Alex Curry & Carmen Vitali Put a Bow on the NBA Regular Season, Talk Rory at The Masters & More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here with
Carmen Vitally. Thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with us.
Happy Masters weekend, Carlie. Have you been watching Rory put
on that master class at the Masters yesterday?

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Today?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
He's just protecting his lead? What'd you say, Martin? We're
in the third round right now. Things looking good. I'm like, oh,
there it is. It's over to my right. It is
also the regular season finale in the NBA, Karmi, but
the biggest issues are tanking superstars who won't qualify for
end of season awards. We're going to jump into that

(00:41):
a little later. We're also just twelve days away from
the NFL Draft. How are you doing?

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Your household must be going ham right now.

Speaker 5 (00:48):
It is.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
There's been a lot. Actually, the athletic puts out something
called The Beast. It's Dane Bruggler, who has been doing
this for years and years and years. It's the ultimate
draft guy that you could ever like. Dane works all
year on this thing and he puts it out right
after the last Pro day because he goes to like
a ton of protas he gets information from all these proteys.
Dave Hellman is a co host of his on a

(01:11):
podcast that they launched this year detailing it's literally called
Building the Beast. Once a week they would talk about
what Dane was doing and just what all goes into
building this draft guide getting that knowledge, and it finally
came out a couple of days ago. So we now
have the Beast, which is the best resource that you
could ever do, ever hope for when it comes to

(01:33):
draft coverage. So I've just kind of been diving into
that a little bit and getting really excited for the
NFL Draft.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
It's just so crazy because you can have a plan right,
you can have a set plan, and then everything can change,
like right before they come to you. And that's what
you forget too, Like teams can trade up, teams can
take someone you thought they were going to take, then
and take someone else that you want.

Speaker 6 (01:54):
It.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's just like there's so many different possible scenarios that
just absolutely in my mind.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, especially I mean, you know you you have if
you have a top ten pick. It's it's pretty straightforward.
Every every team kind of builds their boards in ways
like they prioritize different things, and they do it in
different ways. Every GM has a system in which they
do it. But like the further down you go, I mean,
you have to have contingency plans for virtually everything. That's

(02:21):
why these off season events are also really important to
not just from getting to know the prospects standpoint, like
the combine owners meetings, like you all get together and
the draft visits, the top thirty visits, but like you're
also kind of probing guys for information about what other
teams are doing, but you're.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Going to tell you what's going to happen.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, well there are planet right, things can get planted,
like yeah, you have to separate like this is what
they think is going to happen, but we're actually going
to go.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
This way right now or in lying season what's known
as lying season. So it is like you have to
everything that even like the insiders come out with and
it comes out with like you have to really take
a magnifying to it and like think, like who benefits
from this information getting Yeah, because there is a reason
it's coming. There's usually some sort of paper trail or whatever,
and a lot of stuff starts to make sense when

(03:09):
come draft time. Uh, Huh. Also, just like the time
period between like when the Super Bowl ends and when
the combine even ends and the draft kicks off, it's
it's just kind of a long amount of time to
fill content space, and so people start like overthinking things
and you know, reading into things that shouldn't be read
into or not reading it.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
It's but that's what we're doing. That's what we get
paid to do, especially if you got a show.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
To do every single day, Like what can we dissect today? Well,
what we are going to dissect starting off, We're going
to kick things off in Philly and the Eagles because
they made another trade this week, uh, for Dantavian Wicks
from the Packers. They got a fifth round this year,
six round pick next year. Not a huge splashy player,

(03:55):
but clearly the Eagles are just adding some depth.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
Right.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Wicks wasn't the Packers' top wide receiver. He had the
fourth most receiving yards on the team amongst wide receivers.
But when you look at the Eagles current wide receiver
room right now, right, they got Davante Smith who had
one thousand and eight receiving yards last year. They still
have aj Brown who had a thousand and three receiving
yards last year, so you got wide receiver one A,

(04:21):
one B basically Hollywood Brown. They signed him to a
one year deal. He was with the Chiefs last year.
Elijah Moore signed this off season, was with the Bills
last year, and then wis So the question you have
here with all the trade rumors, kind of the drama,
the gossip that's been like surrounding the Eagles offseason, what

(04:42):
does this mean for AJ Brown? And does it feel
like the Eagles are just getting ready if you know
they get an offer that's good enough to part ways
with one of the top receivers in AJ Brown.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Well, so it's important to know kind of like the
timeline and everything that would have that happens with AJ Brown.
So the Eagles cannot if they trained AJ Brown before
June first, yea, that they will be hamstrung with a
bunch of dead money. It doesn't save them as much
off the cap anything like that. However, June's second hits
and if you trade DJ Brown there is a bunch

(05:16):
of cap savings to be had. And from all the
reporting that has come out of Philadelphia and people are
in and around the Eagles organization, they view Devonte Smith
as a guy that can be their number one receiver.
They look a lot at what Seattle did last year
getting rid of dk Metcalf for the season that gave Jackson,

(05:36):
Smith and Jigba a chance to and be the number
one the number one guy. They really believe that Devonte
Smith is that guy that you can give one hundred
and fifty targets to every season, and if he's your
number one receiver, then AJ Brown becomes a little redundant. Simultaneously,
there are reports coming out about AJ Brown not being happy,
hasn't been happy quite some time, like the body language sports, and.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Like you've been following the Eagles, and you like, yeah,
if you're in on energy on teams, and we already
know vibes are off in Philly, but his vibe has
been off for a bit for.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
For years at this point, and he likes he you know,
wants more targets. He wants to have more of the
lion's share. He wants to have more autonomy over what
his role is in this Eagles offense, which hasn't happened
now and and now the Eagles are going through yet
another offensive coordinator change or play caller change. Jalen Hurts

(06:29):
has had a different offensive play caller every single year
that he's been in.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
The league wild and you have to take that into
consideration too, Like that is crazy.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
That is crazy.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
So there's always some type of change that is and
for AJ Brown, I think that's like that their offense
just doesn't really give way to a J. Brown's skill set.
He's a really good separator in space. He really can
get those yards after the catch, but you have to
throw over the middle of the field to him. And
guess what, Jalen Hurts doesn't really do you doesn't really
throw over the middle of the field. So he doesn't

(07:00):
feel like he's being maximized in this offense. And that's
been blatantly apparent for more than one season at this point.
And now the Eagles have a real benefit to parting
ways with him. And at the end of the day,
AJ Brown is still one of the best receivers in
the NFL. Anybody is going to want his services. So
now you have an opportunity, if you're the Eagles, to
trade AJ Brown post June one and get something back

(07:23):
for him and offload you know that contract, Like there's
there's a lot there's a lot, and you can save
some money off the cap. Like there's a lot that
The one thing that the Eagles can't do though, is
really do anything before the draft. So nothing that they
will would do with aj Brown right now could benefit
this year's draft. But that's why you see them go
out and get someone like don tap Penwick's who I

(07:43):
covered him pretty closely in Green Bay and he's not
you know, he's not the wide wide receiver one by
any stretch of the imagination. But there were there were
a few times where, like especially there was like last season,
a lot of Green Bay receivers were hurt. It was
kind of a revolving door. It's kind of the issue
of that was part of the issue with that offense
this past year. And Dontavian Wicks came through. He's been

(08:06):
a little inconsistent because there were also some drops that
he had that were just like my numbing but at
the same time yards, Yeah, but they came. He was
he was a rotational player in a pretty deep wide
receiver room. The green Bay kind of tried to live
off the we have so many options, who are we
going to throw the ball to? And like that ended
up just kind of confusing them with Jordan Love getting

(08:28):
injured and this that the other. But I do think
that there's something with don Tavin Wicks as in like
he's he can be a really good player if you
kind of define his role a little bit more. And
I think that the Eagles have room to now do that.
But you look at this Eagles wide receiver room and
you're like, all right, there's too many guys like you.
And if you believe in DeVante Smith to be your
number one wide receiver.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Right now, it's wide receiver one A, one B with
Smith and Brown.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
And if you can, you know, if you can give
DeVante Smith more of the workload and to make up
for A. J. Brown's absence under this new offense under
Shawn Mannion, which we've also heard reported, there's going to
be some you know, some different, some wrinkles to this
offense that Jalen Hurts hasn't historically done. So maybe that
is throwing over the middle of field. Maybe AJ Brown
would want to stay there in that case, No, I

(09:12):
don't think so, but yeah, it's going to be a
very I've talked to people that cover the Eagles and
blatantly asked them, is Aj Brown an Eagle on June second,
and they're.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Like no, no, So okay, So I also believe he's
on the mood. So realistically, where do we see him
landing teams we've heard mentioned? Big one obviously the Patriots.
They released Stefan Diggs, who was their top wide receiver
had over a thousand yards. So the Patriots just got
their booties handed to them in the Super Bowl. Need

(09:46):
a number one wide receiver. The added level here is
a G. Brown played for Mike Rabel and the Titans.
So Rabel, I think drafted him. He knows what he's
getting into with him. Question here is can aj fit
into the Patriot Way? Because there is a different culture there, right,

(10:07):
it is.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
But it's a little more approachable now that Rabel's in charge.
It's not the it's not the Bill Belichick Patriots. Like,
there is still the Patriot Way because Rabel was molded
by the Patriot Way when he was player for the
New England Patriots. Fair, but this is a much more
approachable version of the New England Patriots now under Mike Rable.
Like he is not Bill Belichick and he is I

(10:29):
mean he's headbutting his guys without helmet on. You know,
like he's like he's he's a.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
Player's coach, vibes, vibes.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
And you know he's getting his you know, he's putting
his hand in the dirt, going against his offensive lineman
and like I've seen him do it when we had
joint practice with them, when I was with the Bucks
and he was with the Titans. It's why everybody loves him.
So it's a much more approachable version of the Patriot way.
I won't say that it's not the Patriot way anymore,
but I don't think that that's something that would give
any guy's hesitation, especially when you see that they did
make it to the super Bowl last year. So there's

(10:57):
still a winning culture and winning cures all when it
comes to the NFL. So even if it's maybe not
as fun or loose or whatever as maybe other teams are,
if there's results and you win, that's what these guys
are after, especially if you're if you become a focal
point of that offense, which A J. Brown absolutely would.
We can very number one, he'd have a very talented

(11:17):
young quarterback in Drake May throwing to him. I mean,
Drake's got a cannon so like you can get the
ball to him over the middle of the field, and
you can get it to him down the field and
it fits I I there there was some talk about
the Rams kind of inquiring about AJ Brown as well,
because they also thought that they might part ways with
DeVante Adams.

Speaker 4 (11:36):
That doesn't seem but the Puka drama too, there's.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
A lot of that where you might have to insulate
against Puka Nakua and some of his off field issues.
The other one that I think is a really interesting
kind of pairing is the Baltimore Ravens because they still
need they would they could still use another number one
wide receiver. A. J. Brown was also college teammates with
Derrek Henry. Derek Henry has been about the fact that

(12:00):
he's trying to recruit him. I didn't even think they're
both Alabama boys, so that that to me, I think
would be interesting. And like, you know, Lamar Jackson can
sling it and he is. I mean, the only thing is.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
I think Lamar Jackson's on approve it year.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
The only thing about Baltimore to me is it's a
little too much like Philly in the sense that it's
a run first offense or an offense that at least
heavily features the run, which maybe limits the amount of
work that you're going to get as.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
But then there's not as much pressure on your situation
or maybe more because you're not getting the ball thrown
to you as many times, So you got to form
when you get the ball.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
Right And that's and like AJ Brown has gone through
some drop issues. Yeah, so you like, I think that's
a that's just a fun little thought exercise is to
go between some of those teams. But I think that
at the end of the day, the most likely scenario
that is that he does indeed go to New England
if in fact gets straded.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, okay, what about what about the Bills quarterback like
Josh Allen deserves to have a star wide receiver.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
They have DJ Moore.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, he can be their number one if needed, but
I feel like he would really thrive as a number two.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
So DJ is great in the sense. So obviously he
was with the Bears and I could cover him very closely.
I've watched every single game of his for the last
few years. He is and Ben Jonson talked to us
about about this before the trade went down, even just
about how DJ is one of the smartest guys on
the field. He knows every single receiver's role on any
given play. He can play all of them. He can
play all across the formation, and that's really great in

(13:40):
a to have. I think, but I don't think you
don't think he's a Number one, like I don't think
he's No.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
One, and the Bills, I don't got to do something.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
I really think the Bills need, especially because DJ is
He's not one of those guys that's going to go
up and get those like contested fifty to fifty balls.
He's not an overly big, aggressive receiver. You need like
that true outside guy. DJ is like all over the field,
all different kinds of routes, Like you can get really
creative with him. He's come out of the backfield. He's
done a bunch of stuff. He's quick, he's fast, he's

(14:11):
you know, he can get separation when he needs to.
But he's not the guy that's going to jump up
for those you know, fades down the sideline. You need
a superstar, you need you just need a big, bigger dude,
quite honestly, and you need an actual like X receiver
because that is not DJ. And I really want that
for Josh Allen too, so I see that. Yeah, I
could see that too. I still think that New England

(14:33):
kind of has the edge there, but given the familiarity,
especially with Rabel. But yeah, Bill, I wouldn't be bad
at the Bills. I wouldn't be bad at the Bills
as an AJ Brown trade partner, which is wild.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
So okay, these are all.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Like great teams to end up at for AJ Brown.
I just want to go back to the Rams o
for a second. So we kind of glossed over that,
and I just want your take on since we're talking
wide receivers and everything there, right, because they still had
Davante Ad He's on the last year of his contract
older side thirty three. But the Puka though you wouldn't
know it, No, he had it. But I feel like

(15:07):
that's what the Rams do, Like players go to the
Rams and elevate their game like it's it's an It's
like a he wasn't having obviously, I don't want to
say he wasn't having a bad situation, but like it
wasn't a great situation.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
When he came from the Raiders, so it got much better.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
But the Puka situation here right, he checked himself into rehab.

Speaker 4 (15:31):
I feel like this was a pr move.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, there was another way that you could have played.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, this was this was it. I mean this his
behavior is costing him millions of dollars. Regardless of what
happens after, it's already cost him millions of dollars. And
the Rams are big on character, which is why they're
having issues with Puco, which is why they invest in
the person as much as they do, as the player
would the Rams, with all the A. G. Brown stuff,

(16:00):
would they want to invest in a person like that,
just with like kind of like the they've seen kind
of a little bit of drama and him speaking out
on situations with the team and calling people out, Like
is that even something that they would I mean, you kind.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Of get the K and a lot of wide receivers
as it is. I don't I don't find A. J.
Brown particularly egregious when it comes to I think he's
been in some situations that you know, he's got an ego.
Everybody we know that a lot of.

Speaker 4 (16:27):
Receivers that's wide receiver one right right to the territory.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
That is when you talk about guys that have egos,
I mean receivers got to be like first on your list.
I mean maybe quarterbacks, but that's I think. I don't
think there's anything there that is really that far out
of the realm of what you would expect of a
guy that expects a lot of himself too. I mean,
a Brown is acting out is because he wants more work,

(16:51):
he wants to be featured more, and that's going to
come with any guy that has any sort of pride
or confidence in himself. Do I think like it gets
old after a while and can kind of, you know,
rub off in the wrong way on a locker room. Absolutely,
But again you talk about the structure that is in
LA already, especially with Stafford still at the helm. I

(17:12):
think a presence like that too, and a guy that
has that track record and has a history of winning
is something that, you know, it really kind of squashes
any of those maybe, Like I don't want to say characteries,
and I don't even think it's character issues. I just
think it's like those egos. It's like you walk into
that locker room and Matthew Stafford's your quarterback, and Stafford's
telling you to stand down. What are you going to say?

Speaker 1 (17:34):
You know?

Speaker 3 (17:34):
I mean like like they all have cha championship, you know,
experience in their resume. But Matthew Stafford's been in the
league a long time and he's a very very well
respected veteran and as long as he's still at the
Helm there, I think like that culture and that locker
room belongs to him, and you can kind of trust
Matthew Stafford to keep a cap on stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I just got to say, aj Brown, like, count your
blessings because no matter like every team that we've mentioned
right now is a winning culture team, even if he
ends up just staying on the Eagles, that's a winning
culture team. Patriots they were just in the Super Bowl.
Rams recent Super Bowl champs, Bills, you got Josh Allen,
like they're Ravens. As you mentioned, like, count your blessings. Okay,

(18:15):
because it's sounding like no matter where you end up,
it's probably gonna be someplace great. Okay, We're gonna take
a quick break here when we come back, when we
see the first back to back Masters win in twenty
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Speaker 2 (19:13):
Welcome back to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here
with Carmen Vitali. We are broadcasting live from Fox Sports
Studios in Los Angeles.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
Thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon Karmee and me, and.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
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Hit the thumbs up icon, comment away, let us know
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I don't want to hear it. If you don't agree
with me, I'll put it that way.

Speaker 4 (19:42):
I'm in the same boat.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
I mean, Jonas Knox literally reads the hate tweets audio.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
I do love that. I take games.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, Okay, if you're gonna like show a series face
do that, I can get it. But no, I'm just like,
I'm like the Queen of positivity. So like any activity,
I'm just like, please no, I don't want that in my.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
In my orbit. Just I know it happens. I know
it happens.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Just leave it over there.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
I just I don't see if it didn't happen.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
I'm all about actual discourse, like if you have a
legitimate like counter argument, is something I said, please different?

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Okay, that's different though, that's like a debate.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
A debate's different.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
I'm totally good with like constructive.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
That's fine, that's fine. Okay.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Master's Weekend. You've been watching, it's been like a Rory
McElroy show. He had the largest thirty six hole lead
in Master's history yesterday, and you can tell he's just
kind of playing with a different level of freedom. He's
kind of he's trying to become just the fourth golfer
to win back to back at Augusta. It's been twenty
four years since someone has gone back to back. Tiger

(20:45):
Woods was the last in two thousand and one, in
two thousand and two, and then the last ones were
in eighty nine, ninety.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
Sixty five, and sixty six.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
So it's been I'm just kidding.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
I was finding I know, thirty plus years ago.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
Also, this just happened. Shane Lowry hole in one on
the sixth hole. Yeah, this, he went from six under
to eight under, which.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Oh I see this.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
He was tied. He's right below sixth for second after
the sixth hole. He's the seventh all time hole in
one on the hole in one.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
How am I not?

Speaker 3 (21:26):
That sixth hole is like it's a short. I think
it's a Part three or something like that. And so
he went from six he went from six under to
eight under.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Can you imagine at the Masters hitting.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
All in one and like there has Like I don't
know that there's anything more you for it? Have you
ever witnessed one?

Speaker 2 (21:42):
We were covering an angel's celebrity golf tournament. I think
it was Albert Poohle's and another guy. We caught two
hole in ones on camera that day.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
That's fun.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
I don't even know, Like it's just we used to.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
I used to help out with a SU golf because
ASU has a phenomenal golf program. Okay, so I worked
for the athletic department and so like sometimes I'd get
sent out to do the golf tournaments, which I loved
because I just got to like go in the clubhouse,
eat goat cheese, and then drive the golf rounds. Thank you.
But yeah, so I saw I saw my fair share
because like ASU has produced some incredible golfers, Like golfers

(22:16):
that like are ranked like World Junior Champions, end up
coming to a SU because they have such a good
golf program. Phil Nicholson is a a SU alone, so
he didn't I don't think he graduated. But I still
claim him. That's fine. I don't know if I still
want to claim him these days. But you know, great golfer.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
I'm just gone, I missed the hole in one?

Speaker 2 (22:36):
Can I do Yeah, I'm talking about can I get
the masters put in front of me so it's not
off to the side so I can see it.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Happened like right before we got on air. So okay,
like I haven't miss it. Yeah, I think it happened
like a few minutes right before we got on air.
I was like, fair, I had it on. I had
it on in the office. Have you ever been to
the Masters? No? I want to go. I think it'd
be really really cool. I have a bunch of friends
that go, and it just looks so gorgeous.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
It's insane.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
I have a girlfriend who started like one of the
most like sleek new golf lines, Malbyn.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
So she grew up with my sister, Like do you
have heard her husband just like absolutely launched like an
insanely awesome like culture brand. And I've just been following
like all of her Dinners, like all of the pre
stuff where you get to walk around and see everybody,
and I'm like, see, that's that's my vibe. I want
to do this. I need to go. It's it's on
the list, It's on the bucket list.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
I was hanging out with my best friend from college
this week and her husband is as he's from Sweden, okay,
and we were watching the Masters together and he was
like like he didn't know where Gusta was and we
told him, We're like, you know, it's in Georgia. And
he's like, because he had never he's never been down
to he's never been down to Georgia, and he's like, Wow,
He's like it's so pretty. And I was like, you're
from Sweden, Yeah, Like, what do you mean it's pretty?

(23:55):
Like just like your country is gorgeous. But it's absolutely phenomenal.
The grounds are so immaculate, immaculately manicured. It is. It's
a bucket list.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Thing, absolutely insane. All right, now, let's check in with
Martin Wise and see what's trending. Gives an update on
these masters.

Speaker 5 (24:11):
Roy's still in the lead right now.

Speaker 8 (24:12):
He's twelve under through seven holes, Cam Young, haltong Lee
and Shane Lowry now and all the tie for second.
Shane Lowry now nine under after Carmen Like you just
said that that hole he had that hole in what six?

Speaker 6 (24:24):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Is he nine under at first and then was shot up.

Speaker 8 (24:26):
To he went from six to eight and now he's
since picked up another one. Wow, he's now tied for second.
Sam Burns standing by himself a fifth at at eight under,
Scottie Scheffler seven under. He finished today at sixty five
and people have been losing their minds over his round
today on social media. He was on fire and it

(24:48):
may not be enough for him to come back and
win it, but yesterday, Yeah, a wild day today for him.
Major League Baseball, the Tigers beat the Marlins six to one.
Right the Green was two for two, hit his first
home run of the season. Bryce Harper and Coylee Hober
both went yard as the Phillies beat the Diamondbacks four
to three.

Speaker 5 (25:06):
The Twins lead the Blue Jay seven to two, and
the sixth the Pittsburgh leads the Cubs three to two.

Speaker 8 (25:12):
In the eighth, the Mets have with the one nothing
lead over the A's and the second inning. Elsewhere in
Major League Baseball, let's kid here, a bunch of games
just started. The Reds having won nothing lead over the Angels,
and the White Sox.

Speaker 5 (25:24):
And Royals are in a rain delight.

Speaker 8 (25:26):
In the NHL, the Capitals lead the Penguins three to
one in the second period, Edmonton and the Kings of
Los Angeles with a one nothing lead eight minutes left
in the first period. There, Tampa Bay beat Boston two
to one, and Ottawa beat New York three to nothing.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
And in the NFL, Safety Marquise Fell.

Speaker 8 (25:45):
It's been arrested for felony marijuana possession of the Dallas
Cowboys Safety Ladies back.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
To you, which is wild because that's the it's legal,
all right, Like.

Speaker 7 (25:56):
What are you doing?

Speaker 3 (25:57):
What are you doing with that much weed that you're
actually into? Although I don't it's legal in Texas.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yea, oh it's belt that's just so yeah, that's wild
to me.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
As a they got a lot of weird laws and
a lot of weird drug laws. I know Illinois it's
recreationally legal too, so we're like wild.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
All right, you're listening to Fox Sports Saturday with I
was scurrying Carmen vitally. It is time for our first guest.
Let's welcome NBA analyst Mark Medina. Thanks for joining the show.

Speaker 9 (26:24):
Alex Charmon, thanks for having me. Happy fun sports weekend
and coach a weekend.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
That's right. I can't believe weekend.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
I was going to wait to talk about that next hour.
My lord, my little hippie heart.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
Years flying by?

Speaker 7 (26:38):
Is it really?

Speaker 3 (26:38):
Is it really hippy anymore?

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Okay, Well, I'm gonna we'll talk about next hour. I'll
explain to you what it used to be. Well, yeah,
when we used to go. But Mark, we've heard you.
I mean, you spend a lot of time around the Lakers.
We've heard JJ Reddick talk this week that teams are
circling the Lakers. They want to play the banged up
Lakers in the playoffs. Do you think they have any
chance in the postseason without a healthy Luca.

Speaker 9 (27:04):
Well, I don't think they have any chance to win
a championship without a healthy Luca, but they could win
a first round series even when accounting the fact that
Bustin Rives will likely be out. The Houston Rockets if
they face them, they have been on a role recently.
You can ever discount Kevin Durant. Emyodok is a great coach,
but we've seen that that team is very inconsistent, especially

(27:26):
with their young players. Minnesota, Yeah, they had their number
last season, but the Lakers have won the regular season matchup.
There are injury concerns about that team, and Edwards gets
up for big games, but the rest of the roster
has a checkered record with doing that. So there is
a pathway for the Lakers to survive for the first round.

(27:47):
It helps that they have home court advantage, but it
is going to be a slog. We've seen Lebron James
do magnificent things in his career, right, so this isn't
new for him, but the context is new. Forty one
years old having that kind of workload. He's shown in
the short term he can do it. Playoff series maybe,
but it's tough to really guarantee because of the Lakers

(28:09):
supporting task and how inconsistent they've been. But look, last
two games at least a step in the right direction.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
It's fun looking at the top of the Western Conference.
Spurs three game win streak, Nuggets eleven game win streak.
I mean, both these teams are surging. I still haven't
caught the thunder though. Between those teams. Do we lose Mark?

Speaker 4 (28:33):
Do we loose Mark either?

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Okay, try and back, all right, that's what anytime you
say thunder, I just have that Oh my gosh, who
sings a song thunder Thunder?

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Oh see, I always go to thunderstruck, especially because we're
just talking about the Cowboys.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
Oh, there's actually good ones, Chris.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Can we get some good thunder songs and we come
back from breaks today now that we're talking about is that?

Speaker 3 (29:01):
Is that not sacrilegious for you, Alex, because they're such
a Lakers fan. And what do you mean, because like
the Thunder are leading to the conference.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Pal it was Mike Trout's walk up song for years,
So like that's what I think about.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
We got Mark back, I got you.

Speaker 9 (29:16):
You can hear me.

Speaker 4 (29:17):
Yeah, yeah, Army started over again.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
I was talking about the top of the Western Conference
when you look at I mean the Thunder of lost
one last they lost their last game, but Spurs three
game win streak, Nuggets eleven game win streak. At this point,
these two are surging, Like all three of these guys
are just kind of surging into the postseason. How do
you see this kind of shaking out? And is this
still the Thunders conference? Is this still the thunders championship

(29:43):
to lose? Yeah?

Speaker 9 (29:45):
I think it is. I mean, assuming no major injuries
with these teams, you can't ever guarantee it in the playoffs,
but assuming all things being equal, I think the Thunder
have the edge. They have the number one seed. I
remember talking to some of the people on the team
this week and Alex Caruser Shagulders I was and they
mentioned how important it is to have the number one
seed because of last year they had a Game seven
in the NBA Finals and that wound up playing to

(30:07):
their advantage. Yes, Tyris Chyldbert and also got hurt, but
through the course of the entire postseason, them having home
court help, so I think in this case it's the same.
The Spurds will tell you that the inexperience is overrated
because they have veteran players on their team. They're a defensive, elite,
elite team. But I just think tactically speaking, the Thunder

(30:28):
have more mescle memory and they just have so much depth.
They have too many wings to count for, and that
is a huge X factor in playoff series because you
need to have guys that can at least wear down,
slow things down, make things difficult for opposing team's top scores.
And the Nuggets, look, you can't ever discount Nakologa veron
eleven game winningstry Jamal Murray's finally healthy, but they've had

(30:51):
a lot of comminuity issues that the rest of their
supporting casts with chemistry and injuries. So I do think
that the order is what their standings are. Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets,
But if you flip any of the order, I'm not
going to be surprised. I just won't expect it.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
I think it's funny. It just real quick because like
Nikolay Kitsch is just basically like every casual NBA fan
in that he doesn't lock in until it's playoff time
and he's just like, I don't actually care about this sport,
I just want to get back to my horses, and
he's just he's such a casual basketball fan that happens
to be one of the ones of the grass.

Speaker 9 (31:28):
Well, it's it's funny, carbon Alex for someone who apparently
isn't locked into basketball and just cares about his horses,
he averages a triple double still, So yeah, he is amazing.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
He actually loved basketball.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 9 (31:43):
Kind of what I've gathered with Yokich is he's kind
of been like Clay Thompson during his glorios with the
Warriors were each year, I think they're leading more and
more into like that that persona they have of being
aloof and kind of goofy, and then it just becomes
a cartoon version of what that actual personality is. So yeah,
he is aloof. He can be a little carefree, but

(32:06):
I know from talking to people in the nuggets that
he very much cares about his craft. He's very disciplined
about it. Their training staff of raves about how just
locked in he is with every single part of the regiment,
with pre postgame workouts, dieting, etc. Like this guy cares
a lot, he just kind of acts like he doesn't love.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
So I want to go.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
To the opposite end of the spectrum here, because tanking
has been a major conversation in the NBA, especially down
this final stretch. Do you actually think it's an issue
that can be fixed.

Speaker 9 (32:39):
Yeah, that's a good question. It's certainly an issue. Can
it be fixed? I don't think it's always about mitigating
the severity of it. Well, they mitigated with play tournament,
but all that's done is make taking even more extreme
for the teams that are really bad. So what's the
solution moving forward? Maybe you know, I'm not of the

(33:02):
culture of hey, everyone gets a trophy, et cetera. But
if you expand the plane, maybe even to two extra teams,
that can reduce a little bit. But I think the
bigger thing is they got to do away with all
these lottery odds. They've tried to weait it, flatten it,
teams are still tanking it. I think that you can't
reward teams unless there is an exception, like you know,

(33:24):
Tyres Holburn's injury with Indiana. If there's a repeat team
that is at the bottom of the standings, you're not
guaranteed you won't get a top pick, and that might
dissuade teams from doing it, while also giving teams that
are struggling for legitimate reasons injuries or they're just young,
a chance to rebuild. I mean, even in today's NBA

(33:45):
with teams being very wealthy and transaction heavy with free agency,
the biggest thing is to develop through the drafts, so
you can't take that away, but that they have to
remove the incentive. So I think if they do away
with the draft entirely and make it free agency, that
could be fine because of the Nile era we're in.
But if they're not, they should at least not have

(34:06):
repeat top draft picks for you know, teams in consecutive years.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
We should just have relegation in the NBA, you have
to go down to the I don't.

Speaker 9 (34:17):
Think it'll happen, but I think it's a good idea,
but there's too many moving parts.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Yeah, it's wild. Mark, thank you so much for joining us.
I'm excited. I mean playoffs right around the corner. Are
you ready for it?

Speaker 1 (34:30):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (34:30):
I'm ready for I'm also ready to listen to the
cheese that you have about Kotchell weekend and what do
you think about in the next hour?

Speaker 7 (34:38):
Wild?

Speaker 4 (34:38):
Thank you Mark. We always appreciate you joining us.

Speaker 9 (34:40):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
All right, we're going to take a quick break here.
When we come back, the dudes and the don'ts in sports.
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Welcome back to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here
with Carmen Vitally. We are broadcasting live from Los Angeles.
Thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with us, and with.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
The iHeartRadio app, you can stream us wherever you are.
Just search all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live
twenty four to seven in the new and improved iHeart app.
Search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream us
live all day, every day, and be sure to select
Fox Sports Radio as one of your presets in the
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of your screen. Again, just search Fox Sports radio in
the iHeart app.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
What thunder song is this?

Speaker 10 (35:24):
Days of Thunder?

Speaker 4 (35:25):
Okay, cause I was like, by midnight, I love this.

Speaker 10 (35:27):
I didn't get a queued up to the park with
the Sacks, and that's the important part.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
I was like, this is not one of the thunder
songs that we were talking about.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
I was waiting for the Sacks to.

Speaker 10 (35:37):
My favorite This is one of my favorite bands, so
I do recognize this actually, Okay.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Okay, I was like, I'm not familiar with that. I
was waiting for like one of the two thunder one
I we're talking about.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
But I'm all, I'm.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
All for a good little little soxophone moment. So all right,
all right, Well, now it's time for the dues and
does the sports guys.

Speaker 7 (35:59):
I love that putting a spotlight on the dot.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
The subject brings me no joy.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
That's insane.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
It's time for the dues and the dots in sports.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Okay, Carmi, I'm sure you saw this this week, but
don't price out locals. The lottery for the twenty twenty
eight LA Olympics first ticket drop was insane, guys.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
It was for locals, right, So LA.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Locals got to apply to go into this lottery for
tickets and you're supposed to be able to get you know,
first look, good prices, homie, like local prices, you would think,
right wrong. Tickets were ranging for around like five hundred
to fifteen hundred dollars a ticket, if you could.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
Even get a ticket.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Most people I talked to and saw there weren't even
tickets available for the events.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
That they wanted to go to.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Gymnastics, like opening ceremony tickets were.

Speaker 4 (37:03):
Twenty five hundred dollars.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Are you crazy?

Speaker 4 (37:07):
Are you crazy?

Speaker 3 (37:09):
I'm so interested to know what ticket prices are like
when the Olympics aren't here, because I don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
I'm saying they got airfare and tickets to the Paris
Olympics for less than that.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Yeah, Like I would love to know what the breakdown
is there.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
Do you realize people in LA like no one's gonna go,
Like people will stay at home and watch on there.
To me, if this is what you're gonna do, one
thousand dollars for a ticket for an early local like
drop this is like.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
I mean between that and like the World Cup and
everything too, Like it's just all of these ticket prices
are just it's all same.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
You also have to remember parking is going to be
one hundred dollars, like food and drinks are going to
be one hundred and fifty dollars. Like you're crazy like
that is that's mental?

Speaker 11 (37:59):
What?

Speaker 3 (38:00):
How? It's just funny how like you know, yeah, somewhere
like Paris and like the Europe it's just like yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Like here, So people were doing with the Taylor Swift tickets.
They couldn't get them in a leg so it was
so expensive.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
It costs them.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
Less to fly overs. I had friendsented that.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Yeah, tickets hotels and the concert ticket was less.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
They had a single ticket in here.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Yep, yep. I had friends that did that. I have
multiple friends that did that, went over see.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
The VIP package was like five hundred dollars in Paris.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Uh huh, all right, I have a do have some personality. Okay,
there's a photo of Cheachy Rodriguez and his caddie Carl
Howard at the nineteen seventy five Masters. It's going around
social media and it is so incredibly swaggy. Please please
go look. Yeah, I'll text to you, please go look
at it. It's so swaggy. And I'm watching the Masters
now and I'm like everyone looks the same. Like, show

(38:51):
me your personality, guys, would it really kill you? Like
I know that there's strict dress codes or whatever, like
you don't even have to not wear a polo, but
like just have a fun print, like I have something
that's your personality. Like I want more chea cheese and
John Daly's I want more like personality infused into golf,
Like it doesn't have to be this like stuffy, unapproachable
thing like everybody talks.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
About looking at like the crowdshot right now, it's all pastels.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Oh my god, I get you know, like and like
you know, like the Rolling Garrows is like this, Like
the US Open is like this where like there's definitely
like kind of a wimbled in is like this where
it's like a kind of a dress code for like spectators,
which I think is great, and like I think leaning
into like the pastels and like the springtime and like
the soals and whatever on camera it's great. But I'm
talking about the golfers themselves, Like, show me some personality, guys.

(39:36):
You guys all look the same. You have the same haircut,
the same hat, you the same polo, Like, give me
something one can be more John Days, give me more
cheche rundy guys, is.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Okay, I have a do whatever you gotta do to
stop a brawl. I don't know if you saw the
brawl between the Angels and the Braves this week. First
of all, don't use a baseball though to strike a
player the fight, Lopez used a baseball to hit Celaire
in the head, thankfully he was wearing his helmet. But
Brave's new manager, uh walk Weise tackled.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
Celaire to the ground in the benches clearing brawl.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
He used to be like Jorra Cilaire used to be
on the Braves, so he worked with why so they
know each other.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
But it was just a wild scene.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Actual, actual punch is thrown, actual like like the Braves
manager fully laid out arms wrapped around his belly and
took him down.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
It was and they were hugging afterwards. It was a
beautiful scene.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
I love a good bench's clearing brawl in baseball, But like.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Did we just start allowing fights like we do in
hockey and baseball? I feel like there's more brawls like
than ever before in baseball between last season and like
even the start of the season.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
Just be better for everybody. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
Welcome to our two of Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex
Curry here with Carmen Vitally. Thank you for spending your
Saturday afternoon with us HAP Masters weekend.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
As you've seen or if you know, Rory put on a.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Master class yesterday today he is just protecting his lead
and Carmen, I just saw the tweet that you sent me.
You talked about it in the Dues and the Domes,
one of the most iconic photos from nineteen seventy five
with Cheechi Rodriguez and his caddie Carl Howard in the
most beautiful fits.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
At the Masters.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
I would walk, I would rock both of.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
These same But also why that's why I made it
a door or don't because I was like, I need
to see more of this stuff.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
I need to do more of this stuff.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
Dude, I wear onesies like that with a hat his
caddie and the fedora.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Like Also, uh, Martin was talking about the Cubs game
right now. Dave is currently there and I just got
an update to my phone of Marquee Sportsnet tweeting about
three massive beer cup snakes in the left to centerfield
bleach and I'm like, huh, that's weird. Dave sitting in
the left center field bleachers.

Speaker 4 (42:05):
A part of that snake.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
I'm sure he is. I'm sure he is more Wrigleyfield.
I really think is the gold standard for beer cup
snakes because they are in person and you're not. They're phenomenal.
We went to a cups last They don't do those.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
They don't do at Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
They don't do him at Angels.

Speaker 10 (42:23):
That was the big thing for the XFL DC Defenders,
huge thing.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
I mean, no, it's been going on in Chicago for
like ever, and I think some about like it's like
bleacher sections of baseball games especially, and so I yeah,
I mean we were at a Cubs game last sek,
like the last Cubs game I was out, which was
last season. Yeah, we it was right by us, like
it doesn't matter, like you throw your cups from wherever.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
You know what, and he excused to party. I am
here for also happy.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Again.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
The choke hol that this weekend used to have them
life is actually comical. It was different like right out
of college. I used to camp, like never it was.
I was full blown music girl, hippie. I mean, it's
just it's wild now that my husband plays festival so
it's like unless he's playing, like we don't go. It's

(43:21):
just different now, Like we're going to Red Rocks next
weekend when he has a show with Pepper and Sublime.
It's going to be Jacksie's first show, our little backstage
baby at Red Rocks.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
I'm tying well, Cayleb Williams was spotted and the VIP
section acts with Kendall and Kylie Jenner. That's my quarterback.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
Meack USC.

Speaker 3 (43:46):
That's the least shocking thing I've He's in the scene's
if you go to USC like there was also and
to be fair, there were also some videos that came
out of him Rumadoonsday, Colston Loveland and Luther Burden getting
some work in on you sees football Field. So I'm like,
let me tell.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
You it is some of the most fun I like,
there's actually I think it's still up on YouTube. I
did like a come with me to Coachella one weekend,
like I think my second year going when I was
camping and did the whole behind the scenes thing. I
mean it was magical. I called it like Christmas Morning
for adults. Like what it used to be was so
rad and I found so many amazing new artists that

(44:28):
I fell in love with. It's different, it's completely different now.
It's completely different now. But I love music. It is
not a place like I love music. I'm just not
a festival first like that.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
I yeah, no, not anymore now.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
Yeah, I would be like, am I backstage? Am I backstage?
Or in VIP then I'll go yeah, like do.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
I get a golf cart? It doesignate a golf cart?

Speaker 4 (44:50):
Yeah, someone going to take me places? That's cool. Okay.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
We're also officially twelve days away from the NFL Draft,
a day where childhood dreams come true, lives are changed
forever now. Besides the crazy prep that goes into it,
all the mock drafts are shows that are talking about
it constantly.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
Who's Gonna Go Where?

Speaker 2 (45:15):
One of my favorite things Karmi is watching the faces
of these kids when their name gets called, knowing that
like all of their hard work is paid off. But
also now like the real dream begins, and it is
just it's just magical. There's something magical about it.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
It's it's like a. It's so unique because it's an
accomplishment in and of itself to be drafted, right Yeah,
but it also is like the door to so many
possibilities that are still just possibilities at this point. Right.
So it's just kind of a very unique dynamic of like, Wow,
I got drafted and that's so cool, and that's such
a big accomplishment no matter where you're drafted. Yeah, but

(45:55):
then it's also just like the gateway into Wow, now
I'm going to start my NFL career and the fsabilities
are endless. Yeah, and this is what you work so
hard for. It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
It's kind of crazy in that sense where it's like,
oh my god, I did it. I reached my goal,
and it's like no, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
It's beginning and you really don't know how. You still
don't know how it's going to turn out, no matter
where you're drafted. Also, so I mean, we have brock
Perty signing a close to sixty million dollars contract as
the guy there was let that be last in the draft,
uh huh. Yeah, It's it's wide open and we love
football from that.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
So let's start with the team who has like the
number one overall pick because the Raiders quarterback room, I
feel like the move they made last week will solidify
this franchise and its future. Signing Kirk Cousins, I think
was the perfect move. We kind of we talked about
it a bit last week, but we all know and
love Kirk Cousins. Like we all got to see how

(46:45):
humble and respectful and hard working he is on those
Netflix quarterback documentaries. We had him on our Super Bowl show.
He's just like a nerdy, down to earth rad dad
and it's the perfect He is the perfect mentor for
a team that is drafting the future of their franchise.
With the number one overall pick in Fernando Mendoza, we

(47:06):
all know.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
Who he is.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
What we've seen, we know who he is, and he's
just a family man who loves his teammates. He loves
his family. We saw it as Pro Day. He was
calling out his routes before he threw them so his
receivers could get praise for what they were doing. These
two guys in Vegas are exactly what you want. We

(47:29):
heard from Kirk this week. He's already in the Raiders facility.
He's watching film, he said when Fernando came in for.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
His draft day. He's already watching Raiders film, which.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
Like, is that normal? Is that?

Speaker 4 (47:42):
I mean, yeah, I don't know, but is that normal?

Speaker 3 (47:45):
And when you're in a situation like that, we know
where you're here. So much about so much about this
whole pre draft process when it comes to Fernanda Mendoza
and the Raiders has reminded me of Kayleb Williams and
the Bears last year or two years ago, where you know,
there's there's been like little talk and stuff of black
is is it worth trading down and out of the
number one overall spots for Vegas or whatever? And I'm

(48:05):
just like, this process is too long, there's too much time.
Don't like any it's been. It's been really funny because
all of the signs pointed to Kayleb Williams going to
the Bears, and he did go to the Bears. He
was the only visit he took. Same thing with Brnanda Mendoza.
The only visit he is taking is to the Las
Vegas Raiders. And I just you don't overthink it when

(48:26):
he is by far and away the number one quarterback
in this class, in a class that isn't great as
far as quarterback prospects go, you would least have a
number one. And if you're the Las Vegas Raiders, you
need the future of your franchise under center. And Bernanda
Mendoza has shown up. I mean he completed an undefeated
an undefeated season and capped it off with a national

(48:47):
championship for Indiana. And if you are if you grew
up around the Midwest, you know how sad that sounds.

Speaker 4 (48:53):
It doesn't happen.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Even like four years ago, if you would have said that,
people been like Indiana really and like he's just he's
everything you want a quarterback to be. And he the
only thing that is interesting to me is has Kirk
Cousins Like what is going through Kirk cousins mind? So
as far as is he just full speed ahead to

(49:18):
a mentor like he recognizes his role and whatever, because
that's not the Kirk that I know. Either he still
thinks he's a starter and could he still start the season. Sure,
and then they like bring Fernando Mendozo along. But also
when you invest one one in a player, do you
really want to sit him for any amount of that

(49:39):
rookie contract? It's hard to do as an organization, and
I'm very interested to see how this all pans out
between the two of them, because I don't think that
it's super cut and dry right now.

Speaker 4 (49:47):
No, okay, but I will say so.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Kirk talked this week and what he said, I think
is a great beginning. He said, I think the best
quarterback should start. If that ends up being Fernando, that's Fernando.
So Kirk is going to be I feel like the
best big brother mentor there for him.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
He's accepting this mentorship role.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
And it's different this time around for Kirk because he's
going into this knowing his role, like he there is a.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
Very strong chance that he could be the starter.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
He knows he's not the future, but it gives me
hope that he's kind of changing that perspective because I read.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Into that quote completely differently because Kirk is such a
competitor that he I think by he.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Was still going to compete and he's a starter.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
I was saying that he thinks he's better than Fernando
Mendoza because Fernanda Mendoza is young.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
I mean he is, and he has more experience, but
he's also like he's not the same Kirk pre injury,
pre Achilles in again.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
But like you have to think, is he that self aware?
And I don't know the answer to that. That's that's why.
That's why I mean, but what just happened in Atlanta
when they gave him the one hundred plus million dollar
contract and then turned around and drafted Michael Pennix, Kirk
was crushed.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Yeah, Pearl was a different situation. No one saw that coming.
He was brought in you are the future, you or
who we are investing in. I don't think that shocked
everybody that they went and got a quarterback that high.
I mean, coming into this situation knowing they are taking
the number one overall pick in Fernando Mendoza. He is
the future. Kirk is coming in as a mentorship, possible

(51:24):
bridge situation if they need him to get Fernando ready.
So it's just it's I feel like it's completely different.
The way he's talking about it and going about it
feels different from Kirk right now and the time.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
I just I think that, you know, I'm very interested
to see how it all plays out. That's all because
I don't think it's that cut and dry. I think
Kirk really thinks that he should be the one what you.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Should, but you should like if you're a competitor, and
like there they are.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Going to Vegas as like a redemption because he didn't
have the best year last year and like he's coming
off the injury. Like I think he's you. He wants
vague is to be his like, hey, look I'm still good,
I'm still a starter. And that's why how to just
he's thirty four, thirty five, okay, because I think he's
he's he was in college at the same time.

Speaker 4 (52:11):
Why I was, why do I think he's like thirty eight.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
Everything, has a bunch of kids, and he's a dad
and he does he does hair like super cuts commercials
or hair cuttering commercials, whatever the hell it is. Yeah, yeah,
Like I mean, he a lot of these guys. It's
so funny, Like that was something that you get really
privy to when you work inside of the building, where
like some of these guys who are like twenty four
to twenty five have full fledged families, they're married, Like

(52:37):
they grow up so much faster because they're handed this
responsibility so much earlier in their.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Locks representing a million dollars and like.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
I mean I have guys that are that are retiring
in their early thirties, Like when you're retirement age is
early thirties, like you just everything kind of gets sped up.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Yeah, I mean, I mean we did hear Raiter's head
coach Clint Kobi xa Deally don't want Fernando to start
day one. You'd loved him to be able to learn somebody,
and that's in like a perfect world. It doesn't always
work out that day, but now they have that person
that it could possibly happen. So it's gonna be really
interesting to see how this all plays out. But I
have another question about Fernando because it was reported a

(53:12):
couple of days ago that Mendoza is actually not going
to attend the draft in person. He's going to watch
at home with his family and his friends in Miami.
And I don't have a problem with this. I know
a lot of people have kind of gone different ways,
but Fernando's a guy that's all about his family. I
think his mom is it ms that she has and
it's probably easier for her not to travel. I mean,

(53:34):
she was at all of his college games, and it
looked like Indiana helped accommodate every possible way they could,
and I'm sure the draft would as well in the
NFL would, but the focus is being great at his
job and being a family guy, and so this is
very on brand for him. The draft is it's for us,
it's a TV spectacle for the fans. It's not for him.

(53:57):
What's he missing hugging Roger Goodell.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
Well, it's interesting too because Miami, I mean, other than
also being the place that like he grew up in
his family place from there, like there have been like
Miami is such a special place for so many reasons.
He won a national championship in Miami, like he like,
this is one of those things where you're like, like
it's just kind of a Kismet storybook situation where it
like all roads kind of lead back to Miami for him,

(54:21):
and so of course he would want to do this
at home or surrounded by his family and like, especially
when there's no guesswork involved. What I think is actually
interesting is that ty Simpson is going at the draft
and he is not a first round lock. He no,
he's not, And I'm like, this is this is where
you can kind of like risk get in your heart broken.
Is if you show up to the draft and you're
not You're not chosen on night one, and like so

(54:43):
that when I saw that, I was like, so, Fernando's
not showing up a ty Simpson is, and like, in
all like reality, back of the first round is probably
where ty Simpson could go, but he's not a first
round lock at all. So I'm like, you're kind of
rolling the dice here.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Kid, which kind of leads us to I think our
next quarterback room I want to talk about real quick,
the Steelers quarterback room, because once again it's the Aaron
Rodgers show or no show show. Still know Aaron Rodgers answer. Now,
Steelers owner and Mike McCarthy were under the impression that
Rogers was going to make a decision before the draft.
They still have twelve days, but the team needs to

(55:22):
make their draft plan. So like right now their quarterback
room is Mason Rudolph, who would be in line to
start if Rogers doesn't come back.

Speaker 4 (55:29):
He started games, he knows the team. He's not the.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Future, He's not Aaron Rodgers. Will Howard their sixth round
pick from last year. So if they don't hear from Rogers,
will they make a move for ty Simpson? And that's
where it gets interesting because right now, the Steelers' first
round draft pick is number twenty one, and Ty is
kind of in that weird spot where he could get
swooped up in the first round so he could be

(55:53):
available at twenty one. That kind of feels more of
where he would go if he isn't.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
I don't think if you're the Steelers, and first of
all Rogers, I will be shocked if Rogers makes a
decision before the draft. He's he has not done this
in years, and he loves to stay relevant in the
media cycle. Mike McCarthy was that Owner's meetings talking about
how he talks to Rogers every other day and he
still has no idea what he's going to do, and
I'm just like, this is so played out.

Speaker 4 (56:18):
I hate this is who he is. This is what
he is is drama. Loves being to it.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
I hate talking about it because I'm like, there's nothing
to talk about yet talk to people, there's something to
talk about. But when it comes to the Ty Simpson question,
I don't think if you're the Steelers that you like
like I talked, like I said, there is one number
one quarterback, like there is one starting quarterback in this
quarterback class that you can feel good about starting on
day one, and that is Randa Mendoza. Yeah, after that,

(56:46):
you are taking a huge risk. And ty Simpson is very,
very green. He has not played a lot of football.
And if you're the Steelers, you're not constructed around the
quarterback anyway. That is a defensive first team, always has been,
always will be for this for that matter, if you
like yeah, and if if you're in a situation where
like you still don't have an answer from Rogers, like

(57:06):
I don't think you can feel good about going to
ty Simpson where what.

Speaker 4 (57:12):
Would you do?

Speaker 3 (57:12):
Then you got to do something. So on day two
and there's guys on even day three that I think
like a guy like Garrett nus Meyer or Drew Aller
from Penn State, like some of those guys where you
could have them as a contingency plan and you're not
investing so much in them that it matters whether or

(57:32):
not Aaron Rodgers comes back. Like if Aaron Rodgers comes back,
like and you think that that's what's going to happen,
which it does seem like they think that's what's going
to happen. Yeah, it still doesn't preclude you from taking
like Garrett Nessmeyer in the third round, Like, you could
absolutely still do that, and then if for some reason
something falls through with Rogers, you could feel okay about
a quarterback room made up of Mason Rudolphin, Garrett Nessmeyer,

(57:54):
and punt to next year's quarterback draft, which should be
rich and more a kid to that twenty twenty four
draft where you have a lot of quarterbacks to choose from.
I don't see, like why you would invest a first
round pick in ty Simpson when you don't think that
he's actually going to be the future of your franchise.
This one is not hot on ty Simpson. I thought
that I'm not hot on him. I just I don't

(58:15):
think that you should hinge. But if your entire quarterback
plans of the future by investing a first round picking him,
I mean and without without like, there's just so many,
so many risks. There's so many risks with ty Simpson.
I like, he if you saw him, if you watched
him last season, which I did, it was he got
off to a really, really hot start, but then as

(58:36):
teams started to figure him out and he was dealing
with some injury and this that the other. But it
was also that team started to figure him out and
his play dropped off a cliff and this that's the
only body of work that we have, and that's what
I think that has so much to do with why
I think he did well in the beginning of the
season too, because no one had any tape on him,
nobody knew like what his ticks were, what like how

(58:58):
to defend him, this, that, the other, And as soon
as they kind of had three four games under their belt,
he was pretty easy to figure out. So I really
think that ty Simpson, like, who do you think to
go for him?

Speaker 7 (59:08):
Then?

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Because like Jack said, they're going to start Gino Smith
Cardinals need a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
Then, I honestly think I think the right call is
that he goes on Day two and then.

Speaker 4 (59:19):
That he's showing up to the draft for one.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
But that's the thing is it may not happen. Quarterbacks
always rise in draft. But I think when you look
at his skill set and you look at the risks
involved in taking him, I think that everybody would have
does not I don't think any teams really have a
first round grade on ty Simpson. Does that mean he
doesn't go in the first round. No, there's plenty of
guys that don't have first round grades that ends up
going in the first round. But I just I would

(59:41):
have so many reservations about building my franchise around a
guy like ty Simson.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
It's going to be so interesting my heart, Like, now,
that's what I'm going to be freaking out about. Not
who's going to take him, Like, oh my god, he's
sitting there and it's going to be so sad if.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
He in the first round of somebody who knows.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
Ah, Okay, we're gonna take a quick break here when
we come back. Can they fix the biggest issue in
the NBA. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back
to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Corey here with Carmen Vitale.
Thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with us.

Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
It is a long time to get to the first under.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
I was waiting for it.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
I was like, how long do we Forard to come in?
It's still going yep? Where is it? All right, Carmen,
It'll come for your read yep. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:00:29):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
So this is also like the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders are
very well known for doing their Thunderstructor team. But I
went to Arizona State and this was our pregame show
I saw on that. It was like as part of
the there's a whole thing like a video that plays
on the JumboTron of Sparky, like this giant Sparky walking
through the desert in his literal new balances. It's a

(01:00:50):
circle and then he stomps the bus on his way
into the story. Huh see. And then when it goes
like thunderstruck, like he puts the pitchfork in the middle
of the field on the show and that's when all
the fireworks go off, and it's like it's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
Okay, vie vibe it is.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
It's like, it's such a good pregame show. If you
ever have a chance to go seeen or Is on
a state game, go do it. Uh for the best
pregame show though Every weekend, be sure to tune into
Fox Sports Radio is Countdown presented by BET MGM. Every
Saturday and Sunday morning from nine am to now Eastern
six to nine m Pacific, we will count you down
to all the biggest games of the weekend. Tune in
to Countdown, presented by BET MGM every Saturday and Sunday

(01:01:27):
morning right here on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
So it's the NBA season finale weekend, right But the
two biggest topics I.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
Just I'm sorry, I have Thunderstruck now in my head
and I can't stop, Like I'm like dancing.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
To it in my head.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
It's like I literally like, it's just forget about the NBA.

Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
Can we get back to the Dallas Cheerleaders.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
No, I'm literally like I have like the monkey clapping
in my head.

Speaker 12 (01:01:59):
I'm not you have the Yeah, so you have the
ASU and I'm having the the Netflix documentary Cowboys Cheerleaders
as they're like walking out with their pomp pom side
to side part.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
Of that dance. I don't know any Like the Cowboys
are such a big thing in my household too, so
oh yeah, I mean like yeah, Dave had to watch
it every day for ten years.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
Love that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
But anyway, NBA the NBA. It's officially the regular season
finale this weekend, but the two biggest topics are the
tanking issues and superstars not qualifying for season awards.

Speaker 4 (01:02:36):
So no one's talking about what's happening on the court.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
They're talking about the issues around it, and I'm excited
because in just a few minutes we're going to have
NBA Managing editor of The Athletic Tyler joining us Fatisse.

Speaker 4 (01:02:50):
So I'm excited to hear.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
His thoughts on all of this because these are these
are interesting, big issues when you have players like Luka, Doncic, Lebron, James,
Steph Curry, Jannis, Anthony Edwards, K. Cunningham, Jimmy Butler, John Moran, Tree, Young,
Devin Book are all not qualifying like to make all
NBA teams. That is wild and that product. No, that's bad.

(01:03:15):
This was this was something that they were trying to
do to get control of load management because players were
sitting out a lot. But it's something that had good
intentions that has gone completely wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
I've talked to Tyler about this, like a few weeks ago.
I think I talked to him about this. I'm very
I'm very excited to get his perspective on it and
have some good conversation about it because he's got he's
got a good perspective on it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
Okay, cool, Well, first, let's check in with Martin Wise
see what's trendon.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
What's going on.

Speaker 8 (01:03:49):
At the manager's Roy McRoy is still in the league,
but he's given back a stroke. He's now eleven under
through eleven holes, Cam Young and a second right now
at ten hunderd through fifteen Jason Day. Right now three
top three golfers tied nine under Jason Day. One of them,
Scottie Scheffer's already in the clubhouse.

Speaker 5 (01:04:08):
He shot a sixty five earlier day.

Speaker 8 (01:04:10):
He's now tied for seventh in Major League Baseball. Bottom
of the tenth inning, the Pirates and the Cubs tied
three apiece.

Speaker 5 (01:04:17):
Bottom of the ninth to Twins.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
Day's not gonna be hoped forever. Going to the extras thing.

Speaker 5 (01:04:24):
Yeah, you have the Cubs. They came back in the bottom.

Speaker 7 (01:04:26):
Of the night.

Speaker 5 (01:04:27):
They were trailing three to two, and then uh they
had a.

Speaker 3 (01:04:30):
Good a pier sales after the seventh inning stretch. I think, so,
I don't know how they're how the pier snakes are faring.

Speaker 8 (01:04:36):
Bottom of the ninth inning, the Twins lead the Blue
Jays seven to four. The Reds with a five to
one lead over the Angels. The A's lead the Mets
seven to one. Top of the fourth. Bottom of the
fourth inning, Royals they won nothing lead over the White Sox.
A ton of NHL actually going on right now. The
Capitals lead the Penguins three, five to three with nine
minutes thirty seconds leven the third quarter, four to forty

(01:04:59):
five in the second pier the Kings lead, the Oilers
won nothing, Devils and Red Wings todd one a piece.

Speaker 5 (01:05:04):
Eight minutes left in the first period.

Speaker 8 (01:05:06):
Same time left in the first period for the Blues
and the Blackhawks.

Speaker 5 (01:05:09):
Blues with the one nothing lead. Six forty five left
in the first period.

Speaker 8 (01:05:13):
Nashville and Minnesota scoreless, same time for Rangers and the Stars.
The Hurricanes lead, the Mammoth won and nothing. Mammoth just
clinched the playoff berth in their second season active ten
minutes left in the first period or so there and
Dufty May has agreed to a new contract extension to
remain at the University of Michigan as defending national champion

(01:05:35):
and men's college basketball ladies.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Back to you, Thank you, Martin. You're listening to Fox
Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Corey Heer with Carmen Vitali. Thank
you for spending your Saturday afternoon with us, and it
is time for our next guest NBA Managing editor for
The Athletic, Tyler Battiz, Thanks.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
For joining us. Hey how are you, oh, high dealer?

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
Right, we were teasing conversation. I love what it's buddies.
That's I could tell right there with that high time.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
What's funny is I've actually known Tyler longer than I've
known my fiance, but they are best friends. So it's
really funny that I've known I know both of them separately,
and they are like bessies. I love it.

Speaker 6 (01:06:18):
We're all one big, happy family.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
They're my favorite now, Tyler, we were teasing this conversation
just a few minutes ago. There's been a lot of
talk around the sixty five game rule for regular season awards,
especially when you have some of the biggest names in
the sports who have made an impact on their teams
that are not going to be eligible to make all

(01:06:42):
NBA teams.

Speaker 4 (01:06:44):
What do they need to do to change this and
will they change this moving forward?

Speaker 6 (01:06:50):
I mean, I think they're gonna have to discuss it
because it's been so much of a topic of conversation
over the course of this season. But it's not going
to be something that's easy to fix because that that
threshold is outlined in the most recent collective bargaining agreement
that was you know, put into effect a couple of
seasons ago, and if I'm not mistaken, you know, there's

(01:07:11):
no out clause in that CBA for another three years
at least two years, two to three years before they
can you know, kind of go to the table and
sort of discuss the whole thing. I don't know, obviously,
if there's a way to just kind of talk about
certain sections or certain articles or you know, amendments or
change it or however they can. I think it's something

(01:07:31):
that they obviously are going to have to talk about.
I don't know if this as hyber priority, as as
sort of the tanking discussion that's been a topic of
conversation as well this year, But it's something that I
don't think the NBA or the Union sort of foresaw
being as much in the the you know, in the
conversation towards the end of the season as it has been.

(01:07:53):
But then again, you never know, like if this was
kind of an outlier of a season, if we go
next season and all of these guys are playing you know,
seventy five to eighty games, or people talking about the
sixty five game room. So do you want to overcorrect
after one season or do you at least want to
bring it up for discussion. It's going to be definitely
something to watch in all season.

Speaker 3 (01:08:11):
Yeah. I think it's a really good perspective because of
the fact that you're just kind of this is just
becoming a problem and you probably need a little bit
more of a body of issues before you can address it,
especially outside of a collective bargaining year. But let's go
to the tanking issue too, because I want to talk
about Adam Silver talked about this new draft lottery idea

(01:08:32):
that would give the bottom three teams worse odds than
teams ranked four through ten, and that way teams don't
have any motivation to actually finish at the bottom of
the league, and then perhaps it prevents teams from all
out tanking. What do you what's your read on that,
And do you think that that would solve some of
these issues? I mean, because tanking has been a thing

(01:08:53):
forever at this point.

Speaker 6 (01:08:55):
Yeah. Yeah, it's funny because if you didn't know any better,
you would think that tanking sort of just started, just started. Yeah,
and it obviously has been something that's been around for
a while. Has it been maybe as egregious or as
obvious as it's maybe seemed recently. Probably not. But you
can go all the way back to you know, nineteen
ninety seven, when the Spurs were you know, competing for

(01:09:19):
you know, one of the Western Conference's best teams. They
have a season where David Robinson is injured and they
clearly did not try to win a lot of games
in hopes of winning the top ticking a draft, and
they ended up happening. They got Tim Duncan and then
they won five titles. So this tanking thing is not
anything that's new. I do think that there's going to
be some measures put in place to maybe not make

(01:09:39):
it as obvious or you know, just kind of full
blown as it's been for some of the teams this year.
But I think that the coaches and general managers and
executives and all these folks are are smart enough to
realize that if they want to sort of, uh, you know,
sort of sweeten the odds of them landing a high
pick or potential prospect in the draft, they're going to

(01:10:01):
figure out a way to do it. The interesting thing
there is that the twenty twenty six draft is considered
pretty strong, and then the next two drafts coming up
after that are not nearly as strong as this one
or even last year. So, you know, are you going
to see a situation where it looks like teams have
kind of curb tanking, but it's just a result of
their not being you know, Cooper Flag or Darren Peterson

(01:10:23):
or a j Devance of those types of prospects at
the at the top of the draft. You have to
it's gonna be tough to decide or figure out, you know,
sort of the reasoning behind what teams do.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
It's also funny too, because it's like when you find
billionaires what like five hundred thousand dollars for tanking and.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
Yeah, things like that, they don't care.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
They're like, they're not even like that's nothing exactly for
a billionaires.

Speaker 6 (01:10:49):
Yeah, it's worth it to increase your odds if you
have a shot at a person like again, a Darren
Peterson or a Cooper Flag, that's that's a worthwhile investment
for a lot of these folks.

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
So, Okay, the Athletic just put out their anonymous player
poll for m VP. The players chose SGA to win
this year they have correctly voted for the official winner
of the last three seasons.

Speaker 4 (01:11:11):
Do you think they're going to make it four in
a rows SJA winning back to back.

Speaker 6 (01:11:14):
That's actually it's funny you say that. As much as
that has been a part of my life, compiling that
over the past couple of weeks, I did not. I
kind of didn't realize that we nailed the m v
P pick the past few years. Yeah, yeah, that's good
for us, right for you? Yeah, I mean I think so.
I think I think he's the m v P if
I had a vote, and I don't, but I think,

(01:11:36):
you know, it's hard to win a title. It's even
harder at a lot of ways to defend it. And he's, uh,
you know, clearly the best best player on the best
team they have, you know, kind of dominated a lot
of teams in the league that they played. I think
the subtle thing that a lot of people forget is
that their second best player is Jalen Williams, and he's
played I think thirty five games this year. He was

(01:11:58):
an All NBA guy last year. And so the fact
that the thunder have maintained this level of success without
their team hole a lot of the season I think
is a credit to obviously that team and a lot
of those players who won a title last year. But
you know, kind of the head of the snake in
a lot of ways is SGA, and so if I

(01:12:19):
had a vote, I would reward him with MVP. But
I think women Yama has made an interesting surge over
the past few weeks, and that surge is sort of
coincided with after a lot of the votes that we
talied for the for the player poll were made. It'd
be interesting to go back to a lot of those
guys and see how they feel about it now. But
you know, Winby has certainly closed the gap, and if

(01:12:40):
he doesn't win it this year, he's certainly going to
be in the conversation for the next you know, ten
to fifteen years if everything goes according to plan.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
Real quick, how much do you think you know? Sga
is also aided by being on you know, the darling
of the NBA. At this point, this is the championship
favorites again, and I mean the Spurs are right there,
but they have the inexperience and I like the thing.
The Western Conference is going to be very interesting and
how it shakes out at the top. But how much
do you think SGAH kind of benefits from the fact

(01:13:08):
that he's just a little bit more I hesitated to
even say more visible, because it's not as if Webby isn't, like,
like everybody knows Wemby's an alien. So it's just it's
interesting to me that, like there, it's it's so split.

Speaker 6 (01:13:21):
Yeah, you know, it's it's it's two relatively small markets.
The NBA was the only you know, uh, both of
those cities, Oklahoma City and San Antonio, that this is
the only the NBA is the only you know, big
four professional sports team in their respective cities. I would
actually say, if anything, SGA might be hurt by the
fact that he won MVP last year. You see a

(01:13:43):
lot of times, I feel in the NBA where voters
have voter fatigue, you know, just kind of looking for
something new. You know, Nicola Jokis won three out of
four and you could easily argue that he should have
won four straight. But the year that Duel and Bid
won in the middle, it was kind of a sense
of really yoke it again. I think that might be
more of a case for for s g A next year.

(01:14:06):
But I don't think that that is something that is
not factoring in to maybe potential voters' minds. This year,
the Thunder have been you know, like you said, they
won the title last year. Even the year before that,
they were the number one seed in the West and
they ended up losing in the semifinals to the Mavericks
went on the you know, to make the finals. So
the thunder have sort of been the cream of the
crop in the West for the past three years. And

(01:14:28):
so are you going to see some voters who kind
of are just looking for something new, whether it be
women Yama or Nicola jokicch or Jalen Brown who carried
the Celtics for a lot of this year. Harry King
by Harry Potter. It's funny. I I every time I
log into a certain streaming service and see Harry Potter,

(01:14:49):
I know that that's that's what you're doing, because it
certainly is not me.

Speaker 4 (01:14:53):
But you share, Oh we're that home. Oh no kind
of homie, that's family home.

Speaker 6 (01:15:03):
I'm not going to say this. I'm not going to
say the streaming so don't do it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:05):
I wanted to get it, but like I watched Harry
Potter on the streaming service that it's Tyler's and he's like,
that's not me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
It's so funny because everyone in my family has a
different like they are the one on the account and
then we all share and we all we.

Speaker 3 (01:15:20):
All are Yeah, that'ssible right there.

Speaker 4 (01:15:23):
Oh it's amazing. Okay, real quick, before we let you go.
Who's coming out of the West, Who's coming out of
the East, who's meeting in the final?

Speaker 1 (01:15:28):
Oh, that's that's come on.

Speaker 6 (01:15:30):
I think I think it's hard to tick a bit
the Thunder, but it would not shock me if the
Nuggets emerged. Wow, they're they're hot right now. I think
they they took the Thunder the seven games last year
and they looked really good. So I'll go, I'll go
a little bit off the being path.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
I'll say Denver okay, and I'll say.

Speaker 6 (01:15:52):
Oh, I'll say Denver in Boston.

Speaker 4 (01:15:56):
Tyler, thank you so much for coming on. You were awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
All Right, We're gonna take one more break here when
we come back our feel good story of the week.

Speaker 4 (01:16:05):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back to.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here with Carmen Vitally.
Thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with us? Is
this just like a hard rock metal thunder that? This
is a thunder horse, It's side play.

Speaker 4 (01:16:19):
The thunder that I was asking for the entire show.

Speaker 1 (01:16:22):
I like to vary it.

Speaker 4 (01:16:23):
I like, no, this is from the Metal Locallipse. Oh okay,
I remember Metal Locallipse. My husband's with that show.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
Oh yeah, no, this is why this is one of the.

Speaker 10 (01:16:32):
Songs like death Clark Yet.

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
Yeah no, I see that going. Okay, that's fair. We
got Bridget Condon and Buck Rising coming on after us. KRMEI,
I actually have Bridget's in the show in the room
with us right now. She's already sitting down. Hey, Bridge,
I know she doesn't have her headphones on so she
can't hear you. Carmen's saying, Hi.

Speaker 11 (01:16:49):
By the way, you don't have the I'm fired up, guys,
That's why I'm here, really, and any chance to get
with my girls?

Speaker 3 (01:16:56):
Can I come in?

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
I was like, yeah, just come.

Speaker 3 (01:16:57):
I was talking to her about how I want to
come on or so, because I've known Buck for years obviously,
no Bridge now for years, like two of my faves
doing a show after us.

Speaker 4 (01:17:06):
I know she goes to her PHAs are doing the
show after She's.

Speaker 3 (01:17:08):
Like, I called I called something that I can't repeat
on her, but she can tell you.

Speaker 4 (01:17:14):
We were talking about Buck, which I hope he's listening
or actually call him.

Speaker 3 (01:17:18):
I called him my favorite d bag, but here I
have I have beef with him.

Speaker 11 (01:17:24):
So definitely stay tuned because I'm going to air out
our beef at the beginning of the show that.

Speaker 3 (01:17:29):
I adore this Buck deserves all of it.

Speaker 4 (01:17:31):
I know, and he'll take it. He'll take it like,
let's get a throat right back.

Speaker 7 (01:17:35):
I know.

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
It's one of my faves.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
Okay, let's let's wrap things up with our feel good
story of the week, because congratulations to UCLA women's basketball
winning their first title in school history and what they
did and how they did it is so impressive. They
did it with five starting seniors and grad students that
decided to stay and not transfer last season. After losing

(01:18:01):
in the Final four to Ukon, they all said, we
have unfinished business.

Speaker 4 (01:18:07):
We're all coming back.

Speaker 2 (01:18:08):
The coolest and craziest stat all of their one hundred
and thirty points in their final four matchup against Texas
and the championship game against South Carolina were scored by
their six graduating players.

Speaker 3 (01:18:21):
That's that's sick. Yeah, I'm so curious to see now
because the new WNBA Collective Bargain Agreement got ratified and
like the player salaries are going drastically up. God like,
because like a situation like UCLA women's basketball is like
if you knew that you could make money in the WNBA, yeah,

(01:18:43):
stay because now you know they have.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
Don't they have to do four years? I think they
have to play four years women's basketball so.

Speaker 3 (01:18:53):
Well the graduate students and graduates like coming back different
like graduate students coming back is particularly Like why I'm
so curious about this because I'm just kind of like
before like college nil has now.

Speaker 4 (01:19:04):
Made it that's where you make your money.

Speaker 3 (01:19:06):
That's why, that's where you make your money. But now
that salaries are growing up in the WNBA, I'm very
curious to see if we see stuff like that where
you can keep a core like that together that includes.

Speaker 2 (01:19:17):
People like portals too, like even after you have a
good season. We see this across college sports is people
just the players transfer now they go to a new place.
So the fact that they all stayed together and believe
that this was a group that could do. It is
just like, hats off to them. And then what's also wild,
The w NBA Draft is on Monday, I know, I

(01:19:40):
think quick, a week to celebrate.

Speaker 3 (01:19:42):
And a wild turnaround if if Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:46):
They're expected to have all six of their graduating players
be drafted in the WNBA draft, which would be the
first college program to have six players taken in one draft,
which would be wild. So all of this being said
like such an inc edible feet by UCLA, but also
means their head coach, Corey Close is gonna have some
work to do this off season.

Speaker 4 (01:20:07):
Because your entire team, that's your entire team, and all
championship gone are gone, literally gone.

Speaker 3 (01:20:13):
Also, congratulations to the artist artemists two Crew. Yeah, oh
there we go, Like that is an athletic feat.

Speaker 4 (01:20:20):
Yeah it is.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):
You know, you have to train so hard when you're
an astronaut and everything is so precise. They had an
estimated splash down and I think five oh seven and
they hit that mark exactly. It was science is so cool,
perfection and combining science with athleticism and all that. Congratulations, love,
thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:20:41):
For spending your Saturday afternoon are with us.

Speaker 3 (01:20:44):
We love you.

Speaker 4 (01:20:44):
We'll see you the same time next week.

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