Speaker 1: Big Dave loves himself. Little Neil Young good. It is good,
Speaker 1: but it's one of those things where it was overplayed,
Speaker 1: like you're your old man was into the metal stuff, right,
Speaker 1: the nineties metal.
Speaker 2: Stuff, yeah, little hair metal.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And if he gets overplayed, then you become an adult.
Speaker 1: You don't love it as much as you should because
Speaker 1: you heard it a ton It's fair, Yeah, Nil's little timeless,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, not fair enough. Chris Camaraannie Live in
Speaker 1: studio Hot Neil Neil Young take Let's get it there. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think for me, the Eagles are kind of the
Speaker 2: quintessential overplayed band, and I always think of the Lebowski
Speaker 2: scene He's just get out of my cab. I love
Speaker 2: that he had to take a cab from Malibu all
Speaker 2: the way back to the city. What's an expensive cab?
Speaker 1: Right? It is? Then he throws him out of the
Speaker 1: cab because he doesn't like the Eagles. But Big Dave
Speaker 1: also overplayed the Eagles, so I can't absolutely, I can't
Speaker 1: do it. It was there a band that was overplayed
Speaker 1: in your house when you were younger.
Speaker 2: No, my mom has really really good taste in music.
Speaker 2: She like went with the times, so we never overplayed anything.
Speaker 2: It would it would, you know, evolve sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties.
Speaker 2: I mean like we had we had a pretty good
Speaker 2: repertoire going. I mean we would. We would go from
Speaker 2: like you know, Jefferson Airplane to the Eagles, a lot
Speaker 2: of you know, almost famousy stuff. And then as the
Speaker 2: eighties and nineties came around. I was born in the eighties,
Speaker 2: like you know, she started getting hit with it, Whitney
Speaker 2: Houston Voice to Man Nice. We had a pretty good
Speaker 2: catalog of music in our house.
Speaker 1: See I I kind of nobody cares about this, but
Speaker 1: I care you think so?
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 1: Frank Layton has advice to me was who cares? Nobody's
Speaker 1: listening when I first took the job. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of how I do the job. Nobody's listening. I was
Speaker 1: lucky that deb My Mom Motown. Oh yeah, loved it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so learned about all that as the Supremes. Yeah, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Danna Ross, no doubt anyway, Chris, Happy, Happy Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Why are we getting you on a Wednesday this week?
Speaker 2: Because my kid's a taken?
Speaker 1: Oh I see, you know usually you're on our Friday sable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, free days. The kid is not in daycare on Fridays.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough. How's your January going? Things going?
Speaker 2: Well? Yeah? Was I in here last week?
Speaker 1: You were?
Speaker 2: And it was after Yeah, yeah it was. I got
Speaker 2: back from Rosebel. Yeah, i've seen you sin since the
Speaker 2: new year. But yeah, January's good man, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: everything's cool.
Speaker 1: Just the first Monday in January, as I talked to
Speaker 1: you about, it just kind of hits.
Speaker 2: Where you're it's like a Seinfeld episode.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I tore my rotator crough. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I told you this, No you did. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a partial tear. Shout out day Petron my guy imaging imaging, imaging, Yes,
Speaker 1: imaging X ray as well as the ultrasound. And I
Speaker 1: saw it's a partial tear, not a full tear. No surgery.
Speaker 2: But do you want to tell the people how you
Speaker 2: tore it?
Speaker 1: Shoulder presses, how many moving weight around? M oh Man,
Speaker 1: I don't know what RepA was. All I know is
Speaker 1: I dropped the dumbbell because it hurt so bad.
Speaker 2: So what would described the pain? As soon as like?
Speaker 2: Was it amedt.
Speaker 1: Stinging shooting pain? It felt like somebody shot me in
Speaker 1: the arm.
Speaker 2: Not like, so, I mean, first people, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people who haven't been shot.
Speaker 1: So is it like I also have never been shot.
Speaker 1: Let's be like a like.
Speaker 2: A when you get a shot at the doctor, A
Speaker 2: little bit big needle.
Speaker 1: To Yeah, a little bit, just like. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: a dull pain. I didn't feel pop. It was just
Speaker 1: like a stinging pain right away.
Speaker 2: And as soon as you put the weight down, did
Speaker 2: it alleviate or no? Continue?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Continued?
Speaker 1: So I went home, called my guy. Yeah, and the
Speaker 1: bummers that it happened on a Friday, and so I
Speaker 1: had to wait until the ortho was open on a Monday.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm just ibuprofen iccene.
Speaker 2: You know, did you get the sling?
Speaker 1: No sling? Because again, partial terror. I can do this, right,
Speaker 1: I just I can't do the side. Okay, how's your health?
Speaker 1: By the way, it's great, man. What's the worst what's
Speaker 1: the worst injury you've ever had?
Speaker 2: Oh? I I've had like lots of minor ones. It
Speaker 2: tore my MCL when I was like nineteen, didn't get surgery.
Speaker 2: To me, the most debilitating injury I've had was like
Speaker 2: a I don't know what the official diagnosis was was
Speaker 2: like a lower back issue right before COVID. My friends
Speaker 2: and I were spike ball a lot, okay when we
Speaker 2: were younger. This was like, you know, in my early thirties,
Speaker 2: and it requires a lot of diving and just one
Speaker 2: one jump, one dive. I just felt it and I
Speaker 2: was just in a very bad state, like I was
Speaker 2: on muscle relaxers. And it was not a good thing.
Speaker 1: And that was a back issue. Back issue. Yeah, back
Speaker 1: issues are the worst. Anyway. There you go. Enough enough
Speaker 1: conversation about aging and hurting yourself all the time. Let's
Speaker 1: see where do you want to start today?
Speaker 2: C K or not Wednesday? I'll tell you probably not.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what's not hot? Back injuries?
Speaker 1: What is okay, not hot? Well, okay, back injuries not hot?
Speaker 2: Not hot?
Speaker 1: What's hot on a Wednesday? Right now?
Speaker 2: Going to the gym?
Speaker 1: Apparently, No, I'm not hot, not hot at all? What
Speaker 1: do how many listeners have any frame of reference for
Speaker 1: what we're talking about?
Speaker 2: As far as we could talk about triggers?
Speaker 1: If you want an old feature back in the day,
Speaker 1: now we can move on from it, all right, the
Speaker 1: uh uh, you know what, Here's what I'll ask you,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm quite sure if we could find
Speaker 1: an answer, we do people big time favor. I am
Speaker 1: still stunned, even though it's been a number of years
Speaker 1: that the Utah basketball program cannot consistently find their way
Speaker 1: back to even semi relevance. And I feel bad being
Speaker 1: overly critical because I like Craig and he's one wherever
Speaker 1: he's been prior to this stop, and I watch every
Speaker 1: game I watched last night. I don't view this as
Speaker 1: a coaching issue. Craig enters the gym every night with
Speaker 1: a talent discrepancy and a talent gap that in the
Speaker 1: Big twelve is undeniable. But it's hard to recruit to
Speaker 1: a basketball program that does not have fans to show
Speaker 1: up to watch the games. And I'm not blaming the fans,
Speaker 1: because you have to have a product that's engaging, that's entertaining.
Speaker 1: And so there's this chicken or the egg thing that
Speaker 1: I've been talking about this week. I do think if
Speaker 1: that building was full, it would help Craig recruit because
Speaker 1: players want to play in front of in front of fans.
Speaker 1: But I also understand a fan base.
Speaker 2: It's like, dude, they they get housed. Every Big Twelve
Speaker 2: game they play.
Speaker 1: So I'm just wondering what your thoughts are. You you
Speaker 1: were around the back in the day when Utah basketball,
Speaker 1: I mean, you remember when Utah basketball was out of
Speaker 1: say Dan, and I'm never going to be the guy
Speaker 1: that says, how do we get it back to the
Speaker 1: jerish years? Yeah, but but your thoughts on this program
Speaker 1: that year in and year out just can't find its
Speaker 1: way back.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll go back in time. My junior year of
Speaker 2: college was Jim Boylan's best year.
Speaker 1: Jim Boylan, Luca Dertcia, little five seed.
Speaker 2: I believe Tyler Kepke, Carlon Brown, Kim Tilley was that
Speaker 2: Luke Neville. Yeah, yeah, they made They were five seed
Speaker 2: that year and then they got They drew Arizona, that's twelve,
Speaker 2: and they lost. But I know Larry had a couple
Speaker 2: of good teams. He had some pros, Kyle and Delon
Speaker 2: and yakob Ah. I don't even think you need pros
Speaker 2: in college basketball. You just need to have an engaging
Speaker 2: style of play. Look at what Utah State's been able
Speaker 2: to do in the last decade with five different head coaches,
Speaker 2: and I know there is a cultural difference where Utah
Speaker 2: State is more of a basketball school historically than Utah is.
Speaker 2: But we saw for forty fifty years Utah was primarily
Speaker 2: a basketball school. Now it's become a football school. So
Speaker 2: how does Utah, I don't know, find somewhat of an
Speaker 2: even footing on that point. I don't know, man, Like
Speaker 2: I think it's just getting good players playing engaging basketball,
Speaker 2: and like there was a talent discrepancy for many years,
Speaker 2: even in the Pac twelve. I don't even think this
Speaker 2: is a Big twelve thing. This is an issue that
Speaker 2: stems beyond Craig, beyond Larry. I mean, this is something
Speaker 2: that the Utah basketball program hasn't been able to figure
Speaker 2: out for I mean, what twenty years now. I mean
Speaker 2: Jim had one good year, Larry had a few. So
Speaker 2: you're talking about like four or five out of twenty ish.
Speaker 2: I mean Ray Jacolade had a good year, but like
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, like that is a very low clip.
Speaker 1: Well, and jack A Leetti's good year was with Bogut,
Speaker 1: who Rick recruited. Right, and all due respect to Ray,
Speaker 1: you always seem like a nice guy or whatever, but
Speaker 1: you bring up an interesting point, and I don't think
Speaker 1: this is mutually exclusive like, for instance, Alabama has an
Speaker 1: awesome basketball team and an awesome football team. But it
Speaker 1: does seem that the Utah basketball program kind of started
Speaker 1: its slide into somewhat irrelevance as the football program started
Speaker 1: to evolve. Yeah, do you think there's anything where fans
Speaker 1: are kind of like.
Speaker 2: Well, they're probably spread thin. They probably don't want to
Speaker 2: necessarily shell out That's what makes sense shell out money
Speaker 2: Bush season tickets for both. And I know that, you know,
Speaker 2: college basketball season tickets are much cheaper than college football tickets,
Speaker 2: even though there's more home games. But I think it's
Speaker 2: I just don't know if we're in a market where
Speaker 2: people are going to be locked in from August all
Speaker 2: the way to April, I just think that's asking a lot.
Speaker 2: And I mean, frankly, if you're somebody who wants to
Speaker 2: invest in a good product, as we've seen the last
Speaker 2: couple of years, it makes way more sense at the
Speaker 2: moment to invest in going to watch Utah women's basketball
Speaker 2: because they're very good and they play a very entertaining
Speaker 2: style of basketball. And I don't know, it's just more
Speaker 2: fun and it's more fun when you win, and it's
Speaker 2: more fun when you play like I say, when you
Speaker 2: play a style that's engaging to fans, So.
Speaker 1: It could be something as simple as consistent performance and
Speaker 1: showing that you have the ability, like because to your point,
Speaker 1: there's always been this one year spike where it's okay,
Speaker 1: we're back in the tournament and then boom. So maybe
Speaker 1: I don't know three four five years of consistent, winning,
Speaker 1: entertaining basketball, and I don't know how you do it
Speaker 1: these days. But players that stay here used to be
Speaker 1: kind of the thing. And again I'm doing the Majeri's thing.
Speaker 1: But all those guys van Horn and Britain and Andre
Speaker 1: and Dole, like they were three four year guys, so
Speaker 1: the community got to know them. But maybe that's not
Speaker 1: a reality of how to He brought up something else,
Speaker 1: like really the emotional, economic, whatever you want to reframe
Speaker 1: the investment as for that long the of the calendar.
Speaker 1: When it comes to college basketball, that's Yukon, it's Kentucky,
Speaker 1: it's Duke, it's Caroll. Like seven or eight programs get
Speaker 1: that type of year long support if for honest.
Speaker 2: Agreed, But and you're also talking about schools that get
Speaker 2: that from a single sport, not necessarily the two big
Speaker 2: revenue earning sports. Yeah, I'm trying to think, like off
Speaker 2: the top of my head, like you mentioned Alabama, but
Speaker 2: Alabama really hasn't really come on from a men's basketball
Speaker 2: standpoint until like the last four or five years. Traditionally
Speaker 2: they were they were pretty bad, even you know, before
Speaker 2: Nick Saban got there and changed their fortunes. I guess Auburn,
Speaker 2: like Auburn was good, but now it's kind of like
Speaker 2: the football team's not good, right, basketball team's very good.
Speaker 2: It's hard to find one athletic program where they're always
Speaker 2: really really good at football and always really really good
Speaker 2: at men's basketball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, consistently. Yeah, there's always texas As spurts here there
Speaker 1: on the basketball side. But no, it's a fair point.
Speaker 1: Just curious to get your thoughts, because, again, I feel
Speaker 1: bad saying this. I'm watching them play these Big twelve
Speaker 1: games and it doesn't even feel like it's a fair fight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, going back to your point about guys who stay
Speaker 2: like it is hard to recruit in this current landscape
Speaker 2: of college athletics, I get it, But you're also if
Speaker 2: I'm and it might be unfair to compare to other
Speaker 2: programs in the state. You look at a place like
Speaker 2: Utah State. Yes, they lost their head coach, they lost
Speaker 2: great Osibor, who's a great player, No pun intended, But like,
Speaker 2: you have lots of guys that are still in that program.
Speaker 2: One of these guys who used to be a Utah
Speaker 2: you Ian Martinez, who's been there for several years now
Speaker 2: bouts around.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But like, if you get players who find their niche
Speaker 2: and have a role and can help you build a
Speaker 2: winning culture, odds are you'll be able to get them
Speaker 2: to stay, especially in college basketball. I mean, I I
Speaker 2: don't think the poaching is at a level and I
Speaker 2: could be totally wrong. I just I think, considering the
Speaker 2: size of rosters, I don't think the poaching is at
Speaker 2: the same level of football in that like you're fifteen
Speaker 2: players compared to one hundred and five, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. And there's and it's proven in college basketball
Speaker 2: that you can be good no matter your size, and
Speaker 2: you can make a run if you're good. Again, I'll
Speaker 2: use Utah State as an example, Like, how many players
Speaker 2: on that team are Utah players? A few, quite a few?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, most, I believe how many.
Speaker 2: Utah players are on Utah's roster currently? I honestly don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know the Hunter Erickson kid is a
Speaker 2: bench player, he's a Utah kid, but the Mats and
Speaker 2: brothers are not from Utah. They have the Finnish player,
Speaker 2: the big guys, the tall guys on the team. I
Speaker 2: don't know their names. I don't think they're from Utah.
Speaker 2: So it's like, I don't think you necessarily have to
Speaker 2: recruit local players to be good. But I don't know
Speaker 2: if you're talking about at least within the last decade,
Speaker 2: the best college basketball programs to come out of the
Speaker 2: state between our three big schools generally have been able
Speaker 2: to lock up local talent, especially Utah State and BYU.
Speaker 1: Jake Waaleen is from Provo, but you already knew that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: wall Lean, Hunter Erickson is from Provo as you referenced,
Speaker 1: and our guy Brady Smith is from Logan.
Speaker 2: Wait Brady Smith didn't he used to produce this program.
Speaker 1: No, that was Brady Clark. Okay, shout out to our
Speaker 1: guy Brady Hope. He's hanging in. He's a Utah Stag fan,
Speaker 1: so he's probably having a good year.
Speaker 2: But like, I don't understand you. You're a basketball guy,
Speaker 2: so you can tell me how this works? Like, how
Speaker 2: is Uta State able to do this? And I know
Speaker 2: they're they're playing at a conference level that is way
Speaker 2: different compared to the Big twelve, which you can argue
Speaker 2: is the best in the country. But like Utuasa was
Speaker 2: doing this when Utah was in the PAC twelve too,
Speaker 2: and they were doing it when the Pac twelve wasn't
Speaker 2: that good. So how is it that it works at
Speaker 2: Uta State, which Craig had a direct hand in before.
Speaker 2: Yes he did, Yes he did, So how are they
Speaker 2: able to spin it forward?
Speaker 1: All due respect to our friends about forty miles down south,
Speaker 1: watching a college basketball game of the Spectrum, it's the
Speaker 1: best is second level. I mean, it's one of the
Speaker 1: best college basketball environments in the whole country. And I've
Speaker 1: been to a grip of college basketball menus, and I
Speaker 1: do think there's something there. If you're a high school kid,
Speaker 1: and let's say you're a top shelf high school recruit
Speaker 1: and you go down to Provo and watch a game
Speaker 1: of the Marriott Centaer, You're like, this is dope. It's
Speaker 1: rolled out the game.
Speaker 2: Ops.
Speaker 1: They do a good job. The kids are having a
Speaker 1: grand time, wide out smashing cougartails and milk and just
Speaker 1: enjoy life. And then you roll up to Salt Lake
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, do people know that there's a
Speaker 1: game tonight? And then you go up to Logan You're like,
Speaker 1: this is awesome.
Speaker 2: Agreed, Yeah, it's true. I mean, like the spectrum will
Speaker 2: be full for like San Jose State and it's cool
Speaker 2: and it's cool. Yeah, I agree, Yeah, the ambiance matters.
Speaker 1: All right, We'll save our football for the next segment.
Speaker 1: And also our guy Joe Coles got the exclusive with
Speaker 1: Mark Carlin today. We'll save that from the next segment.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. We got a couple of minutes with
Speaker 1: this this segment. Let's do a little basketball, a little
Speaker 1: more basketball. And here's what I want to add, because
Speaker 1: you and our guy TJ. Tony Jones, a few years back,
Speaker 1: you did a really good piece on Donovan, so you know,
Speaker 1: chattered with him. My guest has got to know him
Speaker 1: a little bit here or there. And tonight we've got
Speaker 1: the Calves and we've got Okac and it's the first
Speaker 1: time in NBA history that at this point of the
Speaker 1: season there are two teams on pace for more than
Speaker 1: seventy wins. The Calves are thirty one and four, Okase
Speaker 1: is thirty and five, and Donovan has started to figure
Speaker 1: it out. He started to figure out, like if you
Speaker 1: look at his numbers, they don't jump out. They're the
Speaker 1: same as they were here, but he's not taken as
Speaker 1: many shots. He's admitted this year that he's tried to
Speaker 1: play defense, and all of us in Salak are like, thanks, dude,
Speaker 1: all right, glad you're trying to play defense now. I
Speaker 1: still think Boston's the best team in the East, and
Speaker 1: I don't know that Cleveland can beat them four times
Speaker 1: in seven tries, but it's undeniable that what they're doing
Speaker 1: is real coaching, change, different system, and Donovan is really
Speaker 1: starting to evolve where I think he is going to
Speaker 1: have a no questions answer comes spring, right, but I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna answer them. I don't think they can
Speaker 1: win it, but in pro basketball, there's a saying, if
Speaker 1: you got a shy, you've done a good job. I
Speaker 1: was never on board to believe that, and Quinn was
Speaker 1: here last night, and I never thought that group was
Speaker 1: going to win an NBA championship. But there were a
Speaker 1: couple of postseasons where I thought they've got a shot.
Speaker 1: So as we sit here watching Donovan potentially evolve into
Speaker 1: the space as a first team All NBA guy for
Speaker 1: one of the best teams in pro basketball, and maybe
Speaker 1: they go and win something special this year, I still maintain,
Speaker 1: I'll always maintain that there was meat left on that
Speaker 1: bone when this front office decided to trade everybody, And
Speaker 1: for the most part, all of the players have gone
Speaker 1: on to play well elsewhere. Royce O'Neill has had a
Speaker 1: much better stretch elsewhere. Paid our guy, Bucket O'Neil, one
Speaker 1: bucket O'Neill played well in Brooklyn, He's got a good
Speaker 1: role in Phoenix. Minivan solid role player in Philly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Engles is just old now, but he went elsewhere and
Speaker 1: played well, and he just he can't walk anymore, but
Speaker 1: he's still on a rush. Well he does one time
Speaker 1: the other night. And Rudy's still Rudy. Like the front
Speaker 1: office made a calculated move to trade star players in
Speaker 1: their prime to start this rebuild that in three years
Speaker 1: has not bread anything very exciting. Just I wanted your
Speaker 1: thoughts on that.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's I don't think it's hyperbolic to
Speaker 2: just say that the team didn't gel, they didn't like
Speaker 2: each other, like they played well together. And it's I'm
Speaker 2: not saying every team that you know me, I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I'm a results over a vibes.
Speaker 1: Guy, John Paul hope you're listening.
Speaker 2: But like there they came to the end of road spins,
Speaker 2: Like I just don't really think there's really any other
Speaker 2: way to put it, because Quinn left before they traded
Speaker 2: those guys wrong, wrong, Okay, Yes.
Speaker 1: And that's what I'll always wonder.
Speaker 2: See, I got my timeline, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: I'll always wonder. Now I'll have to look at the
Speaker 1: exact timing they may have started, if Rudy was first correct,
Speaker 1: and they may have alluded to like, hey, we're going
Speaker 1: to break this down and Quinn, we want you to
Speaker 1: lead this next rebuild. So I'm not completely dismissing your point,
Speaker 1: because as soon as Quinn decided that he did not
Speaker 1: want to work for this ownership group for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: maybe at some point he will say out loud what
Speaker 1: it is. I've got guesses. And when Dennis Lindsay had
Speaker 1: a meeting with the new ownership group and he's like nope,
Speaker 1: I viewed that as a really bad sign because I
Speaker 1: have a lot of respect for both of those two
Speaker 1: and this is revisionist history for sure. But you know,
Speaker 1: I even believe like you trade Mitchell, you bring in
Speaker 1: market In, you put market In next to Gobert, you
Speaker 1: keep Conley and Royce and Yang and all those guys.
Speaker 2: But you're still in the middle. Man.
Speaker 1: But could you have found your like if if Larry
Speaker 1: was what he was two years ago? Next to go
Speaker 1: bear with the rest of those pieces. Is that a
Speaker 1: championship team? No, but it's not breaking down to the
Speaker 1: studs and really show at this point no clear direction
Speaker 1: in a rebuild, which I think is frustrating a lot
Speaker 1: of jazz fan But.
Speaker 2: You were the first guy to point out that you
Speaker 2: can't tie forty percent of your cap whatever. It's no
Speaker 2: offensive big yeah, And like it might make more sense
Speaker 2: in Minnesota where you have a superstar player, like a
Speaker 2: true superstar player. But clearly, I mean, I don't know
Speaker 2: what Minnesota's record is right now, but I know it's
Speaker 2: somewhere around five hundred. Yeah, So there are I'm of
Speaker 2: two minds of this. I've always told you that the
Speaker 2: worst place to be is in the middle, where the
Speaker 2: jazz have existed for a very very long time, albeit
Speaker 2: for a couple of years. I ultimately think they made
Speaker 2: the right move trading those guys because Donovan wasn't gonna
Speaker 2: stay here. We know that. I mean that's obvious. And
Speaker 2: for as awesome as Rudy is, I think you kind
Speaker 2: of saw the height of his potential impact on the roster.
Speaker 2: I don't think you were going to see him reach
Speaker 2: another level with other different players around.
Speaker 1: I agree with that second point. I wonder do you
Speaker 1: think there's anything because Donovan had two years left on
Speaker 1: his deal.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could have waited another year.
Speaker 1: Well, and you also chatted with Donovan, and if my
Speaker 1: memory is serving correctly about you know it was COVID.
Speaker 1: It was this summer of Black Lives Matter and the
Speaker 1: murder of George Floyd, and Donovan started thinking differently as
Speaker 1: a black man, right, And he admitted it, like he
Speaker 1: learned things about his history that he didn't know about
Speaker 1: and leaned into being more of a voice, which there's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with that at all. How much of that
Speaker 1: do you think led Donovanto deciding he simply did not
Speaker 1: want to live in Salt Lake because prior to that time,
Speaker 1: my man was at fourth July barbecues. My man was
Speaker 1: Spider Man when there was a car accident. I mean
Speaker 1: I always thought it was interesting there was a camera
Speaker 1: caa like, oh wait, Donald was out a party and
Speaker 1: people know about.
Speaker 2: It, being like super handsome with his cool sis.
Speaker 1: But Rudy is donating millions to Pete and no one
Speaker 1: knows about that. So that was always a little odd.
Speaker 1: But the first few years here Donovan and look, obviously
Speaker 1: was it Stuart Adams who was like, go learn about
Speaker 1: youeral history correct? Obviously dumb ass thing to say. Period,
Speaker 1: end of story. And I don't begrudge Donovan for not
Speaker 1: necessarily feeling as welcome here. I don't know what it's
Speaker 1: like to be a black man in saw Lake where
Speaker 1: there's two point three percent of the city that looks
Speaker 1: like you.
Speaker 2: I'm sure that's difficult.
Speaker 1: But how much of that do you think led to
Speaker 1: him souring on a place that for the first few
Speaker 1: years he seemed to really love and people seem to
Speaker 1: really love him.
Speaker 2: I think it played a role in it, for sure,
Speaker 2: but I don't think it was a major part. I
Speaker 2: think he is a guy that realized that whether it
Speaker 2: was the ownership group or the front office or the roster.
Speaker 2: He just feel like he felt like he couldn't reach
Speaker 2: his apex here, his apex mountain was not here. And
Speaker 2: I guess he was right in a sense. But to
Speaker 2: your point, he isn't a markedly different player right now.
Speaker 2: His stat line is pretty much the same. He's on
Speaker 2: a team that has more talent, more versatile talent, and like,
Speaker 2: I know that you could compare like the the Go
Speaker 2: Bear with the Allen and the Garland with the Conley,
Speaker 2: but the Jazz never had an Evan Mobley, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean not even close.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Go Bears more Jared like, more like a Jared Allen.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, I feel like you would know.
Speaker 2: I feel like people thought at one point that Evan
Speaker 2: Mobley could be like an MVP caliber player. In this second,
Speaker 2: I mean, he's proven to be very good this year. Again,
Speaker 2: I think it worked out for the Jazz because he
Speaker 2: wasn't going to stay here. They got a really good
Speaker 2: player in return, which is something that we should never like, underscore,
Speaker 2: because I think you could have traded him to the
Speaker 2: Knicks and got a bunch of Obi Toppins and the
Speaker 2: one kid that doesn't even play for him anymore. Winching
Speaker 2: Grimes or Miles McBride. We had lots of guys around
Speaker 2: here doing Miles McBride to even cool at six to one,
Speaker 2: guy that can shoot me, they have one down, Patty Mills.
Speaker 2: Breakups are ugly, man. That's that's how I would put it.
Speaker 2: And there are layers to them and for the jazz
Speaker 2: they were, they have been lucky for several years, decades
Speaker 2: even to avoid where they are now. And now they're here, sure,
Speaker 2: And it's just the reality of the NBA, which I think,
Speaker 2: and I've said this on your show a billion times,
Speaker 2: I think it's why viewership is down. I think it's
Speaker 2: why interest is down. It is so impossibly hard to
Speaker 2: get involved and throw your heart into a league where
Speaker 2: you know, like two or three people have a true
Speaker 2: shot at winning it every year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, one hundred percent. And when you don't have
Speaker 1: the ability to retain the talent you drafted and developed,
Speaker 1: like there's no chance. It's hard. All right, there's a
Speaker 1: little basketball on a Wednesday. But coming up next we'll
Speaker 1: react to what Mark Carlin had to say with today's
Speaker 1: Desrat news piece. The CFP semi Finals get rolling tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Chris Comaradni live in studio on a Wednesday Right here
Speaker 1: on ESPN seven hundred, Chris, Tom Ronnie live in studio
Speaker 1: for one more big segment. Wait a second about this,
Speaker 1: diego oh? Mecca and Nelly shot out on a bench
Speaker 1: called into US men's national team camp in January.
Speaker 2: Huge pretty exciting. Yeah, I mean, it's it's the camp
Speaker 2: where all of the fringe guys get a shot. But
Speaker 2: it's cool that your guy, Mariso Pochettino's giving some RSL
Speaker 2: guys some looks. It is guy, one of the great
Speaker 2: great Spurs managers in club history.
Speaker 1: Indeed, the Spurs are playing right now, aren't they.
Speaker 2: They were playing in the Carabell Cup, which against Liverpool,
Speaker 2: which I know you know a bunch about.
Speaker 1: Tell me they won. They did, They beat Liverpool. It's
Speaker 1: the first leg. Come on, you Spurs, big Spurs man
Speaker 1: over here. That's what you're supposed to say. That's that's
Speaker 1: like the fan thing.
Speaker 2: Come on, you, Spurs coys. Impressive for Mecca for a
Speaker 2: number of reasons, like the most prototypical like MLS development
Speaker 2: story guy smart ivy league dude who got drafted to
Speaker 2: be a right back in Salt Lakes or Sandy. Let's
Speaker 2: be honest, Harriman and has now developed into a guy
Speaker 2: who's made a national team camp. Luna I think is
Speaker 2: a bigger deal because I do think Mexico at one
Speaker 2: point wanted to see if he would be willing to
Speaker 2: switch switch to play for the Mexican national team. But
Speaker 2: we'll see. I mean, I think anytime you can be
Speaker 2: an attacking player and play for a guy like Pacha,
Speaker 2: I think that's interesting. So I'm fascinated to see how
Speaker 2: he does.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's any shot either those two playing
Speaker 1: a World Cup? Do you think the team is kind
Speaker 1: of set?
Speaker 2: I mean they're so good right now. I mean, all
Speaker 2: their best players, if they can stay healthy, they're just
Speaker 2: their players are starting now at these big clubs. I
Speaker 2: mean Milan has like two starters, Juventus has two starters.
Speaker 2: Peppi is finally coming on in the Dutch League. Luna
Speaker 2: and Nelly maybe, but Tyler Adams has been hurt a lot.
Speaker 2: But McKenny Adams MUSA, it's hard, but I guess said,
Speaker 2: I'm just fascinated to see how they look playing in
Speaker 2: a national team Jersey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be fun. So is this like the Gold
Speaker 1: Cup cycle?
Speaker 2: Kind of? This is kind of like the first look
Speaker 2: of the potential Gold Cup roster.
Speaker 1: Kyle essentially parlayed a really strong Bold Cup into a
Speaker 1: World Cup.
Speaker 2: Yeah correct, Yeah, So I just think unfortunately for both
Speaker 2: those guys, they play positions where the US is currently
Speaker 2: pretty stacked. Yeah, I mean Luna as you know, more
Speaker 2: of a central ten.
Speaker 1: Obviously, we don't I call a moon man, but that's me.
Speaker 2: We don't. We as the US don't really employ a
Speaker 2: prototypical number ten. And and but you know, Potch move
Speaker 2: things around. We're no longer under the casting spell of
Speaker 2: Greg Berhalter, so who knows.
Speaker 1: So this is this is a little bit like when
Speaker 1: Tony Beltrom got a call up and you're like, sweet,
Speaker 1: but you'll be back here soon.
Speaker 2: I think like Tony played against Mexico at one point,
Speaker 2: if I'm not missing you, in like a pretty like
Speaker 2: big game. I think it was one of his very
Speaker 2: limited caps. I think I just remember because he got
Speaker 2: to wear the really dope lollipop jersey. But it was
Speaker 2: like the red, white and blue stack. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: and that was the coolest one. I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now I remember that, good, good memory, all right.
Speaker 1: Shout out to our guy Joe Coles. Exclusive with Mark
Speaker 1: Carlin University View to Athletic Director, and you and I
Speaker 1: spoke about the situation following the BYU game the week
Speaker 1: that it happened, and we don't need to go back there.
Speaker 1: But of course, as the story goes, I was walking
Speaker 1: home from the stadium. You were typing away with your piece.
Speaker 1: Lovely photo we got that day with you, me and Aaron.
Speaker 1: Good picture, look good.
Speaker 2: We didn't show my wife and she's like, dang, you
Speaker 2: look good.
Speaker 1: A nice Okay, yeah, we'll take that from shout out Amanda,
Speaker 1: And suddenly fun blows up. Are you listening to Harlan? No,
Speaker 1: here's the link, Oh my gosh. And I thought his
Speaker 1: statement after the fact was something I missed the Mark,
Speaker 1: and I said that on Aaron. My guess is Mark
Speaker 1: probably wanted that moment back, and what he expressed to
Speaker 1: Joe I think was probably a little bit more in
Speaker 1: lockstep what I thought he should have expressed in the moment.
Speaker 1: But hey, we all make mistakes, and then sometimes time
Speaker 1: can give us perspective. And we now know that he
Speaker 1: called Kilani, and he called Tom Holm, he called bray
Speaker 1: Ormark to apologize for the comments he made after that game.
Speaker 1: So I won't read everything he had to say to Joe.
Speaker 1: Then he went on to talk about some other things,
Speaker 1: but let's just stay in that space as far as
Speaker 1: your thoughts on what appeared to be a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a contrite approach a couple of months after
Speaker 1: the fact.
Speaker 2: Yeah, reading part one of the two part series, to me,
Speaker 2: what stood out the most was Mark pushing back a
Speaker 2: little bit on the notion that Utah wasn't able to
Speaker 2: retain its best players. I think he found let me
Speaker 2: find this quote, something along the lines of, I look
Speaker 2: at this last year and buy and large, we've been
Speaker 2: able to retain all the key players that we believe
Speaker 2: will lift us back to success in twenty five and beyond.
Speaker 2: You also lost two of your best defensive players to
Speaker 2: the portal, which is absolutely, you know, part for the
Speaker 2: course for pretty much any team in college football. I
Speaker 2: get it, but I think I think this is kind
Speaker 2: of what maybe frustrates fans a little bit. Is like
Speaker 2: acknowledge that there have been some tough times, acknowledge that
Speaker 2: there have been some losses, and don't necessarily try to
Speaker 2: not puff out your chest but just make it seem
Speaker 2: like everything is honky dory. All the time like it's
Speaker 2: not it's and that's the case for every program in
Speaker 2: the country. I mean, you know, we talked to Joe
Speaker 2: about the revenue sharing bit, which was interesting, you know,
Speaker 2: Mark talking about you know, how they're planning on delineating
Speaker 2: the twenty point six million that most schools will get,
Speaker 2: which is going to be a fascinating component to this
Speaker 2: next you know, college sports cycle. I would imagine most
Speaker 2: of it for most schools goes to football and basketball.
Speaker 1: But.
Speaker 2: I understand there will still be some nil components to
Speaker 2: this as well. But yeah, I mean, it's been two
Speaker 2: months since you know, Mark took the took the mic.
Speaker 2: I was surprised that it's taken this long, and you know,
Speaker 2: hopefully he talks to some other local media outlets and
Speaker 2: gives people a chance to ask him some questions because
Speaker 2: I think right now, for somebody like Mark, you're in
Speaker 2: such a unique position where everything is moving so fast
Speaker 2: around you in real time. He also has the luxury
Speaker 2: of having, you know, a stalwart like Kyle come back.
Speaker 2: And obviously he's, based on his comments to Joe's very
Speaker 2: optimistic about what the immediate future holds for Utah. But
Speaker 2: we'll have to see how they look starting next year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, obviously, if you're the AD, you're
Speaker 1: going to try to spend the most positive you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, storyline and narratives surrounding your program.
Speaker 1: But I think to your point, and this is what's
Speaker 1: kind of bled over into the political discourse in our
Speaker 1: country and pretty much discourse across the board, like just
Speaker 1: don't tell me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing, please,
Speaker 1: And from a fan perspective, like, don't tell me everything
Speaker 1: is incredible when it's clear right now that things are
Speaker 1: not as good as we're used to them being. And
Speaker 1: that's Kyle Be, a victim of his own success and
Speaker 1: changing standards here in the market. But you know, since
Speaker 1: Mark took over, he's the one that fired Larry and
Speaker 1: hired Craig, and that wasn't met with a lot of
Speaker 1: enthusiasm from certain people in the market that actually thought
Speaker 1: Larry was making some headway. That's to be debated, right,
Speaker 1: but that was Mark's choice to move on from Larry
Speaker 1: and bring in Craig. He inherited a football program where
Speaker 1: he didn't have to touch it, and don't think he
Speaker 1: has to touch it now. I wonder if part of
Speaker 1: the messaging is just trying to forward this situation to
Speaker 1: make it a little bit rosier than it actually is,
Speaker 1: because he's the ad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and in this culture, we have to do our
Speaker 2: best of not overreacting to one thing, and by one thing,
Speaker 2: I mean just one calendar year. And I've said this
Speaker 2: often on the show recently. It's like, seventeen out of
Speaker 2: twenty is a pretty good clip for winning winning programs
Speaker 2: in Utah football, you know, men's basketball, we've talked about.
Speaker 2: The women's team is really turning the corner and becoming,
Speaker 2: you know, a one of the best products locally.
Speaker 1: To watch consistently. Too.
Speaker 2: It's the Larry thing, to me is interesting. I mean,
Speaker 2: Chris made Larry a top ten paid coach in college basketball,
Speaker 2: which is which is impressive if you consider some of
Speaker 2: some of the programs that were way ahead of Utah
Speaker 2: for a long time. And I think the last time
Speaker 2: Utah made the tournament was like twenty sixteen. It had
Speaker 2: been a while, And I don't think that necessarily was
Speaker 2: the wrong move. I mean, I didn't know Larry that well,
Speaker 2: but I knew him well enough. I don't know how
Speaker 2: Larry would have really enjoyed the NIL a very old
Speaker 2: school type. Yeah, but I think ultimately, if you know,
Speaker 2: based on what Part one was able to show, you know,
Speaker 2: Mark is bullish on how UTAH is going to attack
Speaker 2: this new fangled you know world of NIL and revenue
Speaker 2: sharing and all that stuff, because it's going to be
Speaker 2: way more in your face, you know, like in the
Speaker 2: past it was, you know, everyone assumed that, you know,
Speaker 2: teams in the SEC were quote unquote cheating or you know,
Speaker 2: paying players or whatever. Now, especially if you're at a
Speaker 2: public institution, a lot of the stuff will be able
Speaker 2: to like be like grammared Foy, it be public public record,
Speaker 2: So you have to figure out where you're gonna put
Speaker 2: your money and how you want to invest it. The
Speaker 2: stakes are higher now than they ever were before. To
Speaker 2: your point, like Kyle is a victim of his own
Speaker 2: success locally and nationally, which is why programs come for
Speaker 2: as players. So we'll see what happens. I'm fascinated to
Speaker 2: see what Part two brings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's worth your time. He talks about nil,
Speaker 1: he talks about, you know, raising money at this point,
Speaker 1: which is probably as important as anything anything else you're doing.
Speaker 1: On the fundraising side of things. He said, they've been
Speaker 1: able to double their output to their athletes. And the
Speaker 1: problem without really any data is you just kind of
Speaker 1: have to take people at their word, and that's hard
Speaker 1: to do. And there I don't think there's any proof
Speaker 1: or any data one way or the other. The Utah
Speaker 1: is having a problem keeping talent because everybody loses talent
Speaker 1: every single year. The national champ will and some of
Speaker 1: the best teams in college football already have. So it
Speaker 1: makes it hard to understand what real and what's real
Speaker 1: and what is And the nice thing about sports is
Speaker 1: there's a scoreboard, as we say, So if what Mark
Speaker 1: is saying is true, next year should be better for
Speaker 1: the football program, then this year.
Speaker 2: Plus well yeah, if you get average to above average
Speaker 2: quarterback play, Utah this year is probably in a much
Speaker 2: different place. As Bill said earlier on the show, next
Speaker 2: year is just gonna be a question Mark man, And
Speaker 2: I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. They're just
Speaker 2: going to have a bunch of players that nobody's ever watched,
Speaker 2: a lot of new players on offense, a lot of
Speaker 2: guys that you don't know how they'll be deployed. You know,
Speaker 2: an offensive philosophy that is markedly different than what Andy
Speaker 2: you know, deployed, which when it worked, when it was humming,
Speaker 2: it was awesome. When he had a healthy quarter exactly well,
Speaker 2: healthy quarterback, healthy weapons, healthy running back, deep running back room,
Speaker 2: it worked. Jason Beck's offense is a little more tantalizing,
Speaker 2: a little more new age by all accounts, less intricate,
Speaker 2: less difficult to pick up, and you're bringing in the
Speaker 2: quarterback that I'm not going to say mastered because while
Speaker 2: everyone's freaking out about Devin Dampierre, he did get thirty
Speaker 2: one total touchdowns last year, but through twelve picks, he
Speaker 2: threw twelve touchdowns and twelve interceptions. Hell of a player
Speaker 2: on the ground, he ran for like twenty touchdowns. So
Speaker 2: but again, like if Utah is going to contend for
Speaker 2: the Big twelve title next year, they're going to need
Speaker 2: him to be a much improved passer because this league
Speaker 2: isn't great, but you can get beat by anybody, and
Speaker 2: it's just it's Pack twelve back in the back twelves.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm I think next year we'll just bring
Speaker 2: so many new lessons for people to find out how
Speaker 2: Kyle's evolving as a head coach, who Jason Beck is,
Speaker 2: who these new players are, and like, just like last year,
Speaker 2: I would caution everybody to take a breather. When State
Speaker 2: media is telling you that, you know, all these guys
Speaker 2: are going to be Heisman Trophy finalists and Utah is
Speaker 2: going to run the table. We have to see how
Speaker 2: it looks, and we won't see for a very long time.
Speaker 1: You've covered Utah football for a long time. For a while,
Speaker 1: you were the Utah guy for the athletic You have
Speaker 1: moved on from that beat and you do more macro
Speaker 1: level things and you have freedom to do other things,
Speaker 1: which is good for us that are a fan of
Speaker 1: your work. But you know as well as anybody. And
Speaker 1: I drew the parallel to ky State because I was
Speaker 1: listening to this Big twelve podcast. There they were going
Speaker 1: through the exercise of how this conference will look next year,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, dude, all right, good luck. I tried
Speaker 1: to do it myself. I'm a zero clue. You can
Speaker 1: pull up the rosters, you can see who's returning, and
Speaker 1: you can kind of see who's already the transfer portal,
Speaker 1: but it's such an exercise and futility. But the way
Speaker 1: they were talking about K State is exactly the way
Speaker 1: Utah football has been built under Kyle, which is recruit
Speaker 1: and develop, and the most successful Utah football seasons, just
Speaker 1: like k State have been when these programs have players
Speaker 1: in their third, fourth, fifth years. Is that still a
Speaker 1: way you can build a contending winning football team in
Speaker 1: college football in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2: I think you could look at the Big Twelve title
Speaker 2: game as a dichotomy of how you can do it.
Speaker 2: I think Arizona State, a lot of transfers and a
Speaker 2: lot of new guys, young head coach was able to
Speaker 2: galvanize that group to a surprising season. Iowa States in
Speaker 2: the same boat as the Utahs and the Kansas States.
Speaker 2: You know a lot of guys that have been there
Speaker 2: in that program for a long time, longtime head coach.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of recruit and developed programs in
Speaker 2: the Big.
Speaker 1: Twelve, is BYU or recruiting Delah and that obviously worked
Speaker 1: for them this year.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean, like if you're trying to think out
Speaker 2: of their kind of quote unquote breakout players this year,
Speaker 2: like I said, nobody took a flyer and Jake j
Speaker 2: didn't have an offer. He had to go to a
Speaker 2: community college, and nobody does anymore. David running back, recruit
Speaker 2: and developed elst the offensive line outside of the kid
Speaker 2: who went to Oklahoma State receivers Aaron and those guys
Speaker 2: did a good job. Fesse. They went and got guys
Speaker 2: like Lasseter Marion, transfer guys, developed, Chase, local guy defensively,
Speaker 2: defensive line, mostly local guys. Linebacker, room, very very good,
Speaker 2: all local guys, secondary some some some transfers, but some
Speaker 2: local guys. I'm just saying, like that conference is a
Speaker 2: recruit and developed conference. Really if you think about it,
Speaker 2: maybe outside of Colorado.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: But ultimately it is. I agree, it's an exercise and
Speaker 2: futility to try to pontificate where people will be come August.
Speaker 2: But I don't think there's going to be that much
Speaker 2: more movement because coaches want to have quarterbacks in place.
Speaker 2: I think you can look at who the odds on
Speaker 2: starters will be for like each quarterback in the Big
Speaker 2: twelve right now, and kind of get a sense of
Speaker 2: who could beware. But again, at the same time, like
Speaker 2: we thought that last year, I mean, we thought Cam
Speaker 2: Rising and Alan Bowman were going to be two of
Speaker 2: the studs in the Big twelve, and those guys got
Speaker 2: hurt and weren't really playing at the end, like Bowman
Speaker 2: got benched off and on and Cam got hurt. So
Speaker 2: like this conference is kind of wacky, Man.
Speaker 1: It is since you referenced Colorado. Every time an NFL
Speaker 1: job comes open, and a lot of people think the
Speaker 1: Cowboys job could come open pretty quickly, although they didn't
Speaker 1: let Mike McCarthy interview with the Bears, which is weird.
Speaker 1: Raider's job is open, Giants' job is not, thought it
Speaker 1: might be, but maybe it's just the media trying to
Speaker 1: create a story, because Dion is a story no matter
Speaker 1: what he does. But if the right team that has
Speaker 1: the right pick comes along and says, hey, we'll hire you,
Speaker 1: we'll drop your son Dion in Vegas, is that enough
Speaker 1: to make Deon jump and Lee boulder?
Speaker 2: I don't think so. Like I think one thing people
Speaker 2: overestimate is people estimate Dion's Like I don't want to
Speaker 2: say ego because I know Dion believes in himself to
Speaker 2: a level that a lot of people don't, and for
Speaker 2: good reason. He's an NFL Hall of Famer and is
Speaker 2: clearly has proven people wrong in the in the coaching realm,
Speaker 2: but the NFL man, it is unforgiving. You've seen so
Speaker 2: many coaches in the last few years get their first job,
Speaker 2: get their first taste, finally made it, fired after one year,
Speaker 2: fired after two years. It is not a place for
Speaker 2: job security. It's not, which is why I don't think
Speaker 2: Dion will leave Colorado. Now. He might, but like you can,
Speaker 2: you can be at Colorado. You can do it your way.
Speaker 2: You walk on water there, you made the most irrelevant
Speaker 2: power power for conference team in the country. Relevant, You're
Speaker 2: gonna get paid more because of the success that you've had.
Speaker 2: You can do things your way. I just don't see it,
Speaker 2: And he said it himself, like Dion's kind of bravado.
Speaker 2: I don't think that goes over all that well with
Speaker 2: you know, veteran veteran professional players, Like I'm sure a
Speaker 2: lot of those guys. I mean, I guess we're old.
Speaker 2: I don't I doubt a lot of those guys watched
Speaker 2: him growing up. We're past that. That's that's our era.
Speaker 2: But I just don't think that would go over the
Speaker 2: same in a professional locker room compared to, you know,
Speaker 2: trying to convince a bunch of young players to come
Speaker 2: give Boulder Colorado a chance.
Speaker 1: Well it's fair. Then you've done stories on him, so
Speaker 1: I knew you'd have good perspective. All right, let's end
Speaker 1: on this. I can ask you a philosophical question. Orange Bowl, No,
Speaker 1: who do you like in the Orange Bowl? Who do
Speaker 1: you like to win it?
Speaker 2: Who's playing in the Orange Bowl?
Speaker 1: That's the cotton is Ohio State, Texas. So the Orange
Speaker 1: is Notre Dame, Penn State.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: Who do you got in the cotton Ohio State? Is
Speaker 1: anyone getting in Ohio State's way?
Speaker 2: Not? If they if they can make life hell for
Speaker 2: Will Howard, that's the only way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll have to say back to philosophy. Oh I
Speaker 1: have a philosophical question for you, because topically on the
Speaker 1: show we've discussed because we're a basketball market. You know,
Speaker 1: we're a jazz market. We're a pro basketball market. We
Speaker 1: do not have an NFL team. If college football transitions
Speaker 1: into a pro model and BYU and Utah are involved
Speaker 1: in that, it will be as close to an NFL
Speaker 1: team that we've ever had here. And we'll have that
Speaker 1: field because we'll have blue bloods in town every week.
Speaker 1: Let's just hope that if that happens, Utah and BYU
Speaker 1: get that invite. But it's pretty clear now for about
Speaker 1: a generation. The last time the NBA was even in
Speaker 1: the same stratosphere as the NFL as it pertains to
Speaker 1: interest or ratings was the nineties. Was the late nineties.
Speaker 1: We have the highest watched basketball game in the history
Speaker 1: of the world played here in Salt Lake. It was
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's last game. So crazy, yep, but it has
Speaker 1: not been And to be frank, it wasn't close then.
Speaker 1: But the NBA was experiencing growth while the NFL was
Speaker 1: kind of flatlined. They never closed the gap and they
Speaker 1: never will.
Speaker 2: But why do you think it is?
Speaker 1: I mean, concussions, domestic of violence, everything that pretty smart
Speaker 1: people have predicted would put a dent in the world
Speaker 1: of football consumption in this country has not come close
Speaker 1: to it. In fact, it's only grown. Why do you
Speaker 1: think our appetite for football in America is what it
Speaker 1: is to the point where it's the number one sport
Speaker 1: and no one else even lives in that could destac.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is not a hot take, but this
Speaker 2: is my opinion. The Savior of the sport was fantasy football.
Speaker 2: H Yeah, like it. It revolutionized the approach to fandom.
Speaker 2: It got even fringe people involved. It's one game a
Speaker 2: week for not very long. It's September to January. It's
Speaker 2: during generally the harder months of the year where you
Speaker 2: want to be inside because it's cold. If you live
Speaker 2: in a cold weather place. A lot of these places
Speaker 2: that our NFL markets are cold weather places. I think
Speaker 2: the demand of basketball is just a lot. I think
Speaker 2: it's asking a lot for people my age, you know,
Speaker 2: young parents, Like I can't imagine a world where I'm like, hey,
Speaker 2: I know it's bedtime, but I gotta see Johnny Juwsan
Speaker 2: I gotta I know it's bedtime, but I gotta see
Speaker 2: Johnny jusying in the corner. I'm just being honest, like,
Speaker 2: it's just it's asking a lot. And I understand that
Speaker 2: every back and what's really cool and something we don't eat.
Speaker 2: We complain a lot about everything. It's insane that you
Speaker 2: can basically watch whatever team you want to watch on
Speaker 2: any level of any pro college model. These days, you
Speaker 2: can find a way to watch. Back in the day,
Speaker 2: we were pouring through the box scores on the paper
Speaker 2: or trying to listen on the radio to hear the scores.
Speaker 2: Now you can find anybody that you want to watch.
Speaker 2: It's just asking a lot man and football. I think
Speaker 2: there is this very unfortunate part of the American subconscious
Speaker 2: that really really loves to pride itself on this idea
Speaker 2: of glorifying the gladiator component of this thing. I recently
Speaker 2: watched one of my favorite movies, Friday Night Lights, which
Speaker 2: is a great book. It is great show and I
Speaker 2: hadn't seen the movie in a very long time, and
Speaker 2: it's really good. Man, I should have had Porterdoo explosions.
Speaker 1: Tim mcgride and where he had the big chew as
Speaker 1: the dads.
Speaker 2: The dad was great. It did a good job, insane
Speaker 2: like one of his first acting jobs. But we're on
Speaker 2: the West coast, man, like we are. I talk about
Speaker 2: this with my colleagues at the Athletic all the time.
Speaker 2: It's like some of my friends cover Ohio State or
Speaker 2: Texas or Penn State. Like, there are places in this country, man,
Speaker 2: that are twenty four to seven, three sixty five. No
Speaker 2: matter what day of the year, no matter who's in
Speaker 2: the hospital, you are going to go to the message
Speaker 2: boards to see did we get the four stark and
Speaker 2: that is part of the DNA of this country.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know I have homework, but Spee makay Luke
Speaker 1: is starting tonight.
Speaker 2: Who's at She's your take on?
Speaker 1: I know it's bedtime, but Johnny Juoz is gonna shoot
Speaker 1: corner throws all right, c K. Great to see my friends.
Speaker 1: Best to Amanda and lill Leo and now will chattoo right.
Speaker 2: Thanks