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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Fox Sports Countdown. We're setting you up for
the sports weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
And covering all the action from the.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Stadiums to the arenas. Goodness, this is this is Fox
Sports Countdown, brought to you my MGP Maked Legendary. The
Countdown starts nine live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
Here's Brian no, Rich Hornberger and Jared Smith.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Oh what is going on? Welcome in Happy Saturday to you.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Holy cow.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (00:38):
These New York Knicks, these feisty Knicks. Huh they get
another win on the road. My goodness, my basketball goodness
over here.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Huh.

Speaker 5 (00:49):
We got some drama late last night, Wemby throwing the
game away. For anyone who had Spurs money line, you're like,
I don't get the hype with this Wemby guy, I didn't,
for the record, but.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
What a disgusting loss.

Speaker 5 (01:03):
Good morning, Rich, Good morning Jared football as well with
you guys. I'm sure you know orange and blue skies
in Jared's world right now?

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Oh life, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Feeling good this morning, Rich. I'm sure your New York
brethren back on the island feeling very good as well.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah, you know, I we talked about it a couple
of weeks back. But the only game, the only professional
basketball game that I went to as a kid was
a summer league game at the Garden because you know,
we couldn't afford, you know, tickets growing up in the Garden.
Knicks prices have always been high. So I remember, you know,

(01:40):
taking the train into the city on the Long Island Railroad,
getting the Penn station and you know, and experiencing that
whole thing and the majesty of that arena and seeing
the Knicks, you know, especially in that era. You know,
they were you know, Riley was the coach, and you know,
they had a they had a squad and it was fun. Man.

(02:02):
And what's what's interesting is it's starting to come full
circle because my youngest son's into basketball now and so
I was like, hey, we got to sit down and
watch the Knicks, buddy. He's got his game coming up today.
So we're watching. He was like, what team are we
voting for. I'm like, we're we're, well, we're rooting for

(02:22):
the team and the blue and the Orange. I was like,
they're the New York Knicks. And you know, it's just
so funny.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
How the New York Knicks.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
Yeah, yeah, these these these are a gentleman of high education,
and you have to understand, you know, I'm going into
my brooks. But so it was fun man, because he
got so engaged that we at halftime, we take a break,
we're running around the yard. We come back in in
the third quarter and I'm doing stuff around the house

(02:52):
for a second and he's giving me score updates. He's
so into it. And then the Spurs catch up, and
then you have this fourth core and you have that
final turnover, which isn't the whole game. It's obviously the
whole story that we turn our attention to. It's always
you live and die in these moments. But my gosh,
what a battle for a road team, an under heralded underdog,

(03:16):
a team with a new head coach this year, with
lower expectations than the Spurs, who got to bite at
the apple but were flummixed by the playoff picture. Because
of their youth the season ago, everything not handed to
them but teed up the right way for them to
make a good run in the West. They beat the
reigning champs on their way to the finals, and here

(03:39):
they are with an unsolved puzzle, heading on the road
to play two at Madison square Garden down two. What
a story we got on our hands with this NBA Finals.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, first, I'll start with the positive. I don't want
to say anything like the Spurs lost the game. I
think the Knicks really really played them tough for three
quarters and then they kind of let their foot off
the gas a little bit, as teams tend to do
in this league. We see this all the time. You
go up big. Knicks were up fourteen in the fourth,
let their foot off the gas. Obviously, Spurs made a
nice run to get back in the game. The Knicks

(04:13):
have won thirteen straight playoff game by an average margin
against the spread of nineteen points. They weren't underdog again
last night. I had no idea why the number got
as high as it did. I thought it was an
insane number. It was four and a half in game one.
I thought that was a fair price. I think you
probably saw some fives out there, but let's say the
consensus price in game one was four and a half.

(04:33):
So it was very fair to say in my eyes
that the Knicks played a really good game in Game one,
and there was nothing about Game one that made me think, well,
the Spurs are just the infinitely better team. Well it was.
The number was seven last night, and the only reason
it moved is because the Spurs really needed the game.

(04:53):
That was really the only reason that I got from
from people who I talked to. Well, it's a bounce
back spot for San Antonio, the same team, same players,
forty eight hours later. I understand if maybe you want
to move it a point, maybe half a point for
that motivation tax, but you're not gonna out motivate the
Knicks like they're the grittiest, guttiest team in this playoff.
So I thought the price last night was incredibly disrespectful,

(05:14):
and the Knicks obviously covered again and won outright again.
The bad last night, And I'm not a blame the
refs game as Rick guy you know me, got you
guys know me by now, that's that's not my mo.
I thought it was a very poorly officiated game. And
I thought the turning point in the game was the
play in the corner. So Spurs are on a fourteen
to oh run, Knicks are up fourteen and the fourth

(05:37):
Spurs tie the game at ninety seven, ball in the
corner og An Andobi gets blatantly fouled like I mean
Darren Fox like swiped his hand and Tony Brothers is
staring right at it, misses the call, Nicks challenge Og
makes all three free throws, kind of silences the momentum.
I thought that was the moment in the game. And

(05:58):
it sucks that it was a egregiously blown call by
the refs that it had to kind of spark that moment.
But what a moment for the Knicks video assistant who
has been incredible this playoffs, Jordan Brink, give him a shout.
Saw it obviously challenge and Og had to make the
free throws. So a lot of positive Knicks. I think
it's pretty foregone conclusion. They're gonna win the finals. No

(06:20):
team's ever come back from losing the first two at
home in the NBA Finals. It's just a matter of
do they sweep or not. And the secondly, I mean, Brian,
this team at some point we have to start talking
about them as one of the best teams ever. I mean,
this run through the playoffs is is unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
Well, I think one of the best runs ever. If
they ended up sweeping the Spurs, it's the best run ever.
They're not even close to the best team ever like this,
you start going through the the the annals over here,
right like just recently, think about the Golden State Warriors
with kd Like, there's no way they're in, like the
upper echelon Jordan Bowles with the greatest teams that you

(07:00):
want to throw out there, they're not there. But this
is an insanely impressive run, I would say, the most
impressive of all time. So it's tough to balance those
two things. But look where they rank all time?

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Who cares?

Speaker 5 (07:12):
Right, Like it's all about closing the deal and winning
a title there first since nineteen seventy three. It's like
at that point, who really cares where they rank? And
how you you know, you go with the you know,
the Showtime Lakers and you do, Okay, Brunson, all right, magic,
all right, you got Kareem, you got like you.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Could do a whole thing if you wanted to. It
doesn't really matter.

Speaker 5 (07:33):
But this is one of the greatest playoff runs we've
ever seen to this point, and if they win two
more in a row, it's going to be the greatest
run of all time. But you have to fast forward
to the end of the game and you look at
the Spurs as shared alluded to. The Spurs are down
by fourteen points with six minutes to go in the game,
and Wemby he inspires the troops right he's on the

(07:54):
bench and he's like, we need to get things. I
can't do a Wemby in pressure. That sounded more like
Middle Eastern right there. We gotta get things going over it.
And all of a sudden they go on a fourteen
oh run. It's tied up. We got about thirty seconds
to go. Wemby misses a shot. I don't hate it.
You gotta get it two for one. You can't go
slow and allow the Knicks to take the final shot.

(08:15):
So Wenby takes a contested shot over Mitchell Robinson. He
misses it. Not the end of the world. Brunson misses
his shot. Wenby gets the rebound. There's plenty of time.
He's like, let's push it. Let me throw it to
Castle here. Only problem Castle's not looking turn over. Wemby
fouls Brunson on top of this, and Brunson splits the

(08:36):
free throws. The Spurs have a final chance. Wemby misses
the shot in the final seconds and the Knicks win
the game.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Just a brutal brutal ending for the Spurs. Hindsight, you
look back.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
And you say the Spur should have called timeout, call
time out, like, don't push it, especially trying to get
the ball. Even if he got the ball to Castle,
if he's looking there, it's in a weird spot. Brunson
is right there, he's in his path, and you really
worst case scenario when Wenby got that rebound, you have
to worst case you go to overtime where you're taking
the final shot. If you miss, you go to overtime.

(09:13):
There's no way you should be in the situation that
they were in where Brunton hits a free throat. You're trailing,
so if you don't hit your shot, it's over. Man,
it's got to be an overtime situation, worst case scenario.
And without the Spurs calling time out, they opened the
door for what happened, right, they opened the door to

(09:35):
what exactly happened, which is they lost in regulation. Basketball
sins all over the place. Man, But man, when be
coming up short when it mattered most, he said, he
was a little blurry.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
I get it right.

Speaker 5 (09:51):
He's got to be tight, He's got to be a
little bit more focused in those moments.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
And he kicked the game away. There's no doubt about it.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
Yeah, you know that is the cruelest finals lesson that
you'll learn as a young player is it doesn't matter
at the end of the game how efficient you are,
which he was incredibly efficient, or how good of a
leader you are, which he is a phenomenal leader. For
as young as a man as he is, for a

(10:18):
franchise that really has a lot to look forward to,
it comes down to those moments. And you know what's
amazing about the lesson that he'll learn here is it
really isn't about talent. It's not. I mean I watched
this my entire playing career, starting my career with the

(10:41):
Bill Belichick Patriots and being drafted ten years into Tom
Brady's tenure as the starting quarterback in New England and
watching several times where as a New England Patriot, we
would take the field and we played against better talent,
better talented quarterback. I mean, how many quarterbacks over the
course of Tom Brady's time in the NFL were more talented,

(11:06):
more gifted physically than than Tom Brady was. But but
it didn't it didn't come down to talent with Brady
it came down to what he did in winning time.
You're down by three, and you got a time out left,
and you've got eighty five yards in front of you,
and and you you need, you need to score a

(11:27):
touchdown to win. How many times have we seen him
in that situation and it turns up well for him?

Speaker 2 (11:33):
You know?

Speaker 4 (11:33):
How many times have we seen you know, Patriots teams
over over the that two decade span where it were
scrap heat players like you know, the Wes Welkers of
the world, or the Julian Edelman's, the seventh round Kent
State quarterback draft picks you know that were turned you know,
wide receivers who saved the day, or the Danny A.

(11:55):
Mondolas or the Rob Ninkovich, like these random press squad
role players who ended up contributing these unbelievable moments for
that franchise over time. I draw that comparison because that's
what the Knicks did to wmin Yama. That's a team
that came together and by some of all of their parts.

(12:17):
And Big Cat is probably going to make his statement
as the swing player of this whole series if he
keeps playing the way he did last night. Certainly, but
when as a team you can force a young team
into deep water and keep it a close game and
put the pressure on that team late, it forces a

(12:39):
young team to play perfect. And I remember that was
one of the things that it always felt like when
I was playing for the Patriots. We had the market
cornered on situational football, like what's gonna happen at the
end of these games. One thing that we were certain
of is we were going to be better prepared in

(13:00):
those situations than the opponent because we drilled it every
week at practice. We went over situations. Everybody knew what
they had to do. Yes, do your job or three
simple words, and a lot of people are familiar with
that being the rallying cry and the motto of the
Belichick era Patriots, but it was a very simple concept.
You execute your job to your fullest potential on every play,

(13:24):
and you don't worry what the guy next to you
is doing. You don't try to be the superstar and
do too much. You just understand and believe in the
guy next to you to do his job as well.
And then again, the sum of all the parts equal win.
And that's what the Knicks did and the Spurs didn't do.
You got to be an operator. You got to be
somebody with a low heart beat in the heaviest moments

(13:45):
of your game. And if you can't be that guy,
talent falls by the wayside. Again, making the Tom Brady comparison.
Wm min Yama can have all of the talent in
the world, all of the talent in the world, you
got to be an operator when your team is counting
on you. And unfortunately, the misshot and the turnover is
going to be a focus of a lot of analysts

(14:08):
and opinionists leading into Game three when this show goes
on the road to New York. And it's fair because
we've seen champions operate at a high level in those
taxing moments in the past, and they've got to get
there collectively as a team. But Women Yama, if you're
the star and you want to be great one day, man,

(14:29):
you gotta find a way to understand the situation and
not make the mistake when your team's depending on you
to not make the mistake, and to be perfect when
the moment calls for you to be perfect. Really difficult
to learn. A cruel lesson learned in game two. And
we'll see if he can learn from it and play
better on the road in Game three.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah, it's well said. I mean, I think Brady it
was his first Super Bowl and that's what made it
the most important thing, Like he was able to do
it his first time in the Super Bowl. Here's a
list of players in the NBA that have gotten swept
in their first finals appearance. This is a pretty good list.
Elgind Baylor, Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, Shack, Jason kidd Lebron.

(15:13):
I mean, you could put those six guys on a
poster and you are six of the best players in
NBA history. Those are That's an example of how hard
it is when you get to the finals. Those are elite,
great players. Five of the six went on to win
championships later on. But when you get to the championship round,
sometimes that experience matters a little bit more than your talent.

(15:35):
And I think the Spurs are learning that lesson the
hard way right now because right now they're facing a
team in the Knicks that will not beat themselves. They
refuse to beat themselves. Are they gonna have some nights
where they didn't shoot it well. Yeah, they didn't shoot
it well in Game one, that was their worst shooting
game in over a month, and they still won the
game by ten. At that point, that's when I was like, well,

(15:57):
this is not gonna be an easy task for the Spurs.
If the Knicks are gonna shoot it that poorly on
the road in Game one and still win by double digits,
they are not gonna be a tough They're gonna be
a tough out because they're not gonna beat themselves. They're
not gonna make that big mistake. They're just going to
play basketball the right way. And Rich mentioned the role
players the Knicks are rife with them. Landrew Shammit's the

(16:20):
perfect example. He's not a starter. Josh Hart did not
score a point last night. If you watch Josh Hart play,
sometimes some guys don't score, you know, they slump them.
I'm not really anything. Yeah, no, that's not the way
Josh Hart plays basketball. It doesn't matter what he does
stats wise, he just contributes to the win. And Rich
said Towns's name. I think he's the MVP of the series.

(16:41):
And I know Brunson's probably gonna win the MVP because
he's the media darling and he's the star. But I
think the way Towns has played Wemby in this series.
I mean, nobody expected this. If it wasn't for those
phantom fouls on Towns last night, I think the Knicks
went by double digits. I honestly do. I thought the
moment when Towns picked up those two tickie tacks right
had to leave the game. I think it was late
third quarter. That's when it really flipped. That's when the

(17:04):
Spurs really got back into the game. And I think
the way Towns is playing Wemby thirteen rebounds, I mean,
the guy's got five inches on him. I mean, Town's
a seven foot he's he's still got five inches on him.
The way Towns has played Wemby in this series is unbelievable.
It's awesome to see him really come into his own
as a player in this league and really ascend to
start them in this series and in this postseason, and

(17:26):
I it'd be awesome to see him sweet Brian, I agree.
I don't care who where you rank them in the
annals of the Great teams. If they sweep the Spurs
and when fifteen consecutive playoff games en route to a championship,
you've got to put that run up to the best,
and it is very unexpected. No one trust me as
a Knicks vent. No one expected this. But we're at
the point now where it's just it's it's like you're

(17:49):
watching like the asteroid come and hit the earth, and
you know what's gonna hit. You're just like, wow, that
thing is beautiful, man, it is a streak across the sky.
It's really remarked to see a team hit their stride
like this and to watch it all play out the
way it is, man.

Speaker 5 (18:04):
And it's just on the heels of Game one, which
was not a good shooting game for the Knicks, Brunson
in Game two last night seven for twenty five from
the field, and he had some big buckets down the
stretch right, And that's the way he was in Game
one also there was not a good shooting performance, but
he was money when it mattered most yep. And the

(18:25):
only point I'm making is if you're the Spurs and
you're down one nothing in the series already and Brunson
shoots seven for twenty five.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
You have to win that game.

Speaker 5 (18:34):
And they caught up, they tied up the game, had
it right there after Brunton misses a shot with a
little more than ten seconds to go lead away.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Fun, I can't believe they had the lead.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
O crazy. I'll say this real fast. Is this is
the worst thing about betting. I hate when I have
the right angle, but then I misapply it to the
wrong game or the wrong series. I was saying all along,
the Spurs youth is a problem. The inexperience caught up
with them last night. I thought it would catch up
with them against OKC.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah it didn't.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
It's catching up with them against the Knicks like it's
on full display right now.

Speaker 5 (19:12):
Just unbelievable. And I will say this, I have a
million things to say. Also, but a random song from
a long time ago popped into my head. You guys
remember this song? Remember Closing Time? Even I'm sure you
remember that song. This is okay for a little while,
but a little not heavy enough for me. But I

(19:33):
do remember the song. But this part of the song,
if you apply it to basketball, right like, think about
winning time, Remember the thirty for thirty with Reggie Miller
and all, think of winning kind of like winning time
a little bit like this variation.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
No, write that lyric right there.

Speaker 5 (19:54):
If you apply it to basketball, who do you want
to take you home to a win. Right, it's Brunts,
it's not Wemby. Right now, you saw the way the
game unfolded, where Brunson is hitting a huge shot, Wemby
is fumbling the ball away, throwing it to Castle, who's
not captain clutch when it comes to avoiding turnovers. Right,

(20:14):
You're throwing it to Castle and there's a miscommunication. Castle's
not even watching, and then Wemby misses the final shot.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
Good luck.

Speaker 5 (20:23):
Like as talented as he is, and he will be
just crushing the NBA for the next fifteen years or so.
He's going to be the guy. He's gonna stack championships.
His future is very, very bright. But right here, right now,
he's not the guy I want in winning time.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
It's Brunson over Wemby. And that's what's funny.

Speaker 5 (20:44):
Going back to Rich's point, if you're talking about talent
and all that, Wemby is arguably the most talented player
we've ever seen in our lives.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
I say this all the time.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
I don't care what your talent is. I care what
you get out of whatever talent you have.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (20:58):
And Brunson is maximizing what he gets out of his
own talent and Wenby will at some point, but he's
just not ready yet. He's just not there yet. But man,
you talk about cinema. This is it, baby, this is peak.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
It will it really will be. We're like guinea school
kids over here to talk about.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
The city is nuts, right, I mean, I have a
bunch of friends still there. I'm sure Rich does too.
The city is insane right now. I mean it's it's
like Armageddon. It's crazy.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
All right.

Speaker 5 (21:32):
We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith,
FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 5 (21:37):
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(22:00):
All right, Coming up next, The ripple effect of an
absolute bombshell could last for decades. It is Fox Sports
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It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. The
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(23:11):
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Speaker 3 (23:15):
All right, so it was funny.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
We're looking at June first, we're all waiting for the
AJ Brown trade. Let's dive into the cool, brisk waters
of ball over here, of course, ball meaning football. Right,
we're waiting for the AJ Brown trade from the Eagles,
presumably to the Patriots.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
We get that, but earlier.

Speaker 5 (23:32):
In the day, it's like, oh, by the way, here's
a bombshell you didn't see coming. Miles Garrett, the raiding
defensive player of the year, gets traded from the Browns
to the Rams. The Rams trade for Miles Garrett, they
give up their own pass rusher Jared Versu. The deal
give up a twenty twenty seven first round pick, twenty
twenty eight second round pick, twenty twenty nine third round pick.

(23:56):
So an absolute bombshell of a trade right there, and
the ripple effect really could be felt for decades. If
the Browns maybe they use their own pick and draft
a quarterback. They're getting a new stadium in a couple
of years. They gotta get a quarterback, gotta get franchise guy.
So it could be arch Manning could be someone at
the top of the draft with their own pick. If

(24:16):
they stink out loud this season, and they probably will
right or they can use this war chest of draft
picks to move up possibly get their quarterback of the future.
If they hit on that guy, this could be felt
for decades. And if the Rams this is an all
in type move, if they win a championship, that's gonna
last forever. So the ripple effect of this trade is massive.

(24:37):
And I love all the rumors about he is Aaron
Donald coming out of retirement now too, and we're gonna
see Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald on the same defensive
line like a fearsome forsome the twenty twenty six revamped
version of the Rams. So it is just for a
ball addict. This is just juicy all the way around.
But Miles Garrett is a Los Angeles Ram that is

(24:58):
what we know as of right now, and that in
a of itself is tasty enough.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
That's a huge move.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
It's I mean huge, even feels like it's not hyperbolic enough.
It is an understatement to call it a huge trade.
It's one of the biggest trades we've ever seen in
terms of potential impact. I'm not saying that Miles Garrett
can go and win you a Super Bowl on his own. Obviously,
when you have a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback, you

(25:26):
have an offense that's pretty ripe to repeat success in
this upcoming football season. He's like the ace in the hole,
the rabbit out of the hat, the misdirect nobody saw
as part of this less need magic act that he
was able to pull off after what many considered a

(25:49):
disappointing draft, especially Rams fans. If you look at taking
a gamble on a future quarterback who seems not quite
ready to replace a caliber of quarterback that they're operating
with currently as an understudy, and I don't want to
use the word wasting, but using your first round capital

(26:10):
that way, it was highly criticized. And so they turned
the corner and they push all their chips into the
middle of the table and they say it's super Bowl
or bust, and we mean it. And the extension with
Stafford and the amazing fireworks here in early June, all

(26:32):
roads are leading to a Lombardi Otherwise this season is
going to be considered a disappointment. So this was an
enormous gamble. But we've seen this organization in recent memory,
with this current front office and this head coach and
even This quarterback was a part of one of the

(26:53):
initial and many gambles that this organization has taken to
win a Super Bowl, and it netted them so far
a Super Bowl appearance, a Super Bowl victory, and an
exit in the NFC late in the NFC playoffs last
year that that looked promising. So I would say this
about the Rams, that is the scariest team in football.

(27:16):
And it has a lot to do with how they're constructed,
and it has a lot to do with who their
head coaches, and it has a lot to do with
how they're willing to gamble future fortunes for the now.
And it's something a lot of fan base is wished
that their teams were more aggressive with. Is is gambling
the future for the now, And when you have a

(27:36):
good organization that's capable of doing that with the pieces
in place to do it with it, it can create
a really scary situation for the rest of the league
and also changes the math in that division. So what
an what an enormous again, I'm I'm I'm I'm really
grasping for the correct adjective to describe this, But this

(28:00):
is a league shifting move and there's no two ways
about it.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
All in that's that's the way you describe it. And again,
this is not a new concept for the Rams. They
not only have done this before, but the last time
they did it they won a freaking Super Bowl. You know,
the twenty twenty one offseason when they traded two future
ones for Stafford, and then you know, followed that up
in November when they were making their playoff push trading

(28:26):
for von Miller. Now, that wasn't as expensive as Miles Garrett,
but I would argue that when you trade multiple first
round picks a few months prior for your star quarterback,
and then you trade more picks in the same draft
the following year, Right, they traded their first round pick,
and so in twenty twenty one, they traded their first
round pick in twenty twenty two, first round pick in

(28:47):
twenty twenty three for Stafford. Then later that year they
traded their second round pick in twenty twenty two and
third round pick in twenty twenty two. They traded their
first three picks in the next draft for Stafford von Miller,
and everyone's like, you're crazy, you're trading your future. You're
a mortgaging. And then they won the Super Bowl. So

(29:08):
that's kind of the path here, and I think for
less need, he doesn't care f them picks like he
does not care about the draft picks now. Fun fact,
before this trade happened, I was already in the process
of going through my season projections and I already had
the Rams as the number one team winning the Super
Bowl over the Bengals. By the way, how about that.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
That's my super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
I'll give it to you right now. I don'tay, that's
my super Bowl prediction for this year. Rams over Bengals.
Rematch of what we saw five years ago. Guess what
the super Bowl is this year?

Speaker 6 (29:40):
La?

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Guess what that Super Bowl was? La. History has a
funny way of repeating itself if you are doomed to
forget it. But I mean, you assembled this group of
players now, and I think it's going to be Stafford
mcvay's last year too. I think this is the Swan song.
I think they win the Super Bowl this year. I
think they go off into the sunset and they let
but they let let's need pick up the pieces with

(30:04):
whoever's going to coach the team next and Ty Simpson.
But I mean, at this point, Brian, it's hard to
say that there is any team in the NFL that
can stack up with this roster. It's the best roster
I've ever seen assembled. You didn't even we didn't even
talk about the two secondary pieces they added and they
traded for from the Chiefs, which was there. I would
say that was their Their one slight weakness other than

(30:26):
special teams, was you know, defending the pass and allowing
Sam Darnold to run it up and down the field.
And they addressed that in the offseason. And now you
they didn't need Miles Garrett like Jared versus all Pro
defensive end. They didn't need Miles Garrett. But when you
get to that point and you have that opportunity to
add a player like that who is going to be
a Hall of Famer, it's hard to say no, especially

(30:47):
if Lesnie just does not care about the draft picks.
So I understand why there's pushback about this, but man,
this Rams roster, like, good luck finding a game on
their schedule where they're not going to be a favorite.

Speaker 5 (30:58):
Yeah, that's what's so weird is it is an FM
picks move right by the Rams for sure, and less snead.
But that's what's so weird is the opposite was he
used the first overall or the first round pick thirteenth
overall on Ty Simpson. So that's the first thing I
thought of, was if this Miles Garrett deal, let's say

(31:18):
it happens before the draft somehow, some way, are you
still drafting Ty Simpson thirteenth overall? You know, you're doing
two very different things at the same time. Where the
draft pick was all about the future, right, ty Simpson
is going to back up Matthew Stafford as long as
Stafford as the is QB one for the Rams, So
this could be a couple of years potentially that you know,

(31:41):
ty Simpson's holding a clipboard, so that's a move solely
focused on the future. And then less Need turns around
and makes this mammoth move to get Miles Garrett into
trade with the Browns. So it's like you could not
have two more polar opposite things happening at the same time.
So very strange and really a weird situation if you

(32:02):
look beyond twenty twenty six for ty Simpson, where you are,
you're mortgaging your future for the here and now, and
so whatever ty Simpson takes over, it's like Wow, we
don't have any draft draft pigs over here, any premium
picks to replenish this roster. So we'll cross that bridge
when we get to it. But for the here and now,
just an absolute bombshell of a deal right there.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
And it was funny.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
Bo Benson, our trusted producer, he he texted me during
the week and he's like, I just love that the
AJ Brown news was totally upstaged, you know, like AJ
Brown just finally in the sun, right, like, come on,
and he gets traded to the Patriots, and it's a
footnote compared to this Miles Garrett trade. The Miles Garrett
trade is just unbelievably massive, and Rich said it right like,

(32:46):
it's a it is a you know, like a a
league shifting type move because this does it shifts the
balance of powers greatly here and h buckle up for
twenty twenty six. Man can't wait for to see how
it unfolds here. And it was funny. There was someone
that wrote a tweet where it's like, if you want
to look at what's happening in the NFC West, the

(33:07):
Rams just traded for Miles Garrett. The Arizona Cardinals are
in a contract stalemate with Jacoby Brissette.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
You know, that's where we're in.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
The NFC West, right, there's levels to the NFL guys.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
Oh, there's absolutely levels to this. And yeah, it is
interesting that all the focus was on AJ Brown and
this Miles Garrett trade kind of came out of nowhere,
and it might peel back a couple more of the
layers of the onion in terms of complexity within an
organization's house. You know, you gotta keep everybody happy and

(33:41):
everybody feeling fed and normally you know, the way we
talk about that is is like guys like AJ Brown,
where it's like, well, AJ Brown, obviously whatever the emotional
drama that was going on inside of the Philadelphia locker room,
put that aside for the second to talk about like
the typical receiver just wants the ball delivered to him

(34:04):
and wants to feel included in the process and wants
to like like it's something that many quarterbacks talk about.
When you have a star receiver, you try to get
him involved early, you know, make him feel good, you know,
make sure because you may need him in the fourth quarter,
you may need him in the second half, So you
got to get him as touches at very least looks.
And you know, when you have a high valuable type player,

(34:27):
that's an important role that you have to play as
a ball distributor at quarterback, while as a general manager
of a franchise sort of taking that same application and
applying it to something different. Well, how did Sean McVay
feel going to bed on draft night after that first
round selection came through? Obviously not great? Clearly he was

(34:49):
disappointed with the pick and you could read it all
over his face. His body language was horrible. He expressed,
you know, interest in the player, but it was very muted.
And so you look at this situation now and it
almost felt like, well, hey, don't worry, I'll get you something.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
You know.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
It was almost like Less need owed his head coach
one and this was the one he owed him. It's like,
all right, you know, are we square now? You got
your quarterback? You love Matthew. We all get that, and
we locked him in for the season. And oh, by
the way, here comes the boom on defense and it's
gonna be a nuclear seismic type boom. Are we all

(35:34):
square now? And the answer has to be yes. If
you're Sean McVay because you couldn't possibly have asked for
a bigger superstar to anchor your defense. You know, the
single season sack leader one hundred and twenty five plus
sacks over the course of his career, a dominant, I
mean force of nature on the football field. It does

(35:54):
change the math of this ram season and who knows,
maybe it changes the foot hold that that that less
need is standing on moving into that future. Because you know,
he's hoping he doesn't lose to McVeigh. He knows he's
gonna lose Matthew Stafford, but he's praying that McVeigh that
he can convince McVeigh that if you work with Ty Simpson,

(36:17):
we have value here. Don't abandon ship, please stay. We've
got something special baking. And he needed to push something
on on the on the side of the ledger that
benefited McVeigh. And I think this obviously was it's not
a reach, it's it's it's a as much as it

(36:37):
it booies their roster, and it does it also it
also is a gesture back to the head coach who
felt some kind of way about how draft day went.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah, how about this, Brian, And this maybe closes a
point on on your your your point about you know
the fact that they took the approach they did in
the draft and then went to go get Garrett. Maybe
it was maybe it's the other way round. Maybe they
felt empowered or less. Thane felt empowered to go give
up future draft picks for Miles Garrett, knowing they had
their quarterback in the future already in tow and they

(37:09):
weren't going to need a high end first round pick
to go get a quarterback because they already have that
quarterback now. And so now the draft picks that they
have that are the premium draft picks down the road,
they're like, hey, listen, if we get a first round
defensive end or a second round defensive end, I feel
like we're okay, we've got the quarterback now and ty Simpson,

(37:29):
who's on the shelf, you know, collecting dust for how
many years? But at least we have them, and now
we're empowered to go get Miles Garrett. Maybe that was
the decision. Maybe that was kind of the line of thinking.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
I mean, I get the thinking, we'll see if Tys
Simpson's any good.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
That's that we can't answer that question yet. Yes, I
can't I get out answer that question. We know I
feel about that.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
College starts.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
I don't know that we're guaranteed that they've got their
quarterback in the future, that.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
They think they have him, though they certainly they do.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
We've got Rich Arnberger, p D State All American, Jared
Smith FSR, Betting analyst.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 5 (38:04):
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(38:26):
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Speaker 2 (38:31):
For each goal.

Speaker 5 (38:32):
Right, you win a share of bonus bets, so get
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(39:16):
do this.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
Check this out parlay letter.

Speaker 5 (39:21):
Ah, yes, the platter. We each have one selection for you.
We pull it together for a greater payout. Jared, we
start with you.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
What do you like?

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Well, you know me, guys. First inning baseball, that's that's
that's where I live. We will go yes or on
first inning. The your feet in the Reds Cardinals game
supposed to be a heater hot day in Saint Louis.
We love that for offense, but it's really the pitching
matchup here that I really love. Matthew Libertor has not
been good in the first inning this year, neither has

(39:49):
Nick Lodolo. So I get two pitchers that are very
much on the back end of the first inning scale,
and I've got two offenses. I mean, I go, look
at what these two teams did yesterday. They can bine
for five runs in the first inning. The Reds offense,
even when not La de la Cruz, has been pretty good,
and this Cardinal's offense starting to play a little bit better.
I know they got new bar back, so we'll go
urfie Reds Cardinals minus one eighteen bet MGM.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
All right, I'm going baseball, So I'm gonna go nerfy
on Mariners Tigers. Not sexy, but two really clean first
inning profiles for both these pitchers, Miller and Montero. On
the mount, Miller has been excellent in the first three
innings in games he's started two ridys. They're both thrown strikes.
And this is to me. Even though Detroit's bats are

(40:35):
hot right now, they're coming off a great series against
Tampa Bay, I like it a lot nurfy for Mariners
and the Tigers.

Speaker 5 (40:43):
All right, Well, you know we're in Nick's fever right now.
We are the New York Nicks. I'm gonna go with
we are the New York Mets. I'm going with the
Mets against your Padres here tonight night cap here rid
the Padres. Oh and they're one to ten in their
last eleven, six straight losses. Griffin, Griffin, Cannon on the mound,
give me the Mets. I'll take the Mets in that
one out right, we'll get the.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Pay past five twenty one.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Okay, let's go not that. Oh what is going on?
Happy Saturday?

Speaker 4 (41:12):
Too?

Speaker 3 (41:12):
You hope all is well? All right?

Speaker 5 (41:15):
So, uh listen, man, there's a tough there's a tough
thing in sports radio. I would say, when there's a
little bit of nuance, when you have to say, all right,
slow down, but let's let's not go crazy over here,
yet still giving a player the props that they deserve.
That's where I'm at with Jalen Brunson. Because Jalen Brunson,
this conversation is starting to come up now. Is Jalen

(41:38):
Brunson the greatest NBA free agent signing ever? There are
some people saying he is. Some believe that he is
the greatest free agent signing ever. But it's like, all right, well,
what's the list look like in the NBA. Here, Well,
there was Shack to the Lakers. That's a pretty good one.
There's Lebron to the Heat, pretty good, KD to the
Golden State Warriors. All those fetched it at least two

(42:00):
titles a piece, right for the franchises that they went to.
Jalen Brunson has been magnificent. We all know how much
he's meant to the New York Knicks. But we got
to be reasonable here. We can't grade everything on this
Knicks curve, you know what I mean? Or it's like
you do it for the Knicks and they haven't once
in seventy three and it might be the best ever.
Might It's like Shack won three titles. Shack was the

(42:23):
Finals MVP each of those years. He won three straight
finals MVPs in those back to back to back championships
with the Lakers. That right now is easily the best
free agent signing ever in the NBA. Brunson might get
there at some point, but he's got to stack multiple rings.

(42:44):
He looks like he's in root right now. He still
hasn't done that yet. He hasn't won one ring yet,
So we got to give that a little bit of time.
Maybe Brunson has a fighting chance to one day get there,
But right now, as we breathe and sit here, right now,
Jalen Brunson is not the greatest NBA free agent signing ever.
Maybe one day maybe, but not yet. No chance that

(43:05):
he's number one right now.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Yeah, I mean, I absolutely agree. I mean, it's just
too early to say that yet. However, if the Knicks
finished this off, Brunson's case does start to get real.
You know, you know, you look at Shaq and Lebron
when they joined the Lakers or the Heat, for example,

(43:30):
Historical greatness followed. Obviously, championships followed, and those were monumental
signings for truly finished works of art. Those two players
were at the tippy top of their game and then
taking their talents to South Beach the way Lebron did
or the Shack signing with the Lakers on their way

(43:52):
to winning titles is one thing, and then what Brunson's
signing is is a completely different thing. You know, Durant,
for example, joined a machine already in progress. He signed
and it was Stephen Clay and Draymond and that's great,
don't get me wrong. And what they did together, the

(44:14):
four of them together was great. But Jalen Brunson was
signed when this was a franchise still chasing its first
playoff series win since twenty thirteen. He didn't join a machine.
He became the machine. That's the difference between Durant signing
with the Golden State Warriors, or Shack signing with the Lakers,

(44:37):
or Lebron signing with the Miami Heat. Even there were
stars already aligned for those franchises, to add one superstar
and go, you know, just completely ballistic. That's not what
this was. When Brunson was signed, he was an unfinished work.
The team was an unfinished work, and his addition has

(44:58):
helped create the machine that we're watching in practice during
the NBA Finals now. So if they finished this off
the circuitest route that they've taken to get to where
they're at is one of the most unique free agency
stories we've ever seen. Is it the greatest? Well time
will tell. It'll put him in the conversation, certainly if

(45:19):
he wins a title with New York after this long
championship drought that the city has endured, But it absolutely
puts it in a category of its own. It is
certainly the most unique free agency signing story out of
the NBA maybe ever, because I don't know if we've
ever seen a more impactful signing that has netted a

(45:44):
team more success in recent memories, certainly than Jalen Brunton
joining the New York Knicks.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Yeah, I refrain from using the greatest term too often.
A it doesn't always make sense to compare situations. In fact,
it rarely makes sense to compare situations. We talk about
this all the time with like the MJ Lebron debate.
They played in completely different errors. They're completely different players,
you know, Saying which one's the greatest is like it's

(46:14):
just like arguing over spilt milk. Like I just I
just don't think there's really a point in it. The
uniqueness of the Brunson situation is, Man, the MAVs, I mean,
they didn't even make the dude an offer, didn't even
have a chance to That's how quick the Knicks swooped
in there and grabbed him. But then a few years later,
of course they hatred away. Luka Dajik Like, I think

(46:34):
that to me is the most intriguing part of the
Brunson signing is, you know, the MAVs what they've let
slip away over the last few years, but obviously that
was a turning point for the Knicks franchise. And I
think if you want to start the conversation with that,
instead of saying, you know, comparing it to Shaq, comparing
it to other free agent signings, if you just want

(46:56):
to say it's the greatest signing in the Knicks free
agent history, in reversing and altering the course of a
franchise that was in the depth of hell for many years.
I mean, I lived through some lineups. I posted one
of them before the finals started. They don't even recognize
these guys, and now the Knicks have just a I

(47:17):
don't want to say star studded lineup, but the lineup
that they have with Brunson leading it, who's such an
unassuming star, Like if you go watch Jalen Brunson, he's
smaller in stature. He's always been overlooked. He kind of
fits New York's vibe of the grittiness and the toughness
of the city, and he's not flashy. So I think

(47:37):
it's it's less about greatest signing, Brian, and more about
at the moment that the Knicks needed a player like Brunson.
It was really the perfect fit. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
I mean, listen, it's done wonders for the Knicks. We
all know that.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
And that's the tricky part about, you know, debates like
this where it seems like you have to kind of
like push Brunson down to elevate Shack or that that's
not what anyone's trying to do. He's Brunson's been magnificent
for the Knicks. But at the same time, it's like,
can we be reasonable? I always use the Homer test,
you know, if your emotions are involved. Let's say you're

(48:11):
a diehard Knicks fan, and it's like, all right, let's
let's try to flip the scenario as best as we can.
Are you telling me that if the timelines are different,
that if Brunson had won already three championships with the
Knicks and was Finals MVP all three of those years,
and here's Shack, by the way, he's in a really
good position to win his first championship. Like, am I

(48:34):
supposed to believe that? We're sitting here saying like, oh,
Shack is the greatest free agent. No way in that scenario,
not even close. So if you look at the situation
for what it is, Brunson has meant a ton to
the Knicks, but he's got a lot of work to
do to go down as the greatest NBA free agent
signing of all time. Some stiff competition even if you
think about Lebron not just going to the Heat, but

(48:57):
going back to the Cavs. Remember he signed with the
Cabs again in July of twenty fourteen as a free agent.
So if you think about ending a fifty two year
drought for the city of Cleveland, right like that was,
they didn't have a championship in fifty two years, over
five decades, right, and they finally won a championship by

(49:17):
taking down the seventy three win Warriors when they're trailing
three to one in the series. If you want to
look at one ring and how much that meant, I mean,
that's pretty stiff competition for Brunson if he wins a
championship here in the Knicks and a fifty three year
championship drought. So in my book, a lot of work
to be done for Brunson, as magnificent as he's been,

(49:39):
to be the greatest NBA free agent signing of all time.
I think all three of us are on the same page.
If the Knicks close out this run, it's got to
be the greatest playoff run in NBA history. If they
sweeped the Spurs, there's no debate, zero debate. But if they,
I don't know, they somehow drop a couple of games, it's.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
Nip and tuck.

Speaker 5 (49:59):
You know, it could go different way and they still win.
It's still probably gonna go down. Even if the Knicks
just somehow, some way win the series. This's got to
be the greatest run in NBA playoff history. And what
they've been able to do, so they said thirteen straight
playoff wins right here, and to be winning these games

(50:19):
before the Spurs series in dominant fashion. They've got seven
straight road games that they've won by double digits. That's
the longest streak in NBA playoff history. That's insanity right there.
So what they are able to do is that the
regular season is hard, Yeah, and that was I would
imagine it's still a record. Going into Game two last night,

(50:40):
they had won twelve straight and they were plus two
seventy two in point differential. That's the greatest streak in
NBA history, regular or playoff. Regular season or postseason. So like,
think about that regular season where this past season you
could be like, all right, we got we rattled off
thirteen straight wins. We had Wizards in there, you know,

(51:01):
we got the jazz when they're the rest again. But
you could ask me any type of scenario. These are
playoff teams that they're dusting one after another.

Speaker 4 (51:10):
Yeah, yeah, you know, going back to our original conversation,
and like you just perfectly outlined, I think we are
all in agreement. This is arguably, if they finish this off,
especially in sweep fashion, the greatest playoff run we've ever seen.
But I'll give you a comp that actually makes sense
when I think about Jalen Brunson and his impact on

(51:32):
the New York Knicks. Okay, so Steve Nash. He signs
as a free agent in two thousand and four, he
becomes a two time MVP with the Suns. That feels
closer to Bruntson than the Lebron comp, right than the
like a smaller guard an undervalued to his relative value

(51:58):
for the team that he joined and his eventual franchise
impact elevating entire franchise. The difference I would say between
obviously where we're talking about the greatest ree agent signings
of all time, where a franchise may have been heading
and then the addition of a star where it ended

(52:19):
up shack obviously immediate results in LA and you perfectly
pointed out that it was more than once in Lebron's
career that he did this for multiple franchises. And then
obviously Durant, he was joining a machine in progress. I mean,
I didn't even mention andre I Guadala, who was an
enormous part of that team for the Warriors' success before

(52:41):
Durant joined, and he was just another puzzle piece that
was added. But Brunton and Steve Nash makes sense as
more of a competent. Not a lot of people will
give Steve Nash his flowers, and I think it's because
over time, like we do, we remember the superstars. We

(53:01):
don't remember the facilitators as much or the high effort
add on guys who sort of complete the circle. But
they are so important because without them, the chain breaks.
And that was Steve Nash to the Suns during their time,
and that's Brunts in with the New York Knicks. So

(53:24):
I look at that as being a better comp because
he just fits. He fits the profile this team. He
helped them become a more finished product, and it looks like,
I mean again, if inevitability at this point, starting the
series two to zero on the road is something that
we can talk about when they win this championship. Still

(53:47):
an if, but we will definitely put Brunson's name. He'll
be etched somewhere in NBA history as one of the
greatest acquisitions in free agency of all time, because there's
no two ways about it.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
I think the more interesting conversation to me right now
is about where he stacks in New York City sports lore.
I've heard a lot of Jeter comparisons because of the
kind of unassuming nature that he goes about his business,
and I like that comparison from a you know, personality standpoint.
But Jeter also won a boatload of rings, and I don't.

(54:23):
I don't think Brunson's I think Jeter won five, might
be off by one. I don't think Brunson's gonna win five,
although if he does, then we could start to make
that Let's get to a second one first. Let's get
the first one first. Then we'll get the second one,
and then we'll talk Jeter, But I do like the
personality comparison there. I think that fits because Jeter was

(54:45):
just like he just didn't care, like he just didn't
care about like the stardom and the glitz and the glamour,
like he just wanted to win. And that was a
very I would say New York City vibe like he
fit the culture of the city very well. I think
Brunson his style fits the culture of New York City
very well. But it goes back to the original point
you were making, Brian about comparing it to Shack and
the free agent stuff, Like every situation is just so unique.

(55:07):
I don't like comparing things. I just like to take
what it is for what it is. And at this point,
as a Knicks fan and as just a fan of
good basketball, the Knicks play the game the right way.
They're a tough, gritty team. They don't have one star
that is the guy, and if he doesn't play well,
they have no chance to win. You said it, Brunson
did not have a good shooting game last night. But
it's some really clutch shots. It was the role players.

(55:29):
It was Landry Shammitt, it was Bridges was unbelievable, Like
they just have this way of playing team basketball. That's
why they're able to win games on the road by
double digits at the rate that they're able to do it,
because they don't have a weakness right now. And I
think that is what makes this team more impressive than
one individual star. It's the way that they've come together.

(55:51):
And I was totally dead wrong about Mike Brown not
being the guy to elevate them, because whatever he's done
is clearly unlock this team to a different level, especially offensively.
I mean, the TIBs teams are not blowing out, you know,
close out games by thirty on the road like that.
That ain't happening. So Mike Brown's obviously pushed the right buttons.
They've got the right role players off the bench, and

(56:12):
Brunson is that glue that brings it all together. And
of course the injury. You know, you're kind of adding
that injury lore. I thought that was like a Willis
Reid moment in game, and he left the floor, came
back and hit some bitch shots down the stretch. So
the comparisons are fun for talk radio, but at the
end of the day, this is just a tough New
York Knicks team that plays basketball the right way, and

(56:34):
it's tough to really identify one guy as the reason
that they're winning. It is a collection of great players.

Speaker 5 (56:42):
You know, I will say one last thing about Brunson.
This is completely separate from the whole Is he the
greatest NBA free agent signing of all time? It's just
funny how sometimes the way games unfold in what we
focus on and what we just forget about. You know
what's funny is if when he hits that final shot, right,
it was a good look with Mitchell Robinson contesting the shot.

(57:06):
If he hits that shot, you know what we're focused
on today. It's Brunson missing a free throw. Like if
he makes both free throws, it's a high game going
to overtime. But Wemby misses the shot, and it's a
total footnote. It's as if it didn't even happen with
Brunson missing a clutch free throw is at eighty five
percent free throw shooter, and he misses the second free throw,

(57:26):
and luckily for the Knicks, it didn't come back to
burn him, but it could have.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
And with Wemby missing, it's like, yeah, we.

Speaker 5 (57:33):
Forgot all about we forgot Oh it's like as if
it didn't even happen. He just made them both and
you know, like history will never remember that. It's a
complete footnote. It's just funny how how it unfolds like
that from time to time. All right, we've got rich Oronberger,
Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst. I'm
probably no be sure to check out the new looking
features in the bet mgm app. It's fast and easy

(57:54):
access to the sports you love. It's the fastest bet
mgm app. Ever, it's a more personalized experience with popular
picks tailored to you and a new rewards hub with
all of your personalized rewards and new players can receive
up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets with
bonus code countdown if they don't win their first bet.
That's code countdown in the BETMGM app. All right, coming
up next, our main man, Seamus McGee from BETMGM, gets

(58:17):
you all set for the rest of the NBA Finals.
We got puck going on, lots go, maybe a little baseball,
so we'll compare notes with Seamus. Get all of his insights.
That's right around the corner. It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown
presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented
by BETMGM. Every time you make a wager at BETMGM,

(58:37):
you earn BETMGM rewards points that can be redeemed for
things like bonus bets or converted to MGM rewards points
that could be used towards dining shows and hotel rooms
at over twenty MGM resorts. And be sure to follow
BETMGM across all socials at BETMGM.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
All right, let's do this, follow the money real good one.

Speaker 5 (58:57):
We'll welcome in our good friend Seamus McGee, team lead
of Sports Trading at BETMGM. Good morning to you, Seamus.
All right, these freaking Knicks huh? Have they been good
for business at BETMGM? Are bad for business these first
two games? And what do you need to happen in
game three? At least projecting when it rolls around here
on Monday night, Nicks minus two and a half as

(59:17):
we sit here and speak right now.

Speaker 7 (59:20):
Good to be backfellas. I mean, that's a pretty loaded question.
Have the Knicks been for the for the books here?
Because it goes a little both ways. I mean the
handle's been phenomenal on these games. And honestly, the first
two game results they weren't that bad, Like we took
a lot of Knicks money for sure, but at the
same time, like really good numbers for the books on

(59:42):
SGP so far, Like you know, Brunton and Wemby haven't
really shot right these first two games, so sgps have
been good for the books are in playbook. Yesterday was great.
I think the Knicks not blowing that lead in the
fourth really helped it south.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
So we'll see.

Speaker 7 (01:00:01):
I think we're gonna need the Spurs big come Monday.
I just I'm gonna have a heart. I have a
heart time believing we're gonna see a lot of Spurs
money come in. I mean that this momentum the Knicks
have right now is crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Seamus, are you surprised by the number? That really surprised
me last night? So obviously you guys got to make
San Antonio favorite at home, no doubt about it. And
I think they were like a four, four and a
half five. I don't know where you guys closed in
game one and then game two, the motivation bounced back
angle boosted this sucker up to seven. Like I took
seven points with the Knicks last night, and I just

(01:00:36):
thought that that was way too many points to increase
the line, just because the Spurs really needed it bad.
Like nothing changed between the two teams other than the Spurs.
Maybe we're in more of a desperate spot, but that
doesn't lead me to seven points. And now we get
a very i would say manageable next number in game three.

(01:00:57):
I mean, they're only laying two and a half. Are
you surprised that we haven't increased the nixt number at
all and given them a little bit more love in
the market.

Speaker 7 (01:01:05):
I'm extremely surprised, if I'm being honest, Like, like that
number got up really big and we didn't take anything
sharp enough to move it back down to the four
and a half number from game one, So you know,
the Sharps must still think the Spurs have something. I'm
really surprised this is only two and a half right now.
Like I think the Knicks have been the better team

(01:01:26):
the last two games. Like I don't think they're getting lucky.
I think they just look like a way better team
right now. So it's it's really interesting like game one,
like I didn't think the next played that well. They
still ended up winning my ten points. Like, I wonder
how much this Knicks team has broken some people's brains,

(01:01:47):
the media, the sharp, the books. It's it's astounding. I mean,
this is a win streak we've never even seen before
in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (01:01:59):
No, it really, it's truly a historical playoff run. We
were just talking about it in terms of, you know,
the grander picture, and I think that in sports talk
radio we speak hyperbolically, we speak in grandiose terms, a
lot of the greatest, the best, you know, those types
of conversations. But this is a historical run for a

(01:02:20):
big market franchise, which leads me to this question. You know, Seamus,
obviously San Antonio smaller market than New York. New York
obviously a very big market who's been deprived of much
to cheer for in terms of basketball over the years.
Is the handle on this series, on this finals bigger

(01:02:41):
than expected? Is it about what you expected? Are are?
Is there more action at the window than you perceived
there would be?

Speaker 7 (01:02:51):
I think it's.

Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
About on par.

Speaker 7 (01:02:52):
I thought it was going to be colossal and it is.
I mean, everyone says yes, first, small market is that
everyone knows the Spurs like the Spurs have been in
the finals plenty of times. It's not like, you know,
this podunk team from the middle of nowhere is coming
and playing here. But a lot of it is the
next I mean, you saw the Game one viewership. I

(01:03:13):
think I saw it was a ninety percent year on year.
That's insane and it's a bet. And as far as
the sportsbooks are concerned in terms of handle, it's been great.
I mean, these are huge numbers we're seeing for NBA Finals,
So you know, it's it's a lot of fun for
me because I'm I'm from here, I'm you know, I'm
a huge Knicks fan, and you know, for the sports books,

(01:03:37):
it's fun to see everyone get involved in terms of
betting on this as well.

Speaker 5 (01:03:41):
You know, you uh, you grabbed my attention, Seamus when
you briefly mentioned the same game parlays going in your
favor and bet MGM's favor. So what's been the main
culprit right what's tripped up the betters the most?

Speaker 4 (01:03:54):
Is it?

Speaker 5 (01:03:55):
You know Wemby Game one he scored twenty six but
didn't shoot it effectively six for twenty one from the
field or Brunton last night where he drops twenty but
seven for twenty five from the field. Is it a
blend of those like Brunson last night, Wemby Game one,
or somebody else that's toppled a lot of these same
game parlays, Thanks.

Speaker 7 (01:04:15):
Will call a lit Colin be it's a little bit
of both of those guys. But I think you look
at three point shooting, especially Game one, a lot of
people put three three pointers in those parlays. Game one
that definitely, you know, took a hit for a bunch
of players for both teams. And then last night, yeah,
I think Brunson, like only in twenty points that was huge.

(01:04:39):
He's like, if you're making the same game parlay, like
you're not sharp or anyone like that. You're at the bar,
you're making the same game parlay watching this game, you're
almost instinctively putting Brunston against thirty points in there, like
he's missed thirty points in the playoffs. So last night
that was definitely huge. And again, like I said, the
InPlay was huge. It we took a lot of money

(01:05:00):
on the Spurs when they got down in the second half,
so if they came back and won the endplay book
would have took a hit. But yeah, like all all
this six money has been Like it's a little worrying
because they're winning these games, but at the same time,
so many other factors are going the books away for
these so they actually they've been pretty manageable games for

(01:05:21):
us so far, especially with such huge handles on these
We like to see these numbers coming in.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Yeah, I mean it's been it's been unbelievable what the
Knicks have done. All right, I want to switch gears
and ask you about the NFL because we had a massive, massive,
massive ripple in the markets this week with the Miles
Garrett trade, and I don't know if you saw any
any big move in the futures market. When I'm looking
at bet MGM's prices right now for the Super Bowl odds,
the Rams are five to one. No one else is

(01:05:48):
even in their tier. Everyone else is ten to one
or longer. I don't want to say it's a foregone conclusion,
because we know, Seamus, it's the NFL. Crazy things happen.
But is this Rams roster the best roster you've ever
seen constructed? Because what I'm looking at, I've already putten
them in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 7 (01:06:06):
I'd have to really really think about that, but like it,
it's definitely up there. But yeah, I mean we gave
him a shot from eight to one to six to
one and then like that was initially off the trade
then down to five. I mean, this is on paper
like this is a really good team, but you know,
this is a funny sport with a weird shaped ball.

(01:06:27):
The Seahawks still aren't going anywhere. That division is just
really good. Like people forget the Niners. Round got Mike
Evans this year, So let's not pencil anything too much.
You know that a lot can happen between now in February,
so we'll see. But as it stands right now, this
is going to be a really, really tough team to

(01:06:48):
beat this year.

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
All Right. We're a long way off from ball, but
we are fired up about it. So we've dedicated a
bulk of our programming to talking a little football. Earlier,
back to the NBA Finals for a moment, the Knicks
taking both of those road games and now heading to
Madison Square Garden. What's harder to price the actual matchup
between the Knicks and the Spurs or the emotional uh

(01:07:15):
drama around New York possibly ending the title drought because
I imagine you have to sort of live in both
those minds as a handicapper.

Speaker 7 (01:07:26):
It is crazy here. Like I was at the Garden
for the Game one watch party. You could not move
down Seventh Avenue after the game Carver's parked. They could
not move for hours. I don't know what other team
has that kind of chokeol on the city like the
Knicks do. So I think I'm gonna go with the
ladder there we can. We can handicap the matchups all day.

(01:07:49):
That's what that's what we're employed to do. But this,
this Nicks tea, it's it's crazy to kind of encapsulate
what the impact they have on this city right now,
and what that building is going to sound like on
Monday is going to be otherworldly.

Speaker 5 (01:08:03):
I think, all right, Seamus, it's kind of like when
the Seamous Special is unveiled, just the pump bole electricity
right here.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
What do you have for us today?

Speaker 7 (01:08:15):
I do have a Shamus Special for today, but we
do it the World Cup starting next week, and I
do want to tip a future that I really like.
There's a lot of fun outright markets that are up
that you can bet on ahead of the World Cup,
the one that's got my eye the most. You can
either go, you know, two ways on this one. You

(01:08:36):
can either bet Ghana to finish last and groove bell
or Panama to qualify out of the group. The vibes
for these two teams could not be more polar opposite.
Ghana didn't qualify for the Afping Cup of Nations back
in January, which was.

Speaker 4 (01:08:50):
A big shot.

Speaker 7 (01:08:52):
There's a lot of turmoil going around. The vibes are
horrendous there. You go to Panama. This is a team
that's kind of been here a few times and they're
what can it finally take the next step to get there.
A lot of Panamanians live around here in New Jersey
and they get two games here, so I think they
might be able to steal that game versus Goa or
just do it enough to get some points maybe get out.

(01:09:13):
I think Ganna to finish last in the group though,
is a decent bet. As for today, though, it's easy.
Jake Mazarowski on the bump over eight and a half case,
I think he gets up to ten.

Speaker 3 (01:09:26):
Okay.

Speaker 7 (01:09:27):
I think the Brewers today against the Rockies, I think
this is an easy. This is a layup, guys, I
hate saying that. I hate being that guy who's like
the tout calling things locks or layups. But I think
this is an easy one today, fellas.

Speaker 5 (01:09:44):
All right, man, good stuff, a little two for one.
Let's fade Ghana and group L and ride the miz.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
This is beautiful, right, you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Are giving a seven and a half on the mis.
You gotta lay fifty five cents. But that just I mean,
that feels like stealing.

Speaker 7 (01:09:57):
I'm some old skuys. They're out there.

Speaker 5 (01:10:00):
Yeah, all right, all right, Seamus, hope you have a
great day.

Speaker 3 (01:10:03):
We'll catch you soon.

Speaker 7 (01:10:04):
Man, have a good one. Guy's great talking.

Speaker 3 (01:10:07):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 5 (01:10:08):
There is seamous McGee, team lead of sports trading at
bet MGM. How about that wedding the whistle for the
World Cup early prop.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
Good stuff? Love that all right?

Speaker 5 (01:10:18):
Little time for puck? Huh, we got puck tonight. Let's
not forget about that Game three series tied one to one.
We got even money lines here. Basically, it's minus one
ten on either side, so minus one ten Hurricanes went
out right, minus one ten Golden Knights went out right.
So you make your choices how you see fit. But
how about this first time in Stanley Cup final history

(01:10:41):
where you've got both teams with multi goal comeback wins.
That's pretty crazy where you know, you look at the
Golden Knights. Game one, the Hurricanes scored in the first
twenty five seconds. It's just like what just happened. They're
down two nothing in the game. Golden Knights rally win
the game. And then Game two, Hurricanes with the one
nothing deficit in the series, they're down two goals before

(01:11:04):
you could blink twice. Game goes to overtime, Hurricanes win.
It been a crazy series thus far, a lot of
fun back and forth, great action. But Game three tonight,
what are you looking for.

Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
Rich Well, I'll say this, the tight game goes to Carolina.
The Hurricanes are becoming terrifying in these late game situations.
They're now six and oher in overtime, which you know,
we're kind of heralding back to the conversation we're having about,
you know, whether it's the late game collapse of the

(01:11:35):
San Antonio Spurs or brilliance keeping the pressure on and
putting a young team in a tight spot late in
the game for the New York Knicks. However you want
to view it, there are certain teams that are better
at crunch time than others. Carolina with that six and
oh record in overtime this postseason. You know, Seth Jarvis
won Game two with the power play ot game winner

(01:11:58):
with three point fifty six left. It's it's it's not
it's not just symptom of a bigger problem for Vegas.
It's like a solution that Carolina has come up with
in this postseason. They're finishers and so again, you know,
going back to the original point, what I'm expecting to
see is if this game is tight, it goes there

(01:12:20):
it falls more more often than not the way of
the Hurricanes.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
It's kind of the opposite of the NBA Finals, Brian,
is what I'm vibing here. I think it's gonna be
a long drawn out series. I think both teams are
very game. The hockey is such a more team sport
than than most others. I mean, it's just it's your
so relyont on, can your third and fourth line create
offense and the I think Carolina's done a really good
job of that. Their first line has been a little

(01:12:46):
bit off. Actually, I would say that the Heroes so
far have been on the lower lines for Carolina. But
with Vegas, I mean they're just it's kind of they
riding this wave of the tort the Tort's wave where
they replaced their coach right before the playoffs, and they've
just run through the postseason. It's been damn impressive to watch.
I'll actually be going to not the game itself. I'm

(01:13:08):
not going to the game. I might go to Game
six if we get there to see another clinch, because
I did. I was in the building the last time
the Vegas last time the gold Knights clinch three years ago.
But in this particular matchup, I'll just be on the
outside in the facade area seeing some friends who are
going to the game. And you know, there's a cool
little area right outside. It's actually right outside of Park

(01:13:29):
MGM and the New York New York and other MGM
property here in Vegas. They have this cool little like
facade area right outside the arena where it's like all
this crazy stuff going on far as restaurants, all it stuff.
So I'll be soaking in the atmosphere, but i won't
be going inside the building. But this feels like a
seven game series, Like it's giving me vibes of six
seven games. It's giving me vibes of both of these

(01:13:50):
teams are very much on the level of championship quality.
They both do things in very different ways. I would
say Vegas has been also very much led by their netminder.
It's been Founta in this postseason, so I'm excited to
kind of see how it plays out. It does feel
like it does feel like a long series, though, feels
like the opposite of what we're gonna see in the
NBA Finals.

Speaker 5 (01:14:10):
You know what's funny is I was hanging at the facade,
as you say, you know, a couple of.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
Don't know if that's the right word for it, but
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:14:17):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
I like it's better.

Speaker 5 (01:14:19):
I like that description. But it was funny Game one.
So I stayed at New York, New York for like
the last three days I was in Vegas. I was
there last week just hanging out, and it was funny
because I saw a bunch of people outside of Team Mobile,
like when I was walking into the elevator and I'm like, yeah,
it didn't dawn on me what was going on. And
I finally figured out, I'm like, I bet it's a
watch party. So I figured they were outside, and then

(01:14:41):
when I walked up there, there's nobody there. I'm like,
what's going on? And I saw some people straggle into
the arena. I'm like, oh, yeah, they do it.

Speaker 4 (01:14:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:14:49):
So I walked up there and I'm like, hey, is
this free? And they're like no, it's five bucks. And
I'm like, okay, cool. Do I need to get a
ticket or something. They're like yeah, but we're not selling
any more tickets tonight. It's it was like ten minutes
to go in the game, and I'm like oh, He's
like yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:15:04):
But you know game two Thursday night. I'm like yeah, cool.
I'm like I'm leaving Thursday morning, so that's not gonna work. Anyway.

Speaker 5 (01:15:10):
I went over to the facade and just hung out
on the side there and it was fun.

Speaker 4 (01:15:15):
It was fun.

Speaker 3 (01:15:15):
Thereeah Nights fans.

Speaker 2 (01:15:16):
They do it right.

Speaker 3 (01:15:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
I mean, it's the strip. It's it's the Vegas Strip,
so it's hard to be wrong on the Vegas Strip.
Six MGM properties on that area, so they.

Speaker 4 (01:15:24):
Take care, they take care of us.

Speaker 5 (01:15:25):
You know what's funny is I had no idea half
those casinos were MGM properties.

Speaker 4 (01:15:29):
I had all know that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:31):
Yeah, Alpert.

Speaker 3 (01:15:32):
Yeah, get to that area and go south. It's like
the MGM man.

Speaker 5 (01:15:36):
It doesn't have to say MGM Grand or Park MGM.
Chances are it's an MGM property. I was like Polagio's
mg I didn't know that at all, Like New York,
New York's MGM.

Speaker 3 (01:15:46):
That's crazy. Yeah, but good stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:15:48):
All right, We've got rich Oornberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 3 (01:15:53):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 5 (01:15:54):
Be sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see
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YouTube and subscribe. All right, coming up next, prop it up.
That's right, the prop betting market. How about Seamus our

(01:16:16):
little pre chorus right there with the mizz we'll compare notes,
give you a couple of picks.

Speaker 3 (01:16:20):
Right around the corner.

Speaker 5 (01:16:21):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It
is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. The world's
game at BETMGM is here. Bet on the Soccer showdown
to a two up early payout set up here. Up
by two BETMGM will pay you.

Speaker 4 (01:16:42):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:16:43):
Place a pregame straight match result. Bet on any tournament game.
If at any point your team is up by two goals,
you'll instantly win your bet with BETMGM. All right, let's
do this.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
Prop it up apply player plays.

Speaker 5 (01:17:00):
Alrighty the prop betting market, Jared, we start with you.

Speaker 3 (01:17:03):
What do you have circle?

Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
I've got a lot today, but I'll give you the
one that I that I clicked first and that I
think I like the most. I mean, you know, I
might win all the other bets and lose this one,
but that's how it goes. Ben Brown under fifteen and
a half outs. This is the Cubs starting pitcher. The
Cubs are facing the Giants today. I don't know if
you saw the score yesterday for the Giants, but holy moly,
they put up an eighteen burger on the Cubs, and

(01:17:27):
this Ben Brown guy listened. He's got good stuff, but
he's still a reliever making his transition to the starting rotation,
so he has these moments where he just kind of
loses it, especially later on in his outings. So fifteen
and a half outs, right, fifteen is five innings, so
he can't pitch into the six and get an out
in the sixth. And I love fading or going under
on outs props for starting pitchers because we're all knowing
this trend of starting pitchers not lasting through six innings.

(01:17:50):
So we're gonna go Ben Brown under fifteen and a
half outs minus a dollar fifteen over at bet MGM.

Speaker 4 (01:17:56):
Yeah, I'm all over this Tigers Mariners matchup, and Bryce
Miller has my interest. His line set at four and
a half k's, I'm gonna take the over. He's averaging
basically a strikeout an inning. The line isn't inflated. If
he gives you five clean innings, you're live for this
before they have to ring the bullpen. So I like

(01:18:18):
it again, you know, hearkening back to our parlay platter.
My only concern is Detroit's bats are pretty hot right now.
But Pryce Miller's been a stud in the early innings
lately and he's been throwing a lot of k's. So yeah,
give me over four and a half strikeouts for Miller today.

Speaker 5 (01:18:37):
All right, I'm gonna go with Kyle Bradish, the Orioles pitcher.
I want to go under five and a half strikeouts
against the Blue Jays. Blue Jays are a great team
as far as avoiding strikeouts, and a couple other reasons
to like this. You look at these two teams faced
each other last Sunday and Bradish was on the bump.

Speaker 3 (01:18:57):
It just kind of crazy.

Speaker 5 (01:18:58):
So he went seven innings and he had four strikeouts, right,
So chances are he's probably not gonna go seven again
against the Blue Jays.

Speaker 3 (01:19:08):
And even if he does, you have to like.

Speaker 5 (01:19:10):
Your chances of the Blue Jays avoiding six strikeouts. They
just don't strike out a ton. Now the juice has
it's grown here. So it was at minus one forty
when the show began. It's at minus one fifty five
right now. Now this juice is a little too heavy
for rapid fire at the end of the show. Otherwise
I would be targeting this one.

Speaker 3 (01:19:30):
Right. Maybe it'll change a little bit, but.

Speaker 5 (01:19:32):
It does not violate the juice restrictions and prop it up.
I think it's a good bet. I think minus one
fifty five is a good bet. And even though Bradish,
you look at, you know, his last handful of starts.
You go back against the A's, he had ten strikeouts
seven against the Yankees. He had six against the Rays
and then followed up with only three. But he's had
some good strikeout games as of late. But it's just

(01:19:55):
the spot Blue Jays don't strike out a ton. I
think the under five and a half at minus one
fifty five is a good play today.

Speaker 4 (01:20:02):
I would go with that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
Yeah, I've got Toronto out of twenty percent k raate
verset arieties over the last thirty days, which is pretty low.
It's in the bottom eighth in Major League Baseball. There's
one other one that really caught my eye today and
it's against Richards Padres. Nolan McClain's been striking out a
bunch of dudes lately. He's got like an eleven case
per nine number. And San Diego I've got their number.

(01:20:24):
They're weighted on base average over the last thirty days
is the worst in baseball by like a why margin,
Like they're at two sixty one, the next closest teams
at two eighty three. I mean the Padres offense. Rich
go out there and give him a pep talk.

Speaker 3 (01:20:36):
What is going on with the padres pep talk over.

Speaker 2 (01:20:39):
Yeah, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (01:20:40):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:20:41):
Good players in that offense?

Speaker 4 (01:20:43):
Bus. I mean when you start talking Fernando Tatis junior
trade rumors, that's how you know it's getting bad.

Speaker 2 (01:20:50):
Really, That's what's going on in San Diego right now?

Speaker 3 (01:20:52):
Still one bomb for him?

Speaker 4 (01:20:54):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:20:54):
Is he still stuck on one for the season? One
home run?

Speaker 4 (01:20:57):
He's been in a historic Colt Street.

Speaker 5 (01:21:00):
It's all crazy. They were toe to toe with the Dodgers.
Now they can't win, all right? Coming up back, the
atmosphere will be insane or will it?

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:21:10):
What is going on? Happy Saturday to you. We hope
all is well. Iowa loves the bet MGM sound effect
right here it is, Yeah, the Detroit Lions NOMGM lion
right there. Christopher Fett is not with us, otherwise that
could be yeah lion right. It's Iowa Sam today. But
he's loving. I asked Bo Benson, our trusted producer, because

(01:21:32):
it was one of the promos I voiced. And there's
a little you know at the beginning, like did you
do that or did editing? It's a good it's an
attention getter right there.

Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
But Iowa Brian's a lion in disguise.

Speaker 5 (01:21:44):
Yeah, ever since I asked that, I has been all
about the lion sound effect. Right there, very nicely done.
We're gonna get to an insane atmosphere that might actually
be a little bit lacking.

Speaker 3 (01:21:55):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 5 (01:21:56):
I'll give you an outside the box take here in
a second. With the iHeart Radio app, you can stream
us wherever you happen to be. Catch us in all
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app so it'll always pop up at the top of

(01:22:17):
your screen. All right, So, I think most people, if
not everybody, is expecting a raucous Game three environment at
the Garden come Monday night. The Knicks are up to
nothing in the series, have a chance to win a
championship for the first time since nineteen seventy three. It's

(01:22:38):
gonna be palpable, right, But the thing I keep thinking
about is the last series that the Knicks played. If
you go back to the Eastern Conference Finals, all right,
just hear me out. The Calves went to MSG and
they had a twenty two point lead in the fourth
quarter with about eight minutes to go, that place was dead. Okay, Now,

(01:23:03):
don't confuse what I'm saying here, because you could get
lost in the details real easily. You could say, well, Brian,
that was the long Nicks layoff, Right, they're.

Speaker 3 (01:23:11):
A little rusty.

Speaker 5 (01:23:13):
There's no rust heading into game three, right, they just
won two games on the road. All that's true. Don't
get lost in the details. The point is we're expecting
this crazy atmosphere. The Spurs are literally going to be
going up against the Knicks and the entire city of
New York over there.

Speaker 3 (01:23:31):
They really are.

Speaker 5 (01:23:32):
Until they have a lead, if that's the case, right,
and let's say they've got a decent lead.

Speaker 3 (01:23:37):
All of a sudden, that place is not as electric.
It's not as palpable.

Speaker 4 (01:23:41):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:23:42):
So that's the point is we're expecting this crazy atmosphere.
But if the Knicks are trailing and it's you know,
not looking great, they're down by double digits, there's still
gonna be energy. It's just not gonna be the same energy.
So just keep that in mind. The Spurs their backs
are against the wall. They have to win Game three
to have any chance in the series, and so they're

(01:24:04):
gonna give New York everything that they've got. And let's
just say they're winning the game all of a sudden,
this this great electricity that you're expecting. It's not going
to be as great as you're anticipating. It's just something
to keep in mind hitting into game three.

Speaker 4 (01:24:20):
Yeah, as a as a preview's let's sort of like,
I guess, recenter ourselves with exactly what we've seen through
two games. Here the Knicks are up to ZHO, but
this doesn't feel like a mismatch. You know, New York
won Game one by ten, but they trailed at fourteen,
trailed by fourteen at one point during the game. They

(01:24:43):
won by one in Game two, but they nearly blew
a fourteen point fourth quarter lead. So this is an
even matchup, as much as the record and the outcomes
of the first two games would lead you to believe otherwise.
And obviously the now that will play out until Game
three is played is going to be heavy, heavy New

(01:25:04):
York Knicks. Look at them, Look what they're doing. It's
not quite as dominant as I think The record will
show you there's a lot more nuanced and a lot
more context to this. Another thing is, you know, kind
of looking at it through the lens of more San
Antonio's focus. Wemby's game three isn't about redemption. Wemby played

(01:25:31):
an awesome game two. I mean, if you look at
the box score and you just focus on what he
did in that game, twenty nine points, nine rebounds, four blocks,
it's a really good game. He's just got to clean
up the turnovers. He's just got to be better late.
So it's less about redemption and it's more about response
for Wemby. If you're in the New York huddle, so

(01:25:52):
to speak, what are you say into that locker room, Hey,
don't believe the record. You know, where a great team,
but we're playing against a great team and these are
narrow wins, and so we got to keep our foot
blasted pedal to the metal if we're going to survive
this series. And it is and has been a little

(01:26:13):
bit about survival for the New York nixt even though
they've won two games and they did so on the road,
they had to survive those victories. And conversely, if you're
in the San Antonio locker room and you're huddling up.
The conversation is, hey, we're good enough. We're doing it
all right. We got to clean up a few things.
But don't for a second believe that you're worse than

(01:26:35):
you were when you entered this finals looking at the record,
because it's not true. It's lying to you. So don't
play hero ball. Like if I'm speaking directly to Wembinyama,
we don't need a hero We need you to do
exactly what you're doing. We need you to protect the
basketball a little bit better, and that's pretty much it.
So this is an even series, even though it's heading

(01:26:57):
back to New York and we're talking about the environment
where talking about the motion. When you remove that context
for a second and you focus on what's happened in game,
the actual matchup between these two teams, this is a
real even series and it can fall either way.

Speaker 2 (01:27:12):
Still, the Knicks certainly think it's an even series. You
heard mckel bridges last night after the game. It's, oh, oh,
that's the mindset going back to New York. That has
to be the mindset right now now us as radio
gas bags, can you know, bloviate about how awesome, the
Knicks are and blah blah blah blah blah and all
that stuff. But Brian makes a very astute point that
if it starts hot for San Antonio, all of a sudden,

(01:27:34):
the air will be sucked out of that building. Could
go in the other direction. If the Knicks start hot
and San Antonio looks a little wobbly, you know, the
young kids on the road, wide eyed, dealing with what
should be at the beginning of the game, the most
raucous environment perhaps in the history of the NBA. Yeah,
and once the game starts, we'll see what happens. I
mean it could you know, right, everyone's got a play

(01:27:55):
until they get punched in the mouth. We'll see who
punches first. Who has to call that first time out?
If it's the Spur and the Knicks start off hot
and the Spurs have to call that first time out,
I mean, that kind of thing could snowball. But home
environments do have a tricky way of flipping if it's
not going well. Now do I think it's gonna go
well for the Knicks? Yes, of course, I'm a fan.

(01:28:15):
I bet them already. I'm gonna give them out of
a rapid fire and in about forty five minutes. I mean,
everything is falling the Knicks way right now. So it's
hard to say that it's not going to be a
positive in Game three. But sports have a funny way
of surprising you sometimes, And if it does flip, and
if the Spurs come in and they silence that crowd,

(01:28:37):
then it could be their kind of sling shot to
get back in the series. All it takes is one game.
If Game three goes San Antonio's way, then all of
a sudden, we've got ourselves a series again. It's that quick.

Speaker 4 (01:28:52):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:28:52):
Do I think the Nicks are gonna win the series?

Speaker 6 (01:28:54):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:28:54):
Do I think they're the best team that we've seen
in recent memory. Yes, that doesn't mean it's a guarantee
that they're gonna win the game. And as a Knicks fan,
I always am waiting for that handbill to drop because
right now it's like nothing can go wrong. This team's invincible,
and then something happens and it goes wrong, and then
they're not invincible anymore. So I do expect it to

(01:29:14):
be the most exciting, raucous crowd I've ever seen at
a basketball game until the game starts, and then it's
on the players to determine where the crowd goes from there.

Speaker 5 (01:29:23):
That's exactly right, Yeah, And it's just leave that possibility
open because listen, if the Knicks, Let's say that the
game plays out similarly to what we just saw last night. Right,
the Knicks, they're leading at halftime by four Right, they've
got momentum, they're ahead by fourteen with six minutes to.

Speaker 3 (01:29:41):
Go, That place is gonna be going berserk. But let's just.

Speaker 5 (01:29:44):
Say it's the opposite, Right, Like all of a sudden,
that energy is not gonna be as crazy as you
expect it to be. So it really does depend a
lot on how the game is playing out. And I
expect the Spurs to hit the Knicks with everything they have.
This is their season on the line. This is for
a championship, right, and this is really their only hope
to be in it is to win Game three.

Speaker 3 (01:30:04):
And I also say.

Speaker 5 (01:30:05):
This, this is a gigantic spot for Wemby. Think about
the way Game two just ended last night. He gets
the rebound off of brunts and miss. We've got a
little under fifteen seconds to go, and he throws an
errant pass to Castle, who's not even looking for the ball,
then commits a foul on Brunson that gives the Knicks
a one point lead. Wemby gets the final shot to

(01:30:28):
win it missus good luck misses. So all of that
just happened in the previous game.

Speaker 2 (01:30:34):
Now you are.

Speaker 5 (01:30:35):
On the road at the Mecca. The Garden's going to
be going crazy. What if Wemby has an all time performance?

Speaker 2 (01:30:43):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:30:43):
This is really it's a great opportunity for Wemby. He
could shine on the sport's biggest stage and everything that
we're saying about Wemby and we started off the show.
I'm playing closing time from what is it? Super sonic,
semi sonic?

Speaker 3 (01:30:57):
I even know this man?

Speaker 5 (01:30:58):
No, right, Like, we don't want Wemby right now to
take us home to a win because you saw how
he kicked the game away yesterday.

Speaker 3 (01:31:08):
Now that's yesterday.

Speaker 5 (01:31:10):
What if he changes opinions beginning in game three? There
literally is that on the table for Wemby. If he
comes through in a huge moment like this all of
a sudden, that is a perception shifter. So that's that's
all on the table for Wemby and the Spurs in
game three. This is like peak cinema. This is absolute
theater and I love it. Where Richard Jefferson last night,

(01:31:33):
he's like, this is a heavyweight fight, and that's exactly
what it felt like. And it feels even more like
that if somehow Wemby made that shot and it's tied
one to one, but with it being two to o Knicks,
it feels like they have this greater advantage and they've
been more dominant than they really have been. To Rich's point,
this is a very very close series that could easily

(01:31:56):
be different than two O Nicks right now. You got
to keep that in mind going for no doubt.

Speaker 4 (01:32:01):
And if we are going to talk about the environment
being one of the biggest factors of Game three, yeah,
you're denying a little bit of that context. But let's
look at it through a different lens. We're looking at
it only as a negative for the Spurs. But let
me put it into context that everybody could understand. Haven't
we all had those mornings where you have a cup

(01:32:24):
of coffee and then you have another one, and then
you're on your way to work and you forgot that
you had that second cup of coffee. So you go
through the drive through and by the time you get
to work, you're on your third cup of coffee and
you're like, whooh ooh ooops, I overdid it a little bit.
I'm a little jittery at the desk right now. There's
such thing as overdosing on a good thing. Caffeine's great

(01:32:44):
in the morning, Like you know, most Americans wake up
and they pour that first cup of coffee and it's
almost like gosh. I mean, it's a ritual. It's which
you need to get the engines revved. It's going to
fuel the rest of your day or performance earlier in
the day, and that can be a very beneficial thing.
But you can overdo it. So you come home to

(01:33:04):
Madison Square Garden. You're gonna have to manage those emotions.
You have to avoid the caffeine overdose. You gotta kind
of look at it through the lens of Yeah, the
Spurs gotta handle the environment, but so do the Knicks.
I mean, we're talking about a historic playoff run, thirteen
straight playoffs wins. There's so much hanging in the balance

(01:33:26):
of Game three, like you mentioned with women Yama having
to answer, But the New York Knicks, they've got to
handle those emotions too. I've played in front of hundreds
or one hundred thousand fans at Beaver Stadium during an
undefeated Penn State season. I was with the Patriots for
Super Bowl against the Giants. And yeah, when you have

(01:33:47):
a home crowd or many of your fans cheering you
on the emotional rollercoaster that you'll ride trying to impress,
if you'll let that that, if you let them moments
slip away or let it get into your head, it
can it can ruin special seasons. And so that is

(01:34:08):
the risk here is. Yeah, there's gonna be a lot
of support, there's no question about it. And yeah, it's
possible that's that support could dissipate if it looks like
this is gonna be a Spurs Game three at some point.
But the New York Knicks have got to handle the
emotion of the moment. Look, these players, they're used to
seeing the court lined with superstars. You know, there's always

(01:34:30):
celebrities with their the souls of their sneakers pressed against
the hardwood. You know, just feed away from them, everybody.
But when all of the chips are on the line,
when it is one of or if not the biggest
moment of your life, and you know you're you're staring
into the eyes of your your your your legacy. You

(01:34:52):
have to be able to handle those emotions too. So
as much as this is a potential negative for the Spurs,
it can also be a potential for the Knicks having
that much energy and enthusiasm in the building cheering them
on at MSG in Game three.

Speaker 2 (01:35:07):
You just brought me back. So my my junior year,
I got to cover my first Penn State football game
and I remember walking onto the field. They let the
people who covered the game for the last I think
it's five or ten minutes of the fourth quarter they
let them onto the field, and I remember walking onto
the field and it was not a very highly high
profile game. I think it was like a Michigan State

(01:35:28):
or something that was not like, you know, elite, and
so it wasn't full. It wasn't even a full crowd.
I remember walking onto the field and listening to the
crowd for a second and I was like, oh my god,
like this is crazy, like the amount of people screaming. Now,
to be fair, there's not going to be as many
people at MSG as there were at Beaver Stadium. I
think it's like three times the amount of people, but

(01:35:50):
it's an enclosed environment, so I mean the point still
remains the feeling that you get, and these players are
used to it, so it's not like some wide eyed,
you know, college kidalking onto the field for the first time.
I mean, these players are used to it. But that energy,
it is, it has a life of itself. It has
a consciousness to it. And who's able to harness that

(01:36:10):
energy early in the game, especially and set the tone
for the game is going to be huge. And I'm
not saying that the Knicks are gonna wake up, you know,
on Monday morning and just run through the you know,
the Spurs like it's a hot knife through butter. There's
a chance that the Spurs start out hot. And who's able,
whoever is able to harness that energy early in the
game and use it as a weapon instead of using it,

(01:36:31):
instead of it using you, I think is gonna be huge.
I don't think there's a I'm willing to bet that
this is going to be the most insane environment we've
seen in an NBA game all year. So even though
these players are used to crowds and moments like these,
it's hard to put this on a level like we've
seen before. I think, you know, Trump's gonna be in

(01:36:53):
the building. It's gonna be insane. It is going to
be the closest thing to like a dysotopian environment. You
know when you see those futuristic movies and it's like
the you know, the Gladiators or there. It's just like
a crazy, crazy stuff is going to be taking place.
The energy of this pregame situation, the announcements, the starting lineups,

(01:37:13):
the whole situation is going to be an unprecedented moment
in the NBA this year with just how excited this
fan base is going to be to welcome an NBA
Finals game in their building for the first time in
twenty seven years, and to be up to oh, like,
it'd be crazy if they were down to O'Brien, but
because they're up to oh, that initial energy from this stadium,
from this arena, I don't know who's going to be

(01:37:35):
able to handle it, But whoever is able to harness
that energy is going to have a distinct advantage, especially
early in the game.

Speaker 5 (01:37:42):
Yeah, that's what I can't wait to see is how
did the Spurs respond. We just talked about how their
inexperience showed up last night and it did. Those final
thirty seconds. It was on full display, especially with Wemby.
But how do they respond when now they're on the
road and in that atmosphere, They're either going to respond
in a great way or they're gonna fold. Man, it's

(01:38:03):
gonna throw them off even more. Yeah, and I can't
wait to see how that unfolds, because man, we've seen
this time and time again. Think you go back to
Michael Jordan's first NBA Finals, right, So they're trailing late
against the Lakers. Jordan has a shot to tie up
the game as the clock is winding down. He misses,
Bulls lose Game one. It was the move the next

(01:38:25):
game right where he goes up in the air, switches
in mid flight and does the lefty layup. And then
game three he hit a game tying three with three
point four seconds left to force overtime, Bulls winning overtime.
So the point is Jordan missed a shot to tie
the game in game one, and he responded in games
two game three right like that.

Speaker 3 (01:38:45):
He just responded. So that's what we're waiting for with Wemby.

Speaker 5 (01:38:48):
How does he respond after a late turnover with ten
seconds to go fouling Brunson missing a game winning shot.
How do you respond You're on the road here at
the Garden. I can't wait to see how he does respond,
because if he's the true superstar we expect him to be,
he's gonna have a response. And think about this too,

(01:39:09):
where this atmosphere for the Knicks is outstanding. It's the
best in basketball for sure. You could argue it's the
best in sports in this country. It's unbelievable. But you
do see a lot of players respond to that. Jordan's
had huge games in the Garden, right, Kobe's had huge games,
Steph Curry has had huge games Like this is the
moment for Wemby. Can you step up and have a

(01:39:32):
huge game when there's that atmosphere, that electricity and you
respond after really blowing Game two? That's what's all on
the line. I can't wait for it. Man, it's gonna
be fantastic.

Speaker 4 (01:39:44):
Yeah, this is uh And then look, the story is
very much about when min Yama, but the story is
also about this this deep Knicks team, you know, and
what they're able to produce when a star like Brunson
is having an offshooting night like you did in Game two,
Towns having twenty one bridges twenty Ananobi he had seven.

(01:40:06):
Shammick gave him thirteen off the bench. Like, there is
a lot of reliance on many different players on the
New York Knicks roster since they don't have a wemen Yama,
which is to your benefit, but also it's sometimes the downfall,
right when there's so many players who have to kind
of pluck all the orchestra chords just right. Sometimes it's

(01:40:31):
a fragile balance. Whereas and I'm not saying wemb has
to be a hero, but it takes a little bit
of the pressure off the rest of the roster when
you have literally an alien playing on your basketball team.
I mean, Victor Wemenyama is one of the brightest talents
we've seen in this league in many years, and who

(01:40:51):
knows by the end of his career what he will
mean to this league. Historically he seems like that type
of generational talent that story is to be told. But
still the factor remains when you have a superstar talent
on one side and an assembly or a cast of
characters that you're relying on on the other side. Sometimes

(01:41:12):
sometimes it's almost more difficult to encourage the five people
you need to play a perfect game together, as opposed
to relying on one superlative talent to play like the
talent he is and just clean a few things up
in order for you to have success. Like was very clear.
The picture became very clear in the fourth quarter at

(01:41:33):
the end of Game two with Wenby.

Speaker 2 (01:41:35):
Yama, I'm glad you mentioned that because I think that's
an important distinction on maybe how we can explain the
turnover late in the game for Wemby. If you go
and watch that play. And this is a very important
point because Rich said the Spurs have a Wemby. He's
the guy, he's the man, whereas the Knicks it's more
of a team. If you go and watch that last turnover,

(01:41:57):
the Wemby turnover that went off Stefan Castle back, I
think Stefan Castle is also like, yeah, we got Wemby,
We're good. He's gonna walk it up the floor, like
how often does a seven foot four guy in the
fourth quarter of a tie game in the NBA Finals
and the point guard, actually, I don't know if Castle
is a point guard, it's fox, but a guard on

(01:42:18):
that team turns his back and says, yeah, the seventh
Foo four guy's gonna take it up the floor, and
then Wemby puts it off Castle's back and you know
how the rest goes. I think that reliance on a
star rich actually costs the Spurs in that moment, because
if it's not one of those moments, if it's Towns
who gets the rebound, guess who's getting the ball? Bruntson

(01:42:38):
and he's like, give me the ball right now, whereas
I think the Spurs having this alien on their team.
He got the ball, he got the rebound, We're good.
Everyone relaxed and started jogging up the floor and Stefan
Castle forgot that he's actually the guard that's supposed to
handle the ball. And maybe it was a more of
a brain fart on Wemby's part to not see the

(01:43:01):
player's eyes before you passed it. But I also think
that star element, that reliance on the alien, and everybody
relaxes in that moment, and unfortunately someone didn't do their job.
And so as much as obviously Wemby's gonna lift San
Antonio to these heights that they maybe have never seen before,
I haven't seen since the Duncan and Robinson days. I

(01:43:24):
do think in that moment, that star power, that alien
nature kind of hurt the spurs down the stretch. What
do you think about that, Bran?

Speaker 3 (01:43:33):
I mean, I.

Speaker 5 (01:43:35):
Get what you're saying, but I don't know how you
tune your back if you're castle Like, that's just funny
for you.

Speaker 2 (01:43:40):
Ye cause he's like, Hey, Wemby's got it. We're good.

Speaker 3 (01:43:43):
It's a fast break, like the ball could be coming
to you.

Speaker 5 (01:43:46):
You're a guard, and that's what Wemby's thinking, Like, dude,
what you know right, it's just a calamity right there.

Speaker 3 (01:43:54):
But I get what you're saying.

Speaker 5 (01:43:55):
Oh we got rich Orenberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith,
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Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 3 (01:44:31):
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Speaker 8 (01:44:52):
Ll be the rebounds well seconds by Conson knocked down
by webbing. Coulson will choose free clubs with nine point
five remaining turn that shitch well, whyn't be trying to
help that.

Speaker 2 (01:45:06):
That past castle never saw it coming, hits it right
in the back. It's just a disaster.

Speaker 5 (01:45:14):
That's how it sounded on ABC with Mike Breen on
the play by play duties and Tim Legler reacting to that.
Oh my gosh, I just if you're a Spurs fan,
I mean, how do you leave that arena last night?
By the way, how do the ushers not tell the
Knicks fans get out of here, go home, like go.

Speaker 9 (01:45:34):
They're cheering for like the next half hour, Like, how
did the Spurs, like brass allow that to happen? There's
no way, Like, come on, man, you gotta step your
game up. There's no way if it's crawling with Spurs
fans and they win Game three that they aren't cleared
out in you know, three minutes tops.

Speaker 5 (01:45:54):
You know, there's no way they would allow him just
stand there and cheer for the Spurs like that, that loudly.
That was crazy to me.

Speaker 3 (01:46:00):
Can't believe it.

Speaker 4 (01:46:02):
Yeah, that was h man. It's it's it's sort of
undeniable this this series, right, you know. I mean I
could imagine myself working as an usher, regardless of what
city I'm in, whether it's New York or San Antonio.
Getting lost in the moment because like what I mean, like,
what did we just witness? I mean that that is

(01:46:24):
accurately portrayed as a heavyweight bout that game last night.
I mean, it's so incredible. It's just me and my
youngest son watching this game, but the enthusiasm and emotion
in our little living room, you know what I mean.
I can't even imagine what the building was like. In
San Antonio for the final minutes of the fourth quarter,

(01:46:46):
and then I mean to to talk about what Game
three is gonna look like. In New York, the cheapest
ticket now on the secondary market is going for over
ten thousand dollars for the cheapest seat in the house
for Game three. So to imagine that people aren't gonna
get their money's worth cheering on in that venue, whether
for the Spurs or against the Spurs, or for the Knicks,

(01:47:10):
it's that that level of enthusiasm and energy sometimes is undeniable.
So I side with the ushers. I might have been
I might have just been instead of getting shooing away
Knicks fans, I might have been booing. I don't know
what I would have been doing.

Speaker 2 (01:47:23):
Man for ten grand for a walking ticket, you know
you better let you better let the fans like dress
in the locker room after the game for that much money. Now,
I actually I do have kind of an unpopular maybe
it's popular. Maybe you guys can back me up on this.
I don't know. I'll give it to you and then
you guys, can, you know, go go with your opinions.
After that, I am okay with the absurd prices for

(01:47:47):
the Knicks game on Monday and whatever whenever home games,
whatever home games they have in the series, are going
to be five ten grand for nosebleed seats. I'm okay
with that.

Speaker 4 (01:47:57):
I know.

Speaker 2 (01:47:57):
I saw a lot of people push back and say, oh,
sports should be a four and this and that, and
I don't know, man, this is a once in a
lifetime opportunity in the biggest media market in the country,
in a team that has not been to the finals
in twenty seven years. I am okay with the secondary
market being absurd, Like that's kind of like, you know,

(01:48:18):
things in capitalistic societies, they are worth what you are
willing to pay, and there are obviously people willing to
pay these prices to get into this arena. So I
am not one of those people that are you know,
throwing you know, javelins and spears at the secondary markets
trying to cut these prices. Value is what people are
willing to pay. I'm fine with the prices being insane. Now,

(01:48:40):
don't get me wrong, they are insane, and I personally
would never pay that much to get into a game.
I'm also not very rich, but I'm okay with these prices.
Are you guys of the belief that we should be
lowering prices to let the average common you know, Joe,
and into these crazy atmosphere's these once in a lifetime
type games.

Speaker 5 (01:48:58):
Look, man, I say this every time. I hate that
the prices are that high. But it's supply and demand exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:49:05):
That's all it is.

Speaker 5 (01:49:06):
Like, the supply is very low and the demand is
sky hot. Capitalist series that in that city, right, Like,
that's just the way it goes. What I love for
it to be face value and you could get in
for wherever you're sitting, like a couple hundred bucks. Yeah,
I would love that, But that's not reality. That's just
not where we're at, and that's not where we're ever
going to be. So it just is what it is,

(01:49:27):
man Like, if you can't stomach the ten thousand dollars
sticker price, then you're gonna watch it outside the arena
or at home. And that's just the way it is,
man Like. I don't complain about stuff. That is just
the reality. I just people navigate around.

Speaker 2 (01:49:42):
I'm glad you're not on that list.

Speaker 5 (01:49:43):
No, No, I'm not going to complain about it. By
the way, how about this story here where Alabama State
there were four basketball players that got busted for throwing
a game. And there's a tweet by Pat Forty and
he wrote, he goes Alabama State basketball players through a
game against Southern Mississippi for five hundred dollars each.

Speaker 4 (01:50:04):
Sad oh boy.

Speaker 5 (01:50:05):
And I if I could speak out of both sides
of my mouth here one it's like, don't don't, don't
do this, don't don't grab some money and throw games
and you're gonna get busted. You're eventually going to get
busted more more times than not. But if I could,
you know, change it and speak out of the other
end of my mouth. If you're gonna break the rules,

(01:50:25):
do it for more than five hundred bucks, Like what
is that?

Speaker 2 (01:50:29):
Like?

Speaker 5 (01:50:30):
You should have your pockets lined if you're gonna be
doing something like this and risking your your basketball career
and five hundred bucks, Like, come on, man, you can't
take a risk like that for that little of a payout.
I'm not trying to give you like crime one oh
one lessons over here, right, but you can't.

Speaker 3 (01:50:49):
You can't throw a game for that little That's a
major risk for that little of a payout, Like, come on,
you just can't. You can't do it like that, you know,
it's just crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:51:01):
Yeah, risk assessment is something that we all do in
our daily lives. I mean, you know, you're running a
little behind schedule, and so you may take a little
risk and go five miles per hour over the speed
limit because making it to the meeting might be worth
the risk of potentially getting that parking take or that
speeding ticket. You know, everybody makes these small gambles in

(01:51:24):
their life on a near daily basis, and life is
constantly full of risk assessment, And I would caution any player,
I mean, even even if we're talking about really, you know,
potentially life changing sums of money, which five hundred dollars
obviously isn't. But is the juice worth the squeeze? And
almost always in a situation like this, the answer is

(01:51:47):
absolutely not. Now, will we remember the names of these
four Alabama Alabama state players who threw the game? Probably not.
Will this ruin their lives, probably not. Will this be
maybe even a helpful lesson for all of them to
learn as young men and move on from this and
and hopefully go on to do great things and change
the world. Yeah, there's potential in that, But is the

(01:52:10):
juice worth the squeeze is something that every single athlete
needs to ask themselves when they're posed with these unfortunate circumstances,
which which are going to happen more often with social
media and the availability that players have to the general
public and to sometimes bad people, you know, I mean

(01:52:33):
bad people will they'll they'll like vultures, they'll circle until
they see somebody who they may be able to pray on,
and so you got to be careful and that risk
assessment again, it's almost always nah, nah, I'm not going
to do that. That's that's not worth the squeeze. And
so hopefully better decisions are made in the future. We
know that mistakes, especially young people making mistakes is a

(01:52:54):
common refrain. Though it's not that that part of society
is not going to go away. It's part of being young.
It's part of being in a experience. You make mistakes.

Speaker 2 (01:53:02):
Yeah, I actually didn't hear about this story until I
saw Brian put it in the Rundown. You know, I
was just busy yesterday. It broke yesterday afternoon. I was
getting ready for my knicks. You know, watch party had
a little fun, little fun, little vibe last night. So
I didn't see this until Brian put in the rundown
last night and I looked into it and I was like, wow,
like this is that same Alabama State team blake tournament winning.

(01:53:28):
So I thought that was a very unique story. And
when I dove into a little bit more like it
doesn't seem like it was like, it didn't seem like
there was really the juice worth the squeeze here for
five hundred bucks. And that's always the thing I say about,
you know, games being rigged at the high levels of
not only college sports but also in the professional ranks.

(01:53:49):
You can't get down enough money to really make it
worth the players while to throw a game. But the
vulnerable players are the ones at this lower level that
aren't making a ton of money or any money at
all in nil. And then you see how much money
that won Gambler offered like two thousand dollars total to

(01:54:12):
throw the game, and obviously they clearly split it up,
you know, amongst themselves, but that's probably the amount of
money you can even get down on a game like
Alabama State Southern miss which is the game that was
in question on December fifth, twenty twenty four. Like if
you went down and we had this remember the the
I think it was a Baseball Better College Baseball at

(01:54:33):
the Red Stadium where we were. We did that show
that one time, and he tried to put down a
significant amount amount of money on a college baseball game,
and it was like red flag and he got caught.
If you're putting down thousands of dollars like twenty thirty
forty fifty one hundred thousand dollars on Alabama State Southern
Miss basketball, it's gonna raise a lot of red flags.

(01:54:55):
So really, a few grand is probably the most amount
that a gambler can get down without really causing a
big stir, and that will obviously mitigate the amount that
you know, the gambler can pay the players to throw
the game. So it's like this risk reward quotient. And
I guess five hundred bucks Brian was enough for these players.
It would have been enough for me, but it was

(01:55:16):
enough for them.

Speaker 3 (01:55:17):
Well that's the scary thing is that's all it took.
That's all it took. So going forward, it's like all right,
I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:55:24):
Know, you might have in your head like all right,
these the mafia was sweating these players and they offered.

Speaker 3 (01:55:29):
Them a bag of cash thousands of dollars.

Speaker 5 (01:55:31):
It took five hundred bucks for a player to be like, yeah, right,
I'll miss some shots on purpose or whatever like that.
That's a scary thought. Now we got to go fast here.
But I can't let something go, all right. I just
we'll have a little bit of a shorter rapid fire,
be extra rapid. But we got a tweet here, Rich
made a comparison to Tom Brady and winning Super Bowl
thirty six. We were talking the NBA Finals. I fully

(01:55:53):
respect a comparison with ball over here. Rich, I co
signed this, right, but you made a comment about Tom
Brady and we got a tweet from Wiggins. We carve
out time to trash one of our listeners, or at least,
you know, respectfully disagree here. All right, he just wrote
Brady's team got it done in their first Super Bowl win.

Speaker 3 (01:56:11):
Brady got it done.

Speaker 5 (01:56:12):
I know this is a QB centric environment, but come on.
He had a game winning drive against the prevent D
a bad D. The Pats D won the game twelve
was service Bowl at best. It's one of the worst
tweets I've ever written, I've ever read in my life.
I could go on for hours here, I'll try to
keep it short, so I promise you, with under a
minute thirty to go in a Super Bowl that's tied,

(01:56:35):
the Rams are not playing prevent defense. That's the first
thing is. And they weren't a bad defense either. They
were seventh in scoring defense. They only gave up seventeen
point one points per game that year. The Pats gave
up seventeen points per game. So just because they were
the greatest show on turf doesn't mean they had a
bad defense. They actually had a really good defense. And
you know, like I still go back to John Madden.

(01:56:57):
I had to cue up some audio here. The Patriots
had the bought their own seventeen yard line with a
minute twenty one left, and this is Tom Brady, first
year starting quarterback, and they put the ball in his
hands and said get us in field goal range, kid.
And this is what John Madden said. And at the
time I fully agreed with him. When they started that drive.

Speaker 6 (01:57:17):
I would, you know, I don't agree with what the
Patriots are doing right here. I would I would. I
would play for overtime if I had good field position,
I would, But in this field position, I would.

Speaker 2 (01:57:28):
Play for overtime.

Speaker 5 (01:57:29):
Right, it was so risky to be that aggressive and
literally gamble the Super Bowl with a first year starting
quarterback throwing pass after pass after pass. So to reduce
it to he was serviceable at best. The Patriots defense
won that. That was prevent defense. That's so ridiculous. I
couldn't let that go, guys. I'm sorry, I just couldn't

(01:57:51):
that going.

Speaker 4 (01:57:51):
Yeah, yeah, well said, and listen, you know again, I
think what what Tom Brady and all great stars suffer.
And we were talking about this with SGA when the
OKAC was still alive in the Western Conference finals. People
will attack the greats for everything they're not, and they'll
try not to focus on the things they are. Was

(01:58:13):
Tom Brady tom Brady his first year in the league. No, No,
he wasn't. But there was the signs that greatness was
building within him. And to have the trust of an
organization to make a decision like you put perfectly, to
be so aggressive in that situation, I mean, that says
everything you need to know. That says everything you need

(01:58:34):
to know, no doubt.

Speaker 5 (01:58:36):
All right, that's rich Orenberger, Penn State All American. Jared
Smith FSR, betting analyst with US. I'm Brian No. BETMGM
Sportsbook is making the world's game more exciting than ever.
Win a share of five hundred k in bonus bets
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Log into your bet MGM Sportsbook account to receive a
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(01:58:59):
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US team scores in that match, you'll earn a share
of five hundred k in bonus bets. All right, coming
up next, we put the rapid in rapid fire. We
give you a bushel of picks. It is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM. It is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM. If you missed any

(01:59:22):
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Speaker 3 (01:59:33):
Again.

Speaker 5 (01:59:33):
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts,
and you'll find today's full show posted right after we
get off the air. Props to the crew host of
The Dodger Zone pod Our trusted producer mister bo Benson.

Speaker 2 (01:59:44):
Aaron Donald, Please, I'm retired. Thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:59:46):
There you go, our technical producer filling in today like
old times, our guy Iowa Sam.

Speaker 4 (01:59:52):
Like old times.

Speaker 3 (01:59:53):
I was here when you guys started the show. We're
there at the birth.

Speaker 5 (01:59:56):
Love that and shout out to our guy Saga on
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good stuff.

Speaker 3 (02:00:05):
Top of the hour. Up on Game LaVar Arrington, TJ.

Speaker 5 (02:00:08):
Huschman, Zada, Plexico Buris in less than seven American minutes,
Hold it go, we gotta hurt. They've got you covered.
Keep it locked. Here on FSR, we got some picks
to make.

Speaker 4 (02:00:17):
Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (02:00:20):
Rapid fire, all right, extra rapid fire. We start with you, Jared,
what do you like?

Speaker 2 (02:00:26):
Red's Cardinals Europe minus a dollar eighteen, Angels Dodgers Europe
minus a buck ten and Knicks money Life. Come on, guys,
nix and four. They're winning on Monday Night.

Speaker 4 (02:00:36):
All right, Yeah, I got the Knicks money line, Darren
Fox plus fifteen points. They're gonna need a lean on
someone other than Wemby and give me the under on
the point total for Game three of the NBA Finals.

Speaker 3 (02:00:48):
Okay, look at you guys, going money line here, you
slide devils. I love it, man.

Speaker 5 (02:00:52):
Give me the give me my cards. Give me the
Red Birds today to win out right. Give me the
Mets to beat Riches pods. Give me a team total
spurs all over one oh six and a half.

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