crowd, and
Speaker 1: any win right now for the Utes as they're heading
Speaker 1: down the stretch in conference play prior to the conference tournament,
Speaker 1: any win is a good win, and certainly a win
Speaker 1: at the time over the number seventeen team in a
Speaker 1: country and the bluest of blue bloods in the Big Twelve, Kansas,
Speaker 1: followed by the winover k State, the Utes deserve a
Speaker 1: lot of credit or wins against two really good teams
Speaker 1: on the road to UCF coming up, and then it's
Speaker 1: at Arizona home against ASU in West Virginia and then
Speaker 1: down in Provo to finish it off against BYU on
Speaker 1: March the eighth. And if Utah can grab three wins
Speaker 1: in their final five games, that is a ten win
Speaker 1: Big twelve team and that is a great accomplishment. It
Speaker 1: really should give Craig some potential attention for maybe you know,
Speaker 1: in the mix for coach of the Year after Utah
Speaker 1: was picked to finish last in the conference.
Speaker 2: If they can win ten games in conference play.
Speaker 1: That would be a great accomplishment and it would also
Speaker 1: put them at eighteen wins on the season.
Speaker 2: So you know good solid year.
Speaker 1: I don't know that the NCAA tournament is in Utah's
Speaker 1: future this year unless they do something wild and crazy
Speaker 1: at the Big twelve Tournament. But on the BYU side
Speaker 1: of things, you know this. Ultimately, last night was a
Speaker 1: game that caught the attention of the country for a
Speaker 1: few different reasons. NBA All Star Break, it finishes up
Speaker 1: or finished last night. The NBA's back tonight, But last
Speaker 1: night there was no basketball on. Last night, there was
Speaker 1: no NBA basketball on. And maybe you're into watching pro
Speaker 1: golfers hit a ball on a simulator. I can't do it.
Speaker 1: As much as I love golf, it's not interesting to me.
Speaker 1: And after the game, Scott Van Pell SVP on his
Speaker 1: Sports Center, which is the only watchable sports center anymore.
Speaker 1: Sorry Stan Verrett or whoever else is on the desk
Speaker 1: these days. But BYU Kansas ends. Van Pelt leads his
Speaker 1: show with his best Thing I Saw, which he always does,
Speaker 1: and then he brings in Kevin Young live at the
Speaker 1: Marriott Center down in Provo to lead his show.
Speaker 2: As the first interview.
Speaker 1: Van Pelt gets a ton of eyes man like He's
Speaker 1: the one show on that network that I find digestible
Speaker 1: and a lot of people still love to watch. And
Speaker 1: you know, last year BYU actually beat Kansas at fig
Speaker 1: Allen and after the game it was kind of similar,
Speaker 1: Mark Pope goes on SVP, because if you're going to
Speaker 1: do something in Big twelve play, notably do it against Kansas.
Speaker 1: That's how you're gonna get everybody's attention. Like I said,
Speaker 1: the winningness program in the history of college basketball, the
Speaker 1: bluest of blue bloods in this conference. And if BYU
Speaker 1: won by one point in triple overtime last night, it
Speaker 1: would have caught a lot of people's attention. The fact
Speaker 1: that they nearly had Kansas down by forty and one
Speaker 1: by thirty four, and honestly, it wasn't that close has
Speaker 1: the college basketball world talking today in a way that
Speaker 1: doesn't usually happened with games out here. And as much
Speaker 1: as it is to do with BYU and their quality
Speaker 1: of play, a lot of it has to do with
Speaker 1: the fact that everybody's going, what the hell happened to Kansas?
Speaker 1: Because BYU last night essentially knock down practice shots all
Speaker 1: game long. I was stunned at how much space BYU's
Speaker 1: players had to shoot the basketball. Now Richie made some
Speaker 1: tough shots. I think Richie might be their best player.
Speaker 1: Richie Sonders might be BYU's best player. But Trevin Nell
Speaker 1: does one thing, and if your bill's self, you tell
Speaker 1: your players, like hey, twenty one. On the other side,
Speaker 1: all you have to do is make him dribble it
Speaker 1: twice and he will pee down his leg. Just do
Speaker 1: not let him catch and shoot it in space, and
Speaker 1: we're fine. Guess what they did. They treated Trevin Nell
Speaker 1: like he was Trey Orri from the outside. He had
Speaker 1: acres of space just to catch and shoot rhythm set
Speaker 1: shot threes.
Speaker 2: And that's what he is a lead at. That's why
Speaker 2: he is a thousand point score. Bring me up.
Speaker 1: That's why he is in the top five of three
Speaker 1: point shots made.
Speaker 2: But watch BYU.
Speaker 1: Watch Trevin when they ask him to dribble it, he
Speaker 1: panics and passes it to either down Hall or Jager Demon.
Speaker 1: He has no desire to be a playmaker because it's
Speaker 1: not in his skill set. At the collegiate level, he
Speaker 1: is one thing and one thing only, and he's elite
Speaker 1: at that, and that is a knockdown, spot up shooter.
Speaker 1: Your job as a defender, playing defense against BYU is
Speaker 1: to know your personnel and know you can't leave that
Speaker 1: dude wide open all night. Like I said, Richie made
Speaker 1: some tough shots, but most of his threes were wide open.
Speaker 1: Awat mag good by the way there, I think eight
Speaker 1: and one, since Kevin decided to start him something like.
Speaker 2: That he was three or four.
Speaker 1: Everybody came off the bench knockdown shots. It was a dominant,
Speaker 1: overwhelming performance from BYU down in Provo and excuse me,
Speaker 1: Kansas leaves the state of Utah suffering two wells and
Speaker 1: never leading for one second against either Utah or BYU.
Speaker 1: It was the largest loss in the history of college
Speaker 1: basketball by a former AP preseason number one team. No
Speaker 1: preseason number one team in AP history has lost a
Speaker 1: game by more than thirty three points, and BYU got
Speaker 1: Kansas by thirty four. Bill Self has been coaching at
Speaker 1: Kansas for twenty two years. This tied for the largest
Speaker 1: loss in the history of the Bill Self tenure at Kansas,
Speaker 1: and I could keep going. I mean, it's the third
Speaker 1: largest loss in the history of that program that's been
Speaker 1: around since like.
Speaker 2: Eighteen ninety eight or whatever.
Speaker 1: And it is wild to see the team that everybody
Speaker 1: picked to win the Big twelve and the ap had
Speaker 1: is the number one team preseason, go down to Provo
Speaker 1: and get dog walked. It was humiliating for them, and
Speaker 1: if you're a BYU fan, certainly a good night because,
Speaker 1: like I said, after the game, Van Pelt opens up
Speaker 1: his sports center, does the opener and boom Kevin Young
Speaker 1: on Scott Van Peat Show, and BYU is now playing
Speaker 1: themselves into a situation where they are very very safe
Speaker 1: when it comes to the NCAA tournament Bubble.
Speaker 2: Watch, and they look to be a lock at this point.
Speaker 1: Now they've got some work to do because at this
Speaker 1: point they are thirty one in the net and on
Speaker 1: selection Sunday, if you don't win your conference, you really
Speaker 1: want to be in the twenties in the net, then
Speaker 1: you'll feel safe. I don't think there's any way BYU
Speaker 1: misses the NCAA Tournament at this point, and it looks
Speaker 1: like they have the clearest path to the number five
Speaker 1: seed for the conference tournament.
Speaker 2: Houston is the class of this league.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt, Arizona probably the second best team, Iowa
Speaker 1: States kind of come back around after a rough stretch,
Speaker 1: and Texas Tech is probably the surprise that nobody saw coming.
Speaker 2: But then it's BYU.
Speaker 1: They're ahead of Kansas, they're a head of Baylor, and
Speaker 1: they have the tiebreaker against both those two teams.
Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens down the stretch.
Speaker 1: If Utah can get three of their final five games,
Speaker 1: they will win ten games in conference, which is a
Speaker 1: great accomplishment. And if BYU can get three of their
Speaker 1: final five, they'll win twelve conference games year two.
Speaker 2: Finally, b YU two.
Speaker 1: And zero against Kansas in the Big Twelve in basketball,
Speaker 1: zho and two against Kansas in the Big Twelve in football,
Speaker 1: which is just weird. You know, I've got a new
Speaker 1: goal in twenty twenty five, and that's just to say
Speaker 1: yes to more things and just find joy in things
Speaker 1: that bring joy to others. So I don't care anymore
Speaker 1: that you guys like Pitbull and I don't. I'm just
Speaker 1: going to embrace the bit and welcome in Zach Harper
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: I'm over a man. You win, I give up.
Speaker 5: Here's the thing is with that song, you have no
Speaker 5: choice but to give up because that is a banker.
Speaker 5: That's an all time banker, right.
Speaker 1: Okay, Like I said, if it brings you joy, It
Speaker 1: brings me joy, Zach. That's my new goal for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. Where do we find you today? It sounds
Speaker 1: like you might be on a sailboat somewhere.
Speaker 5: Oh god, I'm in Los Angeles trying to find a
Speaker 5: parking spot anywhere in the city, and it's yeah, it's
Speaker 5: what everyone wants to hear, LA traffic.
Speaker 1: But yeah, look, I never knew how real it was
Speaker 1: until I spent a year working there, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: screw this. I'm like, it's it's enough to make me
Speaker 1: not ever want to live there. And then you land
Speaker 1: and it's seventy five degrees and like, maybe I'll deal
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's like it's it's kind of overcast a little bit.
Speaker 5: It's seventy six. You know, we're in the middle of February,
Speaker 5: late February. I guess I don't know what the cutoff
Speaker 5: is there, and so there are worse places to be.
Speaker 5: But if you like I made the mistake of going
Speaker 5: out at one thirty, that's on me.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Philosophical question for you, Zach, right off the top, Are
Speaker 1: you ready? Yeah, So at some point the asteroid's going
Speaker 1: to hit and we're cooked, Okay, it's it's it's it's
Speaker 1: just going to happen, and you have talked about it before,
Speaker 1: and ultimately what we've learned now, according to scientists that
Speaker 1: are smarter than you were, you and I, the asteroid
Speaker 1: y are four has risen to a record level to
Speaker 1: hit the earth in twenty thirty two.
Speaker 2: Here is my question to you. Do you want to
Speaker 2: know when it's coming?
Speaker 1: If you I had the opportunity, if whoever's in charge,
Speaker 1: whoever is really behind the Wizard of Oz controls, whoever's
Speaker 1: in charge of this whole thing, hit you up. Was like, Zach,
Speaker 1: I can tell you the day this is happening if
Speaker 1: you'd like to know and nobody else will know, or
Speaker 1: you just blissfully live your life until you don't anymore.
Speaker 2: Which avenue would you take?
Speaker 5: That's a great question, because like, at this point, do
Speaker 5: I have knowledge that this might happen in twenty thirty two?
Speaker 4: You do not.
Speaker 5: It's gonna happen in all right, it's just gonna it's
Speaker 5: gonna happen in your lifetime, but you.
Speaker 4: Don't know when.
Speaker 2: Correct?
Speaker 4: Yes, man, I think I kind of gotta know.
Speaker 5: I'd like to think I'm a bigger person, Like, no,
Speaker 5: just live my life and every day is the best.
Speaker 1: There, I think, I gotta know, see, I this is
Speaker 1: you know for listeners, it's a peek beyond a curtain.
Speaker 2: I'm a Weirdoh.
Speaker 1: I sat up and thought about this for like thirty
Speaker 1: minutes last night when I read the article, I'm like,
Speaker 1: would I want to know? Or would I just rather
Speaker 1: live my life until I wouldn't know? And the thought Zach,
Speaker 1: of what you could accomplish like the last day revenge
Speaker 1: wise on people who have wronged you over the years,
Speaker 1: is enough to be like, I gotta know, man, because
Speaker 1: the last day before the world ends.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine how many boxes you could check on
Speaker 2: your list?
Speaker 5: I would be an absolute menace.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, like like I wouldn't use this.
Speaker 5: For like, oh, I'm gonna like you know, I'm gonna
Speaker 5: make all the wrongs right and everything. No, this would
Speaker 5: be like revenge week leading up and be like, wow,
Speaker 5: you're really like kind of crashing out here, which I
Speaker 5: think is a you know, turn. Kids are still saying
Speaker 5: like you're kind of crashing out here, And I said,
Speaker 5: just you wait, I.
Speaker 2: Know what I'm doing. Yep.
Speaker 1: Now I'm one hundred percent with you that I was debating,
Speaker 1: and then when I realized what I could do the
Speaker 1: final day before the world ended, I'm like, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: on board.
Speaker 2: I want to know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, all right, real quick, let me let me add
Speaker 5: to that. You know what, like what I would feel
Speaker 5: like I would feel like Magic Johnson when he had
Speaker 5: quit and only the media knew, like the Lakers didn't know,
Speaker 5: Like what an incredible feeling where when he has this
Speaker 5: whole thing of like they're talking about, you know, free
Speaker 5: agents in the summer, and I'm just thinking, I'm not
Speaker 5: gonna be here, Like people will be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 5: we're going to like Santrape next summer and everything, and
Speaker 5: I would just think, like, you're not.
Speaker 4: Yep, I'd promise.
Speaker 2: You're not keep up with those plans. Hopefully it makes
Speaker 2: you happy.
Speaker 1: I thought you'd be a good one ask that question,
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll get back to it at some point.
Speaker 2: But here's here's where I'll a pivot.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: How much of the All Star Weekend did you consume?
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you went, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you were watching. How much of it did
Speaker 1: you consume?
Speaker 4: I didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 5: I didn't watch the Celebrity game because I don't hate myself.
Speaker 5: And then I I watched the second half of the
Speaker 5: Rising Stars games because I kind of forgot they were on,
Speaker 5: So like I caught like the second half of the
Speaker 5: second game, and then the entirety of the of the
Speaker 5: Championship game or whatever I guess it's called. Watched all
Speaker 5: of Saturday night, watched all of all of Sunday. You know,
Speaker 5: it was fine, which I guess is an upgrade over
Speaker 5: last year, but like it was just it was fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I guess it was fine if you enjoy
Speaker 1: the weekend. And so ultimately, because you and I are
Speaker 1: members of the media or cover the NBA, we are
Speaker 1: obligated to do the topic how do we fix this
Speaker 1: thing right? And when when anybody asks me what's your
Speaker 1: preferred format? I say, well, it's the all star game
Speaker 1: comprised of players who care about playing.
Speaker 2: That's my preferred format.
Speaker 1: What we saw for like thirty or forty years that,
Speaker 1: for the most part, was very awesome. Now, I'm not
Speaker 1: a revisionist historian. Not every game was great up and
Speaker 1: down the entire time when I was growing up watching
Speaker 1: in the nineties, but more often than not, it was
Speaker 1: the greatest pickup game in the world because the greatest
Speaker 1: players in the world showed up and more often than
Speaker 1: not tried to play. So my preferred format is the
Speaker 1: all star game, comprised of two teams with the best
Speaker 1: players in the world they care about playing. But I think, Zach,
Speaker 1: I'm resigned to the fact now there's no format that
Speaker 1: will motivate these guys to care.
Speaker 2: So I don't really know what you do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, it's just there's you know, they make
Speaker 5: so much money. And I'm not using that as a complaint.
Speaker 5: I'm just like, that's a that's just a fact of life, right,
Speaker 5: get to a certain point and these things, regardless of
Speaker 5: like your job or whatever like things, there's certain things
Speaker 5: that just become less and less meaningful. And I've heard
Speaker 5: some players, you know, try to explain the reason the
Speaker 5: competitiveness isn't there, and you know, it's some valid reasons,
Speaker 5: like oh, you're supposed to be about making sure you're
Speaker 5: okay for the second half the season, and so if
Speaker 5: I get injured there, you know, blah blah blah, Like yeah,
Speaker 5: like I get all that, and you know, there we
Speaker 5: had something Joe Varden published something for us today. I
Speaker 5: think it was today, either today or yesterday able to
Speaker 5: player poll from people who participate in All Star Weekend.
Speaker 5: I think Darius Garland. I don't know if it was
Speaker 5: tongue in cheek, but like his suggestion for making players
Speaker 5: care was like a million dollars per player, Like if
Speaker 5: I guess, I guess if you win or maybe if
Speaker 5: you play. I don't know what it was, but like
Speaker 5: it just said a million dollars per player, would would
Speaker 5: get I'm like, I don't know, man, like you kind
Speaker 5: of already make a lot of money, and that seems
Speaker 5: like a gross way of doing it. But if that's
Speaker 5: what it takes and it's worth it and the league
Speaker 5: has it, sure, I guess. Like I ultimately it's on
Speaker 5: the players. You know, Draymond complaining and whining the other night.
Speaker 5: And I'm not anti Draymond, but I'm anti Draymond when
Speaker 5: when he tries to like pretend he's inventing an idea
Speaker 5: and it's just stuff that's been thrown around, Like I
Speaker 5: get it, Like Rising Stars on Sunday is not hallowed
Speaker 5: sacred ground. Well, you guys shouldn't have messed around for
Speaker 5: the last eight years with All Star Games and then
Speaker 5: maybe you wouldn't be in this position. And ultimately, like,
Speaker 5: I think it's gonna be on the players. I think
Speaker 5: maybe someone like like Wemby seemed to take it pretty
Speaker 5: seriously and not one guy can change it. But I've
Speaker 5: heard stories in the past from guys like Dwyane Wade
Speaker 5: who are like, yeah, Kobe set the tone for a
Speaker 5: lot of those All Star Games, and I think that
Speaker 5: like it.
Speaker 4: It matters.
Speaker 5: It matters when the good players decide to care and
Speaker 5: decide to set the tone and almost shame. I'm into shaming.
Speaker 4: I'm into bullying.
Speaker 5: I don't know how you bully someone who makes two
Speaker 5: hundred million dollars, but there are ways to shame them
Speaker 5: into it. And I guess throwing rising stars into the
Speaker 5: mix on a Sunday like yeah, you don't want that,
Speaker 5: then you better bring it next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah do you?
Speaker 1: Well said, I mean, it is on any player who's
Speaker 1: complaining about, hey, the sanctity of being able to earn
Speaker 1: your way to play on Sunday, Well, yeah, you guys
Speaker 1: had the chance and you didn't deliver the performance. And look, ultimately,
Speaker 1: I understand that when I complain about what I perceive
Speaker 1: to be a problem for the league. They always just
Speaker 1: talk about the amount of eyes and attention and the
Speaker 1: international revenue streams that they generate will completely offset any
Speaker 1: you know, compromised domestic revenue streams due to lack of interest,
Speaker 1: and I get it, I understand, but ultimately it really
Speaker 1: is I think something you take away from basketball fans
Speaker 1: and something that you have kind of tried to put
Speaker 1: on that's only harming the consumer of somebody that tries
Speaker 1: to watch this thing that once upon a time was
Speaker 1: really good. Now we're probably never going back to what
Speaker 1: it was once upon a time. Maybe it is just
Speaker 1: one of those things that generationally has changed and now
Speaker 1: it's just time to accept it for what it is now.
Speaker 1: Yannis came out with a whole like European or international
Speaker 1: players versus domestic players. I've done that before. But there
Speaker 1: was also a mention of maybe playing this game overseas.
Speaker 1: But I land on the same issue like I don't
Speaker 1: care where you play it, whether it's Salt Lake two
Speaker 1: years ago, the Bay Area this year, or Paris in
Speaker 1: two years. I just don't know that any sort of
Speaker 1: format or any sort of matchup is going to make
Speaker 1: the majority of these guys show up and play hard.
Speaker 1: It just I don't know that exists, man, I really don't.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean remember like the first year of the elam
Speaker 5: ending where you had to hit a certain marker after
Speaker 5: the fourth quarter, Like that was a great All Star
Speaker 5: game and everyone was like it got fixed, they figured
Speaker 5: it out, and then like a year later, maybe two
Speaker 5: years later, it sucked again, right, Like I just the
Speaker 5: toothpastes out of the tube and I don't know how
Speaker 5: you get it back in there. And I think it's
Speaker 5: like you can make all these tweaks and make all
Speaker 5: these changes. I think USA versus the world would be
Speaker 5: great for a year or two and then it would
Speaker 5: kind of go back to, Yeah, my hamstrings at little tight.
Speaker 5: I'm not going all out. I'm not rotating over you know.
Speaker 5: I'm like, I'm not jeopardizing this and jeopardizing that. Like
Speaker 5: I I it's just a culture thing. It's a culture thing,
Speaker 5: and the culture in the NBA when it comes to
Speaker 5: this stuff is I'm gonna I'm gonna try. I'm gonna
Speaker 5: give my you know, my my best effort for the
Speaker 5: things that matter the most. And an exhibition game just
Speaker 5: doesn't matter as much as it's supposed to be a celebration.
Speaker 5: I mean, man, we went from from years of, oh,
Speaker 5: the league is in good hands, the league's in good
Speaker 5: hands after every All Star game to now this conversation
Speaker 5: every year and it's in it. It sucks like it's
Speaker 5: it's annoying. But that's what like, that's just what it is.
Speaker 5: And I don't know, I don't I don't think there's
Speaker 5: a way to outright fix it. You can tweak it
Speaker 5: and improve here and there, but you know, it's human nature,
Speaker 5: like regression is gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Okay, excuse me.
Speaker 1: So the Lebron portion of this, and I'm not a
Speaker 1: Lebron hater at all. I mean, if anything, I've always
Speaker 1: been a guy that's like, I'm stunned that this dude
Speaker 1: lived up to everything that we placed on him when
Speaker 1: he was seventeen years old and then some I mean,
Speaker 1: I I am in awe of this career and always
Speaker 1: And there's a period at the end of that sentence,
Speaker 1: no matter what, but to show up and not really
Speaker 1: tell anybody that you're not going to play initially, and
Speaker 1: then as the players are being introduced and you're the
Speaker 1: last guy they introduced, it's just this grandiose, self absorbed
Speaker 1: approach and you're in street clothes and everyone's like, wait what,
Speaker 1: because look, man, the fact of the matter is. And
Speaker 1: I've never been like even back in the day when
Speaker 1: players played hard in the All Star Game and they
Speaker 1: cared about the acknowledgment. I was never a fan of
Speaker 1: putting clauses in contracts that activate bonuses if you make
Speaker 1: the team. And I'm not a huge fan of clauses
Speaker 1: in player contracts that activate bonuses if you win postseason
Speaker 1: awards because the process at times can be so arbitrary.
Speaker 1: But Lebron actually, in my opinion, made a very selfish
Speaker 1: move over the weekend to not ignowlge. If you're not
Speaker 1: going to play, speak up, because then a replacement will
Speaker 1: step in for you, and then that activates a clause
Speaker 1: in that player's contract to get a little cash, Like
Speaker 1: he took money out of somebody's pocket by just wanting
Speaker 1: to have this moment be about him as opposed to
Speaker 1: being just I honestly don't know how.
Speaker 2: His peers feel about him.
Speaker 1: I really don't, because I think there are two sides
Speaker 1: of the coin, right, I think there are probably plenty
Speaker 1: of players that appreciate the path that he paved for
Speaker 1: simply more player empowerment, and that's not necessarily even a
Speaker 1: bad thing. But then there's the over exaggeration of his
Speaker 1: own story, the outright lies that are very easy to.
Speaker 2: Pull receipts up for.
Speaker 1: And if I'm like Porter brought up the name Norman Powell,
Speaker 1: if I'm one of players that was on the outside
Speaker 1: looking in and realizing that I had a chance to
Speaker 1: be an All Star and make a little cash and
Speaker 1: I'm watching that, I'm probably pretty upset.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 2: So give me your thoughts.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm with you, Like, I think all that is fair.
Speaker 5: If that's the case. Now, our friend Amin al Haffen
Speaker 5: had a theory today on the part of the podcast
Speaker 5: Basketball Illuminati. Maybe it was a quiet protest. Maybe it
Speaker 5: was a quiet protest of rising stars being allowed to
Speaker 5: play on the Sunday Game, and and it like, I
Speaker 5: don't know if I completely buy that theory, but I'm
Speaker 5: interested because when you think about it, all right, he
Speaker 5: doesn't tell anybody, He just goes out there. He doesn't
Speaker 5: even dress, He just wears his normal clothes, and everything
Speaker 5: does the photo ops. Doesn't even dress for the photo
Speaker 5: ops and everything and then multiple times on the weekend,
Speaker 5: multiple times in the In the broadcast, Draymond Green, his friend,
Speaker 5: a clutch athlete, starts openly saying, how trash this is
Speaker 5: that rising stars get to play on this day. Lebron
Speaker 5: doesn't have to be the bad guy in that sense.
Speaker 5: But if that's the case, if that theory holds any weight,
Speaker 5: holds any water, I like, I'm I'm very.
Speaker 4: Intrigued by it.
Speaker 5: I don't again, I don't know if I believe it.
Speaker 5: I've been processing it since I heard it this morning,
Speaker 5: but I like, I'm not outright rejecting it as a possibility.
Speaker 2: All right, hmm, I'll have to digest that.
Speaker 3: I look like I've been thinking about it all yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it means my guy, Tom's my guy. At times.
Speaker 1: I listened to that podcast, I'm like, how much ayahuasca
Speaker 1: did you do this morning prior to the record, Because
Speaker 1: they go into places and look, it's why it's a
Speaker 1: good product, because they do think outside of the box. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Let me just follo up with this
Speaker 1: since I alluded to it. How do you think, like
Speaker 1: if you had a room full of the majority of
Speaker 1: the league and they had to tell the truth. How
Speaker 1: do you think his peers view him? How do you
Speaker 1: think the other players in the league view Lebron James.
Speaker 5: It's a great question because you do have you know,
Speaker 5: you have so many different eras of people who are like,
Speaker 5: you know, hey MJ's the greatest, right, or hey, Kobe's
Speaker 5: actually the greatest. Why isn't he considered for this? Like
Speaker 5: I saw a video, an older video, but it was
Speaker 5: Alan Iverson recently enough talking about it. I can't believe
Speaker 5: Kobe gets you know, skipped over for these conversations and
Speaker 5: he's like, no disrespect to Lebron, but you know, Kobe
Speaker 5: was the next guy. And then you get to like,
Speaker 5: I mean, look, it's a brand Miller, But there are
Speaker 5: players in the league that are like, hey, Paul George
Speaker 5: is the.
Speaker 4: Guy, right.
Speaker 5: I'm like that's crazy, Like what a crazy jump there
Speaker 5: to be like, hey, you know the best players? To me,
Speaker 5: it's Paul George. You know, Ant's favorite player. I don't
Speaker 5: think he's say the best. His favorite player is Kevin Durant.
Speaker 5: I don't know how many current players look at Lebron
Speaker 5: that way. I think they appreciate the longevity. I think
Speaker 5: they know, especially once they've been in this for a
Speaker 5: few years to recognize that we're on year twenty two.
Speaker 5: He's still this good. He's got all these check marks
Speaker 5: on his on his resume, to your point, like he
Speaker 5: had the most insane expectations for everything and he exceeded them.
Speaker 5: Like he's flat out exceeded them. He hasn't really had
Speaker 5: Like his biggest scandal is is that he you know,
Speaker 5: he signed with a team on television in twenty ten, right,
Speaker 5: Like that's the biggest thing that people really like can
Speaker 5: hold against him still, I guess, but I don't. I
Speaker 5: don't know that he holds, you know, across the league
Speaker 5: in a way that MJ did or a way that
Speaker 5: Kobe did for a while, because even Kobe was getting
Speaker 5: that as Shaq was still an MVP and a great player,
Speaker 5: and people were still like, yo, Kobe's kind of the guy.
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 5: I don't know how many players would be like I
Speaker 5: think they they're appreciative of the player empowerment. I think
Speaker 5: they're appreciative of how this stuff is gone. But maybe
Speaker 5: it was always going to go that way and he
Speaker 5: was just the person to do it rather than he's
Speaker 5: the reason.
Speaker 4: You know, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: It does, And my best guess is most players would
Speaker 1: land on you know, ultimate respect with a side of
Speaker 1: eye roll right from time to time, where you're like, dude,
Speaker 1: come on, like you know you've already proven it's in
Speaker 1: a way. And I was at the Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: induction ceremony when Michael Jordan gave his famous speech when
Speaker 1: he just eviscerated everybody, and everybody there was like, Mike, like,
Speaker 1: we know that none of those people could guard you,
Speaker 1: Like we watched the whole thing, Like, why are you
Speaker 1: reminding us?
Speaker 5: Right? And I kind of that's why he's the greatest.
Speaker 1: To me, Oh no, look it was, and that's probably
Speaker 1: one of the things that he used every single night
Speaker 1: to motivate, you know, to play at the top of
Speaker 1: his game. But I think in a different way, I
Speaker 1: feel the same about a lot a lot of the
Speaker 1: Lebron stuff where he's not as outwardly like I want
Speaker 1: to kill you and slash your throat, but like the
Speaker 1: comments about having a high basketball at Q and the
Speaker 1: comments about like you don't understand what it is to
Speaker 1: play on the level that I do.
Speaker 2: And like it's the same thing. I'm like, I know, man,
Speaker 2: I watch you. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: You don't have to remind us how great you are
Speaker 1: because we can see it. Like that's the stuff with
Speaker 1: him that kind of falls on deaf ears for me.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, like I'll push back on one thing.
Speaker 2: I love the line.
Speaker 5: The line that we can like outright.
Speaker 4: Prove immediately to be wrong.
Speaker 5: I think is such a bold move by him, and
Speaker 5: such a funny move and such a funny part of
Speaker 5: his legacy is that he will just outright say stuff
Speaker 5: that isn't true and we're like, hold on a second, like, no,
Speaker 5: none of that, Like we've got receipts here, as he said,
Speaker 5: like we've got these receipts, like I don't know, and
Speaker 5: he just kind of like just try stuff with that.
Speaker 5: In terms of narratives his whole I'm not even a score.
Speaker 5: It's like, you've averaged twenty four points of games since
Speaker 5: you were in the NBA. Like I don't think he's
Speaker 5: I think the lowest he's ever averaged is like twenty
Speaker 5: two or something like that, right, Like, like, no, you're
Speaker 5: a score, Like I get you were supposed to be
Speaker 5: Magic Johnson, but you you everg just like twenty seven
Speaker 5: a game for your career like that, like you're a score.
Speaker 5: No one says you're not a scorer, and so his
Speaker 5: control of the narrative can get tiresome at times. But
Speaker 5: I do ultimately think, like when you're trying to live
Speaker 5: up to Michael Jordan, right, like he's mentioned before, he's
Speaker 5: chasing that ghost, when you're trying to live up for that,
Speaker 5: and you and you can't in terms of like the
Speaker 5: ways that Mike was accepted versus the ways that Lebron
Speaker 5: is judged. You know, he was always gonna be this
Speaker 5: crazy uphill battle. But when you can't match that, when
Speaker 5: you have lost in the finals, right, you do kind
Speaker 5: of have to pivot a little bit. And I guess
Speaker 5: I understand that attempt by him to rise above that standard,
Speaker 5: which focusing on the other stuff, But ultimately it's I
Speaker 5: just find it funny. But I can't take anything seriously.
Speaker 1: You know, well, yeah, I mean the entertainment values through
Speaker 1: the roof. There have been more than a few times
Speaker 1: or I'm watching him in a real time say something,
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, what that's like?
Speaker 2: Not even close?
Speaker 5: Even just walking into an arena on page one of
Speaker 5: a book, right, is so funny?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Right?
Speaker 4: It's so funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, And and I just I always wonder
Speaker 1: how other players digest it because it seems so fake
Speaker 1: and so corny for a guy that's so awesome. It's
Speaker 1: so many things that he does. But one more thing here,
Speaker 1: because have you ever done any anything with its van Lathan?
Speaker 1: Have you ever worked with him at all?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, I like him.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know him, but whenever he's
Speaker 1: on a pod, I try to catch it because I
Speaker 1: like his insight and I had forgotten this story, so
Speaker 1: I wanted to see if you had any insight to it.
Speaker 1: Where Lebron in his third or fourth year in the
Speaker 1: league thereabouts, had a camp during the summer where high
Speaker 1: school players showed up and they were in a run
Speaker 1: and Jordan Crawford dunked on him, and according to Van Lathan,
Speaker 1: right after that dunk, he stopped the game and went
Speaker 1: over to everybody who had a phone and said, kill
Speaker 1: that video. I don't want that going online anywhere. And
Speaker 1: you know, I had heard that, but I had forgotten
Speaker 1: about it. And when I listened to Van Lathan unpacked
Speaker 1: out yesterday, I was like, dude, that is kind of
Speaker 1: like a anecdote. There might be a microcosm of exactly
Speaker 1: why we are where we are with some of this stuff,
Speaker 1: because players are so terrified to have one clip go
Speaker 1: viral and then exist on the internet forever. And Jordan
Speaker 1: Crawford was a good player, I mean, he played pro basketball.
Speaker 1: So do you have any insight into how that went down?
Speaker 1: And what does that kind of snapshot say to you?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't, Like I definitely remember that, and I
Speaker 5: remember the rumors and then I like the footage got
Speaker 5: out at some point it did, yes, and it's like
Speaker 5: it's not even like it's not like Anthony Edwards on
Speaker 5: John Collins, Like it's like it's like he dunked on him,
Speaker 5: but it wasn't. It wasn't this like biblical thing. And
Speaker 5: so it's funny to me because I do think, like
Speaker 5: I do think there is a real level of insecurity
Speaker 5: with Lebron, whereas I like, I think Kobe was insecure
Speaker 5: and how he was trying to catch Mike. I think
Speaker 5: Mike was just and I'd say this lovingly, like a psychopath,
Speaker 5: right that, Like even in the Last Dance documentary, there's
Speaker 5: a point where he's in a hotel room and he's like,
Speaker 5: I no one would want this life, and you're like,
Speaker 5: that's crazy. You're the highest paid player, you're the most popular,
Speaker 5: and he's like, this is miserable, right, Like he was
Speaker 5: just outright, this is miserable, but he has to do
Speaker 5: it this way. And trying to replicate that when that's
Speaker 5: the standard, I think leads to a lot of insecurity
Speaker 5: in a game where you are harshly judged. And so
Speaker 5: I think any little bit as you were growing up,
Speaker 5: you know more and more in an Internet era where
Speaker 5: you know, Mike didn't have to deal with that, Kobe
Speaker 5: early on didn't have to deal with that. Lebron he's
Speaker 5: just old enough to like to be kind of aware
Speaker 5: of that stuff, you know, at a young enough age.
Speaker 5: And I remember it not as him stopping the practice
Speaker 5: or stopping the run and everyone's got it short. I
Speaker 5: remember that as like Nike officials went and this is
Speaker 5: probably at the behest of Lebron, if this is true,
Speaker 5: but Nike officials went and like took all the footage
Speaker 5: they could get and to eliminate that, right, And so
Speaker 5: I don't know if that's like a team thing controlling
Speaker 5: the narrative, but he is so worried about his narrative
Speaker 5: and being misjudged or underappreciated, and it's like, man, we
Speaker 5: appreciate you. It's just eventually you move on to the
Speaker 5: next era.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: It's like the kid in school who tried the hardest
Speaker 1: to be cool is the one that was least cool.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know you either are you you aren't?
Speaker 2: You know, like, stop trying so hard?
Speaker 1: Would you trade a life that is thought to be
Speaker 1: miserable in exchange for being Michael Jordan? I should say,
Speaker 1: would you agree to a life that is not to
Speaker 1: be miserable if that meant you could be Michael Jordan?
Speaker 5: I man, like I have a lot of irrational confidence
Speaker 5: in my life. I can't be I can't imagine being
Speaker 5: a little to back it up that way like that
Speaker 5: would be. That's a level of power that I don't
Speaker 5: I mean, of course I would like that like that.
Speaker 5: My answer is ultimately yes, but I think it's way
Speaker 5: more complicated than people think.
Speaker 1: And I also do not trust myself with that type
Speaker 1: of ability. I mean, I would score twenty in a
Speaker 1: high school game and almost get shot in a venue
Speaker 1: because I just couldn't stop talking to the other players
Speaker 1: or the other crowd. So if I was the best
Speaker 1: player in the world, I probably would be murdered. If
Speaker 1: I'm honest.
Speaker 5: Here's the thing. I don't think you could be that
Speaker 5: type of player, that type of personal I don't think
Speaker 5: you could be that today. As much as it's like
Speaker 5: sort of revered that level of like And again, I
Speaker 5: don't say this as like a disparager remark. I think
Speaker 5: it's I think it's ultimately a positive for his career,
Speaker 5: but that level of like competitive psychosis, like, I don't
Speaker 5: think that. I don't think that would be accepted today,
Speaker 5: like as a culture.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're probably right, I would, you know, And I
Speaker 1: guess it's a good point to bring up because in
Speaker 1: fairness to Lebron, like, I wonder what the Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: narrative would be if everywhere he went there were cameras
Speaker 1: following him. Man, because I know some of the sausage
Speaker 1: there was maybe on the scenes. I certainly don't know
Speaker 1: all of it.
Speaker 4: And you know, like, I'm sure it's rough.
Speaker 1: Oh if we knew, if we knew all the details
Speaker 1: about Michael Jordan, and I mean all the details about
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan when he wasn't playing basketball, there's no way
Speaker 1: he's remembered the way he is today. So in fairness
Speaker 1: to lebron Our guy was raised under a microscope the
Speaker 1: way that Mike wasn't.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely he was. And I think, man, like you
Speaker 5: have any kind of eyes on it, it's like it's the
Speaker 5: whole thing of you might like feel like you're wearing
Speaker 5: something that doesn't fit right or looks stupid, and you're
Speaker 5: in your mind, you're in a grocery store and you're like,
Speaker 5: everyone is staring at me, everyone is judging me, everyone's
Speaker 5: looking at me, and reality like, no one cares. Maybe
Speaker 5: one person cares. Right, So to have that about your
Speaker 5: like professional life, that you've essentially sacrificed the childhood and
Speaker 5: an adulthood on some level in order to become the
Speaker 5: best at it or maximize whatever potential you had to
Speaker 5: do all that and then it's still scrutinized. Like I
Speaker 5: always think about this of like think about how good,
Speaker 5: how historically good Chris Paul is at basketball, right, and
Speaker 5: how easily dismissed he is. That's got to be maddening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, And and a lot of the
Speaker 1: criticisms are fair. I've always been a Chris Paul guy,
Speaker 1: but your point is well taken. All right, man, good
Speaker 1: stuff today, and I'm glad we agree. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have this asteroid topic with the rest of my guest
Speaker 1: because I could not stop thinking about it last night.
Speaker 1: But yes, the thought of what you could do the
Speaker 1: final couple of days, be where everything ends is just
Speaker 1: it's too intoxicating.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie if you remember.
Speaker 5: Let's revisit it again next week because I want to.
Speaker 5: I really want to think about this and like what
Speaker 5: that would entail for me.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, We'll do that, buddy. I have a good
Speaker 1: week with Chatso I'm Zach Harper from The Athletic also
Speaker 1: host the Cinapho podcast. He's got a podcast called Count
Speaker 1: the Dings. He does work on Serious XM. He's a
Speaker 1: busy boy at tak Hoops is where you find him
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Speaker 1: So you did watch Can Hardly Wait lately recently and
Speaker 1: didnt you? Because this track is on that soundtrack.
Speaker 6: I think Graduate is on a different Third Eye Blay hit.
Speaker 6: But I mean they're all bangers.
Speaker 1: Spence, So we were talking about this during the break.
Speaker 1: Porter yesterday asked a question on air that honestly blew
Speaker 1: my mind a little bit, so shout out to him
Speaker 1: because I randomly the algorithm on Spotify was like, you're
Speaker 1: in the mood to listen to Interstay love song by
Speaker 1: Stone Temple Pilots today, Boom, here you go, and I
Speaker 1: probably haven't heard that song in five or six years.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, I like this song. This
Speaker 2: is a good song. STP fine, not great.
Speaker 1: So I did the Spotify I know you you and
Speaker 1: will Hardy Apple Music.
Speaker 2: I did the Spotify.
Speaker 1: Thing where you can pull up the song and then
Speaker 1: just go to the radio station that will play other
Speaker 1: songs like that one, and the algorithm tells you what
Speaker 1: you like. And it was littered with nineties one hit wonders.
Speaker 1: There was a ton of Pearl Jam, there was Nirvana,
Speaker 1: STP and and a little bit of Third Eye Blind
Speaker 1: as well. And so when Porter brought that up, like
Speaker 1: how has this music aged, I honestly don't know the answer,
Speaker 1: because I don't know how many youngs are like Rocking
Speaker 1: Ram these days.
Speaker 3: That's a good point.
Speaker 6: I would say that the nineties were probably are probably
Speaker 6: overlooked in terms of what are conceived to be oldies now.
Speaker 3: I would imagine the youngs have.
Speaker 6: Their fair share of eighties music for the Michael Jackson's
Speaker 6: the all that stuff. Probably the seventies as well. I
Speaker 6: don't know, that's a great question. I know that some youngs,
Speaker 6: like my youngest sister in law love's nineties hip hop.
Speaker 3: How how old are.
Speaker 2: Twenty three?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so that resonates. But like if we're talking about,
Speaker 6: you know, going to a coffee shop in the Avenues,
Speaker 6: I don't know if one of the baristas there is like,
Speaker 6: you know, crushing b sides of h Third Eye Blind
Speaker 6: or you know depeche Mode.
Speaker 1: Cafe on First a excellent spot, great spot, great breakfast breeder. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they could work on the wrapping of the breedo. I'm
Speaker 1: just going to say that if you get like the
Speaker 1: extra cream, cheese and stuff, they're not. But no, it
Speaker 1: was actually making me think, and I'm a little bit
Speaker 1: older than you, but you appreciate the nineties first of all,
Speaker 1: Nineties hip hop is by far the best decade. It's
Speaker 1: not even close. And if there's another close decade, it's
Speaker 1: actually probably the eighties not moving forward. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: to hear your sister in law appreciates it. But you're
Speaker 1: a fan of the you're a fan of the nineties,
Speaker 1: even though that you know, you're a older millennial.
Speaker 2: The best decade decade? What did you say off here?
Speaker 2: Everything was great?
Speaker 3: Everything was good?
Speaker 4: Love it.
Speaker 6: I mean, listen, I listened to the Rewatchables podcast Bill Simmons,
Speaker 6: Kyle Brandt did Wayne's World, Oh nice? And that is
Speaker 6: you know, a top five movie for me all time.
Speaker 6: And Kyle Brandt of the NFL Network is you know,
Speaker 6: a famous on on camera face And he told a
Speaker 6: story how he got to interview the stars of Bohemian Rhapsody,
Speaker 6: the movie starring Rommy Mallick, like for some reason, they
Speaker 6: went on NFL Network when the movie was coming out,
Speaker 6: and he asked them what their relationship was to like
Speaker 6: that song and they were like, oh, we all learned
Speaker 6: of it from Wayne's World, just like I did. And
Speaker 6: I know that's a song from the eighties. And Wun's
Speaker 6: World is a movie from the nineties. But yeah, man,
Speaker 6: I mean, I'm on a tangent here, but watch Wayne's World.
Speaker 6: To me, it's the most quotable movie of all time.
Speaker 1: It's got to be up there. I want the c
Speaker 1: K tangents all hour man. And by the way, the
Speaker 1: most gen x thing I'll say on the show today,
Speaker 1: Kyle Brandt for me is Kyle Brant from the Real World,
Speaker 1: Real Real World, Chicago, not from the NFL network. Okay,
Speaker 1: Kyle Brant was on the Real World like twenty.
Speaker 3: Years ago, and he was a soap opera guy. He was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, yep. But no, I mean, did you
Speaker 1: watch the Real World back in the day.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I watched Real World Seattle, San francisc Sattle was good.
Speaker 3: I was always a Real World guy. Over road Rules,
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 2: Road Rules came later.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and then they did like a Real World versus
Speaker 6: Road Rules type thing.
Speaker 3: I mean for.
Speaker 6: MTV used to be really cool. Oh yeah, I'm telling
Speaker 6: you it was. I would get home from school and
Speaker 6: I would go watch Total Requests Live TRL Carson Daily
Speaker 6: three thirty pm. Absolutely, and you know, you wanted to
Speaker 6: see what was going to be the top video of
Speaker 6: the day, and so often it was you know, your
Speaker 6: Poppy in syncs, Christina Aguileras. But every once in a
Speaker 6: while you had, you know, a curveball, and then you
Speaker 6: had a blink Win eighty two or a green day
Speaker 6: or something, and it was it used to it was
Speaker 6: a vibe, as the kids say back in.
Speaker 2: The day, MTV for a number of years ruled and
Speaker 2: it's our generation, the generation now. First of all, I
Speaker 2: don't watch you know, anything outside of YouTube or their phones.
Speaker 2: But you know TRL and I got to say, Real
Speaker 2: World Road Rules Challenge. I loved it.
Speaker 3: Yeah that was great. Yeah. VH one Behind the Music.
Speaker 2: Nice, like bring that back for real though, yes.
Speaker 6: Like that was almost like sixty minutes like for musical
Speaker 6: talent yep, very fascinating stuff. I would love them a
Speaker 6: different channel. But like stuff like that, we need more
Speaker 6: of now.
Speaker 1: I totally agree there's not a lot of that out there,
Speaker 1: and maybe there's some on YouTube that haven't discovered yet
Speaker 1: because I need to maybe.
Speaker 6: Uh might as well just go back and rewatch stuff
Speaker 6: because we're so inundated with information that I'm sure we've
Speaker 6: forgotten a billion things that we once to do.
Speaker 2: No doubt.
Speaker 1: But nineties, okay, we're on the same page. Things of age, well, movies,
Speaker 1: music and such. YouTube television is where we're able to
Speaker 1: watch the lads today. Let's see a little bit on
Speaker 1: the lads.
Speaker 6: C k no on YouTube, not YouTube TV. It is
Speaker 6: streaming on YouTube, but it's not on YouTube TV.
Speaker 1: So RSL Conca CAF Champions Cup in about one hour
Speaker 1: twenty minutes streaming on YouTube.
Speaker 6: And you can watch it on two B which is
Speaker 6: a free app. Okay, but there's other there's other CONCA
Speaker 6: calf games on tonight. So Messi's playing, so okay, they
Speaker 6: get the main draw.
Speaker 2: I see.
Speaker 6: I think Seattle's in Honduras or Guatemala. There's a bunch
Speaker 6: of matches tonight. I know last night you were grinding
Speaker 6: tape on on Rapids LAFC. But tonight, when the star
Speaker 6: is front and center, everybody else's secondary.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look there's no debate. I mean, obviously I've
Speaker 1: talked about this before. When when you have a signing
Speaker 1: like Lino Messi, I mean I draw the parallel to Beckham,
Speaker 1: even though worldwide there's really no comparison. I mean, hell,
Speaker 1: Trey came on the show and compared him to Jesus. Okay,
Speaker 1: so that's where.
Speaker 3: The message done to some people literally is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's what I'm saying, Like, I don't think,
Speaker 1: and I'll only speak for myself. I've been overseas and
Speaker 1: attended games in the EPL, and when you do that,
Speaker 1: you open yourself up to an entire new world. On
Speaker 1: a number of different reasons. First of all, you say, oh,
Speaker 1: soccer can look like that all do you respect to
Speaker 1: MLS thirty years old, a dumb.
Speaker 3: Weird league and the and only getting dumber. Yes in
Speaker 3: some in some areas.
Speaker 1: Quality of play improving, certainly, but a league that is
Speaker 1: just dumb in so many differ it is it is,
Speaker 1: and the quality improving. But when you actually see what
Speaker 1: it looks like in the Premiership, and you know, I've
Speaker 1: never been like Bundesliga or La Liga or whatever, but
Speaker 1: I've seen it on television, you realize that soccer can
Speaker 1: look like that, and that's why it is the world's game.
Speaker 1: But you also realize that, I don't think many of
Speaker 1: us in this country have an accurate idea of just
Speaker 1: how big this game is and how massively popular these
Speaker 1: players are. When you actually leave our borders, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure that we really have proper content.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, the easiest comp would be our American
Speaker 6: football because that runs the show in this country and
Speaker 6: probably will forever. But yeah, I mean, it's it's still
Speaker 6: insane to me. I think Miami's playing another MLS team
Speaker 6: in Conker CAF tonight, but like it's still hilarious that
Speaker 6: Messi brought his buddies to Miami and brought another great
Speaker 6: Argentine who he played with at Barcelona to be their
Speaker 6: head coach too.
Speaker 3: So it's like it's.
Speaker 6: Messi's show and MLS and you're right, like the star
Speaker 6: power that he wields is I mean, Lebron, Kobe, Michael,
Speaker 6: those are the guys. I mean, did we like, who
Speaker 6: is the most famous American football player?
Speaker 3: Is it Brady?
Speaker 2: I'm sure, yeah, it's probably still Tom Brady.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but like currently active, No, I'm saying, like in
Speaker 6: our in our life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's probably Brady.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think if Tom Brady goes to Peru,
Speaker 6: or if he goes to Gabone, or if he goes
Speaker 6: to Sri Lanka, nobody's freaking out.
Speaker 3: If they seem more.
Speaker 2: Right on the streets.
Speaker 1: Right in the NFL, you know, there are rumors that
Speaker 1: they're going to try to expand internationally in Mexico City
Speaker 1: and Europe and such. I don't like why it's never
Speaker 1: been embraced overseas. I think it's a very uniquely American. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well everything else, but they don't need it, they don't.
Speaker 2: You know, like the NFL doesn't.
Speaker 1: The NBA very much needs international revenue streams to kind
Speaker 1: of offset the domestic.
Speaker 2: Uh apathy that's right to the product.
Speaker 1: During the regular season where players just don't really seem
Speaker 1: to care at all. Did you watch one second of
Speaker 1: All Star Weekend?
Speaker 2: I did not have you ever? Oh yeah, so you
Speaker 2: a fan.
Speaker 6: Back back in the day when I was single and
Speaker 6: sad and didn't have much of a life, I would
Speaker 6: you know, fire up a you know, Kraft mac and
Speaker 6: cheese and watch the Dunk Contestino pizza. Yeah, or you know,
Speaker 6: during my super sad days, I would go to Cafe
Speaker 6: Rio and get a giant two thousand calorie salad and
Speaker 6: you know, watch a dunk contest. But it hasn't been
Speaker 6: I mean, it's ironic that they had it in San Francisco,
Speaker 6: which is the last time I thought the dunk contest
Speaker 6: was worth a damn twenty five years ago, when I
Speaker 6: was like fifteen years.
Speaker 2: And that dunk contest was something else.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I mean, and now it's all gimmicks, and
Speaker 6: you know, it's fine, you don't. We don't need to
Speaker 6: go over NBA All Star Hot Takes by c K today.
Speaker 1: Now, I am honestly wondering as somebody who makes is
Speaker 1: living in the world of sports. If it even resonated
Speaker 1: with you, I know I should turn this on.
Speaker 3: Not even a little bit.
Speaker 6: I mean, is it shallow to say that if there
Speaker 6: were star talent in the dunk contests that I would
Speaker 6: probably tune in?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 3: I mean, look, Matt, that that to me is more
Speaker 3: intriguing than the game.
Speaker 1: Well, and it's one of the things that's changed. And
Speaker 1: I hate to put all of this on Lebron. It
Speaker 1: sounds like I am and mac McClung is a tremendously
Speaker 1: talented dunker, but he's a G League player that most
Speaker 1: people have never heard of. And he looks like your
Speaker 1: little brother's friend that came over to try to steal
Speaker 1: your uncrustables. He just looks like a dude. But Lebron,
Speaker 1: I think was kind because Kobe won the Dunk Contest.
Speaker 2: He may have won a twice.
Speaker 3: He was really young though, right that was it was
Speaker 3: before he got famous.
Speaker 1: Well sure, but he did win it twice, and I
Speaker 1: do think the second time he wanted he was kind
Speaker 1: of evolving into one of the better players and league.
Speaker 1: I think the first time he was in it, he
Speaker 1: was a rookie, to your point, the same rookie that
Speaker 1: airballed like five three share in Salt Lake. But I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, when Lebron kind of burst on the scene.
Speaker 1: I can remember when you know, people who covered the
Speaker 1: league were talking about it. It was almost like this rite
Speaker 1: of passage. Mike did it, Kobe did it, and now
Speaker 1: it's Lebron's turn because he's dunking on people. So he
Speaker 1: asked to be able to dunk in a dunk contest.
Speaker 1: Really well, he never had any entry.
Speaker 2: Never you want.
Speaker 6: Brons too smart, man, he was never going to open
Speaker 6: himself up to potentially lose on that stage, and they
Speaker 6: probably wouldn't have let him lose. Is that smart though,
Speaker 6: or is it weak? I mean it depends, man, it's
Speaker 6: a dunk contest. I agree with you. I'm just telling
Speaker 6: you through the lens of how the current modern player thinks.
Speaker 6: And I think everybody blames Lebron. At the end of
Speaker 6: the day, everything's about money. You're going, how are you
Speaker 6: going to be the most marketable two brands. Don't put
Speaker 6: yourself in any sort of precarious position publicly privately, even
Speaker 6: on something as you know, inconsequential as a dunk contest.
Speaker 6: That's that's the way. That's the way most professional players are,
Speaker 6: especially in.
Speaker 1: The NBA, and it's the way they are now. And
Speaker 1: I just need to stop being like, hey, it used
Speaker 1: to be different. And the reason why I continue to
Speaker 1: bring this up topically it's different than the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: because I've had a few guests like, hey, well what
Speaker 1: about the Pro Bowl? Nobody watches the Pro Bowl. Here's
Speaker 1: the difference. The Pro Bowl has never been good. It
Speaker 1: was never good, it was never competitive. The All Star Game,
Speaker 1: for like thirty years, was the best pickup basketball game
Speaker 1: in the world because the best players showed up and
Speaker 1: they played hard and they tried to win. And so
Speaker 1: when you juxtaposed the two products, now it's maybe it's
Speaker 1: just a selfish thing that I missed this game that
Speaker 1: I used to love, and now because I turned it on,
Speaker 1: I watched it and it was It wasn't just the
Speaker 1: format and the games they were frustrating. It was the
Speaker 1: television presentation. We got thirty minutes of Kevin Hart making
Speaker 1: fun of Shaq's turtleneck.
Speaker 2: What am I watching?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And if you're a.
Speaker 1: Player, Chris, and you play a game and you play
Speaker 1: hard for about fifteen minutes to try to win, and
Speaker 1: then they come over the side and say they say, hey, okay,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to sit here now for twenty or
Speaker 1: thirty minutes.
Speaker 2: Kevin Hart does stand up. They interviewed Jokic and they're like, hey,
Speaker 2: what'd you do during the break. He's like, I got tight.
Speaker 2: That's how you get hurt exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: No, I don't know how people didn't think that through. Yeah,
Speaker 6: that is the quintessential. Like, if you're going to play,
Speaker 6: play otherwise, do not do that because the chances of
Speaker 6: you getting a muscle pull or a tweak or something
Speaker 6: are so much higher if you play for fifteen or
Speaker 6: twenty minutes then have to sit for an hour and
Speaker 6: a half and then play again.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. And any pickup soccer player knows this.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be a high level athlete. Kevin
Speaker 1: Hart funny, yes or no.
Speaker 3: Kevin Hart was funny on forty year old virgin See.
Speaker 6: But like as a stand up I don't think, yeah, no,
Speaker 6: I'm the stand up stuff is like, there are two
Speaker 6: He's really good at making money in Hollywood.
Speaker 2: He works his tail.
Speaker 1: I respect his grind, and I respect anybody who works
Speaker 1: as that's what people.
Speaker 3: Want to listen to. The drive about is are Kevin
Speaker 3: Hart takes.
Speaker 1: Well in the grind and they respect my grind last night.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm kind of the Kevin a local sports
Speaker 1: soccer radio scene. It's not a big deal, but I
Speaker 1: respect the grind. This stand up is horrible, and to
Speaker 1: force feed that to people I think was really blind
Speaker 1: and misguided. Like there were a couple of funny mom
Speaker 1: it's here there, but not near enough. And I'm not
Speaker 1: tuned in to watch a stand up comedy show. There
Speaker 1: are two stand up comics that make me feel old
Speaker 1: and not be able to relate to young people.
Speaker 2: Kevin Hart and Pete Davidson. Pete Davidson has never said
Speaker 2: anything funny in the.
Speaker 6: Entire good actor, though he's good in movies. He's good
Speaker 6: in movies. King of Staten Island. No, hey, come on,
Speaker 6: let's go there.
Speaker 1: No, No, I'm not watching King of Staten Island because
Speaker 1: Pete Davidson is so good movie.
Speaker 3: He's so the people.
Speaker 1: Not when it comes to Pete Davidson, because this is
Speaker 1: a disconnect. I've never heard him say anything that's funny.
Speaker 1: I've never seen him do an impression that's clever. I
Speaker 1: have no idea why he was on SNL. I think
Speaker 1: he's a total hack. When it comes to Kevin hart
Speaker 1: and Pete Davidson.
Speaker 6: On the man, there's got to be one. There's got
Speaker 6: to be one Pete Davidson type. What do you think
Speaker 6: got more viewership the SNL fifty or the All Star Game?
Speaker 2: SNL fifty? Did you watch, by the way.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, it's good, right, absolutely, see it was awesome.
Speaker 6: I got I got choked up during Sandler's song.
Speaker 2: Man, that was great.
Speaker 6: Sandler nobody carries I think the weight of the people
Speaker 6: that brought him along the way Sandler does to this day,
Speaker 6: like the way he talks about guys like Farley and
Speaker 6: Hartman and just those guys like you can tell that
Speaker 6: it still weighs on him thirty thirty five years later.
Speaker 6: And it's cool because I mean, here we are talking
Speaker 6: about SNL and sports talk radio, which is totally fine.
Speaker 3: Peyton Mann, Peyton Manning was there.
Speaker 2: Drive two to six Man, Yeah, you know the deal.
Speaker 6: Gotta feel some are yeah, I I the SNL fifty
Speaker 6: was amazing. And if you gave me the two options
Speaker 6: between watching a team of who who was on the
Speaker 6: Yant George, no offense to your guy, Kyante. If you
Speaker 6: gave me the chance to watch Kiante George play Victor
Speaker 6: Webbin Yama or watch SNL fifty, I'll take SNL fifty
Speaker 6: ten times out of ten.
Speaker 1: Hard to argue with that, and I think the number
Speaker 1: would back you up. Best SNL cast member of all time.
Speaker 1: You have a hot take on that. You can throw
Speaker 1: a few names out there.
Speaker 6: I mean, my generation was I got I had, Farrell
Speaker 6: was my generation, So I'll go Ferrell. But like, I'm
Speaker 6: old enough that my friend's siblings bought the old best
Speaker 6: of VHS tapes of like Farley and Dana Carvey and
Speaker 6: Mike Myers, so we would watch those on VHS because
Speaker 6: we missed that era. Like and I mean some of
Speaker 6: some of those sketches, man just kill me still. I
Speaker 6: mean it's they're so amazing. But I'll go Ferrell because
Speaker 6: that was my wheelhouse.
Speaker 1: See to me, it's Farley, Yeah, you know that's because
Speaker 1: that's my era. The Dana Carvey, Adam Sander, Al Frankin
Speaker 1: tim Meadows, tim Meadows, wildly underrated, Phil Hartman, wildly underrated,
Speaker 1: rest in people. Absolutely, and you brought this up off air,
Speaker 1: which I think is spot on. And actually there's a
Speaker 1: sports parallel because whichever generation you came up in, yeah
Speaker 1: that's who you think the best SNL cast is. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll have even parents or family members talk
Speaker 1: about Eddie Murphy and talk about and yeah that, and
Speaker 1: it's hard to argue with that. I don't think a
Speaker 1: lot of it has aged super well and it doesn't
Speaker 1: land the way with me that it did with them.
Speaker 1: But there are back to not relating to the youngs.
Speaker 1: There are plenty of youngs that don't think Adam Sandler
Speaker 1: is funny because, in their defense, he has made a
Speaker 1: lot of really bad movies over the past. But here's
Speaker 1: what I love about him. I think he doesn't really
Speaker 1: give a rip. Like he employs his family, he employs
Speaker 1: his friends. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars with
Speaker 1: his company. Is at Happy Madison.
Speaker 3: Pick up basketball player great?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean gets involved in great pickup games.
Speaker 1: I think living a life like Adam Sandler seems very
Speaker 1: appealing to me.
Speaker 6: If there are legit Sandler haters in the world, I mean, listen, man,
Speaker 6: We're in a world of pain on a multitude of reasons.
Speaker 3: But everybody just needs to.
Speaker 1: Calm down, yes, and just enjoy the thing that's in
Speaker 1: front of you for what it is, unless it's the
Speaker 1: All Star Game, because it's horrible.
Speaker 3: That's called the transition, kids.
Speaker 2: It is and we'll catch a break.
Speaker 1: But coming up next, we'll move on from this stuff
Speaker 1: because there are college football topics to talk about today,
Speaker 1: with Christopher Camaraddie, the Big ten in the SEC currently
Speaker 1: meeting in New Orleans plotting a hostile takeover. Is that traumatic?
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Speaker 2: I know you guys are pumped. I know when it
Speaker 2: comes to sports.
Speaker 1: Soccer radio in February, you want to talk concer Cap
Speaker 1: Champions Cup rsl Aradiato. First round aggregate comes into play here.
Speaker 1: Have you ever been to a soccer game down in
Speaker 1: Central America?
Speaker 3: I have no.
Speaker 6: Mcl got to go cover that run the goat and
Speaker 6: he said it was insane.
Speaker 2: That was our guy, mcl.
Speaker 6: He's good man. He's got some kids and just living
Speaker 6: the dream. We miss him. Michael C. Lewis for the uninitiated,
Speaker 6: good people.
Speaker 2: I can remember. We're gonna have Bill on today.
Speaker 1: Actually, I think the first game that Bill called in
Speaker 1: Central America, he was with Donnie Yeah, and Donny was like, dude,
Speaker 1: just walk up the stairs, don't look left or right. Yep,
Speaker 1: let's get to the broadcast booth and let's stay safe
Speaker 1: and during the broadcast, and we'll get Bill to tell
Speaker 1: these stories. If I remember correctly, the fans were throwing
Speaker 1: like batteries at them cool as they were trying.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it just means more.
Speaker 2: Cool. He says could do some damage at some point.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's Phil's already miss Midwest Man.
Speaker 2: That's fair.
Speaker 1: Bill can take a couple of batteries to the dome
Speaker 1: in any college hoops these days, you watch any college basketball.
Speaker 6: You'll be proud of me. I watch some of both
Speaker 6: of the Kansas losses to our local teams this week.
Speaker 1: Wildly enough, Kansas did not lead for one second while
Speaker 1: they were here in state.
Speaker 6: So my take is Kansas sucks because I watched I
Speaker 6: had to cover them when they were here in the
Speaker 6: tournament last year, and that they're our big guy is
Speaker 6: probably gonna make a lot of money playing like at
Speaker 6: Real Madrid or something, but like our guy is not
Speaker 6: giving more than like fifty percent effort out there. Yeah,
Speaker 6: and he was like that last year, and I feel
Speaker 6: like they have worse players this year. But like they
Speaker 6: lost to Utah, and you can correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker 6: But Utah is playing a style of basketball that's like
Speaker 6: me and like church ball in like eighth grade, where
Speaker 6: you just dribble it around and you know, lift up
Speaker 6: your plant lake too soon and then look to throw
Speaker 6: it to somebody. Because they were they were doing some
Speaker 6: wild stuff and the fact that they got away with
Speaker 6: the win good for them.
Speaker 1: Your take on Kansas, I feel like is correct, okay,
Speaker 1: because and I don't want to come across as if
Speaker 1: I'm diminishing a really good win for Utah quad one
Speaker 1: win and then BYU dog walk them. I mean, at
Speaker 1: one point it was a thirty eight point game. It
Speaker 1: is tied for the biggest defeat Bill Self has ever
Speaker 1: suffered to Kansas.
Speaker 4: But like.
Speaker 1: The defense for Kansas in both games quite frankly against
Speaker 1: Utah and BYU was atrocious. Now to Bill Self's credit,
Speaker 1: he talked about it after the game. But like Trevinell,
Speaker 1: who plays for Brigham.
Speaker 3: You is your guy. I know you have a bone
Speaker 3: to pick with Trevan.
Speaker 2: I don't have a bone to pick with him. Why
Speaker 2: would I have a bone to pick with Trevornell. It's
Speaker 2: just Chris.
Speaker 3: If I think he's a battleful guy. Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: No, I think he went to Woodscross.
Speaker 3: Okay, same thing.
Speaker 2: Look, he can shoot the you know what out.
Speaker 1: Of the basketball. He is an elite shooter. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: if he couldn't shoot it, he'd be in his fourth
Speaker 1: year blogging about BYU basketball for CASTL.
Speaker 3: There's lots of people around here that do that exactly.
Speaker 1: Because he's like twenty seven. But that's what he can do,
Speaker 1: and they like ignored him Kansas. There was no no closeouts,
Speaker 1: zero closeouts good good term, take away the airspace, get
Speaker 1: up in him, make him uncomfortable on the scouting report
Speaker 1: for Kansas when it comes to number twenty one on BYU.
Speaker 1: The one thing you can't let him do is shoot
Speaker 1: it from the outside. And that's the only thing they
Speaker 1: let him do.
Speaker 3: I mean, it seems like they let everybody shoot from
Speaker 3: the out.
Speaker 2: But that's the thing.
Speaker 1: Like, I don't know what the game plan was or
Speaker 1: if the players were just like screw it and ignore
Speaker 1: the game plan.
Speaker 3: Like they were.
Speaker 6: Like we went to Kubby's last night. We went too hard.
Speaker 6: We had a Sprinkle milkshake. Feeling a little bloated. Don't
Speaker 6: know where I'm going.
Speaker 2: Little swig after party and ultimately didn't have the energy like, Okay,
Speaker 2: here's one for you. I was stunned at how poorly
Speaker 2: Kansas was defensively.
Speaker 3: Richie Saunders really good future pro?
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably Europe. Okay, but I think he's b yu's
Speaker 1: best player. I don't think he's their best.
Speaker 3: Pro probs can he be Sam Merrill?
Speaker 2: I don't think he can shoot it like Sam can shoot.
Speaker 6: It because nobody really saw Sam's my guy. Yeah, covered
Speaker 6: Sam in high school. Noo braves, Yep. A lot of
Speaker 6: people were like, Sam will make millions of dollars in
Speaker 6: Europe and now he is a rotational player on the
Speaker 6: best team in the league.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so it's a good It's a good COLMP.
Speaker 1: Because the interesting thing is Richie's a better athlete than
Speaker 1: Sam is. Yeah, and Richie up until like last year,
Speaker 1: was only like an energy guy that didn't shoot it
Speaker 1: very well.
Speaker 2: So he's clearly put in the work.
Speaker 1: He is a knockdown shooter, maybe a fringe NBA guy,
Speaker 1: but he is six ' five and he is a
Speaker 1: good athlete, but he doesn't shoot it the way Sam
Speaker 1: shoots it. My old thing with Sam was like, if
Speaker 1: he can find a way to get a little stronger
Speaker 1: and improve his release time, Like you have a cor
Speaker 1: then he has a shot because he's knocked down. My
Speaker 1: concern with him was what was going to happen with
Speaker 1: Sam Merril is ultimately what happened with Jim Erferdad, which
Speaker 1: is Jimmer is three inches taller. But Jimmer is and
Speaker 1: always has been a ball in hand, shoot it off,
Speaker 1: the dribble guy. He was never a great catch and
Speaker 1: shoot guy. But when he played at BYU, Dave said,
Speaker 1: you've got the ball, you've got the greenness of green lights,
Speaker 1: so de your thing. So whenever Jimmer would go to
Speaker 1: the G League and played against lesser players where he
Speaker 1: had the ball in his hand, he was good. Then
Speaker 1: he went to the pros, he could never get his
Speaker 1: shot off, And so my concern with Sam was like
Speaker 1: will he be able to get that shot off. If
Speaker 1: he can, he's got a shot, and he deserves a
Speaker 1: lot of credit because he's worked his tail off and
Speaker 1: instead of just being a spot shooter, you know he
Speaker 1: can shoot a little bit off the bounce. Richie might
Speaker 1: be b why he's best player right now though.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a good Richie Saunders Tangent and we
Speaker 3: just went on. I like Richie, he's a good player. Yeah,
Speaker 3: local kid.
Speaker 2: Where where do you go to high school? Shoot?
Speaker 3: I want to say PG somewhere in there. It feels
Speaker 3: like somewhere American Fork.
Speaker 2: Maybe it feels like somewhere down there. Okay, Well, Mark
Speaker 2: wanted him to go to Kentucky. Oh really yeah, and
Speaker 2: Richie decided to stay here.
Speaker 3: Did anybody follow Mark to Kentucky?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yes, number two Jackson.
Speaker 2: Robins, Jackson Robinson, look at you, good pull.
Speaker 4: But no.
Speaker 1: The reports were that Mark wanted Dallen Hall and Richie
Speaker 1: Saunders to follow him to Kentucky, and they both decided
Speaker 1: to stay down at b YU. And I do not
Speaker 1: have a bone to pick with Trevinell. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: it's amazing to watch a player who only does one
Speaker 1: thing be allowed to do that thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 2: It's like just leave shack open at the rim. Yeah,
Speaker 2: get a dunkit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, college football, you're.
Speaker 2: Ready for it.
Speaker 3: I'm ready. What are we What are we mad about?
Speaker 2: Well, we're not mad about anything.
Speaker 1: But for the second time and if just a few months,
Speaker 1: the SEC and the Big Ten are having meetings this
Speaker 1: week in New Orleans about the proposed changes they want
Speaker 1: to scheduling partnerships the CFP format. According to your guys
Speaker 1: Stuart Mendel, I love it when Stewart is grumpy because he'll.
Speaker 2: He'll be going off on people.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So what he wrote is the expectation is that these
Speaker 1: two conferences want the CFP to expand a sixty.
Speaker 3: To fourteen or sixteen.
Speaker 1: And then they get four auto bids each, Big twelve
Speaker 1: acc get two each and I think that leaves one
Speaker 1: for the G five schools and maybe three at large
Speaker 1: bids something like that, either.
Speaker 3: One or three, depending on if it's fourteen or sixteen.
Speaker 4: There it is.
Speaker 3: So what do you make of this?
Speaker 1: Do you think this is something that's going to come
Speaker 1: to fruition and potentially in twenty twenty six?
Speaker 3: What's what's the golden rule? Spence?
Speaker 5: I know?
Speaker 6: And with the gold yeah, it's this is always going
Speaker 6: to be an evolving reality. They're never going to settle
Speaker 6: on anything because nobody's ever going to be happy. And
Speaker 6: the more games they play, the more money they make.
Speaker 6: It is as simple as that. You don't need to
Speaker 6: go on Reddit and look for any sort of conspiracy
Speaker 6: theory or mystery box to open. It's not that the
Speaker 6: Big ten and the SEC can throw their weight around
Speaker 6: because they make the most money and they have the
Speaker 6: strongest you know, media partnership deals with these huge conglomerates,
Speaker 6: and more games means more money.
Speaker 3: That's it, bottom line, that's all it is. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: are they wrong?
Speaker 2: Are they wrong that more games may mean more money?
Speaker 3: Are they wrong in basically hijacking this next iteration and
Speaker 3: what it could look like?
Speaker 6: Because if we're if we're going beyond, I mean, if
Speaker 6: if the Big ten had top four team last year,
Speaker 6: like you're talking about, like Iowa in the playoff, nobody
Speaker 6: wanted to watch Iowa play. I think Top four would
Speaker 6: have been like a in the SEC, it was like
Speaker 6: a four way tie between Mississippi and Arkansas and you know,
Speaker 6: all these teams. So there's always gonna be somebody that's mad.
Speaker 6: But we are a country of addicts. We are obsessed
Speaker 6: with our entertainment, and we will be mad about it,
Speaker 6: and we will watch it and then we will complain
Speaker 6: about it because that's what we do. And it's never
Speaker 6: been easier to watch things and complain about things.
Speaker 2: How much time you spent on a Reddit I don't spend.
Speaker 6: I never got into it, and my buddies were really
Speaker 6: big into it, and I was always kind of skeptical.
Speaker 6: And I don't really understand the format all that well,
Speaker 6: Like you have to click the minus and the plus,
Speaker 6: and I don't know, I'm not very smart when it
Speaker 6: comes to it's got to be pretty streamlined for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you strike me as a Reddit guy. I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna lie.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, I'm full of surprises.
Speaker 2: I mean I'm not.
Speaker 1: That's not like a compliment or I'm not knocking on
Speaker 1: and you just strike me as somebody, And like, I
Speaker 1: don't use it much. The only time I use it
Speaker 1: is if I'm doing a Google search. Yeah, and a
Speaker 1: Reddit threat is like, oh that looks kind of interesting.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm the same way.
Speaker 1: I don't like following any wormholes. I don't like going
Speaker 1: down any wormholes. I feel like that's a dangerous, a
Speaker 1: dangerous path to follow. Then the next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be talking about vaccines and transgender athletes on air.
Speaker 2: I don't want to go down any of those rabbit holes.
Speaker 2: That's just me.
Speaker 3: I don't want you to go down those rabbit holes either.
Speaker 2: Have you ever followed a rabbit hole to the place
Speaker 2: where you don't feel like you're in.
Speaker 1: A THENT anymore. No, I'm not about the dark Web.
Speaker 1: To spend time on the Dark Web ever, not for
Speaker 1: one second. I don't even know how to access it.
Speaker 3: I don't either. I'm more about like watching can't hardly
Speaker 3: wait for the for the millionth time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Or a college football expanded CFP where it's diluted
Speaker 1: the regular season.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, put on Paul finebaumbe see what he's saying.
Speaker 6: You know that those are my people, and that's my
Speaker 6: that's my gig. So yeah, what I do I mean,
Speaker 6: if I could stretch a little bit, Yeah, you can stretch.
Speaker 1: From a sports socc radio standpoint, I do feel like
Speaker 1: four auto bids for each of these leagues does dilute
Speaker 1: the regular season, which to me is what makes college
Speaker 1: football special.
Speaker 6: Correct, the regular season will not mean anything. Conference championship
Speaker 6: weekend will be gone, and frankly, I don't think that
Speaker 6: matters all that much, like it was already on its
Speaker 6: last legs. Anyways, do get rid of it in this iteration.
Speaker 6: You'll prioritize the conference records and that's it. The Wetzel
Speaker 6: forty Doallinger podcast did a really good job this week
Speaker 6: diving into it, and Forty had an epic rant. I
Speaker 6: recommend people who know Pat Forty, who is you know,
Speaker 6: one of the luminaries in our business right of the show. Yeah,
Speaker 6: he did not mince words when talking about this potential
Speaker 6: iteration coming to Fruition. They'll have to rethink things. The
Speaker 6: regular season will I don't think it'll mean like non
Speaker 6: conference games will not mean a thing like other than
Speaker 6: bragging rights, because in this format you will primarily go
Speaker 6: on the basis of conference records and listen, man, would
Speaker 6: people tune in to watch you play Ole Miss in
Speaker 6: a first round game in a theoretical playoff? Yes they were, Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 6: Would would people tune in to watch Iowa play Miami? Yeah,
Speaker 6: we're talking about We're talking about schools that have significant
Speaker 6: followings that are going to be involved more. And that's
Speaker 6: that's just the bottom line. Like, we're talking about fan
Speaker 6: bases that are part of cultures that are ingratiated in
Speaker 6: the sport at a level that you know, some other
Speaker 6: programs in other parts of the country frankly aren't. And
Speaker 6: I say that being a West Coast kid, being having
Speaker 6: a a understanding of what the West Coast bias is
Speaker 6: against us, but can't.
Speaker 3: Complain, Well, you can't deal with you can't.
Speaker 6: Okay, you can complain, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 6: you're still going to watch it, So get off your
Speaker 6: high horse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just you know, I try, I guess in
Speaker 1: a way, trying to hold on to what makes college
Speaker 1: football or college football is. And maybe I need to
Speaker 1: go the way of my all start where it's like
Speaker 1: Alan Iverson is not walking through that door to try
Speaker 1: to hang thirty on you in the fourth quarter. Instead
Speaker 1: you get to see Donovan Mitchell not care about being
Speaker 1: you know where he is, even though I think being
Speaker 1: named an NBA All Star should mean something. I think
Speaker 1: that's something you should wear with pride and show up
Speaker 1: and do your job and do it to the best
Speaker 1: of your abilities. But if we're I guess where I'm
Speaker 1: at with it is if we're simply moving step by step,
Speaker 1: slowly towards this eventuality that we all believe were moving towards.
Speaker 1: Rip the band aid man like, let's just get on
Speaker 1: with it. I agree, But what do you think stopping it?
Speaker 1: My guess is the ability to milk as much money
Speaker 1: along the way. Things don't happen, you know, massive change
Speaker 1: doesn't happen overnight. Like remember the BCS and how people
Speaker 1: were so pissed off about it. Never in a million
Speaker 1: years did we think back then we were going to
Speaker 1: see a fourteen playoff. Then we got it, and then
Speaker 1: never in a million years did we think, oh, some
Speaker 1: other teams might have a chance to play for a
Speaker 1: national championship.
Speaker 3: We finally got it.
Speaker 6: This is just the can is just going to be
Speaker 6: kicked down the road, and you know, the powers that
Speaker 6: beer are going to make more money and eventually, to
Speaker 6: your point, we'll get to this you know, proposed super
Speaker 6: conference whatever we're going to call it, and we're going
Speaker 6: to watch it, and people will be left out and
Speaker 6: they will be sad, and the people that are in will.
Speaker 3: Say nin or niner.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, yeah, look, I know you're not wrong. I understand,
Speaker 2: and I'm a grown up.
Speaker 3: Am I acting too much of like a fatalist like
Speaker 3: you like.
Speaker 1: You're not wrong. But it's kind of like doing this
Speaker 1: job every day. I can't crack the mic and be like, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: just get over it. Jazz are rebuilding, so just go
Speaker 1: over And I'm like, go home. If I could, I would. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you've got to dig into this in a way
Speaker 1: that isn't as reductive as you just made it, even
Speaker 1: though you're not wrong.
Speaker 2: So here, let me stretch.
Speaker 3: Let me try this.
Speaker 1: We're in about the sophomore we're in the Big twelve footprint.
Speaker 1: If you're not in the sec in the Big ten,
Speaker 1: do you have reason to be concerned? Even if you're
Speaker 1: a program like the university for sure.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you don't have any power to wield in this scenario,
Speaker 6: and the two conferences that wield all the power are
Speaker 6: throwing their weight around.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 6: I mean, maybe there will be a an explosion of
Speaker 6: talent in the Big twelve, and maybe Dion's buffs will
Speaker 6: start ten to zero, and maybe Utah will write the
Speaker 6: ship and BYU Devin Dampierre and Jake Retzlov will be
Speaker 6: a Heisman Trophy candidate and Iowa State will pick up
Speaker 6: where they left off, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 6: I don't you have to they have to show it
Speaker 6: to the country first, otherwise they're they just don't have
Speaker 6: the clout built in that these other teams and other
Speaker 6: conferences do fair or not.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like.
Speaker 6: I understand that nobody wants to watch, you know, Minnesota
Speaker 6: have a great year and then get into the playoffs
Speaker 6: out here at least, and maybe some people do. But
Speaker 6: the reality is they're part of the They're part of
Speaker 6: They're part of the club, and a lot of people aren't.
Speaker 2: Do you think that the sport is in trouble at all?
Speaker 2: In any way?
Speaker 1: She don't know, because at some point, whether it's the
Speaker 1: NBA and the apathy or college football and the disorganization,
Speaker 1: the only thing that will affect change if you're not
Speaker 1: in the room is enough people not tuning in to
Speaker 1: affect their bottom line.
Speaker 6: College football to me is the most like international club soccer, though,
Speaker 6: like you're talking about where people grew up, where they
Speaker 6: went to school, they are. You are celebrating a sport
Speaker 6: that is always going to be in lockstep with your
Speaker 6: perceived best years of your life, and that carves out
Speaker 6: a special place in the hearts of fans, and I
Speaker 6: just don't really see that evaporating. It is funny though,
Speaker 6: like as we've talked about in the past, like when
Speaker 6: that proposed super conference over in Europe was put on
Speaker 6: the table and basically everybody, all the fans of the
Speaker 6: teams that would have been included were like this is bs,
Speaker 6: We're going to storm the field and like say like,
Speaker 6: we won't let you play games because this is unfair
Speaker 6: to the little to the little guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, here in this country, we're just like, eh see ya,
Speaker 3: good luck.
Speaker 4: We are a.
Speaker 3: We are a have and have not country when it
Speaker 3: comes to a lot of things, but in sports especially.
Speaker 1: You know what, and if I'm leaning into some altruistic approach,
Speaker 1: I apologize. One of the reasons I've always wanted to
Speaker 1: you know, I played sports as long as I could,
Speaker 1: and then in my career I've done a bunch of
Speaker 1: different things all around sports and entertainment. Before I got
Speaker 1: into radio, I worked for the Olympics, I was with
Speaker 1: Disney's wid World of Sports for a little bit, then
Speaker 1: got into radio. And one of the reasons, you know,
Speaker 1: I've always wanted to stay around it is it seems
Speaker 1: to be one of the portions of our ecosystem in
Speaker 1: this country. It isn't simply just run like a Fortune
Speaker 1: five hundred company.
Speaker 3: It was, yeah, it was. It was a safe space.
Speaker 2: Well, and look, I grew up with VC guys. These
Speaker 2: guys are sharks, okay, and I never had any interest
Speaker 2: to me, what does VC mean then? Sure capitalists.
Speaker 1: These guys are sharks man, and I never had any
Speaker 1: interest of hopping on the train to go to Grand
Speaker 1: Central at six thirty am to work on Wall Street
Speaker 1: for fourteen hours a day until you got yours, and
Speaker 1: then telling everybody to go bleep themselves at the age
Speaker 1: of thirty five because you bought an island. Maybe I
Speaker 1: should have questioned my life choice to do that. Probably
Speaker 1: well for me, man, Like I'm turning forty seven next,
Speaker 1: bak bro.
Speaker 4: So like this is the deal.
Speaker 3: Turn thirty nine this year, so you're still so young. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I have so much, so much, you know what, it's
Speaker 3: not too late for you.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, if you want to be a VC bro,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to You're gonna have to cut the hair.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to wear like a suit. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2: I saw my eyes.
Speaker 1: Cool friends grind for like a decade to the point
Speaker 1: where I'd go visit them in Midtown, like four of them, yes,
Speaker 1: like four of them shacked up in this little apartment.
Speaker 2: You know, they all essentially have a closet of sleep in.
Speaker 1: But these are like yale MBA's, These are Harvard and
Speaker 1: these like Ivy League Brooks brother wearing me if I
Speaker 1: chose an alternate reality way back in the day before
Speaker 1: I chose fun over that. Sure, and they all kind
Speaker 1: of said the same thing. We just know we have
Speaker 1: to do this for like eight to ten years and
Speaker 1: then we're good, right, And so I understand, and I'm
Speaker 1: a grown up about front facing revenue generating businesses. But
Speaker 1: like if sports has now only leaned into capitalism because
Speaker 1: Adam Silver runs the NBA like a fortune five hundred
Speaker 1: company in the way that David Stern didn't necessarily and
Speaker 1: David knew was a business, but he cared about fan
Speaker 1: relations and the product and the consumer and the way
Speaker 1: this sport was covered. And there is this feel around
Speaker 1: pro basketball that they're simply, as Jason Kidds set out
Speaker 1: loud two years ago, millionaires cheering for each other and
Speaker 1: they don't give a rip out anything else.
Speaker 6: Well, you can see where they're coming from if you
Speaker 6: look at the current landscape of even professional sporting events.
Speaker 6: Why is it now more than ever that companies have
Speaker 6: a stranglehold on several hundred, sometimes thousands of tickets at
Speaker 6: these things where it's like, hey, we have a we
Speaker 6: have this suite, Well, we have this suite, we have
Speaker 6: that suet because they have money. They have money to
Speaker 6: throw around, Whereas like if you go to a jazz game,
Speaker 6: there are going to be people in the upper deck
Speaker 6: who love the jazz, have probably cheered for the jazz
Speaker 6: their whole life, and is it are they ever going
Speaker 6: to be presented with an opportunity to sit in a
Speaker 6: catered suite with R and R barbecue or Cubbies or.
Speaker 3: Cafe Rio or whatever.
Speaker 6: Cup pop Like no, man, Like we are trending that
Speaker 6: direction because now more than ever, a lot of rich
Speaker 6: companies have a lot of money to throw around, and
Speaker 6: they're going to write it off as, oh, this is
Speaker 6: a business expense. We'll we'll take some people there and
Speaker 6: we'll have our suite, and we'll have our multiple suites,
Speaker 6: and then we'll have our floor seats and so on
Speaker 6: and so forth. Like next time you go to a
Speaker 6: jazz game, like look who's look who's down there, and
Speaker 6: who's down there? Like the last fifteen years, viven't people, Uh,
Speaker 6: qual tricks people. Obviously now with Ryan Smith owning the
Speaker 6: Jazz like, it's it is not hard to see where
Speaker 6: this thing is going and it is. I don't know,
Speaker 6: maybe back I mean you used to go to jazz
Speaker 6: games back in the day, Maybe they once again.
Speaker 2: I still go to jazz games. I mean like, hey,
Speaker 2: he put you up to that.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, like, does the doc exist in this
Speaker 3: generation of jazz fandom?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 2: It's it's look.
Speaker 1: It's a very depressing yet fair point trucks and Tesla's
Speaker 1: a lot of bedazzled jeans and spray straight brim hats
Speaker 1: with dudes that probably should lead the straight brim's tans.
Speaker 1: Is there anything more awkward than seeing like a dude
Speaker 1: in his mid fifties that is clearly holding on steroids
Speaker 1: and fake tanning and bedazzle jeans and really tight shirts
Speaker 1: and a straight build baseball hat.
Speaker 3: It's like, it's like, dude, why do you want to
Speaker 3: look like me?
Speaker 2: It's really awkward.
Speaker 3: It's like I don't need a spray tan, but you
Speaker 3: don't need to look like me. Just look like yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a bad look, but it's look, man, I
Speaker 1: can't cover it like this. I just I can't do
Speaker 1: the thing where even though there's part of me that
Speaker 1: understands your point, and believes that you're telling the truth.
Speaker 2: This is supposed to be the toy.
Speaker 1: Isle of life, and I can't just crack a microphone
Speaker 1: every day and say, hey, guys, just so you know,
Speaker 1: the ownership groups of the team that you love care
Speaker 1: about one thing, and that's creating shareholder value for their investors.
Speaker 2: Okay, good night, talk to you tomorrow.
Speaker 6: Like it can't be a We talked about Isaiah all
Speaker 6: your last week, Spence, we did. We covered, We covered Isaiah.
Speaker 6: Maybe next week we can talk about Kyle Philipowski flip
Speaker 6: as we call.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Okay, So if you're hey, if you're a Jazz fan
Speaker 1: right now, if you're a football fan right now and
Speaker 1: you're tuned into the program, okay, and you have suddenly.
Speaker 3: Become like this mffort again, acutely aware.
Speaker 1: That it doesn't matter how much you love this team,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how much you want to see them do well,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what you invest in this team. The
Speaker 1: people in charge don't give a rip about you, And
Speaker 1: the people running these leagues only care about one thing,
Speaker 1: and that's creating shareholder value for their investors. What's going
Speaker 1: through your mind? If that's all that really there? Is
Speaker 1: there's no reason to give a rip about.
Speaker 2: Any of it.
Speaker 6: Quite frankly, well, if you are a depressing if you
Speaker 6: are a Utah sports fan, meaning that if you are
Speaker 6: a University of Utah or BYU sports fan, be happy
Speaker 6: because within the last thirty years you've been able to
Speaker 6: cheer on very good teams in a multitude of sports
Speaker 6: at a level that a lot of other colleges in
Speaker 6: this country don't ever reach. Especially level if you're a
Speaker 6: pro fan, if you're a fan of the Jazz or RSL,
Speaker 6: You've watched your soccer team hosts hoist a title. You've
Speaker 6: watched your basketball team make the playoffs like twenty five
Speaker 6: out of thirty years, Like sorry, Like again, I'm going
Speaker 6: to continue to beat this drum, Like you want to
Speaker 6: be You want to know who's sad, Spence Charlotte Hornets fans,
Speaker 6: Like come on, if you have no reason to be
Speaker 6: sad as a sports fan in Utah, you really don't.
Speaker 1: Well, but based off this conversation, you have no reason
Speaker 1: to be happy if you're a sports fan anywhere.
Speaker 3: The truth is always in the middle.
Speaker 1: It's so sad, I might as well start a radio
Speaker 1: show covering tech bros. Raising funds to start an app
Speaker 1: in San Francisco.
Speaker 6: No, what you're gonna do is you're going to turn
Speaker 6: on the concer calf match on your laptop. I'm juice
Speaker 6: man in thirty minutes, and You're gonna see what the
Speaker 6: shape looks like.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I like when RSL is playing.
Speaker 1: I enjoy the soccers, of course, you know, don it's great.
Speaker 6: It takes up so much time. We need a distraction,
Speaker 6: and it can be bad, and it often is bad.
Speaker 6: Sometimes it's good. Yeah, but what are we gonna do?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 3: We're almost forty and forty, Like, what are we doing?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: I'm close to fifty broll coming up next month. I'll
Speaker 1: be much closer to fifty than i'm the forty. That's okay,
Speaker 1: I'm hanging in yeah, do it all right? All right dude, Well,
Speaker 1: what's your prediction for the match tonight? One to one, draw,
Speaker 1: bring home a point. My guy Diogo scores on a
Speaker 1: on a free kick, free kick. Okay, all right, what
Speaker 1: do you think the what do you think the formation
Speaker 1: will be? I read either starting eleven they have four defenders.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it'll be I mean they'll go four two three.
Speaker 1: One or two three one. Yeah, yeah, because our guy
Speaker 1: Forrester is the only striker. Yeah, they're going to bring
Speaker 1: in a striker before the start of the season.
Speaker 6: Well, the guy that they traded for that was going
Speaker 6: to be like the ideal replacement for Chicho decided he
Speaker 6: didn't want to come to Salt Lake and he was
Speaker 6: he was offended by the by the by the trades.
Speaker 6: Elias Manuel, Oh I did not know.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Tom Bogert reported today that Elias Manuel did not understand
Speaker 3: the trade mechanisms within MLS and was unhappy when the
Speaker 3: Red Bulls decided to trade him.
Speaker 2: So translation, he didn't want to live in.
Speaker 6: Utah, he said, according to a statement provided to him
Speaker 6: provided to Tom by him, he has lots of respect
Speaker 6: for RSL, but he didn't want to be traded, right, yeah, all.
Speaker 2: Right man, Well illuminating stuff.
Speaker 3: Say the sun's coming out. We're good, man, everybody's good.
Speaker 2: We might get fifty degrees this weekend.
Speaker 3: You Inigo golfin if there's a.
Speaker 1: Spot, the ro tator cuff is ready. I can swing
Speaker 1: your cloth a right man. Six weeks of PT. Let's
Speaker 1: get you out this show. Christopher com Rodnie from the
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Speaker 1: the voice of the youths coming up at about thirty
Speaker 1: minutes from Ride Now, Bill Riley stops by Utah basketball
Speaker 1: winners of a couple of games against the Kansas teams
Speaker 1: over the weekend Case State and of course Rock Chalk
Speaker 1: Jayhawks University of Kansas going home without leading for one
Speaker 1: second against either Utah oru BYU dog walked them last night,
Speaker 1: So stay tuned for that. But the Four Nations faced
Speaker 1: off comes to a close tomorrow in Boston. Our next
Speaker 1: guest joins us on a weekly asist to Top Hockey
Speaker 1: Talk NHL, Neil Smith on a Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Neil, Happy Wednesday, sir, how are you very good?
Speaker 7: Thanks Spence, how about you. I've had a little bit
Speaker 7: of a break here from the NHL, so that's that's
Speaker 7: been nice. Gut to watch the great hockey though with
Speaker 7: the poor nations.
Speaker 1: So Neil, if memory serves, initially you were not too
Speaker 1: thrilled at the prospect of what this tournament could bring us.
Speaker 2: Is that is that fair to say?
Speaker 7: Absolutely fair? Because I just saw it as a you know,
Speaker 7: an NHL tournament that was sort of being positioned as
Speaker 7: a national you know, somehow had national pride in it.
Speaker 7: But the players played so hard in this thing. I
Speaker 7: didn't expect them to play as hard as they played.
Speaker 7: As they were playing, I still know that it's not
Speaker 7: a truly country representative tournament because you have to play
Speaker 7: in the NHL to be able to be in the tournament.
Speaker 7: And having said that, I've never seen NHL players even
Speaker 7: close to this in an All Star Game, which is
Speaker 7: what this took the place of. So anything that can
Speaker 7: bring great hockey in place of the All Star Game,
Speaker 7: which is bad hockey, I'm all four.
Speaker 1: So neil educate us a little bit on the US
Speaker 1: Canada rivalry in hockey. Now, for a long long time,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you the space here because I'm
Speaker 1: not the expert you are, but for a long long time,
Speaker 1: it was like Canada and Russia because the US wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily a hockey country that could rival those two. So
Speaker 1: it feels from my perspective that the juice is kind
Speaker 1: of upped over the past I should say.
Speaker 2: The last twenty years, twenty five years or so.
Speaker 1: But obviously these are two teams, and two teams representing
Speaker 1: two countries that have a healthy amount of sports hate
Speaker 1: for each other. So educate us, Educate us a little
Speaker 1: bit on this rivalry and why it's so intense.
Speaker 7: Well, Spence, it actually took. It actually started forty five
Speaker 7: years ago when the nineteen eighty Miracle team won the
Speaker 7: gold medal at Lake Placid, the American team, and that
Speaker 7: inspired a lot of young Americans to want to play hockey.
Speaker 7: And then along came in the eighties. After that, Wayne
Speaker 7: Gretzky gets traded to the La Kings from Edmonton, and
Speaker 7: all of a sudden, La now has a superstar, generational,
Speaker 7: unbelievable talent like Wayne Gretzky and all the celebrities, and
Speaker 7: everybody wants to go and start going to the La
Speaker 7: form and seeing the La Kings play. And then you know,
Speaker 7: along comes Disney who puts a team in Anaheim. And
Speaker 7: then along, you know, there's a team that gets put
Speaker 7: in San Jose by the Guns. They put that team
Speaker 7: and they started off in the Cow Palace in San
Speaker 7: Francisco and then went up to San Jose. So hockey
Speaker 7: was moving into non traditional places. A little while later, Phoenix,
Speaker 7: as you and I wouldn't be talking right now had
Speaker 7: there not been a Phoenix Coyotes. And then you know
Speaker 7: there were other non traditional markets Florida suddenly came in.
Speaker 7: Tampa came in at the time that Ottawa got back
Speaker 7: in the league, Florida came in when Anaheim came in.
Speaker 7: So you had these outposts of non traditional hockey. Because
Speaker 7: in the United States, the hockey players were coming in
Speaker 7: the seventies primarily from Boston, New England area, and from Minnesota,
Speaker 7: maybe a little bit of Michigan, but that was about it.
Speaker 7: And there was never a hockey player come out of
Speaker 7: Texas or Nevada, or California or even Long Island. And
Speaker 7: it's been this growth of the NHL and hockey in
Speaker 7: general and the exposure that the NHL's got into so
Speaker 7: many different places that I think has inspired young athletes
Speaker 7: to want to become hockey players. And that's what they've done.
Speaker 7: So what am I saying about Canada, Well, Canada has
Speaker 7: basically stayed the same. They've been hockey crazy throughout the
Speaker 7: country the whole time. It has not waned, it has
Speaker 7: not gone up, it has stayed the same. How many
Speaker 7: people live in Canada about thirty five million. How many
Speaker 7: people live in the States three hundred and thirty million.
Speaker 7: So if you start to get the United States passionate
Speaker 7: about hockey. It won't be long before the United States
Speaker 7: is going to catch up to a country that's a
Speaker 7: tenth of its size in production of hockey players. And
Speaker 7: I really believe that's what's happened. They've caught up. They're
Speaker 7: producing a volume of of really talented hockey players that
Speaker 7: matches Canada. So the supremacy that Canada used to have
Speaker 7: because it was every kid playing on a rink in
Speaker 7: the winter, is now competed. Is very competitive by the
Speaker 7: United States, who has even though they don't have the
Speaker 7: percentage of young athletes picking hockey, just the smaller percentage
Speaker 7: of American young athletes picking hockey probably equals what they
Speaker 7: have in Canada. So this is why the rivalry has
Speaker 7: gotten and gotten more intense. It was for a long
Speaker 7: time that Canada would always beat the United States, and
Speaker 7: then in the nineties in the World Cup in nineteen
Speaker 7: ninety six, United States won that against Canada, and that
Speaker 7: was quite a thing for the United States, again inspiring
Speaker 7: young people to play, showing that they can be competitive
Speaker 7: and beat Canada. And then it's just grown from there.
Speaker 7: So that's the rivalry. Then you've got the just the
Speaker 7: natural North American rivalry of the of Canada and the
Speaker 7: United States. You know, Canada is the little guy looking
Speaker 7: at the big you know, the elephant down below saying,
Speaker 7: you know the look, this is the superpower of the world.
Speaker 7: Then you know, the number one richest nation in the world.
Speaker 7: Canada is pretty well off. But you know, Canada is
Speaker 7: dwarfed by the United States, of course, and there is
Speaker 7: a rivalry there. Everybody speaks the same language, everybody. They've
Speaker 7: got a common border that's not hard to get across
Speaker 7: if to go and play sports against each other. And
Speaker 7: I think it's natural that, you know, Americans want to
Speaker 7: be Canadians, and Canadians really want to beat Americans because
Speaker 7: they want to have one thing that they're better than
Speaker 7: the United States. So that's that's a long way of
Speaker 7: giving you the history of it and where it is today.
Speaker 1: You know, we had a pretty unique experience out this
Speaker 1: way in two thousand and two with the Winter Olympic
Speaker 1: Games being held in Salt Lake, and I can remember
Speaker 1: watching the Canada US gold medal game. Canada won that
Speaker 1: one five to two, and so I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people out this way got a little bit of
Speaker 1: a taste of that rivalry.
Speaker 2: But does it feel now?
Speaker 1: And maybe I'm being a prisoner of the moment, because
Speaker 1: I've gotta say, Neil, I was pretty excited to watch
Speaker 1: US Canada on Saturday night. I did not think I
Speaker 1: was going to watch a game that had three fights
Speaker 1: in the first nine seconds. And I did not think
Speaker 1: I was going to be watching a game that would
Speaker 1: lead to the Americans winning on Canadian soil in Montreal.
Speaker 2: And so I'm not trying to be a prisoner of
Speaker 2: the moment.
Speaker 1: But does it feel like this current iteration has taken
Speaker 1: another level of intensity or was that just a moment
Speaker 1: in time on Saturday night.
Speaker 7: No, I don't think it was a moment in time
Speaker 7: on Saturday night.
Speaker 4: I don't at all.
Speaker 7: I think that there's I don't like those fights at
Speaker 7: the beginning of the game because two of them with
Speaker 7: the Kchuck brothers were stage fights. And what I mean
Speaker 7: by that is reason for them. There's no anger, nobody
Speaker 7: had done anything, and all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 7: these four guys all decided they're going to fight. The
Speaker 7: other fight between JT. Miller and Peraco, that was some
Speaker 7: pushing and shoving and some you know, some things were
Speaker 7: said and some and some some back and forth that
Speaker 7: led to that one, so that one, you know, I'm
Speaker 7: okay with. I don't think it's a moment in time.
Speaker 4: I think that.
Speaker 7: The United States is very competitive with Canada, and I
Speaker 7: don't think that the United States has taken over Canada yet.
Speaker 7: And I don't think no matter who wins tomorrow night,
Speaker 7: that that necessarily means that, you know, if Canada wins,
Speaker 7: in Canada is still the powerhouse of the world. And
Speaker 7: if United States wins, well, there's got to be a
Speaker 7: passing of the torch. I don't I don't believe that.
Speaker 7: I think we're in a time right now, in twenty
Speaker 7: twenty five, you know, and let's say twenty twenty to
Speaker 7: twenty thirty, that these teams are really closely balanced. They're
Speaker 7: close to each other, the countries are close in being
Speaker 7: able to put out competitive teams. I do think they'll
Speaker 7: come a day. And don't forget I'm born Canadian, that
Speaker 7: the United States will be able to have a stronger
Speaker 7: production of star players than Canada, simply based upon the
Speaker 7: fact that the population is so much bigger and so
Speaker 7: many more kids are going to be interested in playing.
Speaker 1: So I want to follow up on something you referenced,
Speaker 1: and you did explain why you called these fights staged.
Speaker 1: But this kind of took another level as Matthew Kachak
Speaker 1: and Brandon Hagell, who fought I believe that was the
Speaker 1: first fight of the Knights, have kind of exchanged barbs
Speaker 1: back and forth over the past couple of days, and
Speaker 1: Hagel said it was quote done. What he did as
Speaker 1: far as the fight goes, was for the flag and
Speaker 1: not the cameras. And then he continued to said, quote
Speaker 1: we don't need to initiate anything. We don't have any
Speaker 1: group chats going on what's going on out there, playing
Speaker 1: our game and giving it everything and doing it for
Speaker 1: our country. We just want to play as hard as
Speaker 1: we can and do it for the flag on the chest.
Speaker 1: This is clearly a shot at what you said, right,
Speaker 1: He's clearly taking a shot at the Kachuck brothers and JT.
Speaker 1: Miller for pre planning these fights. Tell me, is it
Speaker 1: like an unwritten rule? Is it a code in hockey
Speaker 1: where that's just not the way you go about your
Speaker 1: business of pre planning these fights.
Speaker 7: No, I don't want to say that. I mean, this
Speaker 7: does happen when you know, somebody wants to send a
Speaker 7: message right away that you know what, We're not going
Speaker 7: to back down from you guys. And I think the
Speaker 7: Kachucks were the ones that instigated those I may be wrong.
Speaker 7: I wasn't on the ice. I didn't hear the language
Speaker 7: going back and forth. What's really amazing about those two things,
Speaker 7: if you think about it, is, first of all, it's
Speaker 7: Matthew Kittchuck and Hegel. Hegel plays for Campa Bay Lightning,
Speaker 7: Matthew plays for Florida Panthers. There's a little bit of
Speaker 7: a rivalry right there. And then you get Brady Kitchuck,
Speaker 7: who's the captain of the Ottawa Senators ninety miles from
Speaker 7: where that building he was in in Montreal, and the
Speaker 7: rival of the Montreal Canadians, and he fights his brother's teammate,
Speaker 7: Sam Bennett, like I'm sure Sam Bennett and Matthew Kitchuck
Speaker 7: are friends, and Brady called him on. So there was
Speaker 7: an irony in those two things. But it happens more
Speaker 7: in playoffs than in anything. When the playoff intensity comes,
Speaker 7: sometimes you'll see real good players just say, you know,
Speaker 7: call on one of the real good players on the
Speaker 7: other team. I remember it happening with kloe Eru and
Speaker 7: Sydney Crosby when Philadelphia and Pittsburgh played in the playoffs.
Speaker 7: And you know, you can go back to two thousand
Speaker 7: and five when the two captains of the Calgary Flames
Speaker 7: and the Tampa Bay Lightning were in the final and
Speaker 7: it was like Vincent Lecavalier from Tampa and Jerome mcginla
Speaker 7: from the Calgary Flames. They got they had a go
Speaker 7: right in the final. And so this will happen from
Speaker 7: time to time. But you know, and it's it's these
Speaker 7: are young guys that are that got tons of testosterone
Speaker 7: and that's going ten, you know, one thousand miles an
Speaker 7: hour inside of them, and it just shows though how
Speaker 7: badly they want to win.
Speaker 2: You got to help me understand what the hell J T.
Speaker 2: Miller was thinking.
Speaker 1: I mean, the cold and Paraco kid who he went
Speaker 1: at was like twice his size. I mean, a lot
Speaker 1: of the attention has been on the Kuchuk brothers and
Speaker 1: what they did. But it was a little ty domish,
Speaker 1: wasn't it. It looked like that was a big time mismatch.
Speaker 7: Neil, Well, it did, but that's JT. Miller. He's a
Speaker 7: bit of a pit bull. You know, he's he's I
Speaker 7: think he was trying to prove something right there that
Speaker 7: he's you know, he's in there for the fight and
Speaker 7: he'll take on a big guy. Colton Parako isn't really
Speaker 7: a fighter, you know. He's a big man and a
Speaker 7: good player. Obviously wouldn't be on Team Canada if he wasn't.
Speaker 7: But he's not really what you would call a fighter.
Speaker 7: But he's not. He's not a woos either, So I mean, yes,
Speaker 7: j T. Miller was taken on a big dog and
Speaker 7: it was a mismatch, but I think he had some
Speaker 7: He was trying to prove something for his team as well.
Speaker 1: So look, it's easy to draw a straight line between
Speaker 1: the three fights and that three to one win.
Speaker 2: Is that a real thing?
Speaker 1: Do you think the US was motivated with the actions
Speaker 1: of the Kachuck brothers and JT? And did that give
Speaker 1: them enough Jews to go on and win. Can we
Speaker 1: be that reductive that it actually did make a tangible difference?
Speaker 7: I don't know that those things really at the end
Speaker 7: of the day, you can point to them and say
Speaker 7: that they had a you know, a part of why
Speaker 7: the Americans won. Let's go through the game, and remember
Speaker 7: that Connor McDavid scored an unbelievable goal to make it
Speaker 7: one nothing, and so Canada was up one nothing. The
Speaker 7: United States tied it, and then I believe it was
Speaker 7: the second goal. That was a bad goal on Jordan Bennington,
Speaker 7: and he threw his head back and looked up at
Speaker 7: the ceiling when he saw that that had squeaked through.
Speaker 7: So that was a bad goal. Connor Hellibuck, you don't
Speaker 7: get bad goals on him. He the goal that was
Speaker 7: scored on him was scored on him by the best
Speaker 7: player in the league, flying at him at about thirty
Speaker 7: miles an hour. So you know what I said it,
Speaker 7: and I'll say it again about the game tomorrow night.
Speaker 7: The US has some injuries that's going to play a
Speaker 7: part in it, but the number one thing is Canada
Speaker 7: has to figure out a way to beat Connor Hellibuk
Speaker 7: is the best goalie in the world right now. And
Speaker 7: isn't it ironic too though, that Connor Hellibuck, who is
Speaker 7: an American, is a goaltender of the Winnipeg Jets. There
Speaker 7: he is all season long playing in Canada and now
Speaker 7: doing everything he can tomorrow night to break the hearts
Speaker 7: of all the Canadians. I just find it ironic.
Speaker 1: So Charlie McAvoy, he's out for Team USA and he
Speaker 1: put a hit on was it McDade?
Speaker 3: Who did he?
Speaker 4: I think he hit Connor McDavid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, yes, that's right.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to ask you because Connor McDavid potentially
Speaker 1: the best hockey player in the world.
Speaker 2: Maybe not potentially, maybe he is.
Speaker 1: And I feel like, once upon a time, maybe I'm misremembering,
Speaker 1: there are like unwritten rules about putting massive hits on
Speaker 1: some of these skilled players that are big time stars,
Speaker 1: Like no one ever hit Gretzky right from what I
Speaker 1: can recall, like he was protected. Was that bad form
Speaker 1: of McAvoy to put that hit on McDavid, No, not at.
Speaker 7: All, And I think that that's another one of the
Speaker 7: things that inspired his team. I think that was a
Speaker 7: great hit. And I what I'm really happy about from
Speaker 7: my just my little perch, is that the Canadians didn't
Speaker 7: go after McAvoy and try to fight him because he
Speaker 7: laid out a good hit. So many times in the
Speaker 7: NHL you'll see a really good hit, and I'll bet
Speaker 7: if Sergacheff comes up with good ones from that time
Speaker 7: to time, and then all of a sudden he's got
Speaker 7: to fight some guy from the other team and it
Speaker 7: was a clean hit. It just happened to be the
Speaker 7: guy had his head down or whatever I was. I
Speaker 7: thought that was exciting to see Charlie McAvoy hit Connor
Speaker 7: McDavid in that way. I don't think I've ever seen
Speaker 7: him hit like that. But he's a big guy. He
Speaker 7: can take it. Wayne in his day he wasn't a
Speaker 7: small man, but he was small compared to the size
Speaker 7: of the league. And so everybody said to the other team,
Speaker 7: if you come near him, you're going to pay. So,
Speaker 7: you know, it was an unwritten thing, like you better
Speaker 7: be ready if you're going to try to hit ninety nine.
Speaker 2: How much of this I don't know.
Speaker 1: We don't do a lot of politics on the show
Speaker 1: for obvious reasons, but there is this kind of undercurrent of,
Speaker 1: you know, the comments made by Donald Trump fifty first state,
Speaker 1: all that stuff, and then the Canadians boo our national anthem,
Speaker 1: and then a lot of people drawn a line between
Speaker 1: the booing of the national anthem and the decision making
Speaker 1: of the US team to fight from the drop of
Speaker 1: the of the or even before like things got going.
Speaker 2: How much of that do you buy into? Do you
Speaker 2: believe it's it's real?
Speaker 1: As far as the passion that appears to be permeating
Speaker 1: between these two teams.
Speaker 7: Well, I'm not very proud of my fellow Canadians booing
Speaker 7: the American national anthem for any reason at any time.
Speaker 7: United States and Canada are best of friends. They'll be
Speaker 7: best of friends before this current administration, and they'll be
Speaker 7: best of friends after this current administration. And I I
Speaker 7: don't think that that that's the way you do things.
Speaker 7: But you're in a hockey arena. Fans can say whatever
Speaker 7: they want, they can do whatever they want. And you know,
Speaker 7: but but I I I don't. I don't agree with
Speaker 7: it doesn't motivate the American players. I'll bet it does,
Speaker 7: because you know, it's fun to be in a in
Speaker 7: a in a building where it's seething and you win
Speaker 7: the game or you can, you might be able to
Speaker 7: beat their their team. It's it's fun. So I think
Speaker 7: it inspired people.
Speaker 5: I don't. I don't.
Speaker 7: Again, I'm repeating myself, but I don't like that kind
Speaker 7: of thing because the Americans have always been there for
Speaker 7: the Canadians. And the Canadians have always been there for
Speaker 7: the Americans when it comes right down to it, when
Speaker 7: it comes to important stuff other than sports, We've always
Speaker 7: been the best of friends. And so.
Speaker 5: I didn't I didn't like.
Speaker 1: So Montreal a century if not more of hockey history,
Speaker 1: and I was not in the building, of course, but
Speaker 1: holy smokes, did that environment look electric? What sort of
Speaker 1: environment do you think Boston a great domestic hockey city,
Speaker 1: but certainly not with the history of Montreal, is going
Speaker 1: to bring coming up Tomorrow night? I mean, Neil, there
Speaker 1: are reports that current NHL players have reached out to
Speaker 1: try to get tickets and people are like sorry, like
Speaker 1: we're sold out, there are no coms available. What sort
Speaker 1: of atmosphere do you think we're in for tomorrow night
Speaker 1: in Boston?
Speaker 7: I think you're in for an electric atmosphere. I don't
Speaker 7: think it'll and I may be wrong. So this is
Speaker 7: just I don't think it's not going to be I
Speaker 7: don't think it will be as passionate as Montreal, because
Speaker 7: I don't think that you have the passion for a
Speaker 7: US hockey team like you have for a Canadian for
Speaker 7: the team Canada. In Montreal, I think you have a
Speaker 7: very passionate Boston crowd for the Boston Bruins. But I
Speaker 7: think you're going to have a lot of Canadian fans
Speaker 7: sneak into that building, meaning that they bought tickets through somebody,
Speaker 7: I mean, and they got in there and they're going
Speaker 7: to be cheering for the Canadian team. But it will
Speaker 7: be electric. It will definitely be a pro US side
Speaker 7: for sure, probably not as pro US as the Bell
Speaker 7: Center was pro Canadian. But I mean, I'm really looking
Speaker 7: forward to the game tomorrow night. And I'm a guy,
Speaker 7: like you said, and I admit it, didn't think this
Speaker 7: would be the greatest of all little tournaments here, but
Speaker 7: it's turned out to be one of the best ones
Speaker 7: I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: All Right, Neil, before I set you loose, what are
Speaker 1: we in for tomorrow? How do you think it goes down?
Speaker 7: Well, it's going to be close, And that's sort of
Speaker 7: a bailing out by saying that I think Canada is
Speaker 7: going to be able to do it, just because of
Speaker 7: the injuries the United States has and because of the
Speaker 7: power play that the Canadians have. But again, it's going
Speaker 7: to be close, and it sure could go the other
Speaker 7: way for sure. It's just I mean, it's just going
Speaker 7: to be a great hockey game, and I'm not I
Speaker 7: have no dog in the fight. I've been living in
Speaker 7: the United States far longer than I lived in Canada,
Speaker 7: so i don't have a dog in this fight, meaning
Speaker 7: I'm not cheering for either side. I'm just looking at
Speaker 7: it as an observer, as somebody who's trying to get
Speaker 7: it right so that I can come on a show
Speaker 7: like this and be right. But that's all I'm looking for.
Speaker 1: Well, it's always great to get your perspective as somebody
Speaker 1: who's steeped in the hockey history of both countries.
Speaker 2: I can't wait for it. I think it's going to
Speaker 2: be exciting and I'm excited to break it down with
Speaker 2: you next week. Enjoy the game the old chat soon Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: thanks for having me, all right.
Speaker 1: The great Neil Smith, former general manager of the Rangers
Speaker 1: and the Islanders, Canadian born and now lives here in
Speaker 1: the United States. We have the Four Nations face off
Speaker 1: for you guys tomorrow night on the station. By the way,
Speaker 1: follows the Craig Smith Coaches Show, which follows our show,
Speaker 1: which ends at six o'clock. Hey, random, start to the
Speaker 1: interview if my memory serves you had a couple of
Speaker 1: situations where you called soccer games in Central America where
Speaker 1: maybe things were a slight dicey.
Speaker 4: Is that fair to say, Brian Dunsith and I had
Speaker 4: one really dicey night in Costa Rica at Saprisa.
Speaker 1: Yes, any details you'd like to share, because I can
Speaker 1: remember Dunny basically saying like he had to tell you, like,
Speaker 1: we're just walking straight to the press box and we're
Speaker 1: not going to say anything.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were in the press box at Saprisa in
Speaker 4: Champions League and it was a wide open press box,
Speaker 4: like there was no security. It was like going to
Speaker 4: like Skyline High School or something, and we're up there
Speaker 4: doing the game and there's like six guys that are
Speaker 4: like twenty rows below us in Luchadore masks that are
Speaker 4: huge Saprisa fans. And every time something good for Reales
Speaker 4: salt Lake would happen and I called a gold or something,
Speaker 4: they would turn around and start screaming and yelling stuff
Speaker 4: at us in Spanish. I don't speak any Spanish, Dunny does.
Speaker 4: And I would look at Dunny and he'd kind of
Speaker 4: make a face and he'd be like, that's not good.
Speaker 4: And so when the match ended and ray Al salt
Speaker 4: Lake advanced and it was a two two tie, I think,
Speaker 4: and they advanced Soprisse. The fans were not happy, nor
Speaker 4: were these six guys in the loose doory masks. And
Speaker 4: we're doing postgame and they're not leaving. They're like standing
Speaker 4: there ten twenty rows below us, just looking up at
Speaker 4: us because it's an open press box and we're still
Speaker 4: going and we're and they have not left, and I'm
Speaker 4: looking at Dunny and we have to walk down through
Speaker 4: the stands to get to the bus. There's not like
Speaker 4: an elevator or any of that stuff. And finally the
Speaker 4: security clears them out, but they're like standing at the
Speaker 4: portal inside the stadium kind of peeking up at us.
Speaker 4: And we get off the air and I'm looking at
Speaker 4: Dunny and I'm going, what are we going to do here?
Speaker 4: He's like, we're gonna tear this stuff down and we
Speaker 4: are going to sprint across the field to the bus,
Speaker 4: and that's what we did, and luckily those guys were
Speaker 4: nowhere to be found, but they were making comments in
Speaker 4: Spanish that were apparently not great for Dunny, and I well.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you made a home safe. I'm glad it
Speaker 2: all worked out.
Speaker 1: I knew there was some sort of hairy situation I
Speaker 1: talked to you or Dunny about back in the day. Obviously,
Speaker 1: ourselves starting their cocky cap journey today. But we'll move
Speaker 1: over now to some college basketball where don't look. Now,
Speaker 1: if Craig Smith and the Utah Utes can win three
Speaker 1: of their final five games, we have a ten win
Speaker 1: Big Twelve Conference basketball team, which is something I didn't
Speaker 1: think we'd be able to say.
Speaker 2: Now, we'll get to the end in a moment.
Speaker 1: But let's look back on a weekend where I said
Speaker 1: last week it feels like a split would be a
Speaker 1: win because Kansas State, prior to going to BYU had
Speaker 1: one six straight. They turned it around and look your
Speaker 1: rock Chalk Jayhawks, the tremendous amount of talent on paper.
Speaker 2: But Bill, I've got to say, man, I've watched every.
Speaker 1: Moment of the Utah Kansas game, in the UYU Kansas game,
Speaker 1: I am extremely unimpressed with Bill self's team, which is
Speaker 1: something I never thought i'd say. But give me your thoughts.
Speaker 1: You can either go both games one game individually. On
Speaker 1: the two wins Utah hoops had over the teams from
Speaker 1: from your home state, Kansas.
Speaker 4: Well, you're right about Kansas their disappointments. They're a collection
Speaker 4: of good individual players that are not a team. And
Speaker 4: that's very much unlike Bill self teams. But that's maybe
Speaker 4: the era we live in now with the nil But
Speaker 4: to Utah, we'll start first with the Kansas game to
Speaker 4: this point in the season. To that point, that was
Speaker 4: the most dialed in I had seen Utah play, I mean,
Speaker 4: locked into the game plan, played very well. Kansas never
Speaker 4: led in that game. Spance Utah led wire to wire.
Speaker 4: There were a couple of ties, but the Kansas never
Speaker 4: had the lead. Utah began the game well, had a
Speaker 4: little bit of a drought in the middle there, but
Speaker 4: then closed the second half out well, they just they
Speaker 4: played really well. They rebounded well and didn't turn it
Speaker 4: over at a high rate, and it was it was fantastic.
Speaker 4: They were dialed in, played excellent, gave matts and shot
Speaker 4: the heck out of the basketball and it was it
Speaker 4: was great. And then the Kansas State game. They've got
Speaker 4: a couple of dudes as well. They've got Doug McDaniel,
Speaker 4: the kid from Michigan, and obviously the kid from Illinois
Speaker 4: that transferred in Coleman Hawkins. They spent a bunch of
Speaker 4: the offseason on nil. Utah played a good game there too,
Speaker 4: again didn't turn it over at a high rate, rebounded
Speaker 4: when they had to, and more portly spence. You know,
Speaker 4: they played really well the weekend before at both Cincinnati
Speaker 4: West Virginia until about the last three three and a
Speaker 4: half minutes of the game, and they didn't make plays,
Speaker 4: and those two teams did well. In the Kansas and
Speaker 4: in the Kansas State game, Utah played well throughout and
Speaker 4: then in the final couple of minutes they made winning
Speaker 4: plays and Kansas and Kansas State didn't. So I think
Speaker 4: it's taken them a minute to get here. You know,
Speaker 4: they've kind of figured out what it takes to play
Speaker 4: in the Big Twelve from an intensity and physicality level.
Speaker 4: But I think they're in a good spot right now.
Speaker 4: Fifteen and eleven, seven and eight in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 4: I mean, again, not great yet, but seven and eight
Speaker 4: with some winnable games left. Remember, they were picked sixteenth
Speaker 4: in the preseason. Not the preseason polls mean anything, but
Speaker 4: they were and I thought they'd outperform that ranking, But
Speaker 4: right now I think they're in a pretty good place.
Speaker 1: How have the crowd's been up in the Huntsman Center?
Speaker 1: Last home game I was at was BYU. But you know,
Speaker 1: when you're able to get some wins and you're able
Speaker 1: to get a little momentum, maybe more people will start
Speaker 1: paying attention. So the atmosphere both Kansas and Case State,
Speaker 1: what was it like in the building?
Speaker 4: Well, Kansas was good. I mean it wasn't sold out
Speaker 4: like BYU, but it was probably twelve thousand. A lot
Speaker 4: of Kansas fans they travel well now Kansas Kentucky schools
Speaker 4: like that. They you know, you can't get tickets at
Speaker 4: home games, so you travel. So there was a fair
Speaker 4: amount of Kansas fans. But the atmosphere was great. And
Speaker 4: then for Monday night it wasn't bad. You know, again
Speaker 4: to Monday night it's in Utah. I would say I
Speaker 4: think there were about twelve and a half on Saturday,
Speaker 4: probably just under ten on Monday. So the crowds are good.
Speaker 4: They're not where they need to be yet, but they're
Speaker 4: getting better and better. And you know, when you start
Speaker 4: winning basketball games and you're winning against good programs, people
Speaker 4: come out to those games. So I'd say the atmosphere
Speaker 4: has been better in the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: So are we getting a little bit closer? And maybe
Speaker 1: it just depends on the night, but there's only a
Speaker 1: handful of games left. It does feel like Craig has
Speaker 1: landed on his preferred starting five, and all five of
Speaker 1: those players against Kansas played at least twenty nine minutes.
Speaker 1: I mean as we're played twenty nine. Well, Lawston played
Speaker 1: twenty five, but Lowton obviously needed to be saved a
Speaker 1: little bit because he matched up so well with Hunter
Speaker 1: Dickinson like Utah matches up well with Kansas. There's no doubt,
Speaker 1: but your thoughts on kind of this ever evolving organism
Speaker 1: that is the rotation for Craig and this Utah team.
Speaker 1: Are we close to kind of landing on his preferred
Speaker 1: guys at this point?
Speaker 4: I think, you know, he's got his starting five. He's
Speaker 4: still inconsistent at point guard. And he said that the
Speaker 4: other night in the post game show. You know, some
Speaker 4: nights Sharp Johnson Little show up together. Some night they
Speaker 4: neither one of them show up. Some nights they'll show
Speaker 4: what one will show one won't. I think he's got
Speaker 4: the other guys pretty dialed in. Gabe Wallean's given them
Speaker 4: great minutes. Cana Dawes has given them great minutes.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 4: Loss and Lovering made some free throws the other night,
Speaker 4: which was great. He's given them good minutes too. If
Speaker 4: they could get just a little bit more out of
Speaker 4: their point guard spot Spence, I think they'd feel pretty good.
Speaker 4: He's still playing depending on the game, nine or ten guys,
Speaker 4: but I think he's got probably his top five or
Speaker 4: seven kind of locked into place right now, and it's
Speaker 4: just kind of what are you getting on a given
Speaker 4: night at the point guard spot?
Speaker 5: Right now?
Speaker 1: Five games left, which is wild, but March is right
Speaker 1: around the corner.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 1: If they get three of the final five, they win
Speaker 1: ten conference games. I did not think they would scratch
Speaker 1: double digits. What's your confidence level? Did this team get
Speaker 1: three of the final five? Have to get to that
Speaker 1: ten win mark in Big twelve play year one?
Speaker 4: You know, I think it's possible. Now three of those
Speaker 4: five are on the road, so you've got to You've
Speaker 4: got to go to UCF. That's a winnable game. U
Speaker 4: CEF's got a lot of great offense, but they're you know,
Speaker 4: right now they're four and eleven uh Arizona, where Utah
Speaker 4: hasn't won in the Pac twelve now Big twelve era,
Speaker 4: so that that'll be tough ASU at home, very winnable game.
Speaker 4: West Virginia at home, that's a winnable game. And then
Speaker 4: of course the rivalry game down at BYU. You beat
Speaker 4: them here, but you know you've got to go down
Speaker 4: there and play them. So the only one I'd circle
Speaker 4: and say, man, it's going to be a an uphill
Speaker 4: climb for sure is the Arizona game because it's just
Speaker 4: histories not on their side, and a Zona in that
Speaker 4: building of the Kale is so good. But those other
Speaker 4: four games are all winnable games for Utah. You know,
Speaker 4: you've only got one conference road win right now, that
Speaker 4: was the game of TCU, But maybe you find another
Speaker 4: one on this road trip and then take care of
Speaker 4: business at home against Arizona State in West Virginia. So
Speaker 4: to your point, can they get ten, Absolutely, but they're
Speaker 4: going to have to figure out how to win at
Speaker 4: least one, maybe two on the road.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Mark Harlin, and you know Taylor Randall,
Speaker 1: the powers that be at the University of Utah are
Speaker 1: looking for from this team this year to indicate that
Speaker 1: they've seen enough to look. I think they're giving Craig
Speaker 1: another year next year, no matter what. It's the final
Speaker 1: year of his deal. But what sort of I don't
Speaker 1: know benchmarks or boxes are we looking to get checked
Speaker 1: to indicate this thing is moving in the right direction
Speaker 1: and the right guys in charge of the team.
Speaker 4: That I don't know because those aren't really conversations I
Speaker 4: have with those guys. But you know, I think you
Speaker 4: always want to see improvement and in some ways outpacing
Speaker 4: what expectations are. Expectations weren't high for this team. I
Speaker 4: think if they didn't win another game this year, it
Speaker 4: would certainly be disappointing. But I think you've outperformed what
Speaker 4: people thought you would be. But you know, how things
Speaker 4: go spence, your expectations change as you see some stuff,
Speaker 4: and I don't think now seven wins would be good enough.
Speaker 4: I think now to your point, nine or ten wins
Speaker 4: are probably the expectation. So I think, again, I don't
Speaker 4: have any idea what Taylor Randall and Mark Carlin are
Speaker 4: looking at. It's well above my pay grade. But I
Speaker 4: think when you're in those positions The thing you always
Speaker 4: want to see is, you know, improvement, Is the team
Speaker 4: getting better as the year goes along. Is the team cohesive?
Speaker 4: I mean, if you're a Kansas fan right now, that's
Speaker 4: a disaster. I'm not saying they would run Bill's self off,
Speaker 4: but that's a disaster. They haven't gotten better and the
Speaker 4: team's an absolute mess. Here. They have gotten better, and
Speaker 4: this is a really cohesive unit. So you know, I
Speaker 4: think I think it's stay outperformed their preseason expectations.
Speaker 2: Do you think postseason basket?
Speaker 1: Look, it's gonna be tough, barring some crazy run in
Speaker 1: the Big Twelve Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure anybody's expecting that, but n it is postseason
Speaker 1: basketball in the cards for this team.
Speaker 4: You think, well, I think it's postseason. I think to
Speaker 4: be serious about the NCAA tournament because they didn't really
Speaker 4: have a marquee non conference win. You know, a win
Speaker 4: over a Saint Mary's would have helped them a lot
Speaker 4: or somebody along those lines. But let's just say, you know,
Speaker 4: for you know, for the sake of argument, you win
Speaker 4: three of your last five games. That gets you to
Speaker 4: ten and ten into Big twelve and then I believe
Speaker 4: eighteen total wins overall, and then can you get two
Speaker 4: wins in Kansas City? Really, they have to improve that
Speaker 4: net ranking rankings now in the seventies, they've got to
Speaker 4: improve that. That's one of the measuring sticks the committee uses.
Speaker 4: So it's a long shot, I would say, at this
Speaker 4: point in time. But it's not impossible because you've got
Speaker 4: good games coming up. You've got Arizona coming up, You've
Speaker 4: got West Virginia coming up, You've got BYU on the
Speaker 4: road coming up, and then whatever happens in Kansas City,
Speaker 4: you're likely to be you know, Quad one games there too.
Speaker 4: So not impossible, but yeah, I would I would be
Speaker 4: surprised if they weren't an NIT team for sure, unless
Speaker 4: there was some sort of total collapse here over the
Speaker 4: last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Bill self, I mean, Ryles, they go down
Speaker 1: to Provo last night and they get dog walked like
Speaker 1: it was wild. I'm watching the game, going what's going on?
Speaker 1: I mean, as you know, Bill's been there twenty two years.
Speaker 1: During the first twenty seasons, he never lost more than
Speaker 1: six conference games, which is wild to think about, by
Speaker 1: the way, but he lost eight last year.
Speaker 2: He's already lost seven this year.
Speaker 1: And I'm just watching the get Like if I didn't
Speaker 1: know anything about college hoops and I turned on that game,
Speaker 1: I'd be like, these two teams don't even look like
Speaker 1: they should be on the same floor. They were not
Speaker 1: closing out, they were not getting back, they were not
Speaker 1: taking away airspace from shooters. And BYU when they make shots, man,
Speaker 1: I think they're fifteen and oh when they shoot forty
Speaker 1: eight percent, like they're really good when they get going.
Speaker 1: This is a Kansas team under Bill self rles that
Speaker 1: I do not recognize. I mean, Kansas is the bluest
Speaker 1: of the blue bloods in this conference. They were the
Speaker 1: preseason number one team for the second year in a row.
Speaker 1: Last night was the worst loss a preseason number one
Speaker 1: team has ever suffered in the history of college basketball.
Speaker 1: How has this thing gone off the rails for your guy,
Speaker 1: Bill Self? And with two years now of subpar results,
Speaker 1: is there any conversation like there was with John Calipari
Speaker 1: in Kentucky that maybe this is not the right fit.
Speaker 4: No, I don't think so. I think if anybody steps away,
Speaker 4: the probably be him. You know, one of his best
Speaker 4: friends from what I understand is Jay Wright and Jay
Speaker 4: Wright saw this coming three years ago and stepped away.
Speaker 4: Bill self is already in the College bad and the
Speaker 4: Basketball Hall of Fame. He is winning his coach in
Speaker 4: Kansas history. He's his resume speak. You know, I would
Speaker 4: have thought he'd coached for a couple of more years.
Speaker 4: I don't know. Maybe he walks away this year. I
Speaker 4: have no inside information, but that was a team that
Speaker 4: looked like it just quit playing last night in Provo.
Speaker 4: And then to hear self say after the game, we
Speaker 4: need to be apart for a while. We don't. We
Speaker 4: need to get away from each other. When you ever
Speaker 4: hear a coach say we need to get away from
Speaker 4: each other three quarters of the way through a year,
Speaker 4: I mean, that's that's not good. They're like the island
Speaker 4: to misfit toys spends. They've got a bunch of individual
Speaker 4: players who were pretty good at other stops. They don't
Speaker 4: play together at all. And you can't win in basketball
Speaker 4: if you don't have a team that could play together.
Speaker 1: You ever spend seventy two straight hours in Provo with
Speaker 1: a group of people you'd want to get away from
Speaker 1: each other.
Speaker 2: If you did that as well, Manny.
Speaker 4: What didn't you spend six great days down there?
Speaker 3: That was eight?
Speaker 2: Give me a credit for all eight. Please.
Speaker 1: It was the best eight days of my life, all right,
Speaker 1: don't don't shore change me, Bill, It was eight days.
Speaker 1: But there are only so many, you know, Like are
Speaker 1: we having cubbies again? Like, I don't blame them for
Speaker 1: wanting to spend some time apart like many how much
Speaker 1: swig can you actually put down?
Speaker 4: That's a good point. It's a good point. I'm just
Speaker 4: saying a couple of times too.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, all right, wanted to kick the tires
Speaker 1: with you on some college football storylines, because for the
Speaker 1: second time in four months, the leadership of the Big
Speaker 1: ten in the SEC are holding meetings to discuss the
Speaker 1: future of college football.
Speaker 2: My first question on this is simple.
Speaker 1: If you are not a member of the Big Ten
Speaker 1: of the SEC, should you be nervous about the conversations
Speaker 1: happening behind closed doors in New Orleans this week?
Speaker 4: I think you should be. I don't know how nervous
Speaker 4: is the right word, because it's not as if the
Speaker 4: Big twelve in the ACC are going to get locked out.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you've got to be, you know, head on
Speaker 4: a swivel here, because it sounds like these guys are
Speaker 4: going to go behind closed doors and try to rewrite
Speaker 4: the rules again and add two more teams for each
Speaker 4: one of their conferences, you know what I mean. It
Speaker 4: sounds like they're trying to say, Okay, we're going to
Speaker 4: stack the deck in our favor again, where I'd really
Speaker 4: be concerned as if I was a group of five
Speaker 4: or you know, try to get multiple at larges in
Speaker 4: so yeah, I you know, it's not just the big
Speaker 4: ten in the SEC. It's the television networks that work
Speaker 4: with them. They're all working in concert here. But it's
Speaker 4: I don't think it's a great look when these guys
Speaker 4: are all supposed to be doing this together.
Speaker 1: And I am not a college football alarmist, because I
Speaker 1: ultimately believe the product is the Saturdays in the fall
Speaker 1: will always feel like Saturdays in the fall. And I
Speaker 1: also am a grown up and I understand what a
Speaker 1: front facing, revenue generating entertainment business is about, and it
Speaker 1: is whether you like it or not as a consumer,
Speaker 1: it is about making sure your shareholders get the best
Speaker 1: value they can for investing in your product.
Speaker 2: Love it or hate it. That's just kind of the deal.
Speaker 2: But it does seem like we are, you know, if
Speaker 2: we're fair or not.
Speaker 1: As here part of me believes we're moving away from
Speaker 1: some of the things that as a college football fan
Speaker 1: we all really love. And if there's four auto bids
Speaker 1: in every league, is there a danger of diluting a
Speaker 1: regular season that just seems prescient every weekend, which to
Speaker 1: me makes it great.
Speaker 4: A little bit. I mean, I think this year was
Speaker 4: good because it made a lot of November games a
Speaker 4: lot more meaningful. I actually like the number twelve. I
Speaker 4: don't know where you're at with it. I use to
Speaker 4: talk about sixteen teams getting in. I'm actually okay with
Speaker 4: the number twelve. I want to reconfigure how they do
Speaker 4: the seeding for everything, But I thought the number twelve
Speaker 4: was pretty good, with the top four seeds getting buys,
Speaker 4: playing on campus, stuff like that. I don't know that
Speaker 4: we need to go to sixteen right now. Let's see
Speaker 4: how twelve plays for a couple of years. But I
Speaker 4: don't like the idea of power conferences continuing to kind
Speaker 4: of rig it behind the scenes without some sort of consensus.
Speaker 4: I'm with you, the games will always be the games,
Speaker 4: and college football is going to be great, but you
Speaker 4: also want your most meaningful games to feel like they're
Speaker 4: most meaningful too, and you want people to feel like
Speaker 4: they've got a chance. We know not everybody always has
Speaker 4: a chance, but you don't want to feel like the
Speaker 4: deck is stacked a certain way going into a playoff scenario.
Speaker 4: And if the Big Ten and the SEC get together
Speaker 4: and give themselves two more automatic bids, it kind of
Speaker 4: feels like they're stacking the deck a little bit.
Speaker 1: Well, And it also is hard not to draw a
Speaker 1: straight line between the power house brand of the Crimson
Speaker 1: Tide not getting in and what they're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 1: But look, if this is the way we're gonna go,
Speaker 1: then just scrap the whole thing and make it a
Speaker 1: playoff system like the NFL does, Like sorry, Bama, you
Speaker 1: lost four games, Like don't lose four games, and then
Speaker 1: you'll qualify for the CFP. But if we're going in
Speaker 1: the way of simply, you know, allowing more auto bids
Speaker 1: for the powerbrokers in college football, why don't we just
Speaker 1: make a playoff that you have to qualify for in
Speaker 1: a way that doesn't feel like it's simply Look The
Speaker 1: bottom line is this powerful television executives would love to
Speaker 1: have Alabama on their television network, and I know that's
Speaker 1: driving a lot of this. But if we're just gonna
Speaker 1: have these eqs, these qualifications, like, what's the point in
Speaker 1: keeping the system intact all together? Because it feels like
Speaker 1: it is a slow crawl towards a complete dismantling of
Speaker 1: the thing. Anyway, I don't know why we don't just
Speaker 1: rip the band aid off and put smart lawyers involved
Speaker 1: and get rid of the red tape and just move
Speaker 1: into what hopefully is the final iteration of this.
Speaker 2: It just feels like we're wasting time.
Speaker 4: Well, I just I don't know why you've got a
Speaker 4: college football committee the way you have college bad I
Speaker 4: don't know why conferences have to have automatic bursts outside
Speaker 4: of conference champions Why does the SE I mean, if
Speaker 4: your teams are truly that good, they'll be selected, And
Speaker 4: in most years the big ten of the SEC and
Speaker 4: football are likely going to have more bids. Anyway, but
Speaker 4: why are we going to give you auto bids? Why
Speaker 4: does anybody get auto bids? Your champion gets an auto bid,
Speaker 4: and then the committee selects because there might be a
Speaker 4: year where the SEC only has two good teams that
Speaker 4: deserve to be in there. They shouldn't get four when
Speaker 4: they only deserve two. And I know that old line
Speaker 4: from the Unforgiven deserves got nothing to do with it,
Speaker 4: but it kind of does.
Speaker 7: This is sports.
Speaker 4: It's supposed to be the best of the best, and
Speaker 4: there's no way to do that, you know, without having
Speaker 4: a committee do it. But I just I don't like
Speaker 4: the idea of continually adding auto bids. I like the
Speaker 4: idea of everybody's conference champion getting in there and then
Speaker 4: let the committee do their work with the other you know,
Speaker 4: six or seven picks.
Speaker 1: Give me a quick tease for And this is called
Speaker 1: trying to fit in a college football topic in February,
Speaker 1: because people love college football Spring game. You know it's
Speaker 1: not tomorrow, but you know, ultimately it will be the
Speaker 1: first taste of college football for you fans. And I
Speaker 1: know in years past it has shown to be a scenario.
Speaker 1: And I understand why the coach wit and you know,
Speaker 1: the coaching staff they don't necessarily want to play the
Speaker 1: majority of their better players because you know, injuries have
Speaker 1: been you know, kind of a thing over the past
Speaker 1: couple of years. So give us a quick spring game primer,
Speaker 1: random February college football topic. What should we be most
Speaker 1: excited about?
Speaker 4: Well, I just think it's seeing Jason Beck's offense in
Speaker 4: live form. I mean seeing it in practice is one thing.
Speaker 4: Not the public gets to see practice unless something changes
Speaker 4: this spring. But I think people should be excited for
Speaker 4: seeing what the offense looks like. What's Devin dan Pierre
Speaker 4: looked like in this offense? Who's going to be the
Speaker 4: backup quarterback to Devin dan Pier? What do these running
Speaker 4: backs look like in this offense? You know, who are
Speaker 4: the wide receivers that emerge in this offense? Why Sean
Speaker 4: Parker from Washington State? You know, you know who's who's
Speaker 4: going to be the guy that he's throwing the football too?
Speaker 4: Is it Otto Tea? Is it creed within the more?
Speaker 4: I just I think there's a lot. I think the
Speaker 4: offensive line is pretty well set because they invested well
Speaker 4: in the offseason in the offensive line. But I think
Speaker 4: I'm very curious to see the implementation. And obviously it
Speaker 4: will help having a quarterback that's played in that offense before,
Speaker 4: but I'm just very curious to see what it looks
Speaker 4: like going against what should be a very good defense
Speaker 4: of Morgan scaling.
Speaker 1: What, if anything, this feels like the datist of dead
Speaker 1: periods in college football. The you know, the things that
Speaker 1: are most topical are meetings such as what we've already
Speaker 1: discussed taking place in New Orleans and potential changes to
Speaker 1: the CFP. What's sort of the mode of operation up
Speaker 1: there right now in the football building for Kyle and
Speaker 1: his staff.
Speaker 4: It's it's a lot of you know, meetings and things
Speaker 4: like that. They can only do so much. The spring
Speaker 4: football will begin right after spring break in mid March,
Speaker 4: so they've got that. But you know, it's really strength
Speaker 4: and conditioning stuff right now with the players, and probably
Speaker 4: some meeting stuff and a lot of these new offensive
Speaker 4: coaches kind of getting to know their personnel a little bit.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of new faces. You know, there's going
Speaker 4: to be forty some new faces on this football team
Speaker 4: this year. So I think there's a lot of get
Speaker 4: to know you to type time right now and installation
Speaker 4: to the offense at least in the books and the playbooks,
Speaker 4: and then spring football hits and then it will really
Speaker 4: get going before.
Speaker 2: I set you loose.
Speaker 1: Some news came down last week that after twenty years,
Speaker 1: Tom Homo stepping down as BYU's athletic director. You know,
Speaker 1: for a number of years you did this job over
Speaker 1: at this station and didn't just call games. You covered
Speaker 1: the landscape of sports across the state, and you know
Speaker 1: Ryle's I don't know if being the BYUAD is the
Speaker 1: hardest job in collegiate athletic administration, but it's got to
Speaker 1: be up there. And I think Tom of the course
Speaker 1: of twenty years did a really good job. Deserves a
Speaker 1: lot of credit, and as he makes his way to
Speaker 1: find other things to do with his time, I wonder
Speaker 1: what your reaction was to the news and your thoughts
Speaker 1: on the job he did in twenty years down in Provo.
Speaker 4: He did a great job. And I had a unique
Speaker 4: relationship with Tom because when I was still working at
Speaker 4: KSL and the old days and doing pre and post
Speaker 4: game for BYU and sideline reporting, Tom Holmo was a
Speaker 4: great help to me before he was the ever the
Speaker 4: athletic director. During the football games, he would stand on
Speaker 4: the sideline with me and point things out for me
Speaker 4: to look at. I think he had just been let
Speaker 4: go at Cal as their head football coach, so he
Speaker 4: was kind of in a It was kind of a
Speaker 4: in a no job type scenario, and he came back
Speaker 4: and he and I got to be friends for that
Speaker 4: one season. He was standing there on the sidelines with me,
Speaker 4: helping me out, pointing things out. And he and I
Speaker 4: always had a great relationship. I remember when I first
Speaker 4: got the University of Utah job and the play by
Speaker 4: play job. I saw him at a Utah BYU game.
Speaker 4: He came up, put his arm around me. He goes, Ah,
Speaker 4: I liked you better when you were wearing blue. But
Speaker 4: he was always he was always great, and to this
Speaker 4: day when I see him, I saw him at basketball
Speaker 4: tournaments and basketball games, I think he I just think
Speaker 4: he's a great guy. And I think, you know, somebody's
Speaker 4: gonna have rather large shoes to fill down there in provo.
Speaker 1: All right, my guy, I appreciate the time. On this Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Did you watch any of the All Star weekend and
Speaker 1: in pro basketball?
Speaker 4: I didn't watch a second of it, Spence, can you believe.
Speaker 1: That, Yeah, you didn't miss anything? Unfortunately? Yeah, yeah, probably
Speaker 1: the right call by you. Thanks for the time, Bill,
Speaker 1: Chat soon, Okay, see Spence the voice of the Utes.
Speaker 1: Bill Riley himself, I always appreciate Bill's time. Yeah, three
Speaker 1: and two in the final five. Man in Utah men's
Speaker 1: basketball could win ten conference games. I did not think
Speaker 1: they'd even scratch it after beating both teams from Kansas.
Speaker 2: All right, what's up? Driving fives?
Speaker 1: I'm your commute home on a Wednesday afternoon slash evening
Speaker 1: starts right about now.
Speaker 2: It is a very fed you wear every day outside.
Speaker 1: It's about thirty eight degrees, little cloudy here in downtown
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City, Utah. And as it is every single day,
Speaker 1: it's gonna have you long for the ride. Welcome into
Speaker 1: the five o'clock hour of the program. RSL is in
Speaker 1: action as we speak. It is conkor CAAFF champions Cup
Speaker 1: Round one, RSL Aridiano.
Speaker 2: Right now, through thirty one minutes of play. It is
Speaker 2: nil nil. It is scoreless.
Speaker 1: Why do I feel like every soccer hater every time
Speaker 1: I give a scoreboard update when I say nil nil
Speaker 1: is like, yes, of course, it is.
Speaker 2: Too many of these games and in scoreless ties.
Speaker 3: Man, what did one one draws?
Speaker 2: Is how he said one one draw? I think I
Speaker 2: said one nil. RSL.
Speaker 1: With my guy Diogo on a free kick, I think
Speaker 1: RSL wins too. Trey says, four zero RSL.
Speaker 3: I think RSL wins Conca CAF.
Speaker 2: What you think Arsel wins the whole tournament?
Speaker 5: You know what?
Speaker 3: I like it just own the prediction. I just I
Speaker 3: just want Pablo and my guys to succeed.
Speaker 1: Well, you're about the good vibe, just like let's be honest, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're a vibe guy. Five o'clock hour of the program.
Speaker 1: Will keep you up today because I know you're on
Speaker 1: the edge of your seats for RSL Aerdiano updates and
Speaker 1: the COCKYCAFF Champions Cup Round one, first Leg, Round two.
Speaker 2: We'll be back here in you.
Speaker 1: Todd should be right there right outside of the window
Speaker 1: that I'm pointing out where there's a parking lot instead
Speaker 1: of a soccer stadium. But hey, yesterday's news. It is
Speaker 1: so cruel that every day I come into work and
Speaker 1: I have to look at that parking lot. That's where
Speaker 1: we wanted the stadium.
Speaker 3: When they released the kits right, they had a nice,
Speaker 3: fancy Salt Lake City video that they put out and
Speaker 3: it's got the grid and it said all roads lead
Speaker 3: to soccer. And I gotta be honest with you guys,
Speaker 3: only one does and it's way out there. It's way
Speaker 3: too far.
Speaker 1: South there, but obviously it's fun to have RSL back.
Speaker 1: Five o'clock hour of the program today brought to you
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Speaker 1: them a Utah favorite for over three decades. Burt Brothers
Speaker 1: doing it better since day one. More information online at
Speaker 1: Bert Brothers dot com. All right, the second half of
Speaker 1: the NBA season gets rolling tonight. Technically the Jazz will
Speaker 1: be an action tomorrow taking on OKAC. But tonight there
Speaker 1: is a game that features the LA Lakers and the
Speaker 1: Charlotte Hornets from Crypto dot com arena in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: where Lebron James is listed as questionable.
Speaker 2: Okay, porter, So here's the deal. Lebron is going to play.
Speaker 1: They're listing him as questionable to further the narrative that
Speaker 1: he actually was hurt and couldn't play in the All
Speaker 1: Star Game. Oh that No, that this is honestly what's
Speaker 1: going on, because you know it's the continuation of him
Speaker 1: just calling the shots. And so I'm sure through back
Speaker 1: channels he has decided to tell people, No, I'm actually
Speaker 1: hurt and I'm questionable. If he doesn't play tonight, I
Speaker 1: will eat crow. My guess is he plays tonight, and
Speaker 1: this isn't all. This is a smoke string.
Speaker 3: Well and the Lakers and more so even you can
Speaker 3: go back to the Cleveland days Lebron when he's playing
Speaker 3: and when he's missed any sort of time, they they're
Speaker 3: coy with it. They you know, it's game time decision,
Speaker 3: and then on day of game it's probable, and then
Speaker 3: during the game obviously he ends up playing. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean they play the politics of it day in
Speaker 3: and day out, So the fact that they're gonna they're
Speaker 3: gonna do it to come off the All Star break
Speaker 3: is no surprise. And yeah, you would have seen it
Speaker 3: probably regardless. And yeah, conveniently may may cover for some
Speaker 3: some All Star stuff. I will say I was mentioning
Speaker 3: the politics of it yesterday and how Lebron plays that
Speaker 3: plays that power game. The the thought that that Zach
Speaker 3: brought up about him not being stoked about how the
Speaker 3: All Star weekend was going and maybe just being ah,
Speaker 3: all right, I'm gonna get out of here. I'm not
Speaker 3: saying it's not selfish, but I knowing and following Lebron
Speaker 3: for so long, I don't think that that's completely out
Speaker 3: of the out of the question. I wouldn't put that
Speaker 3: past him.
Speaker 1: Our guy went full conspiracy theory earlier. Now, this was
Speaker 1: a me and o Hasson. I wish you get to
Speaker 1: meet on soon if she has time. A me and
Speaker 1: Al Hassen, Tom Habershaw, two friends of this show, have
Speaker 1: a basketball podcast called Basketball illuminati and look, those are
Speaker 1: my guys.
Speaker 2: But whenever I tune into that, I'm like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh they they reach the intentionally.
Speaker 1: It feels like I'm listening to a Joe Rogan basketball podcast.
Speaker 1: There's all conspiracies about this. So they're assertion is le
Speaker 1: Lebron was giving a silent protest because the younger players
Speaker 1: were given access to play on the All Star stage
Speaker 1: on Sunday.
Speaker 3: And for me, it's not just the rising stars, but
Speaker 3: it's the entire like we're gonna stop and do a
Speaker 3: YouTube thing in the middle of the game, it's the
Speaker 3: the whole thing around. It has become, as you've pointed out,
Speaker 3: less about just the All Star Game and more about
Speaker 3: everything else. And if Lebron were to protest, that might
Speaker 3: be a good way to do it.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: And here's the only issue I have. Whether it's Lebron
Speaker 1: apparently protesting that the young players can play on Sunday
Speaker 1: or Draymond Green saying the whole thing sucks, this.
Speaker 2: Is your fault and it's your product too.
Speaker 1: You guys, as players, had a chance to continue what
Speaker 1: was really cool for basketball fans for a lot of years. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, this is not just me as a
Speaker 1: basketball guy talking about how much fun All Star games
Speaker 1: used to be. Any basketball fan eagerly looked forward to
Speaker 1: what was the best pick up basketball game in the world.
Speaker 1: And so I have no space for Draymond Green complaining
Speaker 1: or Lebron James protesting, or any player complaining about the
Speaker 1: deal when it's their fault that this thing has devolved
Speaker 1: into such a cluster.
Speaker 5: You know what.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, to be part of the problem is
Speaker 3: one thing. But to go out and outwardly be against
Speaker 3: it when you are part of that issue, Well, I
Speaker 3: guess that's why we're where we are.
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, well said all right, following a joint meeting
Speaker 1: today between the athletic directors representing their respective conferences in
Speaker 1: the SEC and the Big Ten.
Speaker 2: So it is just the SEC and the Big Ten.
Speaker 1: And I think there are a lot of issues with this,
Speaker 1: but they are the power brokers in college football.
Speaker 2: The golden rule. Porter, why don't you remind the listeners
Speaker 2: what the golden rule.
Speaker 4: Is on this program.
Speaker 3: The man with the gold he makes the rules they do,
Speaker 3: and they are the.
Speaker 1: Men with the gold So the SEC and the Big
Speaker 1: Ten who bring in the most revenue college football by
Speaker 1: far are meeting this week without the Big Twelve, without
Speaker 1: the ACC, without any G five representation, about the future
Speaker 1: of college football, and we're starting to get some information
Speaker 1: about some of the things they've talked about. So Greg Sankee,
Speaker 1: SEC commissioner, and Tony Petiti, the Big Ten Commissioner, came
Speaker 1: out today after the meeting and said they agreed that
Speaker 1: the way teams are seeded in the twelve team CFP
Speaker 1: playoff format will and should should and will change this
Speaker 1: fall now. Ultimately, according to Greg Sankee, he says, quote,
Speaker 1: I'm prepared to vote for a seating change, but it
Speaker 1: has to be unanimous, and I'm not really sure that
Speaker 1: that's anything other than lip service, because this, again is
Speaker 1: the Big Ten, and it is the SEC, and apparently
Speaker 1: the Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete. I think it's Bevilaqua.
Speaker 1: That's probably not it, but it's Pete. Somebody that dude
Speaker 1: is also on board. So they roped in the Notre
Speaker 1: Dame ad in addition to just the conference commissioners from
Speaker 1: the Big Ten and the SEC. So another suggestion that
Speaker 1: has been made that probably is going to come to
Speaker 1: fruition potentially as early as this fall, is the field
Speaker 1: should be well will I will not say should because
Speaker 1: I kind of like the twelve, but the field potentially
Speaker 1: will be expanded, and therefore the model would now include
Speaker 1: four automatic qualifiers from both the SEC and the Big Ten,
Speaker 1: two automatic qualifiers from both the Big twelve and the ACC,
Speaker 1: and then potentially a single automatic qualifier from G five
Speaker 1: and then depending on the expansion number, it could be
Speaker 1: as few as one or maybe three at large bids.
Speaker 1: According to this is Heather Dinnich. Let's give her some
Speaker 1: credit for doing this good work. This would also, as
Speaker 1: far as the seed goes, would open up the door
Speaker 1: for Notre Dame, which can't win a conference title, is
Speaker 1: an independent to earn a first round by as a
Speaker 1: top four seed. So a lot of things at stake,
Speaker 1: I mean, with the college football news cycle pretty much
Speaker 1: dried up right now, these meetings are garnering a lot
Speaker 1: of attention, so we understand what the landscape of college
Speaker 1: football could look like. As early as this fall, we
Speaker 1: started the show off with this and we talked to
Speaker 1: a little college basketball. So the University of Kansas, Kansas Jayhawks,
Speaker 1: the bluest of blue bloods in the Big twelve, rolled
Speaker 1: into the State of Utah over the weekend, then through
Speaker 1: last night and did not lead for one second. They
Speaker 1: never led the Utes, they never led the Cougars. BYU
Speaker 1: dog walked them last night at the Marriott Center in Provo,
Speaker 1: and it was over early and they never looked back.
Speaker 1: Bill self has been coaching at Kansas for twenty two years.
Speaker 1: During his first twenty years, he never lost more than
Speaker 1: six conference games. They lost eight conference games a year ago.
Speaker 1: They've already lost seven conference games this year. That tied
Speaker 1: for the largest margin of defeat in the history of
Speaker 1: bill selves tenure at Kansas. The Kansas Jayhawks the winning
Speaker 1: this program in the history of college basketball. That's the
Speaker 1: third worst loss they've ever suffered. It is the worst
Speaker 1: loss that a former AP number one preseason team has
Speaker 1: ever suffered in the history of college basketball. It was
Speaker 1: a blood bath. Kansas, of course, will fall out of
Speaker 1: the top twenty five. My guess is BYU leaps in
Speaker 1: now and BYU, by any bracketology, by any measurable metric,
Speaker 1: is certainly an NCAA tournament team.
Speaker 2: But last night felt.
Speaker 3: Real.
Speaker 2: It was like a moment that felt like kind of seismic.
Speaker 1: If you're a BYU basketball fan because during the NBA
Speaker 1: All Star Break no NBA last night, the eyes of
Speaker 1: the sports world.
Speaker 2: On ESPN to watch BYU Kansas.
Speaker 1: And every college basketball podcast I saw this morning led
Speaker 1: with this game. Now from a national perspective, topically, it
Speaker 1: was more like what is going on with Kansas? Because look,
Speaker 1: I'm not taking anything away from either Utah or BYU,
Speaker 1: but this is as bad of a Kansas basketball team
Speaker 1: as I've seen in a long time, and they were
Speaker 1: the preseason number one.
Speaker 2: They've got like four pros on this roster.
Speaker 1: They didn't even provide any pushback defensively last night for BYU.
Speaker 1: Wide open shots after wide open shots BYU. When they
Speaker 1: knock down shots I think I read there fifteen and
Speaker 1: oh when they shoot forty nine percent, that's a team
Speaker 1: that really is make or miss, and ultimately when it
Speaker 1: is make, they are tough. And ultimately BYU down the stretch,
Speaker 1: we'll see what they're able to do. But they have
Speaker 1: a chance to win eleven or twelve conference games. They're
Speaker 1: thirty one in the net and if you're not going
Speaker 1: to win the Big Twelve on Selection Sunday, and obviously
Speaker 1: the Big Twelve tournament will be an indicator of what
Speaker 1: we'll see and if you win the thing, you're in.
Speaker 1: But if you don't win the Big Twelve tournament, you
Speaker 1: really want to be in the twenties when it comes
Speaker 1: to your nets to feel safe when it comes to
Speaker 1: conference selection, signer I should I should say selection Sunday
Speaker 1: to see if you're getting into the NCAA Tournament. So
Speaker 1: both teams have five games left. The final game of
Speaker 1: the regular season will feature these two teams, Utah and BYU,
Speaker 1: down in Provo on March the eighth.
Speaker 2: Of course, BYU will have some real payback on their mind.
Speaker 1: On the Utah basketball side of things, if Craig is
Speaker 1: able to find a way to win three of his
Speaker 1: final five games, guess what Utah basketball is a ten
Speaker 1: win conference team, barring something entirely unforeseen. I have a
Speaker 1: hard time believing that the youths can make the NCAA
Speaker 1: Tournament this year. But at least we'll see some postseason
Speaker 1: basketball and maybe they go on some crazy run. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: the top portion of the Big Twelve is still very elite.
Speaker 1: I just don't know that Kansas is one of those
Speaker 1: elite teams.
Speaker 4: This year.
Speaker 1: BYU now holds the tie break over Kansas and Baylor
Speaker 1: to get a nice path to that five seed for
Speaker 1: the conference tournament. Houston is, of course the class of
Speaker 1: the league this year. That it's Arizona, Iowa State, Texas Tech,
Speaker 1: and then BYU with a one game lead over Kansas
Speaker 1: and Baylor, but essentially that's a two game league because
Speaker 1: they own the tiebreaker. Utah finds themselves right behind both Kansas,
Speaker 1: Bay well I should say Kansas, Baylor, and TCU at
Speaker 1: seven eight. They're tied with k State, just one game
Speaker 1: ahead of West Virginia. So it's almost March right around
Speaker 1: the corner. College basketball count of heating up. Utah State
Speaker 1: Aggie is in action tonight. They welcome in San Jose State.
Speaker 1: Utah State coming off another loss to New Mexico, who
Speaker 1: now has a two game lead in conference play. So
Speaker 1: the NBA has one game tonight, that a full slate
Speaker 1: of action tomorrow. The Jazz are in action tomorrow against
Speaker 1: okay See. Got some good college basketball tonight, got a
Speaker 1: little Arkansas, Auburn. We have Bama and missoo to top
Speaker 1: fifteen teams. Saint John's Rick Patino has that team back
Speaker 1: in the top ten. They're on the road at DePaul.
Speaker 1: So it's that time of year. March is right around
Speaker 1: the corner, and we've talked a lot of college basketball
Speaker 1: in the program. Four Nations face off tomorrow. Boston is
Speaker 1: the city and it's a great domestic hockey city. We
Speaker 1: had Neil Smith on earlier. If you missed that, I
Speaker 1: thought it was really really good. A lot of perspective
Speaker 1: today on the history of the rivalry between the US
Speaker 1: and the and the US team and the Canadian team.
Speaker 1: And Neil is a Canadian born hockey savant and has
Speaker 1: now lived in America for a number of years, so
Speaker 1: some good perspective there. Reminder, we will have the Four
Speaker 1: Nations final for you on the radio station tomorrow after
Speaker 1: the Craig Smith Coaches Show, which we'll begin at six o'clock.
Speaker 2: When we say good night, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Porter, I'm gonna ask you the same question I
Speaker 1: asked Zach Harper, philosophical question. Found myself unable to sleep
Speaker 1: last night, which unfortunately is part of your boys' existence.
Speaker 1: I'm doing my best. I'm trying to get better, better
Speaker 1: habits and such. Reading about the fact that there is
Speaker 1: about a three and a half percent chance an asteroid
Speaker 1: is going to hit the Earth in twenty thirty two,
Speaker 1: and therefore we're done, yes, like not even like, hey,
Speaker 1: maybe nope, it's all over. I'm not saying it's gonna happen,
Speaker 1: but according to scientists that study these things, there is
Speaker 1: a three and a half percent chance, and in twenty
Speaker 1: thirty two, an asteroid that is called y N four
Speaker 1: is in or route and will hit the planet and
Speaker 1: it will evaporate all of us. If you had a
Speaker 1: chance to have prior knowledge of this, would you want
Speaker 1: to know or would you rather just have the situation
Speaker 1: where like, hey, just live your life and at some
Speaker 1: point it's gonna happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a good question philosophically.
Speaker 2: It's only twenty milligrams.
Speaker 3: And the highest chance, by the way, of this happening
Speaker 3: since two thousand and four. In two thousand and four,
Speaker 3: we had a two point seven percent chance of it happening,
Speaker 3: and it flew right by us. I would like to
Speaker 3: I would like to know. I'd like to have it.
Speaker 3: If you give me the opportunity, I'm gonna want a
Speaker 3: little bit of a heads up. That way I can
Speaker 3: watch it happen, I can look forward to it. I
Speaker 3: can look at it with a different perspective, right you
Speaker 3: can if you know it's going to happen and you're
Speaker 3: are you saying like not three point one percent, but
Speaker 3: like one hundred percent it's gonna.
Speaker 1: Happen, like this is the deal on this day. And
Speaker 1: by the way, how would you watch it happen? Because
Speaker 1: I don't think you can watch it. I just think
Speaker 1: it happens and then we're all done.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you could see it coming for at least
Speaker 3: some sort of time if if they, I mean apparently
Speaker 3: they can already see it that it's on its way.
Speaker 3: So I don't know. The different perspective that you're going
Speaker 3: to take looking at this spence is that it's like
Speaker 3: a good it's a good reset. The Earth needs a
Speaker 3: cleanse of some sort, and it's it's bringing it by
Speaker 3: way of asteroid.
Speaker 1: Well, that's not a cleanse. That's we're done, we're evaporated.
Speaker 1: This will not we are This will not cleanse the Earth.
Speaker 1: This will get rid of the planets.
Speaker 3: I'm sure something will rise from the ashes as it
Speaker 3: did the first time according to scientists allegedly, so depending
Speaker 3: on what you believe.
Speaker 2: You think the planet survives.
Speaker 3: But people are done and life finds a different way.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's it's telling us that this is not the
Speaker 3: correct course and the asteroid will knock us off a
Speaker 3: little bit, but not necessarily the end. Just to change.
Speaker 2: Do you think some humans survive?
Speaker 1: Ooh ooh, Because what I'm reading is this is if
Speaker 1: it does hit, it's expected to completely evaporate the human race.
Speaker 3: It would be from what I understand you, it would
Speaker 3: not be good.
Speaker 2: I bet you it would not be good.
Speaker 3: I bet you. And if we here's the other thing,
Speaker 3: if we have good enough notice, I do have a
Speaker 3: place I could get to with protection, and I'm sure
Speaker 3: there's other place people that have hawking about that have
Speaker 3: places with with some protection. Where could you go to
Speaker 3: be protected from an asteroid? I have a I have
Speaker 3: a plans if just in case I'm.
Speaker 2: Not, you know you have asteroid contingent plans. That is wild.
Speaker 3: I don't know about android asteroid specific see I I
Speaker 3: did fall out specific.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm not sure if you're underground bunker in
Speaker 1: Summit County is going to protect you from an asteroid?
Speaker 2: Bud that's the hope though. Okay, See I debated this.
Speaker 1: I debated this in my own head last night as
Speaker 1: I was reading this trying to go to sleep, and
Speaker 1: initially I'm like, you know what, I don't want to know.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to live my life and when it comes,
Speaker 2: it comes. And then I realized the type of.
Speaker 1: Whatever you want to call it, revenge payback that you
Speaker 1: could enact on people over the final few days without
Speaker 1: any repercussion, like they don't know it's coming.
Speaker 5: You do.
Speaker 1: And so anyone that's ever wronged you, it is on,
Speaker 1: like Donkey Kong, give me that final forty forty eight
Speaker 1: hours of existence.
Speaker 2: Is that petty of me?
Speaker 3: A little bit? But that's okay. You could have a
Speaker 3: really good depending on how you look at it, or
Speaker 3: really loud exit if you had the if you had
Speaker 3: the the heads up. But yeah, I'll be I'll be
Speaker 3: in my bunker.
Speaker 1: For the kids in the car, this is nothing you
Speaker 1: need to worry about, Okay. If you're listening to the
Speaker 1: show with children in the car, you guys are safe.
Speaker 1: You're good, Mom and dad, if you're taken care of.
Speaker 1: Hopefully if they have a bunker, don't ruin it.
Speaker 2: There are children listening. I don't want them to think
Speaker 2: the planet's going to explode.
Speaker 3: It might though I know three point one percent.
Speaker 2: I'm doing a thing for the kids. Porter, I'm doing it.
Speaker 2: I know you don't like kids, and you don't care
Speaker 2: about the kids.
Speaker 3: I like the kids. Listen, It's not that I don't
Speaker 3: like the kids, oh, it very much.
Speaker 2: Is that you don't like the kids. You've been very clear.
Speaker 3: I'm just not going out of my way for the kids. Okay,
Speaker 3: they you know, they got parents. They can handle it,
Speaker 3: all right, fair.
Speaker 1: Enough, all right, time to say good night for a
Speaker 1: Wednesday show, Porter, what comes our way on a Thursday
Speaker 1: edition of the program.
Speaker 3: On a Thursday edition of The Drive, we'll chat with
Speaker 3: our guy Andy Larson, Jazz RSL Conka Calf. I'm sure
Speaker 3: we'll go in each and every direction with Andy. You
Speaker 3: mentioned it during this this final segment. We talked a
Speaker 3: lot of college hoops on the show today. That is
Speaker 3: well naturally because the football season is over. Ken Palmer
Speaker 3: Roy in studio talking some college hoops with us yous
Speaker 3: b Yu Big twelve latest headed up to Logan. I'm
Speaker 3: sure as well with what Utah State has been doing.
Speaker 3: Sean Mooney will stop by the program, and and I
Speaker 3: did reach out to a met We're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 3: hope to get a mean on the show as well.
Speaker 3: In the very near future maybe some RSL stuff. They've
Speaker 3: got some travel tomorrow. But on the heels of a
Speaker 3: conca calf matchup, we may have one of them as well.
Speaker 2: All right, there you go.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, so make us a part of your Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 1: With that, will say good night for a Wednesday show special.
Speaker 1: Thank you Zach Harper, Chris Comrodnie Neil Smith, and Bill Riley.
Speaker 1: Pretty to sawn you may miss from the show website
Speaker 1: ESPN seven hundred sports dot com. Make sure to download
Speaker 1: our mobile app take us on the go. It's how
Speaker 1: I listen to our station. That ESPN seven hundred app
Speaker 1: is available in the App Store and then also the
Speaker 1: Google play Store. And then finally, for what we do
Speaker 1: in our space every afternoon for four hours, we have
Speaker 1: a podcast. I know, shocking, but check it out. Wherever
Speaker 1: you get your shows, ours is there. It's called The
Speaker 1: Drive with Spence. Check its we'd appreciate a rating and
Speaker 1: a review if you say nice things in the comments
Speaker 1: and give us all the stars. It actually helps. Reporter
Speaker 1: I'm Spence. Sega night and enjoy your Wednesday evening. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to you on a Thursday Drive and as always,
Speaker 1: you can't catch it right here on ESPN seven hundred NINETYWOFL.
Speaker 1: I'm proud to be part of utah' ZESPN Radio Network