Fox Sports Radio's Countdown Presented by BetMGM

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith talk about Knicks – Pacers Game 6, Caleb Williams finally addressing the media, which NFL teams are most likely to surprise next year, an odd trend in the Stanley Cup playoffs this year, and more! Plus, Parlay Platter, Prop It Up, Rapid Fire, and Follow the Money with Seamus Magee!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
College hoops fans, Welcome to the best basketball coverage.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
On the radio. Dude.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off is on what
quarter three? Pop it down and it's presented by bet MGM,
the King of sportsbooks.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Stupid lay up and the buzzer is pure.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off. Here's
Brian No, former Penn State All American, Rich Ornberger and
FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Oh what is going on? Good morning?

Speaker 5 (00:35):
Welcome in happy Saturday tune as we get you all
set for game six. The third is that right? Let's
see the third best two words in sports?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Right?

Speaker 5 (00:50):
Super Bowl's best, Game seven is second best. These are
the third best two words in sports. I would say
that's right. You got something else going on down on the.

Speaker 6 (00:57):
Power ratings now, I don't know, there might be something
else that sneaks up there.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Power ratings third in the list, right down.

Speaker 6 (01:05):
The sports words power. I don't have to put some
thought to it. I haven't really thought of anything past two.
Usually it's just two.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
Yeah, yeah, extend our list.

Speaker 6 (01:18):
We put anything for this list, like, I don't know
what comes after the second word.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
You know, we're spitballing here, you know, so it's a
working list. How about how we got here to game six?
So I loved Karl Anthony Towns quote after Game five
he said, we came out with energy and we're the
first ones to throw a punch.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
That's a great quote.

Speaker 5 (01:41):
Right there, and it's basically the opposite as what Pascal
Siakam said. Now, Siakam's had a good series. Game two,
he was tremendous with thirty nine points. A little quieter
in Game five. And this is what Siakam had to
say after the Game five loss for the Pacers.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
They played harder than us.

Speaker 7 (01:59):
I think I think they play harder than us, you know,
loose balls, like rebounds like all that. We gotta be
able to win that battle.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
He's right, but it blows my mind that he's right.
I just I don't understand this. You have this happen
in basketball from time to time, a little bit too frequently.
But I get it. If in an elimination game afterward,
in game five, like there's a trip to the finals
that's right within your grasp here for the Pacers, and

(02:30):
if they came out and they just could not buy
a shot, I get that. Sometimes you go cold. If
the postgame interview is, hey, it just wasn't our night.
We couldn't hit anything from the perimeter. We couldn't buy
a three. Okay, sometimes you don't shoot well, no problem,
But after a game to be like it wasn't our night.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
They just played harder than us. It blows my mind rebounds,
you know, getting a loose ball.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
They seem to win all those I shrug your shoulders.
It's like, what how this happened in the Western Conference
finals as well.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
We didn't go.

Speaker 5 (03:04):
Crazy because OKC was the better team and they clearly
were gonna win the series.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
But Game three they lost by forty two.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Points, and SGA was like, yeah, we just didn't have
the right focus or energy tonight. And it's like, what
do you do? Like, were you gassed from playing Xbox
or something? What it's the playoffs here? How how after
a game can you say, hey, they just outworked us,
they played harder than us. That has something I will
never understand, But hey, it doesn't matter now we've got

(03:33):
game six. Now about game five, but that's how we
partially got to Game six, is that the Knicks outworked
the Pacers.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
You should never be able to say that after a game.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
I get it.

Speaker 8 (03:43):
I get it, and I've been there been a part
of teams where the way we've lost was embarrassing because
either you didn't feel like as a group there was
enough mental preparedness, or there wasn't enough of the trade
mark charisma as a group that gets you through tough moments,

(04:04):
whatever it may be. And look, the reason why sports
are interesting is because sports aren't played by robots. You know,
this isn't artificial intelligence that's spitting out a result in
you know, fractions of a second. You know, this is
a long drawn out season. This is a long drawn
out playoffs, and this series in particular, I feel like

(04:26):
we started it back in you know, early April, and
you know now we're heading toward a game six and
we'll see the pan ultimate game potentially if the Knicks
can force the series to continue. So yeah, I get it,
I mean, and I think it's honest. I like it
when athletes give you their own appraisal of where a

(04:50):
team's at and it's not a canned answer.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
You know.

Speaker 8 (04:54):
I credit Pascal Siakam for not giving the Hey, you
know what, we tried real hard and obviously a lot
of credit to the Knicks because that's a hungry team,
and we knew that this was gonna be a battle
from the start, and we're just trying to give one
hundred and ten percent, you know, anything we could do,
whether it's in you know, our physical therapy or our

(05:16):
training sessions or our film room sessions. Like we're gonna
go out there, We're gonna battle because that's what we
do as a group. We're the Pacers.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
We battle.

Speaker 8 (05:23):
Like I would be so much more annoyed by that
answer than I am, you know, like a real appraisal
of how he felt after the game. So I mean, look,
it's up to you whether or not you like the answer.
It's up to you whether or not you feel like
it's a justifiable answer. But I like the answer because
it's the honest one.

Speaker 6 (05:44):
Yeah, isn't this what happens during the regular season, like
every night?

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Like it?

Speaker 6 (05:49):
I agree, Like we should definitely be past this point
now in game six essentially of the Eastern Conference Finals,
you're basically a breath away from the finals Finals. But
this is also what the NBA is on a cellular level.
Every single night. There are some nights where these guys
just don't have it.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
And we saw the Super Bowl too.

Speaker 6 (06:12):
I mean that game was a complete no show from
Kansas City from like the second quarter off. And I'm
not you know, I'm not gonna say that they didn't
show up because they were you know, they didn't have
the energy or whatever excuse Siakam gave. But this happens
in sports all the time, and it's happening a lot
more this postseason than I can recall. And maybe this

(06:34):
is anecdotal, but the elimination games in the playoffs have
been incredibly one sided towards the winning team, like insanely
one sided. And to take it a step further, the
games that have decided series are being decided on an
average by twenty points per game. Right, there's been thirteen
series decided so far. Those thirteen deciding games are just

(06:59):
hulla blowouts. Only three of them have been one score games.
So you just get this mail it in one, two,
three can kun mindset where it's not our night? Why
are we going to waste energy for the next game?
And then in the deciding game situation when the team
that is about to be eliminated is losing their like,
screw it, We're about to go to kan Kun.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Let's just mail it in.

Speaker 6 (07:22):
Like it just it does seem like the NBA has
a big problem right now with these blowouts, because it's
happening a lot, especially later on in the series.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Well, I think, what's interesting?

Speaker 5 (07:32):
And I never really thought of it until Rich said
it where a lot of times we just automatically say, hey, the.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Truth is refreshing. Isn't the truth so great?

Speaker 5 (07:42):
I really respect the truth, and it's just all happy,
go lucky, you know, positive, positive, And I didn't think
about it until but now. But sometimes the truth sucks.
I mean, like I can I don't want you to
lie to me. I appreciate you telling me the truth.
I just wish that weren't the truth, you know what
I mean? Like if I'm at the beach and my

(08:03):
girlfriend says, hey, are you looking at the ocean, and
I say, no, I'm looking at the booty model right
next to the ocean. She might appreciate the truth. She
doesn't like that that's the truth. And so I'm like you, Rich,
I appreciate Siakam telling the truth.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
I just hate that that's the truth.

Speaker 5 (08:21):
How can you at the end of a playoff game
where you have a trip to the finals on the line,
say yeah, they just outworked us all night long. That's
the thing where Russell Westbrook, you can never say that
about him. You can never say he just didn't have
it tonight. He just didn't he got outworked by the
other guy. You can say all kinds of things, like

(08:43):
he can't buy a shot from outside. You could call
him west Brick if you want to, like all of
those things. You can be critical of his game. You
cannot criticize his energy and showing up every single game.
He was right to play every single game. You cannot
say that he got out worked and he just didn't

(09:04):
have the energy. He always had that. And that's the
one thing you have one hundred percent control over. You
don't have one hundred percent control over every shot you
take going in. It's just not gonna happen right like
you should forty percent from three, You're you're doing outstanding work.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Well.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
The one thing you can control is your effort level
and bringing it.

Speaker 5 (09:26):
And for the Pacers to just sit there and be like, yeah,
didn't quite have it.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
Nicks were on another level than us. I got nothing
for you.

Speaker 5 (09:34):
I'm baffled because of that, and it's like it's the
same situation for both teams. It'd be like a football
game complaining about the weather and it's like, well, the
other team was playing in that same weather too. You know,
they're just better than you in that weather. So the Knicks,
they're going through the same schedule as the Pacers, and
so it just falls on deaf ears for me.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
I want to hear it.

Speaker 5 (09:56):
I get it's a grind, but you're that close to
punching your ticket to face the thunder and they just
outworked you all night long.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
It's unacceptable.

Speaker 8 (10:06):
Well, the other problem is they go as Tyrese Halliburton goes,
and it has been that way all season long. They
are thirty and three through the regular season in playoffs
when he scores more than twenty points, all right, especially
during the playoffs. He's averaging twenty one point three points
on forty almost forty eight percent shooting in their eleven

(10:28):
wins this postseason, compared with his average that hovers around
eleven and a half points and thirty nine percent from
the field in their four losses. In Game five, he
had eight points. So I mean, there it is. And
don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say all
of the Pacers losses have been inexorably linked or tied

(10:51):
to Tyrese Halliburton's scoring totals, because that is just such
a vanilla, surface level stat, but it is telling when
you have a ratio like thirty wins to three when
he scores twenty or more. The whole of the Pacers
system goes through Halliburton. So if you find a way

(11:12):
to minimize his effectiveness, which very few teams have over
the course of the season and especially through the playoffs,
or if he has an off night shooting, you have
a good chance of beating the Indiana Pacers. And that's
exactly what happened in Game five.

Speaker 6 (11:29):
Yeah, the turnovers for me is gonna be the key
tonight as we kind of spin it forward. Knicks have
turned it over at least thirteen times in all five games.
At fifteen turnovers the other night, which is not a
great performance. Frankly, they just forced twenty. That's why they
won the game. It was the first game of the
series where the Knicks had fewer turnovers than the Pacers did.

(11:52):
I'm seeing the number tonight. So the number in the
series has pretty much been twelve and a half. That's
been the Knicks turnover number for pretty much the entire
so it's gone over that in all five games I saw. Tonight,
they just bumped it up to thirteen and a half,
and that's I think, kind of telling you what the
direction that the market is leaning in in terms of

(12:12):
who's gonna win tonight. This is the biggest spread of
the series for Indiana too, in terms of them being
the favorite by more than four points. They were just
a one possession favorite in the other two games at
Indianapolis earlier on in the series. So definitely the market
is zigzagging towards the home team. That zigzag tends to
get more intense as we get later in the series.

(12:36):
For example, if the Knicks win tonight and force a
Game seven, they were a four ish point favorite in
Game five at home. I think that number is going
to be higher in Game seven, it'll probably be five ish.
I think the total is going to drop too. That's
another thing we've seen too. We've seen this total and
it's been kind of all over the map in the

(12:56):
series started out into twenty one and a half range.
Then obviously we saw a very high scoring game in
Game one went up, got his highest two twenty four
in game three until that under and now we're down
to two nineteen after what was a very low scoring
game in game five. So total is kind of all
over the map, spread spin kind of hovering between three
and four.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
And I think it's gonna land probably right in that area.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
That's good stuff.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
Especially, I would add to it, Jared, is especially on
the road. You know, like you're turning it over on
the road if you're the Knicks in a game six
where you're just inviting them to run, which is what
they want to do, and then if they score in
a fast break opportunity, the crowd is just going to
be behind them.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
So limiting turnovers is a big.

Speaker 6 (13:39):
Big You got to keep it under that thirteen and
a half number tonight or else they're losing the game.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
Yeah, all right, We've got rich ron Berger, Penn State
All American, Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst. I'm Brian No
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(14:05):
in the business. Again, you fifteen hundred dollars back in
bonus bets if you don't win your first bet. All right,
we're off and running. Coming up next. This player tried
to shift the focus. Did he succeed? It is Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown, presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports radio
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listen live.

Speaker 5 (14:35):
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown, presented by BETMGM. Score
bigger at betmgm when you win with boost tokens, odds,
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we've got you covered with no sweat tokens.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
And that's not all.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
Sign up with betmgm today and you'll have access to
countless basketball betting options, including new look same game parlays, teasers,
live bets, and so much more. All right, So we're
gonna get to the player that is attempting to shift
the focus. But you know what, I've got some supplies

(15:10):
over here, fellas I've got my my frappuccino, I've got
some squeezable mayonnaise, and I'm here to pay this freaking
bed off. We can get this over with.

Speaker 6 (15:23):
So let me get this straight. So Bino's gonna pay
off his debt before rich. Yeah, we should charge interest
now one and a half cops.

Speaker 8 (15:32):
This is ridiculous. I can't believe you know what. And honestly,
I would jump on the opportunity to pay off my
end because if I were sitting in my home in
San Diego, I would run to the kitchen right now,
grab a fresh hot cup of coffee right off the tap,
dump some mail in there, and I'd be right there

(15:52):
with you.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
But I'm I'm.

Speaker 8 (15:54):
Sitting in Palm Springs right now. We're doing the We're
doing the front seat broadcast again, and I.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Have Wow, I have cup.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
Yeah, very nice. I love the front seat of broadcasting.

Speaker 6 (16:08):
Okay, yeah, it's really good for being in the front
wild How good you said?

Speaker 2 (16:14):
I really love the child.

Speaker 4 (16:16):
Where's the front seat video feed? Where's that at?

Speaker 9 (16:20):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
It's up and running out.

Speaker 8 (16:22):
I haven't been invited in by Bo Benson.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
You know, dingo?

Speaker 5 (16:30):
What got Okay, so you gout? You guys, tell me
when all right, you got a good I trukay, all right, Jared,
you got a good view, so you got we're dumping
it in right now.

Speaker 6 (16:43):
Mix it up in there and doing I'm not trying
to make that good enough on the air.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
I mean, yeah, look at the.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Very liberal with the with the.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
Man as maybe he liked maybe he let Mikey he
likes it.

Speaker 5 (17:00):
Well, this will be the first time we'll see Yeah,
I would shaken real good there, big dug.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, yeah, all right, hang on, see the radio audience
can't see it.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Right now.

Speaker 6 (17:09):
I'm watching I'm watching his playoff going play by Kevin Harlan.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
He's shaking up.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
We've got a streaker.

Speaker 8 (17:18):
He's he's at the forty, he's at the twelve.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Security has now detained the man. Put on your pants.
You're a man.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
It's only right for you. Was a little more, Yes,
let me get a little for you.

Speaker 6 (17:34):
Wow, you're going back like you're going in for seconds
on the mail there we go, gosh.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
No, thank this for me.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
It's a it's a healthy portion right there.

Speaker 5 (17:43):
Okay, that's like we're this is supposed to hurt okay,
coming in last play supposed to hurt. Hopefully this will yeah,
never die in my memory bank crowning.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
I'm for a rapid fire.

Speaker 5 (18:01):
I you know, I consider my choices a little more carefully.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, let's you.

Speaker 6 (18:05):
You're not gonna pull a Pascal Siakam and say the Knicks.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Out worked us tonight.

Speaker 6 (18:11):
Ever again, he's not getting out worked on rapid fire for.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
The rest of time.

Speaker 4 (18:15):
Can't happen?

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Okay, can't happen.

Speaker 4 (18:19):
It's shaken up pretty good.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Now.

Speaker 5 (18:20):
Can I go Indy five hundred and just take one
sip and then just dump the rest on my head?
Is that the fishing list?

Speaker 6 (18:26):
That's how you want to spend your morning? Then being
caked in Mayo coffee?

Speaker 3 (18:31):
Then go for it, Bud.

Speaker 8 (18:33):
I'm having wow flashbacks right now. This is and sympathy
TSD know how bad this is. I remember I didn't
even shake mine when when well, I guess I'm gonna
have to do this in a week's time since you've
kicked this back off. But I I I squeezed it out.
It was an easy squeeze Mayo bottle bottle. It looked
like ram and by the time I was finishing it out.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
Yeah, yeah, I did. Okay, one last one last shake
and we're good, because you know, I wanted to be shaken.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Here's my production.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Here we go.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
Ryan's gonna like this because he's he's a little strange, right,
and then that way I think you're gonna like this.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
It's I'm gonna drink this. I'm Gonnadrin coffee from now on.

Speaker 5 (19:14):
I'm just I'm not going for taste. I'm just chugging
this thing and hopefully you need to do.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
To get.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Oh god, there he goes.

Speaker 8 (19:23):
All right, he is already a quarter of a way
through the bottle where at the halfway point and.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Brian down the home stretch.

Speaker 8 (19:30):
That is a down frappuccino mixed with what I would
call two and a half tablespoons of mayonnaise. The fastest
time I could have predicted that, But that took you
less than five seconds.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
Hey man, we're just weird after taste, weird after taste.
We're just we're all about just to get it over with, man.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Like that.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
That was impressive.

Speaker 6 (19:58):
I mean I was not expected that kind of level
of commitment to the bit.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
I'm very impressed.

Speaker 4 (20:04):
Well, hey, I appreciate that, Jared friends, but.

Speaker 5 (20:09):
They are yeah, yeah, slide anything.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Down right now.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
It's very very good description right there.

Speaker 5 (20:16):
Okay, So I want to throw Caleb Williams your way
because we got a little new information this week, right
the Bears quarterback. So the backstory is, and this is
what he addressed this week during OTA's So Seth Wickersham
has a new book coming out in September. It's about quarterbacks,

(20:37):
and there was an excerpt that was released a couple
of weeks ago, and I would argue the juiciest excerpt.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
Is about Caleb Williams.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
So the details about Caleb Williams is that he and
his team, his dad, his inner circle, they were not
big fans of him potentially going to the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
Right Like Caleb wasn't hot on the idea.

Speaker 5 (21:00):
Carl Williams said Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die.
And then, according to Wickersham, Carl Williams talked to lawyers
and agents to look for a way around the NFL draft.
He's like, can my son go to the UFL? Can
he go to the United Football League and then become
an unrestricted NFL free agent and then just choose his

(21:23):
team the next year?

Speaker 4 (21:24):
Is that a thing? Can we do that? So they
were taking steps.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
Toward potentially avoiding the Bears, and in the end, Caleb
Williams told Wickersham, I wasn't ready to nuke the city,
meaning making life so bad for Chicago that they're like, hey,
you forced our hand, We're not going to select you.
So all of these details is what Caleb Williams addressed
this week. Now, you tell me if he did a

(21:50):
good or bad job of shifting the focus with these
words that he had to say.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
Here you go check it out.

Speaker 10 (21:56):
And I want to come here and you know, be
the guy and bear and be a reason why you know,
Chicago Bears turned this thing around. So that last thing
that was said, and all of that, I think was
the most important thing is that I wanted to be here,
that I love being here. I love my teammates, you know,
I love all the people that that got me here.
Family friends, Ryan, Kevin, you know, flus And and Shane,

(22:20):
all those guys that you know went through that all
of that process with me, uh to get me here.
But it was a it was a you know, all
those things, like I said, with thoughts, but the main
goal and the main objective of being here is to
to turn around. That's why I was selected number one.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
I love it, man. It's uh for him to be
like all that other stuff. Those are just thoughts, you.

Speaker 5 (22:40):
Know about me wanting to go to the Vikings and
just thoughts, ufl just thoughts, you know, the most important
thing I eventually wanted to be here in Chicago? What
do you buy? Do you buy that rich? Do you
do a good or bad job? Shifting the focus?

Speaker 8 (22:54):
I think it's just about the only thing he could say,
because I mean, if if Wickersham was flat out, boldface
lying about the information he had, well think Caleb Williams
could just assume him for defaming him or trying to
affect his standing with the organization who drafted him. Caleb
Williams doesn't have grounds to sue because that stuff is true,

(23:19):
you know what I mean. His father did speak to lawyers.
There was strategic caution rooted in the Chicago Bears organizational
history that Carl Williams was concerned with Caleb's father. And
I get it because if you look at the most

(23:40):
recent draft picks who haven't panned out as quarterbacks with
the Bears, namely Trubisky and Fields, I can understand as
a parent especially as involved of a parent as Carl
appears to be having some serious concerns about your son
going to Chicago.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
The other thing is.

Speaker 8 (24:01):
This is a little bit of a cautionary tale for
NFL franchises. You have to understand how you're viewed as
an NFL franchise, like and not all thirty two are
equally evaluated or looked at the same way. I mean,
the Chicago Bears have a bad name when you draft
a guy and their knee jerk reaction is I can't

(24:23):
play there, Like you've got a real image problem. Yeah,
so the Bears have to change that quick fasten in
a hurry. And maybe Caleb Williams is the soothing balm
or the elixir to that. We'll find out. And then
my other thought about this, and this is something that
I trust. I think Caleb Williams is being authentic when

(24:43):
he says that his perspective evolved through direct engagement with
the people he would be working closely with. When you
meet people face to face, and it isn't an idea anymore.
It's not like, oh my god, I'm gonna play for
who the Chicago Bears?

Speaker 1 (24:58):
What?

Speaker 2 (24:58):
That's terrible news?

Speaker 8 (25:00):
And you go and you meet Zach Eberflus, and you
meet you know, the front office, and you meet the
ownership group, and you meet some of your teammates, and
they roll out the red carpet a little bit and
they they're going to give you some of what or
whatever it is that whatever it is that you need

(25:21):
that's filling the void a little bit, you know. It's
I could see being wooed a little bit, you know.
And and so that's what happened with Caleb Williams.

Speaker 6 (25:33):
I think we've definitely reached the point where this is
now a non story. I think it was like a
little bit of a story when it first broke because
it was shock value of it. But also hindsight is
twenty twenty on everything. Looking back on the situation, now, Yeah,
the Bears are where quarterbacks go to die. When they

(25:55):
had Matt Ebberflus as their head coach and a disaster
of an offensive situation, I would be willing to bet
that if Caleb Williams went into that situation last year
and the Bears told him, hey Caleb, come here, Bud.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
After his meeting with with Eberflus, hey hey.

Speaker 6 (26:11):
Hey, Caleb, we're gonna fire Eberflus after the season, and
we're gonna hire Ben Johnson.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
We're good, Bud.

Speaker 6 (26:19):
Yeah, Like I think if he knew that information, none
of this happens. He goes back to his dad and
he says, hey, Dad, listen, this Eberflus guy. He's he's
a bit of a quack. Like we're gonna be you know,
first year is gonna be a little rocky, and you know,
rookie year is gonna be a little tall.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
We're starting to build the pieces around, and then.

Speaker 6 (26:36):
We're gonna hire this guy, Ben Johnson, who everybody loves,
who's gonna be the next offensive genius.

Speaker 8 (26:42):
But then they meet with Flues first, before Johnson was hired,
wasn't he the first one?

Speaker 3 (26:48):
They met with the Bears first, then the Viking second.

Speaker 8 (26:51):
Yeah, and and so now, don't get me wrong, they
then hired Ben Johnson.

Speaker 6 (26:55):
But well, actually no, I flipped that around. They met
with the they met with the Bears second.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (27:01):
Yeah, But my point being, like, even if it were
going to be Eberflus, I realize Johnson's their head coach now,
but even if it were going to be an Eberflus,
my point being, when you walk through the doors and
you talk to the guy for the first time and
you actually hear the voice instead of just have the
idea of who this guy's going to be. I think

(27:23):
that's when the tide started changing. Now, granted, they made
an enormous organizational shift during the I guess the courting
phase of Caleb Williams, even though that's an inappropriate way
to call it. If you were a free agent, it's courting.
You're just drafting the guy and trying to get him
to be on board with you. I agree with you, though,

(27:44):
Jared and Brian, I'm dying to know what you think
about this.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
I think overall it is kind of like.

Speaker 8 (27:51):
A story that's getting shuffled more into the past and
moving forward.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
I'm just curious to see what he looks like.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
It's one of these things where it's a big enough
story he had to address it so he doesn't think
it's a non story. I think it's a classic case
of TMI. This is too much information from the beginning
for Caleb Williams and his dad to share these details
with Wickersham. This is better after his career or well
into his career. That's very successful because it lands differently.

(28:23):
If this is at the end of his career and
he's been a decorated quarterback, put up individual numbers, maybe
won a Super Bowl or two, that's possible, and then
he shares this detail of you know what, initially I
didn't even want to be with the Bears because of X,
Y and Z.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
All of a sudden, we're like, oh, we get it.

Speaker 5 (28:39):
You know, if Jade and Daniels said that about the
Washington Commanders after a really successful rookie season, like, yeah,
honestly I didn't want to be drafted initially by the Commanders,
people are just like, wow, what an interesting tidbit, you know.
But because he was so successful, it's not salacious.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
It's not like, whoa, he didn't even want to go there.

Speaker 5 (28:59):
Right, So for Caleb Williams and his dad anybody else
who shared these details with Wickersham, it's a total lack
of foresight, just not knowing where it's gonna end up.
He struggled for most of the season, he got sacked
sixty eight times, the Bears went five to twelve, and
now we have these details. If you didn't even want
to go to Chicago initially, you know, like, of course,

(29:21):
it's going to be a big story, and he was
just like, oh shoot, I kind of need to shift
the focus over here and say a few things about it.
That's why we got his comments this week. And I
think what it boils down to is these are just words.
It's gonna take actions. It's gonna take production. It's gonna
take wins for people to truly forget about that. I
don't think it's the biggest thing in the world. But

(29:42):
if he goes out there and he's underperforming again in
his second season, this story is gonna linger. So you
can't just Jedi mind trick us and be like, oh no,
the most important part is I want to be here
in Chicago.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
Oh really, Caleb?

Speaker 5 (29:57):
Is that why you, your dad, your inner circle go
into the UFL to avoid the Bears and now you
want us to believe you wanted to be in Chicago
all along? Come on, man, no one's buying that. The
only thing that's gonna make people forget is production.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
It's actions. It's not words.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
It's gonna take individual numbers, wins, not a few sentences,
because it's going to linger until we get that.

Speaker 8 (30:20):
Also, I'm curious if there was ever any conversations with like, hey,
you know, if things don't work out, we may be
making decisions at head coach and you know, you're you're
potentially going to be a part of that conversation, you
know what I mean. I'm curious if some you know,
tentative promises weren't made when they drafted him about what

(30:44):
the future would look like and how involved he would
be with the process. Now, granted, I think an organization
is going to do whatever they want to do. I
think that they probably aren't going to the heed the
warnings of a rookie quarterback rolling off of his season
with a head coach outside of like just maybe what
his opinions are of that coach before making a decision

(31:07):
or you know, I mean, maybe you have your prospective
quarterback meet with a new head coach or something like
that before you officially hire him. Maybe that's a part
of the process. But I'm very curious, like, how did
they sell Caleb Williams. I mean, maybe that comes out
in Seth's book, you know, maybe we'll have more nuanced

(31:28):
information about all that. You know, he's teasing us obviously,
and he's doing a good job because we're still talking
about this with some of the things that that are
written about the whole.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Pre draft process. But I'm curious also too.

Speaker 8 (31:43):
You know, as as this relationship continued, which obviously continues
on to this day, you know what promises potentially have
been made to ease the sheets between you know.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
The Williams family and the Bears.

Speaker 8 (31:59):
And I'm curious then, you know, come contract time, because
depending on how he plays over the next couple of seasons,
you know how hard pressed are the Bears going to
be to keep them? You know, how how far through
the ringer will the Williams family put the Bears. You know,
after this initial dance they had to do to get

(32:20):
everything smoothed out, There's gonna be a lot of questions
about Caleb Williams's future, and I think it all stems
from how bumpy of a road it was his entry
into the NFL.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
I'm very curious where this story goes from here.

Speaker 6 (32:34):
You know what the funny thing is And you mentioned this, Brian,
and it got me thinking about Jade Daniels.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
Do you guys remember before the.

Speaker 6 (32:41):
Draft last year, Adam Peters brought all the quarterbacks in
and it might have been other positions besides just the quarterbacks,
but I recall specifically the quarterbacks, and they had like
a top golf outing with all of them, and Jade
and daniels agent pushed back really hard on that because
it was kind of everyone knews the worst kept secret

(33:03):
in the league, right Caleb was going one and Jade
Daniels was going to like everyone kind of knew that
before the draft, and so everyone expected Washington to just
take Jade and Daniels. But they did this kind of
you know event with all of these prospects, and Jade
and Daniels' agents did not like it, and they pushed
back hard on it publicly, and it created a little

(33:25):
bit of friction before the draft. And now looking back
on how Caleb Williams situation played out and now how
Jaden's situation played out, I kind of understand why these
teams want to push these kids a little bit. Because
when you push them and you meet with them face
to face and it's not just like this, you know,
flowery oh, how you doing handshakes and you know, everyone's

(33:47):
great and all that, like there's a little bit of
energy there, a little bit of friction. It brings out
the truth and I think that to me is and listen,
Jayden handled it okay like you handled it well. Came
in and he did his job. But to me, I
think teams are going to move more towards this. Hey,
we got to bring these kids in and ask them

(34:08):
some tough questions and make it a little bit harder
on them than just giving them a tour of the
facility and meeting all the coaches and then going on
your merry way, because we want to know the truth.
If some of this stuff is going on behind the scenes,
I'd rather know now before I draft you than find
out a year later. And now it's a firestorm that
we have to address in camp, and it's a distraction

(34:29):
and all this stuff.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
So I think what Adam Peters did last year was
very forward thinking. A lot of people were kind of against.

Speaker 6 (34:35):
It, But now looking back on it and how this
Caleb William situations played out, I kind of see where
Adam Peters and probably more gms are going to be
coming from when they bring these kids in.

Speaker 5 (34:45):
Well, I'll say real fast, I think it shows how
much context matters. Because again, if Jaden Daniels, this is
part of Wickersham's book and we've got these juicy details
that Jaden Daniels didn't want to go to Washington really
successful rookie season, he put up numbers, he was electric.
They made it to the NFC Championship Game largely thanks

(35:07):
to him, And there are these details you didn't want
to go to the Commanders. Wou'd be like, it makes sense.
They've been a disaster for the last three decades. They've
had a lack of success. You know, we look at
it from that point of view, because he and the
team had so much success. If Caleb Williams put up
the same numbers as a rookie as Jaden Daniels, and

(35:27):
the same thing comes out with Rickersham's book, he didn't
want to be in Chicago. Initially, we're probably like, well,
it makes sense. They don't even have a four thousand
yard passer. They have had a long string of horrible
quarterback production. It makes sense. But without having that resume
in those numbers, it landed completely differently. And you should
have understood that before you blabbed these details.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
You know, so they stepped in it.

Speaker 5 (35:50):
And he's looking for a mulligan, right The ultimate mulligan
will be if he produces and this will go away
very fast. Hey, we're going away very fast. We will
reappear though with the parlay platter. But we've got rich Oornberger,
Penn State All American Jared Smith, FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian.
No score bigger at BETMGM. When you win with boost tokens, odds,
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(36:13):
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Speaker 4 (36:25):
All right, coming up next the.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
Aforementioned parlay platter, Jared will have the theme for us.
We'll each have one selection. Pull it together for a
greater payout. That is on the way. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. Hey use code Countdown at

(36:48):
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Speaker 4 (37:03):
Again, use code countdown and you'll get up to.

Speaker 5 (37:05):
Fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if you don't
win your first bet.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
All right, let's dive into this.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Check this out parlay letter.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
Ah, Yes, the parlay platter, which have one selection. We
pull it together for a greater payout. Jared, we start
with you for your pick.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
And the theme, well, the theme I think is pretty simple.
I think we gotta go with Pacers next game six tonight.
I don't know if we're gonna have another SAT I
don't know what the final schedule is. I'm not sure
if we're gonna have another Saturday NBA game for the
rest of the season, but we'll still get one on
the card for tonight, and I'm gonna just start it
off very simple. I think what happened in the first quarter,

(37:48):
the first half of the game the other night in
Game five, I think that was, to me, not what
we usually expect to see from a Pacers team that
brings that energy, brings that buyer, brings that fight, and
I think they are going to eat off of the
home crowd tonight and start the game very different.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
And so I'm gonna keep it very simple.

Speaker 6 (38:05):
I will put the first quarter money line as the
first leg of the parlay. We'll go in chronological order, right,
pacers first quarter. I think they get off to a
fast start and I think they will have the lead
after the opening break.

Speaker 4 (38:20):
All right, I love that IgG.

Speaker 8 (38:22):
I'm gonna go with Aaron Nee Smith, who's nursing injury.
He was limited in game five minutes and he was
one for eight from the floor. Nick defensive clap down
hard on some of the key players, and he.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Being one of them.

Speaker 8 (38:39):
Of the pacers, his minutes are shrinking and his point
totals are as well. So give me the under eleven
and a half points for Aaron Nee Smith in Game
six of these Eastern Conference Finals. And I think, paired
up with Jared's selection, we're already at plus two fifty,
So depends no what you got, bo.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
We might have a juice little parlay here for the platter.

Speaker 5 (39:03):
You know what's funny is Jared is highly secretive with
the theme of the platter, you know, until the last second,
and then.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
Yeah, well that'd be helpful'd be helpful. But the point
is I'm not throwing Jared under the bus, I promise.
But when he was given his.

Speaker 5 (39:24):
Leg, I'm like, wait a minute, that's not a prop.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
And then it's like it dawned on me.

Speaker 5 (39:30):
It doesn't need to be It could be anything with
this cake, and so I'm like, oh, shoot, that opens
up a lot of possibilities. So I agree with Jared
in terms of the Pacers starting strong. I think they're
coming out of the gate with a ton of energy.
They're gonna be going one hundred miles per hour, and
so I'm gonna look at their their point total over here,

(39:52):
Like you could go with the first half they get
off to a great start in the first half, or
you could go full game either way. I I think
you're on the right train of thinking here, So you know,
I'll correlate it with what Jared is going with in
the first quarter.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
I think they start hot, So.

Speaker 5 (40:09):
I'm gonna take the first half team total over the
Pacers over fifty six and a half.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Oh, That's what I'm gonna go with here.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
Is that a Miyau's a dollar thirty has a good
leg for a parlor.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
I'm sorry to throw a curveball at you at the
last second.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Oh that's good, Bud.

Speaker 6 (40:23):
Totals fifty six and a half over for the Pacers
in the first half plus four twenty five.

Speaker 5 (40:28):
Okay, not bad, four to one, not bad at all.
All right, a crazy NFL stat next? Oh, welcome in,
Happy Saturday to you. I hope your day is off
to a great start. So there's a crazy stat in
the NFL. I just ran across this during the week
and it blew my mind. I don't know if you
guys will be as impressed as I was, but here's

(40:50):
the stat. Each of the past ten seasons has included
at least one team that drafts in the top eight
and then goes on to make the playoffs that same season. Right,
so think about that. You're drafting in the top eight.
That means your record was freaking terrible, you won like
three four games, maybe five, and all of a sudden,

(41:13):
you go on to make it to the playoffs. You
go from a four or five win team and you
make the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
That's pretty good. So it got my mind working.

Speaker 5 (41:21):
If you look at the teams that drafted in the
top eight this past year, just what a month ago.
Whose chance do you like the best to make it
to the playoffs here? So these are the teams? Yeah, right, Rich,
You've got the Titans.

Speaker 4 (41:37):
We'll just go in order. Titans, Jags.

Speaker 5 (41:40):
They traded up with Cleveland, but still would have been
drafting in the top eight. So Titans, Jags, Giants, Patriots, Browns, Raidas, Jets, Panthers.
Out of those eight teams, whose chances do you like
the most to make it to the playoffs this year?

Speaker 8 (41:57):
I like the Patriots. Yeah, I think that the New
England Patriots. With Mike Rabel at the helm, you know
that defense is gonna be better. You know the culture
is going to be stronger. Drake May showed great promise
as as underwhelming as the weapons were around Drake May

(42:19):
as a young quarterback breaking into the league, he did
some special things he showed. I think he showed everyone
enough to get them excited to see what year two is,
sophomore year was going to look like. And then you
look at their schedule and I'm not saying all these teams,
all these games.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Will be cupcakes.

Speaker 8 (42:37):
But they face the Raiders game one, the Steelers they
get to host them. The Panthers they get to host them,
they go on the road to the Saints. They're going
to face the Titans this season, They'll host the Falcons,
they'll host the Browns, They'll go on the road to
play Tampa Bay, which I don't think Baker is going

(42:58):
to roll over for anybody. But you know, I'm just
looking at their division. The Jets twice, the Dolphins twice,
The Bills are a whole different kind of animal.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
But man, the New.

Speaker 8 (43:09):
England Patriots, when you really start thinking about some of
the decisions they've made recently, drafting Drake May, hiring Mike Rabel,
and then looking at this schedule, you can squint and
you can see daylight here. I could see them. I
could see them breaking into the postseason as a wildcard.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Yeah, I think the odds agree with Rich.

Speaker 6 (43:33):
Of the eight teams, New England has the shortest odds
to make the.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
Playoffs a plus one fifty five.

Speaker 6 (43:39):
Do you guys want to guess which team is next
on the list in terms of and I'll frame it
this way, after this team, So there's two teams that
are in the top tier of shortest odds to make
the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Of these eight teams, after these two teams.

Speaker 6 (43:55):
There's a pretty big gap between the rest of the list,
so it's really one and two and then there's a gap.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
So what do you guys think is the second team
on the list?

Speaker 4 (44:04):
I would guess.

Speaker 5 (44:05):
I would guess it's the Panthers based on you know,
Bryce Young taking a step forward, they played a division.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
That'd be my guess.

Speaker 5 (44:14):
They were drafting eighth right, they had of these eight
teams more of a better record last year.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
I I I mean, my knee jerk reaction was to
agree with Brian, I'm gonna.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
Say, and then you reconsidered based off my reaction.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yeah, yeah, but I was looking.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Terrible booker face.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
I was looking directly at Jared Smith when you said
the Carolina paces.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Yeah, it covered my camera.

Speaker 5 (44:40):
You know, It's funny you said that because what I said,
I'm like, I felt strong about the probably Panthers, and
I didn't get any sort of you're on the right track.

Speaker 4 (44:49):
I didn't get anyation a terrible boker face.

Speaker 8 (44:52):
I'm gonna say, just based on quarterback alone, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Speaker 6 (44:57):
There it is, right, Yeah, Jacksonville one sixty five, New
England plus one fifty five. Carolina's third on the list, Brian,
you weren't far off, but it's three to one.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Like there's a pretty big gap there.

Speaker 6 (45:07):
Wow, right, you see Vegas plus three ten, the Jets
plus four seventy five, Titans plus four twenty five. That
one kind of intrigued me a little bit. Titans a
plus four twenty five. Now, I'm not gonna bet this now,
But the reason that this intrigues me is the same
reason that Jacksonville is probably the second favorite. Think about
the division that they play in, and I think that

(45:29):
is where like as much as.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
New England, and I agree with you Rich New England.

Speaker 6 (45:34):
They're favored in a bunch of games, way more games
than they were favored in last year. The vibe is
much more positive in New England. But that scares me
because it does kind of seem like everyone thinks New
England's gonna be that team. And that's where I get
a little hesitant. That doesn't mean New England might not
have a great season, but in terms of like betting value,

(45:55):
I don't know if plus one fifty five off a
team that was drafting in the top five last here
to make the playoffs is something I'd want to go
Tennessee is intriguing. We have no idea what cam Ward is.
He could be JaMarcus Russell, he could be Jadan Daniels,
Like we just don't know until we peel back the
curtain and kind of see it. And at plus four

(46:17):
twenty five in a division that's kind of eh.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
If he is Jaden Daniels, well that number is gonna
come down pretty darn quick.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
I hear you.

Speaker 4 (46:28):
But he's not Jaden Daniels, you know.

Speaker 5 (46:30):
Like that's the thing, Like Jayden Daniels with all the
games he started, and he won a Heisman Trophy, right, like,
we got to remember that. Cam Ward, I'll eat my
words if I'm wrong. I think he's just gonna be
an average NFL quarterback. I would think it's gonna be
a dog with fleas. But the decision making is so
weird from him.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
And that was in.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
College where one play you're like, Wow, what a playmaker,
what talent? And the next play you're like, dude, what
do you do it? Like you can't throw that late
over the middle. You're throwing like a Kareem skyhook in
the middle.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Of the field.

Speaker 5 (47:08):
Like it's a good decision. So I just I think
in year one with that roster. Man, if he resembles
anything close to Jayden Daniels, I will be very surprised,
and I'll eat those words if it comes down to it.
But I just don't see him doing work year one
with that many shaky decisions in college. I don't see

(47:30):
how that's just rectified in the NFL. But we'll see
how it goes. I'll tell you what, man, if you
look at the Patriots and you threw this out there, Rich,
you've touched on it to Jared, where I get it, Jared,
Like they're the trendy team right where we're really expecting
better things from the Patriots this year. They're a trendy
bet to go over their season win total over Some
people are very bullish about that too, like, oh, we'll

(47:53):
they can adjust it over, you know, like let's get
more of a higher wind total and go over that too.
Where look, man, they Drake may looks like a real
quarterback and they made some big time upgrades a lot
of free agents. They remind me a lot of the
Washington Commanders last year, where their roster two years ago

(48:14):
was brutal, and they picked up a ton of free
agents last season and matched with Jayden Daniels. That's why
they made it to the NFC Championship Game. So I'm
not calling my shot and saying the Patriot's going to
be in the AFC title game, but it just reminds
me from a free agency standpoint, the Patriots made a
lot of moves just like Washington did last year, and

(48:38):
we'll see if it pays dividends. I'll tell you this
something else to consider. If you think of the three
unique games, that's what I call it. If you look
at teams in the same division, there's a difference of
three games. So depending on where you finished the previous year,
you play a first play schedule, you might play a
last play schedule. Listen to how much this differs between

(48:58):
the Bills and the Pageots. Bills are playing a first
play schedule because they won the division last year. Pats
are playing a last play schedule because their record was brutal. Right,
They're four and thirteen, So the Bills games that differ
from the Patriots. The Bills are at the Texans and
then they get the Chiefs and the Eagles. They have

(49:20):
the two Super Bowl teams of their three unique games.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
That's tough.

Speaker 5 (49:25):
And then you also look at the Patriots at the Titans,
they get the Raiders and then they host the Giants.
So if you just look at those combined records from
last year, the three teams that Buffalo faces last year,
they went to.

Speaker 4 (49:39):
Combined thirty nine and twelve.

Speaker 5 (49:42):
The three teams that the Patriots face this coming season,
last year, those three teams went ten to forty one.
So those three games make a big difference right there.
And for the Patriots to play a last place schedule,
while you also get the Jets twice. Like you said, Rich,
my Dolphins, like, hey, any good players, let's just get
rid of them.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
Let's get rid of all of our good players right now,
I would.

Speaker 5 (50:05):
Be surprised that the I think the Patriots have a
better chance of sweeping the Dolphins than those two teams.
Splitting man, and we know the Bills. Last thing I
said the Bills. We know their credentials. The Patriots have
had much worse rosters than they have this year, and
they've beaten the Bills. They've given the Bills a hard time,
like going to Foxborough. The Bills have had their struggles

(50:26):
over there. So I think the Pats are live to
have a pretty good season.

Speaker 8 (50:29):
Yeah, I went from I went from being on the
fence about the list to being pretty certain that the
Patriots were the team that I wanted to go with
as a potential playoff team after picking in the.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
Top eat in the top eight.

Speaker 8 (50:46):
But now, after that dissertation, Brian, I think I am
going for the adjusted win total.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
I think. I think I.

Speaker 8 (50:54):
Think they went over twelve and a half games this season.
Not I'm teason, no, But here's the reality. Could they
win thirteen games this year? Could they win twelve games
this year? I let's put it this way. I wouldn't
be astounded. I wouldn't be flabbergasted. I wouldn't be shocked
if they did. Now would it be a shocking turnaround?

(51:17):
I guess yes, compared to how bad they were last year.
But we've seen this before. I mean, think about the
Kansas City Chiefs. Year over year you have Andy Reid.
And again this is in the time where it was
sixteen games, not seventeen games. Yet Andy Reid get hired
by the Kansas City Chiefs after a three win season.

(51:39):
They win eleven games, and the biggest move they made
was trading for Alex Smith, who was later in his tenure,
obviously replaced by Patrick Mahomes. But but that year was
an important year for the Chiefs because they changed over
the organization to a stable head head coach. They found

(51:59):
a quarterback in Alex Smith, who had been cast aside
by the San Francisco forty nine ers because they were
gonna roll with their guy Kaepernick, and so they had
themselves a playoff contending team in just a year after
a couple of offseason improvements, including a draft. You know,
another team, and I'm just gonna throw it out there

(52:20):
just because it's a team that I like to look
at on paper. I like their offensive coordinator, I like
their head coach. I like their quarterback now with Gino
Smith the Raiders. I like the way they drafted. I
thought Jen d was great. I liked Max Crosby defensively
as a feature piece of that defense.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
Like, I'm just gonna throw it out there. Tough division.

Speaker 8 (52:41):
You know, everywhere you look, you got problems and not
the easiest of road maps in terms of their schedule.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
But I just like the way the Raiders.

Speaker 8 (52:52):
Are built right now, and I'm very curious what they
look like in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (52:57):
Yeah, chip Kelly, Hey, yeah, go ahead, Bud, Yeah, go ahead,
go ahead. No, if you go first, I'll go.

Speaker 6 (53:03):
I was just gonna say, chip Kelly came out recently
and said that he thinks Gino Smith is going to
be a rock star in this offense, but the original
before Rich went down the Raiders path, I was gonna say,
let's let's go through the Patriots schedule game by game quickly, yeah,
and kind of see where we're at. And the irony
is they play Vegas in Week one at home. They're

(53:25):
about a three and a half point favorite in that game,
and that game might be kind of the determining factor
for the vibe of the season. And then I'll be
honest and Rich, you probably could speak to this Week two,
New England goes to Miami, and I think it's a
very important get. That game is in Miami and it's
during the day because hard, yeah, especially in September when

(53:48):
you're dealing with the sidelines and the heat and all
that stuff. Then some really tough games after that, right,
Pittsburgh Carolina is winnable. Then they go to Buffalo on
a Sunday night, Then they have to go to New Orleans,
go to Tennis, the Cleveland, Atlanta, Tampa, then the Jets
on a Thursday night.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
Such a favorable start of their birthday games. I'm like, wow,
love them, love them, love them.

Speaker 11 (54:10):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
There are a lot.

Speaker 6 (54:13):
Like to me like I, and they don't have their
buy until week fourteen. I absolutely could see New England.
So they go into their bye week fourteen, and then
they close with three divisional games and at the Ravens.
They played Buffalo at Baltimore at Jets home against Miami,
and that game will be obviously a very cold weather
game for the Dolphins, which we've seen how that goes
over the years with Tua. I mean, it feels like

(54:36):
if they can kind of be in contention going into
their bye week. Obviously those last four games are tough,
but man, I can see a path for them to
win ten or eleven games this year.

Speaker 5 (54:49):
Here's here's something else, right, building off of what both
you guys are saying, this is eerie because like again,
going into last season, Washington game a lot of free agents,
a lot of dudes, and they really strengthened their roster.
And I think the Patriots have done the same thing.
So you have that tie in. You also have this

(55:11):
Washington before last season. You know, two years ago, what
was their record four and thirteen? What are the Patriots?
What was their record last year? Four and thirteen? Who
did the Commanders play? The two divisions that they played
last year beyond their own? It was the AFC North
and the NFC South. Wow, we were the two divisions
that the Patriots played this season, AFC North, NFC South.

(55:34):
Now we're not saying Drake may Is, Jayden Daniels. We're
not saying the Patriots gonna make it to the AFC
title game. When you have that many things that are
comparable to a team in Washington that you saw go
from a four win team to a twelve win team
and playing in the conference title game like the Patriots
making the playoffs, I think it makes a.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
Ton of sense. I think it makes the most sense
of the teams that drafted in the top eight last year.
I have to do is play the games and win him.

Speaker 6 (56:02):
Now, I think I'm against the Jacksonville right. Hey, I
don't understand those jackson Villades. I don't do not see
them as a playoff team.

Speaker 5 (56:10):
The one thing I'll say about Jacksonville is when you
have your starting quarterback get hurt for numerous games.

Speaker 4 (56:17):
Like Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 5 (56:19):
He hasn't been a top five, top ten guy, but
he's been durable outside of last season.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
And before last season.

Speaker 5 (56:25):
They were nine to eight in consecutive years. And so
you get Trevor Lawrence back. Let's say he's healthy, starts
all seventeen games. Now, all of a sudden, you got
Brian Thomas Junior, who is a baller. You've got Travis
Hunter over there. You pick up Diami Brown like you
got a decent wide receiving corps. And with the quarterback

(56:46):
who's had a ton of potential, just hasn't had the
production yet. Let's say he takes a step forward in
that dog division, Like I can see it. I could
see them being a playoff team. I think that's that's
about it on the list I could see yeah, yeah,
all right. We got rich Orenberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No use code

(57:07):
countdown at BETMGM and receive up to fifteen hundred dollars
back in bonus bets if you don't win your first bet.
When you're registered with bet MGM, you'll get instant access
to a variety of parlay selection features, live betting options,
signature bets, and the best daily promotions in the business. Again,
use code Countdown and you'll get up to fifteen hundred
dollars back in bonus bets if you don't win your

(57:28):
first bet. Okay, later this hour, we have controversy potentially
the Russian judge is teetering. That's all I'm gonna tell
you right now, teetering, So we'll give you the controversy
a little bit later this hour. Coming up next, Seamus
McGee get you all set for Game six, Nicks, Pacers
and beyond, covering the betting spectrum Shamous on the way.

(57:51):
It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is
Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. Be sure to
check out Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just searts Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see a whole bunch
of video highlights from our shows. Be sure to subscribe
so you always have instant access to our Fox Sports
Radio videos on YouTube. Okay, super fast, before we have Shamus,

(58:15):
I mentioned there's a little bit of pushback from the
Russian judge. That's a colorful way of describing our technical producer,
Chris Purfet.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
Because he's like, hey, what what mayo did you use
for the bet payoff? Right there, I finished laster of
rapid during football season.

Speaker 5 (58:33):
Unacceptable, and I said, actually it was Miracle Whip, and
he goes, don't no, I don't know that qualifies the
legitimate mayo because it's a blend of dressing in mayo.

Speaker 4 (58:46):
So I don't know, what do you guys think is
the bet been paid offer?

Speaker 6 (58:50):
It's not a creamer that you put in coffee and
it tastes like mayonnaise.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
I think we're.

Speaker 12 (58:55):
Oh, well, A, I don't think Miracle Whip tastes like
mayonnaise at all. But b I think it is worse
to have Miracle Whip in coffee than mayonnaise.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
So I think he's punished himself.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Further, I.

Speaker 8 (59:08):
Think I think Miracle Whip is overall pretty gross, extra
and and flavor. Although I will say this, I I
you know, at the same time I just said all
those mean things about Miracle Whip and the fine people
at Miracle Whip.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
You make a product that is beloved by many.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Fox Sports Countdown presented by Miracle Yeah.

Speaker 12 (59:28):
Right, yeah, if we were doing this original style, like
like whatever the quarterback's name is, like it would have
been Duke's Mayo, But I don't know you're producing about though.
He hates all Mayo, so he's not a good judge this.
I I'm fine with Mayo, but I cannot stand Miracle Whip.

Speaker 8 (59:45):
So this is like I like to pretend sometimes guys
that I'm like a food snob, like I have a
real strong opinion on certain foods.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Like where I'm like, I would turn my nose up at.

Speaker 8 (59:56):
Miracle Whip, especially in coffee, disgusting. Meanwhile, I could see
myself potentially enjoying the combination, like I am there. There's
there's no question in my mind that you have passed
this challenge. I think it's ridiculous that I haven't paid
off my bet from last football season, and I'll take

(01:00:18):
care of that next week. But I'm gonna take care
of it with Helman's or Best Foods or whatever the.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Hell they call.

Speaker 4 (01:00:25):
Yeah, here we go. Fair enough, all right, Seamus is
with us. Let's dive into this.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
Follow the money, real good money.

Speaker 4 (01:00:35):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:00:35):
He is Seamous McGee, team lead of sports trading at
bet MGM.

Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
Good morning, Seamus. I'm gonna ambush you a little bit here.

Speaker 5 (01:00:43):
Have you accepted that your Knicks are gonna lose this
series or do you still have false hope?

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Great?

Speaker 9 (01:00:51):
Two bad guys. I thought the series is over after
game four, so I yeah, that's that's where my head's at.
It's it's nice we got another game.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Great.

Speaker 4 (01:01:03):
Wow, So it sounds like you have accepted.

Speaker 9 (01:01:05):
It's it's great for the book that we pushed the
series a little longer. We couldn't have two series and
in five games, so you know, we get a little
bit more next handle on these games. So we'll see
if we can get a Game seven for the book.
That would be tremendous. I think it'd be an awesome
handle to have on that game.

Speaker 6 (01:01:23):
Yeah, it's kind of funny because you get this, you
know this pacers not really showing up in game five.
Maybe they just really wanted to help you guys out
and get an extra game on the books.

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
In game six, you know they had no design.

Speaker 9 (01:01:36):
I can see the conspiracy theorist. Now, the Books need
the Knicks to win this series. The NBA wants the
nixt in the finals.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Here we go, like Vegas knows that's what we're here.
What does Vegas know for tonight? It does kind of
seem like we've we've seen a pretty big move towards
the under after a very low scoring Game five, we
saw that big adjustment.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
The zig zag theory is in full of fact.

Speaker 6 (01:02:01):
The Pacers now the biggest favorite they have been for
any game in the series. Here in game six, I'm
assuming you're seeing a lot of Knicks money.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
That would be my guess.

Speaker 9 (01:02:11):
You would think that I would have thought that. But
it's a lot of money coming in on the spread
for the Pacers sharps squares. I mean, a lot of
people think they're going to get it done tonight, So
we'll see how that goes. I mean, a lot of
money's coming in on the over for this game over
two twenty and a half. But definitely, you know, people
really believe in it. Seems like every game this series

(01:02:32):
it felt like we need the Knicks. I think the
only time we needed the Pacers was Game two. But yeah,
it's not a lot of Knicks believers out there. I
don't know if it's the lack of faith from Knicks
fans or whatever. I mean, it's emotional hedging, but you know,
the Knicks money really hasn't come so far this series.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Now, now I'm.

Speaker 8 (01:02:52):
Gonna ask you a question that's based on a thought
that many have shared. The NBA needs the Knicks in
the final. They need certain matchups to maximize ratings.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Is that true for sports books?

Speaker 8 (01:03:06):
Like, what's the handle gonna look like if it's the
Pacers against OKAC versus the Knicks against okay see, or
do you think that's going to even itself out because
there's just always generally interest in the finals.

Speaker 9 (01:03:19):
I think that we're gonna be fine either way. On
the handle. I still think, yeah, the Knicks would be
a better handle, just because you know, there's just so
many Knicks fans across the country. But you know, it
is funny like everyone talks about, oh, if the NBA
wants the Knicks, they need the next yet everyone keeps
betting the Pacers in this game. I find it very strange.

Speaker 5 (01:03:41):
You know, Seamus Jared mentioned the zigzag approach, and there
are a lot of betters that subscribe to that. Whatever
happens in one game, you bet the opposite to happen
in the next game, and there is a lot of success.
They all hat of great spots. But what have you
seen in this series particular? Have you tended to see
more zigzag bets or more like the trend is going

(01:04:02):
to continue bets.

Speaker 9 (01:04:05):
Early in the series, it definitely felt like you saw
the zigzag, like Pacers money came in for game one,
and then you know game two, it's like, all right,
well the Knicks have to have this game. They can't
go down too. So we saw some Knicks money come
in Game two. It doesn't go next way. Game three,
everyone goes back when the Pacers they're back home nixt
one to it, and then since then it's just been

(01:04:27):
all Pacers, which is funny considering the next ended up
winning Game three, but you know, a crazy twenty point comeback.
Pacers felt like the better team for most of that game.
So yeah, it's definitely something I saw earlier in the series.
Now has just felt like mainly Pacers.

Speaker 6 (01:04:43):
It's a good question Rich about the about the handle,
because it's funny, you know, you watch a lot of
these games and I think it really doesn't matter who's
playing in the finals. I think you get these gamblers
on board with these props and everything, and people are
going to be betting it. Are we seeing the same
in the NHL Seamus I know last year, right, we
get the same exact matchup. There is a lot of
fatigue you would think about an Oilers Panthers Stanley Cup Final. Personally,

(01:05:06):
I think it's fantastic. Last year series was incredible. You
get a rematch of a Game seven that was a
very low, tight, tight game everything you want an NHL
Stanley Cup Final Game seven to be. And we get
to run it back again this year and that was
a wild series two three to h Florida and I
haven't think came back and tied it up. Are you
seeing any interest early on in the Stanley Cup Final,
which is a rematch of course.

Speaker 9 (01:05:27):
I mean we're still waiting for a lot of the
real money to come in. It's slowly, maturely trickling in.
There might be some fatigue, and I wouldn't say it's
with the Oilers, it's mainly the Panthers. I mean, this
is the third year in a row in the Cup final.
It's just weird. The NHL used to be the League
of parody. Now it's like the same teams are in
the Final four every year now. But I do think
with McDavid playing in it. You have the rematch. I

(01:05:50):
still think this will end up being one of the
more highest handles you've had in a Stanley Cup final.

Speaker 8 (01:05:56):
Hey, Seamus, brian No came with this stat. Ten past seasons,
the top eight teams who chose in the draft have
had that team or one of those teams go to
the postseason. So again, eight teams or the teams that
selected in the top eight of the draft over the
past ten seasons, one of those teams.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
Emerged as a playoff berth.

Speaker 8 (01:06:20):
Now the top eight here is the Titans, the Jaguars,
the Giants, the Patriots, the Browns, the Raiders, the Jets,
the Panthers. We all sort of weighed in on this question.
Among those eight who we thought would make the playoffs,
Patriots were a popular pick in this room. The Raiders

(01:06:41):
got some love, even Carolina and the Jacksonville Jaguars got
to mention, which of those eight teams do you think
has the best route to the postseason this year?

Speaker 9 (01:06:51):
Easiest answers The Patriots schedule falls beautifully for them. Year
two quarterback, great head coach, so that's definitely the play.
As the Pats, we've seen a lot of love for
the Panthers, uh, you know, whether it's over their win total,
uh make the playoffs. So they're definitely on people's radar.

(01:07:12):
Bryce Young looked a lot better after he got after
he came back from being benched. Raiders is an interesting one.
That's definitely a liability. We've seen to make the playoffs,
some Vegas money, some interesting money coming in on that.
But then it's you know, it's really tough. I don't
see it with the Jetster Giants this year. Schedules aren't
really friendly to them. I don't think the Jaguars are

(01:07:33):
like a horrendous pick here, like if Trevor Lawrence is healthy,
they can win some games in that AFC South Division.
So I don't think the Jags are you know, anywhere
close to being out of this conversation.

Speaker 5 (01:07:45):
All right, Samus, We've got one playoff game this weekend
and then what you got a bunch of baseball, maybe
some soccer? Where are you going for the seam of
special this week?

Speaker 9 (01:07:55):
It's the biggest soccer game of the year every year.
Today the Champions League Final in Munich, Germany. We're gonna
go with you know, some decent odds on this one.
We're gonna take inter Milan to win an extra time,
not in a shootout, not in ninety minutes, in the
thirty minute extra time period. I think this is definitely

(01:08:17):
gonna finish a ninety minute draw, and if it goes there,
intern is gonna have to win an extra time because
PSG as one of the best penalty stoppers in the
world with Gigi don Uma, so I like into they
got a great defense this year. I'm going to take
them to win in extra time. Great odds. You can
get anywhere from thirteen to fifteen to one on this one.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Wow, this is wow record for the Shamus Special.

Speaker 6 (01:08:42):
If this hits, we've got to come back next week
and do some kind of celebration for thirteen to one.

Speaker 5 (01:08:49):
I think we should parlay it Seamous with the Pacers
game six.

Speaker 4 (01:08:53):
Right, that's great.

Speaker 9 (01:08:55):
I can't possibly touch this game tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
Anything.

Speaker 9 (01:08:58):
I will bet Will was on that game.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
I just know it.

Speaker 6 (01:09:02):
Shamous text game last week during the Indy five hundred
when he was enjoying his Indianapolis trip and he said
nix and six and I think my response was, you're crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
Enjoyed the win while it last. That's got how it's worked.

Speaker 9 (01:09:17):
Out the McGee boys painted the town the red after
that game. It was a great night.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
I'm glad there you go.

Speaker 4 (01:09:24):
Very nice, all right, Seamus. I always appreciate you jumping
on here. Good to visit with you.

Speaker 9 (01:09:28):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:09:29):
Have a good day. We'll catch you soon.

Speaker 9 (01:09:31):
Thanks, guys, have a good one you too.

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
There he is Seamus McGee, team lead of sports Trading
at bet MGM. You know it's funny, Jared, you mentioned
puck to Seamus the Stanley Cup final. Now we have
the matchup here, Edmonton taking on the Florida Panthers. You
know what's crazy is I've heard NHL fans for years
talk trash about the NBA playoffs, and they're.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
Like, oh, look at all these blowouts over here.

Speaker 5 (01:09:56):
If you want to see close games, gotta watch the
NHL playoffs. And most of the time that's been true.
You have gotten close games. You look at the postseason
this year in the NHL, some of these stats are astounding.
So twenty of the last twenty two NHL playoff games
have been decided by at.

Speaker 4 (01:10:15):
Least two goals.

Speaker 5 (01:10:16):
Wow, And ten of the last eleven NHL playoff games
have been decided by.

Speaker 4 (01:10:21):
At least three goals.

Speaker 5 (01:10:23):
It was beat down city in the conference finals, like
both sides. Edmonton did Dallas dirty in the last four games,
been they were crushing them. They outscored them nineteen to
five in the final four games there. So NHL fans
can't play that card this year of like, well you
want drama, you want close games, come watch our product

(01:10:43):
over here.

Speaker 4 (01:10:44):
It's like your product hasn't come through either.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
Agree.

Speaker 8 (01:10:49):
I'm so glad you made that comparison, because there have
even been several hockey players, former players, analysts who have
made this point two saying, like, you know, the NBA
should be ashamed of themselves, these players and all this stuff.
And granted, I'm not saying the product is great. When

(01:11:09):
you see a Western Conference team, you know, beat soundly
in the first half and then show up with a
lackluster effort in Game three where they get absolutely shelled
and they start benching their starters in the fourth quarter
to save themselves for Game four, because hey, you know,
if we give up game three after winning the first.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Two, well we'll still seal this series in five.

Speaker 8 (01:11:36):
No big deal. That's not drama. That's that's awful. It's
all awful for the viewer. However, it's amazing for the player.
I mean, I again, I'm not I'm only strictly talking
about the player.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
This is through the lens of the player.

Speaker 8 (01:11:52):
The player is still gonna get the same contract, the
player is still going to get the same paycheck, the
player is still going to potentially win a championship. And
by the way, put less tread on his tire if
or excuse me, take less tread off the tire. If
he rests himself appropriately and doesn't avail himself to injury,

(01:12:14):
if he if he has a coach who's willing to
allow them to go out there and roll with basketball
to the court in the second half.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:12:22):
So, I'm not saying it looks good. I'm not saying
it makes for good basketball. I hate seven seven game
series because of this. I don't think there's enough urgency
in the NBA postseason. But if you're looking at it
strictly through the lens of do the least to get
the most, it's human nature. It makes sense, and the

(01:12:43):
fact that it hasn't infiltrated hockey yet is shocking to me.
And maybe this is the bell weather, Maybe this is
the carry in the coal mine. Maybe This is a
sign of things to come, because if hockey players get
hip to the same thing that NBA players have known
for so long, which is you can get away with
getting blown out in Game two or Game three or

(01:13:04):
early in the series, especially when you have a couple
game lead in a series and bounce back and win
and sail through the rest of that postseason series. I
think that I think that law of diminishing return for
the fans may be coming to puck and it's not
a good thing for the sport, but it will be

(01:13:26):
good for the player. Unfortunately for everybody who likes and
enjoys watching hockey.

Speaker 6 (01:13:33):
Yeah, I definitely think the style of play matters here too.

Speaker 3 (01:13:38):
And bear with me for a minute.

Speaker 6 (01:13:40):
I think in prior years at least this is maybe
anecdotal for me, we haven't seen as many high octane
offenses than we've seen today. It feels like today the
McDavid's and the dry titles and these just insane talent levels.

(01:14:00):
Like Colorado had a couple of teams like that during
their run, where they're just so freaking good on offense.
It kind of goes against what you would think the
NHL postseason style typically is which is grinded out, low
scoring games. I mean a lot of these games are
just flying over the totals, and when the games have
more goals, well, eventually you're gonna see those goals skew

(01:14:23):
towards one side. So I think I agree with Richard's take.
I do think it is maybe a little more gamesmanship.
Teams are kind of realizing, hey, let's rob you know,
let's kind of you know, save our energy for later.
But I also think the style of play in the
NHL is evolving a little bit, just like the NBA. Right,
more three point shots, Steph Curry generation, all that stuff.
I think the more goals and the more high oc

(01:14:45):
ten offenses you have, it kind of breeds to more blowouts.

Speaker 4 (01:14:50):
Yeah, I just think you can like both.

Speaker 5 (01:14:52):
I don't know why we turn it into NBA versus
NHL playoffs and you gotta love one and just talk
trash about the other.

Speaker 4 (01:15:00):
Can love both, you know, Like I love the NBA playoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:15:04):
I dabble with the the NHL playoffs, but I watch
them and the the NHL playoffs are fantastic.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
But a lot of NHL fans have been very lippy.

Speaker 5 (01:15:13):
Over the years of like our sport is where the
close games are. It's like, not the conference finals. Man,
we ain't had any that are within one goal, not
one game. Most of them are three goals or more.
So it's just kind of interesting. It played out this year,
at least in the the conference finals. In the NBA
game one of the Pacers Knicks was an all timer

(01:15:36):
with the comeback and the Halliburton shot to force overtime.
And then Game three, Knicks are down big and come
all the way back and get a game they have
to have. Like, you've had way more drama in the
NBA Conference Finals than the NHL.

Speaker 4 (01:15:50):
So just the interesting observation. That's all right. We've got rich.

Speaker 5 (01:15:53):
Oronberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith, FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 4 (01:15:58):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 5 (01:15:59):
Use Code countown at BETMGM and receive up to fifteen
hundred dollars back in bonus bets if you don't win
your first bet. When you're registered with BETMGM, you'll get
instant access to a variety of parlay selection features, live
betting options, signature bets, and the best daily promotions in
the business. Again, use code countdown and you'll get up
to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if you

(01:16:19):
don't win your first bet. All right, coming up next,
prop it Up the prop betting market.

Speaker 4 (01:16:25):
Tell you what.

Speaker 5 (01:16:26):
Sometimes the trends just continue on. There is one in
this Nick Pacers series. The under has hit every freaking.

Speaker 4 (01:16:36):
Game for this player. We'll share that with you.

Speaker 5 (01:16:37):
Coming around the corner, it's Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented
by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.
You can stream the show in all of our Fox
Sports Radio shows live twenty four to seven in the
new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Sports Radio
in the app to stream us live. And one of
the newest features in the app is that you can

(01:16:58):
select Fox Sports Ready.

Speaker 4 (01:17:00):
It's one of your presets, just like the presets on
a radio dial. So be sure to preset Fox Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:17:05):
Radio in the iHeartRadio app and it'll pop up at
the top of your screen.

Speaker 4 (01:17:11):
All ways, All right, let's dive into.

Speaker 1 (01:17:14):
This prop It Up player plays.

Speaker 5 (01:17:19):
Yes, the betting market. We start with you, Jared, what
is a prop that you like?

Speaker 4 (01:17:24):
Sir?

Speaker 6 (01:17:25):
Well, if the Knicks want to compete tonight, you gotta
have heart Josh Hart.

Speaker 3 (01:17:30):
Sorry, that's my bad count of the day right there.

Speaker 6 (01:17:32):
I think a lot of people are kind of prognosticating
that because the Knicks have changed their rotation where Mitchell
Robinson is now in the starting lineup, that Josh Hart
isn't as good of a bet in.

Speaker 4 (01:17:43):
The prop market.

Speaker 3 (01:17:43):
Well, he's still getting there's a lot min of minutes.
They're just coming at different times.

Speaker 6 (01:17:47):
In fact, I would argue now that you have Robinson
and Towns starting the game together, when Josh Hart does
come off the bench and come into the game, usually
it's without one of those bigs on the floor, which
is opening up more opportunities. I think on he had
a fantastic rebounding game last game. In fact, he's at
double digit rebounds in four of the five games in
this series. His rebounding number tonight is nine and a half.

(01:18:09):
I think that is a fair bet to the over.

Speaker 3 (01:18:11):
I think his.

Speaker 6 (01:18:12):
Points, rebounds and assists number at twenty two and a
half also a fair bet to the over. Anything that
involves rebounds I think is an over for me With
Josh Hart today, I think he continues to get just
slightly undervalue because of that rotation.

Speaker 3 (01:18:25):
Ship.

Speaker 6 (01:18:25):
But heart's still on the floor twenty and he is
still stuff in the statue.

Speaker 8 (01:18:29):
All right, live from the front seat of the car
here parked in Palm Springs. I'm going with under seven
to three point attempts for Jalen Brunson tonight. Look, he's
most effective attacking the mid range and the paint. They
thrive when he's creating off the dribble as opposed to
setting up shop deep and trying to bomb away. He's

(01:18:52):
been at seven or fewer three point attempts in all
but one game so far in this series in the
Eastern Conference against the Pacers. So give me the under
seven three point attempts with Jaalen Brunson.

Speaker 5 (01:19:05):
Interesting, Okay, I'm gonna go with og and Enobi. Give
me under four and a half rebounds now, he's gone
under this prop in all five games, under in all five.

Speaker 8 (01:19:19):
Now.

Speaker 5 (01:19:19):
The fine print is the first two games his rebounds
prop was at five and a half and in game
two he grabbed five rebounds, So I need him under
four and a half. So he's been under every single time.
But in game two, Game one it was one rebound higher.
The line was right. I hope I'm not confusing anyone here,
But I need under four and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:19:40):
Why do I like that?

Speaker 5 (01:19:41):
Well, you've got cat scooping up rebounds, you've got heart
pounding the glass, Mitchel Robinson is doing his thing, and
OJ plays out along the perimeter a lot. So I
like the trend to continue in OG Andnoby under four
and a half rebounds tonight in game six. I like
not everything is his zig za approach. You know, I

(01:20:01):
love the zig zag approach. But every now and then
there's a trend that's so strong you just write it
on out.

Speaker 4 (01:20:07):
I think that's what we have here all right.

Speaker 5 (01:20:10):
Coming up next we get to an interesting narrative that
is changing. What is going on? Happy Saturday too. You
hope your day is going swimmingly well. Okay, so after
the worst teas in radio history, you might not have

(01:20:30):
understood or grasped what was coming up next exactly. I
didn't even know what was coming up either, But Tyrese Haliburton,
this is what I'm trying to get to. Tyrese Halliburton
has been labeled over rated, and we'll get to the
backstory in just a minute here, but this right here

(01:20:51):
is a potential reputation shifting game for Tyrese Haliburton. Right,
if you want the overrated talk to go away, he's
kind of made it his slogan now, like the overrate
that there are T shirts.

Speaker 4 (01:21:05):
Puma made T shirts with his logo. It's a whole thing.

Speaker 5 (01:21:09):
If you want that reputation to go away, no player
wants to be known as overrated. It takes a good
performance on a stage like this Game six. He was
tremendous in Game four, thirty two points, fifteen rebounds, twelve
I'm sorry, twelve rebounds, fifteen assists, zero turnovers. His first
time ever in NBA Playoff history a player had a

(01:21:31):
thirty point triple double with zero turnovers. He was outstanding
in game four. Last game Game five, not so outstanding.
Eight points, six assists, two rebounds, No made three pointers.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
He didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:21:44):
He didn't bring it in game five.

Speaker 5 (01:21:46):
So it's going to take a performance on this stage
for the overrated talk to really go away, because that's
what fuels it is. Halliburton might have a great game
and then the next game he's a no show.

Speaker 4 (01:21:57):
He just doesn't. He doesn't bring it.

Speaker 5 (01:22:00):
And so I want to say, if it's a good
zigzag spot for him, he might look a whole lot better.
I would expect that, but the inconsistency is fueling to
talk about him being overrated. There's no doubt about that,
and for that to go away, it takes a great
performance on a big stage like this.

Speaker 2 (01:22:15):
Yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker 8 (01:22:17):
Look, I mean fair or not when we're talking about
when we're talking about opinions, facts don't matter necessarily because
sometimes feelings are feelings are valued over facts when it
comes to debate, when it comes to the things you like.

(01:22:37):
I mean, you know, deciding or determining whether or not
Tyrese Haliburton is overrated or underrated or rated appropriately is
like having the conversation about why vanilla ice cream is
the best flavor, you know what I mean. It's like, okay,
everybody can weigh in on that, and you're going to

(01:22:59):
have potent, eventually hundreds of different opinions or angles to
dissect that one very relatively uncontroversial topic. In this case, Look,
what he needs to do is not what he did
in Game five.

Speaker 2 (01:23:18):
You just can't score eight points. You can't. You just
can't do it.

Speaker 8 (01:23:22):
At no point during the conference tournament, it's already happened.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
And so you.

Speaker 8 (01:23:28):
Got to have that zigzag or that bounce back where
you get off the schneid and you do what he's
done for the majority of this series, or I should
say these playoffs, which is score more than twenty points.
And I gave you that stat earlier, and it's germane
to this conversation. Again, the Pacers all season long are
thirty and three when he scores more than twenty points,

(01:23:51):
and so he's got to do tyrese Haliburt things in
order for the Pacers to have success. The Pacers' success,
it's linked to whether or not he's having an effective
shooting night, whether or not he is getting around the defense,
whether or not he's getting open looks from the defense,

(01:24:11):
or they are offensively in their half court sets generating
those open looks, or he's creating off the dribble. It
comes down to his success whether or not the Pacers
ultimately will have success.

Speaker 2 (01:24:26):
So you know, kind of in agreement with what you're saying, Brian.

Speaker 8 (01:24:30):
If he doesn't do it here in game six and
you swing the door open wide enough for the series
to go even for the New York Knicks in game seven, Man,
you're missing out on a crazy good opportunity here to
start cementing a legacy.

Speaker 2 (01:24:47):
What do you think is.

Speaker 3 (01:24:48):
More important for Haliburton?

Speaker 6 (01:24:50):
And I'll open this up to you guys, because I
don't honestly know the answer. Is him scoring more important
or creating for others? More Like, when you think of
Tyres Halliburton's game, his best game of the series was
obviously Game one, the one that went Actually no, maybe
you can make the case for Game four as well
when you have thirty two and fifteen, But obviously the

(01:25:10):
game one shot that went up and over the ram
and back down. But he also had eleven assists in
that game. He had eleven assists in Game two on
the road, and then he had the big game thirty two,
fifteen and twelve, the triple double. Obviously that's really his
best game of the series. But do you think, for example,
if he scores eight points tonight but as eighteen assists, like,

(01:25:33):
I think that's a path to victory for Indiana. Like,
what's more important for the Pacers offense? Is it him
scoring or is it him creating?

Speaker 4 (01:25:41):
Well, I would.

Speaker 5 (01:25:42):
Answer it, hopefully not in a ridiculously complex and long
winded way, but I think it's him creating for others.

Speaker 4 (01:25:51):
But here's the catch.

Speaker 5 (01:25:53):
It's that to fuel his offense because he's not a
natural scorer. He's not an aggressive, I'm gonna get mine
type score, or it's the role players when he sets
the table for them, they need to help set the
table for him by scoring. If they're scoring, if they're
hitting open shots that he creates for them, that opens
up his offense, you know what I mean. So he's

(01:26:15):
not a Derrick Rose type scorer with the bulls, where
it's like I'm gonna get mine, I'm gonnattack the rim,
I'm gonna be aggressive. That's not what he does in
terms of looking for his shot consistently. But when the
role players, when he sets the table and they're hitting
those shots, then all of a sudden, it opens things
up more for his own offense. So I think it's creating,

(01:26:35):
but it's also those role players coming through when he
sets the table for them, because that's what really gets
his offense going.

Speaker 8 (01:26:42):
Yeah, you know, I know this kind of feels like
a cop out, Jared, and it's a really good question,
but I think if in general, actually I'm gonna answer
it in general first, and I'm gonna say, creating for
himself is probably what's best for the Pacers because again,
when Halburton needs the Indiana Pacers eat, But in game six,

(01:27:03):
whatever gets you the W because Game seven at MSG
is going to be bananas. You can't do it. It's gonna
be electric. You can't do it, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:27:15):
So, yeah, you have to find a way to win
game six.

Speaker 8 (01:27:19):
So if they are shutting down every avenue and opportunity
for Tyrese Halburton in game in game six, then find
the open score, you know, create for someone else, create
for multiple teammates, because yeah, you have to win this
game because you do not want to see what game
seven holds for you.

Speaker 3 (01:27:39):
Beautiful.

Speaker 6 (01:27:40):
That was two fantastic answers, and I guess now I'm
gonna be the inquisitor one more time because I had
this debate yesterday on a different show, and I'll bring
it to this crowd as well, because I think the
two of you would like to chew into this. Obviously,
the Knicks are in a must win, so motivation, right,
we talked about who's the more motivated team. I'm not
debating that the Knicks are incredibly motivated at the utmost

(01:28:03):
degree to not get eliminated from the postseason.

Speaker 3 (01:28:06):
But I do think.

Speaker 6 (01:28:08):
There is an angle where the Pacers might be a
little bit I don't want to say more motivated, But
if you lose this game tonight, to me, like that
is the series. And I know you can still win
Game seven on the road, and they've gone on the
road and they've won two games in this series. But

(01:28:28):
everything speaks to if the Pacers start tight, a little
bit nervy like they did in Game five, and things
start to snowball, and all of a sudden their backs
are against the wall, I do think there is a
little bit more pressure on Indiana to perform early in
this game tonight, because if all of a sudden things
start unraveling like they did in Game five, I think

(01:28:51):
that's where the demons start to creep in. Oh man,
Like we're up three to one in the series. Now
it's three to two. We're not doing well in game six,
and we got to go back to the guard garden
for Game seven. Like that is not a good mindset
to be in. So while obviously the Knicks lose, go home,
is it fair to say the Pacers have more pressure tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:29:10):
It's it's I would I.

Speaker 4 (01:29:12):
Think there's something to it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (01:29:16):
Think there's something to it.

Speaker 5 (01:29:17):
But I don't think it's automatically a bad thing, right where.
I think a lot of times we think, oh, the
pressure is on this team, like, oh bad. I would
argue you go back to Game five, a lack of
pressure for the Pacers. They didn't handle that well. That's
why Pascal Siyakam at the end of that is like, yeah,
they played harder than us. It's like, well, because you

(01:29:37):
it wasn't an elimination game, you know, and they didn't
handle it well. It was an immature approach to Game
five for the Pacers. And I agree, like if they're
down in the first half, if it's a fourth quarter
game and they're trailing, and maybe they start thinking, man,
if we don't pull this out, we got to go
to the garden for Game seven.

Speaker 4 (01:29:55):
That's real pressure.

Speaker 5 (01:29:57):
But sometimes that can be beneficial. It's not always like
a tight sphincter syndrome and they buckle and having the
pressure to go out there and perform right and avoid
the garden, that can actually be a good thing for
the Pacers.

Speaker 2 (01:30:11):
It's fair. Yeah, yeah, you know I think that.

Speaker 8 (01:30:15):
I think that in certain spots, you build up moments
too much, you know what I mean. And it's possible
that the Pacers could look at Game six the same
way you're looking at it, Jared, and thinking, we got
to win this game, otherwise this series is over.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
And if they're.

Speaker 8 (01:30:33):
Doing that and they're using the sort of hey, it's
all or nothing mentality, it just it just depends on
how they're built emotionally and mentally can they handle that
level of pressure. And I guess that kind of ties
in nicely to what we were talking about with Tyre's Halliburton.

(01:30:53):
If you want to dispel myths that you're overrated or
that you're the type of player that you know that
you can get gaudy stats and you can bring a
team to the postseason, but you can't really win the
chip Man. These are the moments you gotta step up big.
And sometimes it's not only your fault. Sometimes your leadership

(01:31:14):
is there and your gameplay is there, you know, and
the team lets you down. And you know, that's part
of playing team sports is sometimes you can bring your
A game and everybody else brings a B or C
level game, and you know, you gotta roll with those
punches too.

Speaker 2 (01:31:30):
But I would say for the Pacers overall.

Speaker 8 (01:31:35):
I think the mentality that's it's winning six or lose
is probably the right mentality to go into this game
with because I don't really see it any other way.

Speaker 2 (01:31:47):
I think if you.

Speaker 8 (01:31:48):
Give Tibbs more opportunity to plan against him, he kind
of discovered something in Game five with his rotation, Towns
got into foul trouble. Mitchell goes in there, they're fouling
the absolute dog out of him because he can't shoot
free throws, and then he gets to oh, what's his name.

Speaker 2 (01:32:06):
Precious a Chewa, And you know, like he.

Speaker 8 (01:32:09):
Was rolling bigs through and that fresh legs in the paint,
and that was helping the Knicks defensively.

Speaker 2 (01:32:15):
I think, I.

Speaker 8 (01:32:17):
Think when you look at I think, when you look
at this series, the Pacers really need to knock this
thing up. Otherwise I could spell doom.

Speaker 6 (01:32:27):
Yeah, there's definitely a lack of I don't know what
it is, Carl, Yeah, go ahead, Brian, Yeah, there.

Speaker 4 (01:32:34):
Was no doubt that Karl Anthony town stupid files. I
don't understand. I don't know what, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:32:40):
What he's doing.

Speaker 5 (01:32:40):
He's gotta stop him, man, there are good playoff files
and there are just dude, this doesn't help us at
all type files. And Kat has been guilty numerous times
in this series of committing those type of files.

Speaker 4 (01:32:54):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 5 (01:32:55):
In terms of Halliburton, the overrate that logan is cool, right,
he was named most overrated by NBA players and so
he overrated that, right, And it's become a whole slogan.
That's cool, but the story behind it not as cool.
So this goes back to an athletic like a poll here, right,

(01:33:17):
NBA players were polled by the athletic. They're trying to
find the most overrated player in the league. The athletic
got ninety responses and only thirteen players ended up voting
for Halliburton, you know. So without knowing that, it seems
like man, his peers have said he's the most overrated
the NBA players as a whole, they say Haliburton is

(01:33:39):
the guy, he's the overrated guy.

Speaker 4 (01:33:41):
And it turns out there are thirteen dudes.

Speaker 5 (01:33:43):
That's that said that, right, And of those thirteen, some
of them might have been like overrated. I don't know Haliburton,
you know, So the slogan seems a lot cooler than
there are. The story isn't as cool as the slogan
might indicate, but he's taken that and run and to

(01:34:05):
Really I'll put it this way though, we struggle with
the overrated thing all the time. To be a candidate,
to be overrated, people far and wide have to be
singing your praises.

Speaker 4 (01:34:15):
Does anyone do that with Halliburton? It's really like if
we're having discussions and it's say, like, hey, who's the
top point guard in the NBA peoplar as, Oh, Halliburton.

Speaker 5 (01:34:24):
Halliburton's unbelievable. This guy table said extraordinary play. Who's saying that?

Speaker 2 (01:34:29):
Yeah, it's a weird thing. Brian, I agree with that it.

Speaker 8 (01:34:33):
Overrated is a tough conversation to have when it comes
to a name that doesn't that hasn't cut through in
a major way until this postseason. Like, I mean, he's
really done some special things for the Pacers, and there's
no question that over his career as an NBA star
a player, his star has shined brighter at different times
than others. But yeah, I think in terms of a

(01:34:57):
name that's at the tippy top of the zeitgeist, I
mean overrated, we're gonna be talking about a guy coming
up in just a little bit here who I would
argue is highly overrated, you know, based on his production
in the NBA, you know, like Haliburton. You know, you
could probably swing that door the opposite way and say

(01:35:18):
that there's a potential argument that he's underrated.

Speaker 6 (01:35:21):
I'll be honest, I hope at some point to ascend
in my life to a place where people call me overrated,
because that means that people are you sure, yeah, right,
Like that means people are interested, right, That means that
I've caught the attention of someone. I speak about this
a lot when it comes to taking criticism, like and
and I've changed my tune on this over the years,

(01:35:43):
back when I was younger and much softer, hardened over time.
Wisdom age certainly doesn't there you go, but you know,
when you work in this public field, you're going to
take criticism. And I was very against like, you know,
there's a little whiny baby about when someone criticized me
about what I say on the air, And then I
realized it was a couple of years ago. It dawned

(01:36:04):
on me he was doing this show, and you know,
kind of the more you're out there. The more you know,
your opinions get questioned. And I realized, wait a minute,
my entire job is criticizing other people. So who am
I to not be able to take that criticism. I
think it's different in the athletic world when you're talking
about the athletes, and which I'm sure you're dealt with
this for years, especially in a market like New England,

(01:36:25):
if fans will be like, this is Ornberger guy, He's terrible.
Like your job, though, is not to criticize other people.
Your job is to play football. Tyreese's job has played basketball.
It's our job to analyze. I think we get to
this certain point where we overanalyze situations, right.

Speaker 3 (01:36:41):
We do it as fodder. We do it just for.

Speaker 6 (01:36:43):
Content and the over hyped, overrated argument. It's kind of
a weird compliment in a sense. It means you've ascended
to a point where we now have to bring you
down to a level that all the regular athletes are
at because you've gotten all the way up here. And
it is and I know it's hard for like a

(01:37:03):
twenty five year old to kind of see that, just
like when I was younger and I hated getting criticism,
but then you kind.

Speaker 3 (01:37:08):
Of see the forest through the trees.

Speaker 6 (01:37:10):
You realize, wait a minute, this is kind of a
backhanded compliment because they wouldn't be talking about me, period
unless I had reached a certain level where I need
to be rated at a certain way.

Speaker 2 (01:37:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:37:23):
No, it's fair, and it's at least a partial compliment
if someone says you're overrated, because that means you're highly
rated to begin with many for probably some legitimate reasons. Yeah,
are we got Rich hoorn Berger, he's overrated, men state
all American.

Speaker 4 (01:37:39):
But you know no, Jared Smith highly overrated.

Speaker 3 (01:37:44):
Oh that is no question about.

Speaker 5 (01:37:49):
For I know, the epitome of overrated. Definitely hanging out
with you guys. All right, it's time for.

Speaker 4 (01:37:56):
The tire rack play of the day. Let's do that
you find out now, show, Hey hits.

Speaker 2 (01:38:02):
It a mile high into the air way back all right.

Speaker 4 (01:38:05):
Haroon, Judge at the wall, he leaps.

Speaker 1 (01:38:08):
He cannot bring that one back. Show Hey old Tani
with his second of the game.

Speaker 5 (01:38:16):
There you go, bingers left and right for show. Hey,
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(01:38:41):
The way tire buying should be all right? Coming up next,
a terrible answer and a tremendous answer, two different examples
for you. Coming up, it's Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented
by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.
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(01:39:25):
great time and they played basically at an arena inside
Mandolay Bay, yep. And after the game I went to
the like the bet MGM sports book area very nice
and saw Floyd Mayweather.

Speaker 4 (01:39:36):
Junior and there there too, putting stacks of money. He
won some kind of bet.

Speaker 3 (01:39:41):
Yeah around, I've seen him there.

Speaker 2 (01:39:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:39:48):
Oh he's all about it. Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 5 (01:39:51):
Okay, So we've got a terrible answer and a tremendous answer,
which would you guys like first, huh.

Speaker 2 (01:39:58):
Let's go w lead with the bad news.

Speaker 4 (01:40:02):
There you go, that's the way to lead this up.

Speaker 5 (01:40:04):
Okay, So we have a little bit more with Pascal Siakam.
You rewind to Game five Pacers lose and Siakam had
this to say, they.

Speaker 2 (01:40:13):
Played harder than us.

Speaker 7 (01:40:14):
I think I think they play harder than us, you know,
and loose balls like rebounds like all that we got
to be able to win a battle.

Speaker 4 (01:40:20):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (01:40:21):
So right after that question, there's a reporter that says,
how is that a thing? How can you say they
played harder? And so it's a communication breakdown. Crazy this
happens with men, you know, it's wild. But Sakam thinks
the reporter is like, no way, you guys played way harder.

Speaker 4 (01:40:39):
When the reporter is asking, how is that a thing?
How can you say?

Speaker 5 (01:40:44):
After any game that the other team just outplayed, that
played harder than you.

Speaker 4 (01:40:48):
So listen to this. It's a terrible back and forth,
but it's entertaining. Nevertheless, how is.

Speaker 8 (01:40:54):
That how.

Speaker 7 (01:40:59):
He's talking about they played harder than us? It's okay,
we played hard, but they played harders. What's your point?
I don't get it. That happens in a game doing
that's basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:41:11):
You're good.

Speaker 7 (01:41:11):
You're good, bro. You're looking for something I know, but
damn no, no, But I'm telling you though I told
you what else you want me to tell you?

Speaker 2 (01:41:24):
What about you telling me? Let's go ahead. Who's this guy?
Who's this guy? What's your name?

Speaker 7 (01:41:32):
Bro?

Speaker 2 (01:41:34):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:41:36):
That's freaking brutal. That's painful, but somehow entertaining. It's the
car crash that you have to look at as you
pass by, you know, like, uh, but we get it right.
He doesn't understand the question. It's basically the reporters like,
how can that be a thing? You got a trip
to the finals right there, and you after a game,

(01:41:56):
you're like, they just outplayed us.

Speaker 4 (01:41:58):
That's it. So that's what the reporter is asking.

Speaker 5 (01:42:01):
But Siakam he didn't understand what he was going for
right there, and then you get what you got, which
was rough.

Speaker 2 (01:42:08):
I I really I don't.

Speaker 8 (01:42:10):
I don't understand the line of questioning either, to be honest,
like I you know, I guess you could.

Speaker 2 (01:42:17):
Say, how did you get out outplayed?

Speaker 8 (01:42:19):
And you know, and his follow up to that question is, well,
they they played harder. We played hard, but they played harder.
And that's that's his opinion. And you either got to
respect his opinion and respect how he decided to answer
that question and move on, or.

Speaker 2 (01:42:37):
Don't write the part of the column.

Speaker 8 (01:42:40):
Greg Doyle of Indie Starr that you want to write,
you know what I mean, like, maybe maybe that's a
little factoid that you're gonna have to leave out it.
To me, sometimes you have writers and reporters who are
writing and reporting what they see here and experience, and
sometimes they they've already written the piece in their head

(01:43:02):
and they're looking for the missing quote or the missing
factor or the missing.

Speaker 2 (01:43:11):
Attribution that they need to finish it.

Speaker 8 (01:43:14):
And I this kind of I don't know, the way
this stinks to me is that column was written and
he was looking for a quote that fit that column
and it couldn't get out of Siakam and so I
guess better luck after Game six, Greg.

Speaker 6 (01:43:31):
Wait a minute, is this the same Greg Doyle that
made that really weird comment to Caitlin.

Speaker 4 (01:43:39):
Clark after that? That is the same guy got drafted.

Speaker 6 (01:43:42):
By the Indiana Fever and then got suspended and got
banned from covering the Indiana Fever.

Speaker 3 (01:43:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:43:49):
I mean, listen, I don't know Greg personally. I don't
know if he's a good reporter outside of what I've
read based off of that incident. But maybe we maybe
he should not you know, maybe we should stop allowing
him to ask questions to athletes if these is the
line of question. I mean, it happens all the time
in sports. People get out played. It happens all the

(01:44:12):
fricking time, Greg, You've covered sports for how long. Some
teams just don't have it. They're human beings. They show up,
they realize that this team has got the better whatever
that day, the vibe, the energy, they have, the gambling
gods on their side.

Speaker 3 (01:44:28):
Like I watch baseball.

Speaker 6 (01:44:30):
Sometimes this happens in baseball all the time, and you
handicap a pitcher like let's take Trek Schouble for example.

Speaker 3 (01:44:38):
He's pitching today.

Speaker 6 (01:44:39):
By the way, maybe you'll hear his name a little
later in Rapid Fire, and the numbers say, Scooble's an
ace man. He's got the best stuff in the world.
And last night he had some bad sushi last night.
He didn't get a good night's sleep. Last night he
was arguing with his girlfriend. I don't know, throwing any
random reason that human beings exist in the world and

(01:45:01):
things happen. You show up the next day to work,
just like we all show up to work. Just happens
to be that professional athletes do it in front of
cameras and thousands of people, millions of on TV, and
you just don't have it. The other team is better.
The approach by the hitters on the other team. Turik's
Google's fastball is not fast enough today, it's not curving

(01:45:22):
on the curve ball like I don't know, and it's inexplicable.
It's just human element of sports. And when you get
asked about it after the game, I feel I always
say that the hardest thing that these athletes have to
deal with sometimes on a daily basis, is going there
and pouring their heart and soul their job and then

(01:45:43):
having to answer about it, sometimes literally right after the
game ends. Game ends, microphone in your face, like you
just got off the field or the court from a battle,
a war, and you're being asked to be civilized and
give in depth intellectual answers about why things happen the
way that they did. And sometimes there really is no explanation.

Speaker 2 (01:46:04):
It's just sports.

Speaker 3 (01:46:06):
It's random, it's human.

Speaker 6 (01:46:09):
Continuing to press with this line of questioning I thought
was really off base.

Speaker 5 (01:46:15):
I I'm completely on the opposite side of you, guys.
I'll tell you exactly what it's happening here.

Speaker 4 (01:46:20):
What is happening.

Speaker 5 (01:46:21):
It's not about goofy Greg Doyle and weird questions in
his past with Caitlin Clark and he's being weird goofy
Greg Doyle.

Speaker 4 (01:46:28):
Again, that's not what's happening here. And Richie, he might
have had a column in mind and he's looking for
a sound bite, and that doesn't mean he's setting a
bear trap. What this is and I've done this many times.

Speaker 5 (01:46:41):
You'll ask a question that you think is clear and
the athlete, the coach is clearly going to understand what
you're asking, and then they start to answer it and
you're like, holy cow, I didn't do a good enough
job presenting the question where it's indisputable, there's no doubt
this is what I'm asking. I'm asking about this, and

(01:47:01):
he thinks I'm asking about that, And that's what happened
right there. That's a legitimate question. Is I had the
same question. How can a team after a game with
a finals trip on the line, how can they just
be like, yeah, we got out played, we got out worked.
How can that be a thing? And so what he
should have done was be a little bit more clear

(01:47:23):
about what he was going for, Like, Hey, Pascal, how
is that a thing? What's the reason for that you
guys getting out played? Is it because you had a
three to one lead and this is a do or
die game for the Knicks?

Speaker 4 (01:47:34):
Is that why?

Speaker 5 (01:47:35):
Like what led to that? That's the only crime here
is that it wasn't clear enough, and Siakam didn't understand
the question. Yeah, it seems obvious if you know what
you're asking. But for someone hearing the question, Pascal thought
he was going for something that he wasn't.

Speaker 4 (01:47:51):
That's really what happened here. Just the communication breakdown.

Speaker 8 (01:47:54):
I'm with you, And so it's incumbent upon the reporter
who works in the media, whose job is to ask
questions to get that right now, I get what you're saying,
and I've been there too, have obviously been on both
sides of this, as an athlete answering the questions and
as the interviewer asking the questions. And there are times
where you know, the toothpaste is out of the tube.

(01:48:17):
I've asked the question, the answer is going in a
different direction than I've I thought.

Speaker 2 (01:48:22):
But I also know the onus is on me as the.

Speaker 8 (01:48:25):
Broadcaster, to effectively convey the you know, the question, the
whatever in whatever way I can possibly get the person
I'm interviewing to understand my perspective. Instead, what Greg Doyle
did and and by the way, in a more and

(01:48:46):
more accusatory way or tone of voice, is continue to
ask the same question. The definition of insanity is continuing
to do the same things expecting a different result and
receiving this same one. I mean, so it became like
annoying and insane to listen to this reporter go yeah, yeah,

(01:49:07):
but hang on, let me ask it again how And
it's like, okay, listen, he answered your question, pal, So
if you didn't like to answer, maybe clear your throat,
take a beat. Let somebody else ask a question and
then be like, hey, you know what, Pascal, check this out.
I just had a scone in the break room. I

(01:49:27):
realized I didn't convey that question the right way.

Speaker 2 (01:49:30):
Here's what I meant. So, with the stakes being as
high as they are with the game.

Speaker 4 (01:49:35):
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 8 (01:49:37):
How do you think you guys showed up underprepared for
this moment? Because clear and maybe you arrive at a
different answer. But yeah, I blame I blame the interrogator,
not the interrogated on this side of the debate if
we needed to pick sides, which I know we didn't,
but it just it went from sounding like a Q

(01:49:58):
and A to just an annoyance for Pascal.

Speaker 3 (01:50:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:50:01):
I think the defensiveness is where it got off base.
And it's Greg's job in that situation, like the responsibility
is on him to communicate effectively. He is the professional communicator.
Pascal is the professional basketball player. And maybe the question
should have been framed differently. And all questions are on limits.

(01:50:22):
I'm not saying the question itself was out of bounds.
I think it was like, it's a fair question to
ask why didn't you perform up to your level? But
it sounded like Pascal kind of was answering it honestly
and then just didn't like the follow up, Like I
understand Pascal's answer like we didn't have it tonight, and
and whether or not that's a fair answer or not,

(01:50:43):
whether or not that's an answer that you know passes the.

Speaker 3 (01:50:45):
Smell test, that's up to the audience to decide.

Speaker 6 (01:50:49):
But if I was the journalist in that situation and
my question was Pascal, I want to know why you
didn't have it tonight, and he just was given me
that many were they played with more energy, to play
with more fight. And it's not incumbent on me as
the reporter to ask a better question if I don't
like the answer, Like I just think Greg didn't like

(01:51:10):
the answer because it wasn't going down the path that
he wanted and he wanted to get a better answer,
and then then the back and forth got awkward.

Speaker 3 (01:51:17):
But the question itself was fair. I just think it
wasn't communicated effectively.

Speaker 5 (01:51:23):
Yeah, all right, So we have limited time for the good,
which is standard, right, like we harp on the bad
limited time, we'll shoehorn in the good. This is a
tremendous response by Joe Flacco, Brown's quarterback. So you got
two rookie quarterbacks on the Browns roster right now, Dylan
Gabriel and Shaduur Sanders. And so he was asked, hey,
are you a mentor?

Speaker 2 (01:51:43):
Are you.

Speaker 5 (01:51:45):
Listen to this answer? He breaks down. It's a legit answer.
I thought it was great.

Speaker 4 (01:51:50):
Check it out. Here you go, here's Joe Flacco.

Speaker 2 (01:51:53):
It's a good question. Debate.

Speaker 11 (01:51:54):
Somebody into answering and either and no matter how they answer,
it kind of makes the guy that's answering it look bad.
If I say I don't want to be a mentor,
I look bad. If I say I do want to
be a mentor, then I look like an idiot that
doesn't care about being good and playing football. So it's
one of those questions that no matter what I say,
you guys can write what you want to write about it.
And there's a lot of questions like that. That's why
you end up having to try to avoid them. I

(01:52:16):
tend to try to be honest, and I've said I'm
not a mentor. I play football, And in a quarterback room,
there's a lot of times already, there's been already a
ton of times where there's learning experiences, and I have
a lot of experience and I can talk on things
and hopefully they listen, but it's not necessarily like my
job to make sure they.

Speaker 2 (01:52:33):
Listen to me.

Speaker 11 (01:52:33):
And you know, hey, like hopefully you have a really
good relationship with the guys that are in the room,
and you naturally want to do that, you know, But
that's yeah, that was a long winded answer, but that's
ultimately why I think you guys ask it. Here's the
thing is like, because of what I just said, like,
you're acting like I wouldn't want to be a mentor,
and it's like, once again, it's not really about that.

(01:52:55):
It's just not the main focus. I see myself as
a guy that can play in this league. So if
your main focus was just like hey, well I'm gonna
get you ready, you're just not taking care of business.
The best way to be a mentor, honestly, is like
show people how you go to work, you know, and
like I said, hope that they pick up on that stuff,
but not necessarily force them to pick up on the

(01:53:15):
things that you do.

Speaker 5 (01:53:17):
I think that's tremendously well handled by Flag.

Speaker 4 (01:53:20):
He broke it down for us. He not only he
gave us the why.

Speaker 5 (01:53:24):
He gave us why I don't see myself as a mentor.

Speaker 4 (01:53:28):
He explained it clearly.

Speaker 5 (01:53:30):
It's easy to understand, and I totally understand where he's
coming from, and it made a lot of sense.

Speaker 4 (01:53:37):
I thought a great job of breaking that down for everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:53:40):
Yeah, the trademark honesty.

Speaker 8 (01:53:42):
I met Joe a couple of times, and each time
I spoke to him, he's just a straight shooter. He's
not a guy who's gonna pull any punches. He'll tell
you exactly how he feels. And I appreciate those type
of people who are frank and who are blunt, and
I think that in the past. Obviously, when Lamar was

(01:54:04):
drafted by the Ravens, he was asked a question similar
and he handled it differently, and so he had a
better plan this time of how he would want to
answer that question so it not be misconstrued. Also, it
was an enormous talking point, not only in Baltimore but
across league circles. For it felt like, you know, two

(01:54:26):
weeks of an offseason when Lamar was drafted by the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (01:54:31):
I completely agree with what he just said.

Speaker 8 (01:54:33):
The same way we were discussing how Pascal Siakam. His
job is to play basketball, not to answer questions the
way Greg Doyle wants questions to be answered. Joe Flacko's
job is to be to be a professional football player
and play to the highest of his ability and hopefully
go out and win a Super Bowl for the Cleveland Browns.

(01:54:53):
Will that happen, I don't know. Will somebody learn something
from him along the way, I don't know, but probably
because he's got a lot of experience, like you just
pointed out. But one thing I do know is they
didn't pay him to be a mentor. They didn't bring
him in necessarily to only be a mentor because they
hired coaches to do that stuff. Yep, Flacco is a

(01:55:13):
football player.

Speaker 3 (01:55:15):
Yeah. I'll be very quick here.

Speaker 6 (01:55:17):
I just think there's a phrase that I like to
use a lot in my daily life that I think
speaks to this. Don't talk about it, be about it.
Like and we've discussed this point before, like when coaches,
for example, Ryan Day, when he had to go on
and say how tough his football team is. I know
they won the National championship, but they had like a
gajillion dollar roster and they were most talented, so let's
not go crazy. But when Ryan Day was like, our

(01:55:38):
team is tough, man like when you say your team
is tough, eh, might not.

Speaker 3 (01:55:43):
Be that tough.

Speaker 6 (01:55:44):
You don't need like some things are just unspoken, you
don't need to say it. And I think that's where
Joe Flacco is lead by example. Fantastic answer, expect nothing
less from someone of his class level.

Speaker 4 (01:55:56):
We need Siakam to step up his answering game.

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
Like right Greg Doyle.

Speaker 5 (01:56:03):
Games, I think they're both at far. I'm more on
the Siakam side than the Doyle side. That's not me,
you know, I.

Speaker 4 (01:56:11):
Took a creed. I'm a media guy. I got no,
it's not like that. But I think that.

Speaker 5 (01:56:17):
Thought he was saying something he never was saying in
the first place. But we need game six.

Speaker 4 (01:56:21):
Siakam in the postgame press conference is what we need.

Speaker 3 (01:56:24):
You know, we need him to show up.

Speaker 5 (01:56:26):
We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 4 (01:56:31):
I'm Brian No. Shortly after the show, our podcast will
be going up.

Speaker 5 (01:56:34):
If you missed anything on today's show, be sure to
check it out. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you
get your podcasts, and be sure to also follow rate
and review it again. Just search Fox Sports Radio where
every you'll see this show posted right after we get
off the air. Coming up next, Rapid Fire. Choose carefully,
Choose wisely, or else you're putting mayo in your coffee

(01:56:55):
as a bet payoff.

Speaker 4 (01:56:56):
We'll have some selections for you. Coming up.

Speaker 5 (01:56:58):
It's Fox Sports Radios count presented by BETMGM. It is
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Speaker 4 (01:57:14):
And that's not all.

Speaker 5 (01:57:15):
Sign up with BETMGM today and you'll have access to
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Speaker 4 (01:57:22):
And so much more. Props to the crew. Our trusted
producer Bo Benson, the.

Speaker 5 (01:57:27):
Dodger Zone Pod talking about the Dodgers comeback win over
the Yanks, show, Hey Going Yard twice, all that good stuff,
Technical producer extraordinary Chris Purfett, Pride of Detroit Pod and
Crushing Digital. Our main man Sager does a great job
posting our clips on social media. Appreciate his hard work.
Top of the Hour up on Game LaVar Arrington, DJ Hushman, Zada, Plexico, Buris,

(01:57:51):
they have got you covered. Keep it locked right here.
On Fox Sports Radio, they head your way in less
than eight minutes. All right, we got some picks to make.

Speaker 2 (01:57:58):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:58:02):
Rapid fire.

Speaker 4 (01:58:06):
All right, shared, we start with you.

Speaker 5 (01:58:08):
You had one of your pitchers scratched last week's to
get four picks.

Speaker 4 (01:58:11):
A bonus pick from you right here?

Speaker 6 (01:58:13):
What do you have bonus? All right, I'll get to
the bonus in a minute. Let's start with game six tonight,
Knicks Pacers. I'm taking over thirteen and a half turnovers
for the next day. I've had at least thirteen turnovers
in all five games, so a little increase in this number.
But they had fifteen in Game three in Indiana, seventeen
in Game four. I think the Knicks sloppy with the basketball.
Over thirteen a half turnovers. You can get plus money

(01:58:34):
on this prop as well. I'm gonna take the Pacers
minus three and a half against the Nicks. I think
the next season ends tonight. We've kind of alluded to
this throughout the entire show. It's just the zig zag approach.
How bad the Pacers played in Game five, and the
number moves in their favor for Game six.

Speaker 3 (01:58:47):
I think the series will end tonight.

Speaker 6 (01:58:49):
We're taking the Tigers on the run line in the
first five, so they have to be ahead after five
innings or else to bet as a lost minus a
half run in the first five. They're facing the Royals today.
I get to reak Scoble on the mound and you don't.
That's why we're going Detroit and my bonus play. You're
got to wait a few days. We're gonna go Oiler's
money line in Game one of the Stanley Cup Final
against the Panthers.

Speaker 8 (01:59:11):
Okay, I'll go lightning fast here for you. Brian Knicks
plus three and a half tonight. They've led with defense,
clutch playmaking. I think they cover the spread. Nicks Pacers
tonight two twenty and a half. Give me under the
total game five, fairly crack two hundred and over the
nine and a half total runs. Dodgers, Yankees, two shaky starters,

(01:59:34):
great offenses.

Speaker 2 (01:59:35):
It'll be a slugfest.

Speaker 4 (01:59:39):
Okay, it is no and Jared be rich here. I've
got the Pacers minus three and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:59:45):
I think it ends. I think you're gonna be a
handful tonight. I'm gonna start another bet over. I'm gonna
take the Pacers in the first quarter minus a point
and a half. I think they start really fast, one
hundred miles per hour. It's gonna be allowed to deal with.
And then give me ogn nob I'll double down under
four and a half rebounds.

Speaker 4 (02:00:02):
I like the trend.

Speaker 5 (02:00:03):
He's gone under in every game in this prop. Hey
enjoy Game six and whatever else you do today.