Fox Sports Radio's Countdown Presented by BetMGM

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith talk about the Pacers insane comeback in Game 1 against the Thunder, Aaron Rodgers finally signing with the Steelers, Brian takes issue with the idea of automatic qualifying spots in the CFP, the Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau, schools being able to directly pay players, and more! Plus, Parlay Platter, Prop It Up, and Rapid Fire!

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Oh, good morning, happy Saturday to you. As we have
drama all over the sports world here in the playoffs NHL.
Last night a little double overtime extravaganza. It wasn't even
a shot in double overtime? Is Brad Marshan scored evens
that series one game apiece? And how about the drama

(00:25):
from Game one in the NBA Finals? Huh Pacers trailed
by fifteen points.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
No worries. They still came back and won.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I swear They're like the zombies of the sports world
right now.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
You cannot kill the Indiana Pacers.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
They just keep coming back, coming back, and they take
a one nothing series lead. As we get you all
set for tomorrow in Game two NBA Finals, But first off,
how you guys doing, Jared Rich?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Everything good with you, guys?

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Yeah, life's good. And I think what you said and
I'll just jump jump all over the opportunity before we
hear from Jared here is absolutely right. The Pacers have
made for some of the most entertaining postseason moments, and
the ratings are what they are when you have, you know,
two teams from Middle America, from cities that you know,

(01:18):
not many you know, in our very busy coasts hail
from and in terms of sports interests generally don't generate
as much. I feel like people are missing out because
this has been a pretty exciting postseason and I think
this sets up to be a pretty exciting finals.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
People are definitely missing out because we saw the ratings
in Game one into the lowest ratings in the Nielsen
era outside of the two COVID Finals in twenty twenty
and twenty twenty one, and I we knew this was
going to happen. I mean, it's just it's inevitable when
you have two teams. And I don't want to say no
one cares about, but the broader sense, like the average

(02:00):
sports fan, not the average NBA fan, The average NBA
fan is going to watch the finals no matter what.
The average sports fan, the average Joe and Jane throughout
this country that are like, oh, it's the it's the
championship round of of of basketball. Let's let's turn on
the old TV and check who are Pacers and Thunder?

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Like what?

Speaker 5 (02:20):
I think that is the general consensus, and it is
very unfortunate because I think when you look at this
series on the surface, you might like, eh, and then
you actually watch not only what took place the other night,
but what's taking place as to pro season, especially with
Indiana drama like this is like they are must see TV,

(02:41):
the Pacers are must see TV. And Oklahoma City is
the deep the best deepest team you know, historically good defense.
So I do think there are some things that the
average sports fan could take with them.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
But it just hasn't resonated yet.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, it's too bad because game one is off the charge.
I don't know that you can do much better entertainment
value wise or interest wise.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
I get everything you explained there.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Jared totally understand it, because the casual fan is like,
wait a minute, the Knicks or the Lakers or the
brand established names aren't in it, and they're like not interested.
But that's a shame because Game one was off the
charts and Indiana does it again. It's crazy, man. They
reminded me of Teddy kgbing Rounders.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
I know you guys are big Rounders fans, right, but
Halliburton is kind of Matt Damon over here is Mike
mcdee from Rounders. This is what Teddy KGB said in
that movie.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
Hanging around, hanging around kids, got allegates or blood, can't
get rid of him?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Is that not Halliburton? In these playoffs?

Speaker 4 (03:51):
My guns?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
How many huge shots he's hit and he hit another
game winner. The Pacers led for point three seconds in
Game one and won the game somehow, think about that?
So the thunder led for forty seven minutes fifty nine
seconds that I.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Can't do the rest of the math here, But.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Indiana only led for point three That's insane and they
walk away with the win.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
Crazy well, almost the wire to wire loss. They find
a way to get it done in game one, and
it is the mark of a team that and we
know this about the Indiana Pacers that has a little
bit of that alligator blood. They have a little bit
of that. We are down, benever out We're going to
fight mentality, and that is a part of the team's DNA.

(04:42):
You know. I remember sitting in meetings team meetings with
Belichick when I was a New England Patriot, and it
was the first time I've ever heard of coach be
so descriptive about this. Obviously this has talked about a lot,
but he was very descriptive about this, and I think
it because the Patriots have had so much success during

(05:03):
that time. I was drafted in two thousand and nine,
played with them for three seasons, and so we were
in a slot where we're doing some special things, right.
But he said, the team from last year is gone.
This is the two thousand and nine New England Patriots.
There's going to be no other team like us. There
will be, and we are not like any other team

(05:25):
that's ever existed. This is brand new and we've got
to treat it that way. So whatever happened last season,
that's gone. Whatever you felt about last season, that's gone.
We've learned lessons those of you who have been here,
but many of you haven't, and we're going to learn
many more together. And it was like it was a

(05:46):
very obvious, like, hey, we're drawing a line. You know,
we're walking through a new threshold. We're leaving everything in
the past. And so as a team, each season, you've
got to create an identity. Who are we? You know
at that point the two thousand and nine Patriots, Well,
I'll tell you who the twenty twenty five Indiana Pacers are.

(06:11):
This is a team that you cannot count out of
any situation and time and time. I mean, just look
at the postseason. You get all the information that you need.
There have been plenty of data points to look to.
They are the zombies of the NBA postseason. And I
don't know how you kill him, but whatever Okase did

(06:34):
in Game one didn't work.

Speaker 5 (06:37):
Yeah, there's there's been a lot of like the Windyana Pacers.
I heard our buddy Rob Parker say that yesterday. I
think that's a funny one, Like you can come up
with so many names. It was a really interesting interview.
It was Malika Andrews interviewing Sga. It was on the
pregame show the other night, and she asked him a question.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
How do you define a star?

Speaker 5 (06:58):
You know that's been all the talk in the league lately,
especially you know when you don't have guys like Kolbe
or MJ or those like traditional stars maybe in the finals.
How would you define a star? And Sga kind of
danced around the answer. I'll tell you how I would
define it, no matter what the situation is, regardless if
you've had a good game, if you've had a bad game,

(07:19):
if you're sick, if you're tired, your girlfriend just broke.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Up with you.

Speaker 5 (07:23):
When the moment calls, when the stage is bright and
it's time for you to deliver, you deliver. And that's
to me what Tyre's Haliburton's done. He that was a
very nondescriptive, very average game.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
I don't even.

Speaker 5 (07:36):
Recall him making a wow kind of play up until
those final seconds.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
But when the ball was in his hand in those.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
Final seconds and Indiana was down a point, you knew
he was taking the shot and you knew it was
going in regardless of the fact that he had not
had a good game before that. And I think that
is to me the death definition of a star. And it's,
you know, the cliche when the going gets tough, the
tough get going, all that, but to actually be able

(08:06):
to deliver on that moment, and not just once multiple
times throughout the postseason, has had kind of games and
then in the fourth quarter, in those big moments, figured
out a way to bring his team across the finish line. Like,
to me, that is the definition of a star. And
Tyres Haliburton might not embody that star power throughout the

(08:31):
entire game, throughout the entire postseason, throughout the entire regular season,
but so far in the clutch moments of this playoffs.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
He has been a star man.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's crazy too, because the Pacers, they were the bad
zombies in the first half. They were the good zombies
in the fourth quarter where you just can't kill them.
But they were the bad zombies in the first half.
Nineteen turnovers in one half of basketball. It's insanity, and
then they won that same game. You can't really make
true sense of it. And that's one of the things

(09:02):
I thought too after the game. I thought about this.
You guys can relate to it as sports betters, but
that's the interesting thing, and sometimes the horrifying thing about
sports betting is that explanation after the game often doesn't
make as much sense before the game. So think about
after game one, what was the explanation, man, Pacers are clutch,

(09:26):
They're comfortable in tight games. They just won't die, you know,
YadA YadA, Halliburton, give him his flowers, that sort of thing.
But think back before the game even started. Okase, he's
favored by nine and a half. They've been the best
NBA team all season long. They have the best point
differential of any team in NBA history. So the explanation
of the Pacers are clutch, they're comfortable in tight games.

(09:49):
You might have brushed that to the side, like the
game might not even be close. All that stuff might
not even matter in game one. So that's the funny thing.
That's exactly what ended up happening. But if someone were
to tell you those same things before the game, you
might be like, yeah, I'm not really buying that, right, Like, yeah,

(10:09):
That's the crazy thing about sports betting is that the
end of the game explanation you might be like, yeah,
that's nice and all, but I think I'm going okay,
see minus the points in this one, you know.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
And something that really has no significance on where you
spend your money and how you adjudicate how a series
is going to go, or a game is going to go,
or half of basketball is going to go, depending on
how microscopic you'll break things down in your portfolio. The
way I answer that question, we were just discussing what

(10:41):
is a star? If I'm SGA, well, the way I
would answer it, and this wouldn't defame me, if I'm
Shake Gildriss Alexander, it wouldn't defame anybody in the league.
It's just the truth. A star is somebody who rises
above the sport they playing. A star is somebody who

(11:02):
becomes part of the zeitgeist outside of basketball or football
or baseball. Like that's what a star is. Like Lebron,
love him or hate him, is a star. He's polarizing
and he gets people talking about him. He's tabloid fodder.
He's risen above basketball, you know, I mean, he's in movies.

(11:25):
It's just that's a star.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
You know.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Kawhi Leonard is a great basketball player. He's a great
I mean, Tyrese Halliburton, he's a great basketball player, SGA
great basketball player. Those three are not stars. And you
know we're talking about MVPs and NBA Finals, MVPs and champions.
In that three person collection, none of them are stars.

(11:52):
None of them cut through the zeitgeist. All three of
them are great basketball players, but they don't have star power.
Kobe had star power, Michael Jordan had star power. Those
are people who could generate interest even if they were
playing in Cleveland. For crying out loud, I mean, look
at the finals ratings when Lebron was in Cleveland. Now

(12:12):
granted he was going against you know, the likes of
the Steph Curry led Golden State Warriors and those were
box office, you know, musty TV type moments. But still
that's a star. That's what a star looks like. We
don't have any stars left in this NBA Finals.

Speaker 5 (12:30):
Yeah, I agree with that on the on the the
broad like the surface level, but I just think that
the star. I think we're the way we try to
define it. It's like we try to wrap ourselves in
a in a paper bag when we do it. Because
I'll be honest, man, when I watch Haliburton take those
shots and be that guy, it's hard not to consider

(12:53):
him a star. But you're right, it's the Indiana Pacers
and on average, it's just not going to move the
needle like unfortunately, and that's that would be the interesting
kind of change up.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Does your opinion of him change or of the situation change.

Speaker 5 (13:11):
If the Pacers pull off one of the most this
would be one of the most insane upsets in the
history of the NBA period. If they're able to win
this series. They were like a five dollars underdog heading
into the series.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Insane.

Speaker 5 (13:24):
Nobody thought Indiana had a stone's throw in hell to
win this series. Everyone thought it was over and done
with and I still think Oklahoma City could win in
five and not break a sweat, maybe break a few sweats,
but I can still I still see them winning in five.
But if they figure out a way, like this is

(13:46):
nineteen eighty Olympics type stuff, Russia. You know, it's the
dominant team is over Union getting beaten by Team USA
Hockey and the Olympics. Like that's the kind of upset
this would be. Would that change your opinion? All rich
on the Indiana Pacers and how a Burton's star status.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, here, here's the best way I could. I could
describe what a star is in my brain. And again,
like you said, you kind of wrap yourself in. It's
it's your own subjectivity that influences this definition. So I'll
be quick here. Like if I were a director and
I was making a movie and I was trying to
pick names of players in in this you know fictitious,

(14:23):
I can only pick NBA players to make my movie with.
Like who would I make my movie with? It wouldn't
be SGA, and it wouldn't be Tyrese Haliburton, it would
be Lebron James. I might even pull Michael Jordan out
of retirement and ask him to star in the film
before I would ask Kawhi Leonard like, you know what
I mean, SGA, I mean no, thank you. DNP did

(14:46):
not participate in my movie. I need a star. I
need somebody who you know, you put Tom Cruise's name
on a movie, you are going to send people to
the movie theater just based on his name recognition. That's
what a star looks like. And now again, what you're
describing to me is greatness, Jared, Like you're talking about

(15:09):
two great players battling it out for supremacy in these
NBA finals, And I am one hundred percent I respect
it and I agree with you, but I just don't
see stardom when I look at the television screen.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
I'll say real fast where It's funny if if you
put the Pacers you can play the same game with them, right.
What you just said about Halliburn and Jared is he's
a guy you can count on to hit huge shots. Well,
look at the Pacers, right, Are they a star team?
You'd say no, But they fit the definition of what
you laid out there, right, Like how many huge shots

(15:47):
have they hit? Look at Nismith going crazy against the Knicks.
They've just come back time and time again, all these deficits.
Against the Bucks down by seven with thirty nine seconds left,
they won that game. Against the Cavs down seven with
forty seven seconds left, they won against the Knicks down
eight with forty one seconds left. They're winning all those games.

(16:10):
The latest one was Game one against OKC. They were
down by nine with two point fifty two to go,
and you're thinking, wow, three minutes and teams that were
down by at least seven in the finals in the
last three minutes oh and one twenty one before the
Pacers came back and beat OKC in Game one, that's insanity.

(16:32):
So the Pacers might fit that definition also of what
a star team would be. No one in their right
mind would call them a star team. But I think
a lot of that has to do with where they play.
If you put the same team and you put Halliburton,
especially in Knicks uniforms, and they were doing these same things,
oh my gosh, people wouldn't shut up about them.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
That's a great that's a great point. It's a tough point.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Could you imagine Nicks fans talking about Halliburton hitting all
these shots?

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Oh my gosh, You're like.

Speaker 5 (17:01):
I try to do it with Brunston and he's and listen,
I love Jalen Brunton.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
He's not a star either.

Speaker 4 (17:06):
Guys, he's not. I agree with that.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah, it's it's wild, but you know, unfortunately, the team
you play for has a lot to do with how
people think of you and talk about you.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
That's the way it goes sometimes. All right, we're off
and running.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
We've got rich Oornberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Use Code Countdown at
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Speaker 3 (17:49):
Coming up next, is our nightmare over? Or is it
just beginning? That's on the way.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's Fox Sports Radio's Countdown, presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 6 (18:00):
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Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com
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Speaker 2 (18:11):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
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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. Okay, So, on one hand, our nightmare
is over. On the other hand, it might just be beginning.
That would be Aaron Rodgers. He's finally agreed to sign
with the Steelers on a one year deal. He's expected

(18:47):
to attend mandatory mini camp next week.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
So all the teasing, all the.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Innuendos of like, hey, if you checked out the Bears
Roads schedule, there might be a team of thinking about
signing with Yeah, it was the.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Steelers all along.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
He's finally there, So all the teasing, all that side
show stuff goes away, So that nightmare is over. But
he's playing this year, so for anybody who wants him
to go far, far away, that's not going to be
the case.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
I'll just say this, Fellas.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
This reminds me so much of Brett Farv, and people
were saying the same thing when Farv would do his
off season waffling of I don't know if I'm gonna retire,
maybe I'm gonna play it, and people are just so
sick of it, they're like, just go away, please, And I.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
Said the same thing then that I'll say now.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Is I don't like all the high maintenance, unnecessary drama,
But would you rather have Mason Rudolph be the Steelers
quarterback or.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Aaron Rodgers be the Steelers quarterback?

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Right?

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Like all the nightmare stuff, I think that's mostly off
season stuff. You might get a nightmare or two during
the regular season, just in terms of unwanted drama or
some storyline that you pop on sports radio and you
don't want to hear them talking about.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
It, but they are okay.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
He might have an annoyance here or there, but I
would much rather have Rogers back playing football because he's
much more interesting than anybody the Steelers were going to
get in place of him. So I think the offseason
nightmare is over for the most part. You know, there's
still a couple more months before the season gets here,
and Rodgers is.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
Like, ooh, what I can do with this time on.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
My hands here to create some nightmares. But I think
when the season rolls around, I think most of that
nightmare stuff goes away.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
I agree. I think that Aaron Rodgers primarily is a
football player, but he is interested in other things and
is outspoken, where as many football players aren't. And I
think it's because a lot of football players are in
a position where they haven't achieved exit velocity. Meaning if
Aaron Rodgers, if he makes himself untouchable to thirty two

(20:57):
NFL teams, he's gonna be just fine. He's made enough money,
he's had enough career success to I'm sure last him
in lifetime. I mean, you know, you'll get into the
Hall of Fame conversation at some point with him, and
you know, maybe adding a championship makes that a much
easier conversation, and maybe that's what he's still chasing. But

(21:19):
that's a more personal thing. Looking at this from a
subjective standpoint, from an outsiders per view, I still think
there's good football left in Aaron Rodgers. And when you
look at Aaron's year last year and you compare it
to some of his contemporaries, like, for example, Josh Allen,
the numbers are comparable. Now, the results weren't the same,

(21:41):
but when you look at how many yards they threw four,
they're comparable. When you look at the completion percentage, they're comparable.
When you look at the passing touchdowns, they're comparable. When
you look at interceptions thrown five more for Rogers. But
then if you get into some of the more you know,
quirky analytics, like the things that people will break down

(22:02):
every single throw and look at PFF has a bad
throw percentage on Rogers last season of seventeen point three
percent and eighteen seven percent for Jared Allen. Now, I mean,
those are just numbers. Those don't speak to the full
context of what we viewed last season. And there's so

(22:23):
much about Jared or Josh Allen's game that is so
different from Aaron Rodgers game at this point. But my
point is he's still good enough to make the Steelers better,
and he's better than any quarterback on the Steelers roster
before he got there. So this was a good signing
for the Steelers, whether you like Aaron Rodgers or not.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:47):
So when I upgraded my ratings last night, a couple
of nights ago, when the story broke, I do quarterback
ratings too, and obviously Rogers and Pittsburgh had a big
question mark next to it because I wasn't ready to
put Mason Rudolph's name in there, and nor was I
ready to rate him in any way. And then when
I put Rogers name in, I remember last year. I

(23:09):
looked at my ratings last year, and I had him
slotted kind of just slightly above average, like kind of
in that Kyler Murray range and that justin Herbert range,
you know, like good, not great, like oh my god,
but still a good quarterback that obviously moves the needle.
Now I'm trying to figure out if I should put
him in that same slot or if I should downgrade

(23:30):
him like I think I've got Obviously, we've got guys
like Mahomes and Lamar and Alan Burrow, Hurt Stafford, Jaydon Daniels,
even Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, Jordan Love, Dak Prescott, C. J.
Streu to a rock purty Like, now, is that the
right slot for Rogers? Like maybe a notch below to
a but a notch above Party? Like you know, like

(23:51):
I'm trying to and I think you have to frame
it for what team he's playing for. He has to
absorb a new system in a very short period of time.
And I know he's a professional, although I will say,
in my opinion at this stage of his career, he's
more of a professional content creator that kind of moonlights
as a quarterback during the fall months. That would be

(24:14):
just just the way that I view his career right now. Like,
am I am I off base for putting him maybe
below brock Party? Or is he on the same level
as Brock Party? What about Tua? What about c J?

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Stroud?

Speaker 5 (24:27):
Like, I think that's kind of the vicinity I grade
him in with this Steelers team? Am I off base there?
Am I undervaluing him? Overvaluing him?

Speaker 4 (24:36):
Now?

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Do you guys think?

Speaker 2 (24:37):
No?

Speaker 3 (24:38):
I think that's the right round where he would be.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
I think what's funny is if you start doing the
quarterback comparison thing. What stood out more to me was saying,
what about we always talk about what about ism with
politics and all that, but you could do that with quarterbacks.
And if you think about Rogers and you start comparing
him like Rich you were comparing his numbers to Josh Allen,
and it really is crazy.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
If you just do a.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Side by side, Yeah, it's the same amount of touchdown passes,
like their completion percentage, like Josh Allen sixty three point six,
Rogers sixty three percent. So you can start playing that game.
And the thing that I would say that's different between
the two for sure is Rogers numbers were inflated a
bit because he had the second most passing attempts last season.

(25:26):
He had five hundred and eighty four passing attempts. That's
one hundred and one more passing attempts than Josh Allen.
Think about the yards he could put up with one
hundred and one more attempts, maybe the touchdowns, all that
sort of stuff. So now here comes to what about ism?
So I'm saying, well, what about Josh Allen? Well you
could counter that with, well what about Joe Burrow. He's

(25:46):
the guy who led the NFL in passing attempts and
no one says, well, I mean his numbers were inflated
because he threw so many times. No one says that
they're like, Wow, what a season from Joe Burrow, as
they should.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
The thing I think with Rogers is.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
It's so much different playing a five and twelve season
like he did, compared to a thirteen and four season
like Josh Allen. Did you know when you've got garbage
time going on and you're trailing by double digit points,
that's a completely different scenario and that can help your
stats look a lot better. So if they're in more

(26:25):
competitive games this season, that's going to have an impact
on Rogers' numbers. I just think you could do the
what about ism quarterback comparison game until you're blue in
the face, and some of it's fun, some of it's maddening.
But I think he's still a good quarterback. He's certainly
more than serviceable, I would say. But here's what it
boils down to. What will it take for Rogers season

(26:47):
in Pittsburgh to be considered a success? You ask yourself
that I think one he's got to win a playoff game?

Speaker 3 (26:55):
Would that be enough? Think about it.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
The Steelers haven't won a playoff game in eight years.
The last time Antonio Brown was doing the Facebook live video, right,
they beat the Chiefs. That's a long time ago. Like,
what was it the holding penalty? Was Eric Fisher holding
James Harrison? How long has it been since James Harrison
has been in the league. That's the last time the
Steelers won a playoff game. Would that be enough?

Speaker 3 (27:19):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Because let's say the Steelers won a wild card game
and then they got beaten soundly the next week. Would
that be considered a successful season for Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Probably not.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
It's so to answer your question about the what about
ism part of the conversation, I agree. I think comparison
is kind of the thief of joy, and so I
usually don't like to reach for like a successful quarterback
and compare him to a guy who, by all measure,
had an unsuccessful year with a fledgling franchise, like Aaron Rodgers.

(27:56):
But the reason why this one made sense to me
was to and I snuck it in at the end,
there was to counteract the idea that, well, Aaron Rodgers
threw the ball so many more times than Josh Allen.
That's why I put in the bad throw percentage, because
with less throws, Josh Allen actually statistically threw more bad
throws than Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers was smarter with the football,

(28:19):
you know. So that's the reason why I threw that
comparison up, is just to prove the point that context,
context is everything. In the NFL, we looked at Josh
Allen as an MVP category or in the MVP conversation,
we looked at Aaron Rodgers, as you know, having one
foot in the grave and one foot standing on a
banana peel, you know what I mean. But context matters.

(28:43):
And speaking of context, like where Jared is trying to
find the perfect slot for Aaron Rodgers, I think the
bigger point we're all missing is we're still considering Aaron
Rodgers a top half quarterback, which means that he's a
playoff quarterback. And at forty plus years of the Steelers
for twenty million dollars for this upcoming season, got a steal.

(29:07):
I mean this is a steal. Now. Again, context matters,
So being a good locker room leader matters, and not
being a distraction matters, and all the other things that
come with Aaron Rodgers. Those things matter too. But if
we're talking just about the football side of this, I mean,
I know he's gonna be ready for the season. I

(29:27):
know he's gonna have the Steelers playbook down the timing
with every receiver that may not be there early in
the season because he missed out on some time with
them delaying this signing. But the Steelers got a top
half quarterback who could potentially put them in the playoffs
for twenty million dollars where Rock Purty is making fifty

(29:49):
plus mill this upcoming season plus signing bonus is more
than that. I mean, if you just look at it
in terms of value. Add the Steelers just got away
with a song.

Speaker 5 (30:01):
Yeah the checklist. So I tweeted this out about a
month ago. The Steelers' offseason checklist is filling out very nicely.
The first thing was don't draft a quarterback early. We
knew that, and go back. I challenge all of you
go back and listen to our show the week.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Before the draft.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
We called this situation playing out exactly the way that
it's playing out right now.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
The Steelers are not.

Speaker 5 (30:23):
Going to draft a quarterback early because they know that
they're going to sign Aaron Rodgers. They're going to draft
the defender early. Then they're going to replace Najie Harris.
They did that with Caleb Johnson. Then they're going to
trade away George Pickens. They did that, and then after
the schedule release they're going to sign Aaron Rodgers. Why
after the schedule release, Well, I guess maybe not the
actual release of the schedule, but when they're forming the schedule,

(30:45):
which was about a month or two prior. Because if
the Steelers signed Aaron Rodgers the day after the Super
Bowl and he had a full offseason with the team,
then that game Week one against the Jets would be
primetime and probably three or four five more games on
the Steelers schedule would likely be a primetime game. And
what is the death of a schedule, in my opinion,

(31:06):
is when you got to play Monday night than Thursday night,
then Sunday night, then go back to Monday night, than
Thursday night, then Sunday night, and you don't get that
consistent Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday schedule, which most teams cove it,
especially later in the year. I think that is to me,
the way that this schedule has played out to a
t like the Steelers probably this is the worst kept secret.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
In the league for the last two months. If the
Steels are gonna sign Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 5 (31:30):
But now that it's happened and we're living in that reality, yeah,
you're right. Now the focus shifts to how good can
this Pittsburgh team be. I think we should just declare
September eighth, Mike Tomlin Day nine and eight. It's Mike
Tomlin Appreciation Day nine and eight. I don't think we're

(31:50):
gonna go to October seventh. I think September eighth, nine,
We're not gonna go ten and seven. We're gonna go
nine to eight. I think that is, to me, the ceiling.
And you look at the Steelers schedule, it is tough.
We talked about it when the schedule was released. Guys
like that stretch between weeks ten and fourteen when they

(32:10):
go Chargers Bengals at Bears, Bill's Ravens.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
I mean they go on in five in that stretch.
Would any of you be shocked?

Speaker 5 (32:19):
I wouldn't, so I think right now I think nine
wins is kind of that ceiling. Maybe they can out
fox the Bengals and be that second place team in
the AFC North. But am I crazy for saying that's
the ceiling? Nine and eight, ten and seven at max
and a second place finish in the division, maybe they
sneak into the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
That still feels like the ceiling for this team.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
I think the ceiling, like the absolute ceiling ceiling best
case scenario, has got to be higher than nine and eight,
because I mean, that was what they were LEAs and
you probably think Aaron Rodgers is capable of putting up
better numbers than collectively with the Steel had their last season, right,
So I think that the ceiling is like a scotch

(33:06):
higher than nine to eight. I think ten and seven.
That's not nearly as cool as Mike Tomlin Day. What
is that October seventh.

Speaker 5 (33:12):
I think we need to declare September eighth, September Mike
Tomlin Appreciation Day. Nine wins because it's always about getting
over five hundred. That's always the goal.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Right by the way, real fast, because you probably heard
about what Terry Bradshaw said about Aaron Rodgers. This is
nearly two weeks ago, but you might not have heard it,
and hearing it is hysterical.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
I think. So this was Terry Bradshaw.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
He was on one oh three seven The Buzz in
Arkansas talking about the possibility of the Steelers signing Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Here you go, what do you.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
Think about possibly Aaron Rodgers being the quarterback? That's a joke.
He shouldn't. That is just to me as a joke.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
What are you going to bring him in for one year?

Speaker 4 (33:52):
Are you kidding me? I mean that's raight, no.

Speaker 5 (33:56):
Man, that guy needs to stay in California to go.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Thank you were and Jube one Bark and Risker to
the gods out there.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
I had to go over and introduce myself to him.

Speaker 6 (34:06):
He's not.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
I had to go, Hey, Aaron, I'm Terry Bradshaw.

Speaker 5 (34:10):
I know he knows me, but I just felt like
I better tell him who I am and not.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
You know, you walk in there and you get in
his presence and you feel like it's gonna start snowing.
I love that description.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
It's a pretty good description right there of Rogers.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
I say, Rogers feels like the flight from Vegas.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
You know, the flight to Vegas. They were, let's go, baby,
it's time to make some money here.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
The flight from Vegas is like, oh my gosh, I
lost my money.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
I'm hungover.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Right, Rogers feels like the flight from Vegas. So we'll
see how he fits in with the Steelers. It should
be interesting because there might be a time where he
says something on McAfee's show and Cam Hayward is like,
not here in Pittsburgh or what it could be a
really interesting season. Or we've got rich O Hornberger, Penn State,
all the Mi American Jared Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm

(35:03):
Brian now coming up next the parlay platter. Is now
the perfect time to bet the under on this stunt.
We'll see if anybody's biting. It is Fox Sports Radio's
Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown
presented by BETMGM. Be sure to check out Fox Sports
Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube

(35:26):
and you'll see a whole bunch of video highlights from
our shows. Be sure to subscribe to you always have
instant access to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 6 (35:38):
Check this out parlay letter.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yes, the parlay platter. We each have one selection. We
pull it together for a greater payout.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
Jared, we start with you. What is the theme and
what is your selection?

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Sir?

Speaker 5 (35:52):
Yeah, this is gonna be uh actually, I take it back,
It might not be our last NBASGP. There is a chance,
if this series does stretch past five games, that we
will do this again next weekend. I hope we will
do this again next Saturday for a Actually no, it's

(36:12):
gonna be yeah. Game five will be Monday, June sixteen,
So yeah, no matter what, we're gonna.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
Do this again next weekend.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
So that's fun.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
So this will be our second to last NBASGP of
this season.

Speaker 5 (36:25):
I'm gonna go Jalen Williams five plus assists in this game.
I've talked about this prop a million times on this show.
Jalen Williams is probably my favorite assist player to bet on.
He's been at four and a half for pretty much
the entire postseason. Now he's been bumped up to five
and a half though. Why well, because he's had at
least five assists in fourteen out of seventeen playoff games.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
He is very consistent.

Speaker 5 (36:46):
You didn't have a great shooting game in Game one,
six for nineteen, only scored seventeen points. I think he'll
play better tomorrow night, and I think five assists, which
continues to be pretty much his floor in the playoffs,
we will get there again on Sunday night.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
Give me over the mark of five rebounds for Tyrese Haliburton.
If you look at his rebounding percentage in the postseason
compared to regular season, it's ticked up. If you look
at the minutes in usage, obviously that's ticked up. Mixed
room for more rebounding over his passport postseason appearances. Three
of the game six or more rebounds one against the

(37:23):
Knicks was a twelve rebound night. Game one against Okac
ten rebound night night. I think Indiana matches up better
as a rebounding team against Okac. So give me the
over on the five rebounds for Haliburton.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Man, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
That was one of the most stunning things that happened
in Game one, the Pacers crushing Okac on the glass.
They killed him in the rebounding department.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
I was not anticipate discuss later.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
Very nice looking forward at that.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
I'm gonna stick with Haliburton, and I'm gonna go I
think you could go under in a few different categories.
I'm gonna go under and assists. Give me under eight
and a half assists.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
I bet this.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
In Game one it cashed.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
He had five assists I forget when he got his
fifth assist and I'm like, oh gosh, we're getting a
little closer right now, and he.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Ended with five assists. Just the way OKC.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
Plays defense does not lend itself to hell of Burton
just having high assist totals game after game, right, they
clogged the paint. They make it hard to drive. He
even said after game one, He's like, if you're just
driving without a plan, that's not a good approach against OKC.
You know, you know, just drive and like I'll figure
it out. I'll kind of like jazz this thing. You know,

(38:41):
we'll go improv over here. It's not gonna work against OKC.
So I'm gonna go under eight and a half assists.
I think you could look at a couple of markets,
maybe points, rebounds, assists under thirty and a half, just
points and assists under twenty five and a half. I like,
just flat out under assists eight and a half this spot.
So I'll take that with Ylberton.

Speaker 5 (39:03):
It's not a bad little prop there because we get
or I guess parlay I should say, because we get
the you know, the reverse contrarian effect with going over
on one. Haliburton prop under on another three to one
for this parlay. And again these are relatively juicy props
to get The Williams assist prop is minus one seventy
five at bet MGM. Haliburton under assists is minus one

(39:25):
forty and then five or more rebounds for tyres is
minus one fifty five. So there pretty juicy props and
we get three to one. Not bad, and we hit
last week. By the way, let the record show that
our parlay platter was a winner last week at.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Over four to one. So let's go for two in
a row tomorrow night.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
It's beautiful right there.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Nice, let's string them together over here, let's go on
a parlay winning.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Streaky who's ever said that?

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Thanks d gambling?

Speaker 2 (39:57):
All right, come it up next, this next story, it
might cause me to blackout in a blind rage, but
it should be fun for all.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
We'll do that coming up.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Oh, welcome in Happy Saturday to you. We will get
to a story that might cause me to blackout in
a blind rage. Momentarily. It's just a few seconds from now. Hey,
use code 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 BETMGM, you'll get
instant access to a variety of parlay selection features, live

(40:27):
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 first bet. Okay, here's the story. It's
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. He thinks that the
Big Ten should have four automatic qualifying spots in the

(40:49):
college football playoff. Now, before I black out his exact quote,
here is, We're in the Big Ten, and we have
eighteen teams and some of the best programs in the country.
I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers
that would be in a sixteen team college football playoff model.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
I don't know if my voice can get gravelly enough
to accurately describe how much I hate this, you know
what I mean, Like Bruce Buffer does the It's time.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
I don't know if I could do that with I
hate the idea of automatic qualifying teams in college football.
I hate it.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
It's like, look, man, nothing should be automatic play a legit,
schedule win games and you'll be in. But nothing should
be promised where hey, you're the fourth best team in
the Big Ten, Well, guess what might be a down
year and your record might not be playoff worthy, but you.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
Have an automatic spot.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
I hate the idea of automatic spots from any conference
so much. Just schedule up, win games, and you will
be one of the sixteen teams guaranteed, all right, So
I don't want any guarantees outside of that.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
It's like, just fill your resume and they're gonna vote
you in.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
You're not gonna get screwed if you schedule up and
win a bunch of games.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
This is not gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (42:15):
I'm I'm a fan of you know, the way the
NFL is set up with division winners getting an auto
bid and a higher seed in the postseason. We talked
about that in the past. So if there was a
more equitable balance system in NCAA that they could follow
with college football, I would be a fan of that.

(42:37):
But they don't have that in place, so not all
conference winners conference champions are built equally. Now. Granted, neither
are division winners in the NFL, and so even with
a more perfect system. You have imperfections everywhere you look.
But I guess my point being, if the IF College

(43:00):
football or Ryan Day want to be appeased by having
more guarantees given to certain teams, well they need to
get away from this monolithic structure and get more to
a more broken down structure. Like at some point, maybe
the Big Ten needs to fracture, you know, if you

(43:21):
want to have something more balanced where there's more auto bids.
Maybe the Big Ten fractures into an East and a
West conference within the super conference that they've built. You know,
maybe the same thing happens with the SEC. I'm just
spitballing here. Maybe a North and South conference in the ACC.
We'll see, you know. I mean, that's becoming almost like
a Pan America conference. But it's the point I'm trying

(43:47):
to make is I mostly agree with you, Brian. I
think that what these coaches are searching for are assurances
because it helps them in the category of job security.
If if Ryan Day can make sure that as his
conference becomes more competitive, there are certain guarantees coming Ohio

(44:08):
State's way, knowing that he's going to be at very
least close to the top of the bunch every single season. Well,
that's the reason why he's putting up this fight. It's
it's serving self interest and those self interests are to
be one of the better teams that have an easier
time recruiting as a result of that.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
So many things just came to mind when you said
the Pan American Conference. You remember the scene in basketball
where Dan Patrick and Kenny Mayne are going back and
forth about their insane play, like the crazy playoff structure
that had, and it's like, the Milwaukee Beers must beat
Indianapolis to advance to Charlotte. That's in an effort to
reduce their magic number to three. They can advance to

(44:49):
the National Eastern Division North.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
To play like. It's just it's just the first thing
that came to mind.

Speaker 5 (44:55):
All Right, I'm gonna do a I'm going to do
a translator here for we want four automatic qualifiers in
the playoff. Not a coincidence. Tryan that you're saying that.
Here's the translation. Oh crap. A few years ago, we
scheduled Texas in a non conference game, and now we've
got to play them the first week of the year.

(45:15):
And it'd be great if we could just you know,
have some kind of format in place where if we
lost that game, it wouldn't really impact our chances of
making the playoff. That is the translation for what Ryan
Day is trying to tell you.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
You can't have.

Speaker 5 (45:30):
A twelve team field and have four big ten teams, period,
end of story. I do think we are getting to
a place where the automatic qualifiers are going to be
structured differently. I think you have to have some kind
of structure in place if you're going to continue to
expand the playoff. I have no freakin idea what the

(45:52):
best solution is. Thankfully, that is not my job.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Description.

Speaker 5 (45:57):
It is my job to analyze what happens once it happens,
but it is not my job to actually create the system.
We have gone back and forth about this for the
last three this again. There's gonna be a fourth college
football season. We're gonna be doing this show this fall.
We have been talking about this at nauseum for three years.
It will continue to be talked about until they figure
out some kind of solution that works. The problem is,

(46:19):
every single time they figure out a solution that works,
the goalposts get moved because they want to expand the playoff.
I don't know what the end result is going to be.
I know it's not gonna be whatever we see this
year or even next year.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
I know they will continue to move the goalposts.

Speaker 5 (46:35):
And I'm sure Ryan Day's opinion if he's still at
Ohio State in five years, when we're still expanding, this
thing will continue to change and evolve as the format
continues to change and evolve.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
My point being.

Speaker 5 (46:46):
Having some kind of dead set opinion on what you
think the playoffs should be now today in twenty twenty five,
there's just wait another year, and I'm sure your opinion
is going to change. I don't know what the right
situation is. I don't know what the right answer is.
I know it's not gonna be what we have now,
and it's gonna be fascinated to see this and continue

(47:08):
to evolve.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
Well, I'll tell you what, man. And this is something
that Rich alluded to. That's the biggest problem with college football.
You've got a bunch of people that are looking out
for what's best for them instead of what's best for
college football. And Ryan Day is the poster child for this.
Some of the things that he said about winning four
automatic qualifying spots. It's either total bs or it's an

(47:32):
empty threat. Here's an empty threat. So you talked about this,
Jared Ohio State. They open up this season by hosting Texas.
It's a tough game. Texas is going to be one
of the best teams in college football, gonna be highly ranked.
Ryan Day said, if you don't have those automatic qualifiers,
you're less likely to play a game like we're playing

(47:52):
this year against Texas because it just won't make sense.
And here's the thing where this is a total empty threat. Well,
then why are you playing Texas this year? Are there
automatic qualifying spots this year for the Big Ten and
the College Football Playoff? There are not, So why are
you playing Texas? Like this idea of well, if we
don't have automatic qualifiers, we're just not gonna play Texas

(48:15):
going forward. You're playing them, now, why would why would
that automatically change going forward?

Speaker 3 (48:21):
Such an empty threat? Now, this is the other thing.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
So Ryan Day also said that a college football playoff
model with more automatic spots would benefit the sport because
it will incentivize stronger non conference scheduling. Right, so there's
some truth to this, right, but it's total bs as well.
So I'm supposed to believe. Let's just play this game

(48:44):
where the Big twelve they have four automatic spots and the.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
Big Ten only has two.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
You think Ryan Day would be like, that's cool, it'll
still incentivize stronger non conference scheduling.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
No, it's total bs, like stop talking.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
I hate your words, I hate your arguments, I hate
your statements because he and say, I hate your face.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
This is what's best for Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
In the Big Ten, and I'm trying to shoehorn these
stupid arguments that people that don't read between the lines
are gonna buy.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
Don't buy anything this dude is saying.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
It's all based on what's best for Ohio State in
the Big Ten.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
But some of the excuses, it's like the.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
NFL trying to get rid of the tush push because
of safety reasons. It's not a safety issue, all right,
you buys will be honest to be like, we just
don't like to play, that's it.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
We don't like it.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
But instead they try to like shoehorn these excuses. That's
what Ryan Day is doing. And I'm sick of it.
I hate it.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
It feels like an insurance policy, you know. And and
football is a sport and coaching the game and playing
the game is it feels like a sport where so
much caution is thrown to the win. And when you
hear a coach like asking for certain I don't know,

(50:07):
consolations to be made for being pretty good, you know,
for being pretty good, like, look, we were great this season,
but we're a top four, you know what I mean?
Like that, Those are the types of conversations where you
can sort of see through what's what's really happening, you
know what I mean. Like it's people like when when

(50:29):
you are when you go full send, whether or not
it's the best thing for you or for your team.
As a fan especially, they like it when you say, hey,
we're gonna be the best and here's why, as opposed
to saying something like, well, if you honestly want my
thoughts on the playoff system, I think we should have
more auto bits from the Big ten, you know, just
in case we have a one off season where we're

(50:52):
a little shaky at quarterback. You know, It's like, it
doesn't it doesn't encourage the listening audience or the fan base,
the Buckeye faithful to say to themselves like, oh, this
is a guy who feels a secure in his role
or be like like he's going to be able to
replicate the level of success we've just enjoyed recently. That's

(51:15):
not a good feeling, you know, And look the door
swings the other way. You know. People are sickened by
over confidence, you know, they call it arrogance, and sometimes
sometimes that's misconstrued, you know, because you kind of have
to be overly confident to achieve at such a high level. Look,
there's really no win for Ryan day when you're at

(51:36):
the top of the mountain. Everybody's gonna draw a target
on your back. But I'll agree with you. I will
acquiesce to the fact that Brian there have been so
many moments publicly where he's said something that kind of
nauseates me. And I'm sure he's a nice guy. I'm
sure he's a great guy. Like if he was sitting
next to me in the room I'm sitting in, I'm
sure I'd get along with him and we would talk

(51:57):
football and it would be great. But like, there are
parts of the public profile that you know, all of
a sudden, you know, it's like sitting in a room
where there's a bad smell. You're like, is everybody else
smelling that, Like, you know, it's it's just kind of
one of those things with Ryan Day and he walks
into it like twice or three times a year.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
It's the Catalina wine mixer scene.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
Yeah, your stepbrothers.

Speaker 5 (52:23):
I love this is like it, Rob Wriggle, It's like,
I love this is great. It's the Catalina wine mix
You're killing it, but there's just something about your face
and I just want to plant one of these suckers
right in it. And that's Will Ferrell Rob Wriggle elite
scene in movies. Go watch it. You'll enjoy get a
laugh out of it. We discussed this before the National
Championship game.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
I remember because.

Speaker 5 (52:44):
I cut a clip on it and I posted it
and it was exactly this.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
It was after I forget which game it might have been.
I forget which game.

Speaker 5 (52:52):
It was an earlier game in the season when Ohio
State pulled out a win and they interviewed Ryan Day
on the field after the game like our team is
so tough, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
I know you was two years ago because because Lou
Holtz was like, they're not a physical team, and that's where.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
We're a tough team.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
We're a tough team.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Shut up, Brian Day. Go jump in a river right now, please.

Speaker 4 (53:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
And I remember we talked about it, and the whole
vibe was if you have to go on national TV
after beating I think they were a big favorite in
that game and go and say that your team is tough, well,
then your team's probably not that tough.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
And I think that just kind.

Speaker 5 (53:36):
Of speaks And again, they won the national championship, they
had a gajillion dollar roster, they were the best team
in college football. I'm not taking anything away from that,
but and I feel this way about my life. If
I have to announce to the world that I am this,
I'm a good gambler. I'm a good broadcaster. Like I
have to say I am the greatest broadcaster of all time,

(53:57):
well then I'm probably not a great broadcaster. Like if
you have to say it, don't talk about it, be
about it. And I think that's the issue that a
lot of people have with Ryan Day, is that don't
just use your you know, goofy charm to kind of
will people to believe in your team. Just go out
there and perform and then people will believe in your team.

(54:19):
And they did that and they won. But then you
get these little moments that he puts his foot in
his mouth and you're like.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
Dude, you don't need to do this.

Speaker 5 (54:26):
Go out there and smack Texas in the mouth because
you've got the best team and the best roster, and
then nobody will question whether or not you're going to
be in the playoff. Like that's all you have to do.
But I think there is this little disconnect. I think
Rich alluded to it perfectly, like there's just something off,
Like it doesn't pass the smell to us when he
opens his mouth sometimes.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Yeah, yeah, it's I don't know, man, I would love
to and we could do this in the years to come.
How many years the fourth best team in the Big
Ten is not worthy of a spot in a sixteen
team playoff.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
It's gonna be incredibly rare, right, So it's like, why
why do you need this.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
This little bit of security over here. It's like you
don't even really need it. And if you don't deserve
a playoff spot because you have four losses, let's say
it's a down year the top teams in the Big Ten,
it's like it's just lame. It's just so and his
arguments suck. His arguments suck to support something that's fundamentally
lame with automatic spots for a conference.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
It was Indiana this year, by the way, that was
the fourth best team even they got in and it
was only a twelve team field.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Well that's the thing is if you just go by
the standings, Ohio State was fourth in the Big ten.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
Yeah, which is funny timing, right right, or maybe that's
why this is all coming to light right now?

Speaker 2 (55:50):
All right, We've got Rich Hornberger, Penn State, All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
I'm Brian no.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
Be sure to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just it's Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see
a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows. And
be sure to subscribe to you always have instant access
to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. All right,
Coming up next, a dumb decision looks even dumber now,
It's hilarious how this has worked out. It is Fox

(56:18):
Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM, and it's time
for the tire rack play of the Day to lady,
and you're.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
Pulling up warns box shash here.

Speaker 7 (56:33):
To march shake can turn the series shot goods and
over time and the Panthers win game two by four
the series.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
It's time hit a game apiece.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
That's a great call. On the Panthers Radio network. For
over forty years, ti Raq has been helping customers find
the right tires for how what drive shipped fast and
free back by free road hazard detection with convenient installation
options like mobile tire installation, tire rack dot com. The
way tire buying should be. What a traumatic ending Florida

(57:09):
Panthers winning double overtime last night against Edmonton series is
tied one apiece? And how how crazy is it? And
it is ironic. It's the opposite of what you would expect.
It's drilled into my head by Tom Looney's a stickler
for what really is and what is not irony, right,
but this would be ironic. The guy who scored, he
didn't even shoot the puck. He kind of just like

(57:32):
mishandled it and it trickled into the net. It wasn't
even a shot. It wasn't a game winning shot. It
was like a game winning I don't even know what
you would say. He just guided the puck in without
shooting it. It was crazy, insane ending there. We'll get some
puck love going here in just a few minutes, but
let's start with this. A dumb decision looks even dumber now.

(57:53):
The Knicks fired Tom Thibodeaux.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Now, in my.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Opinion, this is in fact my opinion, this is a
dumb decision. So they just extended him. Last summer, the
Knicks reached reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first
time in twenty five years. Think about that. A quarter century.
They hadn't been in the Eastern Conference finals. They just
got there, and they let him go. He made the
playoffs in four or five years with the Knicks, and

(58:19):
they had consecutive fifty win seasons for the first time
since the nineties. And before Thiboudeau was there, the Knicks
hadn't made the playoffs for seven straight seasons. And I'll
let him go. Now, I think that's dumb. I think
it looks even dumber. After the team the Knicks lost
to the Pacers had this dramatic game, one comeback, another comeback.

(58:44):
So it's not just the Knicks that were victims of
the Pacers being the zombies of.

Speaker 4 (58:48):
The sports world.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
They just pulled off another one, like DJ Khaled said,
against Okase, the best team in basketball, they just did
it again to them.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
So the timing of that, I think it makes this
decision right.

Speaker 4 (59:04):
Now, that's right, I I I you know, I'm going
to compare this to a person that I knew in
my own life, and I'll remove all contexts because I
don't want to embarrass anybody. But I knew a guy
who was one of the best at what he did
and really struggled, and I'm talking about in the workplace,

(59:26):
really struggled with authority, Like at every turn. It just
felt like when somebody in any supervisory capacity would give him,
you know, some sort of even commendation, not even just
like criticism, like even compliments, he would have a problem

(59:47):
with it because he just hated authority, you know, And
so he made no friends with people above his his
status at work and his peers loved him. And as
a result of this, you know, kind of abrasive attitude,
he didn't advance, Like over the years, you know, his

(01:00:08):
pay increased, you know, he became more veteran amongst his
peers at work and all those things, but he just
never really got to the next level. Always was offered
supervisor jobs, never took them because he was like, I'm
not going to be one of them. You know, you
won't catch me doing that. And it's like, okay, that

(01:00:31):
is a very i don't know what to call it.
That is a very proud attitude to have. But as
we know, it's biblical pride comes before the fall. Tibbs
is a really talented coach. I'm curious what his interpersonal
relationships are like within a building. I'm curious. I'm curious

(01:00:52):
if he's playing the game essentially, is what I'm saying.
Because yeah, we're talking about basketball, right, We're talking about
the game of basketball, but there's also the game of life.
There's also the game of interpersonal relationships. There's also the
game of like you gotta you know, sometimes finesse the
owner and sometimes get along with people you don't really

(01:01:13):
like to get along with. Is he doing those things?

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Yeah, I'll say real fast, Jared, it'll be bite sized.
It reminds me a lot of Belichick what you just
described right there, Richard. Imagine if Belichick didn't have all
those rings right. It's like he had all those rings
and Robert Kraft couldn't wait to get rid.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
Of them because he's not mister like, hey, Rob, how's
it going, man? How is the fishing this weekend?

Speaker 5 (01:01:38):
I was wondering which where you're going that story? And
then you landed the plane very successfully. And I think
that's a fair assessment to make on the situation. I
don't know what the situation is behind the scenes. Here
is how I assess the situation. The New York Knicks
were a team that were primed, primed to make the
finals this year. They beat the Boston Celtics to defending champs,

(01:02:03):
waxed the floor with them in the clinching game. They
had home court advantage in the conference finals. They had
a lead, a big lead in Game one, couldn't get
over the hump, couldn't get across the finish line, couldn't
even get back to New York for a Game seven
to try to defend the home court and try to

(01:02:24):
make it to the finals for the first time since
I was a young pup. If you're not getting to
that point with this team, I think that's about as
high as we can expect this team to fly. I
just don't think there is another step for this team
to accomplish. If you can't make the finals this year

(01:02:47):
with home court, after beating the defending champs with all
the momentum, you're probably not making the finals.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
With this team.

Speaker 5 (01:02:55):
And I think Knicks ownership, Knicks leadership looked at the situation.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
And said, this was the ceiling.

Speaker 5 (01:03:03):
We made it as far as we can go with
this group, and now we have to change it up.
Whether you agree with that or not, that's up for debate.
But I think that's why this occurred because on the surface, you're.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Like, why did he get fired?

Speaker 4 (01:03:18):
Like?

Speaker 5 (01:03:18):
Are they not having a ton of success? Are they
not going to the Eastern Conference Finals? Are they not
continuing to win fifty plus games? Are they not packing
the garden every night? Do they not have stars?

Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
Like?

Speaker 5 (01:03:29):
They check all the boxes except the expectation that I
think was supposed to be met this year was not
met despite all the parameters falling into place. If you
would have told me before the playoffs started, hey, Jared,
the Knicks are gonna beat the Celtics in a seven
game series and look convincing while doing it. I'm doing

(01:03:51):
the dance to the NBA Finals, Baby, We're doing the
two step. They had home court in that series, still
couldn't get across the finish line.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
I think that's why this happened.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Well, I think the way Knicks fans reacted it's pretty
much how ownership in the front office is reacting. Because
I go back to when the Knicks won to take
a three to one series lead against the Celtics. They
won the game, they won Game four and Tatum went
down and I can remember distinctly after that.

Speaker 4 (01:04:24):
You know, Steven A.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
Smith, who is a huge Knicks fan, He's like.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
We going to the finals.

Speaker 3 (01:04:29):
We go into the finals, baby like.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
That's how ownership in the front office is reacting. By
firing Tom Thibodeau, I think they were saying the same
things prob.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
I could picture James Dolan like, we.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Going to the finals, baby, like all the front office
people and then they didn't and now it's an overreaction.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle thought the news of Thibodeau
getting fired was fake AI.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
It does seem like some fake AI stuff, And I'll
compare it this way.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
I think Tom Thibodeau is the Russell Westbrook of NBA
coaches think about what's similar. So Westbrook, he's a surefire
Hall of Famer. He averaged a triple double in four
separate seasons. That's insane. But yet what anybody ever talks
about with Russ is negative. I can't shoot, it's west Brick,

(01:05:21):
it's this, it's this freaking guy. Maybe every now and
then they'll be like, the guy plays hard, and then
it's negative, negative, negative negative.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
That's what they do with Tom Thibodeaux.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
Tom Thibodeau has strengths and weaknesses, and all anybody ever
talks about are the weaknesses, the drawbacks. It's like he's
playing his guys max minute. He's driving them into the ground.
You know, That's all you ever hear. It's look at
the buy in. His team's played hard. There was a culture,
there was an identity like that stuff matters, and yet

(01:05:53):
all it is is, oh, the minutes, the workload, the minutes,
the workload, the minutes, the workload. That's all anyone ever
hammers home. It's like the Knicks are interested in speaking
to Jason Kidd. You think the sky's the limit if
they get Jay Kidd in there, Like, what is j
Kid bringing that Tibbs doesn't really what is it?

Speaker 4 (01:06:12):
Yeah, it's a it's a great question. I mean, it
really is. It's a you know, when you have a
successful formula and you think to yourself, like, yeah, but
I'm tired of the messaging. The grass always seems greener,
you know what I mean? It really does it. And
you you don't just see this in basketball, obviously, you
see this in football. Think about Steelers fans. How many

(01:06:37):
Steelers fans out there are so tired of the same
old note being passed to them every season after season
about Mike Tomlin like, oh yeah, great, another winning season,
Thanks Mike. It's like, are we really checking the boxes
we want to check? It's just like no, well, hang on,
let's hit pause for a second. Yeah, you're right, you're right.

(01:06:59):
Sometimes you can hire the next hot upcoming offensive coordinator
turned head coach and you're lucky enough to get a
Sean McVay, right, just a savant, a brilliant mind who
also turns into a great delegator and an orchestrator of
a system that works. And you know, in his young
career has already had two visits to the Super Bowl

(01:07:20):
and one Super Bowl win. And sometimes it. It flops
completely and utterly and disastrously, like we see more times
than not, and we don't even need to mention the names.
How many coordinators get the role of head coach and
they end up losing that job sometimes within their first season,
you know, So, yeah, the grass is always greener when

(01:07:41):
you're looking at your current head coach and saying, yeah,
I mean he wins, but he's really abrasive, or he wins,
but you know the locker room's getting sick of him.
It's like, Okay, those things may be true, but maybe
it's better to have a conversation with the person and
try to, I don't know, evolve the relationship as opposed

(01:08:02):
to just throwing out the baby with the bathwater and saying, hey,
we need to start over, because guess what, again, the
grass is not always greener on the other side.

Speaker 5 (01:08:11):
September eighth, Baby Mike Tomlin Appreciation Day nine and eight.
I think there's a lot of Mike Tomlin in TIMMS.
I think that's a very good comparison. Tough rough around
the edge is not gonna win over any beauty pageants
or anything like that with their coaching style, but effective

(01:08:36):
I think Honestly, I think there's a chance, and this
is we meet maybe the Knicks fandom. In me speaking,
I think there's a chance that the Knicks had a
culture that was being built that will be very tough
to replicate with whoever they bring in.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
That is the one.

Speaker 5 (01:08:51):
And we've had this debate on the show before how
much do NBA coaches really matter when it comes down
to it, And I know the two of you are
kind of on opposite side.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
I'm a little more neutral on it.

Speaker 5 (01:09:01):
I think there are times when they matter, and for
the most part though they're kind of figureheads. However, the
part that matters the most is the culture setting the
tone that gets set. That is the coach, and that
is something that TIBs, I would say, excels in.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
I actually think that is his strength.

Speaker 5 (01:09:21):
He might be one of the best tone setters as
a coach in the entire league.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
And that is something that New York.

Speaker 5 (01:09:29):
Was lacking for years on the bench. They had it
with Van Gundy. He was hanging on at Alonzo Morning's
leg and dragged across the court. You want to talk
about setting a tone, and they haven't had it since
I would say Mike Woodson had.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
It a little bit. He had that you know, big
tough chin.

Speaker 5 (01:09:45):
He's gonna, you know, kind of stare you down with that,
you know, with those you know, steely, steely eyeballs.

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
I would say Tips had it too.

Speaker 5 (01:09:53):
He had that weird comb over like it just he
had that kind of grit.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
He had that grit that maybe's not flat.

Speaker 5 (01:10:00):
She's sexy, polished, but when it comes to hey, we
got to be tougher than the other team on this
one play. Like I trust Tips to get the most
out of his team on that one play. Now you're
kind of no man's land again. Is Jason Kidnt be
able to come in and set that tone? Dan Hurley
gonna come in and set that tone?

Speaker 4 (01:10:17):
Jay?

Speaker 5 (01:10:17):
Right, like all these names I'm hearing, I think it's
gonna be a really tough bit, not necessarily big shoes
to fill from a schematic standpoint, but from a culture standpoint, Yeah,
I think this is gonna be a tough hire.

Speaker 6 (01:10:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
No, all that's well said.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
It is, and it's easy to do that. We always
compare it to dating. You know a lot of sports,
like let's compare this to dating, and that to dating,
and everything to dating. But it really is true where
you get in a relationship and you might start looking
at what's not great, what's not exactly to your liking,

(01:10:52):
and you start getting interested in the possibility of switching
things up, and then you realize, oh, there's stuff wrong
in this relationship, you know, Like that's the way it goes.
I remember, just in a radio sense, one of my
good friends in Fresno, guy named Greg, we were talking
to and I'm like, I don't know what's up with
this or what's up with that? And he told me

(01:11:13):
he is like, you know, radio guys will think about
this a lot, where hey, if I go to this market,
and then he's like, there's always going to be problems always.

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
And I think that's the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:11:24):
I think there can be a tendency with Tibbs to
see the downside and be like, man, he is running
his starters into the ground, and we're just so infatuated
with load management, and Tibbs goes the exact opposite way.
I don't think load management has all these benefits that
most people think. I mean, there are drawbacks the load
management as well, but it's the anti Tibbs anti Westbrook.

(01:11:48):
Even though there are drawbacks all anybody talks about is
the upside of load management, you know, and Tibbs went
the other way. So there's a tendency to think, hey,
if we have a different head coach, and that I
think when they get another head coach, it's going to
be a matter of time until they see the strengths
of TIBs a lot more clearly. And by that time

(01:12:09):
it doesn't matter because he's gone. He already fired him. Yeah,
but that happens a lot in life, where you think
the grass is greater and you're like, man, we had
it better than we thought.

Speaker 3 (01:12:19):
I think that's what the Nicks had with TIBs.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
I was having a conversation with my wife about our kids,
and you know, and and one of the things we
were talking about was competitiveness because we're both former athletes.
You know, I played in the NFL. She played Division
one college volleyball. And so we look at our we
look at our kids and we you know, and and

(01:12:44):
you know, sports is starting to become more of the
profile with the younger one. It's not really catching on
with the older one. And competitiveness is an interesting trait
that you want to instill in your kids. In certain ways,
because obviously the world is a competitive place and things
like that, and and there are kids, and when you
start making people, you realize this, there are certain people

(01:13:07):
who are innately born with more of that gene than others.
You know. Like, but but what's interesting is you realize, like, Okay, well,
maybe maybe the competitiveness is a little bit lower with
this one, but maybe like the kindness quotion is a
little bit higher, you know, maybe maybe the killer instinct

(01:13:27):
is a little bit lower with this coach, or excuse me,
it is a little bit higher with this coach, but
the next guy we bring in, maybe you're like lacking
that a little bit. You know. It's kind of my point.
It's like, and you can coach people up. Like nobody
is static, nobody is set in stone. Like things change
and you can have conversations and you can evolve things.

(01:13:48):
I'm curious how many conversations those who are in control
of the decision making to end Tibb's tenure as head
coach with the Knicks had with Tibbs before they made
this decision, because if they didn't have enough of those
type of conversations and he had like frankly unprecedented success,
if you look at recent history with the New York Knicks,

(01:14:11):
then they really holy f and airball, like I mean
they really, Then they really missed on this because good
luck finding a guy to get you back to the
Eastern Conference finals as quickly as Tims did in his
short tenure with the Knicks.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Yeah, absolutely, no doubt. Well said, well said by all
once to three teen. Very well we got rich Orenberger,
Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian.
No score bigger at bet MGM. When you win with
boost tokens, odds, boost tokens and more. Even if your
bet doesn't hit, We've got you covered with no sweat tokens.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
And that's not all.

Speaker 2 (01:14:47):
Sign up with bet MGM today and you'll have access
to countless basketball betting options, including new look, same game parlays, teasers,
live bets, and so much more. Watching the French open er,
sorry and gis really so bad, but yeah, it's a
tiebreaker in the first set and it looks like Coco
Goff is ahead six five right now, could go either

(01:15:09):
way with Sablenca, so really good first set in Roland
GARROSI we don't get.

Speaker 1 (01:15:15):
A lot of live sports during the show. Yeah, that happens.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
We get football in London and the French open every
now and then, right, pretty much all we get all
right coming up weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:15:25):
Yeah, maybe a little bit. All right, we got prop
it up.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
Right around the corner the prop betting market, there was
a stud will he continuous studley ways, and there was
a dud will he rebound? Going forward to get to
those stories. It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM.
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM.
Use Code Countdown at bet MGM and receive up to

(01:15:50):
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,
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up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if
you don't win your first bet.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
All right, let's do.

Speaker 6 (01:16:10):
This prop it up player plays.

Speaker 3 (01:16:15):
Okay, the betting market shared. We start with you with.

Speaker 4 (01:16:19):
Something you like.

Speaker 1 (01:16:20):
Well, it's funny.

Speaker 5 (01:16:21):
I was doing some perusing this morning, some browsing, and
I'm gonna pull a page out of my good file
Bryan Knows playbook.

Speaker 1 (01:16:28):
Here do you want to player game?

Speaker 5 (01:16:30):
So the series players Specials tab on bet MGM. There
are some really ton ones and I wanted to give
out a couple and maybe I'll let you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
Two kind of tell me which one you like the best.
So I know I love Jalen Williams.

Speaker 5 (01:16:44):
I think he Other than him and Sga, those be
only two guys on the tunder that I'm convinced they're
gonna play thirty five minutes every single game. So, by
the way, Jalen Williams actually tied for the most assists
in Game one he had six Haliburton at six. I
think Nemhard also at six, or Nie Smith one of
those guys also at six. You can still get Jalen
Williams at twenty to one to have the most assists
in the series. I think that's an intriguing bet, you know,

(01:17:06):
in terms of a future for the entire series.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
Here's another interesting one that I like. How about Jalen Williams.

Speaker 5 (01:17:11):
To score seventeen points in every game of the series.
He went six for nineteen the other day still got there,
So I think that's an interesting bet.

Speaker 1 (01:17:18):
That's plus two twenty five.

Speaker 5 (01:17:20):
And this one might be my favorite one right here, guys,
I think this is the one we bet.

Speaker 1 (01:17:23):
How about SGA to score thirty in every game of
the series. That's plus two seventy five. Dude's averaging thirty
five a night.

Speaker 5 (01:17:32):
It just seems like he's always at the line getting points,
and thirty almost seems like the floor for him most nights.
So I don't love any of these. These are all
plus money props.

Speaker 1 (01:17:42):
I like all of them.

Speaker 5 (01:17:42):
I don't know if any of you guys have an opinion,
but I love the series.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
Special bets. Take a look. I might find something you
like in that teb Yeah, that is.

Speaker 4 (01:17:51):
A unique way to do it. I'm going just points.
Just give me Aaron Nesmith under the eleven and a half.
Here's the reason why the offensive flow doesn't oftentime flow
through him, and he's He's failed to reach that mark
four times over the last five games in the postseason,

(01:18:13):
So when I look at the whole offensive construction, I
don't necessarily see how he's going to best that mark
in this game, especially with the perimeter defense, putting the
clamps the way the way O case he does, give me,
give me Nie Smith under eleven and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
Okay, a couple on my radar, little pucklove, I'm going
Bob again. I'm going back to the Bob Well Pabrovski
over twenty five and a half saves Edmonton just gets
a ton of shots on goal, and he's gonna have
a ton of saves. I like him to get over
twenty five and a half again. And if you're looking

(01:18:53):
for someone to rebound, pardon the bad pun, but it's
gotta be set Home. Yeah, over eight and a half rebounds.
He was freaking awful. Now look at me though, freaking awful.
In Game one, he did nothing. He barely scored, he
barely had any rebounds. Indiana is not a good rebounding team,

(01:19:17):
and they out rebounded okay see by seventeen in game one.
That's got a change going forward. I think Home Grin's
minutes probably be up. I think the focus when it
comes to rebounding collectively will be up. So I'm gonna
take Chet over eight and a half rebounds in game
two tomorrow night.

Speaker 4 (01:19:36):
Okay, okay, man, little I.

Speaker 5 (01:19:39):
Don't know if you're going, bob chet, Yeah, I think
you're right on Homegrom. You gotta be a heart scene
back in the starting lineup, get the two bigs together.

Speaker 2 (01:19:47):
Yeah right, well that goes into what we're talking about
coming up. Yep, the small ball mishap. Welcome in, Happy
Saturday to you man. We will get to coaching mishaps.
I'm sorry, one coaching mishap on the way here in
just a few seconds. Hey, you can stream this show

(01:20:07):
in all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty
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Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
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(01:20:28):
the top of your screen. Okay, so the Game two preview,
it requires a Game one review, right, So we got
game two tomorrow night in the NBA Finals, and okasee
head coach Mark Dagnolt might have to change up his
game over here, right, So game one you alluded to this, Jared,
he benched Isaiah Hartenstein and it didn't work out. He

(01:20:53):
went with Cason Wallace and Okaysee got pounded on the
glass fifty six to thirty nine. That was Indiana's rebounding edge.
And okay See went small ball at the end of
the game and it just didn't work out. You had
Hartenstein only played seventeen minutes home Grin only played twenty
four minutes, and so when you're tinkering with the starting lineup,

(01:21:15):
when you go small ball down the stretch, both of
those decisions were horrible and directly impacted the game. If
you're looking at the coaching you know, breakdown. Carlisle gets
a gold star for the way he handled the final sequence,
didn't call time out. Haliburton got a favorable matchup, got
to his spot, rose up, hit the shot. If there's

(01:21:38):
a time out by Carlile, okay See has a chance
to get set and they're probably putting the Dorcher chamber
on Haliburton right, it would make more sense.

Speaker 3 (01:21:48):
So the coaching advantage greatly favored.

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
Indiana in game one, and I want to see if
Dagnault changes things up, because man, his approach to game
one was not smart, It did not work up, workout all,
and you might go back to Hartenstein for game two.

Speaker 3 (01:22:03):
We'll see.

Speaker 4 (01:22:04):
Look, there are so many times where I've been a
part of successes and wins and important playoff moments where
changes were necessary and those changes midstream led to better outcomes.
But there's also times where and we've all witnessed these things,
even from the standpoint of playing armchair quarterback, where you're

(01:22:28):
watching it in action and you're saying, why are they
doing this? Why is this team getting away from what
they do? You know, because here are the risks. While
there are many positive potential positives that can come of
changing things at halftime or even midstream, during the course
of a quarter break, you know, you lose momentum. Sometimes

(01:22:48):
it can create confusion. You know, when you take players
out of the well beaten groove that they've been in
for a long time, you can definitely create confusion. And
also you may be reacting to a stimulus more emotionally
than strategically in those those moments, and and as a result,

(01:23:11):
because it's not as strategic, you risk repeating mistakes. So
somebody gets beat off the dribble drive who's playing out
of position because all of a sudden, you you you
wanted to switch things up, and then it happens again
on the next possession, and you know, you call time
out and you bring that player over to the bench
and you say, hey, why, you know, why are you

(01:23:31):
getting beat out there? You know we talked about this,
you were gonna you were gonna be in iso. You're
not waiting for help and blah blah blah and this
and that, and you're guarding him too tight, and you
know you're wasting a lot of time correcting a mistake
that's happened now twice because this player is playing out
of position and it's your fault because you changed the strategy.

(01:23:51):
That player was ready with a game plan and you
switched it up mid streams. So as a coach, you
gotta be really careful when you do those sort of things.

Speaker 5 (01:24:01):
Yeah, why would you switch anything up? Yeah, Like it
goes back to DJ Khaled, You played yourself. Okse has
run through this postseason, like, absolutely run through this postseason.
They just won the Western Conference Finals convincingly in five games.
They beat the defending defending champs from two years ago

(01:24:24):
and the greatest player on the planet, Nicola Jokic and
I know that series was tight, but you slayed the
Dragon with this lineup, the twin tower biggs.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
Why is that important?

Speaker 5 (01:24:36):
Well, chet Holmgrim, I would say, like, if you were
going to classify the two bigs, I think Holmegrim is
less of a big than Hartenstein. Right Homegrim stretches the floor,
shoots threes. He's more of a lanky, wing kind of guy.
He does have the size to be a big, I'm
not taking that away from him, but in terms of
his style, he is not shack when it comes to
his playing style, a little more finesse. And I think

(01:25:00):
when you have him and Heartenstein on the floor together,
you open up the ability for Homegrim not to be
relied on for a true center role.

Speaker 1 (01:25:10):
He can stretch the floor, he can go rover a
little bit like Jackie Moon.

Speaker 5 (01:25:15):
And then you take them off, You take Hartstein off
the floor, and now Homegrim is one on one with
Miles Turner in the paint, and all of a sudden,
your strength two bigs, which is very rare in the
NBA to have two starting caliber big men that you
can put on the floor together and have them work
well off one another.

Speaker 1 (01:25:35):
That is rare. In the NBA, you had it.

Speaker 5 (01:25:39):
On your team and then you removed it. Why, Like,
what is the reasoning? I bet if you gave Dagnal
truth serum, he'd be like, Yeah, that was a really
dumb move. Like Cason Wallace, And take nothing away from
Cason Wallace. You have two I would say, all star

(01:26:00):
caliber big men that is a weapon in this league
against the Pacers team that struggles to rebound.

Speaker 1 (01:26:08):
And you just said, you know what, We're gonna.

Speaker 5 (01:26:10):
Put caseon Wallace in the lineup and we're gonna give
our two bigs the least amount of time they've had
in this entire postseason. Like it was just such a
bizarre overthink you would think that they're gonna go back
to the lineup tonight that is, or tomorrow night of
the two bigs. But maybe that's what we all expect
Dagnall to do. And then he's not gonna do He's

(01:26:30):
gonna szig when everyone thinks gonna szagg. Like it was
just it was such a bizarre move. I don't even
know how to explain it with logic.

Speaker 3 (01:26:37):
Yeah, it's weird.

Speaker 2 (01:26:39):
He had to be thinking Chet Holmgren without Hartenstein on
the floor, his production is so much better. And if
you look at Hartenstein with home grin those guys as
a payer, like it's just been average.

Speaker 3 (01:26:53):
And so that's what he's thinking.

Speaker 2 (01:26:54):
But it blew up in his face because think about
the previous series, the previous round. But the Knicks, right,
Tibbs tinkered with the starting lineup a little bit and
he put Robinson in there. He put Mitchell Robinson to start,
and it's gonna beef up our rebounding numbers.

Speaker 3 (01:27:11):
And it's like, well, he's used to going in.

Speaker 2 (01:27:13):
As the backup and getting rebounds against a lot of
Pacers backups, and now when he goes in there, you're
going up against starters, and his rebounding numbers were down.
So it can happen like that, right, And there's no
way the Pacers should be out rebounding OKC fifty six
to thirty nine in a game by seven plus seventeen

(01:27:37):
on the glass. This is one of the biggest disadvantages
for Indiana is rebounding, and Okasee tinkered with that, where yeah, man,
there's a whole ripple effect when you make an adjustment
like that, and it's not an in series adjustment. He's
being proactive. But you guys laid it out right. This
team won sixty eight games. They've been the class of
the NBA. You should be dictating terms to your opponent,

(01:28:00):
not letting them dictate terms. And I think that's what
Dagnault did in game one. That doesn't make sense to me.

Speaker 4 (01:28:07):
It's beautifully stated. You should be the aggressor, not the
person who's accepting the threat. You should be the danger.
To quote Walter White, you know what I mean? Like that,
that's that is. But now, look, I don't want to
sidestep the fact that sometimes strategically playing small ball is

(01:28:27):
a really good decision. Sure, obviously you add more speed
to the court, you space things out more, there's more
shooting threats typically on the floor when you add smaller players. Look,
they're I'm trying to think of more. You have an
easier time switching things, especially if you're playing against a

(01:28:48):
better pick and roll offense. And then again, you can
set up actually being the aggressor if you're OKAC, you
can set up more opportunities to create mismatches with big men.
You know you got these you know, plotting rim protectors
trying to guard smaller, swifter players who are gonna get

(01:29:08):
to the rack quicker than you can move your feet
or draw foulst you know, you get a big man
in foul trouble that way. Here's the trade offs. You're
you're losing out on rebounding, you're losing out on rib protection.
So you better be okay with those tradeoffs. If you're
OKAYC and you're getting away from that formula that's worked
for you. And if it's not working, you can always

(01:29:30):
switch back. And that was the troubling thing is there?
It didn't It didn't look like when things weren't going well,
there was any effort to switch back.

Speaker 1 (01:29:40):
Yeah, and then why wasn't Honger on the floor down
the stretch of that game?

Speaker 4 (01:29:44):
Right? Like?

Speaker 5 (01:29:45):
That's that was the part that really boggled my mind.
And it's not just because I bet is over a
rebounding prop and I'm like, where the heck is Chet Holger?
Could we get this guy back on the floor? Is
that a brutal game of all the players in the
OKC lineup? If you're telling me, and I love Alex Caruso,
this is not an Alex Caruso knock. I think he

(01:30:05):
is a perfect role player. Six man type of player.
But when Alex Caruso has more minutes than chet Holmgrem
in an NBA Finals game, we have a problem. Yeah,
chet Holmgrim is a unicorn seven footer, stretch the floor,
shoot the three inside, outside, can assist, rebound to everything.

Speaker 1 (01:30:26):
He is a unicorn type of player.

Speaker 5 (01:30:29):
When you think of the Thunder, it's Sga, it's Jalen Williams,
it's jet Holmgrim.

Speaker 1 (01:30:33):
That's the Big Three.

Speaker 5 (01:30:35):
You can't have Homegrom twenty four minutes being outplayed by
Alex Caruso. That is a recipe for losing a series
you're supposed to win. Now, what's the adjustment tomorrow? You
would expect you would expect okay See to go back
to the original lineup. That would be my expectation.

Speaker 1 (01:30:57):
I'm wrong a lot. If you listen to the show
over the you've learned that if they don't, here's the falloup.

Speaker 5 (01:31:04):
If they don't go back to that line up and
be again, you've watched okay See a hell of a
lot more than I have this year? Is this Diagno
saying I'm gonna be stubborn about my initial gut move,
which was to split up these two bigs or is
there something else going on behind the scenes that maybe
we're not privy about why these two aren't gonna play together.

Speaker 2 (01:31:26):
Now, Yeah, I mean you can't point to game one.
Is this is why I went with Cason Wallace. Right,
you're saying, well, even though it didn't work, I think
it's going to eventually.

Speaker 3 (01:31:39):
That's not a strugg enough reason to me.

Speaker 2 (01:31:41):
If you look at the rebounding prop numbers for the
Pacers in game one, all five of the starters went
over their rebounding props, and you had a couple of
bench guys go over as well, not just over.

Speaker 3 (01:31:54):
Like well over, no sweat whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (01:31:58):
Halliburton his rebounding prop four and a half he had
ten in game one. See Okam was at six and
a half he had ten, Miles Turner's only at.

Speaker 3 (01:32:07):
Five and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:32:07):
He had nine. How about Nie Smith? Aaron Nismith led
all rebounders. His rebounding prop was four and a half.
He had twelve. Aaron Nismith had twelve rebounds in game one.
That should not be happening with OKC. So I don't
know how you stick with something that didn't work to
this degree in game two and run it back with

(01:32:29):
Cason Wallace. I just I don't know what you would
point to as a strong enough reason to say. I
know it failed miserably, but hear me out, I think it's.

Speaker 3 (01:32:39):
Gonna work eventually.

Speaker 4 (01:32:41):
It doesn't sound right to me, it doesn't look I
hope that everybody has had a chance to catch their
breath and look at themselves in the mirror and realize
who they were and the journey that it's taken to
get to where they're at. And when I say everybody,
I'm talking about the Oklahoma City thunder like because I

(01:33:03):
I if there's one gaudy, glaring statistic that just sticks
in my craw as a PostScript to Game one, it's
it is what you pointed out, Jared. It's the minutes
for homegren when you have a star sitting on your bench.
Or I shouldn't say a star, because I don't want
to convolute my my my prior statements about what I

(01:33:25):
think the star is and a great player, but you, yeah, right,
when you have a great you have a great player
sitting on the bench like home Grin for that amount
of time. I mean, it's just unacceptable. That's the only
way you could describe that he sat on the bench
more minutes than he played. How is that possible? How

(01:33:50):
is that possible? How is that a winning formula. He's
one of the best bigs in the league, and he
sat longer than he played in Game one of the
NBA Finals. Figure it out. Find a way to get
him more minutes. How about let's start there and then
we'll work our way backwards into what strategy works. And again,
you know, kind of the way you open the conversation, Brian,

(01:34:12):
the best strategy, I would argue would be the one
that got you to the NBA Finals.

Speaker 5 (01:34:17):
Yeah, that's usually the best way to go. Let's bring
it back to a betting perspective. Yeah, yeah, anything that
you get any discount. Like, let's say, let's just erase
because we do this all the time. We see a
game and we're like, oh, that's how the series is
gonna go. Let's erase Game one from our minds for
a minute. Let's act like Game one never happened and

(01:34:38):
the thunder of this great team and chet Holmgrim is
one of the best bigs in the league. He's gonna
play thirty thirty five minutes like he does normally in
a postseason game. Man, you're getting a discount on eight
and a half rebounds?

Speaker 4 (01:34:48):
Absolutely, night bro.

Speaker 5 (01:34:49):
Yeah, but the problem is, I don't know what Dagnoll's thinking. Yeah,
if he's like, you know, I'm gonna be stubborn and
I'm gonna give this hole. Separate the two twin towers
another chance. So we're gonna play home Grow twenty five minutes.
We'll play Hart and Stein twenty minutes. We're gonna put
them on separate ends.

Speaker 1 (01:35:04):
Of the floor. We're gonna hope things go well. Well,
then I want to bet an under on homegame rebounds.

Speaker 5 (01:35:08):
Frankly, like, I just I think you have to know
the context of what Mark Dagnal's thinking in order to
get inside of the value proposition for that particular bet.
Now the spread and the total. Man, they're making you
pay a premium for OKC. So here's the funny thing.
Game one line opened eight and a half. All right,

(01:35:30):
that's probably a little little undervaluing what okac's true market
value is. So that game gets bet up to about
ten ten and a half closes in that range. Obviously,
okaysee lose out right Game two. The first half spread
right Game one home team lose is usually heavy action.
You're paying a premium for that home team in game two.

(01:35:51):
The Game two first half line was eight and a half,
which was the same number as the game one full
game closing line. Wrap your brain around that in terms
of how the sportsbooks play that zigzag approach off from
one game to the next. You are paying the essentially
the same price in one half of game two then

(01:36:13):
you did the full game in game one. Because everybody thinks,
Okayc's just gonna bounce back strong and run through game
two and we're gonna have an even series going back
to Indiana. Like on paper, that sounds great, but man,
you're paying a premium for that oka see price in
game two.

Speaker 2 (01:36:27):
You know what, let me throw out a nightmare potential scenario.
If you're on home grin over eight and a half
rebounds and I'm gonna be there. I just don't think
Dagnold is gonna be like, let's keep them on the
bench here. I he's gonna get his minutes. But what
if OKC bounces back in a major way blow they're
waxing Indiana. And that's why Home Grid doesn't get that

(01:36:49):
would be gambling in a nutshell right there, right yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:51):
So you want to be a gambler.

Speaker 2 (01:36:53):
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Speaker 3 (01:37:55):
Okay, so it's official.

Speaker 2 (01:37:56):
Schools can now pay athletes directly beginning July first.

Speaker 3 (01:38:02):
Huge change, and.

Speaker 2 (01:38:05):
We're still trying to figure out the exact ripple effect.
I feel like because this change leads to so many
questions like how is this going to work? How are
teams gonna divide up the cash among players on their teams?
So I think that I don't know how you guys feel,
but that's my first thought is I'd love to give
you a concrete answer. Like Ryan Day has these goofy

(01:38:29):
arguments about for automatic qualifiers in the Big Ten, and
I see the statements and it's easy to digest.

Speaker 3 (01:38:38):
Whether you're in or out on his arguments.

Speaker 2 (01:38:41):
But paying athletes directly, there are so many unanswered questions
right now of what this is exactly going to look like.
I think it makes it tougher to be firm one
way or the other with you're in or you're.

Speaker 3 (01:38:54):
Out on this whole thing. Right, How do you guys
feel about it?

Speaker 4 (01:38:58):
Yeah? I kind of Look, we live in a world
where people want your knee jerk opinion and they want
it right now, So my knee jerk opinion is good.
These players have been robbed for years and years and
years and years and years and years and years. These
universities and these conferences and these executives who have you know,

(01:39:23):
lorded over college football and college basketball profit making college
sports in general for all of these years have become rich, wealthy,
generationally wealthy in certain cases, and the athletes in many cases.
In many cases, I have examples that I know close
and personally are left broken and penniless after their college career,

(01:39:49):
sometimes in debt, Like even guys who were scholarship players
can be left in debt because they had to take
out loans to just support their lifestyle during college. And
we're not talking about like, you know, buying a Lamborghini.
We're talking about like having enough food in their apartment
so that they could fuel themselves for the upcoming game

(01:40:09):
or practice they had. I digress on that side of
it to say, you can see the potential drawbacks of
a system that these players who once were being taken
advantage of are kind of in the catbird seat. And
it is a little bit of the wild West right now.
And what is it going to do? To the whole
competitive structure of college athletics. Right, what is it going

(01:40:32):
to do to athletic departments? What is it going to
do for opportunities for other athletes on campus? I mean,
we are going to and we are currently living in
the land of unintended consequences. So while I'm supportive of
athletes being paid, I feel like all of this has
been really rushed, extremely messy, considering this should have been

(01:40:53):
handled with delicate consideration over decades, and they should have
had a plan that they rolled out in phases. Instead,
they're just reacting to headlines and trying to fix things
on the fly. And it's like when you're the little
boy next to the damn trying to plug all the
holes with his fingers, you run out of fingers at
some points and the damn breaks. So I think we're

(01:41:15):
heading toward some sort of damn breaking moment. I don't
know when it's coming.

Speaker 5 (01:41:21):
Yeah, I had to read this story like five times
just to comprehend it properly.

Speaker 3 (01:41:25):
R I like to consider it convoluted.

Speaker 1 (01:41:28):
Pretty smart guy with this stuff. Like I went.

Speaker 8 (01:41:30):
To school and journalism school and broadcasting school, and then
I went to you know, studied finance and worked at
Merrill Lynch and Allian Spernstein and was a financial advisor
for several years and understand the nuances of finance.

Speaker 5 (01:41:46):
And I still had to read this thing like five
times to understand it. Here are the two main takeaways
for me. First of all, this is not a classifier
as a labor suit, meaning it has nothing to do
with whether or not these college athletes are now employees,
are not employees of the colleges that they are playing

(01:42:06):
sports for. That was a big issue because if they
are classified as employees, then they can collectively bargain and
it changes the dynamic of college football and college sports
even more than it does now. This did not get
to that level, so we're not at the level yet
where this is a labor case.

Speaker 1 (01:42:28):
This is an anti trust action.

Speaker 5 (01:42:30):
Essentially, it's college sports suing basically their college athletes essentially
suing their colleges. That's kind of what this is. That's
kind of the vibe that I got from it. Here
was the biggest takeaway for me that I think is
important and will change the face of college sports is
the collective that they are going to create, essentially, this

(01:42:53):
College Sports Commission that is going to be created, which,
by the way, the incident will have nothing to do with,
which I think is very important. That to me is
the most important thing that comes from this is now,
all of a sudden, you're going to have a college
Sports Commission that is.

Speaker 1 (01:43:10):
Going to be created, and you are going.

Speaker 5 (01:43:12):
To allow these athletes essentially to kind of create their
own little subdivision. The NCAA used to govern this, well,
now the College Sports Commission is going to govern this,
and it's also going to, I think, create a clearing
house for these nil deals, which is going to determine
whether or not they.

Speaker 1 (01:43:33):
Are fair market value. Because the biggest issue.

Speaker 5 (01:43:35):
That I think you have, and as Rich alluded to
the wild West, why does one college team, why does
one athletic program get this and can grade this whereas
this program grades this guy.

Speaker 1 (01:43:48):
I know, again it sounds really convoluted.

Speaker 5 (01:43:50):
We need one body to say this player is worth this,
this is fair market value. We have this in the NFL, right,
we kind of know if a quarterback is being overpaid
or underpaid based on what the market value is, what
the salary cap is. We need some kind of baseline,
and that's a hard thing to establish because then people

(01:44:10):
are gonna argue about what the baseline should or shouldn't be,
but we need a again college Sports Commission to create
some kind of baseline to determine how much money a
player is actually worth in the market. I think we
are taking steps now to do this. This is again
very in the weeds, very convoluted, but the goal of

(01:44:32):
it was to create this College Sports Commission and to
create some kind of clearinghouse which can accurately assess how
much these players are worth, which then we can actually
pay them what they're worth. So I think we're moving
in that direction, but we're still a very long way
away from the end.

Speaker 4 (01:44:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:44:50):
Yeah, that's the part where I think what Richie were saying,
and it goes into what you're saying also, Jared. Where
As far as the players, I love it, but as
far as college football, it's like I don't exactly know
what we're going to be looking at, you know. So
it's long overdue. In terms of athletes getting their like

(01:45:14):
minor chunk of the pie, twenty and a half million
dollars per school sounds like.

Speaker 3 (01:45:19):
Whoa, they're breaking the bank.

Speaker 2 (01:45:20):
It's like that's a drop in the bucket compared to
the money they bring in with these TV deals like
March Madness and the College Football Playoff. That's like, you know,
the money they generate, you kind of like sneeze twenty
and a half million dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:45:35):
Like oh thea zoom tight, Like are you okay?

Speaker 2 (01:45:38):
That's twenty and a half million dollars in the grand
scheme of things. So I'm totally fine with players getting
a minor share of what they deserve, but what it
means for the sport exactly, there are a lot of
layers that you might not even be considering right now.
And I think a little bit of this. You get
a taste with nil. And I've said this many times before.

(01:46:00):
I've said it off air, you know, to my dad.
We'll talk and you'll get these complaints about nil and oh,
now we have a holdout. Remember that story happened a
little bit ago, Like, oh we might have holdouts now,
we didn't have this before. And it's like, look, the
players deserve to get paid, and where it goes from

(01:46:21):
there it goes.

Speaker 3 (01:46:23):
I really do believe that.

Speaker 2 (01:46:24):
But some of these discussions and arguments, I can totally
understand someone saying, hey, I'm all for players getting paid.
But I just don't want to hear about all this stuff.
All this stuff is just.

Speaker 3 (01:46:36):
Like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. It's convoluted,
it's confusing.

Speaker 2 (01:46:39):
I don't want to hear about holdouts and market value
and what it might lead to the unintended consequences. I
can totally understand a college football fan saying.

Speaker 3 (01:46:49):
I just care about college football.

Speaker 2 (01:46:52):
I don't think there's anything wrong as long as you're
not against players making a dime that that seems kind
of foolish to me.

Speaker 4 (01:47:00):
Yeah, I agree with that. I think as long as
you aren't on the extreme side of this one way
or the other, I think you're gonna be pretty satiated
by what college football looks like in the future, which
is going to be kind of like college football has
always looked. They're gonna be teams who are gonna be
fighting their app up against each other, and you know,

(01:47:22):
the rules will change with the times, but not so
violently and abruptly that it isn't going to resemble the
sport that you grew up watching and loving. But I mean,
with this new structure and direct paid players, you're going
to have more fair compensation for all players, not just
for the lucky few. There should be more transparency, will see.

(01:47:44):
My hope is there's more transparency recruiting clarity. I think
one of the things that have happened as a result
of the NIL era that we entered into in earnest
about six years ago is is the fact that we
don't know where the slush fund of cash is coming from.

(01:48:05):
And that kind of ties back to the whole transparency thing,
and it's going to avoid exploitation of college athletes, whether
whether they're making money or not. Like, you know, it
was exploitive to have free labor. You know, these are
some of the best entertainers on the player on the planet.
Getting zero dollars a multi billion dollar organization that the

(01:48:28):
labor force is getting zero dollars for it makes zero sense.
But then there can be exploitation on the other side.
You know, if somebody is being paid by some third
party entity that they have a great awareness of or not,
and then they are kind of held to the strictures
of that agreement throughout the course of their college career.

(01:48:49):
That can be a scary place too. So, look, there
are positives, there's no question, but there are drawbacks. We're
going to open up the door to the resource gap
amongst schools. The rich schools are going to get richer.
Title nine complexities, you know, gender equality, things like that.
Those conversations are yet to come. And then program cuts,

(01:49:13):
You're going to see it across the country. I guarantee it.
Athletic departments are going to shrink. They're not going to
get better because athletic departments spend a lot of money
and they spend it on other sports. And if they're
spending the bulk share of their money on their profit
margin sports, that means other sports gotta go. And that's
just going to be the reality we live in.

Speaker 5 (01:49:32):
Yeah, let me just put this in perspective for a second,
because it's really wild to frame it this way. The
House first NCAA, which was what this settlement was based around,
this original core case, was filed in twenty twenty. That
is how long the adjudication process has taken here five
frickin years to finally get a settlement on how this

(01:49:54):
is all going to play out. Like again, think about
that for a second. We say the slow wheels of justice,
I mean this is really slow. Five years this case
has been talked about and then now finally settled. I'm
gonna read you a quote from a Front Office sports article.
Amanda Christovitch did a great job covering this story. I'm

(01:50:16):
going to read this blurb because I think, again, this
is the most important part of this story, and it's
our job. I know this is a convoluted story. I
think it's our job as broadcaster, as a journalist to
take all this information absorbit and regurgitate what the most
important part is back.

Speaker 1 (01:50:31):
I'm just gonna read this directly.

Speaker 5 (01:50:33):
NIL collectives will face more scrutiny with deals they offer players.
The settlement sets up a clearinghouse to check whether NIL
collective deals appear to be fair market value instead of
pay for play. The clearing house runs through a software
created by Deloitte and an accounting firm with an opportunity
to appeal for an independent body. What this does essentially

(01:50:54):
sets up kind of what baseball does with an arbitration process.

Speaker 1 (01:50:58):
This is what a players.

Speaker 5 (01:50:59):
Worth at this exactly. It is a salary cap with
arbitration eligibility baked into it. The goal is to analyze
each player and try to figure.

Speaker 1 (01:51:10):
Out how much they're actually worth.

Speaker 5 (01:51:12):
Because we hear about all these deals fIF twenty million,
this and that. How much is Bryce Underwood actually worth,
and then how much is he getting paid? That is
the only way to fairly set this process up, so
teams that are kind of on that cusp of an
elite program don't look up and say, well, man, we're
really behind the eight ball. Maybe you're not behind the

(01:51:33):
eight ball as much as possible. I think that, to
me is the most important part of this story, is
to figure out a way to grade these players and
create some kind of fair market value so we know,
all right, who's getting overpaid, who's getting underpaid, and just
kind of slot them into a certain point, because right
now it is just all right, you're getting this, and
you're getting that, you're getting this, and there's no way

(01:51:55):
to actually figure out if what we're doing is fair.

Speaker 2 (01:51:59):
Well, I'll just say real fast, I think there's a
tendency because it feels so different where it's like, this
is radically different than anything we've ever experienced.

Speaker 4 (01:52:09):
Ever.

Speaker 2 (01:52:10):
You've got schools directly paying players, and it's like, when
you stop and think about it, it's not that radically different.

Speaker 3 (01:52:17):
We've had the nil era for years now.

Speaker 2 (01:52:20):
Players have made money, you know, and it's gonna lead
to the haves and the have nots. The rich schools
get better players, the poorer schools they don't get the
better players. Typically, we've never had that before. We've never
had you know, these machines just reloading come on, man like.
So it feels like people just overreact to wea not

(01:52:43):
the college football I grew up on. But it's it's
not as radically different as you might initially think. That's
one thing, and the ripple effect to see where it goes.
I think players should get paid, and we've talked about
this before, but there are some unintended consequences that you
might not be in favor of. You can be in
favor of players getting paid, but what it leads to
you might oppose. It can work like that, like if

(01:53:05):
we don't have walk ons, that's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (01:53:08):
That's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (01:53:09):
And rich you talked about this, the sports that don't
draw money. I hate the idea of hey, we just
don't offer bowling anymore or across country or whatever. And
it's like we shouldn't just be solely focused on making
a buck and that's it. Like these sports these kids
go to schools and have tremendous experiences playing these sports

(01:53:32):
that you might have some of your fondest memories in life.
It might have taught you things that you apply.

Speaker 3 (01:53:37):
To your life.

Speaker 2 (01:53:39):
You should have those sports available, but now they don't
generate money, so the heck with it. We got this
new day and age. That's sad to me. So there
are some things that it can lead to that I
would oppose, even though I'm in favor of players getting paid.

Speaker 3 (01:53:53):
Baker Mayfield's a walk on. JJ Watt's a walk on.

Speaker 4 (01:53:56):
What if that's.

Speaker 3 (01:53:57):
Dead and gone? That's crazy to think about it like that.

Speaker 4 (01:54:03):
It's where we're we're entering a phase where you're gonna
see schools going full send, where they're gonna look at
Title nine and they're gonna say, all right, what are
the least amount of other programs we can possibly have
on campus so that we can make sure that we
can feel the best football team or the best basketball

(01:54:24):
team that we possibly can field. And yeah, you're absolutely right.
The the the tangent effect of that we may not
feel for a full generation, but you know, as a
culture will feel it. We will and and and like
like like any major change, you are always living in

(01:54:45):
a repetitive cycle of unintended consequences for your actions. The
unfortunate the unfortunate reality is the lawmakers, the congressional people,
the head coaches, the executives in the NCAA, the conference
commissioners and their party. All of these people had an
opportunity to lay out a really cohesive plan over the

(01:55:07):
past couple decades where this was a back burner item
that they knew would become front and center at some point.
And really it took the age of social media and
a pandemic for to change, and they could have had
a plan and laid it out. They heeded no warning,
they saw no caution lights. They just put the pedal
to the floor, try to make as much money as possible,

(01:55:29):
and we are all, unfortunately going to suffer the consequences
for that that inaction over the past decade and a
half plus.

Speaker 2 (01:55:38):
Yeah, all right, that's rich Oreinberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 3 (01:55:44):
I'm Brian.

Speaker 5 (01:55:45):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:55:45):
Shortly after the show, our podcast would be going up.
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right after we get off the air. All right, Coming
up next, rapid Fire, weach have a trio of selections

(01:56:06):
for you. We will throw them all your way. Coming up,
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Speaker 3 (01:56:23):
And that's not all.

Speaker 2 (01:56:24):
Sign up with BETMGM today and you'll have access to
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live bets, and so much more. Props to the crew,
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technical producer Extraordinary Chris Purfett, Pride of Detroit Pod, and

(01:56:46):
shout out to our guys Saga on digital posting our clips.
Appreciate his hard work. Top of the hour up on
Game LeVar Arrington, TJ. Huschman, Zada Plexico Buris. They have
got your cod in about eight minutes from now. Keep
it locked right here on Fox Sports Radio. Are we
got some rapid fire, rapid fire picks for you.

Speaker 4 (01:57:04):
Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (01:57:07):
Rapid fire, all right, shared, we start.

Speaker 1 (01:57:12):
With you, what do you like all NBA, and then
a little pony pick at the end for you. Let's
start with an SGP.

Speaker 5 (01:57:17):
I'm gonna put Oklahoma City first half money line in
my SGP. It's juicy, but we're also gonna pair it
with Jay and Williams to get five or more assists.
And if you pair that up at bet MGM plus
money plus one oh five, not a bad SGP. Okace
first half money line, Jaylen Williams five plus assists, I'm
gonna bet the over two twenty eight and a half
in a game you saw just a little bit of
a downtick from what we saw in the game one total,

(01:57:40):
which was around two thirty. I think the Thunder gonna
push the tempo similar to what they did in game
two after losing Game one to Denver. They dropped a
buck fifty in that game, which is why we're also
gonna lay it with the Thunder minus.

Speaker 1 (01:57:51):
Ten and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:57:52):
I know you're thinking to yourself, what do you mean,
Indiana just won the game out right? Now you're gonna
lay ten points with Okace in game two?

Speaker 1 (01:57:58):
Yeah, I think we're gonna see zigzag here. I think
the books are making you pay premium for good.

Speaker 5 (01:58:03):
Reason, and your Belmont Steaks pick, we're going with journalism. Yes,
journalism prevails in the Belmont Stakes. About an eight to
five morning line.

Speaker 4 (01:58:13):
Okay, direct opposition with Jared for all of the opposite reasons.
He pointed out to ride with Okac. I'm going plus
ten and a half on the Indiana Pacers. I understand
the zigzact nature of the postseason, but I think you
know finals it's it's so cliche, but I feel like

(01:58:33):
everyone lays it on the line. These games are so
much closer typically aside from blowouts. All right, moving on
to the total on that game, I'm gonna say the
underhits because they're letting these teams play defense. This is
a level of physicality that both squads aren't used to
being allowed to play with and also aren't used to
seeing on the floor. During these games, refs are swallowing

(01:58:56):
the whistles and sticking with totals. I'm gonna take Padres
in Milwaukee. Give me the over eight and a half runs.
The offense is heating up in San Diago and McCulloch
on the mound. He's been consistent, but he can beget
to I got the over eight and a half, all.

Speaker 3 (01:59:12):
Right, I go fast because I have no choice.

Speaker 2 (01:59:16):
Give me Bob, and Bob I trust Sergei Lebrovski over
twenty five and a half points, edwardson ton of shots
on goal.

Speaker 3 (01:59:23):
That's right, give me Bob.

Speaker 2 (01:59:25):
I'll take chet holmgrin to bounce back over eight and
a half rebounds. His minutes go up, completely outclassed on
the boards. Okay, see what was that? Changes and give
me Halliburton after a great game winner. Give me under twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:59:38):
Five and a half points and assists.

Speaker 1 (01:59:41):
Enjoy